Wasteland Survival Guide: Eastern Commonwealth Version [Order of the Red Cross]

".... Out of the bright lights and feuding streets of 'Electric City', the lands begins to rise in elevation towards Poc'nos Mountains. Sparsely populated when the bombs fell, the area avoided much of the nuclear fire that wracked the rest of the state. Thick, warped trees form a forest that has withstood all the depredations imaginable in the wasteland- bark resistant to fire and blade alike.

This is a territory for the Order of the Red Cross. Descended from from the Vault-Dwellers made up of doctors, patients, and immediate family who managed to escape into their emergency shelters beneath the regional Medical Center. Over time the many manuscripts and medical texts saved countless lives. Soon enough these old books became akin to Holy texts, and children were taught from a young age to revere them. Religion met science, and the descendents of doctors slowly became the Holy Order of the Red Cross. The texts were merely the first of their kind- the Order actively seeking out more medical knowledge (from lost records to fascinatingly effective home cures). This hunger for knowledge was what compelled the First Apostle Margaret Cromwell to open the vault nearly one hundred and fifty years after the bombs dropped.

Over time, the Order has spread to lay claim to almost the entire Poc'nos. Now a powerful faction, the Order has had time to crystallize its own internal hierarchy into a series of distinct branches. The Apostles are the heads of the Order, acting as both the religious and bureaucratic heads of the organization. The Inheritors are the non-combat, highly skilled members of the Order. Embracing the white robes and coats of their forebears, these are doctors and researchers that one would expect in such an organization. It is through the work of the Inheritors that the Red Cross's territory happens to be one of the healthiest and cleanest in the known world. Of course the good works would be all undone if not for the Purifiers.

The Purifiers pull their tenants from old CDC and governmental texts. Clad in red, these crusaders fiercely enforce 'Quarantine'. Any wastelander found off the designated check-pointed safe path are potential hazard risks and must be dealt with swiftly to avoid unknown illnesses sweeping through the purification zone. Hard men and women, they are known for their use of gas and fire to subdue and drive off any potential enemies. The Purifiers also have jurisdiction over exploration, sending out small patrols and bands (occasionally with Inheritors or press-ganged laymen) to hunt out new sources of information, technology, and medical supplies.

The Purifiers do not give warnings. If I were you? I'd steer clear of the Poc'nos unless you absolutely need medical attention and if so, stay on the path. Do what they want, follow the rules, or get thrown on a pyre. "

- Frank Wu, Electric City Administrator.

Three Super Mutant Commissions Done!

"You're here....you're heeeere!!! STOP HIDING!!!!"
               -Super Mutant

I don't know how they expect to squeeze into such a small door
without getting shot all to hell by those inside.

Bit of conversion work done on the center Mutant to give a little
ranged support to his thuggish hammer-wielding compatriots.

Drilling out the hands was a nightmare, but overall
a really fun commission.

Wasteland Survival Guide: Louisiana Edition

The Ruined Men: The Bayou's Boogiemen

Next in our litany of monsters and raider groups come perhaps one of the greatest mysteries the great swamp has to offer. There are stories of killers with bodies of men, sporting bare skulls instead of faces who sweep down from the North East, bringing terror to Baton Rouge and the surrounding area. Some think these 'Ruined Men' are the atomic shadows of men who found themselves vaporized by the bombs. Some believe they happen to be a particularly organized group of bloody raiders. Others still think them to potentially be some offshoot of the Enclave or Brotherhood of Steel.

Personally, digging through the old Vaul-Tec regional database, I have a different theory. These 'shadows' are Vault-Dwellers. What they want or why they seem to appear and disappear... well, I can't even guess. All I can do is offer one warning.

Stay clear of Vault 99. Seriously.

The leaders of the Ruined Men expedition patrols. Wonderful sculpts
from Worlds End Publishing.

The Ruined men in slightly better definition.

Hard to see, but that can on the sandbags? Greasy's Pork and Beans.

Road Bases and Shack Update

My first attempt at 'wasteland road' bases. The line's are 100% perfect
but for a first attempt I'm pretty happy!

These bases (once they're cleaned up and finished) are
destined for some of Brother Vinni's Super Mutants.

My shack, more or less completed. Simple metallic basecoat, some
rust dry brushing, and a brown wash here and there.

I'm fairly proud of the glass. I cut out a piece of hard plastic, then heavily
washed it with brown to give it a gross, dirty look- just like a wasteland shack should look.

The next step is mounting this on a base. I'm imagining a
little scrap yard or 'settlement' sort of base. Stay tuned.

Finished Post-Apocalyptic Commissions

The full set of raiders and wastelanders that have been commissioned for
a Fallout Homebrew RPGs and The 'This is Not a Test' skirmish game. Pictures
by the commissioner.

Some escaped convicts from a Vault-Prison, ready to mess things up.

A scarred Raider Veteran (with laser pistol) and a Raider Gladiator,
perhaps a runaway from Caesar's Legion?

