Hardwired 3: test missions

Hope you’re all safe and reasonably sane despite the deep strangeness in our world. Keeping busy, staying positive, and gaming with friends are all excellent coping mechanisms, and these last couple weeks have seen members of the Cape Cod Wargame Commission hammering out a new variation of the Hardwired cyberpunk skirmish war game series.

This one shifts the game away from the Solo/Co-op play of the previous rule sets and introduces head-to-head combat. Your gene-spliced, cyber-augmented agents now command tactical teams; squads of troopers, drones, and heavy assets in a bid to control a rival corp’s territory and ultimately takeover their headquarters.

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The motivation remains the same: offer an inexpensive rule set that allows players to put together a fast, fun game with minimal prep time using those random cool miniatures you’ve acquired over the years.

The core mechanics like the Action Dice Pool and Two-Dice Bonus are still there, as are the five classes of hi-tech Corporate Agents – Ronin, Razor, Splicer, Sawbones, and Shiver. There are three additional unit types for the players: fire teams of Corporate Security Troopers,  pods of semi-autonomous drones,  and individual tactical assets known as Heavy Support Units which can be customized from a menu of upgraded capabilities. 

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Also new are Civilians and Employees. The first are essentially ‘mobile terrain’ that can help or hinder your plans as they panic and scramble around the mission area each turn. The second can be cornered and ‘recruited’ for extra resource points in addition to the mission’s objectives.

I won’t bore you with details, but essentially RP are spent in a campaign to purchase new units and develop hybrid war tactics (Info-war, Financial leverage, Cyber-attacks, etc) which are then used to take control of your rival’s territory and carve a path to their headquarters.

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We’re still hammering out the details but the game already has a solid system and it’s exciting to see this campaign-driven, ‘player versus player’ iteration come together.

Thanks for reading. More info as this develops.

Remember: Hardwired and the Tsim Sha Tsui Expansion are available at Amazon and Wargame Vault.

NEXT UP: A NIGHTWATCH BAT REP.