Code: Contagion V0.5

After reading about 5 or 6 different rulesets for zombiepocalypse, i was somewhat upset by seeing either oversimplified or very complex rules, which made me yawning at the very first look.

So i sat and wrote these rules, keeping in mind three basic things:
1) Rules should be adaptable for any scale from fireteam-level stealth ops to almost platoon-level last stand against the horde;
2) Rules should allow players to create any kind of survivors, from weak children up to superhumans;
3) Rules should not force the player to have many different kinds of dice, templates, cards or any kind of other game aids

And i suppose the rules reflect all these points at reasonable level.

I will be glad to see any comments regarding balance or interesting ideas to implement.

Dropbox link to the rules:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qqnj068ar2el05c/Code_Contagion_V0_5.pdf?dl=0

Volgograd - Mamayev kurgan and museum of defense of Stalingrad - July 2016

After almost one and half months, i've got the guts to write about my long-planned visit to Volgograd.

The first impression of the city which anybody would get when disembarking from the train - huge industrial megalopolis perfectly (from my opinion) represented by this photo i made from the Mamayev kurgan (it also clearly depicts why it was so crucial during the Battle for Stalingrad):

But i am slightly too fast.
The Mamayev kurgan itself greeted me with some long-waited sunshine (that's why photo is somewhat blurry) despite rainy weather:

As i was there in Monday's afternoon, there wasn't really many tourists. After moving up to The Motherland Calls statue past the memorial and eternal fire, i've made my way to the memorial cemetery located nearby -

Each of these black plates is inscribed with hundreds of names of the fallen soldiers and militiamen (however i'm pretty sure not even closely to all names of those who died protecting this place).
As you can see, the cemetery is almost completely empty of visitors despite being really close to main monument.

Next morning i've rushed to the museum, which was my second goal.
It is build near the infamous Gergardt's Mill, last three standing buildings of Stalingrad.

You can get upclose from the right (if watching like at this photo) to personally see the level of damage it sustained.

Right in front of museum's entry you will find a little exposition the armor and cannons of WW2 (this is anly small part, there are light tanks and German vehicles as well):

After that, i bought tickets (roughly $1.5 for enter and another $2.5 for permission to make photos). They also provide video permission for fee of about $3.5 and audioguide (however i'm not sure if they have English one).

Inside visitor will se hundreds of photos, dozens of documents and weapons of that battle. there are some examples:

I have to specifically mention the animated panorama of Staligran in one of the halls:

The photo cannot really give the impression of all those animated flames and smoke above the ruined city. it is the thing that must be seen by own eyes.

Another impressing thing is the huge diorama of winter fighting in Stalingrad:

 

in the end you will see the gifts from many nations, including banners and items:

And of course, what museum it would be without Joseph Stalin himself?

The notes as an epiloque:
NO museums work in mondays. Pay attention to that!
Try to get to the museum as early as possible. it becomes crowded afternoon.
Some streets of Volgograd can be described as perfect anti-infantry obstacles so watch out and wear good boots!
You may also get a little problems finding the place to eat - there is not so many cafes near the main points so check the map!

I can't really say if this is worth for ordinary person to travel so far (about 1000 km from Moscow) just to visit two places, but it was completely worth for me!
In addition, if you will get there for FIFA 2018 - you'll have the perfect possibility to see it all.

That's all for now. Later i will try to make a post entirely about photos from the museum and urban warfare of Red Army

WIP Imperial Guard "Spec Ops" conversion

My first steps in sculpting.
Imperial Guard Cadians conversion into more "Special Forces" kind of soldiers using M4 carbine from Warlord Games's Spec Ops of Project-Z, epoxy putty, 1.5mm plastic sheets and some photoetching frames for straps.
I've used mostly these guys (Battalion of assault and obstacle clearing of Russian Armed Forces) as a reference/inspiration:

1-2 Assault trooper in early stage, comparing to Empress Miniatures's USMC trooper:

3-4 Body and hands of assault trooper after some work on shoulder pads and groin protection:

5-6 Body of second trooper with two long smoke pouches on the right and 6 frag pouches + dump on the left side, early stage too

Bolt Action - Tank War, game two

A rematch of previous game:
http://combatoctopus.blogspot.ru/2016/07/bolt-action-tank-war-game-one.html

At this time we decided to make a wide front instead of bottleneck, which (as i thought) could help Germans to get some revenge from first (and bitter) defeat.

During the 1st turn initiative was completely on the side of Germans, leaving Russians only able to react:

Right after the 1st turn, the game fell into two separate battles -
Tiger vs Sherman in the fields and main battlegroups on the edge of the village.
Unlike the first game, Russians decided to push forward at maximum speed, leaving Germans in defence.

At the turn 2, Tiger managed to immobilize the Sherman (Gustav, shoot higher, mein Gott!), however they kept firing at each other without much effect...

During the same time, Soviets were coming closer and closer, enjoying KV-1 being almost invulnerable to German cannons and receiving only concussions (note that "Hit" die on T-34 maks immobilise received from Pz III):

Just like during the first game, turns 5 and 6 decided everything:
In the fields, IS-3 silently came to the Tiger's flank, blowing it apart and heading to Panthers, while main force blowed Pz III and PZ IV without taking much damage:

And againg left Germans completely frustrated.

Summary: 

I can't really explain double loss of Germans other than extremely bad dice roll results, which outweighed any advances in cannons or numbers.

IS-3 got shot only one time (with a miss), basically making his armor useless compared to way cheaper IS-2 (which enjoys the same cannon) and KV-1 one more proved to be the most (surprisingly) resilent unit, taking lots of cannonfire without any dramanic outcomes.

And "cinematic" photo of Soviets advancing aduring the second game:

Bolt Action - Tank War, game one

Had a two games of Bolt Action today.

In anticipation of Konflict'47 we decided to not stick to "historical" compositions and just brought every gun we could.

USSR force:
IS-3 Regular, Commander
IS-2 Regular
KV-1 Regular
T-34-76 Regular
T-34-85 Regular
M4A3 Sherman

German force:
Panther Regular, Commander
Tiger Veteran
Panther Regular
Pz IV Regular
Two Pz III Regulars
StuG III Regular


Both games (basically first clash and rematch) was played using the same terrain, depicting some kind of village:

Combat mission: kill 'em all
Deploying: all units come from 1st wave

During the first game we decided to begin fighting along the main road, basically placing both our forces into bottlenecks, where tanks can't effectively maneuver, which resulted in formations like this during the 1st turn:

As turns passed, the game guickly tuned in long-range firefight betweeen IS tanks and German heavy armor, leaving T-34s, StuG and Pz III no choice other than move to flank and try to outfight each other.

However, "thanks" to incredible number of failed rolls, both Russians and Germans  stuck on one place in the end of turn four:

At the turn 6, as if nothing could be worse, Germans lost Command Panther and StuG III being burned and both Pz III being destroyed by combined firepower of Red Army which left them relying on only three tanks, which did nothing during last 7th turn, resulting in Soviet decisive victory.

After-game observations:
IS-3, thanks to having enormous armor protection, never was target of shooting through entire game unlike KV-1, which was ignited, inmmobilized, stunned several times but kept fighting until the very end.
The tank games once more proved to be super-fast paced comparing to traditional ones, thanks to lack of several dozens of models and hundreds of dices, however the luck of the roll becomes crucial, which results in feeling like "Mein Gott, Gustav, shoot at them, not at buildings around, scheisse"