Many thanks to Games Workshop for providing us with a copy of Spire of Primus for review.

The conclusion of the big Necromunda metaplot is upon us, in the form of Spire of Primus. As with the previous campaign books – Cinderak Burning, Vaults of Temenos and Ruins of Jardlan – this combines some lore about events on the planet in the wake of the great rift,  with a variant campaign system to let us play out those events ourselves, as well as rules for the new model releases which accompany the book. Here, the campaign includes some new equipment available to gangs that support House Aranthus, and a rather impressive batch of new scenarios. The new models are one very powerful character, Ozostium Aranthus himself, a new allied delegation, the Palanite Justicars, and a set of hangers-on. There are also rules for fielding a new Spyrer suit, the Sthenian pattern, which is basically a non-character option for Haera Helmawr’s model.

The slightly odd thing about the hangers-on is that the rules in the book don’t exactly map to the new models. The plastic set contains a Watcher, Ammo-Jack, Rogue Doc, Slopper and Dome Runner. There are rules in the book for the Watcher, Rogue Doc, Dome Runner, and a new Hanger-On, the Indentured Psyker, which does not have a new model released, or at least not yet.

In any case, this is a rather meaty book, in terms of both lore and rules. Let’s dive in and look at the details.

Lore

For those who have been keeping up with the previous campaign books, the story picks up in media res. Ozostium Aranthus has been awakened by Lady Credo and deposed House Helmawr, setting himself up as the ruler of Necromunda. Lord Gerontius Helmawr was assassinated, but in classic fashion, was only mostly dead, and his body was spirited away by the bounty hunter Kal Jerico. His heir apparent, Lady Haera Helmawr, has been getting a new Spyrer suit fitted in Hive Secundus, so the stage is set for a counter-revolution. Before we get into spoilers, our general impression is this is all quite well-written, and there are some genuinely dramatic and weighty moments in the narrative. On the other hand, the balance of power and internal logic of how all this fighting turns out is rather vague. As one might expect on Necromunda, most of the conflict is resolved by people having gun- or sword-fights, and as a result the narrative takes on something of a Saturday-morning cartoon feel. The dramatis personae swank about fighting each other while faceless, replaceable NPCs are slaughtered wholesale around them, but they usually stop just short of killing anyone with a name. Those of us who like the more in-depth and mock-historical sort of narratives (the old Forgeworld Imperial Armour books like the Badab War are a good example) might have preferred a different approach. That quibbling aside though, it is a nice dramatic narrative and worth reading.

SPOILERS AHEAD – Do not read the paragraph below if you want to experience the lore fresh from the book!

As for what actually happens in this book, Lord Helmawr swears an oath, reminiscent of his ancestor’s promise to the Imperium, to bring Necromunda to heel within 100 days. This passage is one of the best in the narrative and hints at the planet’s place in the wider universe and the idea that Imperial forces have an eye on events, we would have liked to see more in this vein. There are some parts that show the process of Aranthus exerting control over the planet by a mix of traitor forces and psychic manipulation, as well as some underlings regretting their bargains and attempting to betray him. Then the meat of the narrative is the loyalist forces closing in and enacting a sort of counter-coup, to storm the Spire and depose the usurper. The conclusion is that it sort of resets the status quo. Gerontius Helmawr is back in power, Haera is his heir, Kal Jerico flees back to the underhive. Ozostium Aranthus is not killed at the end of the book, Lady Credo rescues him and they are shown to be plotting further civil war and seeking other members of House Aranthus to awaken. This is not ideal in terms of dramatic pay-off, but hey, it’s not a novel, it’s a game sourcebook. The conclusion does exactly what it needs to in terms of allowing players to use all the extant models in ‘current’ Necromunda without explicitly contradicting the metaplot, and provides hooks for future campaigns that pit Aranthus against Helmawr. 

