Saturday 16 October 2010

My ATZ Campaign - Day 14 - Soap and Petrol

Following on from their great success last time, Vampifan decided to lead his team back to the same part of Mayhem City that they visited on the previous day. It seemed to be an area of rich pickings, so Vampifan was hoping that lightning would strike twice in the same place and that he'd be equally lucky today. Ah, but this is ATZ, and just when you think all is going well, fate comes along to bite you on the bum!
Here's the game board set up exactly as in the last scenario, although this time, Team Vampifan are entering in the south-western corner or section 7. Just to remind you, the board is divided up into 9 equally sized sections, with sections 1, 2 and 3 at the top of the photo, 4, 5 and 6 in the middle and 7, 8 and 9 running along the bottom of the photo. The ruined buildings that feature so prominently in this scenario are from Games Workshop's range of Warhammer 40,000 buildings.
Before I could begin the scenario I had to roll 1d6 for the placement of three PEFs and determine their Reps.
PEF:1 was Rep:4 and appeared in section 4 amongst the ruins of a small beige coloured building, hidden from view. As before, I'm using red dice to represent the PEFs, with their relevant number on the top.
PEF:2 was Rep:3 and I placed it in cover behind a parked car in section 2.
PEF:3 was also Rep:3 and was placed behind a burned out car in section 6.

