In Hamburg, I’ve helped to organize an “everlasting” campaign for players who can’t commit to a regular campaign because of work, family, or other time issues that make it infeasible. Essentially, it’s a game designed to never end, for gangs to not really ever get too powerful, but for games to matter more than a one-off skirmish. Players can actually see some fighter progression, get some toys, that kind of thing.
This afternoon, my Psyker Sarah Clan went up against the Temple of the Four-Armed Star God. Unfortunately, my opponent has had a rough couple of battles while my gang has seen a fair number of promotions, so we were in “underdog” territory.
For those unfamiliar, “underdog” is a status within the game where one gang is 400cr in value less than their opponent. When this status occurs, there are several mechanisms to use to try to help even the playing field a bit. Sometimes it can be done with extra tactics cards, sometimes with free scummers. I prefer to take a holistic approach and design the entire scenario around maximizing the underdog’s strengths and just neutering the stronger gang a little.
After some waffling, I decided the perfect scenario for an underdog was Propaganda.
Propaganda is perfect because each side only gets four initial fighters. And she got to select hers whereas mine were selected at random.
This was bad enough since my gang was an outcast gang and I risked rolling four random hive scummers but it was even more risky for the scenario itself because this one has a neat new mechanic: “Convince.”
Twelve “houseless” gangers are placed on the board and the four original fighters for each player gain a special action called “Convince (Basic)”, which is a leadership check within three inches of a houseless ganger you want to join your side. If you make it, the targeted model joins you and activates like any other fighter in the next round. If you fail, well… I guess they just didn’t like what you were selling.
In the course of our battle, this led to some hilarious results. Because I was hosting the game, I populated the “houseless” gangers with models from my Escher and Orlock gangs. Each “houseless” ganger has a single stat line. But, to make things more interesting, the rules say that each fighter is armed as modeled. So I had some fun models out. Like, for instance, an Escher champ with a plasma pistol and a power sword. But, after three rounds, I just couldn’t convince her, even on a 6+, proving that maybe the Psyker Sarah Clan didn’t have much to offer if you weren’t enthralled to her.
Likewise, I had an auto-gunner who spent three rounds trying to convince a “houseless” auto-gunner that, “Hey, look, you have an auto-gun and I have an auto-gun! We must be brothers!” Only to be denied again and again.
But this is where an underdog can score a real advantage. Since it’s all about leadership tests, an underdog can select four fighters with great leadership stat lines whereas the higher rated player gets what they get.
And, for underdogs, it also has the advantage of paying out real credits if you can convince a bunch of gangers to join you and they survive until the end. d3x10 credits per surviving “convinced” ganger ain’t nothing, especially for her. It bought her a whole new aberrant to field.
I haven’t played a lot of underdog scenarios yet but, everytime I do, this is going into rotation as an option
Pros
- Small Crews – This benefit weaker gangs because they can’t be overrun with numbers.
- Custom Selection – This allows weaker gangs to select their best while stronger gangs get what they get.
- Fun Mechanic – There aren’t a lot of mechanics like “Convince” and using it led to a lot of narrative fun.
Cons
- Strong gangs are strong – It sounds like a truism but strong gangs will, in general have more strong fighters than an underdog and the random selection doesn’t always factor this out.
- Strong fighters are strong – As my opponent found out, you can bring a charming champ and a strong aberrant but when you’re facing an Ambot with six upgrades… is there really an equal?
- Shorter Is Probably Better Than Longer – When playing with small crews of uncertain ability, ending the game as soon as possible is probably better than letting a stronger opponent draw things out.
