text: Up River...one nerds trip to a miniature heart of darkness: May 2017
  Cangames 2017 - Homegrown ZOMBIES!!!!
  So with this post, my Cangames reporting will come to an end...until next May that is! I do very much enjoy trying out the various games and different rulesets. Plus, I really like to see the creativity, ingenuity, and imagination of the various modellers and GameMasters...it really can be a treat.
  For my final post on the Cangames that 2017 was...I have for you, ZOMBIES...not much of a surprise, it is in the title afterall...this however, was a homegrown (yes, I realize it is in the title as well) set of rules specifically designed to get a large group together over a very good looking table...it is very tongue in cheek...it sure looks like Rex has put a buttload of effort into this game and his gamemastering along with his assistant Tom (...I think that was the gent's name...God I hope I didn't f@#k that up!) was very well done, very good control, very engaging...
  Again, I will let the pics do the talking...enjoy, "Flight from the Apocalypse"...
  The game starts with everyone deciding one what kind of character...or group of characters they would like to be...you can be solo or group in this...so for my game, me and a few gents went with the Egyptian Archeological team
  Inspired by classic archeological movies like The Mummy and Indiana Jones, a Professor, a Foreman, and two labourers made the trek to America to conduct a dig to discover and learn more about the ancient culture of...the Americans...the Professor and Foreman had some special abilities...can't remember what those are...but the labourers (under my control) had the special abilities of Scream and Panic...very useful in an apocalyptic environment...
  We found ourselves in a small orchard of trees by a river...hearing something about ends of world, etc...we had to make our way to the helicopter pad to try to get out of the city...or make the march across table to the other side.
  A view of the long table...our dig team is just off frame to the bottom left of the pic...
  Within the first couple of turns, our team make their way across a stream and into a warehouse area with a loading dock and forklift...the Foreman had the ability to make things start, but we were really trying to limit the amount of noise we made...so we let it be...at various spots on the table there were red (random zombie, supplies, or survivors...roll on a table), blue (supplies...timbits...not exactly American, but we'll go with North American), and yellow (NOISE!!) chips...
  blue chip to the upper right...ended up being 3 x timbits...looks like the labourers will have to share
  Our closest fellow survivor was Lara Kraft, ex-Olympian athlete...she was within 6 inches of 2 x red chips, they became a half-zombie (aka ankle biter), and 3 x runners (very fast)...she quickly generated a bunch of noise with her double 9mm's...
  Luckily that pulled a BUNCH of red chips over to our right...the red chip movements were either random direction and 2D6, or closest noise incident 2D6...we were happy to get to our timbits...
  On our way to the supply drop, we noticed an interesting building...there were many in this section of America...they were revered like churches, and plentiful for all to pray to...yup, we found Andy's Gunshop...perfect time to start an archeological dig...
  unfortunately, while the labourers were searching the building to find the best place to dig they scared up an ankle biter...it went after Screamer...who ended up...well, screaming (hello noise marker)...
  ...and luckily dispatched the little bugger with his pick...the other labourer immediately starts digging...our special objective allotted us points per turn for digging with max of 3 turns...
  It's always good to get direction from smarter folks...
  Even Screamy comes over to see Diggy's progress...
  Dig over...next, our archeological heroes make their way across the street to a much more divine establishment...Tim Hortons...yup, it was already ransacked...
  By this time, on the other side of the table, there were a trio of politico's trying to make their way to the chopper...as you can see the chopper gets a little interesting with all those random red chips...
  So along comes the Trump...assault rifle in hand...unfortunately he was too busy tweeting his apocalyptic experiences and was bitten by a zombie...he turned and became the zombie King!
  At the same time...his fierce rival, Hilary made her way on the opposite street, found a snowplow and started driving around rescuing soccer moms and Liberal cultists...it made a lot of noise, but with a big plow on the front and a full foot on the gas, she coped well with the zombies...
  Meanwhile, a close, silent friend of some politico's...Mr. Putin, looking buff without his shirt, silently made his way from the far table edge to the orchard our archeologists started from...he was very quiet throughout the game...must've been all his KGB training...