DAY 14 - SOAP AND PETROL
I rolled for Lack of Sleep for each member of Team Vampifan. Vampifan scored a 6 on 2d6, Big Sil scored a 9, Angie also scored a 6 and Gap scored an 8. This meant Vampifan and Angie had to take the test. Both passed 2d6 and so were okay.
The team were now armed differently to what their figures were, following their good fortune last time. Vampifan was armed with an Assault Rifle, a Combat Knife, Flash Bang Grenades and wore Body Armour, Big Sil was armed with an Assault Rifle, a Combat Knife and wore Body Armour. Angie and Gap carried an Assault Rifle each and both wore Body Armour. They all wore their Body Armour (Flak Jackets) under their normal clothing. I'm debating whether or not to convert the figures so that they are carrying the correct weaponry, although for Vampifan no conversion is necessary. No way am I adding proper flak jackets to the figures. It would be a sacrilege to hide Vampifan's magnificent T-shirt under a drab flak jacket!
TURN 1.   ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 1, PEFs = 5
Vampifan led his team into the ruins of the light grey coloured building in the south-west corner of the board. I turned over the top card of my Risks and Rewards deck. It showed that there were no humans or zombies inside but there was a Luxury Item to be found. I rolled on the Luxury Items chart that I've devised and it turned out to be a pack of four bars of soap. I rolled to see who found it and it was Angie, lucky lass!
The PEFs failed to activate so stayed put.
TURN 2.   ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 6, PEFs = 3
Whilst Team Vampifan made jokes about soap, I rolled on the PEF Movement Table for PEF:1 and passed 2d6. This placed the PEF in section 9, in sight of Team Vampifan and behind cover if possible. Rolling a 1 on the PEF Resolution Table determined this was an Involuntary Encounter. I decided to make it a Random Road Encounter, but rather than use those in I, Zombie (hereafter to be abbreviated IZ) I used the identically named table found on page 56 of the Better Dead Than Zed (hereafter to be abbreviated BDTZ) rulebook. I rolled 2d6 and scored a 7, indicating Gangers. I rolled to see how many of them there were on the How Many NPCs Table (see p.59 of IZ) and scored an 8, meaning one more than Team Vampifan. Seeing as they outnumbered Team Vampifan, they would be hostile.
Next, I rolled for their Reps and weaponry using the Ganger's List on page 9 of BDTZ. They were led by a Rep:5 Hard Case armed with a double-barrelled shotgun. His followers were a Rep:4 female Banger armed with an SMG, two Rep:4 Bangers armed with BA Pistols and a Rep:2 Wannabe armed with a Pistol. Incidentally, for those wanting to know what figures I used, going from bottom to top in the above photo, the first three are EM4 Thugz, the next one up is a Hasslefree adventurer and the female is from the Foundry Street Violence range.
With that sorted out, I had to roll for both leaders on the Encounter Awareness Test table (see p.115 of IZ). Vampifan rolled 5d6 for his Rep and scored a stunning four successes. The Gangsta leader rolled 4d6, having lost a dice for being active and only scored two successes. By winning by two successes, and being inactive, Team Vampifan could roll on the In Sight test with 3d6 instead of 2d6. Cool! All four heroes passed 2d6 and were allowed to fire as normal. Vampifan experienced a brief moment of deja vu as he recalled yesterday's encounter with the National Guard. This looked to be heading in the same direction.
Vampifan fired first. He fired once at the Gangsta leader and twice at a Gangsta with a BA Pistol, hitting them both once. His third shot was a complete miss. He badly wounded them both, putting them Out Of the Fight.
Big Sil fired a three round burst at the female with the SMG and missed with every shot.
Angie showed him how it should be done. Not only did she hit the female with her first shot, but her second hit the other Gangsta armed with a BA Pistol. Like Vampifan, her third shot was way off the mark. The female was placed Out Of the Fight but the male was just Knocked Down. However, he only passed 1d6 on the Recover From Knock Down test and so, he too, was Out Of the Fight.
Gap's three round burst targetting the Rep:2 Wannabe was just as ineffectual as Big Sil's. He missed with every shot. This forced the wannabe to take the Received Fire test. He passed 1d6 and because he was in cover, he could snap fire back. He chose to shoot at Vampifan, correctly identifying him as the greatest threat. However, he had no chance of hitting him. The best he could score would be an 8 and he needed a 10 to hit. Still, he didn't know that, so he gamely fired twice and caused Vampifan to take the Received Fire test. Being a Star, Vampifan chose to pass 2d6 and fired a three round burst back at him. One shot hit him and knocked the teenager down. Alas, when the wannabe rolled on the Recover From Knock Down test, he passed 0d6 and was Obviously Dead.
It was indeed deja vu again. The gunfight resulted in 17 shots being fired.
Now I had to roll for PEF:2 and it passed 1d6 on the PEF Movement table. It moved one section diagonally forward to arrive in section 4 and ended up where PEF:1 had started out. PEF:3 passed 0d6 and remained in section 6.
Vampifan's group could not activate this turn but that didn't matter as things had gone mighty well for them.
All that was left to do was to dice for zombie reinforcements. I rolled 17d6 and scored 10 successes! Bear in mind this scenario took place in a suburban area where zombies only appear if you roll a 5 or a 6 on 1d6. This was an incredible result! You can see eight out of the ten in the photo above on the main road.
The other two appeared at the far side of the large black and silver building. Just out of interest, all zombie reinforcements are from Fortress Figures' range of 35mm scale zombies, which I don't feature very often.
TURN:3.   ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 3, PEFs = 3, Zombies = 2
I did not reroll for activation between Vampifan and the PEFs because who goes first is determined by Rep and Vampifan's was much higher than the two remaining PEFs, so he went first this turn. Team Vampifan moved from one set of ruins to another - the large black and silver building. I turned over the next card in my Risks and Rewards deck and revealed three zombies guarding a unit of Fuel.
First thing to do was to roll on the Meeting Zombies table (see p.44 of BDTZ). Bad news for Vampifan - he only scored a 6, whilst the zombies scored a 7. The zombies would charge straight into melee, giving Team Vampifan no time to fire first. From the way the figures were lined up it was obvious who would be fighting who. Big Sil, Vampifan and Angie were the targets, whislt Gap lagged behind.
Moving from left to right, I began with Big Sil. He rolled 6d6 (5 for his Rep and +1 for having a higher impact weapon). He only scored 2 successes but his opponent scored none. Scratch one zombie!
Vampifan also rolled 6d6 (for the same reasons as Big Sil). He scored 3 successes, whilst his opponent scored none. Scratch two zombies!
Angie rolled 5d6 (5 for her Rep, +1 for having a higher impact weapon but -1 for having the Runt Attribute). She scored 4 successes but this time, the zombie scored a success. They carried on and Angie scored 2 successes and the zombie scored a success again. Tough little zombie! Finally, Angie scored 0 successes and the zombie scored his third success in a row - victory to the zombie! Angie was knocked Out Of the Fight!
Gap spotted a zombie trying to climb over a window ledge at the far side of the building. He fired three times at the zed, hit him once and killed him. I rolled to see who found the can of petrol and it was Gap who was successful.
Now it was time to roll for the two PEFs. Both passed 1d6 on the PEF Movement Table and had to move one section towards the nearest remaining PEF, placing them slap in the middle of section 5, the only section on the board without any cover.
The zombies on the main road moved towards the entrance to the black and silver building, attracted by the sound of gunfire from within.
The female doctor zombie moved into the ruined building to charge Big Sil. However, he passed 2d6 on the Being Charged table and with just a single shot, he killed her before she could reach him. Vampifan clubbed to death the zombie who had beaten Angie.
I rolled 4d6 for zombie reinforcements and scored one success. Rather worryingly, he appeared right in the south-west corner in the same place as Team Vampifan had arrived at the start of the scenario.
TURN 4.   ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 2, PEFs = 3, Zombies = 6
Look closely through the window to the left of the silver doors and you can see a zombie standing up who should be lying on the ground dead. I don't know how this happened. Maybe I just forget to knock him over when Vampifan beat him to death. Anyway, just ignore him. Be honest, would you have noticed him if I hadn't pointed him out?
Rolling for PEF:2 first, it passed 1d6 on the PEF Movement Table and moved one section to the closest group of players, in sight and in cover if available. So, I placed it by the wall that Team Vampifan had used to enter the ruined building. I rolled a 2 on the PEF Resolution Table to give me an NPC Interaction result. I rolled 1d6 to see if they were human (1-3) or zombies (4-6). I rolled a 5, so more zombies turned up
to harrass our heroes.
                 
