IHMN 9: Living the Nightmare

The last part of the campaign saw the Secret Service Agents selling themselves dearly to allow Sir Rupert and his friends bid a hasty retreat.  At the last moment, Sir Rupert was astounded to see the time machine burst from a blaze of blue light in front of them.  A man in a strange uniform that seemed somehow familiar barked at them to get in.  Sir Rupert, Count Otto, Goonda, Sergeant Reynolds and Private Gathering did just that.  Moments later the car raced off and disappeared in a similar flash of light to the way in which it had arrived.  

As they travelled through time, the Nazi-uniformed man behind the steering wheel with the thick German accent began to relate a most terrible story.  A story so abominable, so terrifying, so utterly incredible that it would only take someone with the good sense of Sir Rupert to believe a single word of it.  

Sir Rupert was well acquainted with the Society of Thule.  He'd had run-ins with them in the past.  Count Otto was delighted to hear that this not-so-secret society had been quashed in the early years of the twentieth century.  Private Gathering was trying to wrap his head around that one.  

Unfortunately, whilst creating his Lebensraum, a particularly nasty piece of work by the name of Adolf Hilter had been collecting works of art, and artefacts of antiquity.  He had come across the work of the Society and had set Mengele to work on recreating the arc generator and revivicators that were the trademark of the Society of Thule.  

It was, according to this German Officer, this fact that ensured the establishment of the Thousand Year Reich in the rubble of the Second World War.  Britain and America had been defeated.  In the shadow of this totalitarian regime, one Doktor Kobalt had managed to create a time machine.  Years of study had convinced him that there was an Elixir of Life mentioned in the old Nordic Sagas and in documents they had found in Tibet.  Unsatisfied with the use of revivicators, he sought to find a better way of making the SS invulnerable.  

In the process, something went terribly wrong.  Rather than bring eternal life, the elixir brought death, then undeath in its wake.  And it had spread to the population.  The Thousand Year Reich was in its infancy when it was eaten from within.

"Good show," said Sir Rupert.  "The fools deserved it."

"Nein, nein! Ve must go to ze future, find vhere ze elixir came from und make sure that the Doktor doesn't get it."

"Isn't this all getting needlessly complicated?" asked Sergeant Reynolds.

"Vell it's a bit too late for zat now." The German Officer stared at the date on his dashboard.  It had been spinning incredibly fast as was its want.  But it was now beginning to slow.  The date settled on 10th July 2018.  And with a bright blue flash, the time machine came to a screeching halt in what can only be described as a living nightmare...
We used my modern city boards to give an impression of the modern day gone terribly wrong.  It's funny how horrifying it can be to put some flags on a building and realise what monstrous inhumanity it represents.
Having just got their hands on Doktor Kobalt's papers, our game would represent Sir Rupert and his companions escaping back to the time machine. They would set up in the middle of the board with the time machine on one of the narrow table edges.  Hot on their heels would be Doktor Kobalt and his forces.  They would enter from the opposite table edge.  And just to tie us down, we decided there would be 1D6+6 Zombies on the table.  Once Sir Rupert's Company were placed on the table, these Zombies would be placed 24" away from them in a direction determined by rolling a D12 with 12 being in their direction of travel.  These Zombies represented modern civilians so I used some of my recently painted Zombicide miniatures.  They would have the same profile as the Todtruppen.  They would move 6" at the start of the turn in a random direction.  Once a living model was within 12" they would move towards them.  They would also move towards the sound of gunfire. 

And in another particularly interesting twist of fate, if one of these civilian Zombies came within 8" of the Arc Generator on Herr Doktor's back, they would fall under his spell, allowing him to use them as his own.  In this case, they wouldn't activate at the start of the turn, they'd become a part of his group and activate accordingly. 

I created some stats for the MP-44 that the Nazi troops were carrying.  I also calculated the points for a Todtruppen based on the stats given int he IHMN rulebook as we felt it important that Doktor Kobalt had some in his force. 

