New World Disorder: Urban Skirmishes in a Dark Future!

 

Hello, humans!

It's been a while.  Sorry about that.  Anyway, I decided to break my slump by trying out Precis Intermedia's "New World Disorder".  It's a clever name, and I thought maybe clever rules, but that was more than 10 years ago and I've never gotten around to actually playing until now.  So, let's see how it went.

A quick way to describe this, theme-wise, is "Necromunda without the skulls".  It's a campaign game of gang warfare where you build a gang and fight it out in combat scenarios and collect experience and credits to further build out your gang.  The feel is clearly a future urban dystopia, but not so future that there are lasers or cybernetics or anything.

Let me preface this by saying that I've only played it once using gangs that probably aren't well built and I didn't even use a proper scenario because the I misunderstood the Grudge Match scenario and the other three scenarios (Pizza Delivery, Clean Up on Aisle Five, and Live & Direct) were too specific and a little silly (although thematically appropriate, I suppose).  I just went for "last man standing".  That means that there were no rewards or Victory Points.  So already I'm doing it wrong.  Keep that in mind.

Here we go.  I made two gangs which I named "Security" and "Anarchists".  Security is four "Punks" (the lowest grade of character, with a one in each stat and they get no special abilities or experience) with Light Assault Rifles and Medium Body Armor.  The armor will really make a difference.  The Anarchists are also four Punks (with Medium Semi-Auto Pistols), but are teamed with M (a "Boss"), and Bloo, Amaranth and Flavio (as "Thugs").

M, Amaranth, Bloo, Flavio
Dusty, Hedge, Spiegel, and Dewey (that a-hole)

Guard, Guard, Guard, and Guard
(It's a family name.)

Everybody has three stats: Brawn, Brains and Guts, rated at 1, 2, or 3.  Punks are 1/1/1.  M is 2/2/2, and the other "Top Dogs" (i.e. "not Punks") in this gang are 2/1/1.  Top Dogs also get "Gimmicks" which are special abilities.  M is "Lucky" and gets 1d6 rerolls per session.  Bloo is "Fearless" and gets +1 to his Guts rolls.  Amaranth is "Two-Fisted" and suffers no off-hand penalties.  Flavio is a "Fool" and get -1 to his Brains rolls.  (Clearly, not all Gimmicks are good.)

Poor, dumb Flavio.  Thank goodness he's pretty.

We roll to see who gets to go first, adding the highest Brains to a 1d6 roll.  The Anarchists get to activate a guy first.  Activation is a Guts "check" vs 4, which means roll all of your Guts dice and try to get one die above 4.  Depending on if you succeed, or if you fail, or if you fail and roll at least one "1" or if you roll all "1"s, that character either gets to act normally, with a penalty, or not at all.  Since all of these guys only have Guts 1, there were many instances of "freezing".

Cyberpunk without the "cyber", I guess?

Round 1

A couple of guys "freeze" on activation, but mostly they move.  You get a free move, and then you can spend your Brawn dice to move 1d6 inches more.  Or you can spend some of those Brawn dice to shoot, which is what one of the Security guys does.

Miss.

He rolls 1d6 plus mods for moving, range and cover.  He also spends his one Brains die to "Aim" for another bonus.  The base target is 4, but a  natural 1 is a fail and a natural 6 is a success, regardless.  He rolls a total of 2 and misses.  Bloo also takes a shot at a Security guy.  He rolls a natural one which misses, obviously, but he also has to roll on a table for a misfire.  He gets the most common result of "Empty".  He'll have to reload with the one reload he brought.  There's a 1 in 6 chance of this happening every time you shoot, so it's a good idea to bring a few reloads.  Bloo only has one reload, but that will do for now.

Miss.

Round 2

Once again, a couple of guys "freeze" and don't get to go.  Amaranth and a Security guy accidentally Empty their guns (although Amaranth is carrying two pistols, so I guess one is still full).  Flavio charges at a Security guy with a sword, but rolls a 1 and automatically misses.  A Security guy shoots Flavio and hits, but rolls low on the Maiming chart, Grazing him to no effect.  M gets a lucky damage roll (6) maxing out at a total of four (Pistol vs Medium Armor).  This "Shocks" the Security guy, but doesn't wound him.  This is the maximum result, unfortunately, and being Shocked doesn't make the target any easier to kill.  Sure, you can more easily hit him as he's lying there, but the best result you're going to get (with a pistol, at least) is more Shock, which doesn't stack at all.

Goose!

A couple of the Anarchists "hide" behind cover, which means that the enemy has to expend a Brains test to try to spot them.  Not a bad idea.  It doesn't cost you anything to hide, and you can still shoot.  But you're either hidden or you're not.  If anybody spots you, you're revealed to all.  Also, it's a little weird in that technically you can be in clear view of somebody, but as long as you're still near (but not necessarily behind) cover then you're still hidden.  Maybe being hidden is only supposed to protect you from people on the other side of your cover, but that's not what it says.  *shrug*

Shh!  Be vewy, vewy quiet.  We're hiding fwom wecon.

Bloo spends a Brawn die (and his one reload) to reload.

Round 3

Now, if you can get into melee combat ("Fighting") with a Shocked enemy, you can, instead of getting a bonus to hit, add that bonus to your damage.  Unfortunately, statuses all downgrade at the end of the round.  So unless you've got a second Brawn die or some friends right nearby, Shock (and any other status, really) is pretty much wasted.  I mean, Shock turns to Stun, which gives them -2 for the whole next round, so that's something, but the actual result that you rolled is fleeting.

Okay!  I feel a little better now,
but I'm just going to lie here for a moment.

