[late pledge] Cyberpunk 2077: Gangs of Night City - The Board Game

Meet the Core Box Edgerunners
about 2 years ago – Mon, Jun 27, 2022 at 07:02:49 PM

Hey, choomba!

We're already making good progress towards unlocking the 6th Street Gang, with the Solos Stretch Goal unlocked a few hours ago!

We're now making our way towards the Techies, Netrunners, and components!

In the meanwhile, let's turn our focus once again to the core box. 

Yesterday we took an in-depth look at the gangs you’ll get in the base game of Cyberpunk 2077: Gangs of Night City core box. If you missed, make sure to check it out here.

Today, we’ll go through the Edgerunners that will come with your base game.

Edgerunners are special units that can be hired by the gangs, each with their own special abilities. Each gang can have up to 3 Edgerunners. They will complement your gang,  shape up your gameplay and tactic, and help achieve your goals. So choose wisely which ones you hire to make the best use out of them. 

Goro is meticulous, planning his attacks and sizing up his enemies before initiating combat. When Goro enters a district with an opposing unit, you get a chance to look at and discard a Combat card from their hand. When you're facing an opponent that is combat-focused, like the Maelstrom, Goro might just be able to shut down any offensive capabilities they may have. But remember to use his ability wisely. If your opponent only have 1 card left in hand, this will cause them to retrieve all their used Combat cards and actually become an advantage for them. 

Jackie’s a shoot first, ask later kinda guy. Whenever he initiates a firefight, he gains extra firepower for that combat. When your crew consists of Solos and you're always the one to start a fight, Jackie's the Edgerunner for you.

The man, the legend himself. Johnny Silverhand grants you Street Cred at the start of your every ACTIVATE turn, which could almost secure your victory in the long run when you hire him. He doesn’t come cheap, though, as you have to sacrifice a member of your crew just to hire him.

Judy knows the streets well and knows how to find you the best deals and opportunities. Every time you use a Techie action, Judy helps to refresh an Opportunity in the market. If you can couple this with claiming a Business Point of Interest with that same Techie action, you can capitalize on the free refresh. Or just use it to remove a particularly interesting Opportunity away from other gangs. 

Kerry loves being the center of attention. As a Specialist, he doesn't move like any other typical unit type. Instead, he moves whenever you earn Street Cred during an ACTIVATE turn. And, if he’s the only friendly in a district at the end of your RECLAIM, he’ll net you a whole lot of Street Cred.

Nix is great at digging up secrets, by scrummaging some juicy Corporate Secrets for you whenever he ends on a RED step at the end of a Netrun. Remember that Corporate Secrets are a wild resource and can be used as any other resource, which is immensely valuable!

River works best with others. He is particularly good for aggressive gangs who like to recruit Solos, as whenever he’s in a firefight with another friendly Solo, he gains extra firepower for that combat!

As the queen of fixers, Rogue may move when a friendly enters and controls a Fixer Point of Interest. And if you end a RECLAIM with at least 1 Fixer Point of Interest under your control, Rogue'll earn you some neat Street Cred. Rogue is a very good hire for Techie-centric gangs who focus on Opportunities, for example the Valentinos.

T-bug keeps the fields balanced, in your favor of course, when she goes on a ‘run. If any opponent currently has more Street Cred than you, she'll bump you up as well. A neat ability to assure you'll be always catching up to the leader, if that turns out not to be you.

Viktor Vektor allows you to look at extra Combat cards whenever you upgrade, offering you better options when getting Cyber-ed up. He’s nice like that. It's a good way to balance the odds when playing against the Maelstrom, or even, improving even further your chances when you actually are the Maelstrom. However, as tempting as it may be to hire Viktor and draw more cards when upgrading, remember that a player will still only upgrade a single Combat card per Upgrade action.

And there you have it! Each Edgerunner and the unique features that set them apart. Which ones are you looking to hire first and what combinations of gangs and Edgerunners you are looking forward to try?

Until the next one, C-YA!

To Protect and to Serve
about 2 years ago – Sun, Jun 26, 2022 at 02:37:08 AM

Hey, choomba!

Big Joe's officially joining our ranks today as we've hit the latest Stretch Goal mark!

Coming up next we have a very special sequence of Stretch Goals. Prepare yourselves as the 6th Street gangers roll up into your games of Cyberpunk 2077: Gangs of Night City! That's right, over the course of the next few Stretch Goals we will be adding an entire new Kickstarter Exclusive gang into your pledges. This will not only give you more options to chose from, with unique gameplay, but also increase the maximum player count of the game to 5 for everyone! Once we are done unlocking this series of Stretch Goals, all backers will have the Kickstarter Exclusive 6th Street Gang added to their pledges! This is a lot of content, so we're breaking it down into a few Stretch Goals so we can knock them down one by one.

