Studio Miniatures' Zombies 19 - Clowns

Followers of my blog will know that I have a large collection of figures of 28mm scale clowns. Most are human and some are zombies. Sunny the Killer Klown, who was responsible for wiping out Team Vampifan in my ATZ Better Dead Than Zed campaign was a demon from Hell. Killer Klowns are evil and most normal clowns are quite scary. But zombie clowns are both evil and scary. Studio Miniatures recently released a set of four zombie clowns and here they are.

At the far left is Chuckles in his bright orange and blue costume. He isn't smiling much now, is he? he doesn't show any obvious signs of wounding but there is a lot of blood around his neck, which could have come from a victim he was feeding on. I think he looks totally evil.
Crouching next to him is Giuseppi. This figure should have had a hook in place of his right hand but when I received my figure the hook had snapped off. No big deal, Rather than trying to glue it back on, I simply left his arm as ending in a stump. This was his obvious cause of death. In his left hand he holds a bloody internal organ, possibly a heart or a liver. Mmmm, feeding time! By the way, painting the stars on his jacket was not an easy task. Some look good but others are not so good.

Moving on, we come to Mr. Jolly, a fat clown who even in death, is smiling, despite the fact that half of his face has been chewed off. He is holding a ridiculously small umbrella and he wears a bowler hat that is far too small for him. Mr. Jolly has a massive wound to his stomach and his intestines are struggling to remain in place. Gross!
Finally we come to a clown whom I'm sure many of you will recognise. Yes, he is Ronald McDonald, the mascot of the McDonald's chain of fast food restaurants. I'm not sure how Studio Minis got away with making such an easily recognisable figure but perhaps because he is a zombie and not a human that's okay. Again, he shows no signs of injury but by his bloodstained mouth, chin and neck he has clearly been feeding.
I think this is a fantastic set of figures. I like clowns and I like zombies. Put them together, and for me, you have a winning combination. Sunny will definitely be recruiting these four to his gang of Killer Klowns.
This set called Die Laughing costs £12.99 From the Studio Miniatures webstore. I can highly recommend them. The sculpting is up to the usual high standard we have all come to expect from this company.

Acheson Creations Crazies and Cultists 02

Here are the final two sets of Acheson Creations' 28mm scale Crazies and Cultists. The first set is actually called Clown and Crazies, for a very obvious reason. I'd like to issue a few words of caution about the Female Crazies and Cultists set. First up, it is advertised on the webstore as containing four figures, although only three figures are shown. When I received my set there were only three figures in the package. Oddly, it cost the same as the four figure packs in this range. Go figure. The second point is a warning to those viewing my blog at work - the pictures of the females may not be suitable for work and one in particular may cause retinal damage!

Shown in the photos above and directly below are the four figures from the Clown and Crazies set. At the far left is a pilot in his flight suit. This guy has Star quality in abundance. He is armed with a pistol with fitted suppressor and with a machete - a good combination for taking on zombies. Whenever I look at him I am instantly reminded of the unnamed narrator and hero of J.L. Bourne's novels Day by Day Armageddon and Beyond Exile, as he was a U.S. Navy pilot. He's certainly not a Clown or a Cultist and he doesn't look like a Crazy to me.

The next guy in line, however, certainly does look like a Crazy. He has the look of a tramp or hobo about him, with his long unkempt hair, straggly beard and his ragged clothing. Look closely at his eyes. They are the eyes of a killer and I can see him getting ready to take on all comers, be they human or undead in a berserker-like fury. He wields a sawn-off pump-action shotgun and a machete, which is quite a popular weapon in AC's sets.

Will it come as anything of a surprise if I say that my favourite figure in this set is the clown? I thought not! But he's not just a clown, he's a clown with a chainsaw! How dangerous is that? He's going straight into Sunny's gang of Killer Klowns and he'll be a welcome addition. We all know that clowns are evil but just how evil is this guy? Shudder!
At the far right of the group is a civilian with a sniper's rifle and scopesight. He is bald headed with a goatee beard and moustache. He has a tool belt around his waist with pouches for an assortment of tools, making him a handy ally to have on your side.

