My ATZ Campaign - Day 35 - Going Hog Wild part 2

Are you ready for more? Of course you are! You are about to witness a bloodbath. Possibly the most important dice roll of this encounter was for who went first on Turn 4.
TURN 4.   Activation - Vampifan = 3, Hale = 5, Hogs = (4) 2, Zombies (4) 4
The Wild Hogs and Zombies had tied so they re-rolled and the Wild Hogs ended up going last. Oh dear! How sad! Nevermind!

Sister Saw strolled up to Boss Hawg with evil intent in her eyes. The Wild Hogs' leader looked like he was about to get back to his feet. This wouldn't do at all, she thought as she revved her chainsaw into life. Normally, this would be an automatic action but chainsaws are like cars - they have a nasty habit of not starting when danger is near. Because there were zombies within 12" of her, she had to take "The Car Won't Start" Test (see p.24 of BDTZ). This involved rolling 1d6 and on a score of 1-3 the car/chainsaw would start. Otherwise you'd have to roll again next turn. Sister Saw rolled a 2 and her chainsaw roared noisily into life. She thrust it between Boss Hawg's legs and slowly cut him in half from groin to the top of his head, savouring every moment of his torment. A very messy and painful death! Any character who is Stunned or Out Of the Fight (OOF) could be automatically killed by an opponent who came into physical contact with them (see p.19 of BDTZ). However, I still had to roll the melee dice for Sister Saw to see if her Chainsaw stalled (roll two 1s) or ran out of gas (roll three 1s). She rolled 8d6 5 for her Rep and 3 for using the Chainsaw), and sure enough, two of them were 1s. The Chainsaw would start automatically next time she wanted to use it, unless there were zombies within 12" of her, in which case she'd need to take "The Car Won't Start" Test again. As I said earlier, Chainsaws are noisy and operating one counted as if firing 6 shots.
Next, Denzel Stephenson walked up to the OOF Johnny Reb biker and smashed his skull to a pulp with his metal baseball bat. This was also an Auto Kill. He also had to roll in case he missed (hardly likely!). He did not miss.
Sergio Garcia knelt down alongside his boss, the OOF Carver Hale, to administer first aid.

Zack Norris stepped round the front right corner of the garage to deal with the female teenage zombie closing in on him. A single shot from his BA Pistol was enough to put her down permanently.
His teammate, Joelle Wexler, who lay nearby, recovered from being Stunned and regained her feet.

Now it was the turn of the zombies to activate. I teasingly left you guessing last time if three of the four zombies behind Team Vampifan were in Charge range just to create a bit of tension. They weren't but they came perilously close, a mere one or two inches away. If you look closely at the photo above you can just see the head of a zombie above the white kiosk to the left of Big Sil.

The zombies surrounding the bike gang closed in on their prey. Three of them, to the rear of the Wild Hogs were in Charge range and all three were eager to get stuck in. The three bikers had to take the Being Charged Test. The Rep:5 biker in the centre of the group passed 2d6 and was able to melee as normal. Remember that he couldn't fire at them with his Shotgun due to the unfortunate accident he suffered last turn when he jammed the firearm so badly, it couldn't be used any more during this encounter. He could of course use it as a club! The other two bikers, both Rep:3, only passed 1d6. They could melee but would suffer a -2 penalty for being attacked in the rear. This was seriously bad as it put them on a par with the zombies' combat ability - just 1d6.

Here's a close up view of the melee combat. The Rep:5 biker with the useless Shotgun easily battered his opponent to death. The biker with the Mohican haircut at the top of the photo lost his combat when he failed to score a sucess but his zombie opponent scored one success. It was enough to put the biker OOF. The bald-headed biker at the bottom of the photo drew his combat when neither side scored any successes. They'd have to fight another round later... unless something happened in the meantime. No one saw the biker with the Mohican haircut lose his fight so the gang didn't have to take a Man Down Test.

Now it was the turn of Team Vampifan to activate. Vampifan spun round as he heard the unmistakable moaning and groaning of zombies close by. He just had time to shout out a warning to his crew before he fired a single shot at the zombie bride, killing her instantly. Hannah fired twice at the female zombie in the little black dress, just to make sure one of her shots would hit. It was a sensible tactic and she was lucky enough to get an Obviously Dead result. Jamie dealt with the kilt-wearing zombie with a couple of deadly martial arts moves. Finally, Billy fired a shot from his catapult that killed the zombie groom. There is a bullet counter next to Billy to show he'd fired but I remembered that his Catapult was silent and I didn't count it towards the total shots for zombie reinforcements.