  Unfortunately our Foreman chose the wrong time to go see an icecream truck...Screamy started making noise when he saw his long lost sister was a zombie...
  But then they found an alley to hide in...and Hilary was making all that noise with her snowplow...the archeologists make their escape...
  Hilary made it to the chopper, the z-King made it to the top of the building...and the snowplow made it through the chainlink fence around the helicopter pad...with many zombies following the noise...
  The archeologists keep on strolling...
  Oh the carnage...the Liberal cultists sacrifice themselves for the soccer mom, 2 kids, and Hilary...
  ...allowing all of them to escape...with Lara Kraft hanging onto the boom rotor...all in all a very enjoyable game...
  Another excellent Cangames...I did also take the time to make a few purchases...so that skews my totals to:
  Painting so far in 2017:
  28mm - 44
  15mm - 5
  28mm - 53
  vehicle - 1
  15mm - 0
  vehicle - 6
  Overall PROGRESS: -11
  Posted by Stanley Martens at 15:06 No comments:
  Labels: 28mm, Cangames, Fantasy, Modern, Pulp, Zombies
  Cangames 2017 - Force on Force on Ambush Z
  Another Cangames installment...this time, Force on Force with a little bit of Ambush Z thrown in to liven up the gaming table. For me, playing FoF at Cangames on Sunday afternoon has definitely become a tradition. It generally means the same regular cast of folks, gaming over a modern scenario, blowing off steam, chucking feces (figuratively of course), and having a good time.
  The flipside to this...we do attract a crew of onlookers and collect other folks along the way who want to give moderns and FoF a try...so while it may 'crowd' in on the 'normal' group, it is also a great chance to promote the ruleset (definitely one of my favourites).
  So, as of last Cangames, we had the SS Grozny drifting after the crew abandoned the vessel, after the Special Ops exfilled the vessel following their rescue, after the pirates abandoned the vessel, AFTER the discovery of non-aligned zombies...
  Little Birds extract Tier 1 operators, the Pirates depart on their mother ship, the Grozny lists away...crewless, infested with Zombies....
  This year, it has surfaced that the SS Grozny, still loaded with sea containers carrying special cargo and advanced military weapons and...nothing else (those were only rumours about Zombies...and everyone knows, Zombies only exist on TV)...has mysteriously shown up at the Mombasa dockyards.
  The quiet beachtown was not expecting its arrival...let alone the washing up of sea containers and rescue craft from the Grozny...the Kenyan police carefully approach the vessel (you can see them on the left) and begin their inspection of the ship
  Hearing of the arrival of the Grozny, the one that got away...from lesser Pirates, that is...a local insurgent group is organizing to take the vessel and its cargo for themselves. Seeing the rescue craft on the beach, they also hear rumours that there are western scientists hiding in the ville.
  US Special Operations Force troops infiltrate into the village...approaching the main building they receive intel that the scientists are being held on the second level by a local gang...
  Another team of Tier 1'ers infil from the sea, storming the beach seeking cover behind a small warehouse by the road...they line up and prepare to run across the breach in the seawall staying low to get to the Grozny as quick as possible...insurgents in the red garage (hotspot 3) try to take potshots at them without luck...
  The police make it up to the ships deck...they heard reports of suspicious containers and begin a contraband search to secure the containers...suddenly Zombies appear and rush the policeman...the policeman scramble to the top of the containers to try to get to safety. They successfully take out about half of the Zombies before they fall to their relentless melee attacks.
  At the same time, SOF push the breach at the seawall and push to a container on the shoreline...the team on the shoreline falls under intense fire...the seawall team are mostly unscathed. By this time, the initial team has been supplemented by another sniper team and has rescued the scientists...they are methodically putting sniper and overwatch fire onto the closest hotspots whittling down the insurgents.
  Throughout the game, the insurgents draw numerous Fog of War cards after failing TQ tests...this results in US reinforcements, Zombies being upshifted to D10's, low supplies, and swiss cheese walls...not to mention, their rolls on the escalation table (to receive more reinforcements) are consistently failing...
