My ATZ Campaign - Day 59 - Meeting the Media Part 2

I left Part 1 of this batrep just as a group of zombies entered the general store that Team Vampifan were about to leave. Show time!

TURN 11.   Activation - Vampifan = 5, Zombies = 1

The appearance of the zombies forced Team Vampifan to take an In Sight Test. Vampifan and Lieutenant Catweazle passed 2d6 and could open fire as normal. Gap and Simon McQuarrie, the cameraman, only passed 1d6, so if they fired it would be classed as a snapfire. They decided not to. The other three team members were hidden behind one of the shelves and couldn't see the zombies. So Vampifan and the lieutenant fired three round bursts at the horde with their Assault Rifles. They hit and killed two apiece.

I rolled 6d6 for zombie reinforcements because of the gunfire from Vampifan and Catweazle. Only one zombie turned up, at the back of the house closest to the general store.

 TURN 12.   Activation - Vampifan = 2, Zombies = 4
The last two zombies out of the group of six charged at Vampifan and Catweazle. Both men passed 2d6 on the Being Charged Test and were able to fire before the zombies reached them. A single shot from each of them was enough to hit and kill the zombie pair.

The remaining zombie moved round the back corner of the house, attracted by the sound of gunfire.
I rolled 2d6 for zombie reinforcements but none appeared.

TURN 13.   Activation - Vampifan = 6, Zombies = 4
Vampifan stepped outside and immediately spotted the zombie lurking in the alley between the house and the store. He fired once and blew a huge hole in the back of the zombie's head. Instant kill!

 The rest of Team Vampifan moved along to the front door of the nearest house.

 I rolled 1d6 for zombie reinforcements and one appeared across the road by the lamp post.

 TURN 14.   Activation - Vampifan = 3, Zombies = 4
The zombie shuffled halfway across the road, emitting a loud moan.

"I'll get him!" Jamie exclaimed, before anyone else could react. She raised her.44 Magnum and fired twice. One bullet went too wide but her second shot was bang on target and burst through the zombie's wide open mouth out the back of his skull in a spray of blood and pieces of bone and brain matter.
"Good shooting!" Vampifan complimented her.

Lieutenant Catweazle led the way into the first house, whose front door was unlocked. The Risks and Rewards card revealed that it was occupied by two zombies but that no Resources were available.

The zombies moved to attack Catweazle and Big Sil. Sadly for the zombies, they lost the Surprise Test, which allowed Catweazle and Big Sil to open fire before the zombies reached them. Catweazle killed his opponent with a single shot. However, Big Sil could only manage a Knock Down result with his shot. Still, it was enough to prevent the zombie from attacking this turn.
I rolled 4d6 for zombie reinforcements and one arrived on board just next to the red Peugeot 206 parked further up the street. For some inexplicable reason I forgot to take a photo of its arrival. Sorry, my bad!

 TURN 15. Activation = Vampifan = 4, Zombies = 1
Team Vampifan finished exploring downstairs and began to climb the staircase to the next floor. Big Sil used his rifle butt to stave in the skull of the zombie he'd knocked down.

Here is the zombie reinforcement from last turn. He moved away from the Peugeot towards the house currently occupied by Team Vampifan, drawn by the sound of gunfire from within.

 TURN 16.   Activation - Vampifan = 2, Zombies = 6
The zombie could not activate this turn. The upstairs of the house was devoid of humans or zombies, but, as can be seen by the Risks and Rewards card, a Shotgun Recource was there to be found and this time it was Vampifan who found the Resource.

TURN 17.   Activation - Vampifan = 1, Zombies = 4
The lone zombie shuffled closer to the house with the wide open front door.

 Team Vampifan moved back downstairs with Gap leading the way.

 TURN 18.   Activation - Vampifan = 2, Zombies = 3
The zombie took one step inside the house, prompting an In Sight Test from Gap. He passed 2d6 and fired once at the intruder, hitting him and scoring an Obviously Dead result.

