5 Klicks from the Zone
It was hard to believe that things could get worse after “the fall” but all I see around me are threats and danger. There is the small area around our home base that is still a safe zone, but resources are low and we are constantly forced to look further afield for ways to protect ourselves. As we push outwards though it feels like everyone else has their sights set on the same thing and we live in fear of our fellow humans, and indeed the many we find that are now somewhat less than human, finding their way to our ‘zone’. So here we are, five klicks out, fighting for our lives, and we can’t afford to retreat...
______________________________
I am honoured that Ivan Sorensen of Nordic Weasel Games has given me permission to create new content for his Five Klicks from the Zone game. This starts with a Second Edition (2e) of the main rules. Then as the main rules have always been called Chapter 1, moves on to Chapter 2, and with a plan to round out a trilogy with a Chapter 3.
For those who don’t know Five Klicks
Five Klicks has a lot of DNA from his other solo campaign settings Five Leagues from the Borderland (fantasy setting) and Five Parsecs from Home (space setting), but as you might expect from a game that has a post apocalyptic earth setting, that DNA has been mutated enough to make it very much its own game.
Five Klicks doesn’t have a fixed background, what caused the Fall is up to the player and there is a lot of scope to use your own figures and imagination to determine the theme, but centres around a Squad of fighters trying to protect a small pocket of civilization from the ravages of a world gone bad.
For those who do
What you will see here and in my posts will solely be from 2e, the tabletop encounter rules for moving, combat, and morale are unchanged, but you’ll soon note changes to the campaign details. I hope you like them and it inspires you in your own campaign.
Feedback
Whether you already know the game or not, I welcome your comments here or on the Nordic Weasel Games Discord.
_________________________
That out of the way, my own campaign is set in a fairly modern parallel universe where The Fall is caused by a catastrophic use of combined nuclear and biological weaponry in a war that encompasses the earth. The end effect is a world where only small pockets of humanity survive and there is no guiding influence trying to bring things back together, but the people of Home are trying to carve out an area of safety around them by sending teams from The Squad on missions into the Outlands. The Squad has been outfitted from a an old army surplus store and recommissioned weapons, so hardly state of the art gear, but it gets the job done:
These were built from the SAS sprues in the starter set of 0200 Hours from Grey for Now Games. I gave them all the same camouflage jacket (my own version of Lizard Pattern) but then a mix of trousers and gear painting to highlight their slightly rag-tag nature. Bases are labelled in line with my character naming convention so I can keep track of who is carry what.
Here’s the setup then. We know the terrain of the few squares directly surrounding Home, which I rolled as a Quarry (Stone makes a good foundation for dwellings and the cliff face also provides some security from being surrounded).
|
Wasteland |
Wasteland |
Wasteland |
|
Lake |
Home (Quarry) |
Wasteland |
|
Wooded |
Hillside |
Wooded |
Each campaign turn up to 8 members of the Squad may be sent out to either carry out a mission in a known square or head past those to explore an unknown square.
I’ll do the action reports here and the commentary about the rules, figures, terrain, etc. in blog posts.
_________________________
1 - Easy start
First set of campaign rolls was pretty straightforward. The Squad went north to explore, found more wasteland and nothing to worry them, so came back.
2 - Occupied land
Another exploration, headed North-West this time and not long after passing into slightly more wooded area than found so far, ran straight into a group of Scrags. Things heated up pretty quickly but the Squad acquitted themselves well. One casualty but found a Plasma Rifle!
By turn 3 we could turn all our attention back to the original threat and start taking them down. It was all over in turn 4 when Fancy with his SAW had taken out a second guy in the ruin (which earned him the MVP for the battle) and Earl managed to get past the flank of the last guy taking cover behind the hedge line. With seven dead and three run off, we could clear the rest of the area before making tracks back to Home taking an injured and not so Happy with us.
3 - Our first Monstrosity
This is new for the 2e rules, the Settlement Events table gave a Monstrosity battle, and I then rolled the giant Snarler beast. Note this was first play of these rules and I changed them to say you need to clear all Monstrosity markers afterwards.
