Thermo-bombs, Nerve Gas, and the Plascrete Virus – Secret Weapons in Block Mania
15th June 2021
Last week on the blog we took a look at the new blockers, hardware, and armoury counters added in the Happy Hour expansion, included in print for the first time ever as part of our limited-edition reprint of Mega-Mania.
There’s one thing we didn’t mention though – the secret weapons, powerful enough to crank the mayhem of your Block Mania games up a level. Any one of these could swing the game in your (or your opponent’s) favour, so be careful how you use them!
Thermo-bombs
Thermo-bombs are similar to but far more powerful than demo-charges. On detonation they release colossal quantities of heat, melting away and evaporating everything within several metres.
If you’re looking to bring your opponent’s Block crashing down, then the thermo-bomb is the way to go. These powerful explosives cause severe damage, meaning that when they detonate the square they are in automatically collapses. As well as potentially leading to a chain reaction, the thermo-bomb will automatically cause fires to spread into the three squares above it (if they haven’t collapsed already!)
Given how powerful these bombs are, Blockers can’t set them off while in the same space as them as they would have no chance of surviving. They have to move off the space, even if it means spending Command Points to do so. Thermo-bombs also have a delayed detonation, meaning they won’t go off until the start of the Combat Phase.
Plascrete Virus
Plascrete is the basic building material of everything in the mega-city. An attack by a virus which attacks and weakens plascrete is any fighting Blocker’s worst nightmare.
Held in a small vial, the virus is harmless until released, which a player can do at the cost of one movement point.
Once unleashed, the virus has the potential to spread around the block, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. During the endphase, the player who owns the block containing the virus marker will determine the virus’ movement by rolling dice. If they are lucky it will stay put, but chances are it will move through the building, causing structural damage as it does so.
The virus can’t be destroyed – if it’s released you just have to hope you can defeat your opponent before it does too much damage.
Nerve Gas
Each Block has its own air conditioning system which feeds air to every single square. The centre of the air conditioning system is in the Block’s power house where air is vented in from the outside, processed and then piped throughout the block. It’s a relatively simple matter to contaminate this supply…
Flooding a Block with Nerve Gas is definitely a good way to take out your opponent’s Blockers. If you have a counter in the power house, you can spend one movement to unleash the gas in a one-off attack that will affect every counter in that block. Players will need to roll one die for each of these counters, with Blockers by the window removed on a 6 and Blockers in interior squares removed on a 5 or 6.
Every counter within the block will be affected, so best to get your Blockers clear first if you can!
Will you be using the Secret Weapons in your games of Block Mania?
The Happy Hour expansion is included in the Mega-Mania expansion – order your copy today!