Lots of rules questions

Fallout Wasteland Warfare
1

So after playing a bunch of games (mostly in coop settlement mode), I’ve come across a lot of uncertainties in the rules (or at least, they were uncertain to me - it’s likely others are a lot smarter than me). I’ve jotted them down as I’ve gone along. It’s a lot, so bear with me. :slight_smile:

Settlement:

  1. In Step 3 of settlement mode, the player selects 1 item (or 2 boosts) for each Store that they can take into their next battle. What if a player chooses not to include these items used in the Stores for their next battle? Do these items get automatically sold for their caps value, or do they go into the pool of items for the next settlement phase?

For example, let’s say I use my 1 Store to take a Stimpack in Step 3. Afterwards, I build my force for the scenario and decide I no longer need that Stimpack. What happens to that Stimpack?

  1. During Exploration, Skill Tests are made using the attributes of the Leader. In coop mode, whose Leader do you use? Can the players choose the best Leader among them for any given situation? If so, must this be declared before or after revealing the Skill Test?

  2. When resolving Skill Tests during Exploration, what perks, items, and other upgrades apply to the Leader? For example, if the Leader was wearing T-60 Power Armor during the battle, does the Leader benefit from +3 Strength for any Strength tests that occur during Exploration? What if the Leader is, say, Aspirant Goddard, who comes equipped with T-60 by default?

  3. Unique items don’t need Maintenance Sheds to get added to the item pool during Settlement mode. Do Unique items still need Stores in order to avoid being sold for their cap value during Step 3?

  4. Players can add more land if they complete 5 quests. For multi-part quests (such as USS Constitution Parts 1 and 2), does each sub-part count as a separate quest, or does the entire chain count as only one quest for purposes of buying land?

  5. Several perks get you free workbenches, such as Gun Nut. If you buy multiple Gun Nut perks (like Gun Nut - Rifle and then later buy Gun Nut - Pistol), do you get a free weapons workbench each time, or is it limited to one free workbench of a given type?

General:

  1. When building a force, how much do Boosts cost? Their cost isn’t included in the downloadable Item and Unit Costs v2.0 document.

  2. How much can Armor stack? The Rulebook Pg 21 says that a Model’s Armor rating is derived from one card that sets its values, and up to one card of each card type that modifies this value. I’m guessing this means that an Armor bonus from a Perk card stacks with an Armor bonus from a Leader card as I believe they’re different card types. But what about Items? Would a Mod stack with equipment such as the Army Helmet since they’re both Items, but different types of Items? Or would they not stack because the “card type” that is relevant here is “Item”?

  3. Can a model benefit from Armor bonuses of the same card type that give bonuses to different Armor types? For example, can a model benefit from both the Refractor perk (+1 Energy Armor) and the Toughness perk (+1 Physical armor)? Obviously, you wouldn’t benefit from both if an Attack did both Physical and Energy damage, so this would only be for situations where the attack is exclusively one damage type.

  4. Shooting into a melee gets the shooter a +2 Skill bonus for shooting into a crowd. What if you shoot into a crowd of 2 models, but 1 of those models is outside the LOS of the shooter? Does the +2 Skill bonus no longer apply because there’s no way to accidentally hit the model that’s outside the shooter’s LOS?

  5. Turrets’ Rifle skill is 4 and they only shoot using Reaction markers. Do Turrets suffer from the -2 Quick Action penalty for Shooting as a Reaction, which would effectively make their base Rifle skill at 2 (which strikes me as very inaccurate)?

  6. Just want to check I’m using VATS correctly. The Rulebook Pg 40 says that the model with VATS makes its roll to determine if it gets bonus Action Points when it’s Used, which I took to mean at the end of that model’s turn. The Errata changes (or clarifies) this, I believe to when the VATS model is Activated. This means that you make your VATS roll at the beginning of the model’s turn - is this correct?

