Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Post-Apocalyptic Tales => Topic started by: Vagabond on June 24, 2023, 10:48:44 PM
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I’ve been led astray and wish to blame Bullshott, Chimpfoot and now Dan55 for their excursions into some sort of Forbidden Zone, as well as DougnotEM4 for pointing me in their direction. I’ve not only bought a new rule set, Zona Alfa but read it and used it and played a game, all within 3 days.
I’ve not given too much thought to my backstory and the Yuma Proving Ground doesn’t have a very sexy ring to it so don’t know if I’ll continue with my crew after this game. I went with the idea of…..well you’ll get the idea if you read on, or won’t if you don’t. Oh and I write the text relating to a picture underneath the said picture :)
This is starting to get out of hand, for me at least, so I'm starting a contents section to try and keep up with myself. Of course this is going to be a complete spoiler but will save a lot of reading for any casual visitor. ;)
Page 1 - Yuma Biker Gang the Vagabonds are in Jail. The introduction to the Yuma Proving Ground and
also Ebenezer's Place.
The Vagabonds decide to rescue Alice.
Page 3 - The Vagabonds continue to rescue Alice and are arrested.
The Vagabonds are bailed out of jail - but there are conditions.
Page 4 - Captain Andy Donovan (Lawman) and Katie Monk (Reporter) decide to visit Silas and Bull in the
desert to learn more about events in the Y.P.G.
Unfortunately S & B are now zombies and try to eat them.
A.D and K.M. run away.
Page 5 - Katie Monk re-visits the Mojave Desert - 2023
Explanation of her 2018 Assignment into the Mojave and how it all started.
Recovery of the Evidence from the 2018 expedition and dog training in the desert, the Tug method.
Page 5 - CFB Suffield, Canada a potted history.
Page 6 bottom Suffield the fight
The Start
Yuma Proving Ground
It was just for a laugh, well a laugh and a few beers but as I looked around at the rest of the crew I could see they couldn’t see the fun in it anymore.
You would probably think the same if you were in Fort Huachuca prison block waiting to see your lawyer, although as we hadn’t been allowed a phone call yet we were not expecting to see one soon.
Perhaps I’d better explain from the beginning, or at least our beginning. We all lived and grew up in Arizona, near to the Yuma Proving Ground. A huge military establishment, the base occupied some 1,300 square miles and was home to numerous different branches of the military as well as some civil and law enforcement agencies. It was roughly 36 miles square and we knew it housed establishments that were every bit as secret as the famous Area 51. Most of the space was given over to the usual training and firing areas, accommodation blocks, communications centres, etc etc. Then three years ago there was rumoured to be a new establishment being set up. It was housed in an underground bunker built especially for them, they were known as the Arizona Research and Scientific Establishment. A.R.S.E. for short.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-240623212606-590851143.jpeg)
Eight Ball lived nearest to the Proving Ground with his Pa, Ebenezer, in a small gaggle of buildings in the desert, so small in fact that they had no name. It was just called Ebenezer’s Place. He was the envy of all the kids at school because he lived in a road side bar, which surprisingly was called “Ebenezer’s Bar” and Ebenezer had the best Pool table in Arizona. Eight Ball got to practice a lot.
There were only three buildings, or Businesses in Ebenezer’s Place.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-240623212606-590871385.jpeg)
Ebenezer’s Bar, which had existed for ever and survived because it was on the back road out of the Proving Ground. Jimmy Thompson owned the bar on the main road out of the Ground and he made a fortune but Ebenezer got by on the slower traffic out the back.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-240623212606-590882479.jpeg)
Dora Du Fran was the main reason there was a reliable flow of customers passing along the back road but the least said about her business model the better.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-240623212606-590891488.jpeg)
The small black Porsche sports car parked discreetly behind the Bath House might indicate who made the most money in Ebenezer’s Place but “what the IRS don’t know, the IRS don’t get” as Dora used to say.
The other business was Frank’s.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-240623212606-590902094.jpeg)
Frank sold guns, he repaired guns, he loved guns, it’s even rumoured he slept with a gun. Mind you in Arizona, most people slept with a gun, although maybe not in the same way as Frank.
Frank and Ebenezer didn’t get along. They hadn’t got along for some time, 50 years was the best guess, but I really don’t know the truth of the matter, I’m not that old and I don’t believe what old folk’s tell me.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-240623212657-59091604.jpeg)
They would stand outside their respective front doors and glare at each other, hatred, malice, and even a little animosity was conveyed in those silent glares. Some thought it was over a woman, some thought differently, neither Ebenezer nor Frank were ever in the mood to discuss it.
Anyway I don’t suppose you’re interested in Frank and Ebenezer but much more interested in A.R.S.E. and how that might have anything to do with my being in jail.
Well - gradually they expanded within the base, more buildings were erected within their compound but still no one knew what they were doing. Even Dora hadn’t picked up anything substantial, well not in the way of hard news at least. She knew they were there but that was it, the employees of A.R.S.E. were a tight lipped bunch.
As always rumours abounded, nuclear research, toxic gas, toxic virus, toxic this, toxic that, even searching for the cure to the common cold had a small following – well you name it and someone had thought of it. Nothing much changed until 3 weeks ago when all hell let loose.
The military moved out from the Base in a wave pushing everything and everybody in front of them. Ebenezer, Frank and Dora were given 15 minutes to pack up and leave. They had a lifetimes possessions to pack in 15 minutes. Dora was done in 5 but Frank and Ebenezer took a little longer.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-240623212657-59092317.jpeg)
Frank panicked, he drove his Range Rover into the rail fence and was lucky that Dora had room in her Porsche for him and a few of his favourite guns, she made him leave the rest in the car.
There was no explanation from the Military, just pack up and go.
Eight Ball was on his way back from town to Ebenezer’s Place when he met his Pa on the road out. “What do you mean” Eight Ball said, “You packed your collection of 1930’s cigarette cards but didn’t pack Alice”. “No” Ebenezer responded, “I forgot Alice, I’m sorry son”.
You might be wondering who Alice is and why Ebenezer would try and pack her anyway, Ok well maybe you’re not wondering but I’ll tell you anyway. Alice is Eight Balls pool cue and he was very attached to her. She was to prove our undoing and the reason we are currently residing in Fort Huachuca prison block awaiting our phone call.
Perhaps I should introduce you to the crew in happier circumstances.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-240623212657-59093208.jpeg)
This photograph was taken last year in front of Ebenezer’s Bar, Eight Ball is in the back row, just under the R in BAR. I say row but it’s more of a bunch, strangely we thought we’d call our gang the Wild Bunch but Ulrika pointed out that someone had already done that, and they were all dead now.
Fast Freddie back and left thought we should call ourselves the Middle Arizona Biker Devils but no one liked that suggestion at all. Fat Willie and Tank, the two squat thugs either side of Ulrika thought we should be the Yuma Chapter of the Hells Angels but they wouldn’t let us join the Hells Angels.
Finally it was Bubble (Blond hair back and left, almost out of sight) who suggested we be the Vagabonds. “Why the Vagabonds” asked Ulrika. “Well weren’t they like knights of old, who rode horses to rescue damsels in distress and we ride bikes, they’re like horses aren’t they” Bubble replied. We all looked at her in astonishment, well apart from Big Dave who fancied his chances.
Bubble is not the sharpest knife in the drawer but the name stuck and we all agreed we should be the Vagabonds. Ride the back roads and rescue any damsels we got half a chance to rescue, even if they weren’t in distress. Angie, Ulrika, Desire and Babe didn’t like that idea but Bubble thought it was a great notion and so when Eight Ball brought up Alice, you remember Alice, we all agreed to rescue her.
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Great intro :-*
A.R.S.E . lol lol lol lol lol
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Wonderful, I love it. That's a very nice set of figures - old & new Copplestone? With a couple others added.
Who doesn't remember Alice? Didn't he originally find her in a different restaurant?
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What did I do🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️🤣🤣🤣🤣
Great start vagabond 👍🏼
Lovely looking table and terrain nice start and backstory ….😊😊😊
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Brilliant start and a great looking set-up. From purchase to execution in record time too! :-*
the employees of A.R.S.E. were a tight lipped bunch.
lol lol lol
You might be wondering who Alice is
Is it Arlo and we can get anything we want or is it that song where you have to shout "who the f**k's Alice" in the chorus (Smokie?)?
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Great introduction and setup. Looking forward to the rescue mission.
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That is a very promising introduction! I will follow with interest what is going to happen around the Yuma Proving Ground from now on...
(https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GrNf85GlOyY/U4Zfbbup6ZI/AAAAAAAAHSs/ZJTdyQf47Kc/s1600/Kinderbilder+050.JPG)
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An entertaining introduction. I look forward to more, including your
opinion of the rules.
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Always a pleasure to read such background story :)
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Great job setting the scene. :-* I look forward to the next chapter of the story...
Mike Demana
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Lovely work there. And I like how you're cleverly embedded your photos within the post. ;D
Now, do Frank and Ebenezer REALLY dislike each other, or is that just a well-managed front to hide the fact that they are really in cahoots with each other?
And damn you all. :o All these stories, with well-though out and nicely-written back stories has me pondering doing something myself. Oh well, I didn't have enough stuff to do already... ;)
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Thanks for all your kind comments, I've rarely visited this board and if Doug hadn't pointed Bullshott's work I would have missed some very entertaining AAR's and a very friendly greeting.
Thanks.
Cptn Jim, I did look for your posts and was amazed to find you not gaming here and I'm pleased you noticed the embedded pictures though :D
Has.been I'll be making reference to the rules more than normal in one of my AAR's hopefully that will be some use.
Cheers
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I'm sorry to drip feed this story but events are conspiring against me and it'll be a few days before I can complete it. However I'm much excited by the potential for the game concept that I want to maintain as much momentum as I can.
PART 2
The Rules
WUSIWUG – Each team will have a veteran leader and 3 to 9 other members – game board is 3’ or 4’ square – game duration is 4 + 1D3 turns long. Well this is my game and I’ll have none of that dictatorial nonsense from any rules writer.
Everyone has a pistol, this is Arizona after all, although some have a BA Pistol which in my usual rules means Big Ass Pistol, Desert Eagle type of thing I imagine. There is a distinction in ZA between the two types so that was good. Some have knives, chains and in the spirit of what you see is what you get, I think 3 of them had grenades, although again in the spirit of things they only had 1.
Bubble carries a pump action shotgun and not much else, Vincent and Big Dave have shotguns as well as multiple other weapons. They don’t subscribe to Bubble’s minimalist approach.
Babe carries a huge revolver and a spiked war hammer, I think she’s from Games Workshop so obviously spikey, but she looks cool.
Three of them had pouches of some sort and these contained medical kits, you know the sort of thing, a strong antiseptic like bourbon, to relieve the pain, a cork, to push into a wound and stop the bleeding, a bandage, to elicit sympathy from the female members of the crew. That sort of equipment.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-260623095408-590991371.jpeg)
You may remember we weren’t allowed to join the Hells Angels, we don’t discuss it because it’s a bit embarrassing but they said we weren’t tough enough. Everyone is green or inexperienced and we don’t have a leader, well that’s not strictly true. Fast Freddie who is a bit of a poser, he carries twin colts in a western rig and Big Willie vie with each other to take the gang leader role but we all know that Ulrika is the Brains as well as the Beauty in the gang. Of course she can’t be the leader because she’s a girl.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-260623095408-591001035.jpeg)
Arriving at a barrier in the road, Freddie said “It looks like they don’t want us to go any further”. Big Willie wanted to know what Quarantine meant. Both of them were looking a little dubious about the quest to rescue Alice.
“Don’t be ridiculous” said Ulrika, “If we meet anyone we’ll just tell them we came in from the south and didn’t see the signs. They haven’t completed the fence yet so there’s nothing to keep us out”.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-260623095408-591011889.jpeg)
“Are you sure about this” said Fast Freddie when they came to the next sign.
“Don’t be such a Jessie”, retorted Ulrika, “we’re not looting, we’re rescuing Alice and if there’s any beer left in the bar….well technically that belongs to Eight Balls dad so we can’t be looting something that’s already ours. Well….Ebenezer’s and he said we could have it, didn’t he Eight Ball”
Eight Ball looked embarrassed, shuffled his feet in the sand and muttered “well I didn’t tell him we were coming in case he wouldn’t allow it”.
Ulrika had a rather disbelieving look in her eye and I could see she finally understood why we hadn’t been allowed to join the Hell’s Angels, we would be more at home in the Hells Grannies Arizona Chapter. With a slight, incredulous shake of her head she turned and moved off the road, aiming to arrive at Ebenezer’s place from the south. We followed.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-260623095408-591022043.jpeg)
The rules call for a square board and starting 6” in from any edge. This board is 0.8 x 1.2m, so roughly the right area but wrong shape. Our objective is the Bar and the Hot Spots are the Gun Shop and Dora’s Crib, I didn’t place them symmetrically so rolled a dice to determine my start point, the white marker. Then rolled another dice to determine the number of turns the game would last, 6 turns. That means some event will happen on the start of the 7th turn that ends the game.
