Zombie RV in - Borsetshire? Trailer Trash - The Finale

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

Brilliant report so far. Good news that Rev. Tinker found a shotgun, very handy.

[Doug ex-em4]

Brilliant Doug! I can't wait for the next thrilling installment.

Thank - I really appreciate your interest

Taking a short break in my own zombie game today, reading this escapade. The Wing-commander Vaggers is certainly taking one for the team. Biting down and fighting back when it matters most! I too was wondering what Will and Shula were up to all by themselves in the woods  , the Reverend Tinker is about to let loose some Divine Intervention I hope with that 12-gauge  .

Looking forwards to see what happens next.

Regards,

Legionnaire.

It’s difficult finding time to update this what with dog-walking then catching up on your game Thanks for reading and commenting.

Brilliant report so far. Good news that Rev. Tinker found a shotgun, very handy.

Thanks, old sport. I think the Reverend conceals a deal of old-fashioned British spunk beneath his rotund fram


Doug

[mikedemana]

Great report so far! That is quite the swarm around the shack...!  I think Wingco needs to follow his friends out the window and slink off while he still can (especially since he'll be slinking slowly...

Good luck to the group in the wrap-up!

Mike Demana

[Doug ex-em4]

Great report so far! That is quite the swarm around the shack...!  I think Wingco needs to follow his friends out the window and slink off while he still can (especially since he'll be slinking slowly...

Good luck to the group in the wrap-up!

Mike Demana

Thanks Mike - we’re almost there . The swarm round the shack is only about 50% of the zombies in play but the rest are milling round the Spawn Points with no l-o-s and out of hearing range. Having two Swarm Points made this scenario look especially difficult but actually, because they’re in the corners, it’s possible to keep them inactive if the characters are careful of their noise generation and make good use of cover.



And so we continue


The Rev was still feeling energised by his snack and he attacked an adjacent fast zombie but failed to land a blow.




 He tried to breakaway but the zombie clawed him to the floor. In desperation, he lashed out at the zed despite being on the floor and managed to land a killing blow. Feeling a little shaken, he got back on his feet.

The Fast zombie lies dead at Tinker’s feet but there’s plenty more interested in the Reverend as a tasty food-source



The number of zombies in sight or sound of a survivor had been considerably degraded. Of those left, some swarmed towards the Wingco and some to the Rev but he was still benefitting from his food. Using his new shotgun, he killed one and knocked back another. Having dealt with all the zombies near him, he headed north, towards the boat, making as little noise as possible. Any zombies within sight or sound of the Rev headed his way and he was forced to turn on his pursuers and shoot, getting a kill and three knockbacks.





Shula and Will crept through the woods towards the car………





………while Wingco Vaggers, once again drawing on the last reserves of his energy <he rolled a bonus action again>, climbed out of the east window.  Two zombies spotted the Wingco climbing out of the window. One was able to contact and attack him but failed to land a hit.
The Wingco struck out at his opponent and missed. Was he distracted by fighting a bikini clad zombie? Maybe, but not for long. Cramming an energy bar into his mouth <uses Supplies to re-roll> he attacked again and got a kill.

 



Will rushed out of cover hoping to decoy some Zeds away from the Wingco……




……while Shula headed back north through the woods to support him.




Vagabond had a zombie in contact with him and it scored a hit - the wounded warrior was now hanging on by the merest thread. A lone zombie behind the outhouse was attracted by the sound of fighting and headed towards the Wingco.




Will was also making noise and all Zeds with line of sight to him moved that way although none got close enough to attack. Will attacked the zombie nearest him but missed. He broke away successfully and he was able to get to the car and safety.



The Wingco killed the zombie in contact with him and Shula charged the one that had appeared from behind the outhouse and killed it. Meanwhile the Rev, out on his own on the other side of the shack, shot a pack of Zeds with great success - four killed, including a dangerous fast-moving one, and one knocked back.



Most of the active zombies were attracted to the car with Will sheltering inside.





Shula and Wingco Vaggers were slowly and cautiously making their way through the woods towards the car.



