Hive Scum
Hive Scum, or Scummers, are masterless or itinerant Imperial Hivers who will fight for anyone who offers them coin. They are the most generic hired gun and neutrals one can find across the street; so long as the pay is right.
Overview
Some are mercenaries who travel from zone to zone, earning whatever easy money is around before moving on. Many though are drunkards and down-and-outs who, despite their appearances, are more than capable of holding their own in a fight. Regardless of their background, Hive Scum are too wild and independent to submit to the leadership of anyone for very long and will only work when they feel like it — as their services are always in demand.
In the Underhive of Necromunda, most Hive Scum end up working for the Merchant Guilds, though a few are always willing to aid one the Hive World's numerous gangs. They are especially valuable to newly created gangs, who hire Hive Scum to supplement their low numbers or inexperienced gang members. For the more established gangs, however, Hive Scum are either seen as not worth hiring or nothing more than cannon fodder to use against the gang's enemies.
As they are often a rag-tagged bunch of misfits. Hive Scum aren't the most well-equipped. Typically, common weapons include Stub Guns, Stub Rifles, Autopistols, Autoguns, Lasguns, Sawn-Off Shotguns, Pump-Action Shotguns, Flails, Axes, Combat Knives, Mauls, and Chainswords.
Crunch
On Necromunda, Hive Scummers can usually be found in a Merchant Guild and Iron Guild. In a Merchant Guild, there is always at least two free Hive Scums for hire, although if you want more, it is best to go to the Iron Guild which offers d3+2 Hive Scum for the battle. They are completely free, so it’s not the worst thing in the world, since each one comes equipped with up to 60 credits worth of gear of the player’s choice. Use them to fill in the gaps of your own gang’s firebase, send them off on a special flanking mission, or just run them straight forward as cannon fodder.
Gallery
Known Hive Scummers
Despite their cannon fodder levels of reputation, there are some notable Hive Scummers. These are:
Estus Jet
Estus Jet is Necromundan Hive Scum.
As Esmerelda, Holdmother of the Dust Falls Deep 9 Orphanarium, found Jet under an overturned cart in the aftermath of what appeared to be a Ratskin ambush on some hivers. The only clue to the child’s identity was a tarnished collar around her neck, the only legible letters on it _EST SU_JE_T. Jet was taught all the skills she needed to survive by Esmerelda. The best of Esmerelda’s girls could then expect good jobs as Guilder guards, or hired guns.
Jet, however, decided to take another path. Using her talents she got in with the Archwerks Overboss Gideon Scav to become his right-hand woman. It was not long before Jet was running Gideon’s racket out of Dust Falls and moving shipments of counterfeit wargear and weapons. She claims to sell the fastest bullets in the underhive, and challenges any potential customers to prove her wrong.
She carries a Sword, some Throwing Knives and a simple Stub Gun.
Crunchwise, Estus is a pretty mediocre Hive Scummer whose armament barely justifies her cost. She is not the best heavy hitter nor the fastest of most agile, so if you want to use her, it is best to turn her into an objective taker.
Mono
"Mad Dog" Mono is a Necromundan Hive Scummer, who works the great Ash Gates of Port Mad Dog when he is not hiring out his services as a mercenary to anyone willing to pay him. His life was quite different before however, as Mono was born into the Longshore clans, who live short brutal lives on Necromunda's surface.
Growing up on the edges of the Palatine Cluster Hives, also compounded his low status as their distant spires taunted Mono with the promise of safety and wealth. His fate suddenly changed though, when a Scavvy trader sold him a strange one-eyed hood, which turned out to be an ancient Strato-Pilot helmet. When he put it on, Mono discovered the helmet's oculus-augur gave him a unique view of the world and amazing physical reactions as a result.
He soon found a new path in life while wearing it, after he carved up a bar full of druken mag-line dusters with his grab-hook and in the fight's bloody aftermath, he realized that he had a talent for mayhem. Mono then put the world out that he was looking for "extra work" and quickly made a name for himself, by bringing down Three-toes Jack, during the Rustfalls Uprising, and running with the Sump City Sirens, during their takeover of the Delta Zone Dust Wells. Despite his success though, Mono always returns to Port Mad Dog, for as the Longshore clanners always say - "blood is thicker than ash".
Mono is one of the first models released during the revamp of Necromunda back in 2017. He is armed with a Stub Gun and a Lance.
On the tabletop, Mono is not bad for a Hive Scummer. Whilst the Stub Gun won't do much, his lance gives him extra reach, making him a decent addition to your gang.
Grub Targeson
The Hunchback of Notre Dame Grub Targeson is a crazed hunchback Necromundan Hive Scummer, who was not so long ago an upstanding member of Hive Primus' Merchant Guild, until one day he woke to find an odd lump growing out of his shoulder. He ignored it at first, as minor mutations and strange diseases are common sights throughout the Hive, but the lump then began to grow in size.
As time went on, Grub found it harder to hide the lump, which eventually turned into a hump on his back, but things took a turn for the worse when it started speaking to Grub. This caused his mind to snap and he fled to the Underhive, where he began hiring himself out to gangs as a gun-for-hire, all while having whispered conversations with the hump.
Most pass off his ramblings as the results of one too many bottles of Second Best, though some swear they have heard the hump talking back to Grub. There may be some disturbing truth to this, as Grub knows things he should not be able to - like the locations of hidden stashes or the time when a Hive quake will strike. And each time one of his predictions comes true, Grub begins to affectionately stroke his hump.
Grub is armed with a Pump-Action Shotgun and a Combat Knife, alongside a belt of Frag Grenades.
On Necromunda, Grub is a decent and effective Hive Scummer. His heavy hitting shotgun allows him to be an effective close-range specialist.
