“KNOW, oh minion, that between the epochs when the oceans drank the Empire of Rationality of the Hosh and the epochs of the rise of the Ryn Supremacy, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the Perilous World of ZEEN like twinkling stars within the fore-eye of the Zilkor Ravager. “
“Hark, oh minion, and lean close to my campfire to hear the tales of the proudest kingdom in all the World of ZEEN."
"Yours.”
What is ZEEN?
The Perilous World of ZEEN is the latest brainchild from Ivan Sorensen (aka Nordic Weasel), developer of 5 Parsecs from Home, and XCOM: The Miniatures Game. ZEEN is a pulp science fantasy scenario driven wargame that reminds me of the Masters of the Universe world, other 80's Saturday Morning vibrantly colored cartoons, an extra dash of Swords and Sandals for taste, and the DIY mentality of OSR fantasy.
Ivan has described the inspirations for ZEEN as follows:
“This is where I should say this is inspired by French fantasy comic books, 2000AD, Heavy Metal comics, early Warhammer and Fighting Fantasy and the Shadow of the Beast video games.
But it isn’t.
It's inspired by the fleeting memories of being a kid and occasionally seeing these things at the library, at the book store, in a magazine, reviewed on TV. Of understanding that these strange and mystical things were the coolest thing you could possibly ever lay eyes on.
It's the feeling of a Michael Whelan painting hanging in a corner of a book store or the intro tune to Shadow of the Beast, burning into your mind for decades like a sorcerous incantation. If you were there, you know. If you were not, maybe I can show you what it was like.”
ZEEN is a verses wargame that thrives off of creative scenarios that spring from your imagination.
Let me show you one created by my buddy Skeaze.
Mission Objective
For our first playtest in The Perilous World of ZEEN, Skeaze wrote the scenario Clash in the Varhut Forest.
The story so far for the scenario is that a Las-Knight (with a blue helmet) and his retinue have been questing for the Lost Amulet of Uslusan which is located deep within the Varhut Forest, sealed away in the middle of a mystical geometric obelisk. The Amulet can only be released from the green obelisk by a three-part ritual. The Knight’s retinue includes: his faithful Ilhaz Mind-Pet (the white furry creature behind the Las-Knight), four grey Kelmorian Infantry sworn to the Knight through oaths of battle and honor, and a Lesherian Hired Blade who is a snake-woman of dubious loyalty. More on that later…
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| Four Ryn Guards and an Ash-Touched Warrior on the right |
Opposing the Knight’s forces is a band of musclebound Ryn Guards and fungoid Hosh Squaddists led by an imposing Ash-Touched Warrior, wearing a ram’s skull as a helmet, with designs on the Lost Amulet of Uslusan. The trio of Hosh Squaddists with their spore-rifles are more interested in taking down the Las-Knight, as they had clashed with him previously, much to their chagrin. The Hosh are not one to give up a grudge!
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| Three angry Hosh Squaddists with Spore Rifles |
Forces Setup
The battlemap was setup around the central green geometric pillar that encased the Lost Amulet of Uslusan. The Las-Knight’s forces were arranged in a ritual circle around the central pillar. Having just come across their enemies, the Ash-Touched Warrior and his compatriots entered the map from the southern edge.
I was playing the Ash-Touched Warrior’s side, and Skeaze was managing the ritual circle of the Las-Knight’s units.
The initial problem was the Lost Amulet was not on the board. It was embedded in the central green pillar. The rules for releasing the Lost Amulet from the pillar were as follows:
“The Ritual requires 3 successful incantations to complete. Any side can attempt a check if they are within 3” of the obelisk (the Hosh, of course, will not participate). Once 3 successful incantation checks are made the geometric obelisk shatters, and the amulet can be retrieved.”
The Hosh are snooty sticks-in-the-mud regarding Rituals and magic because they firmly don’t believe in its existence, regardless of the evidence otherwise in The Perilous World of ZEEN. Rationalists to the end, the Hosh will not touch the Lost Amulet and will not pick it up. They are only present to kill the Knight and his allies.
