Past the great Dust Wall lies the exclusion zone of the Secundan Abyss. Ravaged by radiation, shattered to utter destruction and laying in desolation, this environment is a hell hole by Necromundan standards, and that’s saying something. Officially off limits, this hellscape is a reminder of the judgement Lord Helmawr sentenced on Hive Secundus in order to eliminate the threat of a genestealer infestation.

However, infestations are hard to remove, and the weed of the Genestealer curse still grows in the very ruins of the former hive. Deep in the Underhells, things even more sinister than the Genestealers lurk, while Spyre hunters dive into the depths looking for glory.

In The Book of Desolation, up for pre order today, Necromunda players get not just updated lore expanding the narrative since the Aranthian Succession campaign, but new rules for running gangs of Spyre Hunters, Malstrain Genestealers along with a full and expanded Underhells Campaign for multiple players.

In this review we’ll be taking a look at the new expansion, seeing what is added and if its worth adding to your Necromunda collection. We’ll also take a look at some of the miniatures getting released alongside this campaign including the eagerly anticipated Spyre Hunter box and the arrival of Yageloth, the Master of Whispers

Massive thanks to Games Workshop for sending us a free early review copy of The Book of Desolation, if you would like to support the site why not order your Necromunda goodies through our affiliate Element Games and save yourself some money too?

We’ve also filmed full unboxing videos for the Spyre Hunters and Yageloth, which you can see just below or over on YouTube

So gather your gang, it’s time to delve once more into the depths of Hive Secundus…

The Book of Desolation Review

A few weeks ago the Necromunda Hive Secundus box erupted on the scene, opening up a new era for Necromunda and giving us a foundation for a new setting for the game. While the box is very awesome, it is very much designed at being a 2 player experience, with rules in the book just being designed as part of that game. This is where the Book of Desolation steps in, as the full “source book” for games within Hive Secundus. If you have picked up any of the other “Book of” or “House of” series then you’ll know what to expect here, essentially we get lore about Secundus, new gangs, a new campaign and lots of other cool things that arbitrators can plug into their Necromunda campaigns

The Lore

While the book within the Hive Secundus box delved into the history of Hive Secundus, it was very much set in the past of Necromunda, with the events of the Aranthian Succession not mentioned at all, The Book of Desolation on the other hand very much runs with the plot lines set up in those books. We learn of Lady Haera’s journey from her saving at the end of Volume 3, across the exclusion zone and into the hive itself and find out how she gets her one of a kind custom spyre hunter rig.

Only the first 20 pages are dedicated to this new narrative, and we end on somewhat of a cliff hanger, so I’d expect us to get a couple more books within this “season” to continue the story, but we do get some insights into events that will fuel idea for campaigns or one off games. We learn about the Abyssal Ferrymen, opportunistic bands of people who aid people in crossing the exclusion zone, using massive vehicles with cranes and tracks to get people over the walls and into the danger of Secundus.

We also see some ace new environments such as “The Iron Graveyard” forests made out of the fallen and twisted girders following the destruction of the hive. I’d love plastic kits to represent some of this stuff, but even if we don’t get any there’s lots of inspiration here in order to make a nice blend of environments to fight over – Haera’s journey covers the whole range of environments from Ash Wastes desolate landscapes, to the dense cover of the Iron Graveyard though to the Zone Mortalis nightmare of the Underhells itself. There’s lots of range here for battles in and around Secundus to use a much wider selection of environments and scenery

We also hear little snippets about the Aranthian who now rules Necromunda, but I suspect that is something that will be further explored in a future book in more detail, and I’m very keen to finally learn what exactly this ancient race is…

Spyre Hunting Party

One of the big draws to people picking up this book will be the rules to run an entire Spyre Hunter gang. Unlike the rules presented in the Secundus book, this is the real deal, the full rules to run a gang of nothing but Spyre Hunters.

People will remember them from the original edition of Necromunda as being very powerful gangs made up of just a few fighters, and the same is true here. Gangs will start with only 3 or 4 fighters and will only have 5 or 6 by the very end, with some very unique rules on how they gain additional members over a campaign.

There’s a few things that are very different to regular gangs, and you’re going to want to plan ahead your long term goals in order to make the most of your expensive and limited number of fighters!

Firstly, any credits left over after you create your gang are lost, so make sure you make the most of them! They can also not make Alliances, cannot hire Hired Guns and only Hangers On that can specifically be hired by Spyre Hunters can be used – again this limits the bodies you can take, you will be very outnumbered but have fighters that individually far surpass any other gang in the game.

