Mein Zombie! In Period!

Put together a game of Mein Zombie this weekend for the family, including Helen.  Now that she's 7 she doesn't want to "only play the kid games".  To mix things up, I moved the game back to WW2.

(For those not familiar with Mein Zombie rules, it has nothing to do with WW2.  It's from the writers of Mein Panzer, and shares a lot of the same rule concepts.)

The Scenario:

Coded radio intercepts told of a "very special" V1 buzz-bomb raid that was to hit London.  Major Mallory and his team was sent to investigate.  Parachuting into enemy territory, they approached the launch site from the north, only to find something terribly wrong:

The team entered from Miles' edge of the board.  The radio truck, both bunkers, cargo truck and command track all contained search piles.  The team's objective was to find evidence of what caused the excitement and get info back to England.  There was a workable radio in the truck, but the codebook was in the command track.  And the secret zombie formula was in one bunker.

Miles played Cpl Miller, and I gave him a silenced 9mm.  Same rules as regular pistol, but no noise markers.  It seemed overpowered, as he never rolled a failure or ran out of ammo.

Sergeant Brown valiantly runs away from a zombie.  It took the team a long time to figure out that if they ran around the wire, the zombie would try to run through the wire, with hilarious effects.  Sgt Brown is also wielding a found rifle, as he had managed to destroy his SMG.

In the most dramatic action of the day, Major Mallory (Sara) climbed into the cargo truck to search.  He was quickly joined by zombies.  And more zombies.  And more.  Each turn he would clear out the truck, but more were waiting at the tailgate.  Finally, after many rounds of this, we allowed him to rip open the canvas on the front of the bed and jump out the front.

The last hero escapes through the woods (honest, he's in there) clutching the zombification formula and the codebook for good measure.  Cpl Miller begged to be left behind, planning a last stand in the radio truck while transmitting the formula.  However, he finally let slip the truth that with just 2 more kills, he would have double the body count of his Dad!

Overall a fun game.  Rules are a bit fiddlier than most others we play.  But the "add that number, subtract this number, then roll" is a great mechanic for Helen.  (all addition and subtraction with a D20)  She had to do the math before she rolled.

Just wish Mein Zombie wasn't a red-headed stepchild set of rules...

Memorial Day Pictures

Just a few pictures from our cold, cold trip in the mountains.  It's not supposed to do this in May!

The Other Tea Party, Part One

Sure, everybody heard about that big one in Boston, but did you ever hear of the small tea party in the little port town of Jenga, New York Colony?

A Scenario for Songs of Drums and Tomahawks

Scenario brief:  The Colonies are buzzing with the news of the Boston Tea Party.  In the small port town of Jenga, local rebel Adam Samuals is raising a band to go throw some tea into the ocean.  But it's guarded by a squad of redcoats led by Sergeant Ramsbottom.

Rebels (300 pts):
Adam Samuals.  (68 pts)  Q3 C2. Leader, musket, tomahawk
8x rebels (29 pts)  Q4 C2.  musket, tomahawk, poor shot, Mob (rule from More Drums and Shakos).
(I added the mob rule and split the group into two)

Redcoats:  Direct from book.  9 line infantry + NCO = 309 points.

Terrain:  Woods and cornfield are broken terrain.  Crates , woods and cornfield are light cover.  Houses are heavy cover.  This raid happens at night.  (Modified SWW rules):  All shooting at -1, no visibility past 2x Long.

Overview of the board showing docks and tea crates with opponents

Sneaking:  rebels may attempt to sneak past guards. When within visibility (2 long max), roll opposed C plus cover.  Rebel failure means spotted!  Guard gets +1 bonus if within short range.  If not detected before first attack, attacker (rebel) gets ambush bonus.

Waking up the Guard:  Most of the guard force is asleep in a house.  They can be activated as follows:

• Any really loud noise (a shot fired or a combat result is tripled - guard activates
• Any wounded result of combat (C doubled), on a 4-6 the wounded guy screams loud enough to activate the guard
• Any combat that doesn't result in a wound (C less than doubled), on a 5-6 the guard hears the struggle
• Finally, at the start of each redcoat turn, roll a D6.  On a 6, it's guard change time and they activate.

