Tap's County Road Z

[Spinal Tap]

After my original test campaign I decided I wanted to run a more detailed campaign using parts of the optional Apocalypse Toolkit, a Cosmic Origin story and Timeline of the Apocalypse.

The beauty of the game is that it can be quite basic or extremely complex and all the tools are there for that. Only real criticism is that I don’t find the layout intuitive and it takes some time to find what I need. It’s only fair to say that this might be me though and everyone else might be fine.

Irrespective of that I still find I love this game and am really looking forward to getting my teeth into it again.



Cosmic Horror (Direct quote from the book)

"That which is dead can never die. Cosmic energies from deep space have awakened something in the Earth and under the sea. Zombies, tentacled monsters and beasts from beyond the stars threaten the life, and sanity, of humanity’s last survivors".




Mid February 1966 and the world is bathed in an unusual light from the Sun, not blue, not purple, not red, not orange, not green but somehow all of these. Within 24 hours sunlight returned to normal and despite worldwide scientific interest no explanation was found.

One week later and the majority of the world’s population lost their sight instantaneously. Cars crashed in their millions, planes fell from the sky, accidents and death were everywhere.

As those who had not observed the phenomena and retained their sight tried to help, they found that the sightless were becoming ever more aggressive, often after a period of dormancy.

Within a few hours any sightless encountering someone unaffected would attack viciously, tearing at them with fingers and teeth until they were butchered or made their escape.

The few who survived this calamity began to refer to the sightless in another way; they called them Zombies.




Samantha Forbes, youngest daughter of Sir Cecil Forbes, has been on the family estate since the start of the apocalypse barely 2 weeks ago.

A couple of the original staff and three locals who managed to escape the massacre at the village of Boycott are in the old hall with her.

On the 27th February the Forbes residence is attacked then overrun by the Zombies, with only Sam and two locals, Albert O’Neil, landlord of the Nags Head, and Peter Carter, ex-soldier.

Sam was equipped with her father’s favourite rifle whilst Bert had his old service revolver he had retained after the war. Pete, who refused to carry a gun, chose a heavy tyre lever for his defence.

The group are now on the lookout for a new home and have found a small house on the outskirts which looks intact and surrounded by less than a dozen passive Zombies.

After a relatively short battle leaving only a small horde of four Zombies to the North, they three survivors managed to get into the house, secure it and barricade the door.

During the engagement Sam had proved an extremely accurate and had hit numerous Zombies, but Bert only downed one due to repeated jams to his revolver.

Pete had managed to scavenge a few items whilst outside and had despatched two Zombies with his tyre lever.

They intend to rest and plan tomorrow before setting about making the house more habitable and defensible.



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[Doug ex-em4]

This one is bookmarked to keep an eye on - I’m liking the set-up so far. I also really like the look of the table; fairly simple, very playable but also attractive looking.

Looking forward to seeing some more.

Doug

[Kourtchatovium104]

I agree. An interesting game to follow. 

[tjgreenway]

English countryside, zombies and cosmic horror? Sounds perfect, will be following here as well!

[mikedemana]

Looking forward to reading more adventures! I like the back story into... 

Mike Demana

[anevilgiraffe]

nice, looks lovely...

(few typos - last instead of lost, level instead of lever  )

[Khusru2]

A very nice scene. Good story start

[Spinal Tap]

Thanks guys.

Anevilgiraffe, I've fixed the typos

[Spinal Tap]

Week One


The decision is made for Sam and Pete to travel to a nearby pub which is likely to have supplies they can use. Bert will remain at the house in order to fix up the garden and sort a lounge area in one of the bunk rooms.


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Sam and Pete enter on the road from the West, spotting a number of passive zombies in the area, along with a pub, a house and a storage building. Also 3 cars which likely have useful items in, however, they see no other survivors in the vicinity, although this is difficult given the driving rain that has set in.

Sam lines up a shot on a passive Z, dropping it immediately, but exciting a nearby one to aggression; she shoots this one too. Pete hops over the wall and makes his way over the field to the crashed Ford Popular. Whatever noise they made has brought a Z from under the nearby Morris Minor but, fortunately, once freed it returns to dormancy.


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It has barely settled when Sam draws a bead on it and sends it crashing to the ground. This shot causes a Z near the pub to become alert and her next shot, at it, misses, causing it to scramble over the wall and end dangerously close to Pete. He stealthily approaches this threat and fells it with a blow from his tyre lever. Looking round to ensure no other threats he searches the crashed vehicle and finds two resources. A passive Z slowly moves onto the Eastern road and Z’s start to become aggressive in the North, safely away from the survivors.

20250627_171641 by markndebs, on Flickr


Sam moves to the car, shoots another passive Z that was a potential threat to Pete as he collects the 2 discovered items.

Meanwhile, in the North, more and more Z’s are entering an aggressive stance and a passive Z wanders in on the North road.

Sam moves to the pub door and pulls it open, Pete rushes in hoping that there were no Z’s inside; fortunately for him there were not but there were 2 potential resources. For the next few minutes he and Sam search and collect all the resources in the pub then head out towards the Morris Traveller. While they have been busy around the pub the Z’s have also been in the North; there are now 7 aggressive Z’s and quite a number of passives still to be awoken and they’re all slowly heading South.
 