After gang creation, credits are very hard to come by – Spyre Hunters never get any from territories or by any scenario specific events, they have no interest in selling captives or claiming bounties and they ONLY get credits during downtime phases. This essentially gives you cash to swap out equipment or to pay 100 credit to repair damaged Spyre Hunter Rigs – but you are not allowed to hire any additional fighters using credits.

So how to Spyre Hunters get new fighters? Well, unique to them is a new mechanic know as the “Terror Level” which represents the infamy and legendary status of the hunter gang – as they make waves in the Underhells, local gangs start to fear them, word of mouth spreads and more Spyre Hunters are drawn to their cause.

Gangs start at 1 and by doing certain achievements the tracker will start to increase – so for example, if they manage to take out a gang leader or champion then the gang gains 1 terror, if they take out 4 fighters in a single battle they gain one terror and if they manage to take out an enemy in the first round they gain one terror, meaning that at most you’re looking at gaining 3 terror after each battle, and that’s if you manage to do them all each time.

As the terror level increases, more Spyre Hunters can join their cause, when they are at 5 Terror they get a free Caryatid, 10 Terror they get to gain a Spyre Hunter (and equipment) worth 300 credits and at 20 terror you get a Spyre Hunter (and equipment) worth 400 credits.

I love this system as it really makes you fight for those additional gangers – and from a gang composition point of view it favours you starting with your cheaper fighters to start out with, as your more expensive ones you will earn over the course of the campaign – which in itself adds a kind of balancing mechanic as you’ll generally be starting out with a gang that is more managable for other gangs to face, and you’ll start to get your more powerful toys as the other gangs progress.

While you are heavily outnumbered, Spyre Hunters get a big advantage in that they can activate twice a turn due to the fact they get 2 ready markers each – this makes Spyre hunters particularly powerful as it counters a lot of the tactics that can be used to try and avoid you, a Spyre hunter is rarely wasting an action as they have another they can use later after getting into position.

The Spyre hunters also have a unique progression system through their suit upgrades. The Spyre hunter rigs evolve and power up over the course of a campaign, powered by their Kill Count. For every 4 kills they get to roll a random upgrade – this can be one of their stats increasing, or one of their systems gaining an augmentation that improves their power and potential. This is in addition to gaining experience, meaning that a Spyre Hunter who manages to rack up the kills will be getting very powerful.

Instead of lasting injuries, the Spyre hunters accrue glitches on their suit when they are taken out of action, which tend to reduce their stats – once the number of glitches is higher than their toughness the hunter is slain, but for 100 credits (or 4 kill tally) they can reset their glitches putting them back up to full efficiency – there is a very very low chance of a glitch killing the hunter instantly, but this makes the Spyre Hunters very hard to kill and much more likely to stick around that other gangs.

The Spyre Hunt Master is the gang leader, starts at 180 credits before equipment and can be tailored to whatever role you want to give them, with their weapon loadout allowing for any choice of equipment from the options available from the new Spyre Hunter box that is released alongside this book – in the above example I’ve given it Malcadon claws, a drop rig and a monomolecular sword – interestingly you are unable to give it Yeld wings however, but that’s pretty much the only gear from the sprue you cant use, so feel free to tailor weapons as you see fit. They also get a free upgrade to one system too. I think i’d always tool this one out to max when starting, as this is probably your most important gang member.

Next up we see the Orrus from the Hive Secundus box. This is your most expensive ganger, and so a good choice to sit on until you can add your free 400 credit hunter when you reach 20 Terror – it’s absolutly possible to take him in a starting gang, but if you do you are deffo going to be struggling for bodies early on with him costing almost double any other hunter, especially when fully tooled out

An oldie but a goodie next up with the Yeld, comes as standard in his wings and laser gauntlets, and can be upgraded to also take missile launchers (I don’t remember seeing this part on the sprue, so may be an upgrade kit or alternate model coming later)

At just over 200 credits it’s your cheapest pick, and so a safe bet to take in your initial gang. The box only has parts to build one of these, as even though its 2 duplicate sprues in the box, you only get one wing on each sprue.

