My Miniature Mischief: July 2023

With the impending release of SCRAPHEAP, I decided to write up a quick game report, to help some people envisage how the game plays out. While this does not go in depth on mechanics, it gives the flavour of the game pretty solidly.

The following is a demonstration game of SCRAPHEAP.

For the game I decided to build two opposing Gangs using a budget of 600 credits. This should allow me 4-6 Models per side with a variety of equipment.

I first built a group of vicious bastards, "The Lost Boys”.

Gang Leader (Brute) “Riegerix”
Equipment: Armour, Cybernetic Arm, Ripper Sword, Blast Pistol
Initial Bonuses: +1 Wound, +1 Accuracy, +1 Accuracy (total: +2 Accuracy)

Ganger (Hacker) “Slide”
Equipment: Knife, Automatic Pistol
Initial Bonuses: +1 Accuracy, “Scavenger” Skill

Novice (Brute) “Dros'n"
Equipment: Powered Gauntlet, Automatic Pistol, Ammo Pouch (Automatic Pistol)
Initial Bonuses: None

Novice (Fighter) “Artus”
Equipment: Flamethrower
Initial Bonuses: None

Novice (Fighter) “Caro”
Equipment: Club, Automatic Pistol
Initial Bonuses: None

Novice (Fighter) “Munk”
Equipment: Automatic Carbine
Initial Bonuses: None

For this Gang I chose the Gang type “Murderous Maniacs” as it seemed to fit their theme. The leader, Riegerix would be extremely dangerous, having rolled an additional wound and two bonuses to his accuracy (despite being armed only with a pistol!). Six Models was pretty decent at 600 credits and they had enough variety to tackle most challenges. This Gang should favour close-combat initially.

To oppose them, I created another Gang, “The Highwaymen”.

Gang Leader (Fighter) “Clip”
Equipment: Automatic Carbine, Ammo Pouch (Automatic Carbine)
Initial Bonuses: +1 Wound, +1 Command, +1 Accuracy

Ganger (Hacker) “She-Wolf”
Equipment: Big Bore Revolver, Micro-Flamethrower
Initial Bonuses: +1 Tech, +1 Wound

Novice (Scout) “Kid”
Equipment: Wastelander Long Rifle, Big Bore Revolver, Knife
Initial Bonuses: None

Novice (Monstrosity) “Griddle”
Equipment: Powered Gauntlet, Cybernetic Leg, Club, Helmet
Initial Bonuses: None

Novice (Fighter) “Jericho”
Equipment: Shotgun, Ammo Pouch (Shotgun)
Initial Bonuses: None

This Gang uses the Gang type “Merchant Strongmen”. This would be an interesting foil to 'The Lost Boys'. Down one Model, but with a bit more firepower and range, and a Monstrosity with which to tackle the close-combat dangers of the opposing Gang. “Clip” and “She-Wolf” rolled well for their initial bonuses, each gaining a wound, and both selecting additional bonuses to make them excel in their roles.

Before selecting a scenario I rolled for a Location – a unique environment in which the game takes place. Initially the game provides six possible Locations, each producing unique NPCs, events, and campaign benefits. As luck would have it I rolled the first Location, “The Rad Wastes”.

I built up a suitably dangerous table, and then select the first basic scenario “New Scum on the Block”. In this scenario two opposing Gangs compete for Salvage Tokens – the key source of both income and experience.

With the Gangs built and Models selected, I deployed the Gangs according to the scenario, with The Highwaymen having their choice of corners. With two of the Salvage Tokens having been scattered nearby, they selected the corner closest to two of the five tokens.

What follows is a short-hand version of the game with suitable pictures included:

The Highwaymen won the initiative and both Gangs rushed toward the nearest Salvage Tokens.

Riegerix claimed one Salvage Token worth 16 credits. (In an opposed game, the opponent would not know the value of the Salvage Token collected).

'Kid' started scrambling up one of the shacks in order to get a better line-of-sight for his Wastelander rifle.

On The Lost Boys' second turn they generated an Event. This Event generated an NPC, in this case a small Zombie Horde. The Lost Boys used one of their activations to use the Zombie Horde to charge Clip. Clip was able to escape the Zombie Horde when it failed an attack.

Clip and Jericho spin around and unload into the Zombie Horde, peeling off all five wounds and removing it from the table. Nearby She-Wolf successfully hacks into a Terminal to gain additional experience.

With no enemies in sight, Griddle scoops up a Salvage Token worth 28 credits.

The Highwaymen generate an Event which rewards them with their Common Strategy, in this case “Accurate Maps”. Using this, the Gang moves an unoccupied Salvage Token 6” closer to their Models.

Clip gathers an additional Salvage Token worth 31 credits.

On the other side of the table, Dros'n scoops up a Salvage Token worth 28 credits. At this point almost all of the Salvage Tokens have been picked up. In a campaign, one Gang might seek to simply retreat off the table to avoid losing Models...but this is a demo-game so the fight will not be avoided!

As the two Gangs spot each other on the main road, Kid lets a shot off with his Wasteland rifle, narrowly missing Munk.

Drawing first blood, Munk steps into the open street and fires on full-auto at Griddle, wounding him once and stunning him.

Hearing the loud coughing of Riegerix's ripper sword, Clip steals the last Salvage Token and begins backing down the main road.

Taking advantage of the lack of activations during The Highwaymen's turn, Munk calmly walks down the center of the main road, dumping all of his remaining ammunition into Griddle. Having already suffered one wound, Griddle takes another three with the first shot...then another two. His six wounds removed, Griddle slumps to the ground, dropping his Salvage Token (28 credits).

Despite seeing the massive hulk collapse next to him, Jericho passes a Panic test and keeps his head.

