Vampifan's Views 50 - Monthly Musings 30

Winged Vampirella by Joseph Michael Linsner

This has been a very busy month for me. First of all, I'd like to mention that my blog was nominated twice for a Leibster award. Thanks to Inso and Bandit86 for the nominations but I'm afraid I have no desire to take part in something that is just a glorified chain letter with no real meaning. However, I am planning on running a Q and A session similar to a one run by Johnny/Lord Siwoc on his blog not so long ago. See here. I'll give you a lot more details in my next Monthly Musings post.

Let's move onto books now, something I haven't mentioned for a while. I finished re-reading Mira Grant's Feed trilogy and it simply reaffirmed my opinion that this is one of the best zombie series ever written. I also re-read one of my favourite vampire novels - Vampyres by Tim Greaves. It is only a short novel, running to 128 pages and is the novelisation of the cult 1974 film - Vampyres - Daughters of Dracula. This was a low-budget film about a pair of bisexual vampires, Fran and Miriam, (played by Marianne Morris and Anulka Dzubinska) who lure passing motorists to their creepy mansion where sex and death awaits them. It was quite gory and featured a lot of nudity but nothing too revealing. The novel goes much further than what is shown on screen and is far more graphic in its gore and far more explicit in its eroticism. I was going to do a full review of the film and the novel but instead I'll just give them a passing mention here. Reading the novel made me dig out the DVD but watching it again just reminded me of all the scenes that were added to the novel. I would have loved to have seen them included in the film. As is usually the case, the book is far better than the film, although the film isn't too bad. I am currently reading Juggernaut by Adam Baker, thanks to such a good review by ZombieBob. See here. Cheers, Dude!

Now that my mum is well on the mend, I have a lot more time on my hands for hobby pursuits and I have been catching up on my painting. I finished painting 12 Gripping Beast 28mm scale civilians and I'll be reviewing them soon. I am well on the way to finishing my 8 Atomico Press Kickstarter figures (7 zombies and a US soldier). Once they get done I plan on catching up on my mountain of Zombicide figures that need painting. There are simply far too many and I don't want to ignore them any longer.

"That's another fine mess you've gotten me into!"

Speaking of Zombicide figures I thought you'd like to see some work in progress shots of two figures I have just converted. One is a Walker from the Prison Outbreak expansion set and the other is a Fatty from the original Zombicide boxed set. These are zombie versions of the classic comedy duo, Laurel and Hardy. Stan Laurel required very little work to get right but Oliver Hardy was a major conversion with a lot of plastic cut away and Milliput added. I rarely post WIP shots but I wanted you to see just how much work went into creating them, especially the Oliver Hardy figure. I just finished painting them this morning, so expect to see a review of them on Sunday.

Assorted Pimps 01

Staying with my recent theme of reviewing some of my African/American figures here are a set of four assorted pimps. Two were sculpted by me, one is from Black Orc Games and one from Killer B Games.

First in line is Raphael "The Man" Robinson. Most citizens of Mayhem City think that he is a flashy, flamboyant businessman and nightclub owner (he owns six!). Few realise he is a notorious crimelord and leader of the Crips gangstas. He is a skilled martial artist in Savate and La Canne de Combat (cane fighting). He is also armed with a gold-plated .40 Glock 27 Pistol. He is one of the criminal elite and is involved in drugs, extortion, gambling and prostitution.
Next up is James Earl Barton, a pimp from Black Orc Games. He was such a tall figure that I stuck him on a plastic disc instead of a slottabase. "Jeb" as he is known as (after the initials of his name) is just a minor figure in the criminal fraternity. He is not armed and is not a fighter. This is why he employs street thugs to protect his interests. He cost just $1.00.

