Strontium Dog Miniatures Game - Solo Play Rules

Introduction

Warlord Games' Strontium Dog Miniatures Game has been out for a number of months now but there are people who struggle to get games in because of work and social commitments, or perhaps because of a lack of interest from friends. It's a problem for many in the wargaming community and is by no means unique to the Strontium Dog Miniatures Game. That being the case, I've embarked upon this project to enable all fans of the system to play the game without a human opponent. While it cannot match the tension and challenge of playing against a friend, my hope is that it will still prove to be an enjoyable gaming experience.
It is the intention of these rules for the Solo Player to want a particular band, the Player Band, to win rather than having split allegiances. The opposition will be given actions according to the type of model they are and whether their band is attacking or defending. It will hopefully make it a more rewarding experience for the player as they will definitely be rooting for one side over the other, playing against the system rather than against themselves.
I want to start by stating that two player (or more) play is very much the most rewarding way to experience the system and is my preferred mode of play. Game designers Andy Chambers and Gav Thorpe have produced an excellent game which captures much of the flavour and excitement of the strip - it's also great fun to boot!
You will need to be familiar with the Strontium Dog Miniatures Game rules as the Solo play system merely modifies some of the rules. This is not a rules rewrite and explanations of the core game's mechanics will not be provided here. There will also be direct references to rulebook pages so even if you are familiar with the rules, you may struggle to use the Solo Play rules if you don't own a copy.
Most players, particularly fans of the strip like myself, will probably wish to play as Johnny Alpha and his allies, but there is nothing preventing you forming your Player Band with Outlaws, in which case Johnny Alpha may be part of the Enemy Band if you wish!
I hope you enjoy!

Gordon


Credits:
Strontium Dog Creators: John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra
Strontium Dog Miniatures Game Designers: Andy Chambers and Gav Thorpe
Art: Carlos Ezquerra, copyright Rebellion 2000AD Limited


Solo Play Rules: Gordon Bissell
Flowchart Graphics: Barry Sawada Tucker
Photos: Gordon Bissell
Playtesters: TBC

Part One: New Game Terms

In Solo Play mode, there are a few new terms which will be used throughout the rules.

The Player Band: You fully control these models and operate the band as per the standard rules. 

The Enemy Band: The guys you want to take down in Solo Play. While you will still make a range of decisions for these models, their actions are determined in these rules by the type of character they are and the situation they find themselves in.

Battler: A character who favours Close Combat over Ranged Combat

Gunslinger: A character who favours Ranged Combat over Close Combat

All-Rounder: A character who is equally powerful in either method of combat.

Part Two: The Set Up

Scenarios (see pages 80-81)

1. Choose a leader for both bands. You should decide at this stage which will lead the Player Band and which will be the lead the Enemy Band.

2. Draw Armoury Cards. These are drawn as usual as per standard rules for the Player Band. None are dealt to the Enemy Band. Instead, they will be dealt one additional Chicanery Card for every Armoury Card they were entitled to (see step 7).

3. Determine Protagonist. Roll a dice for both bands, the highest is the Protagonist. The other band is the Defender.


4. Generate Job. As per the rules.

5. Recruit Bands. Do so as set out in the rules, although you will be recruiting both bands for the scenario. You may wish to deliberately make one force stronger than the other. Unlike standard play, there will be no Collateral boost to the force with lower Notoriety as this allows you to better calibrate play, making the scenario easier or more difficult to suit your own tastes (note that they will still be entitled to spend Collateral as indicated by the Job and Encounter). My default advice would be to make both forces the same Notoriety as the Deploy Models step will also help determine how difficult the scenario will be.

6. Roll Encounter Type. As per the rules.

7. Draw Chicanery Cards. Distribute the Chicanery Cards to the Player Band as normal. The Enemy Band are simply dealt as many cards as they are entitled to - plus one for each Armoury Card they should have had - but there is no requirement for you to inspect those cards. Chicanery cards play differently for the Enemy Band, being used instead to nullify injuries or incapacitation. More on that later.

8. Spend Collateral. Both sides spend any Collateral as awarded in the Job and/or Encounter types. As mentioned above, you do not gain Additional Collateral for forces with mismatched Notoriety. Collateral Armoury and Chicanery card purchases are still made as normal for the Player Band.  The Enemy Band may purchase one additional Chicanery card per 50,000 creds available but may not buy any Armoury Cards. You simply deal a single Chicanery card to the Enemy Band for each purchase of Chicanery cards.

