Punkapocalyptic the Game

Having recently acquired a significant number of models for 'Punkapocalyptic' by Bad Roll Games I have decided to do some unboxing and review features on the various factions I now own. First however I thought a brief overview of the game itself might help give you all a bit of context.

The 'Printer Friendly' version of the core rules can be downloaded from HERE.

Punkapocalyptic - History

“The citizen has become a consumer; and when the consumer is no longer profitable, he is cast away and left out of society”

At the beginning of the 21st century the economic crisis, caused by water and fossil fuels shortages, as well as the ruthless speculation of the main economic powers, became pandemic. Although at first general population trusted that at the end things would go back to the good old times and (afraid in part to end up with nothing at all) accepted without resistance one measure after another to strip them from all the rights they had achieved through the last decades, at the end the general unrest was so high that ignited the spark of rebellion.

At first they were few, but in time millions of citizens all around the world took the streets with nothing to lose, blaming all the economical and political powers for their situation, those who have remained at the top of the pyramid as an untouchable oligarchy. There was war, carnage, anarchy… whole countries were nearly wiped out. The entire world was being torn apart.

Big companies, governments and the upper class in general realized for the first time that the tame flock they had been shepherding for centuries had gone wild, and that things would never be the same again. They also realized that they couldn’t afford the luxury to spend years reaching agreements between them, so they created a leading counsel with the power to take immediate executive actions, which they called the Compass. This counsel established that the problem was not the System, but the excess of people in it. This way they developed a way to keep the status quo as it was, the Babylon Project.

Thus the creation of the Megalopoli was planned, seven huge autonomous walled cities (two in North America, one in Oceania, two in Europe, one in Asia and one in South America), where only the right people would be accepted. They had to build reality but one step further, in their own image. Only 5% of the global population, enough to sustain the perfect social balance of economy and consume, would be accepted inside the cities with plenty of luxuries, pure water and food. Outside them laid the rest of the population, a burden, source of problems and troubles.

But these enormous cities must be built and that was something they couldn’t do in secrecy, so the Babylon Project was presented to the general public as a new dawn for the world, a place to begin from scratch with a more balanced society, where everybody would count. And the plan worked, because people was so anxious to believe in something, to dare to hope, that a measure of peace was reached and millions of people set to work in the founding of these dreamed cities, in exchange for a place to live and a decent job after their completion. The official message was that these seven Megalopoli were the first of many more that would populate the Earth. A feeling of being building a better future was born, casting away past errors. Then, when all the cities were finished, the real truth was unveiled: there would be no more places like them, and these would be the Eden of a selected few.

Obviously peopled rebelled and took arms immediately. The fighting for the Megalopoli was vicious, as there was no easy way to build Paradises up but tell most people they were to live in Hell. But contrary to almost all citizens, who discovered the lie by surprise, the Compass was ready for this moment: it has been carefully planned and its members were perfectly fitted tactical and militarily. Their course of action was ruthless: those who didn’t accept to live outside the mega-cities would die. They didn’t hesitate to use all the weapons they have been developing for years, whether nuclear, chemical, electromagnetic or worst. The world outside the Megalopoli became a stark land, a huge battlefield. And lastly the seven cities were sealed.

For if the war wasn’t punishment enough, the next years brought a terrible nuclear winter followed by a global warming worsened by all the last years’ events. Everything except the Megalopoli, which were perfectly fit for these “inconveniences”, became a barren land of shattered old cities, wasted forests and grasslands and dried rivers. The population forced to dwell on these areas was decimated to the point of representing less than 1% of the original inhabitants of old Earth.

To make the Megalopoli even more secure, minefields, automatic weapons turrets and anything technology could afford kept away every living being who wandered near any city by a hundred miles.

The world outside these Paradise cities became the Wasteland, now home to the outcasts of the ideal society.

There are currently four factions to choose from...

Gangers

Life in the Wasteland is hard and, if you don’t want or simply can’t stay in a settlement, it is vital to team up. Gangers are probably the most common faction you can find in this part of the Wasteland, from groups of raiders to vigilantes. These gangs make a living attacking settlements or travelers to get bullets and gas, acting as mercenaries to carry out the wishes of some local chief, patrolling the surroundings of a colony, or just roaming the Wasteland as free spirits with the strength of the group to improve their chances of survival. They are the best combatants and they have more firepower than any other faction.

There are some gangs that follow a distinct and well defined style, such as using the same clothes, show some tribal tattoos off or shave half their heads. Others are totally mixed and don’t have any distinctive feature.

These gangs are usually nomad and try to get whatever they need on the road, but some of them have some kind of refuge or base camp to rest, shelter or train their greens.

Mutards

No one knows exactly when did the first mutants started to appear, but there were rumours about people with strange powers even before the population was expelled from the Megalopoli and threw out to the Wasteland. Their origins can vary a lot; maybe all the chemical agents and radiation levels accumulated in the marginal areas back in the days took a heavy toll on their inhabitants, or they might be the flawed outcomes of sinister genetic investigation experiments, or just plain and simple natural selection. The fact is that their ranks have increased notably since people have been forced to live in the Wasteland.

Mutants are not very popular in the area of Scrapbridge and most people have reactions that vary from grudging acceptance to hunting posses in some towns. The fact is that everyone calls them Mutards now, a derogative name that might come from the union of “mutant” and “bastard”.

As a rule of thumb Mutards are not very well equipped, as usually nobody trades with them, but they possess a wide array of mutations that can counter that drawback.

Junkers

Finding tools, weapons, vehicles or almost anything in the Wasteland is hard and dangerous. But the Junkers, also called Scavengers by some, make a living of it. They search among the piles of rubble of old cities and the disposal waste of the Megalopoli, and they always find things to sell or trade at this settlement or the other. They are adept on repairing and “patching” machines, although not very neatly, and more often than not they end up creating complex apparatus to solve simple tasks, and not the other way around.

They are probably the faction that can roam this side of the Wasteland with more freedom of movement than any other, as everyone is interested in trading with them to get good stuff, and it is not wise to attack the people that can get them. That doesn’t mean they are totally safe, and from time to time a gang of Junkers is attacked to steal their goods, so although they are not the best fighters in the world, they have wits and devices with which to defend themselves, and they are used to move around dangerous places like no other.

Black Blood Children

The most successful cult around the Scrapbridge area is that of the Black Blood, a congregation that gathers in and maintains an oil refinery in almost perfect working condition and has turned it into a heavily armoured and protected settlement.

They worship oil with an unsettling reverence bestowed upon them by the strange deity Tex’co. They don’t trade with the black blood they extract from beneath the ground, as only the cult members are worthy of its blessing. Although they sometimes tried in the past to carry the word of Tex’co to other settlements to get new followers, their politics were not aggressive. That doesn’t mean that they were not fit to fight, as they were well aware that almost any other rival gang would do anything to get their oil and they had to protect it at all costs.

Hopefully that's piqued your interest enough for you to check out the reviews which will be starting tomorrow. Though if you happen to have missed them you can find the other articles posted so far at the links below.
Faction - Black Blood Children (Part One)
Faction - Black Blood Children (Part Two)
Faction - Gangers
Faction - Junkers
Faction - Mutards

Thoughts and comments are (as usual) most welcome.