This was the force Sir Rupert would be facing:



Type
Pluck
FV
SV
Speed
Talents & Powers
Basic Equipment
Points
Doktor Kobalt
5+
+0
+0
+1
Leadership +1, Engineer
Lined Coat, Arc Pistol, Arc Generator (Range 8”)
39

Type
Pluck
FV
SV
Speed
Talents & Powers
Basic Equipment
Points
Kapitan
3+
+3
+2
+1
Leadership +2, Fanatic
Lined Coat, Pistol, MP44
33

Type
Pluck
FV
SV
Speed
Talents & Powers
Basic Equipment
Points
Feldwebel
4+
+2
+!
+1
Fanatic
Lined Coat, MP44
22

Type
Pluck
FV
SV
Speed
Talents & Powers
Basic Equipment
Points
Jager
5+
+2
+2
+1

Lined Coat, Revivifier, MP44
21

Type
Pluck
FV
SV
Speed
Talents & Powers
Basic Equipment
Points
Tod-Truppen
3+
+3
+0
+0
Numb, Terrifying, Antivenom
Lined Coat, Hands equivalent to clubs
40


MP44  /  Range 12/24”  /  SV Bonus +2  /  Pluck -2/-1

And with the 8 generated Zeds placed the table...

...and the Society of Nazi Thule (or something like that) in position...
...the dice gave the initiative to Sir Rupert and the game was on!
The civilian Zombies began to advance towards the heroic company. 
Those nearest to Herr Doktor seemed held in place by the power of the Arc Generator.
Sir Rupert and Count Otto moved cautiously, sacrificing sudden movement long enough to shoot the nearest Zombies.  That 3+ Pluck wasn't going to help our intrepid heroes.  At all.  And all the time the Nazis were gaining both ground and the number of troops coming under the Doktor's thrall...
After much firing, one of the Zeds failed its Pluck roll and lost a life.  Of course, Todtruppen get to survive the first kill result.  I used my micro dice to denote that they had received a wound. 
But pretty soon a bottleneck began to appear. 
While the enemy seemed to grow exponentially in numbers.
No matter how true their shots were, none of the Company was able to wound their targets.  Things were beginning to look rather grim indeed. 
And those MP-44's were soon going to be in range...
The next thing we knew, Count Otto had been assaulted by one of the Zombies.  Private Gathering rushed into the fray to assist him.  Private gathering went down to a fierce blow from the Zombie. 
Sergeant Reynolds rushed in to offer assistance as Sir Rupert dragged Private Gathering off the menu.  By now Goonda was getting particularly worried about the Zeds that were getting in the way of their escape to the time machine.  What was worse was the way the bullets from his Carbine seemed to do no damage to them whatsoever. 
The desperate melee continued.  Zombies were being damaged at last, but they weren't being taken out of the game. 
And then Derek discovered that some of his Jagers had a line of sight to some of my gang members.  You've got to love the Army Painter laser sight.  Well, you do if it isn't your men about to get shot at...!
And then Sergeant Reynolds was knocked down.
And Count Otto couldn't finish off his assailant. 
And the Nazis were getting horribly close. 
Sir Rupert knew there was only one thing to do.  He had to get the German Officer off the table with the Doktor's notes. 
Summoning all his strength, Sergeant Reynolds got back to his feet, determined to give the Zed a taste of cold British steel. 
By now it was only the swirling melee that kept all those MP-44's from firing at the plucky heroes. 
Sergeant Reynolds managed to dispatch the final Zed.  Goonda rushed to the Sergeant's side as Count Otto was shot and killed by a hail of lead from the MP-44's.  There was nothing Sir Rupert could do. To save the future and restore the past, he had to turn his back on his friends and make for the time machine. 
Sergeant Reynolds and Goonda were determined to sell their lives dearly. 
But it was a last, brave and desperate act.
And as Sir Rupert arrived at the time machine dragging Private Gathering's unconscious body with the German Officer in tow...
...he could hear the bombastic strains of Rule Britannia bellowed from the top of Sergeant Reynolds' lungs...
...until they were drowned out by the bites and blows of the Zeds and dagger-thrusts of the Nazi soldiers...
...and the sonic boom of the time machine as it began its journey back to the past...

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