Song Chinese vs Zombies - An Infamy Infamy Encounter

Inspiration for a game can come from a number of areas.... but this one is rather odd, back in lockdown one I went through a spate of watching East Asian drama's on Netflix - a real cracker was the Korean Zombie series - Kingdom. How pleased to see that a further installment had landed in the last few weeks with Ashin of the North.

Next thing you know we are throwing down some terrain to crash together the Water Margin and Elizabethan projects to pit the Song Chinese against waves of undead.... This post is definitely not for the purist in the blogosphere.

The Prefect had orders to escort the Imperial Princess across the table, he had heard rumors amongst the peasantry of  disappearances and brutal killings. He selected the size of his escort in the full knowledge that his opponent will matching him point for point.

A mixed force of bannermen, local militia, Palace Guard and a could of minor heroes for good measure.

A slow start the accompanying Oxen and Grain supplied wandered up the road only to be confronted by a mass of undead.

Steak was on the menu the wagon was unable to turn around and the dead clawed at the Ox flesh, the distraction allowed the escort party to swing right.

Heading east to skirt the village the bannermen deployed in front of the paddy fields as some the dead started to shamble towards them. The dead reached the spearmen and bow men but were quickly dispatched, the living quick to kill anyone of there brethren that had been infected.

More and more of the risen were summoned by the evil wizards blocking the escort parties path.

The Palace Guard ploughed into the decaying mass, they lost several of their number but fought on.

On the right flank the the evil wizards called forward their temple guard who were peppered with missile fire as then entered the open ground.

Black Bull saw his moment and rushed forwards striking down the warlock.

With blood lust he swung his mighty club carving a path through the deceased who were summoned by one of the remaining priests in revenge for their recent loss.

The dead were running out of bodies and the path to the bridge was open.

A really fun encounter and great to get some of the toys on the table, having the undead largely controlled by reaction tests makes it easy to play as a semi-coop type game with everyone on the same side, in groups of 5 they are easily dispatched but like many a good movie plot don't get caught by hundreds or you will be swamped.

This has the makings of a really fun club night game.

The Elizabethan Zombie Chronicles #6 - Royal Ambush

The first game of 2021 albeit a solo affair.

Back in March last year we saw how good Queen Elizabeth had escaped London as the dead rose from the plague pits and over ran the city, filling the streets of the capital and tearing apart all who stood in their way. The open countryside gave some respite as the party headed towards Windsor and potential safety.. See here.

As mentioned in an earlier post I had a hankering for an ambush scenario and this gave me an opportunity to give the werewolves a run out and the rule tweaks for Infamy Infamy. Each Werewolf was an Elite unit in there own right with a leader.

Inspired by Last of the Mohicans as the winter sun started to set the woods fell silent as the royal column made it's way West. Adding in some solo mechanisms, I added 6 additional blank chits to the evil side and a chit for every unit and spread them either side of column, so I would not know where the concentration of attackers would be.

The column had to make it across the table or defeat the attackers, I placed the cavalry at the front, the Queen was nestled in the centre of the column with pike to the front and rear. The column had upto 1D3 turns before the attackers were added to the bag.

So the scene is set can the Queen escape the tooth and claw hidden amongst the undergrowth?

The wolves were weighted to the front and rear of the column. where a group of matchlock men had turned to fire on a rushing werewolf exposing their rear to the advancing wolves.

Bad news first chit out of the bag the wolves.... who tore into the unloaded matchlock men, who fled towards the treeline and untold horrors. The wolves turned towards the Queen.

Fearing for the Queen's safety the Demi Lancers rushed towards the rear of the column only for Werewolves to charge into the front of the column. The Matchlock men fired but were unable to stop the werewolf closing and inflicting masses of shock on the defenders who fled, allowing the half man to close switch his attention to the supporting pike block.

Meanwhile at the rear of the column Sir Daniel Fanshaw rushed to meet the wolf threat driving them from the field. 

For now the Queen was safe, she and her hand maidens move towards the safety of the Royal Pike block as the Demi Lancers moved to support the line from the advancing lycanthropes.

Before the lancers could bring their lancers to bare the creatures were on them, the fight was bitter and the lancers fled, but a number of the werewolves had been wounded, each blow weakened the forces of darkness force morale as the Queen and here retinue hung on, watching as another unit was set upon by another foul creature.

As darkness fell as quickly as they had appeared the werewolves were gone, but the column survived and began to form up and continue upon it's way, battered but unbowed.

A fun encounter touch and go from start to finish, the werewolves are savage inflicting double shock in the first round, but their force morale can be shaken for every time they are forced backwards or killed in combat which felt quite good for the feel I am looking for.

Next up a few more of the evil oddities to put them through there paces.

Infamy Infamy - The Elizabethan Zombie Chronicles #6 Return to the Bridge.

Having been beaten back from the bridge at Barnford, a week later the Spanish try again to stem the tide of the risen who were a constantly wandering into town in ever increasing numbers.

A new day, a new plan..... Last time the slow methodical approach had allowed the dead to mass against the Spanish forces, so this time Alvar Fanez opted for speed and punch (it also allowed me to try out the tweaked cavalry stats for Infamy Infamy.)

Skirting the main road the cavalry force flanked the dead massed to the front, approaching the barn from the open fields on the left, the cadavers slowly stumbled to face off against the advancing living.