Then I realised that all my characters were rookies and only have 1 action per turn, they have effectively a 6” move so can’t get to the Bar, search it and get off the table in 6 turns. They will meet some opposition in each location and that will take up time as well. My solution was that they would spend the night in the bar and have 6 turns to get inside, neutralise the opposition and search the place before getting down to looting/liberating Ebenezer’s stock of beer and whiskey and having a good time.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-260623095409-591031716.jpeg)
Ulrika issued her commands, “Tank, you, Dave Angie and Harley check out Franks gun shop and get to the Bar as quick as you can”. “The rest of you with me” and she strode off in the direction of the bar like a man whose been in the desert most of the day and has worked up a tidy thirst.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-260623095449-591041403.jpeg)
Just as quickly the other group made for Franks. Obviously not because they had a thist but because Dora Du Fran had told them that the Army and Police were making regular patrols to ensure no one entered the exclusion zone. I imagine once the final zone area has been established they will fence it off to keep people out, but as we still don’t know what they’re excluding us from we don’t know how big an area this will be.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-260623095449-591051053.jpeg)
I mentioned the rumour mill, well currently the most popular theory was that A.R.S.E. had been carrying out various biological and genetic experiments and these had gone wrong. The A.R.S.E. compound inside the Yuma Proving Ground was a complete no go area, Threat level 3 they said. The whole of the Proving Ground had been evacuated and was considered Threat level 2. The Military were patrolling the existing fence around the Ground but on the outside of it. They obviously wanted to contain something!
There was a new fence under construction but it was a huge undertaking and in the mean time signs had been erected along a possible perimeter and this whole area was under constant surveillance by armed patrols.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-260623095631-59106898.jpeg)
Meanwhile Harley has arrived at the back door to the Gun Shop and tries the handle of the door, it’s not locked.
Ok that's my work in progress so far, I'll have a number of questions about the rules and if anyone can shed light on them I would greatly appreciate your thoughts. I'm not on Facebook and have no real intention of being there so can't access that body of information. I've read a bit of the Stalker blog but I'm as usual late to the party.
Oh and for you Americans who might not understand what a "Jessie" is, it's the same as being likened to "a big girls blouse" so I hope that clear that up for you, if you were wondering of course. ;)
Cheers
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Excellent part 2 and I'm agog for more. Some of your team remind me of some bodyguards I hired years ago, in an adventure entitled 'The Scoop'!
Keep it coming! :-*
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This is enjoyable, John. The board looks good - I particularly like the shot down what we may call Main Street with Frank and Ebenezer staring each other out.
I’m hoping to try out the rules in a very small game once I’ve reassembled the board after the grandchildren decided to take all the scenery off it and improvise their own game on the floor. Then we can compare notes and bafflement.
I’m liking your background here and your very convincing plunge into talking ‘merican (apart from "jessie", obviously).
Very interested to see what comes next.
Doug
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Alrighty then. So far, so good. Or at least, so far, not so bad...I think we're all presuming the other shoe will drop in no time at all... 8)
If I do something along these lines, I'm reckon I'm going to set it around the Plumbrook Reactor, a NASA nuclear research station just south of Sandusky, Ohio not far from the Lake Erie shore (halfway-ish between Toledo and Cleveland). Plumbrook went critical in 1961, and was shut down in 1973. We used to train there when I was in the Ohio Army National Guard from '80 to '84, so I actually have experience leading patrols on that site...of course, there will have been some kind of "incident" after 1973, so I'll have to develop the backstory. Gotta come up with a crew, too - neither should be hard to do, what with all the inspiration here... :D
If/when I do this, the facility will have changed it's name to the Plumbrook Energy and Nuclear investigation Station. ;)
I will start my own Post-Apocalyptic thread here if/when I actually start in on this...I'll talk to the fellas next Friday to see if they want in - otherwise, I'll do it solo. And I gotta decide whether to use Fistful of Lead or Zona Alfa. Mind you, I own and have played both, and I think either will work...
But back to the topic at hand...waiting with bated (baited?) breath to see what transpires next in your story!
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If/when I do this, the facility will have changed it's name to the Plumbrook Energy and Nuclear investigation Station.
lol lol lol
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I am enjoying the rollout of this saga...keep it up! Nice character development, too...hope they don't all die as soon as we get to know them!! lol
Mike Demana
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I am enjoying the rollout of this saga...keep it up! Nice character development, too...hope they don't all die as soon as we get to know them!! lol
Mike Demana
Nonsense - it’s about time we had a character pogrom…..
Doug
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Wonderful start, nice table and nice figures, I like the outhouse touch. Yes, Babe is a necromunda figure.
We used to play games where the secondary objective would be the bar, and once captured, the outhouse became the primary objective.
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Loving the characterful narrative!
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This is developing nicely.
A word of caution. If you are going to base much of your campaign in a TL2 area you really are going to need some more experienced characters. Within Zona Alfa it takes 5 (survived) games to get rookies up to Hardened and another 5 to get to Veteran. You will find that you need those extra experience levels, not just for better combat abilities but also for additional actions, the ability to carry more extra gear and acquiring useful skills like Bone Doc and Scrounger.
Also, either promote someone to veteran and give them Leader skill or bring in a new character at that level (perhaps someone's older brother with military experience). Leader skill will help nearby rookies pass their Will checks and also allows the Leader to donate actions to get your rookies moving, etc. Promoting another character to hardened (or introducing a new one) with Bone Doc skill will also ease the pain (literally). The ability of a Bone Doc to carry double Med-Kits is a real life saver if played properly.
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Nonsense - it’s about time we had a character pogrom…..
Doug
Er, not had yer tea yet? :o
This is developing nicely.
A word of caution. If you are going to base much of your campaign in a TL2 area you really are going to need some more experienced characters. Within Zona Alfa it takes 5 (survived) games to get rookies up to Hardened and another 5 to get to Veteran. You will find that you need those extra experience levels, not just for better combat abilities but also for additional actions, the ability to carry more extra gear and acquiring useful skills like Bone Doc and Scrounger.
Also, either promote someone to veteran and give them Leader skill or bring in a new character at that level (perhaps someone's older brother with military experience). Leader skill will help nearby rookies pass their Will checks and also allows the Leader to donate actions to get your rookies moving, etc. Promoting another character to hardened (or introducing a new one) with Bone Doc skill will also ease the pain (literally). The ability of a Bone Doc to carry double Med-Kits is a real life saver if played properly.
Good advice. I'm gonna take a stroll through Zona Alfa this evening, and start seeing how I want to proceed...
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By the way, there Vags, when did the "Incident" at Yuma take place?
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What a fantastic read, you've nailed it.
Can't wait for more installments.
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If/when I do this, the facility will have changed it's name to the Plumbrook Energy and Nuclear investigation Station. ;)
It won't stand up Capt. :?
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Good advice. I'm gonna take a stroll through Zona Alfa this evening, and start seeing how I want to proceed...
When I first stated playing Zona Alfa I played series of games against a mate, with 12 point forces. I went for 2 Vets and 3 Hardened, while he went for a Vet Leader, 2 Hardened and the 5 Rookies. Although he had more guns and could cover a larger area of the table, I was able to move much faster and avoid getting into unnecessary firefights with him. At the end of games he was typically left with slow moving rookies strung out across the table, while my team was able to move captured savage out with ease. His veteran leaser was having to constantly use up actions to motivate nearby rookies.
Another disadvantage of Rookies is that (unless motivated by their leader with extra actions) they don't get to do useful things like aimed shots or go on Alert (something I regularly do to provide cover for my team's)
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Sorry I've been a bit remis in keeping upto date on this.
Who doesn't remember Alice? Didn't he originally find her in a different restaurant?
Dan you are quite correct I didn't expect anyone to recognise the reference except the Mad Lord Snapcase and if 55 is your year of birth I out rank you. I've re-read your thread and have a couple of questions on the 5 parsecs campaign system but there's no rush. I played a game in a running campaign of 5 somethings from the borderland yesterday and can see how this might bring something to the party.
Excellent part 2 and I'm agog for more. Some of your team remind me of some bodyguards I hired years ago, in an adventure entitled 'The Scoop'!
I'm not sure where I'm going with this but I had wondered about linking it to my games "Red Sparrow Down" and "The Scoop" I rather like the Bio and Genetic disaster rather than the nuclear one but I'm still reading backgrounds.
I’m liking your background here and your very convincing plunge into talking ‘merican (apart from "jessie", obviously).
Doug
Thanks Doug, as I said earlier "It's all your fault directing me here. I'm really pleased you did.
hope they don't all die as soon as we get to know them!! lol
Mike Demana
Thanks Mike, to be honest that was my original intention, I thought if I started off with 12 characters after the first couple of games I'd be down to a manageable number. Callous is my middle name. ;)
We used to play games where the secondary objective would be the bar, and once captured, the outhouse became the primary objective.
That sounds a brilliant idea. lol
By the way, there Vags, when did the "Incident" at Yuma take place?
Well Cptn you must have heard of Gender Fluid, this is Time Fluid and it's on a Need to Know Basis, you don't need to know ;). Both the places I mentioned in the background currently exist in Arizona and unless it's been in the American Press it's probably not happened yet. Of course if your press is like ours they will only tell you about it once you discover the truth for yourself. So it could have happened and no one knows yet.
Does that help?
Plumbrook Energy and Nuclear investigation Station
It won't stand up Capt. :?
I think there are little purple pills that will help the Cptn, although I don't know that they are purple you understand, only heard about the colour. ;)
Bullshott I'm in the process of re-reading your thread to elicit information, I think you are quite right in your assessment of the game. Rookies are a liability but it was reading your thread originally that I got the idea of starting at the beginning, i.e. when the event or events kicked off, so there are no teams used to the Zone it's only just evolving. I played a game (posted on my blog "Red Sparrow Down") years ago. that sort of set the scene for this type of campaign. It was a back story for a game I ran with the Gentlemen of Much Piddling at our annual get together called the Scoop, also on my Blog. It was an immensely complicated game that involved the Mad Lord Snapcase and DougnotEM4 searching a facility in the American South West trying to discover what had gone wrong. I was trying to create a detective game that had clues so they could discover the events that happened. It sort of degenerated into a "throw grenades into a building and kill every thing before it kills us sort of game. It was so complex I never wrote it up in the end.
That maybe where I end up or I might catch a plane and go to Russia and the real Zona Alfa. We'll see.
Thanks for your input.
Thanks to everyone else who has commented as well.
Cheers
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Not meaning to be picky, but in spite of what they tell you in "stalker", did you know that the original Zona Alpha was in Canada?
Do you know that in twenty years of being on the internet you're the first person to guess what the 55 was for?
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Not meaning to be picky, but in spite of what they tell you in "stalker", did you know that the original Zona Alpha was in Canada?
Do you know that in twenty years of being on the internet you're the first person to guess what the 55 was for?
Someone mentioned the Canada one recently on this board, it sounds to be a place worth visiting. :o
55 hope it's not your password as well. ;)
Coincidentally I'd like to introduce you to Horseman's Flatts, you may recognise the Deli. Also some of the characters under siege in the Deli. :)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/29/7162_19_08_17_12_25_49.jpg)
I played 3 games set in the town and posted them on LAF and my blog back in 2018
Spooky
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Horseman's Deli seems to be very popular with the locals? There's a queue going right outside the door!
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Horseman's Deli seems to be very popular with the locals? There's a queue going right outside the door!
They couldn't figure out how to turn the handle on the door. That's why there's such a queue and also a lot of inbreeding in Horseman's Flatts.
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Ok, I think we’d got to the part where Harley arrived at the back door of the Gun Shop and turned the handle.
Don't forget, text is under the pictures. :)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-290623180531-5912348.jpeg)
The door wasn’t locked, he pushed it open and was slightly surprised to find there were some other occupants of the shop and they didn’t look particularly happy to see Harley.
Facing him was a huge black man, Delmare although he didn’t introduce himself at the time, but he was activated by Harley moving within 3” of him. Well you would be wouldn’t you, some big bloke with a shotgun pokes his head around your door you’re bound to be a little activated.
Harley noted 3 other hostile looking people, and I don’t use the term loosely, were in the room as Delmar started to raise one of his two BA Pistols….so Harley shot him.
Harley isn’t the best shot in the world and neither are the rest of the Vagabonds, rookies remember, and he misses. (40% chance of a hit and he misses)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-290623180531-591271159.jpeg)
Delmare fires back and he has a 50% chance to hit, Harley takes a bullet in the chest and rolls around on the ground for a while, his blood mixing with some of the Arizona dust.
Big Dave who is stood just behind Harley is a little surprised by the events unfolding in front of him but he brings his shotgun up and blazes away.
He continues to be surprised when only a third of the load hits Delmare. Delmare just smiles when his homemade armour saves him. It was a critical save!
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-290623180531-59128774.jpeg)
Dave is even more surprised when Pit Bull Billy rushes out from the doorway, yelling and screaming some sort of undulating war cry.
Billy though, has forgotten the golden rule – WUSIWUG, he doesn’t have a gun, just a big length of chain and a whopping big knife. He’s also forgotten that he’s only in a threat level 1 situation and after his bold action running out of the building he has to stop and get his breath before he can start to use his whopping big knife.
He notices, out of the corner of one eye, Angie grinning evilly, she knows the rule writer subscribes to a form of you go, now I go.
But Tank, who is against the back wall of the Gun Shop and right by the window peremptorily takes the, I go seriously.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-290623180531-59129130.jpeg)
He drops his grenade through the broken window and ducks down below the sill.
I didn’t mention that when generating the threat in the Gun Shop I rolled a 6 which gives me Bandits, or Savages in my case. It also give an Anomaly which Tank has just blown up.
