Cherry Blossoms and Zombies!

Cherry blossoms and zombies

"Is everyone alright?" “Amy?”
"The Pilot didn't make it. A tree branch came thru the cockpit."

"Damn. Amy, Doug, Wanda, take care of the pilot and then gather our packs. Ned, check the weapons. Josh and I will scout the surroundings."

The pilot had done a fantastic job in getting us from F’d SF, to the outskirts of DC. Refueling at remote airfields had meant only a few minor encounters. But had eaten into our ammo supply.

Our time on the yacht had ended, courtesy of a lack of parts. While basing out of Alcatraz, we picked up a Civil Defense broadcast which has led us here. It made sense. There must have been plenty of security and military in the area. The Hope for a sanctuary was impossible to ignore.

"Ned, how is it looking?"
"Damn Phil. That first tree we grazed a mile back ripped the belly out of the plane. Our gear is history!"

"Alright. Spilled Milk. We've been here before. Grab what you can. The outskirts are about a klick away. When we get there, spread out and start searching. Priority is weapons. Check? Check. Let’s move out.”

As planned, the team entered the town from several side streets. Initially all seemed quiet, save for sounds of battle coming from the White House area. 

Wanda saw an APC straddling the intersection and rushed towards it having heard people inside.  The others began entering various shops, hoping to find fellow survivors and weapons. 

Damn. The area was crazy with baddies. For support, the group began to pair up. We needed to have each other’s back.

Things were getting hairy. Wanda was about to be overwhelmed. Her Friends rushed to stem the tide.

Amy entered the remains of an Eckerd Drugs, just in time to help save the pharmacist from several zombies. She escorted him out, he thanked her and said he needed to see if his family was safe, and took off down the street.

Amy wanted to know why Phil was Smiling. “Kid, you realize you just saved that P.I. dude from Hawaii!” “ Or his long lost twin….”

Blushing, Amy headed into the next store, hoping there’d be some undead she could ‘vent’ on.

On the other side of Main Street, Josh was surprised to discover a couple young kids hiding in the rubble.

Knowing he couldn’t leave them, he scooped them up and went to find the others. Josh was desperate to pawn these squids off on one of the others. After all, he prided himself on his Lone Wolf image. 

Something was up at the far end of the block. Too much noise for an empty building. Having rearmed with discoveries, they all began to pick and weave towards a Diner. Out maneuvering zeds more important than ending them. The sun had set, and a tough job was made worse. The dark had everyone on edge. What you can’t see, can hurt you.

They’d spent too much time searching, the streets were flooding with zombies. A moonless night. Only occasional groans from the dead to tweak our nerves. Soon a flood would wash over the group.

Wanda and Amy broke into the sealed up Diner. Ned joined in. 

Once the trash was taken out, Amy discovered yet another survivor, locked in a back room. And when Josh entered the Diner, his two charges screamed with joy, seeing their mom.

The team threw up a hasty barricade, hoping to slow the horde. Then exited the only way open, out the back service door, a mile closer to the sounds of war coming from the White House.

They needed to gain some separation from the horde and find a safe haven to wait out the night. 

To be continued…..

Debrief:

   Our first Zombicide 2E game. We were skeptical about changes being made to one of our favorite systems. However, we are liking these changes. And the Campaign mode is fun. Although, we only gained 1 XP per survivor. So extra benefits will have to wait. Four of the six characters suffered wounds. We really liked the day/night, companions, and especially the story cards for the mission. 

   We are borrowing ideas from other systems for handling wounds. After the mission, any wounded characters will make a roll per wound. Results will be things like “just a scratch “ “a heal able wound” “permanent wound” and worse case “turned”. 

With so many cool survivor minis to play, having some churn suits us.

The Hunters: Kriegstagebuch das Unterseeboot U-35

Before dawn broke over Wilhelmshafen on September 30, Kapitän Leutnant Hagen took his VIIA to Sea, ordered to hunt for shipping in waters around the British Isles. 
War had arrived. The assigned hunting grounds were remote and should allow time to drill the crew. Spotting only a lone freighter U-35 surfaced and the 88’s gun crew rushed to ready their gun. Hagen fired 2 torpedoes with no success. The 88 fired a few rounds as the SS Solo turned away. Both shells fell short. A shameful first mission.