Third in line is Lionel Thompson and he was sculpted by me. He is based on a figure made by Graven Images from their 40mm scale range of Dystopia figures - set Pros001 Pimp and Hoes. Lionel is also unarmed but he is a vicious brawler and is very handy with his fists having trained as a boxer. He keeps fit and regularly works out at his gym. He is more successful than "Jeb" but nowhere near as powerful as Raphael.
Finally is Dwayne DuBois, a newcomer to the scene. He has clearly been influenced by Raphael and wishes to emulate his style and success. However, he has allied himself to the Bloods gangstas, which naturally makes him an enemy of Raphael. At the moment, Raphael ignores him because he is just a small fish in a big pond. But that could all change if Dwayne gets too big for his boots, or should that be Gucci shoes? Dwayne is armed with a cane but that is more for show than as a weapon. This figure comes from the Killer B Games range of 28mm scale Geezers, Shut It! set of 1970's cops, crooks and civilians. He is described as Pimp on their website and he costs £1.80.

This is an illustration I drew of Raphael "The Man" Robinson for a GURPS Character Record Sheet. Compared to the illustration I fear my sculpt is a bit too chunky. He should be a lot slimmer. I'm sure I could do a much better job if I re-sculpted him now.
As a GURPS NPC, Raphael was a major villain with a points cost of 600 and savings of $20 million.This put him in the superhero category, even though he has no super powers.
Next time I shall review a few of the prostitutes who work for these pimps.

Vampifan's Crips Gangstas 02

I continue my review of my collection of 28mmm scale Crips Gangsta figures, only this time concentrating on those armed with one-handed weapons. Every one of these figures was sculpted by me many years ago, some as far back as the 1980's.

The big brute at far left is Olawale "Big Ollie" Awesu. He has dyed his hair orange and he wears a puffa-jacket, both of which in my opinion, are a crime against fashion. He is armed with a pair of .50 Calibre IMI Desert Eagle Big Ass Pistols, which he is foolishly holding "gangsta" style.
"Big Ollie's" best friend stands next to him - Paul "MC Hellraiser" Mafolabami. He is a party animal and a serial womaniser, who keeps  his brains in his boxer shorts. He is also armed with a pair of .50 Calibre IMI Desert Eagle Big Ass Pistols, but at least he is holding them correctly. Before Bob berates me once again for him wearing red, the colour of rival gang, the Bloods, "MC Hellraiser" is a big fan of the Washington Redskins and he wears their team shirt with pride. Plus, it really doesn't matter what he wears now, as he was recently murdered by the Kill Krazy Kommandos.
In the centre of the group is, until recently, the second-in-command of the Mayhem City Crips Gangstas, Frederic Blackmore. As you will have seen in my last batrep,  Frederic died in a hail of gunfire from the Kill Krazy Kommandos. Not even his Star Power advantage could save him. He is armed with a 9mm Beretta M92 Pistol. He will be missed by his colleagues.

Fourth in line is Jolomi Humes armed with a pair of 9mm Beretta M95 Pistols. He is little more than an average mook with no outstanding talents or skills.
Finally, is Maurice "Mo" Clay, an amateur boxer when he is not hanging out with his "homeys." Although still a teenager (he is only 18), he is a terrific fighter and if the zombie apocalypse hadn't come along, he could have made a lucrative career out of boxing. I sculpted him attacking with a knife but he does keep a small 9mm Heckler and Koch P7 M8 Pistol as a back up weapon tucked into the back of his trousers.
This completes my collection of Crips Gangstas. Thanks for looking.

Vampifan's Crips Gangstas 01

After my last batrep it seemed only appropriate that I review my collection of Crips Gangstas. The Kill Krazy Kommandos, who fought them, were reviewed in February of this year. I'll be splitting this review over two posts. All of the figures in this gang were either sculpted by me or converted by me, with the vast majority being my own original sculpts. Only two are conversions and I'll point them out below.