Gap led the way outside the house and began to move to the house next door.
I rolled 1d6 for zombie reinforcements but none appeared this turn.

TURN 19.   Activation - Vampifan = 5, Zombies = 5
Normally when rolling doubles for Activation you have to reroll the dice. However, this time I kept the scores because there were no zombies on the board so for the most part the dice rolls were irrelevant. A double six or double one would have been a different matter. Big Sil overtook Gap to check the front door of the second house and found it unlocked.

TURN 20.   Activation - Vampifan = 4, Zombies = 2
Big Sil took point duty in the house and found it occupied by a solitary male zombie lurking in the kitchen. The Risks and Rewards card revealed that there was a Fuel Resource waiting to be found. Gap found it hidden underneath the dinner table.

Big Sil beat the obese zombie for Surprise and fired a single round into his chest, which only succeeded in the zombie being Knocked Down.

The zombie used his turn to stand back up.
I rolled 1d6 for zombie reinforcements but none turned up.

TURN 21.   Activation - Vampifan = 6, Zombies = 4
Big Sil drew his combat knife and charged at the zombie, easily passing 2d6 on the Wanting to Charge Test. The combat was short and brutal and very one-sided as the hairy biker decapitated the zombie with a swift cut to the neck.
"Now stay dead!" he grumbled, as he wiped the blood from his blade on a kitchen towel.

Catweazle led Jamie and the news crew upstairs. Vampifan and Gap remained downstairs with Big Sil.

TURN 22. Activation - Vampifan = 1, Zombies = 3
The Risks and Rewards card showed that there was nothing to be found on the upper level of the house.
"It's all clear here," Catweazle said in his deep voice for the benefit of the three survivors downstairs.

This seemed like a good point to draw a close to the scenario. There were no more zombies left on the board and Vampifan did not want to push his luck by exploring the last two houses. The team moved outside of the house via the kitchen door. At this point, Simon and Jenny, the news team, headed off in the opposite direction to Team Vampifan. Both groups wished each other good luck and hoped they'd meet up again sometime soon.
Incidentally, you can find full rules for using a media team in your games on pages 28 and 29 of the ATZ supplement "Haven." If the couple had remained with Team Vampifan I would have used the rules to assess if they were eligible for a Rep increase.
Speaking of Rep increases, Vampifan, Big Sil, Gap and Jamie were all eligible for a Rep increase. They'd all killed at least one zombie apiece, none of them had Hunkered Down or gone Out Of the Fight and they'd all found one Resource - a Shotgun for Vampifan, Medical Supplies for Big Sil, Fuel for Gap and Food for Jamie. Sadly, I did not roll high enough for any of them to gain a new Rep level. Ho-hum!
Acquiring Lieutenant Catweazle as a new team member was ample enough reward for them. Originally, he was a Rep:5 Star, who after his second scenario, adavanced to Rep:6. I have considered keeping his Star status but definitely not his higher Rep. A lot could have happened to him in the month since I first introduced him. Perhaps the loss of his colleagues accounted for his Rep decrease. Having two Stars in Team Vampifan may seem like overkill but they are a growing group and this ensures that I will always have a Star to lead the group if one of them stays behind to guard their base.
In all likelihood, this will be my last campaign batrep of 2011, so all I can say is, roll on 2012!

My ATZ Campaign - Day 59 - Meeting the Media Part 1

This was Team Vampifan's first foray away from home since the death of Angie just over a week ago. Hannah decided to stay behind to look after her son, Billy, who was still recovering from being shot on his last outing. As the rules stand at present, Billy could return to action as soon as he made his recovery roll, which he did. However, I'm using a bit of common sense here, and it will take him time to fully recover from a bullet wound to the stomach. This left just four members able to go out on the mission. Here they are with their stats -
Vampifan; Rep:6 Star with Nerves of Steel and Slow attributes; armed with Assault Rifle, BA Pistol, Combat Knife and Body Armour.
Big Sil; Rep:5 Grunt with Knife Fighter attribute; armed with Assault Rifle, Combat Knife and Body Armour.
Gap; Rep:4 Grunt with Phobia of Clowns; armed with Assault Rifle, Knife and Body Armour.
Jamie Vaughn; Rep:4 Grunt with Brawler attribute; armed with BA Pistol and Medical Supplies.