Next, I had to roll to see how many appeared and got a result of the same amount as the players. I pondered awhile to see if this meant current numbers (as Angie was still OOF) or total numbers. It's a grey area but in the end I opted for four, the same as ALL of the PCs, regardless of their status.
Then I rolled on the Encounter Awareness Table with Vampifan getting a +1d6 bonus to his Rep for having already run into hostile NPCs. He passed 3d6 out of 6. The zombies only rolled 2d6, suffering a -2d6 penalty for being active (-1d6) and being zombies (-1d6). They passed 0d6, which allowed Team Vampifan to once again take the In Sight test with 3d6 instead of 2d6.. Not surprising, they all passed 2d6 and were able to fire at the zombies as normal.
Vampifan fired a three round burst at two zombies. He hit and killed one but missed with his second and third shots.
Big Sil had better luck. Two of his three shots hit and two more zombies keeled over, Obviously Dead.
Gap missed with every one of his three shots.
I rolled to see who the last of the four zombies would charge. Once more, it was Big Sil.
The bearded bruiser had no trouble in defeating the zombie and he clubbed it to death.
I rolled to see if PEF:3 would move but it passed 0d6 and so remained where it was.
Now it was Team Vampifan's turn to move. Big Sil moved adjacent to Angie to see if he could revive her. He would have to wait one full turn before rolling to see if he was successful.
Gap moved to the corner of the buildingto get a better shot at the firefighter zombie. One shot was all he needed to kill the zed.
Vampifan fired three rounds through the open front doors at the two zombies closing in. With rolls of 6, 6 and 1 he easily hit them but when it came to damage he was only able to kill one of them. The policeman zombie was merely knocked down.
I rolled 13d6 for zombie reinforcements and scored five successes. Three appeared at the front of the light grey coloured ruined building...
...whilst two more appeared at either side of the grey coloured ruined building, situated at the far side of the black and silver building.
TURN 5.   ACTIVATION - Vampifan =4, PEFs = 2, Zombies = 3
I had to check who had to take the Recovery test - the victim or the person caring for the victim. It was the victim, although to be honest, it wouldn't have made much difference as both were Rep:5. Angie passed 2d6 and made a full recovery, returning to consciousness and at her normal Rep.
Vampifan moved to the front of the building to finish off the knocked down policeman zombie. In doing so, he saw PEF:3 and I immediately rolled 1d6 to see what it was. It turned out to be another Hostile NPC Encounter. The die determined that it was more zombies. How many more? Twice as many as Team Vampifan! With another 8 zombies now on the board, this was fast turning into Zombie Central! Vampifan easily won the Encounter Awareness test but the following In Sight test proved to be far from helpful as he was not allowed to shoot at any zombies if they were more than 6" away, which they were. Bummer! He used the rest of his movement to turn round and head back inside. He didn't even shoot the knocked down zombie, figuring that flight was better than fight.
At this point there were 20 active zombies on the board. The knocked down policeman zombie spent the turn standing back up. The three new zombies who had appeared in front of the light grey ruined building last turn descended on the OOF Gangers and began to feast upon them. Their feeding would last for four turns. The rest of the zombies moved a lot closer to the ruined black and silver building, some of them almost within touching distance of it.
PEF:3 had already been revealed so that ended this turn. With no shots being fired, there were no zombie reinforcements to roll for.
TURN 6.   ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 6, Zombies = 6
Neither side could activate but double 6 meant rolling on the Random Occurence Table (see p.32 of BDTZ). I rolled a 7 for a result of Fire. The lawyers' offices across the road had suddenly caught fire and attracted the attention of 2d6 zombies. I rolled a 7 to see how many would appear. There's never a dull moment in this game, is there? I LOVE IT! By the way, the flames come from the WWG Bits of Mayhem set.
TURN 7.   ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 4, Zombies = 3
"As the good shepherd once said," Vampifan yelled, "let's get the flock out of here!"
Big Sil, Angie and Gap were able to exit the board with just a normal move. For Vampifan to escape he had to make a Fast Move. He'd be fine as long as he rolled 3 or higher on the 1d6. I was using the new Fast Move rules from IZ for the first time (see p.2 of IZ). Now the character makes his normal move then rolls 2d6 to see how much further he can go, up to a limit of twice his Rep. However, Vampifan has the Slow Attribute, so he only rolled 1d6. He rolled a 4 and was able to catch up with his colleagues.
Just out of interest, if the zombies had won the activation roll this turn, none of them were close enough to reach anyone from Team Vampifan, so our heroes would still have escaped. With 27 zombies left on the board, Vampifan's decision to flee was undoubtedly the sensible option. Whilst this foray had not been as successful as yesterday's, they did not leave empty handed. Angie had found a luxury item and Gap had found some fuel.
As Angie had received an OOF result against a zombie, she had to take the "Harry, Are You Okay?" test (see p.35 of BDTZ). This involves rolling 1d6 and adding the person's Rep to the score. If the result is 8 or less then the person has become infected. If, however, the result is 9 or higher, the person is okay. I rolled a 4 for Angie, which added to her Rep of 5 gave a total of 9. She was safe! Phew!
Finally, I rolled for Rep increases. Only Gap was eligible for a roll. Vampifan and Big Sil were ruled out for not finding any resources, and Angie was ineligible for becoming OOF. Unfortunately, I rolled a 2 for Gap and so he remained Rep:4.
Before running these last two scenarios, I hadn't a clue what to do for a story. I knew that I wanted to use some of the new rules from I, Zombie. Even then, I wasn't too sure which ones to use and which ones to keep for later. Without any doubt, the best decision I made was to introduce PEFs. They made these two scenarios come alive in a way that playing an ordinary Discover scenario from BDTZ could never have achieved. The National Guard encounter last time and the Gangers encounter this time added so much to both scenarios. Also, the way that zombies kept appearing in this game from PEF results, zombie reinforcement rolls and a Random Occurence event, certainly kept Team Vampifan on their toes. There was no way that they could have fought them all. I thoroughly enjoyed playing both games and they are testimony to just how great ATZ has become. Thanks for reading. Your support is greatly appreciated.

