Author: Ignatius.
One of the aspects I like the most about Punkapocalyptic is the depth of its background, which keeps growing and becoming richer as the game expands. Its post-apocalyptic setting and the unique “lethal and pimp” style make it possible for fans to create countless custom factions or gangs.
There are currently several oficial factions and the game is still being expanded and developed, so there will be some more coming in the future. These factions give you a thematic general overview of the dwellers of the Wasteland and their special traits, for the player to choose whichever they like the most before starting to create their own band. But even in any given faction can co-exist several different approachs on how to make a band with its own personality.
Punkapocalyptic is a skirmish game, so you won’t be needing many miniatures to play. The designers have always allowed the use of their own miniatures to represent characters from all their range of troops and factions, as well as those from other manufacturers provided that their equipment is faithfully represented. All these factors contribute to a unique variety of bands on our gaming tables and countless combinations that ensure no two Wasteland gangs will ever look alike.
Most likely those new to the game will begin buying some individual miniatures or even a starter pack for one of the available factions, and play their first games with generic characters (ganger, mutard, ember, etc.) with nothing more than their equipment and a cool name to tell them apart from the rest, at least until they get used to the mechanics. But no doubt as soon as you begin to delve more and more into the rules and the background of this game, you will want to go further. The Wasteland is ample and diverse, so why should all players’ bands look the same?
This article aims to offer some examples of settings for your bands across the merciless Wasteland. Whether you want to give your gang a specific theme or you specially like a miniature and want to build something around it, the background you create for them will make them stand out.
The MUAC Revolutionary Front
Tired of the indignities inflicted upon them by most of the human population of the Wasteland, some Mutards have decided to organize and take an active role in the defense of their own rights. Initiatives such as the Mutard Dignity March or the creation of the League for the Mutants Rights have been important milestones for their integration, specially in the most tolerant and open-minded settlements. A branch of this movement, integrated by the most radicalized individuals fed up with trying to achieve things peacefully, has recently split off the mother organization and set up a terrorist movement known as MUAC! (Mutards United Against Chingones!)
Fishface, the leader of this revolutionary cell, is a hero for many and public enemy number one for the rest: the revindicative actions he leads leave nobody unmoved.
The Citadel Madmastics
The stories tell that Immortan Trump, the infamous leader of the Madmastics, owes his nickname to the fact that he has lived for countless years. After being the responsible for the destruction of the modern world due to his stupid decisions, he opted to be frozen in a cryogenic chamber and be woken up many centuries later. For his sincere surprise, he did so in a world where everyone was as brain-fucked as himself, so he used his cheap demagogy to gain the admiration of a bunch of die-hard followers. The same personality traits that had made him a hated man in the past were now his best weapon.
Immortan established a settlement around the cryogenic facilities in which he had been suspended, with the help of his growing flock of adepts. He was perfectly aware that the building was over an underground river, which had allowed the freezing chambers to be operational for so long, so he used this insider information to convince all his followers that he had the mystical power to find clean water. Inmortan created an army of zealots to protect his resources, and he called them his War Boys.
As the Citadel thrived thanks to the hard labor of his worshipers, Immortan’s health was wearing down after his long hybernation and he finally had to be permanently connected to a portable breathing machine to keep the foul Wasteland air at bay.
When Immortan suddenly realized that he wasn’t going to be able to cheat death once again, he descended into madness and obsession to have heirs who would perpetuate his legacy, and started to frantically look for fertile women for his harem. His personal doctors can’t figure out why he is not able to breed healthy children: maybe it’s caused by cellular corruption after a prolonged hybernation, or maybe his own genetic was already tainted somehow. The thing is that Immortan keeps unsuccessfully trying to spread his seed, and to that end he is always in need of new women whom he keeps, strangely enough, naming as Melania 1, Melania 2, Melania 3…