9. Deploy Models. As described in the rules. When it comes to placing the Enemy Band, you have full control of where to place them on the board (within any restrictions set out in the Scenario). How you do so will likely have a huge influence on how hard the task at hand will be for your Player Band. In general terms, an Enemy Band which operates closely together will be more effective against your Player Band, while one which is spread out may struggle to impede your progress as they will be in danger of being picked off piecemeal; in other words, you have more power to tailor the game difficulty by how you deploy the Enemy Band. Enemy bands which are too closely packed will be susceptible to Time Bombs and other area effect weapons. Therefore, it is recommended that Enemy Bands try to keep models at least 2" apart. There may be situations that arise in the scenario which would make this undesirable, so minimum spacing is not a compulsory rule.
Finally, once all miniatures are deployed, place all of your the chips for both sides in the bag as normal, including Star Chips for models with a starting Cool of 4+. To clarify, both the Player Band and Enemy Band have Star Chips available to them as usual.

The Pay Off: No change; calculate bounties collected and any bonuses, then deduct expenses. The Band with the most creds wins the Scenario.

Part Three: Core Rules

All of the Core Rules play exactly as described in the rulebook for the Player Band; play that Band as you would in a 2 player game. The rules changes apply only to the Enemy Band.

The Game Turn (see pages 12-13)

Playing Action Chips: When activating an Enemy Band model, the default position is that they will perform a double action where possible. The actions that the Enemy Band will perform depend on circumstances and are explained later.

Activating With A Star Chip: No change to the normal procedure, they work the usual way for both bands.

Going For Broke: Only Enemy Band models with a modified current Cool of 3+ can go for broke. It is still at player discretion as to whether an Enemy Band model that can go for broke will do so. Try to make the decision on what you think you would do were you in the Enemy Band's situation.

Last Chip In The Bag: Further to the Going For Broke rule change above and because of the -2 modifier to Cool, the only Enemy Band models that could attempt to put the Star Chip back in the bag would be Johnny Alpha or Durham Red if her Bloodsucker ability had been activated. Again, whether they attempt to do so is left to your discretion.

Actions (see pages 14-17)

In a change to the normal rules, when Enemy Band models are activated, the player does not decide which actions to give them. Instead, actions are determined by circumstances and by the type of model that is being activated. Models fall into 3 categories which represent their stat strengths; Battlers are models which are more proficient in Close Combat than at range, Gunslingers favour ranged weaponry, while All-Rounders have no preferred method of attack. There is a comprehensive list of which categories each named character from the rulebook fall under in Appendix A, but you are free to change these to suit the scenario.

Note that characters with the Gunfighter and Brawler skills can be categorised as Gunslingers or Battlers if they are listed as the opposite or as All-Rounders in Appendix A. For example, Stix is listed as a Battler due to his/their stats but the fact that he/they have Gunfighter skill means that they can operate as Gunslingers instead of Battlers depending on your preference.

In addition, these different unit types will choose actions differently depending on whether they are the Protagonist or Defender.  

When at all possible, Enemy Models will perform a Double Action when activated. If they are Stunned or fail a Cool test to remove a Pinned marker, they will have to perform a Shake It Off Single Action and then will be able to perform a second Single Action.   

Once you have determined whether your model is a Battler, Gunslinger or All-Rounder and if they are Protagonist or Defender, consult the relevant flow-chart to determine what your model will do in the situation they find themselves in. Note that Double Actions are stated first in each case on the flowcharts with Single Actions shown as a second option in case there was a requirement to use Shake It Off (or if particular Double Actions are prohibited for certain characters).

There are six categories and therefore six flow charts which determine all Enemy Band actions:

Protagonist Battler

Defender Battler

Protagonist Gunslinger

Defender Gunslinger

Protagonist All-Rounder

Defender All-Rounder

These flow charts can be found in the Appendices at the bottom of this article. 

You may find that during a scenario, a Protagonist finds their band mostly wiped out; if it is obvious that the Protagonist model would not continue acting aggressively, the player can choose to switch to actions to ones based on being the Defender and vice versa. This change of tactics should only happen once in a game and only in a situation where it is clear that the balance of power has shifted significantly; neither though is there any obligation to do so if you think the character would stick to their guns and see their tactics through to the bitter end.