I don’t really understand what an Anomaly is, I can barely spell it but having never read or played computer games set in the Stalker reality I’m going to have to construct my own version of it the next time one of them survives contact with the Vagabonds.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-290623180531-591301149.jpeg)
If Tank had popped up and looked through the window he would have been as surprised as Dave was to see all three Savages still on their feet, although one of them looks a little stunned, as well he might be.
Stunned equals pinned in the rules for those who know about these things.
Donna who is the only Savage who can move, does so and then Angie’s smile gets even wider when at almost point blank range she “pops a cap” into Pit Bull Billy. Is that the right expression? As Doug said I’m trying to talk Americain :D, Anyway with a critical success she hits him where his rudimentary armour can’t save him and he drops to the floor, out of the fight, OOF.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-290623180633-59131293.jpeg)
Over with the other part of the gang Fast Freddie has taken a swig of Pollyjuice Potion or Vodka laced with gunpowder, not sure which but he explodes into action. Reaches the Bar, throws the door open and sees a bunch of rambling shambling creatures whom he recognises as Zombies. Obviously been watching too much late night TV but his nerves are shot due to the Pollyjuice and he fires, hitting one of the creatures between the eyes and it dies….again.
By this time I’m starting to get the hang of activation and he jumps back into the street, using his final action to get out of reach of the threat and within reach of support.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-290623180633-59132176.jpeg)
One by one the Zombies shamble out of the building, and one by one they get shot at. Ulrika fires and misses, Desire fires and misses, Fat Willie fires and misses, Vincent fires his shotgun and misses, 3 times, there’s a bit of a thread running through this narrative. Eight Ball and Babe couldn’t get a clear shot and moved to the right.
Bubble fires last and puts an end to this awful missing trend, she hits and kills the little girl. This isn’t going to look good in the papers, or at any subsequent trial.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-290623180633-591331245.jpeg)
Donna had moved to the window inside the building, the Savages got the initiative on the next turn and she shot Angie who has no armour and is OOF.
Big Dave rolls a grenade into the building through the open door.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-290623180633-591342498.jpeg)
Unfortunately it missed the doorway, hit the wall and rebounded into the middle of his mates. BOOM.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-290623180633-591351863.jpeg)
As I’m reading the rules, because the Vagabonds don’t have armour they need a critical success to avoid injury, as lady luck decided, Tank and Angie had critical successes and also passed their will test, so the only casualty is Dave and he’s OOF. Serves him right.
Things aren’t looking too good at this stage.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-290623180733-59136134.jpeg)
It doesn’t get any better when Delmore jumps out and Tank fires at him and misses. Big Dave on the ground pulls out his bandaid and sticks it over the grenade fragment wounds and feels a bit better. Inside the building the last Savage, Roberto feels fine now that the ringing in his ears has stopped and he will move next turn.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-290623180733-591371563.jpeg)
This is rather complicated, and I probably got it wrong but if you’ll forgive me going through the detail, if anyone can correct me I’d appreciate it.
The Vagabonds have the initiative, Ulrika fired and missed. That zombie moved into contact with her but can’t attack (1 action for threat level). Fast Freddie fired and missed, zombie moved into contact with him but can’t attack. I was sure I’d read something about shooting into a melee but couldn’t find it so I resolved that to fire into a melee, if hit then hit zombie, if miss then test for a hit on your mate.
Fortunately the Vagabonds are really crap shots. Desire fired, missed Zed and then missed Freddie. Eight Ball fired and killed the zed facing Ulrika. Vincent fired his pistol and missed both the Zed and Freddie.
Fat Willie, Babe and Bubble all moved to contact the Zed but can’t attack.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-290623180733-59138917.jpeg)
Next turn Tank fires at Delmore who fires back, they both miss. Donna in the building fires at Tank and misses, Roberto runs outside and levels his gun at Tank but can’t fire because he’s only got 1 action.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-290623180733-591391357.jpeg)
Back over with the Zombie I’m still confused. The Vagabonds have the initiative. The way I read it, I activate 1 figure and attack, the enemy activate 1 figure and attacks, I activate 1 figure and attack, then I continue to activate 1 figure and attack because there’s only 1 Zombie. If I attack, the Zombie can defend, so I can attack it 4 times with 4 individuals and it can defend against each attack fighting 4 times which seemed a bit better than I thought it should be. So I resolved to attack it as a squad, so all 4 attack the same individual at the same time.
Please correct me if I’m wrong here. Initially I couldn’t understand Melee Combat at all but this is what I did.
Fat Willie pistol 1/weapon = 1D at combat 4.
Fast Freddie 2 Pistols 1/weapon = 2D at combat 4.
Babe 1 Revolver 1/weapon + 1 spiky hammer 1/weapon = 2D at combat 4.
I ignored Bubble for 2 reasons, I believe 2 or 3 is the maximum people who can attack 1 person at the same time and I decided if melee combat means firing the weapon rather than hitting your opponent with it then it would be better to leave Bubble out for fear she would hit her friends.
Everyone missed except Babe who hit with the hammer at +1 damage.
Zombie Teeth/Claws, I took this as 2 weapons = 2D at combat 4 No Hits and failed Armour save, so a dead zed.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-290623180733-591401133.jpeg)
I’m now in turn 6, Tank wins the initiative and at this point I had Tank take a swift sip of Pollyjuice Potion. I couldn’t find if this was an action or not, but based on the fact that you can apply a medikit to yourself as a free action I allowed him to do it. The Pollyjuice Potion kicks in and he’s like a wild man. Well he’s like a wild man without the potion but you know what I mean.
He fires at Delmore and misses, he fires at Delmore again and hits him but the shot bounces off Delmore’s armour and he’s not pinned.
Giving up on Delmore he fires at Roberto and hits him. Roberto’s armour saves him but he’s pinned/stunned. That Pollyjuice isn’t working as well as I’d like.
Delmore fires back at Tank, Tank takes it in the gut and goes down OOF.
Big Dave is back on his feet, these Medikits are wonderful things and he’s ready to rock and roll next turn.
Donna comes out of the Gun Shop but can’t do anything else.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-290623180915-591411672.jpeg)
Just call me old fashioned but I’d given Pollyjuice to all the males, Fast Freddie had 2 doses but not the female members of the Vagabonds. We’re still in turn 6 and Ulrika shouts “Go and help Tank, not knowing that Tank was past help but Big Dave could use a hand. Freddie moves two actions and fires, he has 2 guns so fires twice. He misses twice.
Big Willie moves 2 actions and fires at Delmore, Delmore’s armour saves him again but he is pinned. Eight Ball moves 2 actions, fires and misses.
Vincent doesn’t hold with drugs and so only moves slowly, I don’t hold with drugs and so Bubble and Babe also move slowly.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-290623180915-591421005.jpeg)
Turn 7 and the Army, Navy and Airforce all arrive at the edge of the board but for some reason, unknown to me now, they didn’t move onto the board until the end of the turn.
That gave Donna the chance to fire on Big Dave, you remember he’s just got up after being shot once. Well she shot him again and he goes down OD (Obviously Dead)
NOOOO screams Eight Ball as he fires at Donna and misses, Willie fires at Delmore and misses, Freddie fires at Roberto and misses. It’s really been one of those days.
Vincent, Bubble and Babe move round the corner of the Gun Shop, ready to open fire on the Savages at their next opportunity.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-290623180915-591431900.jpeg)
They are just in time to see the Army, Navy, Airforce, Police and some private contractors de-bus from their vehicles demanding everyone stops shooting and drops their guns.
In view of their overwhelming numbers and the fact that the Vagabonds are vaguely law abiding and the Savages are not as daft as they look, both groups comply.
And that my friends is how I and the rest of the Vagabonds ended up in Fort Huachuca prison block waiting to see our lawyer.
We had two more medikits and so Tank and Angie were saved before being carted off to prison. The Army also had kits and Harley and Pit Bull Billy recovered quickly. Big Dave is in the Operating Theatre and we’re waiting to hear how he’s doing but it doesn’t look good.
Well this probably isn’t the most auspicious opening to a campaign but I think it’s got a lot of potential.
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Wow...that's a lot of Vagabonds down! I like how Out Of the Fight also spells, "Oof!" lol
If you think about it, all the firing and missing makes this extremely Hollywood like! Great pics and good action summary. I did wonder what the percentage chances of the armor saves were -- especially for Delmare, but don't have the rules. So, I guess it's all part of the cinema action... :D
Mike Demana
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I suspected the story behind the Vagabonds' stay at the Fort Whatchacallit pokey would be explained in due time.
I don't have the rules with me, but I for one am satisfied with how you handled things. Or mis-handled things. Whatever... 8)
As far as 'Merican colloquialisms go, one BUSTS a cap, not pops one. Little kids do that with toy guns. Growd-ups BUST a cap in someone's ass...I trust that was helpful... :D
By the way, riveting story. No, really. But when your crew gets out of the pokey, they oughta spend some time at the range.... ;)
In regards to your responses to my earlier comments/questions, that really didn't help with understanding your timeline. But since this is all fiction, does it really matter? And those purple pills you mentioned are blue over here...or so I've been told...
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Cinematic. That's some dynamic learning curve going on there. I'd like to say "I wish I thought of that," but I don't think I cudda. Vagabonds! No where to go but UP. Pretty sure they are looking at the Z-axis pretty intently. Nicely done.
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Brilliant work. Looking forward to more.
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I'm biting nails reading that, I virtually stick to the screen and wonder what's coming next. Great action and even greater reporting of yours. I love the way you describe what's going on. This is my kind of cliffhanger for the weekend. Keep on, please! :D
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As always, a beautiful looking game and a great story. Looking forward to seeing how you develop this into a campaign.
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Exhausting….! So many characters; so much action - that’s a heck of a game for a trial run of the rules. There’s a cracking campaign up and running right from the off. I’m looking forward to seeing where you go with it.
Doug
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Mike - Armour saving is roughly 50% but you can still get pinned. Oof never seen that :D, I'll use it in future. ;) Cheers
Capn, James, Spinal, Twin Michi, My Lord and Doug thanks for your comments and I know you will be worried about me and the rest of the Vagabonds languishing in chokey, so to alleviate that, I thought I should just let you know how it finished up.
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LOOTERS ARRESTED
Police and National Guardsmen assisted by the U.S. Army have arrested a gang of looters near the Yuma Proving Ground, they are currently awaiting processing in Fort Huachuca. A spokesman close to Senator McGivvens has confirmed there will be a zero policy of tolerance towards any looting in the area and Government Agencies have been granted special powers of arrest and internment until the Emergency is over.
McGivvens has allocated funds to set up a Special Operating Detection & Investigation Team to combat further incursions into what is now known locally as “The Forbidden Zone”
Captain Andy Donovan has been seconded from his previous assignment as Police Chief of Little Whiskey to head up this crack force, in retirement since the Mabel Street Mob gunned him down in the famous Little Whiskey Bank Raid he says he’s raring to go and I quote “You can’t keep a good man down”. He is also quoted as saying “with age comes experience”, or it might have been “with experience comes age”.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/56/7162-021022173554-56558889.jpeg)
Captain Andy Donovan just before being shot by members of the Mabel Street Mob
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/56/7162-021022173554-56559318.jpeg)
Captain Andy Donovan just after the cowardly act.
He’s had an illustrious and varied career making his reputation as a successful lawman leading the famous Tail Feathers Roadhouse Raid, capturing one of the Mabel Street Mob in a brilliant dawn attack. Unfortunately they were rescued when he was in charge of transferring them to the State Penitentiary but as he said at the time….“sh*t happens”.
It also happened when he was in leading a raid by the Revenue men and got badly bitten by a dog, but as he said at the time….“sh*t happens.
His crowning glory though was arresting Alexandria Lorne the well known business woman and smuggler in the Uranium Hand Off. On her way to the police station she was heard to say……“sh*t happens”.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/28/7162_30_05_17_10_30_13_1.jpg)
Taken on the morning of the Tail Feathers Roadhouse Raid, Donovan with a crack squad of fellow officers.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/26/7162_22_12_16_7_13_46_2.jpg)
Andy Donovan leading the Revenue Agents in the Ozark Mountains, just before being bitten by the dog.
I put down the Yuma Gazette and pondered over the last few days.
We had been in the Fort Huachuca prison block for 24 hours and 35 minutes when a guard roused me out of solitary and led me along a dark grey corridor into a brightly lit room. A man in a black suit was sitting behind a small table. He looked me up and down with distaste and said “Sign this and we can go”
“Go….go where” I asked not liking the sound of this at all. “Florida, Tahiti, Home, I don’t know, and I don’t care, sign this and I’ve done my job” he snarled. This was the first time I’d met Captain Andy Donovan and he didn’t seem to like me, or maybe bikers in general.
“It’s a waiver and a confidentiality agreement” he continued. “You forget everything you saw yesterday including the people from the Asylum and we’ll forget that you shot and killed a little girl and her family”. “They were zombies” I blurted out, “not from an Asylum”. “Don’t be ridiculous” he snapped, “there’s no such thing as Zombies and if the men in White Suits get brought into this, you will be the one in an Asylum”.
The door opened and Ulrika walked in, “Just sign it” she said and I did.
