Scavenging Among the City Blocks - Post-Apoc Scenario

 

    From left, Allen, Mike W, and Keith check out Mike S's scratch-built city block terrain

It had been since April that I'd run a game in my post-apocalyptic campaign using Wiley Games rules. My friend Mike S has been working hard on terrain for his own "Fallout" style games and was wondering if he could use his terrain for a scenario. All I would have to do is GM it -- he'd bring the terrain and set up his tabletop at our usual meeting place at Mike W's "Brewpub" basement. I knew it'd been too long since a game, so said, "Sure!"

    Allen's 'Followers of the Dark Prophet' move into the ruined shell of a building nearest them

Mike's terrain is mostly scratch-built downtown city blocks buildings. All of them were fairly tall with several (or more) partially destroyed floors. Obviously, lots of work went into creating these. Some of the details are very surprising -- gargoyles on the outside of buildings, wires protruding from wrecked walls, and more. I'm not sure how many of them are "in progress" or if some or all are completely done. It was an impressive layout, for sure. Personally, I would have dirtied them up more with rubble, black-washing on the walls, and ageing the wood pieces showing. But then again, I probably never would have gotten SO much assembled like he has!

    With heavy cover and many windows to shoot from, each city block building was like a fortress

I was a bit worried how "fortress-like" Mike's layout was. My guess was it might minimize interactions between the five survivor gangs investigating the downtown. Mike placed a LOT of objective markers -- more than I usually do. I wanted to give him as much control over the scenario as possible, though, so said nothing. Once the game began, most of the factions advanced into a ruined building, climbing between the partially collapsed floors, and scavenging supplies. My guess turned out to be correct. There were only four gun battles that took place between the factions (plus four additional ones seeing factions firing on investigating Scout or Sentry Bots and the denizens of the "citadel." Mike had a very large building that looked like it began as a Gothic Warhammer piece of terrain. He crafted it onto a post-apocalyptic shell of a building, with ruined and crumbling walls. He said he didn't have a preference what was inside the citadel and told me to put in there whatever I want inside.

    Keith (in green) moves one of his miniatures while Mike S to his left enjoys the look of his tabletop!

I decided to make this even more of a joint scenario design. I extended an invitation to our friend Keith to come up with the bad guys or monsters that would be in the citadel. I asked him if he had any figures he'd been wanting to play with but hadn't had a chance to get on the table yet. He said he did, and sent me a link to his Orca Finn's Basement blog and pointed out the post-apoc denizens he wanted to use. I created cards for them and printed them off so they'd be ready if anyone investigated the citadel. I even offered bonus Renown Points to any faction that went inside. I didn't want to tease Keith and promise him his figs would get in a game and not have it happen!

    F Troop's Pvt. Hippie searches an objective marker (suitcase with pom pom) - the goal of the players

With five players on a 6'x4' table, I had two each deploy on the long edges, nobody on the citadel's short edge, and one on the opposite edge from it. They had to deploy all four of their survivors within a foot of the spot I indicated. I gave them extra deployment depth because I wanted to push them forward in the hopes of getting more interaction. Mike W's Bass Reeves deployed on the short edge opposite the Citadel. He groused a bit that there weren't as many objective markers near him compared to the others, likely a valid complaint. Nevertheless, his four figures advanced directly towards the building closest to their zone and began to scale it to reach the objective markers. Mike S had placed most on the upper floors. So, before the game, I asked the players how they wanted to handle scaling the interior of these buildings as there were no stairwells modeled. We came up with a system which was probably very generous. Keith likened his Nightstalker's ascent to"a group of Chinese acrobats." 

    Cpl. Killer climbs onto the roof of the citadel - modified Warhammer (?) building he incorporated

To the Bass Reeves' right, Allen's Followers of the Dark Prophet similarly moved into a city block building. They began to ascend to the second and third floors, where several markers were scattered. To his right, his brother Joel marched his F Troop forward, climbing the Citadel's roof, as well as moving alongside the building the Followers were exploring. Across from him, Mike S's Bucknuts entered the building to their front or moved down the street alongside it. We tease Mike S for his invariably aggressive play, and true to form, he fired the game's first shots. His leader Coop (yep, same figure from the Zombie RV games) squeezed off a shot at Pvt. Killer of F Troop, immediately knocking him out of action. Next, Coop fired through the opposite building's ruins and picked off Allen's Yeshua, who fell three stories to the ground, unmoving. Yep - same Mike, aggressive as ever!

    Two Bucknuts - Earle & Wrich - investigate a rubble pile in the lobby of a ruined building

Coop got his comeuppance immediately after, though, as another F Trooper climbed onto the roof and blasted away with his assault rifle. Coop toppled to the ground, wounded. The next thing to happen shows the advantage of playing a campaign over a one-off battle. Rather than firing at the shooter, Coop's compatriot Jackie dragged her wounded leader inside the building and out of line of fire. Mike knew that Coop was his team's best weapon and didn't want to lose him to a poor post-battle roll if he was knocked out of action. However, the two out of action figures meant the threshold had been reached for the Machines to be drawn by the sound of firing. In my version of the world of "Terminator," each 10% of out of action players draws a chance for the arrival of a Scout Bot. Because I was afraid the action would be limited by the terrain, with each city block a mini-fortress, I had increased the chance by an extra 10%. Sure enough, a Scout Bot rolled onto the map between Keith's Nightstalkers and Mike W's Bass Reeves.