Angie moved round to the back of the Wild Hogs biker gang, pausing just long enough to put a single 5.56mm bullet in the head of a zombie wearing a blazer and straw hat. Big Sil followed her and came to a halt alongside her. He fired a three round burst into the melee going on between the zombie and the bald-headed biker. Both were legitimate targets, so he had no qualms about shooting them both. His first shot blasted a hole through the skull of the zombie. He gutshot the biker, leaving him writhing on the ground OOF.

At this point, the Wild Hogs were in a sorry state. Three of them were dead, including their leader, and three of them were OOF. The Rep: 5 biker at the back of the gang took over the mantle of leadership by virtue of having the highest Rep of the three remaining bikers. He ordered his gang to get of there as fast as possible. Of course, to get away they first had to start their motorbike engines and this involved taking "The Car Won't Start" Test. The Rep:5 biker and the Rep:3 biker on the amber-coloured bike made it and moved at half speed (12") away from the carnage all around them.

The other Rep:3 biker (on the light blue-coloured bike) failed his roll and cursed profusely at his bad luck. He really was in deep shit, surrounded by members of Team Vampifan, Team Hale and an increasing number of zombies.

Last turn was especially bad for rolling for zombie reinforcements but this turn was much worse. I had to roll 44d6 (7 from Team Vampifan's shooting, 6 from Sister Saw's Chainsaw, 1 from Zack's Pistol and 30 from the three bikers (18 for starting or trying to start their engines and 12 for the two moving bikes). Seven appeared in sectors 7, 8 and 9.

Most of them appeared across the road from the garage in sectors 4 and 5...

...and two only just appeared on the board in sectors 2 and 3. Now the zombies far outnumbered the humans.

TURN 5.   Activation - Vampifan = 4, Hale = 6, Hogs = 6, Zombies = 1
The double six meant rolling on the Random Events Table but that proved to be an anti-climax as I rolled a result of 6 - if using a vehicle and left it parked, you left the keys in the ignition.
Team Vampifan activated first and Angie quietly walked up to the Wild Hog biker trying to start his bike. She pressed the barrel of her Assault Rifle to the back of his skull and blew his brains out.
Vampifan stepped up to the Biker lying OOF in the centre of the group of fallen bikers and put him out of his misery by slitting his throat using the Auto-Kill rules. Rolling 7d6 to hit and just requiring one success he had no problem at all in dealing with him. As he wiped the blood off his knife, he took a few steps back to place him as far away from the zombies as he could.
Big Sil did nothing but keep a wary eye on those around him.

Hannah led Jamie and Billy away from the bloody carnage.

Some of the zombies were able to reach three of the prone bikers, two of whom were dead and one who was just OOF. They descended on the still warm bodies and began feasting. In the photo above, the red dice indicate how long each feast would last - 4, 5 and 3 turns going from left to right. Two zombies almost reached Sister Saw but she was only just out of Charge range.

 

The two zombies behind Big Sil closed in on him. One stopped 5" away from him and the other 6", putting them both in Charge range next turn if they activated before he did.

Three zombies closed in on the moving bikers. There should be a rule about attacking bike riders as they are much more exposed than any other vehicular driver but there aren't so I played this stricly by the rules. The zombies had to take the Being Run Down Test but because they were zombies they did not roll as they automatically fail the test. They then use the vehicle's Bash Value as the impact Rating to determine what damage they receive as per the shooting rules. Unfortunately motorbikes have a Bash Value of 0 so they took no damage. The zombies attacking the bikers may seem like poitless exercise but it wasn't. Both bikers had to take the Lose Control Test and if either (or both) passed 0d6, things would get very interesting as they crashed their bikes. Alas, the Rep:5 biker passed 2d6 and the Rep:3 biker passed 1d6, so both could Carry On, as normal.

Zack Norris found himself in a sticky situation with four zombies within Charge range of him. He passed 2d6 on the Being Charged Test and could fire before melee began. Unfortunately, his BA Pistol could only fire twice and he missed one of his shots. The shot that did hit killed a young looking male zombie.

So, onto melee. Zack had 5d6  (4 for his Rep and 1 for having a higher impact weapon - his Knife) to divide against his three attackers. He went with a 2/1/2 split, with the 1 being used against the small girl zombie.

