Their last mission had been to locate a rumored science facility, which would contain documentation from horrifying experiments with the Plague virus. They had found it and Amelie decided that information should be destroyed. She didn't suspect how wrong move that would be, because it had called the wrath of Corporation Enforcers upon them. They managed to escape from their foes, but their transport ship was shot down. With that contact to operations command central was lost.
Enforcers didn't pursue them for long, at first she wondered why, but it didn't take too long for her to realize. Area where they escaped to was overrun by "Stage 3Z" mutants. They could either turn back and be gunned down by superior Corporation forces, or continue and try to find something that they could use to get out of this planet."
This is a Solo Deadzone campaign, played using the rules found in Contagion book. The Rebs have a 140p Strike Force and are trying to get away from the planet. Campaign lasts for 4 missions and after each mission you DO NOT get new recruits or have time to take care of your wounded. Your Strike Force is in constant move and most likely will suffer heavy casualties.
Scenario 1 - They're Coming
"It was bad enough for Yndij Sergeant Sharptooth to be on guard mission in the middle of a zombie infested area, but to have obstructing fog everywhere started to feel like a nail in the coffin. The fog on his home planet had always been somewhat soothing and revitalizing, but here it was just cold and wearing.
Two hours were remaining on this place and then they would chance the observation point, which is if those Zombies won't start to come in numbers.
As a response to his thoughts, he sensed the smell of decay nearby. Others from his team had smelled it too.
Checking their equipment, they readied themselves to hold this position."
Overview of the map. The Rebs must hold their positions until turn two and at least one zombie has been killed. After that they can begin to retreat towards the exit area. Everyone left behind is killed.
For the first turn there wasn't too much action. Some shooting was done, but mostly they tried to stay quiet and not to get too much attention. More zombies arrived to the area and they started moving...
...and BOOM they were all too close. Yndij named Farsighted and Sorak called Karakaw got surprised by two zombies that climbed up to their position. Sergeant Sharptooth began evacuation immediately after this.
Farsighted and Karakaw got eaten, only if the retreat could’ve started earlier (or if those zombies had been a little bit slower). More of the unliving poured onto the area and Della the Teraton (isn't that a lovely name?) held them off while both remaining Yndij ran away.
Della was able to dispatch her foes on their own turn, and teleported (natural ability for Teratons) to the safety on hers.
Afterthoughts: Two casualties aren’t half that bad start for this kind of campaign. The zombies turned out to be surprisingly fast. You really have to think about your moves, because they react to (nearly) everything you do. Roll for additional Zombie activity after each of your turn (not each round, each turn!) makes things really unpredictable, you can have the perfect plan and WHOOM suddenly zombies move three cubes at the end of your turn.
Scenario 2 – We Can’t Stay Here
Commander Amelie didn’t like this situation, but she had survived from worse. Although zombie hordes were harassing observation groups and some casualties had been suffered, there was also some good news.
A ruined Corporation outpost had been located nearby by an observation drone, there just might be some working communication equipment that they could use for making a contact with command central.
Only concern was that video footage showed some zombies roaming there. Not too many… yet… She decided to lead a Strike Team to that area herself, contact to command central was too vital for their survival.”
Mission overview. Objective counters resemble transmitters, from which only one (Z) does work. I decided to use Drone as bait in this mission, because it can easily hover into the safety of tall buildings. Sergeant Sharptooth would try to search for the working transmitter, while rest of the team would protect him and hold off the zombies. After transmitter is found, they must take control of it (no zombies in same or adjacent cubes) and after that get the heck out of there!
It didn’t take too long for Sharptooth to find the first transmitter, but it had taken some damage during firefight (or been deliberately sabotaged?).
Zombies started to emerge from their hiding places and Della had to do some work to keep them at bay. Fortunately the presence of Amelie (and her Command abilities) helped to prevent the zombies from overrunning their positions.
It can’t be seen in the picture, but Arman (human) and Rafnuk (grogan) have zombies in hand-to-hand combat with them, sadly Arman didn’t survive from this.
On the other side of the area, Drone VR-28 found a working transmitter and made contact with Command Central. Soon they all would get away from this tainted planet.
Picture right before Commander Amelie left the battlefield. This fight had been surprisingly easy, but there were two more to come.
Afterthoughts: Only one dead model, which was human. It felt really good to be in control of this game by exploiting the reaction system. Zombies really are stupid and can be lured to harmless positions.
Scenario 3 – Through the Noose
”This was it. Command central had pinpointed a location for extraction, a tower in the center of a small town. Amelie was excited, for she would be gaining medals for leading her team against all of the odds, with only some casualties.
Town was quiet, but she knew that some of the monsters were lurking here and there. Drones should be able to distract them enough, for the rest of the team to get away. They might even survive with zero casualties (drones not counted).”
Basically this is just infiltration mission: Get your models over the opposing table edge. Shouldn’t be too hard eh? Drones on the right are supposed to draw attention and the rest of the team tries to sneak along the other edge.