Starting at the far left of the photo above is Joseph Dosenmu, who has dyed his hair and his eyebrows blond (!). He is armed with a 12 Gauge Olin Close Assault Weapon System (CAWS) - a Shotgun that can fire on full automatic. He is still a teenager and is not the sharpest tool in the box.
Next up is Adam Obunge, the current leader of the Crips Gangstas. This figure is a copy of a Games Workshop 20mm scale Dark Future figure, a short lived game that tried and failed to cash in on the popularity of Car Wars. He is armed with a futuristic looking Automatic Shotgun that comes with a drum magazine behind the pistol grip. Perhaps, it is an updated version of Joseph's CAWS. As back up weapons he carries a .50 calibre Desert Eagle Big Ass Pistol and a Machete. Until his gang's massacre at the hands of the Kill Krazy Kommandos, Adam was a successful and respected leader. Now his future as gang leader is in jeopardy.

Standing to the left of Adam is Michelle Warboyes, a woman with an impressive list of kills to her name. She is one tough bitch and a hell of a fighter, skilled in martial arts and in target shooting. She is armed with a 5.56mm Steyr AUG Assault Rifle. When I sculpted her way back in the early 1990's no one was making figures armed with this rifle. I think I made a damned good job of sculpting the rifle. Nowadays, I have quite a few spare Steyr AUGs, mainly collected from Wargames Foundry.
Last in line is Quadri Ogunkoya, a combat veteran with front-line experience. This is a converted figure that originally started life as a Games Workshop plastic Imperial Guardsman for their Warhammer 40.000 game. This set is now long out of production and was one of GW's first boxed sets of plastic figures. I remodeled his leather jacket and I armed him with a 5.56mm Colt M16A2 Assault Rifle from my spare parts box. He also has a knife in a sheath at the back of his belt.

Delbert Gayle is the tough guy armed with a 7.62mm Saco M60 Light Machine-Gun. Delbert is a brute and just like Quadri, he has seen front-line action with the U.S. Army. Now he is one the Crips' chief enforcers.
Next in line is Jevon Yenga, who was very lucky to escape the massacre by the Kill Krazy Kommandos. He is armed with a 12 Gauge Pump-Action Shotgun and a large Knife. This is the second of my two converted figures and just like Quadri, he came from the same boxed set of Games Workshop Warhammer 40,000 plastic Imperial Guardsmen. I think his head, right arm and shotgun came from a set of plastic Games Workshop Goliath Gangers for their Necromunda game. His left arm was made out of Milliput modelling putty.

Third in line is Josh Winkler, a teenage hoodlum who has armed himself with a .45 Thompson Sub-Machine Gun with front grip and 50-round drum ammo clip. This is, of course, the infamous "Chicago Piano" from the "Roaring Twenties" gangster era. What on earth he is doing with such an antique is anyone's guess!
Last and most definitely least is Everton Samuels, a total waste of skin and space. He is drug addicted teenager with no hope and no future whatsoever. He is one of life's losers and always will be. He is armed with a .45 Ingram MAC10 Machine Pistol with a fitted Sound Suppressor. I once created him as a GURPS NPC and he came out as a 0-point character. He really is that bad!

My FFO Campaign - Mayhem City Massacre part 3 - Week 2

TURN 6.   Activation - Crips = 1, Police = 4, Zombies = 3, PEFs =6.

 The cops took time out from shooting zombies to check the status of the five prone gang members. It was quite apparent that four were dead but Geoff Brown noticed that one of them, Jevon Yenga, was still breathing.
"Hey, great stuff!" he exclaimed, "we've got a live one."
"We need to get him out of here and find out what happened," Carole Malia said.
"Agreed," replied Paul Muni.

No sooner were the words out of his mouth when a male zombie lunged at him with its one good arm trying to grab hold of him. It moaned loudly in response to being so close to warm flesh. Flesh that it wanted to devour.

Patrolman Muni acted on pure instinct and adrenaline. He raised his Shotgun and at almost point blank range shot the zombie in the mouth, killing him instantly.
Both sides passed 1d6 on the Charge Into Melee test (see p.30), which allowed Muni to fire once before the zombie reached him. Fortunately for him, his shot was not only accurate but also fatal as well.