31 comments:

  1. Another great batrep. Your GW ruined buildings are very nice, also.

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  2. Ha ha! I love it. I'm glad Angie made it, she was too good to lose.
    I laughed my arse off when I saw the burning building as that one happens a lot in our games. By the way thanks for the reminder on the flames. I totally forgot about that bits of mayhem stuff and here I am all this time using that cheesy cut out orange stock that LTL Mom made.
    The Zeds are so sneaky in ATZ. One moment you think your cool, then all of a sudden the board is full of the buggers. It happens so subtle that players don;t seem to notice until it is a situation.
    Great rep Bryan and you do such a great job of playing the rules and getting everything out of them.

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  3. @Luckyjoe. Thanks. I figured as Mayhem City is going to Hell in a handcart I should use more ruined buildings. Now that the lawyers' offices are ablaze there'll soon be another ruin in that part of the city! In a Post Apocalypse setting ruins are an important item of scenery to have in your collection.

    @Willy. I'd have been sorry to see Angie go as well. Being Rep:5 helped her survive immensely. If she'd been Rep:4 or lower she'd be dead meat. I notice that fires frequently break out in your batreps but this is the first time I've had one occur in my games. I've had those flame counters prepared for ages now and never had the opportunity to use them. I'm glad they finally got an airing.
    Oh, you are so right about the zeds being sneaky. I couldn't believe how fast the board filled up with them. As I keep on saying, knowing when to run is the key to survival in ATZ.
    I had a great deal of fun playing these last two scenarios back to back.

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  4. Lots of action! Nice work again!

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  5. Hmm my original post was deleted for some reason, and I know I didn't delete it. Well here goes another try, hopefully it works this time.

    Bryan,

    Glad to see Vampi and gang made it out alive, with some loot to boot, Now the gang can take a shower or bath to clean some of that blood and grime off of them from all their battles, and maybe even use a bar to clean their drawers after some of those close calls they had, LOL.

    Just a word of advise I discovered the other day, dont play a game if you have a cat and its in the room. My cat was laying across the room whiel i was playing a game of ATZ and I turned away from the table for a moment to open a bottle of pop and look something up in the rulebooks and next thing I know a couple of the figures were gone (was using the Zombies and shotgun guys from Zombies!!! The Game since I was to lazy to go to the other room and pull out my 28mm minis I have painted up). Jynx (my evil black feline of destruction) ended up jumping up on the table and batting two of the shotgun guys, that were in the middle of the table, off of the table and carried one of the zombies off too, surprisingly he didn't touch anything else. I guess he just didn't like the shotgun guys or that one single zombie. The freaky thing is this all happened in just a second or two, cats are evil incarnate I tell you they are the ultimate Ninja when they want to be.

