Wednesday 16 November 2011

My ATZ Campaign - Day 59 - Meeting the Media Part 2

I left Part 1 of this batrep just as a group of zombies entered the general store that Team Vampifan were about to leave. Show time!

TURN 11.   Activation - Vampifan = 5, Zombies = 1
The appearance of the zombies forced Team Vampifan to take an In Sight Test. Vampifan and Lieutenant Catweazle passed 2d6 and could open fire as normal. Gap and Simon McQuarrie, the cameraman, only passed 1d6, so if they fired it would be classed as a snapfire. They decided not to. The other three team members were hidden behind one of the shelves and couldn't see the zombies. So Vampifan and the lieutenant fired three round bursts at the horde with their Assault Rifles. They hit and killed two apiece.
I rolled 6d6 for zombie reinforcements because of the gunfire from Vampifan and Catweazle. Only one zombie turned up, at the back of the house closest to the general store.
 TURN 12.   Activation - Vampifan = 2, Zombies = 4
The last two zombies out of the group of six charged at Vampifan and Catweazle. Both men passed 2d6 on the Being Charged Test and were able to fire before the zombies reached them. A single shot from each of them was enough to hit and kill the zombie pair.

The remaining zombie moved round the back corner of the house, attracted by the sound of gunfire.
I rolled 2d6 for zombie reinforcements but none appeared.
TURN 13.   Activation - Vampifan = 6, Zombies = 4
Vampifan stepped outside and immediately spotted the zombie lurking in the alley between the house and the store. He fired once and blew a huge hole in the back of the zombie's head. Instant kill!
 The rest of Team Vampifan moved along to the front door of the nearest house.
 I rolled 1d6 for zombie reinforcements and one appeared across the road by the lamp post.
 TURN 14.   Activation - Vampifan = 3, Zombies = 4
The zombie shuffled halfway across the road, emitting a loud moan.

"I'll get him!" Jamie exclaimed, before anyone else could react. She raised her.44 Magnum and fired twice. One bullet went too wide but her second shot was bang on target and burst through the zombie's wide open mouth out the back of his skull in a spray of blood and pieces of bone and brain matter.
"Good shooting!" Vampifan complimented her.
Lieutenant Catweazle led the way into the first house, whose front door was unlocked. The Risks and Rewards card revealed that it was occupied by two zombies but that no Resources were available.
The zombies moved to attack Catweazle and Big Sil. Sadly for the zombies, they lost the Surprise Test, which allowed Catweazle and Big Sil to open fire before the zombies reached them. Catweazle killed his opponent with a single shot. However, Big Sil could only manage a Knock Down result with his shot. Still, it was enough to prevent the zombie from attacking this turn.
I rolled 4d6 for zombie reinforcements and one arrived on board just next to the red Peugeot 206 parked further up the street. For some inexplicable reason I forgot to take a photo of its arrival. Sorry, my bad!
 TURN 15. Activation = Vampifan = 4, Zombies = 1
Team Vampifan finished exploring downstairs and began to climb the staircase to the next floor. Big Sil used his rifle butt to stave in the skull of the zombie he'd knocked down.

Here is the zombie reinforcement from last turn. He moved away from the Peugeot towards the house currently occupied by Team Vampifan, drawn by the sound of gunfire from within.
 TURN 16.   Activation - Vampifan = 2, Zombies = 6
The zombie could not activate this turn. The upstairs of the house was devoid of humans or zombies, but, as can be seen by the Risks and Rewards card, a Shotgun Recource was there to be found and this time it was Vampifan who found the Resource.

TURN 17.   Activation - Vampifan = 1, Zombies = 4
The lone zombie shuffled closer to the house with the wide open front door.
 Team Vampifan moved back downstairs with Gap leading the way.
 TURN 18.   Activation - Vampifan = 2, Zombies = 3
The zombie took one step inside the house, prompting an In Sight Test from Gap. He passed 2d6 and fired once at the intruder, hitting him and scoring an Obviously Dead result.

