The Assimilator - a Single-Unit Army for Neuroshima Hex

Version: 2025-11-06.07:25 (original markdown-format copy)

The Assimilator, a mysterious, amorphous, and powerful being, scours the wastelands alone, looking for spare parts, both mechanical and organic, to graft on to or absorb into their ever-shifting form. They are not a scavenger, and will actively hunt down entire armies to feed their desire for MOAR MASS.

Summary: The Assimilator (hereafter TA) is a fan-made army for Neuroshima Hex which can be easily assembled using only materials from any edition of the base game. TA is a single-unit army supported only by Instant Actions and their ability to assimilate their victims into their form and add to their capabilities.

Status: we have tested this army considerably, made many tweaks, and believe that what's published here represents a relatively well-balanced army. It might (might) be a tiny bit under-powered and we're working on ways to beef it up slightly without breaking it.

Required for play:

• One fine-point dry-erase marker.
• All of the Instant Action tiles from the four core-set armies. For NH players who have at least two editions of the game, it's trivial to scavenge one of them to create this army.
• One blank hex. Each expansion-set army comes with one, as do the armies in at least the 3rd and 20th-anniversary editions of the core game (but not the Year of Molloch edition). It needs to be made dry-erase-friendly by laminating it (packing tape works great!). (Sidebar: a pure white blank hex, if available, may work better because the provided blanks have art along the edges upon which we write on TA, making them less legible.)

Setup

At the start of the game, shuffle all of the Instant Action tiles from the four base-game armies (Molloch, Borgo, Hegemony, Outpost) to create TA's deck. Yes, all of 47 of them. TA draws from a bowl or bag, rather than a stack, because of the mixed tile designs.

TA starts play with:

• An Initiative of two.
• Five points to spend on upgrades before placing the unit as an HQ on the board. (Tip: if TA feels overpowered, try dialing this back to four.)

The game ends when TA's opponent runs out of tiles, at which point the TA does not get to draw again before the Final Battle. (If, via application of optional rules, TA is able to empty their deck first, their opponent does get a final draw in the normal manner.)

Rules Changes

TA is both a Warrior and an HQ with the following rules changes:

• Effects which normally cannot target HQs may target TA.
• Effects which outright destroy a unit instead deal two damage to TA. Similarly, effects which would remove TA from the board, e.g. back to the top of their deck, instead deal two damage.
• TA may use their Move Instant Actions or special ability to escape from a Net but they suffer one damage when doing so. TA is otherwise affected normally by Nets.
• TA's player may not use the Unlucky Draw rule unless they draw three tiles with the same effect (regardless of their color).
• TA's Instant Actions which refer to that army's HQ (e.g. Borgo's Grenade) refer to TA instead.

TA Life Points and Abilities

TA absorbs and collects energy and mass by defeating Warriors and spends those resources to modify their body to suit the situation at hand.

TA may spend life points (i.e. take self-inflicted wounds) to perform the following actions:

• Move: Once during their turn, TA may spend one life point to take a Move action.

• Transform: Once during their turn, TA may transform by trading life points for new Components and Upgrades to existing Components. Transformation is described in detail in the next section.

• Reconfigure: Once during their turn, TA may reconfigure by paying one life to move any one Component to any another compatible slot on a different facing. Limitations listed in Component and Upgrade acquisition costs also apply to a Reconfigure action. e.g. a Net may not be moved to a facing which already has a Net. Reabsorb (described below) is a more cost-effective way to reconfigure small Components. Tip: cotton swabs work perfectly for dry-erasing Components.

TA may gain hit points, up to the maximum of 20, in the following ways:

• Reabsorb: Once during their turn TA may reabsorb one Component. Each reabsorbed Component, no matter how many Upgrades it has, is erased from TA's tile and restores one life point. Aside from being a potential life-saver, Reabsorb provides a more cost-effective way to relocate one-point-cost Components than a Reconfigure action does, as the Reabsorb effectively pays for the cost of a subsequent Transform action to (re)install the Component or replace it with another one-point-cost Component.

• At the end of an Initiative Phase in which TA has more than zero hit points and destroys any Warriors, TA recovers one hit point for each Warrior destroyed, plus one per instance of the Toughness trait printed on each of those Warriors, up to a maximum total hit point value of 20. If TA ends the Initiative Phase at zero hit points they may not heal. TA does not recover life points for destroying non-Warrior units or damaging an HQ. Only printed Toughness levels earn hit points - Toughness granted to Warriors by Modules, the HQ, or similar effects does not count towards this recovery.

• If TA is not netted and one of their Instant Actions destroys an enemy out of combat, TA recovers the appropriate life points immediately, as if TA had defeated them in battle.

