Young nobles from the Spire come down to hunt underhive gangsters and thereby prove their worth in a world of ruthless politics, plotting, and assassination. Spyre gangs are few in number, and equipped with state-of-the-art weaponry (this can include heavily customised power armour). It is reported that they get at least some of their technology from trading with the Tau Empire. From a player perspective, Spyre Hunters are a very small and extremely well-equipped elite gang and are the only gang that can not replace any casualties they suffer. Alternative gangs In addition to the gang types supported by the rulebooks, various Games Workshop publications have introduced new groups, sometimes supported by mail-order only model ranges, including Ash Waste Gangsters, Imperial Guard, various Chaos Cult gangs, Genestealer Cults, Ork warbands, and Squat Miners. History Necromunda was spun off from a previous attempt of Games Workshop to popularise a set of rules for low-key skirmish battles in a Hive World setting. White Dwarf published such a ruleset between autumn and winter 1990–91 dubbing it Confrontation. It was set on the hive world of Necromunda but made no reference to houses and such, instead of concentrating on the various types of gangs: clan warriors from the spires, brat 'poseurs' from the upper levels which went 'down' to experience the thrills of lowlife, undercity mutants, diseased scavengers from the toxic wastes and the Adeptus Arbites ever-ready to deal swift and summary "Judge Dredd"-like justice. The miniatures released for this game were designed by John Blanche. The game background also included some elements later re-used in Necromunda, such as the 'spook' psychic drug, and some which were disregarded, such as the 'caryatids', largely unexplained blue-skinned cherubs which were presented as unique and integral to Necromundan life. Compared to the current Necromunda, Confrontation had a more complex system for resolving combat, particularly firing—portions of which were similar in style to Laserburn, a miniatures game that had influenced Warhammer 40,000. In 2003, Games Workshop released a new 148-page gaming sourcebook titled Necromunda Underhive. As Necromunda continued to flourish, various characters and "hangers-on" whose entries and stats are available in the various Necromunda publications have had models released under Games Workshops' "ForgeWorld" imprint. Models for Necromunda that are for sale at Forgeworld range from unnamed "hive scum" and "dome runners" and other no-names who make a living serving the various gangs of Necromunda; to various characters and