Thank you to Games Workshop for providing an advanced copy of Bastions of Law for review.

Introduction

At long last, we are able to review the hotly anticipated Bastions of Law. This new Necromunda sourcebook is the update and one stop shop for all things Enforcer related. Most players with an interest in Enforcers have been looking forward to this, partly to gather all their rules in one place, partly to update them to the format of other, more recent Necromunda gangs’ rules, and partly in hope of some balance changes. Well, we have this manual for state oppression under our jackbooted feet, so here are the details.  

Top Changes and What’s New

• Enforcers now work like proper up to date gangs, with separate fighter entries, the same Gang  Fighter / Gang Hierarchy structure of other gangs, and less included starting equipment on fighters.
• Palanite Enforcers receive updates to their fighters’ statlines, which most notably means their Hierarchy models (Captains and Sergeants) are on par with good Leaders/Champions from other gangs. This is one thing we are super glad about and will make the gang much more fun to play. 
• Neither type of Enforcer gang has any arbitrary restrictions against holding Territories in Dominion campaigns, thus fixing one of the most perplexing, and often-houseruled, bits of the older rules.
• Palanite Enforcers can choose a Prefecture to hail from (thematically these are different regions or Hive clusters of Necromunda) and get access to some additional options. This is, we suppose, Enforcers’ unique mechanic, in the same manner as Escher Chem-alchemy or Orlocks Legendary Names. But the skills and equipment on offer are all situational at best. Arbitrators don’t need to worry about their min-maxing players producing any real boosts to Enforcers’ power level from the Prefecture rules.
• Haunts are a new hanger-on, which actually function more as extra Champion-level fighters, for Palanite Enforcer gangs. These are their sanctioned psykers, and bring a nicely packaged way to apply some unique Wyrd powers in the name of the law. 
• The Palanite Drill skill tree has been significantly updated. The already good skills, with their emphasis on reacting to enemy charges, function the same, but the worse choices – and some were comically useless – have been reworked. They’re still mediocre, but it is an improvement. 
• There are plenty of thematic general-availability weapons added to the ‘house lists’ of Enforcer fighters, basically mirroring the new leader and upgrade packs.
• Badzone Enforcers are at least their own list within this book, so it’s clear what they can and can’t do, and how they differ from Palanite Enforcers. That’s about the extent of the positive news for them, unfortunately. A structural change in their gang composition rules has choked off their ability to lean heavily into numbers of Enlisted Hive Scum. 
• As with other House books of this type, we have a couple nice new Scenarios, and a set of Gang Tactics. 

What Hasn’t Changed?

• There are, unsurprisingly given the pattern of updated rules for Necromunda, no changes to existing weapon profiles or costs.
• Surprisingly few new pieces of weaponry or equipment have been added. There’s a chem thrower, a variant shield (for non-Subjugator enforcers), and that’s about it. Most of the new models shown off in previews generated eager speculation as to what exclusive weapons they might represent, and in most cases, the answer is they are Enforcer cosmetics on common Necromundan weapons.
• All more recently-published Enforcer models (so Sanctioner automata, the Palanite Companion allies, Hardcase Cyber-Mastiffs, and the Tauros Venator) are unchanged.
• There are no new Dramatis Personae – Scrutinator-Primus Servalen is still the only one in the book – which seems a bit of a missed opportunity. 
• Perhaps the most disappointing thing is that Badzone Enforcers don’t get any statline updates like their regular cousins. This leaves them looking very much the poor relation – still very thematic, and full of modelling potential, but distinctly uninteresting to play on the tabletop.

The Lore

There is some good new stuff in here, some of it expansions on what was already established in the Book of Judgement, Dark Uprising, and various campaign books, but there are also lots of crime-and-punishment themed vignettes about the (brutal, arbitrary and insane) way that Enforcers work on Necromunda. As ever, the black humour shines through in this most dystopian of settings. While much of the (excellent) artwork is re-used from those earlier books, we have spotted a couple of things that are new to us, notably a cool map of Enforcer precincts across the planet and one or two full-page colour portraits. Another highlight is the example hooks of famous precincts and patrols. We like the precinct housed in an armoured land train which constantly patrols the wastes.

Genghis Cohen: two areas I would have liked to see fleshed out that weren’t. First, enforcer training is still vaguely referenced as being very brutal and breaking down recruits’ old personalities. But there’s little detail about where, how, under whose supervision, etc. The reader mostly seems to be implicitly assumed to fill in their knowledge with standard dystopian and policy/military tropes. 

Second, there isn’t any detail on the Aranthian Succession and the current state of affairs on Necromunda. It’s understandable that this is a sandbox setting and the writers want to keep things open for players. But the timeline mentions that ‘most enforcers’ are sticking to backing House Helmawr, and it’s just not clear what that looks like. Are they insurgents? Is their chain of command functional? How could it be? Who is controlling the levers of power at the top on Necromunda. The obvious answers are ‘We guess, no, it couldn’t, and House Aranthus.’ But the whole setting, especially where Enforcers, the armed might of the state, are concerned, revolves around this authoritarian society. The ‘current’ state of affairs on Necromunda is one where that has fundamentally changed because of new leadership, but there’s no detail in the setting about how that is working. Basically, this isn’t the next campaign book, which on some level is what I want to read.  

How Enforcer Gangs Work in Campaigns

Praise Lord Helmawr and the God-Emperor! Enforcer gangs (both types) may now hold territories in Dominion campaigns, just like other gangs. A much needed simplification which eases campaign balancing for Arbitrators. Palanite and Badzone Enforcers each gather unique territory boons for a couple of territories as if they were other House gangs, e.g. Badzoners get the enhanced boon for a Narco Den as if they were an Escher gang. Instead of using Settlements as their un-losable starting territories, Palanite Enforcers get a Palanite Precinct, which gives identical income. Instead of randomly generating Juves, or occasionally Gangers, this generates one (1) Rookie in a cycle, if you deleted at least one fighter from your Roster during that cycle. So maybe a little worse than other gangs, if you took heavy casualties, but at least it kicks in reliably. Badzone Enforcers get a rare leg up on their counterparts with their Precinct Fortress equivalent. This doesn’t provide replacement fighters, instead it grants a bonus of 2D6x10 credits in cycles where your gang took at least 4 enemies Out of Action – definitely achievable and usually more valuable. 

Palanite Enforcer Gangs

This is the main new rules dump of the book, a full list of fighters, with equipment and skill lists, for the regular Enforcers. Captains are still the leaders, with separate fighters for Subjugator Sergeants, Palanite Sergeants, Palanite/Subjugator Patrolmen (and Specialists) and Palanite Rookies (no such thing as a Rookie Subjugator). Much more elegant than paying to upgrade fighters to Subjugators. Having Subjugators and regular Patrolmen as separate fighters also gives Enforcers the chance to have two Specialists, which is not something we have seen before. Across all of these fighters, the included equipment has been (mostly) stripped out. They all still come with their Magnacles, for those emergency attempts to restrain enemies in melee. But no more stub guns, armour or undersuits. While this is a welcome simplification, avoids equipment having “Schroedinger’s credit value”, and makes it easier to fit a workable number of fighters into a 1000-credit starter gang, it does end up losing some free value – we will give examples as we go.