New Campaign: Reconquest of Primus

Technically this is the Reconquest of Primus Campaign, Part 4 of the Succession Campaign, and there are straightforward rules for carrying a gang through from the earlier parts. It represents the Helmawr loyalists, historically led by Lady Haera, fighting their way back into the Hive and up through the Spire to depose Ozostium Aranthus This has all the completely normal trappings we expect for a Necromunda campaign with two phases separated by Downtime, with the wrinkle that the recommended length is 4 cycles of play, Downtime, and one final Cycle with a large finale battle. Very appropriate for the dramatic denouement in the throne room. Gangs start at 1500 credits if not simply pulled through from an earlier campaign part, and it’s nice to see a note that since credit ratings may vary widely, the House Favours rules from the core book (essentially making up any big differences with free extra models) are signposted. The Territory equivalents are Spire Districts. All gangs must support either the Imperial House or House Aranthus, and there’s the normal advice to Arbitrators that this can be balanced out in a variety of ways, but the campaign will only really work if there are gangs on both sides. 

Spire Districts are on average far more powerful/lucrative than traditional territories. Incomes of 2d6 or 3d6x10 credits are commonplace, as are powerful free recruitment options for Hangers-On or Exotic Beats. There are a variety of other nice benefits on offer, like removing lasting Injuries. There are also in-battle conditions associated with fighting over each district. For example, if fighting over the Helmawr Grand Armoury, each gang can upgrade D3 weapons to be master-crafted for the battle. 

• Genghis Cohen: I really enjoyed the lore snippets explaining the nature of each district. We don’t often get a look inside the Spire and this has some really cool, evocative tidbits and hooks to inspire terrain set-ups. 
• Fowler: Arbitrators looking to do something wild and custom with a campaign – this is a fantastic baseline to start from. I am going to rip off the district model wholesale for my next campaign.

Gangs that are allied to the Imperial House get extra income (D6x10 credits per cycle), and in every battle, on a 4+, they can be joined by a Dramatis Personae at no cost. This is not a wide selection, but generated between Silberlant Sevos the Infotek, or Kal Jerico, or Scabs – the player can choose one, or randomly decide, at the Arbitrator’s discretion. This is a choice we are critical of. It makes sense for groups which want to re-enact the events of the book, since those characters are present in the narrative. But it may not appeal to many players, and as well as requiring certain models, it means the players need at least access to the Book of Peril and/or Ruins of Jardlan. Necromunda’s ‘book problem’ isn’t getting any better. 

The rules for Aranthian gangs are more fleshed out. They get extra Reputation for each victorious battle, which is nice but less strong than the Imperials’ extra income. They have the same 4+ chance to be joined by a special character, but in their case the choice is between the Prophet of the Redemption, Lady Credo, or Ozostium Aranthus. This is problematic; the first two are powerful characters, but not necessarily more so than Kal Jerico. Ozostium, though, is a powerhouse who is appropriate for a campaign finale, but will dominate any ordinary game of Necromunda, unless perhaps these are seriously powerful, 5k+ credit gangs, and even then he will be a star player. We recommend that Arbitrators maybe don’t blindly follow this – rulebooks handing out golden demigods is no sensible basis for a system of government. 

More interesting is the Prince’s Orders mechanic and selection of special Aranthian wargear available. See the section below for details. Taken together, the rules for Aranthian gangs are more involved and rewarding, which might create very slight issues for the campaign – those players are essentially getting a more tailored experience than their friends (enemies?) who support the Imperial House. 

New Scenarios

There are 8 of these bad boys, listed as ‘Narrative Scenarios’, although mostly directly inspired by the lore events and campaign for the Aranthian Succession. They are all Underhive battles, no vehicles here. 6 of them form the random options for the campaign, one is a Rescue alternative and one the campaign finale.

