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

[mikedemana]

It was a fun game.  As CapnJim says, I played the Feds. About midway through the game, I honestly thought my federal agency had played a weird game of "telephone." That there were no Lizardmen and that the Cold Bloods were the actual Lizardmen I was supposed to grab and bring one back for examination. The boss and another agent were on the way (on foot) to go grab one of Jason's guys, which I am sure they wouldn't cooperate in.

Needless to say, you know how wrong I was... 

I'll post some pics after Jim finishes the report. I don't want to spoil any surprises. 

Mike Demana

[Doug ex-em4]

Another enjoyable AAR and another good looking game. But something tells me this is an hors-d’oeuvre and the main meal is yet to come. I’ve got to be honest, I’m waiting for the lizardmen…..! Still, it gives me time to work out who is who and where each who is and which who is fighting the other who.

This is multi-player skirmish gaming done the way it should be. Part 2 please.

Doug

[CapnJim]

Thank you, Gentlemen!  Now let's finish our convoluted story...

Part 2:  Where the Hell Did they Come From?

While the scrum at the roadblock went on (and on, and on), and the local cops and the looters were trying to have it out over by that house, and the Feds were dealing with their issues, the 3 Cold Bloods had just finally managed to beat up that poor unarmed punk with the hoody in the 2-story house.  The 4th Cold Blood went upstairs to see what he could find up there.  BUT, the tussle in the house caught the attention of the until-now undiscovered occupants of the barn.  They came out of the barn, and headed for the house to see what they would find there.  The Lizardmen were on the loose!

 

Meanwhile, the local cops who were arguing with the Guardsmen knocked a Guardsman to the ground unconscious, and backed away toward the tractor out in the nearby field.  Three SCP ERT men unassed their broke-dick bearcat to check out the anomaly in the bed of the pickup.  National Guard gunfire dropped the SCP guy who got to the pick-up's bed first.



And then, as if the first heat burst wasn't enough, another one swept through the area.  This time, it hit the SCP ERT and the Guardsmen particularly hard.



The Fed's Boss and his 2nd made their way through the trees to Rt. 18, while their 3rd had dragged their heat stroke victim to their SUV.  He stuffed his fellow crewmember into the SUV, got in himself, and backed out of the drive onto Rt. 34.



At this point, 2 more civilian cars came on the scene, one from the southwest on Rt. 18, and another from the east on Rt. 34.  The car coming up Rt. 18 (the red one) slowed, trying to figure out how to to get past this mess.  The one coming in on Rt. 34 (the orange one) became the target of the tan lizardman.  Too bad for the Lizardman.  He misjudged his lunge, and got hit by the car, taking him out of the fight.  The orange car's driver panicked, lost control of the har, and careened into the SCP's bearcat, wrecking both vehicles.  The 3 green lizardmen headed that way, smelling blood.  The SCP Sergeant had his back to the whole thing, focusing on the anomaly in the bed of the pick-up.  He had, moments before, treated his downed man in the pick-up, and that guy retreated into the safety of the bearcat. 

As those Lizardmen came out of the barn earlier, the 3 Cold Bloods downstairs at the house wisely beat feet to their truck, leaving their 4th man upstairs to his own devices.  That guy would be taken down by a lizardman as he tried to flee the house.  The 3 Cold Bloods hauled ass in their truck across the street and into the field there.  They took pot-shots at the local cops taking shelter at the old tractor as they drove by.  Now, both of those local cops were down.





The driver of the red car hesitated, still trying to figure out what to do.  The local cops who had been after the looters watched as the looters backed away from the fence, and went over the the house where the Feds had been.  The looters had hoped to find loot there.  They didn't...



The Lizardmen opened fire on the SCP Sergeant, and one of the Lizardmen jumped him, and took him out of the fight.



It went from bad to worse.  The Lizardmen's rampage continued, as they swarmed the orange car and the SCP Bearcat.  And, 2 giant crabs scurried out of their hole under that tractor.  One of the local cops had recovered a bit from his injuries, and tried to get away from the crabs.  Unfortunately, one of the crabs caught him...that was it for that officer.  The other crab tied to chase after the Cold Bloods' pick-up, but they got away.

Meanwhile, the driver of the red car decided to try to get past the Guard roadblock, but lost control of his car while doing so.  The car spun out, blowing right through the barricade, and narrowly missing the Guard's Humvee.  Since it appeared everyone was ignoring their checkpoint, the Guardsmen just left (leaving one of their own just lying there, alone and out of action).





