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