Fallout Creatures Tactics & Overview v1.1

CREATURES TACTICS AND OVERVIEW v1.1

This is written from two perspectives, and slightly different than the previous ones which were written mostly from Force List PoVs: First, with a model as your Creature Controller, and as judging opposition for both RPG-style and scenario-style adventures. What this means is that if you want something that your players/characters can fight without too much trouble, reach for the 'weaker' choices. If you want something that will do bad things to them, go for the hard stuff.

Which is a good rule of thumb to follow if reading ANY of these guides from the PoV of scenario creation; if they're fighting Raiders, then generic Raiders with Assault Rifles might not pose a great challenge, but Psychos hopped up on Rage swinging Tire Irons in their faces while Scavver Outlaws steal all the good shit...

For the Creature Controller... it's either the Sole Survivor Loner, or someone really cheap but tough so you can afford expensive models. The Institute Engineer and Raider Scavver Outlaw seem like the best budget choices. Lance Captain Kell is another possibility, to pass on Accuracies or APs to his beasties. Any other thoughts?

ALIEN

The Alien is the only model, other than whatever Creature Controller you have, which has ranged attacks and access to Lockpick and Computer Expertise. At only 70 Caps, it's quite cheap for what it gives you, and even can make sense RPG-wise if Zetans are controlling the local fauna including a chump Homo Sapiens...

Combat-wise, they're quite ferocious, with PER 8 governing their dangerous Alien Blasters, and decently tough with 5 Health covered by 2/3/x Armor. However, as your main objective runners, they're easy picks to remove quickly and won't stand up to concentrated fire from Physical weapons.

BLOATED GLOWING ONE

Bloated Glowing Ones can be the centerpiece of a big Ghoul formation, with extremely high Health, 2+1/3+1/x Armor, and the ability to heal via Radiation. To help their teammates and punish their enemies, they have a 58% of bursting Radiation at the end of their turn in a Yellow radius: not big, but good enough. Their STR 7 also backs up a decent weapon - though not as strong as the Putrid's weapon, it has an Accuracy and AP die, and inflicts 2 Radiation instead of 1.

What's the downside? Well, they're not fast, very expensive, and Feral Ghouls are actually pretty pricey for what you get (more on that later), so building a team to take advantage of their healing and toughness is difficult without having them shot to pieces as they charge in.

DEATHCLAW

Holy crap, Deathclaws look scary on paper but... are they? STR 11 backing up their Battle Cry makes them very reliable users of that, and with Health 12 behind 3+1/3+1/x they'll be nearly impossible to remove. Barge lets them move through protective lines of Vault Security Officers or Gen 1 Synths, and their Unnerving Aura is immense and crippling to enemy objective runners - which is good, since your objective running is pretty limited. They also have an 8" Charge range.

But they're 295 Caps and their attacks go off their PER 5... so they only have a 45% of hitting. Yes, those attacks are scary if they land, but they also focus more on AP than damage - making them unreliable for actually putting down an opponent. Also, Battle Cry can fail, so you have to pick the targets carefully.

IMHO, they're more control pieces, taking advantage of their high durability and massive Unnerving Aura to cripple your enemy's objective runners and engaging as many as you can to threaten with free attacks as they scurry away. Sit them on an objective and you'll almost certainly win - or force them to allot so many resources to killing it that you're free to pursue other objectives.

FERAL GHOUL

Feral Ghouls are ambush predators in the video games, which doesn't translate well for a wargame without advanced setup skills like deploying outside the standard zones. Yes, with STR 6 backing up an attack with Damage and Accuracy dice they're quite threatening close in, but they only have average Movement/Charge and vulnerable to being wrecked by any physical weapon with only 4 Health and 1/2/x Armor. Any Settler with a Combat rifle can potentially remove one each activation, not a good tradeoff for 50 Caps.

This is perfectly in character for them, mind you, but it makes them hard to use properly in a fair battlefield. So don't. You're using Ghouls, not British redcoats!

Use cover, fight to have big buildings to block LoS, and include zones of Radiation in Turn 0 setup to heal them from incidental damage. Use them, too - if you have to choose between moving a little forward and leaving cover, STAY IN COVER if it doesn't take you into Charge range. And finally, accept that the Feral Ghouls might just be ablative wounds to carry your Glowing Ones in close.

GLOWING RADROACH SWARM

Radroaches are interesting in that they get multiple attacks based on how healthy they are. This means that they can output an amazing number of strikes, making up for their low AGI 4.