It turned out that Ulrika and Desire had entered Ebenezer’s Bar just as the Authorities arrived, she’d taken some pictures of the Zombie corpses with her phone, before searching the bar for Alice, you remember Alice, this story is about Alice. Recovering Alice and some bottles of Malt Whiskey to help ease everyone’s pain and a gas mask, for no good reason, they left quietly and weren’t discovered by the search teams.
Threats to release the photos, footage from the surveillance camera that was still transmitting to Franks laptop and a smart lawyer meant she was able to do a deal. Silence in exchange for freedom.
No one has heard from the looters since the incident, they obviously didn’t have Ulrika on their case.
So we’re all out good behaviour, some more battered and bruised than others. Incidentally Big Dave pulled through with just a scar, a lucky 6 that he’s particularly grateful for.
Eight Ball and his father have never stopped reminiscing about the Pool Table that’s languishing in the Bar, the best in Arizona.
I keep wondering what Zombies were doing wandering around Ebenezer’s Place, had they heard of the best pool table in Arizona, seems unlikely.
Big Dave keeps showing everyone his scar and says getting shot ain’t so bad, we should all try it.
Somethings brewing and someone, sometime, is bound to suggest we go and take another look…..I might just go with them.
OK that’s a wrap.
In Campaign terms we used 3 medikits $825, 5 Electric Juice potions $550 and 2 grenades $300 Total $1675 and gained Salvage worth $350 and a gas mask worth $200 Total $550.
I’ll have to read about Anomalies….they seem to be worth cash money, otherwise we aren’t going to be able to pay our bar tab at the Easy Does It Roadhouse, let alone the one at Ferret’s All Night Pool Hall.
Thanks for reading and to everyone who made some contribution.
Cheers
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Glad to read that the Vagabonds are out of the pokey. My guess is that their exploring days are not over, seeing as how they're in debt and all. Hope to read more adventures soon...well, after the boys and girls recover! lol
Mike Demana
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Another great story...and another set of rules.....and another game setting!! You Gentlemen of Much Piddling are an inspiration!
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A very fun read.
Lots of action,
an excellent report.
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Great aar and wonderful terrain and figures. Well done.
I only have the basic book, but I think this is how it's meant to work.
I think you did most of the stuff correctly. I don't know about firing into a melee however. In a melee all participants involved roll at the same time, so your squad idea is correct. I don't know what happens to the actions owed to the other fighters after that first combat round is figured out. Newly entering fighters may make the defender roll again (I guess) if the newcomer hasn't used up his last action for this turn and chooses to attack I believe claws/teeth are meant to represent 1 weapon total.
Drinking a potion or applying a med kit to an ally takes an action. Applying a med kit to yourself I believe is a special case and is free.
Anomalies are rare and dangerous "things" (items) that have the ability to ignore some of the laws of physics. They are caused by whatever created the "forbidden zone" in the first place. For this reason they are worth lots of money, and carrying one around MAY grant an advantage.
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Enjoyed reading that. Thank you for sharing.
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I enjoyed the wrap-up, John and good to see Captain Donovan again - was it his car that got taken away on the boat way back when?
Regarding rules, what do people think is the range for a thrown grenade? It says 1-18" in the rules but that seems a heck of distance for a thrown item when compared to firearm’s ranges. So, is that the range for a rifle grenade? If so, how far for a throw? I’m thinking 6-8" may be more reasonable.
Doug
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Well, well, well. What is it with men in black suits...? At least the Vagabonds are out of The Big House. My guess is they can get into as much trouble keeping folks out of The Forbidden Zone as they did trying to get into it themselves....I could be wrong, but....
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Thanks Mike, Lon, Marine, Spinal, and Cptn, your encouragement is greatly appreciated in these troubled times around the Yuma Proving Ground.
Doug, yes that's the same Captain Donovan, he gets around a lot. ;)
Dan thanks for your thoughts on how I read the rules, I've been watching some videos on Guerrilla Games. He uses teeth and claws as 1 attack so I think you're right.
Although he had one of his team armed with 2 shotguns and they both counted in melee!!! 6 melee dice each action, some special trait or skill allows you to do it apparently :o. It also sounds as though if you have a smg and a machete you count both in melee 4D smg +1D Machete, how that works I've no idea.
There's a number of things I have a bit of difficulty with in the rules but I think that's probably my take on what rules should be, compared to the majority view.
Anyway I've had another game since this one and it was bloody. o_o
Cheers
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Although he had one of his team armed with 2 shotguns and they both counted in melee!!! 6 melee dice each action, some special trait or skill allows you to do it apparently :o. It also sounds as though if you have a smg and a machete you count both in melee 4D smg +1D Machete, how that works I've no idea.
There's a number of things I have a bit of difficulty with in the rules but I think that's probably my take on what rules should be, compared to the majority view.
Anyway I've had another game since this one and it was bloody. o_o
Cheers
That "using 2 weapons in melee" thing uses the Knife Man skill (page 30). Although firing 2 12-guages at one time one-handed each is gonna make for some sore wrists...but I guess it beats being dead.... ;)
And looking forward to your next report... 8)
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What a great story! :-* :-*
The only disagreement I have with the report is that Andy Donovan, all 'mouth and trousers', that bloke. He drew first on the two innocent Mabel Street Mob gels. They only produced their gats when Andy tried to arrest them for 'being in the vicinity of an ongoing robbery'.
Looking forward to seeing more stories about the Vagabonds.
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I've decided to combine the storylines based on the Incident at the Yuma Proving Ground and the various threads that are spinning off from that original story rather than how I started i.e. a new thread for each game.
So I'm moving Game 2 onto the end of my first thread (this one) and then I'll add new stuff on to the end of that. Shouldn't take too long o_o
Cheers
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Zone Alfa Game 2
I was in the Easy Does It Roadhouse and wondering how I was going to get out of the place without being eaten alive when Andy Donovan strode into the joint with Police Woman Petra Stanislav. He looked at Stanislav and she nodded in my direction and they both ambled over. Donovan looked at me and then addressed the immaculate woman across the table, saying “I know who this is but might I have the pleasure of knowing who you are and why you are sat opposite a Vagabond” Katie Monk smiled her hard but winning smile and said “I work for the Global Tribune, I met Mr Black and some of his associates back in 18, they helped me on a job, and my name’s Ms Monk, but you can call me Katie”.
“I’m down here on a story but Mr Black isn’t being very helpful, he keeps talking about a confidentiality agreement he signed with Homeland Security and he seems to think they are scarier than I am”, she smiled again. Captain Andy Donovan smiled right back at her, “Well Katie that’s why I’m here as well, Homeland Security are not the most communicative of organisations and I was expecting to get a little help from Vincent as to what he’s been involved in recently. I tried to look small and insignificant, which is difficult for a 6’2” Biker who would like to be a Hell’s Angel’s. “Look” I stammered and played my trump card, the 2 of clubs, “go and talk to Silas, if anyone knows what is going on in the desert, it’s Silas”.
PIC01
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-070723220828-591711000.jpeg)
Silas, on the left and his brother Bull.
They live closer to the Yuma Proving Ground than anyone else and they refused to move when the Army came to enforce the Exclusion Zone. The small patrol of a corporal and a couple of men backed off when Silas waved his shotgun around in their general direction and they moved on to more amenable homesteaders.
When you live off grid sometimes you fall through the cracks and the Army had lost track of the fact that two old men were still out there and hadn’t gone back to ensure they moved out.
“And where might I find this Silas” Captain Andy Donovan enquired of me. “I know Sir” chipped in Stanislav, I think she might have taken a shine to big Andy “he’s only a couple of hours from the wire, it’s a bit of a walk but I can take you there”.
PIC02
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-070723220828-59182541.jpeg)
Donovan as you may remember is Senator McGivvens chosen Law Enforcement Officer and heads up the recently inaugurated Special Operating Detection & Investigation Team in charge of security in the outer zone.
He might be in charge of S.O.D.I.T. but was getting very little cooperation and even less information from Homeland Security and felt he needed to know what was going on in the Zone he was guarding.
He’d brought a small but hand picked cadre of men with him and he’s taken them, along with some of the local law enforcement team on a Recon mission to find Silas. His aim is to circumnavigate Homeland Security and get into the zone himself to take a look and assess the situation first hand.
He’s explaining to James Lamont and Diaz that they need to protect his back door. “I don’t have much faith in this bunch of clowns who call themselves Law Officers, we’re going into a dangerous situation and I want a couple of reliable men out here for when we return.
PIC03
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-070723220828-591831289.jpeg)
This is the bunch of clowns he’s referring to, they’re members of the police force in a small town and not used to this sort of emergency. As it turns out, who is!
Behind them is a watchtower and Aguila is instructing Walter and Norman to man the tower. She is afraid of heights otherwise she would have taken this prestigious position. As it is she decides that Big Jim Floyd should remain on the ground. An unkind person might wonder if that is so Jim can provide some protection for her, should it be needed.
PIC04
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-070723220828-591841852.jpeg)
The outer fence around the new exclusion zone had been erected very quickly and consisted of a double ring of wire and a beaten zone between them. There are no gates near where Donovan is going in and he doesn’t want to cut the wire for obvious reasons.
PIC05
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-070723220828-59185379.jpeg)
This is just a gratuitous shot to show the watch tower and serves no other purpose.
PIC06
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-070723220939-591861384.jpeg)
This is the team he’s taking in with him, Willhelm Schmidtt and Hans Ludenstein are the other part of his hand picked team. Both armed with pump action shotguns, B.A. Pistols and a truncheon each. I’m treating a truncheon the same as a knife and I believe in melee they count the shotgun and the truncheon. I feel that has to be wrong, but in the video I watched explaining the rules, that’s what they did, if anyone can confirm either way, that would be useful. In addition they have a medikit each, something they would be grateful for.
Petra you’ve met, she has a pistol and truncheon, also a pair of handcuffs for those dark lonely nights, in spite of her youth she’s a good cop, best in her year and a crack shot as well.
PIC07
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-070723220939-591871941.jpeg)
If you’ve got this far you may pause and wonder what a news crew is doing at this place, at this time, and you’d be right to wonder at that.
It is, as usual, a long story, Katie Monk with her back to us but her face to the camera knew stuff…..stuff she’d not been allowed to print and she’d a score to settle. So in return for a solemn promise from the Law, she told Captain Donovan stuff……stuff that if some other Lawmen found out she’d passed on, she would find out just how scary Homeland Security could be. In return for this information Donovan had decided he’d better keep her close.
PIC08
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-070723220939-59188578.jpeg)
He’s explaining about rules of engagement to Big Freddie. “You don’t shoot anybody or indeed anything unless I give you a direct order, have you got that” Freddie looks bored and nods, he knows that if he was to count the bodies he’d shot, it would need a few more fingers and toes than he currently had. That’s without the “things” that would need a few more fingers and toes.
Donovan didn’t think he needed to give the same lecture to Katie Monk but he was wrong, although she would have taken no more notice than Freddie did.
In the background or I suppose it’s really the foreground Donald shoots footage of the exchange. He’s under strict instructions that everything will be censored by Donovan. Donald will only take his instructions from Katie so isn’t worried by the censorship.
In the background the men and women who do the hard lifting are lifting the pair of ladders into place so that they can cross the first fence.
PIC09
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-070723220939-591891211.jpeg)
Donovan recognises that Freddie is probably the most experienced man on the team, and he’s not part of Donovan’s team either, so is more expendable than the others. So he puts Freddie on point, flanked by Hans and Schmidtt.
Freddie knows the score and knows his capability and isn’t worried by this.
Pic10
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Donald Tronji gets a last shot of the crew heading off into the desert. He’s already got the film layout planned, I counted them out and I counted them in. He thinks, I know it’s been done before but that was a long time ago, no one will remember that…..surely.
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As they head towards their destination the three at the back seem to be bunched up more than is tactically wise but some times the women gravitate towards a handsome man, although Andy isn’t a handsome man, he is big and that might suffice.
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After that short intermission and a word from our sponsors I’d like play the first reel of the story setting the scene before progressing to the action.
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Our intrepid hero’s are over the wire and making there way to Silas in the desert. They knew where his camp was but they didn’t know that after the visit from the Army patrol, Silas and Bull had decided they needed a little more protection.
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So they’d decided to ring the place with a wire fence and a big gate. This might make things a little more difficult!
The main objective is the wooden shed that the brothers use for their sleeping quarters, there are 2 secondary Hot Spots, the tent in the far corner and a wandering one. Its location would be decided once Donovan and his team arrived at the gate.
As everyone knows now, the area around the Yuma Proving Ground is a dangerous place, the brothers might be OK, holed up in their compound or they might not be.
Taking the Z.A. chart for id of Zone Hostiles a D6 roll of 1 indicates it’s the brothers rather than a swarm of something and they’re OK, a D6 roll of 4 usually indicates Zombies and you’ve guessed it, they’re not OK but are now Zombies.
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A roll of 6 on the set up die means Donovan has 7 moves to get into the compound, search it for the brothers and get out before an Army patrol turns up demanding to know why he is inside the blue zone, rather than outside guarding its outer perimeter. That might require some fast talking but I think he’s up to that challenge.
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As before a die roll decides where Donovan’s team enters the board and providentially it’s in front of the gate and Stanislav is able to say, rather smugly, “there it is Sir” “You didn’t mention wire fencing did you” he responds. “did anyone bring wire cutters”. There’s a resounding silence when I rolled 3 having decided that they would have wire cutters on a roll of 5 or 6.
