Post Apocalyptic fiction comes in many flavours A lot depends on what destroyed the old civilisations and how long ago it was. The times after the end of the world are always desperate. The survivors and the generations afterwards will kill for a loaf of bread or a bottle of clean water. It is as if the whole world has become a never ending Combat Zone. Post Apocalyptic gaming can be made to fit your existing miniature collection. It allows you total freedom to create factions that suit you. In what other genre can you mix miniatures from ancient through to Sci-Fi and include mutants, angels, demons, killer robots, giant insects, dragons and mutated monsters? Here in the Combat Zone Chronicles you can find rules to cover most of these things. Another good reason to give it a go is that you don’t need huge amounts of miniatures to play. Combat Zone is a perfect system for such gaming and is easily modified. These rules are written to be used in your games and will allow you to get a more post apocalyptic feel from your games. New Rules Ability Check I often find that I need to make a check to see if a figure has achieved something, such as leaping from vehicle to vehicle or leaping a barricade. Ability checks are there to see if the character made it. It adds flavour to the game. Roll 2D6. Add any quality modifiers. Total the score. Result   Quality Modifiers 9+ Pass 8> Fail -1 Green 0 Average +1 Veteran +2 Elite +3 Hero Gory Kills: If a figure takes a wound of more than 10 after modifiers then it is classed as a gory wound. Friendly figures within a 5cm radius of the wounded figure must take a reaction test. Hero quality figures can ignore the gory wound as they are immune to reaction tests. Weapon Problems The weapons of the wastelands are old and well used. It is common for them to jam or fail. Failing and jamming weapons are a great way to introduce some extra tension into a game. The CZ rulebook as it stands an unmodified to hit roll of one is an automatic miss. Now when this happens roll a second D6 and see what happens. Roll (D6) Effect 5-6 Shot missed, no effect on weapon 4-3 Weapon has jammed, or in the case of an energy weapon not fired. Costs 2AP to clear the Jam or reseat the power pack. 2 The Weapons magazine or energy pack is empty. It costs 3AP to reload. 1 The weapon has broken and is no use other than an improvised close combat weapon. Broken weapons may be repaired if there is a Tech in the team or gang. The weapon will be repaired if the Tech passes a repair roll. All damaged weapons have a -1 modifier to Tech repair rolls during battle. Note this does not apply to the after the battle phase during campaign games when techs have the time and facilities to make repairs. Roll D8 Search Table 1-5 Nothing Found 6 Stash found – 1 roll on loot table 7 Stash found  – 2 rolls on loot table 8 Stash found – 3 rolls on loot table Scavenging Most people scratch a living scavenging. When scavengers find loot and cannot carry it they stash it for later. A good scavenger is aware that there are possible stashes and goes looking for them. All players must decide possible loot locations in the terrain beforehand.These can be crates, boxes, containers, cupboards, cabinets, electrical cabinets, old pipes, old trees, cars etc. Generally if there is a space to hide a bag of loot then it can be a possible loot location. As the game progresses figures will pass possible hiding places. It costs 3AP to search a hiding place. Roll D8 on the Search Table Any equipment found can be added to the individual’s equipment and used immediately. Armour costs 4AP to put on. Equipment can be passed to other gang or squad members. It does not cost any AP but the individuals must be in base to base contact. Roll 2D8 Loot Table     2 Primitive armour 10 Pistol 3 Tool kit 11 Heavy pistol 4 Deluxe tool kit 12 Auto pistol 5 Medical kit 13 Shotgun 6 Radiation detector 14 Submachine gun 7 Anti-Radiation drugs (D6 doses) 15 Assault Rifle 8 Knife 16 Frag Grenades (D4) 9 Axe     Any equipment found can be added to the individual’s equipment and used immediately. Armour costs 4AP to put on. Equipment can be passed to other gang or squad members. It does not cost any AP but the individuals must be in base to base contact. Looting bodies In the Post Apocalyptic combat zone looting the dead is often the only way to survive. Hey, they won’t be needing that stuff any more, will they? It costs 5AP to loot a dead body and remove all its weapons and equipment. However there is a chance that the equipment or weapons might be damaged beyond repair. Roll a D6 for each