Don't Panic! Hitchhikers vs Aliens

Another 7TV game with John playing Mars Attacks and Grey aliens, and his son Tim playing the characters from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

We used a simple three feet square gaming area with some scenery, a scattering of alien plants and rocks plus half a dozen crystals acting as objective markers.

We used the "Watch the skies!" sci-fi trope in order to introduce even more randomness to the story when the objectives were recovered.

Between them, the Hitchhikers made swift work of two Imperial Troopers before revealing an objective with the "They're Here Already" effect, enabling them to turn the Imperial Trooper Commander to their side, and promptly using him to kill the remaining Imperial Trooper.

Things were looking pretty sticky for John with four of his nine figures already lost but fortunately he was able to Steal the Scene with General Tor (his Evil Overlord) and snap the Commander out of his dominated status. His countdown card also enabled him to bring one of the Troopers back to life.

This rebalancing was to prove short-lived.  Tim swiftly killed the resurrected Trooper and even more devastatingly, Marvin emptied his SMG into an unfortunately closely grouped set of Alien Greys.  

The Alien leader rolled so well for defence that a roll of 9 was required.  Usually this is challenging on a D6 but 7TV's option of adding extra dice allows every 4, 5 or 6, to add +1 to the highest die roll.  Tim made sure of it by adding a ludicrous 10 extra dice and the whole lot were wiped out with one roll.

Although John's cast was axed, they battled on, with General Tor ambushing Trillian, who had already been infected by an alien egg, and she soon returned as a Cursed Creature fighting on his side.  

However, the following turn saw General Tor's morale waver and he promptly left the set.

John's cast earned a couple of victory points for the statuses attached to the opposing team but with the aliens essentially wiped out, and most of the crystals collected by the Hitchhikers, it was a Crushing Victory for Tim.

7TV Vlad's Army Episode 2

In the second episode "The 8.15 to Eastbourne", the Home Guard are trying to stop Hauptmann Kurtz and his vampires spreading along the South Coast by train.

Stuart and Andy's Home Guard and group of reservists started as close to the station as they could.

Kieron and James' German villains began on the opposite side behind Jones' butchers shop.

The Home Guard leadership rushed to the station and boarded the train before its departure whilst Fraser led the Reservists unit around the houses towards the Germans.  Swarms of bats and crows, along with Totganger zombies, slowly processed while the Half Bloods started moving towards the railway lines.

Hauptmann Kurtz controlled the swarms in a pincer movement and started picking off the Reservists.  Flushed with his success he charged into the unit, killing another Reservist.

Unfortunately Fraser had a butterfly net - an incredibly powerful gadget which instantly stunned Kurtz who was then unable to defend himself from the subsequent charge assault and follow up fight attack from Fraser, and was immediately wiped out in a single turn.

As the Third Act began, the train moved into the last third of the playing area, and the Home Guard prepared to take their turn surrounded by Germans.

And then we broke the Scenario.  Here's how.

The Home Guard had an incendiary device which could be planted on the gasworks and would explode the following turn wrecking the railway track and preventing the villains from escaping.  Since the Home Guard had the initiative in the game (due to their victory in Episode 1) they controlled the Countdown Cards and so were able to take the first turn in the Third Act.  But they were only going to get two turns (unless the villains were particularly generous/naive) so they had to plant the device straight away.  There were rules for boarding the moving train but not for leaving it.

If we said the Home Guard had to use the same rules for jumping off the train, and their second action was moving to the gasworks, they wouldn't be able to plant the device.  So their whole game strategy would be suddenly wiped out.  But if we allowed the Home Guard to move off and straight into contact with the gasworks, they could then set the device, and in the following turn the best the villains could do was move to the device and pick it up.  So the device couldn't be prevented from blowing up, and the villains strategy would be toast.

It looked like a rules discussion was going to resolve the game conclusion which was very unsatisfactory.  That's not what we wanted, we wanted a resolution through gameplay.

So we got rid of the device and decided to fight it out instead.  The Home Guard promptly threw grenades at the gathered Half Bloods and Totgangers, pretty much wiping them all out.