A group of four zombies suddenly charged at "Stewie" Whincup. He fired his 12 Gauge Remington Pump-Action Shotgun at the closest zombie and hit him in the left thigh. The zombie crumpled to the ground and snarled back at "Stewie."
Then things went from bad to worse for the unfortunate patrolman. His Shotgun suddenly clicked on empty. "Oh shit!" he muttered. "What a time to run out of ammo!"
"Stewie" won the Charge Into Melee test by 2-1, which allowed him to fire as many shots as the target rating of his gun, which was 3. He rolled a 6 followed by double 1s. To make matters worse, when he rolled for damage (see p.27) he rolled higher than the Shotgun's Impact of 2 and so just scored a Knock Down result. The double 1s meant that his Shotgun had run out of ammo.

"Stewie" was forced to use his now useless Shotgun as a club to defend himself against three rabid zombies. At this point he totally ran out of luck. The first zombie to reach him knocked him off balance and he fell to the ground, hitting his skull on the concrete pavement. He blacked out.
The zombie beat him in Melee Combat by 2-1 and scored a  Knock Down result. "Stewie" immediately took the Recover From Knock Down test (see Police QRS) but only passed 1d6, meaning he was now Out Of the Fight.

The other zombies pounced on him and began ripping and tearing chunks of flesh from his prone body. I rolled to see how long their feasting would last (see p.48) and scored a 5. At the end of Turn 11 they would finish feasting upon him by which time he'd be long dead.

At the back of  the warehouse three zombies charged at Quadri and Michelle. The Crips Gangstas let rip with their Assault Rifles and killed all three in a hail of gunfire before the zombies could reach them. In reality, the zombies stood little chance against two Rep:5 Gangers with Shooting Skills of 5 and armed with Assault Rifles (Target Rating:3 and Impact:3). Quadri and Michelle easily won the Charge Into Melee test and were allowed to fire three times each. Their shooting was devastating. They both hit twice and between them they scored three Obviously Dead results (two for Michelle and one for Quadri).

The five zombies who had been knocked down last Turn stood back up. The others moved even closer towards the cops. In this photo above you can see the three new zombies who appeared at the end of last Turn just behind the group of six.

Slowly walking along the road from the other side of the warehouse were the second set of three newly arrived zombies. Note that I have replaced the dead zombies with corpses, just to make the board a bit tidier.

 More and more zombies were arriving on the scene in a never ending wave.

Quadri and Michelle quietly slipped out of the warehouse's back door and left the board.

I rolled 4d6 for zombie reinforcements at the front of the warehouse. Two arrived at 12 o'clock, which placed them inside the warehouse.

Then I rolled 6d6 for zombie reinforcements from the point where Quadri and Michelle had fired. Four were placed at 10 o'clock from the shooting, which put them at the back of the car park. At this point there were 36 active zombies on the board and just 3 active Police. These were pretty atrocious odds.
TURN 7.   Activation - Police = 5, Zombies = 3, PEFs = 2.
At this point the Police now replaced the Crips as the Human Player Group, but what a time for them to fail to activate! A total of 10 zombies were in Charge range of the 3 cops. Let battle commence!

Four zombies surrounded Paul Muni. He managed to fire a single shot before they reached him but in his panic he fired high and wide, hitting no one. After that he was literally fighting for his life. He managed to push one zombie, a very old white-haired male, on to its back with his Shotgun. But a second zombie grabbed hold of his Shotgun. The pair then had a grappling contest to see who could wrest it from the others hands. Neither succeeded. However, a female zombie to the left of him made a grab for Muni's legs. He fell over and screamed in agony as she tore a chunk of flesh from his left thigh. He was unable to do anything to stop the fourth zombie from pouncing on him and ripping out his throat with its teeth.

