Necromunda – Hive Secundus

Games Workshop adds the third theatre to the Necromunda Underhive with the latest supplement - Hive Secundus.

This new stand-alone starter set throws the gangs of Necromunda into Hive Secundus, providing you with everything you need to get started, two different gangs, a rule book, dice, templates and markers, along with some basic terrain at a RRP of 110 GBP/ 145 EUR.

In this article, we will cover an unboxing as well as providing context on what you will find in the Hive Secundus boxed set, and where Necromunda came from.

In my intro on the classic House Orlock Gang, I covered a deep dive on the origins of Necromunda. This game has roots in the Rogue Trader era as well, and like many of the current game (Adeptus Titanicus, Legions Imperialis etc.) it had a predecessor. In this case called Confrontation (not to be confused with the game by Rackham), which wasn't released as a boxed game but as published across multiple issues of the White Dwarf Magazine in 1990 and 1991 (Mordheim initially went for a similar approach and was published across multiple issues in White Dwarf until it was released as a boxed game). Confrontation shared a lot of similarities with Necromunda, like the gang warfare setting in a Hive City, yet had a different design approach, as you can see from the artwork and miniatures.

In 1995 the first edition of Necromunda was released, named after the planet it plays on, and a lot of the design elements were changed, for example the different houses. The rules were heavily orientated on the 2nd edition of Warhammer 40k, but adapted to a skirmish game play. The gangs of rivalling houses fought skirmishes over territory, production facilities and equipment / artefacts in the bottom tiers of the hive cities. Games Workshop released a lot of terrain kits making use of the plastic bulkheads with card board floors, providing multiple levels of game play.

A core set was released with two gangs made from plastic, House Orlock vs. House Goliath, a huge range of metal miniatures sculpted by the Perry twins, covering further poses and gangs of House Escher, House Van Saar, House Cawdor and House Delaque. Later a supplement was released, Outlanders, adding further, rather non-conforming gangs to the mix, with Ratskin Renegades, Redemptionists, Scavvies and Spyrers. Later, when the side-games were put on hold, these ranges were supported by Specialist Games / Fanatic, with further rules updates being provided via Citadel Journal (late 90s) and Gang War and the Necromunda Magazine, as well as some resculpts of parts of the range. The black and yellow hazard stripes would be something closely connected to N95 (Necromunda 1995) aesthetics.

About 20 years later in 2017 Necromunda was re-released, as a tile base game and only with the first supplement Gang War, the use of 3d terrain would be re-introduced. The main houses were picked up again, with a huge design overhaul, while Orlock, Goliath and Escher got mostly a modernized update, Van Saar got far "techier", way beyond something an underhive should be, as well as Delaque being more alienated, and rather eery.

In 2022 the fights moved from the sprawling hive cities into the massive Ash Wastes of Necromunda, into desolated dunes and polluted desert between the Hive Cities. Yet Ash Wastes is not a new addition, but a more professional and elaborated re-do of a setting the Fanatic Press introduces in the early 00s for Necromunda, while adding the vehicular mayhem we were introduced to with Gorkamorka, as well. And now two years further, the next biome is added to the gang war skirmish, Hive Secundus. It was originally the second greatest hive city on Necromunda, but fell around a century ago to a Genestealer infestation, due to unsanctioned research by the Adeptus Mechanicus (thus explaining some of the models Games Workshop teased). This caused the Inquisition to intervene and destroying the majority of the hive. But not everyone or rather everything was fully purged in Hive Secundus, providing new challenges for the gangs in the underhive.

And with that said, let us take a closer look into the new boxed set and how these new challenges are introduced to the game. Necromunda Hive Secundus comes in a large, but not that tall box, yet it is pretty filled with sprues, as you can see, as it covers two gangs, templates and a few bulk heads casted in plastic.

Beneath the plastic is a full-sized divider, keeping the plastic separated from the printed parts of the game. On one side you can see the cover artwork and on the other is a spread of the product range. Necromunda is quite the vast palette, while it is quite cool that each gang usually has at least two plastic kits, along with lots of characters from resin and further upgrades, the total amount of currently 11 (!) book add-ons is a bit much for my taste, and we're not counting the endless amount of various card decks at that point.

The books and booklets are packed in envelopes and they even sealed them with Necromunda icons. I like these little details. Beyond that it protects, especially the softcovers from damages around the corners.

Among the printed items is a 176-page rulebook, 2 reference sheets, deck of 88 game cards and various tokens and templates.

The core rulebook is a full-coloured softcover, including lore on Necromunda (including the update for Hive Secundus of course), giving you the entire core rules, you need for the game, along with the rules for campaigns and the use of psykers.

As for gangs, there are only the two from this boxed set covered, the Secundian Incursion Gang (an allied Spyrer and Van Saar Gang) and the Genestealer Malstrain. While I like the artwork and illustrations, I feel the font size on the pages is a bit large and stretches the content over more pages than it would need. This is especially irritating with the supplement, that don't cover that much content, but try to hide that with larger text and white space.

The further gaming materials are a deck of 88 cards, 16 Necromunda dice in a light teal and black colour (and inversed), along with the various sized Necromunda bases, including the flying bases.

The instruction booklet is clear, but covers a lot of options as the Necromunda kits are usually two identical sprues, with at least A/B variants. So, a lot of the gangers share the same main body, but have different weapon options / arm and head layouts to create more poses.

The game tiles are two posters, which are printed on both sides and can be combined to create various layouts of the Zone Mortalis design. You can replace those floors with the plastic tiles if you want to. I would have prepared card board to the posters, but for a starter set, that is still within an acceptable option.

