AKULA AAR: Get Matt to the Church on Time

[m4jumbo]

AKULA:  Get Matt to the Church on Time.  Sept 21 2013







As part of my brother Matt’s (Maniacus on LAF) recent bachelor party festivities, I had a last minute inspiration to put together an appropriately themed AKULA game.  Going off an idea our friend Zach had proposed earlier, I thought it would make for a fun scenario if we each ran a figure that represented ourselves, so with only days to go before getting together, I went to work assembling and painting personalized figures for each of the bachelor party goers.
  
Our miniature gaming likenesses were constructed from the Wargames Factory Male Survivors boxed set, with an obvious exception.  To further personalize the scenario, each person was armed as appropriately as possible with weapons that they actually owned based on information I had on hand.  I didn’t know that Eric was going to be able to make it so we found a suitable Last Night On Earth figure for his gaming avatar.

------------------------------------------------------------

As best that I can remember it, our story began when the morning after our night of bachelor party revelry at Donnie Dirks Zombie Den and Psycho Suzi’s Motor Lounge.  Somehow we found ourselves in a seedy downtown motel, jarred awake much too early in the morning by the incessant ringing of Matt’s cell phone.   Matt fumbled for his phone and answered it groggily, finally put an end to the blaring ring tone.
  
On the other end of the line was a frantic Renee, Matt’s fiancée, informing him that sometime during our night of festivities, the zombie apocalypse had begun and the city was already overrun with the walking dead.   Somehow Renee had made her way to the church and along with the pastor, she was currently holding off a swarm of ravenous undead waiting for Matt to show up.  Due to the zombie apocalypse, the wedding date had been moved up to today and we needed to get my brother to the church ASAP!

So, our intrepid group of bachelor party goers needed to get Matt to the church on time through city streets infested with the living dead.  No problem.  We quickly prepared by grabbing whatever weapons each person had available to them.  Matt and I grabbed our guns, Jeff found a couple of baseball bats while Darren put on his Renegade gear, his gaming persona accessories which he apparently carries with him on every occasion.  Eric found a flare gun and a can of gasoline in a car parked outside and quickly grabbed both items.

Mark, the wedding’s best man, was a bit hung over and in his foggy state of mind heard someone outside the hotel yelling something along the lines of “…you need to defend yourself, at least grab a bat, man!”  Still not quite fully awake, Mark took this advice literally and donned his Batman costume, ready to dish out fists full of justice to any zombie that dared to get in our way.  

We assembled in the hotel parking lot, ready for action.  Time to nut up or shut up, there is no groom for failure in this mission!  





With a flourish of his cape, and a “Follow me citizens!” Mark led the way into the zombie filled streets.



True to form, Darren rushed out ahead to take on a seemingly vulnerable female zombie, and was promptly killed within seconds of starting out.
  
Oh wait, that was just someone that happened to look exactly like Darren.  As it turned out, the real Darren was actually still changing in the bathroom and didn’t just die horribly before anyone else had a chance to do anything.



Mark quickly sought out the first dark alley he could lead us down.



The group decided to check out the nearby police station in hopes of finding more firearms, but as we examined the chained and locked doors, we heard scratching and moaning coming from inside.  Realizing that the station was infested with zombies, we moved on.   Unfortunately we all passed right by the squad car in the parking lot, not thinking to search it for supplies.





I took another drink of my Surly Furious and fired off some 9mm rounds at several of the approaching zombies.  Unfortunately the noise alerted more walkers to our presence, but I dropped a couple of them that were in our way and opened a path for the group.



A fast moving zombie dog rounded the corner in front of Darren, but he was able to elude it by quickly back tracking down the alley.
 

Meanwhile at the church, Renee continued to hold off the zombies trying to crash the upcoming wedding.



Looking to get to Pistol Pete’s Guns & Ammo Shop, Mark and Jeff turned down another alley and immediately came face to face with another zombie.



Jeff and Mark moved in to attack, but despite outnumbering the zombie, things didn’t go according to plan and Jeff was knocked off his feet by a savage blow to the head.



The rest of us rushed in to help out and were able to take out the shambler with our combined attacks before Jeff was turned into zombie food.  







The actual Jeff and Mark breathe a sigh of relief after the near fatal encounter.

