Necromunday: Outcast Overview (2026)

Welcome back to another Necromunday re-review! We will look at the gang that best encompasses the ever-loved motto: ‘Every model is a Necromunda model!” The Outcasts are the dregs of society, cast out into the Underhive to live out their days as hobos on the fringe! Most of them are lowly Hive Scum, but those who form bands of fighters are a cut above the rest, unique in some ways.

Furious George and the Cape Scrod Bilge-Crew. Credit: Fowler

The Good

Every Model…

Is a Necromunda model! This gang gives you the freedom to model your boss however you want, and to make the rest of your gang fit the vibes accordingly. Since you are allowed to choose ANY statblock in Necromunda (the game) to be your leader, you can get up to some wild shenanigans! And, they can be equipped with anything from the Trading Post/Black Market that’s Rarity/Illegality 9 or less! How about a Goliath Stimmer with Boning Swords to pack a punch in melee? Or a charismatic Venator Ogryn Boss Gunslinger with dual wielded Rad-Round Autopistols? An Ambot, a Purestrain Genestealer, a Guild of Water Siphoning Delegation, a Cold Trader Shore Party. All are valid and acceptable options! Just make sure to clear it with the arbitrator before you make your Psychically Awakened Ambot Gunslinger!

Edit: Boning Swords aren't available in the Trading Post. There's a great PDF that outlines what is commonly available there. I was using a Gang Creator Tool and it mislabeled most Corpse Grinder equipment as being Common in the TP.

Affiliation Choices (Good)

Affiliations are the past of your gang leader, it’s who they associated with prior to being Outcast, and can give your gang extra weapons and equipment from that Affiliation. For example, if you choose the Clan House affiliation for your gang, you choose one of the Houses and get the House list from that gang to use in addition to the Outcast list. The same applies to taking Affiliations linked with one of the Great Houses, or a Guild or Criminal Organization. Hive Scum with Sump-Kroks, Scum Champions with Plasma Cannons!

Great Value at Menard’s

Cheap is the word of the day for the Outcasts. The generic leader has a generic cost, and your custom leader’s cost varies depending on what you’ve chosen, but aside from that the rest of the gang definitely isn’t a premium item. Champions are 60 Credits, which is pretty good value for someone with 2 Wounds and a 3+ Weapon Skill. Hive Scum, the Outcasts Ganger choice, are 30 Credits. For a guy with 4+ WS/BS and Initiative, it’s a great deal!

IG: szym1990

The Bad

The Bigger They Are…

When your Leader dies, the gang falls apart! You’re SOL pal! To be fair, you can reform the gang, either to 1,000 Credits or 75% of the Gang's cost, whichever is higher. If you are in a campaign, you lose all your territories; though if you include half of the fighters from the previous gang, you can retain those territories for a loss of D6 Reputation instead. Either way, you get shafted pretty hard for losing a leader; but that’s the life of an Outcast I suppose.

You Get What You Pay For…

The Hive Scum are cheap, and it shows somewhat in their profile. Now to be fair 4+ WS/BS is a standard for the average Ganger, but their mental characteristics are all at 8+. A fair middle ground, but they still have a likely chance to absolutely fail that check to unlock a door or loot casket, or become Insane, or become Broken. You’ll have enough guys on the table to prevent Bottle checks for a few turns, but you still will have half of them (on average) running once you bottle out.

Edit: I totally missed this when initially writing, but the gang has weird creation rules. Instead of having one person with the Gang Fighter Special Rule per Leader or Champion in the Gang.

Affiliation Choices (Bad)

While Affiliations give you access to certain weaponry at all times, it also limits you. If you choose a Clan House Affiliation, you can only ever form alliances with those the Clan has strong ties to, but don’t benefit from the strong ties; and if you ally with a Guild or Criminal Organization, you can only EVER have an alliance with that one. Besides that, the gang list is devoid of special and heavy weapons, so you are completely reliant on your Affiliation to give you any grenade launchers, long rifles, heavy stubbers, and so on. Woe betide the player who chooses Clanless and has to tough out the first few games to afford some fancy weaponry!

Necromunda Hired Gun Credit 40khamslam.

