Starting Necromunda
A Beginner's Guide to the World, Gangs, and Rules
by Djidiouf /@ashenquarter
This tool is my own personal project and is not affiliated with Munda Manager or Games Workshop.
What is Necromunda?
Necromunda is a tabletop skirmish game set in the underhive of a vast industrial world in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. You control a small gang of fighters rather than a full army, and the game is as much about narrative and survival as it is about winning individual battles.
Below is a clear, beginner-friendly overview of how the game works.
What You Need to Start
- A gang and some miniatures
- Dice, templates, and tokens
- A rulebook and your gang rules
- Terrain (the more vertical, the better)
- An opponent who enjoys skirmishes and narrative play
Build Your Gang
You'll start your journey playing Necromunda by choosing a gang. Each gang has their own lore, playstyle, strenghts, and weaknesses. The gang you'll pick also define which fighters and equipment you have access to. Gangs are made up of individual fighters such as Leaders, Champions, Gangers, Juves, and Specialists.
At the start of a campaign, you'll get a credit allowance to build your gang (usually 1000 credits).
Useful link:
- Gang Manager: Munda Manager
Choose a Scenario and Set Up a Battlefield
Necromunda is played on dense, vertical terrain. Platforms, ladders, walkways, doors, and hazards are all part of the game.
Games are usually played on:
- Vertical layouts with multiple levels
- Tight corridors or open gantries, depending on the scenario
- Ash Wastes, an alternative environment where battles take place in the wasteland, has less terrain features to be used by vehicles
Terrain is not optional, it is core to how the game plays.
Get to Know the Rules
Before your first game, it is worth getting familiar with the core rules. Necromunda has more depth than many skirmish games, and understanding the basics will make your first battles far more enjoyable.
Focus first on:
- Core actions such as Move, Shoot, Fight, and Ready
- Alternating activations and how pinning works
- Weapon traits and how they impact how a weapon works
- Injury dice and the difference between, Flesh Wounds, Seriously Injured and Out of Action
- Bottle tests and when a gang is forced to check if they loose their nerves
Do not try to memorise everything at once. Necromunda rewards learning as you play, and it is normal to look things up during early games.
A good approach is to:
- Play a small introductory game with a few fighters
- Ignore advanced or situational rules like Tactics cards, Terrain, and battlefield environments at first
- Add more rules once everyone at the table is comfortable
The rules can feel heavy at the beginning, but once the fundamentals click, the game becomes faster, tactical, and very is prone to cinematic moments.
Useful links:
- Warhammer Store: Buy the Core Rulebook
- YouTube video: How To Play Necromunda - A Complete Beginners Guide To The Core Rules Of Necromunda & Ash Wastes by Wellywood
- Rules online: NecroRAW
Combat, Injuries, and Danger
Combat outcomes can be lethal and unpredictable.
- In general, a fighter being successfully hit by a shot will be Pinned
- Fighters can then become wounded, Seriously Injured or taken Out of Action (OoA)
- Going Out of Action rarely means a death - your fighter will likely get a Lasting Injury, like loosing an eye.
- If enough fighters go down during a game, your gang risks bottling out and fighters may flee the battlefield. Sometimes retreating is the smarter choice.
- A single poor tactical decision or a roll of dice can change the course of a game
Campaign Play Is the Heart of the Game
While one-off games are possible, Necromunda truly shines in campaigns.
In a campaign:
- Fighters gain experience, upgrade their characteristics or learn new skills
- Gangs earn credits, reputation, and territories
- Fighters will get permanently injured or killed
- Grudges, and rivalries will naturally happen through storytelling
Winning a campaign is less important than what your gang becomes. The sooner you embrace the narrative nature of the game, the more comfortable you will be with how badly things can sometimes go.
Narrative Over Balance
Necromunda is not a tightly balanced competitive game. It is a narrative skirmish system.
Expect:
- Uneven matchups between gangs
- Comebacks, crushing defeats, and unexpected outcomes
- Situations that can swing wildly based on a few good or bad dice rolls
- House rules and Arbitrator decisions
- Story-driven moments that matter more than the scoreboard
If you enjoy emergent storytelling, writing battle reports, and building shared narratives with your opponent, Necromunda rewards that mindset over meta-gaming.