Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Post-Apocalyptic Tales => Topic started by: Legionnaire on February 13, 2025, 01:35:37 PM
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COUNTY ROADS Z GAME ONE
Character background fluff, setting and stats are here: https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=147731.0
EPICUS DOOMICUS METALLICUS it said on my black t-shirt, and for this zombie apocalypse it was a fitting piece of clothing to wear. It was March and the world as we knew it was gone. I was a stranger in the US, having come here as a tourist when the Outbreak happened. Yesterday, I had found two other survivors, Shivani and senor Vidal. He knew the area like the back of his hand and had suggested we'd go a couple of miles out of town to check out the Fennel's home, which would be an ideal building for us to make our home in.
We arrived at a stretch of a country road, a nice rural setting. The property looked well maintained and had a little back garden with an orchard. An ambulance had crashed through the fence on one side and I had no doubt its occupants were here somewhere. I did a recce of the area, I saw plenty of movement inside the house and some shamblers roaming the countryside. At the back was a trailer and a broken down pick-up truck.
“That there is Kelly-Ann and Billy-Ray's trailer, I don't know what happened to them. Nice young couple,” senor Vidal said.
“There's someone moving out there!” Shivani said quitely and pointed. A dirty, scared looking woman in her early 20's wearing a tracksuit was hiding in the brush at the edge of the property. I waived to get her attention and indicated that she should move towards us.
“Our main goal is to save this woman, regardless of her past, she is a human being and we must try to save anyone still alive! Then we will try to take possession of the home. Shakti, you'll be providing cover with your bow, it's much quieter and senor Vidal, only shoot if you must, because that'll attract every zombie in the neighbourhood. I will clear out those who come to close. Ok?” I stopped talking here to see that they had understood. I was trying to not show how nervous I was. I had never been in charge, let alone a combat operation. I wiped the sweat from my palm off on my trousers and hefted the brush knife I had taken from a garden centre. Shivani and senor Vidal nodded and hefted their weapons.
Senor Vidal and I moved towards Kelly-Ann carefully, trying to not make any noise that could alert the zombies around us. Shivani took aim with her hunting bow and I heard the soft swisch from the arrow cleaving the air and the slighty heavier schplot when the arrow penetrated the skull of a zombie all the way to the fletching! If it could look surprised that would be what they would have on their face as it went down very quietly. Shivani strung another arrow from her quiver as she followed after us.
“Miss Kelly-Ann, it's all going to be alright, we have come to help you,” senor Vidal said kindly to the young woman.
“I am so afraid Mr Vidal! I don't know what to do! And Billy-Ray is missing, I don't know what has happened to him!” her lip quivered and her eyes filled up with tears, she clung to senor Vidal for reassurance.
“There, there, young lady, it'll all be alright! Mr Obie, miss Shivani and myself are here now and we are going to live in the Fennell's house now. We are just going to clear out all those nasties first.” he patted her on the back and smiled. That seemed to do the trick.
“Now, if you move back towards Shivani, you'll be much safer, I promise!” I said and pointed to Shivani. Kelly-Ann didn't need any further encouragements to move. As she's moving, Shivani let loose another arrow and once more it finds its intended target and the zombie falls to the ground dead for real now.
“Look out miss!” Kelly-Ann suddenly shouted. A zombie had appeared out of nowhere behind Shivani and was certainly going to attack her as soon as it would be able to. In one fluid motion, Shivani backed away and drew another arrow from the quiver. In the space of a heartbeat, she's aimed and fired, the zombie tumles lifelessly to the ground with an arrow sticking out both front and back from its head. I am suitably impressed. That woman can shoot!
“Give yourself space, so the attacker has to take the first step to close in,” an instructor had told me once. I purposely moved noisily towards one of the undead, which triggered it into action, but it barely had time to register that I was there. I swung my heavy blade and I felt the jolt all the way up my arm as it connected and severed the head from the body! I was covered in gore as it spurted all over me. What a mess! I indicated for senor Vidal to take point. He nodded and moved up towards the wall, cradling his pump action shotgun.
“There are several of those undead up there. I count three by the trailer, they could be a problem, and at least two others nearby,” he told me quietly, swallowing hard. His big bushy moustache bristled.
“Here's the plan. Shoot that one by the see-saw. The noise will attract the others and I will stand by to take care of anyone getting too close.” I waved to catch Shivani's attention, indicating she needed to deal with some in the house. Senor Vidal fired his shotgun and splattered the intended target, there was lots of movement and noises from all around! The ones in the house sprang to action and started smashing the windows to get to us, one was flinging himself over the wall trying to rip our guts out. But I had anticipated all that. I moved up to one and my blade flashed in the spring sun, I cut deep, decisive. I yanked the blade free from the head as I trampled on the fallen zed. The head crushed like an overripe pumpkin.
“I'll help! I'll draw their attention miss,” Kelly-Ann said. She ran fast and indeed the zombies in the house couldn't pass up on this treat. Shivani moved quietly, the zeds didn't even know she was there until it was too late. The arrow flew from her bow and nailed the zombie to the wall, just like her ex-husband. The other zombie from the house shambles forth with the intention of killing Shivani, but she gives a wry smile as the abomination impotently pulls up 10 feet short.
Shivani moved like a ghost in the night, the zombie is frustrated that it can't fingure out where she went. I make some more noise purposefully and gauge the distance, when the zombie comes snarling drooling for me, I cut both its arms off first in quick strikes with the blade, before I move in behind it, sweep its legs and as it falls over I sever the head from the body. I'm breathing hard and I'm sweating, this is heavy work! Senor Vidal and Kelly-Ann move forwards...
(Continues in the next post...)
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“Senor Vidal, take those two out!” I shout and point. His shotgun booms twice, the shots echoing over the fields. His face is hard but there's also sadness in his eyes, I can only imagine that most of those we put to rest that day, were friends and neighbours of his before the Outbreak. Both shots are on target, two zeds go down having their brains literally blown out. The smell of gunpowder wafts in the air. I hustle along as fast as I can to catch up, but my knees complain and I have to grit my teeth as the fast movement send flashes of pain up my legs. My movement triggers one zed rushing towards me. I stop and bring my bush knife up, when an arrow zooms past my ear and sends the zombie tumbling to the ground. I look behind me, Shivani is nocking another arrow and nods at me. We move forwards and there's movement everywhere. There are shamblers by the trailer and in the orchard, there's even movement in the house. Most of it is probably due to senor Vidal's gunshots.
“We just have to draw that zombie out and then we can barricade ourselves inside,” I tell them. Shivani shoots yet another zombie in the orchard and draws an arrow as she's moving forwards. Senor Vidal moves forward, ejects a spent shell and fires his shotgun again, the bang is loud and once more a zombie is given Permanent Death. Kelly-Ann runs towards the house:
“You ugly M-Fr! Come and get us you mangy b-h!” she was shouting as loud as she could, drawing the attention of the zombie inside. Sure enough it was frothing at the mouth and came crashing through a window... Only to have its head cut from its neck as I swung my blade with deadly intent.
“CLEAR! EVERYBODY IN! CHUCK SOME BARRICADE UP AT THE DOORS AND WINDOWS! MOVE IT!” I shouted as I moved inside, clearing the broken glass off the window frame. Everyone ran inside and began shoving furniture and whatever else they could find to stop the zombies from breaking in. My heart was pounding in my chest and it took me a few more moments to actually realise we had done it! We had claimed the house and I fervently looked everyone over, looking for the dreaded signs of Rot. Not a single scratch on anyone! We all dared to laugh and cry now, we were safe!
Now, we needed to make it into our home. We took a look around and senor Vidal gave a shout of surprise from upstairs. Naturally we all came running with weapons raised. But he was not in any danger.
“Look, I had no idea they would have this! I'm sure we can put these to very good use.” He held up a riot shield with the word POLICE at the front and one of them fancy ultralight backpacks. I accepted them and hefted the shield, it felt really good and went well with my blade. I almost felt like one of my Viking ancestors now!
“You'll have that Shivani, you've done a very good job today,” she smiled and thanked me and put the backpack on.
“There's much to do now. I reckon there's a working kitchen and senor Vidal says you can cook Kelly-Ann so it'd be nice to have a meal to celebrate with. I also think we need to make a workshop in that garage, because we need to be able to make and repair gear.”
“I'm on it Jefe,” senor Vidal said and I smiled.
SUMMARY: I had reasonable tactics, I tried to be careful and I used some of the survivors movements to trigger zombie response that could be dealt with. Slow and steady was the way forwards, firing a gun when I had to, well aware of the consequences of a gunshot. I had 5 Tactics points and all were used, they made a huge difference! Shivani was an absolute killer! She never missed a shot in the whole game and therefore she was awarded the bonus point.
In the aftermath: Shivani earned 2 XP, putting them into Archery 1 and Scavenge 1, Obie (myself) bought Bladed Weapons 1, while Senor Vidal bought Long guns 1. We have no Hunger or Exhaustion, project team of 1 (Senor Vidal) constructing a Workshop in the Garage. We also transformed 2 of the 6 Resource rolls to Rare Find table (Senor Vidal's Utilites 2) and received a Riot Shield and an Ultralight Backpack.
With Senor Vidal in Project Team and Kelly-Ann manning the kitchen, it leaves Obie and Shivani for the next mission. I haven't decided yet what mission and will be able to play that in two weeks or so after my holiday.
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Excellent report, sounds like loads of fun and it seems as though your tactics worked superbly.
Good luck with the next mission.
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What a great report, loved reading that.
Better get that place liveable as soon as possible though- it's no fun starving to death.
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Excellent report, sounds like loads of fun and it seems as though your tactics worked superbly.
Good luck with the next mission.
Thank you sir! It was loads of fun and I had to really weigh my options. I have to agree with someone else's opinion of the rules, EVERYTHING will have meaning and consequences. It actually took me only about an hourish to play the game and take notes. It took me longer to compose the AAR lol.
Many thanks for the good luck.
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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What a great report, loved reading that.
Better get that place liveable as soon as possible though- it's no fun starving to death.
Thank you very much for your kind words Spinal Tap, I tried to write it entertaining enough so people could partake of what had happened.
Indeed. I had enough food to feed everyone so I got no Hunger score, but now we need to find some and I think I shall build a garden next to keep on top of the food problem. With senor Vidal building the Workshop and then manning it, I will soon have a Garden with water supply AND a woman that can cook, that goes some way towards it, but will take another week in game time. The system is very well thought out and you have to consider your options carefully.
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Great first game and report. Good thing Shivani's on your side!
With Kelly-Ann safe (at least for now), only the whereabouts of Billy-Ray remains a mystery (to Obie & Co. anyway)...
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Very good Legionnaire - this is shaping up as real immersive campaign. I like the narrative style of report as opposed to a turn-by-turn account; it makes it more readable and interesting in my opinion, although there are also many excellent turn-by-turn reports on LAF which I also like. I just enjoy this style more.
The County Road rules are obviously much more detailed than Zombie RV and give a different flavour of game. I’m guessing there’s a lot more character development, for instance (which wouldn’t be difficult because there’s virtually none in RV :)
Are you playing scenarios from out of the rules or are you doing your own?
Very interested to see how your team goes.
Doug
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Great first game and report. Good thing Shivani's on your side!
With Kelly-Ann safe (at least for now), only the whereabouts of Billy-Ray remains a mystery (to Obie & Co. anyway)...
Thank you very much CapnJim! It really went as well as it possibly could! When randomly generating the two Resource tokens, both ended up in the house, which was a stroke of luck. One of the win conditions were "no zombies inside the house and a barricade put up at end of turn".
Man, I've never rolled this good consistently! I think the game really liked the inclusion of Shivani lol
On the note of the "separated lovebirds", courtesy of yours and Doug's encouragements, I have the next scenario almost figured out, but it won't be happening until post February 23, so bear with me.
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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Very good Legionnaire - this is shaping up as real immersive campaign. I like the narrative style of report as opposed to a turn-by-turn account; it makes it more readable and interesting in my opinion, although there are also many excellent turn-by-turn reports on LAF which I also like. I just enjoy this style more.
The County Road rules are obviously much more detailed than Zombie RV and give a different flavour of game. I’m guessing there’s a lot more character development, for instance (which wouldn’t be difficult because there’s virtually none in RV :)
Are you playing scenarios from out of the rules or are you doing your own?
Very interested to see how your team goes.
Doug
As always, many thanks for your valuable input and kind words sir!
When I play/ run a game, there's a fair bit of excitement and narrative spiel going on. Therefore, writing an AAR I really don't like the: "turn 1, side a shoots, rolls a 4, black bla", so I share what it looks like in my head playing that game on the tabletop. But it's all a matter of what personal taste you have :).
Indeed. You have stats and skills and half the game turn is about how you distribute your resources, what facilities you build, equipment you make, is your base at risk for a zombie siege etc. Really feels more immersive but not complicated but you have to consider your options.
50 zombies in some RV games I read :o. Here I start with maybe 10-15 on the table at the start of a game, 1 zombie spawns at end of each turn so I recycle the ded dead. With that in mind, you really need to eliminate at least 2 per turn to just keep them at bay, minimising the risk of being swamped.
I believe there are about 30 different scenarios in the rules with suggestions for terrain and specific rules/ conditions for that scenario. With that said, I rarely play a scenario straight out of the box, I tend to tweak a little to suit the story better, so I guess it's a little bit of both :).
I have an idea or two up my sleeve, but it'll be played after February 23 as I'm going on a holiday.
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Enjoy your holiday - where are you going?
Doug
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Enjoy your holiday - where are you going?
Doug
Thank you very much sir. Just getting these two night shifts out of the way first.
My daughter and I are going to Malta, very excited about it :).
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Thank you very much sir. Just getting these two night shifts out of the way first.
My daughter and I are going to Malta, very excited about it :).
Have a great time - never been but would like to - so much history to explore.
Doug
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Enjoy your trip!
Looking forward to more reports after you get back...
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Thank you kindly for your well wishes gentlemen! That's very kind of you :).
I am also looking forwards to see what's going to happen next in the campaign. I have Tuesday's off on account of my health, so I will try to get some regular games in then with AAR to follow. Hopefully, February 25th is when the next game will take place.
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Great report.
Looking forward to the next one.
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Awesome AAR! Glad you are enjoying County Road Z. Yes, tactically, it is a very different game than Zombie RV (I have read through County Road Z rules and watched or read several battle reports). My main reason to pivoting from playing County Road Z to Zombie RV is I tend to have six players show up for our sessions.
I love how you create the narrative, and give your characters some personality. Certainly makes it come to life for us and I'm sure you, as well.
Mike Demana
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Awesome AAR! Glad you are enjoying County Road Z. Yes, tactically, it is a very different game than Zombie RV (I have read through County Road Z rules and watched or read several battle reports). My main reason to pivoting from playing County Road Z to Zombie RV is I tend to have six players show up for our sessions.
I love how you create the narrative, and give your characters some personality. Certainly makes it come to life for us and I'm sure you, as well.
Mike Demana
Many thanks for your kind words sir!
I do understand and enjoy that we have different rules and different takes on playing our games. With CRZ I have the luxury of running the game as i like as it's only me playing.
Having yourself, Doug, CapnJim and others putting your ideas and impressions in, I have more to "feed" my imagination. It really makes it more fun to write it as a narrative campaign.
I find the rules really fitting exactly what I was looking for as a solo experience, with both missions and base building/ constructions.
Having played the first scenario, I think it only took about an hour with note taking. It took me longer to flesh out the narrative lol. Therefore, it should be very manageable to play one scenario per week. Hopefully.
Initially, I aim for 10 scenarios and we see how it goes.
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SECOND WEEK OF MARCH (Campaign Turn 2)
It had rained heavily in the past couple of days and it didn't look like today was going to be any different. We had started to feeling ourselves at home at the Fennel residence. Kelly-Ann did her best to provide nutritious meals but our supplies were getting low, we had to go out scavenging tomorrow at the latest and Senor Vidal took some small pride in having nearly finished the very well equipped workshop utility station in what used to be the garage. With the weather being so miserable, we were having a hot cuppa to bolster our spirits and a chat about anything that came to mind.
“POW, POW, POWPOW!” We all nearly dropped our cups in astonishment. That was the unmistakable sound of gunfire! At least two different weapons were involved.
“Someone else is out there!” senor Vidal breathed and looked out through the window.
“Shivani, grab your gear, you're with me. Senor Vidal and Kelly-Ann, you two stay here and make some space. We might have to take care of wounded.” I stood up and grabbed my riot shield and heavy brush knife and went for the door, Shivani was just behind me, slinging her quiver and her ultralight backpack over her shoulder and quickly stringing her bow.
I always liked how the ground smelled after rain but disliked being out in it. There was no avoiding that now. We hustled in the direction of the gunshots, slipping on the soaked ground, splashing through puddles, the visibility was not the greatest, but we had determined the shots came from the little shop cluster less than half a mile away. I can move quietly when I want to, so I motioned to Shivani to wait while I did a recce of the place. I did not like what I saw. A large group of zeds had gathered around the petrol station, anyone of those getting wind of us would surely alert all the others. I counted six. A smaller group was by the Quickie Mart and two stragglers lurked at the back of the coffee shop. I saw a big muscular guy with lots of tattoos and bald head cradling what looked like a Browning HP and a redheaded lady with an NRA t-shirt and a big revolver hiding together in the Quickie Mart. A lady in a black leather jacket and bandanna with Asian features, possibly Vietnamese, was trying to avoid detection in the petrol station and a big bald guy with a bit of a gut wearing a sleeveless t-shirt had holed up in the coffee shop. It looked like they had had the good sense to barricade the doors. Several stacks of supplies had been scattered all over the place, we really needed to bring as much as we could back. None of the vehicles around looked like they'd run ever again. I crept back to Shivani with this information.
“This is the plan, there are four survivors out there, they are all safe for now. We help them, gather as much provisions as we can and get out of here. There are LOTS of zeds out there, so we need to take an aggressive approach in the first place. Let's wait for an ideal opportunity to move in.” I waited patiently for several minutes as the zeds sometimes shambled in random directions. When I saw that most of the big group had gravitated away from each other I nodded to Shivani, hefted my brush knife and riot shield and moved forwards...
(To be continued when I've played the actual scenario and written the AAR later today)
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Shivani and I moved forwards towards the coffee shop, determined to rescue the survivor in there. Shivani laid an arrow on the string and let fly. It was like shooting fish in a barrel, a zed fell to the floor with it's brain shot through. As she moves forwards, she lays the next arrow on the string, deliberately invoking the other zeds attention. It jerks to life and I gauge the distance, riot shield raised. I move forwards a few steps and watches it shamble towards me with raised hands, eager to squeeze every breath of life out of me. Fighting zombies I've learned a lot. Feints, choke holds, fancy grappling techniques, vital points strikes... none of that works! The only thing that does, is to really go in for the kill! I guess that's why there are so few of us humans left. When all was said and done, not everyone had it in them. I used the riot shield to get a feel for the distance and as it touched my barrier, I swung the blade, severing the head from the body in one fell stroke. With the most imminent threats neutralised, both Shivani and I moved towards the backdoor of the coffee shop, we could hear the snarling shuffling from the big group milling about on the other side.
Shivani steps away and calmly takes aim. Her arrow flies true and puts down another zed, more importantly, one that could serve as a rally point for all the other nasties in the vicinity. We both set to work breaking down the door as quietly as we can and as I give it a final kick with my boot it slams open, making a lot of noise, attracting the attention of the large gathering of Undead outside, there's a lot of stirring and snarling!
Shivani moves outside and sifts through a pile of left-overs, there's a lot of goodies in there and she bags some. The undead are too far away to pay any attention to that. Meanwhile I move up to the overweight, balding male in his 30's. He's dirty and has been running ragged, he looks at me with big fearful eyes:
“Please! Help us!” his lip quivers.
“It's all going to be ok now, mate. Just stick with me and Shivani. But you have to do your bit, pick up ANYTHYING that can be useful on our way. OK? What's your name?” I patted him friendly on the shoulder.
“I...I... Damon.” he managed to say.
“Nice to meet you Damon, I'm Obie. Shall we?” I nodded towards the back door that had been forced open. I didn't need to tell him twice. The commotion had attracted several zeds that now were fired up with rage and beating on the front door. It wouldn't hold very long.
“Go,go,go!” I shouted at Damon and pushed him to get him moving. I followed and planted myself just behind a narrow doorway. I reckoned the zeds couldn't get to me more than one at a time. I shrugged my shoulders and lifted the riot shield and the heavy brush knife, planting my feet, feeling a shot of adrenaline surging through me as the glass and wood of the front door shattered. Damon ran out the back and joined up with Shivani as I had told him to. Good lad.
Shivani moves back, silent as a ghost and shoots a zombie down, quick, efficiently and quietly, it drops with barely a sound. Damon looks at the result with open mouth, astounded. As he slips behind Shivani, the noise attracts two zeds that are running towards them. Shivani stands unperturped in between, calmly letting them approach. In the coffee shop, the air is thick by the stench of the decay from the zombies running at me. I actually let out a laugh. They are so eager, that they get in the way of each other and as I planned it, only one can get to me at a time. I get ready for some hard work and bring my trusted shield to bear, feeling it shudder in my hands by the impact of the blows from the zombie.
“Thou shalt not pass!” I shout and efficiently dispose of the zed with a few slashes with my blade. Gore splatters the shield and parts of my face. One zed attack Shivani, they claw and tear at her, but like wisps of smoke, she eludes their violent efforts with ease! I hear more noise, as the main body of zombies now surge inside the coffee shop, having been drawn by the commotion I have caused. This is going to take a while!
Shivani pulls a sharpened screwdriver and with several quick, vicious stabs, she smashes the skull of the zombie, then, in one fluid motion she nocks an arrow and let fly, eliminating the second zombie chasing her. Damon takes the opportunity to move forwards and collect some of the supplies Shivani discovered earlier. There is a lot of strikes hammering against my shield, I feel myself pushed back a step or two!
“HNNNNN!” I grit my teeth and strike with the blade, limbs and heads peel off the undead as I regain my lost territory. Two zombies lie cut down at my feet, I slip in the pool of blood but regain my balance. I feel sweat trickling down my back.
Shivani moves again, quietly on her trainers, drawing an arrow from the quiver. She turns around and kills a zed shooting it in the back and it drops like a sack of spuds. My blade is slick with blood and I cut and thrust, two more zeds tumble to the ground. I have to step over bodies on the floor, but at least it looks like the horde is thinning out. Damon gathers some supplies and draws the attention of two zombies! Surprisingly, the big man moves elegantly, or maybe he's fuelled by fear, because he neatly slips out of the grasp of the undead! Two zombies rush towards Shivani!
She's impossible to pin down and absolutely lethal with her bow and arrow! She nimbly dances back out of reach and shoots one of the zeds down. I have never seen that woman miss! I cut one down and turn to run out of the coffee shop:
“I'll take care of that one,” I shout as I place myself between Shivani and the approaching zed.
“Damon. Help your friends!” I shout and I see him nod to acknowledge and run towards the Quickie Mart as fast as he can...
(Continued below in next post when I've managed to write that down)
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GAME 2 (Part II)
Damon runs to the back door of the Quickie Mart, he can see Billy-Ray and Bernice inside. I don't hesitate for a moment, I kill the zombie in my stride, not slowing down for a single step. I keep moving forwards, engaging the enemies. Shivani stops to gather up the remaining provisions while the zombie is hammering futile on my shield, snarling.
I see an opening and strike. My blade severs the head from body and the zombie tumbles to the ground, I keep moving, intentionally drawing the attention of another of the Undead. I hear Shivani move behind me and effortlessly taking one of the not-so-alert zombies out, permanently. I can hear how Damon is wrestling with the door to the Quickie Mart, trying to break it down.
Shivani whistles as she moves, drawing the attention of a zombie, meanwhile, she lays an arrow on the string and cooly eliminates one more zed. There are corpses with arrows through their skull littering the grounds. I cut another zombie down and move towards the Quickie Mart, to make sure Damon is doing ok. I hear the noise as Damon apparently finally breaks down the door and moves into the shop.
Shivani moves towards another pile of promising resources, shooting another zed in the process. She looks concerned,
“I've only got four arrows left, Obie” she says quietly.
“Make those four count, I'll try to help out as much as I can,” I say reassuringly. As I lay another zed to permanent rest I draw close to the Quickie Mart. I can hear some of the conversation from inside.
“F*ck that! I ain't going anywhere! Have you seen the outside?” A deep angry male voice. Must be the big tattooed guy.
“C'mon Billy-Ray, we can't sit here for the rest of the day. We need to git!” A woman's voice, the redhead with the big revolver.
“Suit yourself. I'm leaving anyways,” the woman says after a few seconds of silence. I heard the back door opening and saw the redhead coming outside.
Shivani moves away from the supplies and whistles. As the zombie comes charging, she calmly draws the bow and let the arrow fly. Shot at such close distance, the arrow embeds in the zombies head all the way to the fletching! My knees are complaining, but I ignore that. I pass by both the redhead and Damon, the big tattooed guy looks up at me as I enter the shop. He looks me up and down and I can only imagine what he thinks of my state, covered in caked blood and viscera.
“Whoa!” is all he get out of his mouth, in a long wide-eyed whisper. I'm 5'10 and he's a good three inches taller than me and solid build. But I have clearly made an impression. Damon and the woman moves towards Shivani to help her out.
“Alright mate? I'm Obie and you can come with me now. We are a small community not far from here. It's safe there,”
“Billy-Ray,” he offered, still looking at me.
“you must be some f*cking bad a**! Man!” he blurted.
“Billy-Ray? Do you have a girlfriend named Kelly-Ann?” I said.
“How do YOU know about Kelly-Ann? Is she OK? Where is she...?” he had lots of questions and sounded agitated. He gripped my lapel in his big hands, but when I looked at him, he quickly let go. Probably thinking it was a bad idea to do that to a machete wielding hardcase!
“She's absolutely fine and she's with us. Are you coming?” I didn't need to repeat myself as he ran as fast as he could outside.
