Cyberpunk Edgerunners: A New Night City
By Mack Martin
Night City is a place where legends are made through the crucible of sacrifice. The neon-soaked streets are a battleground where mercs, corpos, and edgerunners clash for survival, power, and the occasional payday. Cyberpunk Edgerunners: Combat Zone brings the high-stakes action of the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime to the tabletop in a fast-paced campaign-driven experience. Whether you're a veteran of Cyberpunk RED: Combat Zone or new to the streets, this “expandalone” box has everything you need to enter the world of high-tech (and high-risk) skirmish combat.
What is an "Expandalone"?
We know—it's not a word you hear every day. Or maybe that’s just me. I’m sure I’d heard it before, but when I heard this perfect term, I knew I had to use it. What it means is that Cyberpunk Edgerunners is both a standalone game and an expansion for Cyberpunk RED: Combat Zone. You don’t need anything else to play, but if you already own Combat Zone, you can integrate the new content seamlessly. The game uses the same core engine as Combat Zone, so all your existing models, terrain, and game knowledge will carry over. The core rules (moving, shooting, hacking) work the same way, keeping the streamlined, high-intensity gameplay that fans love.
One of our goals was to give Cyberpunk Edgerunners a hook to bring board gamers into the world of skirmish miniatures gaming. If you've never played a campaign-driven miniatures game before, this box provides a structured and immersive way to dive in. It includes a campaign for two players that plays out as Maine, David, and ‘Becca, running jobs and working their way toward legendary status.
A New Kind of Campaign
One of the biggest differences in Cyberpunk Edgerunners is its campaign system. Unlike the freeform, open-ended campaigns of Combat Zone, this box contains a structured two-player campaign designed to guide players through a series of escalating encounters. Each mission leads to the next, shaping the story as your heroes (or villains) suffer the inevitable and cruel fates Night City has for all its denizens.
Players of Combat Zone will find this unique campaign is different from the full campaign presented in the established game line. But fear not, this new campaign isn’t a replacement. It’s an option that makes this release stand on its own and (hopefully) bring a narrative like the show to your tabletop.
The core rules of Combat Zone remain intact, but minor adjustments have been made to accommodate this campaign format. For instance, Objective decks aren’t used (those components are included in the miniature boxes: Night City Edgerunners: Santo Domingo and Arasaka), so that campaign style is still available, but it isn’t in the core box. These tweaks are intended to make the game more approachable for new players while keeping it fully compatible with the existing game. This is not a revision or overhaul of the entire ruleset—just a bit of customization to ensure Cyberpunk Edgerunners delivers a cinematic experience.
StandUpz or Miniatures?
We wanted to make sure Cyberpunk Edgerunners was accessible to both board gamers and miniatures players, which is why we’re offering boxes of miniatures alongside the game:
The Base Game – This version features 24 StandUpzs for characters and enemies, making it a perfect entry point for players who don’t typically paint miniatures. It’s a great way to experience the game without needing to assemble and paint an entire team.
If you want to take your Cyberpunk Edgerunners experience even further, you have plenty of options. Players who wish to integrate these characters into standard Combat Zone games can do so in a few different ways:
The Santo Domingo Starter – This faction box introduces the titular Edgerunners as a playable team from the Edgerunner’s Faction in standard Combat Zone games. Whether you want to run David and his crew or mix them into an existing gang, this set has everything you need.
The Corporate Muscle Expansion – If Arasaka’s cybered-up enforcers are more your style, this expansion lets you take their firepower into your regular games, including the monstrous Adam Smasher.
Both faction boxes contain the necessary cards and components to seamlessly bring Cyberpunk Edgerunners characters into the Combat Zone, giving players the flexibility to play the way they want.
From the start, our goal with Cyberpunk Edgerunners was to capture the energy, chaos, and brutal reality of Night City. The anime delivered an unforgettable story, and we wanted to give players a way to experience those kinds of stories on the tabletop.
