Looting the Outskirts of Fort Davis

Photo by Frank on Unsplash

Diary of Tray Jacobs, Self-proclaimed Mutfruit Farmer Extraordinaire – Well, we got here. Now what? It feels like I spend more time hunting molerats and bloatflys than farming. Ugh. While the crops are growing, we might as well take a snoop around and see if there’s anything good. I’ll have to go, since I guess I’m the leader until someone else steps up. We’ll bring the dog with us, to sniff out either some food, or the things that want to make food out of us. Here’s hoping for lots of the former and none of the latter.

Scrag’s Ponderings – Need meat. Need metal. Let’s go.

Scenario Setup

The Scenario for game one is Fort Davis, one of the tutorial scenarios provided in the Campaign Handbook. The two factions are out scavenging for supplies on the outskirts of the fort when they run into each other and hostilities ensue. The side that escapes with the most loot after four turns wins. The Super Mutants got there first, and start with the Advantage.

The Forces

Survivors: 368 Caps

Sole Survivor Day 1- 10mm Pistol

Settler – Assault Rifle

Settler – Assault Rifle, Leader: Hunter

Dog – Dog Bite

2 x Scavenger – Bolt Action Pipe Rifle

Super Mutants: 377 Caps

Super Mutant – Bolt Action Pipe Rifle, Board, Leader: Brawler

Super Mutant – Bolt Action Pipe Rifle, Board

2 x Brute – Sledgehammer

Mutant Hound – Hound Bite

Settlement Phase

There is no settlement phase for the first game as neither side has any Caps to spend yet. Every model is equipped with the standard default gear. Only by finding and keeping cards in the game will more equipment become available.

Deployment

Super Mutants deploy first, on the north edge of the board. They are spread out in a line as they sweep through the area looking for any useful scraps or things to eat.



The Survivors deploy to the south, working in pairs to search for salvageable tech or valuable items.

Deployment

Turn One

Turn one is all about rushing forward. In Wasteland Warfare, activations swap back and forth on a model-per-model basis. The Mutants have a hard time deciding between searching for the items they need, or running as fast as possible to smash some delicious looking survivors (As determined by the AI decision matrix). One one shot is fired as the Survivor’s Settler Leader takes a long range shot at the Mutant hound. One Super Mutant finds some armour. The Sole Survivor finds some Mentats. A Settler and a Scavenger search tokens, only to find locked containers that require another action to open. Next turn, maybe, if the Mutants give them time to act. Another Scavenger finds a bottle of Bourbon. 2-1 for the Survivors.

This Scavenger doesn’t have enough actions left (only 2 per turn) to search the token next to the container. And with the Mutant Hound and Brute closing fast, he’s getting nervous.

End of Turn One

Turn Two

The Super Mutants retain the Advantage for turn two, as they have fewer models than the Survivors. One of the brutes remembers why they’re here, and searches the nearby markers for supplies. Unfortunately, the first marker is empty, and the second contains a dangerous trap that sets him on fire. Bad luck. The Settler Leader continues to shoot at the Mutant Hound, inflicting 2 damage.



The Hound activates next, and charges the Scavenger, doing minor damage. The Dog returns the favour and piles in to help the Scavenger, adding another two damage to the Hound. The unengaged Scavenger investigates a token to discover a wounded Mirelurk. He avoids injury with a successful agility check, and finds a sledgehammer and another item (4-1 Survivors). The second Brute decides to loot the investigation tokens (blue) instead of helping his Hound. He’s rewarded with discovering 2 weapon caches, for a total of 4 items. This puts the Super Mutants in the lead, 5-4.



A Super Mutant decides to bypass the weapons cache behind the concrete barrier in his zest to smack something with a board (Reckless AI attacks do not care about objectives). In response, a Settler discovers yet another computer-locked container, and decides to shoot the Super Mutant for 3 damage instead of wasting an action trying to hack it open. The Sole Survivor takes her Mentats for the boost to perception (and pistol shooting) but misses the Super Mutant closing in on her Dog and Scavenger friend (5-3 Mutants).

