The Battle of Ten-Pike: A Wreck-Age Battle Report

Last night CSW met at Games Plus with some folks from Hyacinth Games, developers of Wreck-Age, a new post-apocalyptic skirmish game. They ran a special four-player event for us called The Battle of Ten-Pike.

Wreck-Age, as you might have heard, takes place on a future earth that has been abandoned by the rich and powerful, leaving the unwashed masses to fend for themselves. Various apocalypses were visited upon this desolate earth, and the survivors are just beginning to claw their way back from the rubble as the game begins. It's rich with fluff and boasts a well-developed back story (some of which will be published as an upcoming RPG companion).

Ten Pike is a trading settlement located near the ruins of Mt. Prospect, Illinois. Perhaps one of those shacks is a ruined Games Plus!

The town was populated with numerous civilians -- some armed, some not. Many of the civilians minis were Mordheim figures, though the majority of the minis on the board were official Wreck-Age models.

We split into teams. Tim and Mike controlled the Drifters, a ragtag group of bandits and thieves. They were tasked with escaping off the board with pack boars loaded with stolen loot, while causing as much havoc as possible on the way out.

Pat and I controlled the Stitchmen, a faction comprised of hunters who prolong their lives by harvesting organs from other humans. Our job was to assassinate the villagers and cut out their organs, and most of our guys had non-lethal (yet still powerful) weapons to aid this task. The Stitchmen are fairly powerful, so Pat and I only had three minis on the board.

The civilians were controlled by Matt and Nick from Hyacinth Games.

Matt began by explaining the setting and the basics of each turn. Players dice off for initiative and then alternative activating one figure at a time. Models have a number of Activation points that allow them to perform actions on the tabletop, such as moving, running, shooting or harvesting internal organs (in the case of the Stitchmen). Here are some highlights from the game.

One of Pat's Stitchmen started off the fun by stealthily knocking out some of the town guards.

The drifters made an efficient dash toward their board edge after snatching up the pack boars. (Sidenote: Boars serve a variety of purposes in Wreck-Age. In addition to working as pack animals, some factions rig them with explosives and use them as pig bombs!)

On the way out of town, the Drifters cut their way through a swathe of innocent civilians. Here they are, attempting to fight back against the raiders.

My lone Stitchman hid behind some barrels while planning his attack.

He decided the best course of action would be to storm the bridge and slaughter one of the guards. Unfortunately he was swarmed by two townspeople as he harvested the guard's organs. The other guard shot him with a net gun, so he was unable to fight back.

One of Pat's hunters assisted by tranquilizing the other guard from afar, allowing my Stitchman to free himself from the net, whereupon he killed and harvested both civilians. At this point, the short game had come to a close and we tallied up victory points. Overall, the Stitchmen managed to harvest organs from seven townspeople. The Drifters caused more havoc, and also managed to escape the town, so Tim and Mike were declared the winners.

Thanks to Matt and Nick for running this event for us! We are looking forward to playing Wreck-Age again soon.

-- Josh, Chicago Skirmish Wargames club member