“I take that as a yes,” I mumbled under my breath. That's three out of four rescued so far. Shivani moves towards a pile of supplies, deliberately coaxing another zed forwards. She promptly shoots it down 5 feet away, feeling the shafts of the remaining two arrows. The redheaded woman and Damon are following her dutifully.
Damon moves towards the petrol stations side door and gets to work on it. While Shivani unearths more goodies and she and the redhead pockets some of it. I curse all this moving along, but despite my complaining knees, I move as fast as I can.
Damon makes short work of the side door to the petrol station and I hear it smash open. Shivani searches another promising heap and gathers some resources. Billy-Ray strides forth and into the petrol station. As I continue forwards, I see a zombie rise up just behind Damon!
“Look out Damon,” I shout and move forwards, drawing the attention of the newly risen zombie. As it turns towards me with a snarl, I cut it down without hesitation. I have to step on it to yank my blade free. Sweat is trickling down my back and I am breathing hard from all the exertion. I can hear Billy-Ray moving inside the petrol station and snippets of the conversation he has with the remaining survivor, the Asian woman with leather jacket and a bandanna. It sounds like he manages to convince her that this is the best way out of this predicament. I can see a large gathering of zombies milling around at the back of the coffee shop but it looks like they haven't noticed us.
Billy-Ray and the woman are moving out of the petrol station, her footsteps drawing more attention from the zombies. Damon and the redhead take off out of the area towards our base, they are saved! Shivani spends some time gathering what useful stuff she can find before she also moves off in the direction of home, leading Damon and the woman. I am bone tired and it's only the shield that saves me as my ineffective feeble strikes fail to connect with the snarling raging zombie in front of me!
“GO!” I shout at Billy-Ray and the Asian woman as the shield shutter from the impact of the attacking zombie.
The Asian woman and Billy-Ray stops on the way to gather the unearthed supplies. I redouble my efforts and this time I put the zombie down for good with my blade. I look around. I am out of earshot of the big horde back by the coffee shop so I quietly move in and pick up the last of the resources that Shivani found. I reckon the place is picked clean now. Billy-Ray and the woman in the leather jacket are exiting the area as well, I am the last one out. We all came away, alive, once more.
(And a summary of campaign improvements, resources found etc will follow after a tea break )
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Excellent narrative - I was there…! The first-person viewpoint certainly adds immediacy and tension. I’m enjoying the on-going story of Obie and his growing group of survivors. I hope Billy-Ray isn’t going to one of those controlling, jealous types - you don’t need inter-group dissent.
I can see that the County Roads rules give a lot of campaign details but I’m also interested in the combat system. How does it play? Is it fairly simple of more granular? Does the combat system serve as a secondary adjunct to the campaign proper or is it a vital part of the game?
The scenery is coming along nicely as well.
Looking forward to more.
Doug
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Excellent narrative - I was there…! The first-person viewpoint certainly adds immediacy and tension. I’m enjoying the on-going story of Obie and his growing group of survivors. I hope Billy-Ray isn’t going to one of those controlling, jealous types - you don’t need inter-group dissent.
I can see that the County Roads rules give a lot of campaign details but I’m also interested in the combat system. How does it play? Is it fairly simple of more granular? Does the combat system serve as a secondary adjunct to the campaign proper or is it a vital part of the game?
The scenery is coming along nicely as well.
Looking forward to more.
Doug
Thank you very much for taking your time reading and your nice comments, sir! Always appreciated.
Billy-Ray, for all his gruff exterior, is a team player and just happy to be back with his Kelly-Ann again :D.
The game itself plays quite quickly and easily, it's my note taking that makes the game run for twice as long lol.
The combat system uses a D10, nice and easy. Get equal to or more than Defense (4 for Passive inactive zombies, 6 for Aggressive) and you have reached a "kill shot" (1 Wound). Some special zombies (none yet...) have more than 1 Wound. I have found it pays off to consider WHAT to do WHEN to do it. I have employed "hey, I'm over here!" successfully to draw attention to line a zed up for blatting. Worth noting is that when a character gets Wounded, they can ONLY heal a maximum of 1 (providing the character has Medicine) during a scenario. Which will have an impact on their work capabilities. All wounds carry over. So it becomes very important to try to get your characters through it unscathed.
Also, Scout and Tactics are very powerful skills (Obie has both). Scout allows you to move zombies and resources, potentially avoiding initial horde disaster and Tactics allows you to re-roll.
Zombies movie in accordance with a simple AI that works very well.
I have one more TT Combat MDF building to put together, but thank you very much, I feel that I need to do a Trailer Park run soon lol.
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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“Billy-Ray!” Kelly-Ann shouted with genuine surprise and ran at him, jumping into his arms as they embraced, not caring that everyone else were watching, smiling. It was such a lovely sight to see these two finding each other in this mess of a world.
“Mr Obie! Thank you so much for bringing my Billy-Ray back home to me, safe and sound!” Kelly-Ann said when they finally stopped kissing.
“It was not only I, Kelly-Ann, we all made it happen, together,” I needed a shower badly, and clean the equipment and probably sleep for a whole day but I knew how much it meant to her.
We let the newcomers settle in and introduce themselves. Damon had had his own little construction company, Gloria was a former archeology professor and Bernice (she HATED to be called Bee) was all attitude.
Billy-Ray was more than happy to start building a garden, we needed a steady food supply badly. The house felt very cramped with all eight of us so we had to sleep in shifts and did no one any favours. I discussed some improvements with senor Vidal and he suggested that we made some alterations to the existing beds to accommodate everyone. We therefore decided to make that happen, and thought that'd be a good way for Bernice to vent some of that anger, so we gave her a hammer and some nails. Things were shaping up, but we still had much to do. There was the constant threat of attracting too much attention to us so we tried to keep as low profile as possible.
One morning, barely a week after we had rescued them, I came down in the early hours, pre-dawn, and found Damon gathering his possessions. He looked sheepishly at me having been caught in the act.
“I'm sorry Obie. I'm grateful for you saving us and giving us all a home, although you had no obligation to do so. But, I can't stay here any longer. It's too many in too small space, wherever I turn, I bump into someone. I really can't, and I'm sorry. But I have to get out of here.” I looked at him for a moment then I extended my hand and we shook hands.
“I understand you completely. And no one is going to force you to stay. But, if you change your mind, you are welcome back again. I wish you all the best out there, Damon.” He nodded, smiled and walked out quietly. We had taken our first loss. Not through zombie casualty, but through overpopulation, how surprising that might sound like in these times. I took a sip of my morning tea and returned to other matters. We had agreed to put together two teams for the next outing. One to find a suitable working vehicle, which would be lead by senor Vidal and a larger team to find more supplies, which would be lead by Shivani, who is our best scrounger.
CAMPAIGN TURN 2 BREAKDOWN
No one is injured, but Billy-Ray has got 1 Infection Point. He'll be safe until he has at least 4.
We received 3 Hardware, 3 Fuel, 5 Food and 1 Rare Item (Ultralight Backpack) from the 12 Resources.
We are building a Garden (Billy-Ray) and Extra Bed Upgrade (Bernice) in one of the Bunk Rooms (finished next Turn)
Our Unrest reached 9! so it was inevitable that one survivor would Depart (Damon).
No Zombie Siege (Yet)...
We have 3 Fuel, but otherwise our coffers are empty.
3 new survivors. Billy-Ray (Tier 2, Handguns & Carry), Gloria (Tier 2, Medicine and Enter) and Bernice (Tier 1, Handguns).
Obie received 1 XP, bought Medicine 1 (3) and Shivani got 2 XP, bought Scavenge 2 (4).
Next turn, I will play TWO Missions! Gather Materials (Shivani, Obie and Kelly-Ann) and Retreive New Vehicles (senor Vidal and Gloria). I wanted both teams to have capacity of a medic, just in case...
If all goes according to plan, the next installment in the campaign should be Tuesday March 4th.
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Great report! The world building part of County Road Z is certainly its strong point. Looks like your gang of survivors is off to a good start. Looking forwards to reading more next week.
Mike Demana
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Great report! The world building part of County Road Z is certainly its strong point. Looks like your gang of survivors is off to a good start. Looking forwards to reading more next week.
Mike Demana
Thank you for reading and for the nice comments, much appreciated sir!
I really like this rule set, exactly what I had in mind for my solo gaming experience! And you really have to consider what you want to build, what needs you fill. With the sudden influx of more people, food is the highest priority! I am also thinking of a decent sized vehicle to transport loot resources with.
I was VERY fortunate to get a Riot Shield in my first outing and I have a feeling, having Obie and Shivani on the team with almost silent weaponry has made a huge difference. It doesn't hurt that Shivani (Archery 3 due to Shoddy Bow) can't fail to kill a Passive Zombie and only need to roll 3+ (on a D10) to kill an Aggressive one :D. Next time, there'll probably be more noise, with a shotgun on senor Vidal's team...
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TEAM MEMBERS FENNEL HOUSE
OBIE (Tier 4 Hero)
Strength 3
Dexterity 1
Intelligence 4
Cooperation 2
Tactics 5
Scout 5
Bladed 3 (-1 for Shoddy Blade)
Medicine 3
SHIVANI SHAKTI SINGH (Tier 3 Leader)
Strength 0
Dexterity 3
Intelligence 2
Cooperation 1
Archery 3 (-1 for Shoddy Bow) starts each mission with 12 Arrows
Stealth 3
Scavenge 4
SENOR VIDAL (Tier 3 Leader)
Strength 0
Dexterity 1
Intelligence 3
Cooperation 2
Long Guns 1 (-1 for Shoddy Shotgun) 6+4 shells
Tinker 2 (-1 for Shoddy Toolbelt)
Utilities 2
BILLY-RAY JOHNSON (Tier 2 Citizen)
Strength 2
Dexterity 1
Intelligence 0
Cooperation 0
Carry 3 (allowing 5 Inventory Slots)
Handgun 1 (-1 for Shoddy Pistol) 10+8
GLORIA NGYEN (Tier 2 Citizen)
Strength 0
Dexterity 2
Intelligence 0
Cooperation 1
Enter 2
Medicine 1
KELLY-ANN SORENSEN (Tier 1 Rookie)
Strength 0
Dexterity 0
Intelligence 0
Cooperation 1
Rationing 1
BERNICE BULLOCK (Tier 1 Rookie)
Strength 0
Dexterity 1
Intelligence 0
Cooperation 0
Handguns 0 (-1 for Shoddy Revolver) 6+6 (Large Caliber, Loud 2, +1 Damage)
BASE FACILITIES (Small Town Home)
Bunk Rooms x2 (4 beds)
Kitchen
Garage (Utility Room)
Front Yard
Fuel 3
Ultralight Backpack x2
Riot Shield (assigned to Obie)
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A very good report. I really like your narrative style of describing the action. Can't wait 'til the next one.
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Legionnaire, I've just had a good read through. Very gripping writing, very immersive. Reports are superb and I will be following with great interest.
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A very good report. I really like your narrative style of describing the action. Can't wait 'til the next one.
Thank you very much for your kind words Dan55! Much appreciated.
As I hope to play one or possibly both of the next missions next Tuesday so you shouldn't have to wait too long lol.
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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Legionnaire, I've just had a good read through. Very gripping writing, very immersive. Reports are superb and I will be following with great interest.
Lord Snapcase, sir! I am honoured to receive these wonderful sentiments, especially when knowing the high quality of games you Gentlemen of Much Piddling are showcasing. Many thanks for your time reading and for your very kind words.
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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I’m loving the narrative details. Tell me, was Damon’s decision to leave decided by the system (in other words, was it a die roll on a chart that dictated his having to leave) or was it down to your decision based on how you see the story developing?
Doug
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I’m loving the narrative details. Tell me, was Damon’s decision to leave decided by the system (in other words, was it a die roll on a chart that dictated his having to leave) or was it down to your decision based on how you see the story developing?
Doug
The narrative is just my own interpretations of the action on the tabletop, but thank you sir for your kind words regarding my modest efforts :).
The game tracks Hunger and Exhaustion, if you haven't enough food or beds for the survivors, you'll get these. Along with a threat of Zombie Siege (too much noise from construction, time since last siege etc). If those combined ratings reach a certain number, in game rules, one survivor of the lowest Tier will leave (too dangerous, too little food, too cramped...).
So, I have three Tier 1 characters. Kelly-Ann was not going to leave, Bernice is a tough cookie so I decided to "let" Damon go. He DID have the skill Break (which is used for smashing down walls to gain entry to locked places), but Gloria has Enter (kind of a sneaky burglar skill, from all that excavating she's done).
I need to make sure the base is set up with food and beds first. Then I will be looking at relocating to a bigger place, that can house a Medical Station, plan to research the Virus but also need a character with Medicine skill 2+.
That's the long term plans for now. But it'll take me a couple of missions at least to solidify my current position.
Also, need to paint up the rest of my zombies and survivors lol.
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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Well, sumbitch! That was a gripping series of reports...couldn't stop reading them.
Looking forward to see how these next 2 missions go...so, Bernice and Billy-Ray are gonna stay back and guard the fort?
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Well, sumbitch! That was a gripping series of reports...couldn't stop reading them.
Looking forward to see how these next 2 missions go...so, Bernice and Billy-Ray are gonna stay back and guard the fort?
You are too kind, Sir, but I am very happy that my efforts are appreciated and that you lot are enjoying reading them, many thanks for your time reading and commenting :).
And with that, you are now giving me some narrative ideas... ;)
Rules wise, I assign Duties to people in the community. They can only be assigned one Duty per game turn (about 1 week in time), be it constructing a new facility, recuperating or going on a mission. Because I've already assigned Billy-Ray to constructing a Garden and Bernice to build some Extra Beds, they HAVE to stay behind when the others go on their missions.
There MIGHT be a little prelude up this weekend, if I get a chance :).
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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GAME TURN 3 PROLOGUE (Week 3, March 202...)
It was mid-March and it had rained almost non-stop for the past week, we had only caught a few glimpses of the sun and I think our collective mood was affected, everyone were a bit miserable. Damon had left us for his own reasons yesterday, and I felt I should address some of that. We were only gathered in the same place at meal times, so as breakfast was served, I stood up and felt everyone's eyes on me.
“Good morning everyone, I hope you've all slept as well as you can, because there's lot for us to do today.” I looked at them all in turn. Senor Vidal with his bushy white moustache seemed deep in thought, Shivani was fletching an arrow. Big Billy-Ray drank deeply from the coffee cup, whilst Kelly-Ann cradled his broad shoulders for support and comfort, I guess. Bernice actually shut her mouth, she had let EVERYONE know that she blamed the government for The Rot happening in the first place and Gloria, she just leaned back in her seat, brushing some fluff off her shoulder.
“But before we go into that, I feel that there a few ground rules that should to be laid down, to avoid any confusion. We have all made it this far, it doesn't matter much how. But, tolerance, THAT is the key. Regardless of your gender identity (Gloria had had a wife), age group (senor Vidal was pushing 70, Billy-Ray, Kelly-Ann and Bernice were only in their early 20's), cultural origins (I was a Swede, Shivani of Sikh origin), religious beliefs etc, none of that trumps, and this is really important to understand, that it's very unlikely, if we don't work together and work past whatever disagreements we may have, NONE of us will survive for very long.” I paused to let that sink in. No one were eating.
“Regardless of your past (I suspected Billy-Ray and probably Bernice too, to have had run-ins with the law), THIS is your second chance. We have taken you in and we are happy to have you here. But in turn, everyone have to do their bit to help out. I really can't stress enough how important it is for everyone to be able to get along. Because, anyone who is putting the community at risk in any shape or form, WILL be evicted! No if's, no but's. I won't repeat myself, so this will be the only warning you will get.” People were glancing at each other around the table, with different emotions, from senor Vidal nodding slightly to Bernice rolling her eyes and lighting up a cigarette taking an aggressive drag. But, everyone there had no doubt in their minds that none of my words were anything but the truth.
“Now, with all that out of the way. Senor Vidal, would you please be so kind?” the table was quickly cleared and the well thumbed map of the surrounding area was laid out. There were scribbles in the margins in biro and highlight markers had been used at different places as we mapped out the territory.
“As you all know, senor Vidal is a longtime resident in these parts so here's what we know,” I let them study the map, their heads leaning in to see better. Shivani and I had been busy over the past few weeks to get a better lay of the land. Some areas were deemed too dangerous whilst others were much more appealing.
I nodded to Shivani and smiled encourangingly. I knew she wasn't very comfortable talking in public, a bit shy and reserved, I had the impression something had happened to her in the past that made it difficult for her to get out of her shell. She wiped her palm off on her trousers and licked her lip. She fiddled with her pony tail, a sure sign that she was nervous, but she stood up and cleared her throat.
“Umm,” her soft voice barely audiable, so she tried again.
“so... we have discussed how best to move forwards. Food is of a pressing concern, we have to move out tomorrow to take whatever we can find. HERE,” she indicated a farm shop a little way away,
“we think there'll be plenty. Obie, myself and Kelly-Ann will be heading there at first light.” The rain pattered the windows and I sighed, I hoped it'd let up tomorrow, but was none too optimistic about it. During my national service basic training, my second lieutenant had said: “There's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing!” I still to this day disagree with him on that! Shivani sat back down quietly as soon as she stopped talking, looking at the table.
“Meanwhile,” senor Vidal's pleasant barytone with a hint of a Spanish accent continued.
“because we feel that now that we are so many here, we are in need of a transport. Both to be able to pick up more provisions and also to be able to explore further away, not being restricted to how far we can walk in a day, mrs Nguyen and I are going HERE.” He stabbed his finger at a place called Three Willows.
“This is... was a sort of a recreation spot for mainly families. Barbecues, cheap trailers, playgrounds, forest walks and such. All about an affordable holiday for those on a low income really. I hope to find a suitable vehicle or two in working condition that we can bring back here. I've been informed that mrs Ngyuen is a very accomplished driver.” she laughed and smiled at that. She had indeed driven everything from an ATV to a fully loaded articulated lorry during her expeditions to Central- and South America. Many times on appaling roads.
“Billy-Ray and Bernice, I know it's less exciting but not less important, in fact maybe THE most important. You two will remain here and finish your work. If we can't start growing things in the garden and getting a good night's rest, EVERYTHING will be severely impacted. So all being well, we will have new beds to sleep in tomorrow night and soon have fresh grown stuff from our garden. Does anyone have anything else to add or discuss?” I saw Billy-Ray hesitate, as if there was something, but he obviously had second thoughts and settled.
“SCHWISH, SCHWISH, SCHWISH,” I found the sound of the whetstone against the blade of the heavy brush knife soothing. The blade was showing signs of heavy wear, not so surprising when it cut through human bone and cartilage on almost a daily basis. I was making my final preparations for tomorrow, it was dark outside and I was going to turn in soon. We had a busy day ahead of us. ...AND JUSTICE FOR ALL it said on my t-shirt. That album had been played a lot during my late teens. My hearing was affected by too many concerts and too loud music, but maybe, because of the quiet background noise in the world in general or maybe just because I was more aware, I heard the floorboards shift.
“Hello Billy-Ray,” I didn't even need to turn around. I knew I was right.
“Umm, boss. Can I have a word? Please?” he sounded worried so I put down the blade and turned around, indicating for him to close the door behind him. His massive shadow fell upon me. He was twitchy and on edge. I waited patiently for him to continue.
“Aww, s*it! I don't know how to explain this boss!” he was pacing to and fro.
“That's ok Billy-Ray, take your time.” I said softly.
“See, it's like this boss. When I tried to get back here and I found the car, I got injured by one of those f*cking zombies! If it wasn't for Gloria, I would never have made it. I owe her! But...” he hesitated.
“it still feels like... like there's... SOMETHING in there. F*ck! I don't know how to explain it boss!” He fidgeted agitatedly.
“Try, how do you mean?” I was paying him my full attention now. This was news to me.
“Like... there's something inside my blood that's not... well... ME!” he shrugged his shoulders, pleading with me to make sense of it all. I took out my torch and looked him over, feeling for a fever, examing the wound. No raised temperature, the wound looked like it was healing nicely. But as I was going to give up, something caught my attention. A slight tinge of purple discolouration of his eyelids, I probably wouldn't have noticed it in daylight.
“I really don't know what it is mate, I'm no doctor nor a scientist so I can only speculate. Maybe, even if you don't die immediatiely from an attack, that the zeds leave you with something to fester,” I pushed him back down in the chair again.
“I think that you are not at any risk now. Only potentially in weeks, maybe even months from now and possibly only when your infection, whatever it may be, has reached a sufficiently high level. You are strong as an ox, healthy, young, so don't worry. I really appreciate you coming to see me about this and I think we need to tell everyone else tomorrow. We NEED to able to trust each other. Any concerns you have, will have an impact on us all.” I squeezed his shoulder for reassurance and I could feel him shaking from anxiety and fear, but he nodded understandingly and left.
“S*IT!” I said quietly to myself as I sat down on the only chair in the room that I shared with senor Vidal. I don't swear often, but I definitely felt like doing it now. I took a deep breath. I had always enjoyed watching murder mysteries and forensic programs, so I tackled this new problem like a murder needing to be solved. When we come back tomorrow, I would pick Gloria's brain for some advice, she had seen many strange unexplainable things in her line of work... I put my kit in order and went to bed. The rain was pelting down on the roof and I soon drifted off to sleep, dreaming about insidious monsters erupting from the cadavers of my friends...
(In the rules, every time a character receives a Wound, they also receive 1 point of Infection, which is cumulative. You can ONLY heal Infection if you have a Medical Station AND someone with Medicine manning it. At a certain point, there is risk that the Infection break out consuming the character and Turning them in the night. Currently, Billy-Ray has got 1 point of Infection. When/ if he get's at least 4, there is a risk that he will succumb to it. 10 Infection points is the maximum you can have, but even then, it's not guaranteed that you will Turn...)
(Rolling for Weather, Week 3, I rolled 10, Rain Effect 2, so any Facility needing Water to work, can be supplied with rain. Would come in handy for the new Garden...)
If all goes according to plan, the two missions will be played over Tuesday-Wednesday.
Below, pictured the morning meeting with all the discussions and planning. Also pictured, the realisation that maybe not all is well with Billy-Ray after my examination...
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Interesting to hear the between game part as an AAR.
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Interesting to hear the between game part as an AAR.
That I blame Doug ex-EM4 for!!! His setup for his VBCW were incredibly inspirational and I nicked stole borrowed that idea for my own game :D.
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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Great storytelling. I am enjoying it -- I think it really adds to the whole thread. :)
Mike Demana
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That I blame Doug ex-EM4 for!!! His setup for his VBCW were incredibly inspirational and I nicked stole borrowed that idea for my own game :D.
Regards,
Legionnaire.
Thanks for the name check, Legionnaire, I’m very proud to have had a tiny part in your great story :)
Doug
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Your storytelling is top notch and I'm glad to see that you're including the between game stuff as well.
I'm about 6 games into CRZ and am keeping a paper diary of events; I may post up some AAR at some point but will keep it simple.
Thank you for giving so much time to enriching this game for us.
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Great storytelling. I am enjoying it -- I think it really adds to the whole thread. :)
Mike Demana
Many thanks for your very kind words Mike :). I am playing it for my own amusement but knowing the games and the AAR's are appreciated here is giving it even more satisfaction. Careful now so my ego doesn't reach ginormous proportions lol.
All being well, the two missions should be played tomorrow Tuesday and Wednesday.
With regards,
Legionnaire.
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Thanks for the name check, Legionnaire, I’m very proud to have had a tiny part in your great story :)
Doug
Credit where credit's due sir!! When I first saw your excellent, evocative photo shots of your revolutionaries, I thought: "That's so cool! I want to do something like that too!". I make do with what scenery I have and the figures and try to fit it around the story I want to tell. So knowing you are appreciating my efforts, that means a lot :). Many thanks for the inspirations.
With kind regards,
Legionnaire.
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You're storytelling is top notch and I'm glad to see that you're including the between game stuff as well.
I'm about 6 games into CRZ and am keeping a paper diary of events; I may post up some AAR at some point but will keep it simple.
Thank you for giving so much time to enriching this game for us.
Those are some very appreciated words sir! I'm very glad that my ramblings are being read and appreciated so thank you very much for taking your time with my posting :).
When I play a game, I want to tell a story. Receiving the nice comments from all people here, it gives me the incentive to carry on doing what I am doing, to share it and let people experience my game.
I think I have found my own way of how to share an AAR and can't thank people enough for your kind comments. So, really, without you, I probably wouldn't make this effort :).
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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GAME TURN 3, MISSION 1 OF 2
Hector Jesus Alonzo Vidal, his white hair and moustache flowing gently in the breeze, had no problem keeping up with Gloria Nguyen. She had spent most of her professional career as a professor of archeology, outdoors on excavation sites in Central and South America. The sun broke through the clouds and spread some very welcome warmth, although everything in sight was soaked with the heavy rainfall from the past few days. Senor Vidal's toolbelt clanked gently and he had a fully loaded pump shotgun in his hand with a handfull of spare shells in his pocket. Gloria travelled lightly but senor Vidal had lent her a sharp chisel, just in case and she had packed some bandages and disinfectant.
“Babs, she would've loved you guys,” Gloria said as they splashed through a big puddle.
“Your wife Barbara? She sounds like a lovely lady and I would've loved to have met her” Senor Vidal smiled.
“She loved to cook and bake and had the most infectious laughter you could imagine. It was that laugh that drew me to her in the first place,” she had shown him a photograph of them together on their honeymoon to Hawaii. Her wife had been a tall, large black lady that radiated happiness.
“Hettie and I, we met in '76 in high school. The first time I saw her, I knew she was for me. We have had a good life. My daughter and son...” his initial joviality trailed off and he suddently remembered that they were no longer alive. His wife had passed away in cancer the previous year and his children and grand children he assumed had fallen victims to The Rot.
“Are you ok?” Gloria asked.
“I will be, but I think we shall remember those that have passed. Only when no one remembers them anymore, then they are truly dead,” he bent his head as if in a short prayer, Gloria noticed a silver crucifix hanging around his neck and he crossed himself.
“I wasn't particularly devout before The Rot, I mostly went to church because Hettie wanted to go. But, we all have our ways of coping,” he gave a brief sombre smile.
“We are nearly there now mrs Nguyen, so I think we need to put our minds to the task at hand.”
