Wasteland Express Delivery Service Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components
- Special Inventory Callouts
Game Setup
Gameplay Overview
- Purchasing Upgrades
How to Read Your Dashboard
- Assigning Action Markers
- Storing Cargo & Artifacts
How to Understand the Market
- Adjusting Market Prices
- Purchasing Artifacts
How to Resolve Combat
Taking Your Turn
Round Overview
End of the Game
Appendix A / Truck Mods
- Permanent Truck Mods
- Temp Truck Mods
Appendix B / Outpost Actions
Appendix C / Priority First-Class Contracts
Appendix D / Faction Jobs
Appendix E / Allies
- Hiring Allies
- Ally Abilities
Appendix F / Variants
History of the Wasteland / Faces and Factions
History of the Wasteland / The Drivers
Credits

Components

1 Mod Shop tray
1 Grand Lord Emperor Torque figure & 1 card
6 player trucks (1x each)
125 truck mods
25 action markers
3 raider trucks
75 cargo (25 food / 25 water / 25 weapons)
18 character standees (3x each)
6 "not welcome" standees (1x each)
10 combat dice, 1 raider check die, 1 RAD check die
105 $crap
6 dashboards (1x each)
1 Mod Shop reference board
1 market board
5 nuclear bombs
20 artifacts
40 damage tokens
15 dig tiles
16 terrain octagons
21 location tiles (17 outposts / 4 raider enclaves)
22 supply counters
36 demand counters
10 trailers
60 progress markers (10x each)
16 ally cards
9 raider truck cards
16 raider enclave cards
10 event cards
15 vision quest cards
8 priority first-class contract cards
45 faction job cards (15 Oracles of Ceres / 15 New Republic Army / 15 The Archivists)

Special Inventory Callouts

Terrain Octagon: center zone, irradiation symbol.

Location Tile: outpost name, faction alignment, cost, outpost action, demand counter space, supply counter space.

Faction Types

New Republic Army
Free Cities
The Archivists
Oracles of Ceres

Raider Coalitions

The Eyeless
Bonesaw
Nein Nein
The Railmen

Game Setup

These rules assume you are playing in free-play mode. When you are playing a scenario from the campaign mode, the scenario's setup instructions supersede those described here.

001. Create the Wasteland Map

A. Shuffle the 16 terrain octagons and distribute them randomly in a 4x4 grid to create the wasteland map.

B. Place the location tile labeled "The Depot" in the empty area between the central 4 terrain octagons.

C. Place the 4 raider enclaves in the center areas along the outer edges of the wasteland. The Railmen Enclave and the Nein Nein Enclave should be directly opposite one another.

D. Randomly distribute the other 16 outposts to fill all of the remaining empty areas in and along the outer edges of the wasteland.

E. Place the 3 raider trucks at random in 3 different corner terrain octagons.

002. Form the Reserve

A. Group the food crates, water barrels, and weapons crates by type off to the side of the play area as the "reserve." These are the 3 different types of cargo.

B. Set the Mod Shop tray in the reserve. In the tray, sort the truck mods and the trailers into separate slots by type.

C. Pile the $crap, which is the wasteland currency, in the reserve.

D. Shuffle separately all 3 faction job decks, both raider decks, the allies deck, and the events deck and place them all face down in the reserve, with room for discard piles.

E. Set all 12 dice (10 combat dice, 1 RAD check die, 1 raider check die) in the reserve.

003. Establish the Cargo Market

A. Set the market board off to the side, and place 1 cargo of each type on the marked starting space (food → 2; water → 3; weapons → 4) on the market board's price wheel.

B. Put 1 artifact on each space of the market board's artifact price chart, leaving only the starting price ($7) uncovered. Then stack the remaining 6 artifacts on the final space.

C. Shuffle the 21 supply counters face down and randomly place 1 face up on each outpost that supplies cargo. Leave the remaining supply counters in a face-down stack. Repeat the process with the 36 demand counters. (If a double demand counter would be placed, put it back in the stack and draw until you get a single demand counter; double demand counters will only appear during play, not during the initial setup.)

D. Adjust the price wheel, moving each cargo forward 1 price space for each active demand counter of the corresponding type.

E. Place 2 cargo in the back of each raider truck. To do this, draw the top 3 cards from the raider truck deck, 1 at a time, and add the indicated cargo to the back of 1 of the raider trucks. When you are finished, shuffle the drawn cards back into the raider truck deck.

004. Set Up Contracts & Events

A. Always use the "Blue Screen of Death" contract. Shuffle the other cards in the priority first-class contract deck and draw 2 more at random. Return the remaining cards to the box; they will not be used in this game.

B. Place the 3 selected contracts face-up off to the side. (See Appendix C – Priority First-Class Contracts, p. 17 for additional setup instructions on certain contracts.)

C. Shuffle the events deck face-down, then put the "Welcome to the Wasteland" event card on top, face-up. Give the events deck to a randomly selected start player.

005. Prepare the Player Areas

A. Give each player $10 in $crap, 2 cargo holds (1 general storage, 1 weapons storage), and the following to match their chosen character: 5 action markers, a "not welcome" standee, 3 character standees, 10 progress markers, a dashboard, and their truck.

Each player can simply choose their favorite character or you can agree to select them in reverse turn order (i.e., the player who will go last in the first round selects their character first, and so on).

B. Place each player's cargo holds on their dashboard, and each player's truck on the Depot (in the center of the wasteland).