The win condition occurs when one side or the other grabs the Amulet (an automatic action upon touching the item) and carries it off the table edge. Seems simple enough. But nothing in ZEEN is simple or easy. Oh no.
So, the first issue that Skeaze and I had when we began the conflict was; which side was going to be able to free the Lost Amulet from the obelisk first? While setting up, we discussed and adjudicated that we would consider each incantation (3 were required in total) of the Ritual to be considered a Problem check as described on page 14 of the ZEEN rules.
Problem checks are Limited Actions, meaning one unit can only accomplish one Problem check per turn. We decided that each incantation would be a Wits check for the unit chanting. However, another unit in the warband could assist chanting the incantation by giving up their turn, thus giving a plus 2 to all other friendly units attempting the incantation Wits check that turn.
The ramifications of this on-the-spot ruling was this: the units with very low Wits scores (Skeaze’s Kelmorian Infantry and my Ryn Guards) could actually contribute to cracking open the obelisk by giving up their turn and assisting someone chanting. Also, my only Hero, the Ash-Touched Warrior, had a very low Wits of 7, which he would be rolling against for a 7 or less on a die 20 to see if he could successfully chant the incantation.
So, my strategy from the outset of the game became to let Skeaze’s side waste their time and actions chanting to crack open the obelisk (because they had a much higher chance of doing so), and then steal the Lost Amulet from them. I was also planning on using my moderately effective ranged attacks on my Hosh Squaddists and Ryn Guards to pick off Skeaze’s non-chanting units.
That was the plan at least.
One thing I want to point out is that the Perilous World of ZEEN was designed with flexible rules to handle dramatic scenarios with whatever miniatures you have on hand where all players collaborate to come up with mutually approved rulings and just have a good time.
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| Kelmorian Infantry shot for one damage! |
I began the match by ordering my three Hosh Squaddists to take up their Spore Rifles and fire at the nearest opposing Kelmorian Infantry across from a stone wall. One Spore Rifle hit! For one measly damage. The other two Hosh riflemen both fumbled their ranged skill checks; so, their guns were jammed and they had to spend an action next turn to fix their mechanical problems.
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| Two Hosh Squaddists jam their rifles |
Welcome to ZEEN where my forces were off to a rousing start!
The clash continued violently with one of my muscle-bound Ryn Guards falling into a pool of his own red fluids as three of the Kelmorians lowered their Nel Rifles in a rough firing line and their bullets struck home.
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| One Ryn Guard falls |
Struggling to be effective and get into melee range, my meaty Ash-Touched Warrior (15 hit points) tried to hide behind a low stone wall as he swept around the left side of the ritual circle. Gripping his Mighty Axe and gritting his teeth in pain, he resisted many bullets from the Kelmorians and a psychic assault from the Illikhaz Mind Pet that together, caused 7 damage.
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| Ash-Touched Warrior with seven damage |
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| Illikhaz Mind Pet wields deadly Mind Bullets |
Magic and Mayhem
Suddenly there was a shout of triumph in the crescendo of the chanting Las-Knight and his band. The Lesherian Hired Blade intoned the final charm and the obelisk of shifting green cubes began to hum louder and louder in response and finally cracked open with a thunderclap!
There was silence for a moment. Darkness covered the sky.
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| Obelisk about to crack |
Then the shouting began. Many things happened at once. First the Lesherian Hired Blade, opportunistic to the last, stole the Lost Amulet from under the noses of the Las-Knight and his fellow Kelmorian Infantry and began to make a beeline for the eastern edge of the map, leaving behind the smoking ruin of the former obelisk and her former compatriots empty handed.
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| Lesherian Hired Blade running |
The darkness that covered the sky was not just an omen. It was a mandate. Minions, grunts and heroes alike held their heads and screamed at the terrible visions the geometric obelisk was keeping contained from the Lost, Cursed Amulet of Uslusan.
Adrenalin and ichor coursing through her veins, the Lesherian managed to keep her mind intact from the maddening visions as Kelmorian and Ryn alike were stumbling about wildly or howling at the twin moons of ZEEN in utter terror.
