Tuesday 29 July 2014

I'm Not Saying The People Of Milton Keynes Are A Degenerate Rabble...

One of the things I realised after I'd decided on 3 minis per player was that games could be over very fucking quickly.

Also, taking the theme from Escape From New York, I liked the idea of random crazies getting in the way of the players trying to complete their missions.

Hence, Rabble were born. Rabble represent the people left behind in the walled enclave that Milton Keynes has become. These poor Zone-dwelling bastards have been left to fend for themselves and, because anything else would make for a boring game, they're generally violent, stupid and pretty easy to kill.

In the game Rabble can be anything. Shove 3 - 5 random minis together and then work out what stats/weapons they should have.

The game includes basics Stats for Rabble with a number of options for increasing their competence and lethality. Each bonus you give them (which can boost a stat, add an extra member or upgrade their weapons) counts as a level increase. This helps when you have to randomly spawn some of them due to a card effect (more on cards in another post) as the card's value determines the Rabble Group's level.

Rabble all move and fight as a single Unit with the extra members giving them bonuses to attack and damage. This makes the book-keeping easier, as does the fact that each member of a Rabble Group grants 1 Wound to the group in total. Every time the take damage you remove a model and their bonuses drop.

The game also has Rules of Engagement for Rabble which determines how they act and who they target, to try and keep it as fair as possible for all players involved. They'll often mill around aimlessly until they catch sight of a player Unit, at which point they'll run screaming to attack them.

There are also some "uber-Rabble" types which generally act alone rather than in a group and are significantly better than the basic mooks you'll see most often.

Faces are generic archetypes such as bounty hunters or assassins who have better Stats and equipment and occasionally special abilities of their own. These guys are more dangerous than standard Rabble but not as tough as player Units. They also have access to different types of behaviour which alter the way they act so, for instance, the Wolf personality will, instead of attacking the first person they see, always concentrate on moving towards and killing the lowest point value Unit on the board).

Names are something else. These bastards are used for when you want a serious threat to throw against your Mob. They are named individuals and the idea is you take any mini you own which you like the look of or is suitably imposing, stat it up to suit and then unleash it.

Names are fucking tough, make no mistake, and have access to everything the players can use, plus whatever your devious mind can envisage. They are generally used as part of a scenario (such as the Kill The King scenario which involves the players hunting and killing a Face) because having them randomly spawn on an unsuspecting player is a good way for things to end in tears. Or at the very least hurled dice and bitter complaints.

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