Although one Kommando failed to jump on the train and attack Wilson, the surviving Half Blood and the other Kommando did board the train and attacked the Home Guard, killing Walker and panicking Mainwaring in the last turn, using all the remaining plot points to roll an eleven!

In the final reckoning, the villains had just one Half Blood on the train and with the status on Mainwaring, that earned them 2 Victory Points.  The Home Guard had lost Walker and four Reservists, but the remaining three Reservists earned them their 3 Victory Points for another minor victory.

Our thoughts on this scenario:

1. The initial initiative in this game appears to make a game-winning difference in the Third Act.  If the villains had the first turn in the Third Act, they would have boarded the train, engaged the Home Guard and scuppered any plans for the gasworks to be blown up.  Since they didn't, the Home Guard could either have disembarked and blown up the gasworks unopposed, or (as we played it out) the Home Guard obliterate the villains patiently waiting in groups alongside the track. An alternative might be for the Home Guard to try to press on for the gasworks during the Second Act, and plant the device earlier.  But this Special Rule didn't work for us and we couldn't quite see how to fix it.
   
   
2. With Mainwaring's Leader 2 ability and Fraser's Unit Leader ability, the entire Hero side can be activated with just three plot points. Again contrast with the Germans, who effectively have to leave a large number of extras doing nothing simply to generate plot points for the remainder.  Kurtz can helpfully operate the bat swarms but the lack of any leadership or group ability hampers the villains. In the core rulebook, activated Zombies can Moan to bring on a couple of allies 2", so that might help if we added that to the Totganger.  Another thought was whether they should automatically just shuffle towards the enemy, only requiring plot points to actually do an attack.  Zombies are always in crowds in the movies and we'd like to try and get that feel with them.
   
   
3. We also reduced range to 12" again given the fog in the scenario description.

7TV Vlad's Army Episode 1

Vlad's Army is a Feature Pack for 7TV pitting the characters of Dad's Army against the Fuhrer's vampire fiends. The VHS tape box includes an episode guide, profile cards, gadget and countdown cards, and some counters.

I already had Dad's Army figures and various WW2 Germans and civilians who I rebased to match, and the Feature Pack gave me the push to complete my set of plastic Nazi zombies.

In this first episode, "Bloodbath at Godfrey's Cottage", Mainwaring has sent Wilson with a group of men to investigate reports of something coming down in the woods near Cherry Tree Cottage, where Godfrey lives with his sisters Dolly and Cissy.  The playing area was set up as per the episode guide.  I GM'd with Stuart playing the Home Guard, and Kieron the Germans.

The centre of the board has Godfrey's cottage with a shed, vegetable garden and a greenhouse I just finished.

In the North-East corner, the villains had landed in a German replica of a Horsa glider - a cheap MDF kit recently picked up on Etsy.

Sgt Wilson, the Home Guard and a group of Reservists deployed along the road.

The bonus counters placed around the glider turned out to all be civilians, promptly killed, bitten and zombified by Kieron.  Making use of their speed, his wolves raced around the garden and were engaged by a handful of Home Guard, killing a Reservist before being despatched themselves.

Stuart's troops checked on Dolly and Cissy, leaving them in the care of Private Sponge before setting up a perimeter along the road side of the cottage.  Eventually, the Germans breached the cottage grounds and there was a firefight and some close combat.  Two of the NachtJagerKommandos were killed but the remaining one took out another couple of Reservists.

Another Reservist was transformed into a Zombie following a well-aimed Axis Gas bomb that was lobbed through the window of the cottage.  This new Zombie swiftly turned one of Godfrey's sisters terrifying the remaining civilians still in the room with them.

At the end of the episode, the Home Guard had killed 2 Kommandos, 2 Zombies and 3 Wolves, earning 2 Victory Points for the Kommandos.  The Germans had killed 3 Reservists and zombified one more, but didn't manage to take out either of the co-stars - although Jones was still carrying the wound that Godfrey had repeatedly failed to heal - and so didn't earn any victory points.  This notionally gives the Home Guard a Decisive Victory.

