Weird War Zed - Bat Rep Day One

Weird War Zed

“Run that by me again Sarge,” Randall asked.

“Captain says we’re looking for a secret laboratory that may be housing a German scientist creating zombies.” Sarge replied “Zombies…undead creatures.”

“Right… Maybe some vampires and werewolves too?” Randall said with a smile.

Sarge scowled and said “Be serious. Although there have been reports of werewolves; vampires? Really; vampires? Now grab Wilks and let’s go”.

Randall shook his head. “What have I signed up for?”

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Here's a look at some of the cards included in the game. You can use minis if you want.

   

I have 21 days to complete the Campaign – find Herr Doktor and destroy his laboratory. Here’s a quick AAR of my first Mission of WWZ. It’s a Raid and will burn up one day of time.

Each Mission you can resolve up to 3 Contacts – a chance to run into someone or something. I roll 2d6 versus the Contact number of 5 – the Campaign starts out with a high chance of Contact – and score a 1 and 1. As each d6 is equal or lower than the Contact number, I pass 2d6. Looking on the Contact Table I see there’s been contact. Something new on the table – I add the scores of the passed d6 (2) and it tells me how many I have run into – two more than my group (3) so five characters. One less table to roll on!

Missions are either in the City or in the Lab. I roll 1d6 and add the result (6) to the Contact number to see what I have run into. Uh, oh – 5 German soldiers. As there’s only 5 German soldier cards no need to randomly draw for them. I set up the fight on a 12" x 12" table space.

I’ve just run into 5 German soldiers, but who was moving and who was in cover? I roll 1d6 on the Action Table. 1, 2 or 3 I have the Advantage – am stationary and in cover. 4, 5 or 6 and they have the Advantage – they are stationary and in cover. Note that after the first round of firing, ALL characters are considered to be in cover. I score a 2. I have the Advantage.

 I now roll 2d6 versus Sarge’s Rep of 5 and pass 2d6. Klaus, the German Leader rolls 2d6 and also passes 2d6. Looking on the Action Table the side with the Advantage acts first – I open fire. Each of my soldiers have a TR of 2 so can fire two shots. I split them up as shown and roll 2d6 versus Rep.

 As no terrain is needed the placement of the cards tells the story.

·        If you’re ready to fight, place the card with its head towards the enemy so the player can read its info.

·        Placing the card with the bottom facing the enemy means it’s in Duck Back – can’t see or be seen.

·        Lay the card sideways and it’s Out of the Fight.

·        Place it face down and its Obviously Dead.

Here's what happens after the first round of SAS fire. Note that the two Germans that were missed can immediately return fire on the soldier that shot at them. They do.

And miss. The soldier fired on can now return fire and scores 2 hits.

Damage is taken, one Out of the Fight and one Duck Back. As all firing is done, both active and return fire, both sides take the Will to Fight Test. Both sides pass.

The Germans are now active and spend their turn recovering from Duck Back. They are now in sight and can see and be seen. However, recovering takes up their whole turn. It's now the SAS turn and they fire.

Here are the results. Note the placement of the cards. Again, no need for terrain.

As the Germans cannot fire it ends the turn and time for the Will to Fight Test. The Brits pass and the last German leaves the table. Fight over, but...

The fight is over and there are two German soldiers left Out of the Fight. These are captured and interrogated on the spot. Neither soldier provides any info. Now what to do with them? We'll quit the Mission, take them back to HQ and reap the benefits.

Each captured German soldier returned drops the Contact number by 1 so it's now 3, the lowest it can be. The Mission wasn't a success as I didn't resolve all 3 Contact, but reducing the Contact number to 3 was worth it.

Free Mechs Add On for 5150: Hammer & Anvil

Download the free PDF found here to add Mechs to your Hammer & Anvil Games.

Play Miniature Games without Minis?! Part 3 - 5150: Hammer & Anvil...Uh oh!

Part Two

Activation dice are rolled for turn 2 and the PEF can move first. The 6 on my score means I won't be moving this turn, but I can react so no worries.

The PEF rolls for movement and comes over the hill and into LOS onto my flank. But this high tech stuff allows for a 360 degree In Sight so we will roll off if the PEF is resolved as enemy. I roll 3d6 to resolve it and it's resolved as two Hishen HE 6 Heavy Tanks. 