The bottom line here is that all fighters saw some stat improvements, which make them a lot more fun to play with. They also get rationalised in terms of equipment access. So Captains and both types of Sergeant can pull weapons freely from the Trading Post; Specialists, Patrolmen and Rookies have to use the options in their own lists, although everyone can access Trading Post wargear, including grenades.

Enforcer Captains

As befitting their snazzy, blinged out new models, Captains got a major stats overhaul, going up to BS3+/WS3+, and a wonderful 3 Wounds. This makes them feel like proper bloody officers, and it feels better to build them for shooting, as well as close combat roles. Accordingly they now cost 120 credits (down from 140, but losing 40 credits of free stuff (flak armour, undersuit and stub gun)). They also go to a 3+ Initiative, as do all the Palanite (not Subjugator) types.

Their skill access also changes markedly. Brawn and Shooting are downgraded to Secondary skills, Leadership and Savant become Primary, alongside Palanite Drill. They lose access to Ferocity entirely. This is a move away from their previous melee focus, and we think it certainly gives them character as supervisors and leaders, rather than people who do their own dirty work as a first preference. That said, there are still some hands-on skills available via Palanite Drill.

Captains get access to pretty much all the weapons on the new sprues, so can be lavishly equipped for close combat (power swords!) and with the normal excellent Enforcer basic and special weapons. Weirdly, they can also take the traditional Subjugator heavy weapons, although not their grenade launcher, and they get access to the new Riot Shield (see the equipment section) rather than the Subjugators’ Vigilance Assault Shield. Plenty of options for multiple roles here. 

Palanite Sergeants

These guys go up to BS3+ and Initiative 3+, similarly going down 20 credits to 80, while losing 40 credits of gear. We can all be happy with that, they stack up perfectly well to other gangs’ shooting champions. They keep Palanite Drill and Shooting as Primary skills (the important ones for them) and Ferocity and Leadership as Secondary. They gain Combat as Secondary – not much use since their talents don’t seem to lie that way – but lose Brawn – even less relevant. The big loss is no access at all to Cunning (previously Primary), which would have been extremely synergistic with their new access to things like web guns. 

Speaking of which, their equipment list is almost identical to the Captain’s, only losing access to light carapace armour (available from the Trading Post anyway) and the Subjugator heavy weapons. Overall these will be more effective shots with any of their previously popular ranged weapons, and can get some lovely new special weapons as an alternative.

Subjugator Sergeants

Now a full alternative as champions in an Enforcer gang, Subjugator Sergeants really have been fleshed out. They get the WS3+, and more importantly the 2 Attacks, we expect of a melee champion. Clearly this makes them workmanlike, they are not equivalent to so-called ‘specialist champions’ with a melee focus like Stimmers or Death Maidens, but equally, they retain Group Activation(1), so we can’t complain. They go down 20 credits to a starting cost of 90, but of course they are losing 50 credits of equipment value. Skills are quite different to Palanite Sergeants, which we like: Palanite Drill is still Primary, alongside Brawn. Combat, Ferocity and Leadership are all Secondary. While Brawn is obviously a less strong tree than Shooting (which they can’t access at all), this does mean players are incentivised to build Subjugator Sergeants as their front line brawlers if at all.

Their equipment options haven’t changed much and the only ranged options they gain from the new kits are the heavy stubber and Repulsion Pattern Chem-thrower (see the equipment section to find out if it’s as repulsive as claimed). They do benefit a lot from that nice suite of Power weapon options in their native list.

Palanite Patrolmen (and Specialists)

These guys are little changed, going down 25 credits to 45, but losing 40 credits worth of equipment, while picking up Initiative 3+. That’s a pretty minor factor, unless you’re mounting up in the Ash Wastes, so these remain very standard gangers in terms of stats. But they keep their access to excellent ranged weapons, and they do the job you want your gangers to do. The only real complaint we have about Patrolmen is that their equipment list still doesn’t include autoguns, despite their inclusion in the new upgrade sprue. Having this common, barebones weapon be usable by the top brass, but not by the beat cops, goes against all 40k logic. It would also have been quite useful, when building starting gangs, to have a cheap weapon option! 

All the more odd that Patrolmen get access to some punchy Power weapons, which seems gratuitous. The most unlooked for benefit, however, is access to the new Riot Shield – see the equipment section. Note that Patrolmen can all access their Special weapon options, but those are limited to Concussion Carbines and Sniper Rifles – good solid options, but they don’t get to hold the flamers or web guns from the new upgrade sprue. Sergeants must have first dibs on the armoury.

Specialists are now limited to a single model nominated at the start of the campaign, plus any gangers or juves promoted mid-campaign (the original Book of Judgement had some ambiguities where ordinary Patrolmen were implied to buy Advances and gain Skills like other gangs’ Specialists). Note that because Subjugator and Palanite Patrolmen are now separate fighter entries, a gang can start a campaign with one Specialist of each type. Palanite Enforcer Specialists get Palanite Drill and Shooting as Primary skills with Combat and Brawn as Secondary. Having Shooting as a Primary skill is a real strength.

Subjugator Patrolmen (and Specialists)

In maybe our favourite change to Enforcers’ stats, even more than the boosts to Captains and Sergeants, Subjugators now have two Attacks base. This is great to see, something the rules design team seems to have played around with on the recent Nomads’ Sha’dar Hunters. Melee combat in Necromunda has long been considered the realm of pumped up champions. Giving ordinary gang fighters access to more attacks lets them threaten charges at bigger game and gives some incentives to equip models for close combat, rather than focussing on shooting. A Subjugator still only costs a reasonable 55 credits (down 25, but losing 50 of free stuff), and to be fair their other stats are unchanged and unexceptional. But they retain the ability to buy a good armour save, with enough investment, and now they have access to Power Knives, Mauls and Swords to make use of their Attacks stat. Their ranged options remain unchanged, and you can still give any plain Patrolman their heavy weapon options, if you so wish.

The Specialist variant gets Palanite Drill and Brawn as Primary Skill options, with Combat and Shooting as Secondary. Rather funny that this makes a Subjugator Specialist a better candidate for ranged weapon upgrades than a Subjugator Sergeant, although the benefit is minor.

Palanite Rookies

In a solution to one of the oddest bits of jank in the old rules, Rookies now cost 25 credits with no gear, not 0 credits with a lot of gear included. But this does mean you can actually recruit them without restrictions – they work as all other Juves, so they count as Gang Fighters (you could have a gang of a Captain, any Sergeants, and an equal or greater number of rookies if you really wanted) and now explicitly benefit from Fast Learner when spending XP, which they didn’t before. They also can promote to Palanite Specialists. This set up gives them a real place in the gang roster, rather than being the occasional free replacements of the previous rules. 

For their price, Rookies do at least get the 6” movement we expect for standard-human Juves, and share the boosted 3+ Initiative of all Palanites. Apart from that their stats remain poor, but hey, you don’t need good BS to fire a shotgun in template mode (and we do expect that to be their battlefield role in most gangs). They don’t have many other options – they can take the Enforcer boltgun or shotgun, but they don’t get any Special options, and their only melee tool is the feeble Shock Baton. No riot shields here. For Skills, they have Palanite Drill as Primary, with Shooting and Agility as Secondary. That’s not a bad spread – Shooting would have been desirable as Primary for Hip Shooting, but Agility has a few neat options in it.

