Wasteland Workshop
Out in the ash wastes, a gang’s vehicles are its life. Getting stranded outside the shadow of a hive city, between settlements, or worse, somewhere in the deep wastes, is often a quick way to a slow death. It is understandable then that gangs operating outside the hives cherish their vehicles, to the point of considering each to be another trusted member of the gang. Drivers will name their rides and rigs, adorn them with trophies and ornaments or paint them in outlandish colours, and go back to save them even when some newbie juve might be bleeding out at their feet. This behaviour is much like the extreme styles adopted by Clan House gangs in the hive cities – a way to stand out, be noticed and make sure their enemies know just who is smashing their face into the dust.
Just like in the hive cities, when it comes to vehicles gangs often have to make do with whatever they can get their hands on. Standardisation in design and construction is something enjoyed mostly by the Merchants Guild or the Imperial House. Vehicle patterns such as Ridgehaulers, Rockgrinders and Ridgerunners are utilised by official convoys and sanctioned mining operations, and while they might sometimes fall into the hands of gangs, more often than not they bear the symbols of the Noble Houses and Mercator Gelt, a reminder of just where the creds on Necromunda are going. It is far more likely a gang will inherit or find some broken-down wreck and knock it back into fighting shape with whatever is to hand. An entire industry based around these kinds of makeshift rigs, runners and crawlers exists out in the wastes, and every settlement boasts at least one wasteland workshop where a gang can go to buy parts, hire a good scrap mechanic or simply bolt guns onto their ride.
The largest concentration of wasteland workshops by far can be found in Cinderak City. Here, dozens of outland scrappers compete for a gang’s creds, and have set up workshops that range from reputable shops such as Gunner’s Gearpit – endorsed by Slate Merdena himself – to less reliable set-ups like Mad Madrik’s Cut-price Chopshop, where wheels will cost you extra. Cinderak City also boasts the best parts, as prospectors and scavengers come from all across the Great Equatorial Wastes to sell things they have dug up or otherwise ‘acquired’ out in the wastes. Provided a gang is not too picky about a few bullet holes or plasma burns, and they will look the other way while the mechanic buffs out the Mercator Gelt iconography, then they can get a good deal on almost anything.
It then falls to the gang to decide just what mechanical horror of the wasteland they wish to create. In contrast to the strict technological ‘guidelines’ imposed by the Imperium on the hive cities, where each lasgun, vox caster or omni-tool must be turned out to precise specifications under the watchful eyes of tech overseers, there are no such constraints to design and function in the outlands. If a ganger wants to take the charging coil out of a plasma cannon and use it to give the engine in his quad more ‘kick’ then only sudden, superheated death is going to stop him. Likewise, if a gang leader wants her rig to literally shoot flames out of its exhaust into the faces of pursuing foes, who is going to tell her mounting flamers so close to her vehicle’s promethium tank is a bad idea! Given the short and brutal life experienced by most gangers on Necromunda, safety is usually secondary to the sheer visceral thrill of climbing out of an open windshield and unloading a sawn-off shotgun into an enemy’s face.
Gang leaders often become infamous for the vehicles they drive and the sight of a rig in lurid colours, blasting off-key devotional hymns from its servitor hood ornament can end a fight before it begins. Slate Merdena’s own rig, the Road Fist, earned an especially grim reputation for being practically unkillable. Covered in armoured plates – that rumour had it Slate had ‘liberated’ from a shipment of tank parts wrongly sent to Necromunda – the Road Fist could take lascannon blasts, missile hits and land mines and keep on going. More than one enemy of the Sump Dogs ended their days under its wheels after emptying their magazine into its armoured cab, all the while cursing the name Merdena!
Equally terrifying to the inhabitants of the wasteland is the Pulpitek – a custom-made, armoured half-track crewed by Klovis the Redeemer and his followers. Armed with an array of heavy flamers and massive autocannons, the Pulpitek can rain death on the enemies of the Redemption, while from the half- track’s command pulpit Klovis delivers his notoriously fiery sermons.
