Last Days: House Rules

Last Days: Zombie Apocalypse is a neat little sandbox rule system. Straight forward and fairly simple. After playing a bunch of games however, we've come up with a extra rules however. Small additions tweaking the game.

Loss of a Leader
From the RAW you get a free new leader if needed - shows up out of nothing in dire times to save the day.

In case of a dead leader, a group member is nominated to be the new one. This model immediately gains the skill 'Leader', gains +1 Courage and upon level-ups has access to the 'leader skill tree'.

 The original didn't make sense to our groups and the stories we've written for them - plus a hardened group of many battles wouldn't just allow a newcomer to take over. 


Not a mule - maximum carrying capacity
Decreasing the amount of weapons and equipment a character can carry.

A maximum of two large weapons: rifles, heavy, sporting, shotguns, heavy club, heavy blade, chainsaw.
The other weapon slots can still  be filled with: knife, club, pistols, SMGs and grenades.

Max two utility items in bag: rope, first aid kit, booze, noise maker, ammo re-roll etc.

After playing four games, we still didn't have anything stashed in our refuge - nothing to loose if overrun. Because survivors have so much room for gear, you'll also end up only storing small bad gear. This is to force better equipment management and choice when setting up characters. 

And preventing bringing in a new character carrying 10 first aid kits. 


The armory - refuge perk
The three ammo re-rolls generated must be allocated like items, to specific characters prior to the next engagement. Can't be stored for later games, they are still for one game only.



Shattered glass!
A character can enter a building through a window. The first time done, the window will generate Noise 1. 

Action: Make Noise
A character may spend 1 AP to generate 1 Noise.


Zombies - the other types
The zombie mechanism works really well. But we have so many other models, that we've come up with rules for more types.

When rolling for noise, and rolling 7+, roll an additional d6. On a roll of 6 the zombie is special, role d6 for type below.

1-2 Dog: AP 6 (instead of normal AP5)

3-4 Fatty: CQC 3 (instead of normal CQC2) 

5-6 Riotgear Zombie: Shoot the in the head on a 6 (instead of normal 5 and 6)

No free rout
It's not an option to choose to rout at the start of a round. You must get your models off the board. Getting just a few models of board, will quickly let you fail the rout roll. 

Three Players
We did a game for three players. Here's what we added as rules.

Add two more supply tokens to the board upon setup. When setting up zombies (three normally) add one additional zombie from the start.

Roll for initiative as normal. Highest roller choose Agressor or Defender as normal. Second highest will chose the option left or Neutral.

Neutral: Will act as the second player in all phases. Player will go second in Action, Shooting and Close Combat phase.

Tutorial: Felt terrain and mat

I've earlier had succes with making my own cheap felt mat - with an urban look. See it here.

That earlier mat gave me the idea to make even more felt terrain. Cheap and easy to store.

Here's some various stuff I've made with a few words on how they're done - and insanely hard to capture a good photo off. Easiest to see the details when they're placed on another mat, there's a few shots at the end.

And afternoon of cutting and painting, and you'll have a lot of stuff. Cost nearly nothing. And can be held together with a safety pin (a needle) and put in the closet with a pants hanger.

Before storing these, you can iron them and they are completely flat.

Materials

• Cheap felt - only 20% wool, 80% fleece 
• Cheap spray paint
• Masking tape

Rivers
Bought some light blue felt. Cut it into various lengths and with some bends. Made sure to have at least one in full length (3'), to add a single river to a board.

The the rivers a darker blue with a spray in the center along the river pieces. Then i sprayed the edges with green (still showing the blue felt beneath) and the used a brown spray on the edges, a bit slimmer than the green.

Dirt roads

Wanted some dirt roads as well. These will add to both my fantasy games and when making a forest or farm on a modern board. Cut some brown felt in various lengths (made sure to have a 3' one). Used cheap grey, dark brown, green and black spray cans. Just sprayed here and there on roads. 

Make sure to spray along with the road pieces, giving an effect of the movement direction on the road. 

Lakes

Using a darker blue felt I cut out a few lakes. Using a lighter blue spray, I lightened from the center and towards the edges. I then did like the rivers, using green and brown along the edges. Looking like algae and a dirt bank. 