The Fed's SUV arrived on scene on Rt. 18.  The Fed's boss and another man went through the trees to see what they could find, and to their amazement, they found an unconscious actual Lizardman!  They dragged him back to their SUV, and bundled him inside it.







And then, as if this story wasn't convoluted enough, the crabs attacked the Lizardman, and the they all duked it out.



At this point, the humans had had enough.  The remaining Guardsmen had already left up Rt. 18.  The Feds followed them out.  The local police who had tussled with the looters had thought about trying to rescue the cop who was attacked by the giant crab, but once the crab took care of him, they slammed their cruiser in reverse, and back on out of there.  The 3 Cold Bloods split the scene, as well, following the cops out.  The looters, pissed that there wasn't anything in that last house they ransacked, got in their truck, and left west on Ft. 34.

That just left the SCP ERT.  Well, the 2 who were still up locked themselves in the tits-up bearcat.  They just waited for some kind of help to show up, while the crabs and the Lizardmen went at it just outside.

Oh yeah - the civilians.  The driver of the orange car, after watching a Lizardman shred his passenger, had gotten out and ran for his life.  The 2 civilians in the red car, just rolled their windows up, locked their doors, and soiled themselves...

And that concludes our story.  I will post an epilogue (maybe even later today), as this little incident definitely shakes things up in the PEZ...

[hubbabubba]

Great AAR, thanks for posting.

[mikedemana]

Here's my take on the action...  Staring out with a photo of Capn Jim posed in front of his Toy Box! 



I was playing a crew of four from an unnamed government agency driving in a black SUV (of course). My goal was to investigate reports of "lizardmen" in the zone, and if possible, bring one back alive or dead to study. I wasn't friends or enemies with any of the other five factions played by Jenny, Ted, Mike S, Jason, or Keith. In fact, my briefing said I was fairly "dismissive" of them! Jenny was a Michigan National Guard unit rotating in to keep trespassers out of the zone. Ted's group was another army unit taking on a semi-independent role exploring the exclusion zone. Mike S was the local police in two patrol cars. Jason was the "Cold Ones" -- Eastern Europeans who have been mutated by their forays into other exclusion zones and show up to loot them. And speaking of Looters, Keith was simply local looters hoping to score some stuff and make some money.



The action began when Keith's looters were accosted by the zealous local law enforcement, who saw one of Keith's guys suspiciously exit a home via the window. The two would engage in a running gun battle which saw none of Mike's officers or Keith's looters actually get knocked out of action! Shooting was very Hollywood style (LOTS of misses!). Meanwhile, my government SUV passed them by and parked in a driveway between two patches of woods. Two of my agents got out to investigate each patch of woods. We were looking for Lizardmen, and animals live in the woods, right?



What we found was not what we were looking for, as an "anomaly" sent a massive heat blast scorching its way across the board. Apparently, these happen frequently enough in the exclusion zone that we'd been warned about it in our briefings. Of course, it happened right after my four guys exited the air-conditioned SUV! The agent nearest the anomaly was knocked out of action, two others were wounded, and the leader momentarily stunned. Similar effects happened to everyone else on the board not inside an air-conditioned vehicle (or not a Cold One -- Jason's guys were apparently immune).



The wounded agent spent several turns dragging the unconscious one back to the SUV, plopping him in the back seat, and getting back behind the wheel. Meanwhile, my leader and his pal explored the other woods, finding nothing. My leader, skeptical from the beginning about "lizardmen," began to think that a giant game of "telephone" had taken place at his agency. You know the game, right? Someone at one part of a circle whispers something to his neighbor, who is supposed to repeat it to the next in line. By the time it makes its way back around to the original one, the message is unrecognizable. Hmmm. "Cold Ones?" Lizards are cold blooded. Maybe I am supposed to capture one of Jason's Cold Ones? That became my leader's new goal as he worked his way through the woods.



Incidentally, in the Wiley Games rules, you can heal wounds/stun with a Queen of Hearts/Spades, or any Ace which you play and declare as one of those cards. Jim even included a Joker in this deck, which also acted as an Ace. On the very first turn of the game, I was given two Aces. For the next 11 turns, not only did I not receive a queen, I also did not receive an Ace in the four cards I was given each turn. That's 44 cards out of the deck of 53 with no Queen or Ace! Needless to say, it appeared that my luck was continuing from last night!



