Zombie RV: Game 3, "Trial By Fire"

 I had to take today off work to take Gina to a doctor's appointment out in Rochester, and we got home early enough for me to set up the table and get another game of Zombie RV in, in preparation for putting on a table at Wargames Among the Warplanes in just under two weeks. When we last left our heroes, Dave and Dudikoff, the mysterious ninja warrior, had escaped from the zombie horde with their lives, but without their former companions. This time, they've picked up a pair of new recruits, Bobby and Larry, who are armed with pistols. Both figures are from Brigade Games' "Drug War Z" line. 

 

There were supply caches to check inside the Urgent Care, in the apartments above the Dispensary, inside the Pawn Shop and on the roof of the Off-Track Betting parlor. Five zombies were clustered around the burning dumpster at the beginning of the game; on subsequent turns, I rolled a die to determine if more zombies would spawn at the dumpster or at one of the table edges. 

Dudikoff snuck around to the back door of the Urgent Care, while Dave, Larry and Bobby crossed the intersection, aiming for the pawn shop and the back door of the Dispensary. 

 Bobby, the stealthiest of the group, peeled off and turned up the street, intent on heading towards the Off-Track Betting. Unfortunately, he sneezed and drew the attention of the milling zombies.

 Meanwhile, Dudikoff found the cache in the Urgent Care but nothing registered to him as useful. And some zombies, drawn by the sound of him rummaging, were beginning to enter the building.

 Zombies spawned along the table edge between the Dispensary and the Pawn Shop, right in Dave and Larry. 

 Dave darted past them, throwing himself through the doorway into the Pawn Shop. Larry skedaddled into the Dispensary and headed upstairs. The zombies followed Dave, and once they began to push their way through the door he opened up with his shotgun.

 Dudikoff kept up a fighting retreat as he headed back towards the rear exit of the Urgent Care. Bobby, meanwhile, reflected on the fact that he'd always assumed it'd be his bookie or one of his ex-baby mamas killing him in front of the dispensary. 

 Larry found nothing of value in the dispensary and headed back down, while Dave found supplies in the pawn shop. As the zombies kept coming, Dave made a mad dash for the front door to leave them behind. Seeing Dave running, Larry took off running in the same direction. 

 

Dudikoff ran from the pursuing zombies, but the Nasty Zombie managed to catch up to him; a slash of his katana pushed the Nasty Zombie back, allowing him to duck through the back door of the Donut Shop. 

 Bobby was wounded and knocked down, but the zombies, distracted by the stench of stale beer, sweat and the cheapest cigarettes on the market emanating from Bobby's undershirt, failed to finish him off.

 Larry climbed on to the roof of the video store and started firing his pistol into the air, distracting the growing zombie horde. As the undead clustered around the video store, Bobby managed to get to his feet and begin making his way towards the RV. Dudikoff had the same idea.

 

Meanwhile, Dave made it on to the roof of the OTB and found... nothing! Even with his Scavenger skill, he came away empty-handed.

I didn't take a picture of Dave on the OTB roof. Oh well. He climbed down the drainpipe and started to make his way towards the RV, all of the zombies' attention focused on Larry's gunfire.

And then... click!

Larry ran out of ammo.

 And suddenly Dave was the noisiest thing on the street.

 Fortunately, he was carrying a shotgun into this target-rich environment, and was able to clear a path. Larry leapt across the gap between the video store and the pawn shop to avoid the zombies still pressing against the rear of the video store. He quickly made his way down to ground level and took of running. Zombies began to pursue.

 Fortunately, Bobby and Dudikoff made it to the RV, revved it up and threw it into gear. They were able to pick up both Dave and Larry, meaning the entire team survived, even if they didn't find much of value. 

***

All in all, a good game! I think I've got a good handle now on what combination of the core rules, and the house-rules written by Mike over at Lead Legionaries, I want to bring to Wargames Among the Warplanes. I also think I'm just going to recreate this layout there to make things easy on myself. I managed to fit almost all the scatter terrain inside the buildings, and I can stack those in a plastic tote so I'm not lugging five boxes' worth of terrain from my car to the venue like I did last year. 

