Category Archives: Skirmish

Last Days: A Triffid Apocalypse! Another Update!!

Last Days, miniatures, Skirmish

After the first update to the stats I got some further feedback. Which raised some good points. So I’ve included once more the feedback from Facebook below, but not the feedback/comments from the first update (you can view them easily enough if you click on the link).

Please also remember that my inspiration source is the 1981 BBC tv series adaptation of the book. Although where there are gaps that need filling I use the resources linked to in the original post. The aim has also been to try and keep things rule light as possible while getting the triffid theme over.

I need to think about the spawning rules, and if they need changing from the core rules, and see how things feel. I do like the points raised. So once I can play test these with my friend there may well be a future update covering this.

The fire weapon doing double damage, see what you mean when I reread the Head Shot trait. Hopefully fixed that.

I have added stats for a triffid gun now. The disclaimer below really does apply to this.

On the first aid front, yep not thought that out enough. I think for this to work medical supplies needs to be something that can be equipped from the start, and used in game with the interact action. If used this way it’s gone and can not be used again. One and gone so to speak. I’m thinking a cost of 2 scavenger points to add medical supplies to a character.

Please note: These stats have not been play tested. I repeat have not been play tested. They are my initial thoughts, and a work in progress (this is the third interation). They are likely to change once I get a chance to play test them.

To Do (still):

▪ Play test this!

▪ Come up with campaign additions to cover a character becoming blind if they survived an attack and got hit on bare skin.

The source I used to help with the Triffid Gun stats is this link.

Last Days: Xenomorphs Part 1

Alien, Last Days, Skirmish

The Alien movies, especially Alien and Aliens hold a special place in my fandom heart. I loved the late 80’s, early 90’s Dark Horse comics. Even some of the books are pretty good.

So with the introduction of the Evolutions and Timelines rules in the Blaster magazine (available on DriveThruRPG) it was only a matter of time really before I tried to add xenomorphs using these additional rules.

But aren’t there miniature based games already for this franchise? And yes indeed there are, like the official Galeforce 9 Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps and it’s expansions (link at the end of the post). However I think Last Days has a much more flexible rule set that will allow for a great cinematic xenomorph experience.

Getting miniatures for us to use is pretty easy. And doesn’t require us to buy a game that we are only interested in it’s miniatures for. Galeforce 9 actually sell the miniatures for their game separately! It is these miniatures that will determine the various evolutions that I will spec out for use with Last Days.

How many miniatures will you need? 24 alien warrior miniatures (3x the number of tokens we’ll be using), 1 alien queen, 5 eggs (closed) and 5 open eggs, finally ideally we should have 5 face huggers. I appreciate that this will require buying multiple copies of figure packs. But at the moment these are the cheapest way to get the figures.

As you have probably guessed from the posts title this isn’t everything needed to play Last Days using Xenomorphs. There is a lot of work going into this (more than triffids). Which means it will take me much much longer to get these initial thoughts down. Despite not having finished the updated triffid stats I had to get this post written. The spawning stuff just hit me one morning and I needed it written down so I didn’t forget it.

But first my disclaimer.

Please note: These stats/rules have not been play tested. I repeat have not been play tested. They are my initial thoughts, and a work in progress. They are likely to change once I get a chance to play test them.

Setup:

During the game setup after the supply token deployment we are adding an eggs deployment stage.

The player that chose the deployment zone first will go first in deploying the eggs.

A Last Days Xenomorphs game will have at least five eggs deployed on the table.

The rules for deploying the eggs will be the same as those for deploying supply tokens with one exception. Eggs can be deployed next/near to other eggs.

“The first will always be deployed on ground level as close to the center of the board as possible. The other four will be deployed, two per player, anywhere on the table but not within 6” of a table edge, deployment zone,…”

Spawning:

For this I’m going to be using the alien tokens that you can get for the Alien role playing game (photo below). On one side you have a motion tracker symbol, and on the reverse side an image of an alien.

First we need to build a pool of tokens. To do this we will need one token with an alien queen on, and eight tokens with a regular alien on (token k in the image below). Turn them motion tracker symbol face up, and shuffle/mix up.

When an alien spawns instead of placing a miniature, a token gets placed instead, motion tracker symbol facing up. Until a character miniature has line of sight (LOS) on that token it remains a token and gets moved according to the rules.

Once a character has LOS the token gets flipped revealing the alien type to be added to the board. But this is aliens, life isn’t that simple or easy. You now roll 1d6, and half the value, rounding down. So you should get a value between 0-3. This is the number of xenomorphs that will be spawning at that tokens position. Unless it is an alien queen being spawned. There will only ever be one of them. By having a chance of zero aliens spawning we’re simulating a false motion tracker reading.

If a character is within 5ft (1 inch) of an egg it will open and spawn a face hugger. That egg can no longer spawn a face hugger. Replace the closed egg with an open egg, and place a face hugger between the egg and character.

