Pumpkins, Gladiatorial Combat, and the "Last Days" of Warm Weather

After a rough week at work at me, a week that confirmed my wife wasn't going to be laid off, and the general chaos of the kids and their activities, we were met by frost temperatures Saturday morning and a completely wide open schedule.  

My wife got her hair cut for the first time possibly this year and boldly declared, "Let's go to the pumpkin patch!"  Surprisingly, we all agreed and away we went. 

I won't bore you with the details of the place we went to.  Pumpkins, apples, apple butter, and real soda was obtained, hay rides partaken of, but most important was throwing Millie into one of these plastic inflatable things, and like bloodthirsty Romans at the Colosseum, watched her perform ritual combat with other children.

There was no limit, apparently, so we watched her for a full half-hour before she doffed her inflatable, and in her best unintentional Forrest Gump said, "I'm pretty tired. Think I'd like to get a water right now." and we obliged her.

My wife also had a small girl's night out, leaving Dad to feed the kids (hoo-ray wings!) and finally get some potential gaming out.

We decided with the holiday to break out Osprey's Last Days zombie game, and with minimal terrain, and nary a gamecloth, tested out some rules. 

To make things work faster, we eschewed the survivor group vs survivor group vs zombie basis, and just had a group of pretty horrible individuals get their prison refuge breached and a forced run to the the safety of their vehicle.

For an over-priced hardcover, it's a nice game.  Without the quick reference sheet (available in pdf), it feels like a mess of simple, yet overwritten concepts. I certainly enjoy the campaign aspect of the game, although in the end, it is not Zombie Mordheim.

The goon of the group beats down two zeds before staggering away from the third....

It also doesn't help that my opponent running the gang was my ten-year Maja, slightly sleepy on lots of fresh air and bbq wings.  It works, we'll probably set up a two-team plus zombies replay of the scenario later this week with actual scenery.  In addition, while discussing future games, Maja did bring up using her Medieval figures against zombies.

One more zombie and it's the Taco Truck and freedom.

Sure, why not!  I'll even use Last Days, although the extra armor and lack of firearms might make for an interesting scenario (will the armor make enough noise to attract the zombies?  Minor noise if walking, moderate-plus if trying to run.

Sunday was a perfect lounge about the house day, with a few minor projects, and, to the delight of a few loyal readers, the Space Marines from Fall-In! are finally primed fro Maja to paint, as well as all of the figures for Stuffed Fables... a more family based project.

Next:  Possibly some painting *gasp* and either more zombies or mouslings.