2013: 'To the Shop and
Back!' a sample game
Howdy folks,
For this update I
thought I would give you a brief play through of a level I am working
on. This isn’t a set scenario (as its not all that exciting!) but I
wanted to demonstrate the rules as they stand so far.
For this game I will be
using 3 of my pre-made Survivors team, Jeff Stevens(Body:4 Smarts:4),
Stacey Howler(Body:7 Smarts:2) and Stuart Bright (Body:6 Smarts:5). I
decided to be nice and give my team a couple of items to help them
out. Jeff has a solid piece of wood (weapon +2 Body, Lethality 10)
and Stuart has a 'crowbar' (+1 Body, Lethality 9, +4 to Opening
Doors).
The Set up
The map is pretty
simple – alley, house, road, shop.
The Survivors will
begin in the alley
Their goal – to get
to the shop, raid it, and return.
For the starting
Diseased models, and any future reinforcements we need to number the
board sections, with the first alley considered a Survivor safe zone.
We then roll for
initial Diseased placement. At the moment I am using a default 1
Diseased per Survivor. You can make this lighter or tougher as you
see fit, but 3 is more than enough for a challenge.
The dice are rolled,
scoring 2, 3 and 5
And the models placed
on the game board
SURVIVORS TURN 1
The alley at the side
of the house isn’t safe, so its a choice of which house to move
through. First the Survivors spread out to check the yard gates.
Version 002 of the rules doesn’t include anything on doors. For
this game I am testing new rules that will appear in 003, regarding
doors and locks.
Jeff informs the team,
the door he is at is locked. So is Stuarts. Stacey tells them both to
be quiet as she edges closer to the alley, to keep tabs on the
Diseased.
One of the items I gave
the Survivors is a crowbar. This item is designed to open doors (as
well as hit people in combat!) Stuart has the crowbar which gives +4
to Opening Locked Doors. The yard door has a Body value of 10. To
succeed in opening the door Stuart needs to roll higher than the
doors Body value. As Stuart has a Body of 6, with +4 from the
crowbar, any roll on his D10 and the door is open.
DISEASED TURN 1
The Diseased, when they
do not have a target move D10cms in a random direction. Here I use
the one D10 and move in the direction of the 'arrow'
Its tough luck, but the
Diseased is heading towards our Survivors! Luckily enough they don’t
intend to stay there. Turns 2,3 and 4 are used by the Survivors to
enter the building and move through it. Nothing much happens so we
will pick the action back up on the Survivors Turn 5, when they face
a crucial decision.
Here we can see the
team assembled at the front door, with the shop across the road. The
danger here is the Diseased in the building north of them has moved
to the window and is looking out into the street. If the team move
out they will be spotted.
SURVIVORS TURN 6
They decide to make a
run for it, the idea being to get into the shop before the Diseased
can exit the building. Diseased once they lose line of sight on
Survivors have a good chance of reverting back to random movement
(they give up the chase when they cant see what they are running
after).
DISEASED TURN 6
Diseased inside
buildings who can see prey outside, tend to go a little mad. First
they charge at the window and hit it lots in an effort to get
through. Then if that fails they will leave by the nearest exit and
head to the area they last saw the Survivor.
Our teams plan of out
running the Diseased take a turn for the worse as the Disease manages
to smash the window! And falls out onto the street amid shards of
glass.
This carries a degree
of risk, even for the Diseased. There is a chance the glass does
enough damage to cause a mortal wound. The Diseased is lucky here and
escapes unharmed.
SURVIVORS TURN 7
2013 is not a Zombie
slaying game. The idea is not to amass a large body count, but to
think tactically. If the players move to engage the Diseased who has
crashed through the window, they will be the attackers. Being an
attacker means you need a good weapon designed to kill. Stuart has a
crowbar, and Jeff has piece of wood. Neither all that lethal.
It is far easier to
despatch an opponent who attacks you and fails. Models who lose
combat get Knocked to the Ground, and spend their next turn getting
up, but both the attacker and defender are still classed as being in
combat.
If the Survivors
attack, and fail to kill with their weapons (a likely result) all
they will achieve is to knock the Diseased to the ground. Which in
its turn, will get up and attack them back.
By standing their
ground and waiting for the Diseased to attack, the Survivors have
several advantages. Firstly if they win combat, the Diseased will be
on the ground, then in the Survivors turn they can finish it off.
Secondly by standing and fighting where they are, they are closer to
their objective (the shop). Finally, the Survivors have a little
trick up their sleeves...
The Diseased attacks
Jeff!
The Survivors have a
special rule called 'Help me Obi Wan!', in which a Survivor who is
under attack may call for help from a friendly nearby Survivor. In
this case Stacey isn’t about to stand by and watch as Jeff gets
eaten and makes a free 4cm move to enter combat to help Jeff.
The two Survivors
combine their Body totals (Jeff: 4, Stacey: 7, + weapons, +1D10)
against the Diseased who rolls 2D10. The Survivors manage to win the
combat and the Diseased is knocked to the ground.
SURVIVORS TURN 8
Although they won the
last round of combat, and the Diseased is on the ground, it will get
up in its next turn and attack again. All three models are therefore
still counted as being in combat. The Survivors decide to take no
chances and Stuart comes over to help. All 3 of the Survivors now
beat on the Diseased, who only rolls 1D10 in defence. The three
Survivors combine their Body totals, weapons and a D10 and easily win
this round of combat. The Diseased is finished, and the team breathes
a sigh of relief!
DISEASED TURN 9
Each turn the Diseased
get a chance of Reinforcements. This is a D10 roll, modified by the
actions of the Survivors last turn. In this case the sounds of combat
add +1 to the roll. A '10' or higher is needed to attract the
attention of nearby Diseased. The die rolls a.... 9! +1 that’s 10!
The last fight has attracted something's attention...
The Reinforcement roll
uses the same number section as the initial deployment, so a D6 is
rolled. The result is not good for the Survivors, its a 4. That’s
the board section they are on.
Normally new Diseased
arriving this way and that roll on the same section as Survivors,
must be placed out of Survivor LOS, unless the board section is a
road or alley. This is a nightmare for our Survivors as the new
Diseased appears right next to them!
New models brought into
play are free to act the same round as they emerge. In this case its
a scream and a charge straight into the back of Stuart!
Thankfully for Stuart,
both Jeff and Stacey can act under the 'Help me Obi Wan' rule and
both move 4cms to help Stuart.
The rest of the
Diseased movement is then made and its more bad news for the team.
The Diseased lurking in the alley, rolls its move..
.. which brings it
closer to the team! In the rules, combat and movement only effects
the board section on which it takes place and adjacent sections. This
movement brings the Diseased onto an adjacent section, and within
view of the fight. Its eyes fix on food!
Finally, what about the
Diseased in the shop?
Well the rules say
combat effects adjacent board sections, and the shop is adjacent.
The rules also say that
the Diseased will only pay attention if it had direct LOS assuming it
was facing in the correct direction.
Unfortunately for the
Survivors the combat which is now taking place is... directly outside
the shop window! The Diseased in the shop actives, and she wants a
piece of the team!
The situation doesn’t
look good for the Survivors. What do you think? Will they survive or
its it game over??
Mail me your votes!
Thanks
Chris