C. Put the 5 action markers in the [AVAILABLE] section of each player's dashboard.

D. Group each player's 3 character standees on their driver's identification card at the top right of their dashboard, with their "not welcome" standee and 10 progress markers nearby.

E. Each player draws 1 card from each faction job deck (i.e., 3 total) and chooses 1 to keep; the other 2 are discarded, face down, to the bottom of their respective decks.

F. Each player receives their unique character bonus, listed under the character's name on their dashboard.

Gameplay Overview

You and your competitors are all employees of the Wasteland Express Delivery Service—the craziest (and only) delivery company left on earth. You'll be earning $crap by delivering food, water, and weapons to various outposts across the wasteland. You'll need to upgrade your truck along the way to hold more cargo and to increase your firepower for run-ins with raiders.

There will be 3 priority first-class contracts available to all players at the start of every game, but you can take on additional private contracts by visiting the capitals of the 3 factions. Generally speaking, you won't get paid for completing contracts, but the Wasteland Express Delivery Service home office is rewarded handsomely for them, and therefore requires drivers to take on those contracts to remain employed by the company.

Contracts vary from straightforward cargo deliveries to attacking raiders to some truly zany jobs. The first player to complete 3 contracts—in any combination of public and private contracts—wins the game!

Purchasing Upgrades

You can upgrade your truck with permanent truck mods, temp truck mods, and trailers, and you can also hire an ally to ride along (plus one additional ally per sleeper cab mod). When you purchase a truck mod, there must be an available slot on your dashboard, or else you have to remove a mod (returning it to the reserve) to free up a slot. Allies do not take up slots on your dashboard, while trailers add additional slots to your truck.

How to Read Your Dashboard

Your truck is your means of hauling cargo and artifacts across the wasteland to complete contracts and earn $crap. It is the lifeblood of your operation. It's important that you understand the different sections of your truck's dashboard and how they interact with upgrades, action markers, and cargo.

Assigning Action Markers

Your dashboard has a section labeled [AVAILABLE] where your action markers will begin each round. From there, you will assign an action marker on each turn to a different section of the dashboard in order to take the corresponding action. Each action is described in greater detail later on.

Storing Cargo & Artifacts

Cargo must be stored in the appropriate cargo holds, and only 1 cargo can be stored per hold. Each general storage hold can store 1 food crate or 1 water barrel, and each weapons storage hold can store 1 weapons crate. Cargo may be voluntarily discarded at any time. An artifact (required for certain contracts) can be stored in any open cargo hold.

How to Understand the Market

The market board has 2 important functions. The price wheel shows the current market prices for all 3 types of cargo (water, weapons, and food), which will be adjusted as demand fluctuates. The artifact price chart shows the ever-increasing cost of artifacts.

Adjusting Market Prices

After each cargo delivery, discard the fulfilled demand counter and replace it with a new demand counter from the face-down stack. Then, adjust the market prices to reflect the new level of demand for the 3 types of cargo (water, weapons, and food).

Supply counters do not affect the market price of goods. Only demand counters affect market price.

For each cargo type, calculate the current level of demand (i.e., the total number of active demand counters of that type) and increase or decrease the market price accordingly. The market price for each type of cargo is always its starting position on the price wheel (food → 2; water → 3; weapons → 4) plus the total number of active demand counters of that type.

Example: 4 outposts currently have a demand for food, so the market price for food is $6. Nate delivers food to 1 of those outposts, then discards the food demand counter and reveals the next demand counter from the stack, which is water. On the price wheel, the market price of food decreases by $1 (dropping from $6 to $5), while the market price of water increases by $1.

Purchasing Artifacts

When purchasing an artifact (available only at Dispatch), you will pay the highest uncovered price on the artifact price chart. At the start of the game, the cost of the first artifact will be $7. As players buy artifacts, the price will increase at certain intervals.

Example: Molly is the first to purchase artifacts, and wants to buy 3. The first artifact will cost $7. When she loads this artifact onto her truck, the price of the next artifact is revealed to be $8. She purchases this one too, revealing the price of the third artifact to be $8 as well. Her total purchase of 3 artifacts costs $23. The next artifact that is purchased will cost $9.

When an artifact is delivered to complete a contract, or discarded for any reason, add it to the stack of artifacts on the last space of the artifact price chart.

Players will never receive income for delivering artifacts, unlike with cargo. Artifacts are needed for the completion of contracts only.

How to Resolve Combat

There are 2 different ways in which you might find yourself in combat. Firstly, you can enter normal combat with the raider enclaves or the raider trucks you encounter in the wasteland; if you succeed in normal combat, you then pillage cargo from the raiders. Secondly, you can find yourself in a raider ambush out in the wasteland and must fend off the raiders.

Normal Combat

Reveal the top raider card from either the raider enclave deck or raider truck deck, based on which raider type you are attacking. (If the corresponding deck is empty, reshuffle its discard pile to form a new deck.) The number on the revealed card is the raiders' defense value for this combat.

Roll 2 combat dice plus any additional dice granted by your truck mods. (Each die can roll either 1 hit, 2 hits, 3 hits, or a miss.) Total the number of hits rolled on all dice and add any bonus hits from your truck mods.

If the result is greater than or equal to the defense value of the raiders, then you are successful in combat.

