Salvage

Banana Joe Games · playtest v0.2 · team only

Full rules

Setting up the table…

Against the computer

You drive one mecha and the computer drives the other.

Two players, one screen

Pass the mouse. The table says whose turn it is.

Two players online

Create a room and send its link. Whoever opens it takes the other mecha.

Win by carrying all three fusion cells, by raiding the enemy camp three times, or with the most banked points when the countdown ends after 24 rounds. The full rules are on the rules page.

Placeholder art. Every picture and model here stands in for final art. All of it will be replaced once the agreement with the game's artist is final. Credits as far as we know them: mecha: Mini Quad Mech (creator to confirm), "Gundam teams" look · rank letters by Jaeeun Lee · Scrapfly Swarm signed DAO penpen · Rust Hound from Clash of the Battle Goats · The Quiet One from a design titled HORUS "Charybdis" · board, wreckage, dice and scrap from KayKit by Kay Lousberg, www.kaylousberg.com (CC0) · fuel tank by Quaternius (CC0) · muzzle flashes, tracers, sparks and stains from the Particle Pack by Kenney, www.kenney.nl (CC0) · blood splashes by overcrafted and by Sinestesia, opengameart.org (CC0) · racing pilot (coach) by Rudy · the board's solar panels, tanks and storage capsules from Polygon Runway's "Offworld" scene, the rest of the board modelled after its style. The other five mobs and the red skull have no credit yet: if you know who made one of them, tell us and we will add the name.

Player aid

Open the full rules

How you win

You win at once in two ways: by carrying all three fusion cells, or by raiding the enemy camp three times. If nobody has done either by the end of round 24, the higher score wins.

Your turn

On your turn you take one action: move your mecha one node, or act on the node where it stands.

Moving costs 1 fuel. It costs 2 if the node you leave holds a mob or the other mecha.
If loot lies free on the node you reach, you pick it up as you arrive.
If a mob stands there, you fight it. Its loot is yours only once you beat it.
If the other mecha stands there, the two of you fight.
If it is a wreck site, you take its fusion cell for free. You may then close your run or press on.
A fight with a mob goes in rounds. After each round you fight on or pull back, free, to the node you came from.

Fights

Choose which of your dice to roll: as many as your Power against a mob, as many as you like in a clash. Roll them, add them up, then add 2 for your mecha's strength. Dice that win come back to you, and dice that lose go back to the supply. If you have no dice, your total is 2, and against a mob it is the coin: flip twice, two circles is a hit.

Against a mob: the fight runs in rounds. A round whose total equals the mob's number or beats it is one hit. A weak mob takes 1 hit, a medium one 2, a strong one 3, and its wounds stay on it. A round that misses costs you 1 HP. With no dice you flip the coin twice instead of rolling, and two circles is a hit. After each round you fight on or pull back, free, to where you came from.
Your dice: against a mob you load up to your power. In a clash you throw in as many as you like. Dice that win come back to you, and dice that lose are spent.
Against the other mecha: you both roll, and a tie goes to the defender. If neither of you throws a die, one coin flip decides: a circle, and the attacker wins. The winner takes one fusion cell from the loser, if it carries any and has no Cell Cradle. The loser is knocked back to its base: it drops the haul it has not banked on that node and keeps any other cells. If the mecha that moved in wins, it picks up everything lying there, the dropped haul included.

Closing a run

You can close a run in two places: on a wreck site, or in the enemy camp when you raid it. A raid does 1 damage to the enemy base and always closes your run. Reaching a wreck site on your last fuel closes it too. Closing sends your mecha home, and then:

its fuel and HP go back to full;
everything it carries is banked, which makes it safe;
you draw 2 mods and install 1 of them for free. A mecha holds six mods, so a seventh replaces one;
you take the smallest die left in the supply;
the empty nodes in your half of the field get new contents.

Collapse

Your mecha collapses when its HP reaches 0, or when its fuel reaches 0 anywhere but a wreck site. It drops everything it has not banked on that node, loses one fusion cell if it carries any, and starts again from home. The lost cell returns 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.

The node die

The node die decides what a field node holds. It is rolled for every field node at the start, and again for the empty nodes of your half each time you close a run.

1	Nothing
2	1 scrap, lying free
3	The smallest die in the supply, lying free
4	A weak mob (C) guarding 1 scrap
5	A medium mob (B) guarding 1 scrap and the biggest die in the supply
6	A strong mob (A) guarding 2 scrap and the biggest die in the supply

Your score when the countdown ends

Only what is safe counts: installed mods, banked scrap, banked dice, and the fusion cells you are carrying.

Each mod	The score printed on it
Each banked scrap	Cardboard 1, chipboard 2, wood 3, acrylic 4, metal 5, resin 6
Each banked die	D4, D6 and D8 score 1. D10 and D12 score 2. D20 scores 4.
Each fusion cell	5