ASH WASTE NOMADS
Ash Waste Nomads in the Hive? You must be mad? MAD I SAY!
Or am I? Well I'm hoping to show you that they might not be as bad as people think, in fact I think they have promise…
Why choose Nomads?
Well for a start they have a movement of 6” and access to some of the best skill trees, they have some great basic weapons and a tanky brute that can get work done and is more manoeuvrable then it has any right to be, other then that they have great flavour and some interesting equipment.
What makes them different?
So we will start off with Nomad specific weapons:
Ranged
Blast carbine - Rapid fire 1, 10”/24” range, +2 to hit in short range (!) and shock? Yea ok, that sounds great. And it is, for 25 credits they are a little pricier then the autogun that you would take on a ganger usually but my days is it worth that extra credit cost.
Blast Rifle - Competing with the Lasgun it has a smaller short range (10”/24”) to get your +1 to hit, it doesn't have plentiful but also gets shock. Personally I think the carbine is worth the credit bump for the rapid fire and extra hit chance.
Blast Pistol - Pistol with shock for 15 credits, not the best blast for your buck but is worth considering.
Venom Caster - I used to think this weapon was useless, I was very wrong. It has some downsides, a high ammo roll being the main one, but Toxin and template is a lovely mix. The Venom Caster isn't the cheapest weapon and compared to a Web gun it might be a tad pricey, but I love it. If you can turn off the lights or have a way of fighting in the dark this weapon is worth every credit.
Charge Caster - A missile launcher but replace Frag with Blast. This caster is a slightly shorter range (20”/40”) and Frag has AP -1 and knockback compared to Blast ammo being no AP, knockback but gains shock. Also its 10 credits less, I enjoy this and It feels thematic.
Heavy Blaster - Rapid fire 2, S4 with Shock but only damage 1, it is basically a Heavy Stubber with Shock and a slightly shorter range and 5+ ammo. It gets work done but it isn't as satisfying to me as the Charge Caster but is a good alternative if you want.
Long Rifle - Not exclusive to Nomads but being able to take them on gangers as a basic weapon is superb, especially if you interpret that as them being a basic weapon for the purposes of being allowed a gun shroud… Ask your Arbitrator and if they sign it off you might want to think about it. Regardless they are bloody good on gangers who also get access to cunning as primary.
Reclaimed Auto/stub guns - Basically the same as the standard version but with worse ammo roll. It's cheap but better to replace it asap.
Close Combat
Chain Lance - Not exclusive to the Nomads like the rest of this list but worth bringing up, Chain Lances are great weapons with versatile and +2S allows your guys to do the hit and run tactics that can rival an Escher.
Long Blade - +1 to hit, AP-2 and parry for 30 credits is not too shabby and definitely worth the 10 credit increase from a normal sword, If you are looking to build a melee ganger it's not a bad choice to pair with a second or another weapon.
Mono Hook - A melee weapon with a blip of AP(-1) and damage 2 with Pulverise, that will do nicely.
Stalking Knife - Similar to a fighting knife for 5 credits more, for that extra creds you get +1 to hit. A solid choice.
Equipment
Ash Cloak - A free respirator and a 5+ after save roll to ignore battlefield conditions (any hazards of the hive like perils.
Sky Mantle - This allows you to take the Hide in the Wastes (Double) action, this lets you hide and avoid being shot outside of 12” in return for an activation. I don't see this being too handy most of the time but if you get a model injured and want them out of the fight to avoid bottle tests it could be handy to do.
Dominion Campaigns
So Nomads in the Hive? How do they deal with territories?
Simple answer is, they don't. Instead during the Occupation Phase they pick territories as usual to fight for but instead of getting the benefits from it you take the "Raid Territory" action. This means the territories they take become "Old Ruins" and then become claimable again. In return the Nomads get 4d6×10 credits to spend as you wish.
In the Take Over Phase the Nomads can challenge anyone as normal but if another gang wants to challenge them, then they are forced to assault the Nomads' Outpost.
The Nomads get home turf advantage and so get to set up the board as they see fit (including scatter and whether doors are locked or not), but if the attacking gang manage to win the battle they gain an additional 5 Rep.