Winning:  Goal is to get tea in harbor / prevent this.

Each tea crate lost in water is 10 points.

Scenario runs until all tea is in harbor or one side routs.

Tea chests are protected against water.  If a rebel spends 1 action melee attacking a crate (C0) it is guaranteed to sink.  If just pushed in, there is a 1 in 3 chance it is recovered and does not count as destroyed.  

Domestic violence:

This is still a disagreement, not a war.  Neither side wants an escalation to full bloody combat.  Therefore, the first side to wound the other with ranged fire (not just shoot, but connect) suffers a -1 to all morale rolls for the rest of the game.  

Initial deployment:  Defender (redcoats) start with 4 men + Sergeant in one of the 2 buildings (hidden).  4 guards placed anywhere on the board, outside of 1 medium of attacker’s edge.

Attacker enters anywhere on left edge

How it went:
Defender (Sara):  The defender went for a surprise deployment.  I figured she wouldn't recognize the danger of the cornfield, but she did.  One guard deployed in the cornfield, one by the house, one in the woods to the North, and one on the docks.  Unknown to me, she picked the South house for the guard.

Hiding in the Corn

This guy should be named "Private Sleepy"

The ocean sure is pretty at night

Poor Private Jones, all by himself in the cold, dark forest

Attacker (Me):  The colonists did a great job camouflaging themselves as Indians.  Mob 1, the "shirts" deployed in the open to the North.  Mob 2, the "skins" deployed in the treeline to the South along with Adam Samuals, hoping to sneak past the sentry in the corn.

How come the boss didn't come with us?

Being townsfolk, they didn't realize the futility of sneaking through a crunchy cornfield.

Next:  The combat!  Tea Party part 2

The other Tea Party, part 2

First move (attackers): Skins 1 gets 1 activation, sneaks through woods undetected.  Skins 2 gets 2 activation's, sneaks into cornfield, detected!  Skins 3 rushes the guard.  Closes to H2H, but no combat.  The guard down at the dock hears something, too!  Guard at the house is oblivious.  Skins 4 gets 2 activation's, closes with first guard also.  Leader moves up through woods to give bonus.
The shirts, being in the open, are more cautious (rolling 1 die each).  First 2 don’t activate.  3rd sneaks 1 short to maintain mob distance.  Last figure rolls all 3.  Double failure, and he is detected!  Only the guard by the house is still clueless.  Sleeping on guard duty?

Redcoat first move:  Roll D6.  No guard change yet.  Guard in the woods fails.  Guard on the dock fails.  Guard in the fight for his life risks all 3.  1 activation.  He’s knocked down!

Rebels:  skins #3 gets 2 activation's, attempts to finish off the down redcoat.  Even with all the advantages, he doesn't!  He uses his second activation to move closer to the group, hoping his buddy will finish off the redcoat.  Skins #4 finally finishes off the redcoat.  Unfortunately, he lets out a bloodcurdling scream as he dies!  The guard force is now active.  Giving up on the mob bonus, the whole group plus leader now start moving through the cornfield.
The shirts hear the scream and decide to start moving.  At a Q3 for activation, they’ll try 2 dice each.  And they force a turnover without getting far.

Redcoats:  The relief guards start boiling out of the house, with their Sergeant.  Sleepy guard wakes up and heads towards the scream.  Guard on the docks, now with his Sergeant in sight, ruins it for the rest of the team.

Rebels:  The skins try to keep moving through the cornfield.  Oh wait, no they don’t!

Redcoats:  Sleepy guard charges in and knocks his opponent down.  Another moves up to assist.  Two more move into the cornfield.  The rest make it out of the house.  The sole poor guard on the other side of the board freezes, seeing multiple shadowy figures advancing on him through the woods.  Finally the Sergeant wants to move forward, but realizes his is the position of command, and holds his ground.  (Otherwise the 3 at the house would lose leadership bonus).  Looks like a donnybrook in the cornfield is coming!

Rebels:  Knocked-down guy pops up and fights back.  He gets knocked back, but avoids the free hack.  Everybody else charges (slowly) through the cornfield.  On the far side, perhaps making up for their earlier timidity, the whole shirts mob gets great activation's and suddenly surround the poor lone sentry.

