60. Post-Apocalyptic Times Two

This is Part Two of Two, of a Post-Apocalyptic game I played solo a while back.  The game was actually pretty boring, and I didn't really enjoy the rules; nevertheless, I'm writing it up here as a public service.  :-)

Turn 4.  The Scrags once again (for 4 turns in a row) win Initiative, with a 5 vs 3.

This is how the turn started.  The Scrag Heavy is standing victorious over the body of Amber.  Moonstone is on the left.

The Scrag Heavy runs (6" + 6") and melees with Moonstone.  Despite the fact that I have all the die rolls written down, I find it waaay too tiresome to relate them here.  Plus the fact that I also found the rules somewhat convoluted and difficult to comprehend, so I'm not entirely certain my methods were 100% correct.

Suffice it to say, Moonstone took 1 Wound.

Next, the Diamond's Leader shot at the Heavy, with 5 scores, resulting in 3 Hits, which after Armor Rolls caused 3 Wounds.

The Scrag Heavy was killed!

The Diamond Leader then used her 2nd Action Point (AP) to shoot at the Scrag Leader.  Once again, I ran into the same problem as in earlier turns, in that the measured distance was 18.5".  The charts in the rules were contradictory and conflicting, indicated two different distance scales; so depending on which chart I used meant she caused either 4 or 5 Scores.  However, in this case, because of the Scrag's concealment, there were zero Hits.  The Scrag Leader was pinned (for all the good that does).  Following that, the Scrag Leader attempted to shoot at the G.G. Leader (with the same distance problems), and -- even after using both APs -- caused zero Hits.  Golly, wasn't that an exciting turn!

Next, we move on to the only figure to actually accomplish anything competent this game, Pearl.  She shoots at Scrag #1, for 3 Scores, causing 2 Hits.

The Scrag's Armor Roll isn't good enough to offset them, and so He/She/It takes 2 Wounds!  Scrag #1 is Killed!

With her 2nd AP, Pearl runs (6" + 8"), attempting to get behind the Scrags to eliminate their cover factor.  "You go, girl!"

 Finally, Scrag #3 moves all of 3" (which was luckily all He/She/It needed to move) to bring Moonstone into view.  Shooting at her resolves with 4 Scores, causing 2 Hits, resulting in 1 Wound.

One Wound is all she's got.  Moonstone is Killed!

Turn 4 ends.

Turn 5.   At long last, the Glitter Gang wins Initiative (6 vs 4).  Not that there are very many of them left to enjoy it....

Pearl continues to move into a position from which she can see the Scrag's rears.  Wait, that doesn't sound right....  Anyway, she moves 6".

This does, in fact, allow her to see Scrag #3 from behind.  The range is 17.5", and on 7d6 she gets 1 Score. 

However, a closer reading of the rules indicates that misses from the rear are re-rolled (I was actually a trifle unclear whether ALL the dice are re-rolled, or only the dice that missed; did I mention that the rules are difficult to understand?)  I decided to re-roll only the "missing" dice, and achieved 2 more Scores for a total of 3.  This gave her 1 Hit.  After the Armor Roll, the Hit created 3 Wounds on Scrag #3.

Scrag #3 is Killed!  It's very beneficial to shoot from behind.

The Scrag Leader then moves forward 1 Move (7").  This was to finally overcome the distance ambiguity, as well as hopefully end the game one way or the other--quickly.  For His/Her/It's 2nd AP, He/She/It shot at the Diamond's Leader, now 13.5" away.  This resulted in 5 Scores, however, the Diamond's Leaders Defense value + being concealed cancelled this out entirely, for zero Hits.  She crouched in response to a Morale check.

The Diamond Leader then stood up with her 1st AP, and used her 2nd AP to shoot at the oh-darn-I'm-now-in-the-open Scrag Leader.  However, she spectacularly failed to accomplish anything other than forcing the Scrag to crouch, too.

Turn 5 ends.

Turn 6.  The Diamonds once again win Initiative (5 vs 3).

The Diamond Leader tried shooting at the Scrag Leader again.  She not only accomplished zero Hits, but she also got herself Out of Ammo.  So she used her 2nd AP to reload.

Next, the Scrag Leader shot at the Diamond Leader.  The same problem he had last time occurred again:  4 Scores, but the Defense + concealment wiped them out to zero Hits.

This time, the Diamond Leader didn't have to crouch, and in fact gained a free AP "in reaction."  So she shot back for zero Hits and an Out of Ammo result.  Wow.  Good job.

The Scrag Leader didn't have to crouch, either, as part of its Morale check, and gained a free AP.  So naturally he/she/it shot at the Diamond Leader.  Do you see a pattern here?  I was really trying very hard to finish the game by killing one of the leaders.  Really I was.

Anyway, the Scrag Leader got 3 Scores AND and Out of Ammo result (all game long, no Out of Ammos, and now 3 in a row!).  BUT, the Defense + concealed AGAIN cancelled it to zero Hits, and she passed her Morale check, got a free AP and used it to reload.

The Scrag Leader now used his/her/it's ORIGINAL 2nd AP to reload.  Wow, what an incredibly exciting turn sequence.  I'm all a-flutter....

Finally, tired of all this nonsense, Pearl moves once (for 8").  She then shoots at the Scrag Leader, out in the open, from the rear, from 18.5" away.  She now suffers from the distance ambiguity, but even by using the worst of the two possible results, she finally--finally--FINALLY--causes 2 Wounds on the Scrag Leader!

The Scrag Leader is Dead!  Long Live the Scrag Leader!

This is a view of the battlefield at the end of the game.  There are 2 remaining Glitter Gang members and no Scrags.  I called this a G.G. victory, and gratefully ended the game.

It's actually been several weeks (heck, maybe months by now) since I played this game.  So I cannot give an accurate critique of the rules, other than to say I found them contradictory in many places and quite confusing as well.  HOWEVER, and this is a big however, English is NOT the author's first language, so please take that into consideration (let me caveat that by saying I do not know this for fact, I only infer it from the author's name and where he lives, based on his website).  I actually quite like the background that is included (ie, the different troop types and whatnot), and many of the general concepts are pretty cool.  And if you're less bothered by contradictions than I am (meaning, you can decide on how you want to play something and stick to it) then you'll probably like these rules.  Plus, there is apparently a new version now available, and they are all free, so really, what's to complain about?

Links to where find the rules are in Part One (see the link at the top of this blog entry to get there).

Whew.  Now that that's over, I'll be back soon with something a bit more fun (for me, anyhow).  Stay tuned for...Robin Hood!

Thanks for reading this far.  This is the end, so you can go now.