Death From Above

This represents the attacker landing on a platform high up in the hive and trying to break through, across a landing pad, into the hive proper. It is not well designed. Crews are equal (Custom 7), but the attacker has to deploy their fighters in contact with one board edge, and there can be no terrain within 6” of that edge. The defender has the freedom to deploy fighters anywhere more than 9” from an enemy – RAW they see the attacker’s whole deployment first, so can counter-deploy them. To win, the attacker must get 3 of their fighters to the opposite board edge. That is criminally poorly thought out – it will basically never happen unless the defending player is astoundingly unlucky or incompetent. There are some fun additional wrinkles with failed Strength checks knocking everyone Prone each round (think of a hangar being depressurised) and the chance to take Shove actions against fighters within 3” of the edge. But the intensely one-sided nature of this mission makes it only suitable for heavily managed narrative play, or maybe between gangs with a large power disparity. Comparing this to the narrative of the ‘canon’ Succession campaign, it’s crying out for some sort of restriction on the defenders to represent that they’re surprised by a sudden onslaught.

Hive Riot

This is an asymmetrical scenario where the defender (Custom 10) places their models in the centre of the table, and the attacker (Random 6) deploys near the board edges, but gets their entire deck of Reinforcements, and can ‘recycle’ fighters taken out, provided the casualty passes a Willpower check (sorry Goliaths). The attacker has 5 Rounds to take out 7 or more of the defending fighters, or force the defending gang to Bottle Out, otherwise the defender wins. Honestly, this seems like it significantly favours the defender. The attacker probably won’t even equal their numbers until the third Round. The defender has Home Turf here, and a greater crew size, so isn’t likely to instantly bottle. The attacker, on the other hand, has no protection written in against Bottling (an oversight?) and so with their smaller starting crew is quite likely to run away first. 

Breach the Spire

This is a ‘race to the top’ type scenario where the attacker tries to reach the ‘hive gate’ which is the tallest point of the terrain. This should be placed in the centre of the board. Essentially it’s a chance for players to build a pyramid or skyscraper of terrain, and fight their way up it. This is a real opportunity for terrain enthusiasts and would make a great one-off event, if you have access to a big collection and/or can get several terrain-owners to pitch in. It’s also not a bad scenario. Probably quite challenging for the attacker – they get a slightly bigger Crew (Custom 8, while the defender is Hybrid 3+4), but of course all the burden lies on them, they must get at least 2 fighters out of the gate to win. A Double Action is required to open the gate in the first place, then fighters can take a Basic Action to exit the battlefield. Defending fighters can also take a Double Action to close the gate again! 

Hive Lockdown

A symmetrical mission where the gangs compete to gain VPs by dominating the table quarters and taking out the enemy Leader/Champions. There are some interesting wrinkles of the rules here. It’s not a terribly big game (Crews are Custom D3+4). The gang with the most fighters in a quarter scores 1VP per Round per quarter, but fighters can take a Double Action to count as two models for the Round. 1VP is on offer for taking out any Leader or Champion, but only if the fallen model was in sight of one of their allies. Characterful, but likely to get overlooked in the heat of battle. Our obvious take-away is that domination is potentially worth a lot more than inflicting casualties, but the side that starts to score kills is likely to then dominate quarters. So in some ways this is a bog-standard kill-em-all scenario with extra steps. But it’s nice to have a sensible, even mission option amidst all these more elaborate narrative contrivances.

Psychic War

Speaking of which, here’s an NPC-heavy mission! This represents a battle in the campaign story where the Aranthians deployed multiple psykers. In practice it’s a symmetrical scenario where Sanctioned Psyker NPCs are deployed as a wildcard element. There is one for each player plus one extra (so a minimum of 3 psykers for a 2-player game). These gain Ready markers as normal fighters; any player may choose to try to activate one when it’s their turn to activate a fighter. This is a simple 3+ roll, if the player succeeds, they activate the psyker, if they fail, their opponent dictates its actions. That’s a fun chaotic element, but the pyskers are also the victory condition – whichever player takes out the most is the winner! We like this one, it’s a good opportunity to break out some extra models, and we imagine lots of Necromunda players will have some psyker characters of dubious usefulness, or if 40k players some other psyker-looking models. 