Of course, no one was paying attention to my skulking around by this point. Jenny had decided to enforce her road block in the center of the table zealously and enthusiastically. When anyone tried to pass -- including local law enforcement or fellow soldiers (Ted's faction) -- she blasted away at them, disabling their vehicles. This began a running gun battle between the rival U.S. Army soldiers and anyone else that decided to join in. Meanwhile, Keith and the local cops were continuing to fire away at each other ineffectually. Jason's Cold Ones on the far edge of the board shot a young, hoodie-wearing man when they spied him through the window. No questions -- just shoot first! Eastern Europeans!! When they went into the room to ask him where they might find artifacts, the man was unsurprisingly uncooperative. In fact, it took three of the Cold Ones several turns till the wounded local was knocked out.



About this time, Jim made a decision. He may have noticed me shaking my head every time I looked at my cards, but he decided it was time for the Lizardmen to make an appearance. REAL lizardmen! The leader of my agents whipped off his sunglasses cinematically and muttered, "I'll be damned...there really ARE lizardmen in here!" He called the wounded agent to bring up the car. He headed towards the house which Jason's Cold Ones were hurriedly vacating at the sight of humanoid lizards carrying guns. The Cold Ones piled into their pickup so fast that they left one of their own behind upstairs. The truck peeled off and headed to the opposite board edge, encountering Mike's two patrol officers afoot (their wheel had been shot off by one of Jenny's trigger-happy guardsmen). Because the local police were being played by his dad, Jason opened up on them -- of course!



The lizardmen, robbed of their cold-blooded prey, began to track down a civilian vehicle that had unwisely driven onto the tabletop. One chased the car, stuck its head inside the window, and was knocked senseless when the driver floored it and smacked him with the car as it sped away. The other lizardmen were having none of that and chased the car. That led them straight to where the Cold One who'd escaped out the second story window was stalking the soldiers battling each other. The lizardmen proved once and for all that being reptilian beats simply having cold blood, and knocked Jason's unlucky guy out of action. The other lizards smelled blood from the gun battle raging between the two army units and stalked forward, as well.



Perhaps the most humorous part of the gun battle for me was Jenny's sergeant firing her turret-mounted .50 caliber machine gun at Ted's guy armed with a grenade launcher. Each was about 10 feet from the other, but as turn after turn went by, neither was knocked out of action.



Meanwhile, Jim had done my federal agents a huge favor. The other three lizardmen left their unconscious egg-brother laying in the dirt by the house. My agents crept as quietly through the woods, trying to remain as out of sight as they could. Once they were near the house, my leader darted out, picked up the lizardmen, and drag him off into the trees. He was joined by another agent, and together they carried the creature back to the SUV. They bundled him into the back and got ready to drive off. By the way, this was the final turn of the game. After 11 turns of drought, Jim had dealt me an Ace and a Joker! Still, it helped speed our way back to the vehicle, and make good my agents' escape from the table. Once or twice, Jenny said she'd been tempted to shoot up our SUV with her .50 caliber machine gun. However, since I wasn't bugging her, and Ted's soldiers were actively shooting back, she left me alone.



So, we decided to call it a game. Although my four agents had fired only once the entire game (long range at a lizardmen), we had accomplished our mission. I was kept entertained by the success and failures (mostly the failures) of my friends as they tried to carry out their missions. We had a more than two hour drive back home to Columbus, so we said our goodbyes and headed out. We enjoyed our two days of fun gaming in Blissfield, and were heading home with loot in the back of Mike's SUV from Michigan Toy Soldier & Figure Company (but thankfully, no unconscious lizardman!), and lots of stories to recount on the drive home.

Thanks, Jim, for having us up to your Toy Box, again! As usual, it was a blast!

Mike Demana

[Doug ex-em4]

I love the chaos; I love the visuals; I love the scenario and I love the AAR’s. Capn Jim looks exactly like I would have pictured him and in future, I won’t forget to include Capn if I address him by name - anything less would be foolish.

Mike, I’m glad you explained what the "telephone game" is. It sounds like what I would call "Chinese Whispers". Can someone tell me what SCP ERT stands for, by the way?

Doug

[Ultravanillasmurf]

]
I was playing a crew of four from an unnamed government agency driving in a black SUV (of course).

Was that a vague but menacing government agency?
.
https://topatoco.com/products/cpb-wtnv-vymga-jk

Interesting to see another side to an encounter

[CapnJim]

Thanks, fellas.  Appreciate it. 