So the one remaining question...

Do I want to allow the players at Wargames Among the Warplanes to fight among themselves over supplies? Or should I be firm about "it's all of you against the zombies"? 

Test game: Osprey's "Ronin"

 I had some free time this afternoon so I decided to squeeze in another game before the weekend ended. I've painted a fair few samurai and other Feudal Japanese miniatures this year, and I've been itching to get them on the table for a proper samurai game. I had a pair of 100-point "Buntai" lists drawn up for Osprey's "Ronin," and decided today was the day.

 A pretty simple meeting engagement to get a feel for the mechanics of the game - a Takeda Clan samurai and his ashigaru bodyguards are waylaid at a river crossing by a gang of bandits. 

 The Takeda won priority, and one of the spear-armed ashigaru moved forward; the bandit archer snapped off a shot, stunning him. Both buntai moved forward, the bandit and ashigaru musketmen exchanging ineffectual shots. During the action phase, the bandit archer fired a second shot, putting a light wound on the ashigaru he'd previously stunned. 

 The bandit second-in-command charged forward, and the two ashigaru spearmen moved forward to meet him. The melee was on!

 Here's where I got a taste of the "combat pool" mechanic - each figure has a combat pool, and when melee begins draws any combination of Attack and Defense tokens up to that number. They then use these to attack, enhance their attacks or improve their defense. Normally, you'd be playing against someone and you'd keep what you were drawing for your pool a secret, resulting in there being a bit of a gamble to each combat - you have to wager on what your opponent has in mind and how aggressive or conservative you want to be. Some of that's missing trying to play it solo, unfortunately, but them's the breaks.

Unfortunately for the bandit second in command, he gambled poorly.

 At that point, both buntai were fully committed; the spearmen moved on to engage other low-ranking bandits, while the Takeda samurai faced off with the bandit leader.

 The more heavily armored samurai buntai made pretty short work of the bandits, with the ashigaru archer and musketmen finishing off their counterparts and the spearmen carving their way through the other bandits with ease, receiving only light wounds in return. 

 With a final sweep of his sword, the samurai cut the bandit leader down, and was free to continue on his way.

 

It was a pretty quick game, only about an hour, maybe an hour and twenty minutes, and that's with double-checking the rulebook every few minutes. I feel like I got the hang of the mechanics pretty quickly, especially melee combat and the system of enhancing rolls, which are potentially not the most intuitive since it's not the same across initiative, attack and defense.

I did realize right at the end that I'd forgotten that musketfire largely ignores armor, which may or may not have made that big of a difference in this game, but will be something to keep in mind next time. 

I should get some terrain rolling for the next time I want to play Ronin as well. I do have an MDF temple from Things From The Basement to work on one of these days... Possibly in September, since I really should spend Augut focused on getting things ready for Zombie RV at Wargames Among the Warplanes next month.

Zombie RV: Game 2 "Enter the Ninja"

Following Sandra's death at the cabin, Hector, Mark and Dave soon picked up a new survivor. A man dressed in a white ninja outfit with a sword slung across his back. The man refused to speak, communicating his needs solely through gestures. Mark soon gave him the name "Dudikoff" in reference to the ninja gear. Dudikoff's silence soon proved frustrating however, and before long Mark was shouting at the ninja to say something, anything. 

As the crew pulled on to a city street that looked promising for supplies, Mark and Dudikoff were keeping their distance from one another.

 

The group began to fan out, with Mark scaling the OTB and Dudikoff entering and climbing the stairs to the roof of the dispensary. Dave lined up a few lingering zombies and squeezed the trigger on his shotgun - and discovered he was out of ammo.

 More zombies were soon congregating, and Dave and Hector were in the middle of it - at least until Dave ducked into the dispensary and out the back door, leaving Hector to fend his way down the street alone.

 Mark and Dudikoff investigated two possible supply caches and came up empty, while Dave worked his way around and up on to the roof of the liquor store, finding a small cache of supplies there. 

