Play the Game · The Walkthrough

Your first game
of Thrackdown

New to Thrackdown, or tabletop wargaming altogether? Start here. You'll play with just four fighters a side, a stripped-back version of the rules, and the introductory Loot & Scoot mission. No warband building, upgrades, or faction rules to worry about yet. Just grab some miniatures, some D6s, and learn Thrackdown one turn at a time.

Download the Quick Start Rules

TONIGHT: Quick Start Rules · 4 miniatures a side

Step 01

Gather your kit

Everything on this list is either free, already in your house, or standing half-painted on a shelf waiting for a purpose.

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The free Quick Start Rules (PDF)

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A handful of D6 dice

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A tape measure in inches

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4 miniatures per side, any range, any game

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A 30" x 24" table full of scatter terrain: ruins, walls, pipes

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4 Loot Crates plus counters for Nerve and Momentum (coins, beads, dice)

Thrackdown is miniature agnostic, so field whatever looks the part. As a rule of thumb, base size hints at toughness: 25mm bases suit 1 to 2 HP fighters, 28 to 32mm suit around 3 HP, and 40mm suits 4 HP bruisers.

Step 02

Muster four fighters

For your first game, pick a faction and use its four-fighter Starter Roster: a Leader, two Core fighters, and one Specialist. There is no list building or equipment purchasing yet; every warband arrives ready to play.

The fighter cards below are intentionally simplified for Game One: use the stats, weapons and rules exactly as shown. Additional faction rules, upgrades and advanced weapon traits are introduced later.

Iron Pact Starter Roster

Disciplined survivalists bound by oath and order, with the firepower to enforce both.

Leader

Line Marshal

5M
+1ACC
4DEF
+1FHT
4HP
  • Rattlegun15" · 1 ATK · 1 DMG
  • Slugger8" · 1 ATK · 1 DMG · Sidearm
  • KnifeMelee · 1 DMG
  • Designate Killzone (Action). Place a Killzone marker at a point within Line of Sight; the Killzone extends 3" from the marker. Once per activation, an Iron Pact fighter shooting an enemy inside it may reroll one failed hit roll. A hit from the reroll cannot cause Damage but still applies Nerve Tokens and Critical effects. Only one Killzone at a time; placing a new one removes the previous marker.
  • Coordinated Fire. Once per round, after this model hits with a ranged attack, a friendly model within 5" gains +1 ACC on its next shooting attack this round.
Core

Oathman

5M
+1ACC
4DEF
+1FHT
3HP
  • Scrap Repeater15" · 1 ATK · 1 DMG
  • Slugger8" · 1 ATK · 1 DMG · Sidearm
  • KnifeMelee · 1 DMG
  • Shield Brothers. While within 3" of another friendly Iron Pact model, this model may reroll failed Nerve Tests.
Core

Greenbrace

6M
0ACC
3DEF
0FHT
2HP
  • Zipgun15" · 1 ATK · 1 DMG
  • Pipe Gun8" · 1 ATK · 1 DMG · Sidearm
  • Alley CutterMelee · 1 DMG
  • Untested. If this model begins its activation more than 5" from any friendly fighter that is not Downed, it must take a Nerve Test, even with no Nerve Tokens. It still takes Nerve Tests normally when required.
Specialist

Bulwark Gunner

5M
+1ACC
4DEF
0FHT
3HP
  • Heavy Slug Spitter20" · 3 ATK · 1 DMG
  • KnifeMelee · 1 DMG
  • Braced Position. If this model does not move during its activation, it gains +1 DEF until the start of its next activation.
Download the Iron Pact Starter Rules & Roster
In play tonight
  • The full core engine: stats, actions, shooting, melee, and injuries
  • Nerve Tokens and Nerve Tests
  • Momentum and the core Surges
  • Weapon Critical Effects
  • Special rules on melee weapons
  • Sidearm, the one weapon trait kept, so pistol fighters caught in melee can still shoot

Crits, melee special rules, and Sidearm stay in because they are where the fun lives.