The game was played on a 3' by 3' board divided into nine 1' square sectors with sector 1 being in the top left hand corner of the photo above where the small wood is and sector 9 being in the bottom right hand corner where the general store is.

The only new item on the board that I haven't featured before is the stretch limo that has crashed into the wood. I bought it at a local toy shop in a sale for about £3 or £4 instead of £10.

Team Vampifan began the game in sector 7 next to the front entrance to the deli store. I rolled to see if any of them had suffered from a lack of sleep prior to setting out but all made their checks without any problems.

I then rolled for the placement and Reps of the three starting PEFs. PEF:1 was Rep:5 and was placed in sector 6 at the front of the alley between the two houses.

Pef:2 was Rep:2 and was placed in sector 1 in the small wood.

PEF:3 was Rep:1 and was placed in sector 5 at the back of the limousine.
HOUSE RULES. There was recently a discussion on the Board of the Living Dead forum http://boardofthelivinglead.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=atz&action=display&thread=118 about whether external doors should be locked or unlocked. The default rule in Better Dead Than Zed is that all doors are unlocked. The argument is that is this realistic? Well, no, but it does speed up gameplay. Anyway, I have decided to adapt Joe's (aka Zabadak) rule that all doors are unlocked on the roll of 1-5 on 1d6. Only if I roll a 6 will a door be locked. Locked doors can be smashed open but doing so creates noise, equivalent to one gunshot for the purpose of attracting zombies and possibly alerting any occupants inside the building. I have also made the decision that I want no Ragers or Smart Zombies during the first six months of my campaign (i.e. up to day 183).

Day 59 - Meeting the Media Part 1
This would be a standard Discovery scenario set in the suburbs of Mayhem City during the hours of daylight. Note that any reference to the Better Dead Than Zed rulebook will be abbreviated to BDTZ and any reference to the I, Zombie supplement will be abbreviated to IZ.

TURN 1.   Activation - Vampifan = 4, PEFs = 3
Vampifan was going to enter the deli store but he found the door to be locked. Inside, the shop looked deserted so he moved along to the dry cleaning store, with the rest of the team following faithfully behind him.

PEF:1 passed 2d6 on the PEF Movement Table and moved alongside PEF:3 in sector 5.

TURN 2.   Activation - Vampifan = 1, PEFs = 5
PEF:1 again passed 2d6 on the PEF Movement Table and moved into sector 7 at the corner of the dry cleaning store. However, when I rolled on the PEF Resolution Table, it turned out to be a false alarm. Much relief!

This time the door was unlocked and Team Vampifan entered the dry cleaning store. I turned over the top card of my Risks and Rewards deck to reveal no humans, no zombies and no resources.

TURN 3.   Activation - Vampifan = 5, PEFs = 6
With the PEFs unable to activate, Team Vampifan left the dry cleaners and headed across the road. This brought them in sight of PEF:3, so I rolled to see what it was and got a result of NPC Interaction. I determined that the NPCs were a news team made up of a Rep:4 cameraman and a Rep:3 reporter.

TURN 4.   Activation - Vampifan = 3, News Team = 4, PEF = 5
The PEF was unable to activate so the news team moved towards Team Vampifan.

