CapnJim's Post-Apoc Stuff: Zone Run #10 AAR Epilogue...Pg 13...08 Sep 24

[CapnJim]

And here is the last part of our Encounter Report.

Part 3 of 3:  We're Havin' a Heat Wave.  Again...

Over with the Cold Bloods, a couple wounded Cold Bloods got themselves going (they had to DIY, as their medic had already split), so they could take on that frog.  A couple more made their way to the woodline at the north-south road.  One of them ate a grenade from the SCP guy in their Bearcat.



And, with an annoying frequency, another heat wave hit.  The 3rd, if you're counting.  And SAE and SCP men went down.  Again.  And, now, both of those giant crabs were at the fence, eyeing a couple SAE men rather hungrily.



Sensing an opportunity, 2 Cold Bloods decided to cross the road, and try to get into the compound at the NW corner.  One made it.  One didn't, thanks to the SCP grenadier's last grenade.  The grenadier dropped down into the Bearcat, and swapped his grenade launcher for an M4.  The rest of the crews either went about searching the compound, or trying to recover from the heat wave.



The crabs sliced through the fence with their claws, and attacked.   Accurate fire from 2 M4s (and Malloy's AK) sent the crabs scuttling back through the fence.  It was obvious these were hard-shell crabs, as some of those shots should have been kill shots.  The recovery from the heat wave continued, still slowly for the unacclimated SCP crew.



The SAE boys were all back in the fight now (thanks to sterling work by DeSoto, their medic - have I mentioned he's good at what he does?).  After shooing the frog away, 2 Cold Bloods were now cowering behind their pick-up on that side road.  3 SAE men began to head their way to take care of them.



An SCP man worked frantically on their medic and officer, who were out from the heat.



The search of the compound continued.  An SCP man was at the last building to be searched, while the SAE boss was dumpster-diving.



The 2 men at SAE's van shot up the crabs, finally killing one, and running the other off.  2 more deer showed up from the south, took one look at the situation, and promptly left.  The 2 Cold Bloods behind their pickup weighed their options, and decided to get into the truck and back the heck up on out of there.  Well, they managed to get in the truck. at least.  SAE's medic, DeSoto, shot the driver dead with a double-tap to the head. The other Cold Blood got out of the truck, and made a run for it.  2 other SAE men shot him, but he managed to limp away.



The Cold Blood who tried to get into the NW corner of the compound did so.  Taking shelter behind a building, he tried to collect his wits.  His partner that had been wounded by the SCP grenades bled out, so he collected his wits just enough to run away, heading north over the river and through the woods.  But I don't think he was going to grandmother's house...

At this point all the tangos and critters were either down or gone.  The SCP had managed to find 2 more artifacts in that last building, without triggering them.  And in a last anti-climactic event, the SAE boss (Carter) found an artifact in the dumpster as well.  But, he triggered it, freaking him out a bit but not injuring him.  The heat blast from triggering the artifact did blow trash up into his face, so now Carter reeked of old trash...

The final artifact tally?  SCP 5, SAE 3.  With their missions accomplished, the crews headed back to their vehicles.  All of SAE30's men were fully recovered from the heat, but 4 of the SCP ERT were still hurting.  The crews got into their vehicles and left, with the SCP crew heading back to Camp Perry, and SAE30 heading back to Chambers "Hardware" Store.  SAE30 would later find out that one of the SCP guys went into cardiac arrest on their way back to Perry and ultimately died, and their officer required medical attention for a few days.





And there you have it.  Ted's SCP ERT won the artifact-finding contest, but at the price of one of his crewmembers.  He has other crew members who did not participate in the fight, and one of them is a Sergeant, so even though his Lieutenant has to sit the next fight out, he'll still have a leader and plenty of crewmembers he can use.