Success: Move the action marker from [COMBAT] to [PILLAGE] and either take the cargo shown on the raider card (if you attacked an enclave) or from the back of the raider truck (if you attacked a raider truck) and load them onto your truck — but only if you have the storage capacity! Any pillaged cargo that cannot be stored must be discarded back to the reserve.
Fail: Your truck takes 1 damage.

After the combat has been fully resolved, discard the raider card. If you pillaged a raider truck, refill that truck with the cargo shown on the raider card before you discard it.

Raider Ambush

You can be ambushed by raiders in the wasteland, usually on another player's turn, if a raider truck is moved into the same terrain as your truck. If you are ambushed, reveal the top card from the raider truck deck. The number on that card is the raiders' defense value for this combat.

Roll 2 combat dice plus any additional dice granted by your truck mods. Total the number of hits rolled on all dice and add any bonus hits from your truck mods. If the total is greater than or equal to the defense value of the raiders, then you are successful in combat.

Success: You have fended off the raider ambush! Nothing else happens. (You never pillage cargo during an ambush.)
Fail: Your truck takes 1 damage.

After the combat has been fully resolved, discard the raider card.

If multiple players are ambushed in the same terrain, they will each fend off an attack from the same raider (i.e., using the stats from the same raider truck card). In turn order, each player will resolve combat separately to determine if they take damage.

Taking Damage

During combat, your truck might take damage. If it does, take a damage token from the reserve and assign it to any available slot on your dashboard. That slot is now considered unavailable, and any upgrade currently in that slot is inactive (but not discarded) until the slot has been repaired. Your truck can never be destroyed; if all slots are damaged, any damage you would take is ignored.

You can assign a damage token to a full cargo hold, in which case you must discard its contents; discarded cargo always goes back to the reserve, while discarded artifacts are added to the stack on the last space of the artifact price chart.

Taking Your Turn

On your turn, you take one action of your choice (or pass). To take an action, you move an unused action marker from [AVAILABLE] to the corresponding section of your dashboard. The number of actions you can take each round is limited to the number of action markers you have, and certain actions have a maximum number of activations per round; you cannot take an action if you do not have an available slot in that section of your dashboard.

There are 6 available actions:

Move Your Truck
Attack Raiders
Purchase Cargo
Deliver Cargo
Activate an Outpost
Bonus Action

Move Your Truck

The terrain octagons that make up the wasteland are divided into zones. Some terrain is easy to cross, and some is not. The more difficult the terrain, the more zones it has.

Each zone, outpost, or raider enclave you move into counts as 1 space. You may move through or into the same zone, outpost, or raider enclave as other players, but you may never move into the center zone of any terrain; the center zones are for raider trucks only.

When you take a [MOVEMENT] action, assign an action marker to the left-most available slot in the [MOVEMENT] section of your dashboard. The number in that slot indicates the maximum number of spaces you're allowed to move during this action. (You may move less than the maximum.)

Utilizing Momentum

The more [MOVEMENT] actions that you take in a row, the more momentum your truck has and the farther you can move your truck with each subsequent [MOVEMENT] action.

Example: Jon, playing as Tweek, wants to take advantage of momentum to travel quickly across the wasteland. On his first turn, Jon takes a [MOVEMENT] action, moving his truck 3 spaces in the wasteland. On his second turn, Jon again takes a [MOVEMENT] action and moves his truck 4 more spaces. On his third turn, Jon takes another [MOVEMENT] action and moves his truck 4 more spaces (though he has 5 available).

However, as soon as you take any action other than [MOVEMENT], either on this turn or a future turn, move all action markers from the [MOVEMENT] section over to [USED]; you no longer have any momentum.

Taking a Second Action Immediately

After finishing your [MOVEMENT] action, but before the next player's turn begins, you may choose to immediately slide that action marker to any other section of your dashboard (besides [BONUS]) and take the corresponding action, if you're able. This is the only way to take 2 actions in the same turn.

If you choose to take a second action, you will lose momentum.

Example: On his turn, Ben takes a [MOVEMENT] action and moves his truck up to 4 spaces (1). He ends his movement at a location with demand for the cargo he is carrying, so he immediately "slides" his action marker to [DELIVER] to deliver the in-demand cargo as a second action in the same turn (2). Ben then moves all other action markers from [MOVEMENT] to [USED], as he has lost momentum (B).

Irradiated Zones

You may move through or into irradiated zones. When you enter an irradiated zone (but not when you leave), you must immediately roll the RAD check die: if you roll a RAD symbol, your truck takes 1 damage. Once you've completed the roll, regardless of the outcome, you may continue your move.

Engaging Raiders

If you move into terrain containing a raider truck or arrive at a raider enclave, you may engage the raiders in combat. If you choose to engage the raiders, end your movement immediately and slide your action marker from [MOVEMENT] to [COMBAT] on your dashboard, then proceed with normal combat. If you choose not to engage the raiders, you may continue your movement, but first you must roll the raider check die: if you roll a hit symbol, your truck takes 1 damage.

Raider Movement

When you have completed your movement, if there is a raider icon in your current zone, move the corresponding raider truck from its current terrain into any adjacent (i.e., directly touching) terrain. If there is already a raider truck in the target terrain, you may choose to move the truck in that direction, but it will move twice in that direction, effectively leapfrogging the existing raider truck and stopping in the terrain directly on the other side. After the raider truck has been moved, if there are any player trucks in the terrain to which the raider truck moved, all players in that terrain are immediately ambushed. (See Raider Ambush, p. 10.)

