n the middle of this century, the dystopian future of cyberpunk has come to pass. Nation-states have been subsumed by mega-corps, and a global Matrix provides hackers with mind-to-net access to the world's secrets. But this dark future is shattered further by the resurgence of long-suppressed magical energies, which transform humans overnight into trolls and orks, allow the return of ancient elves and give rise to mythical dragons. This exotic hybrid of science fiction and fantasy is known as Shadowrun. Originally released as a role-playing game in the 1990s, the setting is back as the latest "clix" game by WizKids Games.
Like WizKids' earlier games—MageKnight, HeroClix and Mechwarrior—Shadowrun Duels makes use of a figure mounted on a special base that contains all of its game statistics. These statistics are viewed through a small window in the base. As the figure takes damage, the base is clicked and new statistics are revealed. But while the game mechanic is similar to the earlier games, the implementation is very different.
First, the Shadowrun Duels is not collectible—the initial release includes six figures rather than the hundreds found in its sister games. The game's figures are much larger than those in the diminutive MageKnight and HeroClix games—each stands at least 6 inches tall and is properly called an "action figure." The sculptures stand on bases that have three combat dials, rather than the typical single dial, each of which tracks a different statistic: head (used for movement and initiative), arms (used for attack) and body (used for defense).
The game's combat system is driven by a dice pool—a collection of differently colored and shaped dice—which are used to augment the figure's basic stats. The dice colors correspond to different abilities. For example, white dice are used for initiative, movement and dodging attacks, while red is used for magical assaults and black represents technological advantages.
These dice come from two sources. On the each character's base there are graphical representations of the dice making up its starting dice pool. They reflect the character's varying technical abilities—for example, Llada, a sorcerer, starts with a magic-aligned red six-sider.
Each piece of a shadowrunner's equipment—be it a machine gun, magical staff or body armor—is worth a certain number of points and provides either a bonus to the figure's dice pool or some sort of defense against attack. Players may assign up to 12 points of equipment to their figures at the beginning of a duel.
The game's duels are divided into rounds, and at the beginning of each players choose six dice from their dice pools. They then use these dice to boost their stats, discarding them as they are expended. Each figure is given one movement action and two attacks, and resolves all of its actions before play advances. When all figures have acted, a new round begins, and new dice can be chosen from the dice pool.
The game uses a ruler-based movement and range system, but unlike the earlier games the rulers are customized for Shadowrun Duels. Each ruler is specific to its accompanying figure and shows the range of each of the figure's different attacks.
An intriguing but uneven experiment
Shadowrun Duels is an attempt by WizKids games to expand its empire into the realm of action figures. At first glance, providing action figures with a rule set seems like a stroke of genius—countless little boys and girls have waged imaginary war with their dolls in the past, so why not throw down some rules for them to use? It's an interesting idea, but one that doesn't work quite as well as intended.
The action figures are beautifully sculpted and do an excellent job of capturing the Shadowrun setting, as veterans of the role-playing game can attest. Most are articulated at elbows and knees (although there are a few exceptions), and if they don't quite reach the caliber of McFarlane Toys, they come decently close. There are a few flaws—the figure's hands can't actually grip the weapons and instead rely on little pegs to mount them. One of them—on the trollish figure Lothan—snapped off. Also, all of a figure's equipment is designed to be packed away in a carrying space located in its base. That works for most of the figures, but Lothan's oversized hands don't fit in the space.
The game mechanic is intriguing. The mixing and matching of equipment—all of which is interchangeable between figures—to create a dice pool is very cool, and not something gamers see a lot of. The tried and true Clix game mechanic works fairly well in this exotic environment, making for numerous strategic challenges as players constantly weigh using their dice pool to defend against attacks while trying to launch their own assaults.
But then there are the flaws. The game uses a point system for its figures—the points range from 2 to 4, with higher numbers indicating stronger characters. That's a standard feature of WizKids' other games, but it doesn't work here. Shadowrun Duels are supposed to be fought between runners of equal point value. I playtested Lothan the Troll (4 points), the Street Deacon (2 points) and Liadia (3 points), and even though I had half the figures in the first release, I couldn't run a game the way it was supposed to be run because none of my figures had equivalent point values. Perhaps this would be less of an issue in a competitive arena, where players are up against multiple opponents with multiple figures, but in a casual player-vs.-player environment, it fails. Including rules for handicapping overpowered figures could have rectified this, but unfortunately there are none.
The game relies heavily on custom pieces, from the guns used by shadowrunners to the tape measure that's unique to each figure. Lose any of them and your ability to play the game is hampered (in the case of equipment) or ended (in the case of the ruler). WizKids would be wise to include a download on its Web site—as it does with its other games—itemizing all of these as-yet irreplaceable components of the game.
Gameplay moves quickly, but it's also complicated. Experienced gamers may find this complexity—the dice pool, the equipment options—to be uniquely entertaining, but less determined individuals may be turned off by it.
I'm a sucker for dice pool games, so I couldn't help but like Shadowrun Duels. Unfortunately, though, a cool game mechanic wasn't enough to make the game truly click.
— Ken
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