Team Vampifan approached the news team and introductions were made. The cameraman was called Simon McQuarrie and his young colleague was called Jenny Tyrell. I rolled on the NPC Interaction Table (see p.117 of IZ) with both sides rolling d6 equal to their leader's Rep. This meant 6d6 for Vampifan and 4d6 for McQuarrie. No other modifiers applied to the rolls. After a couple of rounds of rolling Vampifan won 2-0. This gave him a +2 bonus when he rolled 1d6 on the NPC Positive Reaction Table (see p.117 of IZ). I rolled a 4 for Vampifan, which with the +2 bonus, gave him a score of 6. This meant that the news team would hang out with Team Vampifan for the rest of this scenario. I'd rather they joined them on a permanent basis but for that to have happened I'd have had to roll a 6 on the 1d6.

TURN 5.   Activation - Vampifan = 2, PEF = 1

The six humans moved further across the street towards the general store.

 PEF:2 passed 1d6 on the PEF Movement Table and moved into sector 5, taking cover behind the stretch limo. This brought it in sight of Team Vampifan, so I rolled to see what it was on the PEF Resolution Table.

I got a result of Hostile NPCs, or more specifically, zombies. There were six of them but at the moment they were too far away from Team Vampifan to be considered a threat, so no one fired at them.

TURN 6.   Activation - Vampifan = 6, Zombies = 3
Team Vampifan reached the front door of the general store, which was unlocked.

The zombies shuffled along the road towards the clearly visible group of humans.

TURN 7.   Activation - Vampifan = 2, Zombies = 5
With the zombies unable to activate this turn, Vampifan led his followers inside the general store. The Risks and Rewards card once again, revealed no humans or zombies inside but there was a Food resource, which Jamie found amongst the mostly empty, looted shelves.

TURN 8.   Activation - Vampifan = 2, Zombies = 4
The six zombies ambled slowly down the road, getting ever closer to the general store.

Vampifan led the way up the stairs at the back of the store.

TURN 9.   Activation - Vampifan = 3, Zombies = 1
As Vampifan entered the living room upstairs, he was confronted by a very tall man with a handlebar moustache and dressed in the uniform of a National Guard Officer. He was a Rep:5 Star, armed with an Assault Rifle and he possessed the Brawler and Nerves of Steel attributes. I rolled on the Meet and Greet Table, rolling 11d6 for Vampifan (6d6 for his Rep and 5d6 for outnumbering the officer by five) and 5d6 for the officer (his Rep). Not surprisingly, Vampifan won by more than two and so the officer would join Team Vampifan permanently. As the Risks and Rewards card revealed, there was a Medical Supplies Resource to be found and Big Sil snaffled it.

The six zombies were now less than six inches away from the general store entrance.

TURN 10.   Actibation - Vampifan = (4) 2, Zombies = (4) 5
After tying for Activation I rolled again and this time the zombies rolled too high to activate. So, Team Vampifan spent this turn getting acquainted with the National Guard officer. He identified himself as Lieutenant Ulysses Catweazle, the only survivor out of his platoon.
Note that Lieutenant Catweazle has appeared in two games of ATZ prior to this encounter, although they were not part of my official campaign when I played them way back in 2009. You can read about his exploits here - http://vampifansworldoftheundead.blogspot.com/2009/10/atzbdtz-battle-report-01.html and here - http://vampifansworldoftheundead.blogspot.com/2009/10/atzbdtz-battle-report-02.html
Now that Lieutenant Catweazle has joined Team Vampifan, his two previous scenarios are now canon and they will form part of my ongoing campaign.

TURN 11.   Activation - Vampifan = 5, Zombies = 1
Vampifan lead his rapidly expanding team back downstairs, as he continued to chat to Lieutenant Catweazle.

Two of the six zombies entered the general store, with the other four close on their heels.

TO BE CONTINUED

Eureka Toxic Zombies in Barrels

Earlier this year I was gifted a set of four Eureka 28mm scale Toxic Zombies emerging from barrels by my good friend Fran, aka The Angry Lurker. Once again, many thanks, Fran. There are six figures in this range and I already had one of them. Fortunately for me, the one I had was not amongst the ones sent to me by Fran. That was a nice stroke of luck! Having just painted them, I thought you'd like to see these very unusual zombies.

