Under the Martian Yoke - Survival Horror Skirmish Game

[James Mahdeep Bond V]

I downloaded a copy of the Under the Martian Yoke rules yesterday.  Impressive how the AQotMF models adapt to skirmish style rules and campaign with 28's. I did observe in the designers' notes that phrases came up:not easy or forgiving...hard choices...die slowly over the campaigns...so bleak...sign that design and theme are working as intended
Sounds like you fired your Marketing Director, yet...you have my attention. I will slowly soak my mind with helpless terror, degradation, and a dwindling clock with each page. I am already tricking my brain on how to talk my friends into several hours of enjoyable degradation. These rules are a lightning strike to the Hypothalamus. Maybe penetrating to the Medula Oblongata, because I stood up straight when I saw this post. wow

[Easy E]

I look forward to seeing what you do with them!

[Easy E]

Look what I managed to print! 



Cookandrewb made a posted this Feral Martian cow to Thingiverse.  He has a whole barnyard of terror including two types of cow, a set of goats, and even chickens infused with Martian Tech!

You can find them here:
https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=cookandrewb&page=1&type=things&sort=relevant

[CookAndrewB]

Barnyard of terror!

In Martian territories, cows eat you!

[Cacique Caribe]

Those cadaver troops are extremely disturbing.  I love it!!!

Dan

[Easy E]

Welcome back to my Solo campaign for the survival horror game Under the Martian Yoke.  This game is currently available on the Blood and Spectacles Wargame Vault Page.  It can be played solo, co-op, or Versus and any combination in-between!   

Under the Martian Yoke is set after Orson Welles' broadcast of War of the Worlds.  In this game, this was no hoax; but an actual news broadcast.  The Martian invasion has laid waste to the East Coast of the United States, and only a handful of survivors are left.  It is up to them to make it back to survive as long as they can!  If they survive long enough, they might escape out from Under the Martian Yoke!

Annie looked up from the tattered and worn Bible she had found in the farmhouse.  She and her fellow survivors had been using the place as a hide-out, its inhabitants long gone.  Where they ended up, was anyone's guess?  Perhaps they had been vaporized by a heat ray, choked to death on Black Dust, dissolved by Green Gas, or perhaps they were still out there somewhere hungry and thirsty? 

"We still got some canned peaches from Shyville if your hungry?"

Annie had found Luke hiding here in the Farmhouse when she and Tommy stumbled across it.  Luke hadn't been alone.  Some slick wily named John was here with him.  Luke seemed the decent sort, but she did not trust John as far as she could throw him.  The good book had warned her about people like John.   

Annie reached out and took the can from Luke's hand.  The labelled was faded, and partially torn off.  On the front was a drawing of a happy housewife grinning like a fool and holding aloft a Georgia peach.  Annie pulled out a can opener from her apron, and with a newly practiced ease tore into the can. 

John wandered into the room, "Maybe we should head back to Shyville and see if we can find more supplies?  Your gun's still out of ammo Luke?"

"Yup.  Shyville's too red though."

"Huh. Well, there has to be somewhere else we can get some eats?"

Timmy's little voice squeaked up, "I was lookin' for Martians and I saw another farmhouse out yonder,  Not too far.  Maybe there?"

"We could scoot out there and back in no time.  Maybe they got some ammo for ya' Luke?"

"I reckon' so."

Annie nodded along.  She wanted to stay put, hide, and take comfort in prayer.  However, what she wanted was no longer important.  They had to keep food, water, and supplies up.  Unlike the Israelites, she did not expect Mana to appear from the heavens to sustain them.... not unless it was canned. 

Survivor Band
In today's battle we have the following 4 survivors.  All survivor bands start with only 4 members.  Most humans were killed or horribly injured in the initial Martian assault, so small bands of survivors are all that is left.   



On the left is Handsome John.  He is a criminal archetype and survived by running for the hills when things went south.   

Activation    Aimed    Suppression    Fight    Brawn    Brains    Nerve
5+/2                6+        3+                    4+        8+            9+        7+
Cool Customer
- Pistol, Knife, Canteen of Alcohol
- Duck and Weave- Shooting attacks have a -1 TN when he has moved.

Next is Tommy Wilkins.  He is just a kid, and survived when a building collapsed on his family.  He managed to dig his way out, but no one else did. 

