Best Post-Apocalyptic Board Games?

Why do all the dungeon crawls ending up being D&D ripoffs? I would love to see a boardgame dungeon crawl with a radically different setting, like mutated survivors exploring the ruins of an automated defense installation. Instead of gaining treasure and magic items, they could get medical supplies, MREs and maybe high-tech weapons that they can try to figure out how to use.

Neuroshima Hex would be my favourite, followed closely by Car Wars (specifically the rock and roll and whiskey anarchy version of CW organized by group I know). And yep, NH is explicitly set in a post-apocalyptic world.

Shellhead wrote:

Why do all the dungeon crawls ending up being D&D ripoffs? I would love to see a boardgame dungeon crawl with a radically different setting, like mutated survivors exploring the ruins of an automated defense installation. Instead of gaining treasure and magic items, they could get medical supplies, MREs and maybe high-tech weapons that they can try to figure out how to use.

Didn't Rackham make something like this a few years ago? It looked like a Space Hulk wannabe, but had that inkling to me. Can't remember for the life of me what the name of the game is.

Rliyen wrote:

Shellhead wrote:

Why do all the dungeon crawls ending up being D&D ripoffs? I would love to see a boardgame dungeon crawl with a radically different setting, like mutated survivors exploring the ruins of an automated defense installation. Instead of gaining treasure and magic items, they could get medical supplies, MREs and maybe high-tech weapons that they can try to figure out how to use.

Didn't Rackham make something like this a few years ago? It looked like a Space Hulk wannabe, but had that inkling to me. Can't remember for the life of me what the name of the game is.

Maybe MC - Siege of the Citadel?

Dark Future's another one by GW, but I never played it, looks a bit like Car Wars. Liked the novels though.

Rliyen wrote:

Shellhead wrote:

Why do all the dungeon crawls ending up being D&D ripoffs? I would love to see a boardgame dungeon crawl with a radically different setting, like mutated survivors exploring the ruins of an automated defense installation. Instead of gaining treasure and magic items, they could get medical supplies, MREs and maybe high-tech weapons that they can try to figure out how to use.

Didn't Rackham make something like this a few years ago? It looked like a Space Hulk wannabe, but had that inkling to me. Can't remember for the life of me what the name of the game is.

Was it Hybrid? I'm not sure, because I don't minis, so Rackham is off my radar.

Shellhead wrote:

Rliyen wrote:

Shellhead wrote:

Why do all the dungeon crawls ending up being D&D ripoffs? I would love to see a boardgame dungeon crawl with a radically different setting, like mutated survivors exploring the ruins of an automated defense installation. Instead of gaining treasure and magic items, they could get medical supplies, MREs and maybe high-tech weapons that they can try to figure out how to use.

Didn't Rackham make something like this a few years ago? It looked like a Space Hulk wannabe, but had that inkling to me. Can't remember for the life of me what the name of the game is.

Was it Hybrid? I'm not sure, because I don't minis, so Rackham is off my radar.

Yes, that's the game. But, it seemed more like another D&D Dungeon Crawl ripoff after looking it up.

As for SotC, it actually is PA, but it's too easy a target.

Zombie games aside - I'd say Battletech was pretty good although as someone mentioned in another thread you could classify it as a mini/war game. Citytech was a boardgame in my opinion because everything came in one box and no rulers were needed.

Car Wars Sunday Drivers had great theme also. Thunder Road was very cool and easy to play too.

Pat II wrote:

Zombie games aside - I'd say Battletech was pretty good although as someone mentioned in another thread you could classify it as a mini/war game. Citytech was a boardgame in my opinion because everything came in one box and no rulers were needed.

Car Wars Sunday Drivers had great theme also. Thunder Road was very cool and easy to play too.

Sunday Drivers... Good fucking God.... How could you forget MONDOs? Midville Organized(organization?) Neighborhood Defense Ordinance? Steve Jackson may be reviled today, but back in the day, Car Wars was the shit around my friends.

That map for Sunday Drivers was amazing. But that was also when we first started detecting potential problems with Car Wars. We played a Hells Angel kind of scenario where a biker gang invades the town and the Midville cops plus a couple of citizen drivers try to stop them. That's when one of my friends came up with the term "sui-cyclist," to describe the motorcycle-riding equivalent of a kamikaze pilot. They did later adjust the vehicle collision rules to better take into account the different masses in a lop-sided collision, like cycle versus car, or trike versus truck.

Rliyen wrote:

Pat II wrote:

Zombie games aside - I'd say Battletech was pretty good although as someone mentioned in another thread you could classify it as a mini/war game. Citytech was a boardgame in my opinion because everything came in one box and no rulers were needed.

Car Wars Sunday Drivers had great theme also. Thunder Road was very cool and easy to play too.

Sunday Drivers... Good fucking God.... How could you forget MONDOs? Midville Organized(organization?) Neighborhood Defense Ordinance? Steve Jackson may be reviled today, but back in the day, Car Wars was the shit around my friends.

No kidding - there is a game that could use a facelift. I always had fun playing the Cops and just going nuts on everyone. Throw in the local autoduelists and the biker gang and that was a helluva good time.

Rivits.
And Ogre of course.

Car Wars
Dark Future
Chainsaw Warrior
Thunder Road
World War IV
Arctic Scavengers
OGRE
Dust

Generally they seem to fall into 2 categories, the car wars clones and the DOAM with post-apocalyptic units.

Only Chainsaw Warrior and Arctic Scavengers seem to break this pattern.

Gammarauders!

I want a Gamma World adventure boardgame!

Rliyen wrote:

Yes, that's the game. But, it seemed more like another D&D Dungeon Crawl ripoff after looking it up.

Hybrid is more of a tactical minis game that happens to be played in a dungeon. Think more along the lines of Tannhauser where you have a few characters and a few grunts, rules that are as detailed as a miniatures skirmish game and all this played in a dungeon. There's no character development and not much that ties the missions together outside of a few three mission campaigns. Well I don't want to derail the thread...Not Post-Appoc.

LvT