November proved only modestly better. U-35’s first score. SS Berganger at 6800t.
As 1940 dawned, U-35 was back in British waters. An unlucky sortie. A RAF Hudson forced an emergency dive. A severe storm in the channel limited opportunities. Heading home, SS Santa Rita at 8400t filled the periscope, and was quickly dispatched.

In March, the crew began mumbling about being a jinxed boat. We spotted nothing. But were forced to dodge RAF Arvo aircraft twice.

Mai was U-35’s first taste of the Happy Times. Scoring four times. SS Tiberton 5200t; Tanker Capulet 8200t; SS Embassage 5000t; SS Empire Crossbill 5500t.

Summer was quiet, with only SS West Notus 5500t falling prey to U-35

As Autumn chilled, spirits buoyed. The Ship’s Dr was promoted. As was Hagen, now Korvetten Kapitän. But more joyous were the orders for hunting in the Atlantic!

Dodging escorts, 4 victories were scored. 2 tankers, a large freighter and a small one, totaling 31300t. Cassequel; Santore; AF Corwin; and Oilfield were stricken from the logs. But the jinx had not been idle. Returning home, a Tommie A/C dropped out of the sun, shattering the 88 and it’s crew and damaging the engines. A solemn crew slipped back into the pen.

Again, punished and sent back to hunt British waters. But glory awaited! U-35 caught HMS Avenger in open waters. Braving her escorts U-35 sunk the CVE.

Januar ‘41 brought orders for the Atlantic. But only the SS Gregalia 5900t was torpedoed.

So back the British waters again. RAF patrols are improving. As U-35 sorties it is Wasser bombed, causing minor hull damage and flooding. But there is no turning back. Two lone merchants are sent to the bottom. 10500t. SS Ballader and SS William Bryant.

Success brings orders for the Atlantic, but U-35 finds no victims to hunt.

The boat does a fast refit and in Juli heads back to the Atlantic. Verdammt! Again the RAF is waiting. Collaborators must be signaling them. A fuel tank is damaged beyond repair so an immediate return to port is needed. But the RAF catches on again and scores more hits.

While finishing the year in dockyards, Hagen is again promoted. Now a Fregatten Kapitän.

As 41 closes, U-35 is order into the Mediterranean. Hunting should be good. Shortly after clearing Fortress Gibraltar a Convoy is spotted. Jinx! The escort causes unrepairable damage to the fuel tanks and several crewmen die in the bombing. Again  the RAF catches U-35 close to base. Bombs cause more crew casualties and damages the hull. 

March 42 is spent in the Atlantic. As SS Santore 7100t is sent to the bottom, it’s Escort depth bombs U-35, severely wounding the ship’s doctor and both torpedo rooms. The doctor passes before port is reached. 

The bloodied crew is now viewed as Veterans by all in the Fleet. And Hagen is awarded the Knights Cross.

Finally in July ‘42 U-35 heads back into the Atlantic. A second Happy Time is this.
3 large freighters and a smaller are sunk totaling 19700t. SS Torny, Royston Gorge, Kennebac, and Treverbyn are stricken. 

In late ‘42 U-35 heads back to the now familiar Atlantic Ocean. Again, the veteran crew scores well. 3 small freighters and a larger one. 16200t. SS Kinross, Aviemore, Merisaar, and R.E.Lee are stricken from the rolls. 

As February ‘43 opens, U-35 heads back into the Atlantic. The crew is confident and joyous to be back at sea. As the boat clears the Bay of Biscay, the RAF pounces. Expert in the anti submarine role, the aircrew lands a 500lb’er directly in the conning tower of U-35. Rolling “box cars” sends U-35 and all its crew to a watery grave.

Code Name Jupiter SOG-X.4

Brass calls last mission a failed success. The rescue has been kept from the press, except for reporting that a certain CEO was “lost while on safari “. Vivisecting CEOs isn’t ready for 6PM coverage yet. The plus was uncovering that Dr Frankenstein has some how survived and flourished since WW2.

Here’s the brief for your next one. You’ve seen the news of monoliths popping up around the world. We’ve traced these back to the Commies. They’re using these as a distraction while he “real” monolith is brought online. Once operable, it will provide a comm link to one of their black Ops satellites. Ultimate purpose unknown.

Grab the site, collect intel, then blow the station. Wheels up in 30.

The SOG team dropped into the deep jungles of the Amazon, where the Commies had been working, under the guise construction engineers, with locals to erect several hi-tech power stations.

