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

[Legionnaire]

         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...)

[Legionnaire]

“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.

[Vagabond]

Excellent report, sounds like loads of fun and it seems as though your tactics worked superbly.

Good luck with the next mission.

[Spinal Tap]

What a great report, loved reading that.

Better get that place liveable as soon as possible though- it's no fun starving to death.

[Legionnaire]

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  .

Many thanks for the good luck.

Regards,

Legionnaire.

[Legionnaire]

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.

[CapnJim]

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)...

[Doug ex-em4]

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

[Legionnaire]

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 

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.

[Legionnaire]

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  . 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.

[Doug ex-em4]

Enjoy your holiday - where are you going?

Doug

[Legionnaire]

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  .

[Doug ex-em4]

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

[CapnJim]

Enjoy your trip!

Looking forward to more reports after you get back...

[Legionnaire]

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.