Zombicide Scenario BS01 - Death From Above Part 3

TURN 8

ROSS. Moving closer to the double threat of three small flocks of Crowz and two Runners, Ross fired his 9mm Pistol, hitting with four of his six shots. The Crowz died first, quickly followed by one of the Runners.

DAKOTA. She was all alone in the apartment building, free to explore without any interference from the undead or her colleagues. When she moved into the lounge she noticed something of interest on the round table. It was a small gold-plated box. She picked it up and stuffed it into one of the pockets of her orange jump suit. She planned on checking it out properly later.
(She had found the second of the four objective tokens, but it was not the first aid kit.)  
She felt well pleased with herself as she sauntered back through the kitchen to the lobby.

ELSA. Being a skilled cat burglar, Elsa had no problem in unlocking the door to the small building at the end of the main street. It appeared to be a small pizza parlour and the door opened into the kitchen area. Inside were four Walkers - three males and a female. She fired four short bursts from her 9mm Uzi Sub-Machine Gun at the slow moving Zombies, missing more often than not but still managing to kill all four.
(Remember that Elsa's Break-in skill counts as a free action when she unlocks doors, so she was able to use her four Actions to make Ranged Fire attacks, missing twice and hitting once with each of her three round bursts.)

GARY. Feeling left out and lagging behind the others, Gary trotted down Main Street to team up with Ross. He immediately saw the threat to his new friend and swiftly raised his Rifle and calmly shot the Runner in the centre of his forehead.
"Cheers, mate," Ross said gratefully acknowledging his fine marksmanship.
"No problem," Gary replied, only too glad to have been of assistance.

ZOMBIES. Three flocks of Crowz flew into Elsa's Zone, instantly surrounding her. One Runner sprinted towards Gary and Ross. Dakota was safe for the moment but lots of Zombies were moving onto Main Street, especially from the second apartment building east of her. Three Crowz emerged from each of Spawn Points 1 and 2. From Spawn Point 3, an Abomination arrived (uh oh!) and from Spawn Point 4, three more Walkers arrived.
TURN 9

DAKOTA. She stepped outside of the apartment to confront three Walkers. Her shooting with her Pump-Action Shotgun was erratic. She had to shoot each Walker twice before they lay dead on the street. Even so, the threat had been eradicated.

ELSA. "Not again!" Elsa spat out derisively as she opened fire on the troublesome Crowz with both guns, which she fired one-handed. Ma's Shotgun proved to be devastating and obliterated two flocks of Crowz. A short burst from her Uzi Sub-Machine Gun put paid to the last of the Crowz closing in on her. She turned back to face the pizza parlour and strode through the now empty kitchen into the service area.
"Now what do we have here?" she thought out loud.

GARY. The former miniature figures sculptor grinned maniacally as he fired up his newly found Chainsaw. The spinning blades sliced off both arms of the Runner before Gary beheaded him. He switched to his Rifle and tried to whittle down the group of Walkers and Runners who were dangerously close to Ross and himself. Three shots resulted in one miss and two hits, which killed a pair of Walkers. It was now up to Ross to deal with the rest of the Zombies.

ROSS. The overweight warehouse manager did his best but he knew instinctively that he should have done a lot better. Out of eight shots from his 9mm Pistol only four proved to be lethal. Three Walkers and one Runner died in his barrage. The Runners proved especially difficult to hit as their speed made them particularly elusive.

ZOMBIES. "Oh, fuuu...!" was all Ross could scream before two Runners were on him in a flash. One clamped his teeth on his neck and tore his throat out. The other bit a large chunk of flesh out of his gun arm that now flailed uselessly. They bore him to the ground gorging themselves on his flesh and blood. He died messily and painfully as his screams filled the air.
Gary fared slightly better but was not unscathed. Another Runner bit him in the left shoulder, but thankfully, it was not a deep wound. Still, it hurt a lot and it took him by surprise. As he struggled to ward off his attacker he lost his Crowbar.

(This was bad. But incredibly, things got a lot worse for the Survivors when I drew the card for Spawn Point 1 - all Walkers get an extra turn! Oh shit! Through no fault of her own, Dakota would die and there wasn't a thing I could do to prevent it! It was just pure bad luck and a terrible time to draw that particular card.)  
Dakota was caught totally unaware when a pair of Walkers ran at her. Yes, ran!
"They shouldn't be that fast!" were her last thoughts as they bowled her over onto the ground. Her head hit the hard tarmac and she was stunned for just a second. It was a second too long. As their arms held her down the pair of Walkers bit her repeatedly, filling their mouths with her warm succulent flesh.

Dakota was still screaming when five more Walkers moved in to join in on the feasting, whilst a large flock of Crowz viewed the scene with greedy eyes. Four Walkers entered the neighbourhood from Spawn Point 2 and were joined by one more from Spawn Point 3. Three flocks of Crowz emerged from Spawn Point 4.
TURN 10

GARY. Something snapped in Gary's mind and a red mist descended over him. Ross was dead. Dakota was dead. Elsa was out of view and could be dead. And it was all the fault of those god-damned fucking zombies! It was payback time. He fired up the Chainsaw again and set about on a killing spree. The first to die were the Runner who had bitten him and the two Runners who were more interested in feeding off Ross's still warm corpse than in defending themselves. A female Walker had no chance of stopping him moving further down the main street. As her headlesss body dropped to the ground her head spun away and rolled to a halt beside a pair of overturned rubbish bins. Three more Walkers barred his way to the pizza parlour, where he had last seen Elsa enter. The two males suffered the same fate as the female Walker - death by decapitation. He was confident of killing the remaining Walker when his Chainsaw sputtered and the blades stopped spinning.
"Bummer! This is it," he muttered fatalistically. "It's the end!"