We're hoping to play the rest of the campaign over the Christmas/New Year period.

Some thoughts that other players tackling this scenario may wish to consider.

1. The stated objectives for the Home Guard are to protect civilians and survive the encounter. The Germans are to create as many undead from the civilians and prevent the Home Guard from escaping to raise the alarm.  In our game, 8 civilians in total were revealed and the Germans killed one, changed one into a Half Blood, and another two into Zombies. Two were left free but unescorted with two more in imminent danger from a pair of Zombies in the cottage.  However, the Victory Points table doesn't give any credit for this, so players could just ignore the civilians which rather undermines the scenario.  Consequently, I think the Germans are due a point for their achievements in turning the civilian population resulting in an overall Minor Victory for the Home Guard.
   
   
2. The scenario is at night in fog so I reduced maximum range to 12".  As the villains have very limited range attacks, and the Home Guard generally have 24" range rifles, this balances things up a bit.
   
   
3. "Steal the Scene" can only be done by a Star or Co-Star but the Germans only have Extras in this scenario so I ruled that the Kommandos could use this ability.
   
   
4. There appears to be a huge imbalance in the use of plot points in this scenario.  The Germans are all Extras with no Leader or similar ability and so every figure activated requires a plot point, so at best, only half of them will do something each turn.  In contrast, Wilson's Leader ability along with Pike's "Uncle Arthur" effect means that one plot point can activate the three best characters on the Home Guard side.  I didn't do anything to affect this but will consider for future episodes. Ideas welcome.

Colours 2024

Andy and I went to Colours at Newbury Racecourse yesterday.  Not as big as Salute but plenty of traders and demonstration games to see and we spent the best part of six hours there (including over an hour eating our picnic outside and getting a little sunburned).  Other advantages over Salute include the cost (£5 a ticket instead of £12 plus parking plus ULEZ charge) and that it's not much than an hour's drive away.

My favourite demo games included one set in Japan:

The 1812 battle of Salamanca with what I thought were gorgeous autumnal colours but are perhaps sun-scorched summer Spanish colours:

Operation Sealion:

A Second World War battle between Finland and Russia:

And a fun Lego game of the trench run from Star Wars:

I haven't spent much money at shows in recent years but managed a good haul this time, including a lot of varied scenery (some of it from the Bring & Buy), the Vlad's Army (Dad's Army vs Vampires) expansion for the 7TV rules, and the Scooby Doo gang and Mystery Machine to paint.

The Thing Returns

During lockdown I painted up figures for a Perilous Tales game based on John Carpenter's The Thing.  The 80s Genre Guide for 7TV includes profiles for the various Thing creatures and the designers had a demo game at Salute earlier this year, and shared the episode guide on the 7TV Facebook page.

The playing area was two feet square with snow drifts, trees and the Antarctic Research Base.

I had the Heroes with MacReady, a second co-star, a Corrupt Official with three security guards, and three dogs.

John took the Villains with The Thing, two Dog-Things, a Human-Thing and three Cursed Creatures, plus a Head-Thing and Spider-Thing standing by to take over the Heroes.

Starting from opposite corners of the playing area, we both sent our faster moving dogs into the centre where one of the fuel cans needed was located, whilst the Official and the Security Guards moved up the side of the board towards a second can.

John sent a Cursed Creature to cover the third fuel can but a Scene Card enabled me to swap it with MacReady, getting him into a better position whilst the other co-star battered the Creature.

John transformed one of my security guards into a Head-Thing, killing a second one, so my co-star used the Steal The Scene to get into the action and take revenge.

By now, The Thing had awakened and engaged MacReady before he had a chance to pick up the fuel.

The Corrupt Official used his fuel can to set the Human-Thing alight, whilst the dogs howled at each other in the centre of the map.

My co-star then moved to the remaining fuel can and fought with another Cursed Creature, before taking the fuel and making a dash for it.

