Zombicide Scenario M01 - The Big Rubble Part 3

TURN 12

ELSA. "I have survived this far," Elsa said with gritty determination as she swung her Chainsaw at the Zombies charging her, "and I am not going to die at your hands. Not when I'm armed with a Chainsaw!"
At first, the Chainsaw felt heavy and unwieldy and she missed more times than she hit with her first flurry of attacks but she soon corrected her mistakes and she turned into a whirling Dervish of Death, killing all five Walkers around her. Just one in three of her fifteen attacks was a fatal hit but she had removed the immediate threat to herself and Raoul.

DEREK. Derek the locator walked over to where Elsa and Raoul were at the head of the T-junction.
"You handled that Chainsaw very well," he acknowledged as he walked in front of Elsa. "Good to have you on board."
He fired his unique firearm known as Pa's Pistol at a pair of Walkers. He missed once but scored two killing head shots.

NEEMA. The former corporate executive moved out of the small one room building and joined her colleagues. She thinned out the group of four Toxic Walkers moving up behind them, firing her .44 Magnum Revolver twice and killing two of the Toxic Walkers nearest to her. (This advanced her to the orange level and she chose the +1 Free Combat Action Skill.) She fired again but her bullet went wide by a few inches.

RAOUL. The freelance mercenary was a sea of calm as he stood in one place and dealt with the Zombie threat from in front, to the side and behind him. His AA-12 Atchisson Assault Shotgun was lethal in his steady hands. He fired four short bursts of three rounds and scored fatal wounds on five Toxic Walkers and two normal Walkers. Suddenly the Zombie menace didn't look nearly so threatening as clear ground surrounded the four Survivors.

ZOMBIES. The brief respite the Survivors had gained was soon interrupted with the arrival of many more of the Walking Dead. Three Runners sprinted in from Spawn Point 1. Five Walkers arrived from Spawn Point 2. A second Toxic Abomination entered the fray, this time arriving at Spawn Point 3. Four more Walkers emerged from Spawn Point 4.
TURN 13

RAOUL. Once again, Raoul stood his ground and let rip with his Assault Shotgun. The group of seven Zombies (five Walkers and two Fatties) who had exited the building that the red and yellow pimp-mobile was parked next to, were blown apart in a hail of automatic fire. (Unsurprisingly, Raoul was the first Survivor to reach the red level. He chose the +1 to Dice Roll: Ranged Fire Skill. With his Assault Shotgun, he would now hit on rolls of 3+ instead of 4+.)
"I am so pleased you are on our side," Elsa said in admiration.

DEREK. "Neema, we need to get rid of these Walkers pretty damned quickly," he said as he noticed just how close a group of five Toxic Walkers were getting. Out of four shots from Pa's Pistol only one missed. The other three were all explosive head shots. (These three kills advanced Derek to the orange level. He chose the Toxic Immunity skill, meaning that the acidic blood from the Toxic Zombies would not harm him. This was very useful if ever he got into melee combat with one or more of them.)

ELSA. She moved forward to check out the pimp-mobile. Inside the glove compartment she found two gold-plated pistols. (These were another unique weapon. They were known as the "Evil Twins" and although they were a pair, they counted as a single weapon for the purposes of carrying weapons and equipment and so only took up one hand slot for Elsa.) She took them and moved back to the safety of her new group of friends.

NEEMA. "I'll get the rest, Derek," Neema told her young colleague. The two remaining Toxic Walkers required two shots each from her .44 Magnum before they died.