As for the Cold Bloods, they ain't worth shit.  They are d10, have body armor and AKs, have leaders, and in this fight, had a medic.  None of that did them any good (the medic left on his first recovery roll).  Their luck is consistently bad.  For example:

1.  Their body armor usually doesn't work.  Take this fight, for example.  They failed every one of their body armor rolls.  Except 2.  The 2 hits that last guy running from the pickup took in his back.  He made those saves...

2.  The have a tendency to be in the wrong place in the wrong time.  In this fight, the chances of them showing up in the same place and time through which the National Guard would be leaving was actually quite limited.  Yet, there they were.         

3.  And 2 out of the 3 times we rolled to see what they would do, they rolled the least best option (which also had the least chance for success on the die roll). And paid for it.

4.  And all this has been pretty consistent in all 9 encounters so far.

I think the process that mutated their cardio-vascular systems to withstand excessive heat must have also affected their mental capacities (and their luck).  And by now, with as many men and women as they have lost, they gotta be runnin' low on personnel. 

But fear not.  These heat waves with increasing frequency must be a harbinger of goings-on in the Hard Area of the PEZ.  I suspect there will be other baddies, that have yet to be encountered...  

   
   

[mikedemana]

Great stuff, Jim! I'm very proud of both you and Ted in "playing nice" with each other... 

Hope you guys are having fun. Look forward to reading more of the adventures of the two groups.

Mike Demana

[CapnJim]

Thanks, Mike. 

But it'll be a while before there's another encounter.  I'll be down in Florida visiting me brother the last 2 weeks of March....

[Doug ex-em4]

Well flippin’ ‘eck - that was all action. An interesting summary of the Cold Bloods’ campaign to date - they seem to be taking the rôle of the Germans in the war films of the sixties and seventies; basically, they’re targets. But the critturs gave you plenty of things to worry about and the heat waves appear to be the most threatening thing of all, they certainly can throw all your calculations up in the air for a while which makes for an interesting game situation.

I love the photo of the giant frog. It was just so unexpected. It was like a variation of Raymond Chandler’s advice on how to move a plot along - have a giant frog suddenly appear on the scene. To the characters, that frog would be the most terrifying of all the weird animals that have appeared so far.

The prize for the most sensible participants must surely go to the deer: "two more deer showed up for the south, took one look at the situation and promptly left"

Once again, a most enjoyable AAR. Thanks.

Doug

[CapnJim]

Yeah, the Cold Blood have definitely been punching well below their weight.

And thanks for your comments.  Appreciate them...

[CapnJim]

Well, it has been too long since anything has happened in the PEZ.  Technically that's not true (something has indeed happened), but no games have been played for a while.

That will change next Saturday (the 31st).  LAF's own mikedemana and some of his crew are venturing northward to get in a couple games at my ToyBox that weekend.  Friday evening's game will be Ted's big Alamo game (a playtest for upcoming cons), but Saturday is gonna be some more adventures in the PEZ.

I don't have all the details nailed down yet, but I do have a general idea of the scenario.  It will involve Ted's SCP ERT, the National Guard, the Cold Bloods, local looters, and local law enforcement.  All will be tasked with investigating the area after an, um, "incident".  Each 4-person group will have other groups they are friendly with, couldn't care less about, and/or are hostile towards.  My SAE crew will be sitting this one out, as Richards has just got back from the Orientation Course, and is settling in with the SAE crew (i.e., I will be the GM and playing the zone hostiles). 

Speaking of zone hostiles, I am painting a few new ones up.  They will be making their first appearance in this game.  I'm curious to see how they impact things...

Stay tuned...reports to follow after the 31st...

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Looking forward to the reports.

[mikedemana]

LAF's own mikedemana and some of his crew are venturing northward to get in a couple games at my ToyBox that weekend.  Friday evening's game will be Ted's big Alamo game (a playtest for upcoming cons), but Saturday is gonna be some more adventures in the PEZ.

Woo-hoo!  I am pretty psyched for it. Sorry that we have been slow about the final roster coming north. Jenny, Mike S, Jason S, and myself are definitely in. Keith is the waffling one. I prodded him today electronically (not electrically, which might actually work better...    ). He said he's coming. So, it is going to be a big group!

