Postby DarkTraveler777 » Fri Apr 07, 2017 11:07 am
Hello everyone! I am the bald guy giving the awkward smile and thumbs up in the first photo. I ran the motor cross event at Adepticon and would be happy to answer any questions about the new vehicle rules for Wreck Age, or anything else Wreck Age-related (when not showing off my Adonis physique at conventions I write for Wreck Age).
I have to say, the bike conversions done by Jon are damn impressive! I love the bike with the grabbing tool, and besides looking cool that would be a pretty effective offensive addition for bikes in the game.
So, how do bikes work in Wreck Age?
Bikes and their riders move extremely quickly across a game board, which means they can be excellent first-strike options, or held back for a turn and able to threaten back-field targets like snipers or to claim objective counters with their fast rate of speed later in a game.
To give an example of the speed differences between a human and a bike let's look at the basic movement profiles of the two units.
Most human and beast models have a Movement value of 3, meaning they can move 3" a turn at a basic walk, or add 1D6 for a run or 2D6 for a sprint action. So, a running character could move between 4"-9" (1D6 + 3) or sprint for 5"-15" (2D6 +3).
Vehicles, have a different approach to movement. They have Acceleration ratings that they can apply every turn up to a maximum rating (determined by the vehicle type).
For the motor cross event above, the dirt bikes had an Acceleration rating of 4 with a maximum acceleration of 14.
Each point of acceleration provides 1D6 worth of movement in inches, so a bike starting from a dead stop and accelerating at its max speed of 4 could move between 4"-16"depending on how well the 4 acceleration dice rolled. The bike player can then further modify the dice result by the number of acceleration dice rolled, so in the case of a bike accelerating 4 dice, the final result could be modified by +/- 4".
Each turn the bike can accelerate or decelerate equal to their acceleration rating. So, it isn't hard to see that a full speed bike (14 dice) could really FLY across a game table. Of course a daredevil rider going that fast will have a very, very difficult time turning, stopping, and of course, if they collide with anything, will likely erupt into a ball of flame! Still, the potential tactical value opened up by bikes in a game of Wreck Age is substantial given their wide threat range.
Further, bikers could be armed with either melee weapons which will allow them to do charging and ride-by-attacks, as well as ranged weapons for your classic drive-by shooting style attacks. So even one or two bikers can dramatically change the play-ability of an existing Wreck Age crew.
Getting back to the demo at Adepticon, there were two win conditions: 1) complete two laps around the track or 2) be the last biker standing.
The players picked up pretty quickly that it was more fun to do ride-by-attacks (we called it throwing elbows) and ramming attacks rather than trying to complete the circuit, so by the end of the second lap we had three bikers left on their rides and three flaming wrecks spread across the track.
While bikes are fast, they have virtually no armor, and any collisions are extremely detrimental to both bike and rider.So, while they present excellent first-strike options, remember, that they are extremely vulnerable to return attacks and will not hold up to concentrated fire from your opponents.
I'll be popping on to check for any questions or comments, so please feel free to ask away about the bikes, our Kickstarter, or anything else Wreck Age related.