Sunday, March 17, 2024

The Thing - Painted!

 In prep for an upcoming event, I've been focussed on getting the figures from 'The Thing' painted up.



I have the 4 dogs left to get done, but here are the cast of players...

Macready


Windows (freaking out....again!)


Childs


Bennings


Copper


Palmer


Clark

 

Garry


Norris (bet he is infected!)


 Nauls


Dr Fuchs



Dr. Blair



I got in on the Kickstarter version & from what I've heard, managed to get all the cast. Apparently the retail version just had 8 characters in it.


Here are some closer images of them




And of course we need to have the 'THINGS!



I painted them using mainly speed paints & was trying to paint the bases to represent the green of the game board. It seems a bit light & my need either another coat or a slightly darker green brushed on.

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Stargrave - Shield Dance

 We played out 6th campaign game this past Sunday....as we hope to finally get away from Q37.

We are so close.... Having reachd the outer rim of the station, we have passed through a heavy bulkhead into a long cargo bay. The whole area appears to have been abandoned in a hurry, with palettes & crates scattered all over. There are even a couple of shuttles sitting cold & lifeless on the deck. 

 


Despite the stillness, something is still operational, as you can feel a vibration of power through the floor. Suddenly with a flash of green light, a decompression shield flashes across the bay, cutting it in half. A moment later it turns off again.

 


From one of the shuttles a figure shambles into view...it lurches forward with arms outstretched! Normally you would beat a hasty retreat, but with ammo critically low, the only way to reach your ship is across the bay.

 


Special: 

1)  At the beginning of the 2nd turn, the player with the highest initiative rolls 2d8 & checks to see where the numbers rolled land on the numbered markers. If they are on the same side or to the left or right, nothing happens. If however, they are on opposite sides, a decompression shield springs up between them.

The lead player of each turn again rolls the 2d8. This will either create a new field or remove one if the results don't allow a field.

2)  Player crews must exit off the opposite side of the board they enter from.

3)  At the end of each turn, 2 more bloater zombies arrive at random locations.

4)  Reanimation & Infection rules are in effect. See Q37 book

5)  Critically low ammo. Down to their last mags & clips, players will jam on a 1-4 when making a shooting attack. If that same crewman again jams, that weapon is out of ammo for the remainder of the scenario. If a player rolls 1-4 when throwing a grenade, they run out of that grenade type for the remainder of the scenario.

6)  In addition to bloaters, roll a d4. That many soldier zombies arrive at random locations.

7)  Random Encounters. Whenever a loot token is unlocked roll a D20. On a 10+, 2 plague zombies will arrive at random locations.

 So looking at what I could use to represent the shield walls (our table was 4'x4') I noticed these glowing bracelet packs at the dollar store. They came is several colours, but I opted to grab some green & orange. Even when the glow has faded, they still are bright enough that I will reuse them for other games.

 


My crew arrives besides another & quickly throws a force wall up. We decided as a group that if a decompression field appears, it would remove any force wall it crosses.

 


A bloater moves towards one of my crew. We used glass beads to denote infected crew members who were waiting to be forced to do a test. Something I've decided to do, is if an infected crewman can manage to participate in 5 scenarios & pass the tests, they will lose 1 will & gain the High Pain threshold, retaining all their other abilities (ie, specialist soldier)

 


Dan's crew had a lot to deal with initially. He had the misfortune of seeming to have zombies spawn behind his crew most of the game.

 


Cutting it close with bloaters. Luckily I managed to pull back & was able to drop the bloater without it exploding.

 


Scotts & Craigs crews advance towards their own goals. The green tokens are being used to show those who have jammed weapons. We had a lot of jamming going on which really fit the narrative of being down to last bullets.

 


Where's Chen?....Oh never mind, if you see smoke, thats likely where Chen is....


Finally a decompression wall appeared, cutting one of my crew off on the wrong side. Sadly it was the only one that arrived & blipped out the following turn.

 


By this time, the centre was getting quite busy with crews trying to get across the table.


As it was getting late, we called the game, with most crews still trying to cross. Alas those who didn't manage it, lived, though didn't garner the extra xp.


We chatted about the next step of the campaign, where I gave the players the option of having the 2nd series of scenarios on another planet. There are a lot of infected crewmen who will be hiding their 'scratches' so there is potential to see more zombies. Otherwise we will be heading to hunt bugs at the end of April. 

Some takeaways for the scenario for next time...

Have the shields appear left, across or right. The only way not to have a shield appear is to have the numbers from the same side rolled. This will make table setup very challenging with the shuttles. Perhaps switching those out for a couple of small movers or lifts would work.

 

Thanks for following along

 

Monday, February 26, 2024

Stargrave Q37 - The Power Conduit

We had everyone out (6 players) for our latest Q37 Campaign game. This time it was the Power Conduit scenario. We played pretty much as stated in the book, however as with all scenario's, I add a bit more to compensate for the number of players.

 Scenario: Managing to break free from the Zombie hordes, you discover that due to the incomplete maps downloaded of the station, you've been forced to take alternate routes to get back to the ship. Moving through the mostly deserted corridors you begin to detect high levels of background radiation. 

 

Finally you emerge into a huge chamber dominated by some kind of large tower that runs from the cieling down into a well in the floor. According to your scanners, the radiation is coming from the tower, but seems different. This must have been an experiment in an alternative power. If you could access & download the information, it would likely prove quite lucrative.

 

As stated, we played as per the book with the following additions;

1) Reanimation & Infection rules are in effect.