Raider trucks don't occupy the same zones that players move through. Raider trucks always stay in the central zone of any terrain; therefore, players trucks and raider trucks will never occupy the same zone.

Attack Raiders

You can attack the raider enclaves and raider trucks out in the wasteland. (You may not attack outposts or other players' trucks.)

While at a raider enclave or in the same terrain as a raider truck, you can assign an action marker to [COMBAT] to attack. Resolve normal combat. (See Normal Combat, p. 10.)

You can only successfully attack the raiders (and pillage cargo) once per round. Once you've done so, you can still fend off raider ambushes and roll the raider check die later in the round, but you cannot enter normal combat of your own accord for the rest of the round.

Purchase Cargo

Some outposts have extra supplies of food, water, or weapons and are willing to sell them. While at an outpost with a supply counter, you may purchase (returning $crap used for payment to the reserve) any quantity of the cargo type corresponding to the supply counter, at the price listed on the supply counter, but never more than you can afford or have room to store on your truck.

When you are done purchasing cargo — remember, you can only do this once per round — discard the supply counter, face up, and replace it with a supply counter from the face-down stack. (If the stack runs out, shuffle all discarded supply counters to form a new face-down stack, then draw 1.)

Deliver Cargo

Some outposts need food, water, and/or weapons and will pay the market price for the cargo when you deliver them. While at an outpost with a demand counter, you may deliver any quantity of the cargo type corresponding to the demand counter, at the market price. If the outpost has a double demand counter, you must deliver at least 1 cargo of each type indicated.

To deliver cargo, first offload all cargo you wish to deliver, moving them from your dashboard back to the reserve. For each cargo, take payment in $crap from the reserve, according to the market price. Finally, place your "not welcome" standee at the outpost.

You can't deliver cargo to the same outpost twice in a row. Your "not welcome" standee serves as a reminder of which outpost was the target of your most recent delivery. You struck a good bargain — and you were kind of a dick — so they aren't interested in purchasing from you again until you've done business with another outpost.

When you are done delivering cargo, discard the demand counter, face up, and replace it with a demand counter from the face-down stack. (If the stack runs out, shuffle all discarded demand counters to form a new face-down stack, then draw 1.) Then, you must adjust the market prices of cargo. (See Adjusting Market Prices, p. 9.)

Bonus Action

Some actions related to the completion of contracts can only be taken by assigning an action marker to the [BONUS] section on your dashboard. This is the only action that you cannot "slide" into from a [MOVEMENT] action; in other words, completing a [BONUS] action takes your entire turn. (See Appendix C – Priority First-Class Contracts, p. 17, to see which require a [BONUS] action to complete.)

Activate an Outpost

While at an outpost, you may choose to take advantage of the outpost's unique action. [OUTPOST] actions may allow you to repair your truck, take on new faction jobs, hire allies, or purchase upgrades. (See Appendix B – Outpost Actions, p. 17.)

In addition, you must take an [OUTPOST] action in order to complete certain faction jobs. (See Appendix D – Faction Jobs, p. 19.)

Pass

You may choose to pass on your turn by moving an action marker to the [USED] section of your dashboard. There is no benefit to passing and, with good planning, it is unlikely to occur.

Round Overview

Wasteland Express Delivery Service is played in a series of rounds until one player wins. In each round, the start player reveals the top card of the events deck (reshuffling the events discard pile, if the deck is empty), and the event is resolved and discarded. Then, players take turns in clockwise order, one at a time, until each player has taken 5 turns (i.e., the first player takes 1 turn, then the second player takes 1 turn, and so on).

Each player starts a round with 5 action markers, initially placed on [AVAILABLE] on their dashboard. Players will assign their action markers to specific sections of their dashboard in order to carry out the corresponding actions.

The end of a round occurs once all players have taken all their actions. At that point, all players reset their action markers to [AVAILABLE], the event deck is passed clockwise, and a new round begins. The new player in possession of the events deck will be start player that round.

End of the Game

The end of the game occurs immediately when any player has fulfilled the requirements of the scenario — most commonly, to complete 3 priority first-class contracts, in any combination of public and private contracts. That player wins the game!

Keep an eye on how many character standees your opponents' have left on their dashboards. That will tell you how close they are to victory.

Appendix A / Truck Mods

Truck mods can be purchased at the franchise locations of the Mod Shop and Temp Mod Shop. Permanent truck mods are available exclusively at the Mod Shop (with 2 exceptions — see below) and temp truck mods are available exclusively at the Temp Mod Shop. When you visit a Mod Shop or Temp Mod Shop location, you may purchase as many truck mods as you can afford and have space for on your dashboard.

All truck mods are physically limited to the number included in the box. If all mods of a single type are on player trucks, that type is temporarily unavailable for purchase.

There is no limit to the number of truck mods of a single type that a truck can have, with the exception of those mods marked below with an asterisk, which are limited to 1 per truck.

Permanent Truck Mods

Permanent truck mods are placed in slots on your dashboard and remain there throughout the game (unless you choose to discard them, in which case they are returned to the reserve).

