It Snows In Hell: Battle Report

Just to prove I haven't been completely idle in July  I want to share with you what I have been secretly working on. It's a Zombie Apoc game set in a rural village in Finland. It grew out of a challenge on Lead Adventure Forum, to make a game that would fit into a PAPPIS storage box from IKEA. The box is roughly 25cmx33cm and 25 cm high- not very big really.  With very careful planning I managed to cram in a whole village. It's not quite finished, a few of the building need painting, but the deadline is the first of August, and this is as finished as it is going to get before then. It's good enough to use for a play-test battle report. 

I used the FUBAR modern horror rules, with a few minor adaptions. This is as free to download set of rules which comes on a single A4 paper and is very easy to learn. This has the advantage that I can easily fit several copies of it in the PAPPIS box without having to compromise on space. 

We found FUBAR to be a good system for a one off game. I played with my son Charlie, and he found it was easy enough to pick up. We both found that there was a good narrative to eh game, which was evocative of the zombie genre. In FUBAR the characters don't always do what you want them to do, and this can lead to some exciting and unexpected moments. I hope you enjoy the dramatic style of the battle report, as I have tried to capture that feeling. 

Introduction dispensed with: Now on with the show...

The survivors are, from left to right Arttu aka Grandpa, an old hunter; Nico,  an ice-hockey jock; Tapio, a tough poliisi detective; Johannes, an inquisitive journalist and Helena, Arttu's teenage granddaughter. 

Tapio is the toughest, and Arttu is the best shot. Helena has her grandfathers hunting rifle, but she's not a great shot. Nico doesn't like guns, and prefers his machete. 

 The survivors minibus has run off the road in a blizzard, and they need to find some transport out of the village. There are a couple of ski-mobiles at the far end, by the police station. The only trouble is that the village is crawling with The Dead. 

Johannes spots the first pack of The Dead moving in from behind the red house. Johannes fires, but misses. Arttu gives them both barrels with his shotgun, and decapitates two. Nico charges in, killing another with his machete. 

Moreof TheDead arrive from behind the red house, and threaten to overwhelm the party. Nico cuts down two more in a fierce fight, but staggers back clutching his wrist: He has been bitten!

 The others see a look of fear and desperation in his eyes: He is under no illusion what this means. The look turns to hatred. He points at Helena- "Get her out of here!" he yells. "I will buy you some time." He hefts hes machete and charges into the horde of The Dead.  

Nico cuts down two more of The Dead before he is dragged down and ripped apart by the ravenous creatures. 

Seeing her childhood friend killed, Helena panics. She is separated from her companions as they move up the street towards the ski-mobiles. Two of The Dead who have been tearing at Nico's flesh spot her in the open and charge towards her. She manages to shoot one dead, but the other one closes on her. 
Hearing the shot Tapio turns and sees the danger. Without thinking of his ow safety the policeman charges back to help.

Tapio kills The Dead and drags Helena back towards the others. Out of the corner of his eye he sees something big advancing from near the sauna. It's one of the Abominations!

Johannes and Arttu move up to the corner of the police station, close to the ski-mobiles. Johannes spots more of The Dead moving towards them from the direction of the radio mast.

The Abomination rushes towards Tapio and Helena. Tapio gets off a shot, but the bullet bounces off the Abomination's ice encrusted hide. Helena and Tapio have no choice but to run for the ski-mobiles. 

 Arttu and Johnannes get the ski-mobiles started and race towards their companions. Tapio leaps onto the back of Johannes ski-mobile and, thinking the others are right behind, Johannes and Tapio race off to safety. 
Meanwhile Artuu and his granddaughter are surrounded by The Dead. The old hunter can't get his ski-mobile started, and the two are forced to fight a desperate battle, fending off The Dead until the engine finally roars into life. The two of them escape, racing off into the blizzard after their companions, leaving the village, and their fallen friend, behind forever. 

I hope you enjoyed this battle report. I will get round to finishing the rest of the buildings soon. I promise.