Games Workshop - Necromunda: Palanite Subjugator Patrol

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The Trading Post is also a good way to give Subjugators some punchier ranged weapons. First of all, the generic Grenade Launcher with Frag/Krak (65 creds) is a better value weapon than the Subjugator version with Frag/Stun. It would also be cool to have Subjugators with Combat Shotguns (with Firestorm Ammunition!), Boltguns or even Storm Bolters – all would look awesome being fired around an Assault Shield. World Wide Web You’ll find that your patrol is more flexible than any underhive gang, just as good in a punch-up as they are in a firefight. With the finest range of equipment available, your Captain will ensure that you have the right tool for any job. The Subjugators are unusual in that they only field the Annihilator variant of the Predator. [8] They are described in one source as "idiosyncratic". [7] Notable Battles First of all, where to find the rules for Enforcers? The rules for founding a gang are available in the Book of Judgement and in the Dark Uprising version of the rulebook. If you are looking to get into Necromunda now, and aren’t just borrowing a friend’s books or relying on online resources, the Book of Judgement is very useful as a resource for extra equipment and the Law & Misrule campaign type, while the Dark Uprising rulebook has the Uprising campaign type, and of course the actual rules for playing the game. There are some pertinent points in the Necromunda FAQ that update Enforcers’ rules and certain weapons, which will be mentioned in this guide. The Enforcers’ unique exotic beast, the Hardcase Cyber-Mastiff, currently only has printed rules via the Forgeworld special character, Scrutinator-Primus Servalen. But it is available as a generic option and you should access the rules for it online if you want to use those (very effective) metallic canine friends. Necromunda exists in a permanent state of controlled conflict. Gang violence is endemic in the hive cities, as commonplace as industrial quotas and recycled water. Criminals, cults and renegades are also an unavoidable side effect of cramming so many souls into such a small space, and these individuals too rail against the society that spawned them. For the most part, gang wars are policed by the Clan Houses themselves, under fear of retribution from Lord Helmawr, while the Palanite Enforcers handle the rest.

All Enforcers come with a stub gun, armoured undersuit, Magnacles (this is clarified in the FAQ) and armour. For the Palanites that is Flak Armour. For Subjugators, Layered Flak Armour, which grants a 5+ save, 4+ against templates or blasts. All of this equipment is included in the cost of the fighter, so most groups would rule it can’t be sold. You’d rarely want to discard it or transfer it to another fighter, since all fighters come with it. The exception is the Stub Gun. Fighters can only have 3 weapons on their fighter card in Necromunda. So clearly that Stub Gun stands in the way of creating some loadouts. RAW you cannot discard weapons, but this rule is commonly ignored by many groups. Consider discussing this equipment with your Arbitrator and setting some guidelines on what you can do with it. Please don’t try to get cute by taking the Layered Flak off injured Subjugator Patrolmen to equip Palanite Sgts, or anything like that. Enforcer Captain Unfortunately the total number of Gangers (Patrolmen) must be equal to or greater than the number of non-Gangers (Captain and Sergeants) in a starting gang. You've got a Captain and two Sergeants but only two Patrolmen. Running a gang/patrol of five dudes is going to make your start in the campaign pretty gruelling. Some gangs can just pull it off because of damage output (Van Saar and Goliath) but Enforcers have sub-par stats and limited equipment. Now that we’ve had a look at all the particulars involved in a Palanite Enforcer gang, we’re both going to construct an example squad of 1,000 credits and explain our choices along the way. Additionally The Sex Cannon found a truly hilarious gang that costs exactly 1000 credits so we’ll give you a look at that one, too. Skill groupings also make a departure from the norm, in that Enforcers are the first gang where the captain (their leader) does not have Primary Skill access to Leadership. Instead, the gang primaries are Shooting and the new Palanite Drill Skill list.Autopistol– Do not buy any of these. Your characters already have free stub guns. The only reason to buy an autopistol is to create some sort of stub gun/autopistol gunfighting sergeant and please do not do this. This hypothetical character will do nothing but disappoint you, we promise. We have seen several new Enforcer players ask for advice and be told that Ablative Overlays are a great way to make their patrol effective. Seriously, we advise all Necromunda groups to either ignore these items or house-rule them in some way – they are very effective, they’re too effective, if you don’t curtail their use they become omnipresent and very annoying. Other Wargear.