The Thing eventually killed MacReady, and the Human-Thing was killed due to burns and dog attacks, but the co-star and Corrupt Official managed to make it to the Series 2 and escape.

Although a number of creatures were disposed with, the Thing was still alive so the base remained infested.  The main co-star was dead but the other co-star and the Corrupt Official escaped to safety.  On balance, we judged this is as a minor victory for the Heroes.  Another great 7TV game.

7TV Gaming Day: "Roundabout Way"

On 13 July, I attended a hugely fun 7TV Gaming Day at Wargames Workshop in Milton Keynes, organised by David Brown and promoted on the 7TV Facebook group.

Eight competitors each brought a 40 point Hired Help cast to fight their way through four Milton Keynes-themed episodes.  I fielded the A-Team (Bold Planner, Organised Criminal, Practical Mechanic, Pilot) and their associates Amy Allen (Reporter), Frankie Santana (Driver), with special guests Alex Drake (Plainclothes Cop), The Jackal (Sharpshooter) and - because you can in 7TV Episodes - a Yeti (Missing Link).

I also took along my film crew to record the episodes.

Episode 1: Dude, Where's My Car

Last night was going great, exploring the various districts of the new town looking for opportunities. That was until the fuel ran out - someone's for the chop! The consequences, following a long walk home in the dark, are that fuel needs to be found, and your vehicle recovered. And do it quickly before the boss finds out, and explanations ramp up a level!

BA's van started on my opponents baseline and the cast had to make their way across town, collecting fuel, to refuel and drive off the edge of the playing area.  The Yeti proved useful in knocking opponents down so that other characters could attack them without the defenders using their stretch dice.  We both made it to our vehicles and my opponent collected more fuel but lost more cast members, giving the A-Team one more victory point in total - which 7TV rules reasonably enough judge as a Draw.

Episode 2: It's A Matter Of Scale

In a terrible metric/imperial measurement error, reminiscent of Spinal Tap's Stonehenge, the first cow constructed from the original drawings by Liz Leyh was rather oversized. Fortunately, being the prototype, it was just wire mesh and paper mache.

In an echo of the A-Team Season 3 episode Showdown! my cast faced a group of imposters resulting in what looked like blue-on-blue action, with Hannibals trading bullets, and Faces wrestling each other.

My Hannibal took charge of the cow and in a slightly dubious move, managed to swap locations with an ally with a lucky Script card and quickly got to the edge of playing area.  However, as my Star, I elected to keep him on the table rather than escape with the cow, judging that he would contribute more to victory by remaining in play.  This paid off as the A-Team managed to collect more of the objective markers and keep control of the cow, giving them a Decisive Victory.

Episode 3: Don't Have A Cow, Man

The concrete cows are now synonymous with Milton Keynes, but when initially displayed they were open to abuse by inventive groups. Whether simply displaying a gang's tag, hiding a stash in their hollow interior, or locating a listening device for law enforcement, they could be very useful.

I faced a tough sci-fi flavoured cast in this game and although I eventually managed to take out a co-star by massing my figures on to it, I was unable to get around to tag as many of the cow objective markers as my opponent, giving them a Minor Victory.

Episode 4: The Roundabout Way

Milton Keynes is not only famous for it's concrete cows, but for many other things (101 according to Destination MK!). A simple episode to close the series, but a good understanding of Milton Keynes may enhance your chances of finishing on a high.

This time the cow objectives were flipped when claimed, revealing a Milton Keynes-related symbol underneath which brought an associated benefit, or penalty in one case.  The A-Team were doing well here until the last Script card provided one of their enemies with a turn of guaranteed successful shots, equalling the losses across both casts and resulting in a Draw.

Summary

This was an excellent day's gaming.  David had put together a great set of scenarios and also provided each competitor a set of the special MDF objective markers and a Roundabout Way measuring stick to take away, so we can replay these episodes again in future.  All the games were played in a fun and friendly spirit, as encouraged by the 7TV rules.

Finally here are the seven other casts at the event, the first four are my opponents in order.