The Nomads' Outpost generates 2d6×10 credits each phase as well so you have the potential to gain 6d6×10 credits after game 1, not too shabby.
Tsun’Ghar Warrior Spirits
This is from the Apocrypha Necromunda book, but previously shown at the WarCom site and is an optional rule, so speak to your Arbitrator first, but it is great fun.
The Ash Waste Nomads player rolls a number of D6 equal to the number of Watchers and Chieftains they have in their crew to generate the spirits available to be used in that game.
There are 6 spirits that can be generated with various different effects, each spirit can be called upon only once per game by your leader or watcher so make sure you are using it at the right point because once it’s one shot per spirit.
Styr’ghar (Storm Spirit): The fighter becomes one with the storm, appearing and vanishing with each rolling cloud front. If the Visibility (X") rule is in effect, the fighter may be moved anywhere on the battlefield at least X" away from any enemy fighters, where X is equal to the distance in the Visibility (X") rule. Their activation then ends. Handy in pitch black scenarios to teleport next to someone that is causing you issue, or even into a far flung objective you otherwise wouldn't be able to get to.
Dae’ghar (Chem Spirit): Tar-like toxins ooze out of the ground all around the fighter, causing the surface to become sticky and foul, its gritty ash eating through armour and flesh. Place the 5" Blast marker centred under the fighter. Until this round’s End phase, all enemy fighters treat the Blast marker as Dangerous Terrain. Not bad at all for tying up a group for a turn or even forcing a whole group of guys to go OOA if their initiative is poor (something your guys dont need to worry about)
Tyr’ghar (Ash Spirit): Ashen winds roil around the fighter, choking and blinding their foes, and making it all but impossible for them to land a decisive blow upon their adversary. All enemy fighters within 3" of the fighter must pass an Initiative test or become subject to the Blind condition. If you ever feel like you are overwhelmed, pop this and laugh as your opponent can’t really fight back (6’s to hit only) and lose their activation. Really good if used at the right time.
Char’ghar (Electro Spirit): Coruscating electricity surrounds the fighter, as if static from the storm were drawn to them, which they direct into their weapon attacks. For the duration of the fighter’s activation all attacks made by the fighter gain the Shock trait. If they are using a weapon that already has the Shock trait then its effects will trigger on any successful hit roll rather than just a 6. YES! Give me this one every time. Most of your weapons will have shock so this just makes them so much more effective. 10 out of 10, more please yes.
Vau’ghar (Fire Spirit): The fighter harnesses the tormented Fire Spirit of Necromunda, channelling its rage into frenzied attacks. Choose a friendly fighter within 12" (this may be the active fighter). For the duration of that fighter’s next activation (or the current activation if the fighter chose themselves) add 2 to their Attacks characteristic and 1 to any Weapon Skill rolls they make. This can supe up a fighter for a turn and allow them to punch well above their weight in melee.
Myr’ghar (Blade Spirit): The fighter’s blades become keener, their razor-sharp edges carving through armour, flesh and bone with equal ease. For the duration of their activation, any attacks made by the fighter using a weapon with the Melee or Versatile trait change their AP to -3 unless their AP would be higher, and increase their Damage by 1. Another buff to melee, now your chain lance is cutting through carapace like its butter with damage 3 or a Mono Hook now becoming ap-3 damage 3 as well. Bloody good if you ask me.
Starting List
So this is a work in progress and I will be doing extensive playtesting, but so far this is what I have tried and it's worked out. I have tried a couple of lists so far, two of which I am going to go through and the choice of either really depends on how your group plays, if they tend to use Custom (7), like lot of people I know do, and are a fairly experienced Necromuda player then the Bug list might be for you. If you are fairly new to Necromunda and / or play larger games then the Boys list is the one for you.
Boys Over Bug
This is a straight from the box starting list, the perfect place to start for a new nomad, 9 guys and some basic equipment found on sprue and ready to go. This list has 3 distinct groups, Forward, Ranged and Assasination.
