Introduction
Are you having trouble finding that one weapon from your Necromunda gang’s weapon list that’s absolutely essential, but not on your gang’s model sprues? That’s how Necromunda works! Don’t worry, though: This article helps you find the bits you’re looking for.
What should I look for?
The Gangs of the Underhive book, the individual House of… gang books and various supplements all provide you with tons of weapon and equipments options for your gangs, but while the most common items can be found on the sprues of gang boxes like the Orlock Gang kit, just as many have to be found elsewhere in the Warhammer 40,000 model range.
This article goes through some of the best kits for finding those weapons from the Trading Post you really need for your campaign, but there are many more to look into, as well as all sorts of third party options we won’t cover here. To that end, here are a few guidelines for what constitutes a good bit for Necromunda models:
- Weapons with no hands attached/holstered weapons. A Necromunda fighter is allowed to carry three weapons, but most of the time, a fighter only has two hands. This means that any kit that contains spare weapons that are sculpted without hands holding them can be attached to the back of your fighters, and weapons sculpted with holsters are even better for this.
- Two-handed weapons held in one hand. Most two-handed weapons such as boltguns, lasguns and shotguns are sculpted with two hands attached, which often looks great on the miniature it was intended for. However, this can create problems if the arms of that miniature aren’t exactly of the same proportions as your Necromunda fighter. This means that any sculpt where, say, a sergeant holds his shotgun in one hand while pointing or waving with the other lets you fit that shotgun arm on your Necromunda fighter much more easily.
- The Genestealer Cults/Adeptus Mechanicus/Astra Militarum Triangle. The human-sized models for the three Warhammer 40,000 armies Adeptus Mechanicus, Genestealer Cults and Astra Militarum were all designed for their bits to be interchangeable. This is great news for a Necromunda player, since many of the gang boxes are on that same scale. Goliath gangs are a bit bigger, and Escher gangs are a bit more slim, but you can still make many weapons from those ranges fit – you might just have to customize the hands and arms a bit. The new Adepta Sororitas range also mostly fits this scale.
- Melee Weapons and AOS: While Necromunda gives you the option to take all manner of powered, mechanized and augmented melee weaponry for which the gang kits gives you plenty of options, the game rules also contain many basic melee weapons such as swords, axes and mauls. To find bits to represent these, one of the best places you can go is the Warcry kits for Age of Sigmar. Most of the Chaos Warbands (such as the Corvus Cabal) are human-sized in the same way as the Necromunda/Adeptus Mechanicus/Genestealer Cults/Astra Militarum ranges, and have a grimdark feel to them, which makes them a better fit for Necromunda than the often more ornate melee weapons of the Order factions of the Age of Sigmar.
In the section below, we go through some of the best kits for Necromunda bits, with lots of examples of the 4 points mentioned here. There are still tons of other kits out there from which to harvest weapons and wargear for your gang, but this article will hopefully give you an idea of what to look for.
Best Kits for Necromunda Bits
To find great bits for your Necromunda models, you have to start looking at sprues rather than painted models. Seeing models disassembled on neutrally grey plastic sprues can help you look beyond the visions of their designers and start imagining how different bits could be combined into the warband you envision. In this section, we go through some of the best sprues out there and comment on what great bits can be found on them, as well as what challenges those bits might offer when you have to make them fit on your models.
It might sound insane to start buying whole kits just to get those few bits you need, and of course you shouldn’t if that doesn’t seem like a good idea to you. If you love converting and kitbashing, each kit bought will just mean you have even more bits for even more wild conversion projects in the future, but if that’s not something for you, you can also try finding these bits on e-bay/bits shops online or ask for them in hobby trading groups in your local area.
Genestealer Cults
Neophyte Hybrids
This kit is pure weapon bits gold. It’s full of autoguns and shotguns (even a one-handed one!), but there’s also a grenade launcher, a flamer and a hand flamer, a power maul and power pick, a knife and a bolt pistol.
On top of that, you can build a Necromunda Genestealer Cults gang from this kit with all the bits you don’t need for our other gang.
One thing to keep in mind with this kit, though, is that some of the hands are sculpted to look alien, so you might have to try and cover that up with greenstuff, but it’s not the case for many of the bits.
Atalan Jackals
The Atalan Jackals sprue is a treasure trove of weapons held in one hand: Since the Jackals ride motorcycles, they have to keep one hand on their bikes, so there are autguns, shotguns and even a grenade launcher here that you could combine with another hand weapon on one of your fighters. It’s also a great kit for close combat weapons: It has a power axe and a power maul/pick, but also some heavy tools such as a wrench and a crowbar that you can use as cool thematic mauls for your gang.