By contrast, the Scimitar, a giant grav-cutter built by the Van Saar Archeotek Vos Ostbringer is a thing of both technical beauty and cunning design. A scaledup version of the grav-cutters ridden into battle by the Clan House prospects, the Scimitar is a flying wing with fighting platforms and razor-sharp protrusions. As Ostbringer herself likes to boast – if the rad-cannons or las-cutters don’t do the job, the craft itself can slice an enemy vehicle in half.
Designing your own Vehicle
Designing your own vehicle to use in games of Necromunda is easy; in order to create your own vehicle you just need to follow the following steps.
- Choose Base Vehicle Template.
- Purchase Vehicle Upgrades.
- Purchase Wargear.
These steps are all described in more detail as follows.
Scavenged From The Ash
In much the same way that when founding a gang only a restricted list of equipment is available (you must hunt for more esoteric and rarer equipment as the campaign progresses!), when founding a gang only the simplest of vehicle creations are possible. In order to create more exotic and advanced vehicles, it may be necessary to build up the Upgrades and Wargear in your gang’s Stash over the course of several games.
Designer’s Commentary: What Vehicles Are Suitable For Necromunda?
There is a dizzying variety of vehicles and machinery used upon the surface of Necromunda, and there are always mechanics looking to make ever more bizarre and exotic creations. Despite this, most vehicles encountered operating out in the ash wastes will be based on existing Imperial patterns (even if their origins are hard to discern!) and so players are encouraged to proceed from the basis of what they can imagine converting from the existing range of Citadel and Forge World vehicle kits, as this will give their creations a sound and believable grounding in the setting.
The key point to remember with these rules is that they are designed to allow players to use their own creations out in the wastes to help in the bitter inter-gang warfare. They are not intended to see what is the most powerful and dominant vehicle that can be made.
To aid with this, it is recommended that when designing their own vehicles, players start by building and painting the model they wish to use. This will aid them greatly in the design process as they can clearly see which Upgrades and Wargear are appropriate to the model.
1. Choose Base Vehicle Template
The first step in designing a vehicle is to select a base vehicle template. This will give a starting characteristic profile, initial Weapon Hardpoint(s) and how many Upgrade slots are available.
Vehicles in Necromunda come in a vast array of shapes and sizes, however they can broadly be placed into five different categories: light vehicles, medium vehicles, heavy vehicles, rigs and walkers.
Due to their immense size, rigs cannot be reliably constructed by mechs in the wastes and all existing ones conform to a standard design.
Light Vehicle
| M | Front | Side | Rear | HP | Hnd | Sv |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7” | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 6+ | 5+ |
Weapon Hardpoints: 1
Special Rules: Jury-rigged, Locomotion: wheeled/tracked
Upgrade Slots
| Body | Drive | Engine |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 2 |
Medium Vehicle
| M | Front | Side | Rear | HP | Hnd | Sv |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6” | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 7+ | 4+ |
Weapon Hardpoints: 1
Special Rules: Jury-rigged, Locomotion: wheeled/tracked
Upgrade Slots
| Body | Drive | Engine |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 2 | 3 |
Heavy Vehicle
| M | Front | Side | Rear | HP | Hnd | Sv |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5” | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 8+ | 4+ |
Weapon Hardpoints: 2
Special Rules: Jury-rigged, Locomotion: wheeled/tracked
Upgrade Slots
| Body | Drive | Engine |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | 3 | 2 |
Walker
| M | Front | Side | Rear | HP | Hnd | Sv |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5” | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4+ | 5+ |
Weapon Hardpoints: 1
Special Rules: Jury-rigged, Locomotion: walker
Upgrade Slots
| Body | Drive | Engine |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1 | 2 |
Special Rules
Jury-rigged: This vehicle is cobbled together out of a mix of parts that were never designed to work together. Whenever the Negotiate Repairs post-battle action is taken, double the credit cost of any repairs.
Locomotion: wheeled/tracked: This vehicle either has the Wheeled or Tracked special rule, decided when the vehicle is purchased. If Tracked is chosen, reduce the vehicle’s Movement characteristic by 1". This affects how the vehicle interacts with terrain (see Locomotion Special Rules).
