This Is Not A Test

A 28mm skirmish wargame set in a post-apocalyptic US

Dec 13, 2023

Joseph McGuire of World's End Publishing launched his Fallout-inspired post-apocalyptic skirmish rules in 2015 called This Is Not A Test or TNT Game. He’s currently playtesting version 2.0 and it got me thinking about some of the games we’ve played over the years.

Probably the most memorable TNT Game for me was the event I ran in Wyndham Vale in September 2017.

Only feels like yesterday …

Skull-Deep in the Dead

TNT Game is designed for two players, warband versus warband, who are both beset by non-playable monsters and hazards of the waste. However, there is provision for multiple players especially with some of the custom scenarios that have dropped in recent times.

And what better way to introduce the masses to a skirmish wargame and roll lots of D10s than to host a special participation event.

The Halloween scenario ‘Skull-Deep in the Dead’ was a perfect fit for transforming a 1-V-1 battle into a bloody free-for-all.

Tnt Skulldeepscenario

1.68MB ∙ PDF file

Download

Each player will control a hero and fight hordes of rad zombies. While the fate of our wastelanders is inevitable, who will be the last survivor to die?

So the rules were adapted, character sheets were generated and minis were scrounged.

My father (Uncle Les) generously supplied a supermarket board he built for another game we ran one Christmas evening (Counter-Strike meets Shaun of the Dead) along with a collection of assorted ‘walkers’.

Your models are going to die. The only thing that is going to be determined, is how long they can survive!

Eight unique player characters emerged and even though attempts were made to maintain balance … ultimately the ‘rule of cool’ didn’t get in the way of the fun.

Here’s a look at the Dark Knight’s stats:

Try creating your own warband with this nifty spreadsheet.

Tnt Warband Builder V1

665KB ∙ XLSX file

Download

On the day, Saturday 23 September 2017 from midday to 5pm, we had eight players duking it out for the most rad zombie kills and to be the last one standing.

Each round more and more baddies would spawn and the fighting intensified.

As players succumbed to their wounds they continued to participate by taking control of the relentless horde. By the end of it all almost every space of the supermarket was occupied by brain eaters.

From what I remember everyone had loads of fun and we didn’t get too bogged down in special rules.

Rolling for initiative between rounds was tedious work – I think we ended up pulling tokens from a bag to determine turn order.

If I run ‘Skull-Deep in the Dead’ again, or rather when, I reckon player characters should be near-identical in terms of attributes and abilities out of fairness. Scattering loot – weapons, items, power-ups – sounds like a fun idea, too. Make everyone work for the good stuff.

Fun in the wasteland

While we’ve played the odd battle here and there we’ve never committed to a proper campaign. The rules have details on discovering relics, gaining experience and improving your wastelanders. Your people can even meet their final death in combat which means you may need to consider trading barter script for fresh recruits.

From a narrative perspective, there’s heaps you can do. The main factions include raiders, mutants, tribals, caravanners, preservers – all the usual faces you’d expect to see in a post-apocalyptic world.

My group has enjoyed playing standalone missions. Maybe one day we’ll try a string of connected scenarios.

In this particular game the UNIT Caravan Company was slaughtered by the Fourth Reich.

My caravan guard in power armour malfunctioned twice and never moved. He was an epic bullet magnet and fell early in the engagement.
Ace threw some nitro-9; the Professor [sic] was forced to regenerate just like in the movie; and the Brigadier watched as his assault team perished one by one.

Meanwhile, my ‘damn dirty apes’ have been on a few fatal outings.