Zombicide Scenario C23 Day Zero Part 1

My first Zombicide batrep, A Little Setback, (see here for part 1 and here for part 2) was such a success that I simply had to do a follow up. This time around I wanted to concentrate solely on Season 1 and in particular, I wanted to showcase a scenario that featured the original six Survivors - Amy, Doug, Josh, Ned, Phil and Wanda. I could have chosen a scenario from the Season 1 rulebook but didn't. Instead, I chose a scenario from the Zombicide Compendium volume 1 - C23 Day Zero. You can download it for free from here - http://zombicide.com/dl/Mission_C23.pdf This scenario grabbed my attention the first time I read it and I knew immediately it was a scenario I wanted to play. So what makes it so special? Quite simply, as the name suggests, it takes us right back to the very start of the zombie apocalypse and it shows the first time our six heroes meet and work together as a group. I have used these six Survivors in more games of Zombicide than any others and as such, I have grown very close to them. They are very much my default Survivors when it comes to playing Zombicide. Their first escapade together just had to be immortalised in words and photos. Normally, when I post a batrep, it is very rules heavy. But for this batrep, I knew that approach would quickly  become boring and repetitive. Besides which, Zombicide is a very easy game to play and I covered all the basics in my first batrep. So, for this batrep I am taking a more narrative approach. I will add a few game play notes where appropriate. These will take the form of captions to the photos. Finally, for me, the following applies. First up, the six Survivors have met before and know each other passingly. None are close friends. Secondly, the scenario takes place early in the morning of the outbreak and the zombie apocalypse has been escalating for the past few hours.
INTRODUCTION
"The day it all began. It started like any other - Doug, an office worker at his desk; Amy, a goth Girl making breakfast; Phil, a cop interrogating Josh, a young thug; Ned, a nut job tugging feverishly on a locked door and me, Wanda, getting ready to serve burgers. Even when every radio and television in sight began blaring out the news, it still almost didn't penetrate the mundane routine. Only the first distant sounds of gunfire and screams gave us a precious few minutes of warning. We gathered, we prepared, still disbelieving even as the first few trickled in. We killed them, refusing to yield our homes, but soon the trickle became a flood. We couldn't defend. There was no resisting any more... only survival and zombicide. I should have grabbed my toothbrush!"

The photo above shows the initial set up of the board. There are four Zombie Spawn Points, one on each edge of the board. 1 is North, 2 is East, 3 is South and 4 is West. The upper four tiles are from left to right, 4E, 1C, 5D and 6B. The lower four tiles are from left to right, 1B, 5B, 5C and 7B.
OBJECTIVE
Escape through the Exit Zone on tile 1B with at least one Survivor at the Red Danger Level. Any Survivor at the Red Danger Level may escape through this Zone at the end of his Turn, as long as there are no Zombies in that Zone. This is an unusual objective as it requires all six Survivors to kill a hell of a lot of Zombies in order to win. As such, it meant that the scenario would take many Turns to complete. This was going to be the toughest challenge I had ever faced as a Zombicide player. How many will survive to continue the zombicide?

Here is another view of the game board showing it as it appears in the Compendium.
SPECIAL RULES
Place the Survivors where they were when it all began. 
1. Place Doug at his desk in the large office room on tile 4E.
2. Place Amy in the kitchen of her apartment on tile 1B.
3 and 4. Place Phil and Josh next to the green dumpster on tile 5B.
5. Place Ned outside his bunker on tile 7B.
6. Place Wanda in the diner on tile 6B.
Do not spawn Zombies in buildings the Survivors start in.
You are doing just fine. Each Objective gives 5 experience points to the Survivor who takes it. There are four red Objectives, one blue Objective and one green Objective.
A pimpmobile! The pimpmobile can be searched only once. It contains either Ma's Shotgun or Evil Twins (draw randomly). The pimpmobile can be driven.
A police car! You can Search the police car more than once. Draw cards until you find a weapon. Discard the other cards. The Aaahh! card triggers the appearance of a Walker as usual and interrupts the Search. The police car can be driven.
Ned's bunker. The blue and green Objectives are inside Ned's bunker behind the blue door, which only opens with Ned's key. The blue Objective is his arsenal and the green one is a reusable med-kit! Too bad that Ned has lost the key, and you have no way to get in. No, the key is not located anywhere on the board either. What a sad day!

