Zombiecide – Prison Escape!

words and pics by Mike Travis.

Beginning of the Game

A simple task you may think. But those of you who have played the game know that the zombies spawn quickly and get more and more as you go on killing them!!

The game is team based. So as a team we cleared one section of the prison area, managing to keep the really nasty Abomination zombies, on the right side of the metal doors. Once we had searched the prison, tooled up with various weaponry, and most importantly gained the Molotov cocktail, one of the few things that can kill an abomination zombie, we opened the doors. A mass of zombies came down the passage ways and we were confident the Molotov cocktail, which eliminates all in a zone, once thrown, would do the job. However we forgot about the two action rules for one of the abomination zombies, which meant that one of the characters was overrun. Taking one for the team the Molotov was thrown and all zombies in the zone, and the character, went to meet their maker.

Come and get it!!!!

Not to worry though as, this being a more advanced game, the character became a friendly zombie with more “lives”. The game continued but had to be stopped due to time constraints.

Whilst we didn’t get to a conclusion it was a most enjoyable game and best played with a sense of humour.

Action on the way to Canneloni

words and pictures by Stuart Insch

Last night we took the opportunity to kick off a new set of linked game  set around a narrative theme of the invasion of Campari (a sort of proxy for Savoy) by the armies of Naples, using Parma as their staging point and with the inability or unwillingness of the other Italian stages to get involved due to bankruptcy or tacit approval if not actual support.

Real details will be thin on the ground as this is just a narrative for the games to sit in. It gives us an excuse to fight battles on the tabletop and that’s all that matters for now.

The scenario was picked from One Hour Wargames by Neil Thomas, which as an excellent set of maps and army selector charts perfect for the size of game that fits our Tuesday evening slot and the rules which we have developed. This scenario involved the defence of a road which passed through a choke point between a wood and small lake. Defending this position was a small force from the Duke of Campari’s forces comprising two regiments of foot, a unit of skimishers and an artillery piece. Advancing up the road towards them were 3 regiments of Neapolitan foot, a unit of skirmishes and two regiments of horse, courtesy of the random army generator! The horse were useless for the battle but made perfect sense for an advance guard.

On the left the battle got underway with the two units of skirmishes opening up a lively fire, while one of the cavalry regiments stood off to observe. In the center of the table two Neapolitan regiments advanced to try and batter their way through. On the right the third regiment tried to creep round the edge of the lake and outflank the position.

Guadalcanal for Bolt Action:

words and pictures by Stuart Insch.

We’ve been fans of Bolt Action for a while at the local club. It’s a nice simple set of rules which means it’s easy to play a pick up game. You need to be a little organised with your force and know what you have and how much points this is worth for a balanced game, but it doesn’t take much to chuck some scenery on the table and crack on.

Sometimes however you want a little more detail and depth. And so it was that we picked Guadalcanal as the setting for a series of linked game using our newly acquired Japanese and US Marines.

The Bolt Action source book “Empires in Flames” has an excellent level of introductory background detail for the whole of the war in Asia and some great scenarios. A few weeks back we played Alligator creek and the Japanese managed to sneak a squad across the river on the last turn to secure a marginal victory. Next time I will deploy my Marines on the river bank!!

Last nights game was a follow up action – The Raid on Tasimboko. After Alligator Creek the marines  sent a force by destroyer to raid a Japanese encampment and supply base. Initial reports suggested that large number of troops were deployed there but the marine CO chose to ignore this. Despite landing and passing signs of large numbers of enemy in the area the village was only lightly defended by a rearguard force. These guys still managed to hold up the raiders until they were flanked and gave them a scare by opening up with a 75mm howitzer over open sights. However the marines carried the day and secured some vital intelligence info which served them well later in the campaign.

Our game featured a scaled down version of the attack. In stead of the company level action we took down to a squad level game with two waves of two Marine raider squads attacking two Japanese squads. The Japanese defender had a number of support weapons but a limited number of personnel – crew for the weapons had to be told off from his rifle squads and counted as inexperienced when using the guns and MMG. This gave the defence a disorganised feel but didn’t cripple the Japanese player. The whole board was open jungle except for a strip down the table edge representing the beach and coast area.

The marines moved up from the jungle in two waves, one to the front and the second arriving on turn 4 from the flank. Their rifle and BAR  fire managed to keep the defenders back and pinned down while they advanced. The marines were also able to call in support fire which whilst it did not kill any defenders made them duck back with several pin markers. The Japanese 75 opened up as did the MMG  and caused some light casualties which were swiftly attended to by the marine medic.

The critical part of the game came when the crew of the Japanese 75 were driven off by a poor morale test and the marines were able to concentrate on knocking out the MMG. With that threat gone the closed to short range on both the front and flank.

It didn’t go all their own way however – a last gasp banzai charge by the defenders took out a marine squad, but by this time the rest of the defenders were dead and three marine squads were at the edge of the village. The game was over.

A fairly close result to the historical battle, even with the scaled back size of the game!