Machine Strike - Horizon Forbidden West Board Game

Version 2.0 Changelog

A new rulebook, much more in depth, has now been released, including some rule changes and updates.

A free companion app (credit to makermike99) is now available to help you keep track of everything during your matches. 

Download it using the code to the side or here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lzJm7dqpU0R1FhYkJG-nZKslw2ZAgKNI/view

A free companion website (credit to @JS) is also now available that lets you browse all boards from the video game. There is even an editor for you to design your own boards: https://astralproxy.github.io/machine-strike-boards/

Machine Strike is a two-player strategy game played by the tribes of the Forbidden West, originally created by the Tenakth. In Machine Strike, players terraform a battlefield and then they battle each other with their selected set of machines.

Whenever a machine is destroyed, its value is added to the opposing player's pool of Victory Points. If a player gets at least 7 Victory Points before the opponent or if they destroy all of the opponent's machines, the game is won.

The Terrain Board

The board is made up of an 8 x 8 grid of up to 6 different types of terrain.

Each different type of terrain affects the machine's combat power and/or movement.

Choosing the right positioning for your machine pieces can provide a vital strategic advantage when battling your opponent's machines, turning the terrain to your advantage.

The Machines

Machine Strike - The Board Game includes all the 40 different types of machines that can be found in the Horizon Forbidden West base game. There are six different types of machines, each with their own powers and limitations. Each individual machine also have their own strengths, weaknesses and value, opening up plenty of choice for strategy and replayability.

Printing and Assembly: Non-Machine Parts

Apart from the machines, everything can be printed very easily. I have printed all you can see in the photos using a .6mm nozzle and various PLA filaments. As long as your printer is well tuned, you should have absolutely no problem printing it all using your usual tunings. I have not designed this allowing for rescaling so do so at own risk.

You will require 4 frames to have a full 8 x 8 frame setup. You will also need at least 64 tiles of your choosing to have a basic terrain although my recommendation to get the full experience of the game (the terraforming mechanism before match start) is to print at least the following amount of tiles:

• 6 Chasms

• 12 Marsh

• 12 Hill

• 12 Mountains

• 32 Grasslands

• 32 Forests

On top of this, you will require up to 20 machine bases and plenty stat pieces to setup the machines played in all three stat colours (red, blue and black/grey), game tokens which have been designed for multicolour printing using layer colour changes and two 20 sided die (can be found online or on your friendly local game store) to assist with terraforming mechanism and for keeping track of victory points.

Printing and Assembly: Machines

To print machine pieces properly, a bit more precision is required.

I have printed mine using a .25 nozzle and grey PLA. I used low layer heights (0.1mm), slow speeds and painted tree supports for every single one of them. Knowing how to paint and tune your supports is an extremely important technique for 3D printing so here's your chance to really hone your skills! With care an patience, you can achieve amazing quality minis.

I would also not advise to print batches of them, as the models are delicate and detailed and one ruined mini can ruin the entire batch (happened to me!). Slow and steady wins the race ultimately and I believe in this case it is the best option overall.

All the machines have a base which has a slot for a 20x2mm magnet. The machine bases also have this same slot. You should not need to support this slot if your machine is tuned well (it should bridge fine) BUT, if you're not sure, better be safe than sorry. I used gorilla glue to glue these together to a good success, but ideally you'd use something more stretchy like epoxy as superglue doesn't attach very well to the smooth magnet's surface.

When gluing the magnets, make sure you have the poles facing the right way, otherwise your pieces will repel the bases instead of attaching to them! 

Machine Cards and Set Up

The game pieces are setup using a machine base, machine mini and the coloured stats. To know how to setup your pieces and to keep track of changes during play, it is highly advised to print the cards I have provided in the pdf documents.

The provided pdf Machine Strike Cards (under “Other Files”, together with the rules) has all the cards required for one player only, including a player aid card. 2 full sets of cards should be printed as well as the rules document to get the best experience.

Cards are sized as bridge cards (57x88.8mm) and should fit bridge sized card sleeves should you want to protect them further.

Information on how to place armour (blue stats) and weak points (red stats) on the game piece is provided on each individual machine card as well as an “ID” at the top corner, which matches the indents on the machine models. This is to help identify different pieces of identical machines on the board in your team, avoiding confusion when keeping track of movement, damage and buffs/debuffs.

Please also see the video below to see an example of a game piece being setup. The machine piece and base's strong magnetic attraction together with the dimensions of all the pieces make it so that all the stat pieces stay in place, making it no problem to move around with the pieces on the board!

Personal Note

The Horizon game series is my favourite game series of all time.

Aloy in particular but also her friends are such amazing characters, so well written. The world is absolutely stunning and it shows it has been designed with such care. The story brought tears into my eyes at times, while at others it made me blind with anger because it is just so true and relatable. The greed of human nature knows no limits and as we are well aware with the current events, some people will stop at nothing to do their bidding, if if that means death to all of us.

Guerrilla Games has truly created a masterpiece, because art is in the fine details. And a tiny part of it is a game called Machine Strike. This mini game captured me on the very first play. As an avid board gamer, it appealed to me immediately and to this day I am amazed at how it has been put aside and not been released in a similar way to how Gwent (from The Witcher 3) was released into the real world. All it takes is a couple minutes search online to find an immense community with as much love for Machine Strike as I do, and I felt it was only just to take the time and the effort to pay this game an homage, both because it is deserving and because the fans deserved it too.

It has taken me the best part of 2 years to finish this design, from the first version that was scrapped and completely redesigned to it's final version I now share with everyone. From printing and testing every single model to playtesting gameplay with adapted rules. I hope you see how much love I've put in it, and I hope sincerely that both my effort and Guerrila's for releasing such a fantastic game is respected at all times. Everything you see here has been designed by myself apart from the cards and the machine models (not including the bases, those are my design too), which are property and copyrighted by Guerrilla Games.

This is a project of love, from a fan to the fans. Please respect the release's license below and do not redistribute these in any way, digital or physical.

Sincerely, DSpecter

Playing the Game and Final Notes

Print and read the Machine Strike Rules pdf carefully.

As this is a reimagination of a digital board game, a couple things had to be reworked to ensure Machine Strike is playable as a tabletop game. But, if you have played the original Machine Strike digital version, you will find that all the main mechanisms, like sprinting, overcharging, knockbacks and defense breaks are still working the exact same way as originally designed. The main change was the addition of a terraforming system to randomize board generation and of course keeping track of damage, buffs, debuffs and victory points manually instead of automatically, utilizing the machine cards.

As a newcomer, if you wish to learn the game, there are plenty of online guides to follow and aid you in understanding the basics. If you still have any questions, please feel free to comment or message me and I'll do my best to help.

Can't wait to see your makes, so excited to finally release this into the world! Please post your makes, comments and suggestions, I always make sure to read everything.

Finally, this is absolutely optional, but if you would like to buy me a coffee as a fellow fan of Machine Strike, you can follow this link!