My ATZ Campaign - Day 21 - Blackout part 2

DAY 21 - Blackout part 2
Turn 4 of this scenario saw the biggest gunfight in a single round of my campaign, as Team Vampifan, a SWAT team and a group of red neck Gangers fought a three-way gunbattle that ended with Big Sil, Angie and Gap from Team Vampifan the only ones left standing. Outside of the power station that all three teams had entered, a small horde of 12 zombies were closing in.

TURN 5.   ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 5, Zombies = 2, SWAT = 3, Gangers = 6
Big Sil walked over to where the SWAT leader was lying OOF.
"You were well out of order claiming we'd killed the workers here," he said as he drew his combat knife. "I can't stand pompous assholes!"
With one quick motion and without a hint of remorse, he bent down and slit the throat of the SWAT leader.
"God, I hate cops!" Angie snarled as she followed suit and slit the throat of the stunned SWAT Trooper with her flick-knife.
Both deaths were auto-kills as per the rules on p.19 of BDTZ.

Angie then led the way to the foot of one of the ladders leading up to the catwalk. Big Sil picked up Vampifan and followed. Gap kept quiet, keeping his judgement to himself. He was appalled at what Big Sil and Angie had just done. What kind of monsters were they becoming? he thought. Instead of voicing his concerns, he reloaded his Assault Rifle and ambled across to the ladder.

The 12 zombies moved closer to the three entrances into the power station. Six were to the right at the back...

...three were at the front, including the little girl zombie, who just made it inside...

...and three more zombie children approached the rear entrance at the back left of the building. The only SWAT trooper left alive was OOF, so he couldn't activate and the Gangers, who had two men stunned, rolled too high to activate. There were no zombie reinforcements to roll for this turn.

TURN 6.   ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 3, Zombies = 1, Gangers = 4
The two stunned Gangers, both Rep:4, were able to stand up this turn but could do nothing else, although I did allow them to take the Leader Lost test. They both passed 2d6 and the ganger with the SMG was nominated leader.

Angie made a Fast move to get up the ladder to the alcove at the front of the building. Gap also made a Fast Move, but struggled to keep up with Angie. Big Sil brought up the rear, carrying Vampifan over his shoulder as he moved at normal pace.
With the building being so big, I felt that it warranted another turn of the card from my Risks and Rewards deck to see if there was anyone or anything on the upper floor. It turned out there was a single Ganger, a Rep:4 female Goth, armed with a sub-machine gun and guarding a cache of food. Big Sil decided to try and recruit her, so both sides rolled on the Meet and Greet table against their Reps. Big Sil received a +2d6 bonus for having two more friends than the Ganger. He scored 4 successes out of 7d6 and the Ganger scored 2 successes out of 4d6. They kept on rolling, using only their successes. Big Sil scored two successes out of four but the Ganger scored none. This resulted in the Ganger joining Team Vampifan on a permanent basis. She introduced herself as Rhiannon Marlow.

Nine zombies were able to enter the power station this turn. The only two who failed to make it were part of the group of six at the back right of the building.

Note that I have removed the dead humans just to give myself more room to fit in all these extra figures, although the original corpses remained. The little girl zombie who entered the power station last turn was immediately drawn to the unconscious SWAT trooper and she moved next to him to eat his flesh. The feasting would last for three more turns.
The four zombies who had entered via the same door used by the SWAT team and the Gangers charged the two rednecks who had just stood up earlier this turn. The Gangers took the Being Charged test and passed 1d6. They could melee normally but weren't allowed to shoot at the zeds. With each Ganger being attacked by two zombies they were forced to split their melee dice and they chose the obvious option of rolling 2d6 against each zombie.

The Ganger armed with the SMG scored one success against his first zombie but none against his second. The first zombie scored zero successes and so was Obviously Dead. However, the second zombie scored one success, which put the Ganger Out Of the Fight. The zombie immediately began to feast on his victim and would continue to do so for the next four turns.
The Ganger armed with the BA Pistol scored two successes against his first zombie and one against his second. His opponents scored zero and one success, meaning that the first zombie was Obviously Dead. With both sides scoring one success each in the second fight, the combat continued. This time, neither side scored any successes so the fight would carry on until the next turn.
Once again, there were no zombie reinforcements to roll for.

TURN 7.   ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 2, Zombies = 4, Gangers = 4
Because the zombies and Gangers rolled the same score, neither could activate this turn (see p.11 of BDTZ). I'll admit that I'd forgotten all about this rule until I read one of Whiteface's batreps and noticed him using it. At first I thought he'd made a mistake but when I checked the Turn Sequence rules I saw that he was right and I was wrong. It only applies if there are multiple human groups in play. It's not something I'll forget in future!
Angie and Gap moved into the alcove alongside Rhiannon. Big Sil spent the turn administering to Vampifan in an attempt to revive him.

TURN 8.   ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 6, Zombies = 3, Gangers = 3
A rare turn in which no one was able to activate.

