A Team For Hardwired

So, the books for Perilous Dark and Hardwired have arrived. Perilous Dark looks more complex, so it makes sense to start with Hardwired. To play Hardwired, you need a small group of skilled operatives, who'll be facing off against a horde of minions. It's a dirty job, and it's going to need experts. Let's have a look at my crew of stone-cold killers, each of whom is as ruthless as a ninja whose just been dumped by his girlfriend. Who was called Ruth.

Anyone remember this?

Rose Red-Hair (these are code names, obviously, else it would be silly) is a Razor, ie a close combat specialist. This is inevitable in cyberpunk: after all, what does modern technology matter when you've got a fancy wetsuit and a samurai sword?

Gary Grey-Hair is a Ronin, the sort of fuddy old traditionalist who thinks that gunfights are won with guns. Oh well, each to his own. His cautious approach and use of ranged weaponry has saved him many times. The question is, what about this time?

Billie Blue-Hair is another Ronin. She's a calm, calculating mercenary, as cold as a dead penguin, and is the most dangerous person to wear goggles with a poncho since the Man With No Name went swimming.

Finally, we've got a man with yellow hair. Damn, what name alliterates with "yellow"? Yves! But that's pronounced "Eaves". Eaves Yellow-Hair doesn't work. I know - we'll use the French version. Good thinking, Toby!

So, Yves Cheveaux-Jaunes is the fourth member of the crew. He's a Sawbones, which is a Medic for you old types stuck in the 2090s. His main skill comes from being to enhance the others - and hopefully stick them together once they've been shot full of holes. He also has a spanner and a blanket.

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So, that's my crew of subultimate badasses. Let's talk briefly - very briefly - about the game mechanic. Every turn, a model can do three things (you get a standard move for free). To do a thing, you need to roll 4 or more. The twist is that you get three dice - a d.6, a d.8 and a d.10 - and can only allocate one dice to each roll. In other words, you need to decide which activity you want to succeed the most.

The different character types are very similar, but each has a different specialty. The specialty allows the model a re-roll in that area. So, a Razor (the close combat chap) gets a re-roll when fighting up close. The Ronin (the marksman) gets a re-roll when shooting. And so on.

The enemy come in waves, depending on how far through the game we are. To begin with, they're pretty feeble, but as it goes on, tougher and tougher reinforcements arrive. So the plan is to get in, get out and hopefully not get killed. Quickly.

It sounds simple. It won't be.