To close out 2023, I thought I’d try to squeeze in a quick game of Fallout Wasteland Warfare. Truth be told, I am a bit rusty after not playing for a year and I made some tactical mistakes in this game which I’ll note as they come up. It was a fun and quick moving game though. It was also a chance to see if my new camera takes better pictures than the previous one for battle reports. I think it mostly passed that test, thankfully. Lastly, this report is my first attempt at a shorter and quicker to read format. I only tried to describe what things affected the outcome of the game to keep things a bit briefer. If you think it is an improvement or like this format better, please let me know in the comments!
Battle Narrative – The following is created by me to make this scenario interesting from a narrative standpoint. A patrol team of Synths stumbled across some valuable information in Super Mutant territory. Unfortunately, this area is run by a particularly greedy mutant. If something is on their turf, it stays there. The patrol team was ambushed and while one Synth attempted to slip away, it was caught and destroyed. The Super Mutants have no use for technology however and have no idea how valuable the Synth corpse is. They simply want to kill off any invaders. The Institute has sent a search and rescue team to recover the Synth corpse so that the data can be extracted. One of their finest agents is leading the effort.
Scenario Setup – It is worth noting that this scenario is designed for the AI but I played it against myself in the usual fashion. I tried to play both sides fairly and in a thematic fashion. The goal of the scenario is simple, the Institute must recover the dead Synth and escape with it. Anything else is a Super Mutant victory and the Institute has six rounds to accomplish this task. I ended up using 300 points for each side because it worked well with my limited Institute collection. I should also mention that the buildings you see on the far sides of the maps were what I used to track the battlefield edges since it is 3×3 and the mat is 4×4. As a result, they have no real strategic value.
Super Mutants – For the Super Mutants, the goal rarely changes. Charge in and try to bludgeon your foes is the name of the game! In this particular matchup, the Super Mutants have a problem. Coursers have a permanent Stealth Boy that requires a -4 Perception check. Most Super Mutants are not very perceptive and so it is really hard for them to spot the Courser. Fortunately, the Super Mutant Hounds are fairly perceptive so I included one in the list. The rest of the Super Mutants are equipped for close combat as you would expect. Another challenge for the Super Mutants to overcome is that their Battle Cry ability is worthless against the Synths (and robots for that matter) so they pretty much have to rely on brute force to take the day.
Master with Sledgehammer – 99 points
Brute with Sledgehammer – 89 points
Super Mutant with Board – 48 points
Mutant Hound with Hound Bite – 60 points
The Institute – This is my first time using The Institute and let me acknowledge from the start that this is a subpar list. I think one of The Institute’s greatest asset is that they have a lot of cheap bodies they can throw at any enemy. They also have items that can make Gen 1 Synths stronger which weren’t worth using either. Unfortunately, I only have three Gen 1 Synths painted and one is equipped for close combat which is not going to be very good against the Super Mutants so I tried to build a ranged list. I selected a Courser because they make a great objective runner. Coursers have a permanent Stealth Boy which means they’re hard to fight in ranged and close combat. I didn’t realize that the Stealth Boy would cause a lot of rule questions but more on that in a bit! The rest of the forces are meant to shoot at the Super Mutants and make their lives difficult while the objective is taken off the table.
Courser with Institute Laser Rifle and Stealth Boy – 136 points
Patroller with Institute Laser Rifle – 70 points
Gen 1 Synth with Institute Laser Rifle – 41 points
Gen 1 Synth with Institute Laser Rifle – 41 points
Battle Report –
Round 1
The Institute won the roll off to go first when they probably would have preferred to go second in this scenario. The Institute moved forward since the Super Mutants were out of rifle range. The Super Mutants advanced too but at a quicker pace and tried to take cover behind the barricade. The Super Mutant Hound held back to try and spot the Courser once it moved closer to the Super Mutants.
Round 2
Event card: Downpour (This only penalizes climbing tests so it was irrelevant).
The Super Mutants each moved and then charged the visible targets which took both of their actions. The Synths responded by breaking away and shooting back. The Patroller took two damage and the Super Mutant took a single point of damage in the exchange. Most importantly, the Courser secured the dead Synth while remaining cloaked.
Round 3
Event: Quiet
Unlike last round, this event card looked sure to impact the proceedings for both sides. The Courser started off by creeping through a gap in the Super Mutants. The Brute tried to take out the Gen 1 Synth in combat with the Master but only managed two damage. The Gen 1 Synth with two critical points managed to do just enough damage to knock out the Super Mutant.
In a tactical mistake, the Gen 1 Synth readied and tried to back away from the Brute and Master. The bot was smashed into the ground before that could happen. A better move would have been leaving it and forcing the Master to fight it with an action before doing anything else.