Both sides passed 1d6 on the Charge Into Melee test, which gave Muni the opportunity to fire once. He rolled badly and missed. In the first of the four Melee contests, Muni won by 3-2 but only scored a Knock Down result. In the second contest Muni drew 2-2 with the zombie. This meant they were evenly matched, which gave the following zombies a +1d6 bonus to hit him (see p.31). The third zombie beat Muni by 3-2 and knocked him down. Muni only passed 1d6 on the Recover from Knock Down test and was rendered Out Of the Fight. This left the fourth zombie with a free attack with a +2d6 modifier to hit a prone target The zombie won 3-0, which also resulted in Out Of the Fight. It was game over for Patrolman Paul Muni. I rolled 1d6 to see how long the zombies would feast on him and rolled a 4.

Patrolwoman Carole Malia was the next to fall in the line of duty. As three zombies charged at her, she totally freaked out and snap-fired her pistol without aiming. Twice she fired and twice she missed. She wrestled with a zombie whom she thought looked remarkably like Victoria Beckham, wearing a black miniskirt. This left her practically defenceless against the other two. The second zombie lunged at her waist and knocked her to the ground. As she lay, momentarily stunned, her last thought was, "please God, make it quick!" The third zombie duly obliged and sank his teeth into her exposed neck. She quickly bled to death as the zombie gulped down her warm blood as quick as it could swallow.

This Turn started badly for Carole and just went downhill from there on. She did win the Charge Into Melee test by 2-1 but her shooting was woefully bad. She missed with both shots. A Pistol does not count as an Improvised Weapon under the FFO rules (see p.29) and so she was classed as being Unarmed. This gave her already poor Melee score of 2 a further -1d6 modifier. Incredibly, against the first zombie she drew 1-1. However, this meant she was now evenly matched, which gave the next two zombies a +1d6 bonus to hit. The second zombie won the combat by 2-0 and knocked Carole down. She did remarkably well to pass 2d6 on the Recover From Knock Down test but because she was not wearing body armour she was Stunned. This gave the third zombie a +3d6 bonus to hit her (+1d6 for her being evenly matched and still in combat and +2d6 for her being prone). The zombie won the combat 4-0 and scored an Obviously Dead result on her. The feasting on Patrolwoman Carole Malia would also last for 4 Turns.

Last man standing at this point was Patrolman Geoff Brown. He went down even quicker than his two colleagues. He failed to fire at the three zombies before they reached him. He simply froze. The last thing he remembered was being knocked down and having half of his face bitten off. It hurt like hell but he quickly fell into unconciousness and never recovered.

Geoff lost the Charge Into Melee test by 1-0, which meant he could not fire at his attackers before they reached him. He then lost the first Melee contest by 2-1 and got Knocked Down. Alas, he only passed 1d6 on the Recover From Knock Down test and he went Out Of the Fight. The other two zombies began to feast upon him, a process that would last for 2 more Turns.

It was all over. The Crips had been massacred and the Police had been massacred. This left two groups of winners - the Kill Krazy Kommandos and of course, the zombies. Whoever said zombies were too easy to kill?

COMMENTS. I must admit that this was far and away the most enjoyable game of ATZ-FFO that I have ever played. Whenever I play with Team Vampifan I always want them to do well but I never fudge the dice to help them out. With this game I really did not care who won or lost. All that mattered to me was telling an interesting story. I really did think I'd blown it by the end of Turn 1. I was not expecting to see such a one-sided fight. Once the Kill Krazy Kommandos started shooting, the Crips had no chance at all. I could have stopped there but I'm mighty glad I didn't. I keep on saying this but it's true, the beauty of games like this is that they can take on a mind of their own and head off in directions you never even considered. For sure the rules aren't perfect (what game is?) but they work well enough for me and at the end of the  day, that's all that matters.
Incidentally, for those of you wondering about the fate of Crips Gangsta, Jevon Yenga, who went Out Of the Fight in Turn 1 but who recovered thanks to a Random Event card, he did escape at the end. The zombies around him were far too busy feasting on the four cops to notice him slip away. So at the end, four Crips Gangstas died, including second-in-command Frederic Blackmore. Although four did escape, gang leader Adam Obunge would face a leadership challenge from Quadri Ogunkoya.
The one thing I did learn from this scenario was just how dangerous zombies can be if they are allowed to grow in numbers. At the start of turn 7, the final turn, the zombies outnumbered the police by 36 to 3. That could only end in one way and, predictably, it did! Heed this lesson, my friends. Keep the zombie numbers down as low as possible!

