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| The Evil Mastermind Stahl-Mask with Hitler and his aides in Paris 1940 |
Hi everyone, as promised here are some more pictures from the first Weird Wars Episode which we finally played two weeks ago.
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| Pvt Skoneiczny lies in wait for the Zombies |
The game session was six hours long with a break for pizza half way through. Overall it went really well but I was concerned that it felt a bit rushed despite the players telling me it was fine. In hindsight I think I should have split the game up into two sessions and let the players figure out more for themselves and find their own solutions.
As it was I ran the game like a car chase, the action carried on from one scene to the next without much time to draw breath, it was exciting and kept the tension high (as did the the background music and sound effects).
If your think you might play this game please stop reading now!
Deep
in occupied France
Professor Ulrich Von Samstagg is trying, under the supervision of SS-Sturmbannführer (Major) Stahl-mask to create immortal Nazi Super soldiers. Stahl-Mask intends to use the twisted genius
to gain immortality and invulnerability for himself and invulnerability for his
trusted minions and to then overthrow Hitler.
Von Samstagg had in fact accidentally created a Zombie
Serum and one of his Test Subjects (a 14yr old French boy, Pierre) escaped
and started infecting a horde of Zombies.
They are classic Rage Zombies with rudimentary intelligence and a pack mentality and Pierre
wants revenge on the Germans.
The heroes were an odd bunch.
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A small selection of Lars Lukas'
(fictional) movie posters |
The leader, half Scottish half Norwegian Captain Lars Lukas was a big name in Norway's film industry and although practically unknown outside his homeland is convinced he is as heroic as his film roles despite comprehensively failing to have the necessary skills.
His second in command, Lt. St. John Smythe followed the more traditional route to command, he went to Eton, Sandhurst and was commissioned an officer. He has the all the skills for leading men in combat except for the charisma to actually make them want to follow.
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The Heroes and their Resistance
allies prepare to hold off the Zombies |
Next was Corporal Ken Cambell, a Tank driver without a tank. Most of the British Army's tanks were abandoned at Dunkirk and Ken was rather resentful of having to join a 'normal' unit.
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| The Zombie horde gets closer |
Private Garath Evans is somewhat predictably a Welshman. As the Units sniper he was equipped with the superb De Lisle silenced carbine, and a terrible welsh accent.
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Captaion Lukas leaps onto the
wall to inspire his men |
Private James 'Jimmy' Dobbs, a tough man from the East End of London, despite being a good soldier he has secrets that he takes care to keep quiet.
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The Heroes fall back just before being overrun.
Leaving Pvt Skonieczny cut off and surrounded! |
And finally, Private Aleksander Skonieczny, a rather vicious Polish soldier who had seen Steel Mask order his family's murder, he had tracked the evil mastermind across Europe and joined the French Resistance for the chance of revenge.
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| A German patrol is ambushed by the Horde |
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During the chaos Pvt Evans leaps aboard
the Halftrack and opens fire on the
Horde and the Germans with the MG34 |
The adventure started with the group getting a dressing down from their CO for getting involved in a punch up with some Canadians in the pub. Another officer rescues them and they're sent to RAF Tempsford for special training and a mission. After their briefing at the Airfield they are parachuted into occupied France and join up with the resistance (cue the obligatory pretty french Resistance leader) and they head cross county through a forest to Chateau Montbrun.
On the way one of the Resistance members goes missing and shadowy forms are seen from the corners of the heroes eyes. Once they reach the edge of the forest they realise they are being stalked by 30 or so Zombies and they engage in a fighting retreat to a nearby farmhouse where they hold out till morning.
With the dawn comes a German Patrol who get jumped by the Zombies and the heroes take the chance to grad the patrol's half-track and race the the Chateau. They infiltrate the castle (my group dressed up in the patrol's uniforms) and neutralize the guards.
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Doktor Von Samstagg before and
after he injects his super-serum |
On the first floor they encounter Von Samstagg and who injects himself with his latest Super-serum which doesn't work as well as he hopes, the heroes fight and kill Von Samstagg only to find that Stahl-Mask has escaped in his rocket powered escape ship.
The full adventure is available on request.
The first pirate is a bit of a mix as far as i'm concerned. The sculpting is excellent and the pose is good, the detail is clear. In fact there's nothing wrong with the miniature at all. But my approach didn't work out quite as well as I had envisaged in my mind. I wanted a grimy, dirty look which I got but it wasn't easy. In fact it took a lot longer than I expected and still isn't quite what I had in mind. 
Now the Barrels were much easier. I started with a base coat of US Field Drab from Vallejo Model Color (70873) on the wooden parts and Lufftwaffe Uniform (70816) on the hoops. The wood got a wash of Agrax Earthshade to pull out the details and the hoops got a Nuln Oil wash.
