More Names for the Naughty List - Empire of the Dead AAR

Happy Halloween, everyone!

In the spirit of the holiday, I've got an Empire of the Dead post to share. 

I was back up in my hometown this past weekend, so I put out a call to my old gaming group to see if anyone wanted to get a game in. Gary replied that he was looking to playtest some new factions for his upcoming annual holiday game, so Carl and I agreed. 

Gary's usual Victorian town was accentuated by a layer of snow, heralding the arrival of a new faction:

Arriving from the North Pole, Santa Claus and his gang were looking to deal some damage to those who might sully the holiday spirit.

The gang consisted of Santa, Mrs. Claus, and a bodyguard, along with a trio of worker elves and a troop of toy soldiers. Santa also had the ability to summon a mob of toys.

For the first game, I was running the Clauses, while Carl brought the Circus.

The Winter Wonderland gang deployed with the elves supporting the toy soldiers.

Carl's gang of clowns and freaks were on the opposite side of the town.

Winning the initiative, Carl rushed the Circus through the town square, with the Imp Tumblers moving up and over the arch, supported by the Ape Man.

Meanwhile, I moved Santa and his bodyguard up to support the toy soldiers, while Mrs. Claus and the elves held the open flank.

Poor dice rolls on my part (basically a constant of this entire game, so keep that in mind), Carl's Circus got the jump on my gang before I could do much else!

I also panicked and summoned the toy mob both and the wrong time and the wrong place. Since they're small, they're a good tar pit unit to place in front of the toy soldiers, who aren't great in a fight. However, Carl was moving the Ape Man to attack me from around the building, so I brought in the toys to block him.

Carl, of course, responded by just moving the big bruiser away from the mob.

It wasn't looking good for Santa's crew. I had moved the toy mob in a conga line through the fight to help on the other side, but that allowed the Ape Man to swing back around and attack me. Dr. Lizard had pushed into combat with Santa, while the Imp Tumblers kept the rest of the toy soldiers distracted. Mrs. Claus and the remaining elf were stuck in combat with a posse of clowns.

At this point, the game turned into a massive scrum, with (mostly) everyone stuck in combat.

While I managed to kill the Ape Man, Santa was lost along with a number of elves and toy soldiers, forcing the North Pole force to break.

After a couple small adjustments, Carl and I played a second game, swapping sides.

It was a much closer game, as I was actually able to roll a number higher than a 4 on a d10. Carl played the toy mob right, summoning, surrounding, swamping, and eventually subduing the Ape Man under a horde of magical playthings. It came down to a single's turn combat phase, and the Circus ended up winning by the slimmest of margins.

It was fun bringing out Empire of the Dead again, especially with Gary's fantastic miniatures and terrain. The games let Gary tweak the new gang a little bit, like giving the toy soldiers knives (bayonets) to help in close combat, and giving Mrs. Claus a new Unnatural Occurrence.

Gary talked about the other warbands he's got ideas for the annual game, like the Dark Holiday gang (which will likely induce nightmares before Christmas) and a coven of witches. I'm looking forward to seeing them.

Tricks, Treats, and Terror, Part 2 - Empire of the Dead AAR

Last week I showed the creepy cast of characters made up of all sorts of ghastly ghouls and goblins that Gary populated his second Halloween Spooktacular with. This week we'll take a look at the carnage wreaked upon a poor, unsuspecting English town!

The Necromancer got into the game early, summoning his Zombie mob that turn a civilians in chewy giblets.

The Cirque du Noir and Field of Screams warily eyed each other, with the Cirque retreating in the face of the scarecrow's advance.

The vampires raced off into the streets, enthralling as many townspeople as possible.

Civilians and circus freaks scattered as the Field of Screams made its way into the outskirts of the town.

Death and its ghostly followers drifted out of the graveyard, terrorizing the townspeople and drawing the attention of the police.

The Mechanics kept an eye out for rogue Clickers, while keeping their distance from the police and vampires.

A poor bobbie is spooked to death by a group of banshees.

And an old lady suffered the same fate!

The werewolves and Cirque du Noir engaged in the woods. The werewolves performed predictably from experience, ripping the Cirque to shreds. Tattoo, the vampiric leader of the Cirque, was killed in the first round of combat.

Van Helsing and his vampire hunters finally confronted the bloodsuckers in a vicious melee, as a potential suspect for Jack the Ripper was arrested by the police.

The police were somewhat baffled by the unnatural abilities of Death and its spirits. The Mechanics decided discretion was a better choice, keeping a safe distance from the specters.

The Cirque put up a valiant fight, but with fangs, claws, and hot dice, the werewolves couldn't be beat.

With the Cirque out of the way, the scarecrows had little trouble in gathering civilians for their fertilizer.

And the necromancer had to deal with the smell of wet dog as one Packmaster from the werewolves crossed the river.

The game ended with Jack the Ripper winning with 80 Shillings (20 for each kill). The Field of Screams came second with 60 Shillings (10 for each captured civilians). My Vampires were third, with 55 Shillings (10 for each Enthralled civilian, and 5 for each death caused).

Once again, Gary put on a fantastic game. The miniatures and scenery made for an incredibly viewing experience. The only area for improvement might be in streamlining the rules. With so many players and factions, Empire of the Dead quickly bogs down. When gangs started interacting with each other, I was able to walk away for twenty minutes or more between my own turns.

