There’s a new sheriff on Necromunda, and it’s a giant human-brain-powered automaton with the thickest armour around and an entire arsenal of stupendously lethal crowd control equipment.
The new Necromunda campaign book – The Aranthian Succession: The Vaults of Temenos – is up for pre-order at the weekend. We’ve already taken a look at the ‘Sanctioner’ Pattern Automata, new plastic Brutes available exclusively to the Palanite Enforcers as they enforce the harsh justice of Lord Helmawr.*
We’ve also seen the ramshackle Ridge Walkers of House Cawdor, who will be leading the charge against the Necromundan authorities as a great Redemptionist Crusade rises from the ash wastes. But whose militant machines are the most magnificent? Let’s find out.
‘Sanctioner’ Pattern Automata
With a base cost of 205 credits, the stock Sanctioner comes with a pacifier assault claw, a heavy shock baton, and photon flash grenades. This is enough to put down most ordinary scofflaws, but the denizens of Necromunda are seldom willing to come all that quietly – so there’s a tasty array of upgrades available, including an SLHG pattern assault ram (+40 creds), a concussion cannon (+80), and a sanction pattern mancatcher (+100), to name but a few.
These tasty tools do the same thing as their man-portable counterparts with a little more va-va-voom, and the mancatcher is a veritable bounty of weapon traits – including entangle in melee, or web, silent, and template at range.
Add these to the fact that the Sanctioner counts as full cover for its squadmates to hide behind, automatically recovers from being Seriously Injured with nothing more than a Flesh Wound, and comes with Got Your Six as standard, and pretty much everyone’s going to get caught by the fuzz.
Cawdor Ridge Walkers
What the impetuous Way-Brethren of House Cawdor lack in armour, guns, crowd control, and expensive robotics, they make up for in two things – implaccable faith and a total disregard for blast radiuses. Way-Brethren are a new type of Prospect who come ready-equipped with a Ridge Walker, granting them the Mounted condition, a full 9” of movement, and a generous +1 to Initiative.
They may be under-armoured and hopeless shots from the saddle, but their explosive lances pack a nasty punch. These come in three one-shot flavours: frag, stun, and krak. The former two have a 3” blast radius, so it’s a good thing their lances are versatile enough for drive-bys…
Crusading Gangs
There’s another nifty mechanic hidden away in the depths of The Vaults of Temenos – rules for Crusading Gangs. This allows you and your gang of pious malcontents to pledge themselves to a patron Saint, of which the book contains six – Cognus the Saint of Quotas, Calibre the Lord of Bullets, Shanks the Saint of Knives, Gelt the Saint of Coin, Glurg the Gunk Saint, and Vermin the Saint of Rats.
Once pledged, your gang must follow their Saint’s holy tenets, and in exchange a nominated member becomes a Conduit for the Saint, becoming an unsanctioned psyker with access to one of six holy Wyrd Powers. Praise be! They’re sure to help as you squabble over strange Relics – the book includes 27, with tips for making your own – and curry favour with the Imperial House.
The Aranthian Succession: The Vaults of Temenos will be available for pre-order on Saturday, alongside the Santioner Pattern Automata, the Cawdor Ridge Walkers, resin Cawdor Ash Wastes Upgrades, Cawdor Vehicle Tactics Cards, and Cawdor Ash Wastes Dice.
* Now Lady Helmawr – but who can say how permanent that situation is…