item of equipment looted from a body and on a roll of 1 the item is damaged beyond repair. Any surviving kit can be added to the individual’s equipment list for immediate use. See above for rules about putting on armour or giving items to other gang or squad members. Radiation – to glow or not to glow? Many post apocalyptic settings feature radiation. Radiation is a slow killer and it is often outside the timescale of the game. However if you wish to have Radiation hotspots then apply these rules. On setting up your table roll a D4. This will be the number of Radiation hotspots there are. Make up several 100mm discs and place them on the table. You will need twice as many as you roll. On half write Radiation Hotspot and on the other half write Dummy. Then stack the discs face down and shuffle. Place them randomly on the table face down. As a character steps onto the disc turn it over. If it’s a dummy then there is no effect. If it’s a hotspot then the character will be affected (see below). The dummy markers may be removed from the table once they are turned over if desired. Detecting Radiation Radiation hotspots can be detected with a Radiation detector counter. It costs 2AP to scan an area with a radiation detector. It will automatically detect a hotspot. The figure must be within 5cm of the hotspot/dummy marker to make a scan. Turn the disc over to see what the effect is.  Effects of Radiation For every turn even partly spent in radiation hotspot the figure loses 1AP. This is AP reduction accumulative so a figure entering three hotspots will lose 3AP. A figure that reaches 0AP has died. The figure has a -1 to all shooting, combat and ability rolls for the rest of the game. This not cumulative. Radiation sickness can be cured by the use of Anti-Rad drugs. One shot will restore 1AP. However it must be noted that the -1 penalty to all shooting, combat and ability rolls will remain through out the game. Using Anti-Rad costs 2AP. Figures in NBC and Hazmat suits are immune to the effects of Radiation provided the suit has not been damaged in battle. Damaged NBC and Hazmat suits give up to two turns of protection in hotspots before the effects of Radiation sickness kick in. Casualties with untreated radiation sickness in campaigns gain a -2 to the recovery table roll. For figures that survive the battle with radiation sickness during campaign games roll a D6 and check the table below. D6 Roll Effects on figure during campaign 5-6 Figure gets treatment and makes full recovery for next game. 4-3 Figure has gotten treatment but is still sick and misses next game. 2 Figure has gotten treatment but is still sick and misses the next two games 1 The figure didn’t make it and has died from Radiation poisoning. New Equipment Anti-Rad drugs - Cost 5 points per shot. Anti Rad drugs helps a figure recover from the effects of radiation poisoning. It is a mixture of oral drugs and an injection. Each shot will help restore a lost AP. It will not allow AP to be increased above the figures normal AP level. It is recommended that at the start of a game a figure carries more than one shot of anti rad. Medics may carry up to 3 shots of anti rad. Radiation Detector - Cost 10 points per detector. A radiation detector pings as it gets close to a radiation field. The closer it gets or the stronger the field the louder the ping. It is recommended that more than two figures per gang or squad carry a radiation detector. One of these must be the gang leader or squad leaded.     New Skills Scavenger A figure with the scavenger skill gets a +1 to the search roll when scavenging or looking for loot. Radiation Resistance A figure with this skill has the ability to stand in a radiation hotspot for one turn without getting radiation sickness. The figure also gains a +1 to the campaign recovery roll. Runner This figure is very good at running away from trouble and has a 6cm move per AP. Long Jumper This figure can jump up to 6cm in one leap. Looking for inspiration? Movies - Mad Max 1-3, Escape from New York, Doomsday, Reign of Fire. Web Series - Lady Wasteland. Computer games - Fallout 1 – 3, STALKER, Shadow of Chernobyl/Clear Sky, Hellgate London. Books - Deathlands (James Axler), Outlanders (James Axler), No Mans Land (Barry England) Websites - The Post Apoc Wargames Forum http://s1.zetaboards.com/Post_Apoc_Wargames/index/ Or simply Google them and look at pictures and screenshots. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to gaming the wastelands of the apocalyptic world. Let us know how you find these rules and other rules you might have come up with.