    BTW this is Eldorf.Dragonsbane, I finally grated a Blogger account instead of just using my Google account. Don't have a Blog quite yet, should be starting one as soon as I finish fleshing out my Mackinac Island Campaign (thinking of renaming it to the Great Lakes Campaign since I am now adding a couple locations over along the coast of Lake Michigan). Have one or two more communities or possible key locations to add along with Key NPCs for those locations then I can start playing the campaign, I may see if I can convince a friend to join in on the campaign.

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  6. Bryan,

    Sorry for the double post and the two deleted posts, i think I figured out what the problem was, its was on my end, had some internet connection issues and I think that's what may have caused the posts to get deleted. I had a bugger of a time trying to log into my Google/Blogger account to post the comments above, and it should say created a blogger account not grated a blogger account, was rushing on my part and the stupid spell check turned a misspelt created into grated.

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  7. great batrep vampifan those zds pile up real quick if you aint careful me and a shotgun in a game urned 1 zd into 17 after a few rounds

    and Doug cats are pure evil, the first mini i ever painted was nicked by a cat and i never got it back.

    and i use the twilligh zombies and shotgun dudes as my actual figures i found a pack of a hundred zeds £3, you cant say no to that

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  8. Doug, sorry to hear you're having internet connection problems. I hope everything is sorted out by now. I know I didn't delete your first two comments as I've been offline since replying to Luckyjoe and Willy. I have deleted the two posts that said the author had deleted them. What a carry on, huh?
    No need to apologise for double posts. I don't mind that at all.
    Anyway, let's chat about cats. I used to own two Persian cats - a golden chinchilla called Wiskee and a silver chinchilla called Clint. They were brothers but Clint died in 2000 and Wiskee in 2004. I know all about cats causing mayhem on the gaming table! Been there, seen it and got the T-shirt! I wouldn't go so far as to calling them evil incarnate, although at the time you tend not to be so forgiving. Cats are just intensely curious creatures. Descibing cats as the "ultimate ninja" is a perfect description of them! I remember one time I was GMing a game in my dining room and three of my friends were with me sitting around the table. One of them was Big Sil. Gap was there as well. My cats were sleeping on top of a very tall china cabinet that was situated behind me and Big Sil. As we were gaming one of them decided it was time to come down. Now to get down, they generally dropped down onto my shoulders then dropped down to the table top before jumping to the floor. So they got down in three steps. This time, however, one of them dropped down onto Big Sil's shoulders and he nearly had a heart attack! Yep, cats know all about sneakiness. I never had any instances of them stealing figures but they did knock a few over, mainly with their bushy tails. What always amazed me was how sure-footed they were. Whenever they jumped onto the gaming table they always landed away from any figures. Dammit, I miss my cats. They were more than pets to me, they were my best friends.
    By the way, I knew straight away, just from the length of your comment, that you were Eldorf Dragonbane. I hope you get your own blog up and running real soon. I'm sure you'll attract quite a few followers from my own blog.
    Best wishes to you, Doug.

    @Brutpaul. Thanks for your comment. Short comments are appreciated just as much as long ones. I'm non-judgmental!

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  9. @Zombie Hunter. I missed your post whilst I was replying to Doug. Anyway, great find on 100 zeds for £3. You did well there.

    Say, do you guys never feed your cats that they resort to eating miniature figures? LOL!

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  10. @Zombie Hunter-

    My cat isn't so bad I think the reason he took the zombie is that I have like 250 of the Twilight Creations Zombies (Core game, Core Game 2nd edition and a bag o' zombie) and I have given him a some to play with. I think he though the ones I were using where more for him to put in his little pile. He seems to enjoy batting them around and carrying them around, doesn't chew on them. I primarily pull out the Twilight Creations Zombies (both from Zombies!!! and Humans!!!) when I want to do some testing of the rules or to test out the mechanics of new items like the Grenade launcher I quasi-created.

    Grenade Launcher (ammo-Fragmentation)- Rng 24", Targets 8" Blast Circle, Impact 2 The Grenade launchers rules follows those described in Haven for Tear Gas (other then anyone in the Blast Circle must immediately move 8" away from the location of the firer), Can be either mounted to a weapon (ie the M203 mounted onto an M16/M4 or the GP-25/GP-30 mounted on the AK47/AKM/AK74) or stand alone (ie the M79 "Blooper" or M32 "Six Shooter"). Counts as 8 shots fired for attracting Zombies.

    Grenade Launcher (ammo-High Explosive)- Rng 24", Targets 8" Blast Circle, Impact 3 Same as the Fragmentation ammo, with the following exceptions counts as 12 shots fired for attracting zombies and on a 1d6 roll of 6 causes one nearby building to catch on fire).

