Return to Zona Albion - AAR: The Quatermass Run, Part 7

[Pattus Magnus]

That’s a great write-up, I thoroughly enjoyed it and the table looks excellent! I’m tempted to try something similar, set in an exclusion zone on the Canadian prairie (I worked for a year and a half at a place that’s a sort of real-life exclusion zone, CFB Suffield. It’s a big chunk of farmland the military bought in the 1930s and turned into a live fire range. Some of the old farm sites are still visible if you know what you’re looking at, and it is EMPTY of human habitation- a very odd place.)

[Bullshott]

That’s a great write-up, I thoroughly enjoyed it and the table looks excellent! I’m tempted to try something similar, set in an exclusion zone on the Canadian prairie (I worked for a year and a half at a place that’s a sort of real-life exclusion zone, CFB Suffield. It’s a big chunk of farmland the military bought in the 1930s and turned into a live fire range. Some of the old farm sites are still visible if you know what you’re looking at, and it is EMPTY of human habitation- a very odd place.)

A good start would be to say that there was an incident on the 30s, after which the government quarantined it. Then you can choose your own timeline for when your games are set. It just depends how run down with age you want your zone to be

[Pattus Magnus]

That would certainly work. Another option would be to have the incident occur during the Cold War, or even later, since the (real-world) CFB Suffield had a section specifically for military research and trials (when I was there the area called “the Drez” after it’s old acronym for Defense Research Establishment Suffield. Parts within that area had additional signs and fencing and were marked on maps as complete no-go zones). It takes almost no imagination to picture something getting out of hand and turning into a sci-fi scenario. Heck, in the live fire areas the army even constructed a few fake  villages for urban combat practice… There we’re also old tank wrecks that were used for target practice. Unexploded ordinance was a thing, too. (For the record, I was a civilian subcontractor’s employee. We traveled all over the range as part of our duties, but only following the protocols set by the base’s traffic controllers).

[CapnJim]

Your crew has done well so far.  Wonder how they'll do when the Threat Level goes up....

[twrchtrwyth]

Superb.

[zemjw]

Very atmospheric table

Have you looked at the Modiphius Fallout Wastelands stuff?

There are several creatures there that would fit right in, although they're not particularly cheap

[Bullshott]

Superb.

Probably badly. I'm debating whether or not to move up to the next TL to see how things develop (now that I have enough money banked to be able to hire additional members if required).

[Bullshott]

Very atmospheric table

Have you looked at the Modiphius Fallout Wastelands stuff?

There are several creatures there that would fit right in, although they're not particularly cheap

Thanks. I'll certainly hav we a look at Fallout stuff. However, I already have a good number of mutants ready to try out at higher TLs.

[twrchtrwyth]

Probably badly. I'm debating whether or not to move up to the next TL to see how things develop (now that I have enough money banked to be able to hire additional members if required).

I'm guessing your answer was meant for the comment above mine.

[Bullshott]

I'm guessing your answer was meant for the comment above mine.

Oops. I was in a hurry!

[Bullshott]

The House in the Woods

Fletcher looked again at the Ordnance Survey map of the Northmoor area that they had recovered from the dead bandit. It was heavily annotated and appeared to show places of interest to the (now deceased) bandits previously operating out of the Bleakstone area. If he had got it right, he reckoned that one set of marks indicated supply caches, while others indicated places to be either raided or avoided. One of the potential caches appeared to be at a building in Pogle's Wood, not far from the bandits' former base at Bleakridge Farm and still (just) within the blue zone.

Now that they were standing on the edge of the woods, Fletcher was starting to have second thoughts. This just didn't feel right for being blue zone. There was something about the woods that made his skin creep. Could the yellow zone have expanded? Whatever it was, they were committed  now. There was no choice but to press on. Quickly too, before a patrol appeared.

I ran this game at TL1 with Fletcher's 10K team. Game duration was 10 turns, as the main objective was on the far side of the board and the stalkers had to exit at their start point. Any hostiles at the main objective would be run as if the area was TL2.


Board layout. The main objective is the large house.


A successful inspection revealed a mutant at the abandoned van. McLaren hit it but it shrugged off the hit. Fortunately Lukewarm's aim was also good and the mutant went down with a 7.62mm hole between the eyes.


Bunny Warren put his scrounging skills to good use in the van. Meanwhile, Fletcher inspected the ruined cottage, revealing a wounded and rather scared young stalker. The stalker perked up after Bunny applied a med-kit and said his name was Godber. Fletcher said he could tag along if he didn't get in the way.


Moving into position for the main objective.


Bunny's bolt toss only succeeded in alerting the occupants of the house. Six(!) hobgoblins rushed out of the side door, straight towards McLaren.


Lukewarm was on alert, but couldn't target the greenskins (he would have had to fire through the length of the treeline). Fortunately McLaren and Fletcher were also on alert. The Scot dropped one with his SLR and Fletcher took out three with his Sterling.

Two greenskins managed to get to McLaren. One missed him and the other's blade was deflected by the Scot's flak jacket. McLaren's knife did the job on one of his attackers (critical hit). With his free action he finished off the last greenskin.


While Bunny searched the house, Fletcher successfully inspected the abandoned Austin, revealing a whirlpool anomaly.

Fletcher ordered the rest of the team to start to make their way back while, against his better judgement, he decided to investigate the anomaly (despite his new detector being with Bunny). Lady Luck was on Fletcher's side, resulting in successful retrieval of a high value artifact and 1 on his Will characteristic.


Four men enter the Zone, five men leave it (with salvage worth 6,550 quid).

Epilogue:

Fletcher was happy. Although it initially appeared that this zone run would have very slim pickings in the short time they had available, they hit the jackpot with an artifact. For some strange reason, Fletcher's confidence in everything he did had also vastly improved.

They had also brought young Godber out of the Zone. He seemed a nice enough lad and Fletcher was minded to keep him in the team. An extra gun and pair of eyes would be useful. He was a bit green, but if he survived Fletcher was sure he had the makings of a good stalker.

[Grumpy Gnome]

Another interesting game. Good fortune with handling those Hobgoblins so handily. 👍

[Pattus Magnus]

Excellent figures, board and write up!

[Spinal Tap]

Brilliant narrative. Good to see that McLaren is still the hard man, his dealing so easily with the hobgoblins fit well with my minds eye.

Looking forward to the next installment.

[Bullshott]

Brilliant narrative. Good to see that McLaren is still the hard man, his dealing so easily with the hobgoblins fit well with my minds eye.

McLaren actually has the Hard skill (along with Steady Hands). He has also now bought a machete for the next time it gets close and personal!