Only problem is that even the best plans are ruined at times. Other of the drones was crushed early on. The other managed to stay away and do what it was meant to do.
But the main problem was the majority of the team. Zombies kept digging up from a spawn point (sewer?) nearby and constantly engaged in close combat. My models were pinned at their starting positions for many turns and the more turns, the more zombies you get.
Out of 13 models, only one human, drone, TK-Zero team, Sergeant Sharptooth (had escaped at this point, although with injury) and Della the Teraton remained. Others had been munched by zombies, that just kept coming. The dice rolled too well for after the turn activity, resulting in too many additional actions for zombies and too much spawning.
Note that I actually ran out of zombie models at this point. I kept rolling for more, but there just wasn’t any that I could place. I decided to ignore the results until I had zombies to recycle (BOO HISS!)
Ever thought about what does it look like to have 50 zombies on a table? Some of them are inside the buildings and out of sight (we’ll come back to that later). After this the Drone and Human tried their luck, both got eaten.
TK-Zero team had the same fate. Gross… While zombies were omnomnoming, Della was able to escape from the area. I went from thirteen models to only two. Not my best game.
So, ever thought about what does it look like to have 50 zombies on a table? I removed buildings from the table just to get a good look at it (and then took a crappy picture…). Zombies that were on higher levels were dropped down, resulting in some illegal amounts on some squares.
Afterthoughts: It was a catastrophe and what do I blame? The dice. Seriously! Just how many times can you roll only one or two successes for Teraton, and all 8’s for zombie. And don’t even get me started on after the turn rolls…
What I should’ve done differently, is to get my Strike Team move onwards earlier in the game and not care if some of the models get killed because of that. I would probably have gotten more models off the board (or at least earlier into the mouths of hungry hungry zombies).
Still I’m glad that I wasn’t completely wiped out. It would have meant starting this campaign all over again :S
Scenario 4 – Salvation
”Della saw that Sharptooth was bleeding badly, “Try to endure for a little bit more, we will soon get to safety”. She didn’t want to think about what had happened to the rest of the team, maybe some of them got away. Situation was too confusing back there to be sure about the fate of others. Although, in reality Della knew all too well that no-one else was alive.
The extraction point loomed before them, a tall concrete tower, from which one wall had rumbled off. She wasn’t too sure that it would stay intact if someone climbed on it, but they had to try. Death by being crushed would anyway be better than being eaten alive.
As they got closer to the tower, she started to hear familiar moans. Familiar, unintelligent, moans and hisses. Familiar sounds that she had gotten fed up with. Familiar sounds that she was going to put an end to!”
I think that Della was really fed up, for she was already on top of one building and engaged zombies when I took this picture :) Her rage was simulated by giving “Courage” card to her for starters, granting the “Enraged” status.
Sharptooth and Della have to get to the top of that tower in the picture and call for extraction anytime they want. Anyone left behind is left behind. Plan is quite simple, take the shortest route as fast as possible and kill all of the zombies.
Or be killed by the zombies. Sharptooth fell just few cubes away from the extraction point. Wounds he had suffered in the last battle were too much.
Sometimes it feels like actions on the game board actually affect to the miniatures. Della started rolling really well after Sharptooth had died and no zombie could stand before her wrath.
After killing all nearby zombies, she looked at her situation and quelled her rage. There would be no end to these creatures and they were just puppets to the Corporation. She would revenge her fallen comrades, she would make Corporation pay!
She teleported to the top of the tower and signaled for extraction craft. While waiting, she took a look at the cursed planet that she would soon leave. She would never forget the name of it, for Teratons can never forget significant events in their life, she would always remember the name of Nexus-Psi.
Afterthoughts: After the catastrophe of last battle I secretly hoped that only one would survive, you know, just for the drama. Also this game was really quick! Just two rounds I think. My final campaign score was 25. Maybe next strike team will fare better.
In reality I’m not fond of zombies at all. I think that they are stupid concept with no reason to be feared. Aliens (or Genestealers) are much more threatening. Or I used to think like that. Playing with these rules made me actually like the concept of endless hordes of stupid flesh eaters. They were able to give same kind of feeling of constant pressure that aliens do.
For future I think that Plague Teraton is the best model for this campaign. Why? Sole survivor of this campaign was a Teraton that used only its close combat abilities, Plague Teratons are even better at fights. Also it has Armor 2 and Really Tough, so it’s hard for zombies to hurt it. And it retains the teleportation ability, which can be used to get to safety from zombies.
Also, it is wise to keep model count in each strike team a minimum, because zombies act after each of your turn. With 13 models and Command 4 in scenario 3, it was no surprise that zombies were springing up like mushrooms after the rain. 4 spawnings within a single round tend to do that.
A picture of the whole Strike Force. My final campaign score was 25. Maybe next Strike Force will fare better. Number after name indicates in which mission that particular model was killed.