Other Fighters (and Brute and Vehicle)

We just want to note here that Palanite Rangers (vehicle crews), the Tauros Venator vehicle, Hardcase Cyber-Mastiffs, and the Sanctioner Pattern Automata, are all here in the book, all exact reprints of their previously published iterations, and all explicitly options for Palanite Enforcer gangs, ie not for Badzone Enforcers. 

New Hangers-On: Palanite Haunts

While they are Hangers-On, so their eligibility to be recruited (and stay with) the gang is tied to Reputation, Haunts have a special rule making them part of the crew (as with other fighty hangers-on like Squats’ Claim Jumpers). So they will at least always be an option to bring in a crew. But their status as not fully members has other downsides. They don’t develop XP, and they must be deleted from the roster on suffering any permanent Lasting Injury debuffs. Those are both serious negatives – remember that even some positive changes from Lasting Injuries, like Fearsome Scars, will trigger this condition, so it’s nearly a ¼ chance to lose a Haunt permanently every time they go Out of Action. The flip side of this is you get a 2-Wound fighter with good Wyrd powers available off the bat, no additional investment needed, for a very reasonable credit cost. 

Haunts have Rookie-level fighting stats and no weapons, but hopefully they will be using Wyrd powers in most situations. They have Hardened Flak Armour, which is fairly minimal protection (see the equipment section) and do at least have the Fearsome skill. They are extremely effective as Psykers – a 5+ Willpower stat, and the Sanctioned Psyker rule to allow them to re-roll a failed Willpower check once per game. They are also insulated against Perils of the Warp – should that happen, the Haunt simply goes Out of Action, Knocked Cold. Very forgiving. On recruitment, the player selects one of two types for the Haunt: the Psyrender, focussed on mental effects, and the telekinetic Bonecrusher. Each has a unique special rule and knows a set of three Wyrd Powers. Hot take: The Psyrender is miles better – we will endeavour to explain why below. But this is the kind of thing which irks us about new Necromunda rules. Tons of cool, thematic ideas and new options, but very little thought put into making them work on the table. 

First off, the Psyrender has a Fearful Aura rule which seems to do exactly the same thing as Fearsome – requiring a Willpower roll for enemies to charge them, and stopping the activation altogether on failure. Is this meant to stack, so enemies who want to charge a Psyrender must make two Willpower checks? Is it an editing oversight? Your guess is as good as ours. But their Wyrd Powers are exceptional. 

• Mind Control is a Basic Action, you choose an enemy within 9” and Line of Sight, and use them to shoot at another enemy of your choice. While the range is quite punishing, there is no chance for enemies to resist, beyond hoping the Haunt fails their 5+ Willpower and potential re-roll, so this is potentially devastating. It also seems extremely fun, at least for the Enforcer player. Nothing equals the schadenfreude of turning an enemy’s prized multi melta against them, or placing their web template on several of their models. Note that this doesn’t require the target to have a Ready marker, but nor does it use one up if they are Ready. 
• Terrify is probably the weakest of the three, principally because it’s a Double Action, but still strong. The Haunt chooses a target within 18” and sight, to immediately take a Nerve Test at -3 (becoming Broken on failure, as normal). That’s a punishing modifier, so this is a good chance to neutralise all but the bravest enemies for a turn. Very useful to have powers like this which don’t care about conventional defences like armour or Toughness.
• Hallucinations is a Basic action and lets the Haunt nominate an enemy within 12”, regardless of Line of Sight. Note that when it comes to psychic powers you still have to draw a line to the target; you can’t measure through solid terrain. If manifested the target immediately becomes Insane, no further rolls. Now insanity isn’t a sure thing in Necromunda, but it is still very dangerous, and to inflict the state from out of sight, and without recourse, is pretty obnoxious, especially on tight ‘tunnel fighting’ maps.

The Bonecrusher, despite the awesome name, is actually much more restricted. Their special rule is Fists of Fury, adding +1S and +1 Damage to their unarmed attacks. Reminder, these guys are WS5+, 1 Attack, and getting them into close combat generally means forgoing using the Wyrd Powers that are their raison d’etre. This is a bananas piece of rules design. Their powers have some issues that reveal a similar lack of thought:

• Crush is a Basic Action which targets an enemy or an obstacle in 12” and Line of Sight, and requires a successful Hit roll. Yes, on the Haunt’s 5+ BS. The effects are potentially strong – an obstacle is removed from the battlefield, while a fighter just gets their save roll (this bypasses any roll to Wound) and rolls an Injury dice if they fail. The requirement to roll to hit simply crushes the chances of this being effective (ha!). Perhaps there will be rare situations where it’s worth a punt to remove a critical barricade shielding priority targets. Or perhaps there is a very tough, multi-wound Brute without much armour which is troubling you. But this simply doesn’t do anything which firepower can’t, and the odds don’t seem good by comparison.
• Force Field is a Basic action and continuous effect which gives the Haunt, and all friends within 3”, +1 armour save. We don’t hate this, it clearly gives the model something to do when outside of contact. You can get three armoured undersuits for less than the price of a Haunt, we should point out, but that’s maybe too harsh a comparison, the value of this will be in stacking to 2+ saves on shielded enforcers. Players should use some discretion in when to centre their tactics around this – no point clustering up to get a bonus to saves, then being hit with a template which has Gas, Web or Blaze, which could neutralise all your fighters regardless.
• Force Blast is a Basic action which targets all enemies within 3” of the Haunt. They are pushed D3+1” away; this can cause them to fall over ledges (but they can avoid that on a passed Initiative test), or if they hit a solid object, they go Prone and take a hit equal to the distance (so S2-S4). That is a pretty feeble effect, which requires you to get your supporting psyker right up to enemy models. Perhaps there is some hypothetical where your Haunt dashes in amongst several Squats or Ogryns on a high walkway, and blasts them off into space, but it doesn’t seem likely. This would have been far more relevant as an attack with proper range, even if it was single-target.

So overall, a Psyrender Haunt seems like an extremely strong pick to shut down key enemy fighters. When you think that they cost the same as a plain Rookie with an Enforcer shotgun (and no armour), they seem pretty damn great. The Bonecrusher has an awesome name and not much else. The only use case there, in our opinion, is as a dedicated Force Field projector for your breaching squad, but that is highly dependent on match ups, particularly opponents who lack the blast and template weapons to punish clumped up targets. 

Badzone Enforcer Fighters

Time for some bad news. Badzone Enforcers are basically unchanged from their previous rules, so their Hierarchy models have the same terrible stats as older-rules Enforcers, no revisions here. They still follow a simplified gang structure: Captain, one type of Sergeant (which mixes the equipment options of Palanite/Subjugators, but has worse stats than either), Patrolmen, and then enlisted Hive Scum instead of Rookies. They don’t get access to any unique vehicles (or even crew), Brute, Hangers-On, and they even get the abominably useless Hacked Cyber-mastiff instead of the Hardcase. 

