"First games of Wastelands tonight." Topic

My gaming group played two games of wastelands tonight. They were both 3 way free for alls, but we got a good idea about the game itself.

We had 4 different warbands that we used, changing up for the second game. A group of 3 body armored troopers. 3 road gangers and their car, a gang of 6 warriors and a group of 4 robots. Each gang had just enough differentiation to keep flavor, but with only 4 stats and a couple special rules it was easy to keep track of stats.

Complexity-wise, it's somewhere between Song of blades and heroes and Combat Zone. We have only tried one game of Flying lead (will give it another chance later) but I found wastelands easier to play with less rules to keep track of.

Being a free game that's evolved a few times, there are some inconsistencies and a few places where the rules either aren't clear, or don't exist, but overall it seems that the rules are fairly well ballanced, and tested.

A few things to know about the game:
-The game uses hit points.
-Body armor is very expensive, but very effective. The body armored troopers squad won both games even though played by two different players. If playing with body armor, you need some heavy weapons, or brutal close combat troops to oppose them.
-The suggested 300 point limit makes for a very small game of 3-7 figures a side. I'd recommend a 4-500 point game, especially if you're going to use vehicles.
-Play time for us was just over an hour a game.
-There are alot of warband profiles in the back that seem to be very good representations of everything from Corporate soldiers to mutants, to settlers, to biker gangs to…..
-Though we didn't use it, the campaign rules seem very straitforward.
-Be prepared for to have to house rule during the game. This isn't a bad thing, just that the rules don't cover every eventuality. We ended up house ruling on the effects of being knocked down.

In the end, I highly recommend it. You can get it for free here: link So if you give it a chance all you have to lose is your time. Those desiring a bit more complexity will prefer Combat Zone or Flying Lead, but it had just the right amount of detail for me. None of us had played before, and we spent very little time searching the rulebook in-game.

Yeah, Wastelands is a real diamond in the rough. It isn't very well known. But the rules are great for what they cover. The large variety of already prepared profiles makes creating a force dead simple. The Campaign system is pretty complete and easy to run. We have played about a dozen games and reall enjoy the rules. Very low learning curve, fast and lots of fun. There is enough chrome to keep it interesting. I am a HUGE Combat Zone fan! But frankly, since I discovered Wastelands I haven't played CZ at all.

My personal tweak is on the critical hit chart.

We have played games with up to 30 figs in a faction. I believe that was when I ran Scavenger cannibals. It was a three way action vs Cyborgs and Machines. Very nasty game.

Thanks,

John

This sounds pretty good. I like simpler games.

"We have played games with up to 30 figs in a faction. I believe that was when I ran Scavenger cannibals. It was a three way action vs Cyborgs and Machines. Very nasty game"

Scavenger cannibals…oooohh fun times!

*****

I had played a house version of Necromunda and played a mob of crazed, hungry, and driven sewer savages.

I took the basic numbers for the average ganger and sold everything back…basically naked or in rags using found item weapons only.

The numbers worked out to most of the gangs had 8-10 with juvie gangers but I had over 30 savages.

It was bloody and funny…even a savage with a rock gets a it in when you are rolling 20-30 times per round, especially when they crowd around the enemy.

*****

John, how many cannibals did you end up with compared to the cyborgs and machine types?

Here's a copy of a post I made about the game at the Wastelands forum.

I ran a 3 way game. It had Cyborgs, Terminators and Cannibals. The Cannibals were defending their territory. I had 17 of them since they would likely face both other factions. The game started with the Cyborgs rapidly advancing and engaging the Cannibals. Soon a large close combat started. All 3 cyborgs ended up involved with 9 Cannibals. The Machines went ahead and fired into the melee since they could care less who was hit. When it was over 2 cyborgs were dead with another wounded. The Cannibals lost about 6 warriors. In the meantime, the Machines had revealed their position and were attacked by a large band of Cannibals. Another large melee started with the surviving cyborg happily firing into it. He killed a wounded Machine and 4 Cannibals. The other Cannibals (reduced to 3 total by this point) decided to leave. The remaining machine (2 had been killed and one damaged by the primitive natives) then fired and killed the last cyborg. The game took about an hour and went right down to the end. Everyone loved it.

John,
That sounds like a pretty good description of a Wastelands game, especially the last two lines.

28mm,
Funny you should mention necromunda, as I read the rules I was thinking that this would be a great ruleset for easy play necromunda.

Luckyjoe,
You should really give it a try. You seem to like CZ, and having played both, I prefer Wastelands. It doesn't have as much detail as CZ, but it accomplishes nearly the same thing faster.

love that game
body armor or armored robots is really worth thepoints