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Sam moves into a position to take shots but they go wide as Pete scavenges from the car; they now have 7 resources between them and the active Z’s have just formed a Horde and are rushing in the direction of the survivors. Sam’s shots have also awakened a Z in the house and it charges from the cottage as the Horde move along the road into an ever more dangerous position.

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Further Z’s become aggressive as Sam shoots a couple, her idea was to move to the crashed MGB GT on the North Road but she wisely decides to get out of there.

Calling to Pete to follow she retreats to near their entrance point. A great call as the Horde move close to their past location and a passive Z emerges from a wall side nearby.

As the danger continues to increase the two leave and head back to their new base, noting that there are still a lot of resources around the area yet to be collected.


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[mikedemana]

Nice surgical strike, in and out, with no danger. Hope you're having fun with the games...

Mike Demana

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Interesting AAR.
Thanks.

[Spinal Tap]

Week Two: Searching for Survivors

The location contains 10 Passive Zeds, 3 Resources all to be found in the vehicles and 4 survivors hidden in the buildings. The weather is dry and settled with no forecast of rain.



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Sam and Pete enter this area from the North, not the best decision as the majority of Passive Zeds are sited there whilst the cars containing goods and resources are away to the South.

Sam’s shooting is spot on as usual, taking down a Passive but alerting three others into action. Her second shot takes one out of these down but allows the remaining pair to get dangerously close to her and Pete.

‘Be a darling, Pete, and see if you can persuade these fellows to leave us be’ purr’s Sam, who obliges by stealthy approach to the Zed in the road, before despatching it with a crack from his tyre lever.

The other Active Zed is too far from the action and does not respond.


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Pausing to destroy another two Active Zeds the pair move towards the nearby house to see if any survivors are holed up there; unfortunately their movement has alerted more Actives who lumber towards them.

‘Reckon we might need to clear a few more out before checking the house’ Pete says and they get to work. Again Sam’s shooting and Pete’s stealthiness in attack prove very effective.

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Unfortunately, while they’ve been clearing around the Northerly house a number of Passives have emerged around the central garage and are slowly turning Aggressive and forming a small, but potentially dangerous, Horde.



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Whilst Sam ends another Active Zed which has lurched into view, Sam enters the house and finds a survivor, and middle aged woman by the name of June; Sam is sure she recognises her but there’s no time for social niceties and introductions. The pair leave the house and join Pete who is now itching to get to the Zed infested garage to search the car.


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As the trio move towards it, they are fortunate that the Horde chooses to move further South; this will still be a problem later as they will need to be cleared to access the further two vehicles in the team’s search for goods.

Sam holds back slightly and takes out the final Passive standing outside the garage allowing Pete to rush to the VW Beetle and search it. He finds three items as a result of his Scavenge ability but also, unknowingly, activates a Zed hidden in the building.

As Sam and June advance the Zed, hearing Pete opening the boxes, climbs over the Beetle and engages Pete. Luckily he had his wits about him and manages to batter it to the ground.


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The Horde continues to slowly move away down the street while Sam picks them off one at a time. By the time Pete and June have collected all the items from the Beetle the Horde is no more, although another is forming to the North.

The potential speed of a Horde is such that even when at such distance it can take little time for them to rush you from across the area. As such, while shooting more Zeds Sam calls for Pete to pick up the pace and get to the Police car which he duly does. June follows along but is little use at this time as she is unarmed and only able to carry one item, which she already has in her arms.


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To the North the Horde grows as Pete searches and gather goods from the Police Car along with Sam. The pair, followed by June, then hurry to the crashed Brooke Bond van, clearing that of goods too.


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Still no Zeds are within the nearby area and newly spawned seem to be predominantly to the North. This allows a search of the Stables where Ruth, the farmer’s daughter, is found. As the Northern Horde finally starts Southward the team of four exit the area to return home.


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Back at the house the party arrive to find Bert has managed to get 2 more beds built in the bunk rooms. Both Sam and Pete have improved their skills and there is sufficient food for everyone.

June turns out to be the wife of the (presumably dead) Mayor Ramsbottom of Settle. She has lived in Giggleswick all of the married life and, for the first time, is needing to be independent; seeming willing to learn how to survive and kill Zeds. June is able to Ration well which will prove useful not only in the house but also when food is required out scavenging.

Ruth Langford is the daughter of a farmer and very capable; she was found with her father's old shotgun but is currently not the best shot. She has the Long Gun skill and is a pretty good scout.

The survivors meet to formulate a plan for the coming week where it is agreed that Sam and Pete will take June out to aid her in improving her skills. Bert and Ruth will stay home, make improvements to the garden and try to get the old kitchen range working.

[Kourtchatovium104]

Interesting report with great minis! I like the scenery, too: good looking result, mixing papercraft and MDF. 

[pixelgeek]

Great looking table.

[Doug ex-em4]

Coming along nicely and the table has the rare quality of both looking very good but is also a practical gaming layout.

Doug