All zombies within sight or sound of the Rev headed his way and one contacted him but failed to land a blow. The Rev, totally isolated, sprinted across open ground to the shack and squeezed in through a rear window. His running was the only noisy action so all zombies within range headed for the shack. Looking through a front window, Reverend Tinker saw that the majority of zombies wer clustering round the car. He was not sure where the other survivors were but he knew that zombies surrounding the Range Rover was not a good idea so he opened the shack door and shot at the swarm. As he suspected, he was out of range but the noise of the shot was enough to attract all those in the swarm within hearing range. One fast zombie reached him just as he shot again at the approaching cluster. He was dismayed to hear that dreadful click which signalled that he was out of ammo. Hastily he broke away from the zed, taking a flesh wound in the process, slammed the door shut and sucked in several very deep breaths.


The denoument approaches……..😳


Doug

[Legionnaire]

Ooh the tension! The excitement! Very close calls for the team and the dreaded "dry click"  .

Excellent report so far and I can't wait to see how it all goes.  As always, wonderful pictures,  minis and terrain that really looks the part.

Regards,

Legionnaire.

[Vagabond]

Excellent story do far but it's not looking good for most of the hero's, let's hope they can pull one out of the hat and make it to the safety of the Range Rover. At least I hope it's safety.

[Doug ex-em4]

Ooh the tension! The excitement! Very close calls for the team and the dreaded "dry click"  .

Excellent report so far and I can't wait to see how it all goes.  As always, wonderful pictures,  minis and terrain that really looks the part.

Regards,

Legionnaire.

Thanks - I’m glad you’re staying the course…!

Excellent story do far but it's not looking good for most of the hero's, let's hope they can pull one out of the hat and make it to the safety of the Range Rover. At least I hope it's safety.

What could offer more safety than a Range Rover?



Anyway, where were we?


First, I must mention something I should have mentioned a couple of posts ago. Once the Reverend Tinker had searched the old car, the Team had completed their mission and were free to hightail it - which is what they’re doing.



Wingco Vagabond and Shula managed to creep to the edge of the woods, within yards of the Rover and the surrounding zombies, without being seen or heard.





 Back at the Shack, Tinker reloaded and shot out of the window, aiming at the mass of zombies milling round the door. And again, the dreaded click. Perhaps that ammo he found in the old car had been there just a bit too long. Whatever, he was now out of ammunition with numbers of zombies literally at the door. Keeping as quiet as he could he moved to the east window. Looking out, he could see no zombies outside on that side of the shack.

Slight continuity error here, leaving the removed roof in camera shot. Various members of the production team have been transferred to the catering department



 He offered up a quick prayer, not for the first time today, then wriggled out of the window. Pausing for a moment to take stock, he was relieved that no zombies were in sight. Reassured, he crept to the woods, following the same route taken by Vaggers and Shula.




And what of those two while the Rev had been trying to escape the attention of the zombie swarm? They’d been busy. First Shula darted out of cover and attacked the nearest zombie which she vigorously knocked back. Wingco Vaggers, alongside her, levelled his shotgun at the rest of the group by the car. He pulled the trigger and…..click…! Another shooter out of ammo at a critical time.



The Zeds pounced and Shula was knocked to the ground.




 Like the Wingco and Rev Tinker, at this moment of crisis she found reserves of energy she could  draw on <bonus action>. She was quickly on her feet and attacked the nearest zombie, wielding her whip with deadly effect. Wingco Vaggers, was also able to make a last, almost superhuman effort. He battered the nearest zombie to bloody wreckage and with his strength fast fading, gained the sanctuary of the car.





Shula was left to face the remaining zombies although Reverend Tinker was cautiously making his way towards her, through the trees. A gruesome zombie landed a vicious blow on Shula but luckily it struck her on the pocket which contained her sturdy Women’s Institute membership card which deflected it <she used Supplies to force a re-roll which was a miss>.




Things were still looking dicey for Shula but Will had been watching the melee from the safety of the car and now decided to act. He leapt from the car and battered the zombie that was attacking Shula. Her whip was whirling like a tornado as she forced back the remaining zed.




