Monday, August 17, 2015

NIGHT OF THE LIVING PLASTIC DEAD- 2015 edition!






If anyone knows the name of the original author I would love to give credit!
That was the original intro for this Night of the living dead influenced skirmish scenario. It was published for 6th ed Warhammer Fantasy. By the time 8th ed rolled around it was unplayable as 8th made little provision for skirmish level play.  With the release of Age of Sigmar it may have found new life! Age of Sigmar (AOS) seems perfect for this level of Skirmish play with little to no adjustment to the basic rule set. At most it needs a little tweaking of starting unit size and a few situation based modifiers for the battle field.


Number of players:
1-4 Empire players and 1-2 Zombie players. The more friends the merrier!

What you'll need:
-32 Zombies...mmmmbrains..... (This is the maximum allowed on the board at once)

-4 Suitable Empire victims...er soldiers.

-Something to keep track of turns. A D20, some paper etc..

-4 foot x 4 foot gaming area

-Ruined buildings and rubble (Mordheim sets are ideal)

-2 long roads (about 4-5 inches wide) or some sort of suitable markers for use as roadways. Use sand and rocks or construction paper if you have to!

-A small central piece of scenery like a fountain (optional, but cool looking!)

-Bunch of D6's and an Age of Sigmar rule sheet



Setting up Innswich:



-On a 4x4 board place two roads that lie down the center of the board, creating a big "+" symbol. These will be mostly free of clutter, but some debris is certainly feasible!

-At the center of the table place a creepy fountain or statue. This center area of the board just screams "put something neato here!"

-The 4 square areas in-between the streets needs to be filled out with derelict building structures or intact buildings. A healthy mix is preferred and will create a spooky atmosphere for the game to be played in.

-Place 8 tokens or counters (Specially made ones would be ideal, little treasure chests, piles of weapons on a 25mm round bases etc.. but pennies will do) on the table. Take turns placing them about the board after distributing 4 to the zombie player(s) and 4 to the empire player(s). Put 2 in each board quarter at least 4 inches away from a road or table edge.

-Set up the 4 empire soldiers anywhere within 4 inches of the table center.

-Set up 4 zombies in each table corner making sure they touch the table edge for a total of 16 zombies.

-The Empire soldiers get the first turn. Better leg it quick before you end up as the main course!

The Goal:
Surprise! Survival is the name of the game. You can cooperate with your companions or go at it alone. Maybe you want to form a temporary alliance. But beware, they're called "temporary" for a reason. Watch your back!

To escape the damned village of Innswich, you must traverse across the table to an area where a road leaves a table edge. Once you reach a road edge with a model, roll on the chart below with 2D6. You can visit each table edge only once and try to escape via this point only once. If you fail the roll, waste no time and get going to another table edge! Continue until you escape or get devoured by the living dead!








Winning:
If you manage to find a way out of Innswich and get off the board first in one piece, you win. Continue playing to see who gets out second, third etc. To keep things fun, whenever an Empire player's model gets eaten or escapes, they should start controlling a few zombies. Just split the current zombies up in a fair manner. Do the same with incoming reinforcements. This way everyone is playing at all times and no one has to sit around with nothing to do. Plus you can get back at the other Empire players that remain!

In order to play Night of the Plastic Dead, you'll need to know these few rules:

Most Important Rule Of All:
Remember that weird situations and rules questions inevitably occur here and there. If a conflict arises settle it with a simple roll off. Highest score on a D6 wins the ruling, and the game continues. Later, after the game is over, discuss the problem and come to a reasonable ruling for future situations. Note: This is right out of the original article

After all the whole point of this little game is to have some fun, don't spoil a night with a silly argument!




Turn Sequence:
Empire players get the first turn. Roll initiative on turn 2 forward. 



Model Statistics:
Empire Deserters



Zombies of Innswich






Empire Movement:
NOTE: Changes from normal AOS rules ahead
Dash Move - Once during your movement you may try and dash by a single zombie that blocks your path allowing you to move  inside the zombie’s  three inch control zone.  Simply roll a 5+ on a D6 to zip on by the zombie that blocks your path. If you fail this roll, you must stop three inches out and can move no further that round.

Adrenaline Rush - After you win close combat with a zombie, an empire player may make an immediate D3+1 inch move in any direction. This can be used with the above dash move above for a daring escape. You must otherwise stay at least 3” out from any enemy. Note: this move is out of normal sequence

Breaking Free - When the odds are stacked against you, the best thing to do may be just to run for it! If you are engaged in combat by a number of zombies, it is possible to break free of their clutches with a little luck. Obviously the fewer zombies present, the easier it'll be to break free! Consult the chart below to see if you succeed after a D6 roll is made to break free. This action is attempted before any movement during YOUR TURN ONLY and will negate any chance you have at attacking this turn if you fail. You may not try this action during the zombie player's turn!