This left the Master free to try and charge the Courser. It needed a roll of one, two, or critical success (on a 20 sided dice) so the odds were very poor, but the second attempt was a critical success! Unfortunately for the Super Mutants, it was too late for any other Super Mutants to damage the Courser.
Round 4
Event: Diamond City Radio
To make things interesting, I corrected a tactical mistake that I made last round and gave the Master a black dice bonus instead of green like I originally selected. The Super Mutant Hound tried to charge the Courser and failed. While the rules for the Stealth Boy are confusing to me, I ruled the Master could make a break away attack on the courser before it re-stealthed and escaped the battle with the dead synth. The attack amassed an impressive 5 damage, one shy of killing the Courser! The Courser then limped off the board with the prize.
Closing Thoughts – Well that was a short but close game! I was concerned that the game might be lopsided in favor of the Institute because the Super Mutants would struggle to find and hit the Courser but they gave it a decent shot in the end. If the Super Mutant side used the hound more effectively, that might have made a difference in the game, especially if the Hound was in position to charge when the Quiet event was active. Usually, I am too reckless with the hound and this time I was too cautious with it. They require plenty of finesse to use properly to be sure. I was glad that not using the AI in an AI scenario still worked well. I made quite a few tactical mistakes but all in all, I think the Institute probably deserved the win considering the circumstances.
I will say that I found the Stealth Boy and using the Courser to be a bit of a pain. The card just doesn’t adequately explain how it works and I had to make a couple of judgement calls on it. For example, “If engage: Model remains still.”, which model is staying still? The model charging or the one using the Stealth Boy? This should have been made clearer on the card.
I also didn’t see much in the way of errata or explanations for it online either. It almost seems too good to have a Courser who can hide for much of the game while running the objective all the way to victory. Of course, a faction that has higher perception would do better at spotting it and the Super Mutants could have used a second hound in this scenario to increase their odds of winning a bit more. I was lucky the game wasn’t more lopsided with the miniatures I chose.
After taking so long off from Fallout, it was nice to play again. The game is always a fun and tense time and I enjoyed that this game was relatively quick as well. I see some progress on the terrain I can layout for a game though I’ve gotta keep working on terrain in 2024 as I’m still not where I want to be in terms of having rich and visually striking tables yet. I also need to expand my model count for some of the factions as it limits what I can do with them tactically. Thank you to everyone who gives this one a read and I hope to share more battle reports in 2024!
Kuribo's Painting 
Nice game! Good to see all these models on the board, makes for some nice photos.
Interesting matchup it seems, I’ve never looked at the rules for this game so not sure how the rest compare but that card is a bit confusing to be sure. Is there a matching rulebook entry? For some games the cards are reminders rather than full rules with the full rules in a rulebook somewhere
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thanks for the kind words and for reading this, Nic! The rules are pretty clear and well-written thankfully. The problem is that many of the cards are open to interpretation shall we say. The Stealth Boy card is by far the worst I’ve seen which is a shame because its an important item for Coursers who are stealthed all of the time.
While I did it for reasons that have nothing to do with our hobby, I just deactivated Facebook and am kind of hoping to do so for good and unfortunately, the best place to find information about Fallout and rules questions is the Facebook group so there could be good info in there that I just don’t have access to. Such is the world we live in, I suppose!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yeah I’m not really liking the way Facebook groups have taken over some of this stuff, makes everything closed off unless you have an account which is not great. You have access to a community of fellow gamers here though, so you could always ask people to comment on how they think rules should be interpreted when they’re confusing!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Same here. I kept FB mostly to have access to the Hellboy and Fallout groups but I’ve more recently gotten to the point where even that isn’t enough to keep me on there.
I agree on asking others for input. Its nice to hear others’ perspective and ultimately, I play Fallout for fun so the stakes are low. It doesn’t matter too much who wins and loses when you’re playing both sides haha!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Great to see the Institute on the table. The victory is a bonus but will the Courser be sent back to get the Gen 1 dropped in the mission? It is disappointing to hear the game can be confusing like with the Stealth Boy rules… but invisible Coursers should be pretty high powered in general. I am looking forward to seeing more Fallout games in 2024. Have a great New Year’s Eve mate!
LikeLiked by 3 people
I was hoping you’d enjoy the report and I will definitely need to paint up some more Institute miniatures to figure out how I like to use them. This game mostly wetted my appetite and makes me curious for more.
While Modiphius has created a really thematic and fun game, there are individual weapons and items that are confusing to use. The Stealth Boy rules are the worst I’ve run into thus far and truthfully, I haven’t dabbled with many of the items and weapons yet. Its something I hope to do more of, especially since I’ve got a lot more of the Fallout cards now.