“Please, senor Vidal, call me Gloria,”
“Call me Hector in turn. Well then, Gloria, shall we?”
The swings were creaking in the wind and a merry-go-round came to a stop, it must've been nudged by a passing zombie. The paint work was faded and chipped, but Gloria had no doubt this still had been a popular place, it had charm. Several vehicles had been parked or abandoned here. A white Volvo, a high end Land Rover and a police patrol motorcycle, amongst others.
“Mierda!” Hector said with displeasure.
“That Land Rover would've been our best option, plenty of room and comfort, but look at all those zombies. It's as if they also admire it,” there were nearly half a dozen zombies in close proximity to the vehicle.
“I think that Volvo will be our best bet, it's out of the way of any zombies I can see. Great cars, reliable and even with only my basic tools, I'm sure I can get it up and running with a bit of work.”
“There's also some provisions scattered around, I think we should take some at least. None of us are the scrounger that Shivani is, but I'm sure we can find something useful.”
“And, I really don't fancy our chances IF I have to shoot. That will draw all zombie's attention. So nice and quietly is our best bet, we are severely outmatched.” Still, Hector brought out the shotgun and chambered a round, safety on. Just in case.
There was a pile of stuff lying in the road which probably had fallen off a vehicle and they found something useful, which Gloria put in her backpack before moving on. They froze! A zombie was rising up from the ground and stood swaying in place.
“I don't think it has spotted us,” Gloria whispered so quietly that Hector barely could hear her. He nodded.
“Let's make a BIG circle around it.” Taking their time, they gave it a wide berth and climbed over the sturdy stone wall, keeping a watchful eye on the zombie. They realised they had held their breath and sighed with relief. It didn't move.
They cautiously made their way to a makeshift camp in the copse of woods and rummaged through the remains.
“I have no more space to put anything in now,” Gloria said quietly, her small rucksack full.
“You make your way to that white Volvo, I shall just pick up what I can from those boxes by that blue trailer, then I think we need to get out of here,” Hector looked over the recreational site with watchful eyes. There was movement all over and a noisy shuffling from a large group shambling around the playground equipment. His boots were covered in mud he randomly reflected. Gloria nodded and moved towards the car. Volvo, Latin for roll, as in movement, a brand synonymous with safe and secure, and Obie would love this, being a Swede. She tried the door handle and stopped herself from letting out a loud yes when it opened. She slid into the seat and pulled the door shut as quietly as she could behind her. The interior smelled of an air freshener that was hanging from the rear view mirror. She cleared some mist off the windows and saw Hector move up to a pile of boxes by the trailer and putting some of it in his backpack. A zombie was standing on the other side of the trailer but hadn't seemed to notice their activity. Her mouth tasted of metal and she could barely swallow. She felt like she should be out there doing things, not sitting in the car. The Horde came shambling forth and Hector raised his head, like an animal sensing danger. He heard the shuffling steps from a zombie coming around the trailer and he KNEW, that whatever he was going to do would attract its attention.
Hector took a deep breath and went for it, his boots squelching in the rainsodden grass and mud, the zombie immediately gave chase, guttural gibbering as it zoned in on Hector.
“Comeoncomeoncomeon,” Gloria's heart was thundering in her chest as she saw Hector rushing past, A screwdriver in hand.
“Pop the hood!” he barked as the zombie drew nearer. She found the lever and there was the clonk as the hood opened. Hector was rummaging around for a few moments and suddenly the engine turned! The car was working. She gave a whoop of relief, but as Hector slammed down the hood, she saw a zombie launching itself at him!
The stench of the zombie's fetid decaying flesh filled Hectors nostrils, as it bit and clawed at him with rotting teeth and sharp fingernails. The thing was inhumanly strong and he was pinned against the metal of the car. His boots slipped in the mud and he gave out a cry of pain as the zombie's teeth sank into his shoulder, right through his rain coat and shirt!
“NO!” Gloria cried out from inside the car. She flung the door open and was coming out, chisel in hand. He felt warm blood trickling down his torso, the shock of it and the adrenaline numbed him but he knew that if he didn't get away pretty darn quick, it'd all be over. He could see many, many zombies moving towards them, drawn like flies to a cube of sugar.
“Get... off... me...” Hector braced himself and dug deep inside of him. Mouthing a prayer he pushed back against the zombie to free himself. They wrestled for control, but more through luck than skill, Hector slid back towards the car in the mud, out of reach from the zombie. A blur of black leather jacket and denim pants rushed past, as Gloria launched herself at the zombie. With quick, savage slashes with the chisel, she took it completely by surprise. It fell on the floor and she didn't stop stabbing until it lay completely still. She was caked in mud and gore and breathing heavily, the chisel was covered in blood.
“I didn't know I had it in me!” Gloria said shakily, the realisation of what she'd done dawning on her. She wobbled as she stood up.
“I think I'm going to be sick,”
“You can be as sick as you like in the car, Gloria, but we really need to move. NOW!” Hector pushed her into the car, she was not objecting, finding it difficult to think for herself right now. Hector was keeping an eye on the large group of zombies shambling towards them. He estimated at least ten.
Hector shoved Gloria in on the backseat and slid in behind the wheel. Manual. No problem, he could drive stick shift. He took a deep breath and looked skywards,
“Here goes,” he disengaged the handbrake and put it in gear, easy press down on the accelerator as the Volvo slowly pulled away, gaining speed. The noise from the engine drew EVERY zombie within earshot and he kept accelerating. The flimsy gate broke open without problems as they had taken care to unlock it before entering and the tyres made screetching noises as the car turned sharply to the right along the road, still gaining speed. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the Horde running as fast as it could after them, and one was ahead of the pack. It flung itself over the stone wall and the side mirror got knocked off as they sped past, the sharp THUNK made Gloria sit up, she was pale but had regained control of herself.
“Let me have a look at that nasty gash when it's safe to do so,” she said and took out her first aid supplies. Hector pulled into a layby a little further down the road so she could tend to it, then they made their way back home. In one piece, but it was getting more dangerous out there and they saw more zombies shuffling towards the Fennel house where they had their base.
(THAT was a close call, Hector needed to roll 6+ on a D10 to Repair the car and he succeeded on the first try. Then he unluckily got injured but rolling a 9 for Gloria attacking in desperation, needing 6+ had me sweating nervously and then sighing deeply with relief! It could've gone so badly if I hadn't fixed the car so quickly.
Hector and Billy-Ray have 1 Infection point each but are otherwise healthy and able to do assignments without penalties.)
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Close call! Great AAR. :-* Perhaps they got a little greedy on the supplies and should have secured the vehicle first? At least, I thought that was the main goal... ;)
Mike Demana
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Close call! Great AAR. :-* Perhaps they got a little greedy on the supplies and should have secured the vehicle first? At least, I thought that was the main goal... ;)
Mike Demana
Thanks Mike! Yes, close call indeed :o!
I had some supplies that were well out of the way so I opted to secure those first. There were 5 Resource Markers on the table and 3 lay in very safe positions, and they were "along the way" to the car so in my head it made sense to take care of those. IF we had to run for it, at least we wouldn't come away empty handed.
I think it was sound to stay cool, carefully moving about and not shoot at anything, because that nasty horde (in the end, 10 or so zombies) would've eaten us :o.
In any case, I have a story to tell about that lol
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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Terrific report, Legionnaire. Lots of nice narrative detail which really brought the scene to life. And it shows how you can have a lot of interest and jeopardy in what was quite a small encounter with minimal characters and quite basic objectives.
Good stuff…..!👍
Doug
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That was close. Now to see how Obie and Co. fare, and what happens if/when the Zeds find the Fennel house...
Good luck!
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Terrific report, Legionnaire. Lots of nice narrative detail which really brought the scene to life. And it shows how you can have a lot of interest and jeopardy in what was quite a small encounter with minimal characters and quite basic objectives.
Good stuff…..!👍
Doug
Thank you kindly sir! I'm pleased as punch for your kind words. I try to make sense of the dice rolls and the decisions on the tabletop, enhancing the mechanics that every decision you make, every dice roll matters!
Only after posting did I realise I had completely forgotten to place one vehicle, the scenario have 5 vehicles that can be repaired and up and running. I was supposed to have a third car, but again, it might actually have made the table look too cluttered.
I'm glad it all worked out without life loss. In CRZ, each character has a number of Health Points equal to Tier level (1 to 4). It also scales very well with what team you have in the scenario. More powerful characters = more zeds, less powerful = less and I think its got a "just right " balance to make any encounter challenging and dangerous enough.
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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That was close. Now to see how Obie and Co. fare, and what happens if/when the Zeds find the Fennel house...
Good luck!
Thank you for your time reading and enjoying this campaign sir!
That scenario will most likely be played Tuesday.
I have made some calculations and planning ahead, the missions are only half the fun :).
There is a Siege Threat Phase, which dictates how likely it is that zeds are trying to overrun the base. The more turns passing since last siege, the more noise (construction, manned facilities etc) all contribute. I am most likely going to have 9-10 by the end of this turn, add a D10 roll and if 16+ the zeds are coming for us :o.
So, that got me thinking. I would really like a Medical Facility now as people are starting to get injured and infected. The Small House has got no space for that :?. Therefore, I think the group needs to relocate to a bigger place. I got my eyes on a two storey restaurant, which also could have a sentry post up top...
So, scenario 4 will most likely be a Claim a New Base mission, rather than to stay and fight for something that we will have to abandon soon enough anyways.
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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This is all absolutely brilliant! I've just caught up on your adventures, I'd missed your updates for a while.
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This is all absolutely brilliant! I've just caught up on your adventures, I'd missed your updates for a while.
I'm very happy that you enjoy this thread! Thank you very much for reading and commenting.
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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TURN 3 MISSION 2/2
We set out at first light, a light miserable drizzle accompanied us. Kelly-Ann's pink tracksuit and white trainers were not the most ideal clothes to wear, the ground was soaked with the heavy rainfall of the past days, her blonde hair was a mess and she had broken a nail. But to be fair, she did keep up with Shivani and I. The Rot had done Shivani good, she doubted anyone would recognise her from before. She had lost a lot of weight, for the first time in her life she was fit and the constant use of the bow had toned her muscles. As we drew closer to the farm, the sun broke through the clouds and the rain stopped, bathing everything in a golden glow.
“You two wait here, I'm going to go up ahead and see what's what.” I said quietly to them.
“Is he always like that?” Kelly-Ann said when I had gone out of view.
“How do you mean?” Shivani asked as she looked around alert.
“Do THIS! Go HERE! STOP!” Kelly-Ann marched around in a comical fashion, splashing water and mud.
“Oh! That!” Shivani giggled.
“I suppose he is... decisive when we are out and about. He calls it “Not-Getting-Killed-Today” mode.”
“The two of you spend a lot of time together out there. Always on the go, scouting.”
“We do, we work very well together. So far, we are all alive.”
“You sure it's only, well, work?” Kelly-Ann smiled mischieviously and nudged Shivani.
“Look here, Kelly-Ann,” Shivani was not amused at that in the slightest, knowing fully well what she meant, it was an innocent remark said in jest, but it hit home in an unintended way.
“I have nothing but the utmost respect for Obie. He's kind, funny, always willing to help you out. He's the first one into a bad situation and the last one out, making sure everyone else make it. But my ex- husband has seriously put me off any kind of relations.”
“Oh, s*it! Shivani, I'm so sorry! I didn't know!” Kelly-Ann covered her mouth gasping and felt very stupid for having said those words.
“It's ok. It's not something I like to talk about. He used to beat me, badly... he was the first zombie I ever killed. With this very bow.” She wiggled the bow for emphasis.
“Every time I shoot a zombie, I picture HIS face.” She let that sink in and Kelly-Ann floundered around for words for a few moments.
“F***ck! That's... dark!” her eyes were wide open and she unconsciously took a step back. Sure, she had heard about how Shivani never misses a shot, but this revelation... that was some very heavy s*it! What Shivani DIDN'T tell her, was that the face of her ex-husband that she visualized every time she took the shot, was his face, when he was beating her, when he was human and when he knew exactly what he was doing.
“What are the two of you gossiping about?” I startled both of them, I can move quietly when I want to. Not as silent as Shivani, who's practically a ninja, but quiet enough.
“Oh, nothing! Just talking about the latest Paris fashion, the hottest pop diva's, girly stuff you know,” Shivani said deadpan. I didn't press for any more details.
“I've had a look. There seems to be plenty to have here, much more than we will be able to carry off this time around. Of course there's a sizeable zombie presence, but they mainly seem to be milling about by the barn and by the cows.” I watched both of them doing a double take at what I had just said.
“Sorry, excuse me? Did you just say... cows?” Kelly-Ann looked at me like I was pulling her leg.
“Yes, cows.”
“Ooooh, I love cows! They are so cute, don't you think?” She jumped up and down excitedly, squealing with laughter, smiling that innocent smile of hers. We had not seen much animal life at all since The Outbreak. The birds, cats and dogs, hardly any. I had some misgivings of what had befallen them, and after seeing the cows, I was more convinced.
“I'm sorry Kelly-Ann, but I have to warn you. You might not like what you are about to see, just saying,” I laid a hand on her shoulder and she sagged, I must've looked like I felt.
In cover in the tall grass, which would hide us for a little while at least, we looked over the farm. There was a barn, a chicken coop, a hand dug well. To the north was a small orchard with lots of crates and a corral with three cows, their lowing sounded forlorn and sad. They looked sickly, the flesh was torn and ripped in chunks, festering sores were covering their bodies and they looked frail and barely alive. Kelly-Ann wiped tears from her eyes but I'm sure we all felt for those poor animals. I gave us a few moments to gather ourselves, we were in no rush. We had to do this right, and with caution.
“Shivani, you're on point. You are to sort out the useful stuff from the rubbish and then we will pack as much as we can carry and get out of here. No unnecessary risks, no heroics, this is no video game,” this was aimed at Kelly-Ann to make her understand how important this was.
“Are you ready? Move out.”
The grass, growing unchecked and well watered was tall and glistened with the fresh rain. We could hear the cows lowing and saw the occasional shuffling from a zombie, but all were thankfully still some ways off. I hoped it would stay that way. Shivani moved with a quiet elegance, barely making a sound, Kelly-Ann did her best but I could see how nervous and scared she was, her little Hello Kitty backpack wouldn't be able to hold much, but better than nothing.
“I got something here,” Shivani said quietly and stopped to look at a promising pile of boxes and cartons that had been chucked on the floor. I nodded and stepped in front of them, bringing my riot shield in front of me, just in case. I had learned from experience, even if the zombies are far off, NEVER let your guard down, just because you don't see it, it doesn't mean that they aren't right there in front of you. I heard Shivani rummage around in the pile, like a magician pulling useful stuff right out of it. I might find a tin of baked beans, if I'm lucky.
“Kelly-Ann, grab what you can and head back, we won't be long.” I didn't want the poor girl to be here any longer than she had to be. While it was still reasonably safe, I decided to send her home. She didn't need much encouragement, shakily she gathered up as much as she could stuff in her backpack, dropping a tin in the process. Shivani smiled kindly and picked it up and pocketed it and nodded for her to go. We both kept an eye on her as she moved quickly towards home, glancing behind her as she went. I opened my big rucksack and packed it with lots of useful stuff, Shivani did the same, all the while we kept an alert eye at the environment, and it was well that we did that! A movement at the corner of my eye caught my attention! A zombie was rising up at the edge of the orchard, an uncomfortable short distance away. I reckoned any noise we made, would attract it's attention.
I tapped Shivani on her shoulder and pointed out the zombie. She gave a slight nod and drew an arrow from her quiver. I never tire of seeing that woman shoot, it's almost like she gets in another mental state, where the bow and she act as one. The bow string sang softly and I heard the muffled THUNK as the arrow tip went clean through the stationary zombies cranium. It dropped out of sight, like a ragdoll. As she moved a bit further ahead to a promising pile of spilt cans, bottles and boxes, she drew another arrow. I moved forwards as quiet as I could, again taking up post in front of Shivani with my shield. We could both hear and see a large group, a horde really, of zombies moving about to the east, but they seemed to gravitate towards the corral and the cows. I fervently hoped that that would be the case, but they were unpredictable at best. I glanced behind me and slowly, slowly drew my heavy brush knife from the scabbard. Shivani saw me doing it and knew why. A zed was just pulling itself out of the mud, only about 20 feet away. We had done it before and both of us knew exactly what to do now, no words were needed.
Keeping an eye on it at all times, Shivani sifted through the pile and picked up some stuff, making more noise than she had to. We saw the zombie stirring, as if a switch was flicked, making it aware. I made some more noise putting more stuff in my backpack. I knew what was going to happen next, I saw it jerk into motion and shamble towards us. I waited for the right moment...
I rose up quickly, my riot shield slammed into the zombie, throwing it off balance. As it flailed around, tilting markedly to the left, I hooked the back of it's leg and swept it out from underneath it. As it rolled over, snarling, trying to get up, with both it's hands for support in the mud, I cut deeply through it's exposed skull, severing whatever made it come alive and it toppled over in the mud, still once more. I had to put my boot against the body to bring leverage to free my blade.
“Show off,” Shivani smiled.
We could hear the agitated lowing from the cows as they were surrounded by half a dozen zed's, but there was nothing we could do for them.
With the most imminent threats dealt with, we wasted no time. Under Shivani's keen eye we soon found more useful stuff, so much in fact that we couldn't carry it all. As quickly and as quietly as we could, we filled our backpacks and exited the same way as we came in. My knees were complaining under the heavy weight I was carrying so Shivani made it out before me. I cast one last look behind me and felt sorry for the cows but pulled myself together and caught up with Kelly-Ann and Shivani. We all tumbled into the Fennel residence very tired but we knew that we had done a really good job of it.
We all noticed the white Volvo parked in front of the house and even though senor Vidal had been hurt, he seemed fine for the moment. We looked at each other and all the resources we had gathered, we even had a working car. We allowed ourselves a celebratory drink and everyone, even Bernice, let their hair down for a short while, it was a welcome break from the bleak reality...
“Come here everyone, gather around. Uncle Hector has got some presents for you!” With his white hair and moustache he looked a little like a healthier version of the Big Jolly Guy in Red!
“These are the things Gloria and I found when we went to get the car.” He rummaged around in the sack that was at his feet.
,”
“And here we have, for young Bernice, who likes things that go bang!” He pulled something out of his sack and it took a few moments for us to figure out what it was.
“Well uncle Hector! You shouldn't have! A smoke grenade!” Bernice played along and looked suitably impressed showing the present to everyone.
“Next up, in our little impromptu pinata, something for everyone!” we all laughed and giggled. It was so absurd that it was funny, and the drinks had done their thing. Senor Vidal reached in with both hands and pulled out a game console with two joypads. We had electricity so the device was set up in no time and we all took turns, having fun for a little while. As we were breaking up, tidying up and resuming normal duties, senor Vidal took me aside.
“And... for you, a very special gift. From all of us. For all the good you've done for us.” I suddenly felt ambushed, in a good way, because everyone were standing in a circle around us. Senor Vidal took my hands in his, they were rough and strong.
“You brought us together and have stood by our side in these difficult times,” his pleasant barytone carried well.
“A stranger in these parts, with no ties nor obligations here. You have done more than anyone could rightly ask for. You've given us a home and hope. Hope that we will see these dark times through. Let us all bow our heads and give thanks,” I barely heard his whispered Amen. I felt all warm and fuzzy inside, my vision was blurred and I realised I had tears in my eyes. I wiped them off with the sleeve. He once more dug into his sack and withdrew a beautiful sturdy bladed weapon. I accepted it as the others clapped their hands. I unsheathed it.
“It's a Kukri I believe,” as I grasped the handle. It felt just right, the balance was amazing and the edge looked like it would cut you just for looking at it.
“Thank you! Thank you all!” I had to say it more than once as the words caught in my throat. Yes, I think we will be alright...
(This mission really went as well as it possibly could! The 5 Scout skill that Obie has allows me to move up to 5 Resources/ Zombies up to 3”. So some zombies were moved away, and some resources were moved closer. That made an incredible difference.)
(With only 1 Inventory Slot and 1 Health (Tier 1 Rookie), I decided even before setting up, that Kelly-Ann should gather the first Resource and then get off the table into safety.)
With the two missions now played, these are the XP awards and what was bought. Sr Vidal 2 XP bought Tinker 1 and Utilities 1. Gloria 1 XP, bought Medicine 1. Kelly-Ann 1 XP bought Rationing 1. Obie 2 XP bought Scout 2 and Shivani 1 XP which was banked for later use.
Gains:
1 Volvo (Tier 2 Vehicle. Seat 4, 6 Inventory Slots)
10 Food
1 Hardware
1 Fuel
Senor Vidal (Utilities 3) transformed ALL 3 Fuel tokens into rolls on the Rare Items table. Receiving a Smoke Grenade, Quality Bladed (+1) weapon and a Video Game Console.
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Well, well, well. That went, well, well... :D
I don't want to rain on any parades, but I suspect more trouble will find our group of survivors. But they seem capable of handling what may come their way. 8)
Looking forward to seeing more of this!
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Well, well, well. That went, well, well... :D
I don't want to rain on any parades, but I suspect more trouble will find our group of survivors. But they seem capable of handling what may come their way. 8)
Looking forward to seeing more of this!
Indeed sir! I was VERY happy with how it turned out, as with any CRZ games it still keeps you on your toes. The way the mechanics of spawning works, is that my gaming table is 34"x34". Using the alternate spawning mechanic, I roll D10+3 and from the centre point put the zombie, resource, vehicle, survivor etc that many inches away in the direction of there the point on the die is indicating. So literally, anything can pop up anywhere on the table. That makes the Scout skill an incredibly useful tool, as I can move X number of items around by up to 3" in any direction, but not things in a building to outside and vice versa.
I have the next mission figured out and I suspect you will be right on this point. By necessity, we have to take a much more aggressive approach which, accompanied by the Noise of gunfire, will draw the zombie menace and danger. I hope the dice rolls will be in my favour but I also suspect, that the Medical Facility that I have as a priority to build, will be used...
I'm very happy to hear that you are enjoying this sir, so thanks for taking your time reading and commenting. All being well, due to circumstances outside of my control, I MIGHT get the next game done tomorrow Friday :).
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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Enjoyed the tension of the game report. The characters are definitely gelling together as a team. :)
Mike Demana
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Enjoyed the tension of the game report. The characters are definitely gelling together as a team. :)
Mike Demana
Thank you Mike! I always enjoy cooking up what I think would make an interesting read in the tabletop action.
I think Obie's and Shivani's Skill sets work very well together, also their weapons of choice, Archery (T) and Bladed (T) make very little noise. It certainly doesn't hurt, that Shivani can't fail to score a Kill Shot on a Passive zombie and only need to roll 3+ for an Aggressive one. Obie, now with a Quality Bladed Weapon +1 (Kukri), can't fail to get a Kill on an Aggressive zombie (Skill of 5 with that weapon :o). Still, even with those statistics in mind, there's plenty that could, and probably would, go wrong lol. Certainly when you add in the chaos of gunfire...
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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GAME TURN 4 (End of March) PRELUDE
We ate very well over the next week, Kelly-Ann's cooking was superb and we had plenty to spare, so much in fact, that some got spoilt as we ran out of storage space. Senor Vidal spent his spare time tinkering with the Volvo, making sure it was running as good as he could, lacking a proper garage. It turned out that Billy-Ray had green thumbs, the garden was bountiful and I'm sure the rain helped a lot. We were very low on building materials after Bernice had cobbled together some makeshift beds but we had enough petrol to last us for a while. Things were looking up, but last night senor Vidal, Shivani and I had had a long discussion and reached an agreement.
They were all tucking into their breakfast when I seized the moment.
“Morning all, we had a talk yesterday evening about what we thought would be the next step. Senor Vidal, would you please tell them what we talked about?” He chewed and swallowed before speaking.
“Well, as much as we like this little house that we have spent some time in, we are going to have to leave, soon,” there was an uproar of protestations and it took a bit of coaxing to get them to simmer down.
“Yes, we have spent sweat and labour fixing this place up. Yes, we have a roof over our heads. Yes, we are safe... for now,” I said.
“But, consider this. Only because we didn't have much going on, keeping the noise down, did we not see many zombies roaming around out here. We barely have enough storage for all the things we need, even with the garden and Kelly-Ann's excellent cooking, we are, let's face it, only a day away from starving at the best of times.” I sat down and indicated for Shivani to take over.
“Therefore, we are considering moving to a bigger, better place. Not very far from here. It's an old restaurant that we would be better off in. There's more space. We think a sick bay would be a very good idea to have and we could put a watchtower on the roof, amongst other things. It has a lot more potential than this house.”
“Now, of course, if anyone of you have some objections to this we will of course listen to your concerns. We will give you this day to think it over and come forward if there are any issues that need to be resolved.” We all continued eating but it was clear that this was something many of us were thinking about during that day.
No one came forward to object though, so the next morning I said:
“Good morning all. Thank you for listening and thinking about the impact of our suggestion. I have not heard any objections, so with that in mind we are going forward. Senor Vidal, Shivani, Bernice, Billy-Ray and myself, we are going to be the team. For the simple reason that we are armed, because this is going to be a very dangerous affair. We are expecting the place to be crawling with zombies so we HAVE to go into combat. Ideally, clear every one of the zeds out giving us enough time to strengthen the position. I'll see you down here in 10 minutes, grab your guns and gear.” I was wearing my brand new Kukri at the belt and the riot shield was already leaning against the wall.
Ten minutes later, Billy-Ray and Bernice checked their guns over, Bernice rolled the cylinder on her .44 S&W revolver and Billy-Ray put a clip in the Browning HP he had found somewhere. Senor Vidal carried his pump shotgun and looked determined, Shivani... well she had her bow and knew how to use it. Everyone except me had ranged weapons, I was ok with that.
I gave a slight nod to everyone and then we moved out, The riot shield on my left arm and the weight of my brand new blade against my hip felt reassuring...