The group pushed into the High Grasses bordering a plateau. A Hired Muscle goon stepped out of the jungle behind the team and shouted an alarm. The team found themselves in the mist of a drug lords hidden crop field, defended by an army ruffians.

The team had faced tougher and quickly began sweeping the enemy from the field. Sgt Burton, Cpl Beck and Cpl Abadi, as the bounding element, leapt forward. 

Cpl Beck kept charging deeper into the jungle, pitching a grenade at a group of smugglers. Deep jungle protected most from the blast.

The others pressed forward in the confusion.

AMBUSH! 
The drug runners had practice defending their realm from Federales! The SOF team was caught in an ambush. Vega caught a burst of fire and went down in a heap. Cpl Duchetta also caught a slug but kept moving.

Cpl Beck, showing why baseball is not big in Europe, pitched his last grenade ineffectively at a Toyota packed with Hostiles.

Sgt Burton took half the squad forward and established a Kill Zone of his own. Time for some playback.

After a ferocious firefight the team turned the tide and consolidated. Sgt Larson caught minor wound stopping a flanking move. 

Close to the Objective, the team prepared to entire the ravine leading to the monolith.
Where are all these Hostiles coming from? They are sporting serious firepower.

Larson and Burton heaved grenades at the larger concentrations. Shattering Squad and Truck before it’s cargo of Hostiles could off load. Time to descend the ravine and secure the monolith.

 

WTF! What the hell were the Commies working on? An army of apes launched a shock and awe attack.

Fortunately, having already dealt with many sorts of weirdness, the SOG force recovered quickly and began emptying their mags into the new threat. Grenades seemed ineffective against these strange foes. 

Time and ammo were running short. Time to focus and make every shot count.

Bad luck, an ape leaps out of the bush....

Cpl Beck suffers a severe clawing before the ape is dispatched. The team scatters the remaining Hostiles and secures the site long enough to call in a chopper. Time for some R&R....

Aftermath 
Another fun game. We won on the last clock turn! The current news stories gave us a tailor made plot line. Our only miss was not working in some “planet of the apes” type Hostiles. Also, Pretty sure it’s time to recruit a PS with the Medic skill! The 203 is a sweet weapon. And one of “us” need new dice for those grenade rolls. Saturday’s dice were HORRIBLE!

WarFighter has proved a great game for us to play over Zoom during the pandemic of 2020. The Three of us each work 2 soldiers. We have one camera on the PS “hands”, and another one on the player mat. Play goes smoothly and has provided us with tons of fun. 

Let us know if you have comments or thoughts on the SOG-X theme. 

Special thanks to David for his support and quick responses to questions that have come up.

Warfighter Drop Zone North Korea

We’ve intercepted heavy radio traffic coming over the NK’s military net. Much of it seeming to be frantic calls for support, oddly enough being sent in the clear. Satellite intel shows scenes of rioting and mass murdering occurring in every major city we monitor. The NK military is moving mechanized units into the cities and engaging the mobs.

Their Chinese buddies seem to fear the mobs of NKs gathering towards their shared border. Something about those herds has caused the Chinese to drop every bridge joining the two countries. They have also tripled the number of river boats patrolling those areas. They know something we don’t!

Given our suspicions concerning the Covid-19 outbreak, our white coat people fear some biological experiment might have blown up in their face.

The president has authorized your team to drop into NK and demolish the People’s Highway Bridge before the rabble crosses. The fly in your whiskey is that our SK “partners” want to goodwill any and all support requested by their estranged brothers. So, you must make a covert insertion and drop the bridge from the NK side, preferably without tipping off the SKs.

Here’s your brief:

Sack up, you liftoff in 30.

The team drops into the middle of some NKs. Fortunately we hit them before their shock wore off.

The Bridge approach was well defended. We ran into some tough terrain (time marker advanced 2 spaces).

The enemy had the benefit of knowing the countryside, and made taking them out more difficult than African warlord mission troops had been. The team slowed their advance in order to reduce the engaged forces.

The squad expended the few grenades they had, eliminating many of the enemy. The team then spread out to cover the Supply Drop zone. 

Dammit. The drop overshot even our forward position. It had the equipment needed for dropping the bridge. Time to hump it and reconsolidate the squad. Team Lead sprinted forward, having seen the chute hung on the bridge itself.

The bridge was well defended. The squad laid down suppressing fire, allowing a snapshot at the officer as he sprinted towards his commo Jeep.