Just before play began I randomly equipped the Survivors with the six starting weapons. Amy got a Frying Pan, Doug a Fire Axe and Josh a Crowbar.

Ned and Phil also received a Pan. Phil also has a Pistol because he has the Skill, Starts with a Pistol. Very handy! Wanda acquired a Pistol.
TURN 1

AMY. The young Goth girl, Amy, had picked up a frying pan from her kitchen. She knew it was a very poor weapon but it was better than nothing. She sang softly as she walked through her bedroom, ignoring the unmade bed, into her living room.
"Hey now, hey now, now, sing this corrosion."
The lyrics were by Andrew Eldritch, lead singer of the Sisters of Mercy, a group whom she adored. The song, "This Corrosion", was an oldie, released way back in 1987 before she was even born. It was the last tracked she'd played on her hi-fi last night and was still stuck in her memory.

Her eyes were drawn to a katana in its gloss black scabbard that hung on one wall. "Oh, yes. Come to momma," she purred as she grabbed it from its mount and withdrew the razor sharp blade with her free hand.

DOUG. Doug had arrived very early at his office and was grateful that he was the only person in the building. He resented his co-workers but he put up with them. They considered him a grumpy old git and a loner. That was fine by Doug. He refused to socialise or hang out with any of them. A bunch of jerks, the lot of them! Much as he disliked his fellow office workers he held his bosses in even greater contempt. He was certain he had been overlooked for promotion on more than one occasion, even though he had far more experience than the person chosen. Assholes!
Hoping to find something useful in the office all he could find was a flashlight.
"Worth keeping," he said as he slipped it into a trouser pocket.

He walked next door into the conference room and noticed a hip flask of single malt Bourbon lying under the large oval table next to the manager's chair. He knew that his manager was more than partial to a drop of spirits. In fact, he was a closet alcoholic. Perhaps he had dropped it without knowing. It was full and his boss certainly would not discard it willingly. Ah, well, his loss was Doug's gain. He secreted the slim flask in his back pocket. He liked a wee dram himself.

JOSH. "Something's coming. Something bad," the teenage tearaway said to Phil the cop. The cop was initially suspicious of Josh openly carrying a crowbar but Josh had persuaded him his intentions were not criminal. Josh had a grudging respect for the policeman. Phil had always treated him fairly, unlike most other cops.
"Listen to those screams and gunfire," he urged. "They're getting closer. We need to get armed."
"You're right, kid," Phil nodded in agreement. It went against all his training as a cop but he'd heard the reports over his car radio all morning. Too many officers were reporting, "man down, back up required!" Plus, his own partner had been bitten by feral junkie a couple of hours ago and was still in hospital. His partner had shot and killed the junkie. Phil had a nasty suspicion that the junkie was already dead. The word "Zombie" sprung to mind but he kept his suspicions to himself.
"Go open the trunk of the car," he said. "There's a stash of weapons I was taking back to the precinct station in there. Pick what you want."

Josh nodded once and ran to where the police car was parked. The trunk was not locked and he quickly popped it open. His eyes lit up at the small arsenal stowed away. The 12 Gauge pump-action shotgun lying on top of the other weapons would suit him fine. He checked it was loaded. It was.
"Cool!" he said, smiling.

NED. Ned knew this day was coming. For years he had anticipated a disaster just like the one unfolding this morning. A lot of folks thought he was crazy but he knew differently. The signs were there for anyone with the insight to see. Sadly, most folk were blissfully unaware. Well, they could die in ignorance, he thought. He had a plan and it was time to set it in motion. He rushed to his fortified stronghold, cunningly disguised as an empty building in the city centre. Naturally, the secure entrance was locked but that didn't matter because he had the keys. Didn't he? He was certain he had them. Apparently not. He searched all his pockets and pouches. He even took his shoes off and checked them out. But it was all in vain. His keys were missing and he had no idea where they could be. It was so goddamned frustrating!
He angrily stormed away. Turning a corner, he spotted a youngster looking in the trunk of a police car. He thought he recognised the youth. Joe was his name. No, it was Josh, he suddenly remembered.
"Hey, son, what do you think you're doing?" he asked as he closed the distance between them.
"Stocking up on weapons to kill the walking dead," was Josh's disarmingly honest reply.
"You know about them?" the bearded tramp asked.
"Hell, yeah!" Josh answered. "Go ahead. Pick one. Phil says it's okay."

