Defending the outpost!

Hey guys,


let me start with saying I simply DO NOT GET IT. I got this shiny sony ericsson something phone...no big deal, I like them plain and simple. This one is even recylced or something. Anyways, what the F-word? Seriously, we're in frikin 2012 and I can't simply plug the phone, copy the pics and be done with it. It took me AGES to get those pictures on the computer. Rant over, heres the blog post:



I've finally got around to playing a game again.  I've set up a table using my new sandbags and fences, I think I looks pretty okay, but there is still something missing...maybe some kind of foliage or something, I am simply not satisfied.

Well, to scenario. I've picked my probaby favorite scenario, pretty straight forward. Phantom group 47 was on a recon mission. They've barricaded themselves in two small buildings in suburbs. They are so called "Forward observation" post, protecting the flanks of much bigger opperation. The "Humanity restored" emergency government is running a cleaning operations in city centre, reclaiming the city and with it, a civilisation in this part of Unnamed State (US :P). The team has spotted a large horde of undead (a horde so large, I had to build extra zeds for this scenario!), approaching their way. They were ordered to hold their position AT ALL COSTS. They sure pack a lot of firepower, but experienced veteran of zombie war, grizzled lieutenant Ian "Shell" Drake has a second thoughts about the experience of their team.

Here is the team's composition (I've made Shell a shot caller so he can lead his team, everything else, except for primary weapons was rolled for. So, sheeple was just rolled badly :P):

The explanation of the team is below. They follow from left to right:


Lt. Ian "Shell" Drake - shot caller
GUTS - 10
GUNS - 8
FISTS - 7

Had to have 1 drawback skill. I've rolled 3 times in a row for a "fat bastard", which can only be taken for campaign play. I've then rolled a loner, which prevents him from joining any group, or lending his guts score to them. Which, of course, are the best you can get. Only for him now.

He is armed with an assault rifle and I've rollef for a second weapon - a club :D

pvt. Simonsky - sheeple

A sheeple represents the unnamed heroes, okay "heroes", in Phantom group 47, Simonsky is a greenhorn. It is his first mission and now that the problems are approaching, it might as well be his last. I've made his name up, nobody cares anyways.

GUTS - 7
GUNS - 5
FISTS - 5

His skill was decided by me,a weapons specialist, because he carries a light machine gun.

sgt. Johnny "Lord" Siwoc - back up

Lord has seen some action with Shell. His ancestors were fearsome Wikings, but he tends to hide that.

GUTS - 8
GUNS - 6
FISTS - 5

His previous experience granted him nerves of steel, so he won't be troubled if his mates die too much. Orders are orders!
Armed with an assault rifle, just as his BFF, Drake. Oh, and a spear. He is a wiking after all! HUZZAH!

pvt. Fan - sheeple

Fan is another greenhorn. He was recruited as the team went on their positions, so his fighting spirit is a bit low. He talks a lot and he told the team that he loves, what slovenians call "vampi" (tripe, the dish), so Simonsky calls him "Vampifan" now and then. I've really rolled high for his stats, which made him really bad.
GUTS - 4
GUNS - 5
FISTS - 3

Armed with an assault rifle (and underbarrel grenade launcher that I don't count as I don't have rules for it yet :P).


Here is the preview of the battlefield. It is 3x3 table and I think 3x4 would do better. Then again,  if zombies would be placed further back, noone would have a range to them, except a LMG, so if we rethink it, size might be just fine. Our heores are ready to defend themselves in barricaded green and blue buildings. Please do not ask me about tactical benefits of positioning an OP on the low ground. Lets say they just ran back here, and their main spotting post was on top of the minimart (half black building on north)

So, this is their little sandbaged outpost that they have to defend. Attacking are 41 zeds (I had to build 4 more, which equals 1 sprue of Mantics and 1 headless zombie that I had on used sprue. I don't like those, but well, I need 1 fast and I don't want to build 2 sprues of zeds :P)

We got Fan - Lord - Simonsky and Shell, from left to right.

