The group ventured out to Miniature Market Cave Springs for something fitting the Halloween season with a scenario using “One Hour Skirmish Wargame Rules”. Our players took teams of survivors of zombie apocalypse as they looked for supplies at the summer camp of “What’s A Matta U” (anyone remembering Rocky & Bullwinkle would be right on track here). The data center wastewater recovery project headed by Nobel Prize winning chemist and world renown knife throwing champion Dr. Leroy Shaw had gone horribly wrong and now the grad students were wandering the campus and camp looking for more live victims to devour….
Jay was kind enough to take a few notes and send some great photos of the event and we will turn the narrative over to him…..
“The semi-retired crew got together to do some Halloween style gaming and Kevin had just the scenario for the occasion. While not exactly historic, we did manage to celebrate the history of spooky things for the Halloween season and certainly a zombie outbreak fits the bill. Besides, with a scenario title of “Red Means Dead” what could go wrong?“
“Kevin set up the scenario using One Hour Skirmish rules (tweaked a bit here and there). Miniatures were printed by DJ and painted by Kevin with the terrain being made/sourced from several different locations. The scene is at a summer camp named Whatsamatta U of Whatsamatta U college fame. (If that name sounds somewhat familiar and you can’t quite place it, the college boasts a certain moose and squirrel as graduates). A zombie outbreak has taken place and some locals have heard rumors of food in some of the caretaker buildings. Several teams of people working independently arrive on the grounds of the camp to check these rumors out. Unfortunately, each group is sort of out for itself. Players included DJ, Bill, Steve, Jay and Chris. Kevin was the GM while Gregg took care of the zombie squads soon to roam the grounds.”
“Each team got to pick characters from some generic sounding names like lumberjack, average Joe, biker, nurse, police officer, rodeo girl, cheerleader, etc. Each had special abilities to help out on the hunt for food and to help their team win. 3 of the teams come in on vehicles (car, flatbed truck and a box truck with a pizza catapult on top). The vehicles were restricted to either the road or next to the road as the ground was quite soft. In addition to the 3 vehicles, DJ had the only special ops character who happen to be packing some explosives for blowing up zombie spawn points. The mission was to come on the board, get to the buildings and scrounge as much food as possible and then escape off the map. Zombie spawn points are set up by the players around the board in such a way as to try to impede other player teams.”
“One hour skirmish rules are fairly simple and use a regular deck of playing cards. Aces are low and you draw for player initiative to see who goes when and also for how many action points your unit gets. Combat is also resolved by cards with the high card winning. A joker appearing will immediately end the turn and cause a check to see if downed characters either recover or are actually dead. Each deck has 1 joker in it and each player plus Gregg have a deck.”
“With that, we get things underway. For the first turn, the players essentially start pushing in from where they started along the edge of the board. At the end of the first round, our first batch of zombies spawn and hit the table. Chris observed that the zombies were moving unrealistically based on historical movement of zombies. Kevin made a note while the rest of the table snickered.”
“Round 2 sees Jay try out the pizza catapult. (Catapult actually works and sent a pizza flying a good distance. Note for Kevin: I checked with the lawyers and you need to put cautions and warnings on that catapult). Unfortunately, the catapult shot missed a group of zombies by a lot and fortunately didn’t hit any of the players in the area. Jay’s average Joe snarls up at his catapult crew atop the truck of a rodeo gal and cheerleader and encourages them to do better. Apparently if nothing else, average Joe was a heck of a motivator as we shall see. DJ promptly shows how it is done as his biker shotguns 4 zombies at once. The turn comes to a close on Bill’s turn as he draws a joker. During the clean up phase, 3 of the zombies are shown to be dead dead, but other new zombies spawn.“
“Turn 3, DJ promptly pulls a joker leading us to Turn 4. Jay has average Joe, a lumberjack and policeman moving up towards the building from the previous round when they are rushed by zombies. Average Joe knocks the first one into next week and wiffs on the second one, going down. It happens to be Jay’s turn next after the zombies, so the lumberjack revenges Joe, but the policeman’s efforts at first aid are in vain on Joe. Seeing their leader go down, the pizza catapult crew is inspired to find the range and bean a zombie with a perfect pizza shot, removing the zombie from play. One of Jay’s last cards drawn is a joker, which ends the turn. Unfortunately Jay’s average Joe is lost as he flunked the end of round card draw. (I drew a red card and of course, red means dead).”
