Hi, I am really enjoying Project Pandora. I would like to use my other Mantic models in scenarios. Do you have Pandora stats for the Marauders, Forgefathers and Corporation Enforcers? Also, do you have plans to expand on Pandora as you did with the Dwarf Kings Hold series? Kind regards, Paul.
I haven’t published stats for the other races in Pandora yet, though some have begun a playtest phase.
We’d like to expand on Pandora, but it’s not entirely clear what the best way to do that would be. It’s unlikely that we’ll follow the same model as DKH though what might replace that is uncertain. That said, it’s not been forgotten. It’s just waiting its turn so I can devote some more time to the question.
Any hints as to what Project Pandora races you’ve play tested? Curious to know what races you’ve made rules for, even if they aren’t set in concrete yet.
Hi,
Before anything else, I think Veer-myn rules need to be fixed…
We are a lot to having trouble with scenarios where Veer-myn respawn reletlessly because of Shadowbreed. I would add Toxic is too strong, it should be limited to some 2 turns duration to avoid Veer-myn random shots (as Flares duration).
My fix-up solution has been to cut Toxic to two turns’ duration (as you suggest), to limit Veer-myn reinforcements to one rat/entry area/turn and to count close combat kills as ‘confirmed’. In my group at least this seems to have addressed the balance issues of Shadowbreed (and of ‘Knock, Knock’ in particular). I’d be interested to learn what Jake thinks of our problems; are we just playing the game wrongly?
I thought of a simple solution without having to actually change any rules. Merely expand on one. Make it that you can use the Special Action to activate the ventilation ducts to remove a Toxic Token instead of a Dark Token. Boom! Done.
Then if you’re worried about the Detox kit being rendered useless, either make it so it is needed to activate the ventilation ducts using the Special Action above, or that it has a one-shot drug that makes a model immune to Toxic Tokens for the rest of the game.
Knock Knock just needs the Corp player to 1:) Not kill any rats in the dark, 2) Maintain watch over the objective 3) set up kill zones and make the rats come to you.
In short the Corp need to “lurk” and set traps, remember the rats have to come to you or they lose.
The only caution is when they have played a 3 move order and have 2 rats left both of whom can reach the objective. If you kill the first rat then the 2nd can use 2 moves and perhaps win the game (last RAT standing). It might be better to let both rats get to the objective unharmed, then engage them in the light on your own turn.
Copyright query.
Just wondering if you guys are fine with each map being built, colour photocopied (once) then laminated. Purely to speed up set up times. I have actually done this for the 1st 3 scenarios with the school library copy and the kids are loving the game. Just thought that as a “captain of copyright” or Teacher Librarian that I would check with the IP owners. So is this fine?
So is Deadzone kinda the spiritual successor to Project Pandora? Just got a copy of this and am in the process of putting the miniatures together then paint them. Also wondering if solo play has ever been a thought.
They both work quite differently and give the player different challenges to overcome. Of course, as both are set in the same universe and both are written by me there are parallels in places. However, I think they scratch slightly different itches, if you see what I mean.
“Be more specific” I hear you say. Well, that’s tricker. I think DZ is more freeform and allows more room for player choice in managing the details of what the models do. It’s slightly more realistic and gritty in terms of detail, though “realistic” is always a funny word for SF. Pandora tells a very specific story, while DZ is a story about an elite unit, but who and when is up to you to define (at least it is in the basic game). In DZ the missions and opponents are freeform and random, in Pandora they are set puzzles to unlock which have been carefully set up to pose specific challenges. DZ’s challenges are emergent and ever-changing.
Solo play would be a thing to consider if I had any time. When Mantic eventually swings back to look at Pandora again I expect it to be on the agenda.
Thanks for taking the time to reply. I know how super busy you must be with Mar Attack underway and I am sure tons of ideas rolling around. Your games are at the top of my list of favorite games. Right under Zombicide, but that may change when I receive my copy of Deadzone. Or at least I hope it ends up being as good as I am perceiving it to be thus far.
Perhaps one thing that might make Project Pandora a wee bit less nasty (for Corporation Marines at least) could be to invert the Move and Shoot in the same Turn Penalty into a Bonus for when a model (any model that is) Shoots but does not Move in the same Turn.
Having it as a penalty feels a bit like it belongs in Fantasy rather than the skirmishes of the far future, but that’s probably just me.
Sure this would give the Fire Discipline Marines a healthy 6 dice in the same tile for shooting, but effects such as Toxic, Dark, Range and Injury aren’t exactly rare.
Had some more games of Project Pandora recently, and in the case of the Marines with Fire Discipline it doesn’t seem nearly as bad as I thought. Still can suck trying to hit anything more than a tile away if I’m a Veer-myn. Especially if the Space Rats move that same Turn. Usually I just forego shooting with the Space Rats and charge in there and nibble away at the Marines in hand to hand because it tends to work better, both for denying other Marines the opportunity to shoot the fighting Veer-myn and because Corp Marines are a lot more vulnerable once you start charging in or outnumbering them.