What's the downside? Well, they only inflict Radiation damage, which is very all-or-nothing: either the enemy is super weak to Radiation, or they ignore it entirely. This makes buying them hit and miss; they can't even reliably tie up enemies in engagement because so many models will just not care about their damage! The Super Mutants, Institute, and Robot factions are the main problems, with Power Armor models also sneering at them.

What the Glowing Radroach Swarm does over its regular version is stack more durability with 6 Health (which gives them bonus attacks until they hit 3 Health!). Also, their weapon inflicts 2 Radiation damage a turn instead of 1, which can have an impact against some Unique models. They inflict a Radiation damage after they're removed, making them risky to melee... sometimes. At 40 Caps versus 15, I think they're good if you're SURE they'll be swinging on enemies that don't resist Radiation.

MOLE RAT

Mole Rats are actually quite nasty little buggers, especially at only 14 Caps apiece. Yes, they will likely die in a single Action with only 2 Health, and their weapon is deeply pathetic, but... Burrow, man, Burrow.

Burrow means they can move fast across blocking Terrain (and enemy models!) to engage whatever you need to tie up. This forces your opponent to spend AP to remove them, and against commonplace Objective Runners like Enslaved Techs or Institute Engineers they aren't reliable at close combat to begin with, which might even mean spending MULTIPLE actions to remove them.

At their bargain-basement price, it's definitely worth including a few, if only to delay your opponent's gameplan.

PUTRID GLOWING ONE

At 10 Caps cheaper than the BGO, the PGO loses 2 Health and only Rad Bursts in Orange instead of Yellow. that last part is... not so bad, in all honesty. Most Ghouls are frail enough that two attacks are going to put them down anyway, and no player with a lick of sense will spread damage across multiple models when they could focus and take down one.

The PGO has the same Armor as the BGO, and swaps its middling Yellow/Green die for two Blacks - while it makes them slightly less likely to hit, it's not MUCH of an improvement, and the swings they land are very scary.

RADROACH SWARM

So take what I wrote about the Glowing Radroach Swarm, reduce their Health to 4, reduce their AGI to 3, and make them only deal 1 Radiation Damage per bite.

The one thing they have over the Mole Rats and Glowing Radroach Swarm is that they're cheap and tough enough that you could make a living wall which would force your opponent to spend Actions removing them just to get through the mass. Positioned correctly they could block an entire area, preventing savvy players from just sliding around them.

Is it worth the 17 Caps? Maybe? I personally feel like the Mole Rat's Burrow is much more useful for budget models, but they have their place.

RADSCORPION

Where Mole Rats are nuisances, Radscorpions are frightening - IMHO, one of the best Creatures available. Decent PER at 7 for Search, with acceptable STR 6 backing up their nasty Pincers & Sting, makes them solid. Health 6 behind 3/2/x is also no joke.

As with Mole Rats, their signature move is Burrow, but they can easily remove softer models in a single activation and crush the heck out of ranged firebases - being able to charge without LoS, especially with a gargantuan 10" range, is just horrifying. Especially at only 90 Caps!

Just remember: Burrow is declared as a Charge movement, and you can't Charge out of close combat. So no sneaky popping around over and over again once they're Engaged.

Were I looking for competitive play, I'd make these and Aliens the cornerstone of my force, with a few Mole Rats to tie up my opponent's valuable models for a turn or two.

WEAK FERAL GHOUL

The basic Feral Ghoul has one thing going for it: its decent STR backing up a very solid weapon. Weaks drop the STR from 6 to 3, at a cost of 28 Caps. Yes, it's cheaper, and probably fairly costed, but at a certain point no matter how little you pay it's still not worth the price. The argument could be made that they're even cheaper ablative wounds to carry your Glowing Ones in close, but they're so pitiful that it only frees up their targeting opportunity to kill your Glowing Ones first.

YOUNG DEATHCLAW

Meh.

Okay, one word sentence ain't gonna cut it. For 125 Caps versus 295, the Young Deathclaw loses the main thing which makes Deathclaws useful (if expensive): Unnerving. They also drop 1 PER for their main offense (taking them to a 40% chance to hit!), and sacrifice 4 HP along with the Strong Armor.

If you want a budget Deathclaw, take a Radscorpion.

CHANGELOG

Revamped the Putrid Glowing One to better reflect its close combat nastiness. Expanded the Feral Ghoul.