 Above, you can see how splendid Fan shot his rifle on first round. To translate it to people, who don't know the NMRIH system, its a miss, and two jams. Or ran-out-of-ammo tests. The thing is, you'd have to do hard survive check (roll 5 or less on 2 dice) or your gun rans out of ammo. Sheeples only have 1 die for survive rolls, so they can't make it. That, according to rules, is because they're here to die. Sorry Fan.

 Above, you can see zeds moving forward, closing in on our desperate team.

 Below, you can see a horde forming. 8 zeds or more in a group makes a horde. Hordes are bad for your health.

 

 Not much happens in a "Defend the.." scenario. You defend, they come. You can't call in more zeds, so you just fire away all you got. Or do you?

Here is the result of second round of shooting. Blue for Lord, red for Simonsky. With 2 dice for survive! tests, Lord had a chance to fix his weapon. He didn't. Simonsky was out of his ammo, too. Looks like someone forgot to pack their 5.56x45!

 So, we got 3 guys out of 4 with no more ammunition on second turn. Could it get worse, you aks yourselves? Of course. It was "something" in the air for zeds, a roll of:

 (thats 10, not 0), made them extra hungry and allowed them an 8" move. This got them here:

 You can see they're closing in pretty fast. We got a group of 7 (not a horde, hah!), closing in on blue building and two hordes running around the fence to get to Shell the destructor. On top of the minimart, you can see the casualties. Yes, the guys killed something before they ran out of ammo. Except for Fan. He seems to dislike firearms.

Next activation comes and zeds engaged our brave heroes in melee:

At this point, team of 3 brave soldiers got scared. They failed their GUTS check, which means the lowest GUTS member had to roll on fear reaction table. It can get you anywhere, from frenzy to suicide. Fan, however, got fast legs and backed away from the attackers.

There was a bloody fight between Lord and some zeds. I am not sure how rules for melee work, so I just went 3 zeds in contact with the window where Lord was, against him. He won the fight. After all 3 were dead, I started next turn.
This time, zeds launched another attack, bringing Simonsky in. I left Fan behind, as if they didn't charge  him, because he ran awa...err...tactically withdrawn. GUTS check was failed again and it was Simonsky's turn to roll. He got frenzied, he saw all red and squeezed the trigger. DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA! DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA! Zeds fell in group...it was a bloody massacre! - Oh! No, wait. That would be, if he'd had any ammo. So nothing happened. Except they both died eventually. Zeds are cruel.

 And so did Shell, right after the two brave heroes. The zeds from blue house then attacked Fan. He failed the GUTS check, rolled on the table and ran away again. This time of table and probably all the way back to friendly forces.

 Well, this concludes the game. I still forget few things, so I just left the table set and I'll play again tomorrow. A different scenario next time. I am not sure I understand how melee works, and I think I should gave everyone another turn of shooting, because they should probably carry 1 pack of ammo. But I figured this might as well be for campaign play only, so I just went with the worst case scenario. It makes a bit more interesting play, hehe. Another problem with the melee is, I am not sure if Fan should get charged or not, but if he ran away, it made more sense to leave him behind. The rules are not written the best, or thats just me being a bimbo, but well, common sense works best for me.



There is some extra for you, Mantic zeds I've painted last week:

 The first 3, I spent hours working on their skin and ruined it with a wash. But they look better this way. A bit rotten.

 And crawlers. Oh, and that weird body-less thing. I really dislike that. But I love crawlers, so...here we have the walking legs :P

 A back shot of my conversion. The reason for unnatural pose of his legs is, that he has fallen from somewhere high. It might not look as good as I've planned, but I figured its funny.

 Thats it for today. I've also took pictures of the bodies and body bags and the things I was talking about last time, but I will show those next time. Can't give you all, can I?


Thanks for reading,
Mathyoo