Would be nice to know what races you mentioned play testing for a PP:GC sequel ages ago. If you’re allowed to tell us that is.
That sequel has been shelved for a bit. Not forgotten, just pushed back by other projects. We’ve not heard the last of the rats though, not by a long way…
Cool, cos I’ve showed it to someone else recently and had a blast with it, and he was a player who used to play Space Hulk like it was part of the daily diet. I showed him that, Dwarf king’s Hold Green Menace and Dungeon Sagas so that he would have a better idea of where DS came from, and what kind of things could be done with the same game engine under the hood.
Some Q’s about the Project Pandora rules came up today. Not so much how they work, but more of a why…
For shooting at an opponent in a square on a Dark Tile, you lose a dice, that makes sense,..
Yet when fighting an opponent the attacker loses a dice if HE is in a Dark tile… This seems to infer that if the Veer-myn being attacked by the Marine is on a well lit Tile square, the fighter still takes the penalty if the Marine is standing on the Dark Tile fighting an adjacent Veer-myn who is in a Well-Lit tile. Huh?
Wouldn’t it have made more sense to just universally say that attacking a Veer-myn standing in the Dark causes the Marine to lose 1 dice on the attack? It would seem to make a bit more sense than a Marine being penalized cos he can’t see his own melee attack versus an opponent he can clearly see standing right next to him.
Also… The PCCW-11 ‘Duster’ Energy Gauntlet “When Sergeant Cruise fights he gets +1 dice and the enemy Armour Value is reduced by 1 in addition to any other modifiers that apply’
Does ‘fight’ mean only when he attacks, or does he also get that +1 dice to his defense rolls as well?
Does the Dark penalty only count when a Corporation figure is the attacker? It says when they are adjacent to an enemy model, fighting in hand-to-claw combat they suffer an additional -1 dice penalty.’ So is that only when they are rolling to attack or also applies to defense rolls as well?
Were there any extra scenarios ever made for this game? The instruction manual suggests that there should have been some posted on Mantic’s website at some time, but I have never found any. Do you have some you can share from the original game? The game is somewhat limited with only 5 scenarios (and one training scenario).
I don’t work with Mantic any more, and so I don’t know what plans they may have for PP. The original idea was to have additional scenarios on the site, which was why I mentioned it in the rules. If that’s not happened then they must have changed their plans for some reason. You’ll need to ask them directly.
Quirkworthy 
Hi, I am really enjoying Project Pandora. I would like to use my other Mantic models in scenarios. Do you have Pandora stats for the Marauders, Forgefathers and Corporation Enforcers? Also, do you have plans to expand on Pandora as you did with the Dwarf Kings Hold series? Kind regards, Paul.
I haven’t published stats for the other races in Pandora yet, though some have begun a playtest phase.
We’d like to expand on Pandora, but it’s not entirely clear what the best way to do that would be. It’s unlikely that we’ll follow the same model as DKH though what might replace that is uncertain. That said, it’s not been forgotten. It’s just waiting its turn so I can devote some more time to the question.
Any hints as to what Project Pandora races you’ve play tested? Curious to know what races you’ve made rules for, even if they aren’t set in concrete yet.
Hi,
Before anything else, I think Veer-myn rules need to be fixed…
We are a lot to having trouble with scenarios where Veer-myn respawn reletlessly because of Shadowbreed. I would add Toxic is too strong, it should be limited to some 2 turns duration to avoid Veer-myn random shots (as Flares duration).
My 2 cents 😉
My fix-up solution has been to cut Toxic to two turns’ duration (as you suggest), to limit Veer-myn reinforcements to one rat/entry area/turn and to count close combat kills as ‘confirmed’. In my group at least this seems to have addressed the balance issues of Shadowbreed (and of ‘Knock, Knock’ in particular). I’d be interested to learn what Jake thinks of our problems; are we just playing the game wrongly?
I thought of a simple solution without having to actually change any rules. Merely expand on one. Make it that you can use the Special Action to activate the ventilation ducts to remove a Toxic Token instead of a Dark Token. Boom! Done.
Then if you’re worried about the Detox kit being rendered useless, either make it so it is needed to activate the ventilation ducts using the Special Action above, or that it has a one-shot drug that makes a model immune to Toxic Tokens for the rest of the game.
Knock Knock just needs the Corp player to 1:) Not kill any rats in the dark, 2) Maintain watch over the objective 3) set up kill zones and make the rats come to you.
In short the Corp need to “lurk” and set traps, remember the rats have to come to you or they lose.
The only caution is when they have played a 3 move order and have 2 rats left both of whom can reach the objective. If you kill the first rat then the 2nd can use 2 moves and perhaps win the game (last RAT standing). It might be better to let both rats get to the objective unharmed, then engage them in the light on your own turn.
Copyright query.
Just wondering if you guys are fine with each map being built, colour photocopied (once) then laminated. Purely to speed up set up times. I have actually done this for the 1st 3 scenarios with the school library copy and the kids are loving the game. Just thought that as a “captain of copyright” or Teacher Librarian that I would check with the IP owners. So is this fine?