   Scout Bot rolls onto the table drawn by the sounds of gunfire and dispatched by 'Skynet' to investigate

Seeing no Nightstalkers, it rolled in the direction of three of the Bass Reeves sheltering behind a burnt out car. Mike seemed unconcerned and was instead focused on payback against Allen's Followers of the Dark Prophet. Allen had knocked out one of the Bass Reeves last game, as well as a member of F Troop. He would pay for it as Mike sent nearly his entire force to pick off Napthali, who was actually on an errand of mercy. He'd jumped down from the second floor of the ruined building to check on Yeshua, and then carry him off-table. I give a bonus to the post-battle roll if an out of action character has been carried off the board by his comrades. Three members of the Bass Reeves squeezed off shot after shot at the black-robed survivor. He fell to the ground wounded, and then was shot again, while he lay there. Mike was relentless, though, and kept firing until Napthali had accumulated three wounds which takes a character out of action. In fact, that may be the very first time a player was taken out in one of our games because it reached its wound limit of three! Usually, a fortunate roll on the wounding table knocks them out, instead.

    Joel, Allen, Mike W, Keith, and Mike S enjoy the chance to get their survivor gangs out onto the table

This brought another Scout Bot onto the table. It ended up by Mike S's Bucknuts -- probably not a good place as his band is loaded with particularly lethal shooters. Sure enough, it was blasted several times before finally being knocked out of action. Shortly thereafter, a replacement came on board, though. This time it was a Sentry Bot clomping its metallic heavy feet in the path of the Scout Bot that was engaging the Bass Reeves. The Scout Bot had closed to within range of Big Bass and began thumping away at the concrete wall with its machine gun. The cover and the shock hit inflicted on the Scout Bot kept Big Bass safe, even though the machine missed by only one several times. Once Big Bass's men had finished off Napthali, they scrambled to the windows and doorway of the building and added their gunfire to the battle. Scout Bots were originally designed to by humanity to patrol vehicular traffic -- not intervene against heavily armed survivors. The three vs. one gunfight could end only one way with the bot knocked over, its wheel spinning as it sparked and smoked.

    Mike W's 'Bass Reeves' stalk across the streets on a mission to exact revenge on Allen's gang!

Downed bots are another source of scavenge in my games. Players can snag ammunition, valuable circuitry, and even guns from the disabled machines. Both Mike S and Mike W pounced on the bots they'd knocked out of action and quickly salvaged some parts and pieces to take back to their encampment. The Nightstalkers soon engaged the Sentry Bot as it clomped ever nearer to their location. The Sentry Bot, also only lightly armored, met no better fate. The combined gunfire of two Nightstalkers sent it crashing to the ground. Specialist Cypher of the Nightstalkers whipped out his toolkit and pounced on it. He had soon removed a valuable hunk of machinery and his gang members nodded at each other and took that as a cue to depart. The next bot to arrive, likely a Military Bot, would be much more difficult to defeat. They decided it was best to get out of the ruined city center while the getting was good!

    Keith's Nightstalkers demonstrate their 'acrobatic skills', ascending to the upper floors

There was one last act to be played out, though, before we called it an evening. Allen had darted his remaining two Followers into the citadel (carefully avoiding the firing lanes of the Bucknuts!). As they neared the open doorway, they heard loud and somewhat incoherent shouting from inside. The two nodded at each other and ran through into the room. They were met by three red-skinned mutations. They were humanoid in form, and even sported a large shock of blond hair sprouting from their skull-like heads. Their blue uniforms looked for all the world like 20th century suits. The creatures gesticulated at the two and shouted curses and profanities the two struggled to understand, but seemed too frightened to actually charge and attack them. 

    Allen's 'Followers of the Dark Prophet' encounter the citadel's annoying, verbally abusive mutants

The Followers shook their heads and raised their weapons. They fired on full automatic and soon all three were on the ground, twitching but no longer shouting. They rushed through the next doorway and first heard, then saw, three more of the annoying beings. "What the Hell are these things?" they mumbled to each other. More automatic gunfire and the creatures began to back off. From the next doorway, they heard more incoherent shouting coming closer to them. "Should we get out of here?" The two nodded to each other, and turned and ran back towards the entrance, followed by the insults of the creatures. 

    The textured round discs mark figures that have moved this turn in my games

We decided to call it at that point. A couple of the players' survivor gangs were already leaving the table. They had picked up the most accessible objective markers, and the Machines would soon be sending in its heavier warmachines. It was time to go! I was happy to see the players seemed to have fun. All five players took down at least one enemy, so the game wasn't without action, like I'd feared it might be. Still, I think I learned a bit about cramming too much hard terrain on the board. It was good to see the survivor gangs out on the table again, though. Hopefully, it won't be another six months before it happens again!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 226
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 208