Armor* ($2): Absorbs the next 2 damage. The first time your truck would take damage, put a damage token on the armor mod. The second time, remove the armor mod and damage token. Armor is the only truck mod with a dedicated slot on your dashboard (on the front of the cab), and it is the only truck mod that can be placed in that slot.
Broker* ($1): Gives you an additional $2 every time you deliver cargo (this is per delivery, not per cargo delivered). Available only at Serenity.
Cargo Hold → General Storage ($3): Store 1 food crate or water barrel.
Cargo Hold → Weapons Storage ($5): Store 1 weapons crate.
Digger* ($11): Allows you to dig for buried treasure. It is only required for "The Big Dig," a public contract.
Gunner ($9): Roll 1 additional die during combat rolls.
Machine Gun ($6): Add 1 hit to the final result of your combat roll.
Nuclear Vault* ($4): Allows you to haul a nuclear bomb. It is only required for "Questionable Decisions," a public contract.
RAD Shield* ($4): Allows you to move through an irradiated zone without having to roll the RAD check die. Available only at New Chernobyl.
Sleeper Cab ($2): Carry 1 additional ally.
Turbo ($7): May move 1 additional space during each [MOVEMENT] action.

The RAD shield and broker are considered permanent truck mods, even though they are not available at the Mod Shop or Temp Mod Shop.

Temp Truck Mods

Temp truck mods are placed in slots on your dashboard but are discarded after a single use and returned to the reserve.

Delivery Bonus ($2): Earn an additional $5 for any cargo delivery. (Does not count toward the requirements of the $18+ delivery contracts.)
Escort ($2): Immediately move your truck to anywhere in the wasteland. This does not require an action.
Missile ($2): Add 2 hits to the final result of your combat roll. You must commit to using a missile before you roll. You can commit multiple missiles to a single roll.

Appendix B / Outpost Actions

Most — but not all — of the outposts in the wasteland offer a special action that you can take by assigning an action marker to the [OUTPOST] section of your dashboard on your turn, if your truck is in that location.

Box Canyon: Visit the Temp Mod Shop to purchase temp truck mods.
The Coffers: Take $3 from the reserve.
The Depot: Repair all damage to your truck for $3, purchase trailers — which provide extra slots for truck mods and storing cargo — for $8 each, or both. There is a limit of 2 trailers per truck.
Dispatch: Purchase artifacts at the current price (indicated by the artifact price chart).
Motown: Visit the Temp Mod Shop to purchase temp truck mods.
The Library: Take on a private faction job from the Archivists. (Draw 3, keep 1.)
New Alexandria: Visit the Mod Shop to purchase permanent truck mods.
New Chernobyl: Purchase a RAD shield for $4.
Corinth: Take on a private faction job from the Oracles of Ceres. (Draw 3, keep 1.)
Delos: Visit the Mod Shop to purchase permanent truck mods.
Serenity: Hire a broker for $1.
The Citadel: Take on a private faction job from the New Republic Army. (Draw 3, keep 1.)
The Rock: Hire an ally for $3. (Draw 2, keep 1.)
Terminus: Visit the Mod Shop to purchase permanent truck mods.

Appendix C / Priority First-Class Contracts

Priority first-class contracts are the primary objective in Wasteland Express Delivery Service. The first player to complete 3 separate contracts will win the game.

Some contracts have multiple steps. For these, use the 10 progress markers you have to track your progress toward completion.

When you complete a contract (either public or private), move 1 of your 3 character standees from your dashboard onto that contract. This will allow you and the other players to see which contracts you have completed, and how many.

Multiple players can complete the same public contract, but a private contract (drawn from a faction job deck) can only be completed by the player who drew it.

Bailout

To complete this contract, take a [BONUS] action while at New New York and then pay $crap equal to the lowest uncovered amount showing on the contract. When you place 1 of your character standees on the contract, cover the amount of $crap that you paid.

Example: Nathan was the first player to complete the Bailout contract, and he paid 25 $crap. Matt was the second to complete it, and he paid 30 $crap. All subsequent players must each pay 35 $crap to complete the contract.

The Big Dig

During setup, take the 15 dig tiles out of the box. Create a pool of these by selecting 2 empty tiles and 1 treasure tile per player (i.e., in a 4-player game, you will have 8 empty tiles and 4 treasure tiles). Then, shuffle the pool of selected tiles together, face down, and distribute them around the wasteland as evenly as possible.

To complete this contract, you must first purchase a digger mod from the Mod Shop. Once your truck is properly equipped, you can excavate a dig tile in the same zone as your truck by taking a [BONUS] action. If it is an empty tile, remove it from the game. If it is a treasure tile, you must store it in any empty cargo hold or any empty slot on your dashboard.

Once you have the treasure on your truck, you must deliver it to the Librarian. While at the Library, take a [BONUS] action to deliver the treasure, and then remove the treasure tile from the game.

Blue Screen of Death

To complete this contract, while at the Depot and carrying 3 artifacts on your truck, take a [BONUS] action to deliver them. (You must deliver all 3 artifacts at 1 time.)

Grand Lord Emperor Torque

During setup, place the Grand Lord Emperor Torque figure at the Eyeless Enclave and the associated card somewhere nearby.

To complete this contract, you must defeat the Grand Lord Emperor Torque in combat. To do so, take a [COMBAT] action while at the Eyeless Enclave. Then, determine his defense value by rolling 2 combat dice; his defense value is the number of hits you rolled, plus 7. After his defense value has been determined, make your normal combat roll. If you succeed, you take no damage and have completed the contract. If you fail, your truck takes 2 damage.

You may always choose to attack the enclave normally instead of attacking the Grand Lord Emperor Torque.

Kill 'Em All

To complete this contract, you must pillage (i.e., succeed in combat against) all 4 raider enclaves. When you pillage an enclave, place 1 of your progress markers on the enclave to indicate that you have fulfilled that portion of the contract's requirements.

