The Young Ones on Vacation - HeroQuest Skirmish battle report parts 1 & 2

You can find the scenario set up and house rules over here.

The Young Ones on Vacation - HeroQuest Skirmish battle report

TURN 1

The scenario set up

The table layout is as you can see. Vyvyan and SPG begin in the top right corner for the table. The Security Team have just arrived in the carpark in the lower left corner. The Security Team, having just arrived in a vehicle, have generated three noise markers. This will attract three zombies to that side of the table next turn. Zombies are scattered about the table.

Vyv and SPG roll only short moves of 3" and 4" respectively. Clearly, they are sneaking their way back to Vyv's Ford Anglia at the car park when the spy both the zombies and the security team.

The security team make three noise markers driving into the car park. That's going to cause issues next turn. They exit the vehicle, the security sergeant radioing back a sitrep.

SPG's favourite toy is where he left it when the science team captured him and carted him off to the lab. SPG is going to be very motivated to get this back despite there being zombies hanging around.

Vyv left both his lunch and his cricket bat when he chased after the hamster nappers. So Vyv is going to need these if he hopes to get SPG and himself out of the parkland in one piece.

The keys to Vyv's Ford Anglia are in the grounds-keepers cottage. The keys to that cottage are on what's currently left of the grounds-keeper. Vyv, being a medical student and rather fond of violence, isn't too squeamish when it comes to digging through guts. Good thing too because he's going to have to get dirty to get the keys to the cottage. Unfortunately, there are zombies hanging around that corpse. So best to tread carefully here.

Vyv's car keys are in the cottage on the entrance table.

Turn 1 opens with the Hero's (Vyv and SPG) making their moves first. The security team goes next and finally the monsters (i.e. zombies) get their turn. With the Hero phase done. The security team stays put and tools up. Spying the closest threats to them. Trooper 1 spots the Zombie Brute and, it being the closest threat, opens fire. The trooper scores 2 Skulls. The Brute however tolls 1 Dark Shield, shrugging off one damage.

Noise markers are placed ready for next turn.

Bam, bam, bam!

Braiiiinz...shug off hurt. Want braiiiiinnnzzz.

One hit

Trooper 2 also thinks that the Brute is the closest threat to him and likewise takes a shot. Rolling 2 Skulls, the zombie fails to shrug off the hits and is killed.

Blam, blam, blam.

Nice work team.

The security Sergeant makes a move and then shoots at the nearest zombie, which is partially obscured, to himself. Due to partial cover, the Sergeant rolls one less dice in attack. The Sergeant rolls 2 Skulls in attack. The zombie fails in its defence roll and is taken out immediately. Nice work Sergeant.

Trooper 3 now activates and makes a move action to get a clear shot at some zombies. He has three targets in equidistant range and Line of Sight (LOS). But the fence acts as an obstruction meaning that the trooper will roll one less attack dice. Trooper 3 targets the most dangerous zombie, the Runner, and scores a single hit. The Runner however shrugs this attack off with a single dark shield result.

Now the monsters get their phase. Zombies move towards the nearest loudest sound, the nearest visible non-zombie, or will move towards each other if neither of these options are available. The firefighter zombie moves towards the gate and tears it down. This opens the way for a bunch of zombies to move towards the nearest visible target, that of the security team. And onwards they come!

Shuffler Zombies get a move of 5". So does the Zombie Brute if it was still standing. The Zombie Runner however gets two red dice (i.e. normal d6) for movement.

Unfortunately for the Runner, it rolls a grand total of 3" for movement this turn. Not so much a runner, as a jogger right now!

As most of the Zombies are attracted to the Security Team either by sight, or noise, they move towards their dinner. Only one Zombie has a LOS to another target. That being SPG. The Shuffler Zombie, having no other non-zombie in LOS, moves towards SPG.

"Uh oh!"

TURN 2

Turn 2 opens with three new Zombies coming on to the table, having been attracted by the noise generated by the Security Team. All three zombies are Shufflers.

The Hero Phase opens with Vyv making a b-line for his cricket bat, rolling 10" for movement. "Ah, completely brilliant!" he exclaims as he picks it up and feels its weight. "This could come in very handy."