Fortress Assault

Another attacker/defender mission, this time representing an attack on a noble’s palace in the Spire. At first this seems relatively tame: the attacking Crew is Custom 8 to the defenders’ Random 8, close enough. The defenders deploy along one edge, while the attacker must split into 3 groups, as equally as possible, and each group must deploy its models in base contact with each other (ie in a little line or cluster); groups must be over 12” from any other models. This is a rather strange way to dictate deployment. Attackers should be careful not to expose their groups to a devastating Blast weapon shot in the initial activations. But it doesn’t necessarily give either side an advantage. The objective is fair as well, be the gang with models remaining on the table. 

The weirdness comes in with some special advantages for the defender. First, they can secretly designate D3 terrain pieces as ‘trapped’, and these dish out a powerful one-use hit to an enemy that comes within 2”. That will often be worth more than the attacker’s Crew-picking advantage. Second, the defender can, on a 5+ roll, move one terrain piece at the end of every Round, up to 8”. That is potentially a real wildcard and also a nightmare to administer, because it can create so many janky situations – models are specifically noted to move along with the terrain. Even weirder, if you’re using the Zone Mortalis tiles, the rules suggest swapping two adjacent tiles’ position. That is potentially a much more impactful change than moving any single terrain piece – groups will either shy away from such an extreme rule, or embrace the chaos. 

Escape the Spire

This is a weird sort of variant of a Rescue scenario, in that it requires the defenders to have previously Captured a fighter from the attackers. But at the start, the captive is in the centre of the board and the attacking crew, which is only 3 models, is deployed near them. Their objective is to carry any captives off the table – the captives don’t activate themselves but attacking fighters can carry them along with Move (Simple) actions. Now the defending crew is Hybrid 4+4 fighters, which can deploy anywhere more than 12” from enemies. The attacker does get the rest of their gang as reinforcements (D3 per Round), but not until the end of the second Round. Our initial take here is this mission is very challenging for the attacker. They need to actually get the captive to the board edge to win. They are likely to be overwhelmed by the more numerous defenders before any Reinforcements come into play; if they take any casualties, because Bottle Tests will be taken against their starting Crew size of 3, they are likely to run off before they can rescue the captive. This seems like a mission which needed the Sentry mechanics for the defenders to make it achievable. It might be more suitable to narrative games, where the attacker’s starting crew is more powerful fighters and the defenders are all scrubs. 

Fate of Primus

This is explicitly the campaign-finale multiplayer scenario that wraps up the Succession campaign. Players are separated into two sides, which each have a Custom 12 crew. Activations alternate between the sides rather than cycling through individual players. So far, so simple. What makes the scenario unique to Succession campaigns, and not quite work ‘out of the book’ in any other context, is the central role of the key Dramatis Personae. The Helmawr side gets Sthenian Haera Helmawr, Kal Jerico and Scabs, the Aranthians get Ozostium and Lady Credo. These characters cannot Bottle out of the game, and allies within 6” of Haera or Ozostium get +1A. The game doesn’t need to end in total defeat for one side, it ends when only one side’s Dramatis Personae are left on the table. This scenario is relatively fair and a fitting end for a big campaign; you could substitute any special characters who are integral to your own narrative, or make those key models the gang leaders from each side. 

Aranthian-Aligned Gangs

Should players wish to make their lives even more interesting during a Succession campaign, they can choose to pledge to the service of Ozostium Aranthus. This can be done during any Succession campaign (parts 1 through 4), either at gang creation, during the course of a campaign after declaring for Lady Credo’s Rebellion, or by changing from an Unaligned gang to an Aranthian-aligned gang. The rules don’t specify it, but we presume that if you’re starting from part 1 of the Succession Campaign then you would need to wait until the Downtime after The Great Darkness.

