Getting Started With 'The Last War'.

The Last War

The Great War ended not with victory or defeat, but with a cough and a splutter. Disease swept across the trenches faster than any artillery barrage. Those few who survived found themselves in a landscape transformed—mud-choked, suffocating under a Fog that won't lift, where the distinction between the living and the not-quite-dead has become dangerously blurred. The air itself assaults you. You don't know how long you've been trapped in this wasteland. The sun barely penetrates the deep Fog that smothers everything. Some say the Fog came from the weapons humanity unleashed on itself. Others blame something worse. It doesn't matter anymore. What matters is that things live in that Fog now. Things that were once soldiers, once human, once anything recognizable. Now they're just hostiles—and they're hungry. You've got five desperate people, whatever gear you can scavenge, and a bunker that barely keeps the Fog at bay. That's your life now. That's everyone's life now. The Last War never ended. It just changed shape.

This low model count game shares the same mechanics engine as Forbidden Psalm, only requires 5 minis per player, can be played solo/co-op/pvp, plays on a 2x2 table, making for a fun and low barrier to entry miniatures game. And, if you like the WW1 aesthetic as well as weird and quirky... you are in for a treat!

To Build Your Force

Pick five models. Assign names and stats—either +3/+1/0/-3 or +2/+2/-1/-2 across Agility, Presence, Strength, and Toughness. HP equals 8 plus Toughness. Roll for one Flaw and one Feat per model. Spend 50 Resources on equipment. Pick one Special Trooper (costs 5R from that budget). Done in twenty minutes.

It's fun to do it the other way also—roll your characters up first and then try to kitbash/sculpt them to match.

Getting Models: Wargames Atlantic WW1 Range

One Wargames Atlantic WW1 sprue gives you about 6 figures. You need five. So pick five that look different—one with a rifle, one with a light machine gun, one with grenades, one with a trench club, one as a wizard or weirdo. Mix and match heads and arms so they don't look like a unit. They look like scavengers who pulled gear off a dead army. A great way to do this is to kitbash between 2 or more of the WW1 sprues, mixing heads and weapons. German, British, French, Russian

For Hostiles

Almost anything can be used as most are common, and only a few of them are of the weird variety. Obviously the Wargames Atlantic Weird War sprue is a great start. But the werewolf, giant spider, and harvester sprues would all come in handy, as well as extra sprues of WW1 troops. There's also a ton of opportunity to kitbash all manner of monsters as the descriptions given in the rules are quite flexible. I personally got a lot of use out of the gnoll and lizardman sprues (check out the weird gasmask head on the lizardman sprue!).

How It Works

You set up a table per the scenario instruction. The scenarios form a narrative campaign to play through, each one with different objectives—reach the center, find loot, survive. Your crew moves. Hostiles activate using an AI system. You fight or avoid them. You loot the bodies. Gather tank parts and even upgrade your base.

When a model hits zero HP, they're Downed. After the scenario, they roll Death Saves. Pass and they survive with an Injury. Fail and they die.

This is campaign play. Your crew accumulates scars and equipment, but eventually they all die. Then you roll up a new crew.

Special Troopers

Every crew can pick one 'Special Trooper'. A Witch (Frostgrave Wizards Sprue will come in handy) gets Manuscripts and spellcasting. A Sniper gets a sniper rifle and long range. A Trench Trooper gets armor and tanking. A Medic heals. Pick based on what your crew needs or just something fun.

Going Deeper

Once you play through the campaign in the book there are many supplements for The Last War that extend and add interest. There's also another campaign book that is most excellent called "The Last March" which is very narrative. As well as the excellent supplements by 400 Billion Suns.

Now if you get bored with all that, you can also plug in the Forbidden Psalm "Invasion of X" series (where X is Space Orcs, Space robots, Space bugs, etc.), giving you and your friends the opportunity to take your crews up against even more weirdos!

If you want to try before you buy there's also a PWYW "Quick Start" manual at DrivethruRPG.

Why are you standing around? Go build a crew. The Last War