On the frontier of civilised space, where Rogue Traders duel among the stars and settlers forge new homes on terrible alien worlds, the moon of Helicon is has quietly kept to itself.
Some say it’s a lifeless ball of rock, picked clean by early pioneers. Others insist they’ve seen lights winking in the blackness, evidence of some vast forges perhaps, and picked up strange coded messages in ancient machine tongue. An old voidsman even claims to have seen it – the great structures that sprawl across the surface like the writings of a mad god.
In every rumour is a grain of truth. The moon was owned by a reclusive Magos of the Adeptus Mechanicus, given freedom to operate without interference as long as they kept to themselves. When rumours of the Magos going missing are rolling from the lips of latrine scrubbers to Guildmasters, it seems this freedom from interference might be coming to an end.
The Nobles and Guildmasters can’t hide it any longer. The Magos has been missing for some time, and rather than deal with the squabbling and paperwork of determining a new owner, they have declared an open season – a Moonrush.
Any gang with the will and means to establish a settlement has been granted (or stolen) a charter to do so. Now they race across the heavens to stake their claim on this strange new world. A world of haunted wastelands, metal labyrinths, and steamy jungles trapped in glass.
Do you have what it takes to survive on the moon of the mad magos?
Campaign overview
Moon of the Mad Magos is an Outlanders campaign for Necromunda, which puts an emphasis on gathering Materials to expand your gang’s burgeoning Settlement.
It will follow all the standard rules for an Outlanders campaign found in Book of the Outcast (available from your nearest friendly local game store).
You can find all the gangs and their progress on Yaktribe:
Moon of the Mad Magos Yaktribe campaign
Timetable
It began in February 2023 and lasted for seven weeks:
- Week 1 – 6th Feb – Development phase – One Small Step
- Week 2 – 13th Feb – Development phase – Smoke and Glimmers
- Week 3 – 20th Feb – Development phase – No Guts, No Glory
- Week 4 – 27th Feb – Downtime
- Week 5 – 6th March – Expansion phase – What Are They?
- Week 6 – 13th March – Expansion phase – No Place Like Home
- Week 7 – 20th March – Expansion phase – They Look Like Us Now
During the Development Phase, gangs are rushing to gather Materials (Power, Sustenance and Salvage) to build up their Settlements. All Material gains from scenarios are doubled, such as Mining Expedition, Gunk Tank and The Big Score. You can’t raid other gangs territories yet, so the Settlement Raid, Market Mayhem and Stealth attack scenarios can’t be played.
During Downtime all fighters recover, captives are returned, and any Juve or Prospect with 5 or more advancements are promoted to Champions. You also gain 250 credits to spend on new fighters and/or Hangers On. Any creds not spent are lost, you can’t stash it.
During the Expansion Phase our gangs go to war with each other. You may now play the Settlement Raid, Market Mayhem and Stealth Attack scenarios.
Events
There will be an event every week that affects every game being played. The weather will shift, new riches will be uncovered, and the strange things that lurk in the Magos’ labyrinth will begin to reveal themselves…
Every week a newsletter will be distributed that highlights what happened the previous week, including highlights, paint jobs, kidnappings and various other exploits.
At the end of the seven weeks, the Arbitrator will tally various statistics and award Triumphs based on gangs’ performances. Winners of Triumphs can use their newfound glory to give them an edge in future campaigns!
Gangs and gameplay
Restrictions
There are no restrictions for gangs, but they should keep the campaign’s pioneering theme in mind. The Necromunda dice gods smile more on Rule of Cool than min-max lists.
Money
Everyone is dirt poor and money is hard to come by in Outlanders campaigns, so prepare appropriately. What’s easier to replace, a multi-melta wielding Champion, or a handful of Juves with autopistols?
Unlike other campaign types, your Settlement doesn’t generate an income of credits every week. You will have to rely on achieving objectives in scenarios, sub-plots, and ransoming captured fighters.
Alignment
The Alignment rules are in effect, meaning gangs can choose to start as either Law Abiding or Outlaw. This is predominantly used for accessing the Trading Post or Black Market, but can affect some other things such as bounties and hangers-on.
Everyone except Chaos Helot and Corpse Grinder gangs are Law Abiding by default.
Yaktribe
Every player will need a Yaktribe account – a free website that has powerful organisational tools to help players and arbitrators keep track of everything in a Necromunda campaign. It keeps all the gangs and campaign events in one place, and has easy-print gang card options, so you’ll never lose your gang details again!
