If you’re wondering what we think of some of the other options, or why we didn’t include Overseer as the obvious default, head on over to our full Skills Guide ! Primary access to Combat and Agility, with Leadership on leaders (natch), here’s a couple of our favorite skills that we feel really augment the Escher playstyle. They also compensate for their Breakin’ with excellent Graffiti skills. Without significant help from the Trading Post or Advancements, don’t expect House Escher to excel at slugging it out.
Glass Cannons: With poor access to starting armor and an emphasis on speed instead of toughness, Escher gangs can fold like a bad hand if drawn in to a protracted fight.While this is hardly a death-sentence for the House, Escher players will need to carefully eye up the Trading Post as they progress through a campaign to shore up weaknesses in their native armory.
Their armory is largely unimaginative as a result, with frequent instances of trios of weapon types with only nuances for differences (e.g. Limited House Armory: Escher suffer from being an earlier release, with some of their design choices evidencing a rules team that was still figuring out how they wanted to build the new Necromunda.This can be mitigated with skills and tactics, but is definitely a weakness to keep in mind to prevent a single injury from causing an avalanche of panic. Low Cool: An 8+ Cool on your gangers is a handicap Escher need to be constantly mindful of, as it’s far more likely that their fighters will break at the slightest provocation once injuries and nerve tests start flying.This is one of the most credits-efficient models in the game, and an Escher gang can easily outnumber their opponents, especially in the early game. Strength in Numbers: An Escher ganger with a lasgun is 55 credits.From toxin rounds to toxin blades, even dabbling with clouds of noxious gasses, no other House is quite as adept at taking a multi-wound fighter Out of Action in a single attack. Poison Everywhere: Though their monopoly on Toxin weapons has been loosened by the perfidious Delaque, Escher did poison first and Escher do poison best.While other Houses get by with passing their Initiative checks half of the time, Escher succeed on a 2+, allowing them to almost ignore Photon Flash Grenades, waltz away from reaction attacks while retreating, avoid falling into nearby pits every time they’re pinned, and more. The Best Initiative: Initiative is a stat that goes a long way.Reckless enemies charging blindly into an Escher gang’s front lines will quickly find themselves surrounded, hacked to pieces by swords and back-stabbed by fighting knives. Counter-Charge Assassins: Although fragile, charging an Escher is no guaranteed kill, as their access to Combat skills allow them to augment their arsenal of parry weapons, or even to dodge the incoming attacks entirely.Even while split up around the battlefield, they’ll often have enough weapons within 24” to at the very least guarantee a pin on any nasty melee fighters who dare to get too close. Long-Range Goddesses: Access to the cheapest Lasguns in the game and a decent BS to shoot them with means that Eschers are capable of focus-firing down almost any target that they choose to concentrate shots into.(Credit: John Compton, Seattle) Strengths Out-of-the-Box 1,000-Credit Escher Gang.