The heavy cavalry picked up speed and cantered towards the empty shells blocking their path. They should be able to sweep the former living aside.

However the Witches and her evil coven called forth more undead to slow the cavalry advance. (The Witches used command points and their sigma cards to raise additional undead and bolster their numbers)

As the dead rose up from the burial pits the cavalry reached the first of the undead, the dead were nothing but resilient and whilst the cavalry broke the fervour and took the unit down to all but 2 undead, they managed to kill one of the heavy cavalry, who returned and turned on his former comrades. (Similar to a kill stats on shooting the casualty returns to the other side on a 6 on a 1D6)

Having fought two rounds of combat the cavalry withdrew and charged again riding through the remains of the first zombie unit and catching the second unit in flank, riding them down. (that felt better.)

Whilst the first wave of dead had been cleared the time to clear them had allowed a number of the forces of darkness to rush to plug the gap, a company of wolves charged forwards to attack the cavalry. (Led by a Status II leader who can only command the same species.)

However the cavalry were ready to counter this new treat, firing their muskets as they charged forwards to meet the wild beasts. (Two command cards to fire their pistols on the way in.) The wolves were beaten back.

With the path open, Alvar called forward his infantry who fired into the shambling dead. (they moved on a 1D6 on the Tempus Card towards the nearest living unit...)

Meanwhile the cavalry spotted one of the Witches caught in the open, stripped of her undead bodyguard, she was struck down by the heavy horse. driving the force morale below zero. With the head of the snake dead, the remaining undead were uncoordinated and were mopped up by the living. (The Witch characters can activate units in command range or trigger fresh undead from any burial pit if within range.)

With the field open the Spanish grabbed the wagon and moved it into place before the dead could recover their composure. That should slow their incursions for a while.

A minor victory for the living.

A good solo encounter allowing me to test out some of the alternative rule mechanisms, reducing the undead fervour to 3 makes them a little weaker and restricting the command range for the their evil controllers makes for a tighter game... As with other encounters within Infamy2 hitting the flanks makes the world of difference to clearing units from the table.

Next up the forces of darkness strike back.... and some more of the odder units....

Infamy Infamy - The Elizabethan Zombie Chronicles #5

With the Dee Sanction at over 800% funded on Kickstarter it got me thinking about kicking off some of the Elizabethan Zombie War Games.

Whether it was lockdown boredom or the recent run of LOTR games using Infamy Infamy I figured I would adapt the Warlords of Erewhon - Army of Darkness to Infamy, Infamy - Both rule sets use chits or dice to provide random orders, which are a great aid to solo play.

So a short game to give the Infamy horror rules a run through.

Back in February the Spanish had cleared the village of Barnford see here. However the dead continued to seep into town, an earlier scouting mission identified the main entry point as the  bridge at the far end of town, if it could be blocked the Spaniards could secure the town properly. There was a sturdy wagon which would be perfect if it could be reached.

During lockdown one, I painted a number of new units for the Zombie Wars, but have yet to get them on the table. The perfect excuse. So a hand picked group set off on the mission.

The hand gunners picked off a few of the dead as they shuffled forwards. The way to the farm seemed clear of the dead.

Alvar Fanez and his body guard rushed forwards to secure the bridge and dispatch the few dead milling around, however despite hacking and slashing the dead would not die.

Fanez was beaten back... after being caught in the flank by some of the recently returned. That's really not what I had planned.

With hordes of dead now crossing the bridge, Fanez fell back along the river bank, having lost one of his body guards but he had escaped the clutches of the dead.

Meanwhile his men were having there own issues, the noise of the handguns had attracted numerous groups of the dead who slowly advanced across the cornfield.

The curse of newly painted figures.. The Pike block fell back unable to hold back the dead.

Unlike the Warlords of Erewhon rules the dead were no push overs and crept ever closer to the living. The hand gunners engaged to their front were caught in the flank by beguiled villagers who ambushed them and were driven back...  The living force morale slipped to zero. The bridge would remain open for now.

A fun encounter, the new rules worked well and provided some fresh challenges for the living, they will need to be far more cautious in the future.

Perhaps once Lockdown Two is finished I can get a few more games in.....

A summary of the rule modifications are set out below.

Tempus  Fugit.

The living play uses all of their Sigma Cards first conducting there actions before the undead player.

At the end of a turn, an unactivated undead group will move 1D6 towards the nearest living unit, if any Sigma Cards are in play these may be used to direct an undead unit to a target of the players choice.

Human Shock

The living ignore shock when moving on the table top.

Handguns

Range 24” – To Hit 5,6 – Lower Armour Class by one level if hit. Slow reload (requires 1 action)

Undead -  Each kill inflicted within hand to hand roll on the following chart. Each success adds a further figure to the unit.

No Armour	Light Armour	Medium Armour	Heavy Armour
5 or 6	6	6	6

Undead ignore shock up to the point that it stands at double the number of figures in the group. At that point the group is removed from play.

Undead have a limited ambush of 6”

Necromancer – On two Sigma Cards an additional undead unit from any deployment/ambush point may be deployed.

Fleet of Foot – All Terrain penalties are ignored (Rats and Crowz etc.)

Slow – Roll 2 Dice and discard the lowest dice for movement. (Zombies)