Once you have successfully pillaged all 4 raider enclaves, remove your progress markers from the enclaves, as they are no longer needed.

Questionable Decisions

During setup, take the 5 nuclear bombs out of the box and stack them near the Railmen Enclave.

For this contract, it is critical that the Railmen Enclave and Nein Nein Enclave are correctly placed on opposite sides of the wasteland map during setup.

To complete this contract, you first must purchase a nuclear vault from the Mod Shop. Once your truck is properly equipped, you then must successfully attack the Railmen Enclave. Instead of pillaging the cargo listed on the raider enclave card, you may instead collect a nuclear bomb, which can be stored only in the nuclear vault.

While you are carrying a nuclear bomb, every time your truck enters new terrain, you will automatically be ambushed by raiders. Reveal a raider truck card and resolve a raider ambush; if you fail to fend off the ambush, return the nuclear bomb to the Railmen Enclave.

If you arrive at the Nein Nein Enclave with the nuclear bomb on your truck, take a [BONUS] action to deliver the nuclear bomb and complete the contract.

You may not use the escort temp mod while a nuclear bomb is stored on your truck. You must drive the bomb across the wasteland.

Smuggler

To complete this contract, you must finish 1 smuggling run for each faction. Smuggling runs are specific faction jobs, available in the faction job decks, marked with the envelope icon. Each finished smuggling run should be placed face up near your dashboard; once you have finished all required 3 smuggling runs, the contract is complete.

Vision Quest

During setup, take the 15 vision quest cards out of the box. The cards are labeled 1A, 1B, 1C, etc. Create 5 stacks of 3 cards each (A on top, B in the middle, C on bottom) and place them face down near Motown's location in the wasteland.

While in Motown, take a [BONUS] action to take on 1 of these contracts. When you do, select 1 of these stacks, and take the top card (A) of that stack. Once you have fulfilled the requirements listed on that card, place it face up. You may then look at and take the next card in the stack.

Repeat the process until you've fulfilled the requirements of all 3 cards (A, B, C) in order. The contract is now complete! Remove those 3 cards from the game.

Appendix D / Faction Jobs

Fiat Currency: Look, I'm gonna level with you. $crap isn't worth anything. We just made it up. Told people we keep gold in a vault and you can convert your $crap into gold. Total lie. My people are loaded down with loans they can't pay off. We stopped growing our own food years ago. We keep minting more $crap and loaning our people more money so they can buy food. House of cards. I LOVE it. Living on the edge, man. It could all crash any minute.

Taking on Faction Jobs

To take on a faction job, you have to take an [OUTPOST] action when you are at the capital of 1 of the wasteland factions:

The Library: Capital of the Archivists
The Citadel: Capital of the New Republic Army
Corinth: Capital of the Oracles of Ceres

When you do, draw 3 cards from the corresponding faction job deck and choose 1 to keep, returning the others, face down, to the bottom of that deck.

Keep your incomplete faction job cards in your hand, hidden from all other players. You may have a maximum of 5 incomplete or in-progress faction jobs at a time; if you take on another (i.e., sixth) faction job, you must discard any 1 faction job to the bottom of the corresponding faction deck.

Completing Faction Jobs

To complete a faction job, you simply need to fulfill whatever requirements are listed on the card — usually, delivering cargo to an outpost. (Unless otherwise specified, you only need to deliver 1 cargo of the type indicated.) When you have completed a faction job, place the card face up near your dashboard and take the listed reward.

Making a delivery for a faction job requires you to take an [OUTPOST] action, not a [DELIVER] action. Unlike normal deliveries, faction job deliveries do not require the outpost to have a matching demand counter, and making the delivery does not fulfill demand for that outpost or cause any adjustment in the market price of cargo. Do not move your "not welcome" standee when making a delivery for a faction job.

Needs of the Few: As you may or may not know, the Oracles do not believe, strictly speaking, in ownership of, well, anything. That does not, however, mean all of their followers share in their enthusiasm for the collective good. The Five Families have some interest in Attica and are looking to curry favor with a friend there. Requirements: Deliver water or weapons to Attica. Reward: $4 + Draw 2 Allies, keep 1.

Some faction jobs do not reward $crap as a payout, because they instead count as 1 of the 3 priority first-class contracts required to win the game. Upon completing 1 of these faction jobs, place a character standee on the card to mark that you've completed it.

Some faction jobs have multiple requirements (generally, to deliver cargo to multiple outposts). In these instances, place the card face up when you have fulfilled the first requirement on the card and then mark the fulfilled requirement with 1 of your progress markers. Once you've fulfilled all requirements, remove those progress markers from the card.

According to keikaku: After our victory at Silo 42, we wanted to take time to focus on our own outposts. It has come to my attention that, as a result of our inward focus over the last few months, supply lines have fallen into disrepair and something of a Black Market has sprung up in some outposts. I am not surprised, given that we had to leave it in the hands of the Wasteland Express. Requirements: Fulfill demand for food and/or water 5x.

Smuggling Runs

Some faction jobs are "smuggling runs" — secretive jobs given to you by members of the shady Black Market. Smuggling runs are marked by the envelope icon in the top-right corner of the card. These jobs are often a good way to make some extra $crap and pick up allies to ride along on your truck. Certain faction jobs (and "Smuggler," a public contract) require you to complete a number of smuggling runs from specific faction job decks.

