Bolt Action Zombie - scenario concept and some scenery

Over the last few days I have been making some scenery to go with my Bolt Action Zombie game idea.

 I made a couple of simple bunkers to put on the table. They might not be 100% historically accurate, but they will do the job.

Foam card bunker

Bunker with Commando peering in to show the size of the bunker

 The scenario concept

 The commandos will be sent in to destroy some bunkers and other defenses as part of a bigger raid.  These targets will be roughly centred in middle of the gaming area.

 The player will need to move the commandos in, coming up with a plan that best suits his needs in  order to get in undetected.  Once there charges are to be set and then the commandos must evacuate of a predetermined table edge.

What the player doesn't know is that there are no enemy troops in the area.  I will keep the player on his toes by making dice rolls for the alert status of the enemy, but these are bogus dice rolls used only to add suspense to the game.

a sample layout for the proposed game

 The real action will start if any shots are fired, or the explosives are set and it is time to evacuate.  By the time this happens, the player should be scratching his head wondering what is up.

A slightly clearer and closer photo of the proposed setup

As soon as a loud noise is made the zombies will start to appear. I will also place spawn points on the table to indicate where additional zombies will appear from during the course of the game. This is when the real game will start.

I have since painted up all of the dragon's teeth tank obstacles, so they are ready to go.  I though I had more wire defenses. I will need to look for these or make some more.

 I would like a guard tower or two, or at the very least, a sentry box, but not sure if I will be able to buy some or make any before I play the game.

 A few barracks or houses for the"German troops" would be nice too. As I am running low of foam card I will have to undertake an expedition to get some before I can add to my building collection.

 The entrance to an underground bunker complex might be in order too...


 In the mean time I am painting up my commandos and continuing with the play test of the Bolt Action Zombie rules.

  I also need to test out grenades in the game, as they are not included in the Bolt Action rules, and I want the player to make as much noise as he can in the defense of his figures.

Bolt Action Zomibe - a quick game before work

I played out another play test of the 'BAZ' game this morning and the results were a lot better... well better for the zombies.

Zombies move in close to a commando. His fires at them, killing one.

The zombies move in on the closest commando and attack him. Lucky for him he dodges their attack.

During this activation the attacked commando moves (read 'runs') away to a safer position, with the zombies close on his heels.

Changes made:

Zombies spawn on a roll of 5+ :  I tried this in the last game and it works well. Enough zombies appear, but not in ridiculous amounts.

 Stuns: hits that don't kill stun the zombies, removing their action for the turn. This helps balance the game a lot and gives the soldiers half a chance at surviving, but needs to be modified slightly.


Things to work on:


 Stuns: I will roll at the start of a zombie's move to remove the stuns. If successful the zombie still gets to act.  I found that stunning the zombies and having them automatically act the next turn gave them too much of a benefit. Having them make the test and then lose their turn didn't work either, as they did nothing and removed the tension. By having them make the test and then able to act should balance this out.

 Zombie kills: at this stage a zombie is only killed on a 6.  I might try playing on a zombie being killed on a 5+ and see if this balances the game or makes it uneven.  I will try the new stun system first before changing the zombie kill rule, as the stun rule may do the job needed.


Notes:
           at lot more scenery will also change the game. At the moment the commandos have a clear line of sight and can fire at maximum range.  Add in walls, buildings and plenty of cover, the zombies will be able to get a lot closer before the action starts.

Bolt Action Zombie - the findings so far

Ok, following hot on the heels of my previous post today, I have some observations on what I was doing with my Bolt Action Zombie idea.

 After about six turns none of the zombies even made it in to pistol range.  This left the commando officer standing around not doing much at all.

 The British forces were:

 1 Officer with pistol
 1 Sniper
 1 Bren Gunner
 2 SMG toting Commandos

The officer was dead weight, but had melee occurred or some game objectives needed to be reached he would have been busy.

 The sniper only had a 50% at best strike rate. He hit a lot, but only scored a couple of kills.