My FFO Campaign - Mayhem City Massacre part 2 - Week 2

TURN 2.   Activation - Crips = 1, KKK = 3, Zombies = 5, PEFs = 1.
The zombies failed to activate this turn, which was fortunate for both gangs.

"Let's move out!" Ricardo Santana ordered. "We're done here."
There were hoots and cheers as the Kill Krazy Kommandos turned round and crossed the road to their parked car and van. Chico Rivera and Samantha Mercer reloaded their Franchi SPAS12 shotguns as they walked. I used the Really Tight Ammo rules (see p.24) to see if they reloaded their Shotguns. Each character rolled 2d6 against the Target Rating of the weapon (in this case it was 3). Chico passed 1d6 and successfully reloaded but if he got another Out Of Ammo result in this Encounter he would be left with no more ammo for the rest of the Encounter. Samantha passed 0d6 and was fully reloaded with spare ammo left.
Four gangers boarded the sedan car with Leon Hedoya driving and the other six climbed aboard the van, where Hector Lopez was the driver.

The two Stunned Crips Gangstas, Quadri Ogunkoya and Michelle Warboyes spent the turn playing dead. Neither one wanted to attract the attention of the vicious Kill Krazy Kommandos.
Finally, it was time to activate the three PEFs. PEF:1 passed 0d6 on the PEF Movement table (see p.66) and stayed where it was. PEF:3 passed 1d6 and moved 12" away from the closest player group (the Crips) and ended up in the North East corner of the board far away from everyone, where I think it remained for the rest of the game.

PEF:2 passed 2d6 and moved 12" from the garage and into the car park towards the two remaining Crips Gangstas.

 TURN 3.   Activation - Crips = 4, KKK = 3, Zombies = 2, PEFs = 6.
Quadri and Michelle stood up and headed back inside the warehouse.
"Fuck me!" Michelle swore. "We got our asses kicked there!"
"That we did, sister," Quadri replied. "Now let's get out here before any more trouble arrives."

Meanwhile, outside the Kill Krazy Kommandos were making a quick getaway. They had seen the zombies arriving and they knew that the police would soon be on the scene. They had done what they had set out to do - wipe out another African/American gang. It was time to head home.
Because the KKK arrived in both vehicles, and already had the keys with them, the car and van  started automatically (see p.39). Plus, there were no zombies within 12" of them so once again, they didn't have to take "The Car Won't Start" test. Both vehicles had a Road Movement of 16" and were able to move at half that distance (8") on this Turn. Both vehicles caused noise equivalent to six gunshots each as their engines roared into life.

Seven zombies at the side of the warehouse started shuffling towards the two passing vehicles.

The three zombies in  the car park moved to the corner of the warehouse.

The four female zombies moved onto the road in a futile attempt to chase the two departing vehicles.

I rolled two lots of 6d6 for zombie reinforcements. Three male zombies arrived at 9 o'clock from the sedan car and tagged along behind the four females.

Three more zombies arrived on the scene as they emerged from the derelict building.

TURN 4.   Activation -  Crips = 3 (5), KKK = 5, Police = 3 (6), Zombies = 2 (1), PEFs = 2 (2).
The numbers in brackets indicate who went first in both tied results. Remember, only tied activations between the player group (in this case, the Crips, and the zombies indicate a possible Random Event) (see p.13).
The Kill Krazy Kommandos sped off the board. There would be much celebrating back at their headquarters later that night.