Gang Creation

Making Your Leader

Gang creation centers around the leader, he’s the one who brings the coalition of scum together, after all. When choosing your leader, the world is literally your oyster. You have 2 (effectively 5) options for your gang leader. The first is a set of four profiles to choose from at a price of 125 Credits, offering you several choices. You can choose between a very fast shooting specialist, a swift all-rounder, a strong melee specialist, or a tough melee specialist. If you prefer to model first and then choose how your profile should look, then these 4 profiles are perfect for you and will help to inform your best Affiliation and Archetype choices.

Your other option is to choose one of the many profiles available throughout Necromunda (the game) to be your gang leader, pay their Credit cost, and choose a suitable Affiliation and Archetype. Any model with a profile is viable to be used in this manner. You could have an Outcast gang of Vandoth the Fallen and cronies dedicated to helping him fight heretics, or a tag-along of deputized Outcasts helping the Ashwood Stranger take down a criminal organization, or the servants of Lady Credo laying the base on which she will take the throne of Necromunda; the limits are really the imagination!

Or, you could be FUNNY.

If you clear it with your arbitrator, you could choose an… unconventional element to play the role of Outcast leader. An Outcast Wyrd gang led by a Psychically Awakened Ogryn, an Ash Waste gang mounted on bikes following a Dustback Helamite they revere as an insectoid prophet, a gang of heretic zealots following (and sacrificing captives to) the Abomination of Badzone 12, or the cultic followers of the Heretek Ambot Czarn (who absolutely can have the Wyrd Archetype, psychic Ambots for the win!). The options for Outcasts are as endless and varied as they can be funny and memorable. If you need to take a break from your hyper-serious and ultra-detailed local Necromunda (the game) campaign, have fun with the silliness of an Outcast gang!

Oh yeah, and you’re absolutely allowed to use Guilds, Criminal Organizations, and Noble House envoys, retinues, delegations and so on to make up part of your gang too. The Nautican Siphoning Delegation, Smuggler Shore Party, or Greim Military Attache are all wonderful starts to the base of your gang's operation.

Gorshiv Hammerfist. Credit: Fowler

Gang Overview

Underhive Outcast Champion

The champion is cheap. That’s it, that’s the whole statement. With a 3+ WS, 4+ BS and only 1 Attack they are in a weird place. They want to be using ranged weapons with good accuracy bonuses because of their middling ability at shooting, but they don’t have the Strength or Attacks to be a particularly good melee fighter. If it wasn’t for the fact that they are only 60 Credits, I’d say they were a bad choice for a gang. As is, the money you’re saving on their cost is able to make up for their lackluster performance, as you can afford a few more nice things for them so that they can dish out a good amount of pain (honestly there can be an argument made for giving them an Autogun with a Telescopic Sight, as that does mean aiming gives +2 to all attacks with it no matter the range).

Depending on what Affiliation you choose, giving them a grenade launcher or some fancy Heavy weapon is a good idea. If you chose Clanless, or don’t like your Special and Heavy choices for your Affiliation, give them a basic weapon you think they would be best with. An Autogun or Lasgun with a Telescopic Sight is always a good go to, though the options will definitely need to be weighed heavier than I could here. (Maybe I could do a review and ranking of weaponry in Necromunda?) Your choice of Affiliation will educate your choice of armament, so use your best judgement.

Edit: In the document for the Outcast Champion, it does state that you can equip them with weapons and wargear up to Rarity/Illegality 8. It gives them a few options, but R/I 9 is the breaking point for a lot of really good equipment, so those options still aren't the best.

Pictured: an upstanding citizen ready to do his civic duty as a deputy. Credit: Genghis Cohen

Underhive Outcast Hive Scum

30 Credits a piece? What’s wrong with these guys? What? Nothing? Yes, nothing, actually, for true. They’re just generic and boring. 4+ WS/BS and 8+ mental characteristics, they’re JUST generic and boring. But they’re your gangers, they’re the supporting cast of the play called the campaign, your leader and champions are the real stars anyway. Give them a Lasgun or Autogun and Mesh Armor, or a Reclaimed Autogun and Hazard Suit/Flak Armor if you need to save cash.

