FALLOUT WASTELAND WARFARE:
GETTING STARTED v5.0
You've decided to play Fallout Wasteland Warfare, no doubt because you love the video games and want to take it to a new medium where it won't hard crash to desktop every FIVE GODDAMNED minutes when you try to use VATS, or glitch horribly your third time trying to do a simple, stupid quest...
Sorry, that was just a bit of frustration leaking out. All better now.
...You've decided to play F:WW, but while it isn't nearly as complex as a lot of other miniature wargames - or as expensive! - it's still not necessarily obvious where and how to start. Don't worry, I'm here to walk you through it.
BASICS
There are actually quite a few different ways to play F:WW, either by yourself, with friends, or against a friend. Settlement Mode has you creating a small town of whatever faction you choose; it's notable because it encourages a player to use the full range of cards, as well as models that are not necessarily in faction. Battle Mode has players creating one-off lists in a more traditional wargaming fashion, with sharp limitations on what models can take, no Gauss Rifles on every lowly Settler for example! Solo (and Co-Op) Mode uses the decent AI system that comes with the game to let you play either Settlement or Battle mode by yourself. RPG Mode actually uses the add-on expansion book to let players create characters using an expanded version of the core game's engine and run a straightforward RPG session -but despite claims to the contrary it's hardly a stand-alone product, as it really only works with the game components of the basic box.
Like all modern wargames, F:WW uses a pricing system of points (called Caps) to judge a model's worth; unlike many wargames, however, they periodically adjust the values to reflect buffs and nerfs. You can find the page with that information, along with quite a bit more, here:
Battle Mode, which is meant for a single-faction highly limited quick battle, has its own page here:
A game is between 500-1,000 Caps in value, with the average being 750.
Most models cost between 60-100 Caps, with heavily equipped hero models
(like the Sole Survivor in T-60 Power armor, or X6-88 with a Gauss
Rifle) running in the 150-200 range.
One catch is that to play Fallout Wasteland Warfare, you have to use their custom dice or a cumbersome conversion table: in this case, a d20 with special symbols and several different d12s which represent various weapon add-on effects. That is definitely something to keep in mind.
WHAT TO BUY
Always start with the Core Box. Even if you don't want to use any of the models inside you can use them as AI enemies, and it comes with a solid stock of cards, dice, and templates.
After that, it would be wise to look at buying some cheap-but-potent add-ons for both internal factions to give you more enemies. The basic core box comes to 419 Caps for the Super Mutants with their AI card equipment (and an Enslaved Tech), and the Survivors come to 436 (without the Enslaved Tech, and Aspirant Goddard as himself). Once I'm done looking at those options, we'll cover the other factions - as well as Creatures and Robots. First, though:
CARDS
If you have any skill at conversion and/or have other minis that would fit the Fallout aesthetic, the bottleneck isn't the minis, it's the cards. While the basic stat cards are available for free at the same link I provided above, the AI cards are NOT, as are many of the cards that one needs for the Settlement Mode such as Events or Boosts or Quests. (Though really, one should be buying as much as possible from Modiphius to make sure we still HAVE a Fallout Wasteland Warfare game!)
There are two solutions: Buying them in physical format, or using the FWW app.
Most cards are available in physical form via the Expansion Card Pack boxes, divided up by wave. For example, Wave 2 has the cards for the Raiders, as well as the Sole Survivor Tech, who was released in Wave 2. On the first print run of Wave 1, Modiphius was able to put cards into individual boxes, which lent an almost collectible aspect to them (each one also included different Event, Boost, Danger, and other cards, which meant catching 'em all if you wanted 'em all!) but that proved too expensive so for future printings they'll have to make an Expansion Pack. You can also buy all the AI cards for fairly cheap as a pdf, but that won't get you the other cards which make Settlement Mode fun.