Mike Demana

[Vagabond]

I've just caught up on the last 2 games, both excellent scenery and report wise.
I didn't realise deassing was a verb, it's not in the Oxford English Dictionary,  must be in Miriam Webster's!

Just a question on the road pieces you are using, are they flexible and also homemade. They look good in either event.

Look forward to the next game and the new hostiles.
Cheers

[CapnJim]

I've just caught up on the last 2 games, both excellent scenery and report wise.
I didn't realise deassing was a verb, it's not in the Oxford English Dictionary,  must be in Miriam Webster's!

Just a question on the road pieces you are using, are they flexible and also homemade. They look good in either event.

Look forward to the next game and the new hostiles.
Cheers

1.  It's "un-assing", by the way.  It was (is?) a contemporary colloquial turn of phrase we used in the Army, when dismounting a vehicle...

2.  The paved roads are model railroad roads, purchased from hobby shops along the way.  The black-with-yellow-stripes roads were labelled for HO-scale (1/87) layouts, but they actually work for 15mm up to 28mm.  The gray-with-white-stripes roads were labelled for O-scale (1/43, IIRC) layouts.  Both work at 28mm. 

[CapnJim]

It has now been done.  With the mid-Ohio crew's visit to the PEZ, things have been shaken up somewhat.  I will get to the actual AAR within the next few days, but we played the actual game yesterday (30 Aug), at my wargaming building (dubbed "The ToyBox" by my darling bride).

Oh, how to begin...

OK.  First, we used Fistful of Lead, with a few bits from Zona Alfa thrown in.  Second, let's look at the playing area.  It is based on an actual location, set at the western edge of the Medium Area in the PEZ.  It is centered on the intersection of Ohio Rt. 18 and Township Rd. 34.  Here is the Google Map view: 



And here is my depiction of it...



The numbers correspond to a chart on my page of GM Charts.  Once a figures approaches the numbered area, the thing associated with it on the chart happens.  Also on the page of GM Charts are the stats for Zone Critters, as well as the Random Event Chart (triggered when a player plays a Joker from their hand).  Below is the page of GM Charts:



For those of you that have been following along in my post-apoc stories, you may see a new kind of Zone Critter on those charts - Lizardmen.  Yep, as the Cold Bloods, shall we  say, underperform (and alas, continue to do so), and I needed some better bad guys for a thermal event-based story line, I built up a few Wargames Atlantic Lizardmen (with guns)!  Let's just say, they made their mark.  I plan to build up a few more, but here is what I have done so far:

 



Besides me (I GM'd and played the Zone Critters and civilians), we had 6 players.  Here is the briefing I gave all 6:

Situation
     The Plumbrook Reactor is a federal facility located just south of Sandusky, Ohio, midwayish between Toledo and Cleveland not far from the shores of Lake Erie.  It was a NASA facility with a nuclear reactor that was on-line from 1961 to 1973.
     Or at least that was what the public was led to believe.  Its name was changed somewhere along the line to the Plumbrook Energy and Nuclear Investigation Station (yes, PENIS, so please, you in the back - no snickering...).  About a year ago, a "thermal event" occurred.  What exactly that "event" was has not been disclosed.   The immediate area was evacuated and cordoned off.  That cordon has expanded in this past year to a 20-mile radius (known as the Plumbrook Exclusion Zone, or PEZ).  No one is allowed in (or out) without proper credentials.  Threat Levels 1, 2, and 3 will be, respectively, Soft, Medium, and Hard.  We won't speak of Threat Level 0.  Incident Command is located at Camp Perry, Ohio, on Lake Erie just inside the western boundary of the Soft Area.
     About 6 months ago, there was another thermal event, also cloaked in secrecy.  At that time, the Medium Area was locked down by the relevant authorities.   Since then, that lockdown has loosened a bit.  In that year, there have been several incidents involving a number of factions.  Local law enforcement, the 1-148th Infantry, a couple foundation teams (an SCP Foundation ERT and SAE30), secretive federal agencies, local looters, and a group of mutated eastern Europeans known as the Cold Bloods.  There have also been reports of strange animals, including feral dogs, large lizards, and giant snakes, frogs and crabs.