Word came to Home of some sort of beast prowling nearby, so we were sent out to deal with it. Before we even got there though, Fancy was mauled by some sort of plant and wouldn’t be able to take part in the battle, so it was seven of us looking for this beast.
First turn, Earl bravely entered the woods but finds no monstrosities or anything else.
Second turn, it’s Daken who goes poking around and this time he flushes it out!
The cautious moves of the rest pay off though and both Daken and Cooper can get off a shot. Daken fails to cause any damage, Cooper gets a good hit but instead of killing it, it takes two Wounds and can keep going. The rest of the Squad rush to help, but it’s too late for Daken, the Snarler is on him and gives him a good mauling!
Turn 3, and Copper gets of another shot and kills it. The damage is done though, Daken is badly harmed by the encounter and permanently loses a point off his initiative score. Two rounds and three of the Squad have been hurt, it’s a tough life in the Squad. On the plus side, Copper got the MVP award and enough experience to level up (it seems he’s got better at shooting). It also turned out the Snarler had somehow taken down a guy in Plate armor, which we managed to recover.
_________________________
That first battle was played with stand in bad guys but before playing the third battle I painted up a load of these really nice Copplestone metal figures to take the part of any human enemies.
_________________________
4 - Prowling Bandits
Nothing exciting came up from the settlement event so it was time to go exploring again, where the squad ran into a bandit gang prowling around.
Our latest exploration took us to the lands to the north-east of Home but once again we ran into a gang claiming ownership and willing to start a fight.
We didn’t manage to get the drop on them, so it quickly became a game of cat and mouse making best use of the sparse rocky terrain. By the start of turn 3 though things were ready to get hairy, we’d fired a couple of warning shots while we snuck amongst the rocks and a couple of the Squad made it onto the hill on the right flank. Then a brute of a guy, all black leathers and a shotgun crested the other end of the hill and our guys got the drop on him.
Cooper took him out enabling Earl to go further across the hill and fire into the two guys coming up the other side, taking out another one, which was too much for the third guy, who promptly ran off.
Clearly not realising what was going on to their left or what was waiting for them behind the rock in front, the two guys in the middle decided to keep going.
Indie missed but the shock was enough to make his target grovel in the dirt, while jockey managed to wound his. Happy then sprang from his hiding place, wounding another, followed by Garth hitting him with a second shot and taking him out. Baker gained some height on the hill and got a clear shot at the guy trying to bury into the dirt and took him out. Eight bad guys were down to three!
Happy took out another and the last guy in the middle sprinted away, followed by another burst from Jockey, which must have hit his backpack without damaging the guy, but encouraged him to keep going. Back over at the hill, Baker got the last guy. The field was ours! No casualties this time, maybe we are getting better at this?
5 - Lynx on the prowl
As you know, I love building some narrative around my campaigns and the idea behind this one is that with humanity on the decline the wildlife, both indigenous and escaped from previous captivity, has had a chance to populate the land, giving rise to roaming packs and so called monstrosities. So a roll of a pack of Snarlers was a great excuse to break out my Lynx pack from 5LB. Interestingly, the previous game rolled no Suspicious Activity markers at all, but this one dropped 4, which were to play a significant part in the game.
Two expeditions North had run into human gangs claiming the land and forcing us to fight them, so this time we headed South. We found a track in the woods that looked like it was still being travelled and headed along it to see. We had just caught sight of a surprisingly well kept hut when we spotted movement through the trees, some kind of animals, keeping low but heading our way.
We didn’t have to wonder whether these were some sort of timid herd beasts as we immediately heard creaming and spitting noises and they headed straight for us. As one set came charging across a field though they clearly were calling out to their mates and Earl heard more noises off to our left, the cunning beasts were trying to outflank us!
They were still just shapes though, not yet close enough to give us targets to shoot at but close enough they would soon be upon us. The only thing we could do was fan out and get ready.