0 The leader has a Mesh armour, a chain lance and a Blast Carbine. He pairs with 2 or 3 of your juves to form a kill team. This is your front line squad and their job is to pick off anyone from your opponent's gang that finds themselves out of position or to take the central objective depending on the scenario. They move quickly with a base move of 6” they can get in (and out of) trouble fast if you need them to.
The Chieftain has the Fixer skill to kick start the Nomads economy but has access to Cunning, Leadership and Savant which is amazing, if you ask me, for a support piece. But they also get Agility, Combat and Wasteland skills for secondaries which is worth thinking about.
Watcher with Charge Caster - This Champion is fairly bare bones, with no armour or back up weapon, but does have a rocket pack to auto reload his Caster the first time he goes out of ammo. This Champ pairs with a ganger specialist with a Rocket pack (to auto reload the caster the second time it runs out of ammo) and Long Rifle. This pair will be using their range to punish from a far, just be careful of infiltrating gangers getting close as they are not equipped for dealing with it at all, worth thinking about that as the campaign goes along.
This Champion has trickshot to negate cover for that Rocket of Doom, also sometimes it's funny to shoot a guy with a Krak rocket while he is in close combat. If you are worried about infiltrating you can also bring one of your juves to act as a meat shield and provide some short range fire.
Watcher with Long Rifle - Champion number 2 is more about support then outright firepower however this group is more of an assasination squad. Using their skill “Bring it Down” you can use one of your actions to target a model and allows re rolls to hit with shooting attacks against that model for every friendly fighter in your gang, not only that but you can also ignore standard target priority and target that model regardless of closer models. This champion should be used to find key pieces of your opponents gang, tag them for “bring it down” then use your re rolls to punish them mercilessly. You might be tempted to keep this guy right at the back of the board to capitalise on the +1 to hit outside of 24” but its probably better to send this guy forward with a pair of Juves like the leader, you will be natively hitting on 3’s with a re roll so you are still likely to hit your target.
Warrior Specialist - Equipped with a Long Rifle and Rocket Pack this Ganger is to keep your Charge Caster Champion alive and in ammo. This Model needs to stay in 3 inches of your Caster Champ once they have burnt their own rocket pack just to keep him launching rockets down the board. Use that Long Rifle to pin anyone who might be a threat to the Caster and keep the pressure on your opponent.
Dust Runners - Finally we have our juves, they are all equipped with Blast Carbines for that sweet +2 to hit in 10”, mostly these young bloods are ablative armour for your more powerful champions but the Blast Carbine can really do damage and as we know, “Pinning is Winning!” There are 5 of these, 2 or 3 go with your leader, 2 with your Bring it down champ and if you are concerned about being infiltrated then one stays with your charge caster (otherwise go with the leader).
Bug Over Boys
Rather then 3 teams working together this list has half covering fire and half aggressive short range/melee
Chieftain - Equipped with Chain lance, Mesh armour and fixer they have the same task as the previous list but lack the Carbine, if you want to add a stub gun you can but it's not required, get close and personal with that chain lance keeping a juve next to him to soak up charges and bullets.
Watcher with Heavy Blaster - Equipped nothing but his Blaster and Trick Shot for their skill. This guy’s job is to lay down covering fire to your forward squad and keep people pinned. If you can target the tagged model from “Bring it down” then you have a good chance of doing serious damage to your opponents key pieces throughout the game. Mostly the change here is to free up a few credits compared with the Caster.
Watcher with Long Rifle - A handy piece and often my MVP, equipped with Mesh armour this model might not get the kills in but he gets work done. Basically the same as the other list he pairs with one of your Juves to assist him.
Warrior specialist - Equipped with a Long Rifle, I know giving the specialist a basic weapon seems a little pointless but you can get it something better later on, for now this sniper is going to also be keeping your opponent hiding in cover and out of the fight while your forward team gets work done.
Dust Runners - Equipped with Blast Carbines, these Juves that can get work done! These 2 lovely people will be helping your leader and brute to push forward and apply the pressure. Getting close and utilising that +2 to hit at 10” means you can be hitting on 3+ or even 2+ if you don't intend to move.
