This past weekend I attended the CanGames gaming convention in Ottawa, as I do each year. I enjoyed it a great deal (as I always do), although overall attendance seemed to be down a bit. I also have fewer pictures than usual, largely due to forgetfulness.

On Saturday I did put on two zombie apocalypse games based on  the Horror at Moose Cove scenario I first tried out at home last year. As usual, both games were fully booked.

Moose Cove (pic credit: CanGames)

In the first game, a group of scientists and children from the Moose Cove Research Facility were attempting to make their way down to the harbour, where they hoped to escape the town on board a small fishing boat, the Stuttering Cormorant. The children (Claire, Mary, Mike,  Jessa, Lucy) could secretly choose whether they were innocent waifs, research subjects in government experiments, or juvenile psychopaths. Similarly, the scientists (team leader Dr. Patricia Paradigm, along with Dr. Myles Boffin and Prof. Horatio Theorem) could make a similar choice. While the latter assumed that the children were innocent—and hence gained points by escorting them to safety—the children decided they were research subjects (one of who had mutant psychic powers). They had no interest in seeing any of the scientists leaving town alive.

As for Captain McBarnacle and his crew (First Mate Fergus O’Flotsam and Second Mate Seamus C. Shanty), they were hard-hearted killers rather than kindly humanitarians, killing zombies for sport and anxious to extract maximum resources from any passengers they took on. Add a further twist was Crazy Rick, the town eccentric, who spent the game wandering around Moose Cove investigating various conspiracy theories-as well as asking his former crush Patricia for a post-apocalyptic dance.

Game 1 underway. Pic credit: @Sout_Tweet

The crew of the Stuttering Cormorant have docked and and are setting forth along the pier. They would soon turn back and move their boat to a safer mooring.

Dr. Boffin and Prof. Theorem ponder their next move.

The Stuttering Cormorant re-docks at the other end of the harbour…

…and not a moment too soon, as a zombified lighthouse keeper emerges! He would spend much of his time peering out to sea, however.

Claire leads the children through the streets.

With Prof. Theorem now zombie-chow, the surviving scientists seek safety.

A zombie clown prowls the docks.

Drs. Paradigm and Boffin hide in a ransacked store as zombies shuffle outside.

The children and crew dash for the boat as Captain McBarnacle picks off floating zombies from the roof of the wheelhouse.

The Stuttering Cormorant heads to sea, leaving the scientists behind. Little do the crew know that the children have fearsome psychic powers…

In the end, the children all made it to the boat, Prof. Theorem was devoured by zombies, while Dr. Paradigm and Dr. Boffin found themselves in a bar besieged by a zombie lounge singer and a mob of the shambling undead. When Captain McBarnacle threatened the children, however, Lucy unleashed her bizarre mental powers–forcing him to hand over his rifle. Who knows whether any of the crew would survive…

The brave survivors.

In the second game, the Stuttering Cormorant returned. This time, however, it had been commandeered by Vladimir Putin and an elite team of Russian Spetsnaz (special forces) on a mission to infiltrate the Moose Cove facility. Elsewhere in town were the remnants of the Moose Cove Trawlers hockey team (defenceman J.K. Burly and goalie Carey Netts), whose team minibus had broken down; cosplayer Tricia Kshatriya, who—dressed as a pistol-packing Snow White—was trying to attend the annual MooseCon genre convention; the editor of the Moose Cove Gazette, Polly Pulitzer, and her incompetent cousin Marvin Mansplain;  and Inspector Vincent Nordique of the RCMP, who was hunting down a giant mutant boar and generally protecting Canada from threats domestic and foreign.

The Russians are coming! Vladimir Putin and the Spetsnaz—in disguise.

Tricia, looking for MooseCon.

Polly Pultizer and Marvin Mansplain.

Inspector Nordique and his faithful dog, Kimmik.

The zombie boar.

Polly interviews the Inspector, while Tricia checks out the computer store for the latest games.

It looked as if the Russians would easily reach the government research facility in disguise, until they were charged by fast runner zombies. They opened fire, but to no avail—Lt. Sergei Sergeyevich and Sgt. Boris Zhukov were devoured, leaving the President of Russia to continue the mission alone (which he did). Inspector Nordique got his boar, the hockey players slap-shotted zombies and ransacked a Tim Hortons, Tricia got to where she wanted to go, and Polly managed to interview most everyone (although Marvin was eaten).

On Sunday morning I watched several games, including Ben Taylor’s American Civil war refight of the First Battle of Kernstown (1862).

“In March 1862 the Union withdrawal from the Shenandoah Valley was going like clockwork. Then Stonewall Jackson attacked.”

Sunday afternoon it was time for Doctor Who: Terror at Devil’s Bay, put on by Brian Hearnden. I played one of a group of Sea Devils attacking an isolated naval base—defended by the Doctor and UNIT. I was quite happy with what my undersea terrors achieved, sinking a  boat, capturing a probe, and taking out a section of UNIT forces led by Sergeant Benton himself.  During the distraction we created, The Master infiltrated the base and retrieved a critical part for his TARDIS.

The Sea Devils attack!

Still more Sea Devils. The Doctor was up to something in the hanger.

After that, it was time to head home to Montreal. It was a very enjoyable weekend—and you can be sure I’ll be back next year.