"A machete," said Ned as he took the hefty blade. "This'll do some damage!"

PHIL. It was at this point that Phil joined them. "Morning, Ned. Are you going to join us?" he asked.
"Reckon so," Ned replied. "You're going to need all the help you can get, officer. The world's about to end. Mark my words."
Ominously, Phil and Josh were not inclined to disagree with him.

Phil's regulation 9mm pistol felt reassuring at his side in its holster but he wanted a firearm with greater accuracy and range. He chose the 7.62mm hunting rifle from the collection of weapons.

WANDA. Normally, Wanda worked the late shift at her local diner but today it was her turn to do the morning shift. Not that she minded but she was surprised to find she was the first to arrive. Her chef/manager should have been here first to open the place up. The lazy fat bastard is probably still in bed fast asleep, she thought. She'd switched on the radio and TV in the diner as soon as she'd entered the building. News reports were coming in thick and fast of violent outbreaks occurring across the city. There was even wild speculation that the dead were coming back to life and attacking the living. That couldn't be right, could it? Just to be on the save side she grabbed the sawed-off shotgun that was hidden under the counter next to the cash register. She still had her 9mm Glock pistol that she'd brought to work. It was for personal protection only, as she'd met too many crazy people in her line of work. Some folk just wouldn't take no for an answer. It paid to be prepared.

She sauntered into the restroom and decided that if a crisis was coming it would be wise to stock up on essentials. To her, that meant wet wipes and tampons. She stuffed a packet of each into her apron pocket.

ZOMBIES. At first they arrived in a trickle. One male Walker from the north...

...a female walker from the south...

...and a male and female Walker from the west.
TURN 2

Amy is unlucky when she searches her apartment.

AMY. Amy was going to search behind her sofa to see if anything useful was there when a groaning noise from behind put her on full alert. She spun around and noticed two things that surprised her. First, her front door was wide open. She was sure she had locked it last night. Secondly, and more importantly, there was a stranger standing in her lounge. He had pallid skin, eyes that showed too much white and a gaping wound in his right arm that was still dripping blood.
"You have got to be fucking kidding me!" she hissed angrily. "Get out!"
The stranger ignored her command and swiftly approached her with both arms outstretched.

Amy reacted without thinking. She thrust her katana into the stranger's stomach. It didn't faze him one iota. He just groaned and reached out to grab her.
"No way!" the young Goth screamed. She took one step backwards, pulling the blade free and swung it at neck height. The katana sliced through flesh and bone with amazing ease. As the stranger's head parted his body Amy was surprised at how little blood there was.
"Oh, my God!" she cried. "The news was right. The dead really are coming back to life! This is just so fucking amazing!"

DOUG. The 40-year old office worker continued his search of the conference room, checking under chairs and the table and opening drawers. He found a bag of rice and incredibly, a can of gasoline. He ignored the rice but took the gasoline.

Satisfied that he'd found all that was worth finding he exited the conference room and walked along the rear corridors to the side exit.

JOSH. The teenager continued to rummage around in the trunk of the police car. He discovered a double-barreled sawed-off shotgun, which he took.
"Now this is more my style," he said. "Can I keep this instead of the pump action?"
"You can take whatever you want," Phil replied. "Do you still want the pump action?"
"Nah, not really," Josh answered. "Here. You can have it."
"Alright!" Phil gratefully took the proffered firearm. Now he felt confident to take on any threat.

NED. Ned decided he'd like some firepower as well, so he took a 7.62mm rifle, identical to Phil's from the trunk of the police car.

"Let's see if this works," he mused as he moved away from Josh and Phil to the junction leading south to his stronghold. A lone female zombie glared at him and emitted a loud growl. He raised the rifle to his shoulder and carefully took aim. BLAM! One fatal shot to the forehead of the Walker was all the proof Ned needed that he'd chose wisely. He would keep the rifle.

PHIL. "Stay here," Phil said to Josh. "There are lights on in the diner. I'm going to check it out."
He walked along the street and entered the diner. The place looked deserted.
"Hey, anyone here?" he called out.

