Main Inspirations
- Starcraft
- Dungeons and Dragons
- Magic the Gathering
Board Game Geek Tags
Categories
- Exploration
- Fighting
- Miniatures
- Science Fiction
Mechanics
- Action Point Allowance System
- Cooperative Play
- Dice Rolling
- Grid Movement
- Modular Board
- Variable Phase Order
- Variable Player Powers
Additional Highlights
- Medium-Heavy Game Weight
- Up to 5 players: 4 vs 1.
- Asymmetric Competition and Gameplay
- Teamwork: Operatives Lose and Win as a Team, not Alone
- Bring Your Strategy to the Table, Adjust During Play
- Heavy Positional Tactics.
- No Hidden Information (except region tile stack)
- Modular board is designed on the fly
- Economic and tech tree management
Premise
In the not-so-near future, four operatives patiently wait atop a vast research complex, huddled in the faint glow of a portable magnetic shielding generator. Outside of the generator's protection, an orbital EMP deploys, bringing two of three complex reactors offline, at the precise moment the prepared hatch charge is detonated. A small window of opportunity to strike the killing blow to the complex is afforded. The operatives descend into the darkness below and begin the desperate assault on the remaining reactor.
Game Format and Objectives
Complex Crashers is an asymmetrical competitive game of up to 5 players, in which a single player, the complex manager, attempts to thwart the advances of a group of up to four other players, known as the operatives. The operatives are tasked with bringing all three reactors offline simultaneously. The complex manager must defend the complex by incapacitating the operatives simultaneously while keeping at least one reactor online.
Core Mechanics
Operatives
Before the game begins, each player customizes their operative by selecting an armor/health/ability point ratio. Higher armor and health will enhance staying power and allow better control of vital regions, while more ability points will increase mobility and ability activation.
Additionally, each operative is outfitted with a selection of trainings, weapons, and accessories. This resulting combination of cards describes the actions each operative can take.
Reactor and Technology Grid Customization
Before the game begins, the complex manager must select three reactors and nine complex defenders, each with unique abilities and qualities. During game play, reactors can be brought online and used to stage and deploy the defenders. The complex manager cannot change this decision once the game begins.
Turn Order and Abilities
Turns in Complex Crashers are referred to as "having the initiative". When your team has the initiative, you can activate actions. However, Complex Crashers is built for decision making for both teams, regardless of who has the initiative. To this end, both teams have access to many reactions that can be activated when certain conditions are met. Powerful plays can be made even by only utilizing reactions.
Ability Point Economy
Everything that can be done in Complex Crashers requires the expenditure of ability points. Operatives and the complex manager recieve ability points when they recieve the initiative (when it is their "turn"). Spending ability points also describes the effort the complex manager's defenders or operatives have made until time has passed. By spending too many ability points, defenders and operatives leave themselves incredibly vulnerable. By not spending enough, the complex manager or operatives might give their opponent too powerful a respite.
Attacking With Dice
Ten sided (d10) dice are used. In Complex Crashers, dice are rolled before targets are selected. In many cases this allows dice to be efficiently assigned to targets with a variety of armor values. Abilities that result in an attack specify a number of dice that are rolled. Attacks in Complex Crashers have attack descriptors, which determine how dice are applied to targets.
Reactor Economy
Reactors are the powerhouses that drive the complex defenses. The complex manager uses reactor charges, which are generated over time, through passing the initiative and the revelation of the complex, to stage and deploy defenders. Reactor charges are also used to bring additional reactors online, giving the complex manager a difficult choice to make: Deploy more defenses to slow the operatives, or invest in a more powerful economy.
Complex Layout
The complex is revealed region by region. Whenever an operative is adjacent to an unrevealed region, the complex manager selects and places a region tile from their hand, and then decorates its edges with blast doors and cover tokens. The complex manager, though bound by some rules, is allowed to design a complex on the fly that best suits their strategy.
Advancement
As the game progresses, the complex manager stages more powerful defenders by investing precious reactor charges. Once staged, those defenders can be deployed in order to halt the operatives' progress. Operatives advance as well by locating two special regions called tech regions. While in these regions, operatives can unlock new abilities that will allow them to compete with the ever strengthening complex forces.
How Can I play?
