Wasteland Warfare Development update.

Modiphius development blog

 DEVELOPMENT BLOG #6: Pre-Order Update

18th Sept. 2017. Here's an update on progress towards the much anticipated pre-order plus a preview of the first character expansion for the Survivors which includes a more experienced Sole Survivor (you can use the male or female figure with the card), Codsworth and Dogmeat with goggles and bandana! The scale of the Behemoth has also been updated - he's quite a monster now! Click on the images to enlarge them!

All the models for Wave 1 and about 50% of Wave 2 are approved, the starter box cover art is approved, the only thing holding back the pre-order now is some costings from factories. We want the best price for everyone and if we rush we could get it wrong and that doesn't help anyone. The whole of wave 1 is 3d printed or being 3d printed right now as masters for the production process. We have done test production which you've seen in the photos of GenCon and now Jon our wargame manager is better (he had to go to hospital whilst demoing at Insomnia in the UK so truly was hurting for the hobby) we'll be doing some videos this week to show off how the rules work. The rules are now with the editor so they're complete and we're just working on final stats and balancing. The dice are going to production this week as the longest lead time and we're currently getting the design of the cards and counters approved, the rulebook layout design has been approved. Final testing and dev work is happening on the settlement building and solo gameplay as well as scenario writing.

Bethesda has given the go ahead for the pre-order as soon as we're ready so it's all about the costs at this moment. This is a mix of UK resin production, cardboard packaging, China production on dice, cards and counter sheets, UK production on rulebooks and bringing them all together to be packed and shipped. As you can imagine that is a logistical mind maze but we've got a good team on it. We'll aim to get some videos in the meantime so you can start getting to grips with how the game plays but bear with us and we'll get that pre-order going.

Below you'll find a list of what products we have planned for the pre-order - we're aiming to give you the option of picking up everything from wave 1 which is the first 2-3 months releases. There will be some special bonuses for pre-ordering - some special bundle deals and for those who go all in a familiar but special character with unit and gear cards (and perhaps some other bonuses). With pre-order bonuses they are NOT exclusive - you'll be able to get them on the next pre-order or at special events like conventions we attend etc. I want to make sure it's special but everyone has a chance to get them no matter where you are, and no one misses out.

The plan is to do a big pre-order for each Wave so you can get in early, get some deals and get your order early so if you want to, you can support your local community and stores. It looks like we'll be shipping in January (being realistic with the number of different products we'll be producing for the pre-order), and you can pre-order from us soon, or from your local gaming store from around November. We'll be shipping into retail in late Feb or March so this will give those people involved in the demo team time to paint up their collections to help support their local stores. Remember to click the sign up to the Vault Dwellers demo team top right if you want to be involved.

There will be a Vault map so you can find the nearest store that is stocking or running demos and encouraging stores to get themselves on the map. Stores will get access to pre-order bonuses, we'll be giving them lots of support and there will be organised play kits.

We're aiming for the Pre-order to include the following items. There maybe some changes still and some items added in so use this as a rough guide, in particular some of the creatures, scenery and robots may be available separately outside of the retail sets.

​Two Player Starter Set
Sole Survivor Character Set

Brotherhood of Steel Faction Set
Brotherhood of Steel Character Set

The Survivors Faction Set
The Survivors Character Set

Super Mutants Faction Set
Super Mutants Character Set

Wasteland Scenery Set
Wasteland Creature Set #1
Wasteland Robots Set #1
Red Rocket Scenery Set
Red Rocket Gaming Mat

Settlement Expansion Deck
Acrylic Tokens Set Upgrade Set
Acrylic Measuring Stick Upgrade Set
Nuka Cola Bottle Cap Set
Wasteland Modding Sprue

DESTINY 2 AND THE ARC BOOGALOO

So who's playing? Man I've been playing quite a bit since launch. This week however it will be back to writing. I'll be on Destiny 2 occasionally. I play on PS4, as Whiplash1138 add me, add something geeky to the message so I know you're not a random stranger.


When I was wandering around investigating lore, I ran across the Future War Cult area, wonder when they arrive?

When does Xur arrive?

Anyway, Now that it's out, I can do some of the conversions I was thinking of.

First up will be a Savage Rifts conversion. Don't need the Traveller in Rifts Earth since the Light (read as ley lines) is EVERYWHERE.

So primarily the conversions will be Techno Wizards with the Ghost as port of their race profile.

More on this later.

First up
Races: (Not much is given about the three races.)

Human Guardian
Human

Awoken Guardian
Awoken
Exo Guardian
Exo
Fallen
Cabal 

Iconic Frameworks for Classes of Destiny 2 will each be covered in their own post.

Fallout Wasteland Warfare #4

This was the devblog from last month! I'm a biiiiiit late, been busy with Meanderings work, and this week Destiny 2.

 http://www.modiphius.com/development-blog.html

​DEVELOPMENT BLOG #4: Heroes of the Wasteland

 

Welcome to the latest development blog, which is going to start looking at what it means to be a hero in the Fallout: Wasteland Warfare game. We're also giving you a preview of the massive Super Mutant Behemoth - and yes he does have a shopping cart on his back!