    I am thinking of adding other ammo types like the Willie Peter (White Phosphorous), Flare and smoke, though that might add more hassle unless each launcher is stated to be only usable with that ammo type.



    As for the Zombies piling up on you real quick, at least this wasn't an Urban area where a 4, 5, or 6 on the zombie generation die results in a zombie. One game I played I had probably 40 or so zombies within 4 or 5 turns (shotguns plus running vehicles in an urban environment is bad news, I learned to avoid arming my entire group with shotguns, though it didnt help that a friend decided to try and lure the zombies away by driving a car around the table and then abandoning it while it was still running).


    @Bryan- Have you tried out the Hostage Rescue scenario for haven that has silenced weapons, I could see Vampi falling in love with a Silenced SMG. So far I have only equipped two or three NPCs in my Mackinac Island Campaign with them (they will be the only ones with silenced firearms, unless I create a special table for silenced weapons when creating NPCs), and one of the characters I will be playing with a silenced BA Rifle (w/scope), the characters back story is that they were a Military Sniper before the outbreak and when their unit was wiped out/ command collapsed they split for their survival with the silenced BA Rifle, so that they could legitimately have a Silenced weapon.

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  11. Doug, when I first started playing ATZ (version 1, prior to BDTZ) my favourite weapon was the crossbow, simply because it was silent. I was sorry to see it omitted from BDTZ but I see it has been reinstated in the Risks and Rewards cards. Vampifan would jump at the chance to get his hands on a silenced weapon, whatever it was. I like the idea of your military sniper. He'd be a real asset to any group. Stick him somewhere high up and he could dominate the battlefield.

    Thanks for sharing your rules for grenade launchers. "Say hello to my leetle friend!" I don't think your cat is evil but I do think you are! You have some wicked ideas, my friend! Seriously, good work. Quite a few of my Black Scorpion US Army figures have underslung grenade launchers, so these new rules will prove very useful when I get round to playing my mammoth Battle of Mayhem City scenario.

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  12. Bryan,

    The only problem with the Grenade launchers are they are Zombie magnets even more so then a shotgun can be (though I follow the same rule for had thrown grenades in the Risk and Rewards Deck, the blast circle equals the shots fired for generating zombies and these are zombie magnets too). I still have a little polishing to to with the Grenade launcher(s), though what i posted is basically the finished form. I am debating on where to have the zombies generate from. I am thinking best bet would be fuse the impact point of the grenade since a real grenade launcher just makes a loud Bloop like noise (hmm maybe have the launcher also count as one shot for zombie generation).

    As for the Silenced Weapons I too am glad to see Ed brought back the Crossbow and Bow via the Risk and Rewards Deck. I was using the ATZ1 Crossbow in my games (along with some of the other ATZ1 weapons not in ATZ1 like the BA Machine Pistol).

    The Military Sniper is a real asset, he has saved the groups backsides more them once when they were beating a hasty tactical withdraw away from a group of Zombies or a group of Gangers. I currently have been playing him as a Rep 5 so as to not totally over balance him. I may start using the FF points system on him or turn him into an NPC for my Mackinac Island Campaign, have him as part of the Islands crew that is stationed at the Ft. Michilinmackinac outpost there on the mainland, that the Island's salvage teams use as a staging point for their supply salvage missions. He could be the one that keeps the area around the fort relatively undead free.

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  13. I can see that using grenade launchers is something of a double edged sword in that they have the potential to kill a lot of zeds in one go but they could generate even more than you kill, depending on location. I definitely agree that zombie reinforcements should be generated from the impact point. I would not count the sound of the weapon firing for an extra possible reinforcement.

    I'd forgotten all about the BA Machine Pistol - something like an Ingram MAC10 I'd guess.

    Rep:5 sounds fair for your sniper. I can see him being extremely popular with your survivors. Whenever a team goes out on a mission they'll want to take him along as back-up. However, those at base camp will want to keep him to deter those pesky zeds getting too close. It could lead to a conflict of interests as he is such a valuable asset. A bit of tension always makes for great drama!

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  14. I made sure on the NPC Character sheet (Based of the NPC Profiles in I, Zombie) under the notes that Ghost (the name everyone calls the Sniper) that he primarily is either assigned Guard Duty at the fort outpost (the fort ont he mainland, not the one on Mackinac Island) taking down any zombie that strays into the perimeter area, or on the island giving "specialized" firearm instruction to promising individuals (going to set up a table for training that will give a character the Marksman attribute if they pass the test after Ghosts training).

    As for silencers and silenced firearms I am thinking of creating a special loot chart to go with State Police Posts and Coast Guard facilities/ships so that the character may be able to acquire some.