Badzone Enforcer Captain

Badzone Enforcer Captains lose the armoured undersuit for a 25 credit discount, meaning that their price is unchanged. They lost access to a sniper rifle in exchange for a flamer, lost access to shock staves, and gained access to the armoured undersuit that they previously got for free. There’s nothing here to be excited about, especially when you consider that the non-Badzone version gains a boost in BS, W, and I for 25 credits. They also have the older Skill access, so Leadership is Secondary and Savant is absent, while Brawn is Primary – but on the upside, Shooting is still Primary, and they retain Ferocity as Secondary, so at least there’s some hope.

Badzone Enforcer Sergeant

Sergeants actually got more expensive; they lost the armoured undersuit but only took a 15 credit discount. They received the same equipment changes as the Captain. Their only real selling point is access to Cunning, alongside Shooting and Palanite Drill, as Primary Skills, so the ol’ Infiltrating Web gun strategy is still an option. There’s not much else to spark joy in the Badzones.

Badzone Enforcer Patrolman

Similarly to Sergeants, the Patrolman is effectively 5 credits more expensive thanks to losing armoured undersuits but only getting a 15 credit discount. They lose access to shock staves and gain access to armoured undersuits. They retain the rule that makes Enforcer Boltguns, Shotguns, and Concussion Carbines have the Scarce trait (while still having to pay the same price). As before, only the Patrolman Specialist has the option to use the Special or Heavy Weapons. Unfortunately you still have to take a lot of them because the Gang Fighter (X) rule requires that you take one for each fighter without the rule, and only Patrolmen have this rule. 

Enlisted Hive Scum

Unchanged in their price, stats and equipment options, these are now the main selling point of Badzone Enforcers, the only capability which isn’t exceeded by regular Palanite Enforcer gangs. But their ability to be included in a Badzone patrol has changed significantly. In the old White Dwarf rules, they were extra to your balance of Gang Fighters/Hierarchy. So as long as you had enough Patrolmen to outweigh your Captain/Sergeants, you could add any number of Scum. That’s no longer the case; Scum are not Gang Fighters, there is no exemption, and as such you are strictly limited on the number you can add, by your number of Patrolmen.

Beyond the modelling and narrative opportunities, does a player want to field Enlisted Hive Scum? From a thematic point of view, there is a profound joy in playing a bunch of unwashed rabble in Necromunda. But without any rules for fielding larger Crew Sizes (like Cawdor gangs get), there are severe limits on the effectiveness of spamming cheap bodies. While Scum are Expendable – getting them injured or taken out doesn’t provoke Nerve Tests for any allies except other Scum – that also means they can’t take part in Group Activations, or benefit from Gang Hierarchy Cool checks to keep them on the table after Bottling. So they can’t pile on enemies that effectively, and will probably run off once things go south. You do get a workmanlike BS/WS4+, and a serviceable weapons list, for a very cheap price. The trouble is deciding what to spend your saved credits on – all the other fighters for Badzone Enforcers are frustratingly mediocre.

Fowler: Fear not, intrepid kitbashers. There are still some cases in which regular Enforcers can get Enlisted Hive Scum (or just regular Hive Scum that you can bash to be Enforcer-themed. The Emergency Deputisation tactics card (see below) and some territories in campaigns can get you the goods. It may make sense to have a few on hand anyway.

Palanite Drill Skills – Updated

Genghis Cohen: In a rare, unexpected balance pass, the particularly bad/unworkable skills in this tree were updated! A minor miracle. It doesn’t particularly change the standard Necromunda skill tree (im)balance, there are still 1-2 really good options and a load of less optimal choices, but they dealt with the complete inanity of some of the old Book of Judgement versions.

• The good skills (Got your Six and Threat Response), which, with their emphasis on countering enemy charges, are a big part of Enforcers’ tactical playstyle, are completely unchanged. They are both extremely good provided you end up playing against gangs that do include melee threats. Team Work is also the same, allowing an additional fighter for Group Activation, functionally identical to the Leadership skill Inspiring Presence.
• Helmawr’s Justice now grants an additional XP when performing a coup de grace. It used to inflict an additional Lasting Injury roll on the target, which annoyed the opponent but didn’t really benefit the Enforcer player. This new version is at least beneficial and functional, but our initial positivity didn’t hold up after considering the opportunity cost. A Primary skill costs 6XP minimum. So really, the fighter needs to coup de grace 7 or more enemies before they start making any positive gains from this skill. Perhaps you might make those numbers on a melee powerhouse via a campaign, from the free Coup de Graces generated by seriously injuring enemies in melee. But it seems unlikely that any fighter could pull ahead with this skill, as compared to just buying some other Advance.
• Non-verbal Communication used to be a terrible, terrible skill. It is now a passive, but relatively minor benefit, allowing all friends with Line of Sight to the fighter to use their Cool stat for Nerve checks. This might actually have relevance for Badzone Hierarchy supervising Hive Scum, or Palanites showing Rookies the ropes. A prime example of a skill that is helpful, but not competitive against the really good picks. Lho sticks are probably still better, since Rookies and Enlisted Hive Scum are stupid enough to think that smoking is cool.
• Restraint Protocols enables the fighter to restrain enemies in place or a regular Coup de Grace, setting the lasting injury roll to ‘Captured’. This was necessary as the capturing mechanics changed (in the 2023 rulebook update) and the old skill, which gave a minor boost to the chance to capture an enemy fighter at the end of the game, just didn’t function. We remind readers that this new version is still only a ⅔ chance to actually capture the target, because a D6 is rolled at the end of the game and on a 1-2 they get away without consequences (not a caveat of this skill, that’s just what a Captured result on the Lasting Injury table means). The value of this skill depends heavily on how your gaming group reacts to capturing and rescuing fighters. For some, a capture, especially of a key leader/champion, often produces an immediate ransom offer. For others, it means the captive’s owner wants to play the Rescue scenario at the next opportunity, because that is often a chance to give the capturer a thrashing. It depends on a lot of unknowns, both with the players’ preferences, and their real life arrangements. Having a fighter in captivity isn’t such a big deal if your next game was against their captor anyway. If, e.g. in a bigger group, you weren’t planning to play against them for a month, with plenty of games against other friends planned beforehand, it’s a real problem. So, this skill is very much personal taste for the individual. 
  • Primaris Kevin: It does create some real opportunities to role-play that local Enforcer patrol, banging up the ne’er-do-wells in your precinct lock-up, with appropriate custom terrain! Another option is for Arbitrators to use an alternative Capture rule like what we used in the 2025 Goonhammer Open, where instead of being a potentially crippling source of feelsbad it became a fun roll-off for XP.

Palanite Prefectures

Any Palanite Enforcer gang (Badzone Enforcers specifically excluded) can, on gang creation, pick a Prefecture to hail from. All 5 of these are tied to regions or hive clusters. This is a lovely imagination kick-start, to get players to think about where their gang is from on Necromunda, or if your group is playing in a setting/campaign tied to a certain location, it gives players a steer on potential themes. Mechanically, they aren’t that impactful. Almost none of the rules are extra, passive benefits for the gang, and those that exist are very minor. The bulk are either Skills or equipment which can be picked up (and paid for as normal) during campaigns. That means there’s a real opportunity cost, and few of these options are powerful enough to be incentivised over the better options in the generally-available rules.