Any gained HP which would take TA above 20 are lost - simply ignored. That inability to gain any further HP does not otherwise affect the result of any of the above actions or situations.

Transform

Each of TA's six facings has two slots, each of which may hold a Component, some of which may be upgraded. Components and Upgrades are noted directly on TA's hex piece with a fine-tipped dry-erase marker.

The Transform Action can be taken to grow Components and upgrade existing ones.

TA may choose from one of the following for each Transform Action after paying the listed life point cost:

One point:

• Add a 1-point Melee attack Component to any free slot. TA grows horns, claws, and stabby things of all sorts with ease.
• Add an Armor Component to a slot on a facing which does not already have Armor. TA supplements their surface with absorbed scrap materials.
• Add a Net Component to a slot on a facing which does not already have a Net. TA emits viscous strands! TA may not have more than three nets, as more get in their own way.

Two points:

• Add a 1-point Ranged attack Component to any free slot.
• Upgrade a 1-point Melee or Ranged attack Component to a 2-point attack.

Three points:

• Upgrade a 2-point Melee attack Component to a 3-point attack.
• Increase Initiative from 2 to 3. This does not take up a slot and cannot be Reabsorbed.

How to draw each Component and Upgrade on the tile is up to the player, the only requirement being that the markings are clear to all players. Some suggestions:

• Melee: a single dot along the edge. Stack dots vertically (that is: from the edge towards the center) to represent 2- and 3-point attacks. Place them side-by-side along the edge to represent individual attacks/slots.
• Ranged: a short dash from the edge towards the center. A 2-point attack is represented by a pronounced dot or bar across the one end of the line.
• Armor: a semicircle curved in the same orientation as the hex half-side it is placed on.
• Net: an X.

Artistically-inclined players are encouraged to use more thematic representations.

Tactical Suggestions

When playing TA...

1. The ability to move is critical, so...

2. Do not get stuck in a corner. TA doesn't do well in corners. Vast numbers of TAs perished in corners in playtesting. More generally, absolutely avoid being penned in. It ends quickly and messily and to the detriment of TA.

3. TA cannot win without dealing heavy damage and can only affect one attack on the HQ per combat. i.e. TA needs to focus on upgrading their attacks in one facing. Though covering 5 or 6 faces potentially enables TA to reap whole fields of enemies at once, the damage will be spread too thin to be effective against the HQ. However, having attacks on only one facing will severely limit the options for gaining hit points, ergo options for further upgrading on the primary face.

4. If the enemy can completely surround their HQ, making it impossible for TA to damage it, it is still possible to win by sitting back and sniping the blockade, so long as TA can keep their HP above the opponents. Doing so, however, requires that TA do some damage very early in the game, before the blockade goes up. Once such a blockade is in place, TA might never get another chance to damage the HQ.

When playing against TA:

1. Place your HQ in a corner.

2. Block TA in if possible. Trap them and TA will quickly succumb, barring deus ex machina (which happens, certainly, but without it TA's doom is near certain).

3. Failing cornering, wall off the HQ with anything at all and wait out TA, giving TA no option but to come to you from a very predictable angle. Modules make especially good blockers here because TA has to waste precious time to clear the way but gets no benefit from destroying Modules.

Options: Changing How it Plays

An assortment of options to tweak play or to apply to other single-unit armies:

Two Initiatives: TA's Melee attacks have Initiative 3 but their Ranged attacks have Initiative 1. Or vice versa. Or some other combination. Buying the Initiative upgrade increases both.

Maximum Effort: after drawing their three tokens, TA may choose to spend one HP to draw a fourth. One must, as usual, be discarded, then TA may play or hold the other three, as usual. If TA holds all three, they do not draw next turn unless they spend one HP to draw an extra one, and must discard down to two (or three if they spend an HP to draw an extra).

Taking what is Offered: TA benefits from enemy Modules. If a Module is connected to TA and an enemy but can only affect one of the units, the Module's owner decides who is affected by it. e.g. a Medic.

GET OFF MY LAWN: TA may use their Push Instant Actions to move an enemy out from under one of TA's nets, causing that enemy to take one wound.

Pushing the Limits: when netted, allow TA's Push Instant Action to shove the netting unit away. TA pays their usual 1-HP net-escaping penalty. When using this option, optionally also remove TA's ability to pay 1 HP to move (that ability is there primarily to help ensure that TA is not immediately defeated by a Net, but being able to escape with either a Move or a Push reduces that threat considerably).

Blockades: any number of times per turn, TA may spend one HP to take a tile from their deck, without revealing it, and place it face-down in an adjacent, completely empty space (e.g. no Foundation or other Blockade tiles). Blockades may not be played in the outer ring of the board (where the Pirates and Wiremen place certain pieces). That tile now blocks all non-Flying movement and stays in play until the end of the next Battle. Only Flying units may occupy that space before then. (Optionally, by player agreement: allow TA to slither onto/over their own Blockades.)