For example: for whom is Necromunda intended? To whom would I recommend it? It is a good introductory game for those who are not part of the hobby, except that it is probably too clumsy and overly complicated. The people who will really enjoy it are those who have huge terrain collections to populate their sub-beds, but I can hardly believe that it will arouse the long-term interest of hardcore wargamers, especially when the field is filled with great games more than ever. Mesh Armour is one of the best values in Necromunda, and you should at least consider swapping your Palanites into it, even though they get Flak Armour for free. Subjugators’ Layered Flak Armour is a bit better already – and it’s available from the Trading Post for 20 credits! An Enforcer gang can always consider buying Layered Armour for its Palanites. As well as being fairly effective, this opens up some cool modelling possibilities, using the beefy Subjugator models as Palanites and giving them Enforcer Boltguns, Shotguns and other cool toys. It’s a shame it costs 20 credits when upgrading a Palanite to a Subjugator normally costs 10, but that’s a fair price to pay to retain access to the good ranged options in the armoury. Enforcers have a variety of interesting weapon options. Some will be familiar to Necromunda players, but some are brand new and could prove to be extremely deadly. We’ll take a look at each option and provide a bit of commentary to help guide our rookie Enforcer players. Basic Weapons Update: The 2019 FAQ has reversed this, giving Enforcers full access to the Trading Post and the ability to use the weapons that they get from it. There is still some issue about ambiguous language in the FAQ, but we think it is clear that they’ve intended for Enforcers to have access to weapons from the TP. Feel free to ignore this bullet point completely! Update: It is important to note that the 2019 FAQ gave every Enforcer Magnacles for free. While this is certainly cool, it’s not game breaking as Magnacles exist in the same space as Hurl and Headbutt, two skills that are rarely used and rarely impactful. Additionally, Stun Grenades got a 3″ blast added to their profile, making them potentially a worthwhile choice for any Enforcer’s wargear.I think the Webber, a weapon designed to non-lethally incapacitate groups of enemies, should have been a weapon available to the cops. Obviously the fact it’s one of the most effective weapons in the game is just a coincidence. Ignoring armour and circumventing Wounds and the Injury Dice, Webbers are infuriatingly good. As an auto-hitting template weapon, they go great on Rookies or on Sgts with Infiltrate. I don’t think they would be as easy to convert and make look good, but Web Pistols and Web Gauntlets are also great. Melee Options Many guides to Necromunda gangs focus on Gang Creation, and thus on the initial lists of available weapons. We can’t stress enough how much of a difference it makes to use the full gamut of options in the wider Trading Post. When people say that a given gang has access to X good weapons, well, in most cases, everyone has access to those weapons, they just have to take a post-battle action and relatively easy rarity roll to buy them. Enforcers are more flexible than most gangs at time of writing – all of their fighters can use external weapons. Again, you may want to discuss that with your group, since House gangs don’t have this luxury for Gangers or Juves, and it may change in a future book or FAQ update. SLHG Pattern Assault Ram “Sledge Hammer”– This is a high-strength, versatile melee weapon with a built-in grenade launcher with frag and choke grenades. It’s a weird one, reader. Grenade launchers want to be far from their targets, but this is a melee weapon with an attached GL. It doesn’t make a ton of sense. It could, however, be deadly in the hands of a later-campaign champion or leader. Enforcers’ long range (>24”) firepower in their armoury is restricted to Sniper Rifles and the Heavy Concussion Ram. If you play on big open tables, there is a lot of value in classic long-range Heavy Weapons, although they are expensive, and being Unwieldy practically require an additional upgrade, Suspensors for 60 credits, to work well. Heavy Stubbers are useful, but the Heavy Bolter is a lot meaner (although it will run out of ammo sooner or later). Missile Launchers, Autocannons and Lascannons can all be converted for Enforcer models and are worth using. The fearsome Multi-Melta, which is more mid-range since it’s usable to 24” and terrifying within 12”, is probably the deadliest weapon in the game. Variety of Basic Weapons But for now, there are a lot of powerful weapons available to Enforcers. The most straightforward advantage is that you can go ham with powerful Special/Heavy weapons. Bigger guns are one of the most cost-effective ways to spend creds in Necromunda. Plasma guns, melta guns, heavy bolters – the world is your oyster. You can also spend on Enforcers’ armour – they start out with more investment in this than most gangs, but it can easily be improved. Here are some suggestions for adding effective, thematic weapons to Enforcer gangs: Heavy Weapons