Ignoring the gunfire on the main road, Dros'n has continued running, closing the distance to the unaware She-Wolf who has remained at her Terminal.

Hearing the loud huffing of Dros'n behind her, She-Wolf spins around, two pistols in her hands – she lets go with the Micro-Flamethrower first, burning through its fuel instantly but inflicting a wound and stunning Dros'n. The flames subsequently forced Dros'n back an additonal 3”. Now at longer range, She-Wolf's revolver shot sails into the distance with no effect.

With Munk out of ammunition, and Dros'n stunned Jericho moves up to Griddle's abandoned Salvage Token and fires a shot at Riegerix who is moving nearby. He misses.

Excited by all the action, Kid fires another round of his Wastelander rifle at Munk, again missing the mark despite his excellent “marksmanship” that he's been bragging about recently...

As Riegerix rounds a corner, Kid puts a round into his shoulder, taking two of his five wounds. Inspired by this Clip likewise steps forward and unloads full-auto against the fierce enemy Gang leader...missing both times.

Suddenly Clip is looking at a charge from the enemy Gang leader...

Fortunately for Clip, Riegerix flubs the charge roll and ends up about an inch shy of his target. Nearby Artus sneaks up, igniting his flamethrower, and Dros'n shakes off his stunned status. Across the table, Caro hustles to catch up to the fight.

The Highwaymen only generate one activation during this key turn – Clip decides to stand and unleash full-auto fire at the charging Riegerix. He strikes only one of his two shots...and it's deflected, destroying Riegerix's cybernetic arm!

The Lost Boys roll an Event – generating their Common Strategy. Pointing at Kid, Riegerix unleashes a blood-curdling howl of rage, hoping to drive the young ganger off the table. Kid fortunately passes his Guts test and remains in play.

With only two activations The Lost Boys are looking to finish the fight. Riegerix charges into Clip, swinging his ripper sword. He slashes two wounds off of Clip, but fails to kill him outright. Behind him, in the main road Artus blasts Jericho with his flamethrower. Jericho manages to escape being wounded, but becomes stunned and in his panic runs toward Artus, instead of away.

At this pivotal moment in the fight The Highwaymen draw...zero activations.

Hot on their heels, The Lost Boys draw a meager one activation, but generate an Event before they can take their turn. This Event is the Location Event, generating a Radiation Storm! This requires all Models in play to pass a Strength test or become poisoned or wounded.

Unused to the rad wastes, Kid, She-Wolf, Jericho, Riegerix all suffer wounds, with Clip preferring to become poisoned (reducing all of his tests by one).

With their single activation, The Lost Boys let Riegerix attempt to finish off Clip. With a sweep of his large ripper sword, Riegerix cuts down Clip. He drops two Salvage Tokens. Watching from above, Kid pisses himself with fear – becoming stunned.

The Highwaymen activate, only removing the stunned status from Jericho and Kid, while She-Wolf runs off the table, spitting up blood from the radiation storm (she's too close to Dros'n and Riegerix and doesn't stand a chance against them).

Realizing he's sitting a puddle of his own making, Kid screams as Riegerix climbs the ladder to his position. Ducking under the ripper sword, Kid bolts for an escape.

Nearby, Artus ignites Jericho with the last of his flamethrower's fuel. Jericho suffers another wound and becomes stunned again, battling his burning clothing.

Realizing he's quickly being surrounded, Kid makes a running leap to an adjacent platform, skirting along a shipping container, trying his best to avoid Riegerix behind him, and Dros's beneath him.

Jericho finally puts out his jacket and finds himself staring at Munk and Artus (both of whom are out of ammo!)

The Lost Boys draw zero activations, handing the initiative to the two remaining Highwaymen.

Kid leaps off the table edge, departing the game (for good reason).

In the middle of the street Jericho finds himself alone, with not much hope of surviving. Instead of running he racks his shotgun and puts a slug through the chest of Artus, dropping him with a 'boxcars' and a three-wound result.

Riegerix, Dros's, and Slide all converge on Jericho, ready to charge him on the next turn.

Facing them bravely, Jericho fires an errant round at Riegerix...then decides to climb up onto a container, perhaps buying himself a little more time.

As Jericho clambered up the cargo container, Slide cursed at him, firing full-auto from his automatic pistol. The shots pinged off the container. Grunting in disgust, Dros'n walked up, methodically shooting Jericho in the back. He slumped over, his Salvage Token scattering onto the top of the shipping container.

While this is a one-off game, I'll show the results of the post-game sequence if this had been a campaign game.

While The Lost Boys won the game, they only picked up two Salvage Tokens before the game ended. They were more concerned with killing off The Highwaymen than seizing their dropped loot. Models put out-of-action must roll on the survival table. Models also accrue experience during the game.

Riegerix: +4 Experience, +16 credits
Dros'n: +3 Experience, +28 credits
Slide: +1 Experience
Artus: +0 Experience (-1 Agility)
Munk: +2 Experience
Caro: +1 Experience

Clip: +0 Experience (Recovered fully)
Griddle: +0 Experience (Becomes prisoner of The Lost Boys)
She-Wolf: +2 Experience
Kid: +1 Experience
Jericho: +1 Experience (-1 Command Value)

In a campaign this would have been a rather sweeping victory for The Lost Boys, but the player of The Highwaymen probably would not have been so rash. The capture of Griddle by The Lost Boys would be a big deal – they can kill him, trade him to slavers or barter him back to The Highwaymen. They could also keep him prisoner in case The Highwaymen later take a prisoner of their own.

Losing a strong model, The Highwaymen might not be long for a campaign, but the players should run some 'Underdog' scenarios before discarding the gang entirely.