And now we come to the controversial Female Crazies and Cultists set. I say controversial because two out of the three are fully nude. The young lady at the far left is armed with a 9mm Sterling Sub-Machine Gun. It is the first time I have ever seen a figure armed with this weapon, which was used by the British Army from the late 1950's until 1988. She is a blonde-haired but her pubes show that she is not a natural blonde. No matching "cuff and collar" here. Something that I have wanted to do with a nude female figure for a long time (stop sniggering at the back!) is to paint her with visible tan lines. So I painted her with Foundry Tan 14 but painted the flesh bits covered by her bikini a lighter Foundry Flesh Light 5C. I must admit that I am very happy with the results.
I can understand why young blondie would want to flaunt her body but not the mature lady in the centre of the group. I have to say that she is possibly the scariest figure I have ever seen. Ye gods, but she is UGLY! You can actually see the cellulite on the back of her legs! With her fat belly, huge pendulous breasts, stumpy legs and a face that could curdle milk she is the stuff of nightmares. She holds a 9mm Heckler and Koch MP5KA5 Machine Pistol in her right hand. I wonder if she's just an old hippy, or perhaps she's one of those Cultists who dance around naked at midnight to perform some ritual.

Finally, at the far right of the group is a more modestly dressed woman, although she still manages to exude a lot of sex appeal in her choice of costume. There is a slight comparison to a certain female vampire whom I am rather fond of but I assure you my choice of colour scheme was a pure coincidence. I just thought she'd suit black hair and on the AC webstore she is depicted in a similar red costume. After I had painted her costume I gave it a coat of Tamiya Clear Red to emphasise the red even more and to give it that glossy finish. It's one of the few times I have used TCR for something other than gore effects. She is armed with a 9mm Pistol and a katana.
I should mention that all of the AC figures that I have reviewed in this and the previous two posts were sculpted by Richard Deasey. Too often the sculptor is uncredited, so it's nice to give him a bit of recognition here. I think that the four figures in the Clown and Crazies set are very well sculpted, but be warned three of them (pilot, tramp and clown) are heroic scale and are roughly 33mm tall. The female Crazies and Cultists are definitely an oddity. I am broadminded enough not to be bothered by the nudity but I can well understand if others feel differently. I can't think of any good reason why they should be naked, other than it being part of a cult ritual.
Both sets cost $7.50. I have no idea why the three females should cost the same as the four males.

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!

My ATZ Campaign - Day 50 - Who's Laughing Now? Part 2

Last time, I left you with a dramatic cliff-hanging ending as Mr. Punch just beat Hannah to the draw and fired his Pistol at her and Billy. Yikes!

TURN 2.   Activation - Vampifan = 4, Clowns = 3, Zombies = 1, PEF = 6

If you were hoping Punch would miss, sorry! He hit Hannah and Billy and scored two Knock Down results. Hannah passed 2d6 on the Recover From Knock Down Test and was just Stunned. However, Billy only passed 1d6 and was placed Out Of the Fight (OOF). This forced the other members of Team Vampifan to take the Leader Lost Test. All passed 2d6. They could Carry On with Big Sil taking over the leadership mantle until Hannah recovered.

 As per the "Walk the Walk" rules (see p.46 of BDTZ) both sides had to make an Activation Roll to see who, out of those left standing, reacted first. It is unclear if this happens on this turn or on the next. I went with it happening this turn to keep the momentum going. I rolled a 3 for Team Vampifan and a 4 for the Killer Klowns. Those darned clowns had won by one again! Judy fired her Pistol at Gap and Jamie. She hit Gap but missed Jamie. Judy scored a Knock Down result on Gap. Gap only passed 1d6 on the Recover From Knock Down Test but because he was wearing Body Armour he was Stunned instead of going OOF. This caused Big Sil, Angie and Jamie to take the Man Down Test. Big Sil and Angie passed 2d6 and would Carry On. Jamie passed 1d6 but because she had friends within 4" who were Carrying On she would also Carry On.