Complex Crashers is deployed and up-to-date on Tabletop Simulator via the Steam workshop. Subscribe for free and help build the online community via the join Discord button up top. If you want to play in person, click the Print and Play button up top to download the rulebook and game data.
If you decide to print and play.
This website allows you to print individual cards as needed as updates are pushed. To access this feature, send an email to admin@complexcrashers.com with your desired username. Then, as cards are updated, you can print them out individually instead of as an entire package.
Want to keep up-to-date with the latest Complex Crashers news?
Recent Updates
July 29, 2019 - Complex Crashers Update
Card Updates
A set of card changes that clarify original intentions of design.
- Jack Rabbit SMG - Quick Suppression - Now triggers on attack abilities, not just actions.
- Weapons Expert - Rapid Reload - Can be used on abilities, not just actions.
- Rail Gun - Fire Rail Gun and Penetrating Shot - Adjusted to be more clear on how they interact.
- Captain - Coordinated Assault - Clarifies that the activated ability should not cost anything.
- Stealth Reactor - Cloaking Field - Clarified that you do not need line of effect.
July 25, 2019 - Complex Crashers Update
Card Updates
- Assassin - Reworked - The assassin has been reworked to increase its survivability and ability to slow the operatives progress early on. The assassin will be harder to target with the new Cloaked quality and will slow the operatives progress with the reworked Shifting Strike ability.
- Elite Assault - Impervious - Added Slow Reload.
New Cards
- Technomancer - A new tier 1 alien defender designed to hamper the operative's movement by opening and closing blast doors. The new Force Pulse ability in conjunction with the Jolt ability will allow the Complex manager to setup and maintain defensive positions more easily. Additionally, with the Disparate Deployment quality, Technomancers will be able to easily be deployed to various locations within the complex.
- Stealth Reactor - With the addition of the Cloaking quality, the stealth reactor is being introduced in order to grant this quality to multiple defenders in a single region.
Rules Changes
Clarified that the complex manager can open a single blast door adjacent to an unrvealed region for the purpose of deployment.
July 19, 2019 - Complex Crashers Update
Card Updates
- Elite Engineer - Reworded Deploy Turret for clarification.
- Panther Turret - Reworded Auto Target to allow it to attack defenders and operatives.
- Weapons Expert - Rapid Reload - Changed wording for consistancy.
- Basic Training - Respec - Now has slow reload.
- Flame Thrower - Douse - Changed wording to be consistant with roll then assign assumptions, Moved Burning 1 to attack instead of entire card.
July 19, 2019 - Complex Crashers Update
Card Updates
In today's demo, it was apparent that the Complex Manager could activate a lot of actions that could be streamlined. By increasing both the cost and in many cases, power of early abilities, game time should be reduced without much shift in balance. Some ability efficiency has been reduced in some cases.
- Grunt - Fire SMG - AP cost is now 3 up from 2, Damage dice is now 3 up from 2.
- Beta Squad - Fire SMG - AP cost is now 3 up from 2, Damage dice is now 3 up from 2.
- Sniper - Sniper Rifle - Ap cost is now 2 up from 1, Damage dice remains at 4.
- Steel Ripper - Shred and Harry - AP cost is 2 up from 1, Damage dice is 3 up from 2.
- Assassin - Shifting Strike - AP is 3 and 2 on reuse up from 2 and 1. Damage dice is 3 up from 2.
Rules Update
Reactors - Reactors have abilities and qualities. Unless the reactor is both online and revealed, the complex manager cannot use its abilities or benefit from its qualities. Abilities cannot target reactors if they are not revealed. The only benefit unrevealed, online reactors bring is the ability to obtain, store, and spend reactor charges.
July 18, 2019 - Complex Crashers Update
Card Updates
- Basic Training - Help Up - Clarifiies that it can only target incapacitated operatives in your region.
- Basic Training - Stage 2 EMP - Removed due to space issues and that it is not implemented via a tracker. Might reappear on something like Leadership later.
- Leadership - Priority Target - Now expires at the end of the current initiative or after the resolution of another attack on the same target.
- Field Surgeon - Quick operation. Now slow reload but can target able or incapacitated operatives.
- Battle Medic - Epidarts. Now effects adjacent regions by default, and Savior Training doubles the effect. Wow!
Rules Update
Phase - You can phase through unrevealed regions when you don't need line of effect.