h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Necromunda wasn't the first game of this type developed by GW. many years ago several articles were published in white dwarf about a very similar game still set on necromunda, can't remember right now what the title of it was but i think they called it outlanders. The articles included all the rules for the game, including creating gangs, combat, buying equipment and ammo, yes you purchased every single bullet it also featured rules for every weapon that had appeared in WH40K including such nice weapons as D-cannons and conversion beamers. Anyone else remember this? when i get home in a couple of weeks i'll see if i can dig up some of those old dwarves and have another look

Ever played the GW produced board game Block Wars. Quite a funny take on this idea (from many many years ago). Set in the world of Judge Dread you get to play the part of a whole Mega City Four block against another. There was an expansion set increasing the number of players to four. You'd have to find it second hand as they don't make it any more.

The name of the game I've now had reliably confirmed as Block Mania and the expansion was Mega Mania. I know this is true as the person I asked has copies of both

Generally, I think Necromunda was the first game of its sort as we recognise it (box set, plenty hype etc).

I'd love to hear about all these old games

Hmmm, not sure if I like that kind of definition of a game Mike
Cheapass games (yep they make real games) provide a game in an A5 envelope. Complete with rule sheet and board. If it needs tokens or money then they assume you'll have them as well as dice. Their games are good fun and an imaginative alternative to other stuff.

If you're interested in that kind of thing I'm sure that there are other sets of rules for skirmish games,certainly for historical periods, and probably for fantasy/sci-fi as well. There are plenty of other games I could suggest, but I leave this with saying you should try and find a proper games shop local to you (or somewhere on the net which does mail order - I'll be off to one place at the weekend I'll let you know the URL for the website after that) to see what you can get.

When I were a lad, I remember when GW sold stuff they didn't make themselves

Couldn't think of a better way to describe how GW market their games nowadays.

I remember when they used to show you how to scratch-build tanks in White Dwarf...

I remember a time before White Dwarf, when a catalogue had hand drawn pictures of the limited range of figures they produced

Wasn't it called something like The Owl And The Weasel or something like that? I mentioned it in my Games Workshop article...if you care to dig through all my guide entries you can find it!

Mike for a couple of other games shops (both in London) try looking at http://www.orcsnest.com and http://www.leisuregames.com

Considering the only tabletop battles thing I know is GW, these look a bit scary *^_^*

JimmyRiddles mentioned another thing in the same vein of these to me, but I cannot remember for the life of me what it was called *^_^*

Hmmmm....I'm writing GW-related fiction (that's Warhammer and WH40K universes), and should get round to Necromunda soon. There's enough background and material for drawing on there. That is, if I feel like it. Drop me a line if you sound interested, and I'll inform you if I get round to it.

The part-work game produced by GW was Confrontation, it introduced most of the concepts which are in Necromunda (including Necromunda itself). The rules for Confrontation were eventually streamlined and became Inquisitor.