Damn they were fast, all teeth and claws, three crested the wooded hill and the two charged from the flank, all before we could fire a shot. Garth went down, Daken took one out, Earl was outnumbered, he got one but the other got him. This however gave the rest of us the chance to fire, Fancy opened up with the SAW cutting one down, Baker bagged one, Daken got a second kill, Copper wounded one but his SMG jammed on him, and I swear I hit one but it kept coming!
With all the close in enemies down, Fancy couldn’t get a clear shot with the SAW and it is too heavy to move and fire, so he could only reposition and hope he would get a better chance. I decided not to risk my rifle and pulled out my pistol for some close quarter action, wounding my target before it charged, but then they were on us again!
Cooper took a wound, but I managed to fight off both my attackers, killing one in the process. This again then let the rest of the team start firing though in the confusion only Happy managed to make it count. So another two down but still four left and all about to pounce. This time though we were either finally getting our act together, or we got lucky and we were ready to unleash a hail of lead!
Fancy opened up with the SAW, hitting all three of the beasts still coming from our left, killing two! Happy plugged the one in front of me after my pistol shot failed to wound it. Baker down the last of them.
When we took stock of the situation we found that Garth was only injured but Earl was dead. The farm building had housed a small family but the back door had been smashed in and they were all dead … and eaten. We had had enough of exploring and set off for home and to give Earl a proper burial.
6 - Raid
The rolls this time generated requirement for an Urgent Raid against half a dozen “Hooligans”, with that being a relatively low number I figured I would give them some solid cover to hide behind.
I expected our next mission to be another attempt to explore to the south, but word came down that an enemy encampment had been located and that it is known to have stock of some things Home desperately needs. We set off at dawn and arrived to find the stash of diesel we were after protected by six members of the so called “Luchadores” gang, hooligans but no pushovers.
Fancy got into position behind the standing stone on top of the hill and let them know we had arrived by opening up with the SAW and sending the guy in the ruins ducking for cover. That gave Ernie the clear run up to the oil drums and the chance to fire at the guy behind the wall and he made it count, one down! Argent had a clear shot at a guy peering round the blue container, two down! Daken with his sniper rifle only had targets behind hard cover left to fire at though and couldn’t make it three, though between him shooting at them and the two dead guys, this was enough to make one guy leg it and the leader scuttle off behind the big wall.
Unfortunately the pinned guy was happy enough to take a pot shot over the wall he was hiding behind and somehow managed to plug Ernie, while the other Luchadore was clearly feeling lonely at this point and felt like staying put in the cargo container might be a good idea.
Cooper went up to check on Ernie and fire at his attacker but just peppered the wall. Fancy fired down from the hill with SAW and smashed the wall some more, and then Daken saw his opening and got a kill-shot with the sniper rifle. This was all too much for the hooligan hiding in the cargo container and he legged it. Leaving the leader scuttling back into play. The rest of the Squad moved up and Indie found a stash in the woods.
Argent headed for the diesel stash. Cooper went to check his target was really down only to find that the smell of blood from the corpse had attracted a critter!
It clearly caught him by surprise, and he went down. Meanwhile Argent was likewise surprised by the lead Luchadore and they both took a hit and went down. Fancy and Daken both opened up on the critter but the damned thing was quicker than it looked and was unscathed. The remaining Squad members headed to the diesel, being a bit more wary than their leader had been.
Taking no further chances, Daken moved on the critter and drew it out towards him which gave Fancy a clear shot and the SAW cut it in half. That was that.
Cooper and Ernie were both injured and had to be helped back to Home, but Argent had a lucky break and his rifle had taken the brunt of the hit from the Luchadore’s sledgehammer. The Squad returned home with the precious diesel and some Scout armour that Indie had found in the woods.
7 - Easy
The way exploring plays through it is entirely possible to not have a battle. This was one of those times.
With Cooper and Ernie still recovering, we headed south to explore. An easy trek ended in dense woodland and we made it back to Home without incident.
