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Author Topic: Return to Zona Albion - AAR: The Quatermass Run, Part 7  (Read 26185 times)

Offline Ultravanillasmurf

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Re: Return to Zona Albion - two more abandoned vans added
« Reply #90 on: April 01, 2023, 07:38:39 AM »
Nice models.

Who made them?

Offline Bullshott

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Re: Return to Zona Albion - two more abandoned vans added
« Reply #91 on: April 01, 2023, 08:54:27 AM »
Nice models.

Who made them?

Both Corgi finds on eBay. The Morris van is 1/43 scale, while the larger Bedford is 1/50 scale. They work well together because the Bedford is such a big beast.
Sir Henry Bullshott, Keeper of Ancient Knowledge

Offline Bullshott

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Re: Return to Zona Albion - mutant horses!
« Reply #92 on: April 02, 2023, 10:16:05 AM »
Most animal life cannot survive on the moorland at the heart of the Northmoor Exclusion Zone, due to the combination of contamination and occasional emissions emanating from the epicentre of the Zone. However, the wild fell ponies not only survived but appear to have thrived, albeit with mutations. The ponies have now grown to a much larger size and supplement their diet of contaminated grass with the blood of living creatures.
Bad Squiddo zombie horses painted with Army Painter Speedpaints.

Offline AKULA

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Re: Return to Zona Albion - mutant horses!
« Reply #93 on: April 02, 2023, 11:48:43 AM »
Really enjoyed rereading the whole thread - love the background you’ve woven together, and some great models/figures.

 8)

Offline Dr Mathias

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Re: Return to Zona Albion - mutant horses!
« Reply #94 on: April 02, 2023, 03:15:25 PM »
Those are horrifying- nice work!
a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve, and caprice.
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Offline sir_shvantselot

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Re: Return to Zona Albion - mutant horses!
« Reply #95 on: April 02, 2023, 05:27:07 PM »
Great undead horses.

Offline Scarper

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Re: Return to Zona Albion - mutant horses!
« Reply #96 on: April 04, 2023, 07:46:40 PM »
Those horses are fantastic. Just read through all your AARs too - really characterful, and the crew have all developed personalities. Roadside picnic is one if my favourite scifi stories, so it's really cool to see you apply your own spin and British setting

Offline NurgleHH

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Re: Return to Zona Albion - mutant horses!
« Reply #97 on: April 06, 2023, 09:26:32 AM »
Very nice and real british. Maybe a PA Stonehenge or the Towerbridge???
Victory Decision Vietnam here: leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=43264.0

Victory Decision Spacelords here: leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=68939.0

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Offline Bullshott

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Re: Return to Zona Albion - mutant horses!
« Reply #98 on: April 06, 2023, 10:13:25 AM »
Very nice and real british. Maybe a PA Stonehenge or the Towerbridge???

A stone circle and circular burial mound will certainly be making their appearance

Offline Bullshott

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Re: Return to Zona Albion - AAR: Troutwater Transport
« Reply #99 on: April 06, 2023, 10:58:28 AM »
Troutwater Transport

As the stalkers made their way back from Troutbridge towards their safe shelter, the ever observant Bunny Warren noticed the telltale flickering glow of an anomaly in the fading light, up a lane amongst a cluster of farm buildings. A quick check with Fletcher's binoculars showed that that the anomaly was near a fenced compound containing a large box van and some shipping containers.

The crew wanted to investigate the anomaly, but Fletcher decided they would have to come back another day, as the light was going and the weather was closing in. He didn't want to be stuck in the open at night in the Yellow Zone, let alone in the middle of a storm. The sign on the lane leading to the buildings said "Troutwater Farm". Fletcher noted the name for future reference and the stalkers hurried on.

While his crew rested and re-equipped, Fletcher made some discrete enquiries regarding the fenced compound. It transpired that the compound probably belonged to Troutwater Transport, a pre-incident transport company based out of the farm. As well as the anomaly they were going for, the transport yard might provide them with some useful salvage.

With the full crew this would normally be an easy zone run. However, what had promised to be a simple job suddenly got a lot more complicated. The genial Harry Grout summoned Fletcher and requested he provide two of his best men to immediately accompany a crew of his salvaging some stuff in the north of the Zone. You don't refuse Grouty's 'requests', so that meant sending McLaren with Bunny away to do his bidding.