Pledging to Ozostium Aranthus brings about extensive benefits and one very minor, almost insignificant downside. On the positive side the leader of the Aranthian-aligned Gang gains the Iron Will skill and gains access to a variety of very good weapons. They also have the opportunity to gain rewards by following a random Prince’s Order that’s given to them at the beginning of the mission. 

The only downside? If they fail to follow the Prince’s Order then the Leader has to execute one member of their own gang. 

The Prince’s Orders

At the start of the battle before the first roll for Priority, the Aranthian-aligned gang rolls a D6 and consults a table to see what order they have to follow. If the order is impossible to follow (such as a gang with only three fighters tasked with ending the battle with at least one fighter in each of the four corners of the battlefield) then another order is generated. The orders range from ending the battle with fighters in certain locations (enemy deployment zone or quarters) to not Bottling or failing any Nerve tests, to taking a Leader or Champion Out of Action. Each of the Prince’s Orders gives a reward if followed, such as getting extra credits or a temporary or permanent stat increase. Once again, if a gang fails to complete the Prince’s Order then the Leader has to execute a random member of the gang. On the plus side all of their weapons and Wargear are returned to the gang’s stash.

The Aranthian Armoury

Ozostium doesn’t mess around when it comes to sharing his toys. For a relatively modest price increase you gain access to incredibly powerful bonuses, such as a plasma pistol which always fires on overcharge but is neither Scarce nor Unstable, a meltagun which loses Scarce, a power fist which isn’t Unwieldy, or a power greatsword with Versatile. There’s also a breastplate which has a 4+ save and automatically turns the wearer towards the attacker, artefacts which turn the bearers into Psykers, and a talisman which makes fighters within 6” of the bearer immune to being Broken.

New Models

Sthenian Spyre Hunter

The Sthenian Spyre Hunter is a new model that costs 255 credits and uses the same rig as Lady Haera, so your best bet is to start with that model and customize it to your preferences. Unfortunately the Lady Haera model is resin which makes it a bit of a pain to work with, but it’s not an impossible task. The stat line is equivalent to a Hunt Master if you reduce the Wounds and Attacks characteristics by 1 but improve the Initiative to 2+. The primary skills are Agility, Combat, and Savant making it very melee focused. 

In terms of equipment, a Sthenian Spyre Hunter is equipped with a Sthenian hunting rig, Medusian projectors, and two Sthenian claws. It also has the option to purchase various weapons (bolt pistol, plasma pistol, power hammer, and power sword) as well as nearly the same Wargear other Spyre Hunters get. Curiously they can’t purchase web solvent. The hunting rig has a 5+ armour save and 6+ field save which can be augmented to a 4+ armour save and 5+ field save. That makes the Sthenian hunting rig almost as resilient as an Orrus rig. Medusian projectors are Flash weapons with a maximum range of 12” and a -1 to hit at ranges beyond 4”. When fully augmented they get the Cursed trait, which is kind of funny. Sthenian claws are S3, AP -1, and D1 with Melee, Power Pack, and Pulverise. Fully augmented they are S4, AP -2, and D2. Power Pack means each weapon grants an extra attack, while Pulverise improves their chances of getting a Serious Injury or damaging a vehicle. 

Fully loaded you’re looking at 355 credits for the fighter and weapons (either two plasma pistols or a plasma pistol and power sword). That gives you a total of 5 attacks which will slaughter weaker foes but likely struggle against something tougher. In terms of skills Clamber and Sprint would be helpful in getting the Spyrer closer to the enemy, while Rain of Blows could be useful on a second Activation. Saving up for Infiltrate might also be a good idea since they’re clearly focused on getting into melee, and Step Aside works extremely well with their 2+ Initiative characteristic. 