Locomotion: walker: This vehicle has the Walker special rule. This affects how the vehicle moves and interacts with terrain (see Locomotion Special Rules).
Custom Vehicle Equipment
A custom vehicle may be equipped with vehicle Upgrades, vehicle Wargear and weapons from the Custom Vehicle equipment list.
- During the course of a campaign, a Custom Vehicle may be fitted with additional vehicle Wargear and vehicle Upgrades from the Custom Vehicle equipment list, the Trading Post and the Black Market.
- During the course of a campaign, any custom vehicle hardpoints can be equipped with a weapon from this list or the Basic, Special or Heavy sections of the Trading Post or Black Market.
2. Purchase Vehicle Upgrades
The next step is to purchase and fit Upgrades to the vehicle. These are broken down into three areas: Body, Drive and Engine. Each vehicle template has a set number of Upgrade slots – this indicates the maximum number of each type of Upgrade that can be fitted.
Unless stated otherwise, no Upgrade can be fitted more than once.
Upgrades are purchased from the Trading Post in the same manner as other equipment; when creating a vehicle they can either be purchased from the Trading Post or used from the gang’s Stash.
You don't have access to the Trading Post until after your first battle. At the start of the campaign, you can access items from the list below.
House Delaque have access to more equipment at the start of a campaign.
Pre-configured vehicles have separate starting lists (see their respective pages in the vehicle section).
Weapon Hardpoints
Weapon Hardpoints are a special form of Upgrade that come with a variety of additional options.
When a Weapon Hardpoint is added to a vehicle (including any that come as standard on vehicle templates), the following steps must be taken:
- If it is not specified, the Weapon Hardpoint must be designated as either crew or passenger operated. All weapons fitted to the Weapon Hardpoint gain either the Crew Operated or Passenger Operated trait.
- If it is not specified, the Weapon Hardpoint must have a set arc (Front, Left, Right or Rear). All weapons fitted to the Weapon Hardpoint gain the Arc (Front, Left, Right or Rear) trait.
- If the Weapon Hardpoint is on a custom vehicle, additional arcs can be added for 15 credits each, so Arc (All Round) would cost an additional 45 credits.
- Each Weapon Hardpoint can hold one Basic, Special or Heavy weapon.
- The fitted weapon can be swapped in between battles with weapons in the gang’s Stash.
- Not all Weapon Hardpoints have to have a weapon fitted, but they can never have more than one weapon fitted.
Vehicle Upgrades
| Vehicles Upgrades | Credits |
|---|---|
| Body Upgrades | |
| Crash cage | 15 |
| Escape hatches | 10 |
| Extra armour | 25 |
| Ram | 15 |
| Transport bed | 15 |
| Drive Upgrades | |
| All-wheel steering | 10 |
| Emergency brake | 10 |
| Tyre claws | 10 |
| Engine Upgrades | |
| Easy turnover | 5 |
| Nitro burners | 15 |
| Smoke vents | 25 |
Vehicle Weapons
| Vehicle Weapons | Credits |
|---|---|
| Basic | |
| Autogun | 15 |
| Lasgun | 15 |
| Special | |
| Grenade launcher with frag & krak grenades | 65 |
| Long las | 20 |
| Heavy | |
| Harpoon launcher | 110 |
| Heavy stubber | 130 |
| Mining laser | 125 |
Vehicle Wargear
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Boarding ramp | 15 |
| Body spikes | 10 |
| Flare launchers | 10 |
| Headlights | 15 |
| Smoke launchers | 20 |
| Wheel scythes | 20 |
To view what upgrades are available, see Trading Point: Vehicle Upgrades.
To view what the upgrades do, see Armoury: Vehicle Upgrades.
3. Purchase Wargear
The next step is to purchase and fit Wargear for the vehicle. Unless stated otherwise, no item of Wargear can be fitted more than once.
Wargear is purchased from the Trading Post in the same manner as other equipment; when creating a vehicle they can either be purchased from the Trading Post or used from the gang’s Stash.
To view what upgrades are available, see Trading Point: Vehicle Upgrades.
To view what the upgrades do, see Armoury: Vehicle Upgrades.