One note on Skills – all of these options are extra skills for the Palanite Drill tree. Most importantly, this means that all of your fighters treat them as Primary. But it’s explicitly noted that they are not available for random generation, you have to pick them, which essentially means they cost 9XP (or can be chosen as a starting skill on recruitment for a Captain or Sergeant). 

Palanite Prefecture

This prefecture is themed around the well organised, drilled teams of the central Palanite structure, and offers 3 available skills:

• Call Reinforcements allows the fighter to call an ‘Officer Down’ as a Double Action,  which can only be done once per game, and if a friendly model has already been taken out of action. This works automatically, and in the End Phase of the Round, the Enforcer player can bring on a fighter in their roster who is not in the crew (or in Recovery) as a Reinforcement. That’s a really interesting capability, particularly in small games and/or those with randomly generated Crews, to bring on a powerful Captain or Sergeant (or a Sanctioner automata!). But the need to have at least one model taken out before use makes it very hard to plan, and by the time the opportunity arrives, the game should be fully engaged, which is the worst time to take a full Double Action (probably on one of your stronger models) achieving no direct action. As an additional problem, Reinforcements is a very swingy mechanic, because ⅓ of the time your opponent gets to place the model, which can lead to the reinforcing model being irrelevant, or easily taken out themselves. This seems like one for players who really, really want to play up the tropes of modern day cops. 
  • For players who use Tactics Cards, you could use Emergency Deputisation to get a free Enlisted Hive Scum who can then be proudly sent to their deaths.
• Priority Threat is a money maker. If the fighter is in a crew, you can randomly select one enemy fighter. If that target goes Out of Action during the battle, you gain D6x10 credits. Honestly, this seems pretty good, comparable to other passive income-generating skills, and a bit more engaging to play with. The utility may vary if your friends enjoy frustrating you, and just hide the designated fighter away. But that won’t always be palatable – it’s as likely to be their leader as a random juve – and Arbitrators could house-rule this to be a secret choice, if that seems more fun.
• Shield Companion lets the fighter give any friendly fighters in base contact the protective benefits of their shield. This has real strengths, but seems likely to generate janky interactions. First, the Assault Shield trait works on facings. RAW, the friendly fighter would get the shield benefit against attacks in their own front 90-degree arc, where logically, it should only apply to attacks from the front of the skill-using model. Second, because of the facings issue, the shield bonus doesn’t help a model which is Pinned/Prone, because it has no front facing. Again, logically it should matter if the skill user is Pinned, but not the other friendly model, but that isn’t spelled out in the rules. For that matter, can a Prone model be in Base Contact with anyone? Page 58 talks about measuring from a Pinned fighter as if they occupied the same space as if they were Standing, but does that apply for the base itself? Potential headaches aside, this could be very strong; you could give bonuses to several comrades, if you’re not worried about being punished by templates or grenades; you could give the bonus to a Sanctioner automata – while also claiming cover by hiding behind it! On reflection, this seems like a skill where groups should agree to play it with ‘sensible’ model placement, rather than trying to game the RAW. A final caveat: while shields are awesome and iconic, reflect that most Enforcers have the chance to buy one themselves for 35-40 credits. 9XP, or the opportunity cost of choosing another good Skill, might outweigh that cost. (the rules do explicitly state a fighter can only benefit from the shield bonus once, you can’t have two models double-shielding for +2 to save)

Genghis Cohen: Honestly, this is probably the first one I will try. I love the imagery of Shield Companion – I’m not going to try and jank it up, I just want to move my future SWAT dudes in little fireteam pairs – and the bounty hunting mechanic of Priority Threat.

Fowler: Captains getting access to Riot Shields makes this enticing for me. Allowing your screening mooks to share a shield save definitely opens up some interesting playstyles.

Primaris Kevin: Money is king, and taking three cops with Priority Threat seems like a fun way to make some extra credits.

Mynerva Prefecture

This is the cyber-mastiff prefecture! Three skills are available, all expanding what fighters with attached cyber-mastiffs can do. Technically the rules all mention ‘Exotic Beasts’ but that is normally Hardcases – they’d also apply to generic things like Grapplehawks if your group is using such:

• Advanced Beast Handling lets the owners’ beasts end their activations up to 6” further away than usual (so normally 9” for Hardcases). This does ease up the constraints on what they can charge considerably, so would be a good pick if you want to use Hardcases as offensive tools. 
• Beast Mastery lets the fighter make a Command (Basic Action). This requires a Leadership test (so 5+ for Sergeants, 4+ for Captains) and if successful, one of their beasts can make two Actions, exactly as if it were their own Activation. This explicitly doesn’t require the beast to be Ready, doesn’t use up their Ready marker if they have one, and doesn’t stop the beast also Activating during the owner’s Group Activation as normal. This sort of action economy skill is enormously powerful on a real fighter. We are not sure it will give as much benefit on a Hardcase Cyber Mastiff, which for all its cool factor and steel jaws, still has to remain relatively close to its owner, relies purely on melee attacks, and doesn’t reach the threat levels of bigger fighters. Especially without Advanced Beast Handling (above) as well, to make full use of this, the fighter has to normal-move extremely close to enemies, in order for their Hardcase to be allowed to charge into them. It does at least give Hardcases enough Actions to stand up and still Charge during an Activation, if they’d happened to become Pinned.
• Attack Order gives a passive buff: if the owner and one of their beasts are both engaged with the same enemy model, increase the beast’s Attacks stat by 1. (note the language prevents this buff applying to, e.g., two cyber-mastiffs at the same time) Now that situation might crop up in games sometimes, because Hardcases’ Faithful Protector rule lets them move into contact with enemies who their owner is engaged with, and their Tenacious rule almost guarantees they will get a chance to swing their attacks. But one additional attack, at S3, AP-1 with Shock, isn’t often a game-changer. 

Genghis Cohen: I think this one will be pretty damn popular, because it’s for the dog enthusiasts, of whom there are many, and the skills do things which aren’t replicable by anything else. I did have to read through the Exotic Beasts rules again to make sense of this part. My concern is that to make leaning heavily into Hardcase Cyber-mastiffs feel good, a fighter really wants at least the first two skills, and that’s a pretty hefty investment. But I’m definitely going to give this a try at some point.

Primaris Kevin: I think that with their Cool state of 6+ a Cyber-mastiff can be pretty independent, and Beast Mastery is by far my favorite since it’s not limited by distance or LOS. What makes this interesting is that you aren’t limited to Cyber-mastiffs; any Exotic Beast can benefit from this prefecture.  If there’s a way to take advantage of Grapplehawks with a 15” activation range, I’d love to know it.

Fowler: Giant Rats have a 4+ invuln, are -1 to be hit with ranged attacks, and have a backstab attack. For half the price of a dog, you get some really interesting utility options with Beast Master. I’m generally high on rats anyhow, but Rat Cop has me making plans.

