Wreck-Age by Hyacinth Games Rulebook review

My renewed interest in the Post Apocalyptic genre has had me browsing various forums and facebook groups for inspiration. Chatting with one of the games producers Matthew Sears I was very kindly sent a copy of the rules for me to read and review. I've been a fan of the miniatures since they came out via kickstarter over a year ago but was gutted that I missed out on it.

Wreck Age is game that has two sides to it. On one side its a 28mm scale skirmish game the other a role playing game.

Personally I only have the time at the moment for the skirmish game side of it however the role playing side to it is very good and if a time come where myself and a circle of friends can get into doing I perhaps might have a go.

The setting is of course Post Apocalyptic. Its also quite unique how it actually occurred rather than something unexpected like a nuclear war or a virus that kills off most the population. Its all down to how they've used the Earth resources ravaging the land, nuclear waste pollution is destroying everything. 

There is a big rush by the powers that be to build a flotilla of scientific colony ships to seed other planets and the plan was to evacuate Earth in several waves until everyone has left. Only they betray everybody and the rich and powerful escape and don't return leaving the remainder to deal with the collapse of the government. Anarchy ensues the world is ravaged by natural disasters, chemical rain scours the land bringing mankind pretty much almost to extinction. 

The game is then set two centuries after the Exodus eventually things begin to calm down plants and some animals begin to appear here and there and mankind begins to eke out an some sort of existence but only barely.

I only have a PDF at the moment but when the opportunity arises to get hold of one in print I will. The book has very high productions values. It is Beautifully laid out it has awesome artwork through out and there is plenty of background for you to get fully immersed into the world itself.

The game is set in America or Merika as it is now called. There are a large number of different factions all with there own agenda's and way of living.

Stakers
 This is your working together for the greater good of the community type faction. They work hard on there land ensuring they are self sufficient and defend it fiercely from raiders and the like.

Drifters
Sort of nomadic barbarians they attack caravan's and communities and have an attitude of survival of the fittest like attitude. Typical raider types really.

Stitchers
These are a creepy faction basically an Exodus ship full of medical staff crash landed during take off and these are the surviving members. A Couple of hundred years on from the event they are now a bit deranged and obsessed with only increasing there own lifespans through bio engineering and harvesting fresh organs from anyone they can capture in order to prolong there own lives. There appearance is sort of a bit like a Frankenstein monster all stitched up with various bits replaced from various sources. There way of fighting tends to be all about incapacitating targets in order to harvest organs rather than damaging potential donor's!

Reclaimers
These are my favourite faction I love there background and there motives. They are basically engineers and scientists who hunt down remnants of technology from before the collapse. There are some excellent short stories on the website as well they are in the store but are free to download.

These factions don't currently have miniature out as of yet. They all have there own agendas and way of living there is a lot of factions that there is bound to be one that is to your liking. Some such as the Drifters and Stakers all give you the opportunity to get creative with them.

The AHRK (Autonomous Region of Hong Kong)
The Church of Fun

Unicephalon

The Vale

The Caravaneers

The Fringers

The RPG side comes into play more so when choosing your faction its characters there careers and equipment. There are generic archetypes from soldiers, medics, scouts and traders to specific faction ones that add more flavour to your party typical of that faction.   Gear wise the weapons they can be equipped with is quite diverse from simple zip guns and blunderbuss type weapons to EMP rifles, plasma rifles and Tranq guns. Its really diverse and  there is a lot of choice. There are various types armour, gadgets and other equipment. Foodstuffs and clothing is mentioned. transportation, as well as faction themed gear as well It seems to go into quite some depth more so than I originally though when I first received the pdf.

There are a bunch of scenarios listed from objective hunts, night-time raids and the standard factions squaring it off and duking it out with each other. Advancement tables and campaign rules round out the ruleset seeming to cover most things you would want from an RPG/Skirmish game.

All in all I its an excellent book, nicely laid out . Looks great and easy to navigate. The background is unique and interesting and you can get immersed fully in it. The factions offer a lot of choice from typical wasteland type raiders, drug fuelled cultists, corporate agents and secret societies working behind the scenes to shape the future of the world.

Rules wise Initiative is rolled for every turn the winning side then activates or defers there go. One character moves performs there actions and then switches to the other side until all characters have activated that turn. Each character has a number of action points determined by there stats. Certain actions cost a certain number of points in order to perform so movement, shooting all have a points cost Sprinting for examples uses more action points than walking and so on. Its quite an interesting element and of course certain actions that are more complex require a test to be passed to perform. Its a good system from what I can tell. I shall have to right up some basic factions and proxy some figures and try it out.

I really hope they get a UK stockist soon as I would like to get my hands on some of the miniatures as they are really nicely sculpted especially the Stitchers and Reclaimers. New greens have been spotted on facebook as well which all look just as good as the factions already available.

For more info check out the website.
http://wreck-age.net/

Theres also some great fiction in the store which is well priced or in some cases free!
Books and Stories