You will end up with a lot of surplus plastic with this kit due to the vehicles, but you can always use them as decorations for your gang hideout or come up with rules for using them in special scenarios.
Jackal Alphus
The star of this kit from a Necromunda perspective is the sniper rifle, which you can use as a Long Rifle, which has one of the longest ranges in the game. It’s fairly easy to fit on a model as well, as you could just use the head and upper body of the Alphus as well, since that’s already in a sniper aiming pose. All you then need is a pair of legs that fit your gang’s aesthetic.
Sanctus
The Sanctus kit also has a Long Rifle, but this one is only held in one hand, which is always a plus. As a small bonus, it’s head doesn’t have any overt signs of Genestealer mutations, so you can use that for your human gang as well.
Kelermorph
The “alien” hands in this kit are a bit of a problem, but the revolvers in this kit are great thematic options for stub guns or for some special pistol weapon you make for your house rules.
Adeptus Mechanicus
Skitarii Rangers/Vanguard
The weapons in the Skitarii Rangers/Vanguard set aren’t all directly represented in the weapons lists of Necromunda – after all, the Adeptus Mechanicus guard their technology fiercely, so it’s not that likely that a transuranic arquebus would show up in the corridors of the Underhive – but we still include the kit here because it’s full of great bits that will fit your Necromunda models nonetheless. The kit is full of bionic arms, which is great if you’re using the rules for those, and the galvanic rifles make for nice archaic-looking Long Rifles as well. There’s even one without any hands sculpted with it, so you can strap that on the back of a fighter as a third weapon.
The kit also features a power sword and power maul, and the Vanguard heads could make your Palanite Enforcers gang stand out among other Enforcer gangs.
Serberys Raiders/Sulphurhounds
This is another Adeptus Mechanicus kit that you should mostly use for bits that you could find elsewhere, just because these versions look cooler: Many of the revolvers and rifles in this kit also have holstered versions, and the cavalry sabres make for excellent swords that can also be worn on the back of a model in a holstered version. (This kit was released without any sprue pictures on the GW webstore, so you’ll have to make do with the images above until I buy a box of them myself).
Astra Militarum
Cadian Infantry Squad
The Cadian Infantry Squad box is affordable and really great for Necromunda bits: Theres a hand-free lasgun, a laspistol, a chainsword, a grenade launcher and a flamer in there, as well as plenty of grenades and knives to put on belts.
Cadian Command Squad
The Cadian Command Squad box has so many great weapons for Necromunda: First, there’s all the big weapons, such as a sniper rifle you can use as a Long Las, a flamer, a meltagun, a plasma gun and a grenade launcher. All those are great to have in your arsenal.
Then there’s all the single hand weapons: A bolt pistol, a plasma pistol, a laspistol, a chainsword and one of the coolest power swords ever, held by a bionic arm.
Add to this two holstered pistols, a lasgun slung over a shoulder and one without any hands, and you’ve almost got a must buy box for Necromunda bits.
Tempestus Scions
The Tempestus Scions box doubles as a Tempestus Scions Command Squad box, which means it is bursting with bits. As you can see on the sprues, most of the weapons from the Cadian Shock Troop kits are also available here (in even better versions), but the stand-out feature is all the hot-shot las weaponry, which has specific (and good!) rules for Necromunda. There’s also a powerfist and what looks like a laspistol with a tiny chainsword bayonet!
Adepta Sororitas
Battle Sisters Squad
This box has meltaguns, a plasma pistol with a scope, flamers, a chainswords and all sorts of other good bits, but the main reason it’s included here is that it has several boltguns held by human hands (not armored Space Marine hands). The hands might be a little small for some of the gang squads, and you might have to file away some Sororitas heraldry, but the sprues are full of great weapon sculpts useful for many gangs.
Seraphim/Zephyrim Squad
While the swords in this box might be a little too elegant and imperial for most gangs, the great thing about the sprues is that they’re absolutely full of pistol-size weapons: hand flamers, bolt pistols, a plasma pistol and inferno pistols.
Canoness
This one has a holstered chainsword, a power sword, a chainsword, bolt pistol, plasma pistol, inferno pistol, a brazier that would look really cool in a Cawdor gang and one of the coolest regular swords in 40 (the blessed blade) – all in one character pack!
Space Marines
All the bits recommendations in this section come with a small disclaimer: Space Marine hands don’t look great on human models. They’re clad clad in ceramite power armour and are a bit too bulky. They can still look great with a bit of filing and greenstuff, but just be warned that it can take some work.
