County Roads Z Campaign (6/4/25 Mission 7 AAR with pics!!)

[Legionnaire]

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  !

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.

[Legionnaire]

         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.

[Doug ex-em4]

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

[Legionnaire]

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  .

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.

[Legionnaire]

      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.

[Legionnaire]

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 (
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.

[mikedemana]

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

[Legionnaire]

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  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.

[CapnJim]

Wow.  Just Wow...

Your crew knows what they are doing.  I will say that Bernice is beginning to annoy me.     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  ) 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!     Looking forward to more.   

[Legionnaire]

Wow.  Just Wow...

Your crew knows what they are doing.  I will say that Bernice is beginning to annoy me.     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  ) 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!     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,"  , 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  . 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  . 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  .

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  .

In the CRZ rules, IF you want to, you can run a full YEAR campaign, over 52 weeks  , 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  , 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  .

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.

[Legionnaire]

         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.

[Sunjester]

A fantastic read, this is brilliant! I really like your storytelling and character development.

[Legionnaire]

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.

[CapnJim]

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!        

[Legionnaire]

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!      

I am always happy to take some inspiration from a comment or two and run with it  .

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  . 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  . May Gloria not have to unveil the new Medical Centre too soon  .

Regards,

Legionnaire.