My ATZ Campaign - Day 66 - Sunny's Revenge

It had taken weeks of searching but finally, Sunny, the leader of the Killer Klowns gang, had located where Team Vampifan were holed up. They were hiding in an industrial estate in the suburbs of Mayhem City. Tonight, Sunny thought, Team Vampifan would pay for slaughtering so many of his followers and Big Sil in particular, would pay for the beating he had given to Sunny. It was time for revenge.

CAST LIST - Team Vampifan
Vampifan - Rep:6 Star with Nerves of Steel and Slow attributes. Armed with Assault Rifle.
Ulysses Catweazle - Rep:5 Star with Brawler and Nerves of Steel attributes. Armed with Assault Rifle.
Wayne Connors - Rep:5 Grunt with Stone Cold attribute. Armed with Assault Rifle, BA Pistol and Body Armour.
Big Sil - Rep:5 Grunt with Knife Fighter attribute. Armed with Assault Rifle and Knife.
Gap - Rep:4 Grunt with Fear of Clowns Phobia. Armed with Assault Rifle.
Hannah Vaughn - Rep:5 Grunt with Stone Cold attribute. Armed with BA Pistol.
Jamie Vaughn - Rep:4 Grunt with Brawler attribute. Armed with BA Pistol.
Billy Vaughn - Rep:3 Grunt with Wuss attribute. Armed with Catapult.
Note that Team Vampifan are usually much better armed and equipped than listed above. However, six of them were asleep at the start of the encounter (Connors and Big Sil being the exceptions), so when the action started they could only grab one weapon - those listed above.
CAST LIST - Killer Klowns
Sunny - Rep 6 Star with Hellspawn* and Knife Fighter attributes. Armed with Knife.
Barney, Bubo, Clucky, Fred, Grosso, Yama, Zlinky and Zopov - Rep:4 Smart Zombies. Bubo was armed with a Shotgun. Yama and Zopov were armed with Impact 1 Improvised Weapons. The rest were unarmed.
*Hellspawn attribute denotes that Sunny is not human. He is a demon and as such he will not be attacked by zombies. Note that his Rep has increased since his first encounter with Team Vampifan. He has grown more powerful! I deliberately wanted him to be on a par with Vampifan.

The game was played on a 3' by 3' board, with north to the left of this photo. Note the absence of corpses on the streets. Team Vampifan had cleared them all away and burnt them.

The board was divided into nine sectors, each 1' square. Sector 1 was in the NE corner, where the three cars were parked next to the wood.

Sector 9 was in the SW corner where the hedge and grassland is situated. This encounter took place shortly after midnight on the morning of Day 66 in the suburbs of Mayhem City.

 SWAT Sergeant Wayne Connors was on guard duty at the start of this encounter and he took up position on the roof of the XLFSU (Extra Large Folding Structure Unit).

Inside the XLFSU, most of Team Vampifan slept. Big Sil was awake and sitting at the dining table, drinking a cup of coffee. He would replace Wayne Connors once he had finished his stint on guard duty.

I placed the three starting PEFs on the board and diced for their Reps. PEF:1 was Rep:4 and was placed in Sector 5 at the NW corner of the warehouse, just out of sight of Connors. PEF:2 was also Rep:4 and was placed in sector 2 behind the crimson car. Again, it was out of sight of Connors.

PEF:3 was only Rep:2 and was placed in sector 3 behind Vampifan's pick-up truck. It was also hidden from view of Connors.
I rolled for Lack of Sleep for Team Vampifan but no one was badly affected.

Day 66 - Sunny's Revenge
This was a Defend: Raid scenario, details of which can be found in the After The Horsemen or Final Fade Out books. It takes place at Night, so all visibility is limited to 12". Note that any references to the Better Dead Than Zed rulebook will use the abbreviation BDTZ and any references to the I, Zombie supplement will use the abbreviation IZ.

TURN 1   Activation - Vampifan = 3, PEFs = 4
PEF:1 passed 2d6 on the PEF Movement Table and moved into sector 8 at the NW corner of the XLFSU. PEF:2 passed 1d6 on the PEF Movement Table and moved towards the closest PEF, which was PEF:1. It ended up at the NE corner of the XLFSU. Both PEFs were now in sight of Wayne Connors and so, had to be revealed.The first two PEFs to be revealed were predetermined by me, meaning I didn't have to roll to see what they were. PEF:3 would be determined normally.