Redcoats:  The 2 that were battling the knocked-down guy follow up.  #1 is only able to close to combat, but #2 wounds him!  First rebel out of the fight.  #3 in the cornfield tangles up with a rebel, as does #4.  Some of the soldiers near the house start heading for the docks, while one stays by the door. The Sergeant moves into the cornfield and confronts Samuals!  The luckless sentry on the other edge of the board has an inconclusive fight.  Pretty good for 3 on 1.

Rebels:  The only un-engaged rebel in the cornfield moves to protect Samuals, and gets a power blow on the Sergeant!  He’s knocked down.  Risking it all, Samuals levels a power blow at the downed Sergeant.  It must be hard to swing a halberd in the corn.  The Sergeant is out, triggering a morale check.  Two run all the way off the board, Most everybody else runs once or twice.  1 in combat runs away, but dodges the free hack.  The last in the cornfield doesn't dodge the free hack and is knocked down.  And lonely private Jones over on the other side of the board decides he likes colonial life better than being a dead soldier, and deserts to the rebel side!  There is still just 50% on the board, so no second check.

Redcoats:  Moving cautiously, the remaining guards attempt to regroup near the house.  Knocked-down guy pops back up, angry as hell, and knocks his opponent down.

Rebels:  And the rebels blow their chance

Redcoats:  Giving up on the cornfield, they continue to rally nearer to the dock.

Rebels:  Back to their timid selves (it’s hard to keep Q4/3 close together when some are in terrain), the shirts mob tries to clear the woods.  Hoping to scare away the rest of the redcoats, Adam Samuals has his men move through the cornfield to attack the nearest soldier.
Redcoats:  At Q4 now, they move slowly to assist.  The one in H2H gets knocked back.

Rebels:  With a whoop the rebels charge out of the cornfield.  The first hit knocks a redcoat down, the second finishes him off.  Time for another morale check!  One runs off the board, two run once, and the last stands fast.  But with the outcome looking more and more certain, the redcoat player concedes.

trainspotting

Nope, no Easter pics yet.  But here is one of a train...

commander pics

Don't worry, easter pics coming soon.

What I want to be

two choices

See this book.
See the suggested reading level of this book.
See Helen read this book.
Read.  Read.  Read.
Watch the unedited video straight from Daddy's phone of Helen read the book.
See Helen struggle with words.
See Helen keep trying.
Try!  Try!  Try!

See the note Helen brought home from the teacher today:

"This book is significantly above Helen's current reading level.  In addition this is not a book she is allowed to check out while at school.  You may check it out & read it with her.  However, please do not send it with her to school on library days.  This book must stay at home until you are ready to return or renew it."

See Daddy and Mommy read the note?  That is called "going ballistic".
See Daddy hug and congratulate his daughter on trying something difficult, instead of humiliating Helen in front of her class.
See Helen tell Mommy and Daddy that she is tired of reading the 'allowed' books in her class, as she has already finished all of them twice.
See Mommy listen to Helen read 3 chapters while Daddy composes an angry post.

See Mommy and Daddy find a new school for their children...

Mutants and Death Ray Guns first play

Mutants and Death Ray Guns First Play

Had to game something, too much painting makes Tom a dull boy.  I decided to try out some “Mutants and Death Ray Guns”, a post-apoc sci-fi set of rules based on my favorite “Songs of” engine. Since all I have are Gruntz-style 15mm figures, I made a minor modification to the ruleset:  everybody gets a roll on the weapon table.  If your equipment roll was a weapon, too bad.

The Factions:

An all-human Purity Squad.  These gene-freaks are from an advanced enclave, so I decided they should be well-armed.  They ignore the first ‘jam’ result.  Since they also ended up with a gunsmith, they should hardly ever have gun problems.

All Humans are Q3, C2.