TURN 9.   ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 2, Zombies = 4, Gangers = 5

This was not good news for the sole remaining Ganger as two more zombies entered the building and charged him. He only passed 1d6 on the Being Charged test, which meant he could melee as normal but he couldn't fire at his attackers. He split his four dice as two against the zombie who attacked him last turn and one against each of the two newcomers. Alas, he only scored one success against the second newcomer , a little girl zombie. Incredibly, all three zombies scored one success on him. He did win the tie-off with the little girl, so he went down fighting. He was still alive when the other two zombies began to feast on him. This feast would last for six turns. Being overweight, he had a lot of flesh on him.

The two zombies who had entered via the front door joined the girl zombie who was feasting on the SWAT trooper. The other three zombies shuffled towards the foot of the ladder used by Team Vampifan.

Vampifan made a full recovery, passing 2d6 on the Recovery Test (see p.22 of BDTZ). Before he could speak, Big Sil clamped a hand over his mouth and pointed with his Assault Rifle at the scene downstairs. Vampifan nodded in understanding and his friend removed his hand. The question was, had the three zombie children at the foot of the ladder seen or heard them?

TURN 10.   ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 1, Zombies = 3
The only zombies not feasting this turn were the three children at the foot of the ladder. As they climbed up, it was obvious that they had seen Team Vampifan. Vampifan took the Being Charged Test and because he was a Star, he automatically passed 2d6. He fired a three round burst at them and scored two hits with two OOF results, which were upgraded to Obviously Dead because his targets were zombies. The third zombie child made it onto the catwalk before Vampifan stove his skull in with the butt of his Assault Rifle as he scored four melee successes to the zombie's zero.

"Let's get out of here at the double!" Vampifan urged.
Everyone made a Fast Move to get down the ladder and as far away as possible from the feasting zeds. I realised I hadn't rolled to see what Attribute Rhiannon possessed, so I rolled for her then and scored an 8 on 2d6. If I rolled a 1-3 on a further 1d6, she'd be a Knifefighter, but if I rolled 4-6, she'd be an Athlete. I rolled a 4, so she'd be able to roll 3d6 instead of 2d6 when taking the Fast Move Test.

I rolled 3d6 for zombie reinforcements and one appeared next to the taxi opposite the front entrance to the power station.

TURN 11.   ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 4, Zombies = 6

Team Vampifan exited the power station via the back door leading to the row of parked cars.

TURN 12.   ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 2, Zombies = 3

The zombie who had appeared by the taxi crossed the road.

Team Vampifan moved away from the power station to arrive at the front entrance to a small storage building.

TURN 13.   ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 1, Zombies = 4

The lone zombie outdoors moved into the power station to join in the feastings. There were rich pickings for the zombies with so many people OOF or recently dead.

Team Vampifan entered the storage building and I turned over a new card from my Risks and Rewards deck. Inside was one zombie and one resource - a unit of fuel.

Vampifan easily beat the zombie on the Zombie Surprise Test and put a single round in the zombie's forehead, killing him instantly. Big Sil found the unit of fuel.

I rolled 1d6 for zombie reinforcements but none turned up.

TURN 14.   ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 5, Zombies = 2

Team Vampifan moved out of the storage building by the back door and walked towards the large ruined building.

Inside the power station the zombies continued to feast.

TURN 15.   ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 1, Zombies = 4

The zombies carried on feeding on the flesh of the Gangers.

Team Vampifan reached the back of the ruined building.

TURN 16.   ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 5, Zombies = 2

Team Vampifan entered the large ruined building and I turned over the next card from my Risks and Rewards deck. It revealed nothing - no humans, no zombies or no resources. What an anticlimax!

With nowhere left to explore the heroes left the table to return to their vehicles. 

It was time to roll for Rep increases. Only Big Sil and Angie were eligible to roll. Vampifan lost out when he went OOF. Gap failed because he found no resources and Rhiannon lucked out for failing to kill any zombies. Sadly, I rolled a 4 for Big Sil and a 2 for Angie, so no Rep increases. It was a shame as I felt they both performed marvellously in this scenario.

Here's a couple of group photos of Team Vampifan to better show off Rhiannon Marlow.

To the left is a photo of the person she's based on. I saw this picture on an advert for boots for Goths and immediately had the urge to make a miniature of her. I chose a Heroclix figure of Black Cat to base her on. It was a simple conversion as I removed Black Cat's fur trims from her costume with a sharp modelling knife and added a mini-skirt and boots with loads of buckles down the sides. Her Uzi SMG came from my spare parts box. I have quite a few Goth figures, male and female, but very few of them are carrying a firearm, so she was a welcome addition.

This scenario did not turn out as I expected it to and that is one of the things that I love about ATZ. I was sure the Blackout rule with the limited Line of Sight would have had a much greater impact on the game. As it turned out, it never affected anything. Most gunfights occurred within a range of 4-6 inches. I envisaged Team Vampifan making a stand in the power station as they manned the catwalks, whilst the zombies lay siege from outside. It never happened. I certainly could not have foreseen the three way fight between Team Vampifan, the SWAT team and the red neck Gangers. Nor could I have predicted Vampifan getting the crap beaten out of him by the SWAT leader. ATZ - you've got to love it!