My ATZ Campaign - Introduction

I have just spent four days playing All Things Zombie and oh boy, what fun I have had! It has been way too long since I have done any gaming. Indeed these were the first games that I managed to play this year. Problems with my dad, who is now sadly confined to a wheelchair, have prevented me from actively pursuing my gaming hobby these past few months. But that all changed last Friday and I was able to start my ATZ campaign. Up till now all of the battle reports I have done for my blog have been stand alone games, although the last two, featuring a small unit of National Guard soldiers were connected. So, let me introduce you to the main hero of my campaign - Vampifan. That's him on the left - a Copplestone 28mm scale Dark Future Militia soldier converted to look like me. I added the glasses and extended his beer gut. Yes, he's my alter ego and I hope he'll survive the zombie apocalypse.

My campaign will be set in the fictional hellhole known as Mayhem City. Fans of World Works Games card models will be very familiar with this name. Most of the scenery, buildings and vehicles that I'll be using will come from WWG's Mayhem City range.

In the All Things Zombie: Better Dead Than Zed (ATZ:BDTZ) rulebook by Two Hour Wargames there is a section at the back marked Day One, Top Secret. This section takes you through Day One of the zombie outbreak and helps define who your character is. So let's go through it and see just who Vampifan is. Be advised, the answers I give for Vampifan do not reflect my real life status. He's just a fictional charcter who shares some of my traits and beliefs.

WHO YOU ARE

Vampifan is 24 years old. He is single, has no children or a significant other. He shares his home with a room mate called Neil (aka Big Sil).

OCCUPATION

Vampifan is a graphic designer working for a board game company. (That was my first job after I left college.) It is a sedentary job and Vampifan is in poor physical condition. This means that he'll start the campaign as a Rep:3 Civilian.

EXPERIENCE

Vampifan has had no military or law enforcement experience. However, he has fired a gun before and is a fully paid up member of the National Rifle Association. He graduated from the University of Mayhem with an honours degree in graphic design.

WHERE YOU LIVE

Vampifan shares an apartment in Mayhem City Centre, an urban area. This is the worst place to be when the outbreak begins but such is life.

SUPPLIES

Vampifan and Big Sil are both big eaters, so their home is always well stocked with food and drink. They keep canned goods and perishables in roughly equal measures. They have the equipment and materials to barricade their home if needed. They do not own a generator in case the power goes out. They have enough food for themselves and two guests so are classed as having 4 food units.

WEAPONS

Vampifan owns a Big Ass Pistol and a combat knife. Big Sil owns a Machine Pistol and a combat knife. Both keep their weapons at home. This means that Vampifan will start off unarmed. Big Sil owns plenty of hand tools that could be used as improvised weapons if need be.

VEHICLES

Vampifan owns a black pick-up truck. It is fully fueled but parked at a city centre car park when the outbreak begins. This means that Vampifan will initially be on foot. A fully fueled pick-up truck counts as having 5 fuel units.

LUXURY ITEMS

Apart from cash, Vampifan begins with no luxury items. At home he has some booze.

NOW WHAT?

From the ten options listed on p.64, this is Vampifan's itinerary for the day -

First go to an ATM machine to get more cash for some luxury items.

Second, retrieve his pick-up truck from the car park.

Third, visit the local gunstore to stock up on ammo.

Fourth, return home.

My games all took place on a 4' by 2' board because that was more convenient than the 3' by 3' board that the rulebook suggests you use. Note that my  battle reports will be very heavy on the rules details. This is a deliberate decision on my part as I want those who have never played ATZ before to get a good understanding of how the rules work. As the campaign progresses, the need to explain the rules should diminish and the batreps ought to be more narrative in flavour.

HOUSE RULES

For the most part, I am happy to use ATZ as presented by Ed Teixeira. However, there is one house rule I have adopted and that regards the placement of zombies. Instead of rolling 1d6 and consulting the chart for direction (basically, north, south, east or west) I use a Games Workshop scatter die. This has arrows on each face and thus allows me to place zombies anywhere in a 360 degree radius. I feel this is more realistic and gives a greater degree of diversity.

