Post Apocalypse WW2 (or should that be post-WW2 Apocalypse?)

[Jagannath]

Just posted this on TMP, but I thought this might be a better place:

I've had an idea for a small game, and would love some advice where to start. I should add a caveat here that I'm not a historical gamer (other than a bit of pulp) as I find it restrictive – strict historical accuracy isn't my main concern.

So basically it's post apocalypse WW2. The war didn't end, it continued and continued, more nuclear weapons were used (by both sides) and the the survivors now fight in a strange mix of continued idealism (I'm thinking that all high command and and leadership has collapsed, with groups acting as they see fit) and basic survival. Warbands of deserted units, remaining civilians and any other ideas (I'm thinking Nazi scientists eager to continue their secret research, irradiated creatures, the ever classic Nazi zombies... loads of good stuff). It can also incorporate some ideas from Metro 2022, but with a postwar level of tech. I'm even thinking of stealing a few ideas from a VBCW.

So, is there anything like this setting out there? Any novels or books for ideas?

In terms of minis I'll be using 20mm I think – that way I can use 1/72 plastic vehicle kits for wrecked vehicle carcasses – I can see a battlefield arrayed like a tank graveyard.

Appreciate any thoughts.

[Cypher226]

I've been quite taken with this idea for a while:
Nuklear Winter '68

It's a traditional counter based wargame, but I've thought it could make a fascinating Stalker-esque western/central European setting for a while:

From the publisher's website:

The former German territory, transformed into a wasteland by the nuclear holocaust that ended the Second World War in 1946, is the hostile setting of a new conflict between old enemies clenched in a struggle for the future of mankind. Surviving Nazi leaders and Wehrmacht forces resurface in 1968 from underground shelters to rebuild an empire from the ashes of the world.

Oblivious to the climatic, technological and political changes inflicted by more than twenty years of nuclear winter, they are about to face the mysterious Black Hand - elusive, abhorrent masters of the wastes, and the combined might of the modern, highly mechanized and versatile NATO alliance.

The add on, Heart of Darkness, adds a load of occult/weird stuff to it as well.

[Jagannath]

So, after some input over on TMP this is the basic premise I'm working with:


April 22nd 1945. Hitler is holed up in the Fürherbunker. He becomes convinced that SS-General Felix Steiner is not going to carry out the decisive action he had ordered with the army-detachment assigned to the SS-Genral.

(Now this is where we diverge)

Declaring the war lost, Hitler decides that now is the time for his failsafe. The Nazi's being a death cult at the core, Hitler had secretly had his greatest minds, and an incredible amount of resources (possibly a self destructive amour of resources) sunk into a devastating back up for the eventuality of the war turning against them.

Much has been said of a secret Nazi moon base – a potential HQ, weapons development lab or bolt hole for the high command – but the reality was far worse.

Transmitting from the Fürherbunker to the receivers on the moon, Mondbombe Ein whirred into action. A devastating chain of explosions ripped across the facing surface of the moon, splitting away huge chunks of rock that hurtled towards the surface of the earth. In all, there were 17 major impacts, all roughly the equivalent of the Tsar Bomba or greater. Signifanct portions of the planet were flattened. Fires raged for weeks and the ash that entered the atmosphere blacked out the sun for months. Most perished.

As the skies slowly cleared, survivors began to emerge – city dwelling survivors picked amongst the frozen ruins of civilisation for whatever they could scavenge, roaming bands of dazed and disorientated soldiers – some being the tiniest remnants of entire divisions, hoping futiley to find answers and orders in a foreign, unfamiliar land, others simply armed men who had run into other armed men and decided that two guns pointing at a shared enemy was better than two guns pointing at each other. Amongst he shattered cities and scorched forests they find bands of ideologically determined Nazis, clinging to their hatred, hunting armed groups of POW's, determined to take revenge. The Nazi's other, less destructive experiments walk the dark corners of the earth, the secretive scientists who birthed them hoping for some desperate breakthrough.

The year is 1954, 9 years since the rocks fell and the world is a shattered reflection of its former self. Who could have known the war was but the beginning of humanity's darkest hours.

So that's the setting, I think it works! It gives me scope for really shattered earth – very post apocalypse stuff, some weird war and some 'a-bit' post apocalypse stuff – depending on how far the particular setting is from the impact sites.

Now, time to make some models!

[Predatorpt]

Great background, hope to see the miniatures soon

[Jagannath]

Thanks - I've got a list of 20 or so packs from various suppliers that I want to buy prettyuvh all at once, and bash them together into something much more irregular.

Hopefully I'll have he TDQ armed scientists and armed clergy to show off later this week though, they're nice as extra flavour pieces. One of the little things I'm really excitd to start working on is the mule handler from here (1st one, almost every mini will have cobbled together winter wear) :


http://www.battlefieldminiatures.co.uk/Blitz/blitzgoumiers1.htm

He'll be an itinerant trader, selling the wares he scavenged in the ruins.

[carlos13th]

Wolfienstien New Order doesn't have a post apocalypse setting but is worth looking into for some crazy what if the Nazi's won technology.

[Predatorpt]

Damn, now I remember the name of the rpg that I wanted to share:

Day After Ragnarok

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/14/14656.phtml

The premise of the apocalypse here is actually simple. You have the end of World War II, Allies closing in on Nazi Germany, and Nazi occultists trying to cast some epic ritual to save their country from its fate. Except that they actually succeed in summoning no less than the Midgard Serpent (Jormundgand) from Norse legend in an attempt to end the world and bring about a Ragnarok in which the Nordic Germans would inherit the new world. Except then the Americans decided to stop Jormundgand with their A-bomb. And when they blew it in half, the Serpent fell from Ireland on one end to Egypt on the other, pretty much flattening anything underneath. And when one end of the Serpent crashed into the North Sea, the splash sent a wave through the Atlantic Ocean that wasted the entire North American east coast. And in its death throes, the Serpent stained several continental masses with its magic evil snake blood. Which was of course rendered radioactive.

Submachine Guns and Sorcery! Mighty-thewed barbarians and grim mercenaries roam the desolate plains of Ohio. Giant snakes, and those who worship them, prowl the ruins of St. Louis. Pirates battle the Japanese invaders in the South China Sea. Bold British agents, equipped with experimental bio-technology, thwart the insidious infiltration of Stalin's humanzees. Sky-raiders strike from hidden bases in the Sahara, deros skulk in South American caverns, and the Texas Rangers fight electrical death worms to save Los Alamos. Kenneth Hite (Adventures into Darkness, Trail of Cthulhu) presents a world of savage swords and rocket men, of were-serpents and war-apes, from Australia's battered Empire to the proud city-state of Chicago

Some neat ideas there

[Jagannath]

Tidal waves! I hadn't thought about impacting in the sea. Right, I'm stealing the idea that the East cost of the US is gone - that just adds to the sense of isolation any american survivors would have.

[Benny]

I have been kicking around a similar idea for a while too. Mine was also going to borrow on the retro '50s look of the Fallout Games.
As another idea/inspiration thing the Dr Who Tom Baker story Genesis of the Daleks is great. 2 nations have been fighting for longer than anyone can remember and the soldiers on the front lines are improvising weapons and equipment. Evil scientists are creating weapons to win the war, that's where the Daleks come from. The bad guys have strong Nazi overtones and lots of WW1 and WW2 imagery.

[grendal]

more tongue in cheek than you may want but potential ideas and minis:

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/95051/atomic-cafe-1957

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=47496.msg551776#msg551776

[Cypher226]

Love the idea    Great setting, tempting me to dig out my SoTR Sovs and finish them!