 The bren gunner and the SMG types were the most useful in the game, but generated a lot of noise counters for the spawn pool.

 In regards to the spawn pool - I had two turns were no zombies turned up at all, and out of eight dice in the pool, the best result for spawning zombies was three at once.

 Rather than needing to roll a 6 for a zombie to appear, I might make a threat rating that allows for different results to see a zombie appear.  Thus one could turn up for every 4 or 5+ rolled on 1d6.  My next game will have a threat level of 5+ to see how that goes.

 Zombie stuns - I think this was actually a game stopper, as it prevented any zombies from actually posing a threat to the commandos.  The zombies in the front rank were stopped in their tracks and picked off by the superior fire power - the closest a zombie made it was 8".

 To fix this, I think I will either get rid of the stuns, or change the mechanic so that they automatically go at the start of the next turn, meaning the zombies get to act.

 This should up the tension a lot as it will mean unless you kill a zombie there is a far better chance they will get into melee with the commandos.

I will play a few turns tonight with the suggested changes in play to see what happens.

Apart from that, the movement and allocation of orders/actions worked well. Bolt Action lends itself well to solo play through the use of drawing order dice, or in my case, order counters.

Edit: I just played out five turns with the stuns removed and the 5+ spawn changes.  The no stuns is a real killer - the zombies are almost upon the commandos and after about 32 shots fired, only two zombies were killed - one by the sniper and the other by the bren gunner.

 I currently have 12 zombies on the table at the start of turn 6. The 5+ spawn chance works well - more zombies, but not so many that it is overwhelming.

 I will either need to put the stuns back in, or make the zombies easier to kill, say on a 5+.  I will think about it over night and play out some turns tomorrow and post the results.

Bolt Action Zombie

It has been a long time since I have done anything hobby wise, and thus just as long since I have made a post on one of my blogs.

 I lot of real life factors have ganged up on me and taken the motivation from me in relation to my hobbies. But at last I see light at the end of the tunnel, and I even did a bit of play testing on my zombie variant for the Bolt Action rules.

  I intend to surprise my mate that I play with with a WWW2 game, so I wanted to get the mechanics of "BAZ" worked out before it is time to play the game.

 To this end, I have put a few WW2 British commandos on the table, rolled for a random number of zombies (nine in total) and played out a few turns to see how things go.

WW2 British Commandos face a new deadly opponent

 Basic mechanics for the zombie rules I am using at the moment and will be refined:

•  As this is a skirmish game, I am using the "Bolt Action Skirmish" concept I knocked together for the basis of the game, as seen on my other blog

•  Zombies move slightly slower than the living: 4" per turn 

• Loud noises attract more zombies: for every shot/loud noise made during a turn add 1 counter to a spawn pool.  At the end of the turn, roll spawn poold6. For every 6 rolled, a new zombie appears.

•  If hit, as zombie is considered pinned. This is basically a stun or a knockback depending on how you want to think of it as.  To remove this pin, the zombie must use a rally order.

• When rolling damage, a zombie is only killed on a 6+ just like soldiers are (see skirmish variant).  

• Zombies that start a game turn 2" or closer to another zombie form a group and move as one. 

• Zombies will move towards and attack the closest visible living target. If a target is hidden, they will move in a random direction each turn until they find a target, or towards the last loud noise made during the game (i.e. gun shots or explosions).

• Zombies that form groups gain +1 to melee for each zombie in the group for attacking and wounding for each zombie after the first one. Thus three zombies have +2 to hit and +2 for damage. Anymore than five zombies is considered a hoard.

• Zombie groups/hoards that  take pins leave the pinned zombie(s) behind when it moves. This may reduce the hoard to a group and a group to individuals.

• Melee is handled like shooting: attacker rolls d6 to hit, then rolls damage, if any. Defender does not return the attack as per the main rules book, but may act when it is their turn.

•  Unless up against 'super zombies' (like those in the film "Blood Snow" for example) all zombies are considered to be inexperienced, thus have Troop Quality of 8,  suffer -1 to hit when attacking and take damage on 3+.

