Z+363 - Zombie Military Raid:15mm Military vs Zombies Batrep (Pic Heavy)

[cmikucki]

Z+363 - Zombie Military Raid:
This weekend my son had his annual birthday game with his friends.  We always seek a period that allows for cooperative play against a common foe.  This year we chose to layout a 15mm city and let the undead have their day.

Scenario:
In 2022 the dead began to walk and things went badly for the living.  After nearly a year humanity has been pushed back into enclaves and is holding their own.  What became apparent is that the only chance humanity had was to learn about the science of their implacable foes, and strike back.  
Ciudad Nuevo, Cuba:  The International Health Institute (IHI) was the first place that attempted to gather data and researchers to catalog the outbreak.  They reportedly recovered Patient Zero from China – though reports differ.  Unfortunately on Z+107, contact was lost.  Subjects recovered for testing broke out, and reports say it was the first place in Cuba to be touched by the plague.  By Z+200 Cuba was among the most desolated nations.  

The coalition of surviving nation states were now largely on defense, but a multinational raid was planned on the IHI to recover patient zero and the manufacturing equipment for the RAV vaccine (Ambush Z).

Mission objectives varied for each faction – the living were generally aligned, but some had more to hide than others….
These are the various player factions (15 – of which only 9 were played):

The players could have various insertion methods - most on the boat, some on SUV's by land, and a select group in rotary wing.  The VLS agents could start anywhere on the board... they are super-agents after all!



Argentine Special Forces
Mexican National Police Commandos
Brazilian Containment Team
X-Ray Corporation
OGA
US Army Rangers
US Navy Seals (2 sections)
British Paras (2 squads)
SAS Recon Team
Australian SAS

PLA of China
VLS Agents – a branch of MI-6 I think…
Cuban Survivors
International Mafia
An overview of the board from the waterfront looking toward the IHI building:











VLS agents check out a BMP in front of the IHI  (No luck)

The Brazilian containment team take up positions at a roadblock of cars – not knowing there were five zeds in the minivan!






By the end of the game there were 460 zeds on the table:



The living players succeeded in catching the mafia faction spiriting Patient Zero, Doctor Juanstone and the RAV laptop out the back of the IHI and on Turn 24 took possession of all but Tiny the Mafia leader…

And the living flew away…


We drew heavily on Ambush Z and FUBAR for the rules.  I like Ambush Z very much, but for ten players in their early teens, I simplified firing rules and made all living movement simultaneous.  I used weapons dice and ranges from FUBAR v4.0  The boys had a great time, and in the end worked well together.  Only one faction was entirely destroyed (Argentine SF, after rescuing the downed Telemundo TV crew….)  The players lost about 25 figures throughout their raid - hundreds of zeds were recycled!

Much fun was had by all.

Chris

[Dr Mathias]

Wow, that's looks great. Sounds like a lot of fun too!

[Iv.An.]

Very interesting. 460z

[Suber]

Wow, that's simply awesome

[Nimrod]

Very nice looking game.

[chrisw]

great looking board and game!!   

[cmikucki]

Guys - thanks for the nice comments.  My son is less pleased because I rushed the battle report side of the posting.

1)  The British SAS, CIA, and eventually Delta Force were inserted by helicopter.  X-ray corporation, Australian SAS, and the Mexican National Police commandos enter via electric vehicles designed not to attract attention.  The remaining groups had to land at one of the two piers on the waterfront in the single cargo ship.

2)  The teams had some trouble getting close to the IHI, but there were only 36 zombies on the table at start, so the threat grew steadily throughout the game.

3)  The zombies around the base of the IHI were inside defenses, so could not penetrate the lawn/fountain/ drive in the front where you see the figures mass.

4)  The armored vehicles strewn across the battlefield were abandoned by Cuban forces back around Z+120 when the government tried to assert control.  Players could use skill rolls to search/ start some of the vehicles.  While they tried valiantly none ever got into the actions....  near the end the remaining reporter was locked inside the M41 which never moved...  he was surrounded by a mega-horde, so his ending seems predictable.

5)  There was a Telemundo helicopter that was shot down by unknown forces just an hour before the raid.  The reporters were held by a party of mafia in the building the boys came to call the Manor House.  The gunmen fought it out with the Argentine SF player for three turns, finally being wiped out.  When the Argentine SF were escorting the reporters back to the boat, they were pinned in between two hordes that spawned on either side of them - then finally wiped out to the last reporter!  (The losing Argentine player was re-spawned as the US Delta Force team and inserted by rotary wing the next turn - can't be too hard on 13yo's)

6)  The Mafia team was inside the three multi-story buildings and had a number of RPG's.  When they needed to they would fire the rockets to draw more zeds to screen them.  In one case at the factory more than 70 zeds had spawned inside the compound, and the mafia on the top floor used an RPG  to blast the gate open and release the zeds into the withdrawal routes of the players. 

7)  The climax of the plot came when the mafia leader and the remaining gunmen tried to sneak everyone out the back of the IHI and to a LZ for extraction. The players spotted them, and some handy zeds also spawned in front of them slowing them down.  The tension was pretty real for the players.  The SAS (UK and Australian), the VLS agents,and X-RAY corp contractors chased them into a building and assaulted their way inside.  The players had a ton of fun in this brief close-in fight.  The mafia leader escaped into a tunnel back to the inside of the IHI and then onto the roof for extraction.

  A final note, the mafia and Delta Force each had one portable 'noisemaker' device they could activate to draw all zeds within 12".  The mafia used it to put zeds between themselves and the raiders.  The Delta Force team placed theirs in the gas station lot across from the factory to draw zeds away from escape routes for other teams.  This second was attacked and destroyed by RPG from the factory as well.  These devices were inspired by an idea in Day by Day Armageddon (highly recommended).

Anyway - thanks for the kind words!

[Dentatus]

Just watching WW-Z on Netflix and these pictures capture the same scale and carnage as several of the better scenes. Your stuff looks excellent and fun - two great things.