The Sthenian Spyre Hunter is a curious fighter. Assuming you pay for the extra weapons it costs the same as an Orrus. It’s melee focused but can’t get around the battlefield like a Yeld or a Malcadon, and in melee the Jakara is arguably better. Where it stands out is in the ability to take plasma pistols, as there are no other Hunters who can hit as hard as an overcharged plasma shot. Whether or not it’s better to take two plasma pistols or one pistol and a power sword is up for debate.

Indentured Psykers

Continuing the well-established Necromundan tradition of doing things that would normally invite Exterminatus (see: Halo Device), Spire of Primus brings us the option to spend 70 credits to hire up to three Indentured Psykers. These Hangers-on are welcome into any gang and can either be hired as Sanctioned or Unsanctioned Psykers, although Outlaw gangs may only hire Unsanctioned Psykers. The rules for Sanctioned and Unsanctioned Psykers are the same as in the Core Rulebook, with Sanctioned Psykers able to re-roll a failed Willpower test once per battle. 

Genghis Cohen: this sort of design is emblematic of Necromunda as a narrative-first game. Sanctioned Psykers are objectively superior to Unsanctioned. Yet here they have the same credit cost; presumably players are expected to choose the more thematically appropriate option. Personally I think it wouldn’t have been that much effort or complexity to write in two different costs. 

Their stats are identical to a typical ganger, with a 5” move and a 5+ Willpower stat. They’re also fairly smart with a 6+ Int stat, which makes them useful for stupider gangs. They have the Part of the Crew rule so that they can be included in fights, but as a Hanger-on they cannot gain Experience and will leave the gang if they suffer a Lasting Injury that alters their Fighter Card. 

When hired they select two of six Wyrd powers. This is where they have a major downside; these powers mostly suck. On the bad side there’s Assail which only hits on a BS check of 5+, Flame Blast which gives the knife Blaze, Freeze Time which only has a range of 12” and only works on Fighters that haven’t activated yet in that round, and Quickening which boosts the stats of a mediocre Fighter with terrible weapons. The only two powers which aren’t terrible are Weapon Jinx, which forces Ammo tests on a model within 18” (LOS not required) and Terrify which can force a Nerve test. Using the rules as provided, forcing a bunch of Ammo tests might be worth 70 credits to piss off the Van Saar player. Quickening might be useful if you want to have a model with an 8” move, but it feels like a stretch.

Fowler: I foresee a lot of intrepid arbitrators giving these guys a “better” set of psychic powers.

Hive Watcher 

Not to be confused with a Gang Lookout (which alters Attacker/Defender rolls and helps Sentries spot people), the Hiver Watcher is a scout which affects enemy fighters who use the Infiltrate skill or arrive on the battlefield via Reinforcements. So long as the Hive Watcher is on the Gang Roster enemies cannot be set up within 9” of a gang fighter instead of 6”. Not bad for 30 credits.

Other Hangers-On

The book reprints the rules for two Hangers-on and updates their equipment. Dome Runners add the option for a long-las which can have them hit on a 4+ at long-range targets. Rogue Docs now come equipped with a medi-skull, so they roll an extra Injury dice when making a recovery test. These changes aren’t likely to have much of an impact, since Hangers-on only show up in a fight on a roll of 4+ when the gang that hired them has Home Turf Advantage.

Ozostium Aranthus

The poster boy of this book is about as nuts as you might expect. His raw stats are the equal of any gang leader, with Strength & Toughness 4, 3 Wounds, and impressive mental stats. The biggest standout is 4 Attacks with his terrifying Bifurcated Blade, which is sort of like a Power Greatsword – it’s Versatile and has Sever, which means he can reliably take out almost any target in the game. Naturally he has a 4+ Field Armour save. What makes him really go off, however, is the double-activation that Spyrers get. If that weren’t enough mobility, at the start of each Round, his controlling player can roll to reposition him; this isn’t pass/fail, it just controls whether he can be freely placed within 6”, within 12”, or anywhere on the board. He is also completely immune to Pinning. He’s an Unsanctioned Psyker, he has some Wyrd Powers and skills, he even stops your fighters running away after Bottling Out, if he can pass his own very good Cool check. 

