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Banana Joe Games presents
SALVAGE
You came down as a crew. You leave as rivals.
First-playable v0.2 · 2 players · BJG × Hopes
The survivors of a crashed starship are stranded on a forgotten world, and the sun above it is about to explode. There is one way off, and it cannot carry everyone.
1 The Game
SALVAGE is a two-player game played out between two mecha built from the bones of the same wrecked ship. You drive yours out across the wreck-field, fight the things that live there, and strip it for parts, fuel, and the three fusion cells that can power a launch. The other mecha is doing the same from the opposite end. Only one machine leaves.
Every component in the box is a different manufacturing specimen, all of it handled in play. Nothing is on display. You are taking a dead starship apart with your hands.
How you win. Carry all three fusion cells at once, fill the enemy base track, or hold the most banked points when the countdown ends.
How you lose. Your opponent does any of the above first. There is no other way out.
2 What's in the Box
2Mecha
Two mecha miniatures, the two players' machines, plus two dashboards tracking POWER, FUEL, and HP, with markers for each track.
1Game board
The wreck-field: two camps at opposite ends, three lanes between them, and 17 spaces in all. Each lane runs camp, two field nodes, a wreck site, two field nodes, enemy camp. Every field node is also linked to the field node beside it in the next lane. The three wreck sites are not linked to each other. The countdown and base-damage tracks are printed on it.
3Fusion cells
Three coloured cells (green, yellow, blue), one per central wreck site.
18Mod cards
The deck you draw, install, and score. Each raises POWER, FUEL, or HP, or reshapes a fight.
8Mob tokens
The things in the wreck, one token of each kind: two weak, three medium, three strong. Keep them face down in three piles, one per strength.
12Scrap chips
Salvage in six substrates (cardboard to resin), two chips of each, worth points by material.
6Ammo dice
One die of each shape, and each is a weapon of your mecha: the d4 a hand cannon, the d6 a gatling gun, the d8 a plasma shotgun, the d10 a railgun, the d12 a laser beam, the d20 a rocket launcher. These are your ammunition. A die that loses a fight goes back to the supply, so both mecha fight over the same six.
1Coin
For a fight with no dice. One face shows a circle, the other a cross. Against a mob you flip it twice, and two circles is a hit. In a clash where neither mecha throws a die, one flip decides: a circle for the attacker.
2Function dice
The node die decides what appears on a field node. The material die decides which substrate a scrap chip is.
9Markers
One cube per track: three on each dashboard (FUEL, HP, POWER), one on each base-damage track, one on the countdown.
1Box
Two-player small footprint. Final box size locks with the production spec.
The Components tab lists the cards and explained pieces (mods, mobs, scrap) in full.
1 Set Up to Play
Place the board. Each player puts their mecha on their own camp at opposite ends.
Set your dashboard. First-playable values: FUEL 6, HP 4, POWER 1. The first player takes the d6 as starting ammo and the second player takes the d8. The other four dice form the supply. Every mecha also has a strength of 2 of its own.
Place the cells. One fusion cell on each of the three central wreck sites, matched by colour.
Zero the tracks. Both base-damage markers to 0, the countdown marker to its start (24 rounds).
Seed the field. Roll the node die once for each of the 12 field nodes (not the three wreck sites) and place what it shows.
The node die
1
Nothing
2
1 scrap, free
3
1 ammo die, free: the smallest die in the supply
4
A weak mob guarding 1 scrap
5
A medium mob guarding 1 scrap and the biggest die in the supply
6
A strong mob guarding 2 scrap and the biggest die in the supply
For a mob, take a token at random from the pile of that strength. If the pile is empty, no mob is placed and the loot lies free. For each scrap, roll the material die: 1 cardboard, 2 chipboard, 3 wood, 4 acrylic, 5 metal, 6 resin. If that substrate has run out, take the next one down. A beaten mob goes back to its pile.
Players. SALVAGE is strictly two-player, one mecha each.
A run is a trip out from your camp and back. You leave home, push as deep as your fuel allows, and you can only bank what you find by reaching the centre.
1 Your Turn
Players alternate. Your whole turn is one action: move one node and resolve it.
Move to an adjacent node and pay 1 FUEL. Moving off a node that holds an enemy, a mob or the other mecha, costs 2 FUEL instead.
Resolve the node. Fight any enemy on it; if you win, take what it guarded. Anything already lying on the node when you arrive is picked up free as you resolve.
Advance the countdown one step once both players have taken their turn. The game lasts 24 rounds.
Closing a run
You cannot bank by walking home. The only way to close a run is to reach one of the three central wreck sites, or the enemy camp on a raid, and end there. Closing is free and sends your mecha straight home. A raid closes the run after its damage. Arriving at a wreck site or the enemy camp on your last fuel counts as closing.
Refill. FUEL and HP go back to their maximum.
Bank. Everything you carry is now yours. Banked dice can still be rolled in fights.
Install. Draw 2 mods, install 1, and put the other under the deck. A dashboard holds 6 mods. With all six full, the new mod replaces one, which is discarded with its points.
Rearm. Take the smallest die left in the supply.
Reseed. Roll the node die again for every empty field node in your half.
Push your luck. Reaching a site never forces you to close. You can press on, even into the enemy half, but a collapse out there strands your whole haul far from home.
Collapse
A lost fight only costs HP. You lose your haul only when you collapse, at 0 HP or 0 FUEL. Then you drop all unbanked haul on the node you stopped on, and one carried cell comes loose (if you held two, you keep one). That cell goes back to its wreck site. A clash costs no HP, so it never makes you collapse, but its winner takes one of the loser's cells (see Versus the enemy mecha). Your mecha then restarts at home with full FUEL and HP. Dropped haul is not auto-grabbed, it waits on the node for whoever spends an action to take it.
