The Dead Times: A Fear and Faith Session Report

The Dead Times:


Monsters have always existed, living and preying upon us. They find ways to blend in or stay hidden to avoid being hunted to extinction. Magic exists and can be a potent force to help or harm humanity.


There are those among us who have encountered the supernatural. Their lives are changed forever. Some become victims, but others become Hunters, defenders of their own kind. They wage an invisible war against ancient and arcane forces: largely unknown, unappreciated, and misunderstood by those they protect.


On December 12th, 2012, the Hunters began to lose the war. A cabal of necromancers, tapping into the arcane energies of a rediscovered and ancient artifact of power, unleashed a powerful spell that brought the dead to life. Skeletons and zombies of loved ones crawled from their graves and morgues and began to kill and feed on the living. Then they themselves--the newly dead--arose, driven by the power of ancient magics to kill even more.



The Invisible War has now become visible and all terrifyingly real for the survivors. The Hunters, protectors of those that remain, must now fight on a scale they could not have imagined. Now, they not only fight to defend a few but fight to defend humanity's very existence. Teams of Hunters and survivors scour the countryside looking for others who need rescued and also seek to find an answer to how to stop or defend against the arcane energies that so threaten the human race.


Their quest and struggles continue. Most keep the faith, but all know fear...



Mission Briefing: 


Your team was tasked with exploring a nearby, burnt-out town where a traveler reported hearing human voices as he passed through. Your team's mission is twofold: find and rescue any survivors and bring them back to your base, and to eradicate the walking dead present in the town. 


So began my first multi-player Fear and Faith game. I used the basic zombie scenario provided in the rules but added a rule that any good model who was killed by the zombies would rise again as a zombie after the next good player turnover. The good side had a 296 point force, and the evil, 408.


The players were mostly new to miniature skirmish games in general, but with plenty of imagination and tactical acumen, they did an excellent job! Thanks for a great night, folks. I had an awesome time!








The Survivor Team Alpha: 


Curt Kane (played by Jason): Survivor Leader: Semi-automatic rifle, Heavy Weapon: Small Sledgehammer

Gil Brant (played by Tim): Survivor w/ SMG

Kate Turner (played by Katy): Survivor Cop/Detective w/ Semi-automatic pistol.

Maximillian Kirtz (played by Zack): Heroic Hunter: Semi-automatic pistol, Shotgun

Tessa Reeder (played by Cianna): Heroic Hunter: Semi-automatic pistol

The team made its way into the ruined town at dawn. All seemed quiet. Just when they thought this was going to be a milk run, a zombie came around the corner of a building. They went into high alert and readied themselves for battle. 

As the team's firearms shattered the dawn peace, more zombies began to appear and make their way toward the intrepid team of explorers. The eerie silence of the approaching zombies and the scent of death in the air unnerved the heroes as they continued their struggle against the shambling dead. 

Curt Kane climbs to the roof of what used to be the town's diner. He was joined by Gil and later, Maximillian. The ladies stay on the ground to engage the enemy. Curt's rifle was well-suited to this tactic, and he began picking off the zeds with excellent accuracy. By this time, though a few Twitchers had arrived, making the job of the heroes that much harder. 

After fending off a Twitcher and several other zombies, Tessa decided to address the other part of their mission, which was to search for survivors. She slipped into the diner, looking for the living. She found two terrified children she eventually managed to calm. Meanwhile on the roof and the street, the battle rages.

The zombies try to scale the wall. Poor Kate falls to the zombies, though, and soon rises to join their ranks. Would she be the first of many, or would she be a lone casualty?

A Twitcher makes it to the roof, but is quickly dispatched by Curt and Gil while Maximillian watches the rear of the building, spraying destruction down upon the horrors below with his trusty shotgun.

Meanwhile, Tessa has emerged from the diner with the two children in an attempt to get them out of the town and back to safety. However, she runs into some trouble from her walking dead teammate and her new zombie friends, and a jammed pistol. In a horrible zombie swipe, Tessa falls and then rises as the undead. The children weep.

Maximillian makes it to the ground to provide a distraction for Gil who has taken it upon himself to rescue the children. "The children are our future," he said as he sprayed the newly dead shells of his former friends with bullets from his submachine gun. He backed away as fast as he could, kids in tow. Maximillian fought off Curt who through a string of horrible occurrences, became the undead as well, sending his remaining friends into a rout. 

Maximillian, Gil, and the two children managed to escape the killing field, but at a great cost. They are all as safe as one can be in this horrible new world. 


Maximillian and Gil both know that soon they will have to go back out into the dangerous world to try to bring an end to this unholy curse that has descended upon their home. But for now, they will remember friends fallen and try to find solace in the laughter of newly-rescued children. However, they know deep inside that a long, difficult, terror-filled life awaits those young souls here in the Dead Times.