Asphalt road

Using the same grey felt I used for the city board. I cut out some sections of road, making sure they were the same width at the ends. Again making a 3' piece, that can run the length of the 3'x3' mats.

 Using masking tape I marked out some stripes on the road. Spray the entire thing black. After it dries give a few places another layer of black - it'll make a nice effect.

Remove the masking tape. Using a permanent marker, you can draw some cracks onto the road. 

Grass mat

Wanted a green mat for making forests, farmland, for fantasy games, burrows and bagers, KoW: Vanguard - you name it.
Using a 4'x3' light green felt piece. I've went over it with different browns and green sprays. Making various spot, areas and nuances. Also marked out some small trails on it. 

All together now!

Time for some better photos of the various pieces in use. Took these before giving the a round with the iron - still looks good. The felt will 'stick' to itself, making it easy to place and keep right. 

Success. This is a nice base for Burrows and Badgers games, KoW: Vanguard games and my modern ones. Add a few hedges, fences, houses and objectives.

Also want to build a jungle add some point. This amount of water is perfect for a lot of the scenarios in Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago. We haven't gotten around to it yet, but we will.

I've also made a few smaller squares of green and grey. These can be used to add a park to the city map or a concrete area to the green. Great for making a prison or gas station on a road. Also it can be used to make a smoother transition from city to country. 

Check our blog posts and tutorials for most stuff below on the terrain page

A small army base made with a small grey square on the green mat with an asphalt road added.

Last Days: Game 3 - The Prison

The story so far

The world has ended (Last Days page), and regular people are battling for survival. Two teams of everyday heroes have been fighting in a couple of skirmishes. Bai Wu is leading one group. Wade is leading another. 

The group first clashed in the city center. Learning of a safe zone at a prison, both groups make for it. They clash again at an abandoned farm. 

And now they arrive at the prison ... and it turns out to not be safe at all. Who would have guessed?

Setup

This is the first time I've played a game on my prison setup. Some of the board is neat mdf kits and others parts are homemade (fences, mats, trees, barricades). There's tutorials for all the homemade stuff in this section. 

The scenario chosen was obviously 'Massacre Site'. So we placed lots of corpses on the battlefield. 

We used all my Walking Dead prisoner, cop and prison guard zombies. See them in detail here.

Here's a video fly by over the prison setup. Beware the sound - there's noise in the background. 

Special Rules

We decided to use a lot of zombies for this one. More than suggested in the scenario in the rules. Lots of zombies in the courtyard and a zombie in each cell inside the prison. 

To not get too many supplies, we decided to roll a 50:50 to decided is a downed zombie was carrying supplies. 

The Game

My team started on the back of the prison. The choice would be to spend lots of movement to climb the fencing or run down the prison, where a car had crashed down a section of fence.  Thinking speed is the key, keep in cover, get inside the prison - before Bai Wu and his companions fight through the prison yard. 

There was four (or perhaps five) zombies in the yard. Guards and cop who had tried to keep order and take in refugees - it didn't work out.

My team speeding towards the car, no targets to shoot, staying in cover from the opponents.

Firefighter Sam was taking point on the entry. I wanted to use his 'entry man' skill and his fire ax to get inside the prison. A big brute, he would enter the back and quickly secure the front door - preventing the other team from entering.

Bai Wu, Duncan Atkins and Dorothy making their way through the front gate. Spending actions to push the gates apart. 

Frederick Luis, the soldier, taking up a position on the back of a truck. Using his military assault rifle he starts to take down the zombies inside the fence, before the final gate is opened.

After failing the strength check to force the entry, the firefighter simply options the door instead. Unnecessary noise made on that one.

Not spending time on mere shooting, the gate is opened. Duncan and dog Toto is straight in the face of a few zombies. They take them down with ease - though the don't carry any supplies.

Father Rotchchilds and Dr. Hendricks preparing to scale the prison fence. Checking the rear, to see if any zombies have been attracted by the noise.

My leader Wade inside the prison, taking down a guard with a burst from his SMG.

A zombie inmate in the dining hall, he's shotgun blasted dead by Father Job.

The shooting at the zombies in the prison yard unfortunately attracts a lot of zombies to the area. And Bai Wu's gang is immediately in danger of getting trapped in the prison yard. Father Rotchchilds makes all kind of noise, to keep them outside.

Unlike my opponent I'm lucky with the supply rolls and the Z's on the inside almost all carry around stuff.