Commander Vimes:  U2.  Leader, flak jacket, A rifle, energy cell

Private ‘Eel’:  U1.  Slippery, flak jacket, A rifle, 2 food points

Private ‘Rock’: U1.  Steadfast, flak jacket, A rifle, energy cell (he rolled ‘any armor’, so I kept uniformity)

‘Gunny’:  U1.  Gunsmith, sniper rifle, defoliant grenade (fat lot of good that will do in the desert)

An all-mutant ‘next-gen’ Squad.  They are convinced this is the future of humanity.  It is time to purge all the un-enlightened.  To simulate ‘psykers’, I reversed the standard mutation roll.  1-4 got you a mental mutation, 5-6 a physical.  To top it off, everybody rolled high enough that they all ended up with 2 mutations each.

All mutants are Q4, C3.

Renaldo:  U1.  Stealth, phobia to mutated plants, fear of fire.  4 food points.  Shotgun

Vance:  U1.  Stealth, telepathic scream, telekinetic shield, flak jacket, A rifle.

Jamar:  U2.  Slippery, super-leap, energy projection (lasers from his eyes, how cool!), sonic stunner, 2 food points

Jere:  U1.  Slippery, Telekinetic push, phobia to artificial beings, electric gun, energy cell

Robin:  U1.  Savage, Kinetic Absorption!, phobia to artificial beings, flamethrower, energy cell

Really have to quit using the camera phone...

The scenario called for the mutants and humans to stumble upon an old water reclamation facility at the same time.  Each faction will try to control the facility.

Deployment and first turns:  Both teams started a general push for the center.  Despite their leader bonus, the humans moved slowly, with only Gunny getting a good position.  Even with the Q4 activation, the mutants moved up quickly (even forgetting Jamar’s superleap).  Robin the tank has already reached the facility.

Gunny takes up overwatch as Commander Vimes looks at the pretty rocks...

But now it is time to put kids to bed…

I can't get there from here

Nope, can't go

sample

An example of my cowboys made up for Songs of Sixguns

Drums along the Songs of...

Okay, so the movie is from the wrong war, but it had a great chase scene.  Today's battle was an attempt to recreate it.
The Players:
Helen's warband:  Chief Q4 C2 Leader Musket Woodsman Scalper, 3x Braves Q4 C2 Musket Woodsman Scalper
Miles' warband:  Same
Sara's Settlers:
Gil Martin Q4 C2 Hero Musket Sprinter
Adam & Joe:  Q4 C2 Elan Marksman Musket
6x Settlers:  Q4 C2 Musket

(286 Indians, 294 settlers, figured the lack of Leaders would balance it out)
Indian bands were in competition with each other for scalps.  Settlers just trying to make it to the fort with 1/2 starting people.  The cart could carry 4 total, on a driver activation it would move 1 long.

Starting locations.  Helen insisted on having a fence for her Indians to jump over.

The goal.  Can they make it to safety?

Settlers started within 1 medium of the cart, nobody in the cart.  Both warbands started within 1 short of the edge.

The battle:
It started well for the Indian bands, Sara was only rolling singles for the settlers to avoid turnover.  She got a quick kill in on Helen's band.  Helen retaliated by getting a settler kill and a successful scalp.  Miles' band moved up but had several unfortunate turnovers.
Gil, Adam and Joe all were successful at fire and maneuver, thanks to Hero and Elan.  They succeeded in knocking over several pursuers, moving well out of range, and reloading.
Once Sara got the cart loaded, it was a one-sided contest.  She left 1 settler to his fate, being mobbed by all 3 remaining members of Helen's band.  The cart hightailed it out of dodge.  Riders in the cart never even activated again.

Hero and Sprinter is an awesome combination.  Gil started in the trees and made it that far on 1 die.

And that poor nameless abandoned settler?  He put up a heck of a fight.  After being knocked down once, he got back up, killed 1 of his attackers, got knocked down again, popped back up, knocked down the chief, then was finally killed.  That one fight tied up Helen's whole band, allowing the rest to escape.  Miles' band started through the woods, but never caught up.

The settler that would not die is up top.  He's already killed 1 Indian and is about to knock down Chief Blue Jacket.  The other settler below wasn't so lucky.

Next time:
Either make the cart only move medium or make the clear path much more of a zig-zag.  It was very easy for the cart to outpace the Indians.  Another alternative would be to allow the Indians to enter from the short sides.  Also, Q4 leaders don't work great.  They get outpaced by their followers.

Too straight of a shot for the cart.

bits and bobs

Just some terrain bits.