  7. Relatedly, when is a model considered Used? Is it when it Activates and before it takes any Actions, or is a model considered Used only when it finishes all its Actions?

  8. What is considered a Climb? Is it just things like ladders? Or would it also include other things like going up/down stairs, or hopping over a piece of cover (such as a fence)?

  9. Here’s an edge situation with Charging. A Charger’s Charge (or Battle Cry) Bonus applies only if their next Action is against the target who was charged. What if, after the target has been charged but before any Attack, that target moves out of Engagement with the Charger. The target later (for whatever reason) moves back into Engagement with the Charger. Does the Charger still get its Charge Bonus if their next Action is a Close Combat attack against that target?

  10. If a model withdraws from Engagement, enemy models get a free Quick Action attack against the withdrawing model. Can such attacks be Shoot or Thrown attacks (with the close-range penalty applied)?

  11. Is a Slide movement (the free movement which follows a Close Combat attack) limited by the Sliding model’s normal movement distance? For example, if a model’s regular movement is Orange, does that mean the Slide can go no further than Orange distance?

  12. As counterintuitive as this is, Ranged and Thrown weapons can benefit from a Charge (or Battle Cry) bonus, correct?

  13. Models that are forced off the edge of the battlefield suffer 1 damage with no Armor roll. Does that model’s Strong Armor bonus still apply?

  14. For Trigger (in the Reaction context) purposes, is placing a mine considered a Move? I ask because you use a Move Action to place a mine.

  15. Let’s say a Target has a Cover bonus against an Attacker using an AoE weapon. The AoE weapon attack misses and Scatters. Is it correct to say that the Target’s original Cover bonus is no longer relevant, and now any Cover (to the extent it exists) is determined solely from the center of the AoE’s blast radius?

  16. Can a weapon Scatter beyond its maximum range?

  17. If a weapon targets a model in its Short Range, but misses and Scatters to what is now the weapon’s Long Range, does the damage effects (such a effect dice) get resolved using the weapon’s Long Range band?

  18. If an AoE weapon hits multiple targets where some targets fall within that weapon’s Short Range band and others fall within that weapon’s Long Range band, does each target’s damage/effects get resolved based on which range band the individual target falls within? Or do they all use the same range band effects?

  19. If a model is Stunned, and it doesn’t have a Move/Charge Action Point Use Icon, then it can only remove the Stun using a regular Move action and not a Quick Action, correct?

  20. How do you resolve Activations with 3 sides? I’m envisioning a scenario where there are 2 opposing players (whether human or AI), and the 3rd side is an AI interloper (for example, a roaming Deathclaw on its own). Do you simply give the Advantage to whoever has the least models and go in that order?

Items:

  1. Can a model switch to a different suit of Power Armor during a battle? For example, if they start the battle with a T-45, but the scenario has a T-60 lying around, can they hop into the new suit?

  2. A model can only equip one clothing item. If they’re carrying multiple clothing items, can they switch which one to equip during a battle? Is it like Armor, where you determine which armor value you wish to use at the start of the model’s Activation?

  3. The Deathclaw Gauntlet is available to non-Deathclaw models, correct? It’s just the Deathclaw Crush and Deathclaw Swipe that are uniquely available to Deathclaws?

  4. How does the Blue die effect (that applies the Freezing status) on the Cryo Grenade work? It’s a bit confusing since it’s off to the side of the card. Does the Blue die get added to all models within the AoE of the Cryo Grenade?

  5. Is it correct to say that the Mr Handy ■■■■■■ automatically hits its target (as well as any within the AoE blast radius)? There is no Skill roll needed to determine whether the hit connects - the only roll that’s needed is the Armor roll (as well as any effect dice), correct?

  6. Is the following a correct way to resolve the damage from the Suicider Mini Nuke?

  • Every model within the Orange blast radius suffers 5 Damage, 1 Armor Reduction, Stun, and the effects of 1 Black Die and 2 Yellow Dice.
  • Every model within the Yellow (but outside Orange) blast radius suffers 4 Damage, and the effects of 1 Black Die and 2 Yellow Dice.