As generic as they are, the supporting cast are still useful. Have you taken that generic melee specialist from earlier as your leader? Or an Ogryn? Or Czarn? Give some of your Hive Scum Smoke Grenades and let them saturate the sightlines to give the leader time to advance. You also get Blasting Charges, chuck one through an air vent on Zone Mortalis and watch everyone trying to crawl through get absolutely fucked. As generic as the Hive Scum are, they are flexible to your needs, and can fill the niches and provide support to strengthen the areas your leader is weak. Oh yeah but you don’t get to have a Specialist on gang creation, so suck eggs I guess.

Credit: Fowler & Hive Market Minis

Gang Affiliations

General

The Affiliations are selected once you have your leader picked out, but not yet fleshed out as to his equipment and such. The Affiliation is what the leader used to do, or still has connections with, and gives certain benefits and drawbacks. Namely, it gives increased access to weaponry based on your choice, while limiting who you may be able to form alliances with during a campaign.

Clanless

Woe betide those who live outside the influence of Lord Helmawr, because life is already hard under it, much less outside it! If you choose to make your gang Clanless, you eschew all claims to protection by a house or any of the imperial laws. However, you also aren’t subject to those laws, either. Clanless gives the benefit that there are no benefits or drawbacks to being Law Abiding or an Outlaw, you are not restricted from accessing either the Trading Post or Black Market, captives from your gang aren’t worth extra money to the Guilders, so on and so forth.

The trade off, however, is that you don’t get any extra weapons from an availability list. This is a horrible problem, as there are no special or heavy weapons on the standard Hive Scum availability list. Your Champions don’t get a grenade launcher, or a heavy stubber or anything, just lasguns and autoguns. You also can’t form Alliances. Any. At all. None. At least it’s not the worst thing in the world, but coupled with the no extra weapons thing… Still not great.

Escher Death Maiden. Credit: Highly_Entropic

Clan House

Clan Houses require you to choose one of the 6 main Houses (Goliath, Delaque, Escher, Van Saar, Orlock, Cawdor), you get that Houses Gang list. In addition, whenever any territories, rackets, or scenario rules involve a specific House gang, this gang counts as that gang. So having an Orlock descendant Outcast gang means you’ll get the bonus credits for owning a Slag Mine in the Dominion Campaign. You also can only form an Alliance with the Guilds and Criminal Organizations that the House Gang has a Strong Alliance with, but you only get a regular Alliance.

This choice is fun, as it gives lots of good ideas for converting and gang creation. Plus, as mentioned, anything on the house availability list is a viable purchase. For example, Goliath Outcasts can have Sump-Kroks, or a Cawdor Outcast gang can take blunderpoles and bomb rats, and so on. (Fowler: Orlocks are a great choice if you don't know which affiliation you want to take. Fantastic weapon and gear access!)

Merchant Guild

Choose one of the Merchant Guilds of Necromunda (Guild of Coin, Iron, Corpse, Slave, Promethium, Water), and you are allowed to purchase any weapons and wargear that are available to the Delegations of each Guild, such as access to the melee weapons of a Corpse Harvesting Party. You also count as that Guild for the purpose of any territories/rackets you own or scenarios. As with the Clan Houses, you can also only ally with that Guild. You can buy a Cult Icon for your gang, though!

The bonus weapons given by this one are pretty good, because you can find some goofy stuff to take for the gang. The Water Guild has needle weaponry and stiletto swords, The Guild of Fire gives Photon Flash Grenades, or Plasma Pistols from the Guild of Coin.

Mercator Sanguis Slaver Entourage. Credit: SRM

Criminal Organization

Oh this one is fun. This time you choose one of the criminals of Necromunda and take their criminal proclivities as influence (Cold Traders, Narco Lords, Rogue Factoria, Fallen Houses, Imperial Imposters and Psy-Sindica). As with before, whichever Organization you choose will decide the extra weapon availability, along with being restricted to only allying with the one group.

With the Criminal Organization you can get a plethora of items, including Shock Whips and Combi-Plasma Pistols from the Rogue Manufactoria, Digi-Weapons and Thunder Hammers from the Rebel Lords, or a cool Xenos Sling Gun from the Cold Traders!