Gap led the way outside the house and began to move to the house next door.
I rolled 1d6 for zombie reinforcements but none appeared this turn.
TURN 19.   Activation - Vampifan = 5, Zombies = 5
Normally when rolling doubles for Activation you have to reroll the dice. However, this time I kept the scores because there were no zombies on the board so for the most part the dice rolls were irrelevant. A double six or double one would have been a different matter. Big Sil overtook Gap to check the front door of the second house and found it unlocked.
TURN 20.   Activation - Vampifan = 4, Zombies = 2
Big Sil took point duty in the house and found it occupied by a solitary male zombie lurking in the kitchen. The Risks and Rewards card revealed that there was a Fuel Resource waiting to be found. Gap found it hidden underneath the dinner table.
Big Sil beat the obese zombie for Surprise and fired a single round into his chest, which only succeeded in the zombie being Knocked Down.
The zombie used his turn to stand back up.
I rolled 1d6 for zombie reinforcements but none turned up.
TURN 21.   Activation - Vampifan = 6, Zombies = 4
Big Sil drew his combat knife and charged at the zombie, easily passing 2d6 on the Wanting to Charge Test. The combat was short and brutal and very one-sided as the hairy biker decapitated the zombie with a swift cut to the neck.
"Now stay dead!" he grumbled, as he wiped the blood from his blade on a kitchen towel.
Catweazle led Jamie and the news crew upstairs. Vampifan and Gap remained downstairs with Big Sil.
TURN 22. Activation - Vampifan = 1, Zombies = 3
The Risks and Rewards card showed that there was nothing to be found on the upper level of the house.
"It's all clear here," Catweazle said in his deep voice for the benefit of the three survivors downstairs.
This seemed like a good point to draw a close to the scenario. There were no more zombies left on the board and Vampifan did not want to push his luck by exploring the last two houses. The team moved outside of the house via the kitchen door. At this point, Simon and Jenny, the news team, headed off in the opposite direction to Team Vampifan. Both groups wished each other good luck and hoped they'd meet up again sometime soon.
Incidentally, you can find full rules for using a media team in your games on pages 28 and 29 of the ATZ supplement "Haven." If the couple had remained with Team Vampifan I would have used the rules to assess if they were eligible for a Rep increase.
Speaking of Rep increases, Vampifan, Big Sil, Gap and Jamie were all eligible for a Rep increase. They'd all killed at least one zombie apiece, none of them had Hunkered Down or gone Out Of the Fight and they'd all found one Resource - a Shotgun for Vampifan, Medical Supplies for Big Sil, Fuel for Gap and Food for Jamie. Sadly, I did not roll high enough for any of them to gain a new Rep level. Ho-hum!
Acquiring Lieutenant Catweazle as a new team member was ample enough reward for them. Originally, he was a Rep:5 Star, who after his second scenario, adavanced to Rep:6. I have considered keeping his Star status but definitely not his higher Rep. A lot could have happened to him in the month since I first introduced him. Perhaps the loss of his colleagues accounted for his Rep decrease. Having two Stars in Team Vampifan may seem like overkill but they are a growing group and this ensures that I will always have a Star to lead the group if one of them stays behind to guard their base.
In all likelihood, this will be my last campaign batrep of 2011, so all I can say is, roll on 2012!

26 comments:

  1. Woot! Lots of zombies, but no casualties this time. This shows that the most dangerous enemies are other humans.

    Great batrep, thank you!

    Whiteface / Oliver
    PS: I love your "scenery corpses"

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  2. @Oliver. No casualties is always a good thing! Yes, it is true, other humans can be far more dangerous than a bunch of zombies.

    I like the scenery corpses as well. You'll be pleased to know that I'm currently painting some more. Look out for a review of them coming soon.

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  3. Damn good batrep, plenty of action and everyone survived, need to go and read part 1 though?

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  4. A Happy ending this time but good none the less. Will be looking forward to some batreps in 2012 then. :O(

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  5. Big Sil is my favorite.... I like how you play him, grumbling about the damn dead things!

    Hehe well done mate. Another fine read here at work.

    Whoops...better get back to work now!!!

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  6. @Fran. It's usually a good idea to read part one before part two, LOL!

    @Brummie. Any game that ends without casualties is a happy ending when playing in a zombie apocalypse!

    @Johnny. I could just imagine Big Sil's frustration when he shot two zombies in a row and failed to kill them first time. I think I'd be grumbling if that happened to me!