On the other hand, while a pistol doesn't have great odds against medium armor at range, if you get into melee with a pistol, you get to add your Brawn (at least that's how I read it).  So, while there were more misses and fleeting statuses, at least M was able to get in and add his two Brawn to his gun damage.  I of course rolled like crap and had to waste a re-roll (from "Lucky") to hit, but a total damage result of 5 both Shocks and Wounds the enemy.  The Wound removes one die from one of the enemy's stats, and since the enemy are all Punks with one die in each stat, one Wound is enough to take them "Out".  First blood!

Dude!  I said "Should he be napping?",
not "Shoot him, he's napping!"

Round 4

A bunch more fighting, but it's all Stuns and Surprises for the most part that don't mean much (although they do apply a penalty while they're there).  Last round, Amaranth Shocked a guy.  But of course, by the time that Flavio breaks away from his melee to attack that same guy, the enemy is only Stunned.  He's still knocked down prone and Stunned, though, so he's easy to hit.  Flavio chops him with his Broadsword (+3 damage) and takes him "Out".  It looks like I've figured out a system, though it's a bit of a grind.

"Who brings a sword to a gunfight?" they said.

M tries to loot the assault rifle off of the Security guy, but it seems to be broken.

Unfortunately, Flavio is now out in the open, and the Security guy behind him guns him down.  Out he goes!

Nooooo! Flaviooooo!

Round 5

One of the Security guys blasts Dewey.  The Anarchist Punks are un-armored, so the enemy scores a "Knock Out" (and a Wound) that takes Dewey down.  I know Dewey is kind of an @$$hole, but come on.  M tries to avenge Dewey (for some reason) and again (using a re-roll) Shocks the enemy.  But M has a second Brawn die and can attack again to take advantage of the Shock!  Except that he rolls like crap and has to use his last re-roll to... roll the exact same miss!  Wasteful!

Hey, watch it, pal!
He may be an a-hole, but he's OUR a-hole.

Amaranth and Dusty run toward M to help him put down the guy he's fighting.  I really want Amaranth to jump/climb down that wall to get to him faster, but I didn't define the wall as climbable and jumping down is likely (at least with my luck) to kill her.  So, she goes around instead.  Unfortunately, she rolled pretty low on her Forced Movement dice.

Round 6

M manages to Shock that same guy again, keeping him down, but Dusty misses on the follow-up and Amaranth rolls two "1" while running so she doesn't get there in time to help.  Everything else is misses and Grazes.

Round 7

Realistically, Security would probably have fled by now.  But we're fighting this out to the bitter end!  The Security guy that the Anarchists have surrounded has already Shocked one Punk and now Shocks the other one.  Only Bloo is left to threaten him.  But Bloo Shocks him in return (and of course misses the follow-up attack).

WHY. WON'T. YOU. DIE?!

Meanwhile, M, Amaranth, and Dusty flail at the prone Security guy until finally Dusty accidentally takes him Out with a Shock and a Wound.

How many gang members does it take to shoot out a light bulb?

Round 8

Bloo and M both freeze up.  Everybody else who can act either stands up (if they were down) or runs toward the last Security guy.

Round 9

Finally!  Amaranth plugs the guy in melee using her pistol and rolling a 6 which is a Knock Out and a Wound, and that's the last of the Security forces.

Jeez!  It's like like five monkeys trying to impregnate a football.
But a win's a win, I suppose.

Recovery

Everybody who was taken Out now makes a recovery test with Brawn.  Success leaves you unharmed.  Failure might give you a temporary or permanent injury.  Rolling all ones means Death.  So at least the odds of my Top Dogs surviving is good.

The Security guys are Impaired, Enfeebled and Traumatized.  The latter two creating permanent penalties, and the former not applicable to a Punk.  The fourth guys is just Dead.

Luckily, Flavio and Dewey are just peachy keen!

After the Firefight

Here's where you would then compare your Victory Points to see who actually won.  VP is probably important in a campaign game where "win and get out before somebody gets hurt" is the main goal.  You also get credits and experience, pay for upkeep, buy new gear, and use experience points to upgrade your gang-members.  There's a bunch of different weapons, though they're mostly just Light X, Medium X, Heavy X, Giant X.  There are a variety of ammunition types including hollow points, armor piercing, explosive tip, grenades and more.  There are several weapon add-ons, but otherwise not much in the way of "gadgets".  I wasn't playing a real scenario and I wasn't playing a campaign, so none of that really applied.

So, overall, I was kind of disappointed, but again, I was playing both sides.  It's hard to really focus and optimize when your have to do so much thinking.  My main complaint is probably how hard it is to actually harm the enemy even if you hit them.  Of course, if I were playing a proper Scenario with an objective, putting a guy out of action for a few turns (and maybe making it harder for him to do the same to you) while you complete the mission is probably good enough.  Plus, if I were playing this again against the same enemies, I'd definitely invest in some Armor Piercing ammunition. (Wait, Hollow Points add +1 Damage but actually give the target +2 Armor.  Mathematically, that actually gives you a damage penalty.  Unless being unarmored isn't the same as "Armor Rating 0".  But it doesn't say that.  Whatever.)

Also, it wants you to use 2d6 as a "clock" for random directions for grenades and such, but the most common result (7) means that most of those grenades are going to come back your way (and a little to the left).  That doesn't seem very good.  Maybe it's intentional?  You'll underthrow more often than you'll overthrow?

Anyway, a rough start, but maybe there's some promise.

The game isn't meant for 15mm models, but I faked it.  You can get the game from Precis Intermedia HERE.

Ĝis la revido!

Jason "Ludanto" Smith C;E