To add to this complication, other stalkers appeared to have got wind of the anomaly too. If the crew were to have a chance of investigating it they would have to go back straight away, without waiting McLaren and Bunny. This wasn't a good situation. It left Fletcher with an understrength crew with only himself and Lukewarm being veterans of the Zone. He really needed another experienced body in the crew for this trip.

Fletcher always did his best thinking over a pint in his favourite corner at the Winchester. He liked his corner. From it he had a good view of the bar and the entrance, as well as a clear run to the back door if things looked like they might get messy. Mulling over who might be available to accompany his crew at short notice, he saw Ingrid ordering a pint at the bar. He had heard a bit about her recently. She mainly operated alone, but had apparently worked well with other crews. She also had a reputation for being a good wrench, which might be useful with those shipping containers. Fetcher also liked no nonsense girls who drank pints. He signalled over to Dave the landlord "stick that pint on my tab Dave".

I ran this game at TL2 with a duration of 8 turns (get out before more stalkers arrived). With the anomaly on the opposite side of the board speed was going to be of the essence. Anything that delayed the crew would eat into their available time to check out the POIs for salvage.


Board layout. It's a long way to go to get to the anomaly.


Entering the farm.


A successful inspection revealed the area round the van in the lane to be covered with the shimmering strands of a cobweb hazard. The crew would therefore have to detour to get to the anomaly.


New member Ingrid ran up to the chain link fence and quickly opened a large enough hole to let the crew get through (normally I say it's 2 actions to cut a hole in a fence, but I reduced it to 1 action as Ingrid had the crew's tool kit).


The crew carefully skirted between the web and the barn (a POI that they didn't want to trigger yet).


Ingrid opened another hole in the fence for Fletcher to pass through to get to the anomaly. Meanwhile the rest of the crew took up positions to check out the shipping containers.


A successful bolt toss revealed the anomaly to be an arc welder. Unfortunately a failed Will and Armour save caused Fletcher to have a shocking experience! After patching himself up with a med-kit, Fletcher tried again and got 4,500 quid worth of artifact that would give him a movement bonus if he decided to keep it. Lack of time meant that he wasn't going to get another hit at the anomaly with his scrounger skill (he knew he would need to sacrifice some of his forthcoming actions to encourage young Godber to hurry up when they left the farm).


Meanwhile Heslop did a bolt toss and woke up a group of bandits searching one of the containers.


As four bandits burst out of the container they were met by a well aimed satchel charge from Lukewarm. Boom! Three were killed immediately, while the last one was pinned. Well aimed 7.62mm rounds from Godber finished him off in the following turn.


With time running out the crew decided to make their way back through the fence and home.

Epilogue:
It was a run of mixed results. They had snagged a good artifact but circumstances prevented them gaining any salvage. On the plus side, the artifact more than covered the cost of hiring Ingrid.
« Last Edit: April 11, 2023, 04:53:55 PM by Bullshott »

Offline Grumpy Gnome

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Re: Return to Zona Albion - AAR: Troutwater Transport
« Reply #100 on: April 06, 2023, 11:29:42 AM »
Sounds like another good day in the zone. 👍
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Offline Bullshott

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Re: Return to Zona Albion - AAR: Hunting Party Part 1
« Reply #101 on: April 11, 2023, 03:15:42 PM »
Hunting Party - Part 1
The client sat across from Fletcher at his usual table in the Winchester. They shook hands on the deal and downed their pints. His name was MacKay. Ex-military, rich, Scottish and a big game hunter. He had come to the Zone for trophies to add to his collection. Fletcher's crew was to get him into the Zone, to somewhere where he could bag some mutants. No rats, dogs or zombies, but proper mutants would get Fletcher five hundred quid for lesser types and a grand for anything really nasty or unusual.

The area Fletcher had in mind was the abandoned village of Grimford in the Yellow Zone. The area had been well looted by other stalkers so wasn't frequented much. As no one went there the area had been effectively taken over by the creatures of the Zone. There probably wouldn't be much salvage. However, on the plus side, they should certainly get the chance for some good kills and probably wouldn't get any trouble from bandits or other stalkers.

McLaren and Bunny Warren were still working for Grouty and Heslop had to visit his ailing mother. That meant a crew of four to provide security; Fletcher, the ever reliable Lukewarm, young Godber and Ingrid.

