Wreck and Ruin - RFY / WFY
Review copy provided by the publisher
What if all of the different factions in Mad Max: Fury Road didn’t get along and endeavored mightily to blow each other to oblivion?
No, no, no, I mean more animosity than already exists in that world. Like if Gas Town and Bullet Farm and The Citadel all fought amongst themselves. And then throw the Buzzards in there for good measure. They wouldn’t be fighting over water, though. Or the Breeders who Furiosa squirreled away on the Big Rig.
It’s all about the salvage. The scraps of civilized humanity that remain in the sunburnt wastelands. That’s what will keep the vehicles running and the people safe… for now.
That premise is the core of Mark McKinnon’s game Wreck and Ruin. Touted as “vehicular violence in a post-apocalyptic wasteland”, it’s hard to separate this manic game of metal churning in the wilds from the iconic movie series that preceded it.
However, when push comes to getting rammed in the back by a kitted-out car of death, it doesn’t really matter what the inspiration is. What matters is whether it’s fun to play and if it works. So let’s claw our way out of the sand and see if this is some salvage worth hanging on to.
Overview
Wreck and Ruin is an objective-based arena skirmish game where vehicles are the conduit for players to roam around the map, pick up salvage, and destroy or deter their opponents. Map-wide events also influence how players might respond on their turns, which is a tight system of limited action points and one-time use cards.
Players will contest the hex-based terrain for 4-6 rounds while trying to successfully capture salvage points.
This is tactical positioning layered on top of environmental devastation, but it’s got a tricky element that many players may not associate with skirmish games—the accelerated pace of vehicles and the difficulties it introduces with turning (and the inevitable burning wrecks that occur when vehicles are destroyed by enemies or other circumstances).
Apocalypses are never easy, but when warring factions enter the fray, then things are going to get messy. Two to four players will clash in a game of Wreck and Ruin and these distinct factions will face off in a convoy-laden, crash-inducing cacophony of territorial struggle. With fast Scouts, mechanically-minded Buggies, armor-plated Wreckers, and an oil-encrusted Big Rig, there is a lot of variety in the tools that you can use to bring about the destruction of anyone in your way.
Theme
Some games don’t mince words or fan the flavor text flames, but this game has woven a tapestry of post-apocalyptic lore regarding the different factions.
You’ve got the Desertkin, nomadic desert people who respect the unnatural nature of the wastelands and take advantage of their knowledge when dealing with other factions. Then there are the Reapers, cannibalistic raiders who revel in violence and who have reverted back to primal ways when resolving conflict. Next up are the Salvoes, who focus on scavenging and gleaning what precious little resources they can from the world around them. And finally, we have the Ruin Army, who look like Spartan-class armored warriors and who control mankind’s last city.
These are the competing forces who vie for whatever’s left out there in the wild. Each one can bring a little of its own special sauce into the bubbling cauldron of inescapable doom.
If you want to dive deep into that world-building, then Mark McKinnon has dedicated at least a third of the rulebook to fleshing out the peoples of this hellscape.
Accessibility
There are four factions, but the only things that distinguish them from each other are the physical design of the player vehicles and a single-use Faction ability card that can help them during the game. Beyond those two unique elements, all vehicles operate the same. Within each size class, the four different types of vehicles share the same movement, attack, and armour ratings.
This means the overhead for new players is quite small and they really only have to learn the main rules of the game. It’s not like bigger asymmetric experiences (Root or Forbidden Stars) where players must be intimately familiar with a faction before really knowing how to use them against their opponents.
And wrecked vehicles can always be brought back on the board, so there is no player elimination, which is encouraging for people not as familiar with the game or its strategy. A lot of skirmish games do include that elimination mechanic and it can be disheartening to be kicked out of a game in which other players are still participating. So that’s a good baseline for player experience in Wreck and Ruin to just bring a vehicle back in and leap back into the fray.
Gameplay
Photo credit: Mark McKinnon
Over a series of rounds, players will adapt to Events, move across tiles, track down Salvage objectives, and fight with other players’ vehicles in an effort to stymy their progress or further your own.
Players will spend action points to move, ram, attack, repair, scavenge, and secure objectives. These action points must be sparingly spread across their entire convoy of vehicles, otherwise you might leave yourself in a lurch later without any backup.
Tactical positioning on the board will influence how well you’re able to attack, where you can move, and what objectives are within reach. Understanding when to press forward and when to be cautious is important in determining the best move in a game filled with automotive frenzies.
Event cards will change what players are able to do, for better or for worse. And then Salvage cards can be scavenged or earned (when successfully claiming Salvage tokens). These cards help bend or break the rules of the game and allow for some stronger actions from players.
It’s the combination of environmental change, sparse action-selection, and occasional Salvage boosts that make up a round of Wreck and Ruin, which repeats multiple times before the game ends. Whoever has the most Salvage tokens wins!
Modes of Play
Once you know how the sausage is made, you can start to add in a bunch of flavors if you want.
“Unpredictable Wastes” - Events can stay for a long time or cycle every single turn. It’s a big switch-up for the terrain and gameplay environment.
“Teams” - Players can have two different factions on the same team and fight against another group.
“Knowledge Is Power” - Faction cards can be selected rather than randomly drawn.
“Last Man Standing” - Wrecked vehicles cannot be brought back.
“Arcade” - Wrecked vehicles are removed from play, then brought back next turn free of damage.
“Card Shark” - Salvage cards can be played more than once on a turn; just not on a single action
“Card Shark v2” - Salvage cards can be played more than once and in any combination you want
“All-Out War” - Score points based on wrecking vehicles.
That’s a lot of options. But it makes sense because Wreck and Ruin could easily be a game that is home-brewed to the point where every gamer who owns it has their own preference and combination of game variants.
I personally prefer the “Last Man Standing” and “Unpredictable Wastes” modes, especially if used in tandem, because they offer the dire threat of permanent loss when a vehicle is wrecked and the possibility of long-lasting events or short cycling ones creates a level of uncertainty that I like in games.
Innovation
There are a lot of things to consider with a game like Wreck and Ruin. The numerous game modes that can be used make it an open playground of vehicular madness. And the four factions give some sense of personal ownership on the part of the players while not forcing a lot of rules down their throat. It’s a good combination of systems that could be a big hit for certain players.
The variety of vehicles creates a good decision-making experience for figuring out where and when to move and how to keep every unit as supported as possible.
Pricing
The game is still available from the website and £45 is a reasonable price for the amount of goodies that you get in the box. It’s a mid-tier price in a time of ever-growing Kickstarter bundles, all-in preorders, and burgeoning boxes. So, at that cost, a lot of players would probably be pleased with what you get in terms of miniatures and variable content.
Wreck and Ruin is…
Right for You!
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Learn more at the game's website.