(There were very few issues with sleep, having 5 beds for 7 people and more than enough Food to feed the community. In fact, I had 5 Food left, but could only store 4 so one unit rotted away. With only the Kitchen and the Utility Room manned and no Project groups, the total of 5 Siege Rating would not give any chance of a Zombie Siege this Turn. Everyone seemed quite content (Unrest at 7) so no one was at risk of leaving, like Damon had done. Our spare Resources at this point are: 4 Food, 4 Fuel, 1 Hardware. We also have a Video Game Console laying around, which, when I introduce the Rare Goods Trader, most likely will be bartered for something more useful.
Having looked through the rule book, I thought a Greasy Spoon (Tier 1 Base) would be a better place than the initial house. I would like to build a Medical Facility, another Bunk Room (Extra Beds), Watchtower and Utility Room (which supplies Power and Water). I will be able to store more Resources there as well than in the Small House we are currently in.
I'm not throwing caution to the wind, having worked very well in the previous games, but this time there'll be combat and guns blazing! With the team doing the mission, I will have 13 zombies on the board from the start and I need to start cracking at those numbers, having a completely different kind of game. Going on the offensive this time, with loud, noisy firearms. This could potentially go very wrong... let's hope not!)
Senor Vidal tinkering with the white Volvo V40, lacking a proper garage he's doing it as best as he can.
Billy-Ray reaping the rewards of his hard work in the garden plot.
Obie and Shivani take the lead, followed by senor Vidal, Billy-Ray and Bernice. Gloria and Kelly-Ann watch them go, anxiously awaiting their return. Soon afterwards, they return back in to start packing the things they will be taking with them to the new base.
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Hmm. My guess is that your guess is right. To paraphrase Elmer Fudd, "Be vewy, vewy quiet. We're hunting zombies..."
By the way, is there any chance anything might occur with Kelly-Ann and Gloria, while Obie, et. al. are out taking care of business?
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Hmm. My guess is that your guess is right. To paraphrase Elmer Fudd, "Be vewy, vewy quiet. We're hunting zombies..."
By the way, is there any chance anything might occur with Kelly-Ann and Gloria, while Obie, et. al. are out taking care of business?
"Ooooo, that waskally wabbit!" >:( I was always cheering Mr Fudd on, I never liked Bugs. Much more of a Daffy Duck man myself. I really, really hope this mission won't be like one of Wiley Coyote's schemes :o!
Nothing will happen to them at this moment sir. They are just not participating in the mission as I deemed it too risky when they're not tooled up. They certainly could do with the experience points being earned when you're on a mission, but I think they'll just have to sit this one out.
The game turns basically work like this: assign your survivors to tasks for the whole turn, if you are on the Mission team(s) you can't do anything else. I needed Kelly-Ann to man the Kitchen to put food on the table, so for that reason she can't go on a mission. The Garden doesn't need anyone working it and the rain helped in growing more Food that turn. Gloria didn't have anything assigned to her but again, she probably would've been a liability to the team as she's lacking any combat skills. Granted, she was surprisingly savage and efficient with that chisel...
With Sr Vidal having 6+4 shotgun shells, Bernice 6+6 .44 rounds, Billy-Ray 10+10 9mm rounds and Shivani always starting a mission with 12 arrows, I still feel that every shot will count. My slight modification of the Firearms Rules is that any "leftover" ammo carries over. This will be nasty combat in close range, the ideal range for all those weapons is within 8"! Any further than that and the chances to get a Confirmed Kill will be reduced. The handguns max out at 12", the shotgun and bow can shoot up to 18" away but the chances are quite slim that they will do anything more than waste precious ammo.
I have to say, I really, really, like this rule set. It's very well put together and you can pick and choose what extra rules (if any) you want to incorporate in your games. After playing a game or two, I rarely have to look up anything and the mechanics work simply, yet very effective, making the game run along quite nicely. Everything is based off a D10. Combat wise, you roll the die and add your Skill, modified by the equipment Quality. If you equal the Defense value of the enemy, you have scored a Kill Shot (or Damage depending on weapon if the enemy has more than 1 Health), if not, it's just a miss/ hit in non-vital area etc, so it really goes quickly. I probably played the past encounters, with note taking mind you, in a maximum of 45 minutes, start to finish.
There is a Rare Goods Trader mechanic as well. Somewhere in the area is a geezer with useful odds and ends. You roll to see what's on offer, so it's not a guarantee that they have exactly what you want. You can take your unwanted stuff and trade in with him/ her/ they. But I will get back to that after the next mission, I have a little idea brewing...
Many thanks for your suggestions and comments sir.
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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GAME TURN 4, THE BATTLE OF BURRITO BODEGA (Prelude)!
(Due to my chronic pain problems rearing its ugly head, instead of working today, I try to keep my spirits up continuing my campaign instead.)
Everyone felt the heavy importance of this dangerous task. Even Bernice, who always had her mouth running about one thing or another, was uncustomary quiet. We went on foot, only carrying the clothes on our backs, weapons, spare ammunition and I had some bandages and antiseptic supplies stuffed in my pockets. Shivani and I went a little ahead of the others, we had done it so often now that we didn't need to exchange any words. We carefully and quietly navigated the eerily empty streets of the Town, devoid of any signs of real life, taking extra care to circumvent ANY bodies on our way. We didn't want to risk getting into zombie trouble until we were ready. Therefore, the progress was slow, time consuming and nerve wrecking, but the end result was well worth the effort, we arrived in close proximity to Burrito Bodega without incident. Despite the cool March weather, everyone were sweating. I signalled for the party to stay put and went ahead to do a recce. I found a good vantage point from a nearby billboard, advertising Heinz beans. I scoffed at it, I had never seen the point of eating beans on toast and thought Heinz was overprized. Zombie apocalypse or not, some things never changed.
“Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Joleeeenee,” Dolly Parton pleaded from the jukebox that was still running inside the restaurant. No wonder that there were so many undead here, almost like they had gathered at a concert. The Burrito Bodega was a large rustic two-storey restaurant, built in a wild west fashion, which really appealed to me. Someone had put up crude barricades but they were probably the ones shuffling around here now. A water tower sat on the roof, an excellent vantage point for a sentry, there was a very large parking lot that could be cleared out and a children's play area at the back. A pick-up truck had gotten hanging off one of the large dustbins at the back, it's tyre spinning slowly. An ambulance had crashed into the sturdy stone wall surrounding the parking lot and gotten rear-ended by a police jeep which had turned over on its side. The doors to the ambulance were flung open and equipment was strewn on the floor. I saw movement inside on the ground floor, zombies shuffling along in a bizarre dance to the music. Just another day in the zombie apocalypse I reflected. I had stopped smoking 15 years ago, but sometimes I wish I hadn't. I was having the same feeling now after nearly a month, with danger around the corner at all times, as I had had back in '94 serving on the Balcans. It's amazing how fast you get used to things and certain things become “normal”. For once, it was a nice, pleasant, dry sunny spring day, I hoped it wasn't going to be a bad sign.
“I know how capable senor Vidal and Shivani are, I don't know your's,” I looked at Billy-Ray and Bernice.
“Therefore, this is how it's going to work. Given our load-out, it's going to be close-up, nasty, terryfying urban combat. As soon as that first shot is fired, all Hell WILL break lose. There's plenty of The Rotten around here. So everyone watch your line of fire, try to make every shot count and don't waste ammunition on long shots. The key to success, in your case, is to keep moving and firing. Remember, if a zombie can't get to you, it can't hurt you. Stay together, look out for each other and don't get killed.” I smiled reassuringly at them.
“And what about you?” I knew Bernice couldn't keep her mouth shut any longer. She tried to hide it behind her tough facade, but I could see how scared and nervous she was. I had nothing against her on a personal level, she tried her best, but sometimes her incessant mouthing off got on my nerves.
“You going to let us do all the work and walk behind us?”
“No. It's going to be the other way around, Bernice. You are going behind ME and I will try to keep all the nasty zombies from getting close to you and killing you,” I smiled, but it was not a humorous one. I unsheathed my brand new Kukri, it gleamed in the sunlight, the riot shield was securely fastened on my left arm and I started walking towards the group milling around the playground. I had kept an eye on them and as they spread out I decided that now was probably the best chance we were going to get. If we could make a decisive impact and dent in their numbers in the first minutes, while we had our strength and energy, hopefully the rest would be just a mopping up operation...
This mission will be played today and I shall try to post the AAR at a later point when all is over... in whatever manner that may be!
The outside of the Burrito Bodega, 4 zombies are shuffling along inside to the tune from the jukebox.
The mission area. The team is entering by the bus stop in the top corner, the blue pick-up truck is hanging off one of the dustbins. None of the vehicles are going to run again and all humans have fled the areas. Some supplies are scattered around but they are our lowest priority.
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Interesting insight into the rules on your previous post - thanks for that.
The build up to the latest expedition paints a picture of a very tense band of survivors, once again walking into the unknown. Great stuff.
Don’t forget that once you’ve drawn your kukri, it has to draw blood…!
I like the building - what make is it?
Doug
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Interesting insight into the rules on your previous post - thanks for that.
The build up to the latest expedition paints a picture of a very tense band of survivors, once again walking into the unknown. Great stuff.
Don’t forget that once you’ve drawn your kukri, it has to draw blood…!
I like the building - what make is it?
Doug
You are most welcome, I think having some kind of "debrief" is useful for others. Both how the game played on the table top rules wise and maybe it'll be of interest to others :).
I'm very happy that you got that impression sir! We all know that no battle plan survives the first encounter with the enemy and the dice can be fickle lol.
And it was properly anointed!!! I'm in the process of cobbling together the Tale of the Battle of Burrito Bodega as I type, should be up later this afternoon.
That saloon is a TT Combat MDF building from their Wild West range. Very good value for money and their buildings look great with Heroic 28mm figures. Almost all my wild west and zombie apocalypse buildings are from them.
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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THE BLOODY BATTLE OF BURRITO BODEGA (TURN 4 MISSION) (PART 1/2)
We walked as quietly as we possibly could, not drawing attention to us before we had set ourselves up. It looked surreal, we could be five citizens waiting for the bus, a bus that would never come. The time table was torn and flapped in the wind, some rude graffitti had been sprayed on the bus shelter. I singled out a zombie, “grandma Zed” in my head and pointed.
“You think you can take that one out, Shivani? It'll break up their formation.”
“Sure,” she shrugged and unslung her bow. It was a bog standard practice bow, no fancy stabilizers or precision sights, just a stick with a string really. Shivani was aware that she had an audience. Not everyone had seen her shoot but everyone had heard about it. “The Girl That Never Miss”, they said. She blocked out the outside world, and put an arrow on the string, inhaling, holding her breath. She brought tension to the string, her ex-husband's face superimposed on the target. It's got to be at least 35 meters away, a good distance for a bow, considering that the target she tried to hit was only as big as a head. Olympic archers shoot maybe at twice that distance at a same sized bullseye, but their targets don't move and don't try to kill them.
“SSSCCHHHKKK!” the bow string hummed as the arrow took flight. The arrow shaft penetrated the skull right above the ear and the zombie shuddered and sank to the ground without so much as a cough. Now, she realised as she came out of The Zone, everyone had held their breaths. She exhaled and moved forwards as she drew another arrow from the quiver on her back.
“Senor Vidal, you're up next. We need to draw them nearer, let them come to us so we can anticipate.”
The retiree's moustache bristled as he took the safety off his shotgun. He walked forwards with purpose and I was glad to see he was watching himself. When the next zombie gave that tell-tale jerk of activity, senor Vidal brought his shotgun up and braced it against the shoulder. I had grown up watching my dad shoot, he was a very good rifle shot and a calm person. Senor Vidal reminded me of him a little. He cooly waited for the target to bob into his sights and squeezed the trigger.
“KABOOM!” roared the shotgun, a wisp of gunsmoke swirling around the barrell. The zombie staggered for a moment, the head blown clean off and tumbled into the ground. We were still a little ways off, but one zombie was alerted by the noise and got wind of us.
“On me!” Now I moved forwards, brandishing my riot shield and Kukri. I banged on the shield with the Kukri to draw more attention to me, and they came! Two of them surged forwards, growling, stinking. One looked like she had been a paramedic, probably from that crashed ambulance. They were intent on ripping my heart out but I had gotten very comfortable with that riot shield so even though I found it terrifying standing face to face with a murder machine trying to kill you, I held them off without incident.
“Footwork!” an instructor had told me,
“that's the most important move you can have. Without it, it doesn't matter how hard you hit. If you can't move, you're going to lose.” I'd like to think I would've made him proud.
My turn. I waited for an opening and when it came, I didn't hesitate. My right arm struck out, the Kukri went through the first zombies neck like a hot knife through butter, I barely felt the impact. I took a shuffle to the side so the zombie had to reposition, as it trod over it's fallen comrade, losing balance for a moment, I swung up-and-over. The blade travelled through the top of the cranium all the way down to the lower jaw, almost effortlessly. This was a great blade, almost alive in my hand. I smoothly retreived the blade as a zombie was drawing closer. Shivani took a step, stopped and nocked an arrow. I reckon it was 20 meters, give or take. I've seen it so many times now, but I still can't believe it. Maybe I'm just waiting for the opportunity to say “I was there!” when she misses. This was not the time though. The slight breeze made it challenging to shoot, but despite that, the arrow flew true and embedded itself deeply in the head of the intended target.
“I've got it boss!” Big Billy-Ray said behind me, as I was so rudely accosted by a zombie. Despite my preconceptions, he moved forwards and took a proper stance and aim. I had expected him to level the pistol in a “gangsta style”.
“BANGBANG!” Surprise number two was that he squeezed off a perfectly executed double-tap series, both bullets hitting the head of the zombie, drilling it through. Brain matter, bone and viscera splattered against my shield, but you could cover the bullet holes with a 2p coin, that was how tight that grouping was, and at 15 meters. I looked back at Billy-Ray and raised my eyebrow, I was very impressed. The gunshots from his Browning HP stirred the residents inside the restaurant. We could hear them banging against the windows, looking for the quickest way out to devour us. Senor Vidal and Bernice trailed a little bit behind, it was obvious that Bernice was ill at ease, she gripped her big .44 revolver as a talisman and her eyes were big and fearful. Senor Vidal had to give her a little help as her legs seemed to be reluctant to obey her. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw another zombie rising up from the ground, barely 10 meters away, whilst the ones inside the restaurant were smashing the windows asunder.
Shivani moved in that elegant way of hers, drawing, nocking, aiming and shooting an arrow in the time it would take me to put my hand in my pocket. I didn't bother looking this time, I heard the THUMP as the zombie behind me fell to the ground lifeless, no doubt with an arrow sticking out from it's head.
“Senor Vidal. Bernice. You need to deal with the ones coming out. Hold them off!” I shouted as the glass from the windows shattered in a million pieces. Senor Vidal moved closer and brought his shotgun to bear, squeezing the trigger.
“KABOOM!” another roar from his gun echoed between the buildings but from his “mierda!” I gathered that it hadn't had the intended effect. The loud gunshot drew a lot of attention, both from inside the building and from around the parking lot. Bernice finally got her act together and got a grip on herself. Seeing that senor Vidal now would be in danger, she forced herself to move. Her mouth was dry, her heart was beating so hard and so fast in her chest that she thought it'd burst. She had grown up around guns, her parents were keen on guns. She had learned to shoot at an early age and she had attended many functions revolving around that interest. Sure, she had bragged what she would do to anyone trying something funny. But, up until some days ago, she had never fired her gun at anything but stationary cardboard targets. The four-inch barreled .44 S&W revolver felt extremely heavy in her hand. It kicked like a mother so she braced herself. The barrel weaved all over the place and she willed herself to calm down. All that noise around was very distracting and she could smell the burnt gunpowder. About 10-15 metres away she saw THEM, they would be out of the restaurant in but moments. The zombie senor Vidal had shot previously had bounced back up again. If she didn't do anything now, they would be in a real heap of trouble.
“No f*cking pressure then!” she huffed at herself.
“Die motherf*cker!” she whispered. The barrell swung up in line with it's head, unswerving, like it was set in stone. She thumbed back the hammer and squeezed the trigger...
“THUDDUMMMM!” the large calibre revolver thundered, her arms jerked from the recoil. The slug shattered the remaining window pane and proceeded to drill a ragged hole right between the eyes of the zombie behind it. Bernice stood with a very surprised expression on her face, her mouth an open O.
“Oh! S*it! Wow...” she mumbled.
“Did you f*cking see that? Did you?!” she jumped up and down with glee for a moment. My stern look made her stop that.
“Yes. Well done Bernice. Now get on with it, because here they come.” The gunshots had now rattled so many zombies, that I didn't even stop to count, possibly as many as we were! I rush forwards, positioning myself between the approaching zombies and senor Vidal and Bernice. And not a second to late, I am swamped by zombies, they surround me and I have to be at my absolute best. I feel them ripping my Metallica t-shirt, the Kill 'em All one and tearing my trousers, but I bob and weave and keep them from drawing blood. I fend one zombie off with my riot shield and chop the leg off another, the gore and mess hardly bother me these days. As it falls to the ground I put my boot on it's chest holding it down. With an upward slice, I take its head off.
“Three more to go,” I think to myself as my shield is my bastion against the onslaught. Sweat is trickling down my back and I'm breathing hard, if I hadn't been in decent shape, I would never been able to keep this up.
“Billy-Ray! I really could do with some more of that fine marksmanship!” I shout.
“Ok boss, I hear you! Ready!” I saw him at the corner of my eye, standing still, gun raised, ready to fire when a target presented itself.
“NNNNGGGHHH!” I slammed the riot shield against a zombie, pushing it away from me.
“BANG!” a single shot rang out. The bullet must've hit something else, because a piece of the lower jaw on the zombie flew off and pinged against my shield. The zombie slumped against my shield and slid down in an almost comical fashion. I quickly drew back a few steps and to the side, so the remaining two zombies had to chase me. I hoped that was enough.
“BANG!” another shot rang out almost instantaneously. I heard the ejected shell fall on the asphalt, rolling, coming to a stop. The zombie stumbled forwards towards me, but seemed to try to figure out what was wrong. It feebly raised it's arms against me and dropped, a neat hole drilled through its ear. More zombies poured out from inside the restaurant but I doubted there would be any more hiding in there, the gunshots would've drawn them by now. The zed in front of me could try as much as it liked to kill me. In the words of Captain America: “I can do this all day!”
The conclusion and aftermath to the AAR will be following in another post after a break.
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THE BLOODY BATTLE OF BURRITO BODEGA (TURN 4 MISSION) (PART 2/2)
“To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day,
Hardly spoke to folks around him, didn't have too much to say,” Dolly Parton's “Jolene” had finished and now the jukebox played Marty Robbins' song “Big Iron”. I have to say, I DID feel a bit like that nameless Texas Ranger in the song, the big iron on my hip wasn't a gun but a Kukri. There was no doubt about my swiftness though. I had two snarling savagely rampaging hell-bent on killing me zombies right in front of me. My Kukri swung out. It's called Defanging The Snake, when you cut the arm to stop an attacker from being able to cause you harm, making them much less of a threat. I swung the blade in a few movements, cutting deeply. The two zombies arms were not cut off completely but they were hanging uselessly and they tried to batter me with the stumps. I barely could see through my plexiglass riot shield, it was all covered in blood and gunk. Now, that there was less interference, it was an easy thing to cut off both the zombies heads, I nearly managed to take both off in one swing but had to recoil the blade and strike one more time to get the job done properly.
“Shivani! On point!” I barked.
She moved swiftly up onto a pick-up truck that was parked there to get a better view. It was yellow. Senor Vidal and Bernice moved forwards together, circumventing one of the makeshift barricades that had been put up here. Billy-Ray followed me and went a little bit ahead, cautiously peeking around the corner towards the parking lot. The Browning HP looked like a pea shooter in his massive hands. Shivani raised her hand and held up 4 fingers. She looked behind me, nodded and added another. Five zombies that we could see.
From the back of the pick-up, with a better line of sight and slightly elevated position, Shivani drew another arrow from the quiver. She took her time, knowing that right now we were in no hurry. About 20 metres further away, a zombie fell without so much as a peep. Senor Vidal worked the slide and ejected the spent shell, chambering another round. Taking advantage of the lull and less chaos, he lined up the sights and squeezed the trigger.
“KABOOM!”
The zombie was slung back against a wall by the force and slid down, leaving a thick trail of brain matter and blood smeared on it. We all tense up but remarkably, none of the present zombies seemed to react to that loud noise. Senor Vidal lets out a sigh of relief and moves into cover behind a red Audi. Bernice, revolver in hand, joins him, staying very low and quiet. I get Billy-Ray's attention and indicate he should follow behind me. I don't try to mask my approach, it's the whole point, I WANT to draw them out. One zombie can't resist the treat I am presenting so it stirs awake. I can hear Billy-Ray move behind me. I step to the side to offer him a better shooting angle. He doesn't let that opportunity go to waste. As the zed is jerking to life, Billy-Ray raises his gun and fires one single shot.
“BANG!” the pistol bucks in his hand but there's nothing wrong with his aim. The zombie staggers to one side, then to the other, wheezing and coughing, I can feel the stench from it even 10 paces away. It raises its hand against me, I KNOW it tries to scratch me, but it's a feeble gesture and then the realisation hits it and it finally goes down, never to get up again. I exhale loudly, for a moment there I thought it would not stop.
I see movement, one of The Rotten have gotten wind of me and is moving surprisingly swiftly towards me. I meet it half-way and I don't even stop to say hi. I swing my Kukri in a deadly arch and pull the blade free as I step past the downed zombie. Shivani follows after me.
“Can you hit that one?” I point to a zombie, somewhat obscured by a wall a good 40 metres away.
“I don't know. I can try.”
“No! Try not! Do or do not! There is no try!” I can't help myself. I say it in my best Yoda impression and she nearly falls over giggling, almost dropping the bow and the arrow.
“Don't you ever do that again Obie, or you will be the next target.” But she smiles and I don't think she means that. I hope not. I don't know much about Shivani, she's very private and I have asked casually but she doesn't want to talk about herself that much. I have a feeling something bad happened to her before all this. I wonder what it could be. She does her thing again, I keep quiet. The bow rises, arrow is nocked, string pulled back, then... a moment's stillness. Release. The arrow swiftly flies towards the target, the air parting before its streamlined shape. I track the arrow every inch of the way.
“THSPLOTCH!” neatly embedded between the eyes, the arrow hits with such great force that only the fletches stick out.
“Is that ok?” she asks teasingly.
“As the Brits would say, that'll do.” I try to put a cool face on, like yeah, I've seen that thousand times before, but I'm bound to fail. That was an amazing shot!
“Billy-Ray! Bernice! You two go around the back and take care of that one behind us.” I didn't need to tell them twice.
“Senor Vidal! Keep an eye on that street corner, in case some other Rotten try to get back in here. We are nearly there ladies and gentlemen! We just have to make sure that there are no zombies left here.”
During the next minute we all moved carefully around the area, making doubly sure that there were no threats left here. Bernice took out one of the remaining zombies and one zombie wandered in by the street corner that senor Vidal was watching. It had barely set foot in the area before it promptly got its head blown off by senor Vidal. With most of the adrenaline fading away, I took notice of my knees. I shuffled along like one of those Rotten, aches and pains surging through me from all that moving about and hard fighting. I sat down to catch my breath and saw them returning, all smiles and high-fives. Shivani had shot the last remaining zombie and we were now in full control of the premises and the immediate surroundings. While we sent word back and waited for Gloria and Kelly-Ann to turn up with the Volvo and the stuff we wanted to keep, we rummaged around for useful stuff. We found some building materials but senor Vidal hit the jackpot.
“Would you look at this?” he whistled.
“What IS that?” Shivani asked.
“This is a portable generator,” he rattled off some technical specs that I'm pretty sure didn't mean much to anyone of us, but we nodded sympathetically. Let the old boy have his toys.
“Oh, and I also found THIS,” from a canvas gun case he drew a sleek, well maintained pump shotgun. It looked like the aristocratic version of the held-together-with-duct-tape one senor Vidal currently had.
“It's a Mossberg 590 Tactical. I am not much into guns to be honest, but this one looks like it would be the right sort of tool we need.”
We wasted no time getting our preperations underway in our new home. We pulled together some tents and camping beds, with Gloria in charge, we started setting up a sick bay in a part of the parking lot. Shivani spent most time up on top of the roof building her crow's nest. Billy-Ray and Bernice worked together clearing out the dining room making space for more beds and Kelly-Ann took advantage of the very well stocked fridges and the stat-of-the-art kitchen with gas cooker. But, we had very cramped conditions for now, we had to take turns sleeping in shifts in the few beds available or catching a cat nap when we could. Everyone's tempers were flaring up and at one point I had to tell Bernice to stop behaving like a little baby and get a grip as she stood there with her gear and a “F*ck you guys! I'm out of here!” attitude. She swore at me until she was blue in the face but threw her stuff in a corner and stomped off to the toilet. No doubt for a cigarette. She managed to cool down and didn't leave, despite her threats. But she could've. All the work and lack of sleep was taking its toll, senor Vidal, being THE senior member was understandably not fit to do anything constructive. I didn't like being idle, it didn't sit right with me, when everyone else were working so hard. I needed to do SOMETHING, but what?...
AFTERMATH: This mission went beyond expectations! Behind the scenes, I had access to 5 re-rolls (thanks to Obie's Tactics 5), I had one left by the end of the game so they were incredibly useful! The first dice roll of the game, Shivani's shot, I rolled the Dreaded '1'. A prompt re-roll sorted that out!
In terms of XP, I awarded the bonus XP to Bernice, because as a Tier 1 Rookie, I would like her to level up to a Tier 2 Citizen ASAP , which will cost 4 XP and she will then also get the Skill Traps, which I think fits in nicely with her background.
Everyone banked their XP's, except for Shivani who bought Archery 2 (4 total after penalty for Shoddy Bow).
With the zombie's wiped out, we were free to grab all the Resources without interference. Gaining 2 Hardware and 2 Rare Items (a Portable Generator and a Quality Shotgun)!