Sitting between the previous two suits we have the Jakara, this comes base with a Mirror Shield, a nice bit of kit that combines a short range weapon with a +2 armour modifier, making this a very tough nut to crack. Also wielding a Monomolecular blade it has some punch in combat too

Finally, we have the Malcadon, a close combat brawler with a grapnel launcher which can have its claws swapped for toxin whips (Again, I don’t remember seeing this on the frame, so I’m expecting an upgrade kit or some alternative poses in resin with the weapon upgrades)

Like with the Orrus from Hive Secundus, they can all take Caryatid as an exotic beast for 90 credits (You also get one free at 5 terror)

Each of the Spyre Hunters can take a skill on creation and credits will go very quickly. But if you want an elite gang that plays very differently to other gangs then you can get started with just the new Sprye Hunter box and have a very effective gang without having to paint many models at all

If you want to take a Spyre Hunter alongside a “normal” gang, you also have the option of taking a Secundan Incursion Gang – this is an expanded version of the one listed in the Hive Secundus book and allows you to take a single Spyre Hunter of your choice to act as your leader (this replaces your standard gang leader) and then take the rest of the gang from one of the 6 main house gangs, or the Squats, Enforcers or Venators – the inclusion of the Venators here is interesting, and I wonder if we’ll get some generic bountry hunter plastics here to make this easier to run.

Malstrain Gangs

After them appearing as the adversaries in Hive Secundus, I was excited to see the ability to take Malstrains as a regular gang with proper gang creation rules – and in The Book of Desolation we actually get two gang lists!

The Malstrain Gang is essentially the units out of the Hive Secundus box turned into a proper gang list, there’s still a box out stating that these gangs would only be found within the underhells, so are only really designed for those campaigns detailed in this book – but im sure most arbitrators could easily include them in other campaigns.

They also do not have a dedicated leader, you instead get to choose one model at gang creation to be the leader.

The cool thing with this list is that you can lean in a number of different directions, from super elite with a handfull of genestealers, to a horde of gangers supported by a single creature, or something in the middle. Unlike the Spyre hunters they still earn credits as usual, which just made me chuckle with the image of a Genestealer nipping down the shops to buy some more equipment for the gang between games!

The Malstrain itself is your most expensive choice at almost 300 credits, but it is an absolute beast starting out with Dodge, Evade, Rain of Blows and Nerves of Steel, and in a Malstrain Gang they can indeed gainXP and earn additional skills – a basic one will cause headaches, a fully tooled out one will achiliate most things it faces, but like with the Spyre Hunters they are very expensive (but a gang of nothing but these is very tempting!)

Sadly, despite my wishes of seeing a genestealer pop down to the trading post, they are unable to make post battle actions!

They can also take 0-2 Tyramites as an exotic beast for under 100 credits, as they have no other gear option this is a decent use of credits between games for your Genestealers

New to the list in this book is the Malstrain Coalescence – this is an unsanctioned psyker who can fly, and also has an aura that allows any friendly models within 6″ to automatically pass any cool tests. It’s not very expensive in Credits and like with the Genestealers can take Tyramites as a beast option.

Finally, we get access to Gang Brood Scum, these are cheap and cheerful cannon fodder for your gang and have a stack of basic options, the potential to be upgraded to a specialist and gain access to the trading post meaning you can also take along some more exotic weaponry over the course of the campain.

I love this gang and will absolutely be running these in my next campaign!

If you want to use the Malstrain in a regular campaign you actually get another way of taking them, and this is in a Malstrain Corrupted Gang – this is essentially any of the standard 6 house gangs, Corpse Grinders or Enforcers with the option of taking 0-3 Genestealers as Brutes, 0-1 coalesced as a Brute and 0-2 tyramites per leader or champion in your gang – you are also able to take as many Brood Scum as you want – this actually gives you a lot of freedom to take a leader and a couple of fighters, then will up the rest of your gang with malstrain gribblies! In addition you can also make your leader a psyker for 35 credits, opening up a lot of cool options and conversion potential. This also means you would have access to vehicles too for Ash Wastes games – I’m very tempted to put together a police precinct that has been taken over by the cult, with the corrupt (in every sense of the word) officer leading them into the underhive for shady dealings. A truck full of Genestealers is also a terrifying thought…

Underhells Campaign

The big draw in Necromunda supplements is often the campaign included, and for the Book of Desolation this is no different with the Underhells Campaign being a particular highlight! Straight off the bat this is a complely different campaign that the one in the Hive Secundus box, despite having the same name! It also follows quite a different path than most other campaigns as it instead represents the journey from the wall that seperates the exclusion zone from the rest of the planet, into the depths of the underhells themselves.

