If the biggest question in videogames journalism is "Can you pet the dog", we may have found the ultimate question in miniature wargames journalism: "Can dogs wear power armor?" For the excellent gang skirmish wargame Fallout Factions the answer will soon be "Yes", thanks to some charming side effects of the new armor perks system that will arrive in the upcoming Battle for Boston starter set. Head designer Evie Moriarty confirmed the pro-canine armor rules while answering audience questions in a live AMA in the Wargamer Discord on Thursday - here's what you need to know.
Fallout Factions: Battle for Boston builds on the foundation of the original (and excellent) Nuka World starter set, shifting the action to the battle between the Brotherhood of Steel and the Institute over the streets of Boston. The core rules are the same slick system I praised in my review of Nuka World, including a new 'control campaign' - a campaign system that also works with pickup games - and builds on them in several ways. That's where armor perks come in.
"There is one new campaign action in there that wasn't in Nuka World for control campaigns", Moriarty says, "Which is the Modify Armor story action". That "Lets you tinker with your armor, improve your armor, and eventually upgrade you characters to have power armor and then enhance their power armor from there".
It's tracked "All through a very simple system using the existing perk system" which handles all other kinds of upgrades. "We're not talking lots of book keeping, but it's just there to make you feel a little bit tankier, let you enjoy the benefits of modifying your armor as much as you can already modify your weapons".
And in response to a pointed audience question: "Yes, dogs can wear power armor". Moriarty explains: "We had the choice of creating an enormous number of little exceptions in the rules about who can have power armor", but in the end "Canonically, the only people we know for sure can't are super mutants".
So the big greenies "Specifically can't have power armor", but "They can still have almost all the benefits of power armor". They won't ever get the named power armor perk - or any other upgrades that depend on it - but "Everyone else can". And that includes your faithful hounds!
The most engaged Factions fans had already pieced this together from media releases, and they love it. "I now get messages asking me when we're making power armored dog models", Moriarty says. "I can't tell you that that's ever happening because I don't think it's likely", they add - Modiphius is beholden to Bethesda's licensing department."But also please do convert them", Moriarty adds, "I want to see those miniatures!"
Team Wargamer also wants to see your power armored dog miniatures, so if you happen to make one, please drop it into the Wargamer Discord community. That's also the place you should go if you want to ask game designers questions in our regular AMAs. Our full AMA with Moriarty will be up on the Wargamer YouTube channel soon. For a weekly roundup of all our best stories, make sure you're subscribed to the Wargamer newsletter.