Everything (Mostly) In One Place; New Necromunda Core Rulebook
July 13, 2023 by brennon
Games Workshop have announced that they are going to be releasing a new book for their 28mm Sci-Fi skirmish game, Necromunda. The new Core Rulebook will bring all of the existing supplements and expansions into one place so you only need one tome in order to get stuck into the game.
Core Rulebook // Necromunda
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This book contains all of the major rules you'll want to know to play games of Necromunda. Whether you're battling through the Underhive or taking to the Ash Wastes, you'll be able to find the rules for playing your games here. This also collates a bunch of additional updates and clears up some confusion with the rules that have arisen over the years.
You will still need to have access to your appropriate House Book in order to get the rules for the faction of your choice (essentially like a Codex for Necromunda) but then everything else rules-wise will be found in this new volume.
House Escher // Necromunda
There are also additional rules tweaks and such to be found inside the book which address specific questions folks have raised about Necromunda. If you're interested in learning more about those specific points then it's worth heading over to the post on Warhammer Community where it goes into those.
Ash Wastes // Necromunda
Considering that one of the major complaints about Necromunda is that it felt like you needed to pick up a library worth of books in order to even get started in the game, this certainly addresses that. With just the Core Rulebook and your House Book counting as essential reading, it should make it a lot easier to dive into this skirmish game set in the Grimdark Future of Warhammer 40,000.
With gangs for Necromunda and the associated terrain being particularly cheap to pick up and the campaign element of the game being front and centre, this might be a good way for folks to dive in and try out the game without feeling like they're going to get swamped. Personally, I think Games Workshop and Forge World have been making some of their best miniatures for the Necromunda range over the last few years and I could well be tempted to dive in.
Will you be checking out this new Core Rulebook?
"Personally, I think Games Workshop and Forge World have been making some of their best miniatures for the Necromunda range over the last few years..."
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I started with the starter box a few years and picked up a couple more gang books. Then they released a new version of rules… and then ash wastes… and faction books…
The fact that you need the rules and a faction book still is annoying.
GW release a constant stream of books for all their games and then make them useless with the next iteration of the rules.
If I buy anything by GW now it’s because I want the minis to use in another game.
Lately not many of the minis appeal. Rather pick and choose from etsy, or some other company than feed the ‘you must preorder to get this’ machine that lies at the heart of nottingham.
Hear, hear! With so many other games cranking out streamlined, efficient rules, GW seems determined to keep their games as cluttered and ponderous as possible.
And you’re spot-on about their minis, too. They’ve gone off the deep end choosing rigid mono-pose over customizable minis, and a lot of their figures are busy and overly-detailed. I’ll pick up the odd one second-hand, but nowadays I go with Northstar, Victrix, Fireforge, etc.
Slum mutiny for Dredd game’s?
That’s not perfect but it’s an improvement. I’d still be tempted to go for the one page rules version though
I think this is a good move… on the provisio that it isnt immediately outdated the following week with a new sourcebook.
Though I have to say, the house books for Necromunda are fantastic lore wise. As is there current campaign.
A week? Come on man, be realistic. This book is the only book you’re ever going to need to play for about a fortnight after it’s release
Well it’s the fourth (or fifth, I’ve lost count) “core” rulebook for Necromunda in six years. It’s probably desperately needed as at the moment the rules are a mess (being spread over twenty plus books already released by GW for the game).
The issue here is every time GW tries to compile the rules they always end up “missing” elements from previous editions (which means you still needed to refer back to those original releases). This, plus GW’s inability to proof read the rules books before releasing (where the gamer finds errors within 20 minutes of first opening the book), has me liking the release but with a fair amount of trepidation.
Plus the fact you’ve got the vehicle rules to come for the Van Saar’s and Delaque gans to appear (as well as the last campaign books for the current releases). Could lead to the book ending up being outdated within a mere six months of release (as GW keeps chopping and changing rules and in game prices for things and introducing new weapons with each book).
I would err on the side of caution and perhaps NOT pre-order the book unseen (although you do run the risk of the book going out of stock as GW always like to have their customers a quivering stressed out mess due to their liking of FOMO). And instead await the first reviews where gamers have tried to play using the book (and don’t rely on “influencers” who like to post a review after a mere ten minutes of skimming through the books as they have to get their Youtube video out first to garner the views (and minuscule adverting revenue).
If history doesn’t repeat itself for a FIFTH time and GW actually do a good job this time around, it’s going to be a much needed book for both existing Necromunda players and those looking to get into the game for the first time (making the “buy-in” a LOT cheaper). One thing that’s probably NOT going to appear are the campaigns that appeared in previous rulebooks (so don’t go chucking out those old rulebooks just yet 😀 ).
Who wants to run a sweep stake about how many books will be needed within, let’s say two weeks after the release of this book. I’m going with 6.