Fletcher smiled and signalled over to the bar "Two large ones of your best malt please Dave. He's paying".

I ran this game at TL2 with a game length of 9 turns (to get out of the Zone by nightfall).

MacKay's stats:
2 Actions, Move 6", CA 5, Armour 5, Will 5
Marksman Rifle (Range 48", Firepower 1, Damage 2, aimed shots gain +2 bonus instead of the usual +1)
Machete
Scope, Med-Kit


Board layout


Inspection.of the cottage revealed a pack of hobgoblins feeding on something. MacKay rushed his shot and missed. However, Lukewarm took out two with his SLR and Ingrid moved up to killed another two with her SMG.


The two surviving Hobgoblins charged Fletcher, but only one could reach him. Both the Hobgoblin and Fletcher (despite having 4 attacks) missed. In the following turn Fletcher killed the Hobgoblin facing him (it missed him again). MacKay now had a clear shot and got his kill.


While MacKay took his kill's head with his machete, Lukewarm successfully inspected the ruined house over the road. Unfortunately it turned out to be covered with shimmering 'cobwebs'. A pity as, in addition to there being no salvage, this prevented Fletcher from placing Godber in to provide them with some cover.
Meanwhile, Ingrid moved into the ruined cottage to search the Hobgoblins' lair, finding 500 quid worth of salvage.


Just as the mist closed in and reduced visibility, Lukewarm spied a group of revenants in the trees by the riverbank.


The crew poured fire into the revenants. Lukewarm got a couple of hits with his SLR but only got one kill. Ingrid opened up with her SMG to get two hits before it jammed (critical miss). Unfortunately her standard 9mm ammunition had no effect. Fletcher then opened up with his SMG for 4 hits including a critical. His hot load ammunition tore through the revenants, leaving just one standing. With his final action Fletcher encouraged Ingrid to pull herself together and sort out her SMG.

The surviving revenant couldn't reach any of the crew and Fletcher hosed it down with more 9mm hot load in the following turn.

Encouraged by her search of the cottage, Ingrid had a look at what was left of the revenants, to be rewarded with another 500 quid worth of salvage, plus an intact med-kit and a working flashlight


Time to inspect the houses over the river. A nest of vermin to be avoided in the house on the left.


And even more revenants in the house on the right. Fortunately the occupants of neither house seemed interested in the stalkers


Inspecting the area around the wrecked van revealed the whole junction to be covered with the sticky green goo known as Witches' Brew.


The stalkers were running out of time so moved towards an abandoned camp fire in a patch of trees, which was the nearest unchecked point of interest to their exit point. With no hostiles being visible Lukewarm went closer to the camp fire and noticed some gear hidden under a tarp. A check of the gear revealed a bag of 40mm grenade launcher ammunition (heavy weapon reload) and a satchel charge.

With their time run out the stalkers made their way home with their client and his trophy.

Epilogue:

As Zone runs go, it wasn't a bad run. Five hundred quid from the client for his trophy, a grand worth of salvage, a couple of bits of kit plus a bag of 40mm grenade launcher ammunition that Fletcher could sell on for a good price. All in all, not a bad haul, despite having a close call with the hobgoblins.

The haul from this run nicely covered additional kit for the crew, in the form of chest rigs for Godber and Ingrid and hot loads for Fletcher and Ingrid's SMGs. Also, young Godber finally seemed to have found his feet (promotion to Hardened experience level) and both Godber and Ingrid sorted out improvement to their armour (using 20 advance points gained for this run).

Unfortunately for the client, he only got to bag a hobgoblin. However, he also came away with a taste for the Zone and was now asking Fletcher when they could return.

Offline Ultravanillasmurf

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Re: Return to Zona Albion - mutant horses!
« Reply #102 on: April 11, 2023, 05:39:12 PM »
A stone circle and circular burial mound will certainly be making their appearance
Five rounds rapid...

Offline Bullshott

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Re: Return to Zona Albion - mutant horses!
« Reply #103 on: April 11, 2023, 06:08:23 PM »
Five rounds rapid...
There 'may' be some references to 1970s Dr Who in my games in this setting ...

Offline mikedemana

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Re: Return to Zona Albion - AAR: Hunting Party Part 1
« Reply #104 on: April 12, 2023, 01:41:33 AM »
Keep the tales flowing! I like the narrative style, with what is going on in between missions for the stalkers.

Mike Demana

 

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