Here are the faction-specific briefs:

Army National Guard (played be Jenny (our own mikedemana's SO)
     You are members of 1-107 Cavalry, and have just relieved 1-148 Infantry on PEZ duty.  You should be on friendly terms with local law enforcement, but your unit has not yet had any dealings with the Feds or either the SCP or SAE.  You are NOT on friendly terms with the Cold Bloods or the looters.
     Move in and set up a road block at Ohio 18 and Township Road 34.  NO ONE is permitted east of that roadblock.  You have 4 troops (All d10, with one Leader, and all Dead-eye) with M4s, body armor (Armor 8+) and a Humvee (Medium, Damage 3, Armor 8+, 10” move, with an M2 .50-cal).  Be warned:  1.  Radio and cell phone communications can be unpredictable within the PEZ., and 2:  It can be very hot in the PEZ – make sure you cycle your troops in and out of the air-conditioned Humvee.

Local Law Enforcement (Played my Mike S. (from the mid-Ohio gang)
     You are members of local law enforcement agencies.  You have been patrolling, and manning roadblocks at the perimeter of, the Soft Area of the PEZ.  You should be on friendly terms with the Army National Guard, and are on friendly terms with SAE30.  But have not yet had any dealings with either the Feds or the SCP.  You are NOT on friendly terms with the Cold Bloods or the looters.
     Patrol the area, and arrest on sight any local looters you come across.  You have 4 officers - All d10 with one Leader with a shotgun, one with a patrol Rifle, and 2 with pistols.  All are +1 to hit in HtH, and all have body armor (Armor 8+).  You have 2 patrol cars (medium, Damage 3, 12” move).  Your experience in the PEZ tells you:  1.  Radio and cell phone communications can be unpredictable within the PEZ., and 2:  It can be very hot in the PEZ – make sure you cycle your officers in and out of the air-conditioned patrol cars.

Federal Agents (played by our own mikedemana)
     You are members of an undisclosed Federal Agency.  You couldn’t care less about the other factions, and are frankly a bit dismissive toward them all.  In particular, you think the Cold Bloods and the looters are just chumps.
     You are more interested in reports and rumors of a new threat in the PEZ – Lizardmen?  You want to find one and capture it for study, hopefully without any big fuss.  You have 4 agents (One d12 Leader with a pistol, another d10 with a pistol, and 2 d10s with SMGs.  All wear body armor (Armor 8+), and are Eagle-eyed).  You have a government-issued SUV (Medium, 3 Damage, 12” move, Armor 8+).  And you know these things:  1.  Radio and cell phone communications can be unpredictable within the PEZ., and 2:  It can be very hot in the PEZ – make sure you cycle your agents in and out of the air-conditioned SUV.

SCP Foundation (played by Ted - he has played in the PEZ before)
     You are members an SCP Foundation ERT.  Since you have already played in the PEZ, you may interact with the other factions as you see fit. 
     Your mission, however, is to investigate the presence of any anomalies in the area.  Of course, you want to find, secure, and seize any you come across. You have 4 men (You may choose any 4 eligible members of your team, along with either vehicle).  And you know from your experience in the PEZ:  1.  Radio and cell phone communications can be unpredictable within the PEZ., and 2:  It can be very hot in the PEZ – make sure you cycle your men in and out of the air-conditioned vehicle.