 As Hector fought his way towards the last supply cache (in the bed of a crashed pickup truck), Dudikoff leapt across rooftops and jumped down, katana at the ready, on to one of the zombies that threatened him.

 Not to be outdone, Mark jumped down to start swinging his wrench at zombies as well.

 Leaping over a crashed car, Hector checked the pickup truck and found...nothing! 

"Let's get out of here," he said, eyeing the growing zombie horde. Dudikoff nodded, cutting his way free from a swarm of the undead.

 Dave was already running for the RV.

 Dudikoff jumped over zombies, and Mark and Hector tried to make it, but the swarm was just too densely packed; for every zombie they killed, two more shambled in.

The two survivors ducked into the RV and threw it into gear. "Looks like it's just you and me, Dudikoff," Dave said.

"You know, Michael Dudikoff wore a black ninja suit in the American Ninja movies," the ninja replied gruffly. "The white ninja look comes from Franco Nero in the movie Enter the Ninja."

"You could talk this whole time?" 

"Hai." 

"Should... I start calling you Franco?"

"No, Dudikoff is fine." 

Majestic 13: Operation Wrong Turn

 The morning was silent save for the lapping of water against the bow of the boat and the creak of the wooden oars as Hank guided them across the river. Even the insects were still and quiet. A family of campers had gone missing on this isolated spit of land, and Majestic suspected the machinations of FORCE behind it. 

The Lieutenant reviewed the mission briefing on the tablet.

"Initial satellite imagery suggests we're up against a 'Poisoned Lasher' today," he said quietly. "Big toad-looking thing that'll grab you with its tongue and retreat someplace quiet to eat you. We're short Maria today, so we need to really be on our A-game if we want to gig this frog."

The tiny drone in Becky's hands whirred to life, lifting off gently and bobbing as if politely acknowledging the Lieutenant's statement.

"I think with this little baby we'll be just fine," Becky said, allowing herself a smile. "A little extra firepower never hurt."

"We're here," Hank said, even as the Lieutenant and Sarah-Jane stood to drag the boat on to shore.

*** 

 The Lieutenant prodded the tattered remains of the campsite with the barrel of his rifle.

"Something's not right here," he muttered. "There's no mucus. Dossier says the Poisoned Lasher's handiwork is immediately recognizable by the quantity of mucus it produces."

"Boss...?" Becky hazarded as a hissing chitter echoed from the nearby woods.

 "Shit!" The Lieutenant barked. "That's not a Lasher! We were given bad intel! Spread out!"

 With a shriek, the Warping Crawler shimmered out of existence, rematerializing right on top of the Lieutenant. He fired blindly into its abdomen and took off running. 

 "I'm on it," Hank barked, moving into position and squeezing the trigger on his M249 SAW, not worrying about trying to stabilize the heavy gun. Ichor spurted as round after round punctured the creature's exoskeleton. 

"Alright little fella," Becky cooed to the drone even as she made a mad dash north towards the woods. "Show us what you've got."

The remote in her hands chirped as the drone locked on to the monster. With a smile she pressed the "fire" button. The targeting drone swooped out of the way as its larger cousin arrived, dropping an incendiary munitions bundle down the Crawler's back before returning to its launch pad.

 Snarling in pain and fury, the Crawler dematerialized, reappearing between the Lieutenant and Hank - close enough to drive a pointed claw at each of them. Hank rolled out of the way but the razor-edged limb sank into the Lieutenant's shoulder.

 Sitting calmly, almost meditatively atop the riverside billboard, Sarah-Jane lined up her shot; the sniper bullet tore a hole through the creature's elongated, flanged skull, causing it to squeal and flail. The monster teleported away, carrying the Lieutenant with it; rematerializing atop a nearby ridge, it began to gnaw on him. As he tried to wriggle out of its grip, it speared him with another spiky limb, keeping him pinned. He managed to fire into the creature's belly, but couldn't escape.