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Is the gate locked? 1-5 it is, did I mention it’s a dangerous place out there? - Roll 5, whoops it’s locked.
Not to worry Katie Moss is a skilful lock picker, a skill she picked up in a previous life, one that she doesn’t talk about much, or at all. I forgot to mention, after the last fiasco with the Rookies now everyone is Hard and she has 2 actions trying to pick the lock. Unfortunately she fails….twice. Hummm.
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Once the team arrived at the gate I rolled to see where the wandering Hot Spot would be. Fortunately it’s on the far side of the compound and out of sight. It will wander 1 to 6” in a random direction each turn until it is in sight of one of the team.
The Hot Spot is the penny with 4 lentils on it.
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I don’t believe it’s as easy to climb an 8’ wire fence as most rules writers and so everyone has to test to make the climb. Donovan, Freddie and Stanislav are not dexterous enough to make the climb and so only Hans and Schmidtt get over. Katie has used up her actions failing to pick the lock and will try the climb next move.
Well at least someone is inside although I worry a little because the Games Master might make them test to climb back out, especially if they get injured.
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Katie has hidden talents and in spite of the tight dress and high heels she’s over the fence in no time. Freddie and Stanislav move right to cover Schmidtt as Donovan goes on Alert to cover Hans.
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As Hans moves forward to check out the tent he disturbs a bunch of zombies, two of them look very like Silas and Bull, although Hans doesn’t know that. He’s a little perturbed when they make an immediate move towards him. He fires as they come and misses, nerves I guess, understandable in the circumstances but a bit awkward all the same.
Donovan on Alert, can’t fire a shotgun without hitting Hans and so he draws his pistol instead.
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Schmidtt climbs onto the truck, which isn’t such a good move as some ghoulish looking creatures rush out and surround him. He fires as they come and one explodes in a ball of blood and green flesh.
Freddie and Stanislav look on in horror as they realise they’ve used their actions for this turn.
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Katie wonders if it was a good idea climbing over the fence and also wonders if pulling the pocket revolver and the can of mace is going to be 1 or 2 actions or maybe even a free action. There’s time for a passing thought on who will activate first next turn and finally, she wonders why she pays a bodyguard who can’t climb a fence and isn’t available to guard her body when she needs him.
The green ghoul just wonders what she will taste like.
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This bit is a little confusing, well it confused me. Ghouls activate 1st, 2 of them attack Schmidtt, one of them hits Schmidtt and he fails to save so is down. He defends and gets two hits, both of the Ghouls fails to save so 2 Ghouls down. He can’t use one of his 2 hits to parry an attack because he’s the defender not the attacker.
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The zombies activate next and there are 2 of them in contact with Hans, he goes down. Katie shoots at the Ghoul nearest her and hits it but does no damage, it moves into contact with her.
The remaining 2 zombies move towards Katie but Donovan now has a clear field of fire and blasts them, they both die.
Freddie also has a clear field of fire through the cars and shed he hits both remaining zombies and one of them goes down.
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Katie is wondering if it’s possible to train one of these things, you know, a bit like a pit bull terrier, she’d be the envy of everyone she knows, walking round with a Ghoul on a lead.
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Petra Stanislav doesn’t give a damn, she moves and fires, killing Katie’s new pet….dead. Katie reflects that’s probably the best outcome.
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Start of a new turn and there’s only 1 zombie left standing, however there’s only Katie still on her feet in the compound and time is ticking.
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The zombie moves towards Katie but Donovan blows it away just before it reaches her. Stanislav shouts “That’s Silas” then mumbles “Well it was Silas”
Katie thinking on her feet, moves forward and searches his corpse, with a lucky roll she finds the key to the gate padlock and throws it to Donovan. Donovan opens the gate nest turn. Well at least she won’t have to climb back.
Hans and Schmidtt make use of their Medipacks and they’ll be ready to move soon but will it be soon enough.
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The wandering Hot Spot wanders around the corner of the compound and sees Freddie, they move towards him mumbling and grumbling something about brains, Freddie thinks that’s a bit rude so shoots one of them as Stanislav moves over in support, I’m not sure Freddie needs support but it’s the thought that counts.
Freddie and Stanislav continue to fire into the advancing zombies to no avail.
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Katie rushes to the shed but doesn’t find anything. That failure is replicated by Hans when he searches the tent. Schmitt examines the truck and with yet another lucky dice roll discovers that the keys are still in the ignition.
Lets get the hell out of here yells Donovan and everyone starts to run for home. With a head start Freddie Donovan and Stanislav are making good time but the three in the compound aren’t going to be so lucky until Schmitt turns the key and the trucks engine bursts into life, Katie and Hans jump on board.
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This is at the end of the 7th move, as the Army patrol are going to come on the 8th I gave the game to Donovan, I think they deserve it.
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Schmidtt is actually supposed to be inside the truck but I’m not cutting my figures in half for effect, you’ll just have to imagine it.
Donovan is a little out of breath but will soon commandeer a ride.
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Freddie and Petra Stanislav are enjoying their jog across the desert, I wonder who will win?
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Not these guy’s, that’s for sure, they are more my kind of shambling runners.
Well Captain Andy Donovan now knows what Homeland Security wouldn’t tell him. Something has gone awfully wrong in the Yuma Proving Ground and the secure perimeter isn’t secure. The following day the army pulled back from the Yellow perimeter fence and took over control from Donovan at the outer fence of the Blue Zone.
Donovan has seen the Senator or is it a Governor of a State and been given some unequivocal orders that hopefully will be revealed in due course.
Katie Monk has no evidence to confront the worlds press with but it confirms her previous assertions, maybe her Editor can overturn the previous decision on her foray into the Mojave Desert in search of ……… Redacted……..
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Zone Alfa Game 03 The Intro
Katie Monk has decided, enough is enough, she’s going to blow the gaff and sod the consequences. She’s been pushed around by Capitol Hill (Cptn ?) too long and they shouldn’t mess with her any more.
After the incident with Captain Andy Donovan and a shared near death experience she’s going back to the Mojave and he’s going to Canada. Hopefully the story will unfold a little more smoothly than it has so far but you never know.
Katie has hired some of her old bodyguards, that’s old, as in the past, not that they are old, if you understand the difference. Some of these have appeared in the story so far and some have not, but if you have the attention span of a goldfish, as I have, it won’t matter who is whom.
The event will be played out over the internet and I shall be some disembodied being down in Devon, all I need to remember is; do I put the cream on the scone before the jam and all will be well. Unfortunately I can’t recall which way they do it in Devon, I’ll just have to hope the Mad Lord Snapcase cut’s me a little slack because it’s a frightfully important thing in that part of the country, apparently.
Sorry to ramble a little but I’ve found some nice Shiraz, Mrs V doesn’t drink midweek, and as I believe wine goes off within 6 hours of the cork being drawn I’m having to dispose of it as quickly as possible.
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The Girls.
Katie Monk has changed out of her business suit and is impersonating Laura Croft, fit and hard, she’s the one on the left, Angie centre and Ulrika right you’ve already met in the rescue of Alice. These are all the Mad Lords figures and it’s interesting how similar our painting is of the figures. Well similar in colouring in, his are more of an artists standard where as mine are more of a 10 year old but I’m not bitter.
Well not a lot!
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The Boys
On the left we have Big Willie Snapcase who is the brother of Fat Willie, Fat Willie couldn’t make it to the Mojave because he gets a nose bleed flying and there wasn’t enough time to drive. Big Willie had an exciting experience down a mine one time when he was 16 and his dark brown hair turned white. He doesn’t talk about it much but if you buy Fat Willie a few beers he might let you in on the secret, of course it might cost you quite a few beers because the brothers are close, but what else are you going to spend your money on.
When it comes to driving, Tugger Doug is your man, he’s in the centre, and has crisscrossed the this country as a truck driver and proudly explains that’s why he’s called Tugger, he says that’s because he’s tugged countless trailers across thousands of miles, desert or mountains it’s all the same to him. Of course the few people close to him know Tugger is a pseudonym for some one who pulls a van, in his case a 30’ Airstream the iconic version of the famous caravan.
Tank on the right doesn’t suffer from nose bleeds and so flies to joins the expedition carrying Rosie. Rosie in case you were wondering is the whopping big gun he takes everywhere. He doesn’t need a concealed licence to carry Rosie because he would be hard put to conceal her, unless she was in Tuggers Airstream.
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This is their destination, a disused facility in the Mojave that I had the privilege to play over back in 2018 when this story was conceived although it was only really brought to life recently when I was referred to this board and some wonderful game tales were on display.
You reprobates know who you are.
Thanks.
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OK now I’ve sorted the housekeeping out and got the thread in some form of order I’ll continue with the introduction to the next game.
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The trip up the Mojave River had been uneventful except for sightings of some very strange sea creatures that shouldn’t really have been there but as the Marie Anne docked, Katie Monk’s thoughts went back 5 years, to the story that she would forever think of as “The Scoop”. It started like this.
“It’s like going to see the Head Mistress at Roedean” moaned Katie Monk to her cameraman, “you never know why she wants to see you”. “It could be smoking behind the bike sheds, or the small incident in town with the butchers boy, what ever it is, it’s usually the one thing you’re not prepared for”. “What do you think it could be this time”? “I know there were a few issues with our last story, but if it hadn’t been for that interfering mother it would have been fine. We should have received an award for investigative journalism not been hauled over the coals.
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Donald Tronji reflected on that last shit storm, the kids were all happy and content. Of course they were living in squalor, in a poor country, very little to eat and washing in the street drain but they’d been smiling and laughing. Katie wanted a piece to camera, bewailing the kid’s plight for prime time TV and she needed a grubby, crying child as her centrepiece.
The upshot was she’d hit the kid in face, made his nose bleed, thrown him in a muddy puddle and so had her subject ready for the camera in no time at all. The look of concern on her face as she started on the fourth take was as good as it had been on the first, he had to admit, she was good. Katie had to pinch the child hard to make him continue crying for the last shot but it was going well, they would soon have everything in the can and be away from this godforsaken hole.
Problem was, the child’s mother saw everything, her brother was a local politician, and there was hell to pay. The UN Press Council had been called in and an investigation into Press Brutality was started.
Joe Diamond, the Editor would have sacked them both on the spot, except that the Owner thought Katie was the best thing since smoked kippers, and he liked smoked kippers, especially for breakfast.
At his instigation Diamond was instructed to do background checks and it didn’t take much digging to discover that the Council’s Chairman had a penchant for illegal substances and the Politician brother liked even less savoury things, so the hoo-hah died down quickly and Katie and Donald kept their jobs.
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Even so they had a severe shellacking and missed a couple of good stories that had gone to other reporters who were more in favour with the Boss….well that included almost everyone at that time.
Don Tronji wondered, and not for the first time, how long could he put up with this woman. The answer was the same every time, as long as he got paid top dollar. They were a successful team, she had no morals or scruples where a story was concerned and would go to any lengths to get it.
As her camera man his stock was sky high with his peers, a crying brat was a small price to pay.
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At the same time Liam O’Rorke was wondering pretty much the same thing as Katie, not about the Butchers boy or Roedean but about why the Boss wanted to see him and his cameraman so early in the morning. Damn the man, where was he, Liam had tried all the usual haunts but Billy was no where to be found. He would be sleeping off another drunken binge, that’s for sure. There’s going to come a time I won’t pull his chestnuts out of the fire he thought, and if he wasn’t the best S.L.R. man in the game, drunk or sober it would have happened well before now.
I wonder what excuse I can give this time, but then again the Boss knows his problems, after all, he’s his son.
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Joe Diamond was waiting in the corridor for them, this wasn’t looking so good.
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Katie pushed to the front and slapping a bright smile on her hard but beautiful face said “Hi Boss it’s good to see you, I waited for Liam to get here otherwise we would have been on time”. Liam just glowered at this lying toe rag of a woman but said nothing.
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Joe Diamond looked questioningly at Liam but he just shrugged so Joe didn’t ask where Billy Diamond was.
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Ok I think you all know Mr Kolinski the company lawyer, I’ve asked him to sit in on our meeting and give us the benefit of his knowledge on State Security and the law of Trespass, that sort of thing. This caused a few raised eyebrows and Liam wondered where this was going, maybe not where he wanted it to, but it was nectar to Katie.
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OK come to my office and we’ll go over the details.
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Well I’ll get straight to the point, we’ve had contact from a fellow name of Tomori Daisuke. His story is quite interesting although almost unbelievable. He claims he was flying over the Mojave Desert with his Boss, Hasimoto Taichi, that got everyone’s attention, when the helicopter had an engine problem and they went down in a fairly controlled landing in a small built up area. They radioed for assistance and were informed that they were in a restricted area and to sit tight and some one would come and escort them out.
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He talks of humans but they were behaving unnaturally, they seemed to shamble along, with very little coordination, almost like they were drunk or on drugs. Then they got violent and people got hurt. The Security force arrived but they were attacked by these drugged up people and so he made his own way out of the area and surprisingly, he made it back to civilisation.
He’s fairly certain that one of the other occupants of the helicopter, Okumura Katashi was alive after the incident but they escaped in different directions and he’s not seen Katashi since. As soon as Daisuke had a phone signal he called Katashi but some one else answered the call, they wanted him to stay where he was and said they would come and collect him. When he asked to speak to Katashi they just said “He is safe and well Sir, just give us you location and we’ll come and collect you”.