That’s my thoughts so far. As the following to do list shows still a lot to do. I’ll try and get the triffids finished first though.

To do:

  • Add a table for spawning for those without Alien RPG tokens.
  • Stats for the Xenomorphs
  • Timelines rules
  • Play test

References:

Last Days: A Triffid Apocalypse! Updated

Last Days, miniatures, Skirmish

I did something brave and possibly foolhardy after publishing my post Last Days: A Triffid Apocalypse! I shared it on the Last Days Facebook page.

I was nervous about sharing my work. How would it be received? Luckily people seemed to like it and I got some useful, constructive feedback as well. Which I have included below. I was rather star struck that Ash Barker liked the Facebook post. Did he read the blog post? No idea.

I’m pretty sure I read that triffids can’t go indoors, and their size would hint at that. But can I find where I read that? Not a bloody chance.

Below are the updated stats for a triffid.

Please note: These stats have not been play tested. I repeat have not been play tested. They are my initial thoughts, and a work in progress. They are likely to change once I get a chance to play test them.

I’ve added a Sway and Hit the Head special rules for the stinger. And tweaked the notes on the behaviour and traits.

I don’t think that there needs to be a hidden rule as described above. I think this would be counted as cover. But I need to think more about this.

UPDATED: to avoid confusion over units used for range of stinger.

I think these take on board the advice given, and make the triffids feel on theme! Any character that becomes out of action from a triffid attack and part of a campaign still needs additions made to decide if they die, blinded or seriously ill for a period of time. But that’s for another day.

To do:

▪ Play test this!

▪ Come up with campaign additions to cover a character becoming blind if they survived an attack and got hit on bare skin.

Hope people like this update.

A possible house rule for Last Days

Last Days, Skirmish

I’m pretty close to actually playing a game of Last Days! Once the current lockdown restrictions allow I have a friend who also has the rules now (although they are finding them confusing) to actually play a game or two with.

In the meantime while I’m soaking like a beached whale in the tub I like to dip into the rule book from time to time.

This time I was rereading the rules on playing the game, and the phases that make up a turn of play.

During the Action Phase I came across the following:

“Both players take turns activating models to completion, passing back and forth.

If a player runs out of models to activate before their opponent, then the player will simply wait while the other side continues activating his remaining models.” Last Days Zombie Apocalypse Rulebook

But it’s the same rule in the Shooting and Close Quarters Combat as well.

I can’t believe I’ve had the rules for so long and it has only just struck me that this was also the same/similar rule in the FFG game Imperial Assault and their skirmish rules when the game first came out.

Later on FFG tweaked the rule to be the following:

“Then, starting with the player that has initiative, the players take turns activating deployment groups and performing actions with the corresponding figures. If a player has fewer ready Deployment cards than his opponent, that player can choose not to activate a group and pass play back to his opponent.

Once all Deployment cards are exhausted, players proceed to the Status Phase.” Imperial Assault Skirmish Rulebook – FFG

This is how the FFG design team explained the change at the time:

“When a player passes, his opponent immediately takes another turn, choosing and exhausting one of his ready Deployment cards. A player can pass as many times as he wishes, so long as his opponent has more ready Deployment cards. If a player ever has the same amount of ready Deployment cards as his opponent, he must take a turn.

This rule was implemented because we believe that the activation advantage created when one player has more activations than his opponent has become too powerful, and we needed to recalibrate. With the new rule, a player with fewer ready Deployment cards has the opportunity to pass his turn, which negates the advantage of several low-cost groups.” FFG blog post (2015)

So it got me thinking why don’t I House rule Last Days to do the same?

I’ve not built many squads for the game. Well one actually. So I have no idea if this is even an issue, or if the designer has thought of this.

But if you do find or think that there is an activation advantage when one player has more activations than the opponent then you might want to consider this FFG solution.

Last Days: The Big Bang Squad

Last Days, Skirmish

Despite having I think enough scatter terrain to play a game or two of the miniatures skirmish game Last Days: Zombie Apocalypse I still haven’t organised a game yet. Something I need to rectify.

But first I need to put together a couple of squads to play with. Although whoever I play the game with can put together their own squad if they wish. That is the beauty of this game/rule set it uses whatever miniatures you have on hand.

For me that means my Zombicide survivors. Both the ones that come with the game and the promo ones. Naturally the promo survivors are caricatures of the personality whether real or fictional with different names. But it’s pretty obvious who they are meant to be.

Out of the few I have I’ve always had floating around in the back of my head that once I had all the Big Bang Theory cast as survivors I’d like to play a scenario in Zombicide with them. Luckily that was something I managed to do between a Kickstarter or two by CMoN and I don’t recall having to resort to eBay. But it’s possible. The downside is that it’s been a long long time since Zombicide hit the table and I haven’t used the miniatures.

Then Last Days came out, and once more the plan was resurrected. Bring the Big Bang gang to this version of the zombie apocalypse instead.

So here for your amusement and my notes I present The Big Bang Squad.