Notes on Actions for Enemy Band characters:

Single Actions:

Move: Models will move in any direction into cover if they have the opportunity to do so; they will not simply stand there in the open. If there is no cover to move into, simply move the model into the position which seems most advantageous to their band.

Snap Shot: Enemy Band members will always target the weakest enemy (or group of enemies) at the shortest range. See the section on Ranged Attacks below for more detail on this.

Throw: Enemy Band members will always target the weakest enemy (or group of enemies) within the shortest range.

Fight: Enemy Band characters will always engage the closest opponent in Close Combat.

Shake It Off!: No change.

Using Multiple Guns: Enemy Band characters making a Snap Shot who can fire multiple guns will only opt to do so if, when rolling to hit, their modified Shoot is 0 or less. Otherwise, they will always only fire one weapon, and it will always be the most powerful one at their disposal.

Double Actions:

Sprint: The model must move into what looks to be the most advantageous position for the Enemy Band as a whole.

Charge: Enemy Band characters will always engage the closest opponent in Close Combat.

Aimed Fire: Enemy Band characters will always elect to add their +2 bonus to weapon power unless, when rolling to hit, their modified Shoot is 0 or less. In addition, they will always target the weakest enemy (or group of enemies) at the shortest range.

Overwatch: Enemy Band characters will fire at the first Player Band model that enters their LOS and is within range. If there is more than one Enemy Band character on Overwatch, a second Overwatch is only triggered if the first Overwatch fails to incapacitate the Player Band model, a third only triggered if the second fails to incapacitate and so on.

Hunker Down: Only used when an Enemy Band character finds its modified Cool is 1 and only then if it is actually possible to get into cover.

Note: If the flowchart instructs you to carry out an action which the character is incapable of - such as Sprint Action for Stix - then you should perform an action which is legal for the character. In other words, the flowchart does not overrule any limitations already set out for characters.

Ranged Attacks (see pages 18-21)

Picking A Target: Enemy Band characters will always target an enemy in short range if they can, and will always target the weakest enemy within their weapon's short range. If the weakest enemy is at long range and there is another target in short range, the model in short range will be targeted instead. Fire at closest range and at the weakest target possible within that range.

If the activating model has a blast weapon, the above rule does not apply; instead, the activating model will aim the blast weapon is such a way as to maximise the number of models within the blast radius. If there are two equally sized groups, the weapon will be used at the group at shortest range (provided this does not catch the activating model in the radius as well).

Close Combat (see pages 22-23)

Two-Weapon Fighting: This is only ever used if, when rolling to hit, a model's modified Fight is 0 or less. Otherwise, they will always only fight with one weapon, and it will always be the most powerful one at their disposal.

Mounted Models (see page 24)

Characters riding Morks may find that their character changes from a Gunslinger or All-Rounder to a Battler (because of the -1 Shoot and +1 Fight modifiers). While they remain on Morkback and those modifiers are in effect, they take orders from the relevant flowchart. This may change several times during a scenario if there is a lot of mounting and dismounting from Morks. The same rule applies to models on skimmers.

Chicanery Cards (see page 44)

Underdog Chicanery: No longer applicable in Solo Play mode.

Character Chicanery: No longer applicable to Enemy Bands.

Using Chicanery Cards: Enemy Bands only use Chicanery cards to nullify damage from attacks. Any time a model suffers an injury or stun, they make an unmodified Cool Test. If they pass (i.e. roll a Special result), all injuries or stuns sustained in the attack are completely nullified and one of the Enemy Band's Chicanery Cards is discarded from play. Note that if several characters from an Enemy Band are hit by a burst weapon, it would require 1 Chicanery Card per model to nullify all hits sustained. Also, Chicanery Cards may not be used to nullify the effects of Time Weapons.

Character Special Abilities:

These should be used to maximum effect against the Player Band but situations may arise where it is difficult to know what to do; for example, Johnny Alpha has the In My Head! ability; when he is part of the Enemy Band, it may not be clear whether it is better to use that rather than firing a weapon, moving, etc. This is left to the player's discretion, but the best thing to opt for would be the option you would least like used against the Player Band. Alternatively, you could simply toss a coin and let fate decide!