WANDA. "Is that you, Phil?" Wanda replied. She emerged from the restroom, relieved to see a friendly face. Phil was one of her regular customers and an all-round nice guy.
"Have you heard the news?" she asked as moved back behind the counter. "Is it true that the dead are coming back to life?"
"I fear it is," Phil replied solemnly. "I see you're armed. That's good."
"I am, and ooh, look what I've found," she said cheerily, as she held up a handful of spare ammo clips that she'd just found. They were secreted beneath the counter but now she put them away in her apron pouch.

ZOMBIES. The two Walkers from the west and the one from the north shuffled closer to Josh and Ned.

They were joined by three more Walkers who arrived from the north, east and south.

TURN 3

AMY. Amy continued to search her apartment for more weapons. There was an old chest that she kept in her lounge. She unlocked it and smiled once more. Inside was a double-barreled 12 Gauge sawed-off shotgun and a small box of shotgun cartridges. She took them both.

She crossed the room to the open front door and glanced outside. Two zombie Walkers stood in the road glaring balefully at her. They growled in unison and raised their arms to grab her. Amy fired both barrels at point blank range, turning their heads into a red mist. She stepped outside and reloaded her sawed-off shotgun. "What a morning this is turning out to be," she muttered.

DOUG. There were a pair of large metal cupboards next to the exit door in the lobby that Doug now occupied. He opened one and found another fire axe inside, which he ignored, plus an empty glass bottle. An idea flashed in his brain. If he poured the gasoline into the bottle he could make a Molotov Cocktail. That could prove to be very useful, he thought. He finished off his handiwork by shoving a piece of rag into the opening of the bottle.

The exit door was locked but he soon solved that problem by smashing the lock with his fire axe. As he stepped outside he saw the young Goth Girl, Amy, who lived in the apartment across the street. The fact that she held a katana in one hand and a sawed-off shotgun in the other didn't faze him at all.
"Good morning, Amy!" he said cheerfully.
"Morning, Mr. Michaels," Amy replied.
"Please, call me Doug," the office worker insisted.
"Okay, ...Doug," Amy responded hesitantly. "Have you seen any zombies yet? I've just killed three in the past couple of minutes."
"Really?" Doug looked at her with renewed respect. He couldn't imagine her killing anyone. "No, not personally. Just what I saw on the news and I'm still not sure it's true."
"Oh, it is!" Amy said earnestly. "It's very true!"

JOSH. Josh moved away from the police car in a westerly direction until he came to the junction that led north. What appeared to be a blood-soaked office worker saw him and quickened his pace. He was clearly one of the walking dead. Josh pointed his sawed-off shotgun at the Walker and pulled both triggers. The 12 gauge shot caught the Walker full in the face. He hit the ground with a wet slap and did not get back up. Josh nonchalantly walked back to the police car and reloaded his sawed-off.

NED. Another Walker had taken the place of the one Ned had killed a few seconds ago. Ned sighted down the rifle's barrel and gently pulled the trigger. The bullet missed the zombie's head by a few inches. Ned calmly exhaled and aimed again. The Walker was a lot closer now. This time Ned did not miss. The back of the Walker's head exploded in a spray of blood, bone fragments and brain matter.

Ned walked back to the police car and greeted Josh with a nod. The youngster said nothing but smiled back at him.

PHIL. "You wouldn't happen to have any more ammo stashed away behind there?" Phil asked.
"I'm not sure," Wanda replied. "Why don't you come and see?"
Phil joined the young waitress behind the counter and immediately spotted a familiar looking box. As he opened it he saw it was full of shotgun cartridges.
"Sorted!" he said with a grin as he pocketed the spare ammo. "I'll just be outside if you need me."

As soon as he exited the diner he saw a bedraggled female heading towards him. Blood covered her hands, mouth and chin.
"Stop right there!" he ordered.
The Walker ignored his request and made a dash to grab him. She only covered a few yards before Phil opened fire with his pump-action shotgun. The blast lifted the Walker off her feet as it hit her full in the face, killing her instantly.

The dreaded Aaahh! card crops again when Wanda does her Search Action.

