Decided to try out The Silver Bayonet with a coop game with my son (8–he had no issues understanding the rules well enough to play coop, for any dads wondering out there). It was a fun chance to try out the terrain and warband I just painted up, as well as try my hand at scenario generation. Below, you’ll find the fluff I wrote, the scenario, and photos of our game.

The Silver Bears Chapter 1: Cleansing the Unholy Past

We find our band of travelers in Acton, Massachusetts, 1808. On arriving they stop by the local church for a prayer to discover it barred off and abandoned. A quick shift to the local bar–frowned upon by Father Piotr, but welcomed by everyone else–finds the cause: ever since the former pastor was buried last year, the dead have been rising from the graves each night to attack the living on the church grounds.

“A svoloch if I’ve ever heard of one. That pastor was no man of faith.” Father Piotr goes on to explain to Lev that the town’s former pastor was a cursed man, and so long as his bones remain in the cemetery the town will know no rest. There’s only one answer: dig up the bones, consecrate them, and burn the church so the town can finally move on from whatever shame so haunts them.

Scenario: Rob the Grave, Save the Town

The objective of this scenario is to find the bones of the dead pastor, bring them to the altar of the church, and consecrate them to cleanse the town of its dirty secret. This will immediately stop the onslaught of the undead.

SETUP

Place a large church in the center of the board, then place five graves outside the church, with the closest grave being 8″ from the front or back door to the building. Place an altar or otherwise mark a spot in the church farthest from the front door. Scatter other small pieces of terrain around the board for flavor, but make certain there is a clear path from the closest grave to an entrance into the church.

No monsters start on the table.

Your party may start within 6″ of the church door.

It is advised at least one party member have an Enchanted Weapon or Salt to counter the Ghosts.

SPECIAL RULES

The grave are searchable by using the Investigate action. When searching a grave, draw a card and compare to the table below:

Once you’ve found the bones, get them to the altar of the church. You will roll an accumulating check targeting a TN-50. To accumulate points, roll 1D10 (2D10 if Champion of Faith or Occultist) and add the value rolled to your total. Once you hit 50+, you’ve consecrated the bones and won the scenario.

Once the bones are in your possession, enemies will spawn every turn from the grave closest to the church. At the end of the turn, roll 1D10 and compare to the chart below:

Enemies will spawn aware of the party and move to attack the nearest party members. They are fully capable of entering the church. 

Once the bones are consecrated, all enemies outside the church die immediately and the party need only kill the remainder within the church to claim victory.

VICTORY & REWARDS

• Victory is achieved by consecrating the bones and killing the remaining enemies within the church
• +1 experience point if the party investigates at least 3 graves
• +1 experience point if the party slays a ghost
• +1 experience point if no monster enters the church
• +3 experience points if the party succeeds in consecrating the bones

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My game with my son went well enough. We lost a party member to a bad strike from a revenant, but we didn’t encounter any ghosts. I’ve upped the difficulty of the above scenario after having played it, but if you want a little more challenge spawn an extra revenant for each relevant result, so they spawn in 2’s and 3’s.

This isn’t the most elegant mission, but I found it made for a fun, simple introduction to the game for my son. He really got into the idea of digging up bones and fending off zombies and very much looks forward to our next game.

Suppose I’ll have to start chaining these scenarios together into a small storyline about what we’re doing around Acton, Massachusetts. Why are a bunch of Russians running around New England, anyway…?