Daggers in the Dark.

This blog I'll be continuing my delve into the Skill trees of the new Necromunda 2017 with an overview of the 'C' skills, Combat and Cunning.

Both these skill trees have some very strong skills, and even in the couple of dozen games played so far there's been some repeat offenders that just won't go away, so I'm looking forward to comparing them to the other skills available and seeing if they really are the best choice. As before I've looted some nicely painted minis from the Chronicles from the Underhive facebook group to break up the monotony of my mind-spew. Like this one.

House Escher by Tom Fern

Combat Skills

Combat skills are rather surprisingly defensive skills for the most part, focusing on taking advantage of mistakes and surviving combat rather than actually dishing out the damage (that's what Brawn is for after all). and most of them are quite situational (especially considering getting into combat on it's own can be situational at times). Unlike shooting skills combat skills require set up and often a fair amount of input from your opponent before they really start to shine. a primary skill set for Escher and Cawdor, and secondary for Goliath, you are likely to see a fair few combat skills even in skirmish games.


Combat master.  Passive/Reactive. (no interference penalties, may always assist)

Combat starts off with a fairly weak skill in Combat Master, this skill doesn't jump out of the page at you immediately with it's amazing powers of Wow, but it can be useful. The ability to take on two enemies at once is a valuable skill in later games when players have been ab;e to afford more fighters, and can be very useful in the close confines of the Zone Mortalis tables when you can often find a lone ganger defending a doorway from multiple opponents. This skill falls down however when attacked by elite opponents- if they didn't need the +1 anyway then you're not doing yourself any favours dismissing it. Likewise the always assist part of the Combat Master is only good when you have relatively inexperienced fighters, as most champions that want a good brawl are starting with 3+ and can buy equipment to give the extra +1 if they desperately need it. Like Mighty Leap this skill is never going to be a starting skill choice, and if gained randomly it's not the best, but you may find yourself changing your play style to get the best from it.

Counter-attack. Passive/Reactive. (+1 dice per opposing miss when reaction attacking)

Counter attack is one of the most situational reactive skills- in the right place at the right time it's amazing, and the threat of it can often be enough to make any non-melee expert decide not to charge. The biggest downside with Counter attack is the requirement for the enemy to miss- against elite opponents (the ones you most want to avoid) it's less effective, and you also have to survive the attacks that do hit before it kicks in- not always easy. That said- If you can give this to a fighter who already has a couple of parries you are already swinging things in your favour, and if you play clever you can taunt your opponent into a fight that may well not be in their best interest. A good starting choice pick for dedicated tanks, it's a skill that requires a survivable warrior to get the best from it. If you gain Counter attack randomly it's worth investing in a parry weapon and some armour as soon as you can to increase the odds of actually managing to use it.

Disarm. Passive/Proactive. (all weapons gain disarm, disarm weapons work on 4+)

Disarm is another skill that you can replicate with equipment, but when you have both on a model it is definitely greater than the sum of its parts. The biggest issue most players have with Disarm is that you have already attacked them, and hopefully they should be dead if you didn't fluff it. Disarm is therefore a back-up skill for when things really didn't go your way and you've dropped yourself in the brown sump. On it's own it's useful, but no more than that- so you'd be okay gaining it randomly, but not ecstatic. However- buy a Disarm weapon, and maybe get Iron Jaw on the rebound, and you'll have a fighter that can survive any melee even if he does mess it up the first time around! Better against elite fighter's who have paid a lot for their fancy kit, it's a good starting pick for an assassin, especially early on when you aren't guaranteed to get the kill on every charge.

Matsumi, Escher Champion by Hurakan Summit Guides. 

Parry. Passive/Reactive. (may parry one additional attack as though armed with parry weapon.)

Parry is a classic skill straight from the 90's and it's still good- not quite as good due to the changes to the combat mechanic- but still pretty good. Even the best fighters have a chance to miss in melee, and forcing a re-roll increases that chance, in the cases of average or poor fighters quite considerably. This is another skill that equipment can replace, but it does mean you could have three parries if armed with two swords, and a single Parry even if you don't have any melee weapons at all. A decent starting pick for a champion who wants to go bully the little guys and will be putting himself in harms way, it's less useful against opposing champions and leaders due to their generally superior weapon skill. It becomes even more useful when attacked by fighter wielding high end pistols (bolt or plasma for example) as they can only ever attack with one dice with that profile, and parrying a damage 2 pistol can be the difference between life and death for a champion. As a random skill you wouldn't sneeze at an extra Parry, and you may choose it for some fighters depending on their role.

Step aside. Passive/Reactive.  (may take INI test to avoid one successful enemy hit each CC round.)

