The Missus Would Thrive in the Zombie Apocalypse! (Oh and a newpodcast!)

"Turns out I’m a bit of a dud when it comes to battling the undead whilst scavenging for supplies, as our most recent game of Zombicide would attest to. Its been a few weeks since we managed to squeeze a game, both my better half and I being a tad busy to think about battling the legions of undead however we decided to have a nice relaxing game last Saturday and played one of the smaller missions (mission 4).

This one is supposed to be played in 90 minutes however it took us a good 2.5 hrs to complete, however we did actually complete it which makes a change. It only uses 4 of the map tiles however it does use both the rotating door and several door switches. The objective is for the survivors to leave the prison and cross the road to a workshop to obtain the welder (presumably to fortify their sanctuary). The nasty part is that you have to activate the rotating door and then use the violet switch to open another door, however the violet switch activates a zombie spawn point in the same room that the rotating door switch is in. Therefore you have to leave someone behind, whilst the rest of the party battle through the hordes and retrieve the welder, get back in to the prison and shut the doors!

Well we managed getting to both switches no problem however by this point a big crowd of zombies were loitering right outside the prison door (a few fatties and an abomination included). Now normally when you get such a big swarm at a choke point like this you find the bottles and gasoline and Molotov cocktail their asses! However we couldn’t find any bottles (grrr) so plugged instead for battling through, leaving two of my characters behind to manage the doors and zombies that would be spawning in the prison once the violet switch was activated.

So how did it all go wrong Ste? Well it didn’t, at least not for the missus who bludgeoned her way through the rotting horde and made a bee line for the objective, clearing the streets in the process. However the survivor I had sent with her team was beaten down and returned as a Zombivor, but he was useful backing her team up.

Meanwhile I cocked up my movement leaving one of my survivors as zombie bait and she was dragged down and returned as a very wounded Zombivor. My remaining team member then miraculously found some bottles and promptly Molotov’d the room to clear the way to the rotating door switch so I could let the other team back in. Unfortunately this also meant I lost my poor Zombivor (so I’m down to two team members now, one of which smells bad and grunts a lot).

So there you have it, my team got beaten silly while my wife’s team were on their way to rivalling Rick, Darrell and Michonne as uber zombie killers.

(I don’t think we’ll play using the zombivor resurrection rules in furture, doesn’t feel right. Once you’ve been scoffed you’re dead!)

 

Oh and if you like zombie apocalypse stories then here’s a link to a free radio style drama podcast in the same vein as The Walking Dead. I’ve been enjoying this whilst painting for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. Each episode is about 15 mins and they’re broken up into chapters of 3 episodes. They finally finished the story at chapter 48 so my poor math skill calculates that there are 144 episodes running to 36 hours.

http://www.werealive.com/episodes/

Arghhh the Apocalypse is Coming!

Before you all go running for the hills with your canned goods and firearms let me clarify that it’s only coming to the kitchen table in my house. You see I’ve been working on my significantly better half for a while on the idea of gaming. Now I know I will never (ever, ever, ever) get her into true tabletop wargaming and all that involves (list building, a lead/plastic mountain and the ridiculous pursuit of the ‘perfect’ ruleset) I have finally achieved some buy in and recently bought the below:

On a whim a few birthdays ago I requested the first season of The Walking Dead which someone duly provided (wrapped in nice shiny kids wrapping paper with lovely little toy cars on it!). My wife was a little perplexed as neither of us had seen any of it or heard anything about it however I was having a few apocalypse gaming urges and thought this may provide some much needed inspiration. So we popped on the first episode one night and settled down with a cup of tea and a biscuit (not those crazy Rich Tea ones though as they dissolve if you try and dunk them!). 15 minutes in and we were both riveted. 3 hours later we’d devoured the first disc and a full packet of Digestives and three cups of tea. And so the obsession began.

Unfortunately we also moved to the other side of the planet at the same time so have been unable to keep up with developments in the world of The Walking Dead and have only now acquired the season 4 box set and seen none of the currently airing season 5 (so keep your mouths shut!!!)

And so we arrive at Zombicide. I’ve played it a few times and really enjoyed the Prison Outbreak version, so a quick chat after a really brutal episode of Walking Dead and my wife says “hell yeah I’ll play a zombie game”.

So I called in to a local hobby shop and acquired a copy of said game and a few days later we cracked through the first scenario, my wife having her doubts. However within half an hour she was punching the air as we cut down a fattie and two walkers to clear the path to one of the objectives.

I’ve also ordered a copy of Across the Dead Earth as I’ve been watching the development quite closely (thanks Simon – brummieswargamingblog.blogspot.co.uk) and like the mechanic as well as the setting (gun fights in a ruined Tesco – hell yeah!). I’m hoping they manage to get the zombie add on up and running and then I can pretend to be a British Rick Grimes charging about looking emotionally tortured whilst kicking butt!

Moving House Sucks

I hate moving house, it really impacts your free time and enthusiasm to actually do anything. Over the last two weeks my wife and I have been thoroughly absorbed with packing boxes and moving between two houses whilst desperately trying to amuse two young children. Now that we’ve finally done the shift, got all our possessions to the new house and almost got everything squared away we can restart our hobbies etc.

Now there’s the darn problem. I have lots of things on my to do list (IHMN buildings and board, my new adventuring company (Professor M and the Brotherhood of the Black Moon), Flames of War US Para company, Bolt Action DAK and many other things sitting on the sidelines. Unfortunately I can’t find the sidelines or identify a suitable place to set anything up. So all my mini’s are stashed in no particular order all over the house and I’ll probably spend most of the Xmas period trying to find them again.

So how am I going to amuse myself whilst sorting through the chaos….hmmmmm. I know, play a silly board game.

 

“Bleurghhhhhhhh” groaned the zombie as it shambled aimlessly through the open door of the prison complex followed by twenty six others.

“No problem” I thought nervously fingering my meat cleaver as I heard James running back from the control room to aid me.

“GWARRRRRRRRRRRRR” screamed the abomination as it battered its way  through the decaying corpses, eager to tear me limb from limb

“I need new trousers” was my next thought.

“Molotov you moron” shouted James as he finally cleared the corner and saw the nightmare waiting to engulf us.

“Ooooh, fire good!”

Yes we had a rather excellent five player game of Zombicide: Prison Break last night and I have to say I’ve never had so much fun whilst sober. Last night the club was at capacity with upwards of 40 gamers frantically rolling dice and looking serious whilst in one corner of the room a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade………….. oops, sorry. It all went a bit A-team there.

Seriously though I can see this becoming a staple of our gaming calendar as there are multiple levels to the game play, cooperative being the most rational however the temptation to attack other survivors when they find something good, or even deliberately tempt Zombies into a room and then close the door is a too much to resist.

I may lose friends!!!!