Taking advantage of this respite, she got in the car whilst she could. She was joined by a breathless Reverend Tinker who had just arrived at the edge of the woods. With the car in reach, he decided there was no point in sneaking the last few yards. The zombie that was driven back by Shula advanced again towards Will, the only survivor not in the car.



 He had plenty of time to get back into the drivers seat and safety.



Summary and observations
And that was that. Despite all of the team except Will taking wounds (one successful hit away from extinction for the Wingco), they managed to get through the scenario objectives and back to the vehicle.

As in the first game, I rolled a 3 on the "What Happened" chart which means an argument between team members. I made a random choice as to which they would be and for the second time, the Wingco was involved- he’s developing a personality…!

In my first solo game and first two-hander, it seemed disappointing to roll a 1 or 2 on the “Loot" chart when successfully searching. This means you have found "Supplies" which felt a bit meh when what you really wanted was a shotgun. However, Supplies proved very effective, in fact vital, in this game. What Supplies does is allows the character to re-roll the last die rolled and that turned out very useful a number of times.

Also, the awarding of a bonus action if a character rolls a 6 prior to activation was another vital benefit - it certainly saved the Wingco once he was reduced to 1 action per turn due to wounds.

This board initially seemed very difficult because there were two spawn points and certainly a massive amount of Zeds were spawned. I ran out of figures and had to re-cycle dead ones. However, it became apparent quite quickly that if characters moved quietly and paid attention to lines of sight to the Spawn points, it wasn’t too difficult to keep a lot of the zombies milling round on the Spawn Points because they couldn’t see or hear any survivors. If all those spawned had managed to locate survivors, it would have been a massacre.

Regarding posting AAR’s, I didn’t pay a lot of attention to grammatical details when writing this and before posting, I realised I’d played fast and loose with which tense it was in. Parts were in past tense (the Wingco ran at a zombie and killed it) and some in the present tense (the Wingco runs at a zombie and kills it). In the end, I opted for the past tense which meant going through the whole thing and changing most of the verbs to the past tense. So I wonder, do readers have a preference for the tense AAR’s are written in?

Finally, in classic zombie literature, what converts a survivor into a zombie?


To anyone who has got this far, thank you so much for sticking with it. The team now lick their wounds and move on to the next scenario.


Doug

[CapnJim]

Foly Huck!  First I read Legionnaire's accounts of the fight where they find Billy-Ray, and now this.  To paraphrase Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott (you'll have to imagine the Scottish accent), I canna take much o' this, Captain...

But, I will.  I too am waiting to see how Vagabond fares, and whether or not the Good Reverend and his new=found shotgun come to his rescue, like an Avenging Angel... 

[mikedemana]

Whew! I thought several of the crew were as good as dead. I've found that, once wounded and knocked down, it is usually a death knell for a character. Props to Shula for surviving that situation...! 

In my campaign, I am not rolling on the "in between games" chart. I guess the cutting off a leg thing turned me off and I declined to create a new outcome for that spot on the chart.    Still, with my road trip framework, there's plenty of things the characters will be able to do between games, I feel.

I also am not doing the forfeiting supplies for a re-roll, either. I guess I figure that by giving them experience points and allowing them to purchase new skills or improve existing ones, I'm not handicapping the players too much by denying them that. Plus, supplies are the whole point of my road trip campaign. That's the great thing about Zombie RV. It is simple enough you can add, modify, or remove rules and the game still works well.

Great game, Doug! Kept me on the edge of my seat rooting for the reverend, Vaggers, and company. 

[Vagabond]

I've still not read the rules or any of the additions various people have contributed but it does seem that they give a tense game and this is leading to some very entertaining game reports.

I'd stopped wargaming for years until I came across Vampifans blog which was originally all about zombie fighting. His games were always tense and in my opinion zombies make a perfect enemy in a solo game. Their range of options is limited and there's no worries about morale or morals, just how they arrive on the table.