ELSA. Searching behind the counter of the pizza parlour, Elsa discovered a fully stocked first aid kit in a shoulder bag.
"Very useful," she mused as she took possession of it.  
(Elsa had found the third objective and this time it was the Green Token, which was the first aid kit. This gave her enough experience points to advance to the Orange level. Being a cat burglar, she chose the Slippery skill to help her sneak past zombies.)  
She hurried back outside and saw Gary fumbling with his Chainsaw. A smartly dressed female Walker was almost on top of him. She had to act fast. She snap-fired Ma's Shotgun. It was a risky shot. If she missed she would surely hit Gary and at that range and at that height the blast would certainly kill him. But the risk paid off. The Walker took the blast from both barrels in the back of her head. Blood and brain matter sprayed Gary in the face but for now, he still lived.

ZOMBIES. Gary's day went from bad to worse as he suddenly found himself surrounded by nine flocks of Crowz. Behind them a horde of zombies advanced along Main Street.
(With Elsa now at the Orange level, the Zombies spawned in even greater numbers than before.)
Three Runners emerged from Spawn Point 1. Two Walkers arrived at Spawn Point 2 and one Fatty entered at Spawn Point 3. Three more Walkers arrived from Spawn Point 4.
TURN 11 

GARY. To stand and fight would have been suicide and Gary was not ready to die just yet. He ducked inside the large apartment and ran through the lobby into a messy-looking lounge. A small shiny object attracted his attention and he quickly pocketed it. He'd examine it later, if he survived, and see what it was.
(Gary used his Slippery Skill to evade the horde of Crowz and so was able to enter the apartment without any hindrance. He found the fourth of the four Objectives. As soon as he took it he advanced to Orange level. He chose the Lucky skill. He'd enjoyed good luck so far and with a bit more he might just survive the rest of the day.)
He walked back into the lobby, unsure of whether he'd live or die in the next few seconds. But come what may, someone had to survive this deadly encounter. He knew what had to be done.
"Elsa!" he shouted. "Get the hell out of here. Just go! Run and save yourself! I'll follow you!"

ELSA. Momentarily torn by indecision, Elsa quickly came to realise that Gary's advice was the only sensible choice she could make. The Zombie horde was growing considerably. There was no way she could kill them all. Gary was trapped inside and was surely beyond all help.
"God, damn you,Gary," she muttered through clenched teeth. "It wasn't supposed to end like this." She took one last glance over her shoulder at the apartment entrance, now blocked from sight by a massive flock of Crowz, before running away to what she hoped was safety.

ZOMBIES. Nine groups of Crowz swarmed into the lobby of the apartment building, and practically filled the space as they prepared to feast on the one remaining human. Seven Walkers had gathered just outside the building and elsewhere even more Zombies were approaching. Four more flocks of Crowz arrived from each of spawn Points 1 and 2, whilst four Walkers arrived from Spawn Point 3 and three Runners emerged from Spawn Point 4.
TURN 12

GARY. "To hell with this," Gary said determinedly, "I'm outta here! Maybe I can outrun these bastards."
He kept his head down and covered it as best he could with his arms as he snuck outside. Incredibly, the Crowz simply ignored him and the seven Walkers who saw him emerge into the daylight seemed surprised to see him. Their mournful moaning was their only reaction. Gary sprinted as fast as he could and raced out of the neighbourhood to catch up with Elsa.
(Once again, Gary's Slippery skill proved to be a life saver. He was able to sneak past the hordes of Crowz and Walkers unmolested and so reached the exit with ease.)

CONCLUSION. This was the first time I'd used these particular Survivors in a game of Zombicide and the first time I'd used the Murder of Crowz expansion set. Although it was a relatively short game (just 12 Turns) I connected with the characters and quickly grew to like them, especially Elsa, who was my personal favourite. I wanted them all to survive. In almost every zombie apocalypse game I play I want the humans to survive. So, I felt really bad at losing Dakota and Ross. The death of Ross was inevitable after his very average shooting in Turn 9. If only he could have killed one more Runner, he would have survived as I'd have had the two remaining Runners splitting their attacks between Gary and Ross so that each of them took one wound. As it was, with three Runners attacking Gary or Ross one of them had to die. It was my choice and I chose Ross because I felt Gary had a better chance of surviving the encounter. 
The death of Dakota was tragic and nothing more than a bad turn of the cards. These things happen and you just have to accept it. It was a shame because up till then, she was doing the best out of the four humans.
Elsa and Gary survived thanks to having great starting skills. Elsa's Break-in skill proved very useful, allowing her to unlock doors automatically and silently and counting it as a free action. Gary began the game with the Slippery skill and that saved his life in the last two Turns of the game.
Crowz are an absolute menace! Okay, so they never killed anyone in this game, but that was only because Gary's Slippery skill and Elsa's superb shooting prevented any human deaths. Things could have gone very differently against another group of Survivors. I'm just imagining how lethal they'll be in Zombicide: Black Plague if I combine them with the Wolfz, who can also move three Zones per Turn!
Playing this scenario rekindled my love for Zombicide and just goes to show what an exciting game it is. I have lots more Zombicide batreps planned for the future, which will include batreps for the base game, the four contemporary expansion sets and for Zombicide: Black Plague.