This is something that’s been bothering me for a while. I don’t understand the reasoning behind making the Gunners their own faction, along with a faction ability, especially one that would have been a better fit for say the Enclave or the NCR.
Considering that the Forged are being released under the Raider faction, and the Minutemen weren’t developed as their own faction and left under Survivors. Would it not make sense to do the same to the Gunners, especially since there doesn’t seem to be much room for growth for them as a faction.
I’d also argue that the Railroad should be placed under Survivors, for much the same reasons.
I completely disagree with the Railroad as they are clearly labeled as being a Faction in the game. Argument could be made for the Gunners being Raiders but they are definitely more of a mercenary company like the Talon Company from FF3 for me to really consider them Raiders. I am rather happy with the choices that Modiphius made.
I’m sure you are, but the Minutemen are also an official faction but they haven’t been given a faction-specific ability and the Railroad has been mined as far as units that have appeared in Fallout. So is the faction just gonna consist of 7 named characters and one generic unit?
I personally wonder if we’re going to see “Faction” cards for some of the new Raider groups, Forged, The Pack, The Deciples, The Operators, maybe others. In this case, it could be something as simple as whether or not the group plays differently than other groups in the game that determines faction.
And for the sake of argument, I always felt that the Minutemen should have been handled as their own faction and included at least one more box set to give us some more options for how to play them.
I also agree that it would have been nice to see another set for the Railroad that included some non-unique models, the group is made up of people who operate in secret, reprogram synths to give new personalities or remove memories, to me it would make sense to have a couple of options that reflect those abilities.
I feel like there should be a minimum requirement to qualify as a stand-alone faction. Like with the New Vegas releases, a box of common units, a box of specialists, and a box of heroes.
The issue as I see it is that up till now all the units that have been released are taken directly from the games there isn’t enough material to fully flesh out certain factions, and in some cases grow them.
In Fallout 4, all we see of the Minutemen are Generic Minutemen, Shaw, and Garvey, so that’s what we got for Wasteland Warfare, and in a traditional wargame you would branch out with variations, like “Minutemen Scout” or “Minutemen Grenadier”, etc.
Even the Railroad generic units in WW are named “Railroad Heavies”, which implies that they are stronger combat units only seem to exist because that’s all that they used in Fallout 4. They didn’t have “Railroad Soldiers”.
I guess this is an example of the confusing design philosophy of the game. The game is supposed to be a more casual/narrative experience, so why not just have broad/simple factions or even just remove them from the game all together?
I think it would have been neat to have the major factions. Survivor, BoS, Enclave, Super Mutant, Raider, etc. Then add “Faction cards” or the like, where you can choose a sub-faction. Sort of like how the Nightkin are a sub-faction of the Super Mutants. Children of the Atom and Railroad would both make good candidates for Survivor sub factions. Raiders would be a good example: You could have a raider group, then as a faction option you could then take “Forged” or “Rust Devils” or any of the Nuka World Raiders, etc if you wanted to add a bit of flavor to your group. Each sub-faction would then give some additional rules appropriate to their grouping. Maybe The Pack can’t take power armor but get some unique armor options in its place, maybe an intimidation bonus of some form.
On paper, I agree with you, sub-factions might have been an interesting mechanic but not for Wasteland Warfare, not in its current state. If Modiphius wants to produce a casual game, then they should commit to it. I’d get rid of the Nightkin rules too just to keep things streamlined.
Seems like too radical a redesign to be worth the effort with factions and subfactions. Plus, aren’t the faction abilities tallied in for the final points cost?
As far as Railroad, the Synth Relay Grenade can simulate their ability to use synths AFAIK. It would be nice to see a perk similar to Robot Controller for Synths though. I find it likely that they will add to the factions that sell well, though it seems everything is matched to F3 and F4 (and a little F2) through Bethesda. I am not even sure they have the license for F1, which may be why we never got that cool “the Master” model they previewed when the game first released.
I enjoy the special faction rules, but I have always be a simp for overly complicated rules sets.
I am also well satisfied with the releases so far (other than no Master to truly lead my Mutant hordes). If only my painting time could keep up!
They have the license that they can use anything from Fallout 1 if they want to, as well as New Vegas, 2-4 and Fallout 76. The cannot make anything from Tactics as Bethesda has stated it is not cannon or Brotherhood of Steel (but that game is best forgotten anyway).
I think they did Minutemen and Railroad about right.
Minutemen were never seen in FO4 as a distinct faction. While they did have patrols and you could build them a base (the Castle) they were always meant as support units for the Survivors. Thus in FOWW you can take them in a Survivors force but have their own sub faction rules. Only thing I would change is giving them a unit that van take heavy weapons (that isn’t a unique unit).
The Railroad however is a distinct faction. Have not looked at Battle Mode since their release but Railroad should be able to take generic Survivor units (but not Minutemen ), Sole Survivor and companions. The reason they do not have a Railroad Soldier unit is because that is exactly what the TT Heavy is. They represent the trained troops for the faction much like the Minutemen are for the Survivors.
Gunners are not a sub faction of Raiders they are a military organization, that just happens to do much the same activities as raiders.
Short answer? Jon Webb is the creative director for WW.
Long answer? Jon decides what to develop, and when…and part of that job/responsibility is to guide the rules development for those releases…and he’s stated on several occasions that The Gunners are his favorite faction in FO:4 - possibly in all the Fallout games. It makes sense that he gave them a little extra TLC.
Agree that it would be awesome to have a special faction ability card for the Minutemen, despite them not actually being a full fledged faction in the bulk of the game…
Sub-faction cards for unique/named Raider gangs would also be pretty cool…I’d love to see the Fiends from New Vegas get a kit and a faction card. And the Khans for that matter….
Gunners will remain their own faction for the foreseeable and the reasons have been given (and no its not just because they are my favourite, that’s the BoS (apart from Maxson…) but they certainly are close to my heart. )