  1. If Power Armor still has its own Endurance remaining, does Poison reduce the Power Armor’s Endurance, or the model’s own Health?

  2. Same question as above, but for Fire?

  3. For Walked Fire weapons (like miniguns), does each target have to be within the color distance indicated, or do all targets have to be within that color distance of each other? For example, the Minigun has a Walked Fire color of Yellow. Can I choose to attack 5 different targets such that Target #5 is outside of Yellow distance from Target #1, as long as each successive target was within Yellow distance of the previous target?

  4. For Walked Fire weapons, if Target #1 is within one range band (let’s say Short Range), and Target #2 is within the weapon’s Long Range band, do we resolve the attack on Target #2 as if it were in the weapon’s Long Range band? Or do we resolve all attacks using the original target’s Range band?

  5. Certain Mods (such as Ballistic Weave) state that they must be attached to an armor card that sets armor values. Does that include a Unit’s inherent armor value, or would such a Mod be required to be attached to an Armor Item, such as Sturdy Combat Armor?

  6. Can you stack the Armored Pads item (which gives +2 Strong Armor icons) to a unique Survivor, giving them a total of 4 Strong Armor icons to start a battle with?

  7. Deathclaw Crush says that “If non-friendly in LoS after any action, add token.” Whose Actions count towards this for adding tokens? Is it the Deathclaw’s actions, or anyone’s (including the Deathclaw itself) actions? And does this include Quick Actions?

  8. A similar question for the Assaultron Head Laser - whose “activities” are we measuring for token-accumulating purposes?

Characters:

  1. Nuke Girl’s Alert ability - whose Aura do you use to determine whether the Alert ability triggers? Do you use Nuka Girl’s Aura, or the friendly readying model’s Aura?

  2. Nuka Girl’s Acrobatic ability - can you decide to use this ability after damage has been determined?

  3. What is an example of a Use Expertise: Presence ability that consumes an Action? I would have thought, for example, that Knight-Captain Cade’s Field Medic ability would have taken an Action, but according to the Errata 2.0, it does not. I suppose I’m just puzzled by what Use Expertise: Presence does since I can’t find an example of one in the Unit cards.

  4. What units can benefit from the Survivor faction’s special ability of +2/+1 Strong Armor bonus? Can a neutral unit like Mr Handy benefit from this, since it counts as part of the Leader’s faction (assuming the Leader is a Survivor)? Or is this faction ability limited to unit cards that specifically state “Survivor” on them, such as Dog or Dogmeat?

  5. Can Dogmeat be made a Leader?

  6. How often can Paladin Danse use his Arnor Knowledge ability?

  7. Unnerving ability (found on the Deathclaw and Behemoth) - can you clarify what skill tests it affects? Does this only affect skill tests that originate within the Unnerving model’s aura? So for example, would it only affect skill tests for a model that is standing within a Deathclaw’s aura and wants to shoot? Or would it also affect a model that is standing outside the aura, but wants to shoot a target within the aura (as long as it’s not the Deathclaw)?

  8. Sturges’ Modder ability - do you have to add the cost of the 2 Mods to your force’s point total? Or do you get these 2 Mods for free because their cost is already factored in to Sturges’ character cost?

  9. Sturges’ Modder ability in Settlement mode - are the Mods limited to ones in which you have the appropriate modding Perks?

  10. Mama Murphy starts battle with 2 chems. Do you have to include the cost of these 2 chems in your force’s point total, or is this cost already included in Mama Murphy’s character cost?

  11. Preston Garvey’s Long Barrel mod - I believe this is included in Preston Garvey’s character cost (so you don’t have to pay additional for it), but you do have to pay the cost for his Laser Musket, correct?