Once you’ve registered and built your gang, you’ll need to add your gang to the Moon of the Mad Magos campaign. Contact the Arbitrator or any of his Deputies for how to do that.
Once your gang is added to the campaign, every player will be able to see all other gangs, showcase their victories, lament their defeats, and track the progress of each others’ Settlements.
You are free to track your gang however you want (paper, excel sheet etc) but the Yaktribe version will ultimately be used to determine Triumphs at the end of the campaign, so keep it up to date!
Note on ‘GotU’ gangs: In Yaktribe the House gangs have two gang options when building a gang – ‘GotU’ (Gangs of the Underhive) or ‘HoX’ (House of X). Always choose the House of X option, ie ‘HoB’ (House of Blades) for Escher, as the GotU gang lists are now obsolete and don’t have the latest wargear, skills and fighters in them.
Playing games
There are no limits on when or where you play your games. Asgard Wargames is the central hub, but you are free to play in your own homes too. Send us some pictures of your brawl and we can use them in the newsletter!
All game results need to be repoted back to the Arbitrator or a Deputy, who will update the Yaktribe campaign record.
Don’t forget: some of this information is vital to determine who wins Triumphs, and we won’t count anything that isn’t on Yaktribe at the end of the campaign.
You need to tell us:
- Which gangs were involved
- When it happened
- Which scenario was played
- Who won
- Optionally any highlights, memorable moments, deaths
Yaktribe campaign link
Keep up to date with the campaign:
House Rules
We have two types of house rule – general and campaign specific. General house rules are tried and tested rules clarifications the Arbitrator has been using for several campaigns. They are generally for speed of play and reducing arguments. Campaign House rules are slight tweaks to the campaign format being played.
General House Rules
- Delegations and Alliances: Noble, Guild and Criminal alliances are allowed, and you are encouraged to come up with thematic reasons for their involvement in the Moonrush. However, delegations must have suitable miniatures and gang cards ready before the game starts, otherwise the delegation cannot be used in that game.
- If your alliance forces a particular scenario to be played (usually a non-Outlanders scenario), your opponent always gains +D6 Resource of their choice in addition to other scenario rewards, and an additional +D6 Resource if they win. The player who was forced to play this scenario by their alliance only gets the usual scenario reward.
- Blast and scatter: Blast and scatter weapons can be used in Pitch Black conditions by picking a point as normal. However if the target is not Revealed or is beyond the fighter’s visibility range, the attack scatters an extra D6 inches (even if it hits). If there’s any doubt about the conditions (because Necromunda is very weird), apply this rule anyway.
- Ablative Overlay and Armoured Undersuit: You can have one or the other on a fighter, not both.
- Cover: If a fighter is touching cover, they ignore it for the purposes of drawing line of sight for shooting attacks. On 3D games, true line of sight is in effect for cover. On 2D games (ie Zone Mortalis), barricades provide heavy cover and wall corners provide light cover unless the fighter is clearly flanked.
Campaign House Rules
- Tactics Cards: You must build a deck of 18 cards to use for the duration of the campaign. At least half the cards in your deck must be specific to your gang (excluding Genestealer Cult and Chaos Helot, who don’t have enough to meet that criteria), and no duplicates allowed.
- Loot casket rewards: When opening a loot casket, on a roll of 2-3 ‘Nothing Much’, replace the D6 cred reward for D3x10 creds. Outlanders is tricky enough as it is, scavenging should be a little more rewarding.
- Weekly XP gain: The Moon of the Mad Magos is a dangerous place, and fighters are well out of their depth. At the start of every week, including the first week and Downtime, all Gang Fighters gain 1 XP. This doesn’t include hangers-on, Hired Guns, etc.
Triumphs
At the end of the campaign, your gangs performance is talled up on Yaktribe and Triumphs are awarded for success in different areas. A gang can earn more than one Triumph, and Triumphs can provide gangs benefits for future campaigns.
- Lord of the Badzones: The gang’s Settlement that has the most structures
- Outland Raider: The gang that wins the most Settlement Raid, Stealth Attack and Market Mayhem scenarios as the attacker
- Outland Defender: The gang that wins the most Settlement Raid, Stealth Attack and Market Mayhem scenarios as the defender
- Scavenger: The gang that wins the most Gunk Tank, Mining Expedition and The Big Score scenarios
- Master of Coin: The gang with the highest Wealth at the end of the campaign
Final thoughts
Watch this space for updates, including start times, battle reports, all sorts! Good luck out there gangers, you’re going to need it…
All character art, including the moon, was illustrated by the exceptional @MusketAnna.