Appendix E / Allies

Allies are mercenaries, former convicts, and Black Market muscle who will join your crew — for the right price, of course. They provide you with bonuses that are active as long as they are on your truck.

Hiring Allies

To hire an ally, pay $3 to the reserve when you are at the Rock. When you do, draw 2 cards from the allies deck and keep 1, returning the other, face down, to the bottom of the deck. (You can only hire 1 ally per action.)

You can normally carry only 1 ally, but each sleeper cab mod you have on your truck allows you to carry 1 additional ally. If hiring an ally would put your truck over capacity, you must discard an ally, putting the card, face down, on the bottom of the allies deck.

If a sleeper cab is damaged, you may need to discard an ally if you have more than your truck can now carry. Discarded ally cards should be removed from the game.

Ally Abilities

Each ally has an ability that provides a bonus of some kind. Some make your deliveries more valuable or your Mod Shop purchases cheaper, others assist you in moving around the wasteland, and still others aid you in combat.

Armistice: You may move +1 space when taking a second [MOVEMENT] action in a row.
Big John Sr.: When you visit the Mod Shop, pay $2 less.
Bonesaw: When performing a RAD check, you may reroll once.
The Brothers: Gain +$2 on water deliveries.
Butch: Gain +$2 on food deliveries.
Cap: You may move +1 space when taking a second [MOVEMENT] action in a row.
Chief: Gain +$2 on weapons deliveries.
The Creep: When performing a RAD check, you may reroll once.
Dead Eye: When you purchase cargo, pay $1 less.
Grease Monkey: When you visit the Mod Shop, pay $2 less.
The Great Preservative: Gain +$2 on food deliveries.
Molls Electric: Gain +$2 on water deliveries.
Mortar: If you would fail in combat, after taking damage, you may reroll any 1 die.
Shady: When you purchase cargo, pay $1 less.
Squishy: If you would fail in combat, after taking damage, you may reroll any 1 die.
Syndicate: Gain +$2 on weapons deliveries.

All delivery bonuses provided by allies are per delivery, not per cargo delivered. Similarly, Mod Shop discounts are per visit, not per item purchased, and cargo discounts are per purchase, not per cargo purchased.

Appendix F / Variants

Matt's Risky Smuggling Variant

To introduce an element of risk to smuggling runs, in this variant each successful smuggling run pays 2 less $crap than its listed value. However, there's a chance for a bonus payout from your smuggling client: roll 2 combat dice and take bonus $crap equal to the number of hits (0 - 6) rolled.

Ben's Brutal Competition Variant

Designed for combat-loving souls, this variant allows you to engage other player trucks in combat when in the same terrain. Both players roll their allotted combat dice (with the defender rolling first — the order is important if either player is committing missiles) and apply any bonuses. Whoever rolls more hits wins the combat. If the attacker wins, they may pillage any 1 cargo (but not an artifact) from the defender, but the defender takes no damage. If the defender wins, the attacker takes 1 damage. You are not required to engage another player in combat, and you do not roll the raider check die when passing a player truck. Warning: This will make the game longer!

Jon's Raider Warping Variant

To make the raider movement patterns less predictable, this variant allows raider trucks to be moved off the edge of the wasteland map and reappear on the opposite edge. (This can be done in any of the 4 cardinal directions, but not diagonally.) All other rules pertaining to raider truck movement still apply.

Nathan's "I Hate Event Decks" Variant

If you hate event decks, don't use it! Just pass the "Welcome to the Wasteland" card each round to denote who is the start player.

Uwe and Stefan's "Perfect Information-Palooza" Variant

Ignore all players' unique character bonuses.

History of the Wasteland / Faces and Factions

New Republic Army

Until recently, the New Republic Army was far and away the most powerful faction in the world. Their "freedom patrols" gave them control of large swaths of the wasteland and largely kept raider activities in check. Highly trained military specialists made them an absolute force to be reckoned with. Their leader, General Washington Eisenhower Houston, long ago publicly stated his goal was to unite all of the outposts under the leadership of the New Republic Army and eradicate the raiders from the face of the planet.

Their war against the raiders did not go according to plan. After several months of successful work, the raiders, under the leadership of the Grand Lord Emperor Torque, launched an early-morning offensive outside of Silo 42 and crushed the forces of the New Republic Army. It was, frankly, a bloodbath. Torque was killed in the battle, but the losses suffered by the New Republic Army were catastrophic. They have since retreated into their outposts and there are whispers of an insurrection mounting to oust General Houston.

The Archivists

For as long as anyone can remember, the Archivists have been obsessed with rediscovering the secrets of the world that was. Technology, information, culture, art, and economic ideas that they believe can return us all to the life we were supposed to live. Most of their recent infatuation seems to revolve around a period of great prosperity that they have dubbed "the Gipper Years."

The Library, their capital, was originally set up as a research institution and for decades was turning out new discoveries that allowed humanity to reclaim much of the wasteland and gave us the knowledge to repair old machinery and get it up and running again. The innovations have largely stopped in recent years, and an obsession with free market economics and maximizing profits has become the primary goal of their leader, the Librarian.

The N.U.N., New Federal Reserve, and New New York Stock Exchange are the backbone of the wasteland's economy, and their importance in society cannot be overstated.

Oracles of Ceres

These religious fanatics blame mankind for the fall of the world. They believe greed, war, and technology led people to begin worshipping themselves instead of the gods and goddesses, and that this hubris led to the eventual downfall of humanity.