The outcome for Zack was a draw against the zombie businessman, victory against the small girl but defeat against the black leather jacketed zombie. He fell to the ground having been bitten and was OOF.

I rolled 15d6 for zombie reinforcements and scored just 4 success, a slightly below average result. Three of them, the nun, vicar and rabbi appeared from the woods in sector 7 and the main road of sector 8.

The fourth zombie reinforcement crawled out of the woods of sector 9.

TURN 6.   Activation - Vampifan = 3, Hale = 5, Hogs = 2, Zombies = 6
With Team Hale activating first I rolled to see if Carver Hale recovered from his injury. He passed 2d6 on the Recovery Test and bounded to his feet as if his wound were a mere scratch. He and Sister Saw Charged the two zombies closing in on them. Both passed 2d6 on the Wanting To Charge Test. Carver buried his Axe in the skull of his opponent and Sister Saw used her Chainsaw as a club to batter her foe to death.

Sergio Garcia fired his Shotgun at the Rep:5 biker who was hoping to make a clean getaway. Only one of his three shots hit and it knocked the unfortunate Wild Hog second-in-command OOF. The bike rolled over on the spot, dumping the biker at the feet of a hungry zombie. This just wasn't his day!
Denzel Stephenson fired twice from his Pistol at the last remaining biker but missed with both shots.

However, this forced the biker to take the Received Fire Test, which he failed, having rolled 0d6. This result forced him to Retire. The nearest cover within 12" away from Denzel was straight ahead, which took him off the board. A negative result that actually turned out well for him. He was the only Wild Hog to survive this encounter.

Joelle Wexler came to Zack's aid just in time to prevent the two zombies from feasting upon him. She shot and killed both zombies with her BA Pistol

Vampifan, Big Sil and Angie took this opportunity to loot the bodies of the three Wild Hogs lying next to them. They took the bikers' weapons first, then rolled on the Recovered Items Table (see p.70 of IZ) to see what else the bikers were carrying. The white dice you see in the photo above show just how many Resouces each hero found, including the three weapons mentioned earlier. I rolled 2d6 for each member of Team Vampifan on the Resource List (see p.71 of IZ) to see what items, if any, they found. Big Sil found nothing else apart from an SMG. Angie was the most successful and found an SMG and two units of Food. Vampifan found a Pistol and a Machete. Hannah, Jamie and Billy did not move this turn.

For zombie reinforcements, I had to roll 22d6 and I scored 7 successes. Two turned up in sector 7.

A few more appeared across the road from the garage...

...and three more emerged from the woods in sector 9. Note the zombie cop partially obscured by the pine tree in the top right of the photo above.

TURN 7.   Activation - Vampifan = 6, Hale = 3, Zombies = 2.
"Hey, Carver!" Vampifan shouted, "we're getting out of here! It's been a real blast meeting you guys!"
"Go, my friend!" the grizzled survivor replied as he chomped on his cigar. "We'll deal with these stiffs, no problem. Good hunting!"
"Stay lucky!" Vampifan shot back as he sprinted to catch up with Big Sil And Angie who had raced ahead of him. The three of them had made Fast Moves to catch up with the Vaughn family. This time, Vampifan did bring up the rear.

Carver Hale led his team back inside the garage, where they wouldn't be surrounded by zombies. Joelle dragged the unconscious Zack inside, hoping and praying that his bite was not a fatal one.

The zombies swarmed as one on the still warm corpses of the Wild Hogs biker gang. Once again, the red dice in the photo above show how long each feast would last. For the three feasts that had started last turn I lowered the numbers on their dice by one.

The zombies who congregated around the biker who went OOF last turn were lucky indeed, as their victim was still alive as they sunk their teeth into him. He would suffer for five turns, by which time there wouldn't be much left of him.

The other zombies closed in to join in with the feasting. For once I had no zombie reinforcements to roll for, which was a relief.

This ended the scenario. No matter what Team Vampifan rolled for Activation next turn they would be able to leave the board unimpeded, thanks to Vampifan being Rep:6.

Carver Hale and his team would live to fight another day, albeit without the help of Zack Norris. Sadly, he succumbed to the zombie virus from his bite, having failed the "Harry, Are You Okay?" Test and he was put down by Carver.

For Team Vampifan, the four adults were eligible for Rep increases but unfortunately, none made it. On the bright side, the two kids did not suffer a Rep decrease. All told, this had been a very successful mission for Vampifan and his crew. With a bit of luck they might meet up with Carver Hale again. I'd love to see both teams joining forces permanently.