With the M3 Gustav retrieved, Lead dropped back and let loose at the main trestle. The NKs stared in shock as the bridge fell into the river. Time for the squad to skin out, and skin out they did!

Aftermath 

So begins our Special Operations Group X (SOG X) campaign. Future posts will show more about this hard hitting group of operators and their wins and losses fighting the hidden war. 

We enjoy the Airborne missions. Behind enemy lines cards are greatness and can really add excitement to a mission. As do the landing zone cards.

This was our first encounter with North Korean forces. They were tougher than the Middle East and African forces. We are going to need to up gun our weapons. We could really use a ranged weapon with spray!

Great game. Good fun.

We wonder what outbreak was behind this mission? Stay tuned.....

Castle Frankenstein Ep 3 - Taking it to the Man

Charlie hoped the third time would be a charm. The Brass had given him and Rika an old fashioned cuss out. However, they to realized that something new, strange, and deadly was happening. 

Brass was banking that a recent ULTRA intercept held the key to ending this scourge. The coded message had requested barrels of exotic chemicals and heavy water for something Jerry called Projekt Terminator. The fact that the requester was codenamed Doktor Frankenstein was the one detail that made this sketchy. But the target site seemed to fit the tab for what was happening. 

Regardless, Brass was willing to send six Joes in to case this FrankenDen. The team would be beefed up compared to the last two.  Still Charlie had suggested it should be handed over to the Airborne. When Brass said “not their job.”, Charlie put in for a transfer to the Airborne. Transfer Denied! Well, at least he wasn’t headed back to that damned Fortress. 

Man the Brass just isn’t hip to what we’re up against. These missions just get tougher. It was all the team could do making a path through the Jerries guarding the Castle’s entrances. Rika and Duncan burned thru their “hands” of tricks, as Charlie used a metal rainstorm to clear a path. 

Charlie cut a path for the team to make it past a vault of Vats. Randell took point as the squad headed up the tower’s staircase. Rika gasped as a Sounder of Wild Boars, armored and weaponized tore into a shocked Pvt Randall. While Randell’s “Number was Up”, at least he took the Sounder with him, tumbling over a ledge, sows in tow.

The team paused to regroup and reload. Charlie pumped a rocket into the Jerry Axemen before catching up to the others. But those Axemen were Lumberjacks and they were okay! They chop down GIs and work all day!

An officer peered down on the team. Shouting orders only Rika understood to enemies we couldn’t see.

At the top of the stairs, Duncan and Allen dove into some sort of crazy control room.
Allen stood to take point. A burst from a team manning Hitler’s Buzzsaw downed him before he could call out a warning. Lucky for Duncan, the round labeled “Duncan” ricocheted off his helmet. 

Jerries poured out of every rat hole in the castle. Time was running out. Turner got caught in a hail of fire from a rifle team and went down for good. The team could not generate enough firepower to stall the FrankenGuards. 

A decision was made to rush Frankenstein’s lab. Duncan grabbed a couple potato mashers from a dead grenadier and made his Hero play.

Damn the entire army was here guarding the Doktor!

Duncan underhanded a potato masher, arching it perfectly at Frankenstein. He was rewarded with a thousand piercing rounds. Duncan’s last image was of a squattie toad like man in a lab coat diving on the grenade. The Blast (6 dice) from the grenade barely had his number.

Charlie and Rika realized their time had also run out. The last thing Rika understood was the Doktor shouting “To my uboot!”.

Aftermath 

Well that went poorly.
Even though we took three Player Soldiers, weapons with range and Many grenades, we were easily stymied again.

Luckily no Chemical locations were drawn. The Mission’s 10 turn limit was way to tight. By he third location we knew we had trouble. And big brother botched his shuffling roll, as locations were hard to come by, costing us several discard and draw actions.

We had decided during a traditional WW2 WF that things were not challenging enough and we would shift to Elite Hostiles. Well this Adventure Pack has me rethinking that. Elite Hostiles have lots of cover and take lots of hits. This mission added Fearless. Toss in the occasional Close Combat location and then queue the Fat Lady. 

As always, it was lots of fun. The Boars, Axemen, and Igor are fun and difficult opponents. 

We can’t speak to Dr Frankenstein. We are guessing he’s on his way to the South Pole or Jungles of Argentina. Regardless, we will see him and his body guards again, either in a PMC or Airborne mission some day.....

Appendix - Mission Team