Secundan Prefecture

Themed on the forces which patrol the Secundan Exclusion Zone and the Skull (a toppled hive which is probably infested with Orks), this is very clearly an option for vehicle-friendly campaigns, since its options are three pieces of vehicle wargear:

• The Suppression Siren gives a once-per-battle free action (technically just an effect the player declares they are using during the vehicle’s activation). All enemy fighters within 12” have to take a Toughness test, and suffer a Flesh Wound if they fail. This is a neat, potentially powerful effect which bypasses every defence except ‘having high Toughness’. Utility will vary depending on if your opponents are actually playing many fighters (as opposed to vehicles) in your campaign. But with the large trigger area, this could be genuinely good, if expensive at 50 credits. Arbitrators may wish to consider if the once-per-battle rule should be applied to the whole gang (currently, RAW, you could take the wargear on multiple vehicles and proc the effect multiple times) or at least if the effect should only be applicable once per Round.
• A Vox Disruptor means that enemies within 9” cannot benefit from Gang Hierarchy, which basically means that after failing a Bottle Test, Gang Fighters can’t rely on their Leaders/Champions’ passed Cool Check to keep them on the table, they have to test their own Cool. That is impressively niche, most players focus on buying kit which helps them win the game, and psychologically brush over stuff like this, which hurts the opponent in a situation where they are already, hopefully, on the back foot. That said, we’ve seen many a close game of Necromunda go past both gangs bottling out and be decided by whose last fighter runs away first, so maybe this is worth . . . 45 credits!? You’re having a laugh. Not a chance this is worth the price.
• An Electro-shock Projector gives a chance (5+ on a D6) for enemies ending their Activation within 6” of the vehicle to suffer a simple S3 hit, at Damage 1 with no AP. Aside from the feebleness of the hit, and its low chance to occur, Necromunda doesn’t have secret wargear, so your opponents should be reminded of this, and fighters who aren’t tough enough to shrug this off may just avoid your vehicle. Free hits aren’t completely worthless, but at an expensive 60 credits, this is rubbish.

Genghis Cohen: I like the idea of the Ash Wastes vehicle patrol, and these seem like the lore-accurate choice for any Secundan campaign, but I’m not loving the actual rules. Maybe the Suppression Siren is worth a go. I may look for a suitably funny or irritating noise to play on my phone when activating it.

Primaris Kevin: Woop-woop, that’s the sound of da police. I want to like this prefecture but only one of the wargear is worth considering. A Venator with Crew is a base of 160, so in most Ash Wastes campaigns you could reliably afford two of them with Suppression Sirens and still have 80 credits left over for other toys. Alternatively spend 450 credits for 3 Wolfquads and throw your own concert.

Fowler: Throwing a Suppression Siren on a fast vehicle and driving it into a crowd seems fun – but other prefectures have too many goodies that I would rather take here.

Badlands Prefecture

Not to be confused with Badzones (there are a lot of bad places on Necromunda), this is themed on Enforcers patrolling the Spoil, basically a post-industrial landscape which is combed over for reclaimable resources. It’s something of a grab bag. It features a rare, but highly situational, passive benefit: Badlands Prefecture gangs can access Bionics at a slightly reduced price (0-10 credits) and/or availability (some become Common, some go down a notch or two). That is characterful (the enforcers are apparently just grabbing bionics off the scrapheaps and surgically grafting them on) but close to irrelevant in terms of building a gang up through a campaign. There are also two skills:

• Spoiling for a Fight lets the fighter add +D6”, rather than D3”, to the first Charge move they make in a game. While obviously luck-dependent, this actually seems like a good skill, with the potential to wrong-foot opponents. Probably not worth buying in a campaign, compared to buying Movement Advances, but a decent pick on a Subjugator Sergeant.
• Reclamation Contacts lets the fighter’s gang sell Common Items back to the Trading Post for full price, which we guess has some slight value in terms of recouping costs of low tier equipment you want to replace, and saves you (D3x10) credits on the first Common Item you buy in each post-game. The thing is, most Common Items are very cheap. The price reduction is to a minimum of 5 credits, so you’re probably saving 10 credits, rather than the average of 20, on one purchase per post-game. This compares poorly with the income skills from the Savant tree, and it’s just kind of a pain. Common items are useful, e.g. many Enforcer players will want to buy multiple sets of Mesh Armour. But is a price cut worth buying those at a rate of 1 per game? 

Genghis Cohen: I do love a skill with a pun in the name, but aside from Spoiling for a Fight, this seems like a bad one. Ho ho ho. 

Primaris Kevin: Maybe if they keep looking this prefecture can scavenge some decent rules. 

Fowler: There might be some synergy with some bionics becoming common, and getting discounts on common items… but that requires you to NEED bionics.

Poison Sea Prefecture

While this region (involving submerged hives, including one notorious prison hive, and scope for interesting nautical adventures) is likely to spark players’ imaginations, the theme of the Prefecture is actually that the local enforcers cut deals with powerful narco barons. As such, they get very slightly reduced prices (0-5 credits) and/or rarity (typically 1-3 notches) for chems. As with the Badlands’ bionic access, those are very gentle nudges, not amounting to much as a campaign benefit. But even more than bionics, which are at least situationally desirable if you’re unlucky with injuries, chems are famously not a good thing to spend credits on. Very few players are willing to spend on one-off benefits, even before considering the side effects. This is only likely to appeal to committed drug-corruption roleplayers, but there are a skill and a piece of wargear as additional options:

• Poison Resistance, a Palanite Drill skill, lets you set one Injury dice, when wounded by a Poison or Gas weapon, to a Flesh Wound. That is effectively a get-out-of-jail-free card for every such weapon that doesn’t inflict multiple hits. (RAW argument, if attacked in melee by a fighter with multiple attacks and toxin, those attacks could be said to resolve one at a time, and the fighter could apply this effect to each successful Toxin wound in succession. We are pretty sure the RAI is that only the first wounding attack can be set to a Flesh Wound) It is one of those situational/list-tailoring skills. This is likely to be very frustrating to Escher players or a few other gangs, but completely useless in other situations.
• The Shock Amplifier is an attachment for a close combat weapon, costing 30 credits. It makes Shock trigger on a 5+ rather than a 6. Now the only Shock weapon in this book is the lowly baton, which is in no way worth using this for. The only weapon Enforcers can access (from the Trading Post) which we might consider it on is the Thunder Hammer, which is at least very funny. 

Primaris Kevin: Clearly this gang is meant to find a stash of Xenarch Death-Arcs.

Fowler: Shock amplifiers would have been tempting if Shock Staves hadn’t disappeared! My sump sea cops would have loved this alliance.

All the new equipment options in this book are directly related to the modelling options in the new Captain/Sergeant box and weapon upgrade sprue – outside of the Prefecture options there are no new ‘invisible’ pieces of wargear. As touched on in the fighter details above, the weapons which weren’t already available to Enforcers are mostly restricted to Captains and Sergeants. As far as we can tell, there aren’t any changes to stats or costs of previously extant weapons. Irritatingly, this even extends to some typos and errors which were errata’d in the old rule. E.g. the Heavy Concussion Ram (a Subjugator weapon option) lacks the Blast(3”) option it is supposed to have. But there are some new factors, so here are some key overview points:

• Riot Shields are a new piece of kit, providing the same protective effects as the classic Subjugators’ Vigilance Assault Shield. It costs slightly less (35 credits rather than 40), but is -1 to hit and lacks the very useful Knockback rule. The important thing is that this is available to Captains, Palanite Sergeants and Palanite Patrolmen. This strengthens Enforcers’ identity as a heavily armoured gang, at least later in campaigns. It’s clearly less effective than, say, an armoured undersuit, since it costs more, the armour bonus is conditional, and it actively hampers most users’ reaction attacks in melee. But the save-stacking potential is very real, especially to resist melee attacks from the front. We are really excited that that visually evocative playstyle, of shielded enforcers advancing while blasting away, is extended beyond Subjugators to the regular Palanites. Expect those shield bits to be in high demand.
• Shock Staves have been removed from all fighters, the rules are not even in the book. This is certainly outweighed by the very wide access to Power Knives/Mauls/Swords, but situationally some players might have liked Versatile. Subjugators with what were their Shock Stave models appear in the book labelled as ‘Shock Batons’. Quite a few players may be doing some converting soon, if they are bothered about both WYSIWYG and effectiveness on the table! 