ZOMBIES. Four Runners charged up close to the Survivors. Fortunately, none of them were Toxic Runners, although that wouldn't have bothered Derek too much! Elsewhere, the Zombies were increasing in the number of new arrivals (thanks to Raoul reaching the red level.) This was especially evident at Spawn Point 1 where seven Walkers arrived. Two Runners emerged from Spawn Point 2. Spawn Point 3 produced one Runner from each manhole that had at least one Survivor in its Zone. This meant that three Runners in total crawled out of the sewers. From Spawn Point 4 came two Fatties and four Walkers.
TURN 14

ELSA. Elsa placed herself in the front line of the Runners' attack and set about hacking them apart with her Chainsaw. By the time she had made ten attacks, she was surrounded by bodies, limbs and heads. All four Runners had been sliced and diced. (These kills advanced Elsa to the yellow level and she gained a fourth Action per Turn.) She switched her focus to the two Runners sprinting towards her from the Northern Spawn Point and killed them with four shots from the Evil Twins Pistols.

NEEMA. "Where the hell are they all coming from?" she asked rhetorically. Her .44 Magnum Revolver barked five times and she despatched three Toxic Walkers with lethal head shots.

RAOUL. It almost seemed like the freelance mercenary had developed a mystical affinity with his Assault Shotgun. He projected a Zen-like calm as he focussed solely on the task of killing Zombies. Out of twelve shots fired, ten caused fatal head wounds on seven Walkers, two Fatties and one Toxic Walker.

DEREK. "Well now that you've cleared a path to that building over there, let's see what's inside," he said to Raoul, as he walked over to the entrance of the building so many Zombies had emerged from.
"Holy shit!" he exclaimed. "Not another one!"
Looming just inside the building stood a second Toxic Abomination, a fearsome monster who inexplicably was wearing a pair of purple bunny rabbit slippers and a pair of white Y-fronts. Spikes, boils and blisters covered its massive body and its hands and jaw were covered in dripping blood.
"I killed one of you bastards before and I can do it again," he said, raising Pa's Pistol to aim at the head of the creature. The incendiary round entered the Toxic Abomination's mouth and exploded in a ball of fire that left nothing remaining of the creature from the chest upwards.
Derek stepped inside and immediately noticed movement from behind a stack of wooden crates in one corner.
"Don't shoot me, dude!" a terrified voice shrieked out.
"Reveal yourself," Derek ordered. He kept his Pistol aimed at the location of the voice.
A young man with long brown hair, a beard and moustache and wearing casual clothing stood up and raised his hands in the air to show he was unarmed.
"I'm Gary" he announced, "and I'm not a Zombie!"
(Derek discovered the fourth objective token and luckily it turned out to be Gary.)

GARY. "You wouldn't have happened to come across a pretty redhead in a black catsuit, would you?" Gary asked hopefully. "We were together but got split up."
"Yeah, we have her outside," Derek replied. "She's safe and bloody handy with a Chainsaw, too."
"Oh, thank God for that. Say, I wonder what's in these crates?"
Gary had a quick rummage through the crates but most were empty. All he found was one Bag of Rice, which he took.
He walked outside, saw Elsa and gave her a wave. She smiled and waved back. He leapt into the driver's seat of the pimp-mobile parked a few feet away.
"What say we get out of here?" he asked.

ZOMBIES. Two Runners and two Walkers closed in on Elsa, Neema and Raoul, whilst one Runner ran to attack Gary in the pimp-mobile. Four Toxic Runners arrived from Spawn Point 1. Two ordinary Runners entered the area from Spawn Point 2. Five Toxic Walkers arrived from Spawn Point 3, whilst five Walkers arrived from Spawn Point 4.
TURN 15

DEREK. "You are not welcome here," he said as he ran out of the building to intercept a Runner who had reached the side of the pimp-mobile opposite to where Gary was sitting. Derek swung his Claw Hammer and brought it down in a bone-crushing blow on the top of the Runner's skull. The Zombie dropped like a puppet with its strings suddenly cut. Derek got of a single snapshot with Pa's Pistol and was pleased to see a male Walker's head explode.
"I'm riding shotgun," he declared as he climbed into the passenger seat next to Gary.
"No arguments from me," Gary responded.