• Living figures (civilians or soldiers for example) must pass an orders test to enter in to melee with a zombie or when attacked by a zombie. They also take morale tests on an individual basis when the unit suffers casualties.  Groups of zombies impose a -1 to the troop quality of the figure making a test, and hoards impose a -2.

• Smoke and night have no effect on zombies.

• Zombies set on fire die at the end of the turn regardless of any damage rolled for against them.

• A figure killed by a zombie will turn into a zombie on a die roll of 6 on a d6. Check each turn, adding +1 to the roll until the figure rises from the dead. Anytime a natural '1' is rolled, the figure is considered dead and will not reanimate.  Figures bitten but remaining alive stand a chance of being infected, but I will work on this for campaign games at a later date.

• Every time a zombie takes down a target, roll 1d6. On a 5 or 6 they zombie stops to feed on the hapless victim and will only return to the game if a rally test is passed.

That covers the basics of the Bolt Action Zombie rules, and I intend to add skills to the game once I work out the nuts and bolts of the game. Skills will enable individual figures to do extra damage and so on like the unit special rules.

It is these rules that I intend to use for the next PBB if and when it gets up and running. 

Hopefully my budget will allow me to get a couple of boxes of Studio Games Nazi zombies to go up against my Commandos. In the mean time my Mantic zombies will do the job.

Mojo rising

It has been a while since I last made a post. It has hard to believe that it has been months.

 I had been in a bit of a slump during this time, and one I have just been able to shake.

So, what does this mean?

It means I have started work on the Japanese zombies again and, fingers crossed, I might have them finished this week.

 Once that has been done, I can start work on the maps and then get the PBB game up and running.

 I just hope the players are still interested...

PBB3 - starting notes

The actual game will be a good number of weeks off, but I thought I would post some details as a teaser, and see how many potential players change their minds about playing once they see the setting.

 Those players that are members of "the Board of the Living Lead" could probably guess what the setting will be, as there was a bit of talk concerning what I have in mind just after Christmas.

So, to put you all out of your misery, the game is a WW2 Pacific theatre theme.

The players will take on the role of an Australian infantry section some where in the Pacific.

 This was the reason why there is only enough positions for ten players - an infantry section has ten men.

 As the players will be controlling soldiers, one player needs to take the role of the Corporal, and another that of the Lance Corporal.

 I am hoping some players will step up for these roles, but if they don't I will 'stab' two volunteers to do the job... and I have two in mind already.  Should, in the unlikely event, a number of volunteers come forth, I will 'stab' those I have in mind to get rid of any arguments.

To make it fair as to who gets what soldier I will randomly allocate the figures to players when the time comes, with the exception of the NCOs.

Now that you know who/what the players will be controlling, it should be easy to deduce what the zombies will be.

 I have just received some of Company B's Japanese zombies and they will play the part of the enemy for the game.

 The game wont begin until I have painted the zombies and created the map, and given the way I am painting at the moment it will most likely be at least a month before the game can start.

So - of those that nominated to play the game now have the chance to pull out if they find the setting not to their liking.  Any takers to sit out this game?

The people that expressed an interest in playing were:

Lord Siwoc
Mathyoo
Sean
Clint
Shintokamikaze (appropriate name given the circumstances)
Brummie
Irqan
Vampifan
Dan
Dave VanDam


For those that want to play; you need to come up with a name for your soldier.

 I will award victory points for those coming up with good Aussie names; but I will have a penalty for those going over the top when naming.  So those wanting to be known as Croc. Dundee or S. Irwin etc will most likely be eaten early in the game.
 Pick a name that is nothing close to Australian and, you guessed it, 'nom nom nom'.

(Hint - google can be your friend with the right search parameters)

As for the rules - I will be using a modified version of the Bolt Action rules which are very simply to play. Don't worry if you don't have the rules as you only need to give orders and I do all the rest of the work.

