By Evie Moriarty, Lead Game Designer
Art by Ariel Orea

 

Fallout: Factions has two distinct campaign systems: Reach Campaigns and Control Campaigns. Reach Campaigns can be found in our Core Rulebook, while Control Campaigns are in both the Battle for Boston and Battle for Nuka-World Starter Sets.

 

Control Campaigns are easier to organise and participate in, as they don't require a consistent play group or regular play. Though Battle for Boston contains rules for a Control Campaign like Battle for Nuka-World did, the details are a little different. Each Control Campaign represents play in a specific area, a geographical region with its own quirks. In Battle for Boston, that's the Commonwealth itself, the setting of Fallout 4.

 

So what's different and new? Well, first of all, the places you're looking to control are different. You'll be fighting over the C.I.T. Ruins, the Combat Zone, Diamond City, Goodneighbor, and Trinity Tower. Also, instead of Control just being an abstract measure, having Control in each of these locations gives certain advantages!

 

If you are present in a location, 1 Control, you unlock a special ability for your crew that will help them in their campaign. For example, Diamond City is a robust enough community to help keep you on your feet…

 

Good Eating (1 Control): When you roll for a model in the Treat the Wounded step of the Story Phase and get the Dead result, you may choose to treat this result as a Serious Injury (if the model is a Champion) or a Clean Bill of Health (if it is a Grunt) and reduce your Control in Diamond City by 1 instead.

 

 

If you manage to grab 3 Control and become influential in a location, you'll unlock a new Ploy to bring into your games. You can use them in any game, too, not just ones fought in that location. If you are influential in the Combat Zone, for example, your crew will be used to fighting gladiatorial bouts…

 

Gladiatorial Instincts (3 Control; Ploy): Enact this Ploy when one of your models Incapacitates an Enemy model with a Melee Attack. The attacking model Recovers all Fatigue and Harm.

 

 

Finally, if you manage to accrue an impressive 5 Control in a location, you'll become Dominant. This allows you to hire a Legend of the Wasteland unavailable to anyone else. You want Strong in your crew? You'll need to get in good with Trinity Tower to be convincing enough.

 

What else can you look forward to? There's a whole suite of new scenarios to enjoy. Skirmish will be familiar to returning champions, but there are five brand-new ones, too. You'll be able to launch Midnight Raids, Sabotage key infrastructure, and even rustle some Brahmin in a Cattle Drive.

 

Finally, something that fans have wanted from day one is here in Battle for Boston: armor upgrades. There's a new Story Action in this book, Modify Armor, that lets you use Parts to give models special Armor Perks. These represent your character tinkering with their armor and improving their defensive capabilities. Want to add a little extra padding or upgrade a model to have power armor fitted with prism shielding? Now you can!

 

Prism Shielding

Treat the value of any Ignite Traits on weapons used against this model as 1 lower (to a minimum of 0). In addition, increase the Pool Size by 2 when you make a Meltdown Test for this model. 

 

 

Hopefully, that's enough to whet your appetite for Battle for Boston. Next time, we'll dive into the factions you can play as (and against!), from the mysterious Institute to the crafty Railroad.