Enforcers don’t have restrictions on their basic Patrolmen (or indeed Rookies) using things like Special Weapons. Instead, the house list is divided into Palanite and Subjugator options, so that’s how we will look at them: Palanite Weapons M41 - Damocles Gulf Crusade: The Subjugators contributed a single squad and several armoured vehicles to the crusade. [4] Dark Uprising is a fresh take on Necromunda for both veterans and newcomers alike. The box is bursting with amazing models, including modular Zone Mortalis terrain, two complete gangs – the twisted Corpse Grinder Cult and indomitable Palanite Enforcers – plus a rulebook, cards, dice and rulers. Gunslinger . Enables some fun with 2 pistols. Probably better if you really lean into it with Plasma Pistols from the Trading Post, wielding Stub Guns akimbo isn’t going to scare anyone. Rating: B- , would be better if Enforcers had natural equipment for it. Hardened Upgrades . Both types of Enforcer can buy ‘Hardened’ versions of their armour (Flak and Layered Flak). This reduces incoming AP by 1, to a minimum of -1. It’s sort of like an extra point on your Save, but only affects weapons with AP-2 or greater. That’s not terrible, especially on Subjugators, who are on such a good save already against low-AP weapons. It will only become massively relevant later in a campaign, high-AP weapons are expensive, so uncommon at the outset. But you’d have to consider it against the generic (Trading Post) armour upgrades available. For Palanites, we don’t recommend this upgrade because it’s outclassed by simply swapping to an armour that’s not Flak! Again, see the TP section. WargearStub Gun– Every Enforcer comes with one of these automatically. So you’ll undoubtedly get a lot of use out of yours. Grab some Dum-Dums to give it some extra punch and hit the range, rookie! FAQ point. In the Book of Judgement it seems to imply that all Enforcer Patrolmen spend XP like Specialists, this is confirmed not to be the case. Patrolmen gain Advances like Gangers, Rookies like Juves. Note that Rookies apparently do not have the Fast Learner skill which helps most Juves/Prospects avoid paying fees for repeated Advances in the same stat. Admittance into the Subjugator battalions is reserved for those who have proved themselves to be both utterly loyal to House Helmawr and pitiless in the execution of their duties. An Enforcer is given little choice in the receipt of this honour once they have been singled out by their superiors. The induction into this inner circle of the Palanites involves the taking of an oath to their battalion commander and gene-marking. From this point on the Enforcer is part of an organisation within an organisation, and can expect better access to resources and,more favourable missions. When their commander calls, however, they are expected to forsake their patrol in favour of the battalion, and follow wherever it leads. Palanite Patrolmen are your all-purpose weapon carriers. Their Basic/Special weapon options are uniformly excellent, so despite their high cost and mediocre stats they can hold their own as the basis for a shooting-oriented gang. After all, Armoured Undersuits being included may not be what you’d choose at Gang Creation, but it’s decent in the long run. The challenge their cost gives you is fitting in enough bodies at the start of the campaign to keep up your activations and avoid a death spiral if you have a few fighters in Recovery at once. Enforcers bring a slightly unique approach to the Underhive. Although their stats are far from elite, Palanites have excellent weapons available and Subjugators have excellent armour. They have the capability to be an absolute force in the beginning and middle of a campaign. If you’re not forced to play Dominion campaigns with your hands tied, or to abide by the 0-2 limit on your Champions, Enforcers can still keep up with the House gangs later on, but they need to make smart use of the Trading Post to compare to other gangs’ special Champions and extra mechanics. With their access to good skills, equipment and helpful cyber-mastiffs, they can be one of the scariest gangs in a campaign.

The support is really limited at the moment. The starter box is great, but there are two gangs plus one more on the way, which is nowhere near the dozen factions of the original. Considering that you need 5-6 people to play, you’ll be seeing many of the same models for quite some time. Including Subjugators in a starting gang makes things difficult as they just chew up the credits, especially if you take a Subjugator Captain because you're then tied to taking two more Subjugator Patrolmen. No more cardboard: The original Necromunda game from 1995 was cardboard, The Dark Uprising box comes with ruined barricades, bulkheads, objective markers, high quality cards, and even modular boards. The walls on the boards create corridors of the trashy, terrain-rich underhive. Got Your Six. This skill lets you interrupt enemy charges against a friendly model, taking an immediate shot at them and stopping the charge entirely if you at least pin them. This is a more focussed version of Overwatch (see below) – it only works against Charge actions specifically, so will only frequently come up against gangs that are including significant close combat threats. On the other hand, it does not require the skill-user to be Ready, or remove that Ready marker if they have one. So unlike Overwatch, where you give up your Activation for a single Shoot Action at the right time, with Got Your Six you aren’t giving anything up. This is damn powerful and ideal for punchy mid to close range shooters. It will be intensely frustrating for melee-heavy gangs trying to get into combat with you, if you position models with this skill correctly. Rating: A

Nothing But the Best

Enforcers are a breath of fresh, recycled air. Prior to their release, Goliaths were the punchy gang and Van Saar were the shooty gang, while all other factions danced around the middle ground and tried to carve out a distinct identity between those two. Enforcers are an elite(ish) mid-to-close-range shooting gang with decent melee capabilities, but their flavor and niche comes from their equipment and their roster. Strengths Sniper Rifle– A cheap long rifle. Enforcers are almost entirely based around short- to mid-ranged shooting, so including one or two of these in a squad will drastically improve the outcome of any Sector Mechanicus games you end up playing. The pro-choice might be to have one as an alternate weapon set for a champion with a 3+ BS for use in a Sector game. I'm getting into necromunda, and I'd like to start a palanite enforcers gang. I'm wondering what does and doesn't work for a 1000 point gang to star off a campaign.