And in case any of you were wondering what Japanese zombies would say when trying to eat your tasty brains, well I have a good source that tells me it would be:

"Nō miso" or "Nō misoooooooooooo".  And no, this doesn't mean they are complaining they don't have soup.

I will do a review of the Company B zombies once I have painted a few of them up.

So, clean your weapons and sharpen bayonets lads.

The sooner I have yes or no answers for the game, the sooner I can post some background fluff for the game.

2013 and PPB 3

Well, an other year, an other zombie.

 Happy New Year to my followers, and I hope to be a bit more active on all of my blogs this year.

And part of the new year is the planning for my third Play By Blog game.

This year it will be something different.

 There will be ten spots for players in this game, so if you are interested please let me know by posting your interest in the comments below.

 I will give priority to those that have played in previous games, but those players should be aware this is a game that wont include your characters from the earlier games. (Don't worry -they will be back).

 And it will be a case of first in best dressed for positions in the game.

Also, like the other games, this is only open to followers of my blog.

 If I can't get ten players, I will ask some of those playing to control extra characters.

Players will be allocated characters by random, but if anyone is interested in playing a leader type, please let me know so I can assign figures accordingly.

 Should no one put their hand up to be the leader I will push it upon players that have shown some leadership in previous games.

  And, unlike previous games, I wont pull punches - play smart or get bitten.

 This game will be totally different to what we have played before, and hopefully a lot of fun. (Well, at least one of us will have fun regardless of how many get eaten).

Any one interested?

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all the followers of my zombie blog.  I hope you and your family have a great one and every one is safe from floods, snow storms or heat waves (depending on where you are in the world).

PBB2 After Action Review

Well, this brings and end to the second play by blog game.

 There will be another game, but not until 2013. Due to the time it takes to play I think one game a year is enough. Having said that, I am contemplating a smaller non zombie game to go on my other blog.

Who won the game? 

 Seeing as every character survived, every one won. Some might feel that it was a hollow victory though, as they didn't get to waste a lot of zombies or they are hiding upstairs, cut off from the others.

 Dan/"Robert" is the clear winner in my eyes for he played the game according to the mission briefing.

 Everyone else broke in to smaller teams to explore the neighbourhood or 'pop' some zombies. It wasn't until there were a lot of zombies appearing that a bit more of a focus on the actual mission parameters occurred.

 This did make it very entertaining though.


The turns from my point of view

 Fixing the maps so that I could move items around easily was a good move... loosing the map on my hard drive at the end was not a good move.

 It was just a pity that I didn't learn how to make the maps this way earlier on.

 At least I know what to do for the next game's map, and next time I will include objects that can be moved as well, such as chairs and sofas.


Future Games

Rules

 The next game will be played using a different set of rules.  They will be much simpler to use and rather generic in places so that they easier to play. More on that at a much later date.

Game Length

 The next game will only go for a certain number of turns. This will mean players will need to focus on the game objectives, and the game wont last for half a year.  Maybe no more than 10 turns for a game seems about right.

 Allowing for real life to get in the way of the game this would mean that a game might take more than 10 weeks to play.

*           *        *          *


I will probably think of some other points for this AAR, but this covers the basics for the moment.

Players are encouraged to add comments or suggestions about this game and others to come.

PBB Turn 17 results

I am unable to post a map for this turn as I can't find the master map that I made. I need the master map as I can move objects around the map rather create a new map each time.

The zombies rolled badly for initiative meaning every one on the ground floor was able to make it to the hatch, or next to the hatch, safely.

Therefor these players are safe from the zombies.

 Vonnie finishes her movement at the bottom of the stairs. She will need one more turn to get to the hatch, and this means risking running the gauntlet through the zombies to reach the hatch, or go back up stairs and hide away in a room until rescued.

If the zombies win the next initiative it will be very nasty... nom nom nom...

If she goes for the hatch there is a jolly good chance they zombies will grab her... nom nom nom...


Going back upstairs is the safest bet for immediate survival.