Ozostium is accompanied by his Caryatid-Servitor, a macabre version of a Caryatid. His people found the flying blue babies creepy (even a broken clock is right twice a day) and were accustomed to put their corpses into servitors to make use of their psychic shenanigans. Charming. Fortunately for all Imperial House supporters, this thing’s rules are not quite as frustrating as, say, a familiar. Its main effect is that if any fighter shoots at the Caryatid-Servitor or its master, the Caryatid can make a Willpower test (8+) to have the weapon go out of ammo immediately after resolving the shot. That’s situationally very nasty, but will obviously only go off about 42% of the time. This beast does not have any save, special or otherwise, and it’s T2 with 1W, so it’s still eminently killable. The smart move would probably be to pepper it with autogun rounds before trying to nail Ozostium with your melta/plasma type weapons!

The issue with a king fish model like Ozostium is that the mechanism for including him outside of narratively-fixed moments is rather weak. As you’ve read above, he can simply show up to games randomly during Succession campaigns, which is potentially an immediate feels-bad moment for his opponents. Additionally, Aranthian-aligned gangs can ‘petition’ for Ozostium to join them, just as with House Agents. If Rep+D6 is low enough, he will show up for 100 credits, if it’s higher for 200, and later on he won’t deign to appear. This is just not a robust system for groups that don’t treat the game as fully narrative. ‘Renting’ Ozostium for your first game, when it’s guaranteed to cost 100 credits, seems like a damn good way to ensure victory. So in practice, our advice is that this model is for arbitrated scenarios only. His rules certainly do justice to the golden god vibes though. 

Alliance: Palanite Justicar Courts

On a campaign level, this new Alliance seems rather attractive. It’s only available to Law-Abiding gangs – in fact, if the allied gang breaks the alliance, they become Outlaws! It’s also a strong alliance with Palanite Enforcers. In Succession campaigns, they can only be allied to gangs which support the Imperial House, and their delegation must be fielded if the battle is against an Aranthian-aligned gang. The benefit (apart from fielding the delegation) is a bounty of 2D6x10 credits for taking the enemy gang’s Leader out of action. We like that – straightforward, and while far from automatic, it’s a sensible objective you would want to get after anyway. The drawback is that if you field the delegation and lose the battle, your Leader must make an Intelligence check. If they fail, a random gang member goes into Recovery, as the courts question them, trying to find out where the fault lay. That is rather characterful – we like the image of the gang leader trying to think up a plausible set of excuses quickly – and not at all severe.

The delegation itself continues that idea of being sensible, straightforward, nothing outlandish. 5 models is pretty good (many delegations are 4) but the stats are very baseline-human. Only the Magistrate gets 2W, and even he only gets 1A. Together with their slow Move 4”, this makes the Magistrate and Executioner rather frustrating models to use – they are melee fighters who can’t move fast or swing very often. They also have worse mental stats than most Leader/Champion level fighters. The Magistrate gets a normal bolt pistol and his gavel is a power hammer with lower Strength, but Concussion. He has Crushing Blow (ok) and Nerves of Steel (would be great, but his Cool is only 7+). The Executioner’s axe has a terrific profile, but then again it is Unwieldy on a 1A model. He gets Fearsome and Unstoppable – both fine, but nothing to help him actually reach melee combat. Both of those models have mesh armour and undersuits, while the Bailiffs get flak armour and undersuits. Bailiffs all carry photon flash grenades, and can choose between a normal shotgun, a mancatcher (a low-quality but Versatile melee weapon) and a heavy club plus shock pistol. That shock pistol is a S3, AP-1 pistol with unusually short range; like the mancatcher it has the Shock and Incapacitate traits. Yes, a new weapon trait! Unfortunately, Incapacitate isn’t that decisive – if a model is hit, they take an Initiative test, if failed they cannot voluntarily move and take a -1 penalty to all hit rolls. Affected fighters can cancel the condition via a Strength test made at the end of their activation.