The priestesses and oracles have appropriated a mish-mash of deities from world history across multiple cultures. Primarily obsessed with goddesses of the harvest and prosperity, they believe through contrition and blood sacrifice that the land will flow with water and grow green again.

The Oracle of Delos is their leader, and, while she publicly does not believe in individual ownership of goods and decries wealth and greed, it's a poorly kept secret that she and her priestesses live a far better life than their followers do. While they do not believe in money, they understand the need to trade for goods with outsiders and will begrudgingly do business with the Wasteland Express Delivery Service — at least until the goddesses return the land to prosperity.

Raiders

Not much needs to be said about the raiders. Crazies that don't fit into society, most of them with an insatiable blood lust. They are loosely cobbled together into four coalitions, but loyalty is non-existent among most of them. Half of what they do doesn't make any logical sense, and the other half makes even less. They patrol the wasteland attacking whatever they see and stealing what they need to survive. The official position of the Wasteland Express is to do whatever needs be done to survive in the wasteland. Killing raiders is fair game.

The Black Market

The Black Market is run by an unsavory group that helps individuals willing to pay a high price get what they need. Morally ambiguous doesn't even begin to describe them. They have never met a job they wouldn't take or a piece of $crap they didn't like.

They have weaseled their way into every facet of civilization and carefully cultivated relationships with all of the wasteland's leaders. They play all sides of any situation for profit, and regularly work with the Wasteland Express for the completion of certain jobs.

Cypher

This mysterious female tech expert has a network of individuals in her employ. Seems to possess as much information as the Black Market. Well, almost. Rumors point to her being a former high-ranking member of the Archivists. Other rumors say she's self-trained in old technology, especially communications and computer systems, with a knack for hijacking them. No one really knows where she and her network operate from, but she can be reached by the Wasteland Express when needed.

The Five Families

The Five Families have their fingers in pretty much every reach of wasteland society, including some influence over the saner raiders. While their activities remain mostly legal in the free cities, their more profitable endeavors are in the faction capitals where certain vices may not be allowed, strictly speaking. But the Five Families manage to have little issue with their day-to-day operations.

History of the Wasteland / The Drivers

The Wasteland Express Delivery Service has a simple credo: "Do what the company says. Don't kill anyone who's not a raider. Don't steal from the company or its employees." Anything else is pretty well fair game. The lone requirement for employment is the completion of priority first-class contracts on their behalf. Drivers are free to keep what $crap they earn, so the company depends on the contracts to keep the lights on.

Zero: Former Squad Leader for the New Republic Army, now driver for the Wasteland Express. Likes shooting raiders. Not big on orders. Lost her entire squad in the Battle of Silo 42. Blames herself some; blames raiders more. Once the New Republic Army announced their plans to stop patrolling the wasteland, she got the hell out. Hard to kill raiders when they are shut away in an enclave. Anger management is not her strong suit.

Big John: For him, driving is a family affair. His dad, Big John Sr., hung up his trucker hat a few years ago. His grandad still works in dispatch for the company. For Big John, hauling and the freedom of the road are the name of the game, and the only life he's ever known. He's got no issue shooting a raider or two in the face, mind you. Perk of the job, as it were.

Gat: The company's newest driver grew up in Box Canyon. His mom runs the Mod Shop there. Not sure where he got his arm, and we haven't really asked. Told me once he's never felt more alive than when he's got the pedal down, window open, and a molotov cocktail aimed at a raider convoy.

Bandit: They said he'd have to sell his sweet ride if he wanted to haul cargo across the wasteland. He told them where to stick that notion and bought a trailer. Bandit drives hard and loves harder. He's never met $crap he didn't like or a raider he didn't want to kill. 'Cept Tweek, who he wants to kill only some of the time.

The Fallen: Cultist-turned-freelancer who doesn't say much. Decided she didn't like taking orders from the Oracles of Ceres. Mostly didn't like tilling dirt and feeding two-headed cows. Definitely didn't like being told what was what. The freedom of the road and a fully loaded shotgun? Yes, please.

Tweek: Half-insane former raider suffering from radiation poisoning. Wandered into dispatch one day and has been driving ever since. His primary motivation? Making enough $crap to pay for his meds, plus having a little left over so he can feed Shotgun, his pet lamb.

Credits

Game Design: Jonathan Gilmour, Ben Pinchback, & Matt Riddle Game Development: Nathan McNair, Molly Wardlaw Illustration: Riccardo Burchielli Graphic Design: Jason D. Kingsley, Scott Hartman, Josh Cappel 3D Renders: Justin Bintz Plastic Tray Inserts: Noah Adelman Rulebook Layout: Jason D. Kingsley Rulebook Editing: Dustin Schwartz Rulebook Proofing: T. R. Knight, Nate Rethorn, Ian Zang Playtesting: Daryl Andrews, John Burns, Eric J. Carter, Curtis Clark, Rafael Cordero, Matt Daggett, Eric Foldenauer, Jamie Gilmour, Ryan Humphrey, Chris Kirkman, the Laprise family, Brian Lewis, Joe LoPresto, Jason Luke, Travis Magrum, Ian Moss, Dan Patriss, Nicholas Rausch, Jim Schoch, Ryan Schoon, Earl Tietsort, James Wilkinson Special Thanks: Tony Miller, Michael Newhouse-Bailey, Ian O'Toole, Keith Pishnery