The Hishen win the In Sight and open fire on my Thunder 1B on the left. With an APR of 13 and my side armor of 2 it's no contest if they score a hit. 

 Both do and my tank blows up. I take a Friend Brewed Up Test and continue on.

 I whip my  two tanks around to face the enemy and we roll In Sights. I win and we open fire...and the error of my ways becomes obvious.

My Armor Piercing Rating is 10. The Hishen frontal armor is 11. I can't penetrate their armor and must try Hands of Fate shots. When your APR can't penetrate you can still fire, but you have to roll "snake eyes" to hit and penetrate. Fat F&*^#ing Chance.  Clank and clank.

I still have movement left and slam the tanks into reverse, but can't get out of sight. The Hishen activate and active fire as I am already in sight. Two hits and both tanks are disabled. Luckily the crews can now bail and we run off the field.

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KNOW YOUR ENEMY! I wrote the damn rules, but didn't take the time to learn them. Yes, if you get approached from the flank or rear you still get an In Sight, but you're also presenting your weakest armor! 

My tanks had no chance in a fair fight with the Hishen Heavies. As soon as I activated I should have run for it instead of whipping around and firing. 

Next time I'll know better. 

Making Counters the Easy Way

Here's how I make the counters for my own use as seen in Hammer & Anvil. I use card stock/poster board. Here's more info on putting them together after they are finished. 

Junior General is a great place to get artwork for your own personal use. http://www.juniorgeneral.org/

The ones found in our books are professionally put together. 

Play Miniature Games without Minis?! Part 2 - 5150: Hammer & Anvil

Part One

Here's a sample of the counters and how they have all applicable stats.  I will be using a platoon of 3 Thunder 1B light tanks on a Patrol Mission. It is the first of the 10 Missions Hammer & Anvil; a Campaign versus the Hishen.

DEPLOYMENT:

Before the activation dice are rolled for the first turn I enter the table. It's been divided into 9 equal sections. I choose to enter through section 8 and move full speed into section 5. I then roll to deploy the three Possible Enemy Forces (PEFs) and score a 3, 4 and 6. 

The white  PEF, the closest, one is in Line of Sight (LOS), and must be resolved...  "Something's out there". I remove it and resolve future PEFs with 3d6 instead of 2d6

The next closest PEF is in section 4 and behind a hill. Out of LOS means it isn't resolved yet.

The third PEF, the orange one in section 3, is within LOS so is resolved. I pass 2d6 and there's contact.

It is revealed as 1 HE 5 Hishen Armor Personnel Carrier (APC).

In Sight is taken and I win. We open fire on the under gunned and under armored APC.  With my APR of 10 and their frontal armor of 2, any hit will be rolled on the Penetration Table at a Target Number of 8. I score two hits and roll 2d6 for each hit versus the Target Number of 8, looking to score a result equal or less than 8. The only hope the APC has is that I score 5, 5 or 6, 6 meaning that the lasers would cut straight through the APC and only kill a crew member while the vehicle would still be able to function. Otherwise...

The APC is destroyed, I mark it with a counter, and that ends the Deployment Phase. I roll activation and win (the Blue d6 is higher). On a Patrol my objective is to spend one turn within 6" of the table edge in sections 1, 2 and 3.  Activating first, my platoon moves into section 2. 

The enemy PEF rolls for movement and moves towards my flank. I'm not too worried as one major difference in Hammer & Anvil to Hell Hath No Fury, our WW2 vehicles rules set, is the In Sight Test. In HHNF the In Sight is only taken if you can see the target to your front 180 degrees. Due to then higher tech of the sci-fi rules, radar and similar allows for a 360 degree In Sight. So even if the PEF comes over the hill onto my flank, I will still get an In Sight.

Except there's another problem I wasn't aware of...

Watch for Part 3.

Play Miniatures Games without Minis?! Yep!

THW games are playable with minis, but what if you don’t have any or want to try a new period without spending a lot of time or money buying and painting new ones?

Many of our  5150 titles include card stock color counters. You can play with them as they are or if you want, as I do, use this simple and easy way to enhance these counters.

These are for  the upcoming 5150: Hammer & Anvil. A standalone compatible game for vehicle combat in the 5150 universe. These are a bit different than our previous counters as all the stats for all the vehicles are printed on the counters. We'll be doing this going forward with our new games. Now let’s get started.