I'd guess that the inspiration for these figures came from the "Tar Zombie" who features in The Return of the Living Dead film. He is so called because he emerges from a barrel that should have been left closed and is covered in a dark, slimy liquid gunk. I toyed with the idea of painting these in a similar fashion and tried out what I hoped was a similar looking colour scheme but the results were not very pleasing. So I went back to plan A and painted them as I paint all of my toxic zombies, which is with a greenish tint to their flesh (Citadel Rotting Flesh, appropriately enough). The one thing I did add to these figures was a couple of thick coats of Citadel Water Effects to give them that glossy wet look. You can see this much better if you left click on the photos to blow them up to full screen size.

I won't describe each one individually like I normally do, because they are all very similar. The first zombie in line, moving from left to right, is the one that I already had. The other four are the ones I received from Fran. Some of them have flesh sloughing off their bodies (one and four especially). Two of them (four and five) have got one leg out of the barrel. A nice touch on number five is his shoe, which has a sole that is coming apart at the seams to reveal his toes. Incidentally, the figure that I'm missing from this set is in a very similar pose to zombie number two but his head is in a different position.

The sculpting on these figures is very good. None of them look like fresh corpses. They all look very cadaverous, almost skeletal like. Most are bald but zombie number five has a patchy head of hair.

These are not the kind of zombies you're going to find wandering the streets. They should be assigned to a specific location, like a warehouse, a research laboratory, a storeroom in a military or corporate building or in the trailer of an articulated lorry. You could designate them as Smart Zombies or Ragers if you're playing ATZ. I'd be tempted to make them Ragers if I ever use them in a scenario.

They cost £1.90 each from the Eureka website but be warned they are supplied randomly. However, it has been my experience with the good folks at Eureka that if you specifically ask for no swaps, or as few swaps as possible if ordering more than one of each, they will comply. Each figure comes in two parts - the bottom two thirds of the barrel and the top third of the barrel with the zombie. They are not supplied with bases and will stand up very well without a base. I stuck mine to circular plastic slottabases purely to make them compatible with the rest of my 28mm scale figure collection.

Black Cat Bases Biker Gang

Black Cat Bases, a U.K.-based company, sell a nice range of 28mm scale Gangers, made by Obelisk Miniatures but sold by BCB under licence. I purchased all of the Ganger sets earlier this year and as they get painted I'll review them on my blog. First up are the Screaming Nighthawks biker gang.