Quests:

  1. Recipes of the Wasteland - it states “Only you can interact with this.” Who is “you”? Does that mean only the Leader, or every model in that Leader’s force? Also, can a Dog interact with this?

Whew That was a lot… Still, I’m having fun with the game, and I hope you all are too!

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Hi,

Glad to hear you’re enjoying it. Thanks for your questions - there are some very interesting ones in there. I’ll post answers in the next day or two. (I like a quiz :wink: )

Thanks,

James.

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Hi,

Here are the answers. Some of the answers are already in the new FAQ which is due for release very soon.

  1. This will be addressed by a new structure in the next FAQ called ‘Lockers’ which allows the storage of Items between the end of one Settlement use and the start of the next. In the example , you mention the Stimpak would be sold off under the current rules (and you did not use the Stores as you did not take it into battle) - with the new structure, you could use a Locker to keep that Stimpak and it gets added to the starting pool of cards for your next Settlement use. Unique Items are never lost or forcibly sold.

  2. In Co-op play it is assumed each player has their own settlement. If you’re using one settlement between you then choose who is going exploring before drawing the Explore card.

  3. Officially, the tests are made without equipment; however, I think it’d be fair that they could take with them anything currently in the pool of cards from settlement use drawn so far when the Explore card is drawn.

  4. p. 24 of Campaign Handbook: ‘no Maintenance Sheds are required to hold them over from the battle to the pool, but a player still needs Stores to take cards into a battle.’ With regards keeping hold of Unique Items if not equipping them for your next battle, see 1 above.

  5. Each completed Quest card counts as 1 towards new land so each sub-part counts seperately.

  6. Perks can not be bought twice for the same model. The Gun Nut Perks are Perks which are attributed to the Settlement and, in the same way, can not be bought for the Settlement more than once. (So no cheating the system by buying the Perk for 10 caps to avoid the cost of an extra workbench which is 150 caps :wink: )

  7. Boosts are free. If players use them, it is expected both use them so it is balanced; however, they can be given more to one player than another as a handicapping system too so one player has an advantage over the other.

  8. Each type of Item card is considered different, i.e. armor, clothing, chem, etc.

  9. Yes.

  10. Yes, they get the +2 as the target is in Close Combat; however, any model that is out of LoS is not allocated a number when randomising who gets hit, as shown on the diagram on p. 26 of Rules of Play.

  11. Yes, because it is a Quick Action due to being a Reaction. A 2 on the skill dice is still 30%. The turrets in Wave 1 are the least powerful/capable turrets.

  12. V.A.T.S. should be rolled when activating the model so you know what options you have to work with. (If a player forgets, it’s fine if they make the V.A.T.S. roll at any time during that model’s activation.)

  13. After.

  14. During set-up, players determine which surfaces are Climbable. In my games, stairs are usually Normal Terrain as they can be moved over without penalty, and ladders are Difficult Terrain as they don’t need a Climb Test but do slow down movement. If a fence is low enough to vault then it would be Difficult Terrain, but a fence that is 6-feet tall would be Climbable. Terrain may even count as different types depending on the Unit involved, i.e. a 5-foot fence would be Climbable for humans but only count as Difficult Terrain for a Behemoth. The different types of terrain allow players to create all manner of different environments with different tactical results, which is important when players may have terrain of all types, shapes and sizes for their tables.

  15. No. If the target moves away, the Charger would get to use their bonus during the free attack.

  16. The attack is made before the model leaving combat moves so they are engaged which means it is a Close Combat action (not a Shoot or Throw action). As it’s a Close Combat action, they can use melee, rifle, pistol, thrown or heavy weapons (with any appropriate penalties for using them in Close Combat).

  17. p. 25 Rules of Play: ‘[A Slide] must follow the requirements of a Movement’ so it is limited by their maximum Move. The new FAQ will introduce the rule that a Slide can be made through an enemy model too, so long as they end in a legal position still engaged with their opponent.