And thanks, Mike, for you guys coming up to play, and posting your side of the story.

As for the SCP ERT, they are an Event Response Team from the SCP Foundation.  They seek out and grab anomalies for their own study and to secure them.  SCP is an acronym for Secure, Contain, Protect.

And I like that jacket...

[Storm Wolf]

Thanks, fellas.  Appreciate it. 

And thanks, Mike, for you guys coming up to play, and posting your side of the story.

As for the SCP ERT, they are an Event Response Team from the SCP Foundation.  They seek out and grab anomalies for their own study and to secure them.  SCP is an acronym for Secure, Contain, Protect.

And I like that jacket...

Ah-ha! another delver into the SCP files 

[CapnJim]

Yeah, Ted decided to go with the SCP, to give my SAE team some competition...

Now, a couple things...

1.  As it turned out, I was running an errand down in Ohio, and had the opportunity to drive through the actual intersection at where this "incident" occurred.  While I didn't perfectly replicate the actual terrain, I did a pretty good job capturing its essence, if I do say so myself, which I just did.  As I drove westward on Rt. 34, slowing down for the stop sign at Rt. 18, i could picture things like "That's where that truck drove", or "That's where the Lizardmen came out", or "That's where the cops went".  It was kinda cool...

B.  An Epilogue of sorts, by faction.  I rolled a few post-game dice to see what happened...

The National Guard:  The rest of the National Guard platoon went down from Camp Perry and secured the site to clean it up.  They found their injured Guardsman, and provided medical attention.  He would survive.  They also found the wrecked SCP Bearcat (with all 4 of its crew inside it), the wrecked police car (and the 2 injured officers lying in the field), and the wrecked orange civilian car (with a dead civilian and a scared civilian inside it).    The red car was gone.  They also found a seriously injured Cold Blood, and the 3 dead dogs lying by the street on Rt. 34.  They DID NOT find any Giant Crabs or Lizardmen.  They arranged for the police car to be towed away, and for the SCP Bearcat to be towed to Camp Perry.  They then "escorted" the 4 SCP crewmembers to Camp Perry, where which the National Guard and SCP would "have words".  The members of the Guard unit that left their assigned roadblock would be subject to Article 15 investigations.  In fact, the whole incident sparked an Article 32 investigation.

The SCP Crew:    See above.  They tried to call for their extraction team, but their radio was on the fritz.  Their 2 injured men were not hurt badly, as it turned out.  They did not require much medical treatment.

Local Police:  2 got away, and 2 were injured and see above.  The National Guard saw to their medical treatment - they would both require some more medical treatment.  The local Police Chiefs and County Sheriffs filed a formal complaint with the National Guard, and have threatened to pull their officers from patrolling their assigned areas of the PEZ.  This complaint led, in part, to the above-mentioned Military's Article 32 investigation.

The Feds from the DEI:  The Lizard man they captured was still alive.  He made the trip to the Holding Facility for Zone Critters at Camp Perry interesting,, but they got him there in one piece.  2 of the Feds required medical treatment for their injuries.

The Cold Bloods:  3 got away uninjured.  The 4th was seriously injured by the Lizardman, but he received medical care (and new quarters) from the National Guard at Camp Perry.

The Local Looters:  They all got away, with nothing more than some hot-load ammo.

There it sits for now.  There are things afoot at the actual Plumbrook site, but that will all come out in the wash in due time.   Meanwhile, my SAE30 crew will be heading back out into the PEZ not too far down the road...

We'll see how the above Epilogue affects things as we go...till then...

[mikedemana]

The Feds from the DEI:  The Lizard man they captured was still alive.  He made the trip to the Holding Facility for Zone Critters at Camp Perry interesting,, but they got him there in one piece.  2 of the Feds required medical treatment for their injuries.

Did two bigwigs from the agency come down with a little "flashy thing" to interview the folks who saw the Lizardmen? 

Mike Demana

[CapnJim]

I imagine some suits from DEI came in to "interview" those folks involved, yes...

[Mr. White]

These games look great!
How does one get access to the Toy Box?

[CapnJim]

These games look great!
How does one get access to the Toy Box?

It helps if you find yourself in SE Michigan or NW Ohio here in the States...

[mikedemana]

And if you are, let me know, too. I would love to drive up and game with you, too! Us LAF members gotta stick together!! 

Mike Demana