MOAR Blockades: as for Blockades from the Hand, but TA may add a Blockade tile to a space which already has one to increase the Blockade's height. In addition to the Blockade effects, Ranged attacks and movement of Flying units are also blocked. It does not block a Gauss Canon.

Blockades from the Hand: as for Blockades (above) except that the cost to play a blockade is to place a tile from TA's hand instead of paying an HP to draw one.

MOAR Blockades from the Hand: as for Blockades from the Hand (above) except that TA may place a blockade on top of another one to increase the blockade's height. In addition to the Blockade effects, Ranged attacks and movement of Flying units are also blocked. It does not block a Gauss Canon.

Prescience: instead of shuffling the entire deck together, shuffle up four stacks, one from each of the core game's armies. TA draws their tiles from any of those stacks, in any combination. Should some unforeseen effect force TA to put a tile back on the deck then TA must draw that tile again at the earliest opportunity. (Playtest note: this felt somewhat tedious to deal with. It may perhaps be more interesting for players who memorize each army's units so have an informed basis for choosing which stack(s) to draw from.)

MOAR Upgrades: allow TA to purchase non-attack Components like like a generic +1 Melee or +1 Ranged Component. Perhaps each takes two slots and costs 3HP.

Slime Trails: each time TA moves, it leaves a massive toxic sludge trail. Place an unused token in the space TA moves from. It is treated like a Foundation tile but can be placed together with a Foundation tile (which it does not affect). Any non-HQ unit entering that hex, other than TA, takes one wound. The token is removed at the end of the next battle. (Playtest notes: (A) We kept forgetting to place one and (B) TA starts battles so often that the slime trails often disappear before the enemy has to even consider them. It's impossible for TA to ever Push an enemy onto a trail, so trails only ever have an effect on the enemy's turn.)

Slime Trails from the Hand: as for Slime Trails, above, except that the cost of placing slime changes to: any number of times on their turn, TA may put a token from their hand face-down on the board on a free adjacent space, as described above for Slime Trails.

Mixing it Up: add Instant Actions from other expansions. Pull, Rotate, etc., would work well here. Whether to limit TA's deck or keep it "endless" is up to the players.

Design Notes

Authors: Cornella and Stephan Beal https://wanderinghorse.net/gaming/neuroshimahex

Choice of Pieces and Abilities: this army is specifically intended to be playable using only a copy of the base game. That restricts it to unit abilities and tiles from the base set. That, however, is the only reason that these rules as written do not refer to other common effects from expansion-set armies, e.g. Rotate, Thrower, and Grab would all work well with TA (but Cannibalism wouldn't). Players are encouraged to tweak their TA with tiles and abilities from expansion sets.

HP accumulation: The core armies have between 12 and 17 Warriors, and a game typically lasts about 12 turns, so TA will not get an abundance of points. It was initially expected that 8-10 would be typical, with 14 being an outlying upper value. Initial practice, however, showed that 5-6 is more typical. That resulted in a number of tweaks and tests.

Cost of Nets: these initially cost 2, but they were never purchased because, it turns out, (A) 2 HP is quite a hefty price and (B) TA moves so much that nets don't really get a chance to shine.

Netters: we practically have to give TA a last-ditch Move option in order to protect it from being completely brought low by a single Net. TA initially had a free Move to account for this, but that was over-powered. Though we'd rather not give TA the ability to spend hit points to move, we really do need to in order to avoid a near-100% death rate when hit by netters. Recall that Borgo's Grenade does not function when its HQ is netted, so TA's only options to recover from being netted is moving or drawing one of the Sniper actions.

Free Move: TA initially had a free Move action each turn, but (A) this made the Move Instant Actions nearly useless and (B) it was too powerful - TA was able to avoid most attacks effortlessly.

Component Slots: We initially had three slots per facing, but (A) it enabled TA go upgrade to attacks dealing 6 damage, which seems too high and (B) it got too crowded drawing on the small TA token. After reducing that to two slots per facing we experimented with requiring the two slots on any given edge to be different Components (e.g. not two separate Melee attacks). However, doing so seems to strongly encourage TA to focus on close-combat tactics with the HQ because it's cheaper to upgrade TA's fists than it is their guns. (Tip: it's not that much more expensive to outfit an upgraded gun... but maybe it should be.) That limitation was not retained because it limits viable TA build options.

Initiative: TA was initially permitted to upgrade their Initiative any number of times. The first time it was upgraded to four, it was quickly clear that four would be way too powerful against most armies (maybe Borgo excluded, given their HQ initiative boost). With Initiative four, TA is able to wipe the board around them clean before most other units can counterstrike.