Cold Bloods (played by Jason S. - from the mid-Ohio crew)
     You are members of the Cold Bloods – a cartel of eastern Europeans who go from exclusion zone to exclusion zone to see what trouble they can get into, and to grab any loot and artifacts they can find.  Your group is here because this is a Thermal Event Exclusion Zone, and your cardiovascular systems have mutated, allowing your crew-members to tolerate high heat levels.  Your crew is hostile toward all other factions in the PEZ, except maybe the local looters.  You regard them more as a minor annoyance. 
     Root through the area looking for loot and artifacts, and seize them.  You have 4 crew-members - all d10 with one Leader with a shotgun, and 3 with AKs.  All have body armor (Armor 8+), and are immune to heat effects.  You have 1 beat-up pick-up truck (medium, Damage 3, 10” move).  Your experience in the PEZ tells you:  1.  Radio and cell phone communications can be unpredictable within the PEZ., and 2:  It can be very hot in the PEZ, but you don’t really care, now do you…

Local Looters (played by Keith, the 5th member of the mid-Ohio gang)
     You are members of local gang of looters – you sneak into the PEZ, and find and steal what you can.  Your crew tries to avoid getting caught, and is hostile toward all other factions in the PEZ, except maybe the Cold Bloods.  You regard them as weird freaks of nature. 
     Root through the area looking for loot, and steal what you can.  You have 5 crew-members - all d8 with one Leader with an M16, and 4 with various other weapons.  You don’t have body armor, but all have the Dodge trait.  You have a pick-up truck (medium, Damage 3, 10” move) at your disposal.  Your experience in the PEZ tells you:  1.  Radio and cell phone communications can be unpredictable within the PEZ., and 2:  It can be very hot in the PEZ, so you might want to cycle the boys in and out of the air-conditioned truck…

Who played which faction was determined randomly, except for Ted playing his own SCP ERT.  Starting/entry points were also determined randomly.

To whet everyone's whistle, here are a few teasers...

A.  The Feds, the Cold Bloods, and the SCP ERT all got to look at a Lizardman up close...

B.  The SCP ERT is now on the National Guard's shit-list...

C.  The National Guard is now on local law enforcement's shit-list...

D.  The Cold Bloods still suck...

That'll do it for now.  News of events to follow, soon I promise....

[Doug ex-em4]

This looks very tasty. Eagerly awaiting AAR. The table looks great; your layouts are really appealing. The factions promise a very interesting game (and the teasers confirm this). Finally - love the lizardmen. I think I need some. I think I have some fantasy ones hidden away somewhere that could be repurposed.

Right. I’m sitting comfortable. Ready when you are.

Doug

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Looking forward to the AAR.

[CapnJim]

Part 1.  Just Another day in the PEZ...

The sun shone bright the other day.  And it was hot.  Damn hot.  After the 2nd "event" 6 months ago, things heated up in the PEZ (literally), but then calmed down.  Word was that the lab coats in the Hard Area (the Plumbrook site itself) were up to something.  The regular Army had the Hard Area sealed off, snug as a bug in a rug.  But whatever that something was, it didn't stick,  It was getting damned hot again.

Other than that, it was just another day in the PEZ.  A new National Guard unit had just rotated in, and they sent a crew out to set up a roadblock at Ohio 18 and Road 34.  Nobody knew how they would approach things.  But they were about to find out...

Unknown to the Guard unit, some local looters had holed up in the house west of the intersection on the south side of 34.  In it, they found a stash of hot load ammo.  One of them came out on the front porch to see what some stray dogs were up to.  The dogs ignored him.  They also ignored the Fed's dark-colored SUV and the SCP ERT Bearcat that whizzed past them.  The Feds belonged to a shadowy DHS agency - the Division of Extra-environmental Investigation, or DEI).  The SCP's Bearcat was right up the ass of the Fed's SUV, and they had to break hard as the Fed's SUV slowed to pull into the drive of the house on the north side of 34.



While all that was going on, a pair of local police cruisers came up 18 from the SW.  The local cops were sending out cars in pairs now, just to be safe.  And a beat-up pickup full of Cold Bloods came in from the east on 34, and pulled into the drive of the house at the NE corner of the intersection.  Of course, they were probably up to no good...