In Fallout, some characters and creatures have an edge over the rest - they have that little bit of luck, or manage that extra burst of action just when it’s needed.  In Fallout: Wasteland Warfare, these are called Heroic units.  Any unit can be made Heroic, although they cost more to put on the battlefield - to make them Heroic, a Heroic card is placed above their Unit card and this shows all the extra abilities it gives models in that unit.  So, what does a Heroic unit bring to the fight, you ask?  We will get to that but, first, it’s important to take a look at the Action Point system.

In Fallout 4, the player has Action Points (APs) which can be used primarily to move further and to use the V.A.T.S system so they can target and attack more times than they would compared to doing so in real-time - Fallout: Wasteland Warfare uses them for the same effects.  Any model may earn APs - they are not too common, but Heroic models have a much better chance of gaining APs when they are activated.  The most common way to earn an AP is via the Skill dice, as several results on the Skill dice give an AP; however, being equipped with some chems, equipment and perks can give some APs too.  Each AP can potentially be spent to give a model a Quick Action - which are just like regular actions such as Move, Shoot, Lockpick, etc. - but each at a small penalty.  Which activities a model can spend APs on is dictated by the Action Point Use icons on their cards and each icon can only be bought once per activation which gives some limits.  Most models can only spend an AP to Prepare (shown by having the corresponding Action Point Use icon on their unit cards), but some units have access to more, such as Mutant Hounds who also have an Action Point Use icon on their unit cards for Movement.  Yes, the Mutant Hounds are frighteningly fast, but some can really catch you off guard with that occasional burst.

With that in mind, let’s return to the Heroic card and look at two of the abilities it conveys.  The first ability is V.A.T.S. - when activating a Heroic model, the player rolls a Special effect dice which may give them up to 2 APs.  The second ability is that the Heroic card shows Action Point Use icons for Movement, Attack and Expertise (which includes lockpicking, computer hacking, etc.).  Therefore, a Heroic model is much more likely to have APs to spend plus gets a wide array of options to spend them on too (but still with limits).

The abilities from the Heroic card don’t end there either as it also gives Heroic models access to Luck and Criticals.  First, let’s look at Criticals which are powerful attacks.  Each time a weapon hits an enemy, a Critical Point (CP) is added to its weapon card.  When there are enough tokens (depending on the weapon), the weapon can use its critical effect.  Just like Fallout 4, criticals always hit (so long as the shot is possible) and most add extra base damage, extra effect dice, and/or some have special effects too.  Several results on the Skill dice also give a bonus CP too.  If a model does not have the critical icon, they do not use Criticals or gain CPs.

Luck is a limited pool of tokens for a unit (based on their LUC stat) which can be used to slightly nudge outcomes and events.  A Luck token can be used for one of four possibilities:

1. Accuracy             Improves a roll by one of your models by 2
2. Dodge                 Decreases an attack roll that just hit one of your models by 2
3. Boost                   Adds an extra Critical Point
4. Tough                  Reduces the damage taken by 1

All Luck tokens get used after seeing the outcome of an event - so there’s no need to spend one only to find out you didn’t need to as that’s just annoying for players.  Why adjust a roll by 2 and not a re-roll?  There are several reasons for this - re-rolls are very powerful which is too swingy - if a dice was a solid success (i.e. needed to get 9 or under and rolled a 3) then it shouldn’t get totally overturned.  Also, it’s annoying for players who have just done well to have it scrapped - this is especially the case when you’re facing a powerful model and, for once, they miss - if a player can just re-roll, then they become very hard to defeat until their ‘luck shield’ is down.  However, luck is not guaranteed  - it is luck after all.  When you want to use Luck, you take one of the tokens and flip it - if it lands Luck-side up then it takes effect, but there’s no effect if it lands Luck-side down.  (Players that prefer rolling, rather than flipping, can use one of the effect dice, or they can flip a coin - anything that’s 50:50). We'll also have a sets of special Vault Tec approved Luck dice.

As if that’s not enough, Heroic models also get one extra Health too.  The end result is that Heroic units have an edge but, like everything in the Wasteland, it’s not guaranteed.  That’s an important factor within Fallout: Wasteland Warfare - some models may get an extra action, or use Luck to avoid the shot that would have killed them, but not for certain - the extras are all bonuses in addition to their regular abilities and actions.​

Note that some units in Fallout: Wasteland Warfare have some of the abilities on the Heroic card - there are Units which have a Luck icon on their cards without needing to be Heroic, some equipment gives APs or Action Point Use icons, etc.  However, a Heroic unit gets all of the above - they just cost more caps (points) when creating your team. 

There are more ways to customise your team too - one model on each side can have a Leader card which gives other abilities, and we’re trying out similar cards that give creatures extra abilities too, so you can have a Glowing Radscorpion or a Legendary Deathclaw to change up the power levels.  More on those in later posts!