• Genghis Cohen: this is classic trait bloat for non-lethal weapons. Being fixed in place is a powerful effect, but the weapon has to hit, the Initiative test must be failed, and it can be cancelled at the end of one activation. There are just too many chances for it not to go off. I’d much rather try and attack enemies with a punchier weapon with a better chance to simply take them out of action!

As a team, the delegation have the normal rules shared by similar groups – the Magistrate and Executioner can Group Activate, and stop the others from running after a failed Bottle Test, just as a Leader/Champion would. The Bailiffs can take hits for the Magistrate if they are close enough (the Bodyguard rule), and if both officers have been removed from play, they behave as if they had failed a Bottle Test. There is one unique rule, Summary Judgement, which sounds cool but is so situational as to be almost meaningless: if the Executioner takes an enemy out with a Coup de Grace, then any Bailiffs within 3” may make a Shoot action for free. That distance renders it a moot point. How often are you going to have a Bailiff hanging around within 3” of a Seriously Injured enemy model, and the Executioner in position to Coup de Grace? Even then, you still need other targets in range and sight. We will be impressed if this comes up once in a campaign. 

So what’s the value of this delegation? Well, 5 models means 5 activations. None of your models are that powerful, like the Brute-level fighters in some delegations. But they can all have decent weapons – in some ways we see the Bailiffs as the stars of the show, basic ganger types with shotguns and photon flash grenades are very handy – and will contribute something. This is a simple, beneficial Alliance that doesn’t come with any really onerous terms and conditions. Very appropriate for gangs wishing to support the Imperial House and oppose the Aranthians. A more interesting question for Arbitrators is whether it should be allowed as a balancing mechanism in the Succession campaign – Aranthian-aligned gangs get more equipment options and the Prince’s Orders, maybe a free Alliance would even the playing field. We are of the opinion that deal favours the Imperials. All the Aranthian armoury at least costs credits, and the Prince’s Orders can be fickle, with severe consequences for failure. As with all Alliances in Necromunda, giving players a game-able benefit and a significant group of ‘free’ models is best handled carefully. 

Final Thoughts

So what do we think? As with all Necromunda book releases, the production values and aesthetics of the book are great. Nice artwork, lore snippets and quotes throughout, very pretty. The content is mostly locked in for players who actually want to play the Succession campaign, or at least work the Imperial/Aranthus struggle into other campaigns or play their own custom campaigns set in and amongst the Spire of a hive. There aren’t too many rules which are intended to be used (unadapted) outside of that context: the Sthenian Spyre Hunter, Indentured, Psykers, the new Hive Watcher and (very slightly) updated Dome Runner/Rogue Doc. The Palanite Justicars are strongly written into the Succession campaign but are usable anywhere; Ozostium could be ported into any campaign, but is clearly an overwhelming presence.

We suppose, with the scenarios thrown in, there are some nice bits and pieces for players who aren’t fussed about the Necromundan metaplot. But in some ways this exemplifies the game’s ‘book problem’. Books are expensive and heavy, so it’s a big purchase if all you want is a text reference for the fact your Dome Runner now has a long las. Equally, if you want to play the Succession Campaign (Part 4), you still need the rules for the Prophet, Lady Credo, Kal Jerico and Scabs, from other campaign books and the Book of Peril. If you bought the cool new plastic hangers-on, this book only has rules for 3 of them, you need to hope your other books cover the Slopper and Ammo-Jack (to be fair, they probably do). We are positive about the release, it is great to see Necromunda get continued love and unexpected, one-off releases like the Justicars. There is not quite as much meat in a book like this as a faction-specific release like Bastions of Law or Tribes of the Wastelands. On the other hand, it will add a little bit to any player regardless of their chosen gang. Perhaps it is more suitable for Arbitrators, or as a shared purchase for a group.

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