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Rules assistance for The Desolate Waste: Campaign Sourcebook
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 2–4 players
- 90 min
- 10+
Rules assistant for The Desolate Waste: Campaign Sourcebook
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
The Desolate Waste: Campaign Sourcebook is an expansion for Gruntz 15mm Sci-Fi released in 2015 for 2–4 players, 90 minutes per game, and ages 10 and up. It was designed by Matthew Parmer and its main mechanics are Scenario / Mission / Campaign Game.
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About the game
The Desolate Waste Campaign is a post-apocalyptic, science-fiction campaign designed to be used with a slightly modified version of Gruntz where we make extensive use of the specialists, commanders, and monster rules to allow for a more nuanced skirmish style game. A basic person or Crew Member will use the Gruntz specialist template with scout level damage capacity. Characters and Crew Leaders will use the Commander templates and abilities. Large monsters like dragons, large demons and inter-dimensional monstrosities will use the monster rules. The first thing you will need to do is create a Crew Leader and 2-5 Crew Members. You will need to generate their background, their class, goals and motivations and buy any special talents or abilities and their starting gear and weapons. You will also need to choose your groups initial allegiance to one of the many Power Groups. Your Crew will need to acquire food, water, clothing or armor, weapons, ammo and eventually transport and energy or fuel. Life in the Desolate Waste is a constant struggle for survival. The Desolate Waste Campaign is a set of rules for playing skirmish games in an original post-apocalyptic setting using the Gruntz 15mm ruleset. It provides 25 linked scenarios and a sample crew and crew leader as wella s a complete description of the Town of Crossroads. The Scenarios tell the story of Earl Moore and his road crew and their overthrow of the wicked Viola Chance while defending from an invasion from Precinct 8. The campaign setting also provides complete rules for surviving in the Waste, meeting contacts, performing jobs and complete descriptions and backgrounds of the 11 power groups in the Waste. There are also tables for random encounters in the Waste as well as generating salvage and job rewards. —description from the publisher
Mechanics
Designers
Publishers
- Art of War Games
Questions and answers
The Desolate Waste: Campaign Sourcebook supports 2–4 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for The Desolate Waste: Campaign Sourcebook is 90 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists The Desolate Waste: Campaign Sourcebook for ages 10 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
The Desolate Waste: Campaign Sourcebook belongs to these categories: Wargame, Miniatures, and Science Fiction. Its main mechanics are Scenario / Mission / Campaign Game. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of The Desolate Waste: Campaign Sourcebook are: Matthew Parmer. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists The Desolate Waste: Campaign Sourcebook as an expansion for Gruntz 15mm Sci-Fi. Expansions add new content, rules or scenarios to the base game and usually cannot be played on their own, so you need Gruntz 15mm Sci-Fi to use it. Check that your edition of Gruntz 15mm Sci-Fi is compatible, as some expansions were revised between editions.