Oh almost forgot before I get into the meat of this post a little disclaimer. This is my first squad that I’ve created for the game. There are bound to be mistakes. When giving the characters their abilities and keyword I’ve tried to match them up as best as possible whilst hopefully staying true to the fictional character. But please remember the options available in the core rule book are limited and may not map exactly or at all. Especially whilst taking into account any restrictions imposed by the rules.

Scavenger Points To Spend: 100

Scavenger Points Spent: 95

Leader: Dave aka Sheldon

Naturally Dave had to be the leader. Watch any episode of the show, whenever they do anything Sheldon is always the leader, team captain. Ok mainly to shut him up, and they know they will eventually cave in anyway.

There are currently three options for leaders. Obviously Dave is not a merciless thug. I was going to go Professional however you could never describe Dave as athletic. And that is one of the professionals available skills. So I’ve had to go with the Everyday Hero.

THE EVERYDAY HERO – SELFLESS (12 Scavenger Points)

Next I need to pick a refuge for this group of survivors. In the core rule book there are the following options.

Considering the setting of the tv show, and the time spent in the comic book shop, coffee shop, etc. My inclination is to place the squad in The Mall.

Refuge: The Mall

Now I have to recruit the rest of the cast to Dave’s group of survivors. Naturally there are six other characters to add. Which The Mall easily allows me to add.

But I do have to keep in mind the following restrictions:

• I may recruit any number of Characters with the same Keyword as the Leader.

• Up to 50% of the Characters in the Group may have the Neutral Keyword.

• Only 25% or less of the models in the Group may have a different Keyword than the Leader.

For all the character types selected below I’ve tried to avoid ones that have the athletic skill. We are talking about a group of “nerds” here, and that usually isn’t a word used to describe them in the show, despite it being a tired stereotype. I’ve also tried to make sure the ones selected have the academic skill.

The most flexible character type for my needs is the Survivor. Which sadly is the wrong keyword. The nice thing about this character type is I get to pick the skills each character has. This enables the character to feel more like their fictional representation.

SURVIVOR – NEUTRAL (6 Scavenger Points)

Kabir aka Raj: SITUATIONAL AWARENESS, SCAVENGER
Miss Trish aka Bernadette: DIRTY FIGHTER, DOUBLE-TAP
Will aka Howard: ENGINEER, MARTIAL ARTS

CRONY – SELFISH (3 Scavenger Points)
Audrey aka Amy

The options for the same keyword were not ideal. I’m kind of happy with Patrick being a Good Samaritan. However Nikki is probably the worse fit for this. But the other options were worse in my opinion.

GOOD SAMARITAN – SELFLESS (9 Scavenger Points)

Patrick aka Leonard
Nikki aka Penny

I make that a total of 39 Scavenger Points spent on the group. Add in the leader spend my running total is 51 Scavenger Points. Now onto the …

Starting Weapons

There are also some restrictions that need adhering to when selecting the starting weapons and equipment for the group.

  • Each Character in the group must start with at least one weapon with which to defend themselves from hostile groups and the living dead.
  • They may carry up to two Firearms and two Close Quarter Combat weapons (CQC).
  • When you recruit a new character it is the only time you may freely pick weapons and equipment for them.

Here are the starting weapon options available to choose from:

When choosing the characters weapon I’m trying to match the weapon to the miniature. Although for Dave and Audrey the games version of a Molotov cocktail isn’t a starting option.
For weapons like Heavy Blade I’m house ruling that it’s not one weapon of type Heavy Blade, but one machete, one sharpened sword. It makes sense that you will have one of each of those, not just one Heavy Blade weapon.
Dave:

  • Club (nightstick, ASP, bat, crowbar, etc.) *, Scavenger Points 2
  • Revolver*, Scavenger Points 2
  • Medical Supplies *, Scavenger Points 2

Audrey:

  • Surplus SMG, Scavenger Points 4
  • Knife *, Scavenger Points 2

Kabir:

  • Heavy Blade (sharpened sword), Scavenger Points 3
  • Revolver*, Scavenger Points 2
  • Medical Supplies *, Scavenger Points 2

Miss Trish:

  • Semi-Automatic*, Scavenger Points 3
  • Knife *, Scavenger Points 2

Nikki:

  • Magnum*, Scavenger Points 3
  • Surplus Hunting Rifle, Scavenger Points 4
  • Knife *, Scavenger Points 2

Patrick:

  • Heavy Club (hand axe), Scavenger Points 2
  • Revolver*, Scavenger Points 2

Will:

  • Pump-Action Shotgun *, Scavenger Points 5
  • Knife *, Scavenger Points 2

So that’s my Big Bang Squad. I need to create a second group of survivors for them to go up against. For that I have a ready made one figure wise I can use, which is from another CMoN game, The Others. From that game I will be using one of the expansions Sons of Ragnarok which is a Norse Gods inspired take on the biker gang and tv show Sons of Anarchy. But I’ll cover that build in another post.