House Greim Military Attaché. Credit: SRM

Noble House

The Noble Houses of Necromunda are not excluded from having Outcasts come from their midst. Choose a Noble House (Ko’Iron, Ran Lo, Greim, Catallus, Ty, Ulanti), as with all the others mentioned you gain the available weapons from that list, along with only the ability to ally with that House. The best part of this is some of the weaponry that you can get, as the House Delegations don’t have the best loadouts, but they have a good variety that you can choose from. Ask your Arbitrator if House Helmawr counts, because the Imperial House lets you get access to Disintegrator Rifles…. need I say more?

Needle Pistols and Power Swords from Ulanti, Disintegrator Rifles from Helmawr, Boltguns from Onmyodo, Web Pistols and Master Crafted Long Rifles from Ran Lo, Eviscerators from Ko’Iron and the Combat Shotgun from Greim. Each house has wonderful weapons that this gang would LOVE to have their hands on, but you can only choose one!

A Heavy Chain Cleaver enthusiast and a lil Grease Monkey Credit: @manofwaaagh

Archetype Overview

General

This is the part of the article where we’re NOT going to go into a lot of detail. See, I'm hoping to start this as a mini-series. I hope to discuss the general Outcast gang here, like I have been doing, except I won’t include any gang lists. Instead, each Archetype of the gang will get a separate article that will serve as a deep dive into them and possible lists for their Archetype. This is because Archetype’s specifically inform the skill set of the leader or champion it is chosen for, and thus doing separate articles for each is a great idea.

Just remember that while I do make mention of the Skills available, each Archetype has Leadership as a Primary Skill set, because it’s for a Leader so they get that no matter their Archetype.

Brawler

Brawler is the Archetype for the scummer who likes to get up close and personal, a real CQC specialist, a true pugilist, a surefire showman of the bloodshedding kind… and stuff. If your leader is a Goliath, a Corpse Grinder, Ogryn, or perhaps the previously eluded to Scrapcode Ambot wink wink nudge nudge then this Archetype is the most fitting one for how they perform. You can always choose a different one, of course, but the Brawler conforms to who they are as a fighter on average. With primaries in Ferocity and Brawn, they are sure to pack a wallop in melee, while Combat and Agility as secondary give a good boost to survivability and fighting prowess.

Gunslinger

Gunslingers are your John Wicks, Clint Eastwoods, and so on of the world of Necromunda (the game). If there are any other movies with crack shot fighters in it, this could be them too, no I do not consider Suicide Squad (2016) a viable movie for this. With Primary skills in Agility and Shooting, they’re prepared to run and gun with the best. You also get a Secondary skill set with Cunning and Savant, which is good support for some nice Infiltration, or to make extra caps with Fixer by doing some ‘slinging shows Annie Oakley style. With a weapon availability of Rarity 9 or less from the Trading Post, you can get the real good stuff for them. Needle Pistols, Plasma Guns, and more. The Gunslinger Archetype is for leaders who are typically crack shots, such as Van Saar, Delaque, or Escher perchance.

Survivor

To survive is to make it through Necromunda with a considerable amount of luck, and this Archetype is the embodiment of it. Although, for an Archetype based around surviving the horrors of Necromunda and the Underhive, the skillset doesn’t actually show it well. With Ferocity and Combat Primary and a Secondary in Brawn and Agility, they actually seem suited better to close combat than the Brawler Archetype, though the Brawler is probably more intended to be used with 2-Handed melee weapons.

The Survivor Archetype is useful for anyone really, as any good story can be made of any kind of survivor of the Necromundan hellscape. A hardy Goliath leading a gang he founded to get revenge on the brothers who cast him out, a Zealous Cawdor using his religious fervor to push on through the pain, the possibilities range as far as the imagination on Necromunda (the game).

Mastermind

This Archetype is geared towards the cunning, the guy who knows a guy and/or sneaks around in the dark. With Savant and Cunning as Primary skills, it shows. You also get Shooting and Agility Secondary, so you can absolutely have a cunning-yet-agile sniper leader who sends his cronies in as bait to lure the enemy into his fields of fire. Infiltrating, getting money with Fixer, and convincing your underlings to do your bidding. Delaque types, Genestealers, and other sneaky beaky type leaders will be at home with this gang.

