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

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Great report.
Looking forward to the next one.

[mikedemana]

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

[Legionnaire]

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  . 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.

[Legionnaire]

         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)

[Legionnaire]

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)

[Legionnaire]

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 )

[Doug ex-em4]

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

[Legionnaire]

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  .

The game itself plays quite quickly and easily, it's my note taking that makes the game run for twice as long  .

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  .

Regards,

Legionnaire.

[Legionnaire]

“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.

[mikedemana]

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

[Legionnaire]

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 . Next time, there'll probably be more noise, with a shotgun on senor Vidal's team...

[Legionnaire]

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)

[Dan55]

A very good report.  I really like your narrative style of describing the action. Can't wait 'til the next one.

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

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.

[Legionnaire]

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  .

Regards,

Legionnaire.