I hope you have had a nice New Year’s Eve as well and I look forward to more Fallout in 2024. Like the Institute, we are building something great here. It just takes a lot of time and effort to fully realize it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
As an aside….Having left Facebook a few years back now, let me tell you it is very frustrating how much hobby info gets caught up in its little compartments. I loathe Facebook and that just makes it worse.
As for the hobby, I like to think it is the journey and not the destination… at least thinking that helps me feel better.
Hopefully 2024 will be amazing for you and your family! Thanks for continuing to share your thoughts and hobby exploits!
LikeLiked by 1 person
There is a lot that is trapped on Facebook and I predict that Facebook will diminish in popularity in the future. Its mostly people older than me who are active and use it now. They’ve made a lot of changes which make the experience worse as well. As far as I can tell, fewer and fewer Millennials use it and we’re the first adopters so that doesn’t bode well.
I agree with your sentiment. I generally enjoy making stuff and so the gaming part is mostly a celebration of what’s been completed for me anyway. I hope the same for you and your family and as long as I have the time, I’ll keep the site going. I enjoy it quite a bit!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nice to see a battle report from you Jeff, and a tense game. Rules can always be a pain if not properly explained, and the notes on the card do seem rather ambiguous, but how you adjusted it worked well. Hope you have a great 2024, and always look forward to seeing more scenery from you.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Cheers, Dave! It was a good game in spite of the rules issues. I just decided to adjudicate on the spot with a focus on making the game as fair and fun as I could. I hope you have a great 2024 as well and I look forward to getting more terrain done. I’m sure your challenges will help motivate me as well.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Good report, Jeff! 🙂 I quite like this format! I do have a question, however – if you’re playing both sides, how do you select the models you’ll use whilst remaining impartial? It struck me that a second mutant hound would have been quite useful you suspected the opposition might use a courser!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thank you for giving it a read and I like the new format as well. It took less time to write and I’m sure it takes less time to read as well.
Your question is a good one and truthfully, this is where bad organization, laziness, and trying to squeeze a game in caused me to use a subpar list. I need to get a better organization system so its easy to grab the minis I need and I should have taken the extra 15-30 minutes to reconfigure the Super Mutant list to make things fairer.
Generally, I try to be as fair as I can when playing these games so I take note of any advantages that one side might have and try to counter-balance it in some way. That has generally worked pretty well for me and it probably helps that I’m not a super competitive gamer too!
LikeLiked by 2 people
OK Jeff, thanks for the insight! 🙂 To be honest, it’s always going to be difficult when you’re playing solo, unless you can make up a couple of lists to the required points value and then pick one at random.
LikeLiked by 2 people
You’re welcome and that is a great idea! Truthfully, I think I should make some lists to have on standby for the future so I don’t have to do much thinking, I can just pick one off the list and run with it. I’m glad you mentioned this because I had never thought of doing something like this and I can see the value in it 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Always nice to read a battle report except for the fact that I’m delinquent in assigned points to my Broken Legions miniatures.
I think you did a great job in having the right amount of miniatures and terrain for the scenario you did, and for modifying the scenario to fit what you have – overall well done!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks for giving it a read and for the kind words! I didn’t use the Fallout app this time and I did appreciate how that adds up your points as you create a side versus having to add them on the calculator app on my phone. Its just that little bit of extra work for those of us who aren’t that skilled at math…
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is a great looking battle there, the terrain and the models worked well and sounded like a tense game, I look forward to seeing more!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Cheers, mate! I appreciate your kind words and I hope that there will be more in next year as well 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
This sounds like a really fun way to round out the year. I guess one of the advanctages of playing both sides yourself is that you can just make rulings on unclear cases like the Stealth Boy on the basis of what will be fun. I’m looking forward to seeing more of these games from you, though I still think that having a friend play the other side would make it a cooler experience.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was a nice way to spend a couple hours to be sure. I liked the ability to adjudicate the card as well. If that card was used in a tournament, I would think it would be a real nightmare! And you have an open invitation to pop over and play Fallout with me anytime, you like, mate! 🙂
LikeLike
I assume that there is some kind of FAQ on the card if it’s going to be used in a tournament so that there aren’t disagreements about what it does during a game. But obviously it would be better if it was just clearly worded in the first place 🙂
I would love to come and play you, I’m sure it can’t be that hard to pop over for a couple of hours ;P
LikeLiked by 1 person
Funnily enough, only Poland and/or Russia seems to have Fallout tournaments very often. The game is so set up for narrative play that I don’t think many people play Battle Mode (which is the tournament or competitive mode). Its very different from Warhammer and MCP!
I didn’t think it would be any real trouble for you. I mean, we can tell anyone who asks that you’re on a business trip! 😀
LikeLike
I’ll just say it’s a business trip to get to know my manager better 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha, that is a great cover story in my book!
