I wanted to share my Thanksgiving day game I had with my brother as we play through some of the TNT missions to get a feel for the game before we start out official campaign. We played 400bs armies in a game of Pest Control. I played my Hubologist warband (Preservers) against my brothers New California Republic Veteran Rangers (Peacekeepers).
The mission Pest Control requires each player to fight their way through waves of zombies which continually spawn from certain locations of the battle-field to seal these zombie-nests with two Strength tests stopping the flow of zombies. Each player gains 1 point for killing a zombie, 2 points for destroying a nest, 2 for killing an iraddiator zombie (which spawns on a roll of a 6), and 1 point for killing or causing a wound to the opposing warband. The zombie nests were located in the gas station, in the upper-lefthouse, in the sewers of the upper-right structure, and in the lower-left pipeworks.
Hubologists (400bs)
Lorekeeper (Motivator, Resourceful, Called Shot): Laser Pistol, Stealth Armor
Savant (Clever, Gunsmith): Zinger
Wreck-it-bot (Brute, Large, Ungainly): Two-handed weapon
Heal-o-matic (Medic, Clever)
Seeker: Submachine Gun
Seeker: Submachine Gun
Seeker: Submachine Gun
NCR Rangers (400bs)
Road Marshal (Ranger, Marksman, Gunsmith): Stealth Armor, Pre-fall Ammo, Large Caliber Assault Rifle, Pistol, Knife, Gasmask
Outrider (Ranger, Marksman): Large Caliber Assault Rifle, Riot armor, Gasmask
Outrider (Ranger, Marksman): Large Caliber Rifle, Mesh Armor
Sawbones (Medic, Survivalist): Mesh Armor, Rifle
Officer: Shotgun
The board after deployment:
The Hubologists deployed ready to take out the zombie-nest hidden in the rubble of the ruined gas station. While the NCR Rangers deployed to tackle the zombies pouring out of the house in the upper left corner. With so many zombies pouring out of the buildings, and the two warbands being so far across from each other, the two hardly interacted during this game.
The hubologists went for an early push through the waves of zombies to try and close the manhole covers leaking zombies onto the I-80. The Wreck-it-bot led the way, smashing down zombies with ease. The Rangers pushed forward but a series of quick zombies locked them into close combat. The two armies spent the early turns slowly making their way towards the buildings and killing zombies.
Finally, the Hubologists make it within range to close the manhole in the building, when a lucky rifle shot from the NCR Outrider downs the Savant. Luckily, the Heal-o-matic was nearby to restore the Savant and others to battle. The Seekers held off the waves of zombies as the wreck-it-bot pushed inside to finally close the manhole. A Seeker or two fell fighting off the zombies in close combat when their submachine guns finally jammed, despite the excellent maintenance of our weapons from the resident gunsmith. The Heal-o-matic was there to bring them back to life. In the end though, the waves of zombies were too much and two Seekers lay fallen - but the Hubologists had achieved their goals!
Things weren't so lucky for the NCR Rangers, who gunned down more than a dozen zombies, but ended up bogged down in combat and unable to close the zombie-nest. Fighting off zombies with knives and fists.
The Hubologists win 20 to 13.
The two Seekers were pulled off the battle field to safety and recovered just fine. Similarly, the fallen NCR Sawbones recovered fully.
The Hubologists sent the two robots, the savant, and a seeker out into the wastes to search for resources, treasure, and artifacts! The Wreck-it-bot failed to detect the irradiated building in time and was weakened. The Heal-o-matic came upon a lockbox rigged with explosives. But with its advanced sensors and deft array of precision surgical instruments, was able to open the box with ease and recover 35BS. The Savant discovered an old gunshop in the Sacramento ruins and successfully dug out 15BS and some rare pre-fall ammo. The Hubologists gained a whopping 118BS and pre-fall ammo this game!
The NCR Ranger outrider discovered a caravan along the I-80, but was unable to help with the travelers broken wagon. While the Officer killed a raider in the night and claimed a new sniper rifle for the warband. The NCR Raners gained 40BS a bottle of liquid bravery and a sniper rifle.
Some thoughts:
The mission - those zombies were overwhelming. Each turn d3 more zombies spawned at each nest making it incredibly difficult to push forward and claim the objectives. At the same time, it wasn't unmanageable, and was actually really fun and thrilling! Having someone or something (in the Hubologists case) with strong melee was really important to get in there and fend off zombies. It was totally fun and I really liked the Pest Control mission - even though it de-emphasizes the two players interacting to some degree. It was less cutthroat and more fun in a way.
The NCR rangers didn't fair as well as the Hubologists this game, even though they were incredibly deadly shooters and killed tons of zombies. A few unlucky jams meant they were prey for zombies. The Hubologists were able to push forward thanks to the Wreck-it-bot and the Seekers who sacrificed themselves to complete the mission. The Heal-o-matic meant that the Seekers could get back up and be consistent roadblocks for the zombie waves. I felt like my Hubologists were outmatched by the NCR Rangers in terms of combat skills and equipment, but having a more well-rounded force turned out to be of benefit.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this short-form battle report. There was a lot of action and fun moments that I didn't talk about, but I only decided to post this report after starting our game, so I didn't take pictures throughout. Once we start our campaign, I intend to have some more detailed reports that include some narrative and story.
22 February 2010, 11:24:34 PM