The turn of the twenty-second century was a time of great progression of the human race, space exploration, scientific and technological advancements. It was also the time of neo-colonialism, and a new order emerging from the pyres of the old world. It was a time of a new breed of war – the Hardwar.
Hardwar tries to recreate possible future ground battlefield conditions, providing straightforward rules allowing for fast-paced tactical experience in a relatively hard science fiction setting. Hardwar takes into account not only classic armoured warfare, enriched with fictional contraptions like mechs, spaceships, or exotic weapons, but also futuristic predictions of combat evolution – the importance of cybernetic warfare, decline in numbers of human soldiers replaced with AI algorithms, a rise of sentient combat swarms and electronic fog of war, or experimental development of new exotic weapons, to name a few. This approach, combined with simple and flexible rules should provide new and exciting tactical opportunities for tabletop commanders.
Aside from this rulebook, all that is needed for a game is a couple of miniatures, representing your battle group, a handful of twelve-sided dice and another one of small tokens or coins, measuring tape, a table, a couple of terrain pieces and, most importantly, an opponent.
Becoming a force commander in Hardwar world is not a difficult task. You can start your own private security company, lease a few war machines and go out there, looking for contracts from the big fish. You can be a corporate commander, working for one of the major forces of your world, executing the will of shareholders by all means necessary. You can become the charismatic leader of revolutionary forces, fighting against corporate overlords. You can be a small-time dictator in an area of wastelands forgotten by transnationals, or a noble self-appointed marshal, trying to protect helpless civilians from raiders. You can be a pirate, you can be a bounty hunter, you can be a mercenary. All you need is to get your hands on some equipment, find a few reliable hardware operators and convince someone with money to let you solve their problem. If you are good enough, you can get additional contracts with media, to make a reality holo-show about your group, you can get sponsors from the arms industry, agents and lawyers to negotiate your contracts, and that penthouse mansion in the orbital city you have always dreamt of.
Your force will face other security consultants, fighting for other employers. Sometimes you will take part in internal power struggles, sometimes you will perform a hostile takeover, sometimes you will sabotage a competitive facility, sometimes you will have to deal with locals unwilling to relocate from your employer’s property, sometimes you will go on bandit hunt, you will extinguish, or incite revolution… it will not always be pretty, but surely will be profitable.