SPG likewise rolls 10" for movement and legs it past the female zombie Shuffler and straight towards his beloved Rubber Duck.

With Vyv claiming his cricket bat, that's one objective the Hero Team has collected. Vyv now adds +3 dice to any melee attack rolls he makes because, as Rick exclaims; "Vyvyan, you vicious bastard!" That's a total of six dice he will roll in attack. Moreover, Vyv can split the dice amongst multiple attackers if he is set upon by more than one zombie in melee. Swing away!

"Completely brilliant!"

"Out of the way, Lassy. That's my duck!"

The Security Team phase opens with them being in trouble. Beset by a large number of zombies, 7 in total, and one a Runner. Things look grim.

Trooper 3 opens up on the purple clad Shuffler directly in front of him and scores 2 Skulls. Purple zombie fails to defend itself and is outright splattered across the zombies behind it. Tropper 3 then falls back to get as much distance as possible.

The Security Sergeant opens up on the Runner, scoring 1 Skull, which the Runner fails to defend. The Runner therefore takes a single hit. The Sergeant then also falls back to Trooper 3. We can imagine that both were falling back whilst firing at the oncoming zombies.

Trooper 2 shoots at one of the newly arrived Zombies, being the closest threat in LOS. But he fails to land any hits.

Damn it. Missed!

Trooper 1 moves forwards towards the front of the Hummer and takes a shot at the Runner zombie. But he also misses his target. Clearly, he was freaked out by the oncoming mass of rotting flesh.

The Monster Phase opens with the Runner zombie rolling 7" of movement. It runs forwards and attacks Trooper 1, scoring 1 Skull in its attack. Trooper 1 manages to roll 2 White Shields in defence and pushes off the charging zombie.

But the rest of the little hoard shuffles into the carpark and quickly start to cut off access to the Security Teams vehicle.

Meanwhile, SPG has his own problems. The two Shuffler zombies close in behind SPG. Due to his tiny size, attacks against SPG roll one less dice. The female zombie attacks first but fails to land a hit. Next the male zombie has a go but likewise fails to land a blow. Incredibly SPG dodges between the two zombies and escapes being hit.

"Naff off zombies!"

With that Turn 2 comes to an end. Stay tuned for what happens next.

The Young Ones on Vacation - a scenario for HeroQuest Skirmish

 A HeroQuest Skirmish Scenario

In my last post (see here) I mentioned that I was playing around with the idea of using the HeroQuest game system for playing quick and dirty skirmish games. I called this mad idea HeroQuest Skirmish (that's trademarked by the way. Ok. Maybe it isn't. But I'm claiming it even though its completely indefensible in court!).

So dear reader. Here I post about the scenario I will be using to try this idea out. This scenario comes from the most excellent Population Z skirmish game from Tabletop Skirmish Games. Do check them out.

And for reference, the HeroQuest cards are made using the fantastic HeroQuest Card Creator website. I forgot the mention this in the previous post.

The Young Ones on Vacation - a scenario for HeroQuest Skirmish.

Background

Vyv has found himself the lucky recipient of a summer internship at the Pitzer Medical Research Labs located out in the rural countryside of England. Mike, Rick and Neil have joined him at the little British village of Dinglesberry where many of the Pitzer facilities employees reside. The Pitzer Labs are high security and no questions asked. The facility even has its own security personnel armed to the teeth. None of this gives pause to the lads as it's a chance for Vyv to dissect stuff and for the rest of them to bludge off the internship grant. Vyv's faithful pet, the hamster SPG, is with the Young Ones as well. 

Shortly after settling in something goes array at the facility. Some staff, working in the maximum quarantine block, have a workplace accident. They are rushed to St Catherines in the Field a hospital operated by the local nunnery of St Catherine of Complete Mercy. Soon however, other patients start to show symptoms being experienced by the Pitzer workers and some of the nuns who operate the hospital also come down with the strange ailment. The Mother Superior quickly shuts down the hospital and enacts quarantine protocols but shortly thereafter Pitzer private security personnel turn up and take over the lockdown. Not surprisingly Mother Superior Mary Immacolata is not impressed. A former mud wrestler in her wilder days she won't be taking this situation "laying down", so to speak. She quickly rallies the rest of the nuns and begins plans to find out what's really going on.