Arthromite Duneskuttler - This is your bullet sponge and heavy melee hitter. Being natively Toughness and Strength 5 and able to run up walls, your opponent HAS to do something about this quick monster (6” move) while the rest of your gang gets work done elsewhere. It might be a good idea to keep one of your Juves nearby to pin potential threats to the big bug but you may find that it doesn't need it depending on who you are facing.
Campaign Progression
We have our starting list, we have played our first game, now what?
Well for the Boys Over Bugs list I recommend getting an Arthromite Duneskuttler to use as a power piece / bullet sponge. If you chose the Bugs Over Boys list then it's time to buy a couple of Juves with Blast Carbines so both lists end up looking very similar.
Next I would start looking at getting some back up weapons on your Charge Caster/Heavy Blaster and Long Rifle before looking at upgrading some weapons. A bolter is always a good shout, but why go basic when you are an outlaw anyway?
So let's look at the fun things you can buy from the black market, starting with:
Black Market Weapons
Xenos Weapons
So there are a few different Xenos weapons worth a look in, first of all I'm going to start strong with the Xenarch Death-Arch, 5” Versatile, Rapid fire 2, +1 in B2B with shock? What the hell not? Fancy something to deal with brutes? You could take a Melta, but that's basic and boring, instead why not take a Necrotic Beamer!? With a lower strength and AP it's easy to overlook this weapon and take the Melta instead but the Beamer has something that the Melta could only wish it had, Scattershot. You could potentially do 18 damage with this in gun mode but it also has a melee profile that is strength 3, also with the Melta trait and a 3” versatile which means it could be paired with another melee weapon for only 2 slots, now that's inventory management.
Finally I want to talk about the Neural Flayer. This template weapon has a lot of weapon traits added to its 2 profiles, so let's go through them, short blast forces your opponent to do an initiative test at -2 or lose your activation. Not bad but I'm not sure if it's anything to write home about. Next is its full blast which is a 6+ ammo roll but for that you get all the same effect as the short blast but you can add fear, to force the model to do a nerve test or become broken. Gas and Pulverise means you roll a dice and if it's higher then the target's toughness (or is a 6) you roll an injury dice, and if you roll a flesh wound then you can change it to Seriously Injured. The problem with this is the conflict with fear and pulverise, fear states its instead of the injury roll but pulverise needs the injury roll so ask your arbitrator. This one is a lot of fun and there will be something on that long list of traits that will get through an opponent and cause an effect, it might just not be worth doing compared with a Webgun? Well that's for you to decide, it's certainly more interesting.
Tainted Weapons
It's up to you really if you feel the Nomads would use Tainted weapons or not but personally I like the idea that rather than Chaos corrupted they have their own scavenged / makeshift versions of the weapons that fulfil the same role. First i'm going to talk about the Withertouched Pistol and the Whisperbane Knife, The Withertouched pistol is only S3 with a long range of 9” and a short of 6” but it does have a couple of nice keywords that make it worth thinking about. Firstly Silent makes you not be revealed in pitch black games and with the addition of melta if you get into that 6” range you could really get work done, combine that with the fact it's a sidearm weapon it's definitely worth getting on a short range or melee fighter. Next is the Whisperbane Knife and boy oh boy does this fit thematically with how the Nomads are most comfortable. The WBK has a Strength of user but also backstab but this isn't what's exciting about the Knife. The Whisperbane knife has scattershot and a +1 to hit, combine all that together and suddenly you could be hitting on a 3+ with your champions twice for 2d6 strength 4 wounds. It also works with the Spirits, get the electro spirit? All your scattershot hits are now have shock! Fire spirit? Well looks like you get 2 more attacks and a plus 1 to hit! Blade spirit? You now have a scattershot weapon with ap-3 and damage 2! It's always been a good weapon, with the Nomad buffs it could achieve legendary status.
Now we come to the Balefire Thrower, I am a big fan of Blaze and Insane because I find it hilarious to watch my guys run about being dumb, i'm also aware I am in the small minority.
At S4 AP-1 and damage 2 this template weapon would already be great but add Blaze and Insanity on top and you are looking at one overpowered weapon, if all you care about is winning, get it, if you want everyone to have a good game then maybe leave it out.