The app started as a fan project, written by a programmer to make playing the game easier, but he approached Modiphius with it and currently it's one of the better ways to get access to everything. While everything in the core box is free, each expansion costs money - around $10 USD per wave; before one starts feeling wounded about having to pay, remember that Modiphius is a small company that's licensing the Fallout property AND the programmer himself is only earning enough to pay for his time working on it. If you're still iffy about it, there's a subscription service instead for much cheaper per month, but in my experience wargaming is a long term hobby and you'd probably pay a lot more over time...
Now, for the meat of this section!
SURVIVORS
For the Survivors, either Boston Companions or the Heroes of Sanctuary Hills
is your best value-add. X6-88 is scarily hard to pin down, Cait is one
of the few close combat models Survivors have, and Piper is just plain
annoying with how she can mark one model with a -2 penalty til her next
turn starts. The Heroes box is better if you plan to PLAY the Survivors,
as you can kick Goddard out of his T-60 and put the Loner inside of it
to make a terrifying close combat monster - with Scoutmeat and Codsworth
being solid value-adds as well.
SUPER MUTANTS
For the Super Mutants, the Hammer box adds 249 Caps to their AI list value, and outside of that is a potent addition - even letting you change your Mutant Hounds for Fiends, and Hammer himself is a nasty customer. Also, you don't HAVE to use the models inside as their listed choices, allowing you to use the normal Super Mutant as a Brute or Aviator instead, which adds to the Caps value of the list and the challenge the list poses. Suiciders are really good from a perspective of PLAYING the Super Mutants, as is adding another model to be a second Enslaved Tech, but that could be any 28-32mm mini you have lying around, and if you're using them as an AI enemy either one is mostly unnecessary.
BROTHERHOOD OF STEEL
For the Brotherhood of Steel, you've already got Aspirant Goddard, who with a Baton is a cheap and effective melee combatant. First, definitely pick up Knight-Paladin Cane and Paladin Danse; both are really good models and the Eyebot can be used as BoS, Survivor, or Robot. I'd personally get the Frontline Knights over the Core Box; the core box has Scribes which you won't use (ever), and the Knight Patrols can be used as Lancers as well as KPs. When the T-51 Power Armor box becomes more widespread it's definitely worthwhile instead of the Frontline Knights, but will make your force VERY PA-centric.
RAIDERS
Core Box and Ack-Ack, Sinjin, and Avery. Those two boxes together cover all your bases - though you do need the Raider Expansion Deck to play with them as enemies for their AI cards.
INSTITUTE
Institute Covert Operations. Interestingly, if you have the Boston Companions you can actually field a 500 Caps list using nothing but this and X6-88; just an elite crew of Institute killers mowing down the enemy. For more variety, the Core Box is good. Don't forget that it has its own set of cards, though.
CREATURES/ROBOTS
The best value-add is Protectrons & Assaultrons. They can be added to any existing force to bulk them out, either as AI opposition or as Settlement helper-bots, with budget Battered options for cheaper padding as well. The scariest things are probably Radscorpions and the Sentry Bot, though; Ghouls are slow-moving and don't have any ambush or infiltrating rules (which would make them threats!) and the vermin are just that: Vermin. However, you DO have to buy the Raider Expansion Pack for the AI cards of all the models; as they were the tail-end of Wave 1 it was where Modiphius discovered it was too expensive to pack the cards in.
ENCLAVE
The Core Box and the Hellfire Set. Hellfires, Teslas, and a Warrant Officer are the core of any solid Enclave force; while Soldiers are nice, it's a Hellfire hiding behind a wall of two Teslas that will establish superiority for the true United States Army. Frank Horrigan is cool, but he is basically a 750 Cap+ boss battle with you running the boss, and that can get boring fast.
NCR/CAESAR'S
Until they get more boxes, it's kinda obvious what you need to play them. Once they do and I can see what each box has, then I can make more and better recommendations. Sorry!
Until they get more boxes, it's kinda obvious what you need to play them. Once they do and I can see what each box has, then I can make more and better recommendations. Sorry!
If you want a guide to the tactics of each faction, or are wondering about how I rate the various upgrades available, my general list of guides is here:
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