Genghis Cohen: This is sort of a mystifying change. We all agreed previously that staves were better than batons, but I used to go to the Trading Post to buy power mauls for all my fighters anyway – they were hardly overpowered! I don’t see why they couldn’t have existed as an enforcement option. Perhaps the designers felt that Versatile weapons were unfair with the counter-charging mechanic of Threat Response, or that it was more thematic for shielded Subjugators to barrel into ‘real’ close combat. I hardly think that was necessary. Maybe it’s as simple as trying to avoid new players’ confusion between stave and baton models?

• The Repulsion Pattern Chem-thrower is only available to Subjugator Sergeants, for 90 credits, and is just a template weapon with Gas, but also Fear. So it doesn’t cause pinning, and you roll to equal or beat any targets’ Toughness. Successes bypass any saving rolls, but because of Fear, they don’t cause any injuries. Instead, the only effect is they must take a Nerve Test at -2, or be Broken (as normal for failed Nerve Tests). This is an offensively poor weapon. If you squint, you can just about see an asymmetric way to neutralise fighters which are protected by armour or multiple Wounds against being conventionally injured. But it just isn’t certain enough to justify an expensive weapon with entirely non-lethal effects. We would encourage players to look at things like Photon Flash grenades instead, or use a Psyrender Haunt, if they want to do this sort of play.
• Some of the other bits in the new Captain/Sergeant kit, which we were all excited about, are actually just generic items. There’s a heavy stubber, a bolter/grenade launcher combi-weapon (which is very poor compared to the enforcer boltgun), and regular bolt and plasma pistols. Really, the most impactful general-availability weapons added are web guns, power weapons, and arguably plasma pistols.
• Enforcer armour has a similar dynamic to previously: Palanites can only take Flak, Subjugators can only take Layered Flak (or the respective Hardened variants) on their own lists. In practice, most patrols’ first post-battle team building activity will still be a trip down the local Trading Post, to pick out some cute Mesh Armour outfits together.
• We don’t want to harp on this point too much, but we are very surprised, having seen the autogun bits in the new models, that this option was not extended to regular Palanite Patrolmen. Although it helps to have ‘bare’ fighters available, rather than paying for included gear, enforcers have always had some issues getting enough bodies in their starting gangs, because their signature basic/special weapons start at 30 credits for the concussion carbine. It would have been very helpful to access autoguns for the start of a campaign. Equally, special ammunition is available for autopistols, as in the old rules (both variants, fragmentation and manstopper rounds, are fine but not especially powerful) – this was the perfect opportunity to extend those options to autoguns as well, and it just doesn’t seem to be something the rules writers think is worthwhile. 

House Agents & Scrutinator Primus Servalen

As far as Dramatis Personae go, the only entry in this book is good old Scrutinator-Primus Servalen, completely unchanged from her previous campaign book appearance. She does have fun abilities to shut down enemy Psykers, so there is potential as a scenario NPC and/or as part of a themed group with Haunts. But ultimately, this is a stub gun carrying champion with a hardcase mastiff, so more of a unit for narrative play.

House Agents provide the other Enforcer-themed way to add a Hired Gun to your crew (generic Hive Scum and Bounty Hunters are also in the book). These follow the normal rules, where your gang can roll to petition them, hiring one for 40 credits (if Rep+D6 is low enough), 80 credits (if it’s higher), or they can’t hire one at all and pay a fine for the temerity of asking (if it’s too damn high). There are three strong profiles available: one very close to the excellent new Enforcer Captain, and two which are specialised for WS and BS, at the cost of other stats. Their stats are maybe a tiny touch worse than the Ash Waste Nomads equivalents’, but far stronger than, e.g., the Delaque agents in House of Shadows. We’re not going to survey the options, but we wonder if some power creep or a re-evaluation of the concept has taken place. All options come with Group Activation (1) and 150 credits’ worth of equipment from the Captain’s list. 

Genghis Cohen: I’ve never seen a group which really made use of House Agents from an optimisation/power-gaming standpoint. But the design philosophy of how they’re accessed is impenetrable to me. The best and easiest time to use them is very early in a campaign – why wouldn’t most starting gangs reserve 40 credits to rent ~270 credits worth of leader-level stats and gear for their first game, giving them a massive advantage and a chance to snowball into success? In my opinion, these rules should be more at Arbitrator’s discretion as a mechanic to bring underdog gangs up to a level playing field in games against larger opponents.

Imperial House Alliance & Palanite Companions

This Alliance and associated delegation is very nearly a direct reprint from the Vault of Temenos campaign book, with one minor addition: if a gang breaks off this alliance as a result of a Testing the Alliance roll, they immediately become Outlaws. Which is hilarious and would enable some cool narrative and roleplaying for an Enforcers (or any other) gang. As an Alliance, its passive benefits are restrained but (probably) without drawbacks – you pay a (D3x10) credit tax, but can gather extra revenue from one territory, which in most campaigns means at least D6x10 gained. The fighting delegation, two Palanite Companion bodyguards, is also pretty sound – not as numerous as some delegations, but straightforward to use, being simply two effective shooters with terrifying, if relatively inaccurate and Unstable, disintegration guns.

New Scenarios

These two additions to Necromunda’s ever-growing deck of scenarios follow the modern pattern of one Underhive and one Ash Wastes (actually Rolling Road) battle, for a variety of play experiences, and both are noted as being open to play for any gang, not just Enforcers, and suitable for multi-player battles – an assessment we broadly agree with.

• Asset Seizure is the Underhive option, themed around a gang trying to secure their stash of contraband in the face of a raid. This is basically a mission where the players fight over 5 Loot Crates. Crews are Hybrid Selection and medium-size (3+4). There is no special asymmetry in deployment; the only difference between attacker and defender is in the victory conditions. The defender must reclaim 3 of the Loot Crates to win, by taking them to a board edge at the End Phase. The attacker tries to destroy the crates in melee combat (and they are surprisingly tough and booby-trapped). This initially sounded as if it might favour the defender, but because the victory doesn’t rely on the attackers actually destroying any crates successfully, the play might be surprisingly lopsided. The defenders run crates while the attackers try to kill their fighters. Beyond that, it means the attacker wins if they happen to (involuntarily) Bottle out early. This seems like a fun one, but requires both players to enter into the spirit of the game.
• The Getaway is the Ash Wastes/Rolling Roads one, a pursuit-themed mission. Both sides start with 4 picked fighters/vehicles. Each of the defender’s models has a Loot Token, which can be easily carried around, transferred onto vehicles etc. An extra ‘escape vehicle’, which is a pretty strong, but unarmed, medium/heavy vehicle, starts in the centre of the table. The defender needs to have the escape vehicle still on the table, with at least two Loot Tokens, at the end of the game to win. [slight problem, this vehicle is not actually stated to be controlled or activated by the defender anywhere in the rules. We think it’s pretty clearly implied though, and the scenario doesn’t work any other way] The twist is that in any End Phase, the defender can announce that they’re making their getaway, and the battle immediately becomes a Rolling Roads game! That’s very cool, and our instinct is that the defender should call it as soon as possible, because the attacker gets D3 Reinforcements in every End Phase; the defender gets the same, but only once they announce their getaway has begun.

