My ATZ Campaign - Day 62 - Assault on Precinct 13 part 1

"The prisoners are here, sir" Detective Mitchell Brandt announced.
He stood in the doorway of the Captain's Office of the Mayhem City Precinct 13 Police Station. He was in his late twenties, a good looking man, who cared a lot about his appearance. He carried a Heckler and Koch 9mm MP5A3 Sub-Machine Gun and wore a police-issue flak vest over his white shirt.
With him was SWAT Sergeant Wayne Connors, dressed in full riot gear and holding a .45 calibre Kimber Custom II Pistol, which was pointed at the two prisoners, Vampifan and Big Sil. Neither prisoner was handcuffed.
Seated behind a cluttered desk was Captain Alan Marquez, a gruff, no-nonsense officer, who wore his hair in a military crew cut. He was 48 years old but the past two months had aged him considerably. He had lost far too many good men and women and now all that remained of his precinct was a skeleton crew. It was his decision to try and maintain law and order in a world that had been plunged into absolute chaos.
"Thank you, Brandt," he said. "So, Sleeping Beauty has decided to join the living. How are you feeling?"
His question was directed at Big Sil, who had been comatose for most of the day, thanks to a beating he'd received from Vampifan early that morning.  
"I've had better days," the bearded biker replied sourly.
"What happens now?" Vampifan asked with a note of concern.
"What happens now is that you're free to go," Marquez replied with a wry smile. "Once you pay your fine!"
Vampifan sighed. "What fine? No-one is using cash any more."
"Exactly" Marquez replied. "So, leave behind one of your firearms or body armour and we'll let you go. Refuse and we keep the lot. So what do you say?"
On the Captain's desk were Vampifan's 7.62mm Heckler and Koch G3 Assault Rifle, his .50 calibre IMI Desert Eagle Pistol, Big Sil's 5.56mm Colt M16A2 Assault Rifle and both of their flak vests. Their combat knives were also there, but they were not part of the deal. 
"Okay," Vampifan said resignedly, "you can keep the Desert Eagle. Sil?"
"I'll need the rifle more than the vest. You can have the vest."
"Excellent, gentlemen." Marquez looked at them with a satisfied smile. "It's been a pleasure doing... what the hell is that racket?"
Loud music could suddenly be heard from what appeared to be just outside his office.
"I do believe it's the Birdie Song by the Tweets," Big Sil replied knowingly.

The cast of characters for this scenario were from left to right in the photo above -
Vampifan - Rep:6 Star with Nerves of Steel and Slow. Armed with Assault Rifle, Combat Knife and Body Armour.
Big Sil - Rep:5 Grunt with Knife Fighter. Armed with Assault Rifle and Combat Knife.
Captain Alan Marquez - Rep:5 Grunt with Nerves of Steel. Armed with Shotgun and BA Pistol.
Detective Mitchell Brandt - Rep:5 Grunt with no Attribute. Armed with SMG and Body Armour.
SWAT Sergeant Wayne Connors - Rep:5 Grunt with Stone Cold. Armed with Assault Rifle, BA Pistol and Body Armour.
SWAT Trooper Johnny Vincenzo - Rep:5 Grunt with Transporter. Armed with SMG, BA Pistol and Body Armour.
SWAT Trooper Gemma Kelly - Rep:5 Grunt with Athlete. Armed with SMG, BA Pistol and Body Armour.
Patrolman Kenneth Tybald - Rep:4 Grunt with Brawler. Armed with Shotgun and BA Pistol.
Patrolwoman Sally Gibson - Rep:4 Grunt with Runt. Armed with BA Pistol.
Rookie Ryan Markowitz - Rep:3 Grunt with Poser. Armed with BA Pistol.

HOUSE RULES

The scenario used the Better Dead Than Zed rulebook and the I, Zombie supplement. Because this was a scenario I had designed, I made a few changes to the rules. 

The first was to design a new PEF Placement Chart, which is shown to the left. Instead of rolling 1d6 to determine where a PEF would be placed, I would roll 1d8. The eight sectors surrounding the central sector (Sector 9) were all potential locations for a PEF to appear. In the photo of the game board shown above, Sector 1 is in the bottom right hand corner of the photo, where the garbage truck has been abandoned.