Finally the Tenebrous scourge is an odd gauntlet weapon, it has a 3” versatile range with Power, Entangle and a +3 to strength? I mean why the hell not, no one is going to be able to parry you, you have 3” extra to play with and you will be wounding near enough everyone on a 3+ or better.
How are tainted weapons so cheap?
House weapons
I have already gone over a number of the house weapons in the “What makes them different” section so I will just say; Web guns are great, especially on Juves that have poor BS so the template mitigates it, Blast carbines are a smart choice for any new Fighters and Long Rifles being basic for Gangers makes them a serious ranged threat for keeping people out of position.
Brutes and Hangers On
The Nomads are quite limited to which Hangers on they can take and currently there is only one Brute they can use but don't worry because the ones they do have are decent.
Arthromite Duneskuttler - A melee monster, This big bug is basically an Ogryn with a 6” move and Nerves of Steel and Fearsome skills from creation as well as Heavy Carapace as standard and 4 attacks. I love this Brute, but wait there's more! Big Bug also comes with 2 special rules;
Hard to Kill - When suffering a Lasting Injury roll, roll twice and choose one result to apply. This lets you throw your Skuttler into all sorts of danger knowing the likelihood of him dying is very low.
Wall Scuttler - When an Arthromite Duneskuttler climbs, the vertical distance they move is not halved. In other words, they always count as climbing up or down a ladder, charging up the side of buildings? Why the Hell not? For tall boards this can be a game charger as people will struggle to adjust, think your heavy weapon champion is safe because they are 6 inches up? Boom! Charge up the side of the building and punish them for their insolence.
Arthromite Herder - Paired with the Duneskuttler this hanger on boosts your big bug to being truly a force to be reckoned with. For 40 credits it has 2 functions, as part of the post battle sequence you can choose to do one of the following things;
Artromite Whispers - If not in Recovery, roll a 3+ to heal a Lasting Injury. What’s that? The already hard to kill Duneskuttler is now shaking off lasting injuries? It must be related to the cockroach because this pain train doesn't stop.
Training Program: This fighter can pass an Intelligence test (7+) to give the Duneskuttler D3 XP. So my Bug hasn't taken any lasting injuries, why not see if i can give it more exp for free?
I would get this hanger on ASAP if you have a Duneskuttler as it will pay for itself time and time again.
Slopper - For only 20 credits you gain the chance to get your fighters in recovery back on the board using “Grubs Up”.
Grubs Up - Before the battle, roll a D6 for each fighter that is In Recovery. On a roll of 6, they are no longer In Recovery and available for this battle (a constant supply of good food has helped to recover more quickly). Cheap and useful but not as useful as others.
Ammo Jack - Sitting at 50 credits the ammo jack has the Gun-Smith has a useful ability. Gun-Smith -
Re-roll any failed Ammo tests if the result (before modifiers) is equal to or lower than the amount of Ammo-jacks. Does not have to take part in the battle for the bonus to apply, but must be available (not in Recovery, Captured etc). A lot of the nomad weapons are fairly high ammo rolls so being able to re roll could be the difference between getting that next shot off or standing around with your hand on your… Wild Snake… (or Second Best our contractually obliged first choice)
Rogue Doc - There is nothing I can say about the rogue doc that someone else hasn’t said so I will come out and say that this hanger on is almost always considered to be an auto include, its ability is; Patch up - Make 1 free Medical Escort per Rogue Doc in the post-battle sequence (in addition to normal Medical Escorts). However, a result of 6 on the table is treated as Stabilised rather than a full Recovery (thanks to the Doc’s comparatively limited supplies and the lack of proper medical technology). Personally I would get one of these after the Bug and Herder but It would probably be more efficient to get one of these first.
Final Thoughts
A fun gang to play in the Hive, in Dominion Campaigns they can be down right nasty if you can get good momentum going early on and with access to the Trading Post / Black Market you can keep up with your opponents in terms of power.
All in all I really enjoy playing Nomads and am desperate for GW to expand on the faction more, and you know, maybe release a box with all the weapons they can access on their house list.
Fin
Thank you for reading, feel free to contact me if you think I’m missing something and we will see you in the horrors of the Underhive.
3_Ogryns_in_a_Trenchcoat.