    Work? Bah, it's over-rated, LOL!

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  7. great stuff, worth waiting for. i hope we will see your police station in a batrep in the new year

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  8. Thanks, Shintokamikaze. I hope I'll have the police station finished early next year. I'm working on it right now.

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  9. Another great batrep. I'm a little disappointed to hear there will be such a long wait for the next one, though. :)

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  10. Luckyjoe, I wish I could play more regularly but I'm grateful for when I do get the opportunity to get a game in. Anyway, 2012 isn't that far away.

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  11. Another very cool write up Vampifan. I love seeing your updates - waiting until 2012 sucks!!!! Can you tell me about your buildings and terrain? I know you mentioned it before, but ill be damned if I can find it now....

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  12. Hi, WarRaptor. Yes, waiting until next year for another batrep does suck! Generally speaking, most of my terrain comes from World Works Games sets. The road and concrete tiles are from the TLX Streets of Legends set, whilst the grass tiles come from the TLX Hinterland Woods set. The four houses were built from the old style Shellendrak Manor set, whilst the general store was from a couple of kitbashes for the ground floor and sloped roof. The first floor came from the old style Mayhem Armoury set. The Horseman's Deli and Dry Cleaning store are a pair of Microtactix models glued side by side and reviewed on this blog very recently.

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  13. Nice batrep and adventure, not all can be exciting and full of action, it shows the reality of the THW gaming concept.Vampifan you demonstrate it so well. Look forward to the next episode.

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  14. Thanks, Irqan. ATZ is very much driven by your dice rolls, so you never know what's going to happen.

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  15. Good stuff again. Remember the earlier advice r/e model selection for the next time you deploy that limo!

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  16. Great batrep. I think its made all the better with the amazing scenery you have and excellent photography. It makes it all seem like a graphic novel.
    Decided to have a go at making my own scenery. Bought all the stuff, planned it out, now i just need some time to sit down and do it. Think I'll start with the roads, and then something simple like shipping containers.
    Oh, and you've inspired me to start my own blog too.

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  17. @Dangerous Brian. I surely won't forget what zombies to use the next time the limo makes an appearance.

    @Salacious Crumb. Thanks for the kind words. Congrats on taking the plunge into card modelling. Making your ground tiles first is definitely the way to get started. Buildings and scenery can come later. Also, you're right to concentrate on simple models like the shipping containers for your first builds. Start with something easy to get the hang of card modelling. And don't be afraid to drop me a line if you want any advice.

    A new blog? Woot! If you let me know what its address is I'll add it to my list of favourite blogs for you. Happy blogging!

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  18. Here we go sir

    http://poisonousmonkeysgames.blogspot.com/

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  19. Good stuff Vampifan, this batrep really highlighted your excellent building interiors, am very impressed mate.

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  20. @Brummie. Many thanks for the link. I'm following now and I've added the site to my list of favourites.

    @The Extraordinarii. Thank you, sir!

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  21. Another excellent batrep, and as Extraordinarii said it really did show of your buildings' interiors. I have to keep reminding myself as to how small your playing area is as you cram so much action into them.

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  22. Excellent as usual Bryan! The close overhead shots of the action occuring in the interior of the buildings is outstanding, it really looks great. Whenever I read one of your batreps it makes me want to play a game right away.

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  23. @Joe. Thanks again. Yes, some of the rooms, especially in the semi-detached houses are very small. Even so, there's still room to fit a figure or two in them.

    @ConfusedDad. Wanting play after reading my batreps is a lovely compliment. I thank you very kindly.

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  24. Great batrep as usual.
    A quick question about the risks and rewards card. Shouldn't you draw a new card after you search to determine the results of the search. That way you don't know in advance whether it worth it to spend a turn searching in advance. Plus it would add more variety to the deck.
    Draw a risks card/spend a turn searching/draw a rewards card.

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  25. @Braz. I just play according to rules given with the cards but I can see your point of view and it is an interesting suggestion. Your way adds more time to searching a room by making two draws. The whole point of the deck is to cut down on the time searching a building.

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  26. A much better result than last time, I guess when you've down, things can only get better. I really like the house rule about the doors, great idea.

    Nice little idea from Braz too.

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