Next, I redesigned the PEF Resolution Table as I wanted more control over who or what appeared.
No. of Resolved PEFs   1   2    3    4    5    6   
           0 PEFs                    A   A   A   B   B   D       A = Killer Klown. If already chosen then count as B
           1 PEF                     A   A   B    B   D   D       B = Zombies
           2 PEFs                   A   B   B    B   D   D      C = Team Vampi. If already chosen then count as B
          3+ PEFs                  B   C   C    D   D   D      D = False alarm

In addition, I grouped all of the characters under the command of Captain Marquez (Rep:5), even though Vampifan and Big Sil were not technically part of their group. From a gaming point of view it made sense to combine the defenders into one big group. Also, I deliberately ignored the rule for unit cohesion, otherwise I'd have had far too many groups rolling for Activation. As long as everyone was in or very close to the police station they were classed as one group no matter how far away they were. I also did not roll for lack of sleep as I wanted everyone on their toes.

The game was played on a 6' by 4' board. This was the first time I had played ATZ on such a large board. Fortunately, I have more than enough buildings and scenery to fill it. The scenario took place in one of the suburbs of Mayhem City during the evening of day 62 of the Outbreak.

In the police station, all of the ground floor windows and external doors had been barricaded with wooden pallets. This made the doors Rep:4 and the windows Rep:3 to defend against attempts to break in.

I rolled for the placement of the initial three PEFs and for their Reps. PEF:1 was Rep:5 and was placed in Sector 1 behind the garbage truck.

 PEF:2 was Rep: 3 and was placed in Sector 8 behind the green van.

PEF:3 was also Rep:3. It was placed in Sector 4 at the far side of the blue car.

Day 62 - Assault on Precinct 13 part 1

In the police station, Patrolman Tybald manned the front desk in the reception hall, whilst his colleague, Rookie Markowitz, poured a cup of coffee from the vending machine. Note the barricaded front door.

In the Captain's Office, Captain Marquez had just finished talking to Vampifan and Big Sil. Detective Brandt and SWAT Sergeant Connors stood in attendance.

In the CCTV Monitor Room, Patrolwoman Gibson surveyed the immediate area around the police station. Incredibly, they still had electricity and most of the cameras were still working.

On the roof, SWAT Troopers Vincenzo and Kelly kept a weary lookout, not quite as alert as they should have been after hours of boring monotony. Nothing exciting had happened for quite a while.

TURN 1.   Activation - Police = 6, PEFs = 5  

The Police were unable to activate this turn. PEF:1 with the highest Rep passed 2d6 on the PEF Movement Table and moved one Sector towards the nearest group of players. I placed it at the NW corner of the police station in Sector 9, in cover behind the blue hatchback but in sight of SWAT Trooper Kelly. I rolled 1d6 on my new PEF Resolution Table and scored a 2, giving me a result of "A," meaning Killer Klowns. Actually, just one arrived, driving a pick-up truck, loaded with a hi-fi system and a huge speaker. The evil clown played the intensely annoying "Birdie Song" by the Tweets at full volume.

PEF: 3 also passed 2d6 on the PEF Movement Chart and it moved into Sector 9 at the back door of the police station. It was spotted by SWAT Trooper Vincenzo but turned out to be a false alarm. That was a relief for the defenders.

PEF:2 only passed 1d6 on the PEF Movement Chart. Because there were no more PEFs left on the board it moved to the closest group of players - Sector 9, once again. This time I placed it in the car park near the front entrance of the police station. It was in cover but once more, was in sight from SWAT Trooper Kelly.

This time I got a "B" result for zombies. I rolled to see how many appeared and got a result of half as many again as the defenders, in other words 15. That could be a big problem.

I rolled 12d6 for zombie reinforcements, 6d6 for the pick-up truck's engine and 6d6 for the huge speaker. Defying the odds, 6 appeared, just north of the basketball court.

TURN 2.   Activation - Police = 1, Klowns = 4, Zombies = 6.
I diced to see what the Rep of the Killer Klown driver was. He was Rep:4, so he went first this turn. Leaving the engine running and the speaker system turned up to full volume, he exited the vehicle and sprinted across the road, chuckling all the way.