Buckle up, everyone! We're in for a ride!

Once we reach $380k, we will unlock the Kickstarter Exclusive 6th Street Gang Solos for all backers, including 3 Solo figures!

Once we reach $400k, we will unlock the Kickstarter Exclusive 6th Street Gang Techies for all backers, including 3 Techie figures!

Once we reach $420k, we will unlock the Kickstarter Exclusive 6th Street Gang Netrunners for all backers, including 3 Netrunner figures!

Reaching 420k will mean that the entire Gang has been unlocked, so we will also unlock at the same time all the other Kickstarter Exclusive components needed to play the 6th Street Gang for all backers, including the Gang dashboard, 5-player setup card, a single set of Starting Combat Cards, the Single Player Gang Behavior card, and 19 tokens: 6 Action, 3 Patriot, 4 Hideouts, 4 Drones, 1 Street Cred, and 1 Net!

Let's take a quick look at this gang's ability.

The 6th Street Gang are loyal patriots through and through, putting their lives on the line for the cause.

The PATRIOTIC PATROLS ability gets you 3 Patriot tokens that can be placed all across Night City at the end of your ACTIVATE step, at most 1 per district.

In the districts where your Patriot tokens were deployed, whenever your crew would kill opponents in a firefight, whether you initiate them or not, you gain Street Cred per unit killed. So, try to take out as many of them as you can!

Playing 6th Street, your primary focus should be on upgrading your Combat cards and reinforcing your districts with the Patriot tokens. You'll never know when you'll be attacked, so make sure your crew is geared up in full battle rattle.

Players will also get the 6th Street Gang Behavior card to use for Single Player, as well as a set of Starting Combat Cards and the 5-player setup card for your 5-player games!

Now let's start putting together this gang! 

Until the next one, C-YA.

Meet the Core Box Gangs
about 2 years ago – Sun, Jun 26, 2022 at 01:52:48 AM

Hey, choomba!

We hope you're having a great weekend so far. Today we decided to take a closer look at the Cyberpunk 2077: Gangs of Night City core box gangs.

The core box comes with 4 gangs, each with their unique aspects and abilities, Maelstrom, Valentinos, Tyger Claws, and Voodoo Boys, all seeking to rule the underground of Night City. They pursue this in their own ways, controlling their 3 types of units in the best way to achieve their goals.

Let's take a look into each individual gang and the characteristics that set them apart.

The Maelstrom is a combat-focused gang and their abilities lend themselves well to representing just how aggressive they are. It is perfect for players looking into getting into fights and upgrading as often as possible. 

Their first ability, WELL ARMED, allows you to draw extra Upgrade Combat cards when upgrading, giving you a wider selection of Upgrade Combat cards to choose from. Considering how strong each Upgrade Combat card is, this is not a trivial thing.

If you start your first turn with the Upgrade Combat card action, for example, you're immediately stronger than every other player. Ready to fight, and ready to defend.

The other Maelstrom ability, RAGE, is used to harness Street Cred at the end of the game based on how aggressive you were throughout the game. Every time you initiate a firefight or upgrade a combat card,  the Rage Track is moved up, earning you the allocated Street Cred amount once an end-game condition is triggered.

With RAGE, this also means that the Maelstrom gang can easily sneak upon their adversaries, as an opponent triggering an end-game condition does not immediately assure their victory. With the Street Cred boost, you could potentially overtake the leading player.

With a skillset stacked for combat like this, a player choosing the Maelstrom would be remiss to not be getting into fights as often as they can.

The Valentinos start in Heywood and are skilled opportunists, taking advantage of their relationships with businesses to undercut opponents at any time. 

With COMMUNITY SUPPORT, you're able to cut deals with the locals to secure Opportunities for yourself. If you control a Business Point of Interest, you may store or seize an Opportunity you had stored on a previous turn.

This allows you to store Opportunity cards to claim at a later time. See a deal you can’t pass on but don’t have the scratch saved? No worries. As the Valentinos, you can claim it for yourself first without penalties. 

There are 3 types of Opporuntiies: Braindance, Cyberware, and Weapon deals. These deals stack, giving players more rewards for each deal type they previously seized. With the Valentinos ability, you can essentially monopolize on the Opportunity type of your choosing, without worrying about opponents claiming them first.