One of the things that I particularly like about these gang sets is that each gang comes with its own canine mascot. It's a nice touch that I didn't expect to see. The Screaming Nighthawks have chosen an Alsatian or German Shepherd as their mascot and they have named him "Jaws Rowlf." Oddly enough, the dog is the only figure to be given a name on the BCB website. As befits a dog with such a fearsome reputation (unjustified, some would say) it is snarling aggressively.
Moving on to the humans, I have nicknamed the guy with the chain and huge revoler, "Nighthawk." I have also made him the leader of this biker gang. He wears leather cowboy "chaps" over his denim trousers, a denim waistcoat and a bandana. His grey hair, beard and moustache suggests that he's been around awhile. The handgun is most probably some kind of Magnum revolver but I'd class it as a BA Pistol in ATZ.
Next to him is "Belcher," a biker who's celebrating with a can of beer, which he holds aloft in his left hand. In his right hand he holds a BA Pistol, most likely a Desert Eagle. Note the beergut and bald patch on his head. He's another aging biker. He wears a leather waistcoat over his denim jacket. He has tied his scraggly hair back in a ponytail, never a good look for men, in my opinion.
Another biker with a ponytail is "Two Gun Tony," so named because he's armed with two guns - a Colt .45 pistol and a 9mm Mini Uzi machine pistol. He wears a pair of mirrorshade sunglasses, a T-shirt with the name and picture of some obscure rock band emblazoned on his chest, a denim waistcoat and jeans. Although he has very muscular arms, he does have the beginnings of a beergut as well.
The dude with the sawn-off pump-action shotgun is nicknamed "Slick." His hair and moustache is a silvery-grey colour, indicating another biker getting on in his years. Of course, this suggests that these guys have been around for a very long time, so it would be unwise to dismiss them as "old timers." "Slick" wears an AC/DC T-shirt, so he really is an old rocker.
Finally, we come to "Scuzz," who is also armed with a pump-action shotgun, although not sawn-off like "Slick's." I love the way he has been sculpted having an appreciative draw on his cigarette. Ah, get that nicotine down ya, man! He is dressed in leather trousers, a white vest, a denim waistcoat and a black bandana. He also totes a pair of mirrorshade sunglasses.
What I particularly like about this set is the way each figure has been sculpted. They are so full of character. I also like the fact that these are not teenage bikers but far older. I suppose you could paint them up as looking much younger than I have but with so many young biker types already available I say, why not give these guys an older appearance?
I should make a comment about their size. They are described as being 28mm scale, and this is certainly true... if you measure them from the sole of the feet to the top of the head. They will look rather small if placed alongside certain "heroically" scaled 28mm scale figures.
You can buy each figure separately at a cost of £3.00 each for the humans and £2.00 for the dog. Alternatively, you can buy all six figures for just £12.00, giving you a saving of £5.00.

Reaper Civilian Geeks

Amongst the humans featured in THW's All Things Zombie game I've reviewed figures from the Survivors, Gangers, Cops and Military categories, but never any Civilians. If you're prepared to look around there a lot of figures of civilians out there... and just like zombies, you can never have too many of them! Today I'm going to start off my reviews of civilians by featuring these three from Reaper Miniatures - set 50231 Townsfolk: Geeks.

To some, the word "Geek" is an insult, to others it's a badge of honour. I'm a geek myself and I have no problem in being called such. These three figures, sculpted by Gene Van Horne, represent three types of geek. First up is the pretty one. I've painted her as an Asian student. She is carrying a book in one hand and a laptop computer in the other. Her denim jeans are very tight-fitting and low-slung. The squiggly white writing on her T-shirt is meant to say Mayhem City University but at that size is totally illegible. Hey, I'm a good painter but I'm not that good! She's cute and pretty and probably more interested in her academic studies than dating boys.

Next up is the fat geek. There's always one, isn't there? He also carries a book but in his other hand he holds a bottle of fruit juice/energy drink/magic potion. The goatee beard and ponytail marks him down as such an obvious object of ridicule. Have you seen the excellent movie Shoot 'Em Up? Clive Owen's character, Mr. Smith, echoes my own opinion on men wearing ponytails - "I fucking hate ponytails!" he says as he shoots the offending piece of hair off an unnamed mook. How I wish I could do that! This thoroughly irritating character will undoubtedly be majoring in useless trivia.

Finally, we come to the nerdy geek. This guy is destined to be the next Bill Gates and become a multi-millionaire when he leaves university. However, at present he's still a rabid bookworm. Yes, he too is carrying a book. Just like his other two colleagues in this set, he'll be a virgin, lacking in social skills that allow him to interact with members of the opposite sex. All three geeks will have phenomenally high IQs but this guy will probably match that of Reed Richards. (Note comic book reference to denote my own geekdom!)

These are three excellent figures that perfectly capture their geekdom. Seeing as I'm reviewing them in conjunction with the ATZ game, the question has to be asked, how would they survive a zombie apocalypse? I'd guess, not very well, unless they can team up with a bunch of kick-ass Survivors, although to be honest, they have victim written all over them.

I am indebted to my good friend, Roger (aka Rogzombie) for gifting me these figures. The Reaper website has them listed as costing $9.99.