Inquisitor Verhoeven and cyber-desperado Joey “Cypher” Pants calibrate wetware and run final targeting diagnostics at the insertion point.
Time for some cybergrimdarkops using the”Hardwired” rules.
Astropath O’Blivion has been polluted by mindshackle scarabs distributed by agents of the Khameron Dynasty at work on Memphis VII. The mentally controlled psyker is being escorted by a pair of similarly controlled dynasty agents, for collection and subsequent interrogation by Cryptek Krankh.
Harwired is co-op, intended for cyberpunk few-against-many, escalating scenarios. For our first game, Bazpaz and I decided to play an Inquisitorial scenario, set in the slice of the Imperium where our games take place.
Inquisitor Verhoeven (who relies on both his cybernetics and augmetic armour to keep his ravaged physical body and keen psychic mind in the field) and Cypher (who was pretty handy with those paired “Diplomat” laspistols, even before he filled half his brain with combat wetware) synchronise chronometrics before contact.
This was a first run through the rules, so we kept things fairly simple, with two rather than four characters and halving the bad guys (skelebots of gradually increasing lethality) accordingly.
A little run and gun took out the mindshackled human bodyguards before they knew that they were under threat. With a subvocalised command, the hum from the Inquisitors power glove changed pitch. A twitchy half grin appeared on Cypher’s face as he ran triggernometry sub-routines to prep for the steady sound of advancing metal feet…
Partitioning his consciousness as he had been taught to so many years ago in the Scholasta Psykana, Verhoeven uses molecular psychokinesis to disrupt and refract the light around him, blurring his image to the optical sensors of the advancing Dynastic warriors. Under Cypher’s pinpoint covering fire, Verhoeven closed with the package. “Apologies, old friend” were the last words that with Astropath O’Blivion heard before being blasted into unconsciousness by the low powered shock field.
“Get to the grav-cutter Cypher, we are leaving.”
“That’s a negatory Inquisitor, too many clankers for that now. I’ll see you at the rendezvous point, the wildsnake is on you…”
The mission was a success. Cypher is MIA, but he is slipperier than an oiled ripper jack in ruttin’ season, so he ain’t dead ’til he says so.
The rules are fun and exciting, and give agency to the players. I’m looking forward to the next game.
Filed under: Games in Progress | Tagged: 2019, Bazpaz, Exploit Zero (formerly Hardwired), Inquisition, Khameron Dynasty, Sci-fi, Verhoeven |
sho3box 
Awesome. I purchased the hardwired rules with the intention to use them for the same purpose. Great to see that it works out! Looking forward to seeing more.
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Thanks Daveb, I’m glad that you liked it!
I have a larger game scheduled for next weekend. After today’s game I reckon that it will be a lot of fun.
I’ll aim to blog it.
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Looks nice! What are your impressions about the rules? I’m curious about the game. Thanks!
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The rules are simple and will be committed to memory after two games I reckon, leaving the rest of the time to focus on which groovy cyberpunk abilities to use to achieve the scenario conditions.
I think that it will be great multiplayer fun.
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Saaaaa- sweet!
Nice playthrough and high level explanation of the mechanics.
Looking forward to our impending game.
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I’m hoping for a Lethal Weapon levels of bromance and saxaphone with Power Rangers Jungle Fury teamwork and improbable, “called” kung-fu attacks.
We can do it.
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Love the minis and the terrain – nicely done stuff. Good BATREP too.
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“Cypher” and the terrain belong to my buddy Bazpaz. The VTOL in particular really added to the visual appeal I think.
The batrep is pretty short and punchy, but so was the game. Just how I like it 🙂
Thanks for the feedback Mark!
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Triggernometry. Approved!
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Rootin’, tootin’ cyber-gunslingers FTW!
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As always the miniatures and set up look brillaint
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Thanks Riot!
Verhoeven and the skelebots are mine, but Cypher and everything else are the work of my buddy Bazpaz. His terrain has built up nicely over the last couple of years, it’s great to play on.
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Can’t wait to give these rules a try!
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I think that it will be a good team game. High fiving, heroic sacrifices, back to back against the odds, bromance, psychotic robots… the works!
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I’ve read it three times now, and I can’t work out if bromoeroticism was the original intention of your “calibrate wetware … at the insertion point” comment or not. Either way, this was a lovely write up.
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I’m glad you enjoyed it Curis 🙂
The “phrasing” aspect did occur to me, but I left it in… ahem. Endless double entendres are tedious, but once you start trying to avoid some of them, you see them everywhere.
Try reading a recipe book out loud some time Curis. Within two minutes it will sound like an airport romance paperback.
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Hoping this is the right place to post rules questions — if not, I apologize and would appreciate it if someone could point me in the proper direction.
[side note: this is cross-posted from the BGG forum for this game]
Just picked up a copy of these rules off Amazon. While the rules in general are fairly straight forward there was one item that stood out to me as a bit confusing and I’m hoping that someone can clarify things.
On page 16, on the “Action and Associated Agent SP Table,” the first Action entry is “Move Base Movement” which is apparently specific to just Splicer, Sawbones, and Shiver agents. What is this intended to mean? Are the Ronin and Razor agent types unable to execute this action (and are thus restricted solely to their Free Move, as outlined in rule 3.2 on page 29)? Or do the three specified classes get to roll two dice when conducting a Move action while the Ronin and Razor only get one? If the latter, what’s the possible rationale here, because it seems awfully odd that the two agent types that might normally be assumed to be the most athletically inclined would for some reason be less adept at moving quickly?
I’d appreciate any feedback that could be provided. Thanks.
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Not the right place I’m afraid. This is:
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Looks good – how well does the co-op work? I’ve seen systems like that work well in boardgames, but with minis on a different kind of tabletop intrigues me…
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Tabletop miniature games are not the precision machines that boardgames are, by their inherently imprecise nature. That applies to co-op as well as PVP.
I did enjoy the two (gaming opportunities have been limited for the last year, for dull work reasons) Hardwired games that I played though, and I’m looking forward to giving it another go soon.
Like PVE video games, difficulty level is critical (and in miniature games easily tweaked). Too easy and it is dull, too difficult and it is frustrating.
Games like Hardwired and Rangers of Shadow Deep (which I am currently prepping for, but have yet to play) appeal to the part of me that enjoys narrative, rather than any notions of competition.
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[…] game are based on the “Exploit Zero” (formerly known as “Hardwired“) rules, which I played a couple of times and really enjoyed, so when I heard about the premise and upcoming release of […]
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