“Turn 5 opens with Bill smoking a couple of zombies while moving to help Chris. (Bill started on the far side of the board, so has a long way to go). DJ’s biker continues to do work with the shotgun that results in another 2 zombies getting knocked down. DJ’s special ops guy plants his first charge and it successfully blows up the spawn point. Jay manages to have just one action point so the catapult crew tries their luck again with death by pepperoni and surprisingly splat another zombie. Steve and Chris get assaulted by zombies this turn and Steve gets his nurse knocked out while Chris has one of his characters go down and seems just about to be swarmed under by several zombies in the area. Both Steve and Chris fight back with Steve knocking out a zombie and Chris knocking off two zombies.”
“Round 2 of turn 5 opens with a joker drawn. Steve loses his nurse (drew a red card) and more zombies spawn. Chris has his characters hurt earlier recover. Unfortunately for the players, the next two turns have a joker drawn on initiative which essentially result in zombies getting two more spawn draws. (Lucky us). Turn 8 opens with Jay and another player moving before Chris draws a joker ending the turn and spawning more zombies. (Thanks Chris!).”
“Turn 9 opens with Jay getting his lumberjack into one of the buildings and starting the forage process. Steve is close behind with DJ in the area as well. DJ’s special ops guy blows up another spawn point. Jay’s catapult crew scores another zombie pizza kill. (That is 3 in a row after the first miss). Unfortunately, Chris has his crew get mostly wiped out by a massed zombie attack originating out of the grave yard. (There were multiple spawn points placed there). Bill had to depart as well, so his characters ran back off the board.”
“Round 2 sees Chris make a heroic stand but gets wiped out. (GM Note: Well deserved for questioning the historical accuracy of the scenario) Steve gets a person in with Jay’s character and does some foraging of his own. Jay also moves in his police officer as well and does some more forage work. DJ heads for the other building as the players become aware of a mass of zombies headed their way and realize it is time to finish up and get out of camp.“
“Round 3 sees Jay forage one more time before setting up to depart. The catapult crew is out of regular pizza ammo, but has a special Hawaiian pizza with pineapple loaded up to distract a group of zombies headed for the players. The pizza is launched and lands in the perfect spot to distract the great majority of zombies. The catapult crew went 4 for 4 after that first ugly miss, so apparently average Joe was a heck of a coach. Late in the round, Steve decides to clean out Jay’s crew in the building of their foraged gains and attacks. This enraged Jay’s lumberjack who promptly killed 3 of Steve’s guys.”
“Round 4 has Steve wins initiative and Steve’s policeman manages to kill Jay’s lumberjack. Jay tries to return the favor with his policeman but draws a joker to end the turn. In between, DJ’s crew is busy looting the other building, but the zombies are coming soon. “
“Turn 10 Steve wins initiative again, but his policeman loses to Jay’s police officer who then gathers up all the loot and makes a run for the truck. DJ is not far behind. The zombies “race” off in pursuit while some other zombies nab DJ’s special ops guy.”
“Jay wins initiative and manages to get his policeman to the truck and they then move out. DJ is also trying to leave but has several of his crew caught and slaughtered by the zombies. DJ does manage to get his cheerleader off the board as well. Of the 24 characters the players started I think only 8 got away.”
“After the game ended, we had a debrief session and feedback for Kevin. Some very serious realistic questions came up like why were pizzas being used as ammo if the objective was to find more food? Kevin patiently took notes. All in all, everyone seemed to have a great time with this special “historic” scenario and I can see this one become a seasonal favorite.”
Thanks to Jay for the photos and write up these are always engaging. A Thank You to all the players who came out to enjoy a fun evening of gaming. As always we extend our ongoing appreciation to Miniature Market Cave Springs for their continued support.
Remember to shop local!
Big Muddy Historical Game Alliance of Greater St. Louis
Our public educational demonstrations including rules and game evaluation sessions use historical miniature and historical board gaming to explore military history, historical decision-making, and the people, places, and events of the past.
Historical Gaming in Action is a public educational program presented by the Big Muddy Historical Game Alliance of Greater St. Louis.
Using miniature figures, terrain, maps, historical research, and guided play, our games explore military history through the decisions faced by commanders, soldiers, and communities. Visitors can examine the table, ask questions, learn about the historical setting, and—when space and time permit—join the game.
Our scenarios are based on historical sources. While game rules simplify some details for practical play, each event is designed to encourage discussion of historical events, geography, leadership, logistics, strategy, and the human experience of conflict.
Historical gaming can be both enjoyable and educational. Big Muddy provides public educational demonstrations, seminars, and convention programming that promote historical miniature gaming and military history.