'Dr. Doom' and his green clad cult, ready to bring war and death in the
name of Dunwich!

As these guys are being used as NPC baddies in an RPG, Sean (the commissioner)
and I have decided to color code the bases. Red for raider, beige for wastelander.

These raiders are mostly from the 40k Dark Vengeance cultist set.

Very happy with the eyes on the scary hooded man.

Now moving onto the blue and grey robed lads. Since the plastics came in two
nearly identical squads, it was interesting to try to make each of them distinct.

I didn't want to make them TOO uniform, but close enough that they could be
individuals or factions depending on the DM's need.

I couldn't remove all of the Chaos symbols, but eh- not a lot of harm
done.

'Dr. Doom's' rival and leader of the Blue faction here. I particularly like
the look of the black apron against the yellow flamer.

Leader of the wastelanders in the center, these guys really are a bunch of
misfits in terms of rag-tag gear and clothing.

I did add in a reference here and there. The guy on the far right? An homage to
Kenny from the Walking Dead Telltale video game.

Besides being generic wastelanders, these guys and gals are destined for one day
making up a Caraveener Warband!

Early This is Not a Test Terrain - WIP

Some early work on some future Post apocalyptic terrain:

The top of a large tic-tac bottle. Used some spare GW bits to hide the
labels and words. I'm thinking it could be a burner of some sort.

The clear bottom of the same bottle. A simple hatch on top makes
it some sort of silo or container.

I'm thinking about using these for a piece of 'farm' terrain. I just
need to head to a local craft store and fine some workable plants.

Primed they look pretty good! Ready for painting.

For a different piece of terrain I use some more GW bits and some
corrugated cardboard to build a little shack.

Its pretty rough so far, but that's the great thing about Post Apocalyptic Terrain-
everything's pretty ugly after the bombs drop right?

Two Worker Placements and a Tile-Laying Game...

Sunday fun day! We had some friends over the house and played some board games, starting with the newest...

Euphoria

Now this was a game that I've been looking forwards to playing for quite some time. Euphoria is game where each player takes the role of a leader of a 1984-esque Dystopian society. You, and your closest henchmen, compete with other powerful individuals in an attempt to create the most gloriously backwards civilization possible.

Using a dice mechanic which combines worker placement with some press your luck elements. The game avoids the normal luck issues by using an interesting risk elements. Higher rolls might mean more resources, but also can gain you more knowledge for your workers. Knowledge is bad. As we all know, knowledge is power, and the last thing any Totalitarian wants is for his workers to have any power. Too much knowledge and you might see one of your industrious little dice forced into a 're-education' camp ( or whatever you want the worker dice pool to represent in your game).

Euphoria is an interesting game where even until the last moments you feel like the game can swing one way or another. I went from definitely losing to almost squeaking a victory utilizing the 'Disassemble-a-Bear' workshop. It was exciting up until the last moment, and certainly doesn't feel like a game with a singular winning strategy. Great theme, great mechanics- good fun!

Stone Age

 

Stone Age, on the other hand, is a classic worker placement through and through. There isn't much I can add here that hasn't already been said about Stone Age except that I (and two of the other three players) were totally crushed it. It is a game where you must proceed with a near mechanical understanding of the potential outcomes while juggling every piece of the puzzle or you WILL be left behind by a logically minded player.

The scores at the end of this game was 139, 87, 85, and 52. Unlike Euphoria which felt exciting and close right up to the end, the last few turns of Stone Age felt like forgone conclusions. It is interesting to note that the winner is an accountant by trade. I'm not saying, but I'm just saying. Maybe I shouldn't, since this was his second victory of the day- maybe the rest of us are just bad! Heh, playful griping aside, it is an excellently tuned machine of a game. If you like that sort of precision game play, try it out!

Castles of Mad King Ludwig

Who doesn't like building Castles? Designing hyper efficient victory points machines? Crafting realistic demesnes? Or just getting plain silly. This is the game for you. Again, this is a game that's been out for some time so I'm not going to review the game itself in any sort of detail, but it is a super sleek little tile-laying game. Most player interaction is done via the careful pricing and sale of rooms and hallways from the central board. As the Master-Builder (a rotating title) you choose the prices of all the rooms and are paid by other players, while being forced to actually choose the room they WANT last. This leads to all sorts of dilemmas- do you put a high price on the room you want and pay out the nose? Or do you go low and hope no one else notices its value.

One of my favorite parts of this game is that it comes with a built in distraction. In Stone Age every turn near the end can turn into a soulless slog as you take your turns in the seemingly endless wake of the clear winner (or winnerS). In Castles of Mad King Ludwig you don't have that problem. Getting crushed? Just have fun building your castle! This way you can take your moral victories (Oh, I have a way cooler castle than you!) and keep having fun.

I should note that this game utilizes the Secrets expansion- adding in Swans, Moats, and Secret Passages. Fun elements that can be incredibly powerful to end game scoring if utilized properly- Moats especially are potential game winners!

Finally I (the Red Player) manage to break our friend's (Yellow's) winning streak!