WANDA. Wanda was about to follow Phil outside when she decided to give the dining area one last search. A noise from beneath one of the corner tables made her suspicious.
"Hello," she called out. To her utter amazement a scruffy-looking teenager crawled out from beneath the table and stood up. His clothes were torn and he was covered in fresh blood. One look at him was all it needed to convince Wanda that the dead were returning to life. Her right hand shook as she pointed her double-barreled sawed-off shotgun at the youth. He lunged at the firearm, twisting it to one side when she pulled the triggers. The noise was deafening and her nose was filled with the stench of cordite. She only had the briefest moment to realise that she'd missed.

The Walker snapped his jaws as he tried to bite her face. Wanda pulled back just in time. She still held her Glock pistol in her left hand. She jammed the pistol barrel under the chin of the zombie and pulled the trigger. The top of the Walker's skull exploded in a welter of gore that hit the ceiling. As the dead teenager fell to the floor, Wanda sobbed in relief that she was still alive. That had been too close for comfort!

ZOMBIES. A bowler-hatted Walker slowly moved closer to the T-junction where he'd seen Josh.

Amazingly, I only spawned 1 Walker this Turn. Lucky me!

TURN 4.

AMY. Amy noticed that another Walker was approaching her apartment. She strode purposefully towards him and when she was just a few feet away from him she pointed her sawed-off shotgun at his head and pulled both triggers. The killing was brutal but efficient. She walked back along the street to meet up with Doug again. She recognised a few other people further along the street and noticed that everyone was carrying weapons.

Holy crap! An Abomination this early in the game! This is not good!

DOUG. Doug walked along the street towards the parked police car but stopped when he reached the back door of a general store. He knocked on the door and tried the handle. It was locked. Curiosity got the better of him and with one swing of his fire axe he smashed the lock. The door swung open to reveal a small office that had been trashed beyond belief. It looked like it had been hit by a tornado as debris littered the floor. In the centre of the room stood a lone female Walker. Unbeknownst to Doug, the Walker was not alone in the building. To her left in the frozen food department was a male Walker. Whilst at the far left of the store in the shop itself was a creature from the very bowels of Hell - a zombie Abomination!
"Hey, guys," Doug called out. "I think you should come and check this out!"

Josh uses his Slippery Skill to sneak past the female Walker.

JOSH. "Hey, what's up?" Josh asked Doug as he joined him outside the store.
"We've got company inside," Doug replied, "of the undead variety."
"No problem, man" Josh reassured him. "I'll just slip in and check the place out."
Amazingly, the Walker never even noticed the youth as he silently tip-toed past her into the storage room. It was a knack he had of slipping past people unnoticed.

NED. "Good morning, Doug," the bearded tramp said as he came to stand beside the frustrated looking office worker. "You got a problem?"
"I sure have," Doug replied as he pointed to the open door of the store with his fire axe.
"Aha, I see!" Ned offered. He calmly shot and killed the female Walker staring back at him from the ruined office. "Problem solved!"
Doug chuckled as Ned turned away.
"Hmm, more of the buggers, huh?" Ned muttered to himself as he saw the Walker wearing the bowler hat approaching him. At that range it should have been an easy kill but Ned's aim was just a fraction off. He hit the Walker in the left shoulder, which did nothing to slow him down.

PHIL. Phil jogged back along the street to join the growing band of humans gathered outside the rear entrance to the general store. "What's going on?" he asked.
"Zombie trouble," Doug replied.

WANDA. Wanda was a skilled roller-skater and she always wore her roller-skates to work. She swiftly exited the diner and skated along the street to join the others. "Hi, everyone," she said, sounding more cheerful than she felt. Amy, Doug, Ned and Phil offered their own greetings. They were all regulars at her diner and were on first name terms with her.
"Have we got another zombie here?" she asked as she suddenly noticed the Walker wearing the bowler hat.
"Yeah, I winged him," Ned replied. "I was just about to finish him off."
"Don't worry," Wanda said as she raised her sawed-off. "I've  got him!"
This time her hand did not shake and her aim was true. The Walker fell to the ground minus the top half his head. The bowler hat was shredded.

Wanda advances to Yellow Level and gains +1 Action.

Wanda had noticed that the trunk of the police car was wide open when she passed it. There seemed to be lots of weapons still inside, so she decided to take a closer look.

ZOMBIES. The Walker from the frozen food department ambled into the office. Ignoring Josh, he headed straight for the exit. Following on behind him, the Abomination shuffled into the frozen food department and emitted a blood-bloodcurdling roar. It sent shivers down the spines of the six humans who heard it.

To be continued.