That said, I'm looking forward to next years Spooktacular.

Tricks, Treats, and Terror, Part 1 - Empire of the Dead AAR

Last year, Gary ran a massive game of Empire of the Dead for Halloween, with seven players controlling various factions that ran amok through what had been a sleepy English town. 

Not to be outdone, Gary went bigger and better for this year - more players, more factions, more terrain!

The table was split by a small river. On one side was a dark and spooky forest, fields of corn, and the outskirts of the poor English town that would once again suffer this Halloween.

The other side of the table was more urbane with a church, a cemetery, and streets teeming with innocents to terrorize. 

Let's see what monsters and miscreants would be wandering the alleys and dark places on this All Hallow's Eve.

Count Dracula was back with his vampire cohort in tow, looking to enthrall and devour the populace.

The Mechanics were hoping to recapture a number of Clickers that had escaped from their factory.

Holmes and Watson were leading a police task force to apprehend the dreaded Jack the Ripper, who was loose out in the streets.

Meanwhile, the main force of the police were looking to keep the peace.

A Necromancer led his undead creations and living minions in the search for fresh materials.

From the depths of the forest, a Beastlord emerged at the head of his pack in search of raw and bloody meat.

Out of the fields came the Pumpkinheaded horrors, looking to capture civilians for fertilizer.

And the Cirque du Noir had just arrived in town, following rumors of a possible werewolf attack.

And, finally, Death itself stalked the table, looking to fulfill the reaper's toll.

Yes, you counted right - that was nine factions on the table! And that doesn't include the civilians, piloted by Gary, or the group of individual murderers who could possibly be Jack the Ripper, played by Cameron.

Next week, the game!

Red Squeaky Toys - Empire of the Dead AAR

The Cirque du Noire faction performed well against its first two opponents. But how would the circus perform against Empire of the Dead's premier close combat faction - the Werewolves?

Once again, a look at the table. 

The werewolves split into two groups -three Packmasters and three wolves on side sides, a Beast Lord and three wolves on the other.

Since this would be an entirely close-quarters fight, I decided to jam the entire Cirque du Noire crew up the middle.

The werewolves advanced as two groups, with the Beast Lord hanging back before committing.

The Cirque pulled back a little to avoid the wolves' charge.

The initial engagement started with the wolves getting into combat, as a lone Imp Tumbler pair distracted the Beast Lord.

The Pulcinella clowns and Tumblers managed to hold the wolves, while the Beast Lord eviscerates his opponent.

A massive scrummed formed in the center of the table, while an Imp Tumbler moved to block a flanking force of wolves from getting to Tattoo and White Rabbit.

It started to look bad for the Cirque early on in the fight. Between the Packmasters and the Beast Lord, the Cirque's own heavy hitters were taking too many hits.

The Ape Man went down under the Beast Lord's claws.

Tattoo and White Rabbit were forced to get up close and personal against the werewolves' flanking attack, as the melee in the middle went decidedly in the werewolves' favor.

And in one turn, down went Tattoo and the Reptile Man, leaving only White Rabbit and a pair of Pulcinella. 

The playtesting allowed Gary to tweak a few of the factions (for example, giving all the human characters two wounds so they don't crumple like a wet paper bag). The biggest concern is likely where the Cirque sits in the game. They're effecting against factions that favor shooting, since the Cirque is fast and hits hard in close combat. But they fold rather easily when facing a dedicated melee faction like the Werewolves (who, honestly, tear through anyone in the game in close combat). The Cirque's objective for the big Halloween game will be hunting werewolves, so it'll be interesting to see how Gary hopes to balance the two factions in the context of a larger and extremely chaotic fight. 

A Different Sort of Foe - Empire of the Dead AAR

In the second of three test games for the Cirque du Noire, Gary decided to go for another character led faction. 

Tattoo and the others were ready for another night out on the town. 

This time it would be van Helsing and his crew hoping to put a stop to the gypsy vampire's rampaging circus.

I split the troupe into two groups again, this time with the Imps covering the brutes, and the Pulcinella clowns with the ladies.

The Cirque sprinted across the table, with the Imp Tumblers out front. Tatoo, White Rabbit, and the clowns waited off to the side.

Seeing the approaching group of circus freaks, Helsing had his followers spread out in a gunline.

With the troupe winning initiative again, the prospect of a melee inched closer and closer.

Knowing how well that worked out last time, Gary's gunline opened fire, downing two of the three Imps and wounding the third, who was then charged by van Helsing.

But the flying lead wasn't enough to stop the Reptile Man and Ape Man from getting into combat. Tattoo, White Rabbut, and the Pulcinella rounded the corner at the same time.

While Helsing managed to off the wounded Imps, two of his followers were downed by the Reptile Man's claws. Mina and Jonathan Harker opened fire at the clowns, discombobulating two.

Unfortunately, the odds quickly turned against vampire hunters. The two downed followers died in the recovery phase, while Mina was downed and killed by Tattoo, White Rabbit, and their heavy pistols.

Another poor follower was pulverized by a pair of Pulcinella, while Helsing took two wounds from the Reptile Man.

The last turn saw the vampire hunters tabled. Helsing was shredded by the Reptile Man, the Gatling gunner was pulped by the Ape Man, and Tattoo and the two Pulcinellas bashed Jonathan into submission.