[m4jumbo]

Part 2:  AKULA: Get Matt to the church on time. Sept 21 2013


We realized that there was no back way into the gun shop and access to the front door was blocked by a large group of the walking dead.   After Eric and I were lightly wounded in the melee, we decided the gun shop was a lost cause and we made a hasty retreat back to the rear alley.





In the alley, Darren ran into the UPS man and had a special delivery for him, a bat to the cranium.



After we abandoned the gun shop idea, our next plan was to loot the fire truck in front of the fire station.  Hopefully we could find some useful supplies there before continuing on.  Luck was with us and we found a fire axe and a couple medical kits that we could treat our wounds with.





Our celebration over finding the supplies in the fire truck was short lived however as a massive zombie hulk appeared from a side street and rushed into melee with Mark.  Fortunately, the foam rubber material making up the Batman costume saved him from the worst of the zombie’s attacks and Mark suffered only minor cuts.



Sensing fresh blood, more zombies lurched forward, surrounding Mark and threatening to overwhelm the whole group.   In true superhero fashion, Mark yelled to us to make a break for it while he held off the swarm of walking dead so we could escape.   Backed into a corner, our only way out was to climb up and over the fire truck.  We scrambled up the side of the vehicle as even more of the living dead crowded around Mark.





As we made it to the relative safety at the top of the truck, we immediately used the medical kits we had found to treat our minor wounds and stop the bleeding.  We also surveyed the situation and came up with a plan.  Seeing that there were just a few zombies between us and a large section of open street, Matt and I would blast the shamblers at the base of the truck and make a hole for our escape while Mark distracted the zombies on the ground behind us.





I started to clear our route to safety by blasting a couple of the shamblers down below with my shotgun, taking the head off one and knocking another off it’s feet. 



Matt added his fire power to the situation, rapidly firing off multiple rounds with his SKS to clear out several of the oncoming walking dead.





Meanwhile on the other side of the truck, Mark kept trying unsuccessfully to break free from the growing ring of undead that clawed and bit at him.  He continued to take minor cuts and scratches but his suit kept protecting him from the worst of the attacks. 



With the zombies immediately in front of us either taken out or knocked to the ground, Jeff sprang into action and lept off the truck to bash in the skull of a downed walker before it could once again rise to it’s feet.



I saw Darren climb down off the truck and run towards a zombie that was standing back up at the corner of the fire station.  I yelled to him to leave it be and make a run for it but he insisted on taking out the lone walker.



As Darren prepared to swing his newly acquired fire axe and hack the walking corpse to pieces, the creature suddenly lunged forward and sank it’s rotten teeth into his neck.  With a gurgled scream, Darren fell to the ground as blood pumped in a crimson arc from his severed artery.

[m4jumbo]

Part 3:  AKULA:  Get Matt to the church on time.  Sept 21 2013

Seeing that Darren was beyond help, Jeff and Eric ran down the street that was now thankfully clear of zombies.  Matt and I quickly followed close behind.  We avoided shooting at some of the closer walkers so that we wouldn’t alert more of them to our position.  Eric, Jeff and I formed a protective barrier in front of Matt as we moved down the street so the zombies would have to go through us first to get to him.









Much to our horror, a pair of zombie hulks lumbered into view, one blocking the way ahead of us and one coming up behind us.   We quickly tightened our protective formation around Matt and prepared for the worst.





Adding to our immediate troubles, a slavering undead dog loped around a nearby corner.  The disgusting creature let out a wet, unearthly growl and bounded towards us.  I soon found myself fighting for my life and doing my best to avoid the snapping jaws of the rotting canine.



With the church finally within sight, Eric and I yelled that we would keep the dog and massive zombie hulks occupied, while Matt and Jeff avoided their grasps, raced around them and made a break for it.





Matt could now see Renee on the steps of the church, zombies closing in all around her.  He pressed forward with new purpose and blasted one of the walkers in his way off it’s feet as it lurched for him with bloody hands extended.
 


Several walking corpses were moving in on Matt and I could see Jeff put himself in front to fend off any zombies that got too close.   





As I battled furiously with the dog and took a few cuts and scrapes in the melee, I saw up ahead that Matt and Jeff were able to make a mad dash through a gauntlet of approaching zombies and successfully reach the steps of the church to link up with Renee.