Step aside is a great skill, especially in gangs with good initiative such as Escher. Unlike parry which requires your opponent to roll badly, Step Aside is all on you which means with a buffed I stat (one of the cheapest increases in the game) you can almost guarantee immunity to one hit per round. Combine this with a parry or two, and you can have a fighter who is very hard to put down in melee, even when being targeted by reaction attacks.  Not as useful versus pistols as parry because rapid fire weapons can cause so many hits dodging one of them is almost immaterial, but still a very good skill nonetheless (and when a pistol does only get one shot off, dodging plasma bolts is both fun and recommended.) Start with it, Choose it, get it randomly, Step Aside is a strong skill that can alleviate an enemies best attack and really throw a spanner into the works.

Rain of blows. Costed/proactive. (Fight action becomes Simple)

Melee combat in Necromunda is often pretty fast, furious and fatal, and because of that a lot of fighter design is put into how much damage they can do on the charge- berserker, bull charge etc all play on this desire to kill straight away without fuss. Rain of Blows is different- you need to start engaged if possible, which means either you or your opponent has already charged and fluffed it, (or someone has consolidated into another fighter) and that isn't always easy to plan in. Once you are in melee two melee attacks is very useful- particularly when combined with other Skills such as Combat Master so you can charge multiple enemies and fight without penalty, and still have a chance of taking them both the following turn if they survive. It's also a good combo with an Overseer nearby- having a group activate, seeing the charge go in and then if it fails overseer giving the fighter two more attacks before the enemy gets to activate is usually fatal for whoever is on the wrong end of it. Worth picking if you have a plan for it, Rain of Blows is situational in that it needs either work to set up, or someone to mess up a charge. For this reason it's not great, but it is the only aggressive Combat Skill, and if you did get it randomly you'd definitely find a use for it.

Grub by Jason Wingett

Cunning Skills

Previously called Stealth, Cunning has undergone probably the most changes since 95, some very situational skills have gone altogether and a few more aggressive skills have appeared instead, giving gangs with access to Cunning a wide choice in play styles that they didn't quite have before. With Infiltrate and Overwatch it has two of the best skills in the game, and the other skills are still good (if a bit corner case at times.) so expect gangs with cunning skills to be full of the sort of tricks and traps that the name would suggest. Cunning is a primary skill in Delaque, both Genestealer and Chaos Cult and secondary for Escher and Van Saar, so expect to see these skills in most campaigns and skirmishes. Or not, depending on how cunning they really are..

Backstab. Passive/Proactive. (all cc weapons gain backstab, if they have it it adds +2 damage not +1)

Even weapons that have Backstab aren't getting the most use out of it in my games so far, as it takes a bit of setting up or dumb luck to actually get it to work, but I think you could still get a lot of work from this skill in a dedicated combat gang. Essentially +1 damage if they aren't looking at you, Backstab is at it's best in densely packed terrain or Zone Mortalis tiles where you can use the cover to sneak around your opponent's models. Best used in conjunction with another fighter or group of fighters to ensure the enemy is looking the way you want them to look by either engaging them in combat or drawing their fire, it's also worth  considering as a secondary skill for Infiltrating and Sprinting fighters who can punch through enemy lines easier than their slower counterparts. I don't think Backstab is strong enough to take as a starting skill unless you are doing it for fluff reasons, but as with many skills it's a good second skill choice, and if you gained it randomly you would find a use for it.

Escape artist. Passive/Reactive. (+2 to retreat initiative check roll, 2+ to escape capture in end game)

I'd have to say still probably the weakest of the cunning skills, escape artist is nonetheless very useful for certain builds of fighter. There are two parts to the skill- the first is new- the ability to almost guarantee escaping from melee with a medium ranged support fighter (such as a shotgun or flamer armed fighter who can then immediately turn the tables on their opponent) is excellent although again- it means surviving an initial charge (or follow-up move) and this can be pretty rare against combat gangs and fighters. The second part we all remember from Necro '95- the ability to escape when captured. this is less reliable than in days of old, but the addition of a useful in-game effect definitely improves the skill regardless. Not having to run rescue missions or risk losing a fighter to the guilders is pretty big, especially in gangs where the maths give you more odds of getting captured than not.  I can't ever see escape artists being chosen as both parts are far too reactive to be able to plan for, but it would be a good boost to a fighters long term resilience if you gained it randomly.