Part Four: Campaigns 

Solo Campaigns differ somewhat from those set out in the rulebook; you will not need to monitor the Enemy Band at all as you will pick a new Enemy Band each new scenario (as this ensures plenty of variety in the scenarios). This also means there is no longer any requirement to note Deeds and Grudges.

Winning a Campaign: As with standard rules, you set a target sum of creds or Notoriety to achieve to end the campaign. Once this threshold has been reached, the campaign ends. There are two methods to decide whether a campaign has been won or lost;

1) Majority rules: the Band which won the most scenarios wins the campaign. This can lead to an anti-climactic final scenario, but it is a fair way to gauge who won overall across the whole campaign.

2) All or nothing: the Band which won the final battle wins the campaign. This suits a narrative campaign better as the Player Band can survive an unlimited number of set backs but still "win" the campaign on the climactic scenario. (There are a number of Strontium Dog stories where Johnny and the mutants seem to be losing but overcome the odds to secure a famous victory in the climactic episode.) Feel free though to experiment with and reward the Enemy Band with bonus Notoriety for future Scenarios if you feel your Player Band should suffer a setback because of losing Scenarios.

Starting a Band: Pick a starting band of 40 Notoriety. This limits the number of characters you start with in your band, providing plenty of scope to add more members and gradually expand the size of the scenarios, battles becoming more epic as you progress! Generally speaking, I like to be able to add one model to the Band after each Scenario (funds providing).

Really there are no hard rules for campaigning; do it the way you think you will find the most fun! Enjoy!

Appendix A: Characters and Character types

Johnny Alpha: Gunslinger

Wulf Sternhammer: Battler

Gronk: All-Rounder

Middenface McNulty: Battler

Durham Red: All-Rounder

Kid Knee: All-Rounder

Blubberlips: All-Rounder

Maeve the Many-Armed: All-Rounder

Hiss Weerd: All-Rounder

Cuss Weerd: Gunslinger

Silent Weerd: All-Rounder

Stix: Battler*

Fly's Eyes Wager: Gunslinger

Slabhead: All-Rounder

Dervish Dogs: Battlers

Max Bubba: All-Rounder

Impetigo Jones: All-Rounder

Low-Down O'Phee: All-Rounder

Brute Mosely Battler

Skull: All-Rounder

Bubo: Battler

Bad Boys: Battlers

Darkus: All-Rounder

Howlers: All-Rounder
Billy Joe: Battler
Steelkreeg: All-Rounder
Kansyr: All-Rounder

Appendix B: Flowcharts 

Acknowledgements

Special Thanks To:

John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra for creating Strontium Dog. Along with Alan Grant, this trio realised countless storylines which fuelled my imagination as a teenager. The level of work they put into this series is jaw-dropping.

Andy Chambers and Gav Thorpe for bringing one of my favourite strips to the gaming table - and for making it such a great and fun game which captures a lot of the flavour of the series! I also thank them for having the patience and good humour to respond to my never-ending posts double-checking my understanding of the rules!

Rebellion 2000AD Limited and Warlord Games for publishing the strip and the game respectively.

Barry Sawada Tucker for putting together the fantastic graphics for the Action Flowcharts! Check out his youtube channel for Strontium Dog Miniatures Game videos!

Members of The Dog House - Unofficial Strontium Dog Miniatures Game Group on Facebook without whose interest and encouragement I may not have pushed on with this project. Special mention to members Leigh Shepherd (particularly for the suggestion of a Cool Test to determine if Chicanery Cards are played on Enemy Band members), James Hart and Allan Stenhouse for their feedback and assistance with all things related to the game!

My regular Strontium Dog Miniatures Game opponents, Tom Wallace, Craig Mark and Martin Bissell.

I'd like to end this post by mentioning the late, great "King" Carlos Ezquerra's incredible contribution to Strontium Dog; he designed the character, built the look of the galaxy and illustrated hundreds of pages of the strip, both in black and white and in glorious colour. No matter the size, scope or how wilfully strange the story was, he was able to beautifully realise it in a way that was not only visually exciting, but was the work of a master storyteller. His recent passing was a huge loss to the comics industry, and one which deeply touched the hearts of many 2000AD fans, myself among them. 

While there will no longer be any Strontium Dog stories illustrated by him, his art will be forever synonymous with the strip and is always in my mind when I play the Strontium Dog Miniatures Game. Thank you Carlos.

Carlos Ezquerra 1947-2018