Big Sil fired a three round burst at Punch. He hit once and blew the back of Punch's head off in a spray of blood and brain matter.
Angie fired a three round burst at Judy. She also hit once but could only manage an OOF result.
However, Jamie stepped up to Judy and repeatedly stomped on her head until the only female member of the Killer Klowns was dead. Young Jamie had a lot of pent-up aggression to get rid off and by the time she'd finished, tears were streaming down her face

Now it was the clowns' turn to activate. The two who were hunkered down at the back of the Quonset Hut would remain there until they were rallied. That just left Sunny, the Rep:5 Star and leader of the Killer Klowns. Last turn he got Stunned by Hannah. Furious at the loss of so many of his friends he regained his feet. The look on his face could only be described as evil. Someone would suffer for this carnage!

 The 12 zombies on the board moved closer to the Quonset Hut, scene of much gunfire this turn.

I rolled 10d6 for zombie reinforcements and four turned up. Two of them arrived in the picnic park at the back of the Quonset Hut...

 ... and the other two arrived in the same place as Team Vampifan had when they entered the board at the start of the game.

TURN 3.   Activation - Vampifan = 3, Clowns = 5, Zombies = 6, PEF = 1
Sunny could see Angie with her back to him through the front door of the Quonset Hut.
"Your pretty red head will make a fine trophy!" he thought as he charged at her. Being a Star he automatically passed 2d6 on the Wanting to Charge Test. Angie took the Being Charged Test, but alas, only passed 1d6. She could melee, but would suffer a -2d6 penalty for being attacked in the rear. In addition, she suffered a further -1d6 penalty for having the Runt Attribute. This meant she'd be rolling 2d6 (5d6 for her Rep minus 3d6), whilst Sunny would be rolling 6d6 (5d6 for his Rep and an extra 1d6 for having the Knife Fighter Attribute if he fought with a knife). This did not look good for poor Angie. She scored 0 successes in the first round of melee combat, whilst Sunny scored 3 successes. Sunny grabbed hold of Angie's hair with his left hand, whilst his right hand swung his large knife through Angie's neck with well-practiced ease. As Angie's body fell to the floor with blood fountaining from her neck stump, Sunny held her head aloft and screamed, "laugh that one off, you bitch!"

"Noooooooooooooooooo!!!!!" Big Sil cried out in horror and despair. He passed 2d6 on the Man Down Test and was able to Carry On. Jamie also passed 2d6. Tears filled her eyes but she too, would Carry On.
"You utter bastard!" Big Sil swore as he raised his 5.56mm M16 Assault Rifle at Sunny. He fired three times and two of the bullets slammed into the evil clown's body, sending him crashing to the ground, severely wounded and Out Of the Fight.
Hannah and Gap recovered from being Stunned and stood back up. Jamie dropped to her knees to stem the flow of blood oozing from the left side of Billy's chest. "Don't die, Billy," she sobbed.

PEF:1 passed 1d6 on the PEF Movement Table and moved diagonally forward into sector 6, which placed it at the back of the Quonset Hut. Gap had a line of sight to it through one of the rear windows, so I rolled 1d6 to resolve what the PEF was. I rolled a 5 for result D - false alarm. It was just a trick of the light that momentarily fooled Gap.
I rolled 3d6 for zombie reinforcements but this time none turned up.

TURN 4.   Activation - Vampifan = 4, Clowns = 2, Zombies = 1
Big Sil stepped outside and bent down beside Sunny to slit his throat from ear to ear. He then dragged the Killer Klown's body a few yards to the middle of the road, where he left it for the approaching zombies to devour.
"Gap!" he called out, "bring Angie's body with you. We're not leaving her here. She'll get a proper burial back home."
Gap did as he was told. He slung his empty Assault Rifle over his shoulder and carried Angie outside, pausing only to retrieve her head from the ground where Sunny had dropped it.

Back inside the Quonset Hut, Hannah took in the scene of carnage in an instant. "Jamie, leave Billy alone and get back home as fast as you can," she commanded. "I'll deal with Billy."
"Okay, mum," Jamie sniffled. She took off at a very rapid pace and reached the edge of the board with a single Fast Move.
Hannah lifted Billy up and clung on to him with one arm as she stepped outside. In her other hand was her .44 Magnum revolver. She pointed it at the two zombies shuffling towards her and fired twice. One shot missed but the other blew the brains out of the back of the head of the chav zombie wearing the navy blue tracksuit.

The two clowns hunkered down at the back of the Quonset Hut couldn't move so it was time for the zombies to activate. Four of them reached the fresh corpse of Sunny and began to feed on him. Their feasting would last for three turns.
"I hope you rot in Hell for all eternity," Big Sil growled.