ELSA. "Can't you scumbags give a girl a god-damned break?" she asked as once again, she fired up her Chainsaw to deal death and dismemberment to two Runners and two Walkers.
"Hey, Gary," she said with a big smile as she ran towards the pimp-mobile and deftly leapt into the back seat. "How are you doing?"
"All the better for seeing you," Gary grinned back at her. "Any more coming along with us?"

GARY. "You guys get out of here," Raoul ordered decisively. "Neema and I will catch up with you soon."
"No problemo," Gary replied. "Take care now."
He had no trouble in starting the car as the keys were still in the ignition. With a squeal from the tyres, he executed a handbrake turn and sped away at high speed. Three Walkers foolishly tried to block his way. In the fight between man and machine moving at high speed there could only be one winner. All three Walkers were flattened and killed as the car mowed them down. Gary accelerated away from them and drove onwards to safety.

NEEMA. Thanks to Gary's aggressive driving he had left a clear path for Neema and Raoul to follow. She sprinted after him, relieved to be free from the Zombie menace at last.

RAOUL. Raoul easily caught up with Neema.
"I see a police car parked just ahead of us," he observed. "We'll take that if it's drivable."

ZOMBIES. A plaintive moan went up from the mouths of so many Zombies who had just seen what should have been a succulent feast escape from their grasp. The car had gone but they could still catch the two humans on foot. As one, they chased after Neema and Raoul. From Spawn Point 1 three Toxic Runners made an appearance. Nothing emerged from Spawn Point 2. However, instead, all Walkers got an extra Turn. This meant that four Walkers were only one Zone away from Neema and Raoul. From Spawn Point 3 four Toxic Walkers arrived. A total of seven Walkers entered from Spawn Point 4.
TURN 16

RAOUL. Raoul ran round the corner to where he had seen the police car parked. The doors were unlocked so he stepped inside and sat in the front passenger seat. He'd let Neema drive.

NEEMA. Neema quickly joined him and took the driver's seat.
"A lucky break, huh?" she smiled.
"We've had a lot of luck today," Raoul admitted. "Let's hope it continues. Now get us out of here."

ZOMBIES. All of the Zombies in the immediate area swarmed towards the sound of a car engine starting up. (At this point it was patently obvious it was game over. I moved the Zombies who were on the board but none had any chance of stopping Neema and Raoul escaping next Turn. So I never bothered spawning any new Zombies this Turn. Still, those remaining made an impressive looking horde!)
TURN 17

 NEEMA & RAOUL. Neema started the car and swiftly drove out of the area to safety.
"We did good, Neema," Raoul said, smiling happily.
"We certainly did," Neema agreed.

CONCLUSION. It is always satisfying to successfully complete a Zombicide mission. It is even better if you can accomplish it without suffering any casualties. I was very happy with how this scenario went. But I have to admit that the Survivors had a lot of good luck working for them. Right from Turn 1 the party were lucky. Derek found Pa's Pistol straight away and that proved to be very decisive as it gave him a weapon capable of killing an Abomination with one shot. That gave them a HUGE advantage right from the start. Then Raoul did exceptionally well to find the Assault Shotgun, which was devastatingly effective at killing loads of Zombies. He also found Neema's .44 Revolver. Although it was only a single shot per Action weapon, it had enough firepower to kill a Fatty. So from Turn 2 Neema and Raoul had a firearm that could kill any Zombie except an Abomination and Derek had that threat covered. This was the perfect start to the game.
They were also lucky that Elsa and Gary were the third and fourth objective tokens out of seven to be found. That was purely random but it could have been a lot worse. Elsa got lucky in finding a Chainsaw in her first Search Action but Gary only ended up with a Bag of Rice, so it wasn't all good luck.
For me, Raoul was the man of the match. It was no surprise to me that he was the first (and only) Survivor to reach red level. He was just a killing machine and I absolutely love the AA-12 Atchisson Assault Shotgun in Zombicide and in real life.