Evade. Passive/Proactive. (if active and in open, enemies have -1 short range, -2 long range vs shooting attacks)

The Evade skill is so dependent on external factors it's very hard to really give a good review of it. If you play on very densely packed tables full of terrain, then this skill isn't much use at all outside chance encounters. On the other hand if your terrain collection is a bit sparse this is the skill for you.  Personally I feel NOT being in cover in Necromunda should be a rare moment, and the amount of terrain on the board should reflect this- that said there's always times when you need to dash across the open for an objective or are unexpectedly outflanked by your opponent and then Evade is very useful, even if it just removes an opponents aiming bonus. Would I start with Evade? only if I knew I'd be playing into open tables, or against fast opponents that are likely to get up close very quickly. If you did roll it randomly I'm sure it would be useful in most games so you wouldn't be too disappointed in the long run.

House Delaque by Joshua Powers

Infiltrate. Passive/Proactive. (deploy anywhere on battlefield outside enemy LoS and not within 6" of enemy)

If any Cunning skill could be said to be ubiquitous then Infiltrate is the one. A skill that seemingly only affects deployment it can have a massive, MASSIVE effect on a game as it plays out. There are no restrictions on placing infiltrators in contact with scenario objects (like spook deposits), relics, crates and other markers so it can give you a jump in VP's from the very first turn. Relics are definitely worth mentioning again here as a lot of players drop their relics as out-of-the-way as possible, and can often leave them undefended so they can focus their troops up front. Knowing there's an infiltrator in play forces them to leave models by the relic, which either denies them flexibility in deployment or makes them place the relic closer to harms way than they usually would. Infiltrate also  gives close ranged weaponry like flamers and grenades added range early on that can cause carnage if an opponent deploys too clustered together. Finally infiltrate is useful as a way of stopping other infiltrators- if you are deploying first you can place your infiltrator further out forcing your opponents infiltrators away from your lines (or towards them if you want to punch their faces in). Probably the single most chosen starting skill I've seen across my games so far, if you can take an infiltrator from the start I'd definitely consider it, though don't get caught in the trap of infiltrating too many fighters up front as it can leave your actual lines quite sparse. If you rolled Infiltrate randomly you'd be pleased as a Goliath with an All-You-Can-Eat grox-burger buffet.

Lie low. Passive/Reactive. (whilst prone cannot be targeted by long range shooting attacks)

There is a champion in one of my local gangs who has earnt himself the name 'One shot willy', entirely due to his Lie Low skill. Even if caught clean in the open, without so much as a fig leaf to hide behind his opponent only gets one shot at him- if he is hit, he is pinned and that's it- nothing else gets to target him (he hides at the back with a long-las so is rarely in short range). that pretty much sums up why Lie Low is such a useful skill, it limits the amount of fire a single fighter in the open can take in a turn- give this to a multiple wound champion or leader and without some heavy damage weaponry your opponent is going to struggle to alpha strike them off the table. remember though, models in cover get this benefit already, so if you play on very dense terrain this isn't anywhere near as useful. Combine Lie Low with the take cover action and the Spring up skill and you have a model that can be almost impossible to shoot at if they don't want to be. watch out for grenade launchers and other template weapons mind- they can still get you by just blowing big holes in the ground around you. A consideration as a starting skill, definitely a good choice as a second skill for a Spring up fighter, and not too shabby if gained randomly, Lie Low is a decent skill if a bit situational like Evade.  

Overwatch. Costed/Reactive. (if active and readied may interrupt visible enemy action when declared with a shoot action. Lose readied)

I know a lot of people were wondering how Overwatch would change in the new edition, some (Van Saars) wanted it to stay the same as it benefited their play style, others (myself included) were hoping it still existed but with a few more limitations to stop certain people (Van Saars) hedgehogging it up and making the game a bit boring. The answer GW came up with for the action I think is a good fix- it's now something you don't have to plan ahead for, so can use on the fly (though it cancels your whole turn for that fighter) and it no longer has an accuracy penalty making it even better than before. The downside? Well it's a skill, not a basic action, so there's going to be a lot less of it in play. Overwatch is still a strong skill, it can dictate the course of play without ever being used which is super powerful all on it's own. It helps to be in a larger gang so the Overwatching fighter can leave their activation until late in the turn, and on Unwieldy weapons losing the second action is no different to firing normally so it's very much worth taking on heavies. Obviously the better the weapon the more scary this skill gets. A completely unique skill that can't really be compared to anything else in the game, placing it in Cunning rather than Shooting may seem odd, but it works here, and choosing between this and Infiltrate is going to very much depend on how your gangs are equipped, and how you like to play. Choose, it, roll it randomly- it's all good.

The Vega Rams, Squat gang by Finlay Robertson, 

That's it for this weeks skill ramblings, next time round we'll be checking out the revamped Ferocity and the new Leadership skill sets, which means I finally get to have my rant about why Overseer ISN'T the only skill a leader ever needs.