With much to do, there was A LOT of construction work going on! Gloria was assigned to assemble a Medical Clinic in one part of the Parking Lot. Shivani put up fortifications around the water tower to make it into a Watchtower. The Dining Room was cleared out by Billy-Ray and he quickly put up a Bunk Room there, whilst Bernice added Extra Beds to it. The Kitchen is already fitted with an industrial size Gas Range which Kelly-Ann put to good use and a large walk-in Refrigerator provided ample storage for food, but if we don't sort out some energy supply soon it'll be useless. Next Project will definitely be a Utility Station in the currently empty Parking Lot slot, to supply the facility with power and water.
With all this activity going on and very limited bed space available, everyone's tempers were flaring up and I narrowly avoided Bernice taking her gear and leave us! (Unrest 4 + 5 Siege Threat = 9. If that sum ever reaches 10+, the lowest Tier Survivor leaves the community).
So, at end of Turn 4, end of March, the new base (Greasy Spoon, Tier 1) looks like this:
Hardware: 1 (6)
Food: 6 (8)
Fuel: 6 (6)
Kitchen with Gas Range – Kelly-Ann
Storage Area with Refrigerator
Bunk Room with Extra Bed
Dining Room, being refurbished into a Bunk Room with Extra Beds
Parking Lot, being repurposed into a Medical Clinic
Parking Lot, EMPTY
Rooftop, Watchtower being built
ASSETS
Car (Tier 2, 5/8 Health, Seat 4, Inventory 6 Slots)
Video Game Console
Portable Generator
Only one of either Obie or Hector Vidal were available for a Mission, as with Exhaustion at more than the number of members on the Mission Team, I lose one due to sleep depravation. I shall let the old boy rest this turn. He's done well.
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Wow -- your group was a killing machine! No sneaking around this time, it was "Bring it...!" Fun report, and I love the character development, too.
Mike Demana
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Wow -- your group was a killing machine! No sneaking around this time, it was "Bring it...!" Fun report, and I love the character development, too.
Mike Demana
Thank you kindly Mike! I really enjoy putting all this together :). I had dreaded setting this Mission up! I used two more of those re-rolls when Obie was swamped by 4 zombies :o and was very relieved to see both those successful zombie attacks turn into misses!
In general, unless it was Obie or Shivani, the rest needed to roll 6+ on a D10 to score a Kill. Only once did I leave a fail, because it wasn't so important. That was when senor Vidal fired his shotgun at a zombie inside the restaurant, knocking it back 3", which still gave us some breathing space. I also gave senor Vidal a +1 bonus to one shot as he stood still and fired, I counted that as Aim so thought that was a reasonable decision.
EDIT: Also, maybe worth mentioning, that with the Expanded Firearms rules I'm using, senor Vidal may only fire his pump-action shotgun ONCE per Turn, same with Bernice and her .44 revolver (Loud 2, Damage +1). Billy-Ray can Double-Tap with his semi-automatic handgun, which expends 2 bullets, it only takes one action, but if I do that I can't fire again that Turn, and I get to roll 2D10 and pick the best result. A Natural 1 in ANY configuration is still a jam and I can EITHER fire up to twice in a Turn OR Double-Tap once. With the reworked Archery rules, Shivani can reload for free if she spends a Move action as part of it, but she's limited to ONE shot per Turn.
The first two turns I made a slight mistake. The spawned zombie at the end of the turn should appear at a random table corner instead of at a Placement Point, so I corrected that. That proved to be a slightly annoying thing though, as after reaching the car park and eliminating the zeds there, I had to backtrack to the opposite corners to take the newcomers out before reaching the finishing line.
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Wow. Just Wow...
Your crew knows what they are doing. I will say that Bernice is beginning to annoy me. :o I can only imagine Odie's opinion of her...
And I like your American pop culture references. "Head blown clean off" is a fitting tribute to Dirty Harry, and the song choices (especially Big Iron 8)) and the nod to Star Wars were quite appropriate.
Your firearm action descriptions ring true, as well.
And, has Shivani missed anything yet? Good Lord, man, don't mess with her... ;)
All in all, well done, lad! :D Looking forward to more.
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Wow. Just Wow...
Your crew knows what they are doing. I will say that Bernice is beginning to annoy me. :o I can only imagine Odie's opinion of her...
And I like your American pop culture references. "Head blown clean off" is a fitting tribute to Dirty Harry, and the song choices (especially Big Iron 8)) and the nod to Star Wars were quite appropriate.
Your firearm action descriptions ring true, as well.
And, has Shivani missed anything yet? Good Lord, man, don't mess with her... ;)
All in all, well done, lad! :D Looking forward to more.
CapnJim sir! I am very happy to hear that you are still enjoying this tale and thank you for your time reading and commenting.
I'm afraid I was sitting with that painted model in hand and thought: "well she HAS to be very annoying," lol, but maybe, just maybe it's only her youth and less-than-perfect upbringing talking. Maybe Obie, who's a kind, helpful sort, can make her into a more productive upstanding citizen... Only time will tell :).
Thank you very much kind sir! I thought I should bring in something for flavour and I'm glad it hit the intended mark, having received "proper" approval from one of the indigenous population lol. As a Swede, living in the UK, I am sometimes, at least when I came here initially, unsure which expression is British English and which is American English. I do try to keep it "clean" but sometimes little bits seep through. Not necessarily in a bad way :). The Dirty Harry reference might've been something I put there unconsciously, but The Good, The Bad and The Ugly is my favourite movie so I'm sure there'll be a quote or two from that in the next episodes lol. Big Iron I heard the first time when I was playing Fallout New Vegas, although my personal music preferences can be glimpsed in the stylish t-shirts Obie usually wear in the scenario ;). There might be a surprising choice or two in that aspect coming, guilty pleasures.
Again, many thanks for sharing your thoughts. I haven't fired many guns in the past 30 years, but I have shot rifles, pistols and revolvers, so I have at least a basic knowledge. I'm very pleased that you think so sir and will continue bringing those descriptions to the gaming AAR's. But when it comes to senor Vidal's technical doings I will stick with "and he sorted it," I have absolutely no technical interest or know-how lol.
As I told Mike Demana above. The first ever dice roll of the game was the dreaded '1', in most cases it's an automatic Fail, with Handguns you get a Jam so it's a bad thing. I had 5 Re-roll's in the bank and I thought: "Is THIS going to set the tone for the rest of the game? Opening on a Nat 1? Sod it, I'm not having that!" so I spent one of those precious re-rolls and rolled for Shivani again. She needed to roll a 2+ (on a D10) to hit the Passive (4+) zombie, as opposed to hitting an Aggressive (6+) zombie, then adding another +1/ +2 depending on distance, if further than 8" away. In short sir, no she hasn't missed a single shot yet :o.
In the CRZ rules, IF you want to, you can run a full YEAR campaign, over 52 weeks :o, with some Weeks maybe running more than one Mission. Rather than over-committing myself, I will see if I keep my motivation and interest up and do 10 weeks, mid-May by the suggested Timeline. There are also lots of optional rules. You can bring in Complications (weather conditions, special zombies etc) to earn more XP, which I might do, but I'm currently undecided.
The suggested Timeline nicely incorporates Weather conditions in form of a simple roll on a table for that Week. Also, it gradually introduces Special Zombies, like in my Viral Apocalypse, there might be Zombie Cougars, Zombie Bears and Zombie Elks :o, along with 'Sploders, Helmeted zombies (much harder to get a Kill result on), Leapers and a few more. So no Mission will be feeling like a walk in the park from the onset, you ALWAYS have to watch yourself, and of course hope that the dice are in your favour lol.
But even with all this excellent stuff happening to the group, I am running low on ammunition! Shivani will always start a mission with 12 arrows, so no problem, but senor Vidal has only got 6 shotgun shells (a fully loaded shotgun), Billy-Ray has got 10+5 rounds (a full clip and one half full) and Bernice has got 6+4 .44 bullets, so those aren't going to last long. I have slightly modified the Firearms Rules, in that they get to keep the spare ammunition they have from mission to mission, rather than having to spend a precious Ammunition Resource EACH to kit them out fully loaded for a mission. Unless I furnish them with a 1 Ammunition Resource, all they manage to scrounge for the next mission will be TWO rounds.
Most likely, next forays will be up Tuesday or Wednesday.
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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OBIE'S DAY OUT (MISSION 5 INTERLUDE)
After an idea that came about from a comment made by CapnJim!
“I'm going out!” I said to Gloria over my shoulder. She was carrying a bundle of tents that would make a great start to our sick bay, her long black hair swishing in the simple ponytail. She was very capable, having had extensive experience of setting up make-shift camps in very rugged terrain previously, so this was positively a walk in the park for her.
“Out? All by yourself? Is this some kind of April Fool's day joke?” She put her hands on her hips and took a moment's rest. I just realised that it was the first of April today. I chuckled at that.
“No, Gloria, it's no joke I'm afraid. We are running low on food and ammo. With everyone else busy doing their chores and senor Vidal, bless him, needing to have some well earned rest, he's no spring chicken anymore, I thought I should go shopping.”
Gloria looked at me.
“I can come with you. I'm sure this can wait a few hours.” she wiped her hands off on her cargo trousers.
“No offense, but I'd rather we get this clinic of a sorts up and running ASAP. Who knows when we will be needing it? Besides,” I took a breath to calm myself and I said it out not so loud, but I know Gloria heard me,
“Bernice is getting on my f*cking t*ts!” Gloria blinked, surprised. I try not to swear, minding my language, but sometimes no other words will do. She might not understand the full meaning of the sentence, but there was no doubt about what I meant in general.
“I'll be taking the Volvo,” the car keys were already in my hand.
“I am going down to the little retail park on the west side. I shouldn't be more than a couple of hours.”
“Be careful out there Obie,” Gloria said and watched me go.
I slid into the driver's seat of the Volvo and adjusted it. The artificial Magic Tree scent filled the interior. I put my seat belt on and turned the ignition. The car started on the first try and I drove carefully. I hadn't driven a car in several years, but the clear roads and not having to bother keeping within the lane lines made it easy for me. I was cruising along at a sedate gentle pace, partly because I was a bit rusty but also to keep the noise down and watching out for any dangers. My eyes fell on a CD laying about. It was one of those self-burn ones, but there was no writing to indicate what was on it. I popped it into the player and turned it on, hoping it wasn't some rap, hi-hop or techno rubbish. If it was, that CD would be chucked out through the window!
“Here's my story, it's sad but true, it's about a girl that I once knew, she took my love then ran around, with every single guy in town... hep, hep...” Dion DiMucci sang on the stereo in the 1961 chart topper “Runaround Sue” and I was singing along with him with a big happy grin on my face, sitting there in black boots, black trousers and a black Slayer t-shirt, my long hair and beard wafting in the wind coming in through the wound down side window. For the next fifteen minutes, I was happy as a pig in muck, singing along to Gene Chandler's “Duke of Earl”, The Marvelette's “Please, Mr Postman”, Billy Stewart's awesome rendition of “Summertime” and other oldies, feeling my spirits lifted and in the words of Johnny Nash: “I can see clearly now, the rain has gone,” I was doing a final little flourish drumming on the steering wheel as I carefully pulled up, barely at a roll. I turned off the engine and exited the vehicle, carefully closing the driver's door. Didn't want a zombie to crawl in and snuggle up here while I was away. I shouldered my backpack, only bringing the bare minimum of equipment. I hoped to find more food as there was a little supermarket here and several other shops that might be of interest, amongst them a gun shop.
Coming from Sweden and having lived in the UK for a long time, both countries with very strict gun laws, I still can't get used to the idea, that a civilian can practically walk into a gun shop and buy a fully kitted out assault rifle! Although to be fair, most of it was probably already gone, but it was worth a punt. Getting my priorites in order, food, some ammunition would be nice and IF the opportunity presented itself, a better gun for Billy-Ray. Only if, and that's a big if, I had space/ time/ opportunity, would I look for something for Bernice as well, maybe that'd shut her up. Yeah, fat chance at that...
“Well,” I did my best Clint Eastwood impression for my own amusement, shouldering the ultralight backpack, my Kukri in one hand and the riot shield in the other,
“There's the zombie Baxter's on one side of me,” I pointed with the Kukri to one group,
“and there's the zombie Rojo's on the other,” I pointed again to a different one,
“and me, smack in the middle.” I twirled my imaginary cigar in my mouth and set out...
(This will be a slightly modified Gathering Resources Mission. I will be looking for Food primarily, 6 units at a minimum would be nice to keep us a little bit on top. Any excess that I get after deciding how much I want to keep as Food of the gathered resources, will be counted as Ammunition. The slight tweak is, if I roll a '10' for any/ all of those ammunition tokens, they will be swapped for a Normal Quality (+0) Handgun in the first place and if I'm lucky enough to roll TWO '10's', the second one will be a Normal Quality (+0) Revolver. If I manage to cram the boot AND Obie's backpack full I have space for 11 Resource Units, but I will be rolling 1D10+5 (Obie's Scout Skill), so potentially I could end up with only 6 Resource Piles. No shortage of if's here... There'll be 6 zombies starting out here, as per the normal set-up, no Strangers to recruit and no working Vehicles (Obie wouldn't be able to fix any anyways...).
All being well, this Mission will be played Tuesday after some rest from night shift. Finger's crossed I won't need Gloria's Medical Clinic.
Below, Obie driving the white Volvo towards the retail park, car stereo playing music, him happily singing along with, for a few precious minutes at least, not a care in the world.
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A fantastic read, this is brilliant! I really like your storytelling and character development.
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A fantastic read, this is brilliant! I really like your storytelling and character development.
Thank you very much Sunjester for your kind words! I came into the hobby after years and years of RPG'ing so that obviously has had an impact on my gaming. I have a few ideas brewing regarding Billy-Ray's and Bernice's backgrounds but I haven't quite figured out something interesting for Gloria... yet.
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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Hmm. I know which comment of mine that was... ;)
Wish Obie luck for me. May his backpack and the trunk of his car end up full.
One correction - if Obie happens to find any long arms in an old gun store, they would likely be semi-automatic only rifles or shotguns, or bolt or lever guns and single- or double-barrel or pump shotguns. A civilian purchasing a fully automatic weapon in the US is (was, in Obie's case) possible, but there is a lengthy BATF approval process, and the weapon had to be in circulation in or prior to 1968...just sayin'...
Anyway, looking forward to seeing how he fares here...as I said, wish him luck! 8)
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Hmm. I know which comment of mine that was... ;)
Wish Obie luck for me. May his backpack and the trunk of his car end up full.
One correction - if Obie happens to find any long arms in an old gun store, they would likely be semi-automatic only rifles or shotguns, or bolt or lever guns and single- or double-barrel or pump shotguns. A civilian purchasing a fully automatic weapon in the US is (was, in Obie's case) possible, but there is a lengthy BATF approval process, and the weapon had to be in circulation in or prior to 1968...just sayin'...
Anyway, looking forward to seeing how he fares here...as I said, wish him luck! 8)
I am always happy to take some inspiration from a comment or two and run with it :D.
I shall carefully select the dice I want to play with. He's deep in enemy territory with no back-up, with only his trusted riot shield and Kukri and a Volvo as company lol. But I can assure you, he's fine with that. That means he doesn't have to worry about anyone else.
Thank you very much for the clarification sir, much appreciated! That was just some musings in the story and obviously reflects a little on his "foreign misconceptions" ;). That shouldn't be any issue though. As stated, at best, if all goes as well as it can, he would be coming away with a replacement Handgun and a replacement Large Calibre Revolver, which I assume would be plenty available, under normal circumstances. Hope there's some loot useful provisions left...
I shall forward your well wishes sir lol. May Gloria not have to unveil the new Medical Centre too soon :D.
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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This is an interesting mission, much more "granular" than we Zombie RV players are used to. Your characters are developing very well; interesting and nuanced.
I’m now firmly an Obie fan after reading about his musical tastes. Dion (we didn’t seem to add the Dimucci back then - it was just Dion), The Marvelettes - oh yes. And let’s throw in Del Shannon, Freddie Cannon, The Kingsmen, Jan and Dean and many more - I’ve still got the original 45’s of those guys.
Good luck, Obie - you’re my man… :D
Doug
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This is an interesting mission, much more "granular" than we Zombie RV players are used to. Your characters are developing very well; interesting and nuanced.
I’m now firmly an Obie fan after reading about his musical tastes. Dion (we didn’t seem to add the Dimucci back then - it was just Dion), The Marvelettes - oh yes. And let’s throw in Del Shannon, Freddie Cannon, The Kingsmen, Jan and Dean and many more - I’ve still got the original 45’s of those guys.
Good luck, Obie - you’re my man… :D
Doug
Endorsed by CapnJim AND Doug ex-em4!!! :o I'm very happy that this is going down so well with you gentlemen!!! Many thanks for your continued interest and comments.
Yes, these rules, although having lots to offer, they are not very complicated but they are just what I was looking for when I started having the idea of doing some zombie gaming, so very pleased with them. I do try to make them (the characters) somewhat believable. At the core, they are normal people from various walks of life and giving them some personalities along the way. In truth, it's really as things spring to mind: "with THIS character. What would be their little things, hopes, dreams, fears, experiences?"
Me, being far too young to having had a chance experiencing them for myself, when I was a wee little boy, my first music memory, back in the late 70's was hearing the Beatles "She loves you" on the radio. You could've knocked 6-year old me over with a feather! I was spellbound! Granted, I hadn't got the slightest clue what they were singing about, as far as I was concerned, it could be about mud and pancakes lol but that sound :-*. So, up my until mid teens when I got into hard rock/ heavy metal, I listened a LOT to those oldies and still do on occasion. Those simple songs, with cheesy lyrics and harmonies put a smile on my face whenever I hear them. So yes, there's a lot of myself in Obie ;).
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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I’ve never understood it when people are limited to a particular genre of music. I’m in favour of an eclectic mix. I loved lots of the US "pop" from the early, pre-Beatles, sixties when I was still at school. I would buy a 45 each week from my paper-round money from a record shop in (ironically) Penny Lane in Liverpool, several years before it and they were famous.
You’re making me nostalgic now ;)
Doug
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MISSION 5 SET-UP
When I was doing my national service, I wanted to be in infantry reconnaisance. I was told, because I'm wearing glasses that was not going to be an option so I was assigned a different duty. I'd like to think that now, they would've welcomed me with open arms. I'm no ninja like Shivani but I can move quietly when I want to, I'm patient, methodic and have discovered I have a knack for finding opportunities that can be exploited and I'm very good at thinking on my feet.
I turned off the engine and rolled quietly forwards to the Elm Corner's retail park. I exited the vehicle, pulling on my backpack and riot shield, the Kukri was hanging in its scabbard at my belt. It was quiet, a cool but clear April day. I've heard it said, you are never more than two metres away from a rat. Whether that was true or not, one big fat brown one scurried across the asphalt not very far from me and I hoped that it hadn't been at the provisions I was here to find.
Carefully, taking my time, I did a recce of the retail park. There was a petrol station, a coffee shop, a mini mart and a gun shop, with a sizeable parking lot between them. There were some of the Rotten hanging around, but at the moment they seemed to be in a pretty inert state. I knew far too well that could, and would change at any moments notice. I was pleased to see, that despite the smashed windows and general disarray and probably looting in the past, there was plenty to be had. I reckoned there was some food left in both the coffee shop and the mini mart. The gun shop seemed to have several cases that were untouched and some boxes and bags had been abandoned out on the parking lot.
I considered my options. After some thought, I decided to leave the Volvo by the petrol station, backed up in reverse for a quick getaway. I decided to skirt all the way around to the back of the mini mart, reasoning, that if I started the furthest away, I would hopefully not have to walk that far back to collect the resources that were closer, if the opportunity presented itself. The plan was: gather at least as much food as I thought we'd need, anything beyond that was a bonus. Don't be greedy, it was key that I didn't take any unnecessary risks. If things got too hot here, get the heck out and live to fight another day!
(This is a slightly modified Gather Materials Mission. Most Resources will be Food, that's the primary need. I hope to gather at least 6 food. If I manage to get many Resources, anything left over will be Ammunition, with a 1/10 chance of finding a Standard Quality Handgun, instead of the Ammunition Resource. There might also be a miniscule chance that I find a Standard Quality Large Calibre Revolver (1/20).
I decided I could take my pick where I wanted Obie to deploy, but the Volvo had to be parked on the strip of road. There are 11 Resource Points on the board (Scout 5 + roll of a 6 on the D10), not too shabby, plenty to choose from but also the threat of if I let the zombies go unchecked, there might be too many to contend with.
I was able to shift 5 Resources/ Zombies around thanks to Scout 5 and I have 5 re-rolls at the start of the Mission due to Obie's Tactics 5.
EDIT: after looking at the character sheet properly, Obie is actually having Scout 6, so there should've been 1 more Resource Counter and I could've moved 1 more Resource OR zombie. Probably wouldn't have made much difference but I need to remember that for the next time lol.
My thoughts are: stay low, stay quiet, only fight when I have no other options and keep moving so they don't catch wind of me that easily. Easy-peasy, right?)
The scenario has been played but I am currently typing it up so it won't be ready to read until later tonight, after I've done my training. I can't divulge anything at this point of course, you have to find out later on ;)
Below, the retail park set-up with information as to Obie's deployment point and where the Resources can be found. Any zombies with a biohazard marker are Passive Zombies so less of a worry.
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MISSION 5 (AAR Part 1 of 2)
I don't want to brag, but since the Outbreak I think it's fair to say I'm now a veteran zombie fighter. I know it doesn't matter what you wear or how good you think you've hidden yourself, if they are close enough, they WILL sniff you out. Just because they can't see you, doesn't mean that you're safe. With the Rotten a safe distance away, I still crept ahead, scanning the surroundings for trouble as I reached the backdoor to the mini mart. The handle turned and the door made a squeaky noise that made me wince. As my eyes got used to the gloom inside, I sifted through the remains on the shelves and the floor, finding some very useful stuff, a few tins, dry goods etc. I was happy with that. Shivani though, I wouldn't be surprised if she'd pull out a fully stocked larder from the same pile, I honestly don't know how she's doing it. The provisions clanked a little in the backpack as I loaded it up. I heard some shuffling far off, maybe they've caught scent of the rat but I didn't want to hang around for too long. I gathered what I could and shouldered the backpack and glanced out.
?Vad I helvete?? I quietly cursed to myself in Swedish. Outside, there were several Rotten milling around, exiting at the front was a big no-no. As quietly as I could, I went back the same way I had entered. The door squeaked and I shut it as carefully as I could, veering towards the coffee shop. As I glance out towards the parking lot as I move between the two buildings I let out a groan and for a moment I consider to play it safe and just get the hell out of Dodge. When several aware Rotten gather around, they seem to be driven by the same purpose, like they have some kind of psychic link. That makes them VERY dangerous, make no mistake. Imagine, one of the group spots you, the others WILL follow and all of a sudden you could be swamped by five-ten zombies. I've seen it happen and had no illusions how that would go for me. We had taken to nick-name that a Horde. In any case, right now, there was a Horde, a small one consisting of three-four zombies, but still a Horde, out there milling about.
I was still too light, these provisions wouldn't go very far. So as I had originally planned, I slipped in through the employees only entrance at the back of the coffee shop. The place was a mess, I doubt there was a single coffee cup that wasn't smashed to pieces, most tables and chairs were either upturned or had been thrown through the windows. I was wearily watching the outside, seeing all those zombie heads bobbing up and down as they moved, my hands doing their job mostly blindly, going by feel as I stuffed coffee, tea and other useful foodstuffs into my backpack. It was very heavy now with all the provisions I had secured and my niggly knees complained as I shouldered it and moved forwards. I looked out through the windows and took a deep breath as I assessed the situation. I wanted to get to the car to unload, but either I had to run the risk of being spotted by the Horde over towards the gun shop or I would be guaranteed to be spotted by the couple of Rotten that was hanging around the petrol station.
?Jaha! Da kor vi da,? I said to myself in Swedish to boost my morale.
With a grunt I exited the coffee shop at the front through one of the smashed windows, my boots crunched the glass underneath me and I knew I had been spotted. One of the zombies by the petrol station jerked alive, it's face twisting in a macabre image of pure hatred as it snarled and came at me. I waited, bringing the riot shield up and unsheathed my Kukri, with slightly bent knees awaiting the impact. As it bounced off my shield I angled the Kukri and with a practised movement, borne out of dozens of similar experiences, I swung. The blade whispered as it cleft the air, I barely felt the impact, the edge so sharp that it cut through the neck with ease and decapitated the Rotten. As the body fell to the ground I stepped over it, blood dripping from the blade. I moved towards the back of the petrol station, there's a wall there making it a very narrow alley. I hoped to reach there so they could only come at me one by one. The Rotten's friend picked up my scent and came gunning for me, snarling, spitting, clawing. It batters impotently against my riot shield before I cut that one down as well as soon as I spot an opening. I waste no time. I move with the heavy backpack and I move backwards around the back of the petrol station. Two zombies jolt awake and come running after me, but they can only get through one at a time, just as I planned. Sweat runs down in my eyes, stinging them, I'm breathing hard, the adrenaline is spiking and my senses are so alert that I think I'd notice a pin being dropped.
I peddle backwards, holding the riot shield against my pursuers. I do a little half shuffle, brace myself and as the zombie comes flying I swing the Kukri blade right between its eyes, a deep gash opening up and I can see brain matter and blood pouring out. As I continue to move backwards, the body goes limp and as gravity claims it my blade is freed. I continue to move backwards, the Volvo is only meters away now! As I pull up by the boot of the car I take a step forwards, the edge of the riot shield slams into the thigh of the zombie chasing me, bringing it to an abrupt stop. At the same time, as its arms are lowered, I take the shot and cut its now unprotected head off. I take a few gulps of fresh air and wipe my stinging eyes. I look around and there are lots moving around in a very unpredictable manner. I pop the boot open and just empty the contents of the backpack in there. I tut disappointingly, it's not enough. There are provisions laying on the parking lot, but there are several of the Rotten out here. I think it could be worth a go to have a look in the gun shop and maybe pick something up on the way back, if the opportunity arises.