    Then again Crossbows and Bows also make great Sniper weapons. When you equip the crossbow with a scope you get an alright range of 24", plus the 1d6 bonus to the firing roll. Have a figure take to an elevated position and they can quietly take out the zombies without worrying about attracting more.

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  15. QUOTE: "Oh, you are so right about the zeds being sneaky. I couldn't believe how fast the board filled up with them. As I keep on saying, knowing when to run is the key to survival in ATZ."
    My current game is just at this point. I don't want to leave the table, but I may have no choice. There are so many zeds running around. Well, another turn or two can't do any harm, am I right?

    This is one spectacular batrep! Gunshots, lots of zombies and a burning building. I bet you very pretty nervous when rolling on the "Harry, are you OK?" table for Angie. Is this still a game or already a movie?
    Will you continue day-to-day survival in z-world or will you change to a monthly cycle?

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  16. @Doug. Combining a crossbow with a scopesight is a wise tactic. I wouldn't mind recruiting a character so armed!

    Using Ghost to teach others sniper skills so that they can gain the Marksman Attribute is a good way to use him. Smart thinking!

    @Oliver. My advice to you is simple. RUN! "Well another turn or two can't do any harm" will make a fine epitaph if you decide to stay. If you can get out alive then do so.

    I was extremely nervous about rolling for Angie's survival, although not as much as I would have been if it was Vampifan I was rolling for! Having a Rep:5 character join your team is a big help and to lose her so early on would have been quite a blow!

    Heh, this campaign is taking on a movie-like quality. The burning building result is something you just can't plan for. Still, with the extra zombies it generated, that was the clincher for Vampifan doing a runner.

    I think I'll move on to weekly scenarios from now on before moving onto a monthly cycle. Just think, in a week's time (in my campaign) the government launches Project Lazarus... and all that that entails!

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  17. Run?! Well, I have some support for this encounter and I really, really want Mr. Whiteface to loot some corpses. Just one piece of loot would be enough. Nevertheless I'll stay alert and try to keep my escape route open.

    QUOTE: "Still, with the extra zombies it generated, that was the clincher for Vampifan doing a runner."
    I didn't game yesterday, but the question how you identify the right moment to run was on my mind for the whole day. Your burning building was an obvious hint. I am under the delusion that I am still capable to handle the situation in Whiteville.

    Can't wait to see Team Vampifan go Lazarus. Good thing you "found" some assault rifles.

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  18. Best of luck, Oliver, with Mr. Whiteface. I hope he escapes with his skin intact and some loot. That would boost his chances of getting a Rep increase, which is so important when you're starting out. I'm quite happy that three out of my four party members are Rep:5. Rep:6 would be nicer, of course, but I leave that in the lap of the dice gods.

    Knowing when to run is something you learn from experience, usually after you've had your ass handed to you on a plate. I admit, I learn a lot from reading other people's batreps, particularly LTL Dad's. I mean no disrespect to Willy at all but some of his earlier batreps were textbook examples of what not to do. In nearly every case it was because of events that were out of Willy's hands, like the party splitting up and Nick or his friends doing something monumentally stupid. Leaving the engine running in an abandoned car springs readily to mind! In my latest batrep, Vampifan was getting ready to leave on Turn 5 when there were 20 zombies still left. After Turn 6 and the fire incident it was obvious the team couldn't take on 27 zombies. So, just be careful out there!

    The loot that Team Vampifan acquired from the National Guard is going to boost their survival chances immeasurably, especially when they meet up with Ragers and Smarties.

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  19. Oh, just found something (in Turn 3):

    QUOTE "First thing to do was to roll on the Meet and Greet table (see p.44 of BDTZ). Bad news for Vampifan - he only scored a 6, whilst the zombies scored a 7. The zombies would charge straight into melee, giving Team Vampifan no time to fire first."

    Why did you do Meet & Greet with zombies? Did I miss something?

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  20. I made a mistake! I should have said the Meeting Zombies table. Still, at least I got the page number right. Well spotted, Oliver. You win this week's Eagle Eye Award! I've edited the sentence accordingly.

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  21. Well, I've read Day 13 + 14 very thoroughly, because I wanted to know how you handle encounters.

    Random road encounter - You use BDTZ instead of IZ. Yep, I'll do the same. But you mix it with the "How many are there?" table from IZ, don't you?

    Encounter in buildings - you use the Risk & Reward cards, I am still using the tables from BDTZ. Not sure about the tables from IZ.

    Resolve PEFs - I've tried to use an own system, but don't like it. I will use the system from IZ. Maybe I'll just replace Rager / Smartie with regular zeds. But what about residents / travellers or civilians / military. These tables are not made for year one.

    How will you do looting of enemies? With the new "Looting the Landscape" table?