Genghis Cohen: I really like this mission. Some of the best narrative games I’ve ever played have been pursuit themed. My one concern is the forces involved seem quite even, at least if the defender has the common sense to announce their getaway early on. I don’t see that much pressure on them to flee along with the escape vehicle. Time will tell – after all they do have to do the work to win the game, much like in Asset Seizure. At worst, maybe this would be a good mission for an underdog gang to take on as the defenders. 

Fowler: The Getaway is a fantastic bootstrap for an arbitrated scenario. Turning it into an asymmetrical mission with objectives / obstacles / npcs may lower the likelihood that it just ends up being an even shootout.

Gang Tactics

This is, in our opinion, a very flavourful set of Gang Tactics (18 of them, as is now standard). It seems a little more even-handed than some past examples. We don’t see anything egregiously powerful or mega-frustrating for opponents. For example, there is one, Shakedown!, which is a vastly toned-down version of the infamous History of Violence. It selects a random member of the enemy’s crew and takes them off the table, but they re-enter as Reinforcements at the end of the first Round. Honestly that seems a good mix of wrong-footing the opponent without being oppressive. Or the classic card type that adds extra fighters to your crew, is here as Emergency Deputisation, which adds a single Enlisted Hive Scum with 50 credits of gear. That’s much more restrained while still being impactful – it also has a wonderful narrative opportunity, letting you buy the scummer into your gang at the end of the game if you choose (paying their full credit price). 

We can’t swear we’re not imagining it, but we are big fans of this consistent approach, there aren’t many total duds in this deck, although a few are minor bonuses to a single activation. The strongest might be several options that add Skills or equipment to 1-3 fighters for the battle – many shotgun Rookies will appreciate Running Battle, which gives D3 fighters the Hip Shooting skill. But there are good sudden interrupt type options as well, and a couple money makers/savers. We like Cut off the Head, which is played post-battle and grants a nice D6x10-credit bounty for every Gang Hierarchy enemy taken out. 

Genghis Cohen: I’m loving the atmosphere and names in this pack, maybe even more than I usually do. I’m looking forward to calling out Fire in the Hole!, when playing that card, which lets a fighter chuck a grenade for free before moving their Charge action. 

Fowler: I appreciate the variety of flavor in the tactics here. On My Target gives friendly models a +1 to hit a selected enemy fighter for a round. Perfect for when you absolutely need to take out the campaign heel.

Lists!

Primaris Kevin’s Ash Complex Arbitration Bureau

Prefecture: Palanite

Palanite Enforcer Captain (120)
Skill: Priority Threat

• Sniper Rifle (35)

Palanite Enforcer Subjugator Sergeant (90)

Skill: Shield Companion

• Armoured Undersuit, Vigilance Pattern Assault Shield, SLHG Pattern Assault Ram (155)

Palanite Enforcer Subjugator Sergeant (90)

Skill: Shield Companion

• Armoured Undersuit, Vigilance Pattern Assault Shield, SLHG Pattern Assault Ram (155)

Subjugator Patrolman Specialist (55)

• Subjugation Pattern Grenade Launcher (50)

Palanite Patrolman Specialist (45)

• Enforcer Boltgun (50)

Palanite Patrolman (45)

• Enforcer Boltgun (50)

Palanite Rookie (25)

• Stub Gun (5)

Palanite Rookie (25)

• Stub Gun (5)

Total: 1000 credits, 8 models.

Genghis Cohen’s Doghouse Dogsbodies

Prefecture: Mynerva (Genghis Cohen: disclaimer, this is not a good idea, because Exotic Beasts aren’t really replacements for full fighters. But Kevin got to the Palanite shieldwall stuff first. Also, as I would in a real campaign, I’m not buying any flak armour – even my captain will have to tough out the first battle in his skivvies.)

Palanite Enforcer Captain: enforcer boltgun – 170 

Skill: Got Your Six

Palanite Subjugator Sergeant: power maul, vigilance assault shield, layered flak armour, hardcase cyber-mastiff – 310

Skill: Advanced Beast Handling

Palanite Sergeant: concussion carbine, riot shield, hardcase cyber mastiff – 275

Skill: Beast Mastery

Subjugator Patrolman Specialist: power maul, layered flak armour, photon flash grenades – 120

Palanite Patrolman Specialist: sniper rifle – 80

Palanite Rookie: stub gun, photon flash grenades – 45

Total: 1000 credits, 6 actual fighters and 2 good robot boys

Conclusion

This really is a book of two gangs. Palanite Enforcers look great. The vital change is the stat bumps to Hierarchy models and Subjugators, which will make a night and day difference in how fun they are to play. The removal of included-equipment jank and updating of formats is very nice as well, as is the convenience of a single book. We obviously love Necromunda, and like most of their printed material, the enthusiasm for the setting, the fun of the names and the opportunities to build a narrative shine through. But it is our job as reviewers to be (lovingly) critical, so we also have to note that there are plenty of missed opportunities, as usual, to rebalance equipment costs and stats – many aspects of building enforcer fighters were obvius before and remain obvious now. Changes to the Palanite Drill tree, while welcome, are an apt demonstration – they changed several useless skills, but those still aren’t anywise comparable to the actual good ones. 

Beyond that carping, which won’t be new to anyone following Necromunda releases, the bitter pill for some players in this book will be the treatment of Badzone Enforcer gangs. While there is clearly a place made in the lore, background and modelling sections for their concept, they have been completely neglected in terms of rules. It’s hard to say if this was an intentional choice, to make them a ‘hard mode’ deprived gang compared to Palanites. But they end up with the poor stats of Book of Judgement enforcers, no access to any of the cool models released since, and even their remaining niche, fielding cheap Hive Scum, has been harshly constrained by gang composition rules (they will always be a minority of the roster now). While some players may slog on with them for love of the vibes, it feels like they have been punished. It’s probably true that many players used Badzone Enforcers as a formatting patch for the older version Palanites, more than a themed variant, and there’s certainly no reason to do that any more. 

However, provided you are not a committed Badzoner, this book is something of a triumph for enforcers. They are revitalised in terms of fighter capability, there are plenty of new equipment combinations, Prefecture skills and even wyrd powers to experiment with, alongside evocative scenarios and gang tactics. We are certainly excited to get our new models onto the table as soon as possible. Watch this space for the updated Enforcer Gang Guide, which we hope to have out in one week, about the same time that the new book and models come into players’ possession.

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