Wasteland Wondering 20 Jul 2014

Welcome back to my humble musings on the hobby and post apoc related stuff. Today I delve once again into Post Apoc. 

As many of you may have noticed from my blog posts I have drifted away from post apoc a little and I have been getting more & more into Sci Fi. 15mm SF offers lots of scope for (often cheap) conversions and scratch building. As a model maker I am having lots of fun with this genre. However I have recently started to get my PA (Post Apoc) appetite back back. 

So what got me back into the hallowed genre? When I lost my mojo last year I tried watching & reading my PA favourites but they didn't seem to help. Even the hallowed pages of 2000AD didn't help, although they did give me more inspiration for Utopia City. 

All it took was a change...to get some new inspirations. I have to remember this in case I have another slump in the future.

I downloaded & read the Sulphur & Wreck Age rule books and then worked my way through the very good Toxic World novels by Shaun McLaughlin (there is a new one out "Refugees from the Righteous Horde" which is on my reading list). 

I downloaded The Damnation Alley movie which I had never seen. It gave me more ideas. The Cold War movie is a favourite over on the Skank site. After watching it I also realised that it must have inspired some of the stuff in the Fallout Series of games. It may be an old movie but its worth a watch.

More recently I am reading "The end of the world running club" (worth a look for Brit Post Apoc and Babylons Burning fans) which I am enjoying immensely. I have also just got the Across the Dead Earth (ADE) rules which I am working my way through (hey my home town of Liverpool is home to gangers!! lol ). 

Games wise I hope to give Sulphur and ADE a go. I however suspect that my old favourite ruleset Neutron York 3000 will reign supreme. It is simple to play and there is no charts or calculations. 

During my slump it didn't stop me creating new PA ideas. Some of these will hopefully emerge when I start work on this again. 

My other plans are to create a modern post apoc possibly reworking my old Babylons Burning creations which I set local to me in the UK instead of the USA. Write about what you know as they say! These factions where created back in 2005 (many of which migrated to Mattblackgod's world when I created that). Like all cities Liverpool has evolved somewhat since then and some of my BB factions & city map will no longer be applicable. Like the BB map I may redo it using a random dice roll to figure out the strikes. 

I like some of the ADE factions and fluff so I may mix them in too. The end of the world running club novel has some nice ideas too. As mentioned in many other rule UK based rule sets - firearm options will be limited. However this doesn't stop some creative wiring to give a reason why certain factions have access to such weapons. 

Speaking of Mattblackgod's world that will carry on as normal but will cater for the more Pulp & SF aspects of Post Apoc. Stuff like old killer robots, mutants and cyber enhancements. 

Inspired by the ADE terrain I may revisit my PA terrain collection and add weeds & plants. ADE has inspired me to make some Urban PA boards too. I have the materials I just need the time. 

For my new Post Apoc setting I am thinking of multiple asteroid hits with additional Tsunami and quake damage. Like my old BB setting there will be a 9M sea level rise which will lose Post Apoc Liverpool much of its docklands. It will give scope for half flooded buildings and ruins in the warehouse region beyond the docks. A alien jungle from asteroid bound spores are tempting along with deadly plants. 

Faction wise I will use most of the BB ones and add some other bits. So far I have: 

Enclaves - Attempting to rebuild a civilisation. Many will be based around some sort of old world authority military or police base. They can be good trade hubs and many survivors who crave safety will try to join. Enclaves usually have a good stock of weapons. 

Gangs - Gangs of survivors carve out turf they claim as theirs. They are low in number and are armed with mixed weapons usually few firearms. Gangs often scavenge and run raids on Enclaves, Merchants or other gangs. Clever gangs will charge payment to other groups to cross their turf. 

Salvagers - Salvagers (also known as Stalkers or Scavengers) often work with each other. They go out into the wastes and ruins to recover the things that the Gang settlements, Enclaves and Traders need. 

Traders - Traders become rich and are usually based in Enclave's. After a few attacks by raiders they often employ Mercenaries to protect them and their trade trains. 

Mercenaries - Life is cheap and you can make a pretty penny fighting for others. Mercs are used by many. Merc units are often ex military squads who survived the end and now can't find a flag to fight for.

Pirates - The UK is still an island and Pirate raids often happen along the UK's & European shores as there is very little shipping to attack. Many vessels are junks powered by steam, oar or wind. Some have access to old naval vessels which are running on home made fuel. 

The State - Inspired by ADE fluff. The State is based in the ruins of old London and this Police state controls the SE corner of the UK. It has access to lots of weapons and is constantly on the look out for anything that may give them the edge to reclaim more of the UK. 

Choobs - Another ADE faction. Subterranean survivors who live in London's tube system. These seem good fun to play and I do have that tunnel terrain I created. 

There is scope for other factions too such as slavers (essentially a gang), bandits (gangers), bounty hunters, tribals and cultists. 

It seems a staple of the genre to have ex-human creatures be it Zombies, Feral Humans, Plague victims or Fallout style Ghouls. I like Feral Humans living like ghouls. In the Toxic World Novels (The Scavenger and Radio Hope) there are also Solvent/Chemical abusers called "Tweakers" who live in the ruins near what was a petrochemical plant. These are a similar to zombies due to the chemical abuse that they use to escape the harsh reality of their world. I am tempted to add these. 

Figures wise I am lucky in that I have lots of suitable figures already in my collection. There is plenty unpainted too. Anything sporting weapons that look too SF will be out. Horse mounted figures are a possibility for some factions too. 

Now what timeframe after the apocalypse to start? 6 months? 3 to 5 years? 10 years? Decades?? 

I am open to any ideas whilst I stir this melting pot of ideas. 

Thanks for reading.