It’s been a while since I got a game of Necromunda in, but the Ratskin Scout stands out as my favourite hired gun. The Bounty Hunter comes in as a close second (even if only for the coolness factor!), but I’ve always found the Ratskin Scout to be the most helpful in a campaign.
A Ratskin Scout skulking through the dim glow of the Underhive. (I still haven’t painted him, so thought I’d try a crap PhotoShop effect instead, sorry!)
The Scout doesn’t have a particularly impressive profile or armoury, though his three advances can help a little bit. In particular, when rolling these, the 4-6 roll brings up some nice skills like Dodge, Evade and Sprint. Of course, since these are randomly rolled they will vary from Scout to Scout, but it’s nice that there’s a good number of useful skills.
The trouble with his advances and weapon options is that so many of them are close combat oriented, and that’s really not where I want him to be. Even though none of his advances really help out with ranged combat, I still like to take him with a Lasgun – it’s a reliable weapon, and lets him contribute while staying out of the fray. Of course, when I run a house gang it trends to be my ex-stormtrooper black ops mercenary team, who use the Van Saar rules and trend to prefer ranged combat! He does have Reslilience to Injury to help him stay alive at the end of the game, but I’d rather not rely on it unless I have to!
The Ratskin Scout’s main ability, to me, is his Explore ability. This gives him a one-in-six chance of uncovering a new territory for the gang after each game. This is a roll on the territories table (excluding Green Hivers and Archeotech Hoard (boo!)), and so you’re in with a chance of finding a decent new way to make money! Given how hard it can be to find new territories when playing the campaign ‘out of the book’, I’ve always found this to be a great way to try and uncover a new territory.
I can’t finish this little discussion without bringing up his final special rule, Guide. Given the fairly wide bands for Gang Fight and ‘player with the lower gang rating choses the scenario’ it’s debatable how frequently this ability will be helpful, but it’s one that can be really helpful when it works out and occasionally lets you dictate the terms your gang fights on.
All in all, the Ratskin Scout brings a nice selection of unique abilities to the table that your regular gangers can’t offer. He’s also at the cheaper end of the hired gun list, making him a fairly easy-to-afford option that – thanks to abilities such as Explore – can keep on giving long after a Scummer or Bounty Hunter has been overtaken and surpassed by more experienced gang members. Of course, this is only my own thoughts and experiences, so please leave a comment with your ideas on the Ratskin Scout, it’d be great to hear them :)
Take care,
Ben
forgotmytea 
This model is totally awesome. Who is the manufacturer?
He’s one of the old Ratskin Renegades from Games Workshop :) I’m looking forward to painting him (whenever that will be!), it’s a really nice model with the exposed torso and fur pelt.