There is not that much terrain in this set, only a medium sized sprue of the newer bulkheads. Those are the same, the 2017 re-boot of Necromunda was released and they are used like doors in most dungeon crawlers. Yet, with a bit of plastic card you can convert those into smaller buildings or huts. In addition, there is a translucent, bright orange sprue of templates, covering a flamer and two different sizes of blast templates. This sprue has been around for a while and this design has been in production with Games Workshop since 1998, as you can see from the sprue itself.

Now for the gangs. There are the Malstrain Genestealers, which are a unique subspecies of the Genestealer, that was created on Necromunda. Those Genestealers are heavily mutated from the "regular" Genestealers and as a result the Hive Mind refuses to answer their psychic calls. Never the less, they are able to gather cults around them and two create hybrids and brood scum.

The Malstrain Genestealers are spread across four sprues, and use a technique they made use of in the last Kill Team set, Termination, as well. The main sprue covers the Malstrain Genestealers (3 each), Tyramites (2 each per sprue) and the upgrade pieces to convert the regular Necromunda Scum into Brood Scum by replacing the heads of the regular miniatures.

With the Genestealers it is interesting to see the design change over the years. Top left we have the classic Genestealer, in a very HR Giger Alien-esque design, of course in the purple and violet of the 2nd edition, which was more detailed in the updated plastic kit, which was around for quite some time and shown in the various paint jobs of the Hive Fleets, later upscaled with last year's Warhammer Leviathan release, and the further progressed, but more distinguished design of the Malstrain Genestealer, which are more fungal design of the spines.

And on the other side, we have the Secundian Incursion Gang, with a specialised Tek Hunter cadre of Van Saar, accompanied by the re-introduced Spyre Hunters. Rule wise the Incursion Gang is always a mix of one of the 6 main houses and spyre hunters, in case of this set is it simply Van Saar and Orrus. Compared to the old Necromunda the Van Saar, who were - if we put it over-simplified and blunt - more or less Dutch Fremen (from Dune), are now very high-tech gangers, with hover equipment, battle suits and other items that could easily be classified as Mechanicum level of engineering. And alongside are the Spyre Hunters, in this case two Orrus. Interestingly, they overhauled them as well, and quite in a good way, as in the past those were the offspring of the noble houses of Necromunda, who went on an Underhive killing spree to proof themself. But to be honest, killing gangers with superior weapon systems isn't much of a proof of anything, so the new background having them hunt mutated Genestealer, who are an actual threat to the Hive cities, makes more sense.

And in this case, we get a medium sized sprue, covering two Orrus Spyre Hunters and a Caryatid Prime (a grim dark cherub, who acts like a familiar to some characters in the underhive), along with two sprues of the Necromunda Tek Hunters. These will mark the third gang kit for the Van Saar after the regular Gangers and Archeoteks and Grav-Cutters (fourth if you count in the Arachni-rig as well).

To show you the design process of the Van Saar, you can see the original miniatures from Necromunda 1995 on the left, with the new plastic models on the right. Fanatic Press offered multi-part gangers in the early 00s, but I couldn't get proper pictures of them. The Spyre Hunters got a lot taller, and the Orrus, who used to have rather large power fists, took over design elements of the Malcadon with the claws. Well-made design update to those.

And that is just what is included in this set, Games Workshop already announced further fitting themed additions, with more Spyre Hunters in plastic (bringing back all four with Yeld, Jakara, Malcadon and Orrus), a Malstrain Alpha, Hermiatus the Second Son, and the new sculpt of Lady Haera Helmawr, featuring a Hunting suit, along with an additional campaign supplement - The Book of Desolation.

Conclusion

110 GBP or 145 EUR isn't bad value for this set. You get a very well themed starter set for Necromunda, with a lot of additional content down the road. And if the Hive Secundus setting isn't for you, you can always go for the regular Underhive starter set, with Delaque and Escher in it.

With a core rulebook (yes softcover, the full hardcover with 336 pages costs 55 EUR), two plus sized gangs (the regular 41 EUR gangs "only" cover 2 sprues / 12 soldiers) with a total of 29 miniatures, the card decks (the ~30 card decks usually sit at 16 EUR), two sets of dice (RRP 14,50 EUR), we easily add up more value than the regular price. Especially if you get a bit of discount at your local gaming store. But - and that is big one - Necromunda is rather expensive for a skirmisher. The miniatures are well made, but the gangs are now at 41 EURs for two small sprues (these started at 25 EURs) and to cover the various variants and weapon options, you will need multiple of these, along with the Forge World upgrades, which are 22,50 EUR - per set. And that is just the miniatures. Each of the supplement books is 41 EUR, and while you need not each of them, those easily stack up - along with the FOMO problems of certain items, like the cards decks who tend to be out of print or low on stock.

Beyond that, the term skirmish might be a bit misleading, as you are far from just packing up your 8 to 12 miniatures and play on a 3 by 3 ft table. The Underhive, if it is not just the open wide of the Ash Wastes, is a multi-level, densely packed area you fight over, so the amount of terrain easily adds up and takes up some space - at least if you do it right. Yet, the campaign rules of the game are very satisfying and provide a lot narrative and immersion, that only a few games provide. My personal issue, and that is mostly caused by the aspect that I am very familiar with the '95 releases of the game, the new Necromunda is a bit too high tech for me. The game was always about the gang war in the lower levels of the Underhive, proxy wars fought between thugs, and in that setting hover boards, battle suits and other items look and feel a bit over the top, especially compared to the regular Warhammer setting. In Necromunda it was something special and a symbol of status for your gang leader to carry a bolt gun, and that is a bit of a ridiculous measurement, if others have jet bikes, jump packs and items that the elites of the Imperial Guard / Astra Militarum would be happy to have access to.

Warhammer 40,000 and Necromunda are brands by Games Workshop.

The reviewed product item was provided by the manufacturer