When I first came across the Fallout Post-Nuclear Board Game, my inner Vault Boy gave me a massive thumbs-up! I snagged the base game and the New California expansion and gave it a play in Solo Mode. Here's what I discovered:
The Pros
The board game feels like a genuine Fallout experience. There's over 150 quests to complete, agenda cards to help you role play, perks, weapons and gear, companions, and more. The game's depth, story, and exploration components make it feel like a natural part of the Fallout series. Slap on some headphones, throw the Fallout 4 soundtrack on Spotify, and you're all set for a post-apocalyptic adventure.
The Cons
Many of the game’s rules, mechanics, and finer intricacies are either vague or strangely ineffective. I found myself getting confused and frustrated quite often during my first run through the game, and I found neither answers nor reassurance in the Learn to Play booklet nor the game's rulebook.
Don't give up on Fallout: A Post-Nuclear Board Game, though! I have compiled a list of house-rules that I used my second time playing the game in Solo Mode, and they made the experience ten times better. Check out my list below and let me know what you think of the game!
House Rules
1. In Solo Mode, you have three actions instead of two. Enemies don’t scale to the number of players, making a third action necessary for flexibility and quality-of-life.
2. During the enemy activation stage, only enemies on tiles adjacent to a player move toward that player. This keeps the unrealistic “swarming“ behavior of enemies at a minimum.
3. Raiders cannot move through irradiated zones; enemies with the Retreat ability cannot move through difficult terrain. I found it odd that the game punishes you with rads for moving through irradiated zones but not the raiders. I also found it odd that enemies who have no problem with you fleeing the combat encounter would choose to chase you over mountainous terrain, unprovoked, to initiate a fight.
4. When you defeat an enemy with no loot icon, you are granted caps equal to their level. This helps generate more caps so you can afford the items in the shop, plus it's a feature added in the New California expansion anyway. May as well implement it in the base game, too.
5. When shopping, draw cards equal to the level of the settlement you’re shopping in. This rule's more for immersion than anything (I mean, why does some rando settlement peddle the same gear as Diamond City or Megaton?)
And there you have it! Five house rules to make the base game of the Fallout: A Post-Nuclear Board Game play a bit smoother. I certainly enjoyed my sessions of the game far more with these rules that without. Hope you enjoy!
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