The two zombies at the side of the Quonset Hut reached the OOF Killer Klowns lying in their path. They each chose a clown to feed upon. Their feasts would last for 1 and 4 turns as indicated by my red dice.

The two zombies in the picnic park almost made contact with the two hunkered down clowns but just failed to reach them.

The second chav zombie charged at Hannah. She passed 2d6 on the Being Charged test and was able to shoot at him before he reached her. She fired twice and hit once, scoring an OOF result which was upgraded to an Obviously Dead result because her target was a zombie. Zombies can never go OOF. They are either Knocked Down or killed.

I rolled 4d6 for zombie reinforcements and two showed up near the entrance to the skateboard park.

TURN 5.   Activation - Vampifan = 3, Clowns = 6, Zombies = 2
The two hunkered down clowns couldn't activate. They were effectively out of the game now. Team Vampifan was able to leave the board, thus ending this scenario. Their mission was a complete failure.

AFTERMATH. Once back home I rolled to see if Billy would recover from his wound. Hannah used one of the team's medi-packs to help aid his recovery. It worked, as it allowed Billy to roll 3d6 on the Recovery After The Encounter Test (see p.23 of BDTZ) and he passed 2d6, meaning he made a full recovery at his normal Rep.
Next, I rolled 1d6 five times to see if any of the team lost a level from their Rep for failing the mission (see p.61 of BDTZ). On a roll of 1 on the d6 a character would decrease their Rep score by one. Only one person rolled a one and that was Gap. He is now Rep:4. Now, I'm not a big fan of the Phobias and Quirks rules in the I, Zombie supplement but I felt that in this instance Gap's Rep loss warranted him picking up a phobia. I know you're meant to dice for a character's phobia but when I saw that one of the phobias was Clowns, I just knew that Gap had to have it. (see p.8 of IZ). So now Gap has a morbid fear of clowns. Being knocked down and stunned by Judy must have triggered this phobia.
Angie Johansson was buried alongside Rhiannon Marlow (the young Goth Girl who, for a brief time, was a member of Team Vampifan).
There was no doubt that this was a bad day for Team Vampifan, and yet despite the death of Angie it could have gone a lot worse. Hannah, Billy and Gap could all have suffered worse injuries or death if Punch and Judy had rolled better (or worse depending on your point of view) to wound them. Thankfully, they were only armed with Pistols, making death a far less likely option when rolling to wound. Imagine the devastation they could have caused if either of them picked up the Squad Automatic Weapon that was the Resource hiding in the Quonset Hut! Did you notice that no one picked up the S.A.W? An oversight, although not as big an oversight for failing to notice that Sunny was only stunned.
There is a reason why I wanted Jamie and Billy to fail to spot that Sunny was just stunned and it has everything to do with telling the story. The kids are not combat veterans and so why should they think that Sunny was still a threat when he was lying flat on his back on the ground? In future they'll act differently but only because they learnt a harsh lesson. That's what life is all about. We learn from our mistakes. I did not want to lose Angie but the dice were stacked against her once Sunny initiated melee combat.
Inevitably, there were repercussions for Team Vampifan. Big Sil has lost his confident swagger and has turned to alcohol to drown his sorrows. He'll need close watching in future. Gap, as has been mentioned, has developed a phobia of clowns. Hannah will develop into a stronger leader and will, by default, become Vampifan's second in command. She will also take to wearing Body Armour when she goes out on a mission. Jamie will mature. She wants to study medicine and become a nurse. Seeing Billy lying bleeding and being unable to help him has brought this change of attitude in her. She will never leave home without medical supplies in her bag. Plus, she wants to upgrade her Pistol to a BA Pistol. Billy remains unchanged. He has no memory of being shot. He's still a little boy who isn't as grown up as he thinks he is. Vampifan is wracked by guilt for not being with his team. Would it have made a difference if he'd been there? Who knows?
Despite the outcome, this was one of the most enjoyable games of ATZ I have ever played. It was so dramatic, intense and action packed. I only have one slight regret about the game and that is I never got to use the skateboard park. It just ended up being background scenery. Ah well, I suppose there's always another time. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did playing it.