Next to me, Eric was able to break away from the zombie hulk he was holding off and sprinted to join Matt, Renee and Jeff as they made a stand on the church steps.



A great sense of relief flooded through me as I saw we had succeeded in getting Matt to the church and reuniting him with his fiancée Renee.  Even from down the street I could see the smiles on their faces now that they were together again.  Not even the zombie apocalypse would stop this wedding! 



With Matt finally safe at the church, my thoughts turned quickly to my own survival against the three undead creatures I was now struggling against all alone.   Looking behind me I noticed an open window and desperately dove through it to escape the less agile zombies.
……
I can hear them outside trying to get in, but for now I can rest up, reload, gain some energy back and get ready to try and make my way to the church.  I’m sure these scratches are nothing, I’ll be fine…



The last we saw of the best man, he was surrounded, bleeding from several small wounds and desperately fending off an ever growing crowd of zombies.
   
Mark finally realized to his horror why he had been unable to escape from the horde of zombies surrounding him.  He glanced down to see the massive zombie hulk standing firmly on the edge of his black cape, holding him in place and preventing him from being able to break away.  No capes!

The horde of zombies continued to close in around Mark, and that horde was now joined by a zombie wearing a black trench coat and a tattered blood stained black hat.




--------------------------
Success!  Despite a number of close calls we accomplished our goal of getting Matt to the church and reunited with Renee so the wedding could take place.  He even managed to make it without ever taking a wound, which is more than I can say for the rest of us.  We placed ourselves between Matt and the zombies on several occasions so the groom would be protected from any of the walking dead that managed to move into melee combat and the strategy paid off, keeping Matt safe and bite free.
 
The themed scenario worked out great and having figures to represent ourselves made the game all that much more fun because when you said “I’m going to run to the corner and shoot the zombie”, it was actually you on the board doing just that.  We are looking forward to more gaming using our personal characters. 

It wouldn’t have seemed like a proper gaming night if Darren hadn’t died in some horrible fashion.  So thankfully, even if unintentionally, he stuck with tradition and proceeded to get himself killed (twice in fact) and turned into a zombie.

[m4jumbo]

More random pictures from the Get Matt to the church on time game night.

[Diakon]

Great looking figures and cool report. Best Stag Do ever. 
Akula's zombie rules are fun aren't they?

[Damien]

Hello m4jumbo, great game, great minis, great table, fantastic game room and really cool stag; man I love your AARs. I really need to play a zombie game.

Cheers,
Damien

[syrinx0]

I'll second that comment! Great room, table and AAR.

[Elk101]

Very cool table and AAR. Nice work! Narrative style games where you can think on your feet, like deciding to search the fire engine, are a lot of fun.

[von Lucky]

Very nice AAR - great story telling.

I also recognise the four-faced clock (I have two myself). Was a Christmas decoration and Myer (for the Australians here) was selling them for $2 each on Boxing Day.

[HerbyF]

Great game, looks great, looks like it was a lot of fun.

[Marauderman]

@Von Lucky
Good score on the 4 sided clock for 2 bucks at Myer, I wouldn't of thought to check them out because their specials are normally dearer than other shops normal prices, a good score you got there.
As for the people involved in the game shown, great work on the table and the Plasticville(sounds right in my head know that's not the right spelling)  model buildings, looks like it was a great game. I bit the players got a kick playing with  miniatures of them selves.

[AKULA]

Excellent terrain, figures and game report, particularly good to see a horde as well, you've really done them justice...

...and of course, its always great to see someone enjoying the rules.

For anyone that hasn't seen them, they are fast play, double side of A4 and can handle as many zeds as you can fit on a table (I regularly use 500 or so).

The best bit is that they are FREE to download from my blog (if you like them, feel free to donate to Combat Stress using the link on my page, but you don't need to, to get the PDF).

http://akulasrules.blogspot.co.uk/

 

[Melnibonean]

Fantastic AAR. Great concept, great table and figures.

Good to see the groom made it for the big day. Now where to for the honeymoon?

[mcfonz]

Brilliant! 

Lovely table and miniatures and simply love the way that you incorporated the bachelor party and wedding into the game. Superb - a plot straight out of a decent 'b' movie style zombie flick.

Thanks for sharing it, plenty of inspiration right there.

[aggro84]

Well that was a bunch of awesome now wasn't it.