UM009 USEME Zombie Dawn - Paid Digital Download

THIS IS A DIGITAL BOOK NOT A PRINT BOOK

This is a Paid for Digital Download Book

UM009 USEME 15mm Zombie Dawn

USE ME means 'Ultra Simple Engine for Miniature Engagements' and this system delivers just that. Tactically challenging, easy to learn and for any age of wargamer. From skirmish to full battles, games last from five minutes to an hour. Play in your lunch break or in the evening when the idea of a really complex system with a long set up time really does not appeal. Pick up any of your miniatures and vehicles and get playing in minutes. USE ME is just that...its for you!

32pp Book, Colour Covers.

READ ON FOR A SHORT ARTICLE ABOUT THIS BOOK

It is with a moan and a shuffle that I welcome you to the ninth in the USE ME series of titles. Why a moan and a shuffle? Because its the Zombie Dawn baby; the night, day and eternity of the living dead! This rule set marks a departure from a primarily broad based series of titles for something more specialised.

Gavin Syme created Zombie Dawn in response to gamers requests by the hundreds for an Undead game which was easily played, a little different and most importantly could be played solo as well as with two or more players. Fast play rules based on the D6 USE ME engine that would suit 15mm scale miniatures and has a simple matrix to use 28mm scale miniatures too. From a few personalities in small scenario to squad (called teams) level with battles involving a hundred or more characters including vehicles. USE ME Zombie Dawn achieves all of this and more. Read on.

The USE ME game system engine. You will need some Zombie and Modern period miniatures, some terrain and a few six sided dice (D6's) to play the game. This is not much and indeed most of the time everything in play needs only 1D6 roll to make a decision. In the game all miniatures and vehicles are de-marked into of CHARACTERS (from Mortals to Vehicles and various Zombies) and these into TYPES which allow you to create anything you want with a few tables of TYPES with points costs attached.

The Turn Sequence of the game follows a simple path of firstly the Initiative Phase where all players roll 1D6 and the highest roll wins the initiative for the turn (important later on!). Then the main part of the turn, the Mortal Phase where all characters in the game are activated not by the side upon which they fight but by their Elan Rating. This means better troops and vehicles move and fight before poorer quality troops and vehicles and within each Elan banding from 6 to 1 activation begins with the initiative holding player. When activated each character can choose TWO actions, these include move, ranged fire, melee, hypertense, special action, unique action. The character may choose two different actions OR the same one twice with a modifier; very flexible in battle. Ranged fire and melee are based on opposed single D6 rolls with modifiers for troop type and weapon ratings. This super fast system results in targets being Killed, Struck or Winged by attacks. Killed removes them from play while the other two results negatively effect their further performance in the game. The hypertense action allows characters to become super aware of potential Undead attack and gain a bonus.

Lastly there is the Zombie Birth Phase which is only in this incarnation of USE ME and allows for the rise of newly created Undead from the bodies of those mortals killed in the previous turn. This makes play rather tense and it includes a 'mercy' action to prevent your former friends from becoming shufflers. Special actions cover those things detailed in the USE ME Advanced Rules and unique actions are created when needed for a scenario.

In small games of USE ME every character acts on its own, this is a skirmish, but in larger games a simple mechanic allows you to combine three to ten characters into one TEAM which then acts under its leader in play. All actions for teams are no more complex than for single characters.

The USE ME advanced rules. After the rules engine for the game come the advanced rules which give a real flavour of the Zombie Dawn setting including twelve character profiles that specialise your character for play; both mortal and zombie. These include specialist Zombie Hunting Weapons, Flamethrowers, Munchkins, Lunge and Bite and others. Following this are special character types which include Meat Rack and Lawnmower (both kinds of vehicles that can attract and cut through hordes of the living dead) plus Aircraft, Cavalry and more. The points and costs tables include all you need for mortals, vehicles, weapons and also four different kinds of Undead from the slow Zombie to the rabid and rapid Zombie and also much larger lab creations.

Example Forces Lists. The rules set contains comparisons of vehicles and personalities common in Zombie fiction to terms in the game and this is followed by example characters for Townsfolk, Law Enforcement, The Army, Special Forces and The Zombies. These allow you to get a feel for your setting and to get into the action quickly.

Zombie Solo Survivor Engine. This core feature of USE ME Zombie Dawn gives you a simple and robust set of solo play rules that allow you to put the Undead into your game when you are playing on your own. Including mechanics for 'attraction' to the living, reacting to sound and movement, forming hordes and so on. This means you can have a solo game where the Zombies begin scattered but will react to your actions and converge on you!

Campaign Play and Campaign Settings. Following on from the Solo Survivor rules is a section which allows you to to see what happened to those characters who were Struck or Winged in play to see if they recover in time for the next encounter. This makes rolling those dice nail biting and really important for the next scenario. Plus you can make a second lot of rolls for any characters Killed in play to see if a slim chance of them rejoining your forces for the next game. After this comes THREE settings for your games of USE ME Zombie Dawn. Each gives you a typical place, scenario forces, aims and objective and ideas for following up. The three settings deal with the stages of the dead coming to life in our world. Initial Outbreak where there are only a few Zombies and local folk and police try to contain them. The Coming of the Hunters which deals with special forces trying to combat a growing Undead menace which is almost out of control. The Last Stand which is a full on battle between the army and hordes of Zombies in a conflict to decide the fate of mankind in a place such as the Brooklyn Bridge.

USE ME is a pocket rule system that does not pretend to be anything else. Its fast, its fun and its affordable. With many rule systems these days taking themselves far too seriously and with some being priced at an amount that makes purchasing them a long term goal for most of us USE ME gives you what it promises and in a format that will make you smile.