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| Ryn Guards run and hide in madness |
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| The unaffected Hosh Squaddists |
The trio of Hosh Squaddists blinked their misplaced eyes in mild annoyance. So strong was the Hoshs’ cleavage to their philosophy of Rationality Supreme that they simply disbelieved that anything magical was going on. All they knew was that their Ash-Touched leader and his allies were clawing at their faces in a most undignified manner. Shrugging, they lowered their Spore Rifles as one and advanced toward their real target, the Las-Knight who had offended them the moon-cycle before.
In a moment, one Kelmorian Infantryman and the Las-Knight came to their senses around the now-broken ritual circle. Panicking that the Cursed Amulet of Uslusan would be stolen by the Guild of Hired Blades and put to nefarious ends, the noble Las-Knight, wounded but able, rushed at the fleeing Lesherian. However only the Infantryman managed to bayonet the fleeing serpent-being turncoat. Still, the Lesherian pressed on, slithering towards her escape to the east.
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| Lesherian with the Amulet under attack by former allies |
A singular Ryn Guard shook off the Amulet-induced insanity and saw the fleeing snake-woman being assaulted by her former compatriots and quickly came to a decision. Heroically, he moved in pursuit of the absconding Hired Blade, hip-firing his dart pistol frantically as he went.
Consumed by madness but itching for a fight, the Ash-Touched Warrior bellowed out a war-cry and also followed suit, rushing at the rapidly disappearing Lesherian.
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| Ash-Touched Warrior |
The fractious pursuit all came to a head when at the very last moment, a dart from the Ryn Guard’s pistol struck true; sinking into the Lesherian’s shoulder blades and relieving her of the Lost Amulet and her life.
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| Deadeye shot |
Still insane, the Ash-Touched Warrior screamed and stumbled after the convulsing Lesherian writhing on the ground. Upon reaching the body, he then stood stock still, his Wits too far gone to understand what to do or what his mission was, as the Lost Amulet lay gleaming on the ground.
Not one to miss an opportunity, the Las-Knight blasted the stupefied Ash-Touched Warrior at close range with his laser pistol and dove for the Cursed Amulet…right into a fusillade of fire coming from the three Hosh riflemen who calmly drew a bead on the desperate Las-Knight and executed him for crimes against their rigid philosophy.
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| Las-Knight's final moments |
Looking around amazed that he was still alive after all the smoke and blood, the lone sane Ryn Guard cautiously approached the glimmering Amulet and picked it up, breaking into a run for his escape into parts beyond.
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| Victorious Ryn Guard leaves with the Amulet! |
Satisfied that they had achieved their bloody objective, the untouched Hosh Squaddists fired their guns in salute as the Ryn Guard ran off into the sunset with his prize, and calmly marched out of the deadly Varhut Forest.
Concluding Thoughts
So, what was the butcher’s bill? All told, all three Heroes were dead at the end of the scenario. The poor furry Illikhaz Mind Pet downed an allied Kelmorian Infantryman with its Mind Bullets and then ripped itself apart due to poor insanity rolls induced by the release of the Lost Amulet. Two more of the Kelmorian Infantry had met their final days in the cold earth of the Varhut Forest. And one Ryn Guard had succumbed early on to Kelmorian Nel Rifle fire.
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| Casualties |
So, despite a fumbling start, my forces were victorious! Well, barely. That lone Ryn Guard snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. And the Hosh played an instrumental role as well, finishing off the Las-Knight and preventing him from securing the Lost Amulet.
Ultimately, I can safely say this was one of the most fun and entertaining wargaming scenarios I have ever played. And as you can see, a story emerges from the intrepid forces that dare clash in the Perilous World of ZEEN.
What will your story be?
The Perilous World of ZEEN is still in the playtesting phase and a public copy is available on Ivan Sorensen’s Nordic Weasel discord.
All miniatures were kitbashed in Blender, 3D printed, and painted by my buddy Skeaze.