A fight against a mob runs in rounds: each round is one throw, and between rounds you decide whether to fight on or pull back. A clash with the enemy mecha is a single throw. What shapes both is what you brought: how much POWER you have, which dice you load, and what you save for later.
1 How a Fight Works
Load. Against a mob you may roll up to POWER dice from the ammo you hold. In a clash you may throw in as many as you like. Your mecha's strength of 2 is added to whatever you roll. With no dice, you hit for that 2 alone, and if 2 cannot reach the mob's threat you flip the coin twice instead: two circles is a hit.
Roll and sum. Add your dice. Mods may let you reroll, add a die, or adjust the total.
Compare. Against a mob, meet or beat its threat. Against the enemy mecha, beat their sum.
Winning dice come back. Dice that win a round, or win a clash, return to your ammo. Dice that lose are spent: they go back to the shared supply and return to the field through seeding.
Versus a mob
The mob has a fixed threat and never rolls.
A mob takes hits by rank: a weak one 1, a medium one 2, a strong one 3. Each round that meets or beats its threat is one hit, and its wounds stay on it until it falls.
A round that misses costs you 1 HP.
No dice to load? Flip the coin twice: two circles is a hit, anything else is a miss.
After a round, fight on or pull back, free, to the node you came from. The mob stays, wounds and all, for you or the other mecha to finish.
Beat it: clear the node and take what it guarded.
Some mobs carry one effect, on engage, on your defeat, or on your win. See the Components tab.
Versus the enemy mecha
Forced when both mecha share a node.
Both roll. A tie goes to the defender, so every clash has a loser. If neither throws a die, flip the coin: a circle, and the attacker wins.
The winner takes one fusion cell from the loser, if it carries any and has no Cell Cradle installed. Holding all three after that wins on the spot.
The loser is knocked back to its base. It drops its unbanked haul on that node, keeps any other cells, and restarts with full FUEL and HP. It then reboots: it loses its next turn, and while rebooting it cannot defend its base.
If you moved in and win, you pick up everything on the node, the haul they dropped included. Lose and you take nothing, not even its fusion cell.
What the throw is really about. The roll is random, but the loadout is the decision, and so is when to stop. POWER lets you throw more dice at a mob; mods bend the result. A mecha built right wins the fights that matter.
Three things come off the wreck: parts to rebuild your mecha, ammunition to fight with, and the cells that win the game.
1 Your Mecha
POWER
How many dice you may roll against a mob, equal to the summed power of your installed mods. It also scores points at the end. Starts at 1.
FUEL
Spent one per move, two to break off an enemy. Sets how far a run reaches. Refills at home.
HP
Lost when a fight goes against you. Hit zero in the field and you collapse. Repairs at home.
2 Mods, Ammo, Scrap
Mods are the cards you draw when you close a run: two drawn, one installed, six slots. They raise your stats or bend your fights, and stay for the rest of the game. They score their printed points at the count.
Ammo is the dice you spend in fights. Bigger dice hit harder and score more left in your stock.
Scrap is pure points, worth more by its material, cardboard the cheapest, resin the richest.
3 Fusion Cells
The three cells sit on the three central wreck sites. Reach a site and take its cell free; the emptied site becomes a plain turn-around node. A cell rides on your mecha and is safe through any number of lost fights. It only comes loose when you collapse, and only one at a time. Carry all three at once and you win on the spot.
The studio question. Every part in this game is a different manufactured object. When you reach for a piece, you are holding a real sample, not a placeholder. That is the point of the box.
Three ways to leave the planet. Two end the game the instant they happen; the third is the count when the clock runs out.
1 The Three Wins
1Cells
Carry all three fusion cells on your mecha at the same time. You have the charge to lift off. Instant win.
2Raid
Reach the enemy camp and strike their base for 1 damage. One strike per trip. Fill their track and you win. If its owner stands on the base, you must beat it in a clash first, and the raid lands only if you win. A mecha that is rebooting cannot defend.
3Count
If neither happens before the countdown ends, the game stops and the most banked points wins.
2 The Count
When the countdown reaches its end with no instant win, total everything you have banked. Anything still unbanked counts for nothing, which keeps the last runs tense.
What
Points
Mod
Its printed value
Scrap
By substrate, 1 (cardboard) to 6 (resin)
Ammo die in stock
d4 to d8 = 1, d10 to d12 = 2, d20 = 4
Fusion cell carried
5 each
★ Components
Every card in the box, straight from the source data. Filter by type, narrow, or search by name and effect.
★ Quick Reference
The numbers you reach for mid-game.
Turn
Move 1 node, pay 1 FUEL (2 to break off an enemy).
Resolve: fight, then take what is there.
Countdown moves 1 per round, after both turns.
Close only at a central site or enemy camp.
Combat
Mob: up to POWER dice. Clash: any number. Sum, add strength 2. No dice: hit 2, or flip the coin (mob: two circles; clash with no dice either side: one flip, a circle for the attacker).
Mob: rounds. Sum ≥ threat is one hit (weak 1, medium 2, strong 3). Miss: minus 1 HP. Between rounds, fight on or pull back free.
Dice that win come back; dice that lose are spent.
Mecha: both roll, a tie goes to the defender. The winner takes one of the loser's cells (not through a Cell Cradle); the loser goes home and drops its unbanked haul.