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It was the Sir that did it, he broke the Sim card and destroyed the phone, 5 minutes later a black sedan pulled up and 4 serious looking men got out. He’s been lying low since then, however he called us twice a day until eventually Tammy Jones in reception thought there might be a story in it and put him through. After five minutes Bill Johnson agreed with her and now we have Daisuke in hiding with a couple of good men babysitting.
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We’ve checked out what we can, the official report records the crash as being 500 miles further north than Daisuke says it was. The helicopter was a burned out wreck, three passengers, no survivors, no cause of crash yet. The radio call wasn’t logged; the flight recorder show it was not over the Mojave and Daisuke was not on the passenger list.
So either Daisuke is lying for the money or there’s a big cover up. I favour the cover up because the flight log says it was the 21st but we’ve a witness lives next to the field who is sure it was the 20th when they left. He’s a bit of a weird young man but described the 3rd passenger as a very attractive oriental woman with green hair, and that has to be Amori Mizuke, Hasimoto Taichi’s girlfriend and she was reported as one of the fatalities in the crash.
I want the two of you to go and take a look, be careful and don’t make waves. This is Government land you’ll be treading on, there’s no record of land use and our quiet questions haven’t been answered.
I think there’s a story here and I want it, but I don’t want trouble, do you understand, he looked at Katie when he said this.
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Katie I know you’ll want Gasper your normal bodyguard on the job and I’ve got Big Freddie on stand by, but I’m going to pull in a couple more guy’s for this, better to be safe.
Our guy’s in planning think the best way for you to go in, is either by helicopter or boat because it’s a long truck ride overland.
To try and corroborate Daisuke’s story we sent an unmanned drone over the area, but there was a technical failure and it must have crashed, we got no pictures back. The pilot and ground crew can’t figure out what went wrong, the diagnostics on these things are transmitted automatically but they got nothing back.
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OK – so we’ve hired an old river boat the Marie Anne, to get you in.
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The skipper says he can tow a raft carrying a couple of vehicles up the Mojave River and put you ashore close to where we think the buildings are. On old maps there’s a small adobe village shown but Google Earth doesn’t display anything, it’s sort of fuzzy in that area, possibly redacted. It’s not quite where Daisuke thinks his buildings were and they were more modern, but nothing else is showing up so it’s our best bet.
This is Daisuke’s report of events:-
https://vagabondswargamingblog.blogspot.com/2018/03/red-sparrow-down.html
Check it out but keep an open mind, either way you’ll be leaving in 24 hours, I want you to work as a team and I mean you Katie.
I think we have a story on our hands, it could be big and it could be dangerous, I want you to go down there and find out.
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OK Kolinski, I think we’ve got trouble with this one, I want you working day and night to get a water tight case together so that if it turns nasty and the Government is involved we can stonewall them forever.
This is a precursor to my most recent report that’s not been written or published yet. Katie and Liam went down to the Mojave. They saw things that should not have been possible and were able to escape the area with their lives but not much else. At one point they thought they wouldn’t make it out and so hid all the evidence they had collected in a tin box and left this on site. It’s this tin box that Katie will attempt to recover in the next instalment..
After their incursion the Government came down heavily on Joe Diamond and the Global Tribune, with nothing to back up the word of his Reporters there was no story. Security was tightened in the Mojave area and he didn’t authorise a further expedition.
That’s how things have been for 5 years, the only evidence available to the general public was Daisuke story posted on my Blog. The Blog was hacked by US Intelligence Agencies shortly after the post and parts of the story and some of the pictures were redacted. Have a look for yourself if you need verification.
In light of the recent events in the Yuma Proving Ground, the Globe’s owner, at the instigation of the State Governor has requested Diamond to resurrect the investigation into the Mojave Forbidden Zone to see if there’s any connection between the two. In addition to this there have been constant rumours of similar Governmental activity around the world, the most notable is in Canada, and Captain Andy Donovan has been despatched north to see if there’s any truth in it.
However even back in the 70’s reports were coming from the UK of an exclusion zone around an area called Northmoor. Nothing was known about this at the time and some of the events there are only just coming to light they’re being reported by a shadowy figure only known as Bullshott. I hope his security is sufficiently strong to fool MI5 who will surely be on his trail.
Another individual, Dan55 has been releasing information about similar events but so far he’s been very reticent to provide location information probably very wisely as this may pinpoint his location. We only know the names of some of the characters involved but these are certainly pseudonyms, again, a wise precaution to foil the Security Services.
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A great introduction to Katie's next foray into the Zone. I like the way you've woven other Zones into your story. Hmm, I wonder if this shadowy character called Bullshott will appear in Fletcher's adventures ...
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Very interesting, If not confusing... :D
But I'm sure Katie will have it all sorted in no time at all. Or not. We await word of her adventures...
And, personally, I'm quite taken aback that you left out any mention of the recent "event" at my Plumbrook site. :(
I'm quiet aware the SAE30 hasn't yet done their insertion to see what the **** is going on in there, but all in good time. It's getting close, though.
Do they make a "pouting" emoji? :o
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Great stuff mate, loving it!
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I'm very glad you've pulled it all together into one thread. I almost think I know what's going on now! It's a great story you are weaving and even though I know what happens in the next bit, I am agog to read your next report.
Great stuff! :-*
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Outstanding, John….something very different from the usual. I wish I could say I knew what was coming next like Snapcase does. I should do but he, being a sprightly youngster, has the advantage when it comes to remembering things.
Look forward to seeing how the narrative develops, John….
Doug
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A great introduction to Katie's next foray into the Zone. I like the way you've woven other Zones into your story. Hmm, I wonder if this shadowy character called Bullshott will appear in Fletcher's adventures ...
He could have a cameo appearance in an adventure a bit like Hitchcock used to do, but I see him more as a Deep Throat or a Whistle Blower, a man in danger for his current activity revealing what went on 50 years ago. You could however bring him into the story in the current time, the Security Services have discovered his whereabouts and are raiding his location. The film Enemy of the State springs to mind.
Very interesting, If not confusing... :D
But I'm sure Katie will have it all sorted in no time at all. Or not. We await word of her adventures...
And, personally, I'm quite taken aback that you left out any mention of the recent "event" at my Plumbrook site. :(
I'm quiet aware the SAE30 hasn't yet done their insertion to see what the **** is going on in there, but all in good time. It's getting close, though.
Do they make a "pouting" emoji? :o
Sorry to be confusing although I'm hoping to make the overarching storyline a little intriguing. ;)
Regarding the Insertion into the Plumbrook Energy and Nuclear investigation Station. It makes me wince to even think of it, but presumably the reference to the Classic Oil specification SAE 30 is to make the process less painful. :D
Grumpy. Snappers and Dougers thanks, I'm well on the way to finish writing the next episode, it's taken a little while because Snappers took photos with 2 cameras and I had the devils own job sorting them out into a time line, but it's almost done.
Cheers
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It ain't really confusing. I was just being my usual smart@$$ self... 8) As they (whoever "they" are) say, better a smart@$$ than a dumb@$$...
Looking forward to your next report!
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I'm well on the way to finish writing the next episode, it's taken a little while because Snappers took photos with 2 cameras and I had the devils own job sorting them out into a time line, but it's almost done.
Always available to befuddle and confusticate! ;)
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Game 03 - Recovery of the Evidence!
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-230723165229-59358288.jpeg)
The Marie Anne pulled alongside the rickety wooden jetty and the passengers breathed a sigh of relief, grateful to have arrived at their destination without any serious mishap. Well if you don’t count the fez toting monkey stealing the Captains hearing aid and dropping it over the side.
Hehh, what did you say, can’t hear you, speak up, that was about the limit of the conversation from the man at the wheel until he shouted, loud enough to wake the dead, and God forbid that should actually happen, “we’re here, all ashore who are going ashore”.
The monkey, I think his name is Bob took off the fez and held it upside down, “he’s not hoping for a tip is he, muttered Tug, he’ll get a length of my chain round his scrawny neck if he is.”
Bob put the fez back on his head.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-230723165229-59360992.jpeg)
Katie had been quiet and withdrawn all the way up the river, she had a good idea of what they might have to face once they were ashore but as the boat hit the jetty with a loud thunk she started to issue instructions.
That’s our objective, the small house beyond the fields, you can see it has some blue tarpaulins on the roof. There’s only one room inside, the tin box is buried about 12” down, it’s in the corner opposite the door. One man can carry it quite easily, it only contains a few SD cards, and some paper work but it’s all sealed inside a luxury chocolate biscuit box. Don’t open it, there are no biscuits inside and I don’t want to contaminate the contents or ourselves. There were some very strange things went on here, this was addressed to Big Willie and Tug, they nodded – warily. Ulrika,Tank and Angie were well aware of the danger but kept it to themselves, no good would come of speaking their fears out loud.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-230723165229-59361733.jpeg)
Willie (White hair) was leading with Tug and Ulrika following him. Their job was to watch the right flank and Katie (yellow top), Tank and Angie would advance straight towards the objective.
We played this game over a video link, the Mad Lord Snapcase controlling the electronic gadgetry from his lair in the bowels of Snapcase Hall. Big Willie, Tug and Ulrika were under his direct control, the other three were mine but his Lordship moved them around on the table but under my strict direction, I didn’t intend being cannon fodder again.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-230723165229-593621838.jpeg)
Once away from the confines of the hill by the river we took up a more open order, cunning as a fox Ulrika was stationed by Snappers on the small hill, just behind Willie and Tug, she was on alert, ready to give covering fire at a moments notice.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-230723165229-59363511.jpeg)
And the moment came sooner than expected, because as Big Willie approached the walled compound the sound of baying and howling rent the air as a pack of feral dogs burst into sight. They had been sleeping in shade, hidden from the hot sun but Willie’s heavy foot steps awoke them. Although to be fair Tug was swinging his chain idly around his head, trying to swat the flies. So it could have been the whooshing noise that attracted their attention.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-230723165320-593641379.jpeg)
Nice doggy Willie cajoled hopefully, wondering if it would fetch a stick for him, but looking round he couldn’t see any sticks. Shoot the bugger before it bites you, Tug growled, then he issued a stern command to the dog “SIT”.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-230723165320-593651546.jpeg)
Hopefully this dramatic shot shows our predicament, the dogs run like the wind and were soon amongst the Vagabonds, snarling, growling and snapping their teeth, looking for a good meal no doubt.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-230723165320-593662252.jpeg)
A more prosaic picture to show the overall situation just before everyone opened fire and demonstrated the effectiveness of being “Alert”.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-230723165320-593671565.jpeg)
Ulrika on the hill opened fire with her sub machine gun and shot two of the hounds, Tank and Katie both took out one each. Angie at the rear was busy trying to avoid hitting Tank and she missed the dog she shot at. Big Willie never liked dogs and he killed one of them with his bare hands, didn’t even blink, although it’s hard to tell behind those dark glasses.
The last dog fell to Tug, I told you to “SIT” he muttered. Next time….”OBEY”!
Dog training lessons are short, sharp and permanent using the Tug method.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-230723165320-593682098.jpeg)
After the blood bath with the nice doggies the team move forward and take up positions close to the target house with the blue baggage on the roof.
Having listened to Bullshott’s advice everyone goes on alert, They aren’t sure if the shooting will have alerted anyone or anything to their presence.
The house is quiet, too damn quiet, someone has to move forward and put a toe in the hornets nest. It’s your turn, Big Willie says to Katie, Katie looks at Tank, then Angie and says “This is my call” and she advances cautiously.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-230723165407-593691763.jpeg)
Immediately 3 wasteland scum above the parapets, they have been waiting in ambush since the sound of firing woke them from an alcohol induced torpor. Bleary eyed they may be but an ambush is an ambush and they’ll shoot first.
On reflection I’m not sure this is the case, I know there’s a section on ambushes but I couldn’t find it in the heat of battle, my memory was; ambushes go first, but Alert interrupts actions. Anyway we let them shoot first.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-230723165407-593701409.jpeg)
This is the situation and I only had a poor view of the field when we discussed it. My three characters are on the left Angie far left, Tank in the middle and Katie has moved one action forward. All of them are in the open.
Remember what I said about cannon fodder.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-230723165407-59371452.jpeg)
His Lordship is a survivor of countless actions in bandit country and has found some very nice cover for his point men with Ulrika having an elevated firing position and a sub machine gun to take best advantage of it.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-230723165407-59372544.jpeg)
This punk opened the batting and Angie went down under a hail of bullets.
Yes I know he has a flamethrower but I’m still getting to grips with normal shooting without complicating things further.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-230723165407-593732026.jpeg)
Then Katie was hit with a burst of fire from one of the guy’s further back on the rooftop. The last man thankfully missed but it’s not looking good, two men down and the fight hasn’t really started.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-230723165502-59374311.jpeg)
There was a forth man who had been out of sight in the initial deployment but he moved into view (bottom left) and now it’s our turn to fire back.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-230723165502-593751873.jpeg)
Big Willie opens fire with his smg and puts 3 rounds into the skull toting Savage, the purple haired one glances over his shoulder seeing his comrade drop. Bugger is all that goes through his mind when he realises that the only way off the roof is down the stairs in full view of Big Willie and his Smg or a long drop.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-230723165502-59376897.jpeg)
Tank raises his assault rifle and fires, not the rifle but the grenade launcher located below the main barrel of the rifle. There’s a small puff of smoke, followed shortly by an explosion.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-230723165502-593771822.jpeg)
A direct hit, this blows the red and black haired Savage clean off the roof and kills both him and the other one hiding behind the wall.