Thaetos-28. Credit: Fowler

Wyrd

It’s time to get WEIRD… WYRD… whatever… shut up.

Wyrd gangs represent covens of Rogue Psykers on Necromunda (the game), or more specifically, those that haven’t been found and processed or eliminated by the Imperial House. When creating a character with the Wyrd Archetype, they get the Non-Sanctioned Psyker special rule and can choose Wyrd skills from any of the standard Psychic Disciplines as an advancement or instead of a starting Skill. This is, however, their only Primary Skill set (aside from Leadership of course, but that’s assumed with gangs that have leaders), with Cunning being a Secondary Skill set. You get a very limited amount of skills, and only Leaders and Champions can take Psychic Powers (unless one of your Gangers gets awakened or something), but you have the entirety of the Psychic Disciplines to work with in terms of abilities and such! This gang is made for those wanting to play the Rogue Psychic covens of Necromunda, or maybe an Outcast Delaque gang, and so on.

Beastmen Reaver hybrid. Credit: @onepunchorlock https://www.instagram.com/onepunchorlock/

Mutant

This Archetype is for the greenstuff lover in all hobbyists. Like the Wyrd Archetype, you get access to a special tree that you can take instead of Skills, or pay for Hive Scum to have one when recruiting them. Thus, you get a gang that can be highly varied and get many options for both the leadership of the gang and the rank and file. The main downside is that you can only have the Clanless Affiliation when creating this gang, but you get cool and awesome mutations, so it works out (kinda). Aside from this, Mutations are counted as a Primary Skill for Leaders and Champs, and they also get Brawn as Primary, with Ferocity as a Secondary set.

These gangs are perfect for anyone who wants to try their hand at kitbashing and greenstuffing, both for amateurs to the art and professionals. I mean, who wouldn’t want to bash together a spiny three-armed Heavy Stubber wielding Hive Scum Champion who has no soul and eye stalks?

Chaos and Genestealer Shenanigans

As you can imagine, with all the options already available, Chaos and Genestealer junk fit into this list like a slice of butter atop a baked potato. Chaos Corruption is actually really good for the Outcasts btw, you don’t get a Witch like the Helot Cult, but your basic gangers are 5 Credits cheaper with better Mental characteristics (the trade off is worse Initiative). And because of the disparity in rules, your fighters are ALL immune to Insanity. It’s maybe not 100% better with the comparison to the regular Genestealer list, but you trade off good Mental characteristics for a fighter who can actually move at a normal rate and is far cheaper. Not to mention, Chaos and Genestealer corruption doesn’t necessarily prevent you from starting with access to those basic lists afforded by your Affiliation! Plus you can always be both Chaos and Genestealer corrupted too, extra arms and Chaos Rituals!

And of course there are plenty of goofy leaders you can take as well! Czarn the Cyberoth, the Abomination of Badzone 12, Queen Lorsha, Alyce Shivver, how fun!

Edit: RAW you can't corrupt any gang other than a Clan House to Chaos. Talk to your Arbitrator and see if they think it's more fun to allow other gangs to do so too!

Credit: @rokksville

Gang Tactics

Temporary Alliance: Choose an Alliance available to your gang, and get the benefits of that Alliance during the game you’re about to play. Not the best Tactic, but you could make a temporary Cold Trader Alliance and take a crazy Xenos weapon to the battle! (Neural Flayers do look kinda good… Just saying…)

A Few Friends: Get D3+2 free Hive Scum for the battle! They use the basic Hive Scum profile, so your basic ganger plus up to 60 Credits worth of weapons and wargear. Plus, they are included alongside your crew, so whatever the crew size is for the mission, they don’t count as models for that but could definitely make it much harder to Bottle out!

Old Faithful: A fighter that’s about to make an attack can choose one weapon with a Rarity/Illegality 9 or less and count as being equipped with it for that action. Have your Champion run up to the enemy leader and play this bad boy and let them know that ‘Ole Faithful’ is a fucking Demiurg Energy Drill and promptly evaporate them from existence.

