So I know two people who play The Walking Dead: All Out War in Japan. That would be myself and Honda-San, who introduced me to the game last week in Nerima. This week I went to Koganei Miniatures Club, another gaming club near my area, and brought along both Deadzone and TWD, hoping to find a pick-up game and spread the gospel of Mantic Games further in the Land of the Rising Sun.
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| Honda-San's TWD set. |
I have to confess that the last time I went to Koganei I wasn't very impressed. The organizer, Sakurai-San, was an hour late, and a total of five people turned up to play. Two of these people were myself and my mate Gareth, who is a wargamer of the 6 mm historical variety. The venue was in a communal hall, and the actual room they used was a home economics classroom replete with cooking utensils, range hoods and gas stove tops. The upside was that two of the Japanese people present were Mantic gamers. Sakurai-San and Takatori-San both played Deadzone, Kings of War and Dreadball, which essentially doubled the number of players I knew in Japan interested in these systems.
This time around there were a few more people present. Six people turned up, excluding myself, and they were playing games of Age of Sigmar and War Machine/Hordes when I arrived. Once finished Takatori-San indulged me in a game of both DZ and TWD. We played a 100 point game of DZ, with me taking on the role of the Forge Fathers while he played his Marauders. Dwarves versus Orcs in space. Alas, my Forge Fathers were not up to the task, being overrun by suicide dogs backed up by Commandos with a ridiculously high Survive score of 4+. It didn't help that the cost of the Steel Warriors was prohibitively high - I ended up fielding four models against the Marauder's seven. Takatori-San had a well-designed force - his pair of suicide dogs used cover and movement Command dice to get into melee swiftly, while his Commandos advanced behind. At the back of the line he also had a Sniper which proved devastating, accounting for half of my force. Three dice plus two dice (sniper dice) plus one dice (elevation) equals six dice of death. In the future I have to prioritize pinning those Snipers - as a Heavy Weapon their Shoot actions are Long actions. If I pin them with suppressing fire they can't shoot. I wonder if they can still use a Movement Command die to stand up then shoot? Can you use a Shooting Command die to shoot a Heavy Weapon? I need to get these rules clarified, because Snipers are vicious bastards.
I need to tweak my lists, too, and make them hard as possible. Japanese players don't seem to have a problem with lists Australians would call "cheesy", "beardy", "min-maxed" or "OP". Truth be told, neither do I, but I was more concerned with expanding my network of players rather than winning. Now that I know what the accepted conventions are I can adjust my lists accordingly, and not worry about inadvertently offending someone. This is Japan, remember - conformity to accepted norms is expected. When I first came here I'm pretty sure I was blundering about like a bull in a china (Japanese?) shop, but now whenever I enter a new environment - whether that be a new workplace, a dojo, or a club - I take the time to read the atmosphere and ascertain what is and what isn't acceptable. This is actually true for all places, Japan or not - the only difference is that if you're being a social misfit in Australia someone will tell you. In Japan, you will have to infer it from the dark looks and averted stares.
After our DZ game I introduced Takatori-San to TWD, and we played a 100 point game from the core set. It was fun but again I forgot quite a few rules, most notably the rule that increased Threat every turn whenever there is a melee during the Melee phase. Last week I'd played a couple of games against Honda-San and recalled them as frantic affairs that escalated quickly. Without the extra Threat this week's game was more of a slow burning affair, with a smoother curve into the end game clusterfuck that ensues when zombies begin to swamp the board. The clusterfuck arrived regardless, and everyone except Carl DIED from infected bites at the end, giving me a somewhat dubious victory.
I really like TWD, and have plans to acquire the scenery booster, as well as many of the character boosters as well. To be honest I'm going to be buying EVERYTHING - all expansions, all boosters, all scenery, and play mats. I'll just spread out the cost over time to give me a chance to keep up painting wise, and to make myself feel better about being such an obsessive freak. This new sideshow also diverts my Deadzone proxy project once again. It's funny that Raging Heroes was one of the key motivators behind me getting back into the hobby and playing Deadzone, yet I still don't own a single Raging Heroes' model. I'm thinking about making a Japanese Bolt Action force, too, just because the biggest foreign wargaming club in Japan - West Tokyo Wargamers, a.k.a. Pub Con - is heavily into this game.
Seriously, fuck this hobby. It's spiraling out of control!
I need to tweak my lists, too, and make them hard as possible. Japanese players don't seem to have a problem with lists Australians would call "cheesy", "beardy", "min-maxed" or "OP". Truth be told, neither do I, but I was more concerned with expanding my network of players rather than winning. Now that I know what the accepted conventions are I can adjust my lists accordingly, and not worry about inadvertently offending someone. This is Japan, remember - conformity to accepted norms is expected. When I first came here I'm pretty sure I was blundering about like a bull in a china (Japanese?) shop, but now whenever I enter a new environment - whether that be a new workplace, a dojo, or a club - I take the time to read the atmosphere and ascertain what is and what isn't acceptable. This is actually true for all places, Japan or not - the only difference is that if you're being a social misfit in Australia someone will tell you. In Japan, you will have to infer it from the dark looks and averted stares.
After our DZ game I introduced Takatori-San to TWD, and we played a 100 point game from the core set. It was fun but again I forgot quite a few rules, most notably the rule that increased Threat every turn whenever there is a melee during the Melee phase. Last week I'd played a couple of games against Honda-San and recalled them as frantic affairs that escalated quickly. Without the extra Threat this week's game was more of a slow burning affair, with a smoother curve into the end game clusterfuck that ensues when zombies begin to swamp the board. The clusterfuck arrived regardless, and everyone except Carl DIED from infected bites at the end, giving me a somewhat dubious victory.
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| Last week Carl died. This week everyone EXCEPT Carl got bitten and bled to death. This game is brutal. But definitely fun. FYI these are still Honda-San's miniatures. Mine are still white and sad. |
I really like TWD, and have plans to acquire the scenery booster, as well as many of the character boosters as well. To be honest I'm going to be buying EVERYTHING - all expansions, all boosters, all scenery, and play mats. I'll just spread out the cost over time to give me a chance to keep up painting wise, and to make myself feel better about being such an obsessive freak. This new sideshow also diverts my Deadzone proxy project once again. It's funny that Raging Heroes was one of the key motivators behind me getting back into the hobby and playing Deadzone, yet I still don't own a single Raging Heroes' model. I'm thinking about making a Japanese Bolt Action force, too, just because the biggest foreign wargaming club in Japan - West Tokyo Wargamers, a.k.a. Pub Con - is heavily into this game.
Seriously, fuck this hobby. It's spiraling out of control!
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