Day of Days 2016- kind of

Had an entertaining day of gaming with Simon and Mark down from Wellington, Dale, Nigel and Kent. The brothers brought a couple of games down for us to play.

Skirmish Outbreak 

First up was Poochie's own Skirmish Outbreak, a zombie apocalypse game. He gave me a copy of the rules when I was in Wellington for Nick's funeral- cheers Poochie- but hadn't had a chance to play it. Mark and Simon had a bit of a scenario. A Rangers humvee had broken down and we had to get 4 elite rangers across town to a awaiting helicopter so off we snuck trying our best to avoid stirring up too much trouble. Soon enough Dale and Nigel turned up and our mission changed...

Fed agents, Scully and Mulder, along with two two hillbillies, Bill and Ted, needed rescuing and taking to the chopper. A rendezvous point was arranged and we all started to converge on it, dodging Zombies as we went. Next up Kent arrived and soon Sheriff Roscoe P Coltrane and Blondini, a hooker he was arresting, too needed to get to the chopper.

I'd like to say it was a well structured game and we all worked together to achieve our goals but that would be utter bollocks. We all ran off in random directions to the chopper. Sometimes converging to gang up on and smack down some Zeds, then running off to leave people to fight their way free- when the apocalypse comes its every man for himself!

In the end we had to clear the chopper of a "rager" and hold off the horde till the pilot was able to start up the chopper. Some good saves vs zombie infections meant we only lost one person (Sheriff Coltrane) and managed to get most of us away. Much hilarity ensued throughout the game and it was a hell of a lot of fun, highlights being Scully and Mulder being pretty pathetic Feds at fighting Zombies till Nigel learned about taking head shots and suddenly the zombie count started climbing rapidly.

The mad rush for the chopper.

Out objective.

Thoughts: A fun game but found the D20 mechanism a bit counter intuitive to our D&D brains in that low was good. I'd reverse the rolls if I were to play it regularly. The action point mecahics etc seemed pretty cool and the game was a lot of fun, and a great beer and pretzels game. Kent is now plotting his own force and Nigel was showing a lot of interest too.

1:48 scale Combat
Well after that we didn't think we'd be able to get a more enjoyable game but Simon and Mark had one more game for us to try. Bueada miniatures free 1:48 scale combat. A free one page skirmish ruleset. Now those that know me will tell you I'm not  a fan of skirmish gaming but I must say this game was one hell of a blast. We each chose two soldiers to play and ended having the most entertaining 1 1/2 hours of gaming. 6 vs 6 on a 6ft x 5ft table and it was an absolute blast. The Germans (Kent, me and Nigel) started off well but then a crazy Free French (we re-skinned the Soviets) took out half our squads and in the end it came down to Kent and m,y last Germans trying to take out the Free French sniper. Kent ran at him and died so it came down to my landser charging the sniper in hand to hand and missing with all his attacks, only for the French sniper to likewise miss with all his attacks (we both had one wound left) then the German finished him off.

A very entertaining and surprisingly tactical game, not bad for a one page rule set and it really was a blast to play.

The Free French are on the right- Mark, Dale and Simon, closest to the camera is Kent and Nigel "the wheelchaired one" are on the left.

Thanks guys, I look forward to our game next year.

Craig

Day of Days 2016 + Earthquake anniversary

It’s been a while since my last update, most of the summer in fact. I have continued to do next to no gaming, or gaming related activities. but have been busy on other things, surfing, going to the bach, football at the masters games, cricket etc. All the usual summer stuff, as well as getting ready for a major building reno on my bach. Work has also gone a bit crazy. The polytech I worked for has merged with our larger norther neighbour (CPIT) and so trying to align two completely different systems and ways of doing almost everything has been a tad difficult, to say the least. Still students have started for the year now so hopefully things will settle down over the next few months. Other news, last week Julie and I celebrated our 20^th wedding anniversary and she also started work last week as a fully qualified midwife. So things have definitely been changing around here.

This weekend is the weekend we would typically run our Day of Days events and although they have gone by the by but two of the stalwarts of the past few years, Simon and Mark Taylor come down as it coincides with their mothers birthday so we’ve arranged a bit of a get together to roll some dice and have invited a few of our locals along too- Dale, Nigel, Kent and Brad.

Finally, tomorrow marks the 5^th anniversary of the devastating Christchurch Earthquake and last Sunday was the first major aftershock in a couple of years, which caused cliffs to crumble at Sumner and Godley Heads and was a reminder to  people that is isn't completely over for them yet. 

I was in town for work a couple of days  two weeks back and stayed at my mate Ian’s place. He still lives just round the road from where we flatted together before I got married and just round the road form where we both grew up. We went for a walk round the old neighbourhood. I was hoping to forage for some fruit (apricots, nectarines, peaches etc are in season) but much to my surprise all the fruit trees had gone and all that is left is street after street of abandoned lots. Even the street signs, apart from "No Exit" ones have been taken, I assume as mementos by former residents of this once thriving suburb. We could not a single fruit tree in the entire area.

This is all that remains of the street we lived in, Kingsford St. We found only two houses remaining in the red zone one of which, to my surprise, was the place my Grandmother owned when she first moved to Christchurch in the early 1980s. Everything else is long gone.

This google satellite image shows part of the street, post earthquake but before the houses had been removed as a comparison.

This cabbage tree is all that remains of Ian’s old house where we lived.

And a post earthquake comparison of his former home.

Looking up Kingsford St towards the Port Hills.

And how it used to look, again post earthquake but before the houses were removed.  

Craig