If you're feeling particularly cruel, you can also store an Opportunity you know your opponents are eyeing, blocking them and stealing victory from right under their noses.

To the Tyger Claws, crew is family, and they will take it upon themselves to avenge their fallen brothers. 

With your REVENGE and PAYBACK abilities, any Tyger Claws units you lose in a firefight are handed to your opponents, representing the grudge your gang holds towards them. These units are now considered Revenge tokens. 

When you engage in a firefight with an opponent holding Revenge tokens, you gain additional firepower for each token they have. This can potentially stack to as many units as you have. On top of this, if they lose any units during this firefight, you'll earn yourself a bucketload of Street Cred. 

However, as useful and powerful Revenge tokens are, holding a grudge takes a toll on the gang. Units used as Revenge tokens are not considered to be in your reserve, meaning when recruiting new units, you need to make a decision - Recover Revenge tokens to hire the units you need and lose the grudge, or recruit units that are in your reserve that may be less useful for you at the moment.

With a good grasp of the board and your opponents' combat abilities, you can utilize your Revenge tokens to the best of your abilities, taking advantage of smaller losses suffered earlier to take the lead in the game in one fell swoop.

The Voodoo Boys specialize in Netrunning, meaning that, in order to take full advantage of your skills, you need to familiarize yourself with the Net.

With NETWATCH COUNTERMEASURES, you get to reroll both dice on a failed NetWatch roll. Considering NetWatch consequences can end up pretty dire, this extra insurance against NetWatch is something immensely useful that no other gang has. 

Also, unlike the other gangs, the Voodoo Boys Netrunners can even support their crew in combat. When you initiate a firefight and have a friendly Netrunner in the district, you get a boost in firepower for that firefight.

The Net carries many dangers, but many great benefits. Using the Net, you can manipulate the board and your opponents' units in ways they never can. And the more 'runs you make, the more Corporate Secrets you uncover as well.

Hint: Corporate Secrets are a wild resource that can be used in place of any other resource type.

With such Netrunning capabilities, it's in your best interest to have as many Netrunners as you can on the board immediately.

And that's it, all 4 gangs in the core box! Which gang is your favorite and which are you intending to play with first?

Until the next one, C-YA.

You Want Synthfries With That?
about 2 years ago – Sun, Jun 26, 2022 at 12:50:59 AM

Hey, choomba!

Kirk Sawyer has arrived, bringing the weekend with him!

Our next Stretch Goal is a true synthloin burger connoisseur.

If we reach $360k, we will unlock the Kickstarter Exclusive Big Joe for all backers, including his figure and Edgerunner card!

If you see Kirk, you'll know that Big Joe's around the corner; these two are as thick as thieves.

Big Joe may look intimidating, but that’s pretty much all he's got going for him. Even though he’s a Solo Edgerunner, he’s unable to initiate firefights when he is alone, where his true worth really comes with being fodder in a firefight, gaining Street Cred when he loses in combat.

Use this to your advantage when using Combat cards like Cyberpsychosis, doubling the Street Cred you'll gain at the end of a firefight if you lose Joe and have no units left in the district.

Until the next one, C-YA.

A Man of the Biz
about 2 years ago – Sun, Jun 26, 2022 at 12:50:53 AM

Hey, choomba!

Clear the LZ cause Trauma Team's coming in hot! 

The teams arrival was certainly aided by the reveal of our first Optional Buy, the Families and Outcasts expansion, which adds the Badlands district,  the Aldecaldos and Wraiths gangs, and a brand-new story to the game, in addition to expanding the game's maximum player count to 5! This Optional Buy also comes accompanied by the Kickstarter Exclusive Panam Edgerunner! If you haven't yet, make sure to check the expansion here!

If you try to loan eddies from this credshark for our next Stretch Goal, be sure you’re going to pay it back with interest and a little more.

If we reach $340k, we will unlock the Kickstarter Exclusive Kirk Sawyer for all backers, including his figure and Edgerunner card!

Kirk is a Specialist Edgerunner and claims to be the guy for any contraband you might need. He’s right on that account. If you hire Kirk, gain contraband on a RECLAIM if you control a Fixer Point of Interest.

As a Specialist, he doesn't move according to Solo, Techie, or Netrunner Actions. Kirk moves to any District of your choice the first time you spend a Contraband on your turn, which usually happens when seizing an Opportunity during your Techie's action. Line these up to maximize your RECLAIM turn and gain more Contraband!

Until the next one, C-YA.