  The US team is very cautious, and it is working very well for them...they are making very good die rolls and are making objective points as they go along...for new comers to the game they are catching onto the mechanics very well...
  The end result, an American and Kenyan victory...multiple containers were secured, the scientists were rescued and secured, and there were minimal casualties from Zeke.
  The Insurgents...many TQ tests were failed, many FOG cards drawn...many many many casualties from the SOF and from Zeke. Not my best game...but probably not my worst, lol.
  Posted by Stanley Martens at 15:40 2 comments:
  Labels: 15mm, Ambush Alley Games, Ambush Z, Force on Force, Modern, Zombies
  Another installment of my Cangames experience last weekend. I was commenting earlier on the great looking tables at the con this year and nothing will show this better than the Bombard and Bayonets game that I had the opportunity to play in this year. THE TABLE WAS F'ING OUTSTANDING!!!
  Made by the same hand as last years Fort Beausejour (scroll down to midpost) and Fortress Louisburg (again, scroll down to midpost) from 2 years ago, my buddy Ed this time constructed Fort William Henry for our besieged entertainment. Again, another outstanding model and table put together for the game.
  I'll let the pictures do the bulk of the talking...
  Please enjoy the pics below...
  Overview of the battlefield from the French lines...fort in the distance, trenchworks at the right, river on the left...
  The French trenchworks facing the fort and gunline waiting to bring doom...
  The French mainguns and their view over the battlefield...battered woods between them and the fort...
  Overhead shot of Fort William Henry, looking towards the French lines...not suitable for sustaining a French barrage, the gun ports, pits, and citadel like structure made it a very good anti-infantry structure...
  another view towards the French lines...
  French allied forces prepared to go in by canoe if they have to...
  another view of the French lines looking across their line with the fort to the left of the pic...
  river view of the fort and battlefield...I couldn't get enough pictures of the table...very impressed.
  Ever the striver of historical accuracy...Ed left a diagram of the fort to compare against his model...looks pretty convincing to me...
  The British man their positions...guns up front facing the French
  The French engineers confer over tea and tables...I'm sure they're discussing the latest Parisian fashions and geometry...
  The French regiments march into position masked by the treeline from the British defenders
  The Regiment takes to the trenchline...
  The British man the ramparts on their left
  The French engineers...engineer another section of trenchline and move the tabletalk to trapezoids and angles...
  The French artillery puts some hurt to the fort...
  The diggers continue ignorant of the cracks of artillery or sight of smoke and fires in the fort...
  This was just a really cool shot of the battlefield...
  The French engineers scream, "creuse les bâtards"...a second line of trench is dug and the earthworks are in place for the much anticipated French heavy mortars...putting the Bombards into...well you know...
  The damned British!! Easily their best roll of the game...they destroyed the mortar emplacements before any damage could be rained down upon the fort...I guess this means we're in an infantry heavy fight...
  The engineers, unphased, dig another length of trench...the French artillery succeeds in breaching the front of the fort...unfortunately only one section is breached...
  The Regiment moves up...infanteers in the lead, grenadiers in the follow...
  looking towards the fort...
  The Regiment charges...the first company of infanteers is blunted by the fire of the defenders...this opens up the space for the grenadiers (the elite of the Regiment) to take the fight into the fort
  The British defend heartily, costing many French heroes...
  The Native/Indigenous allies tried to intercept messengers on their way to Albany...the British secured the maximum number of reinforcements...this would prove costly and definitely tipped the balance. Getting restless, the allies push a water assault on the fort flank...
  The Regiment makes it into the fort, pushing hard past the casualties...French artillery continues to fire on the interior of the fort destroying an infantry blockhouse that was full of Rangers...
  The Regiment command is taken prisoner, my Regiment has assaulted and laid the groundwork for further French victory...aka died gloriously to the last man...
  Substantial damage was done to the fort...the front was breached, the gunline was destroyed, many defenders were killed...BUT the fort held...the bulk of the French combat power was spent...the lose of the mortars and the arrival of British reinforcements was impossible to overcome.