Meanwhile the rest of the Pitzer facility staff are ordered to leave work immediately and await further instructions from management. Noone knows what's going on but the place goes into lockdown. Vyv, who was on a lunch break at the time, realises that SPG has gone missing. Those bloody infectious diseases virologists were eyeing off SPG whilst he was working, and he bets that they nicked SPG when Vyv was distracted so that they could experiment on the hamster. Unperturbed, Vyv leaves his lunch at the Pitzer parklands and sneaks back to the lab facility to find SPG. Liberating the hamster (and a bunch of other hamsters), Vyv and SPG now attempt to make good their escape back to the carpark and make a getaway from the lockdown in Vyv's Ford Anglia.

But there are some strange people now wondering the parkland. And they don't look very healthy.

Setup

The scenario set up is identical to one of the early Population Z Huntsville scenarios. But modified for my own fun and stupidity.

The Zombie Runner gets two red dice movement each turn. Movement is in any direction desired. There is always one Runner on the table. If it is killed. Another Runner will come onto the board at the start of the next turn.

There is one Security Sergent who arrives on turn one in a Humvee. He is accompanied by his Security Team and they arrive at the car park. They are armed with ranged weapons.

The Security Team consists of three personnel, all armed with ranged weapons and they arrive in the Humvee with their Sergent. They have orders to shoot anything that resembles a human and that is moving. That's not good news for Vyv.

Zombie Shufflers will always move towards the nearest non-Zombie they have Line-of-Sight (LOS) to. Failing that, they will move towards the nearest loud noise. Failing that, they will move towards the biggest group of Zombies in LOS, forming a horde. Shufflers have a move of 5" and can move in any direction.

The game table is set out as below. This is a 3x3 foot area with terrain to suit. There is a carpark, park grounds keeper cottage, a pond, a fenced off carpark and vegetation/rocks to taste suitable for a parkland. The cottage isn't accessible without the keys to open it. Those keys are on what's left of the Groundskeeper.

Vyvyan and SPG start in the opposite corner to the carpark as they head across the park from the labs. There are several plot points that Vyv and SPG can collect to gain victory points and benefits. But at least one of them needs to survive in order to win the scenario. Vyv starts without his Cricket Bat. A decidedly disadvantageous position to be in.

The Zombie Runner starts near the remains of the Grounds Keeper. Munch, munch, munch...

SPG was napped by the virologists whilst he was taking a swim in the pond with his favourite toy. SPG will do whatever he can to retrieve it.

The Grounds Keeper... what's left of him

The Grounds Keeper has his keys still left in his remains. If Vyv can get the keys, he can enter the Cottage and use it to evade the Zombies. But the keys to his Ford Anglia are there as well. All carpark users are required to surrender their keys to the Grounds Keeper before entering the facility. So Vyv needs to get his keys back. To get his keys he needs to get into the cottage. The get into the cottage, he needs the keys off the Grounds Keeper's remains.

Vyv's keys are on the table. And yes, Vyv has a girly keychain. Rick teases him about it all the time until Vyv punches him!

Vyvyan's lunch is liquid in nature. From the local brewery. If he can collect his lunch (and not lose it), he can use it as a Healing Potion as per the HeroQuest rules.

Finally, when Vyv noticed that SPG was missing, he put down his favourite Cricket Bat and set off to the Labs. Now if he can just get to his bat, he can arm himself with it and gain 3 Attack Dice to his normal unarmed attack of 3 Attack Dice. That will be a major advantage to Vyv and SPG. So, this is a priority for Vyv. Fortunately, he dropped the bat not far from where he left his lunch.

Last but not least. There is a Zombie Brute that will appear after the first turn of the game, if there is more than one Zombie attracted onto the table.

Zombies are attracted to the table as per the Population Z rules. It's a very nifty system and so I won't steal its lunch here. It's also got some great AI charts for how Zombies behave and react. ITS A GREAT GAME. So go check out the game and buy it for yourself.

One final thing is that Zombies can't climb anything higher than their chest height. So, they could climb a vehicle or flop over a fence, but not a dumpster and then the house, for example. They also like the smell of rotting flesh and therefore won't enter water. This means that the pond is off limits to the Zombies as impassable terrain.

Stay tuned for the Battle Report.