DAY ONE BEGINS

LOCATION 1 - The ATM Machine

The initial number of civilians on the board was 2d6. I rolled 5 and 2 to give me 7. This is not actually in the rulebook but I wanted some folk around otherwise it would look like Vampifan was walking around a ghost town. Mayhem City is supposed to be a big, bustling city so I randomly populated it prior to the scenario's onset. All civilians are Rep:3 and are unarmed. The photo below shows the initial set up and Vampifan can be seen at the bottom of the photo. The ATM machine is situated to the right of the 7-Eleven shop window.

TURN 1.    ACTIVATION - Vampifan=5, Zombies=4

Vampifan advances 8" up the street. Normally, if you roll higher than your Rep score you can't activate that turn but this is not a combat situation (yet!) so I deemed it meaningless. So why bother rolling for activation, you ask? Simple. There is a possibility of a random encounter if a result of 7, 11 or doubles are rolled (see p.65).

TURN 2.   ACTIVATION - Vampifan=2, Zombies=5

Aha! A roll of 7 indicated the possibility of a zombie appearance. In an urban area, zombies are normally generated on the d6 roll of 4, 5 or 6 (see p.29 & p.30) but because this is early in the outbreak, urban areas count as suburban and both suburban and rural areas count as rural (see p.65). This meant if I rolled a 5 or a 6, a zombie would be generated. I rolled a 6. He would appear 12" away from Vampifan. My scatter die placed him just inside the 7-Eleven store. Vampifan moved further up the street. The zombie remained hidden for the moment as it could not activate this turn.

TURN 3.   Activation - Vampifan=1, Zombies=3

The zombie stepped out of the shop and had a choice of three victims to attack - the old couple or the young boy. All were within equal distance of him. All three had to take the Zed Or No Zed test (see p.33). Vampifan was too far away to have to take it, i.e. he was more than 3" away from the zombie. The two old folk passed 1d6 each, but the kid passed 0d6. The zombie would charge him and could add 2d6 to its melee dice. The kid took the Being Charged test and passed 1d6. He could fight back but would suffer a -2d6 penalty for being attacked in the rear. The zombie rolled 3d6 and the kid just 1d6. The zombie scored 2 successes, the kid scored one. That meant that the kid was Out of the Fight and he fell to the ground unconscious. Next turn, the zombie would start feasting on him. Vampifan moved onto the road crossing. (You can see the end of my tape measure in the photo above, just next to Vampifan's base. D'oh! Who forgot to move it when he took the photo?)

TURN 4.   ACTIVATION - Vampifan=2, Zombies=4

As the zombie began feeding on the young boy, I rolled 1d6 to determine how long the feast would last (see p.31). I rolled a 3. This meant that those closest to the zombie had to take a See The Feast test (see p.33). I rolled for Vampifan first, scoring a 3 and a 2. He had passed 2d6 and thankfully, would never have to take the test again. Watching so many horror films had stood him in good stead! Next, I rolled for the old age pensioners. They passed 1d6 each and Ducked Back into the store, where they had to take a Sanity test (see p.33). The old man passed 1d6 and Hunkered Down. Alas, the old lady passed 0d6 and became catatonic. She would never, ever Rally again. A young woman close to the ATM machine was the last to take the See The Feast test. She passed 1d6 and Ducked Back into the book store. She passed 1d6 on her Sanity test and Hunkered Down behind cover.

It was Vampifan's turn to activate. He wanted to attack the zombie, so first he had to take a Wanting to Charge test. Being a Star, he was able to choose how many dice he passed (see p.5). Naturally, he chose to pass 2d6 and so melee commenced. He got to roll 3d6 for his Rep (see p.21). The zombie only rolled 1d6 (see p.35). Vampifan scored one more success than the zombie, giving an Out of the Fight result. However, all Out of the Fight results are classed as Obviously Dead on zombies (see p.35). So, Vampifan stuck the boot in and crushed the zombie's skull. Result! Vampifan's first zombie kill!

TURN 5.   ACTIVATION. Vampifan=3, Zombies=6.

Vampifan moved to the ATM machine and inserted his credit card. No new encounters occured so this was the end of this event. Because he came here first, Vampifan was able to withdraw enough cash to purchase three luxury items, which he bought at the 7-Eleven store. He chose a six-pack of canned beer, a large pack of toilet paper and a box of antiseptic detergent for washing his hands (useful for cleaning blood stains!).

Next time I'll tell you what else happens to Vampifan on Day One. Be sure to drop in!