PEF:1 was Hostile NPCs - Sunny and a group of Smart Zombie Killer Klowns. There were nine Killer Klowns in total (see Cast List above for details). They disembarked from their van. Sunny deliberately left the engine running in order to attract more zombies. It was a tactic that had worked well at the Precinct 13 Police Station.

Two of the Klowns, Fred and Yama, emerged from a hatch in the van roof and charged at the SWAT Sergeant. Wayne took the Being Charged Test and passed 2d6. He fired his Assault Rifle at the Klowns. He hit Yama and knocked him down, but he missed Fred.

Smart Zombies use 2d6 in melee combat instead of the 1d6 used by normal zombies. However, Wayne rolled 5d6 (for his Rep)  and should have easily defeated Fred. He didn't. Fred beat him 1-0 after three rounds of combat. Wayne Connors keeled over with a bite wound and was Out Of the Fight. First blood to the Killer Klowns. Was this an omen of things to come?

Zombies do not cause an unrevealed PEF to show what it is, but Sunny wasn't a zombie and he was in sight of PEF:2, so I had to reveal what it was. It was more Hostile NPCs, only this time it was 12 zombies.

Big Sil shouted for everyone to wake up, but most of the team had heard the gunfire from above them and were already awake. Each member of the team grabbed one weapon (see cast List above for what they chose) and they stood ready to repel any intruders. The front and back doors of the building were closed but unlocked.

I rolled 9d6 for zombie reinforcements (6d6 for the van's engine running and 3d6 for Wayne's gunfire). Just three zombies arrived on the board. They appeared by the large rock in the woods across the street from the XLFSU.

TURN 2.   Activation - Vampifan = 2, Klowns = 3, Zombies = 4, PEF = 6.
Eight of the horde of twelve zombies entered the XLFSU but none of them were able to make contact with any of the members of Team Vampifan. This triggered In Sight Tests for the seven defenders. Vampifan, Catweazle and Billy passed 2d6 and could fire normally. Big Sil and Jamie passed 1d6 and were allowed to Snapfire. Hannah and Gap passed 0d6 and couldn't fire at all.

Team Vampifan's shooting was appalingly bad! Vampifan and Catweazle hit and killed one zombie apiece. Everyone else missed. I guess they weren't fully awake yet.

Sunny led Zlinko, Grosso, Bubo, Zopov and Clucky from the Killer Klown zombies inside and he immediately set eyes on Big Sil. (Remember that Smart Zombies can move further than normal zombies indoors, so they were able to leapfrog ahead of the zombies already inside.)
"Sillito, you're going to die, you fucker!" Sunny screamed as he charged at the hairy biker.

"I don't think so, asshole!" Big Sil retorted. He passed the Being Charged Test with 2d6 and fired three shots at Sunny. He hit once but could only score a Knock Down result. Sunny passed 2d6 on the Recover From Knock Down Test and was just momentarily stunned.

Even though he was OOF, Wayne Connors may have survived this encounter but his fate was sealed when Fred kicked him off the roof. The fall caused a second OOF result, but they don't stack. He lay on the pavement just a few yards away from two groups of ravenous zombies. Yama stood back up and he and Fred jumped back onto the roof of their van. Smart Zombies are allowed to move 3" after they stand up from being Knocked Down (see p.41 of IZ).

The sight of so many clowns entering the XLFSU caused Gap to have a panic attack due to his phobia. Fortunately, he passed 2d6 on the Panic Attack Test (see p.14 of IZ) and he was able to carry on as normal.
"Billy, Jamie, get over here behind me!" Hannah shouted in alarm. She wanted to shield her children from the horde of invaders. Both children complied immediately and took up position at the back door behind her.
Catweazle and Gap took a few steps forward to close in on Vampifan and Big Sil.
"Let 'em have it!" Vampifan ordered as he fired a burst from his G3 Assault Rifle. He hit twice and killed Clucky the Killer Klown and a normal zombie.
Catweazle shot and killed two normal zombies.
Big Sil killed a normal zombie. He also hit Zopov the Killer Klown but only knocked him down.
Gap killed just one normal zombie.
Hannah killed Grosso the Killer Klown and a normal zombie.
They had done fairly well with their shooting but they hadn't cleared the room and there were still a lot more zombies outside.