  18. Used in Close Combat after a Charge, yes. The bonus represents the shock/surprise/confusion/etc. the target suffers rather than only extra momentum for a Melee weapon.

  19. No. This rule should say it ignores armor (rather than without armor roll). That should be in the new FAQ.

  20. Yes. p. 46 Rules of Play: ‘An unengaged model can use a Move Action to place a mine up to Orange from the model. Note: the model cannot move anywhere during this Action, but such a Move Action is a Trigger.’ The reason it is considered a Move even though it does not move the model anywhere is so that it is a Trigger.

  21. Yes.

  22. Potentially, yes.

  23. All the dice are rolled together for the attack’s Skill Test before the scatter is known. The result of the roll is used regardless of the range distance it may scatter to.

  24. As 23, the dice result rolled (using the range to the intended target) is used regardless of the range of the specific model affected.

  25. Sort of. It could not spend an AP to remove the Stun via a Quick Action unless it has the Move/Charge APUI as you mention; however, there is also the option it could use a Reaction (if it had one already) to perform any action including a Move which would be a Quick Action because it is a Reaction.

  26. There are no official rules for battles with more than two sides yet. Normally the player with Advantage chooses who goes first, so I suggest to keep it similar and the player with Advantage chooses the turn order for all sides for that round. At the end of a round, the Advantage goes to the side with the fewest models. If there is a tie for the fewest models, and the player currently with the Advantage marker is one of the tied players, they always give it away. If there is tie between sides which do not have the Advantage Marker, randomise between them.

  27. Yes. p. 21 Rules of Play: ‘A model can set which cards it is using for its Armor Ratings at the start of its activation.’

  28. See 27.

  29. Yes, it is a Melee weapon that can be used by models other than Deathclaws (and not by Deathclaws as there is no Creature icon).

  30. The Blue dice is rolled for each model in the area.

  31. No. The Mr Handy Flame-r is a Pistol so only hits if the Skill Test is a success. The effect is AoE damage if it hits, but has no effect if the Skill Test fails.

  32. Yes. (The black and 2 yellow dice rolled are the same for all affected models, so is just one roll.)

  33. Any damage that ignores armor affects the model’s own Health (which overrides the rule for Power Armor saying damage is placed on the Power Armor card). This is in the new FAQ.

  34. Damage from Fire would be placed on the Power Armor card as there is no armor roll but the armor is not ignored (so Power Armor’s Strong Armor blocks damage from being On Fire).

  35. Each shot can be up to the color from the previous shot. p. 47 Rules of Play: ‘After a shot is resolved, the target of the next shot can be the same target or any viable target within the color shown on the weapon card’. So, each shot is up to the relevant color from one target to the next - there is no maximum constraint for all the targets combined.

  36. Each shot is resolved individually so if the range changes then the dice are changed accordingly.

  37. They must be attached to an Item. The armor ratings on a Unit’s card does not count as an Item.

  38. In theory, yes; however, the new FAQ sets the maximum number of Strong Armor tokens a model may have at any one time at 3.

  39. After each action of the Deathclaw. (By default, a Deathclaw cannot use Quick Actions. If they ever did have a way then no - Quick Actions would not count.)

  40. Like 39, but after each action of the Assaultron.

  41. The card says ‘If an Unready Nuka-Girl is within the aura of a model being made Ready’ so it is the aura of the model being made Ready.

  42. Yes. (It’s frustrating to have to commit to something really useful and limited without knowing if it will be needed. I created the rules for Luck along the same principle.)

  43. Use Expertise: Presence is something that will be used in future in specific scenarios, by Items, by Wasteland cards, etc.

  44. The new FAQ will clear this up. In summary, the benefits of the ‘Survivor’ card apply to any Unit with ‘Survivor’ written on its card under their title. Neutrals count as the Leader’s faction so they benefit from the Leader’s abilities, but their card still does not show the faction on their card. For example, a neutral unit that is part of a force led by a Super Mutant would not gain the benefit on the Super Mutant rules card like being immune to radiation.