Mantic are the actual copyright owners, not me. Given the context I doubt they’ll have a big issue with it, but I’ll ask.
So is Deadzone kinda the spiritual successor to Project Pandora? Just got a copy of this and am in the process of putting the miniatures together then paint them. Also wondering if solo play has ever been a thought.
Hmmm… not really.
They both work quite differently and give the player different challenges to overcome. Of course, as both are set in the same universe and both are written by me there are parallels in places. However, I think they scratch slightly different itches, if you see what I mean.
“Be more specific” I hear you say. Well, that’s tricker. I think DZ is more freeform and allows more room for player choice in managing the details of what the models do. It’s slightly more realistic and gritty in terms of detail, though “realistic” is always a funny word for SF. Pandora tells a very specific story, while DZ is a story about an elite unit, but who and when is up to you to define (at least it is in the basic game). In DZ the missions and opponents are freeform and random, in Pandora they are set puzzles to unlock which have been carefully set up to pose specific challenges. DZ’s challenges are emergent and ever-changing.
Solo play would be a thing to consider if I had any time. When Mantic eventually swings back to look at Pandora again I expect it to be on the agenda.
Thanks for taking the time to reply. I know how super busy you must be with Mar Attack underway and I am sure tons of ideas rolling around. Your games are at the top of my list of favorite games. Right under Zombicide, but that may change when I receive my copy of Deadzone. Or at least I hope it ends up being as good as I am perceiving it to be thus far.
Perhaps one thing that might make Project Pandora a wee bit less nasty (for Corporation Marines at least) could be to invert the Move and Shoot in the same Turn Penalty into a Bonus for when a model (any model that is) Shoots but does not Move in the same Turn.
Having it as a penalty feels a bit like it belongs in Fantasy rather than the skirmishes of the far future, but that’s probably just me.
Sure this would give the Fire Discipline Marines a healthy 6 dice in the same tile for shooting, but effects such as Toxic, Dark, Range and Injury aren’t exactly rare.
Had some more games of Project Pandora recently, and in the case of the Marines with Fire Discipline it doesn’t seem nearly as bad as I thought. Still can suck trying to hit anything more than a tile away if I’m a Veer-myn. Especially if the Space Rats move that same Turn. Usually I just forego shooting with the Space Rats and charge in there and nibble away at the Marines in hand to hand because it tends to work better, both for denying other Marines the opportunity to shoot the fighting Veer-myn and because Corp Marines are a lot more vulnerable once you start charging in or outnumbering them.
Would be nice to know what races you mentioned play testing for a PP:GC sequel ages ago. If you’re allowed to tell us that is.
That sequel has been shelved for a bit. Not forgotten, just pushed back by other projects. We’ve not heard the last of the rats though, not by a long way…
Cool, cos I’ve showed it to someone else recently and had a blast with it, and he was a player who used to play Space Hulk like it was part of the daily diet. I showed him that, Dwarf king’s Hold Green Menace and Dungeon Sagas so that he would have a better idea of where DS came from, and what kind of things could be done with the same game engine under the hood.
Some Q’s about the Project Pandora rules came up today. Not so much how they work, but more of a why…
For shooting at an opponent in a square on a Dark Tile, you lose a dice, that makes sense,..
Yet when fighting an opponent the attacker loses a dice if HE is in a Dark tile… This seems to infer that if the Veer-myn being attacked by the Marine is on a well lit Tile square, the fighter still takes the penalty if the Marine is standing on the Dark Tile fighting an adjacent Veer-myn who is in a Well-Lit tile. Huh?
Wouldn’t it have made more sense to just universally say that attacking a Veer-myn standing in the Dark causes the Marine to lose 1 dice on the attack? It would seem to make a bit more sense than a Marine being penalized cos he can’t see his own melee attack versus an opponent he can clearly see standing right next to him.
Also… The PCCW-11 ‘Duster’ Energy Gauntlet “When Sergeant Cruise fights he gets +1 dice and the enemy Armour Value is reduced by 1 in addition to any other modifiers that apply’
Does ‘fight’ mean only when he attacks, or does he also get that +1 dice to his defense rolls as well?
Does the Dark penalty only count when a Corporation figure is the attacker? It says when they are adjacent to an enemy model, fighting in hand-to-claw combat they suffer an additional -1 dice penalty.’ So is that only when they are rolling to attack or also applies to defense rolls as well?
Probably going to assume that fight means in the active sense. Which means no defense benefit from Duster or penalty when defending in the Dark.
Were there any extra scenarios ever made for this game? The instruction manual suggests that there should have been some posted on Mantic’s website at some time, but I have never found any. Do you have some you can share from the original game? The game is somewhat limited with only 5 scenarios (and one training scenario).
Hi James.
I don’t work with Mantic any more, and so I don’t know what plans they may have for PP. The original idea was to have additional scenarios on the site, which was why I mentioned it in the rules. If that’s not happened then they must have changed their plans for some reason. You’ll need to ask them directly.