Of Digital Battles and SMCs: The Intriguing Game of Renegade
Enter the dangerous world of supermassive computers and a digital network fraught with puzzles in Renegade.
Without quite planning it perfectly, I ended up getting Renegade back to my table exactly 2 years since I last played it! I remembered the careful plotting around every turn and the numerous ways to manipulate the digital landscape. Quite an exciting time! I was surprised I didn’t need to download an update after waiting so long to play again. Ha ha!
Game Overview
Game Name: Renegade
Publication Year: 2018
Designer: Richard Wilkins
Artist: Clark Miller
Publisher: Victory Point Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Specific goals must be met while battling a supermassive computer across a set of servers. Clever solutions may be found as advanced command cards are picked up and elements are manipulated by an avatar. It’s a neat kind of challenge that packs a lot of thought into each play!
First Play
May 8, 2018
Complexity
4
Latest Play
October 8, 2021
Expansions
2
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
19
Play Time
40 Minutes
High Score
113
Game Area
28" x 20"
Low Score
0
Command Points
The majority of gameplay focuses on command points, which first come from a set of basic cards. These symbols form the basis for the available actions during a turn.
So many choices! At times, the definitions can seem a little overwhelming, yet the iconography helps a lot.
Moving around the network, partition by partition, is necessary to move contaminants and countermeasures. Sound complicated? They’re all just tokens. Ha ha!
Everything happens very quickly, with just 3 turns during each round. Figuring out how to achieve a goal is a talent.
Little Alpha-Moby
During my last sequence of fairly regular play, I went up against some of the more difficult opponents.
Since I needed to re-read the entire rulebook and wrap my head around all the concepts, I wanted to start almost back at the beginning. I was never an expert, after all!
Sparks are, as expected, countermeasures and the sorts of tokens that cause problems. Too many can end up morphing into an even worse sort of installation.
I didn’t expect to have a great outing, although I realized how much content I never did explore previously!
How to Choose?
Besides the supermassive computer, or SMC, I randomly picked a set of countermeasures. Yet the real choice came down to the right character. Who to pick?
I lined them all up and realized there was a digital ninja who snuck into the lineup! Another Calico Critter all ready for Halloween and to do battle on the network.
There really isn’t a bad choice here, save for a single one that introduces another layer of complexities. Later, sir!
Over a small debate about Sparks, I decided to go with Tilda Sweet for her special ability to move more tokens.
Colorful Partitions
I have to say that the production quality with these bright colors is amazing! A steampunk vibe might have worked, but the vibrant colors really bring the game to life.
Yet everything is also distinguished by unique symbols, which is excellent! It all begins with the servers, which feature 6 different partitions. In simple terms: Spaces.
The objective changes with each countermeasure, and there are so many to choose from. Always something new!
Bronze, silver, and gold represent the increasing difficulty level from round to round. Nothing is easy to achieve!
Success at First
Although not exactly easy, my first challenge was to get 2 Sparks onto partition 4 of my home server. Go Tilda!
Yet success isn’t as straightforward as it might seem. Something always happens, and then Sparks move around to potentially create more problems.
I used to keep the later countermeasures a secret, yet it’s important to try to plan ahead. As I quickly found out, the next task was going to be nearly impossible to do.
At the same time, that which looks impossible might very well be achievable with the right card combination!
Guardian and Firewall
With too many Sparks, these rather nasty installations show up. Guardians and Firewalls act similarly and hamper many efforts. And there are only 5 in total…
The silver countermeasure was an absolute failure, and I found myself defeated in short order. My, oh my!
Alpha-Moby wasn’t so low on the difficulty scale after all. I was also at a distinct disadvantage based on the way I set up the network. But I wasn’t about to be discouraged.
This is a game all about solving a puzzle. It changes all the time, yet the fundamental idea is to find a clever solution.
Of Ghosts and Avatars
So… How might I go about this? My friendly ninja had a word with me about modifying Sparks. I needed viruses, though, so I wasn’t certain if that was the right strategy.
A-ha! If I could find some useful advanced command cards, they might change a contaminant’s type.
But this gave me the idea to utilize the ghosting feature, which allows an avatar to act upon any partition on a single server via a Neural Hub. If I could just install one…
My plan was shaky and depended on a lot, yet I already learned a bit and felt ready to take on the challenge!
Better Decisions
Throughout my plays with the same general setup, I struggled mightily but still felt the urge to keep going.
It was during a moment when I thought I would lose that I simply did the best I could with some pretty excellent advanced command cards! Such awesome artwork, too!
I got the Neural Hub installed where I needed it, then followed it up with a Propagator. Viruses everywhere!
The hardest part about the silver countermeasure was the way failure worked… It easily resulted in instant losses even when I thought I had things worked out. Tricky!
