My buddies Matt and John came over on the weekend to play test UnDeadwood, one of the games I'm running this year at Little Wars "https://tabletop.events/conventions/little-wars-2019" UnDeadwood basically pits four Deadwood factions against a horde of the Undead. The background story is that Deadwood has been cursed by a Lakota shaman in retaliation for atrocities by Custer. The curse has brought the dead back to life to either kill everyone in town or convert them to more undead. In the first game, Matt was told to pick one one of buildings on the outskirts of town to attack. He chose the Bella Union, Cy Tolliver's gambling emporium, which is currently being proselytized against by a suffragette and her sandwich board helper.
Inside, blind to their impending doom, are the usual crowd of gamblers, drinkers and soiled doves. Oh yeah, by the way, all our Old West buildings are tricked out with full interiors.
Inside becomes a bloodbath as the zombies make short work of the clientele.
One bite and the gamblers, drinker and bartender are converted to zombies and vampires. The soiled dove runs upstairs to escape … for now. Only the chip lady, safely ensconced behind a cage, is safe from the onslaught.
The screams from the casino are heard all over town. Al Swearingen (back row third from right) and his boys come out into the street to see what's causing the commotion.
So here's the thing with zombies … you never know if they're fast zombies or slow zombies until it's too late. Silas quickly finds out these are fast zombies on the next turn when three bum rush him out in the street. He manages to fight off two but is bit by third. He'll turn into an undead character in four turns unless he's cured. Or killed.
Al, who's the best knife fighter in town, charges into the melee and immediately dispatches two zombies with his mighty blade … yes, as they say, it will keeel. The rest of his gang of ner-do-wells manage to shoot down the third zombie, as well as dispatch their former pal Silas. Because you just can't be too careful when it comes to zombie bites …
Meanwhile, back in the Bella Union, two more zombies and a vampire emerge to surround Two-Bit, who was sneaking around the back. He manages to kill one before being bit. Since a 1 was rolled, he immediately turns into a zombie.
Out front, Al and the surviving members of his gang line up to shoot anything that comes out of front door … well, everyone except Al, who only uses a knife. But to everyone's shock, (Matt rolled a "special" on his undead generation roll after taking down the soiled dove, followed by a second high number) who should emerge but but The Ghost of Wild Bill Hickok. And boy, does he look pssed off!
Hickok, even dead, is one of the best shooters in the game, rolling a D12 -- twice each turn since he can shoot with both hands. He takes aim at Al with both guns, and needs only a 5 to hit him … and manages to roll a 3 and 1 (out of ammo for 1 gun!)
Meanwhile Al's right hand man Dan Doherty (next to Lily Langtry sign), who's the second best knife man in Deadwood, plus he can also use a gun, draws a bead on Hickok, and kills him with one shot!
But's Dan's elation is short-lived as one of the undead gunmen emerge from the casino and kill Al with one shot! The Suffragette, who is one of the town's "blessed" (denoted by the blue aura, any undead who come into contact with her instantly die), appears to be relatively unaffected by the violence and death -- you know, wages of sin and all that.
Out back, the two zombies and vampire barrel into the back door of EB Farnum's hotel, attacking Farnum behind the counter, Richardson behind his broom, and a diner behind his dinner. Farnum manages to avoid being bitten by ducking behind the counter (better part of valor) and the diner manages to fend off his attacker with his table cutlery …. but poor dumb Richardson, the sweetest guy in Deadwood, goes down under the assault from the vampire …
… only to be reborn as a Punkinhead! (Matt rolled another "special" on his undead generation. Punkinheads (I think this is 1980s Grenadier lead figure) are basically walking flamethrowers. On the next turn, Punkinhead Richardson walks out the front door … and sets the front of the Gem Theatre on fire!
At this point, John was down to only two figures -- Dan Doherty and Johnny Burns, with the Undead rallying and spreading, so we called it a game. Victory to the Undead legions!
Shameless self-promotion follows: We'll be running Undeadwood Thursday night and Friday morning at Little Wars. There are still a few spots left. The town also will be used Friday night and Saturday for some other games, Deadwood Apocalypse and The Way The West Was Run. No zombies in those two, but a helluva lot of flying lead.
shows one way to base 15mm figures on a stand.
end of the boot. Then he done got bit and dropped his broom. I don't blame him for his volcanic, orange, and roundish rebirth.. In a moment he became the shining star (one now rotting with the brain of a cleaned out pumpkin shell) at the end of the scenario. Richardson/Pumpkin Head is about to rearrange the letters in the spelling of UnDeadwood, into a new town name, Ash, even though those three letters ain't in the town name.