While everyone is talking about how “amazing” and “awe-inspiring” the GHO Narrative will be (and let’s be honest they do a great job), the cool kids know that the Necromunda Weekender is where the real fun happens! You can buy tickets for the 2025 GHO US Necromunda Weekender here.
Necromunda is a game that’s near and dear to our hearts here at Goonhammer, and we’re excited to present the third iteration of the Necromunda Weekender at the 2025 US Goonhammer Open! In 2023 we had the Necrolympics, and in 2024 we ended the weekend crashing a Cargo-8 into the head of a Titan, so how will we roll in 2025?
By having everyone fight over crystals that explode if you look at them funny.
For 2025 the players will be fighting on and under the surface of Varona, a hive world mired in a massive conflict after a moon-sized ship literally crashed into it. While vast armies wage war on an interstellar scale, the gangs will be focusing on much more direct and focused goal: profit. All of the gangs are contracted by a mysterious benefactor for the sole purpose of retrieving an invaluable cargo that has been scattered over Varona after the transport ship was caught in the crossfire. The cargo are highly volatile crystals known as Shards of Brisance, and they are extremely dangerous.
—> View the 2025 GHO US Necromunda Weekender Primer Here <—
Shards of Brisance
The goal of each gang is very simple; collect as many Shards of Brisance as possible. These large blue crystals can be picked up or transferred with a Simple action, and they form both the victory condition and the currency for the modified Trading Post. The problem is that each Shard is roughly as dangerous as a frag grenade, and when subjected to shock (such as when the fighter goes Prone or is hit with a weapon) then on a D6 roll of 1 the Shard will detonate. Of course players can carry multiple Shards, and they can all detonate simultaneously to make an even deadlier blast. There’s even a trophy for the player who has the most Shards detonate while carried by a fighter.
The Trading Post
Rather than spend credits on a traditional Trading Post, the Arbritrator will put up a series of items for auction, and players will be allowed to put up Shards for various items. This is the only way that players can gain Rare items, and players will find themselves asking if it’s better to save your Shards or spend them on a crucial weapon or Wargear.
Escalation
If Shards are the core resource, what about credits? The answer is simple; don’t worry about it! None of the gangs will earn credits over the course of this campaign. Instead, the campaign will use a variant of the Escalation rules to represent the various contractors putting more and more money into achieving their goals. Players will start with a 1200 credit gang for the first mission, and then after each mission they will be able to add 200 credits to the gang rating until the final match has every gang featuring a 2000 credit gang. Fighters fully Recover between missions and the intent is for players to not have to worry about falling behind because their Leader overcharged a plasma cannon and exploded. If you’ve ever wondered wanted to take advantage of the fact that Ambots and Ash Wastes Arachni-rigs come in packages of two, now’s your chance!
Campaign Rules
The campaign will use a lot of the House rules that we previously discussed in our 2024 article about starting a campaign such as allowing shields to be equipped in addition to a suit of armour, only making one Injury Roll regardless of how many Out of Action results are produced, and making Melta bombs actually work. Instead of Tactics Cards, every player has access to Adrenaline Surge which grants a fighter an extra action on their Activation. Captured fighters are quickly interrogated and then freed, with the Interrogation representing an opposed Cool, Willpower, or Intelligence check to gain some XP for the participants.
Thanks for reading, and we hope to see you at the GHO in July! If you have any questions about the Weekender, you can either reach us at contact@goonhammer.com or contact Primaris Kevin on the Goonhammer Discord. The Primer is also set so that people can leave comments if they have questions or feedback, and we will be happy to take a look at ways to make things even better!