  45. No. Wave 2 includes a Dog rules reference card (which will also be available on the website when Wave 2 is released) to clarify rules for Dogs, which includes the following point: ‘Dogs can only use cards which show the Dog icon, or specifically state can be used by Dogs on the cards, or are equipped by the Unit’s card.’ There are no Leader cards wit the Dog icon.

  46. Once between each of Danse’s activations, i.e. between the start of one activation of Danse and the start of his next activation.

  47. All skill tests. As it is an aura effect, it affects models making skill tests within the Deathclaw’s aura. (The location of the target of the skill test makes no difference to the Unnerving ability.)

  48. The cost of the mods is included in Sturges’ cost (in the same way Equipped’ Items are included in the Unit’s cost - described in the current FAQ.)

  49. The mods drawn and added during set-up are separate to using the Settlement, so Sturges can add a weapon mod without the Settlement having the relevant Gun Nut Perk. (He‘s that good.)

  50. Like 48, the cost of the mods is included Mama Murphy’s cost.

  51. Yes.

  52. You as a player, so only your models. The context is your opponent doesn’t know of the Quest so their models would not know to interact with it.

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I don’t have a rulebook for a page reference, but the answer to 32 contradicts the rules for Area Effect weapons, which says to roll separately for each model in the blast.(I had to look this up yesterday for exactly this reason!)

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Found a rulebook, and had a look…it’s on p46, and it’s possible we misinterpreted this line…we took this to mean the dice roll separately for each model, but now I am guessing it means to roll once, and just apply the results to each model.

Every model’s damage is resolved individually

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James, thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions! It’s cleared up a lot of things I was wondering about over the last few FWW games I’ve played. I’m psyched to know there’s a new FAQ coming down the pipeline, including a few new bits for Settlement mode. Can’t wait to use them!

After reading through all your answers, I’ve just got 2 follow-ups:

I should’ve specified - I didn’t mean buy 2 of the same exact perk. I meant buying 2 different perks that give you the same settlement bonus (Weapons Workbench). I can clarify the example:

Let’s say I purchase Gun Nut - Rifle, which gives me a free Weapons Workbench. Later on, I purchase Gun Nut - Pistol. Would that second purchase (which is a different perk) also provide a free Weapons Workbench? Or do you no longer get freebies after that first one even though you’re buying a different perk?

There’s one last bit of gray area I’m hoping to close the loop on. If a model (outside the Deathclaw’s aura) makes a Shoot attack against a non-Deathclaw target and the target is located within that aura, does the Shooting model suffer a -2 penalty from Unnerving?

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Yeah, the attack (and, therefore, the damage) is rolled once but then that is applied to each affected model individually so they each take into account any relevant cover and armor roll.

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No problem.

Ah, I see. You do get a free Weapons Workbench for each different Gun Nut skill. It is a bit of a way to get a cheap Workbench, but then the resultant multiple Gun Nut Perks means the types of Mods you can fit are broadened so you keep a broader variety of the Mods the Workbenches draw so you have less control should you want Mods for a specific type of weapon.

No. As I mentioned, the location of the target of the Skill Test makes no difference. A Skill Test is affected if the model making the Skill Test is within the Deathclaw’s aura.

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Perfectly clear to me now. Thanks again, James!

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Okay, the fact that @WriterJames answered a 50+ question list makes me want to throw even more money at FOWW. That’s a level of care above & beyond.

And also cleared a couple misconceptions up for me as well, so thank you.

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I can’t agree more with this. Dedication like this from the developers makes me happy to support this line for as long as they keep making Fallout goodness.

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Thanks hinXFenris and Sappy69, I appreciate it. I’m always keen to ensure the rules are clear for players.

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  1. Do the aura affect deathclaw it self?
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