Review: 40K goes full Mad Max in the new Necromunda: Ash Wastes set

On Saturday, Games Workshop’s latest hype train, a $299 boxed set called Necromunda: Ash Wastes, rounded its final corner on the way to retail release. It sold out almost immediately, meaning that eager fans’ best bet for securing a copy in the short term will be hitting up their local retailer and hoping for the best. The set itself is excellent, full to bursting with new scenery and excellent miniatures. But while I’m thrilled about the quality of the kit itself, I’m even more excited for the opportunities it opens up for the Necromunda franchise as a whole. This is just the beginning of the Mad Max-ification of Warhammer 40,000, and I’m excited to see where it goes from here.

Necromunda differs from regular Warhammer 40,000 in several important ways. One, it has completely different rulesets. This means that individual models cannot be used across the two systems. They also require separate rulebooks. But Necromunda has an advantage in terms of start-up costs for new players. While you’ll need dozens of models to field an army in 40K, you really only need about 10 or so to get started in Necromunda, thanks to its focus on smaller-scale skirmishes. That makes it one of the lowest-priced points of entry into the Warhammer hobby as a whole.

Image: Games Workshop

This makes the AshWastes boxed set even more impressive for the price. Turns out, you get quite a lot for nearly $300. The set includes two gangs of 10 miniatures each, four mounted soldiers, and two four-wheeled vehicles for a total of 26 fighters in all. There’s also a double-sided map, a bunch of cards, dice, rulers, and the like. But the real treasure here is the terrain.

This set of game terrain is one of the best and most customizable that Games Workshop produced over the past decade. These “hab units”, which are basically bomb-proof slum dwellings, have modular designs that allow you to make different shapes. You can opt for the standard yurt-like hexagonal footprint, or you can get creative and use them to build longer, oval structures. They’re also easily stacked, meaning you can customize the density of your futuristic shanty town to suit your taste.

Most importantly, they feature the same kinds of detailing found in previous Necromunda boxed sets. These new pieces will fit in the existing collections of veteran players, and newbies will have an easier time finding a place for them.

Photo: Charlie Hall/Polygon

Photo: Charlie Hall/Polygon

Best of all, nearly all of the terrain is friction-fit. Some of the components, like the walkways, only need gravity to hold them in place. This makes it possible to create unique environments for each game. It should also be fairly simple to add homemade accessories to the terrain later on: Just include a few hook-like clips that are roughly the right size to latch onto the terrain’s built-in grommets, and you’re good to go. It’s an absolute gift for the kitbashers, modders, and artists who have worked to make Necromunda one of the most fascinating subcultures within the modern 40K community.

However, it’s the ruleset that ships with Ash Wastes that will set the tone for Necromunda going forward. The 176-page hardcover book includes a highly refined ruleset that GW has been hammering on since the game was rebooted in 2017. The book contains everything you need about foot fighting and is presented in an updated, more streamlined format. It also includes rules for fighting with vehicles — a first for the franchise that originally launched in the 1990s.

Photo: Charlie Hall/Polygon

Vehicular battles completely change Necromunda from a traditional tabletop wargame to something straight out of a post-apocalyptic action movie. They’re most impactful in a new game type called a Rolling Roads battle. Played on a six-foot-by-four-foot table, both sides treat that table as a kind of treadmill by moving all of the terrain eight inches closer to the edge each round. Players alternate placing terrain along the edge of their table. The result is a dynamic obstacle course that should have players colliding with each other on a regular basis. But the game takes the kinetic action even further, adding in rules for leaping between vehicles in motion; for side and head-on impacts; for running troops over; for pushing enemy vehicles off the road; and even for massive multi-vehicle pile-ups.

Photo: Charlie Hall/Polygon. Photo: Charlie Hall/Polygon

Oddly enough, Necromunda: Ash Wastes only comes with two vehicles, and they’re only made for one of the game’s two factions. This means that the lavish box set’s most exciting new game mode is absolutely off limits to those who have only purchased this set alone. Additional vehicles for the game’s other factions have yet to be released, and only a few have even been announced.

The bottom line: If you are interested in the Necromunda franchise and would like to start, this is a great (albeit expensive) way to do so. But if you’re a die-hard fan who wants to add vehicular mayhem to an already existing campaign, I think you’re better off waiting for more vehicles to get released. If you’re already invested in the franchise, maybe wait and pick up the Ash Wastes rulebook when it becomes available a la carte. By that time, we’ll likely have at least a few more vehicles — like the massive Cargo-8 Ridgehauler — available for purchase. You can also make something from scrap parts you have lying around. Regardless of how invested you choose to be in this particular set, Necromunda: Ash Wastes should continue to be a source of inspiration and good times at the gaming table for years to come.

Necromunda: Ash Wastes was reviewed using a retail copy provided by Games Workshop. Vox Media is an affiliate partner of Games Workshop. Vox Media does not have affiliate partnerships. However, Vox Media might earn commissions for products bought via these links. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.