    As I said before. It's much easier for me to add something to a generic system than to reverse engineer a generic system (from rules that are customized for a specific background).

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  22. Random Road Encounter. You have that spot on. I do use the How Many Are They table from IZ.

    Encounters in buildings are handled with the Risks and Rewards deck.

    Resolve PEFs. You're right, the IZ tables are no use for Year one encounters. I use a modified version of the NPC Type Table on p.59 of IZ but replace any Rager or Zombie result with a Zombie result and any other result with a Human result. Then I either roll on the Who They Are tables found in the Discover, Raid and Take Back scenarios in BDTZ (see pages 41 and 43), or the Random Road encounter table on p.56 of BDTZ. It all depends if the encounter is NPC Interaction, Hostile NPCs or an Involuntary Encounter. I use the first two tables for the first two encounters and the third table for the third encounter. I'll use the rules in IZ under the sections on Ragers and Smarties for how they appear.

    Yep, I'll use the new Looting the Landscape rules for looting purposes. Remember though, you can always loot what you see the person is carrying, such as when Team Vampifan looted the National Guardsmen.

    I hope that helps you, Oliver, and indeed anyone else wondering about this.

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  23. Thank you very much! This detailed description of your method of resolving PEFs helps a lot. I will use something similar for myself.

    I had seen that you can loot everything you see on a person, but wasn't sure if "Looting the Landscape" doesn't create too much loot.

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  24. Regarding looting, I'd say use common sense. If I used the Looting the Landscape table with the National Guard that would have been downright greedy and not very realistic, even if they were rogue soldiers, who may have had a pile of loot from other victims..
    I've just had a thought - you could use the Risks and Rewards deck to determine if a person has a resource or not. Mind you, that way they could only ever have one resource. With the Looting the Landscape table on a good roll, a person could have four resources. Or maybe you could use the Looting the Landscape table to determine how many cards to draw from the deck. If you get a result of Nothing then tough luck. Hmmm, that might be worth trying out.

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  25. Thank you Vampifan, for all these detailed batreps!

    The idea to include references to pages in the original rules have actually made me try out a few games myself. I've had the rules for about a year, and read them 3 times. But I never quite got a grasp of them. Trying out even the most basic scenario had me just sifting back and forth in the rules. Thanks to you, I've now tried out a few games with friends, and we all liked it.

    Sure, there are moments when I have to check the rule book. I haven't had so much experience with non-friendly humans yet. I deliberately stayed out of buildings for this reason alone.

    This should all change now, when I've got the Risks & Rewards cards so I won't wear out my dice. =)

    How do you interpret the loot findings on the cards? If the card says I find food, do I find it regardless of what building I am in? If I'm in a church, do I still find food or is it empty because I can only find keys in the church? (as in the rules p.47)

    Cheers

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  26. Hi, apeekaboo. Your comments really made my day as you're the kind of person my batreps were designed to appeal to the most. That's why I include so many rules references, rather than go for a more narrative approach.

    Don't worry about having to keep checking with the rulebooks. I still do it myself. More so with IZ than BDTZ, since it is so new.

    Regarding the Risks and Rewards deck, resources can now be found in ANY building. If you use the cards, ignore the rules for finding resources in BDTZ. Basically, the Risks and Rewards cards replace the rules on p.47. This makes looting buildings a whole lot easier.

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  27. Seems like reasonable usage of the Risks & Rewards deck. Thanks for clarifying.

    What about running into people in the buildings?
    When encountering zombies, I interpret the rules (p.44) as they turn up base to base with my survivors, since melee is initiaded if failing the zombie surprise. But what about gangers/military? When failing negotiations, do you place them base to base or at a distance? After all they have been talking, so they can't be too far away from each other.

    In day 13 when you encounter the National Guard soldiers, you mention them starting off as concealed. Is this from the BDTZ rules or IZ?

    Cheers

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  28. When meeting people in buildings I usually try to place them about 3"-4" apart, depending on the size of the room, of course. This places them close enough to melee or start a gunfight. You're quite right, if they've been "talking the talk" they they must be close to one another.
    As for the National Guard being concealed when Team Vampifan met them, they should have been in cover, if any was available. It wasn't but in IZ, it states that opposing sides indoors are always classed as being concealed. It's not as good as being in cover but it's the next best thing. It's worth bearing in mind if ever you get into a combat whilst indoors. I'd say take a common sense approach. If you have a PC firing from behind the door of a walk-in safe, for example, then they are obviously in cover.

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  29. Ok, that sounds pretty straightforward. I guess furniture and doorways would give some concealment IRL.

    Thank you for answering my questions. =)

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  30. You're welcome. I'm glad I was able to help you out. If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask.

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  31. Great game report, but even greater layout you have there... top table! ;-)

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