2) Low Ammo. Without being able to restock, ammo is getting critically low. Players who roll 1-3 when performing a shooting attack will jam. If the same character rolls 1-3 again, that weapon is out of ammo for the remainder of the game.

3) Random Encounters: Whenever a loot token is unlocked, roll a d20. On a 10+, 2 plague zombies arrive at different locations.

4) Sealed Doors. All doors are sealed, but can be unlocked by either picking or hacking (TN:14). The doors can be closed again by performing another successful picking or hacking.

5) Sensor Lock: The radiation is wreaking havoc on your sensors. At the start of turn 4, each player rolls to determine their exit point. A roll that exceeds the exit point tokens, another player decides where you exit.

 



So off to a slow start for my band, as we spent 2 turns trying to get the door hacked.

 


Meanwhile the other crews were making good time moving towards the power tower. All the soldier zombies were causing a bit of grief for some, as a couple crewmen were taken out by the toxic ammo.

 


However the zombies were also having to deal with weapons jamming & they would stand there squeezing the triggers with nothing happening.

 


Craig's crew had an unwanted guest show up & took down one of his crew. He spent a couple of turns trying to take out this annoying fellow.

 


Dan's Captain makes a run for the bridge. At the same time I had taken control of one of his robots.

 


Dan's Captain gets to the top ( a few turns later) & did manage to unlock the console for the data. As he began downloading the data, an errant shot by the controlled robot struck the tower (20) & caused a massive explosion, destroying the data. The blast also took out a couple more data loot as well as a few crew.

 


As the various crews made their escapes...the lonely controlled robot remained, its batteries (hitpoints) low & stuck on the tower island.

 


It was a fun game that ended with a BLAST! I know we will have a few more infected joining the game, as we continue trying to get back to the ship.
 

Saturday, February 24, 2024

Zombicide - It's a survival thing!

I brought out Zombicide to the club last Tuesday. Setting up for the first scenario in the campaign, we chose our characters from the original 6 & as I had several players whom had never played, set about a quick overview, before we unleashed the zombies.

 


So, what can I say. Phil (aka Kurt) started off right away with an AAAaaahhh card!

 


Then he broke his weapon, this became a theme for him, as every weapon he grabbed, must have been a cosplay knockoff & they inevitably broke.

 Ned had lost the keys to his survivor bunker & had to smash through the door...


We did manage to get everyone together & decided to open the doors to the main central building while things were still in the blue. 



Alas things were going....ok, however we ran out the clock & had to end the game before we could reach the victory conditions. So we've opted to have a replay next time I bring it out to launch the campaign again. Now that most of the players have the game down, it should go much quicker. Hopefully we get our sixth player so that Kurt doesn't get to double down on destroying weapons again 😂

Hope everyone enjoyed this game!

 

 

Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Stargrave - Q37 Zombie Shoot

Sunday was our 2nd scenario of the Q37 series. This time we had 4 crews competing.

Scenario:

After the fight at the Medlab, you returned to your ship & patched your crew as best you could. Speaking to your crew, you decide that another foray into this complex could be quite lucrative. This facility was obviously very hush-hush & who knows what lays hidden within, only awaiting those bold enough to discover them.

 


Alas your venture hasn't gone at all well. No matter how many you've put down, there just seem to be more of the walking corpses around every corner. Your ammo is running low & if you don't get back to your ship soon, you might be down to using knives. Your only path to the ship lies through some maintenance shaft hatches in a chamber filled with zombies!


Special Rules: 

1)  All crew members must exit through a hatch. The hatches are locked, but can be picked or hacked (TN16) to open them.

2)  Reanimation & infection rules apply. All infected crewmen are marked with a token. Once they perform a test, the marker is removed. If passed they haven't turned......this time.

3)  Low Ammo. Players who roll a 1 or 2 for a shooting attack jam their weapon. If the same crewman rolls another jam, that weapon is out of ammo for the remainder of the scenario.

4)  The Shambling Dead. At the end of each turn, 3 soldier zombies arrive at different spawn points.

5)  Random Encounters. Whenever a loot token is unlocked roll a D20. On a 10+, 2 plague zombies arrive at different spawn points.

6) Sealed Doors. All the doors are locked (TN14). They can be either picked or hacked to open. Doors can also be closed again, however it will require another successful TN14 test.

Loot & XP:

Roll for loot as usual, however if a player rolls advanced technology, they may choose to roll on the Q37 advance tech list.

XP is gained as normal with the following additions

+5xp for each crewmember who exits through a  hatch

+20 xp for each hatch unlocked by the crew

+5 for each door unlocked by a crew (can only be earned once for each door)

 

The Central chamber with 12 plague zombies!

 

My crew arrives & makes for the first door

 

Dan's crew enters. I realize I don't have all the crews names written down!

 

Chen's crew

Craig's crew

Soldier zombies make their appearance


The crew's are managing to get through the doors. I've helped another crew decide the path they should take by a force wall.


Craig's crew bursts into the centre chamber first!


Chen & Dan filled the room outside the centre chamber, discussing who should go in first.


With many grenades, the zombies were whittled down quite quickly. This was getting near the end where all crews were able to unlock & make it into the maintenance chambers.

All the crews managed to get out. There were several new crewmen who became infected from the bullets of the plague soldiers. I have 2 of my specialists now infected. Hopefully they survive from turning as there are no opportunities to replace them while we explore the station.


Now its time to prepare for the next scenario! Thanks for visiting.