 Hank fired a burst into the creature's back and took off running towards the dilapidated cabin. From the woods, Becky smiled and thumbed a request into the burner phone. A second drone streaked across the sky with a fiery payload.

 Chemical fire sprayed across the monster's back, its bulk shielding the restrained Lieutenant from burns. The creature squealed and teleported again. 

[The first Drone Strike was courtesy the team's new "Drone Control Pod" addition to their base, the second was their usual 1/mission "Call For Aid."]

Reappearing at the river's edge, the monster continued to try and stuff the Lieutenant into its bladed mandibles. 

"Oh no you don't," Sarah-Jane said flatly, squeezing the trigger and sending another round deep into the monster's chest cavity. Oozing ichor, the creature teleported again, reappearing in a nearby copse of trees. The variety of bullet-holes in the monster's body were actively spilling steaming fluids as the creature entered Extremis. Enraged and in agony, it finally managed to cram the Lieutenant down its gullet before teleporting again and seizing Becky.

 The Crawler tried to teleport away with her to consume, but the exertion was too much for its overtaxed systems. It rematerialized atop the bluff overlooking the river, sank its fangs into Becky and promptly collapsed, tumbling over the cliff into the swirling water below.

 ***

Wow, this game took me by surprise today. The monster died at the top of turn 3. That has never happened for me before. I know there's extra XP given if you accomplish it, but I didn't know it was really doable. Having the second drone strike made a huge difference, plus Sarah-Jane scored a critical hit both times she activated. Because the Crawler is classed as a "Monstrosity," It activates again whenever it's hit with a critical hit. So both hits caused it to take an extra action and technically resulted in the Lieutenant getting eaten, but the second hit also caused it to take bonus Extremis damage. 

Rolling into the post-game...

The Lieutenant died of his injuries. After 13 missions, the old sunovagun bit the big one. Fortunately, Majestic was able to decant a fresh clone of him, so he'll be back for the next game, all shiny and scrubbed-pink looking. 

Hank had enough XP banked to raise both Acuity and Fortitude, while Sarah-Jane and Becky each raised their Combat ability. The Lieutenant, being a fresh clone, did not garner any XP. 

The team's requisition for a prosthetic arm for Maria has finally gone through and been approved! And additionally...

***

The Lieutenant - the new Lieutenant, he supposed - walked towards the Last Liner's hideout, his stride a little firmer than it had been in the past few months. Clonal vigor; it would wear off in a day or two, the scientists said, but for now he'd enjoy it. He pushed open the door.

"Hey, it's the Lieutenant!" Maria cheered, a beer in each hand. "Or is your rank now '2nd Lieutenant'?"

Hank groaned, and Maria shook her head. "Hey, it's okay, it's okay! I'm allowed to make clone jokes!" 

"Yeah, but can you make good ones?" Hank replied as he tossed a beer to the Lieutenant. "How's it feel to have a first beer all over again, boss?"

Even Sarah-Jane, normally so taciturn, had to laugh. The Lieutenant bit the cap off the bottle and raised it in toast. Everyone raised theirs as well. 

"The higher-ups are real happy with us right now," he said. "Let's keep that momentum going, and keep kicking alien ass, all right?" 

The team cheered. 

"In fact," the Lieutenant continued, "I sweet-talked them into a little present for the team. Hank, son, your arms getting tired lugging that SAW around?"

"What you got, some ultralight Retech'd version?" Hank asked, leaning forward excitedly. 

"Step outside and see," the Lieutenant said, gesturing out the door. An unmarked truck was backing up towards the hideout. The Lieutenant stepped up and pulled open the loading doors.

"Wow," Becky said, staring into the dimly-lit interior. 

"What is that?" Maria asked, eyes gleaming in excitement.

"It's beautiful," Hank added.

"Brand new, top of the line powered hardsuit," The Lieutenant said. "Complete with attachment point for anything up to and including light artillery. Slip this bad boy on like a set of long johns and it'll carry your gun for you, son."

"I GET A MECH SUIT!?!" Hank exclaimed.