We start with the incursion phase which takes place in the exclusion zone, as gangs race across the restricted zone to try and find safe entrance into secundus. A lot of these games take place in the Ash Wastes and so vehicles will be used and there are wide open spaces, with gangs without access to vehicles able to use the services of Abyssal Ferrymen to hire transports and passage across the wastes. Territories represent the base camps the gangs are using when exploring, and will change as the gangs progress through, picking the path they deem best. They will also look to earn exploration points in order to find their way into the hive itself, all while being ambushed by wild mindless genestealers who are populated on the board in some missions.

After a period of downtime the gangs then start their descent into the hive intself, picking their way through the ruins and gaining resources before a final period of downtime before finally battling for survival in the underhives.

What’s cool is the length of these periods are all variable and are determined based on if the gangs manage to find their way to the next stage – you might have a short period where a gang makes a large push into the hive, or maybe gangs will push their look and try and explore and gather resources to gear up before heading on. Rather than battling over territories, the campaign play is going to be about how you balance pushing ahead with the trigger for the next phase, or gearing up your gang for the final fight – Territories still exist, but these are more bases of operation that you move between as you continue your journey.

As part of this campaign, there are a few different factors that are tracked – Madness, Desolation and Darkness. These will change based on the phase of the campaign and will have different bonuses and dangers based on if you are a gang hunting and exploring, or if you are aligned with the Genestealer menace, for example access to the trading post and rarity of items will increase the deeper you get, as does the aura of madness generated by the Malstrains, making nerve tests harder for most gangs, but emboldening the Genestealers. This again adds to the sweeping more cinematic feeling of the campaign as things gradually get worse and worse the closer you get to the hive…

6 scenarios are included, and you can easily expand this out with some adapted from other books

Additional Rules

The book also contains a host of other rules at the back. The first of these include the Abyssal Ferrymen – teams of mercenary explorers who can be hired to help get you to the Hive. Like the Venators they have a range of profiles to pick from to represent different races, so if you want a team of hardy squats, or some beastmen for example you can create something that fits. They get access to Custom Rigs which are vehicles with a whole host of upgrades that essentially give all gangs access to customisable vehicles – I really hope we get some kits to represent these, but I suspect the idea is to convert something up to best fit your gang. They need a crew of Ferrymen, and the upgrades can add up, but its a great way of being able to use your “Ash Wastes” vehicle allowence in the starting part of the campaign even if your gang does not have any vehicles available. These could easily be adapted for other campaigns too.

They have also reprinted the rules for the Van Saar tek hunters here allowing those who have not picked up the Hive Secundus box to use them

The book also has rules for the new Sentry guns that are also available for pre order today (We didnt get the kit, but I’ll be doing an unboxing as soon as I have my hands on them!) – these are a 20 credit platform which can then be given twin grenade launchers or heavy stubbers and are an Illegal (10) item (Though these are common in the Underhells). Once set they will shoot at anything (friend or foe) that crosses their line of sight, and they can fire multiple times a day, opening up each time someone moves across their vision. Each time they do they gain D3 “heat” and once they hit 6 the gun overheats and is unable to shoot until it cools down.

These look really fun and allow for some suitable “Aliens” moments as people throw cannon fodder into them to overheat them until the juicer targets can get through safely!

As ever there’s also a comprehensive chunk of the book with all the gang tactics (both generic Secundus ones and Spyre Hunters) and rules and stats for all the weapons and equipment in the book, including all the upgrade options for the Spyre systems

Summary

Things have been pretty quiet for Necromunda recently, but with the release of Hive Secundus and this book things seem to be back better than ever – not only do we get some cool models alongside this release with some nice and unique feeling gangs, but we also get a new campaign which is very much a “best of both worlds” combining some of the open spaces and vehicle based mayhem of Ash Wastes with the traditional close confines of the Zone Mortalis. They could have easily set this just in the underhells, but there’s now scope for using a variety of models and enviroments and having a nice varied continuing campaign of Necromunda!

I really enjoy the new gangs, and feel they also give you the freedom of pure Spyre Hunters or Malstrain while also giving you the flexibility of blending them with existing gangs, meaning that if you just wanted to pick up a couple of models for taste then you can easily use them with your existing collection.

I’ve not covered them in this post, but there’s also a number of new characters available with their models on the way soon, and I suspect that this story is not yet over, with some scope for more adventures to come in the Underhells I feel it’s going to be a good year for Necromunda

I cant wait to play through the campaign and take down those foolish enough to explore Hive Secundus!

Necromunda The Book of Desolation is up for pre order today and is released Saturday31st August

Games Workshop provided Sprues & Brews with a free copy for review purposes