Note: This is the original text of the article. AOS does not treat combat the same as the previous system. For this scenario “engaged in combat” means the unit is trapped and cannot move in the move phase. Examples include being surrounded or trapped in the inner corner of a ruined building. Success means the model can move (in the movement phase) past a zombie that is trapping it (acting as if it is not there.) It takes place during the movement phase. If you fail the roll you cannot pile in nor attack this round.








Zombie Movement:
Stumble -The living dead aren't noted for their speed. Each zombie will always shamble in a direct line towards ANY empire soldier on the table. No dawdling. You have to move at least an inch, but can move up to full move in inches if you want. Zombies crave flesh and will not just stand there while a warm meal is running about! If you manage to get to the three inch control zone of an enemy you may pile in normally. 
Note: Zombies will not run

Zombie Charge - In light of this fact, when fresh meat is nearby, the zombie becomes invigorated with energy as it hurtles towards it's victim! To represent this, each zombie that is within 12 inches of an Empire soldier (at the start of the charge phase)  the Zombie will charge towards the closest unengaged model (if there is more than one unengaged model within 12 inches.) Always start with the closest UNENGAGED model, allocating any more successful zombie charges to the next closest unengaged model, and the next, and so on. If there are no more unengaged models with 12 inches, but you STILL have rolled a successful zombie charge, allocate them as above, ignoring the unengaged model stipulation. Just start with the closest engaged model, then move to the next closest engaged model, etc...

This is to show that if you get left behind in a crowd, the zombies are gonna get you first. Plus if you are already fighting a zombie when more show up, they won't hesitate to pile 'em on!

Failed Zombie Charge - What happens if you fail the charge? Well, simply move the zombie half the distance rolled on 2D6 (rounding down), towards the absolute closest target, unengaged or not! If you manage to touch an Empire model's base, then it is considered a charge. This shows the ravenous zombie's desperate attempt to claw at something nearby: Note: this is a change from the normal AOS rules.




Zombie Reinforcements:



There are plenty of zombies roving about Innswich and more will show as time passes, so at the start of each zombie players turn consult the chart below to see how many more zombies appear that turn.



Split these reinforcements amongst the zombie players evenly so everyone gets some dead bodies to move around the board!

Note: if the maximum number of zombies (32) is already present on the table, just ignore the reinforcement roll until someone kills some zombies and lowers the number of them on the board.

Now, where do they turn up at? Simple;  Just roll a D6 for each zombie model and move it in from the appropriate table edge on a roll of 1-4. If a 5 or 6 is rolled, the zombies crawl forth from the fountain (or whatever) is in table center. See the diagram above for all your zombie reinforcement needs.


The Tokens:
Scattered about the board are a bunch of counters. What they are is up to Lady Luck. Maybe you'll be fortunate enough to find a better weapon, or maybe you'll disturb some nasty critter that wants to claw your face off! Nothing is certain, so keep this in mind as you search the ruins for hidden goodies!

All you have to do is move your model into base contact with a token to collect it. You may not collect more than one counter during a turn. Halt your movement and roll 2D6 on the chart below before continuing on...if you can that is! Once an item has been collected, that particular item can not be found again. So cross off each result as play progresses. NOTE: This is slightly different from the normal AOS sequence.










































Game Variants:

Before you run off to setup a game, here's a few ideas to keep in mind the next time you play:

Lottery Variant-Try altering the list of what tokens contain. Make the list longer, more friendly, or absolutely horrid!

The 80s Action Movie Variant-Instead of the first one off being the winner, make the winner the one who manages to dispatch the most zombies AND escape. Just keep track of how many zombies each player decimates. Tally 'em up at the end and declare a winner!

The Survivor Variant-An alternate on the one above. Use how many tokens each player uncovers (good or bad) AND survives to judge a winner.

"There coming to get you Barbra" Variant -Have no limit to the number of zombies allowed on the board at once!




Gauntlet Variant -Equip the Empire players differently, or have a limited amount of ammo for the handguns.


MORE COMING SOON!

for a downloadable version of this article click HERE

Later

RGH

1 comment:

  1. This is awesome. I really want to give it a shot. Once all the 40k painting is done, I am going to settle into some Sigmar.

    ReplyDelete