In a first proper playtest of my new T.H.R.E.A.T.* rules for post-apocalypse and weird modern gaming, the disciples of the dark gods known as the Cziernovoyska came up against the professional scavengers the world calls the Yellowcakers. The Cziernovoyska are better trained and more numerous – but the Yellowcakers came with Jack and Jean, their machine-gun toting MRAPs. In the fight to secure the mysterious contents of a crashed helicopter, who will win out? Sorry about the pictures, I got a bit too caught up in the game to keep taking them methodically.
* If anyone has a good backronym, please post it in the comments!
Cziernovoyska/Dark
Force
3x
3 Upyr (Squads) with assault rifles or special weapons
Metkiy'Strelok,
Lone Wolf sniper
Blazheny,
Lone Wolf commander
Posvyashchat,
Lone Wolf second in command
Yellowcakers
Captain
Reathe, Sergeant Smojke, Ukufa, Qishi & Burne – Lone Wolf
characters
Jack
and Jean – vehicles
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| The Dark Force left, with Strelok the sniper in the road. |
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| The right - Blazheny & his team, and the SMAW on the wing. |
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| Main Yellowcaker advance, hooded Qishi in foreground. |
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| Jack the MRAP "sneaking" up the flank... |
The
game started with cautious
advances
by both sides. The cream-coloured Jean went on Overwatch, aiming down
the road with the GPMG installed up top. The
first shot was taken by the Dark Force fireteam with a
shoulder-mounted AT, firing at Jack, who was trundling through the
woods. The missile sailed
past, but unnerved the gunner enough for all his shots to go wide.
 |
| The SMAW misses, but barely. |
As
the sound of gunfire tore through the woods, both sides began
advancing in earnest. Qishi, the Yellowcakers' resident mystic, began
marshalling his powers for the fight ahead. The
SMAW fired again, barely missing Jack and sending the driver into
conniptions. Jean opened
fire on the sniper who had aimed at Ukufa with her GPMG, and severely
injured him, riddling him and the rusty wreck he was using as cover
with holes. Jack opened up
with his .50 cal, injuring one Upyr and blasting the head clean off
another.
 |
| Posvyashchat leads his men forward as Strelok bleeds. |
A new
turn started with Strelok the sniper Frozen in pain. As
the firing sounded out once more through the forest, Posvyashchat's
team missed Jean with their RPG and took two casualties for their
pains. The SMAW gunner finally got his round on target, blowing off
Jack's front right wheel and shredding the rear tyre. It was not
enough to save them from the Browning's revenge.
Blazheny's
bodyguards moved up through the woods to cover his advance on the
helicopter. Seeing them, Captain Reathe moved back – so they opened
fire on Ukufa instead, emptying their clips at him with fierce
abandon. The brave South
African slumped dead in the
treeline, the Yellowcakers' first casualty of the battle. From
his position at the crossroads, Sergeant Smojke opened up at the RPG
team with his sub-machine-gun, injuring the gunner with
a full clip. This
was apparently not a battle for fire control. When
Posvyashchat fired back and hit him in the chest, the Dutchman just
bared his bloody teeth in a barbaric snarl.
 |
| The table, mid game. Lots of wound and ammo markers. |
As
his men reloaded, Blazheny approached the helicopter's wreckage.
Qishi finally got his Oriental sorcery under control, and flooded the
minds of Posvyashchat and his injured gunner with primal terror. They
would no longer be a threat to his comrades. Even
as he did so, Burne – trusting more to steel than sorcery – crept
around the rusted out truck to open up on them with his trusty
Sterling. Still holding the
crossroads, Smojke laughed manically as Strelok sent a bullet
crashing through his ribs. By pure chance his return fire caught the
Russian killer just above his eye socket, killing him too. Jean's
gunner cursed the fact that his guntruck was boxed in by walls and
wrecks.
At
the end of the fourth turn, Blazheny was in a difficult position. Six
of his men were dead and two had fled, leaving just him and his four
bodyguards to claim the helicopter's riches for Cthulhu. The
Yellowcakers had lost Ukufa and Jack's mobility, but the survivors
were closing in (except Smojke, who was too injured to move). Luckily
for him, the fifth turn started with Smojke and Jack Frozen and
unable to act, cutting down the odds considerably. For
his first activation, he used There's
No Time!,
rushing his investigation to (hopefully) get away faster. The
dark gods were smiling on him as his gambit paid off – he found the
suitcase that so many of his men had died to protect.
Hearing
his savage shout of triumph, the surviving Yellowcakers surged
forward, desperate for Ukufa's sacrifice to not be in vain. He
emptied his clip at Burne, winging the young Irishman, only for the
favour to be returned in brutal style. The suitcase dropped from his
limp fingers as a hail of bullets severed his spinal
cord. Reathe
fired his hand cannon from the woods, felling one of his bodyguards.
In the luckiest event in a day of lucky happenings, the return fire
from the Cziernovoyska's machine gun got wedged in his armour, his
cigarette case, his
beret, even his Bible – but nowhere in his flesh.
At
the start of the next turn, Qishi proved his worth in grand style.
The bodyguards were retreating with the suitcase when he unleashed a
psychic assault of terrible power, stopping both their hearts dead in
their chests. They fell down, and the suitcase was Reathe's...
Butcher's
Bill
Cziernovoyska:
Everyone except Posvyashchat and his RPG gunner. Looks like he'll be
the new Blazheny if he survives his superiors' displeasure...
Yellocakers:
Ukufa dead, Sergeant Smojke severely injured (one point away from
death), Jack badly damaged.
Man
of the Match
Despite
his lame showing in the first few turns, Qishi and his psychic powers
were a real game winner. Honorable
runner-ups are Blazheny and Smojke for their fearless attempts to
further their missions.
Overview
The
game ran smoothly and quickly, which is the main thing I wanted. I
may have to tweak the initiative system however – granted,
I rolled high all through the game, but the accumulation of Fear
markers slowed very few people down at all, except
in the literal sense of their movement. Since
the game is based on survival horror video games as much as
post-apocalyptic or weird horror movies, I wanted to give Fear a
central role in the mechanics, along with rules for ammo shortages
&c. It's
a pulpy game, but lethal – no human
tanks
here, just
good old-fashioned gritting of teeth and bullet fragments.
As
a first outing for the post-apocalyptic scenery and miniatures I've
been working on recently, it
was good fun. I look forward to honing the rules over the next few
months, as well as finishing other gangs of scavengers, veterans,
police and mad cultists. Since I'm starting a new job soon, who knows
– I may even add in a Reaper Bones Cthulhu at some point...
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| Quite proud of these, despite the poor calligraphy. |