Having fought their way through the yard, Duncan and Toto are at the front door.

This is where the game mechanics really start to matter! Because, being the aggressor, I'vemanaged to set up 'lock and load' fire lanes directly inside the door. Close up, with shotguns.

Having protection, securing the door, Sam makes it into the dining hall to pick up supplies dropped there.

The amount of dead on the other side of the fence gets too high. Frederick and Hendricks climb the fence, ready to aid in the entry to the building.

The noise from my entry in the prison and shooting in the hallways have attracted some zombies. John, well armed, is left defending our route of retreat - but fails to hit anything with his AR - he's locked in combat with an old zombie.

Father Rothchilds being the only one outside the front of the prison, is getting really close to being overrun.

Moments before the entry of the prison. My team has the upper hand. Securing the front door with 'lock and load'. Most zombies inside have dropped supplies, the zombies in prison cells are picked off one by one.

Bai Wu's crew on the other hand have had zero supplies on the outside - really bad rolls. For this to make any profit, they need to get inside the prison.

Scavenging supplies on the insde of the prison. Nurse Carla has gotten the scavenger skill, so I really want her to make it out with her supplies.

The door is opened and all hell breaks loose. Gunshots left and right, a few survivors are hut on both sides.

In the end Bai Wus team get inside though. My guys miss some very important shots at close range. The bloody super killer dog Toto takes down my firefighter and both Father Job and Leader Wade is shot down.

On the outside John is still trying to keep the escape clear of zombies. being outnumbered there's no chance he'll make it into the prison and take up a fight in there.

Father Rothchilds never make it away from the swarm and is overrun, but he manage to keep the zombies from eating all his friends.

Post battle

And absolutely brutal game. The game mechanic of aggressor vs defender really shined in a game like this, with the inside of a big building. City / building fighting is brutal and all about aggression. And the fighting at the front door reminded me of just training I had when in uniform. 

Due to luck and first aid supplies non of the survivors were too badly hurt. A few leg injuries and post traumatic stress. But nothing too important done back at the refuge. Bai Wu had the talk with a group member and putting guys on watch duty.

My team had many wounded, so everybody ended up on guard duty as well.

For supplies a few guns and blades were found. But very thematic for the setting, Duncan Atkins (the melee bruiser from my opponents team) found a full riot gear armor. An excellent item that will make him insanely dangerous. So something good came out of the prison anyway. 

Not having found a safe zone, it's back for survival and scavenging in the city. 

Using a few bits, I sculpted up an armored Duncan Atkins for my friend. Still armed with semi automatic and heavy blade.

And using some extra bits (and the same head), I've made a veteran version of Carla. Still carrying her medical backpack, she now has a shotgun and surplus SMG. 

Star Saga / Deadzone: Mazon Lab 100 pts

Mazon Lab is the evil cooperation doing nasty plague research in the Star Saga board game. They're also a faction in Deadzone, getting rules in Containment Protocols. This is 100 pts demo list I've put together using those rules.

The plague victims are not actually a part of the basic list, but the leader might raise them from dead humanoid allies.

Besides using these models in Deadzone games and Star Saga. I will be using a lot of these in Osprey Games Reality's Edge cyberpunk games. I don't think Mr. Squid and the plague victims are gonna fit. But the evil doctor, lab technicians and the troopers will.

I intend to use the troopers as police troopers, painting various models in the same style. But these are the first members of the police force.

I've painted the lab technicians the same way as many of my plague models are painted, same uniform. The orange on the plague victims are also seen in more models. It'll allow me to run so many various themed scenarios, mixing and matching the models.

100 pts - Mazon Labs

The leader Dr. Lukas Koyner and a few lab technicians. Gone with the same colors as on Dr. Simmons and many plague zombies.

I tried making a different look on the monopose plague victims. I've changed arm and leg positions with boiling water. I've also gone for different metal colors, blood stains and hair color on them. The also have bone in various areas.

I've not cut and head swapped etc. because I want the models strong. This will allow my kids to play with them, without breaking them.

The Mazon Lab marines and rangers are actually bad guys, at least in the Warpath Universe. But I'm also gonna use these as police troopers in cuber punk games.

The chovar Organic Data Storage Unit X-02-A is a super nice model. An enslaved psychic alien.