See how you like them busted caps Tank shouts. (Cptn – hopefully I got the Merican right this time)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-230723165502-59378584.jpeg)
Ulrika had the last say, she put a number of rounds into the last wasteland scummer and he went down to join the rest of his unsavoury crew.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-230723165527-593791359.jpeg)
Tug hadn’t fired in the last exchange of shots, and so he moved forward quickly to the target house. The door was hanging off its hinge’s, I expect the last visitor didn’t have a key, a quick search revealed the biscuit tin buried where Katie said it would be.
Rejoining the rest of the team, he was just in time to see Angie and Katie recover from their wounds due to the magical healing quality of medi-kits. Wille was shouting hey look what I’ve found $500 worth of salvage and 2 Red Dot Sights. That’s not so much said Tug as he produced the biscuit tin, then coyly asked, what might this be worth holding out an object. About $750 was Willies reply but what’s that in your pocket.
I’m not sure but there was a pulsating blob of something in there and I took this from it. Must be worth something……$5,000 muttered Big Willie who knew about these things.
Being careful to avoid triggering any further confrontations the guys retreated as quickly as possible to the boat, the deaf Captain and the fez wearing monkey.
Let’s get away from here before anyone comes to investigate the noise Katie commanded and they motored down stream taking turns on the bilge pump as they went, wooden boats are prone to leak and this one leaked like a sieve.
Once within phone signal range Katie sent a text to Joe Diamond the Editor of the Global Tribune.
“Mission successful, recovered the evidence”. “Only light opposition, a pack of dogs and some looters but nothing to substantiate our previous visit.”
Using the mobile phone network to transmit this information might be a major mistake, other parties could perhaps be able to intercept it and initiate action, but that’s for the future.
Well.....I was hoping they would encounter something abnormal and so be able to collect evidence to corroborate their previous visit, Tug’s Anomaly doesn’t really count, antibiotics will clear it up in no time at all.
So without substantive evidence of any abnormal activity, there’s nothing to tie the Yuma Proving Ground to the Mojave Facility, a pack of dogs and some looters won't cut it.
Hopefully once the box is opened in a sealed laboratory and we can examine the contents then connections between the two can be established and the story printed, or maybe sand worms will have destroyed the evidence, only the dice know the answer and they haven't been rolled yet. :D
Thanks for reading - if you did. Next stop Canada.
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Great looking game and a nice report. I'm looking forward to seeing what Captain Donovan finds in Canada.
BTW, as Alert allows you to dive in before an opponent's action, this allows you to take an action before suddenly appearing hostiles get to move or shoot (you are, after all, watching out for just this sort of surprise). In this case it appears that you should have been able to shoot at the bandits/scum first. Otherwise there isn't any point in the Alert action.
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Well, well, well. Very interesting. Let's see what kind of story that artifact tells, if any.
And yes, "busting caps" is indeed a correct American pattern of speech... ;)
BY the way, would Angie and Katie object to being referred to as "2 men down"? :D
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Now that I have read the Zona Alfa rules, the steps and flow of the game are clearer to me. Still, even without that information, always a fun read.
I wonder what it was the Katie was dreading? ??? Looking forward to the next chapter...
Mike Demana
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An excellent report. Just as I remember it, great fun. The story moves on apace, interesting to see what comes next.
My new hearing aids have been fitted (after the monkey lost the last pair) and are ready for this week's game! ;)
His Lordship is a survivor of countless actions in bandit country and has found some very nice cover for his point men
Neither I, nor Lady Snapcase got where we are today by standing in the open, waiting for some pimply-faced insurgent to shoot his load! Unleash hell, from cover, is the Snapcase way. I refer you to 'The Great Jam Raid' of 2020, recorded elsewhere in this wonderful forum!
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Good read, John. The quality of the narrative exceeded the quantity of the action which was limited. I suppose, without the tactical genius of someone who, in all modesty I won’t name, it was fortunate that you only had a couple of poodles and some druggies to deal with.
Looking forward to see what Canada holds in store.
I had the same issue with Alert and I did what you did so I’m glad Bullshott has shown us the correct interpretation - we were being too kind to the AI (or npc’s as we used to call them in the twentieth century.).
Doig
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I'm looking forward to seeing what Captain Donovan finds in Canada.
I was assuming the Canadian Zone was around CFB Suffield but in my laziness I didn't check the background before playing the game. My Canadian zone is in a heavily wooded area and Suffield is on a huge flat plain, C'est la vie. o_o
BY the way, would Angie and Katie object to being referred to as "2 men down"? :D
I had better not be drawn on that subject, suffice it to say the women are as tough as the men in my games. ;)
Now that I have read the Zona Alfa rules, the steps and flow of the game are clearer to me. Still, even without that information, always a fun read.
I wonder what it was the Katie was dreading? ??? Looking forward to the next chapter...
Mike Demana
Thanks Mike, eventually I will explain what Katie was dreading, drop back in 3 or 4 weeks time and I might have managed it. Of course that assumes I can still remember what she was dreading. ::)
Doug you are quite right of course, there was no finesse without your input. The Mad Lord and I are more, wham bang - thank you mam sort of wargamers. If it move shoot it. If it doesn't move - shoot it. ;D
My Lord it was a pleasure to play, even remotely over your excellent terrain although it's much better in person. I should have credited you with the camera work as well as the venue, my apologies. 8)
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Game 4 - Canadian Forces Base Suffield - The Story so Far
There have always been strong rumours that the first exclusion zone was created in Canada, indeed I even came across someone who claimed to have worked there. CFB Suffield is very similar in many ways to the Yuma Proving Ground, ostensibly it’s an Army Training Facility occupying a huge area of land, over 1,000 sq miles, but it had many other more clandestine departments within its secure perimeter fencing.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-010823084312-59468781.jpeg)
CFB Suffield is in the South East corner of Alberta, just north of Medicine Hat, conveniently missing from the map.
Wikipedia has this to say about Suffield.
Following the fall of France in WWll the British Army required a new training facility for carrying out experiments in chemical warfare to replace the one it previously used in French Algeria. In 1941, the Canadian Federal government purchasing the land and Experimental Station Suffield commenced operations on June 11, 1941.
In 1947 the Canadian Army turned the operation of Experimental Station Suffield over to the Defence Research Board, and in 1967 it was renamed the Defence Research Establishment Suffield. The DEDC is an agency of the Canadian Department of National Defence and is made up of eight research laboratories, one of which is Suffield, the leading laboratory for chemical and biological defence research.
What Wikipedia fails to mention is that in 1975 there was an explosion in the Central Laboratory (B-1) which apparently was a Recognized Federal Heritage Building, mainly because of its historical associations; presumably with Chemical and Biological warfare? The explosion breached the outer walls and certain experiments “escaped”. In the early 80’s the military pulled back from the central facility because it could no longer control the “Situation” but there is very little information as to what the “Situation” actually was.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-010823084312-59473774.jpeg)
1st Yorkshire Regiment Battle Group in Suffield 2014 just before returning home.
Much of the land was still in use by the British Army as their largest armoured training facility; it was particularly used for live-firing and tactical effect simulation. In the 90’s that included tactical nuclear munitions firing and evaluation. When the situation in the central facility deteriorated in 2014, the British went home and the Canadian Army moved outside the wire and strong patrols were conducted to ensure the “Situation” didn’t deteriorate any further. Of course patrolling a perimeter of 1,000 sq miles is a considerable undertaking and was not as successful as had been expected by the Politicians. It was about this time that the effects of residual radiation from the nuclear munitions reacted with a number of the escaped experiments, a devils brew you might think.
As with the Yuma “Situation” the reasons for the Exclusion Zone are clouded in mystery. There’s obviously some Government involvement, something they don’t want the public to know about and it’s getting worse. Some catastrophe, incompetence, illegal or fraudulent use, or maybe just plain stupidity, there are many more reasons our Government’s would want to keep us in the dark about their doings, none of them honest.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-240623212657-59093208.jpeg)
As you are aware, there has been some sort of incident quite recently at the Yuma Proving Ground. This aroused the interest of reporter Katie Monk of the Global Tribune. Her editor Joe Diamond authorised an interview with the Vagabonds a Yuma Biker Gang, to see if there was any connection between the YPD incident and the expedition she and Liam O’Rorke made into the Mojave in 2018.
She thought there was, because when sober the Vagabonds had talked of Zombies attacking them as they had rescued Alice. Of course drug and alcohol fuelled biker’s don’t make the most reliable witnesses and who the heck is Alice, so Katie needed to corroborate their story.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-070723220939-59188578.jpeg)
She had imparted information to Captain Andy Donovan, the man in charge of security along a huge boundary fence around the YPG, information so interesting that he had allowed her to accompany him on a reconnaissance into the outer part of the exclusion zone around the facility. They had encountered Zombies and some form of Ghoulish creatures, but because they had to beat a hasty retreat there was no evidence that could prove their account of events to be true.
The only thing to be done was to revisit the scene of the 2018 expedition into the Mojave, which back then, also had a less than satisfactory outcome. The news crew and bodyguards only just made it out of the area alive. They had encountered numerous unexplained creatures and anomalies but in spite of having video and DSLR cameramen with them they had not been able to bring any of this information out at the time.
If you read the last chapter you will know that the current foray into the Mojave was much more successful than last time and Katie had recovered all the evidence collected and stashed during their previous escapade. This is now on its way to the Texas Wichita Energy and Research Program Society, a shadowy organisation that has facility to decontaminate most things…..given time. We must hope it arrives to be decontaminated! Unfortunately for Katie neither of the 2 recent encounters in the Mojave were earth shattering, dogs and looters, that’s not the story she’s looking for.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-010823084312-59475581.jpeg)
The Suffield “Situation” seems to have many similarities with the other 2 “Situations” and Andy Donovan has agreed to try and infiltrate the facility and meet with an old couple who run the wildlife centre on the east of the Suffield facility and inside the wire perimeter fence. His objective is to see if he can gather evidence that might tie all 3 events together and the couple’s information might help make a case.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-010823084312-59474543.jpeg)
Joe Diamond has sent along one of his top reporters Liam O’Rorke to help Donovan gather whatever information he can. Liam is accompanied by his regular cameraman Billy Diamond, well known drunk and son of Joe, together they make a good team. Well that’s Billy’s version of the story, Liam isn’t so sure.
Big Freddie is riding shotgun on the pair of them and he has contacts north of the border, Gabrielle and Roxane are those contacts. For a rather large fee they are going to help Freddie with the shotgun job.
Please note that while some of this is fact, like all “Historical Drama”, I may have embellished one or two of these facts for story cohesion, and while Suffield is on a flat featureless plain the Wildlife Centre is in deep woodland.....honest.
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Ok - I’ve walked the dog, settled back in my favourite chair, got a snifter to hand and a bowl of pretzels; you have my permission to begin because I’m ready to read…
Should be quite a story….
Doug
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Sounds like another fascinating story. What "wildlife" is the old couple managing, I wonder...? :o
Mike Demana
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Sounds like another fascinating story. What "wildlife" is the old couple managing, I wonder...? :o
Mike Demana
There just has to be a mutant moose in this zone 🫎
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This is looking great, another lovely set-up with a superb story! :-*
I keep warning you about that Donovan individual, though. He's nothing but a rumbumptious scallywag! Don't trust him!
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This looks like it will be a fun installment in the ongoing tale!
I spent some time on Suffield and once you’ve been there it’s easy to understand why it doesn’t show up on maps. The base is bleak, surrounded by thousands of km of even more bleak.
The greenery itself is a strong indication that a major anomaly is at work. The natural ecology of the area around CFB Suffield is high prairie - dry grassland, with alkali ponds and marshes, and occasional ravines. Trees are rare, and usually indicate a place where over-optimistic settlers in the 1920s established a farm that was abandoned during the Depression.
That all started to change after the incident and the “situation” developed. Unusual local weather patterns began occurring in the area around Central Lab B1 and soon non-native vegetation took hold, fed by the added rain (and snow). As additional anomalies emerged and disrupted weather conditions, forested conditions spread. If it had only been trees and other plants, the changes would probably have been an improvement over the original prairie, but that didn’t prove to be the case. Non-native fauna accompanied the flora, and radiation changed the shape and behavior of local wildlife. Soon afterward, the first security fences went up and the “situation” has been developing ever since.
Old Suffield hands (when you can find one) will tell you that trees are bad news on the base. The more trees you see, the stronger the anomaly is likely to be in that area. And it is harder to see what’s nearby. The remaining grasslands may be dry, punishingly hot, and bleak (snowy, punishingly cold, and still bleak in the winter), but at least you have a long line of sight and can see a threat coming. Usually.
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Looking forward to news from the Wildlife Center. It'll be interesting to see what they come across...
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Very nice set-up and background. I, too, am awaiting reports on the action.
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Sorry for the delayed response I've been busy catching up with the aerial adventures of Flying Officer Vagabond and C Flight in an ongoing campaign fought over the trenches in WWl.
Patius thanks for the background on Suffield, very detailed and informative. I'm in the middle of the report on events there so hopefully I can include some of your excellent research.