I shoulder the now empty backpack again and set course towards the gun shop. There's a zombie between me and my goal, it has to go. I make enough noise to literally wake the dead and I see it come running, well shuffling quickly anyways. As it lunges for me, I sidestep and cut in the same motion. I bury the blade so deep in the back of it's head, that I have to pull hard to jerk it free. I continue on my way, and I'm a short distance from it, when, around the back of the gun shop shambles a Horde! I come to an immediate stop and freeze and curse under my breath! Where the f*ck did they come from? I know it wouldn't make any difference, but still I try to be as still and quiet as possible, trying to anticipate where the Horde would move to...
Part 2 will be following below when I've typed that up, should be up later tonight.
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MISSION 5 (AAR Part 2 of 2)
With one eye on the impending doom in the form of a Horde, the other eye on the intended single target in the parking lot I let out a slight breath of relief as the Horde turns around and move back in the direction they had come from. I spot a much bigger Horde up by the mini mart:
?Good Horde, now bugger off somewhere else. Pretty please?? I whisper and miracously they seem to have heard me and shuffle away! Not the solitary zombie though, it's full of anger and hate and relentlessly beat against my riot shield. I cut off its leg and as it capsize onto the floor I step on the head with all my weight and hear the skull crunch as the body goes limp and it stops struggling. I move forwards very carefully, observing the Horde every inch of the way alert for any changes in their behaviour. It moves towards the bus stop and picks up another passenger, exactly what I needed! NOT!
I take a deep breath and slip in through the back door to the gun shop. As my eyes are getting more used to the dark interior I see that all the gun cases are empty, can't say I'm surprised at that, but there's plenty of ammunition boxes around. I catch sight of the Horde coming back again, several heads bobbing outside the window and I slide in behind a counter trying to calm my racing pulse down.
?S*its*its*it!? I utter between clenched teeth, my eyes darting around the gun shop like a hunted animal. I shift slowly, like a glacier, peeking around the corner of the counter. It feels like seconds are drawing out to minutes, hours. I am aware of a drop of sweat at the tip of my nose, it's not even wobbling or falling, I am still as if carved in stone, my breath is held...
I tremble as the tension let go and I draw a big gasp of fresh life giving oxygen. I sit on the floor gathering myself as I can't believe how lucky I am! The Horde is shuffling away in another less dangerous direction. I force myself to get moving, every minute I remain here, the more likely it is I might not get out. My hands are shaking from the stress and exertion, I shove as many shotgun shells, nine millimetre and calibre .44 rounds I can find, along with some food stuff, mainly pot noodles and instant mash into my backpack. I hear a noise outside the window and of course, a zombie is trying to get in through the window that's already half broken.
?Will you just shut up?? I mutter annoyed.
I move swiftly, grab its long matted hair with both my hands and yank down, hard. A long broken shard of glass in the window impales its head below the chin, ramming it upwards and I can see the tip poking out at the zombie's top of its head. It gurgles and wheezes for a moment or two, shudders and then falls still.
I make a final round of the premises, to see if there is anything more worthwhile laying about and pick up some more useful stuff before deciding that now would be a good time to get out of here. The backpack is satisfyingly heavy and nearly full. I turn towards the window of the gun shop again.
?Oh! You've GOT to be kidding me!? I knew it was too good to be true. Turning my attention towards the Volvo, I now see a large Horde shambling towards it! It can't be helped. I HAVE to get to the car. I exit the gun shop and pick up some provisions laying in the parking lot that are up for grabs, there's stuff left but I have got no space. Any more and I would not be able to move as quickly as I want, it would only slow me down. I retreat back into the gun shop waiting for a better opportunity to move ahead, hoping that the Horde will move away.
I patiently wait for an opening and is rewarded, finally the Horde moves away sufficiently for me to take a chance. As I exit the back door of the gun shop I hear a loud smashing noise from the petrol station. I have no doubt, that there are many zombies joining in that activity. I can't go back inside the gun shop again, this way I will NEVER get out and only be more at risk the longer I stay. To make matters worse, a Rotten rises up from the ground, right in my path to the car.
?Anything else you want to throw my way while you're at it?? I say sarcastically at no one in particular.
I set off, my knees, back, arms, everything aches, I'm running on empty from all the adrenaline jolts I've had. I grit my teeth and will myself to move, The Horde inside the petrol station decides to turn right around and walk out the back. I can't believe my luck at this moment, but I'm far from in the clear, just less imminent danger! Another smaller Horde is milling around the red car on the petrol station's forecourt, they could be a problem, as is the solitary interloper.
?Move or die,? I say sternly to myself. I move as fast as I can, my lungs are on fire, I feel like I've run a marathon, I'm on the final stretch, the finishing line is by the Volvo... But I am also rushed, not only by the lone zombie in my way, it seems to have called on help from the Horde by the red car that also come to join the party. I honestly don't know if I have it in me to make it! The car is only 20 meters away, but it seems like miles...
With all the Rotten after me, I can't lose momentum, if I stop and fight I think I won't have the strength to get moving again. My breathing is rapid and shallow, I grit my teeth, sweat is stinging my eyes. I don't look behind me, my eyes fixed on the white Volvo, my salvation! I feel my clothes and backpack being grabbed at, but I am in motion and still have some moves left, without missing a beat I turn sideways, flinging a zombie out, freeing myself from its grip. The Volvo is ten... five metres away... I pull up alongside the car and draw breath, my left hand in the pocket fumbling for the car key. I feel a tug at my backpack and one of the keener zombies is snarling at me. As I open the door with my left hand, I grunt and strike with my last reserves of enery. The zombie's head comes clean off. I pull open the driver's door, chuck shield, Kukri and backpack in on the passenger side and get in behind the wheel. I need three tries to get the key into the ignition, the zombies banging on the body work and windows... The engine roars to life and I throw it in gear, the tyres screech and a stench of burnt rubber accompany my exit from the retail park. I see them run behind me, but they have no chance of catching up to the accelerating vehicle. I have to pull over soon afterwards, I am nearly blacking out and only when I've calmed myself down sufficiently do I resume the drive home...
(THAT could've gone badly many times! I was staying out of the radar of the Horde's and my patience paid off in that they gravitated away from where I wanted to go. The final turns were VERY tense and I had to think very carefully about what I was doing.)
(Obie, being the only Survivor in this Mission bagged 2 XP, which for the moment will be saved up, I'm thinking to increase his Defense (6) but that'll cost 7 XP! Currently, he's got 3 XP saved up.)
RESOURCES
6 Food
1 Hardware
1 Fuel
3 Ammo (no rolls of 10 on three dice, so no guns)
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That was a tense read! Obie got very lucky there.
Another brilliant write up, thanks for sharing.
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That was a tense read! Obie got very lucky there.
Another brilliant write up, thanks for sharing.
Thank you very much for your kind words and your continued interest and comments sir!
Indeed, it was a very tense game. I think the term is "brown trousers" moments lol.
If you're not familiar with the CRZ rules, they basically work like this: All zombies start the game in a Passive state, representing the idling Rotten. When something triggers them (usually a Noise generating action within a certain range of inches), they become alerted and enter the Aggressive state, where they are much more dangerous and move around.
Unlike in Zombie RV, line of sight is dispensed with for zombies. Instead, if you finish your turn (usually within 8") of a zombie (irrelevant of their state), they WILL find you, regardless if you're on the opposite side of that building or not. Therefore, the tactical bit is where you'll be ending up, will that cause you problems? I reckon, Obie and his crew are experienced enough by now, that they can judge the distances, so I do some pre- measuring. It's my game so sue me lol.
However, it could still go pear shaped. At the end of EACH turn, I generate a Passive zombie, and scatter it 1D10+3" out from the centre of the board in the compass direction of the D10 tip, so it literally could pop up right behind you! :o
Fortune was on Obie's side, more than once during the game, when I was activating the Hordes which would move in a random direction 1D10", because there was nothing close enough for them to "investigate", I mumbled "please go THAT direction" and more often than not the die obeyed me :o.
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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THE GENTLEMEN OF PURVEYANCE (GAME TURN 6 INTERLUDE)
As I was pulling around the corner to the Burrito Bodega, our new home, I doubted my sanity! I had finally gone over the deep end! In front of the restaurant, Shivani's watchtower on top, stood an honest-to-God stagecoach, with a full team of horses in front of it and a driver perched on top! I stopped the Volvo and got out, I could pick up my jaw from the floor! The gentleman on top looked Chinese, dressed in a wide brimmed hat and sturdy clothing. He actually tipped his hat towards me and spat some tobacco juice. I must've looked like a complete idiot before I gathered my wits. One of the horses made some huffing noises.
?Howdy,? he actually rasped and stretched his hand out. I didn't see anyone of the others so I was on edge from the earlier encounter.
?And good morning to you too,? I said in a slightly terse tone. I didn't shake his hand, my eyes were scanning the surroundings and my hand was planted on the grip of my Kukri. Where were the others?
?Name's Justin Sun, if you're worried about the other's, don't be. They are inside chatting, I'm sure they will be here soon.? He let his hand hang in the air, untouched. He withdrew it but didn't seem to have taken any offense. And on queue the front door opened and all the others came out, together with three complete strangers. They all seemed relaxed and several of them had cups and biscuits in their hands like they had had an impromptu coffee morning in my absence.
?Obie! I'm glad you made it back safely and that I haven't got to try out our new operations room,? Gloria smiled and gave me a quick hug.
?What in the name of Dios have you done to the car?? Senor Vidal looked shocked. He patted me on the shoulder but his eyes were on the car. I turned around and looked at it properly. I could see what he meant. The paint was properly scratched, some of the windows had star patterns, dents in the body work... it was a wonder it had carried me home.
?Oh well, I ran into a spot of trouble. Nothing that a capable chap like you can't sort out,? I smiled and patted him on the arm.
?And who might these gentlemen be?? I asked. My tone was friendly enough, but I didn't like this one bit. They were an unknown quality and I vividly remembered the brutal chaos at the Outbreak, where you had to watch out, not only for the Rotten but also for other human beings that didn't have your best interests in mind.
?These guys are James Thunderhawk,? said Kelly-Ann chirpily introducing the strangers, full of youthful enthusiasm. He was a big burly First Nations man, paying homage to his heritage in wonderfully decorated buckskins and natural material. He took a drag on a cigar and this time I took the offered hand.
?Douglas Emforte,? a gentleman who'd be regarded as dapper even before the Outbreak. It might even be a camel hair coat he was wearing, a shotgun under his arm looking like he was on his way to a pheasant shoot.
?And Miguel Maniade,? Mexican or South American I guessed, jeans and flannell shirt with a polaroid camera around the neck.
?Yeah, we heard there were some new people in our neck of the woods, so we came to say hi,? James Thunderhawk's voice was deep and resonant.
?you must be Obie,? he carried on.
?we've heard about you!? he grinned.
?Really? Like what?? My hand was still casually resting on top of the hilt of the Kukri. James Thunderhawk had a Winchester replica repeater rifle in his hand, Douglas Emforte had a shotgun and I thought I saw a handgun in a shoulder holster under his coat, Miguel had a pistol in a tactical holster strapped to his thigh and I'm sure Justin on top of the stagecoach had a gun or two up there. All these guns within spitting distance sat me on edge.
?That you're reliable, careful, methodic. One that can be counted on. And one that is VERY dangerous to cross.? James showed his hands that he was not here to cause any trouble and I relaxed, a bit.
?We came to say hello, but also, because we are in this together, to see if we can maybe work out something mutually beneficial,? Douglas said. He in contrast was an articulate, soft spoken man. It sounded like he had had a good education.
?We informally call ourselves Gentlemen of Purveyance.? I could hear the capital letters forming as he spoke.
?Maybe we have something for you and maybe you have something for us. Money are worthless.? Miguel said and pulled the back compartment, I believe it's called a ?boot?, to the stagecoach open. They had amassed some bits and bobs and everyone came forwards to have a better look, except me. I stood back and Justin Sun smiled at me.
?It seems like what we've heard about you is not exaggerated.?
?Are there many others out there? We haven't seen anyone else in the past month!? I asked.
?Some, a few. There are others in the neighbouring counties. We are trying to map it out and maybe even establish some form of trade route,? Miguel spoke with heavy Spanish accent. There were laughters and jeers from the stagecoach and I saw ?my people? trying out some clothes and looking at this and that. I went over to see for myself. After a few moments, something caught my eye.
?Billy-Ray, step this way please.? the big guy come over to see what I was on about.
?What do you reckon?? I held a nice looking handgun in my hand.
?A Sig. Same as the one my brother used to have.? He almost reverently took it and tried it out. Of course it wasn't loaded, but to my basic familarity, he knew what he was doing.
?Your brother. Was he the one who taught you to shoot like that??
?Yeah. Mum worked three jobs to make ends meet, I was running around with the 5 Street Shiv's and Aaron, my older brother, joined the Navy to escape the Projects.? I didn't interrupt, Billy-Ray didn't talk much about his past, so this was a rare insight.
?When I came out of prison, Aaron helped me set up my flat, he helped me get a job, I met Kelly-Ann. Life was good. He took me to the shooting range many times. He was in EOD.? He stood there holding the gun, as if it was a connection to his brother.
?You ok darling?? Kelly-Ann whispered, worriedly.
?Yeah sugar, I'm fine.? his voice was a little thick but he hugged and kissed her.
?So gentlemen, would you take this game console in trade for the gun?? Shivani said, holding the video game in her hands.
?We even throw in Mario Cart in the deal.? The Gentlemen of Purveyance gathered around and inspected the machine. After as short deliberation, James Thunderhawk said:
?Deal!? and this time we shook hands on it. More coffee and tea and biscuits were rustled up to celebrate with and later we watched the stagecoach roll away. The Gentlemen of Purveyance waving at us as they departed.
?The car!? I suddenly remembered. I rushed out and staggered under the load of all that I had found during my ?shopping trip?. There was more than enough food to feed us for the next week or so, some DIY materials and I let Billy-Ray, Bernice and senor Vidal have the ammunition I had found.
?Right, so there ARE others out there, probably not too close by otherwise we would've bumped into them. Therefore, I reckon, we need all to go out there, we split up in two teams. Team One, that's Shivani, Bernice, Billy-Ray and myself. We will be taking the Volvo and try to get as much as we can to stock up our storages with. If these Gentlemen of Purvayence come back, it would be well worth having other things to trade with. Team Two, that's senor Vidal, Gloria and Kelly-Ann. You will try to find another vehicle in good condition, so our mobility and range can improve efficiently. Questions?? They all shook their heads.
?Good, we'll be moving out in the next few days, get some decent rest and eat well. You'll be needing all your strength.?
AFTERMATH: After feeding the community and trading, this is the current community status:
THE BURRITO BODEGA (Tier 1 Greasy Spoon)
Kitchen with Gas Range UNMANNED
Storage Area with Refrigeration (can hold 8 Food)
Bunk Room with e=Extra Bed (3 beds)
Dining Room Bunk Room with Extra Bed (3 beds)
Parking Lot Medical Clinic UNMANNED
Parking Lot Empty (will be a Utility Room at a later stage)
Rooftop Watchtower UNMANNED
Hardware 2 (6)
Food 4 (of 8)
Fuel 6 (6)
Portable Generator
Everyone slept and ate well, there was no risk of a Zombie Siege and everyone are assigned to participate in Missions next turn, Gather Materials (Team One) and Retreive a Vehicle (Team Two).
We traded the Video Game Console for a Standard Quality Handgun (+0). I gave it the Extended Magazine Attachment so it takes 15 rounds as opposed to the usual 10 and gave that to Billy-Ray.
The Ammunition Resources were split like this: 12 shotgun shells, 30 rounds of 9mm and 12 rounds of .44.
Obie is suspicious of Justin Sun, turning up uninvited in a stagecoach!
The Gentlemen of Purveyance (l-r), Douglas Emforte, James Thunderhawk, Miguel Maniade and Justin Sun in the driver's seat.
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Great battle report! It's interesting to see that waiting for the zombies to shuffle off in another direction is a legitimate tactic for a survivor. Makes a "sneaking around" game possible and tense.
Interesting cameos going on there with the stagecoach. I wonder, I wonder...who would be the inspiration for that trio of folks? :D ;)
Mike Demana
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Great battle report! It's interesting to see that waiting for the zombies to shuffle off in another direction is a legitimate tactic for a survivor. Makes a "sneaking around" game possible and tense.
Interesting cameos going on there with the stagecoach. I wonder, I wonder...who would be the inspiration for that trio of folks? :D ;)
Mike Demana
Thanks Mike! With these rules that tactic can work, but no guarantees. Someone who's actually got the Stealth skill could potentially move untouched, but that dreaded 1 is still a failure...
Well, technically, it's a quartet lol. Maybe they are "strolling minstrels" in their spare time lol. I thought it'd be a fun thing to have those very inspirational cameo's , whomever they might be ;).
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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An excellent adventure. Well played.
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Obie is, for sure, a man not to be trifled with. I'm glad things went his way on his supply run.
I am going to hazard a guess we haven't seen the last of "The Gentlemen of Purveyance"...
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An excellent adventure. Well played.
Thank you very much Dan55, glad you enjoyed it.
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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Obie is, for sure, a man not to be trifled with. I'm glad things went his way on his supply run.
I am going to hazard a guess we haven't seen the last of "The Gentlemen of Purveyance"...
Thank you very much CapnJim, and I rank your predictions as "most likely" lol.
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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I had a lot of catching up to do with this story so it provided me with a good, solid read and an excellent excuse for delaying finishing my own report (my middle name is procrastination).
I think it?s getting better and better. Lots of little details to add a sense of scene and a developing character that makes the reader want to invest in his (and his companions) progress through the devastated world that confronts them.
Excellent story telling and a very compelling solo campaign.
Then we come to the Gentlemen of Purveyance :). A great name - I wish I?d thought of it myself. A cracking idea to put them in a stagecoach and a great way to get the gent in all his feathery finery on the table. I can tell they?re going to be splendid additions to your campaign; there?s something about them that?s very appealing?.🤔
Doug
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I had a lot of catching up to do with this story so it provided me with a good, solid read and an excellent excuse for delaying finishing my own report (my middle name is procrastination).
I think it?s getting better and better. Lots of little details to add a sense of scene and a developing character that makes the reader want to invest in his (and his companions) progress through the devastated world that confronts them.
Excellent story telling and a very compelling solo campaign.
Then we come to the Gentlemen of Purveyance :). A great name - I wish I?d thought of it myself. A cracking idea to put them in a stagecoach and a great way to get the gent in all his feathery finery on the table. I can tell they?re going to be splendid additions to your campaign; there?s something about them that?s very appealing?.🤔
Doug
First of all, in the King's English, I'm truly chuffed that you have gotten this much enjoyment out of my gaming, sir! Having discussed out mutual interests in a narrative style in our previous correspondence, your words are high praise indeed and very much appreciated.
I was mainly looking to just share my own game and had hoped that some would find some enjoyment. However, credit where credit's due. Without the suggestions, input and involvements from members such as yourself, CapnJim, Mike Demana and Sunjester, it's unlikely that I would have spent this much time and effort in fleshing out the characters and trying to write up the AAR's in such a fashion.
We now arrive at the Gentlemen of Purveyance and how that idea came about. There is a Trading element in the rules, where communities can trade between each other for equipment. I wanted a Handgun for Billy-Ray, and having checked the values, the Video Game Console would cover that cost. I thought: "what if?" and then it struck me, my other collection is a wild west collection and "hey Presto!" the idea was born. When I actually googled the word purveyor, I was told: "a person in the employ of the Regent to buy and sell at reduced prices," (I paraphrase here) which fitted the idea to a T. Now that that idea saw table time, I'm having an idea to maybe give them a whirl in their own spin-off, but how I will find the time for that with a full-time job, other commitments etc is anyone's guess lol. Tuesdays will be my main game days.
I really can't stress enough, that without the continuing engagement from the member's here, I wouldn't figure out the backgrounds of a mini I have painted: "and who would YOU be?", I wouldn't try to flesh out and describe that 10 I just rolled or what it would feel like to those little ladies and gents down on the tabletop, when I push a zombie on a 25mm base within 1" of the mini lol.
Thank you very much for your time reading sir, and for posting and commenting letting me know.
With regards,
Legionnaire.
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GAME TURN 6 PRELUDE (MISSION 1/2)
?What...the...f*ck...is...THAT!?? breathed Bernice. Her eyes large and fearful and I thought exactly the same. Together with Shivani and Billy-Ray, we had gone in the Volvo to, what we believed, a relatively untouched lot of storages at the back of a little retail plot. We were all having the same expression of bewilderment on our faces. After all this time, we had gotten used to seeing zombies on a daily basis, but this... this was something completely new.
?I really don't know Bernice, but I definitely don't like it! It's like the Rotten... evolve somehow.? I said, my jaw firmly set and my eyes on... THAT! Trying to figure out how to deal with...IT!
?Wait here, I'll do a quick recce.? I slipped away, very aware of this new, unknown complication.
The THING, or actually THINGS upon closer inspection, were, for lack of better words, gatherings of the thickest imaginable London fog, moving unnaturally, with no wind blowing. The fog was so thick you could not see through it at all and it rose up high, at least two stories. Only after careful observation did I determine that there seemed to be... something, or someone at the centre, in some fashion actually generating this artificial mist. I reckoned it would be impossible to shoot that thing in the middle and even getting up close was going to be challenging. I counted 5 of these ?Misters?. Another thing was, that these didn't seem to be in the docile state that so many zombies were, on the contrary, they seemed to move with purpose and intent, being a lot more active and alert. Several issues arose, with them on the scene, they would obscure any other zombies behind them, you had to get up close and personal and I had no idea what other surprises they could spring on you, I'd rather not having to find out. Also, I spotted a large area that was littered with tins, broken toys and such, anyone going through it would cause such a racket that it'd be as if they had fired a gun. Finally, I thought there was a fair chance that some, or even all of the lock-ups were shut and needed ?convincing? to open, which also in turn would draw attention to us.
I returned with my findings to the group and we took a vote. Everyone considered the new information carefully but all were in favour of doing what we had set out to do. We were running dangerously low on food and with the Gentlemen of Purveyance turning up, if we could find some useful things to trade for other things that we could need, happy days.
?Ok everyone. The plan is for Shivani to take point and look for anything useful, with Bernice and Billy-Ray covering her. I'll be running interference if need be. We gather what she finds and move on to next pile of resources, rinse and repeat. We TRY to get hold of as much as we can, but if the situation becomes too dangerous, we bail out. This is NOT a regular day in Zombieland people! I need you to be at your absolute BEST, because I have no idea what other surprises we are going to have thrown at us today. Any questions? Good, Shivani take the lead.? I unsheathed my Kukri and checked that the riot shield was comfortably fastened one final time then we carefully moved out, Shivani bow at the ready, Billy-Ray and Bernice holding their guns in tight grips...
(Having had so much success in their initial 5 games, I decided to crank up the heat on Obie's team and introduce one of the Special Zombies in the book. In the rules toolkit, there is an option to get extra XP for a mission in the forms of Extreme Weather, Special Zombies, Difficult Terrain and/ or Unseen forces. Depending on how much you have and what form they take, you get bonus XP to share amongst the team. In this scenario, I rolled once for Special Zombies and once for Difficult Terrain. I got 5 Fog Zombies and a patch of 6? Noisy Terrain. If the team is successful, I get to allocate 4 extra XP for this.
Slight tweak to the Gather Material Mission. This time I'm after Food again, with a minimum of 8 units ideally, but also anything that'd be useful or that we can trade away. After deciding how many units of Food, I roll a D10 for each of the leftover Resources: 1-4 a Standard Quality weapon, 5-9 a piece of useful equipment and a 10 will be a Rare Item. The weapons and equipment will also be randomly generated, potentially ending up with something we can't use (lacking the appropriate skill), but can trade away.
Shivani will unearth 4 Resources per Material stack she investigates! She's our ONLY scavenger so vital to our survival! With the Volvo having 6 Inventory Slots, Obie 4, Shivani 4, Billy-Ray 4 and Bernice 0 (her .44 takes up that slot, being a Tier 1 Rookie), I could, potentially earn 18 Resources!!
Also, there is a 50% that a door to the storage unit is locked. Only when I am attempting to enter will I reveal that, making it a bit of a gamble. Enter, Break OR causing 2 points of damage, generating Noise as per weapon (minimum 2?) to gain access is required.)
A Fog Zombie with Bernice for scale. Conveniently, the area a Fog Zombie covers, is the size of a pint glass. I will get some plastic ones and spray them grey for effect. Rules wise it works like this: it blocks LOS in the whole area of effect, it can't be targeted by ranged weapons and the zone of fog counts as Difficult Terrain.
The patch of Noisy Terrain, just scribbled on a piece of paper with information as a reminder to what it does. It will be generated via Placement Points FIRST of everything on the board, so it could end up anywhere.
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Hmmm. Interesting.
"Crank up the heat"? It looks like you went from simmer to boil, in one fell swoop! :o
Here's hoping your crew can handle it...
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Hmmm. Interesting.
"Crank up the heat"? It looks like you went from simmer to boil, in one fell swoop! :o
Here's hoping your crew can handle it...
The short answer is: I have NO idea :o. With Fog Zombies blocking line of sight for my shooters AND can only be targeted in melee, they will prove an "interesting challenge". Also that piece of Noisy Terrain which will provoke more attackers by merely stepping onto it...
All shall be revealed Tuesday, fingers crossed for good dice rolls...
Regards
Legionnaire.
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GAME TURN 6 (MISSION 1 OF 2, Part I of II)
The place was a veritable treasure trove! Wherever you looked, there were things just lying there for your taking, but with all those zombies and those ?Misters? hovering around, it felt like Bilbo probably would've felt like in Smaug's treasure chamber. We were, however, no small hobbit's with a ring of invisibility. There were three lock-ups on one side with a small supermarket, a coffee shop and some kind of camping and fishing shop on the other. The air was thick and heavy with the fumes from these new unknown zombie types, I could almost feel how it was stinging my eyes. The place was literally crawling with the undead and it was clear that we would have to fight for what we wanted.
?I reckon we need to make a BIG dent in that zombie presence first before we start picking up things. Shivani, you'll go ahead, carefully to see what's of use to us. Bernice and Billy-Ray, I want the two of you, as quietly as you can to make your way up on the roof of that coffee shop. It's an excellent vantage point and you can provide covering fire from up there. I am going to see what those ?Misters? are about, there's one in that camping shop just up ahead. OK? Move out!?