Lydia vs Natividad - Part 2

Part 2, in which we see the thrilling conclusion of this epic battle.

Astute viewers will notice a major sea change overnight.  I changed from the mats to squares.  These are 1-foot artist canvasses I found on sale awhile ago.  Once I repaint them in a better sea color they will work well.  It's easy to move the occupied tiles and add new ones as the ships sail across the table.

Lydia round 2

Turn 7 (or whatever)
Natividad moves:  I had a problem judging the wind.  I tried a couple ways of using the wind gauge, I found laying it on top of the wind marker was the clearest. She makes a wide turn to port,
unmasking her port (unfired) broadside.

Is the wind on her quarter?

Now it is easier to figure out.

Natividad fires:  First shot with broadside, long range, both decks can fire!  6d6, needs 5 to hit.  Only 1, but it's a 6.  More damage to Lydia's rigging.
Lydia fires:  reserves card.
Getting choppy:  Yes!  Seas pick up, Natividad will fire at 1/2 effect.
Lydia moves:  she pivots in a tight circle (gotta love frigate's move) and plays her fire card.  3 hits to the hull and a special!  +2 DP and Natividad lost a boat. I think I did some calculations wrong before, because now Nat is down to 8 move.  (In the long run, it didn't matter)

Trading broadsides - not where Lydia wants to be

Turn 8
Natividad fires.  Should be 3 dice (reduced broadside +landlubber), but 1/2 because of heavy seas.  Round up to 2.  Another rigging hit!
Natividad moves.  8cm - 1d6.  Needs to quit sailing so close to the wind.  She turns away and presents her stern to the Lydia (not the smartest move).
Wind change!  Back to South East.
Lydia moves:  Now I have a question about the speed test.  Elite JJT, traveling at Astern (Basic +1d6), wants to slow.  What can they slow to?  In any case, they get the stern shot.

Yep, some fancy turns there

Lydia fires:  stern rake, at short range.  "For what we are about to receive..."  3d6, +2 for Elite JJT at short range, double for stern rake.

Mr Gerard, we must talk about your gunnery...

Result not terrible.  6 hits no special.  Strike test pending for Natividad, will see next turn.

Turn 9
Strike test:  first card.  35% chance again.  (40 base, +5 raked last turn, -10 determined).  52.  Still in the fight!
Natividad fires:  reserves fire.
Natividad move:  Wind still on the bow.  going to try to turn to starboard and engage again.  Not much happens (4cm)
Lydia fires:  2 more hits takes Natividad down to 50% health.  Another strike test coming up!
Lydia moves:  she tries a hot turn to port, but doesn't clear Nat's broadside.

Oops, thought I could turn faster than that...

Natividad fires: (reserved card)  but wait!  She's down to 2d6, -1 for landlubber, -1 for 1/2 speed (rigging obscuring the deck), -1/2 for rough seas.  She can no longer fire!  A point-blank shot and she is too busy clearing her decks.  By waiting that one moment she lost a shot.

Turn 10:
Natividad moves:  Must. Run. Away.
Lydia moves:  She's dead on to the wind.  Damage test.  On a 14 or higher she loses her foremast.

Trying to raise my blood pressure...

She makes it, barely.  Then to top it off, they only barely make their tack test.  "Elite sailors" indeed!
Strike test:  45% now.  She rolls 43!  Natividad must run away.  If she takes 5DP at once she will strike.
Natividad fires:  No shot, so she tries repairs.  Doesn't happen.
Lydia fires:  No stern rake this time.  Barely within medium range.  2 hits.

Mr. Gerard, this is your last warning! 

Turn 11
Lydia fires:  Thinks about trying to maneuver closer, but takes the shot before maneuvering.

That'll do, Mr. Gerard.  That'll do...

Now THAT'S a damage roll.  With the special, Natividad takes 7 DP and catches fire.

Natividad strikes immediately.

This is a great set of rules.  It plays fast, and really gives the flavor of the time.  The smaller, more nimble ship could sail rings around the big slow 2-decker.  But on those few occasions where the Natividad could fire a full broadside, the Lydia knew she had been hit.  This battle could easily have swung the other way.