Worthless: When a friendly fighter is taken Out Of Action, you can play this card to prevent the enemy from scoring XP from it, or from gaining scenario rewards related to them going OOA. Good for if you have a Wyrd and want to give your opponent a shit-eating grin while telling them they can’t have their D3x10 Credits from the Non-Sanctioned Psyker rule, or if the opponent would get a nice bonus for taking your Leader OOA. Its use case is mostly ‘being a dick to your opponent because it’s funny’, which does seem like exactly the kind of thing you would expect from Necromunda (the game).

More Where They Came From: You can bring D3 gangers back onto the table (in your Deployment Zone) that were taken OOA, so long as they didn’t suffer a Memorable Death. They do, however, retain any Lasting Injuries they just suffered. One assumes that they could suffer more Lasting Injuries, though it isn’t clarified. As a side note, these are listed as Outcast gang tactics. If you noticed, the 3 profiles available in this gang are the leader, Outcast Champion, and Outcast Hive Scum (Ganger), but it mentions that you select D3 Gangers or Juves, despite there not being Juve-class characters in the gang. Just thought I should mention it.

Dirty Tactics: After you activate a friendly fighter, you can play this card to activate another one immediately. Not much to note about it…

No Masters: When a fighter has to take a check using their mental characteristics, they can use this card to proclaim ‘No Gods, No Masters’ and use the applicable mental characteristic of the gang Leader, even if he’s OOA or not participating in the battle.

Honourless Victory: This card makes it so you can’t lose Reputation from the scenario it’s played in. I guess it’s making the argument that your gang is so worthless that they can’t even be claimed as a great conquest by others.

All or Nothing: You know you’re gonna die anyway, so you might as well go out in a blaze of glory. This card allows one of your fighters, who can be currently Seriously Injured, to immediately become Standing & Active, as well as perform 3 total actions per activation. They do, however, go OOA as soon as the activation ends, but hopefully you will have used them to deal some serious damage first!

Fight Another Day: A fighter who is taken OOA immediately applies Out Cold instead of making a Lasting Injury roll, pretty self-explanatory and not really needing much note.

Lucky Score: This one gives you an extra D6x10 Credits in addition to scenario rewards.

Hard Rounds: Psychological Warfare? Playing this card makes both players roll 2D6 for Bottle tests in the current and next round. Neat I guess, but you have to take the Bottle check too.

Wyrd Occurrence: When activating a fighter, instead of doing an activation, you choose from a small list of Psychic Powers and manifest it, then end the activation. This is definitely a good power, as one of the powers available to use is Molten Bolt. Thus, you can have one of those movie moments where the divine happens, like that part in the Sopranos where Paulie sees the virgin Mary, or Pulp Fiction where the guy misses all his shots from the revolver, except its some sweaty Outcast shithead manifesting a beam of molten death from their hand instead of a character we care about.

We Never Liked Him Anyway: When a guy goes OOA, you can activate this to immediately give them Memorable Death and refund their cost to you. I guess it’s good if you have a ganger that you don’t have a problem wasting to get some spare money.

Undercover Agent: I guess you’ve been playing the long game? You replace a fighter’s characteristics with that of any other fighter on the board, do your activation, and then go OOA. I guess it would be pretty good if, say, you had the card, a Hive Scum Ganger, and Czarn the Cyberoth. Then you could give the ganger the Czarn profile, charge in and wreck shit somewhere that he isn’t even near as him, and go OOA. Sounds pretty funny actually now that I think about it.

It’s Personal: When playing this card, you pick an enemy on the battlefield and add 1 to WS/BS checks to hit them. Outcasts get their own mini-Oath of Moment. How about that?

Back to the Badzones: Fade into your surroundings, become as the wind, I am the man behind the mask. In the end phase you play this card and the game ends. You lose, of course, because apparently you just scramble into the shadows, but any of your fighters who are Seriously Injured recover, and you cannot have any fighters get Captured.

Rise From the Ashes: Before you roll for priority you can play this card. For this round and the next 2 you autopass Bottle checks. So you steel your resolve and charge in! Fight to the bitter end!

It's always a good time to convert pitfight weirdos. Credit: Fowler

Continuation…

This is the beginning of the Outcast series, more WILL be coming with a deeper dive into each of the Archetypes, and how best to play and build them. Tune in next time for more Necromunda (the game) shenanigans!

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Tags: warhammer | necromunda | Necromunday | Games Workshop