Session Overview
Play Number: 16-19
Expansion 1: Christmas at the Hack Shack
Expansion 2: Fire & Chaos
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Tilda Sweet vs. Alpha-Moby
Outcome: 0, 0, 69, and 0 (4 Losses)
Very close! I just couldn’t quite defeat Viral Overload, but I was much closer to victory than it might seem. There were even better plans in the works, although nothing came to fruition this time. I still enjoyed trying to set myself up for victory, though. Next time, Alpha-Moby!
%
10 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
10
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
9
Originality
Design & Theme
10
Quality
Components & Rules
6
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
10
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
9
+ Pros (Positives)
- Every decision is vitally important and even with some random elements, strategy plays the most crucial role.
- There is a staggering amount of variety with all of the components, leading to all sorts of unique sessions.
- Difficulty may be adjusted in various ways to ensure the challenge is there without feeling impossible to solve.
- Advanced command cards are purchased and available immediately, allowing for interesting combinations.
- Most situations have a solution through the plethora of actions available, some of which aren’t always obvious.
- Playing over 3 rounds might sound short, yet play time usually clocks in around 40 minutes and feels satisfying.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Although the terminology can be simplified, it can still feel a bit overwhelming when first approaching the rules.
- There is a lot of thinking, planning, and re-planning needed each turn, which can be a bit of a mental overload.
- Having a lot of tokens on a partition can make things very cluttered while being unable to read the number.
- Many small but important rules are scattered throughout the rulebook and are not always easy to remember.
Victory Conditions
Succeed at Every Countermeasure
- Overall Goal Progress 71%
Goals and Milestones
Win at least 1 game against the Alpha-Moby SMC.
Win at least 1 game against the RS20-Simulator SMC.
Win at least 1 game against the Spider SMC.
Win at least 1 game against the Viking SMC.
Win at least 1 game as each Primary Renegade.
Win at least 1 game against the Mother SMC.
Win at least 1 game as each Alternate Renegade.
Continue the Conversation
Have you played Renegade? What are some of your favorite aspects about it? I still struggle to “see” the network and all of my available actions, yet the challenge is so much fun! That’s an important concept for me… A game can be amazing without me winning it all the time. Or ever. Ha ha! I hope to get this one back into my regular solo rotation again!
So I was randomly able to get a copy of this about a week ago. I’ve been making my way through the rulebook, and I have to admit that this game seems very intimidating. A lot of technical terms to pick up on and some concepts that seem out of my normal gaming knowledge. Any suggestions for the first couple of plays and trying to learn the game?
Nice find! I would suggest using terminology that makes sense to you. If you find yourself gravitating towards “red circle” or “yellow square” to describe things, that can make everything feel a little more approachable.
Definitely take a look through the included example turns and play against the RS20-Simulator SMC. Note that the tutorial should seem generally easy, yet it’s there to teach the concepts. Once you move onto another SMC, expect the difficulty to increase a lot!
Use the back of the rulebook to help keep track of the round sequence. You may need to reference the rulebook a few times, but the back cover is useful for having most information in front of you. I found that it was all about immersing myself in the iconography and rules before I grasped everything. It may take a little time, but it’s worth it if you find yourself enjoying it even just a bit! There’s a lot of content to explore and a great sort of puzzle.
If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask! I may not be the best at winning, but I know how to play the game… Mostly. Ha ha! Good luck!
Thanks for the response! I’m hoping to get this to the table this weekend, so I will keep your thoughts and suggestions in mind. I’m sure once I have played it a couple of times it won’t feel that complicated, it just seems so looking at the rule book.
It definitely feels more intuitive after a few plays! For me, it came down to understanding everything rather than getting the terminology exactly right. Lots of interesting decisions to make! Best of luck when you get it to the table!
(Lack of recent comment due to lots of extra Life Stuff at once, now being resolved.)
Hetty’s my favourite character on aesthetic grounds, but I often don’t manage to take much advantage of her special ability.
Richard has posted some variants on his web site, and the one where all countermeasures are face-up from the start of the game is his preferred play style. Mine too.
I’d agree with Jessica’s advice – I also usually think in terms of “red circle” and “yellow square” and so on. One point of difficulty is that you really have to grasp the whole system to see how it fits together and how each individual bit is useful.
A real shame to see this leave publication with the demise (“purchase”) of VPG – the new owners said they’d bring out a new edition some day, but it may well not have the same theme, and I rather like the theme.
Hope all is going well for you, Roger. I still haven’t played with all of the characters. So much more to explore! I started looking at all the countermeasures at the start, too. Having those act as surprises wasn’t exactly the best experience, and it’s still easy to go back to that should things seem too simple! I doubt that will ever happen to me, though. Ha!
Very good point about needing to understand the whole system. Just when I think I have viruses and data nodes down, I see what an uplink might do to change the sitation. It takes some time to learn it all, yet it’s all worth it!
I’m sad this disappeared far too soon, too. Another theme would be nice to get the system back out there, but I agree with you: This is such a unique theme that you don’t often come across, and it feels like the mechanics mesh so smoothly with the setting and lore.