By Evie Moriarty, Lead Game Designer
Photography: Fatima Martín Pérez

 

In Fallout: Wasteland Warfare, one of the experiences we wanted to capture from the Fallout video games was stealth. Sneaking around, catching Super Mutants by surprise, avoiding a flood of Ghouls, grabbing valuable salvage before running away – all are key experiences in Fallout. The Sneak skill (or perk) has been a mainstay of the series throughout its lifespan, and it’s always been difficult to emulate on the tabletop. After all, how can you satisfyingly convince your opponent that a model isn’t there?

 

With a shift to a solo-first design, we’ve had the opportunity to bake sneaking into the game in a much more fundamental way. It’s now one of the many fun problem-solving options in your toolbox. Some of our playtesters never used stealth, while others relied on it for every encounter.

 

Let’s have a look at how it works. If you’ve not caught up on the last few development diaries, you should now because a lot of this interacts directly with the AI system and particularly Threat and Priority.

 

How Does Stealth Work In Fallout: Wasteland Warfare? 

 

When a model you control takes a Move action, you can try to have them sneak. Doing this involves making a test. If they succeed, they move quietly. This has a few benefits: Firstly, sneaking allows your model to avoid provoking any Threat or Priority triggers as they move. Secondly, if they already have Priority tokens, they can place a special marker on the board called an Alarm Marker. You transfer the model’s Priority tokens to the marker, and then move the model away.

 

Not provoking Threat or Priority triggers is the simple bit; you just don’t attract attention or rile up enemies. It’s the Alarm Markers that are stealth’s secret sauce. They act like a potential target for enemies to focus on; kind of like ‘Last Known Position’ stealth mechanics from video games.

 

For instance, if you have no Priority tokens and an Alarm Marker has a small stack, your foes might well charge after that instead of you, trying to investigate the noise. Once they get there, they’ll realise they’ve been had, but by then it’s too late!

 

 

What Are The Benefits Of Stealth In Fallout: Wasteland Warfare?

 

This gives us a whole host of behaviors that jump straight out of the video games. You can lead enemies on a wild goose chase into an ambush. A model quick on their feet can make a lot of noise, sneak off, and flank enemies as they come to investigate. In future expansions, when devices like mines are added, you’ll be able to use stealth to draw enemies into ever more devious traps.

 

That’s not where stealth ends though, because several perks, mods and other special rules play into stealth and sneaking. There’s a perk that places an Alarm Marker on the other side of the board from you; silenced weapons let you immediately drop an Alarm Marker when you fire them, so you don’t have to make the test to sneak away. It opens up a whole new way of playing the game, and we think it adds a huge amount of additional tactical flavour you’ll really enjoy.

 

Since we mentioned perks, we’ll provide an overview of how they work in Fallout: Wasteland Warfare next time!