"Fucking crazy idiot!" SWAT Trooper Vincenzo swore as he fired a three round burst of 9mm bullets at the Killer Klown.

He hit once, but only scored a Knockdown result. The Klown rolled on the Recover From Knockdown test and passed 1d6, meaning he was OOF (Out Of the Fight).

"Oh, holy shit!" SWAT Trooper Kelly swore when she saw the horde of zombies gathered near the front door. She raised her MP5A3 SMG to her shoulder and fired a short controlled burst at the zombies below her. She hit and killed two.

Inside the Captain's Office, Marquez glowered at Big Sil for being so flippant. He grabbed his pump action shotgun, which he kept by the side of his desk. Opening the window behind him, he stepped out onto the roof of the ground floor.
"Connors, with me!" he ordered, having to shout to be heard.
SWAT Sergeant Connors followed obediently, without comment.

Marquez stepped to the corner of the building and blasted the speaker to smithereens with three shots from his 12 gauge Remington 870 shotgun, silencing it for good.

Back inside, Detective Brandt moved to the front of the office and peered outside.
"Oh, God!" he exclaimed as he saw the amount of zombies so close to the front entrance. "This is not good!"
Vampifan and Big Sil said nothing as they loaded fresh ammo clips into their Assault Rifles.

Even though Marquez had destroyed the Killer Klown's hi-fi speaker, it still generated noise this turn and so it contributed to the 24d6 I rolled for zombie reinforcements. Again I rolled better than expected and scored 12 successes. Eight would have been the expected score. Six more appeared in the car park in two groups of three.

Another three appeared at the NE corner of the police station. I'm not sure why the zombie in the purple dress is facing the wrong way. A mistake on my part!

The final three appeared across the road, right beside the Killer Klown. Oh dear, how sad!

TURN 3.   Activation - Police = 5, Zombies = 3.
"Someone has to turn that damned engine off," Captain Marquez announced, "otherwise we'll be swarming with deadheads."
"I'll do it, sir!" SWAT Sergeant Connors volunteered.
"No," Marquez replied. "I'll do it. You cover me."
Captain Marquez always led from the front and would never order his men to do something that he wasn't prepared to do himself. He nimbly dropped down to the front of the pick-up truck then made the short jump to the ground. The driver's door was wide open. Disabling the engine would be a separate action, which, hopefully, he could achieve next turn.

SWAT Sergeant Connors fired a quick three round burst at the group of six zombies closest to Captain Marquez.

 He hit two of them, scoring a pair of fatal head shots.

"What can we do?" Vampifan asked Detective Brandt.
"Get up on the roof," the young detective replied. "You'll be safer there. Gibson, escort these gentlemen upstairs!"
Patrolwoman Gibson stepped out of the CCTV Monitor Room and said in a soft spoken voice, "follow me, guys."
Vampifan and Big Sil did just that as they followed her to the stairs leading up.

Meanwhile, Detective Brandt tried to thin the crowd of zombies below him but he only managed to hit and kill one.

Above him, SWAT Troopers Vincenzo and Kelly fared better. Johnny shot and killed two male zombies lurking at the NW corner of the building.

His colleague, Gemma Kelly, shot and killed another two zombies at the front of the building.

The horde of zombies nearest to the front entrance swarmed forward and attempted to break down the front doors. But the porch funnelled them in and only two at a time could attempt to smash through the barricade. The doors held firm. However, not too far away, a zombie at the SE corner of the building managed to break the window to a detective's office and tear down the barricade blocking his entry. The police station's defences had been breached!

The three zombies closest to the OOF Killer Klown pounced upon him and began to devour him. Their grisly feasting would last for three turns before they were satisfied.

Another four zombies moved dangerously close to Captain Marquez. Next turn's Activation would be crucial.

I rolled 18d6 for zombie reinforcements and 8 appeared. Five turned up by the NW corner of the police station...

...and another three appeared in the southern half of the car park.

TO BE CONTINUED

Total number of zombies who have appeared so far = 41.