8. Warlord
However, it is more likely that a battle will occur as then happened on the next turn with some self proclaimed Warlord having declared the lands to the southwest of Home as being their territory and having armed troops patrolling it. A good roll for Seize the Initiative meant a chance to get the Squad into cover before the shooting started.
Off we headed again, exploring past our known map to the southwest. No woodland this time, the terrain was very open, with a few rolling heads and outcrops of rock. Ahead of us we spied a strangely bubbling pool and just started to head towards it when armed figures appeared ahead of us. They were clearly not expecting to see anything though and we got pretty close without them noticing. Fancy even had time to locate some Scrap and Ernie made it to the slope of the next hill before we waited to see what they would do.
We didn’t have to wait long, and their orders were clear. Working in pairs they advanced just enough to get into range a fired off with whatever they had. On the left the pair fired at Baker, wounding him and pinning him down. In the centre the guy with the SAW couldn’t shoot and the other went wide. Ernie came off the worst as a third pair appeared on the top of the hill and plugged him good.
That will teach us to shoot first in future! Now we opened up. Fancy and his SAW were out of range but he managed to get a luck hit, while Garth plugged the other one, left side clear! My shot hit but didn’t penetrate even their rudimentary armour, but Daken plugged the guy with the SAW, so we wouldn’t have to worry about that! That left Happy to cautiously advance on our right.
Turns out the remaining guy in the centre was feeling a bit exposed now, so he legged it. The two guys on the hill took potshots at Happy but just chipped the rock he was hiding behind. We started moving in on them while Daken tried to get a bead on them, but missed.
Before they realised how much trouble they were in it was over for them. Happy got up the hill to their right and killed one, the other guy started to run but Cooper had made it round on the left and plugged him. When I got to Ernie he was bleeding but alive, how come the guys whose name starts with E are bullet magnets? A search of the area found us a functional under-barrel grenade launcher, that might come in handy.
9. Hunting Bear
Rolled for the next turn and it came up with a “What the hell is that?” Random event. This is Monstrosity encounter and time to get those grizzly bears from Wargames Foundry onto the table. The skull tokens show where the monster(s) may be. Five chances and you have to investigate them all, plus the normal Suspicious Activities tokens might throw in some more.
We headed out again, this time to the Southeast, but as we travelled through woodland things became unnaturally quiet. We became more cautious and approached the most dense areas of trees very carefully. Cooper cleared the first, no sign of anything. Baker was up next, nothing to challenge us, but did find some useful scrap.
I guess at that point we got too complacent, as we moved up towards the end of the woodland Baker approached an old hedged field and immediately attracted the attention of an enormous bear!
Garth fired at it but missed, Daken moved to flank it but also missed, so I moved to the gateway to also try to flank it, but there was another one!
Indie could hardly miss the damn thing was so big, but I swear his shot only seemed to make it more angry. At which point one of our newer recruits we call Jockey decided he might as well clear the wooded hill on our right, and yep there was a third!
Cooper cut loose with his SMG though and that one went straight down thankfully.
Now the bears stopped posturing and got down to the business of attacking these intruders. Baker had no chance and was pulverised by the first one, but I managed to keep the gate between me and the other one and used my pistol as a brawling weapon. I didn’t manage to drop it, but it did at least back away a little, enabling Indie to fire again but miss the damn thing, leaving me to take another shot with the pistol steadied on the gate and plugging it squarely in the face, second bear down.
Meanwhile, Garth fired almost point blank at the bear gnawing on Baker, and drew blood, then Daken finished it off.
All three bears were down and the area was completely swept so we were safe to retrieve Baker from under the body of the bear just in time, as he was critically injured but swift medical attention from Daken staunched the blood flow and we got him back to him as quickly as possible.
Great stuff! I am enjoying the read. Definitely has the "Five from..." feel.
ReplyDeleteCheers Mike!
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting. Keep going please!
ReplyDeleteCheers Alberto, that's the plan!
ReplyDelete