Left out for now
  • Faction rules and faction Surges
  • Faction traits
  • All other weapon traits such as Crude, One-Use, and Inaccurate
  • Upgrades, gear, and equipment

Tonight is about learning how fighters move, shoot, panic, and push their luck. The flavour arrives in game two.

Step 03 · The Scenario

Loot and Scoot

A scavenger cache was just uncovered in a crumbling sector, half-buried under rubble, marked with warning glyphs, and surrounded by hazards. Two rival warbands showed up at the same time. Now it's a free-for-all to grab the loot and get out alive.

Setup: lay out a 30" x 24" battlefield crowded with scatter ruins, walls, and pipes. Place 4 Loot Crates in a diamond around the centre, each 6" from the middle of the table. Roll off for table edges: the winner picks an edge and their opponent takes the one directly across. Players then alternate deploying fighters within 3" of their own edge, starting with the winner of the roll off.

The game lasts 6 rounds. Players alternate activating one fighter at a time, two actions each, until every model has gone, then a new round begins.

Battlefield · 30" x 24"Not to scale
DEPLOY A · 3" DEPLOY B · 3" 6"
Loot Crate Terrain Deployment

Suggested table setup. Scatter your own ruins however the wasteland provides; aim for 40 to 50% coverage.

Interact 3+

Grab Loot

Spend an action in base contact with a Loot Crate and roll 3+ to pick it up. Each fighter can carry only one crate at a time.

Free action

Pass Loot

A carrier in base contact with an ally may hand the crate over as a free action. Loot relay is a legitimate strategy.

On going down

Drop Loot

If a carrier is reduced to 0 HP and downed, the crate drops at their feet, right where the enemy can take it.

Warning · Boom Traps

Some of that loot is rigged. When a fighter attempts to grab a token that has not yet been picked up and rolls a natural 1, the loot explodes: every model within 3" suffers 1 Damage and a Nerve Token, and the token is removed from play. Warning glyphs exist for a reason.

1 VP
Per Loot Crate carried

Held by a model at the end of the game. Grabbing it is not enough; keep it on your fighter.

1 VP
Per enemy Out Cold

Violence is always on the scoreboard.

Ties
Most Momentum wins

The bolder warband takes the spoils.

Download Loot and Scoot · PDF
Step 04

How your first round might go

No two games play out the same, but your first round will probably teach you these four lessons in roughly this order.

Position first

Early activations are about movement. Double-Move a Core fighter toward a Loot Crate, hugging cover the whole way. Standing in the open is how fighters end up as scenery.

Earn Momentum

Charge into contact, leap a gap, sprint flat out, and your warband's shared Momentum Pool starts to fill. Success is not required. Daring is.

Spread fear

Your first shots will hand out Nerve Tokens even when they fail to wound, and a natural 6 rattles the target no matter what. Watch what happens when a shaken fighter fails their Nerve Test and freezes mid-plan.

Spend at the perfect moment

A reroll on the grab that matters. An extra action to scoot away with the loot. Your first well-timed Surge is the moment Thrackdown clicks.

Step 05

Advice from the ruins

Terrain is the third playerCrowd the table. 40 to 50% coverage is the aim. A bare battlefield turns Thrackdown into a shooting gallery and nobody survives long enough to learn anything.
Don't hoard MomentumThe pool caps at 3, so a full pool earns you nothing. Spend it, refill it, spend it again.
Fear beats bulletsYou do not need to down a fighter to stop them. Two or three Nerve Tokens on the enemy's loot carrier can end their plan without a single wound.
Scoot means scootThe mission is in the name. Once you have a crate, think about passing it back down a chain of fighters. Heroic last stands are for game two.

Survived? Prove it.

Loot and Scoot was the warm-up. Game two hands you 150 Thracks, a roster you build yourself, your faction's own rules and Momentum Surges, and a hostage who needs "rescuing". Weapon traits come along for the ride too. Try not to roll a 1.

Read the Game Two walkthrough: Hostage Grab Explore the factions