LikeLike
Exceptional battle report, could really follow the game. Nice to see your work in play too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for the kind words and for giving it a read!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well as you play solo any rule disputes can be settled pretty easily; unless you like to argue with yourself.
All the work on terrain really paid off in the pictures bc it’s a nice ah lookin ah board. 😀
Happy new year!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Its good to hear from you, Stew! I hope the holidays treated you well. And yes, its a bit like a two-headed troll arguing with itself when you’re a solo gamer in a rules dispute haha!
Thank you for the kind words and all the suffering while making terrain seems to have paid off 🙂
LikeLike
Nice game report! I think the format and the pictures both worked well. The one big question I have is the amount of cover available. In Frostgrave, it is not uncommon to lose a character in one hit from a ranged attack. So filling up the table with lots of buildings, walls, etc. is pretty crucial. But maybe Fallout isn’t quite as lethal, so cover isn’t quite as important?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Cheers, Brian! I’m glad to hear that on the format. I could see that being the way I write them going forward. Your question about cover is a good one. I think my tables could use more cover overall as they look a little too empty for my tastes. In a tactical sense, I think its fairly balanced for Fallout. Even weaker characters usually require 2-3 “hits” to go down and stronger ones can take quite a bit more so it isn’t like one turn out of cover is the death of someone. They did a nice job of balancing ranged and melee combat in the game. Both feel powerful and one is not more dominant than the other which I like.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nice to know about the game balance. On the plus side, that also means that you don’t need to paint/make a lot of terrain. It also means setup/breakdown time should be way quicker.
I don’t think one is necessarily better than the other, but Frostgrave soldiers are essentially squishy and expendable. There are two types of units that are free, so it doesn’t really matter if they die anyways. As the game progresses, you do want to ‘upgrade’ them to better characters, as that will only make your warband stronger. It’s interesting how they did that, and ties in with the theme of the game overall.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I should use more terrain than I do. Maybe not big line of sight blocking things like houses but definitely more smaller scatter terrain. Overall though, Fallout doesn’t require as much terrain as some games out there which is nice.
That’s interesting about how Frostgrave is balanced. There’s nothing wrong with asymmetrical games where certain minis are much stronger than the rest. In MESBG, the heroes are generally that way and it makes them really fun to use for example. One day, I’d love to give Frostgrave a try and see how it all works first-hand! It sounds like a lot of fun and the setting is really cool too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yea, when you don’t have to put away a table of terrain….that’s a good thing! The breakdown/setup for Frostrgrave could get a bit annoying at times.
It’s a great game though, and I really want to get back to it or even better, play my first game of Stargrave. I just need to dive in and do it at some point. I’m getting close miniatures wise.
I’m not sure I would say that Frostgrave is “balanced”. I mean both sides are going to suffer the same issues. Range attacks dominate, just like in the real world. Your Wizard (leader) can also easily die from one bad die roll, as the dice can be pretty swingy. But again, that just lends to the more realistic and dangerous vibe of the game.
If only we lived a bit closer, we could get a game together! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, putting terrain out takes quite a bit of time, as does storing it. Board gamers have it easy! 🙂
I hope you’re able to get back to Frostgrave/Stargrave but hopefully not at the expense of the gaming you’ve already got going!
That would be a lot of fun! Since I reckon you’ll driving in this neck of the woods in the future, I’ll wait for you to come to me 😉 Portillo’s will be waiting for you too haha!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You know, not a day goes by, that I don’t wish I had a Portillos Italian Beef! Totally crazy, I know! I’m starting to wonder if I just imagined how good that sandwich was! 😂
I kinda have “room” for another game. But don’t really have a player for it. I’m not sure my daughter would understand or care for Frostgrave. I’ve thought about having her run me through a solo session of Stargrave. Where she controls the bad guys. Will see.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve never had it as you know but I know people do like Portillo’s quite a bit so I don’t think its crazy 🙂 We have many great restaurants here and there are some I’d struggle to find an equivalent for even in another big city, I imagine. =
That does sound like a fun way to play. I was thinking that Frostgrave at least has solo content available. I’ve heard mixed things about it but honestly, if you’re itching for a game, that might be a good option still, especially if your daughter isn’t interested.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Frostgrave and Stargrave both have solo rules. The designer actually gave out a free version of the Stargrave solo rules around lockdown, which was pretty cool. Now I think there is a more in-depth supplement focusing on them.
The advantage of my daughter playing through the solo rules with me, is that if she runs the ‘monsters’ she doesn’t really lose anything. Her mission would be to simply “kill daddy” and not trying to keep her own personal character alive. Probably a good way to see if she has any interest in the game as well. I imagine if I paint up 20 female soldiers, she might be more on board… ;P
LikeLiked by 1 person
That makes sense to me and at least you know what your hobby lift is going to be too 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person