I rolled a total of 34d6 for zombie reinforcements. Nasty! I expected 11 to arrive and that's exactly what happened. Six emerged from the darkness at the NE corner of the XLFSU.

Another five emerged at the SE corner of the XLFSU at the junction to the warehouse loading bays.

TURN 3.   Activation - Vampifan = (5) 2, Klowns = (5) 6, Zombies = 4, PEF = 3
Team Vampifan and the Killer Klowns tied for Activation and had to reroll. Unfortunately, the Klowns won the roll off and went first. Sunny and Zopov stood back up. What happened next was probably the turning point of the game. Vampifan thought that Bubo the Klown was holding a trumpet. He was wrong. It was actually a disguised Shotgun! Bubo pointed it at Vampifan and fired. Normally, it is very difficult for a Smart Zombie to hit a target with a firearm. They need to roll a 6 on 1d6 followed by a second roll scoring 1-3. I felt confident that Vampifan would survive this attack, even though Bubo had 6d6 to roll to hit. Not only was I wrong, but Bubo made matters infinitely worse by scoring an Obviously Dead result on the Damage Table! Fortunately, because Vampifan was a Star, he could use the Larger Than Life advantage, which meant that any OD result by anyone with a lower Rep than the Star was converted to an OOF result. It also stated that this result did not apply if killed by a zombie. I may be wrong, but my view is this only applies when bitten by a zombie. Being shot by a Smart Zombie seemed wrong to the spirit of the game, so I decided that Vampifan was merely OOF. Even so, it was a major blow to Team Vampifan. The other members of the team took the Leader Lost Test and passed 2d6, meaning that Lieutenant Ulysses Catweazle was automatically nominated as new team leader.

Outside, Fred and Yama dropped down to the ground from atop their van. Back inside, Barney entered the room to stand alongside Sunny, whilst Bubo, Zlinky and Zopov charged Big Sil. He passed 2d6 on the Being Charged Test and fired his Assault Rifle at the trio. He only scored one hit on Zlinky but it was a fatal hit. By the way, I forgot to place a bullet marker next to Big Sil, but I did remember to count his shots when totting up the shots fired at the end of this turn, so no harm done.

Two to one odds were better than three to one odds in melee combat but Big Sill still had to split his 5d6 attack dice. He had not drawn his knife so he couldn't use his Knife Fighter attribute. He split his attack to 3d6 against Zopov and 2d6 against Bubo. He won 2-0 against Zopov and smashed the Killer Klown's brains in. Alas, against Bubo he lost 1-0 and the hairy biker fell to the floor OOF.

Now it was the zombies' turn to move. The five zeds at the SE corner of the XLFSU moved to the back door of the building.

The two groups of zombies crossing the main road moved closer to the front of the XLFSU. The four zombies standing at the front door suddenly surrounded the unconscious Wayne Connors and began to feast upon his warm flesh. Their feasting would last for four turns, as denoted by the red die in the photo above.

Catweazle fired three times at Bubo. he hit once but only scored a Knock Down. Bubo was living a charmed life! Then Catweazle's Assault Rifle went CLICK! CLICK! He was out of ammo.
"Oh, bugger!" he cursed.
Hannah fired twice at Sunny but missed with both shots.
Gap fired three times at the two zombies closing in on Vampifan. He and killed the leading one but missed the second one.
However, Jamie dealt with the second zombie as one of her two shots hit the zed in the side of the head.
Young Billy fired his catapult at Sunny but he also missed the Killer Klown leader.

I rolled 25d6 for zombie reinforcements and ten appeared in two groups of five. The first five appeared at the SW corner of the XLFSU by the stack of container units.

The second group of five appeared at the NE corner of the XLFSU in exactly the same place as the five zombies who were now at the back door.

TURN 4.   Activation = Vampifan = 1, Klowns = 3, Zombies = 4, Pef = 2.
The zombies at the back door opened it and charged Billy and Jamie in the rear. The kids each passed 1d6 on the Being Charged Test. They could not fire but they could fight, albeit with a -2d6 penalty each. One zombie attacked Billy, whilst two attacked Jamie. Billy only had one attack die, the same as his zombie attacker. The way things were going for Team Vampifan it was almost inevitable that he lost his combat. He fell down OOF. Jamie split her 3d6 into a 2/1 combo. She easily killed the first zombie attacker, winning 2-0 but she tied with the second one. I was very grateful she didn't lose!