Well done Dougers for an entertaining storyline, I half expected to see Will drive off in the Range Rover and leave the rest behind, so it was somewhat of a relief to see her didn't.
Cheers

[Khusru2]

A splendid game and board.
The team were lucky to survive I think.

I think we deserve advertisements when you pause the dramatic action.

[Doug ex-em4]

Foly Huck!  First I read Legionnaire's accounts of the fight where they find Billy-Ray, and now this.  To paraphrase Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott (you'll have to imagine the Scottish accent), I canna take much o' this, Captain...

But, I will.  I too am waiting to see how Vagabond fares, and whether or not the Good Reverend and his new=found shotgun come to his rescue, like an Avenging Angel...

Loving the accent, Jim - you’re a natural.

Well, as described above old Wingco Vaggers got out by skin of his teeth and the Reverend’s shotgun, like everyone else’s, soon ran out of ammo and, like everyone else’s, at the wrong time. But they need to keep on keeping on because they need stuff, every kind of stuff. It looks like they’ll all be back in action very soon.

Whew! I thought several of the crew were as good as dead. I've found that, once wounded and knocked down, it is usually a death knell for a character. Props to Shula for surviving that situation...! 

I think it was because she was knockedcdow by the last attack on her so she got to retaliate before being attacked again. The bonus action roll made all the difference

In my campaign, I am not rolling on the "in between games" chart. I guess the cutting off a leg thing turned me off and I declined to create a new outcome for that spot on the chart.    Still, with my road trip framework, there's plenty of things the characters will be able to do between games, I feel.

I hope to borrow parts of your excellent campaign supplement bit by bit over time but for now, we’re still running a campaign-lite. I agree about the ‘leg thing’ which just doesn’t feel right but I’m happy to have a Team member penalised by losing some move allowance for a game - they just need to have had a minor injury.

I also am not doing the forfeiting supplies for a re-roll, either. I guess I figure that by giving them experience points and allowing them to purchase new skills or improve existing ones, I'm not handicapping the players too much by denying them that. Plus, supplies are the whole point of my road trip campaign. That's the great thing about Zombie RV. It is simple enough you can add, modify, or remove rules and the game still works well.

I don’t think "Supplies" is a good name for that feature. I don’t think of it as anything to do with supplies as one would normally understand the word. My intention is to keep the feature but rename it and introduce rules for actual supplies later

Great game, Doug! Kept me on the edge of my seat rooting for the reverend, Vaggers, and company. 

Thanks, Mike - much appreciated.

I've still not read the rules or any of the additions various people have contributed but it does seem that they give a tense game and this is leading to some very entertaining game reports.

I'd stopped wargaming for years until I came across Vampifans blog which was originally all about zombie fighting. His games were always tense and in my opinion zombies make a perfect enemy in a solo game. Their range of options is limited and there's no worries about morale or morals, just how they arrive on the table.

Well done Dougers for an entertaining storyline, I half expected to see Will drive off in the Range Rover and leave the rest behind, so it was somewhat of a relief to see her didn't.
Cheers

Thanks, Vaggers. Will driving off would have been a nice alternaending….!

A splendid game and board.
The team were lucky to survive I think.

I think we deserve advertisements when you pause the dramatic action.

They had the good and the bad when it came to their luck.

I like your ad idea - I’ll try and sell some space


Thanks for your comments, folks - the Team journey on……

Doug

[CapnJim]

Er, I seemed to miss part of the report - thus my untimely post.  Oh well...it by no means affected my enjoyment of them...

[syrinx0]

Fantastic ending to this action packed episode. 

[Legionnaire]

A thoroughly enjoyable read sir, before heading off to work  . Just the thing to kick-start my day  .

Talking about getting away by the skin of their teeth!  Well done team for making it out to live and fight another day in these zombie infested isles.

I am with you on the grammatical details Doug. When I write my AAR's, I type as I go along, sometimes having to correct typos and inconsistencies afterwards. But it's all part of the creative process  . Being foreign, I do try to stick to proper British English  .

Regards,

Legionnaire.