Necromunda: The 'Throwaway' Gang War Game Games Workshop Couldn't Kill

In 1995 Games Workshop released a small boxed game it did not expect to last. Necromunda was planned as a short-lived side game: two plastic gangs, a pile of walkways and ladders, and a city so tall it pierced the clouds and so rotten at the bottom that nobody ruled it. Players loved its brutal campaigns, where fighters lost eyes, got captured, earned grudges and had their names crossed off the roster for good. The demand outgrew the plan, the game outlived its own support, and in 2013 the whole Specialist Games range was sold off until the stock ran out. Fans kept it alive with homemade terrain and their own Community Edition rules. Then it came back, bigger than ever, all the way to the new 2026 edition. This is the origin story of Necromunda, from the Confrontation rules in White Dwarf to Outlanders, the Living Rulebook, Necromunda: Underhive, Hired Gun and Necromunda Skirmish. Chapters 0:00 The game that was supposed to disappear 1:04 A story in a magazine 2:09 The city above the city 3:29 The box 5:05 Six houses 6:07 Every wound remembered 7:29 Outlanders 8:16 The game that would not leave 9:21 The slow goodbye 10:11 The fans in the dark 11:25 The return 12:34 Not a side project anymore 13:45 On the screen 14:33 Still standing 15:09 Watch your step on the walkways Sources Games Workshop — Necromunda boxed game, rules by Andy Chambers, Jervis Johnson and Rick Priestley (1995) Games Workshop — Necromunda: Outlanders, Andy Chambers, Jervis Johnson and Chris Colston (1996) Games Workshop — Necromunda: Underhive rulebook, the Living Rulebook (2003) White Dwarf — Confrontation rules series, issues 130 to 142 (1990 to 1991) Arcane — Necromunda review, Mark Donald (Dec 1995) Casus Belli — Necromunda review, issue 91 (1996) Chaosbunker — "Necromunda 1995's House Orlock gang" (Aug 2022) Chaosbunker — "Necromunda re-release" (Aug 2017) Bell of Lost Souls — Specialist Games range report (May 2013) Bell of Lost Souls — "Specialist Games returns" (Jan 2016) Tale of Painters — "Showcase: Necromunda classic Escher gang" (Nov 2017) YakTribe — Necromunda Community Edition and Outlanders Community Edition, community rules projects (accessed Oct 2026) Warhammer Community — Necromunda reveals, Big Summer Preview (2026) Wikipedia — Necromunda; Outlanders (Necromunda); Necromunda: Hired Gun (accessed Oct 2026) OpenCritic — Necromunda: Hired Gun critic reviews (2021) Photo credits Warhammer games at Games Workshop, Nottingham — Mick Garratt / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 Warhammer game — Arnaud Ligny / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 Games Day Budapest 2015 — Christo / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Games Workshop Belfast — Ardfern / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 Games Workshop Oslo — Kjetil Ree / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 #Necromunda #Warhammer40k #GamesWorkshop #TabletopGaming #Wargaming