House Cawdor gets a full rundown on how to use them...... The latest of Necromunda pre-orders coming this weekend!
via the Warhammer Community
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2018/08/02/2nd-aug-necromunda-tactica-house-cawdorgw-homepage-post-2fw-homepage-post-3/
Earlier this week, Owen Barnes from the Specialist Games team joined us to talk about the background of House Cawdor, the newest entrants into the vicious battles in Necromunda’s underhive. With the new gang nearly available to pre-order, Owen is back to give you some hints on how to use a Cawdor gang.
Owen: A House Cawdor gang brings two potent advantages with it to the battlefield – some powerful if unpredictable weaponry and lots of fighters. Equipped with rusted melee weapons, an abundance of flamers and cheap auto-weaponry, they excel at short-range firefights and quick, deadly close combat.
Activating in large groups, or out-activating their opponents by weight of numbers, they are looking to get in close with their flamers, incendiary charges or blunderbusses. If the enemy falls back, they move up and keep firing, if the enemy closes in, Cawdor fighters ready their polearms andchain glaives to hack them apart. And if the enemy thinks to hide from the wrath of the Redemption, then their explosive-flinging heavy crossbows and bomb-delivery rats will flush them out of cover.
When creating a House Cawdor gang, the best place to start is the gang Leader. Cawdor Leaders can be kitted out for long range with things like heavy stubbers or long rifles, but with high Weapon Skill and access to the Brawn and Combat skill categories, at least to start with, they are probably going to want to get in close. A good build for a starting Leader includes a template weapon, like a flamer or hand flamer, and some kind of melee weapon like a flail, two-handed axe or one of the large variety of polearms available – the blunderbuss polearm covers both of these fields very effectively. Creds permitting, additional armour and wargear can be added, though the Cult Icon is definitely worth considering as this allows its bearer to group activate one more fighter than normal – an impressive three extra fighters for a Leader.
Next, a gang needs Champions, and Cawdor are no exception. As a general rule, it is always worth taking the starting maximum of two Champions when creating a gang as these guys bring potent weapons to the battlefield. For Cawdor, this means more flamers and restricted weapons like the heavy crossbow. This handy weapon, while not the most accurate in the world, can be devastating, with a large 5″ blast marker and a variety of projectiles. Champions share the Leader’s access to the Brawn and Combat skill groups, and so it’s usually worth making sure they have a melee weapon as a backup, even if they want to be hanging back and lobbing explosives from their massive crossbow.
Gangers are the meat of any gang and Cawdor gangs benefit from bringing as many as they can to the field. While it might be tempting to spend a lot of creds on individual Gangers, giving them backup weapons, grenades, armour and the like, keeping them cheap means more to play with. Things like refurbished autoguns are a source of dirt cheap rapid fire weapons (so what if they jam more often?), while the variety of Cawdor polearms combine a ranged and a melee weapon into one, making each Ganger cheaper and more versatile!
Finally, there are the Juves, and few Juves are as cheap to field as those from House Cawdor. A Juve armed with a pair of refurbished autopistols is only 30 creds and can be surprisingly effective. The pistol’s bonus to hit at short range make up for their BS of 5+ while the Rapid Fire trait can result in an astonishing number of hits.
Individually, a Cawdor fighter might not be as strong as a Goliath, as quick as an Escher or as good a shot as a Van Saar, but then again, who needs fancy guns or bulging muscles when you have the God-Emperor on your side?