Powder Gangers

The  are packs of criminals from the eastern parts of the New California Republic.

Van Buren Origin
When NCR attempted to expand east, they needed railways to carry supplies to distant locations, especially places ripe for colonization. For this task, The New California Republic used criminals from their Black Canyon prison who were approaching the end of their sentences. Unfortunately, when NCR started to have financial problems, payments to the workers started coming up late or short. Eventually, the workers decided to take matters into their own hands, seizing the work stations and all the blasting powder they could find. They became powder gangs, blowing up any and all caravans and railways they came across.

Background
When the NCR expanded eastward into Nevada they created the NCR Correctional Facility and brought their prisoners there. Over there they made the facility near the train tracks and the convicts would work on repairing and expanding them. As explained by Powder Gangers, no correcting was done. Only manual labor. So the convicts decided to take things into their own hands and took over the facility using the dynamite the NCR had given them access to, therefore becoming the Powder Gangers.

New Vegas
In the town of Goodsprings, a powder gang member (Joe Cobb) is seen threatening to burn down the town if Trudy at the Prospector Saloon does not hand over Ringo. If the player does not ally with the Powder Gangers then the player will be asked by Ringo to recruit Sunny Smiles. Once this is done, she tells him to try and recruit Trudy because a lot of people look up to her; and if she joins the gang then so will others. She then tells the player to talk to Easy Pete and Chet, then to Doc Mitchell. The player doesn't have to get Chet, Easy Pete or Doc Mitchell. He can return to Mitchell with two options: to take on the Powder Gangers or get ready to face them. Either way the player takes on the Powder Gangers and the result is: he is idolized in Goodsprings and shunned by any Powder Ganger. Cheyenne, Sunny Smiles dog, is likely going to die in the battle. Since Easy Pete only has a .357 Magnum revolver and Dynamite, and he really likes the dynamite, he will also likely die in battle because of lack of defence against the attackers. Not to worry though, he is not necessary for any other quest in the game, plus his gun is really good to begin with, so loot him if possible. If Ringo survives he promises to repay you, he can later be found at the Crimson Caravan Company. In some cases, he will pay you immediately after the battle in Red Caravan dollars.

When the player heads to Primm, the NCR officers and troopers will send him to Hayes. Hayes will tell the player that some convicts escaped from the NCRCF (NCR Correctional Facility) and have killed guards in Primm that weren't able to escape. Since then they began ransacking the area. He tells them that they call themselves Powder Gangers because they've taken to using explosives meant to clear boulders as weapons, but killing them will not affect your reputation with the Powder Gangers because the convicts who staged the attack on Primm are not actually Powder Gangers. They have taken Primm's deputy, Deputy Beagle hostage in the Bison Steve hotel. The Courier defeats the escaped convicts in the hotel. The Powder Ganger leader is wearing a hockey mask, protecting his face from gun attacks and leather armor, he wields a meat clever and moves fairly fast (this is wholly dependent on your level, as the Convict Leader can be clad in Metal Armour and wielding an Incinerator if you have explored and levelled prior to reaching Primm). The player will successfully rescue Beagle if he survives the Convict's kidnapping. Beagle will explain how he got trapped or give information on the Khans that Benny was with (player must pass a speech check to get the information).

Many are found at the Jean Skydiving due to it being near the NCRCF. The NCRCF is run by the Powder Ganger Eddie. Eddie first tasks the player with taking out a Powder Ganger who is not listening to him called Chavez. Once Chavez is out of the way, Eddie tells the player to deal with a suspicious merchant who is hanging around their territory. The merchant is actually a bounty hunter looking to ambush Powder Gangers. The player can tell him to leave or shoot him down. He then sends the player to Primm to find out why the NCR hasn't made a big fuss about their breakout.

Oliver Swanick, from Nipton, too used to be a Powder Ganger until he won the lottery. In Nipton there are Powder Gangers crucified on crosses and near death. If they are removed from the crosses then they will die. There are also heads on poles.

Locations

 * Black Canyon Prison
 * Bison-Steve Hotel appear as Convicts but described by townfolk and NCR Rangers as Powder Gangers.
 * New California Republic Correctional Facility

Appearances
The Powder Gangers appear in Fallout: New Vegas. They were going to appear in Van Buren, the canceled Fallout 3.