In her defense, there’s a lot of things in the way of that shot, mentat boosted skills or not.

End of Turn Two

Turn Three

Advantage still with the Mutants, Turn 3 starts with the Brute on fire being unlucky enough to have the fire go out by itself. He’s spends an action (and a successful agility check) to extinguish the flames before moving towards the general melee in progress by the orange container. The Dog tears apart the Mutant Hound before it can bite the Scavenger again. First kill to the Survivors! The Dog uses its last action to charge into the oncoming Super Mutant, to hold pin him down before he acts. Clever dog, as the Super Mutant activates next, and tries to brain the annoying mutt with a board. No success.



The Settler uses the opportunity to sneak around behind the distracted Mutant and grabs the weapons cache, for another two weapons (5-5 tie). Luckily for the Settler, the weapons cache contains a Combat Rifle, an upgrade over the currently equipped Assault Rifle. With the newfound firepower, 3 damage is added to the closing Brute.



The Super Mutant Leader spends his turn pulling another two items out of the wasteland by a rocky outcropping (7-5). The Scavenger leans around the edge of the shipping container to shoot, and misses everything.



The second Brute searches the remaining markers in the center of the board, only to find they all require skill tests to open. Since none of those skills involve a sledgehammer, he’s turn is over without success. To add insult to injury, the Settler Leader has the most impressive round of shooting so far, and does 5 damage to the Brute. He’s tough though, with 8 total hit points, and isn’t knocked out yet. The Sole Survivor races forward and tries a hail mary shot at the Brute holding all the items, but whiffs completely.

No base contact? I’m good to go.

Stop — it’s not hammer time. Some problems smashing won’t solve.

Be honest. You never really had a chance to hit through that tiny gap.

End of Turn Three

Turn Four (The Final Turn)

Turn Four begins with the wounded Brute, holding most of the Super Mutant loot, wisely deciding to chase objectives rather than charge into combat. He moves towards the last objectives and out of the line of fire. The Settler scampers away from the Super Mutant to grab the last token by the concrete barriers. Lucky! It’s the last weapons cache, and offers up two more items. 7-7 Tie.



The Super Mutant in melee breaks contact to try and grab the last objective. Both the Scavenger and the Dog get free quick reaction swings, but miss. The Super Mutant finds the token requires a perception test, and with only one action left, charges back into combat again in an attempt to avoid being shot at while not engaged in melee.



The Sole Survivor continues to chase her Brute, only to miss every shot. The Second Brute charges the Scavenger, and does an incredible 5 damage, enough to smush him into paste, except a lucky armour roll blocks enough to keeps the Survivor, well, surviving. The Dog charges, bites the Super Mutant, and kills him. The dead Mutant drops his one discovered item. 7-6 Survivors, final score.

WHY YOU NOT SMASHED!?!

End of Turn Four – Final Score 7-6 Survivors

Aftermath

As the victors, the Survivors gain the ability to keep one item found in the battle permanently. They choose to keep the Combat Rifle. They can now equip any one model with a Combat Rifle as well as the standard equipment in future games (Caps cost still applies). Their settlement has a store house, so they can keep one additional card. They choose the sledgehammer to arm a Scavenger, as they can’t shoot worth a damn. The remaining equipment is sold, and after adding the victory bonus, the Survivors are left with 225 Caps to spend in the next settlement phase.



The Super Mutants retreat to lick their wounds and try again later. They keep a pipe wrench, as it’s more smashy than a basic board. Their total Caps are now 162.

Scrag’s Ponderings – Humans fought hard. We need to fight harder. Smash harder. First, eat dead dog. Then find new dog. Then smash humans.



Diary of Tray Jacobs – Now wishing he was farming instead of this – We managed to gather some supplies and get back to camp without anyone dying, so that’s good. It felt like a close thing though. Luck, more than any skill of mine. Those Mutants are gonna be a problem. Everyone’s still looking at me for what to do. We’ll rest for a while, then go back out. Maybe we can find where the Mutants are coming from, or somebody to help to help us.