Activation    Aimed    Suppression    Fight    Brawn    Brains    Nerve
3+/2             9+                8+               6+          4+        7+          5+
Pitter Patter of little feet, Fear of Enclosed Spaces
- Improvised Fight weapon, Satchel, Good Shoes

The lady is Annie.  Annie McCall is a devout believer, trying to process what exactly is going on.  She was part of an ambushed evacuation, and forced to flee. 

Activation    Aimed    Suppression    Fight    Brawn    Brains    Nerve
6+/2              7+            5+                   9+        8+          4+         3+
Pray, +3 Experience
- Pistol, Map, Bandages, and Knife

Last up is Luke Goodson, the leader of this little band of survivors.  He survived when he was suddenly knocked unconscious. 

Activation    Aimed    Suppression    Fight    Brawn    Brains    Nerve
5+/2              7+           6+                    4+       8+           9+        3+     
Do As I Say, Do Not Be Afraid
- Knife,  Canteen of Water, Flares
- Revolver is out of ammo and left at Hide-out

Scenario
The survivors were able to see another farmhouse in the distance that they could walk to easily.  Hopefully, their would be some scraps left over, but they might also be Martian traps. 

This scenario has 5 loot markers randomly placed on the board.  When a survivor picks up a marker, you roll a 10.  On an even it is Loot that can be picked up.  On an Odd it is a Martian Trap!  A Trap brings on a Martian foe within 6 MU. 

The objective is to gather as much loot as you can before you are forced to scatter, all go unconscious and possibly dead, or the danger level gets too high. 

Set-up
The area to be searched for scraps is a lone farmhouse at the end of a dusty roadway.  Next to it is a weed choked ruined out-building.  There is a nearby dying field, and a barren orchard.  There is also a small pond in the area.  There are 5 loot markers scattered randomly from the center of the board. 



The board itself is 36MU by 36MU.  1 MU equals 1 inch in today's scenario.  There are no Martian foes starting on the board.  The survivors decide to deploy on the west side, near the destroyed out-building.  Annie and Tommy stick together, while John and Luke stay together on the opposite corner.  They start 6 MU in from the deployment edge.   

The group also decided to set off just before dusk, and arrive at their destination at dusk.  However, poor timing also means that bad weather has rolled into town with wind, rain, and thunder.  This automatically starts the danger at 11! That stinks!

If you are interested and so inclined, you can read the full report on the Blood and Spectacles blog:
http://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2022/10/battle-report-under-martian-yoke.html

[Easy E]

I have been working on various projects to help support the releases of my own games on the Wargame Vault.  Today, I am focusing on creating adversaries for my game Under the Martian Yoke.  It is a survival horror game set after the Martian Invasion of the Orson Wells' broadcast.  The game is designed to be a solo/co-op/versus experience as the survivor's of the Martian attack struggle to escape Martian territory and to freedom. 



The game has a number of adversaries that survivor's may encounter.  The biggest and most dangerous are the Martian Tripods of various types.  Thankfully, I have a variety of Tripod models from the now defunct All Quiet on the Martian Front.  However, there are a variety of other tripod models available on the market as well. 

In addition to the the Martian Tripods, there are smaller foes as well.  That includes various drones, animated human corpses, modified animals, and even wild, feral dogs to face off against.  I have a few drones from Alien Dungeon and plenty of Irish Wolfhounds thanks to my Dark Age Irish army from Wargames Atlantic.   

Last time, you may recall that I was working on building up my adversaries, and created various cadaver troops to oppose the human survivors.  These foes are re-animated human corpses operating on Martian technology.  These undead troopers roam the Martian control zones to track down and kill lone or small groups of humans.  Worse, they can flush out humans for the Martians to capture for their own nefarious purposes later. 

In addition to reanimated humans, the Martians also reanimated various animals using their advanced, Martian technology.  It is unclear if the Martians actually know the difference between humans and animals, and if they even care.  These re-animated animals are known as Ferals.  They will viscously attack any humans they come across!

You may recall that I made two Ferals out of Irish Wolfhounds from the Wargames Atlantic Dark Age Irish kit.  Plus, I also use these as wild dogs.  With some green stuff, and paint they ended up looking like this....



My initial plan to expand my Feral collection was to get a box of plastic barnyard animals and convert them in a similar manner.  However, a fellow hobbyist was taken by the idea of barnyard astro-zombies and decided to design some for 3D printing!  You can find them on CookAndrewB's Thingiverse page here.  There is a ton of cool stuff, so check it out. 

You can see the entire barnyard of terror and how they were created on my blog here:
http://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2022/11/on-painting-desk-ferals-for-under.html

Thanks for checking it out!