Three zombies by the front door moved inside the XLFSU. The other zombies at the front of the building joined in on the feasting of Wayne Connors.

The two groups of five zombies at the rear of the building joined forces with the four at the back door to form a horde of 14 zombies.

The Killer Klowns moved next with Sunny charging Gap and Barney and Bubo charging Catweazle. Gap passed 1d6 on the Being Charged Test . He could melee normally but he could not fire beforehand. Catweazle passed 2d6 on the same Test and he too, was able to melee normally. If he hadn't have run out of ammo he could have fired at the two Klowns before they reached him. Sunny rolled 7d6 against Gap's 4d6 and he slaughtered him, winning 3-0. One sweep of Sunny's large knife decapitated Gap. Catweazle dropped his Assault Rifle and sensibly decided to take on the two Killer Klowns bare-handed. He naturally split his 6d6 into two 3d6 attacks, giving him a 1d6 advantage over both opponents. However, he rolled incredibly badly and both Klowns beat him 1-0. He fell Out Of the Fight, bleeding from two bite wounds. Hannah and Jamie passed 2d6 on the Leader Lost Test and now Hannah became team leader.

PEF:3 passed 1d6 on the PEF Movement Table and moved into sector 6 at the side of Hannah's parked white car. It was in sight and in cover of Jamie. I rolled on the PEF Resolution Table to see what it was and scored a False Alarm result.

Hannah made the only wise decision left to her. She grabbed hold of Billy and lifted him in her arms. She fired at the two zombies standing at the back door, blocking her way. Her aim was true and she hit and killed both of them with accurate head shots.

"Come on, Jamie!" she cried, fighting back tears that were ready to spring forth. "We have to get out of here. Run, dear, run!"

Because she was holding Billy, I reduced the distance that Hannah could run making a Fast Move by 1d6, but she was still able to exit the board. Jamie broke off her combat with the zombie and sprinted after her mother with a Fast Move of her own.

It was all over. Team Vampifan had lost and were no more. There was no point in rolling for zombie reinforcements as the game was well and truly over at this point.

AFTERMATH

Sunny beheaded Vampifan and Catweazle to add to his collection of severed heads. The zombies literally tore apart the bodies of Vampifan, Gap, Catweazle and Connors. Sunny took Big Sil and his surviving Smart Zombies, Barney, Bubo, Fred and Yama back to his Circus Big Top HQ. Big Sil died a most excruciatingly painful and prolonged death as Sunny tortured him repeatedly for days and days. Sunny's revenge was complete!

Billy recovered from his wound but it was short lived. He succumbed to the zombie virus and died. Hannah shot him in the head just as he transformed. Even though she knew it was the right thing to do, it broke her heart. Despite losing this encounter, neither Hannah nor Jamie lost a Rep point for their failure.

Before I began this encounter, my friend Joe/Zabadak asked me if this was going to end up like the Alamo or Rorke's Drift? Both are excellent historical analogies. I had no idea how it would end due to the vagaries of dice rolling. One thing I did know was that there would be no quarter asked by either side. This was all out war and there could only be one winner. Well, the dice gods decided it was going to be Sunny and the Killer Klowns. Team Vampifan had some appallingly bad luck with the dice. Note that they never once won Activation. I'm not blaming that wholly for their defeat but it was certainly a factor. Looking back on it with the advantage of hindsight, I should have employed different tactics by Team Vampifan. Instead of staying inside they should have left by the back door, split up and employed hit and run tactics against the enemy. Special mention must go the Bubo the Smart Zombie, who put Vampifan, Big Sil and Catweazle Out Of the Fight. And he survived a few hits as well. Truly, he was the "Man of the Match!"

Despite the result not being what I wanted at least I can say that my ATZ-BDTZ campaign came to a natural conclusion. I have learnt a lot from this campaign, which will stand me in good stead when I start my ATZ-FFO campaign. But most of all, this campaign has been a hell of a lot of fun. I've thoroughly enjoyed it and I hope you have too. Thanks to you all for your enthusiastic support and comments. I'm sorry it didn't have a happy ending but sometimes shit happens!