Wastelands '84 - The East Ridings

The Priory Police in front of 'The Station'

‘Cont……lier…….rep……ver’. The radio crackled to life with the broken voice of Constable Collier.

‘What is it, Collier?’ Growled Detective Sergeant Larkin.

‘…avages…ir….ousands……..em’, came the reply.

‘Lipman, Johnson, Prescott get ready, they’re coming’, Larkin yelled to the nearby crouched figures.

Along the road they could see some figures moving, clad in loin cloths and carrying rifles. It was the Swanlandians come to take their territory. Larkin, feeling the gloom rising, shook himself.

Well if they wanted it the Priory Police would make them pay a heavy price.

Last night we played a Post Apocalypse game, using the Wastelands 3 Meltdown rules. These rules are free from the web. Wastelands rules.

For the game we used the campaign rules with random rolls for locations and enemies. For our forces I took a Law Dog warband and Ruarigh a Road Warrior one. This meant I started with 5 Gunslingers, good at shooting and hard to kill, as well as one location, a toxic wasteland, and 70 resources to equip the characters. This allowed everyone to have a gas mask and knife, 3 to have heavy pistols and 2 to have shotguns with one having grenades. In hindsight more long range weapons would have helped, but it didn’t match the figures I have.

Ruarigh started with a car with a HMG on a turret (cars are considered coming with a driver) , 30 resources and one location, a wasteland (non-toxic). He spent the resources on getting another character.

Using the campaign system you first check if your territory is invaded. The more territory you have the more chance of invasion and the better the territory, the better the invaders. Then decide if you want to scout other locations, which can prove deadly for the explorers, have an encounter, a mission or rest. After completing these you can then get resources from your territories.

The game is very fast paced and we each managed to have four turns in the space of about 2 hours. This included four battles. Combat is very quick and deadly with a roll to hit, then one to kill. The only slight difference to this is vehicles which take cumulative damage and as a consequence are very powerful.

Overall the game was fun and easy to play. Some of the rules are a little sparse, but these can soon be overcome. What we both felt it lacked was advancement of characters, which was in a previous version.

After this trial game the system looks useable with a few tweaks and additions from previous versions to make a game for our Post Apocalypse gaming.

These games will be set in an alternate 1984 England were a virus has swept the world, killing a large percentage of people and mutating others. Basically a kind a Slightly Annoyed Max, with Allegros and Maxis battling it out on the country lanes. Squires setting up fiefdoms in quaint villages. Local pubs for local people.

More to come as and when I get around to it.

Steve