No one had any idea that the fecal matter was about to collide with the rotary oscillator...

As such, the Guard troopers went about their business.  2 of them got out of the Humvee, to go around to the back to grab the barricade parts.  Another stayed in the drivers' seat, while Sarge manned the .50-cal.



While the stray dogs were ignoring the now 2 looters on the front porch of the house (the dogs must have been rooting around some roadkill), a 3rd looter crawled out a window to get to their (presumably) stolen pick-up.  That one, apparently, didn't like and/or trust dogs.  One pair of the police thought that suspicious, stopped their car, and got out to investigate.  The other police, having just heard shots fired from the direction of the house where the Cold Bloods were, hit their lights and siren and sped off to respond to that.  They decided to drive around the Guard checkpoint, in spite of the newly set-up barricade and warning sign...

   

The Feds had pulled into that driveway to check things out there.  2 went left, and 2 went right, including their boss.  He, of course, got out, took off his sunglasses, and assumed a commanding air...



The 2 Guardsmen manning the barricade fired warning shots across the hood of the police car, shouting orders to stop!.



The police car, responding to those shots fired, kept going.  The Guardsmen fired at the car, disabling it.  The police got ut to confront the Guardsman.  It was then, a heat burst hit.  One of the Feds had wandered into the woods by the house they were checking out, and tripped an anomaly, releasing a heat big ol' burst.  He dropped, out cold (hot?).  A Guardsmen went down from the heat, and a few other folks nearby got a bit woozy.  And three of the 4 dogs dropped dead from heat stroke.  One of the SCP ERT guys popped the top hatch of their Bearcat, as they approached the confrontation between the Guard and the cops.  The SCP ERT had serious issues getting their detectors to work, but did manage get a brief reading from the abandoned pick-up near the intersection.

 

The police who had stopped to check out the looters got into a largely ineffectual gunfight with them.  The 4th dog, now crazed from the heat, had charged into the house to attack the looters.



The shots fired that the cops had heard, and tried to respond to, came from a Cold Blood, who was lurking around that house.  He had seen someone inside, and opened fire through a broken window, wounding that person.  The other Cold Bloods went inside to see what the deal was.  They found a punk in a hoody, lying on the floor with a gunshot wound, and NOT in a good mood.  After the punk in the hoody told them that there wasn't anything around there (he lied), he the told them to go f*** themselves.  It took all three Cold Bloods to beat him up, and 2 were injured for their troubles...



The Guardsman who went down from the heat recovered, and got into a pissing contest with one of the cops (the local cops were getting tired of the Feds and the Army coming into their jurisdiction swinging their, um, manhood around... ).  The SCP ERT blew past the Guard checkpoint as well.  This time, Sarge lit up the SCP Bearcat with his .50-cal, damaging it.  The SCP's driver managed to keep from crashing, and got the bearcat into position next to the abandoned pickup.



Things kept getting more screwed up.  The looters had killed the 4th dog, and had all fled the house and gotten into their pickup (save for one who had already fled from the cops.  Maybe he had a warrant out on him).  The driver put it in reverse, and hit the gas, trying to ram the cop car through the split-rail fence.  Then fence didn't budge...and did I mention that the gunfight between the cops and the looters was pretty ineffectual?  But wait - there's more.  A civilian car drove up 18 from the SW, and slowed as its occupants took it all in.



The clusterf*** at the checkpoint continued, with arguing and periodic gunfire punctuated by grenade blasts from the SCP's grenade launcher (one such blast blast took Sarge out of the fight).



Over at the Feds, the Boss and an agent made their way through the trees toward Rt. 18, while a 3rd dragged their unconscious agent toward the SUV.



That's it for now.  Stay tuned for PART 2:  Where the Hell Did They Come From?

[Spinal Tap]

Absolutely fantastic.

This thread never disappoints and is improving post by post; you have a great talent for both world building and storytelling.