The Police arrived just in time to miss the Kill Krazy Kommandos. It had taken three turns for them to respond to the shooting from Turn 1, which was the worst possible result. I rolled on the How Many table (see p.62) to see what kind of response would arrive. I rolled 1d6 and scored a 4, which was boosted to 5 for this Encounter being in an Urban area. This gave me four patrolmen split equally between two cars.
CAST - Police Patrolmen
Paul Muni - Rep:4 Police with Logical Attribute.
   Skills = Drive:3, Melee:4, Shoot:4, Fitness;3, People:2, Savvy:4.
   Weapons = 12g Remington Shotgun, .40 Glock 22 Big Ass Pistol.
Carole Malia - Rep:3 Police with Free Spirit Attribute.
   Skills = Drive:3, Melee:2, Shoot:3, Fitness;2, People:3, Savvy:1.
   Weapons = .40 Glock 22 Big Ass Pistol.
Stewie Whincup - Rep:4 Police with Dim Attribute
    Skills = Drive:3, Melee:4, Shoot:4, Fitness;4, People:2, Savvy:3.
   Weapons = 12g Remington Shotgun, .40 Glock 22 Big Ass Pistol.
Geoff Brown - Rep:4 Police with Poser Attribute.
    Skills = Drive:4, Melee:3, Shoot:4, Fitness;3, People:4, Savvy:2.
   Weapons = .40 Glock 22 Big Ass Pistol.
Malia and Muni were in Car 01 with Malia driving. Brown and Whincup were in Car 02 with Brown as the driver.

Quadri and Michelle decided to leg it and they sped towards the back door of the warehouse. They took the Fast Move test (see p.15) and doubled their normal Move of 8" to 16" which was reduced to 14" because they moved through one open doorway into the back room.

The zombies who had emerged from the derelict building tried to attack the first police car. Paul Muni was having none of that. He quickly rolled down his window and opened fire with his 12 Gauge Remington Pump-Action Shotgun. The first blast caught one zombie in the mouth and blew half of his head off. His second shot hit another zombie in the shoulder and knocked him flat on his back. His third shot missed completely. Muni passed 2d6 on the Charge Into Melee test (see p.30), whilst the zombies only passed 1d6, and was able to fire 3 times at the zombies before they reached him.

The third zombie, wearing a hospital gown, made a grab for the windscreen wipers. However, he lost his balance and rolled under the front of the car, where his bloated body literally exploded as it burst apart in a spectacular eruption of blood and gore.
"Oh my word!" Patrolwoman Malia exclaimed in horror as she witnessed the most horrific sight of her life. She swallowed hard and only just managed to avoid being sick.
The zombie and Malia each passed 1d6 on the Charge Into Melee test so the zombie got hit by the car (see p.43). The zombie had a Bash Value of 1, whilst the car had a Bash Value of 5. Both sides rolled d6s equal to their Bash Values, looking for successes (any rolls of 1, 2 or 3). The zombie scored 0 successes, whilst Malia scored 4 successes. Result - instant death for the zombie!

The seven zombies at the side of the warehouse continued their slow advance forward.

The three zombies from the car park now emerged in front of the warehouse and became excited by lots of movement in front of them. As one, they began moaning. They could smell fresh blood.

The seven zombies on the main road were also attracted by the approaching police cars. They too, closed  the gap between them.

PEF:2 passed 2d6 on the PEF Movement Table and moved 12" towards the nearest player group, ignoring any terrain features on the way. This placed it inside the warehouse close to Quadri and Michelle.

"Did you hear something?" Quadri asked nervously.
"Oh, shit!" Michelle exclaimed as she suddenly caught sight of movement from the dark shadows of the storeroom. "Zombies!"
I rolled 1d6 on the Contact Days 1-10 table (see p.61) and rolled a 5, which was increased to a 6 because of the +1 modifier for it being in the Evening. this gave a  result of Zombies with a -1 modifier to the How Many table. This coupled with a +1 modifier for being in an Urban area gave me a straight die roll on the How Many table (see p.62). I rolled 1d6 and scored a 4, giving a result of Player Group +1 zombies, which in this case was 3 zombies. Remember that zombies do not activate on the Turn they are generated, nor do they trigger an In Sight test.