I drew my Kukri and took up position by the backdoor to the camping shop, better to get this done with as soon as possible, I needed to find out what those Fog Zombies were about. The weight of my blade felt reassuring, it had seen me through so far and it wasn't going to let me down this time either, I hoped. I nodded to Bernice and Billy-Ray, guns drawn and also taking up position by the employees only entrance to the coffe shop. Shivani gave me a look and a nod, she was ready to go. Bow in hand and arrow drawn. In one smooth motion she let the arrow fly and the nearest zombie fell to the ground with an arrow through its eye socket. Shivani moved forwards, keeping low and very quiet. With that threat out of the way, the noise when Bernice and Billy-Ray shouldered the door to the coffee shop open didn't seem to attract any unwanted attention. They were soon inside and shimmied up the ladder through the roof hatch in short time, I saw the top of Billy-Ray's bald head bobbing up on the roof, Bernice gave me a thumbs up.
?Jaha, da var det min tur da,? I said to myself in Swedish and took a deep breath. There was no point in subtelty. I gave the door a firm kick and stepped into the doorway, the mist was immediately swirling around me, I could see shapes and forms in it but it was impossible to see anything definite in this pea soup. I felt disoriented and slightly nauseous, these vapors must be chemical in some sense. Suddenly, I more felt than perceived movement, there was a low gurgling somewhere around me, shuffling that echoed in a weird disturbing way. All this I experienced in what really must've been seconds but felt much longer. All of a sudden, something thudded against my shield! An impact and a guttural groan, a shape appearing out of the mist! Using the riot shield as my guide where the enemy was, I cut in several swift, decisive strikes with my Kukri, I felt it connect and like a deflated ballon, the mist seemed to evaporate and a horribly disfigured zombie with what looked like small airducts all over its body tumbled to the floor, with the head rolling in another direction and coming to a stop against a stand of fishing rods. I let out a sigh of relief, so you could kill them! That was good news! I heard the glass crunch underfoot over by the lock-ups when the zombies over there moved around, drawing slowly nearer.
Shivani moved towards the nearest pile of resources and rooted through it, unearthing a lot of useful stuff, but she left it there for us to pick up. The zombies wouldn't be interested in that anyways so it wasn't like it was going to go anywhere. I waste no time, I'm out through the window at the front, glass crunching, I am not bothered about the noise I make right now. I see two shambling towards me, I engage them and while I hold one off with my shield, I cut the other one down with a swift and decisive strike through the neck, severing the head from its body. I see Bernice taking up position at the corner of my eye, a little over 10 metres away on the roof of the coffee shop, the big .44 S&W revolver in a steady two-handed grip. I take a sudden step backwards, almost instantly there's a loud BOOM and I'm splattered with the brain matter of the remaining zombie as it drops to the floor. A slight wisp of smoke drifts from the barrel of Bernice's gun. Billy-Ray joins her up there, but I can also see that, beside the loud noise from the gunshot, the zombies for most part seem to gravitate in one uniform direction. I double check the vectors and it seems to me like they are homing in on where Billy-Ray is! I wonder if it can have anything to do with that sensation he claims he feels in his very own blood? But I won't have time to ruminate over that right now!
I am in a forward position, shielding Shivani so she can gather some of the supplies. That naturally attracts no only zombies, but also one of those Fog Zombies, their mist swirling around me. I know I have more than one enemy in here with me, and I am using all my skill to narrowly evade their savage hands and teeth, often coming at me right out of nowhere! When I have an opening I take it. I thrust my Kukri through one of the Fog Zombie's vents, which give a loud hissing noise, therefore I can locate it much easier. When the noise comes at me again, I step back and to the side, it falls flat on its face and I don't miss the chance to make it stay down for good, putting my boot at its back holding it down while I cut off its head, the mists evoraping once more, making it much more easily to see the other enemies. Bernice has patiently waited for an opportunity. She thumbs back the hammer and rests her arms against the parapet, letting the barrel hover over the mists.
?Comeoncomecome, come out, wherever you are,? she whispers to herself, focusing. Then the mists disappear like that and she doesn't waste the opportunity, the zed's head bobs in front of her gunsight and she squeezes the trigger. KABOOM! A textbook shot! The large calibre bullet tears in where the nose is, obliterating it and leaves a large cavity at the back of the skull where the exit wound is. She has been so focused that only now does she hear what Billy-Ray is saying:
?They are coming for us! They are inside the cafe underneath us, we must git very soon!? In the same breath, he raises his Sig-Sauer, just like his brother Aaron taught him and he fires one single shot. That's all he needs, the guns action is smooth and the precision is marvellous, it's like point-and-shoot. The bullet finds its intended target, 15 meters out another zombie falls to the ground with a bullet through its head. The loud gunshots have attracted LOTS of attention!
?Watch out Bernice, we got to go. NOW!? Billy-Ray shouts. Behind them, the trap door is flung open and a large cloud of mist swirls up from below, they can hear scratching and running footsteps from below!
I move to intercept and I see one of those Fog Zombies swirling towards me, but I can hear many, many different footsteps joining it, there seems to be a myriad of hands coming at me from all directions, raking against my shield, tearing at my clothes but luckily not drawing any blood. We are all obfuscated by this mist, I have no idea how many zombies are in here with me, but I reckon it's at least three, could be as many as five! But now I know what to listen for, that low hissing sound from the vents of the Fog Zombie. If I can take it out, the others will be able to see and shoot the zombies. I tune everything else around me out, motionless, Kukri ready to strike. There! I turn and strike behind me in one fluid swift motion. The Fog Zombie tried to sneak up on me and my Kukri takes the top of its head off above the eyebrows, a half cut brain and skull fall to the ground as the body falls against my shield, sliding comically down it making a squeaking noise. With the mist now gone, an arrow swisch past my ear and embed itself into the head of one of the remaining three zombies. I see Shivani move low and quiet like that artificial fog towards another pile of boxes.
?You need to go Bernice, NOW!? Billy-Ray tucks his Sig in the waistband and turns to face the Fog Zombie.
?What about you Billy-Ray?? she asks concerned as she hangs from the roof of the coffee shop and drops down to the ground.
?Don't worry about me, I'll take care of this motherf*cker!? The mist engulfs Billy-Ray and swallows him up! Bernice, revolver in hand raises it and thumbs back the hammer. A gunshot rings out and a zed has its head blown off. Bernice smiles coldly. She can hear scuffling up on the roof but can't see anything.
?I... said... get... the... f*ck... off... ME!? Billy-Ray's angry voice rings out. He's not very skilful, but he's big and strong, holding his own against the undead monstrosity. Using that to his advantage, he gets hold of the Fog Zombie, lifts it up high enough and chuck it over the edge of the roof. It lands with a wet crunch on the pavement, head first, the mist dissipating. Billy-Ray wastes no time dropping down from the roof following after Bernice. Bernice's gunshot has attracted a lot of attention. Another Fog Zombie with several friends are homing in on me, another one crashes through the cafe's window in pursuit of Billy-Ray and Shivani is being charged by a zombie. The floor is littered with bodies of the proper, recently dead dead, but they keep coming!
I put in a major effort, my arms are aching from all the cutting and chopping and violence against the shield, sweat runs down my back and in my eyes. I don't dare to think about what other fluids are covering me. I lop both arms and one leg off the Fog Zombie before I finally manage to get in a killing blow, all the while fending off a regular zombie with the riot shield. With the Fog Zombie, last one that we can see, out of the way it's a simple thing to dispatch the zombie hammering against my shield. With the mists cleared, Shivani takes aim and kills a zombie with an arrow from her bow, there's a heck of a lot more dead than standing up zombies here now, maybe, just maybe, we will get out of this alive. I see a zombie rush forward to Billy-Ray. The big guy grabs it around the head with his big hands and slams it forcefully against a convenient lamp post until it stops moving. He's breathing hard but looks ok. He turns to a pile of supplies that Shivani found and starts loading it into his backpack. Good man. Bernice moves closer and raises her revolver, it thunders again but I hear her shout:
?OH! Fu*king S*IT!? and when I look, I see that she's put a hole through the shirt of the zombie, she might as well just blown it a kiss, it would've reached the same effect. The zombie rushes Bernice and swipes at her, she cries out in fear and back peddle, scrambling to get away from it. I hear her cry out in pain...
Part TWO is being written and will follow below later today.
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TURN 6 MISSION 1 OF 2, PART II
...but luckily it seems like the zombie has only managed to snag some tufts of her red hair! I have more pressing matters though, her gunshot has made another zombie rushing me and trying to kill me, I employ the riot shield to good effect stopping it from doing that.
?Out of the way Bernice, DUCK!? Shivani commands as she draws her bow. Bernice flings herself on the ground and the arrow leaves the string, humming slightly in the air. Shivani turns around and picks up some supplies, THEN the zombie drops down dead. It just took a little while for it to realise it was dead. Shivani didn't even have to look, she KNEW her aim was true! I cut down another zombie and move towards the supplies, joining up with Billy-Ray who's putting more stuff in his backpack. I look around us and I can see only 3 zombies moving about, we have gotten some breathing space now.
?Let's pick up as much as we can and then get the hell out of here! Anyone injured?? I call out and I'm assured they are all fine and well. We kill a few more zombies as needed, but focus now is for everyone to take as much as we can, fill the car boot and drive off. It's a pretty much cut and dried affair from here on so within a short time we are all loaded up and with me in the driving seat, we are heading for home,having a sing-along of The Beatles ?Penny Lane? along the way, as absurd as it may seem. We are all very impressed with ourselves, in high spirits, but I wonder how its gone for senor Vidal, Gloria and Kelly-Ann in their search of another vehicle. They are not back yet, so I hope for good news, but still, I put Shivani on lookout in the crow's nest up top.
(Another mission that went well! The dice were once more in my favour but you really have to keep your attention on where the enemies are and which ones would activate when you make Noise. I had a few hairy moments, but it went my way this time as well. Barely anything was inside the locked storages so I decided to grab the ones in the open.
Even though they might not have any combat skill, ALL survivors are counted as having some sort of defensive weapon (a sharpened screwdriver, a pocket knife or as in Billy-Ray's case, brute strength), which doesn't take up any space and can be used in melee with their Strength score. To get a ?Kill Shot? on a zombie in general, you need to roll 6+ (with Skill, if any, plus 1D10) a Natural 1 is ALWAYS a failure.
The area had 15 Resource Points (roll of 9 plus Obie's Scout 6), literally showered in stuff! With so many zombies we had to go in aggressive to thin them out before picking up things.
The team earned 1 XP each for participating, 4 Bonus XP due to Noisy Terrain and 5 Fog Zombies to deal with and the usual 1 Bonus XP. Obie pulled in 3, all the others 2 each. With that, Bernice is now going to be levelled up to a Tier 2 Citizen! She's going to get the Skill Traps and also next turn going on a Story Mission (still to be decided). Exciting stuff!
I'm currently saving up Obie's XP to (possibly) buy Defense 7, but not decided yet. Billy-Ray is saving up to become a Tier 3 Leader (costing 6 XP) and Shivani... well I would like for her to become a Tier 4 Hero (costing 8 XP), but that also means I need a bigger better base to facilitate TWO Heroes! Decisions, decisions.
We came away with 19 Materials, 10 of which I decided to be Food. We got 1 Hardware and 1 Fuel with the remaining 9 Resources either weapons or equipment (all randomly generated) as follows:
1 Standard Pistol
1 Throwing Axe
1 Binoculars (Obie)
1 Trap (Bernice)
1 Reinforced Clothing
1 Standard Bow (Shivani)
1 Medicated Wrap
1 Standard Revolver (Bernice)
1 Standard Rifle
I still have to play the second Mission this Turn, which is a Retrieve a Vehicle Mission for senor Vidal, Gloria and Kelly-Ann. That MIGHT happen Friday, but otherwise probably not until next Tuesday.
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Exciting report! Things definitely could have gone sideways in the mist and confusion of the Fog Zombies. It is always interesting when you have to adapt your small unit's tactics to a new situation, like you did here.
Good luck on the next one -- hope they find a suitable vehicle? An RV, maybe? :D lol
Mike Demana
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Exciting report! Things definitely could have gone sideways in the mist and confusion of the Fog Zombies. It is always interesting when you have to adapt your small unit's tactics to a new situation, like you did here.
Good luck on the next one -- hope they find a suitable vehicle? An RV, maybe? :D lol
Mike Demana
Thank you sir! Glad you enjoyed it :).
With a solo game, I have the luxury of being able to take my time and consider carefully my options. CRZ is pretty much: "IF I make Noise here, which zeds will activate?"
That'd be quite nice but unlikely within senor Vidal's capabilities :). He has currently a total skill of 3 in Tinkering. An RV or pick-up truck, van or similar vehicles are Tier 3, needing 12+ (D10+skill) to Repair. IF there is such a vehicle available, he needs to roll a 9-10 and each attempt will generate Noise... Doable, but probably take many attempts, when you consider that each attempt is a risk and none of the ladies accompanying him have any combat skills... probably only a fool would try lol. I'll see what comes up in the generation.
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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Another great report, well done Obie and co!
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Another great report. I like your story-telling style. It rings true, even though I don't understand a lick of Swedish...
BUT...I have a concern. I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade, but your crew has been incredible skilled/lucky. I've heard that Lady Luck can be a fickle b**ch...so watch out...
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Another great report, well done Obie and co!
Thank you very much sir! All the credit goes to my dice rolling, high when needed and low when also needed :).
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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Another great report. I like your story-telling style. It rings true, even though I don't understand a lick of Swedish...
BUT...I have a concern. I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade, but your crew has been incredible skilled/lucky. I've heard that Lady Luck can be a fickle b**ch...so watch out...
Thank you very much for your kind words CapnJim! Just some sprinkling for flavour lol.
I've heard that too! In too many games to remember things have been going swimmingly turn one and turn two, only to come crashing down to a disaster in turn 3 :o. I'd like to think, if I don't talk about... HER you know... SHE won't bother me... Nice and quiet, like Obie sneaking around the Horde's like...
Behind the scenes: When Obie is in a Mission, the group has a collective FIVE (5) rerolls. These can be both used to re-roll one failed team roll OR a zombie attack roll. Most times I use these up, this time around I actually only used one (for a successful zombie attack).
The Riot Shield makes it much easier to fight multiple enemies, effectively cancelling the FIRST attack from a zombie each phase. So with only one attacker I can prevail, with two or more there's still a chance Obie get's injured.
With the exceptions of Obie and Shivani, who only fail to kill a zombie in most circumstances on a 1-2 (D10), Beatrice will need to roll at least 6+ for the same, Billy-Ray needs at least 3+. Sure, maybe not the most difficult rolls, but... Beatrice can only fire once per turn, same with Shivani, so if they miss, they can't fire again. Billy-Ray can fire twice, but a Nat 1 means his Sig-Sauer has also jammed and it'll take him actions to sort that out.
That "centre shot, fail to kill" was a measly 2 I rolled for Bernice which I reckoned wouldn't be too much of a problem, conserving the re-rolls in case I needed them later on.
I still have senor Vidal, Gloria and Kelly-Ann to sort out, so will do that now :).
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TURN 6 (MISSION 2 OF 2)
This wasn't a part of town that senor Vidal frequented. It had always, for as long as he remembered, had a bad reputation and was talked about in whispers. There had been rumours of gang criminality, drugs and everything unsavoury. The neighbourhood was run down, graffitti plentiful and even before the Outbreak it had been a sanitary disaster. The streets lay empty and deserted, it was hard to tell if the decay already had been there before or appeared after The Rot. Senor Vidal held the Remington pump-action shotgun in his hands, just in case. Gloria had a small satchel with medical supplies and Kelly-Ann that Hello Kitty backpack that didn't take much. But they were not out on the scrounge. Sometimes you had to go dangerous places. Senor Vidal reckoned, that this place would have some vehicles that a) would run and b) not be missed. He hoped they wouldn't run into trouble. They were hardly equipped for that...
His heart sank a little as they came closer. The place was very much a dump. A run down gas station in desperate need of a new paint job with what can only be described as a dive bar, and that's being kind, at the edge of the parking lot. Senor Vidal reckoned it was the owner's trailer parked to one side and the picturesque copse of woods had probably mostly been used as a bathroom. The place looked liked it had been more or less picked clean only a few sorry looking items of interest could be seen and yes, there were some vehicles that looked like they could run. He saw a big motorcycle, probably belonging to a biker, three servicable mid-range cars and a tractor trailer! He knew, even with a proper workshop fully fitted out, servicing such a beast was beyond his modest skills, never mind that he only had some wrenches and screwdrivers on him.
?I'm sorry ladies, I had hoped we could have something easier to pick. It looks like, whatever vehicle we want we are going to attract attention as soon as we get close. That tractor trailer is completely out of the question, I won't be able to make that run, even with all the luck in the world! Can anyone of you shoot??
?I... I don't like guns mister Vidal,? Kelly-Ann said softly and looked at her shoes.
?I've only shot once or twice, mostly tranquiliser rifles, but if I have to I could!? said Gloria, but not very confidently. She smiled reassuringly at Kelly-Ann and patted her on the shoulder.
?I reckon, our best bet is that little ambulance by the gas station. But I'll be needing both hands to sort it out so you Gloria will have to shoot and keep them off us, when, not if, they are coming for us. All ready? Let's go then ladies, follow me,? Hector sounded more confident than he felt. He hoped they couldn't see how his hands were shaking...
They snuck up behind a turned over dumpster, the car that was their goal only a dozen yards or so away, what might've been one of the original paramedics was standing there almost motionless, gargling wordless sounds. Hector licked his lips and put his fingers through his thick white hair:
?I'll go first, just keep an eye on that one, because as soon as I start moving it's going to twitch, you know that. Ok, here goes,? he grunted as he got up from the hunched over position. He was certainly no spring chicken anymore, but all those people depending on him, he couldn't let them down. That was not a Christian thing to do. He quickly crossed himself and mumbled a prayer to Santa Maria, kissed the crucifix around his neck and got going...
Sure enough, as soon as he started moving forwards, that undead abomination stirred, as if it had caught his scent, turning towards him, like it had an invisible homing beacon. Hector felt that there was something... impure in his blood after being injured not that long ago, festering, simmering, biding its time under the surface. Maybe that was what the zombie percieved at some metaphysical level. He shook his head, focusing on the here and now, otherwise he'd be in big trouble.
?Nice zombie, just stay there,? he whispered under his breath as he popped the hood to the car as quietly as he could. The zombie rustled and took a shuffling step, as if trying out going for a walk, in his direction. Hector tugged at the bushy mustache and got to work. He slowly inserted a tool in the engine room and a drop of sweat from concentration dripped from his nose. With a loud expulsion of air, he knew he had done it. That's when he realised the feet next to him, he looked up into a rotten decayed face, with lifeless eyes...
?Get... into... the... car...? Hector breathed, keeping an eye on the creature. Gloria was the first to get moving, Kelly-Ann let out a frightened scream as the zombie tried to strangle him! He struggled against it, it was strong and the decaying flesh slippery. Gloria tested the passenger door and it opened. Hector's attention slips for a moment and searing pain erupts as the zombie sinks its surprisingly sharp teeth into his neck, drawing blood and a chunk of flesh!
?Let him go! You... you MEANIE!? Kelly-Ann shouted and he heard her run up trying to push the zombie away from him. Brave girl with a kind heart! But maybe not too bright he reflected. Maybe it was because of Kelly-Ann's spirited rush, but at least the zombie failed to do him any more harm, except for some torn clothes but he felt the blood running down his neck, warm and sticky.
?Watch out! Behind you!? Gloria pointed and just what they needed! Another undead rose up less than ten yards from them, by the side of the gas station.
?ENOUGH!? Hector grunted. Kelly-Ann was holding onto the zombie or at least slowing it down by hanging onto it and he turned the shotgun around and slammed the stock of it right into its face. The abomination's head cracked open with a sharp snap and it hung at an unnatural angle on the stem. The zombie dropped down to the floor. Hector dragged himself along the side of the car to Gloria, who had already opened her bag. He knew he left a smear of fresh blood on the paintwork and she looked a bit pale as she fumbled with the lock of the bag.
?Ohshitohshitohshit, what do I do? Think!? she muttered to herself, on the verge of panic.
?Stem the bloodflow, apply pressure, lay the patient down to encourage blood flow to brain and heart,? she recited to herself as if she was reading from a book.
?Okokok, I got it,? her hands only shook a little as she came up with some gauze and applied it firmly to the wound, pressing down on it.
Kelly-Ann moved fast to the car and slipped into the back seat as quietly as she could, the zombie by the gas station that's just turned up to the party jerks alive and give chase, but seems to lose track of her as she lies down in the backseat, her breath misting the window slightly. Instead the zombie gets wind of Gloria and comes snarling after her. Gloria is lithe and very agile, almost embarrasingly easy she dodges the zombies attempt at killing her, slipping back, opening the passenger door and sliding in beside Kelly-Ann, it's cramped but they make do. The frustrated zombie turns towards Hector...
Hector does not waste the chance provided. One hand pressed against the gauze and the other opening the driver's door, he pops open the dashboard and engages the wires. As the zombie bangs on the window, trying to get in, the car roars to life! Hector slams it in drive and presses the accelerator down, seeing the zombie getting smaller and smaller in the rear-view mirror. They made it out alive!
(Well, this mission probably took longer to set up than to play it! I didn't have lots of easy options, so I hoped for a quick in-and-out. Especially considering that neither Gloria or Kelly-Ann are fighters. IF it had come to that, I would make a Scenario Special Rule that Gloria could shoot the shotgun at only +1 due to her unfamiliarity with it.
To fix the motorbike, which would not be ideal, Hector would need to roll 2+, one of the cars 5+ and the articulated lorry (semi trailer) he needed a Natural 10.
Once more Hector got injured (1 Wound), he's now got 2 Infection points and when he's got at least 5 Infection points, there's a risk he succumbs to the Virus and turn. Even if you heal your Wounds, which Gloria did this time, the Infection is healed seperately and stays and accumulates between missions.
The XP awards: Hector Jesus Vidal (1), with the 1 saved from previously, he bought Tinker 2 (5). Gloria (1) bought Enter 1 (3) and Kelly-Ann is saving up her XP to be able to advance to a Tier 2 Citizen (need 4, have 3).
I got a Tier 2 Vehicle (paramedic car) which has 4 passengers and 6 Inventory slots.
I just discovered I have played the vehicle rules ?not quite right? but will continue as I've played, just need to subtract more Fuel (vehicles consume Tier level in Fuel on missions, not just one unit).
I will figure out what duties to assign people (Billy-Ray and Senor Vidal will probably be in Sick Bay, tended to by Gloria to sort out that nasty Infection and Kelly-Ann will man the Kitchen. Which leaves Bernice, Obie and Shivani to do Bernice's Story Mission, still to be decided which one and fleshed out as a story, but I have some ideas ...)
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Yikes! :o Never good when a zombie bites your neck...!
Hope Senor Vidal is okay...
Mike Demana
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Yikes! :o Never good when a zombie bites your neck...!
Hope Senor Vidal is okay...
Mike Demana
He'll live to fight another day Mike, but thanks for asking :).
In game terms, senor Vidal has 3 Health (Tier 3 Leader), so he can basically take damage three times before being KO'd. Gloria with Medicine can only heal ONE Health per person per Mission, so if he had taken two hits, he would still be injured at the end.
However, EACH time you get injured you also suffer Infection, which remains and is cumulative unless you treat that at a Medical Facility, which might become a problem at a later stage, even if you're at full health. Like a creeping sensation of Doom :o!
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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Two episodes for the price of one. I like that. Good stories. Funny how Obie fought off so many and Vidal got the bite from only two attacking. That's the zombie apocalypse for you.
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Two episodes for the price of one. I like that. Good stories. Funny how Obie fought off so many and Vidal got the bite from only two attacking. That's the zombie apocalypse for you.
Thank you sir!
To some extent, although the chances to being hit are the same for everyone (currently 6+ on a D10), Obie has got a Riot Shield which effectively negate one attack per round. He also had access to a pool of 5 re-rolls for the group during a mission where he participate. Senor Vidal, alas, has got none in that.
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Sēnor Vidal?s mission was a genuine cliff-hanger. He really didn?t have a lot of back-up did he? It was a good game/story and the jeopardy of the insidious effects of taking a wound ramps up the tension.
Your campaign proceeds in an interesting and enjoyable way?.!
Doug
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Sēnor Vidal?s mission was a genuine cliff-hanger. He really didn?t have a lot of back-up did he? It was a good game/story and the jeopardy of the insidious effects of taking a wound ramps up the tension.
Your campaign proceeds in an interesting and enjoyable way?.!
Doug
As always, thank you very much for your kind words sir and for your time reading.
Indeed, but it is vital that they get fielded and earn experience so they can grow. Senor Vidal with most Health was the obvious choice to put in the way. One hit on Kelly-Ann and she'd be KO'd, she could potentially survive that but a KO'd survivor has to be carried by someone else, taking up inventory slots etc.
I've encountered technical setbacks, my computer died so it might be some time before I am up and running with new AAR's. Typing this much on a phone is NOT a done thing ;).
I shall return as soon as possible, but it might be a week or two before the next installment in the campaign.
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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Hope you get the tech issues settled soon!
Mike Demana
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Hope you get the tech issues settled soon!
Mike Demana
Thank Mike! It did transpire I had a separate keyboard to my tablet that I completely had forgotten about! Not as good as a proper one, but It'll get the job done!
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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Another pair of cracking adventures, well done sir!
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CAMPAIGN TURN 7 (INTERLUDE)
During the past week, there had been several positive developments but I still felt that we could do better. Kelly-Ann was in charge of the, at the time, abundant food supply but made sure we didn?t waste anything. With senor Vidal needing to be looked at, we struggled to get enough water and power to cover our needs. Gloria did the best she could, but again, it became very evident how sorely we lacked a steady supply of clean water. Under senor Vidal?s guidance, Shivani set about to construct a place in the parking lot that would give us both electricity and fresh clean water, Billy-Ray said he was feeling fine and spent most of his time in the watchtower up on top of the roof, keeping the steadily increasing zombie presence at bay. I think we needed to make a culling very shortly or we would be at risk of being overrun. Everyone were feeling elated and focused after gaining access to the Burrito Bodega and things were shaping up, but there was a very real, palpatable threat out there.
