2018-12-20: Mantic's The Walking Dead, Prelude to Woodbury, Scenario 2, Part 3

On the second day of playing this scenario I still had not been made aware of my error regarding the double movements, so please bear with me.

The first picture shows the state of affairs at the beginning of the next turn, after the Walker at the top of the pic bounced into the car.

Brian, feeling that he was well clear of the shamblers. decided to try popping the bimbo before moving around the barricade for the Supply Counter, but, alas, missed by an inch.

The shot, causing Mayhem, shifted up the Threat Level by 1, and also drew the attention of all Walkers withing 10".

Brian decided caution was the better part of valor, and sneaked away from the barricade, getting well beyond the Kill Zones of the nearest Walkers.

As Brian being the only survivor, and having Medium Nerve, no Survivors were eligible to make Noise, and instead the Threat Level rose by one.

Brain kept running, putting the pickup between himself and the Walkers (I need to dig out my die-casts to use instead of these markers!), and for some reason I moved both the Walkers within 10" towards him (I sincerely do not know what I thought, here)

I think I then made an illegal sneak move

 No prone Walkers, so the Threat Level rose by one, to Medium Threat.

Then, sadly, I made another illegal double sneak...

 The Event Card moved one eligible Walker towards Brian (and I still don't think that I had to pick one within 10" of him).

That's it for today, as my head aches as heck, and I need painkillers and some sleep!

2018-12-19: Mantic's The Walking Dead, Prelude to Woodbury, Scenario 2, Part 2

I had no energy for working on this during the Christmas days (all those consecutive night watches in a row took their toll), but I shall try getting this AAR back on tracks over the next couple of days (I have been off work since yesterday).

I may have made a double-sneak here, I do not remember, but Brian was outside the Kill Zone of the nearest Walker in the Event Phase, and I shall just have to roll with that.

I was at 'Low Threat', and the closest walker got to move towards Brian. Luckily for him, it had to move around the pickup, and did not have sufficient movement to reach him.

I am pretty sure, the next move was another double-sneak, so instead he should have run and triggered movement of the nearest Walker within. Now, instead, he only reached the Supply Marker without being able to search it before another Event Card was drawn.

Of course, I want to play by the rules, but I must admit that I do not see that it would be more than a marginal advantage for the Survivors to be able to Move twice, as the Sneak action only allows for a 4" move, and is only just enough to get out of the Kill Zone of a Walker you just fought (not enough to get outside the 6" shambling range of a Walker triggered by an Event Card). Well, as of December 20th (next day) I was using the correct rules, but until we reach that part of the game, you will have to bear with me.

The Event Phase saw another rise in Threat Level, and the closest Walker turned around and moved around towards the front of the pickup.

Searching the Supply Marker, Brian found some ammo for his Beretta, which is nice to have, should you decide to try dropping the Walkers from a distance (causing Mayhem with every shot)...

He then sneaked behind the barricade to get close to the next Supply Counter (and get some cover between himself and the bimbo Walker near it).

No Walkers were close enough for lurching at Brian in the Event Phase.

The Event Card immediately raised the Threat Level, and then the  effect for 'Low Threat' was applied.

At first, when I looked at the next picture, I thought that I might have made a mistake, not moving the closest Walker - BUT the card actually says 'one eligible Walker', and not 'the closest eligible Walker' as when Noise is made, so I actually think that it was quite OK to move the Walker furthest from Brian (but within 10" of him) towards him. I think that when more survivors are present, any standing unengaged walker within 10" of any survivor can be moved towards the closest survivor - which makes for some tactical choices (perhaps also in PvP games, I really have to get the full rules).

That is all for this time, as it is getting late here (the kids and I were watching Captain America: Civil War this evening), and I really should get some sleep and get my day-rhytm back on tracks after all those night watches.

2018-12-19: Mantic's The Walking Dead, Prelude to Woodbury, Scenario 2, Part 1

With the first game wrapped up, I set up the larger (15"x15") mat for Scenario 2.