PEF:1 passed 1d6 on the PEF Movement table and moved out of the office block, 12" away from the two Crips Gangstas. PEF:3 passed 0d6 and did not move.

I rolled 15d6 in two lots of 6d6 and one lot of 3d6 for zombie reinforcements. First three then two arrived together at 12 o'clock from where the police cars entered the board, to form a group of five zombies.

Two more zombies were generated by the sound of Patrolman Muni firing his Shotgun and they arrived at 11 o'clock from his position.

TURN 5.   Activation - Crips = 4, Police = 3, Zombies = 4, PEFs = 5.
With the Crips and the zombies rolling the same number for Activation, neither of them could activate this turn (see p.13), but there was the possibility of a Random Event (see p.59). I had rolled double 4 and because 4 was less than or equal to the original Encounter Rating of the area (ER:5) a random Event had occurred. Rather than rolling on the Random Events table on p.59, I used Colgar6/Hugh's deck of Random  Events cards to determine what the event was. I drew the Fast Recovery card. It stated that "A random character who is  Out Of Fight may attempt an extra Recovery Test immediately, even if he/she has no friend adjacent or if the character has previously failed such a test." There was only one OOF character on the board, Crips Gangsta Jevon Yenga. He passed 2d6 on the After the Battle Recovery Test (see p.34) and he would return to his gang. I was unsure if this meant now or after the Encounter was over. I decided to just leave him be for the moment. If nothing else happened to him he would escape after the Encounter was over.

The two police cars rolled to a stop in front of the warehouse. All four cops got out of the cars and began shooting zombies. The zombies  were getting too close for comfort and they had a crime scene to investigate. Paul Muni cranked his Shotgun and fired three times at the three zombies shuffling towards him from the corner of the warehouse. His first shot hit the fat zombie wearing the striped jumper full in the face and turned his head to mulch. His second shot hit the grey-haired zombie in the chest and knocked him down. It was not a fatal blow.  His third shot went far too high and missed the one-armed zombie lagging behind.

Patrolwoman Carole Malia unholstered her .40 Glock 22 Big Ass Pistol and she opened fire at the two female zombies leading the group of seven zeds just over the road from her. Her first shot was remarkably accurate. It hit the zombie wearing the purple dress in the centre of her forehead, killing her instantly. Her second shot was not as accurate, even though it did score a hit. It slammed into the woman's ample bosom and knocked her flat on her back.

"Stewie" Whincup faced a trio of female zombies as he stepped out of his car. He repeatedly fired his Pump-Action Shotgun at the group with only partial success. The zombie businesswoman in the smart suit took a hit to the right eye, which blew half her head off. However, his next shot only grazed the woman wearing a lemon T-shirt and pale grey miniskirt in the head. She went down but was not dead. His third shot missed entirely as it flew too high because he failed to compensate for recoil.

Geoff Brown decided to lend his partner a hand by firing his Glock 22 at the third female zombie of the trio, a middle-aged woman in casual clothing. "Fantastic!" he cried as he shot her in the stomach, and watched her fall on her back. His second shot went wide.

I rolled  22d6 for zombie reinforcements in two lots of 6d6 for the noise generated by the two police cars and two lots of 5d6 for the firing from the two sets of cops. Two zombies appeared at 3 o'clock from one car at the eastern edge of the board. Yes, one of them is wearing a Sponge Bob Square Pants T-shirt! How cool is that?

Two more appeared next to the pair standing by the skip. Not photographed (sorry!) were three at 8 o'clock from Malia and Muni and three more at 3 o'clock from Brown and Whincup.

TO BE CONTINUED

COMMENTS. It all draws to a close next time. Will Quadri, Michelle and not forgetting Jevon, escape? Will the four cops survive? Or will the zombies emerge triumphant for once? Tune in on Sunday and find out.