 Here's the card stock sheet of forty 1" counters for Hammer & Anvil. Each counter includes the type, name, movement rates, Armor Piercing Rating of its main gun, any machine guns it may have, and frontal, side and rear Armor Value. This stops you from having to refer to the book for vehicle stats.

 First you cut the counters out. I use a paper cutter for the rows, but scissors works great.

 Next I will be mounting them on 1", thick, mounting tape. I got mine at Amazon for less than $5, but you can find it at office stores and other places. This gives them more weight and durability.

 Here are all the counters mounted and ready to go.

Here they are on an All Things Zombie board game map. You can use board games if you have them, but I use mine on a table with terrain. 

Watch for Part 2 to see a detailed Bat Rep of

5150: Hammer & Anvil

More info on making the counters.

Here's another way we'll be offering our games to be played without minis.

Weird War Zed

All Things Zombie Review

ATZ Review Lays things out in an easy to understand way. Take a look!

Weird War Zed - Where are the minis?

Weird War Zed is a quick to play and easy to learn, yet challenging, game. It's about a Special Air Service (SAS) section on a Mission to find and capture/kill the brilliant, but twisted, German Scientist - Herr Doktor. Along the way you'll run into German Soldiers, Zombies, and Werewolves. But what you won't run into are miniatures and terrain pieces.

Instead of miniatures we use color Poker size playing cards. This gets you into the game quickly, doesn't cost as much as using minis, and can be played on a small space. Want to use minis? You sure can and there are lots of manufacturers out there, starting with Rebel Minis, makers of fine 15mm figures.

Watch for our Bat Reps coming up next week,

Here's a sample fight on a 12" x 12" space using the cards found in Weird War Zed. The way the game is set up you'll never have more than 8 cards/minis on the table fighting at the same time.

5150 Hammer & Anvil Coming Soon

  

5150 Hammer & Anvil, the companion book to 5150 Star Army 2nd Tour will be released in a couple of weeks. Hammer & Anvil covers vehicle warfare in the 5150 universe and has four Factions Lists - Gaea Prime, Free Companies, Hishen and Zhuh-Zhuh. 

Included is a complete Campaign System as well as 10  Missions for you to play. Hammer & Anvil is a stand alone game compatible with Star Army 2nd Tour.

Hammer & Anvil includes 40 full color paper vehicle and status counters that can be used to play the game.

Watch for step by step Bat Reps in the coming days.

We're Baaaack!

In time for Christmas...

5150 Bug Wars

Coming to Kickstarter in January, 5150 Bug Wars is the first of a number of joint projects from THW and Acheson Creations. Acheson Creations has a long history of quality minis and terrain pieces including a number of fulfilled Kickstarter projects. It's latest one being Kongo Afrika  compatible with Fortunes Won and Lost, Lemuria, and Mission St. Mary.

So what is 5150 Bug Wars? 15mm Bugs and Star Army figures along with a modular resin tunnel system. Here's a peak from a game we played at Millennium Con earlier this month.

Each player - there were six, had one Star and three Star Army Grunts. After a few turns above ground the Bug Hole was found. A quick roll of the dice produced 19 Bugs to face the 16 troopers.

 After a quick fight the Bugs withdrew with a couple of Grunts as casualties.

 Three of the players dropped into the first tunnel. Each tunnel piece is roughly 3"x 5".

 The Bugs fit three across. Each time you enter a new tunnel section roll to see what tunnel sections are adjacent and you resolve a PEF for each one.

 When meeting Bugs just place them in the adjacent section and roll to see who acts first. Shooting is easy, just roll for each trooper, total the number of Bugs killed or out of the fight, flip them over and tag them. Those left over, if they pass the Will to Fight Test, are moved into melee.

There are between 7 to 9 different tiles currently in the system with more being added for the Kickstarter, There are straight pieces, turns, T-junctions, egg chambers, dead ends, and more. With a tunnel hole section you can drop down levels.

When you reach a section with more than one opening you resolve a PEF for each section.

 This could result in Bugs coming at you from different directions.

 The Kickstarter will include BUGS, Star Army figures, tunnel sections and rules. 

Watch for news of 5150 Bug Wars and its companion game next month and in January.