In this one, Brian starts equipped by a pistol, and has to collect five Supply Counters, while four walkers are placed from the start.

It has been brought to my attention, that I have probably made a mistake, letting Brian Sneak twice per Action Phase (I do not have the rules at hand right now) - I also did this during some of the turns I have already played of Scenario 2, but if it is an error, and as I have not yet finished the scenario (I had no time for gaming today), I shall correct his behavior for the rest of the game.

Hopefully, when I have finished the third scenario, I shall have all the rules firmly in grasp, so that my second run-through in full-rules mode will be without slips.

So, Brian again started sneaking (twice) to get to the pick-up and loot whatever was to be found on the back of it.

Well beyond any Kill Zones, Brian triggered no walker attacks, and the Game AI promptly responded to this.

+1 Threat before resolving the Event Card, then another +1 for 'All Quiet'.

Brian searched the pick-up, and found an Old Gun (which, again, is Unreliable, a keyword not explained by the Prelude to Woodbury rules).

I think I may have either forgotten to take some pics, here, or skipped some steps, because the next couple of pictures show Brian sneaking round the back of the pick-up and then shooting at the nearest walker. If this was caused by a glitch in uploading photos to Blogger, I shall edit this part of the post tomorrow.

He does damage, and scores a head-shot, which removes the walker form play.

Scoring a head-shot with a ranged weapon triggers an ammo test (rolling the black die), but Brian did not run out of bullets this time!

Using a firearm causes Mayhem, which makes all standing unengaged walkers within 10" move towards the sound, AND raises the Threat Level by 1.

The walkers always move in a straight line, and stop if they come into contact with scenery (unless they are already in contact with a piece of scenery, in which case they move the shortest route around it.

The butcher did not get near enough to attack Brina in the Event Phase, though.

The Event Card told me to move one eligible (which means, standing, unengaged, and within 10") Walker toward the nearest Survivor.

The butcher shambled around the pick-up to close in on our anti-hero.

There was no further effects this turn, and this is all I can manage to write up this night. There will be more tomorrow night, but now I have to rest a couple of hours!

2018-12-19: Mantic's The Walking Dead, Prelude to Woodbury, Scenario 1, Part 2

I managed to edit all the photos from the second half of Scenario 1 this evening, so here is the tall tale of Brian Blake's early exploits in the noble art of running the walker gauntlet.

Brian sneaked past the bloated amputee, and searched he next Supply Marker. He found a Two-by-Four, which might soon be needed...

The Event Phase had our protagonist within the Kill Zone of the closest walker, which promptly lurched at him.

The Event Card at the current Threat Level specified a Survivor with Low Nerve making Noise, and as Brian has Medium Nerve, the Threat Tracker had to be turned again.

As there was now a Melee in progress, once more the Threat Level rose by one.

As there was no need for finishing off the walker (Brian planned to move on immediately), I opted to let him Defend this time, upping the chance of beating the zombie's score - and the decision paid off!

The walker was pushed back, leaving Brian free to move along in the next turn

Brian sneaked to the last Supply Counter (he could only just make contact, pfew!).

He found an Old Gun (which should not have been in the Supply Deck, as it is not marked with a walker head in the upper right corner, but never mind).

I have NO IDEA what the keyword 'Unreliable' means, but I guess that can be found in the All Out War main rulebook...

Brian was not in the Kill Zone of any walkers, and as no walkers were prone, the Event Card just raised the Threat Level by one.

As Brian was carrying all three Supply Markers at the end of the turn, he now met the Victory Conditions, and it was a wrap-up!

Even with all the photography, the game flows seamlessly, and it is great fun!

I think that Prelude to Woodbury presenting the rules with a relatively flat learning curve is, perhaps not a stroke of genius, but a very smart move by Mantic, as it allows the player to focus on avoiding to become dinner, instead of flipping through a rulebook.

I am almost through Scenario 2, which I shall work through in the same way as Scenario 1 - not only for the benefit for those of my readers who may be contemplating to get the game, but also because it helps me memorize the rules, as I go through the game, step by step!