Necromunda: Underhive

Brutal gang warfare in the 41st millenium.

The original version of Games Workshop’s Necromunda is one of my favourite games of all time, so it was with trepidation that I heard of the new version, and then with utter horror that I learned the boxed game was a 2D version played on flat tiles. That’s not Necromunda! But fear not: it’s just a bit of tricky dicky Games Workshop sleight of hand to get you to buy another book separately with the 3D and campaign rules that, you know, basically make Necromunda what it is.

I could whinge about things like that, and the separate gang cards, the division of rules into multiple ‘Gang War’ books, the errors that need a FAQ and errata and are fixed and then reappear again, but hell, you know the drill. Sadly, this has been one of the poorly handled and piecemeal releases of a game system I can remember. But thankfully, they didn’t change too much with the new version and its still pretty much the game we all knew and loved, albeit with a little bit of rules streamlining. Though of course you still roll scads of dice: roll to hit, roll to wound, roll an armour save, roll an ammo die, roll an injury die … this is Games Workshop and that’s not going to change! In fact, despite the very nice new figures, there really is no compelling reason to get the new version if you have the old one.

Not many people still do however, so if you like a bit of old school sci-fi gang warfare, grab the boxed set and the damn over-priced Gang War book and get thee hence to the industrial underhive. Just don’t bottle out!

There are two files here: v1.3 is the original summary and reference I created from the Underhive boxed set (my thanks to Rodney Smith of the fantastic Watch It Played!, who generously gave me his typed rules summary notes and allowed me to use them as the basis for this first version). Since then there’s been a confusing mess of updates and additions, so I completely redid the summary and created v2, which includes weapon traits and skills (but not weapon stats and campaign rules, because if I did include more, GW lawyers would probably be on me like rust on an underhive gangway!)

If you’re after the very latest version of the rules, visit the Necromunda: Ash Wastes page.

Update Log

Date Version Changelog
Feb 2021 2 Kept original version and created completely new version 2 incorporating compiled and updated rules and additional material
Nov 2020 1.3 Some clarifications to the injury roll results on the summary and the play reference
May 2018 1.2 Fixed crawl actions to remove facing and identified prone actions
May 2018 1.1 Updated to include FAQ changes
Feb 2018 1 Original release

25 Comments

  • The8thPagan says:

    Orlock gang and Gang War 2 are available for pre order now.

    • $71 for the figures, $26 for the cards, $50 for Gang War 2 = NZD$147 to use a new gang in the game (official retail is even more). I’m really annoyed at these piecemeal purchasing tactics, and those prices are ridiculous.

  • The8thPagan says:

    Don’t forget the tiles 🙂

  • CK Lai says:

    Just out of curiosity : the original Necromunda has (had?) a very active community that came out with their community inspired rules after GW stopped publishing the original game.

    Can I use those publicly available rules and get the new minis to play the game with?

    • The8thPagan says:

      I never played original, but I think UH said not that much difference. But the plastic figures won’t know you’re using or rules, so I’d say yes. Although if you want to play competitive (I play for fun) then you will need current rules.

      • CK Lai says:

        Thanks, 8th. I play for fun 🙂

        • The8thPagan says:

          Now that I have painted core box of Mythic Battles I might take a break and paint Necromunda… or Wild West Exodus… or Star Saga… or Deadzone… or Fireteam Zero… or Endure The Stars… or Conan… or Bloodbowl….

  • The8thPagan says:

    Van Saar and Gang War 3 coming to pre-order next week.

  • Alex says:

    Great Documents. These speed up playing a lot and leaves time for more fun.

    Question: Under the injury die result for “Seriously Injured” (page 2, last column) it says: “Lay the figure down and make a nerve test.” afaik This is never mentioned in any Rulebook – does this mean that you have to make nerve tests for fighters nearby as correctly described in the next section?

    If so, the mentioned sentence is ambigious as it reads like the injured fighter has to make a nerve check.

    Regards,
    Alex

  • Wayne says:

    so glad to here it. Just discovered your website through the core space pages and decided to look through your board games and have been pleasantly surprised at how great it is and how many of my board games are on here. Saw that you had this for the Necromunda: Underhive and i’m so glad you’ll be redoing it all. I’ve personally been enjoying the new necromunda and think it’s finally arrived in a good place though its drip feed of content took it a couple years to finally get to a good place. The new books are nice and i’m enjoying the new content but it’s getting a bit out of hand with how many books i now own for this. Rivals DnD for sheer valumes of rules but i am glad that it has continued to be supported so it’s worth it to me to see the game still doing well.

    • I very quickly decided not to buy everything that’s been released, and was a bit annoyed that you had to buy whole new books just to add, say, a Delaque gang. Still, it’s a business! I’ll just be updating this for the core rules of course.

      • Hey, might be worth checking the recently released hive war boxset rules as they’ve changed the order of events in the end phase, nothing huge in terms of game play but it does make some subtle differences.

        • Short of buying everything released for Necromunda – something I certainly can’t afford to do – I’m not sure how it’s possible for me to keep up with the constant rules changes, unfortunately. GW doesn’t make them available anywhere if you haven’t bought the particular book or set.

          • Alex says:

            I just checked the Yaktribe thread where they documented changes/errors in the latest rule book (Hive War) and I belive the only change that would affect your player aid is that Step 1 of the Action Phase (“Fleeing the battlefield”) has been moved to the End Phase. This doesn’t really make much of a difference to the game anyway.

            Any other at least mildly important changes (to the Pitch Black and Mind the Door rules) aren’t in your document and so aren’t relevant.

            And BTW, your document is amazing! This is a mess of a game when it comes to rule books, you’re constantly flipping all over the place trying to find rules. Now it’s actually playable by newbies without needing an experienced player sitting next to them looking up rules.

  • Gabe says:

    Is there a link to the rules? Every time I click it, it say’s Page not Found.

  • Zargas says:

    Would you consider updating this up to speed to Ash Waste rules?
    They changed some stuff like fleeing the battlefield because of bottling in the end phase instead of in the start of action phase.
    and then we have vehicles…

    Would be awesome to have an updated version!

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