Bernice had been uncustomary quiet in the past few days. No swearing, no yelling, barely a word had come out of her mouth. To be perfectly honest, it was slightly disconcerting. The others had picked up on it as well, she kept herself mostly to herself and I needed to find out what was going on.
?Bernice, can I have a word please?? She glanced up at me and I couldn?t really figure out what that look meant. Annoyance? Trepidation? Everyone else glanced at each other, pretending to be busy doing their own thing but there was a slight tension in the air. Without a word she moved into the place that I used as an impromptu office. I closed the door behind me and she jumped a little. What was going on with the girl?
?Sit, please,? I invited with a gesture to the only other chair in the cramped little room. She shuffled over to it and sat down, her shoulders were haunched, her hands were clasped twisting and turning in her lap and she didn?t look up at me, the long red hair hanging down over her face. This was so uncharacteristic that I was really worried that The Outbreak had broken her, leaving an apathetic hollow shell. I studied her for a moment, and said with a gentle soft voice:
?Would you like to tell me what?s going on Bernice?,? I had expected her to tell me to f*ck off, that it was none of my business or even her chucking the chair at me, ranting and raving at me. I was completely taken by surprise when she started crying! First it was the low sniffling, her shoulders shaking and I could hear her mumbling something, over and over again before she cried properly. I didn?t see the point in trying to communicate with her right there and then so waited for her to settle down, sometimes all you needed was a good cry. When the cries became sparse sniffles again, I handed her some tissues:
?Feeling better? Want to talk about it? It sounded like you were saying, I?m so sorry Mr Baumgartner, over and over again,? but I didn?t probe any further. If she didn?t want to talk about it, I wasn?t going to force her to. She sat there, her tough attitude gone, a vulnerable young woman not even 25, eyes and nose red from her emotional outburst. She dabbed at her eyes with the tissues.
?When I was in high school, we had this teacher, Mr Baumgartner,? she started quietly, looking out through the window but I?m sure she didn?t see me right now.
?you know, that kind of socially awkward person that dresses like old people do,? I didn?t interrupt or comment on that. I don?t think my black jeans and Orange Goblin t-shirt filled that criteria.
?Anyways,? she straightened up a little, talking a bit more confidently,
?me and my friends used to hassle him whenever we could. Calling him names, throwing bags with dog poo at his door and such. We found out he was gay and started calling him Mr Bumgardner,? at least she had the decency to look ashamed.
?We thought it was hilarious of course, being stupid kids.? She fell quiet and thoughtful for a minute or two, then she redirected her gaze to her hands in her lap.
?One day, in my final year, the whole school were gathered in the auditorium, it was all quite sudden,? she bit her lip and I knew she was again not seeing me at all.
?we were told, Mr Baumgartner had hung himself! He had left a letter saying that he couldn?t take this anymore, how someone could be so mean to another living human being because they were different... I knew I was to blame, I had responsibility for making this happen and I couldn?t take it. I dropped out, experimented with drugs, got knocked up, had an abortion and I was going to blow my brains out when Gloria found me.? We both sat there for a few moments, I let the words sink in weighing my words carefully. This had clearly bothered her, a lot.
?You know what Bernice, I shall be honest with you, I am not going to tell you that all will be OK now that you?ve lightened your burden,? she nodded as if she agreed with me. I stood up, I think better when I?m moving.
?But as you?ve shared something from your past, I shall tell you something I?ve never told the others. You see, I had a daughter, a lovely, kind, caring person. She identified herself not as heterosexual and I was perfectly fine with that, as a father it was my duty to support them in their happiness. I really never understood and still don?t, how some people can perceive love in whatever shape it may come as something to be ridiculed and spat at. I would?ve done ANYTHING to keep her safe. But I couldn?t.? I knew what look I had in my eyes and Bernice gasped and took a couple of steps back, but my fury wasn?t aimed at her.
?The Rot took away the only thing I really cared about, the best thing that ever happened to me and I will try to find out who are responsible for this mess and hold them accountable,? my voice was low and filled with barely contained anger. I took a few deep breaths and felt the emotion subside.
?I will do anything I can to keep you and the others safe, but ultimately, this is the reason why I am getting up in the morning, one day at a time.? I could see a flicker of fear in her eyes, for all her tough talk, I knew she had seen me out there. I think she was worried what would happen if I just decided to up and leave one day.
?Anyways,? she cleared her throat and looked around a bit embarrassed,
?I know he had a partner, Walter. And lately I?ve been thinking that I would like to go and see what happened to him and if he?s somehow managed to survive to say how truly sorry I am for having been such a s*it. Because frankly, all this is eating me up from the inside.?
?Bernice,? I said as she turned around to go. She had the hand on the doorknob and looked over her shoulder,
?taking responsibility for your actions and acknowledge the impacts of those, even if it?s a tragic affair. THAT earns my respect. Take today off and tomorrow I come with you to find out what?s happened to Walter.?
?Thank you Obie, it really means a lot,? she smiled thinly as she left...
(This game turn, almost everyone had a job to do. With no running water or electricity, I needed to build a Utility Station, it used all our last Hardware Supplies and demanded 3 Labour, which Shivani could fill on her own, being a Tier 3 Leader. Kelly-Ann had to man the kitchen to make us spend less Food Resources, but we are still down to 6 after that, a couple of rations short of being able to feed everyone properly next Turn.
Gloria has only got 2 total in Medicine, and again, with no running water access, that is halved so Sr Vidal healed 1 of his 2 Infection Points. Billy-Ray was at a loose end and manned the Watchtower, taking 2 off the Siege Threat with his Handgun skill.
That left Bernice and Obie. Bernice had been ?levelled? up to Tier 2 and when reaching Tier 2 or 3 you have an option to play a Story Mission. I had some ideas regarding her background, so therefore I decided on a modified Left Behind (Pt 1). In this case to find Mr Baumgartner?s partner Walter and figure out what had happened to him to give some closure and redemption to Bernice.)
Obie and Bernice having a very serious discussion, revealing some things from their respective pasts.
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Chairs and table impressed! I would take a shield and kukri to talk to her, just in case.
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MISSION 7 (Bearnice Story Mission Left Behind Pt 1, Part I of 3)
Back before the Outbreak, this would’ve been a nice pleasant little drive. Not so much these days. You had to be on the constant look out for danger, navigating pile ups and getting ready to get the Hell out of Dodge at a moment’s notice. It took me and Bearnice several nerve wrecking hours to get from the Burrito Bodega to where she believed Walter, the partner of the school teacher that hung himself, would be.
With no radio or working stereo to serve as a distraction, we had only each other’s company. I know I’m a bit unfair, but I wished on more than one occasion that it was Shivani riding with me. We had worked so often together that we hardly needed to speak to each other to know what needed doing and I trusted her with my life! Still, to give her some credit, Bearnice tried her best and it had turned out she had a devious and cunning mind. She had a knack for seeing features in the landscape that could work to our benefit and she was at home around IED’s, her dad had been something of a “government anti-person”.
We parked up the car at the outskirts of the area and went on foot, it’d draw less attention to us and we would be able to hear and spot the Rotten easier. We took whatever we needed from the boot, I gave Bearnice the leather motorcycle jacket and I also pocketed the smoke grenade and some pre-treated bandages, just in case. My new Zeiss binoculars were of great help navigating the dangerous area. I did the usual recce to see what was what before we went in.
“It seems to be a site where someone keeps a business, there’s a sign of Small Treats on the trailer door, most likely an office. I don’t see anyone inside but there’s a desk and a computer. The two buildings in the back, as far as I know, are some kind of storages. There are no windows to those and only one door on the side of each. However, there are cables running out from the one closest to the office, so I guess there’s some kind of electricity supply in there. The doors are sturdy metal, senor Vidal might’ve been able to work them open, but we will have to resort to brute force if they are locked. That .44 revolver of yours might come in handy. I reckon we try the office first to see if we can get any better idea of where this Walter might be. There doesn’t seem to be anything of value around, but there are patches with rubbish that would slow down the Rotten, and us of course. Oh, and I count twelve Rotten, all currently nice and quiet. We are severely outnumbered so if we can get this done as quick and quiet as possible we might come out unscathed.” I flashed Bearnice a confident smile that was more for show.
“See that Obie? That’s an exposed live wire, I reckon anyone stepping onto that is toast. OK, let’s do this then,” she had listened without interrupting and wiped her palm off against the jeans, gripping her big .44 S&W revolver, the leather jacket was a little too big for her but I was confident that it’d do the job. Her long red hair had been cut recently by Kelly-Ann and she took a deep breath before following behind me, low and quiet...
(Bernice has recently levelled up to Tier 2 Citizen and got the Skill Traps, currently at 1 due to INT 1).
Bearnice moved towards the office carefully, still, two of the Rotten stirred. Wherever we would go, we would attract some attention so just let get this done. I move fast and deliberately in their direction, aiming to cut them off before they reach Bearnice. One moves towards me and one assaults me, but I employ the shield.
I stumble on a piece of uneven ground and it disrupts my aim! Instead of taking the Rotten’s head clean off, I bury the Kukri blade in its shoulder! It seems as if it smirks at me so my next strike take the head off by the neck. That was an embarrassing start! Bearnice is accosted by a zombie, despite her smaller size she budges up and push it, hard. The zombie’s arms are flailing helplessly as it stagger backwards several feet. She doesn’t waste the moment, but runs for the office having created a big gap. The zombie snarl and chases after her. I hear a gurgling blubbing sound as one of the Undead rises up right behind me!
I move after the one chasing Bearnice and cut it down from behind. Bearnice rushes to the door and rattles he door handle ineffectively:
“SH*T! It’s locked Obie!” she mutters.
I have other worries right now though, I’m being chased by two zombies eager for their next brain meal and another one rises up by the green Land Rover.
Bearnice takes a step back and gives the door a couple of savage kicks. The heavy boot thunders against the metal frame but it holds.
“Screw this!” she swears and whips out the .44. She steps to the side and aims the gun at an angle so any ricochet would be unlikely to hit her and pulls the trigger! The heavy calibre revolver roars and the lock is shattered as if a fist of iron had just smashed through it. I move whilst one zombie is giving chase and I’m being attacked by another two. My blade sings and I bury it in the skull dome of a zombie, I have to give it a hard tug to pull it free. Zombies are battering my shield and more move in!
“Get moving Bearnice! I hold them occupied!” I shout and she doesn’t need any more encouragement. She kicks the door open and have the gun at the ready as she enters the office. I can hear her rummaging around in there.
“I got a bunch of keys! They probably go to the doors out at the back. There’s a computer and an intercom but there’s no power.”
“Get out of there Bearnice! Try the keys in those doors to the sheds! I don’t think we have time to fiddle around with a computer. There seems to be Rotten everywhere!” I shout back as two zombies are hammering against my riot shield. I bob and weave, staying just out of their reach and when I see the opening it has unexpected result. I strike with my blade, the zombies reach forwards to attack me at the same time, heads at the same height and angle. My single stroke takes off both heads in one fell strike. I’m so astonished that it takes me a moment to get back in gear. Never felt a single jolt at all, smooth. Like a hot knife through butter.
Bearnice, with the bunch of keys in one hand and the revolver in the other skirts carefully around an area of uneven rubble, drawing the attention of a zombie that shambles through the difficult terrain. I attract a LOT of attention! By the Land Rover I count no less than six zombies wanting to chew me up! BZZZZZT! As calculated, one of the more eager ones step on the live wire, it dances as the current courses through it and burns it to a crisp before shortening out. The air stinks of burnt flesh.
Bearnice reaches the door to the shed that probably houses some electrical equipment and fumbles with the key ring, trying to find the correct one. I use the bonnet of the Land Rover as a natural barrier to not getting attacked from behind but I still have to deal with a small group of aggressive zombies in front of me! My blade swings out. I do an overhead strike, cutting so deep that the Kukri blade enters the top of the skull, cutting all the way down to the jawline, straight through the brain of the zombie. I recoil the blade and come out at a horizontal angle, taking another zombies head off by its neck. I’m surrounded by fallen bodies, my face, shield, clothes, all is covered in blood and other fluids and my glasses are smeared. One zombie is charging at Bearnice, getting up so close she can smell its putrid breath.
Still abuzz with the success previously, she tries to shove this one out of the way as well. However, it proves to be heavier than she thought and doesn’t budge at all! Worse, it latches onto Bearnice and rips at her with its sharp fingernails. She didn’t properly button up the biker jacket so she feels a burning pain arising when it tears through her t-shirt! Bearnice cries out and feels warm blood trickling down her tummy!
“F*ck OFF!” she shouts, in anger and fear. She reaches into her back pocket and pulls out a flick knife. She savagely stabs at the zombie, ten, twenty times, short, quick, savage stabs. She’s breathing hard, but she’s the victor. She rises on slightly wobbly legs, the zombie is perforated many times and it’s hard to tell which cut was the killing one. Two more bodies are falling before my sharp deadly blade, I’m standing upon a small mound of the dead, with more adding to that pile by the minute. My shield quiver under the assault from the relentless attacks of the ones still standing...
(Part II will be following later tonight when I’ve written that up...)
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MISSION 7 (Bearnice Story Mission Left Behind Pt 1, Part 2 of 3)
Bearnice unlocks the door to the shed with one of the keys from the keyring and enters.
“There’s a generator here Obie! I’m turning it on!” Before I have a chance to voice my objection, the motor splutters to life and make a racket! I can hear fast steps approaching from the far end of the area as three very eager looking zombies almost skid around the corner, drawn by the noise! I kill more zombies, there seems to be an endless supply of the Undead! One zombie is hammering against my shield, when I see another rise up just outside the door that Bearnice just entered through.
“Damn!” I whisper under my breath and have to rethink.
I sidestep when my assailant launches a new attack and when it tries to pick itself up off the floor, I simply cut its head off, rolling into the pile of bodies and heads that is already gathered at my feet.
“HERE! I’m HERE!” I shout to attract the attention of the trio gunning for Bearnice. I deliberately move into the uneven ground, because that will also slow them down.
“Hello? Anyone there?” the intercom suddenly burst to life! It’s a male voice and the man sounds tense, afraid, anxious.
“HELLO! Are you Walter?” Bearnice gets some feedback jamming down the button.
“How... Yes. YES, I’m Walter! I’m hiding in a safe room in the other shed. I’ll unlock the door. Please hurry!” he pleaded. Sounding not far from tears, whether by relief or fear, hard to say.
“GO Bearnice! I’ll cover you!” I shouted.
She set off as fast as she could, the heavy biker jacket slowed her down and one snarling zombie gave chase. I was beset on all sides. Three zombies were on me and I had a hard time to keep my guard up on all sides or move quickly enough out of the way. I put my shield up to defend against one, when a clever one snuck behind me and tore through my hoodie, t-shirt and back! I thought I had been hit with a white hot poker! I cried out in pain and staggered, luckily the other way when another zombie tried to jump me. I saw Bearnice being chased by another zombie. Where the hell did they all come from?
I galvanised myself and bite down on the pain and square up. I let my hands and feet do the work. I step back a little when a zombie comes flying at me and I disembowel it, standing on its head with all my weight until it pops, whilst I cut in a figure 8 at another, both arms are severed and finally I lop the head off. I breathe hard, my chest is rapidly heaving and my vision is blurred, partly from the blood on my glasses and partially from the heavy fighting. Bearnice’s revolver barks, and a zombie tumbles to the ground with bits of its head blown off, five feet from her. Another comes charging immediately attracted by the sound. Beatrice backs up towards the small copse of trees, drawing it in.
“Take that one out Bearnice! It’s in your way!” I shout an order. She levels the handgun with both hands, thumbs back the hammer and squeezes the trigger. Her arms jolt from the powerful recoil and the zombie drops with an exit wound the size of half my fist through the back of its skull! There’s the smell of gunsmoke, the stench of burnt flesh, the gurgling roars from the Rotten, a cacaphony of noises all around me. I cut the last remaining one in front of me down, giving ourselves some breathing space. But I can see more movement over by the ambulance. Whatever respite we have, it’ll be a short one.
I follow after Bearnice and encounter a snarling spitting zombie on my way, I barely give pause as I kill it with a swipe of my blade, It’s getting harder and harder to lift it, I feel like I’ve been chopping wood for days. Two more shudder in that signalling way of theirs that they’ve spotted you. Bearnice move carefully around to not draw the attention of a zombie that’s dangerously close and seem to achieve the intended result. I can’t help but let out a groan. Just what we need right now! Not like It’s going on rails anyways! A HORDE is forming! The saving grace is that I am, hopefully, too far away for them to get wind of me! But I have to bring my mind right back as two zombies launch themselves at me.
I waste no time, swift, economic motions with the Kukri make sure they fall dead just about as quickly as they appeared before me. I see Bernice reaching the other shed door and unlock it with the keyring. I’m sending a silent prayer and for the moment, It’s as if I had been heard. The HORDE shuffles away from me, a little, but I take any break I can get. Whilst I’m concentrating on one zombie running at me, bracing myself, I hear a rustling behind be and not five feet away, a zombie rises up from the ground like a freaking Jack-in-the-box!
“Oh, come ON!” I can’t help but gasping frustratingly.
I continue the motion, spinning around on the spot. First my blade severs the neck on the one in front of me, then, by the momentum, it does the same on the one that had just popped up behind me.
“Walter? Where are you?” Bearnice entered the shed, it was dark and gloomy.
“I’m down here! There’s a hatch in the floor.” It only took her moments to find it and she climbed down a ladder into a safe room. Walter was not at all what she had expected! He was way shorter than five feet, almost childlike in size, but despite that he looked like a grown man, with a beard.
“Who are you? How do you know my name?” Walter asked nervously. Bearnice noticed there were some provisions nearby.
“I’m happy to answer all your questions in due time. But for now, you need to gather up what you can and get out of here. My... colleague Obie is up there and we need to go ASAP!”
Walter started shoving stuff into his rucksack, mainly food products and good ones at that Bearnice noted...
(Part III will be posted in a little bit...)
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MISSION 7 (Bearnice Story Mission Left Behind Pt 1, Part 3 of 3)
I can hear muffled voices from inside the shed, sounds like she’s found this Walter guy. To keep the zombies off them I place myself between the Horde and them. But I’m so tired, I’m running on empty. I misjudge the distance and instead of lopping a zombie head off I only cut the air in front of it! Beatrice picks up some provisions and let her revolver speak. My shield is splattered when the head of the zombie in front of me explodes when the heavy slug tears into it! Walter grunts with effort as he shoulders the backpack and picks up a bag from the floor with something in it. He nods a thanks to Bearnice and climbs up the ladder and out of the shed. The Horde is all over me, I count four raging zombies, each one after my life. I am shoved and pushed and clawed at, I really can’t keep up, I barely register the bite in my neck, but I feel weaker, slower. Something warm is trickling down my neck and it takes a few seconds for my tired brain to register that it’s my own blood!
I stagger around like a drunk, barely able to keep on my feet. More by luck than anything else, I feel the Kukri blade connect and another zombie falls minus its head. But my next strike is a wild wasted effort that only shaves the beard off one. Through the haze I see a very small person run out of the shed, and my brain in some state of shock tells me to shout:
“Look, it’s a wee leprechaun !”
Bearnice exits the shed and levels her gun at one of the zombies, she pulls the trigger and the gun thunders. The zombie staggers but remains standing, a bullet hole torn through its shirt.
One zombie is charging at Bearnice and I am absolutely overrun! I try to bring the shield before me to protect me, but they are everywhere. I fell many rips, tears, punches, bites at me and I have several small wounds. Each not dangerous by itself, but the numbers are. I feel my life force ebb, I’m struggling to even stand upright now, there’s a squelching in my boots and parts of my body feel numb.
Somehow, and I will never be able to explain what happened, I dig deep within me and find a quietude, a calm, a reserve of untapped energy. A spark that glows brighter than the sun itself. Or maybe I’m just seeing things because my body is shutting down from major blood loss. In any case, I straightened up, I ground my boots down into the ground and I rallied. My blade cut down two of the zombies attacking me, as easy as wheat with a scythe. I didn’t dare to look behind me.
“Bearnice, GO!” I yelled and I heard her footsteps retreating. They were safe. I think I smiled. Bearnice slipped past a zombie barring her way and jumped over the fence. I was now facing three zombies. I felt a curious calm and stood there, unmoving, like a sentinel.
I KNEW what they were going to do before they did it, I could anticipate it from their body language. I moved like a wisp of smoke, intangible, fluid, swift, always out of reach and I cut mercilessly, two zombies fell in the span of a heartbeat, headless and I swear I saw a flicker of uncertainty in eyes of the remaining zombie. The mound of dead around my feet piled high. In that hesitation, I struck. The flicker, whatever it may have been, trick of the light most probably, extinguished and it fell. I moved towards the others, my blood filled boots squelching as I too made my escape. The last thing I remember before passing out is the sight of Bearnice and a small man stopping me from smashing my head open collapsing into their arms...
I drifted in and out of consciousness during the ride back, I can honestly say I don’t remember a thing and I was quite delirious, making very little sense. When I came to, I was lying in a bed, having been seen to by Gloria. I was told I was at Death’s Door and for a day or two, it was touch and go. I will probably make a full recovery and it’ll take time. I was introduced to Walter Kowalski, the gentleman we rescued. Although he initially was cross with Bearnice, he said that it probably was for the best what happened. Mr Baumgartner wouldn’t have survived for long in this world. He’s a chef by trade, he and Kelly-Ann have been trading recepies and he knows how to handle a pistol. I am concerned about that burning sensation in my blood, but one thing at a time. For now, I think I just going to make the most of this vacation.
(WHAT a session! CapnJim’s predictions came true! Obie will only ever miss on a ‘1’. First roll of the game, 1, I spent a Tactical re-roll, another 1!!!
The dice were fickle this time. When randomising the zombies, they ALL seemed to be congregating in the same area, I had hoped for a more spread out allocation.
I gave Bearnice the biker jacket, +1 DEF (7) but -1” Move. When she was attacked I first rolled a 7 for the zombie, I spent a Tactical re-roll, 8! Sometimes, you just can’t win.
This time around, I had more wounded than ever before! Bearnice, who can take 2 Wounds, had 1 and 1 Infection Point. Obie, who can take a mighty 4 Wounds, took 3 and 3 Infection Points!!!
The newcomer Walter Kowalski is a Tier 2 Citizen. I decided to completely randomise his attributes and skills. He ended up with: STR 0 DEX 1 INT 0 Cop 2, Rationing and Handguns.
The group came away with 3 Food and 1 Rare Item, a Quality Pistol (+1).
Walter and Bearnice are now Bonded, meaning that if they are both in a mission together, within 6” of each other and one of them gets hurt, the other immediately gains an Action, which can only be spent on Attack or Move. Also, if two or more Bonded people work at something they provide double amount of Labour.
Never got a chance to use either the Smoke Grenade or the Treated Bandages, too much going on!)
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That was a great read - really enjoyed it. Truth be told, I was beginning to feel a lessening of interest in my zombie-play but that has reignited my zombie mojo.
I was a bit confused about the "green land rover" at first then I realised it was the vehicle (Freelander?) that looks black on my screen.
Obie’s transcendental state at the end - is that some sort of character trait in the rules that can be called upon in moments of danger?
Very good👍
Doug
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That was a great read - really enjoyed it. Truth be told, I was beginning to feel a lessening of interest in my zombie-play but that has reignited my zombie mojo.
I was a bit confused about the "green land rover" at first then I realised it was the vehicle (Freelander?) that looks black on my screen.
Obie’s transcendental state at the end - is that some sort of character trait in the rules that can be called upon in moments of danger?
Very good👍
Doug
Thank you very much for your continued interest and time reading and commenting sir!
I have had health issues and other things to attend, hence the late posting. I still aim to do 10 missions for this campaign to see how it goes and develops. I am so far very satisfied with the rules and how they're put together. Exactly what I was after!
The vehicle is a dark green :).
No. Complete literal liberty interpreting some favourable dice rolls lol.
This was an incredibly intense and dangerous encounter, it seemed whenever Obie turned to there was at least one zombie ready to lunge itself at him. I lost count of the "confirmed kills" but I had to start recycling zombies halfway through my game :o!
I predict Obie will be out of commission for at least Missions 8 & 9, hopefully back in shape for the Final 10.
After that, I might switch gear and genre to reignite Five Parsecs From Home, a sci-fi solo gaming experience.
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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Obie is a one-man, zombie-wrecking machine...! :o lol
Partway-through, I began to wonder if you would end up with a total party kill and they would all be swamped by the zombies. So, how many re-rolls did you end up using in this game? Just curious.
Mike Demana
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Obie is a one-man, zombie-wrecking machine...! :o lol
Partway-through, I began to wonder if you would end up with a total party kill and they would all be swamped by the zombies. So, how many re-rolls did you end up using in this game? Just curious.
Mike Demana
He has had a very good run but I think the luck was running out. I started with 5 re-rolls. Halfway through the game they were gone :o. In CRZ it really matters if you "hit" (kill) or miss. Because a miss ALWAYS provoke some counter reaction so you could miss and get hit in return by a zombie. And when a normal person only can take 2 hits each one really counts.
At one point (the Zen moment) in the game, I had no re-rolls, 1 Health left and several zombies around Obie. I was despairing but had to play the game to finish. Some lucky dice rolls at the right time made Obie survive, but only just.
In all honesty, I had expected this to be a piece of cake. How wrong I was!
As always, thank you for your continued interest and time commenting sir!
Regards,
Legionnaire.
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Just now catching up here. Holy Sweet Mother Mary McCreary! :o I was only kidding when I made that crack about Lady Luck.
Great reads. And I agree about your interpretation of Obie's handling of those last few Zeds. Makes perfect sense.
Obie already hated those damn things. I bet his distaste for them only gets more intense now.... 8)
Well done, lad!
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Great AAR, thanks.