Escher: These chicks are a well rounded gang. They are sneaky fighters, but not the best shooters out there. (agility, combat, stealth)
Delaques: Sneaky dudes! If you like a to play silent killers, this is the gang. They are good at Raid, Rescue, Hit and Run, and any other scenario in which stealth is a plus. (agility, shooting, stealth)
Van Saar: These boys are the high tech shooters. They usually end up with a lot of good money and equipment. Their techno skills are good for keeping their weapons in good working order as well as applying medic skills to dying fighters. (combat, shooting, techno)
Orlock: This is the other well rounded gang that can do both close combat and good shooting. Not great at hiding though. (combat, ferocity, and shooting)
Goliaths: These guys are just big thugs. If you like to just walk up and cave someone's skull in, play these boys! Not great at stealth or shooting. (combat, ferocity, muscle)
Cawdor: The other good fighting gang, also not good at sneaking or shooting, but good fighters. (agility, combat, and ferocity).
Redemption: These are best played by chaos type players. People who just want to wipe normal people off the face of the planet. Not may bag, personally, but I have seen them done very well. Not good a stealth, but good fighters and ok shooters. (combat, ferocity, and shooting)
Ratskins: This is the outlaw sneaky group. Great movement and stealth, plus they are unaffected by treacherous conditions. Only problem is their weapons are very low tech.
In addition to my usual tips that are on my site let me give you a few other broad playing styles to consider as you develop your gang. Again these are broad playing styles and could conceivably be used with any gang, but some will work better with certain gangs. Some of it just becomes trial and error and practice (with a bit of luck thrown in for good measure).
Strength in numbers: By giving each fighter minimal (one auto gun or one laspistol) equipment you can afford more fighters. I just played a friend this weekend with a brand new gang with 11 members! That's huge! Remember the more models you have the more shots you can take and overwhelm the enemy. As well as the fact that it is more difficult to make a large gang take bottle tests. 25% of a small gang is usually 2 models. 25% of a large gang could e 4 or 5 models.
Low gang rating: Try to keep an artificially low gang rating. By not adding extra equipment to your fighters and letting their experience grow, the gang's rating will be lower than the average gang of the same strength and experience giving you the advantage of generally choosing scenarios. By hiring a lot of Scum or bounty hunters you can do this too. You get to increase (temporarily) the numbers and strength of your gang but your overall rating stays low. Meanwhile your gang's experience still increases.
High tech: This works best with Van Saar or other gangs with lots of techno skills. If you have a lot of armorers it will be of great value to take more bolter type weapons. They have a high strength which means they wound and penetrate armor easier, but they also have a high ammo roll. With lots of armorers you can almost guarantee you will still make the ammo roll due to modifiers. By combining this with lots of back-up weapons you can simply select the method of destruction! "Hmm, should I blast him with my bolt gun, fry him with my plasma pistol, or cook him with my hand flamer?" Note: this style is not compatible with "low gang rating"
Tips for Playing a Successful Necromunda Gang! Buy your big guns first. Never again will you have 1000 creds to spend around but when you first start a new gang. If you want to buy things like missile launchers and heavy bolters, now is the time to do it. Even if this leaves you a bit short it other areas. You can always pick up a lasgun or bolt pistol later when the creds come in after a few short games.
Hide! Some fools just run around without cover, or with very little cover. True, they may move across the board a little faster, but what good does it do when they get shot up all the time? Move your regular four inches, stay in cover, and declare hiding. Nothing sucks more than being surrounded by a gang that you can't shoot at!
Prepare for and use treacherous conditions. Some of the worst treacherous conditions are fog and gasses which limit sight and choke you out. These are easily countered with photovisors and philter plugs. Buy 'em for our whole gang and call for treacherous conditions
Vents and tunnels suck! Although they seem really cool, you lose your first turn with those models, and many end up stranded too far away from the rest of your gang where you can't give them any fire support.
Stay together! Too many times have I crushed other gangs because they spread their forces too thin. Keep close enough that you can lend firepower to help out friendly gangers, but not so close that one well places plasma grenade will wipe you out!
Choose multiple targets. I like to get two or three gangers firing at the same target at the same time, especially when knocking that guy out is crucial. This way I am sure to take him out. However after my first guy shoots and puts him down, if my other gangers have other targets they can see, they can still get in valuable shots and not waste the turn just sitting there looking dumb!
Pull-out in time! If you are thinking, "Whoa, my guys are about to get cut to shreds!" then why are you keeping them there? Have them fall back and regroup. Take cover and fight on your own terms. There is no point of getting cut to ribbons for the sake of a few inches. Sure General Custer may have been brave, but he's also DEAD! A good tactic when fighting Genestealers!
Choose a strategy. Yes, it is nice to have a well rounded gang, but it is usually best to do one thing and do it well. For example: be a good shooting gang, a good sneaking gang, or a good h-t-h fighting gang.
To cheese or not to cheese? If you are the underdog in a match-up between two gangs and you have the choice of scenarios… go for one you can win! Don't try to fighter a bigger gang toe to toe… you will lose. PAINFULLY! Do a sneak attack like the Raid. That's why those scenarios are there.
This is the only way to level the playing field sometimes. However, don't make easy scenarios your specialty. Especially if you are the larger gang and you have choice. Nobody minds if the underdog does what he has to to win. This makes an exciting game. On the other hand, nobody likes a player with an obviously superior force who still takes the easy way out instead of proving their might the old fashioned way.
Use scenery and lots of it! Personally, I prefer a table that has lots of good scenery on it. This gives you places to hide, corners to set up an ambush, narrow gangways to heroically cross during a thick firefight, and narrow bottlenecks that small gangs can use to stop big mobs! Besides this gives you a chance to show off all of the cool scenery you made after checking out my scenery tips. You did do that didn't you?
Be fair! "Lets not bicker and argue about who killed who.." If you are not sure abut a rule… look it up. It is a judgement call, be generous to your opponent. Maybe he'll give you a break when you need it. Besides they will respect you more for kicking their @## after being willing to give them the benefit of the doubt on a measurement or a die roll.
Know your gang. Don't be afraid to take a moment to look up the stats of a ganger or to see what skills he has. Nothing hurts more than to find out that you forgot that the heavy who could have won the game for you had three wounds but you let him go with only one!
Know your enemy! Just as important as knowing your own gang, is to know what you are up against. You shouldn't ask to see his sheet, but you should certainly make sure to see which models are his heavies, and what each is carrying. If you remember that the "Juggernauts" that you are facing are a great hand to hand gang you won't make the mistake of walking into them but rather blow their heads off with your bolt pistol!
"Do not feed the bears!" If your opponent has three good shooters covering an alleyway don't keep sending one fighter after another down there to get taken out. Either wait until you have enough firepower in the area to do some real damage or find another way around.