Thanks to everyone else for your suggestions and encouragement. Mutant moose included. :o
Cheers
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Vagabond, I’m glad you enjoyed the intel. Suffield is an interesting place. Mutant moose are certainly a possibility, I have seen the normal variety there myself (at least I assumed it was normal. No obvious mutations.) Other non- mutated species include North American elk (wapiti), pronghorns, mule deer, coyotes, foxes, badgers, a couple of species of owls, including burrowing owls, hawks, ground squirrels, rattle snakes, a couple of species of poisonous spiders, and scorpions. Some of the normal versions are nasty, but any of the above could also occur with mutations…
There is also buried (and in places surface) oil industry infrastructure, and some natural gas wells produce hydrogen sulphide as a (very toxic and explosive) byproduct. I shudder to think what could happen if an anomaly interacted in the wrong way with one of those wells.
Lots of ways that a person’s career could be drastically shortened. Stay sharp!
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Another mine of info Pattus, too late for my game unfortunately. I did however incorporate some wildlife but they aren't on your list, so probably in my ignorance I've inadvertantly introduced an Anomaly in true Zone Alfa fashion. ;)
Cheers
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Wow, this thread has come on a fair bit since I was last here - loving it.
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Another mine of info Pattus, too late for my game unfortunately. I did however incorporate some wildlife but they aren't on your list, so probably in my ignorance I've inadvertantly introduced an Anomaly in true Zone Alfa fashion. ;)
Cheers
One never knows what one might find in these Zones... ;)
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The zones are always changing, I imagine that my intel is slightly dated. It’s probably best if stalkers put more weight on your recent eye-witness reports than on the ramblings of an old fart who hasn’t set foot on the base since 2004! You never know what will show up around an anomaly!
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Game 4 Suffield
It’s been a long time in the writing but I finally got Part 2 of the Suffield Raid completed.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-010823084312-59474543.jpeg)
I’ve already introduced Donovan’s team and in spite of what the Mad Lord said, Donovan’s just had a run of bad luck in the actions he’s taken part in, hopefully this one will break his duck.
His briefing is short and sweet. “We don’t have permission to be here, the Canadians don’t know we’re here and we need to keep it that way”. “I’ve no idea what we’ll find, I’m hoping it’ll just be the couple who caretake the wild life sanctuary but if our recent experience is anything to go on, that’s unlikely”.
Gabrielle and Roxanne were wondering if they should re-negotiate their contract with Freddie but he didn’t look in the mood so they let it slide.
“What about the guns” asked Gabrielle? “Don’t use your weapons unless it’s essential” Donovan commanded, “I don’t want to be involved in an international incident with the Canuks, you know how tetchy they can get”.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-230823181152-598081577.jpeg)
“This is the only photo we have of the site, satellite images are greyed out on Google Earth and because we’re below the radar I can’t get anything official” he continued. “It’s an old promo shot, the tyre barricade is from the time of the demo’s against them taking the land to form the sanctuary but this is the way we’re going in” and he pointed at an indistinct track on the photo.
“The objective is the cabin in the centre”. “All we have to do is get Liam and Billy into contact for them to conduct the interview and take a few photos and we then can get out - quietly”. “Any questions”? Liam shook his head, Billy had a sip from his hip flask and the rest just looked bored.
“OK let’s go”.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-230823181152-598171868.jpeg)
For this scenario I’ve got 13 counters or Possible Enemy Forces – PEF’s on the board, placed in a ring around the cabin but not on the entry track. Each turn they will make a D6” move in a random direction. When they come in sight of the team they will be resolved. The Spade suit from a deck of cards is shuffled and 1 card turned over for each counter, 10, J, Q, K and Ace represent a specific contact and the rest are nothing. Once any loud noise is made, specifically shots then the counters will all move towards that sound but still at a random speed. Counters don’t resolve counters only the team does that. Each contact generates a random number of enemy or friendly individuals.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-230823181152-59819152.jpeg)
I’m using my own activation sequence but still sticking with the ZA number of combat actions, 2 each as all the team are Hard and it’s a level 2ish threat scenario.
Gabrielle makes a move forward and spots the first Possible Enemy Force – PEF.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-230823181152-59818180.jpeg)
It’s a small bunch of ghoulish looking creatures, who all decide to charge forward, some faster than others. The team are sharp and all conveniently ignore Donovan’s instructions about using their weapons, including Donovan and they all open fire. This is pretty effective and some of the Ghouls go down under a hail of lead and buckshot.
Billy snaps away happily with his camera and thinks about Press Photographer of the Year Awards, the whisky he’s sipping is obviously having a calming influence on him.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-230823181152-598201549.jpeg)
Two Ghouls made it into contact but were swiftly despatched by Donovan and Gabrielle and then the team see the next PEF, behind the recently dead Ghouls….in cover behind the rocks. It’s the army!
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-230823181252-59821912.jpeg)
Roxanne didn’t have a line of sight to the Ghouls and has moved to cover behind the tyres; she’s obviously taking the Snapcase defensive/attack gambit.
There’s another PEF that’s moved behind her but as I don’t agree with 360’ vision she doesn’t see it and failed her awareness test, so isn’t aware of it either. Fortunately it turned out to be nothing, just a breeze passing through the trees or she would have been in serious trouble.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-230823181252-59822281.jpeg)
Decisions, decisions, decisions. What to do next. There’s a small army patrol, just 2 of them, they must have been tracking the Ghouls and waiting for the right opportunity to - ‘take them out’ - is I think current parlance.
Most of my games are solo and at some point there are decisions to be made by both sides and I try and make these decisions impartially so every figure has a stats card. If you’re not interested skip the next bit.
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For every decision apart from shoot, brawl, attack, or defend the number shown represent the target number. To pass then they need to roll equal to or less than that number, on a D6 or sometimes 2D6.
In this case the patrol won the initiative, what would they do. Pass 2D6 - shout “weapons down hands up”, pass 1 D6 – ‘dither’, pass 0 D6 – ‘Start shooting’. The patrol leader rolled both dice and they are under his Brains number and so he agreed with me that the sensible thing to do was shout “weapons down, hands up”.
Donovan doesn’t want a shoot out with the Canadian army so their options are a - comply, b - ambivalent, wait and see, c - don’t comply.
Donovan wants to comply; he can see the implications of any other action. Big Freddie is ambivalent about the order, but Liam tells the troopers to “F off, I’m the Press, you can’t take that line with me”. Billy Diamond agrees with Freddie and starts taking pictures.
OK, we have an impasse so Liam now has a choice, and the most sensible thing to do is to pull out his Press Pass and walk over to the Troopers and try and bluff his way out of the situation (that would be an opposed Brains roll with the trooper to see if he could pull it off).
However first things first, Liam has Brains 5, rolls 2D6, 5’s or less and that’s what he’ll do. He rolled double 6 so he’s going to do something really, really stupid. Instead of the Press Pass he pulls his gun and fires, missing with a critical, whoops he’s dropped his gun and it went off; at least that’s what it will say in Donovan’s report.
Then the sh*t hit the fan and everyone went for the shot.
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OK back to the story, sorry.
Dan Barry the lead trooper fired first and hit Gabrielle, she goes down, Roxanne missed her shot and then the other trooper Stephanie Kowalski fired and shot Billy the camera man, he’s down then she shot Freddie as well. Bugger! That’s half the team down and we haven’t started yet.
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Donovan fired last, boosh he hits Kowalski and then Barry, both down and bleeding bad. This isn’t the place to get a quick ride on an ambulance, especially if no one is going to call it for you. Things look bleak for the Army.
Freddie and Gabrielle apply medipacks to themselves, who needs a 911 call when you have these life savers.
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Donovan moves quickly to apply his medipack to Billy as Freddie and Gabrielle start to recover.
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Roxanne has taken things into her own hands and moved quickly to the cabin door, she tries the handle but it’s locked and she can’t open it. 5 of the PEF’s are resolved in the same turn, 2 are just someone’s imagination but 3 are someone else’s reality.
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A Grizzly Bear emerges out from the thick woodland and glares malevolently at Liam but doesn’t immediately charge in his direction.
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A group of Zombies appear and move towards Roxanne but behind them…..
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Are a group of looting Scum and they have the edge on the Zombies so open fire.
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The fire is pretty effective and Zombies start dropping like cherry blossom in April. This has a galvanising effect on Roxanne.
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She starts kicking the door trying to get in but as she isn’t a heavyweight she doesn’t cause enough damage to achieve this immediately. the Looting scum meanwhile have killed all the Zombies and are starting to move towards her.
This is going to get real ugly, real soon.
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The Grizzly finally makes its mind up and charges at Donovan’s group. Big Freddie sees is coming and stands his ground. Well he is Big Freddie, what the hell do you think he’d do…..run away!!
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The Grizzly fails his attack and Freddie hits twice in defence killing the bear.
I don’t really understand armour, Dog is 2 Zombie 6, Ghoul 4 Human 1 I gave the bear 5, anyway he failed it twice and died.
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Just a bit of an overview, the looting scum have killed all the zombies and are almost certain to move towards Roxanne and the cabin. Donovan, Freddie and Gabrielle have taken up a position behind the log wall in support of her and are shouting encouraging things like “Kick harder” “Kick faster” you know the sort of thing.
On the far side of the cabin you can probably see a small mound of PEF markers and the other thing of note is that she’s finally taken their advice and kicked in the cabin door.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-230823181819-598361976.jpeg)
And discovers that the old couple caretaking the reserve, have both succumbed to the virus, they are now Zombies and are waiting with bared teeth for their next meal to come knocking at their front door.
Don’t ask why a pair of Zombies was trapped inside a locked cabin. I didn’t know they were zombies until the door was kicked in. 1,2 they are zombies 3,4,5 and 6 they are two caretakers waiting to be rescued and interviewed. I rolled a 2!
They attacked Roxanne and she manfully fought them off.
Activation sequence for the next turn was critical; Roxanne and Donovan were equal 1st, then Scum, then Billy Diamond then Zombies.
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Roxanne and Donovan ran away, as fast as they could, which was a bit of a relief; I didn’t want Roxanne as the meat in the Scum and Zombie sandwich.
The Scum hate Zombies and attacked the 2 in the log cabin. They killed one but lost one scum doing it. Not to be deterred, the Scum carried on the fight.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/59/7162-230823181819-59838746.jpeg)
And one of the Scum and the final Zombie both killed each other, so that would be a loosing draw I guess.
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Billy Diamond is still taking photos of the Ghouls as Roxanne runs past him.
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Donovan leads the retreat from the wall. Big Freddie eyes up the dead bear, thinking about rugs and fireplaces but mentally shrugs, no one would believe he wrestled a Grizzley and won.
Anyway, the peppering of 9mm bullet holes might be a bit of a give away, they’re a bit big for moth holes.
Well that was it, the team made it out of the vicinity of the Suffield Exclusion Zone and back across the border into the U.S. and down to Arizona.
Ok so Donovan has led another unsuccessful raid into an exclusion zone but they all got back alive so that’s some consolation. They also have Billy Diamond’s photos of the Ghouls but none of the Zombies. A small measure of success – maybe? Of course they are no closer to finding out what the hell is going on, what caused the zones to be created only some speculation and that’s not sufficient to go public with the story yet.
Will the Canadian army discover their missing patrol; possibly, unless they’ve been eaten by the inhabitants of the zone first. Anyway I imagine the Scum will get the blame for killing them, so that’s going to let Donovan off the hook.
The Scum are left licking their wounds and wondering when they will be called on to take the part of “The Scum” again, probably in the next excursion into an Exclusion Zone coming to a cinema near you soon.
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Okay then. That was, um, interesting. Maybe the Canadian Army will hunt down those looter scum, and you won't have to call them up for the next game...unless, of course, there are Arizonian looter scum... ;)
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Looks like you were reading my game as I was reading yours. :D
Cheers
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Another great episode, where to now, I wonder? o_o
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Great stuff. This campaign is getting interesting
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Fun stuff, as always. I thought it might be a mutant bear of some sort and was going to be a huge trouble for the group. Big Freddie's taking it down makes me think it was sick from radiation poisoning... lol. He IS Big Freddie, though...
Mike Demana
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Hand to hand is definitely not the recommended method for taking down a grizzly. Not much choice if the bugger is close by and comes for you, they can outrun a horse…
Very curious to see where the next installment will take place!
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Hand to hand is definitely not the recommended method for taking down a grizzly. Not much choice if the bugger is close by and comes for you, they can outrun a horse…
Remember, Dan'l Boone kilt himself a b'ar... 8)
Looks like you were reading my game as I was reading yours. :D
Cheers
Yes - perhaps great minds think alike. What that has to do with us, though, I'm not sure... ;)
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Yes - perhaps great minds think alike. What that has to do with us, though, I'm not sure... ;)
Me neither :D
Cheers chaps, I think I'm off to Arizona next but I've heard rumours of a zone in the north west, not far from Suffield that might be worth a quick look before heading south. There were some huge forest fires there recently and things survived that shouldn't have survived. :o :o
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I love the Zona Alfa: Kontraban and All Things Zombie mash up. Brilliant idea. I've been attempting to mash ZA:K and All Quiet on the Martian Front, but I might have to try your approach.
I've had limited hobby time inxthe last few months and this thread and Lord Snapcase`s are bringing me back in. Might even break out the paints tonight.
Keep the reports coming as I am really enjoying them. :D
Skipper
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THW's PEF system is great for solo games. I use it too in pretty much all my games.