Tactical Squad
There’s tons of boltguns, special ranged weapons and close combat weapons in this box (the hand-free combat blades are especially useful), but what should be the main treat for a Necromunda model builder is the bits from 95 through to 99 on the sprues above: those are modules for making combi-weapons that include a bolter element, such as a combi-flamer, combi-melta or combi-plasma gun.
Vanguard Veteran Squad
This is one off the few boxes you can buy to get lots of power hammers (to use as power mauls) and even a power axe. The sprues are definitely getting dated, but a good conversion and a coat of paint will do a lot to fix that.
Assault Squad
Another good source of close combat power weapons, including a power fist and a power axe, as well as two plasma pistols.
Company Command
The really great thing about this box is that it features completely hand-free versions of the boltgun, plasma gun, meltagun and flamer, ready to be strapped on the back of a Necromunda ganger as the third weapon.
Mark III Space Marines
This box, designed for games of Horus Heresy, is great for games of Necromunda as well! 10 (!) holstered chainswords, as well as six holstered pistols (with two different versions), a power fist and a power hammer that can work as a two-handed hammer.
Mark IV Space Marines
The holstered combat blades in this box is what earned it a spot in this article, but the boltguns also have a simple, one-handed look that suits Necromunda very well.
Warcry Warbands
Iron Golems
The Warcry warbands are very conceptual, and the Iron Golems sprues exemplifies this perfectly: It’s all about blunt weapons. These sprues give you a wide selection of slightly Chaos-themed mauls, hammers, clubs and flails, that are easy to fit on 40k human models.
Corvus Cabal
The Corvus Cabal box isn’t a huge treasure of Necromunda bits, but its serrated blades picks make for really cool swords or similar close combat weapons.
Cypher Lords
The Cypher Lords sprues are full of knives and swords with a fairly clean aesthetic that will fit into most gangs.
Unmade
The Unmade box might be the Warcry box that’s the most natural fit for the dark streets of Necromunda. The sword, club, knife, flail and butcher’s cleaver would fit right in, and the arms with amputated hands and weaponized prosthetics are great for letting injured fighters turn their lost limbs into new opportunities.
Spire Tyrants
The Spire Tyrants box has swords, axes, a pick, a two-handed axe and a big mace, and they’re all good sculpts, but they might seem too Chaos-aligned for the taste of many gangs. Nevertheless, since the Spire Tyrants don’t wear gloves or much armour, they’re easy to make look natural on Necromunda models.
Scions of the Flame
This box has many axes and some knives, but obviously the greatest thing about them is that most of them are on fire, making them a good melee choice for a Cawdor/Redemptionists force. The leather armour of the Scions is also pretty easy to paint in a way so that it makes sense in a Necromunda setting.
Plastic Necromunda Upgrades Packs
Escher Weapons & Upgrades Pack
This pack has some awesome power swords, a good selection of pistols and two hand flamers, as well as everything else you would need for an Escher gang (or something with a similar style).
Goliath Weapons and Upgrades Pack
This Goliath pack has hand flamers and bolt pistols, but also some serious-looking close combat weapons fit for Goliath gangs and other big human models.
Forge World Resin Weapons Packs
If you’re okay with working with resin rather than plastics, and you live in a place where ordering from the Forge World webstore makes sense, there’s quite a few weapons packs available for Necromunda. Each pack is designed for a specific gang, but that shouldn’t stop you from using them for any other gang.
Escher Upgrades 1, 2, 3 and Champions Pack
Pretty much everything from the Escher weapons list (before Wyld Runners and Death-Maidens, that is) is in these packs, but if you’re not an Escher player, there’s also some cool two-handed power weapons here, as well as a combi-bolter with 3 options. Remember that each pack is sold separately.
Goliath Upgrades 1 and 2
The Goliath packs are full of big close combat weapons, but they also have a shotgun, a combat shotgun and some hand flamers.
Orlock Upgrades Pack 1 and 2
Orlock weapons are reasonably neutral in their designs, so they fit in many gangs, but these upgrade packs are especially great for their wrenches and holstered stub guns.
Van Saar Upgrade Packs 1, 2, and Shields Pack
The master-crafted weaponry of Van Saar doesn’t really fit into the style of other gangs, but these packs do offer knives and shock batons that you can use in other gangs with no problems.
Cawdor Upgrade Packs 1 and 2
While the big heavy weapons in these packs look a bit to Cawdor-esque to fit in other gangs, the stub guns and close combat weapons look great and would fit into most gangs. The axes are especially great and fairly neutral.
Delaque Upgrades Pack 1 and 2
These packs have a Long Rifle, plasma guns, and many other pretty neutral-looking weapons options, so it’s pretty great for bits for other gangs as well. Be aware that the arms are rather skinny, though.