Thursday 10 August 2017

Day Four - part two



Before we continue, apologies for some of the dodgy photo's in this AAR, but  thanks to "real life CARP (anag)" I've been playing through game turns at ridiculous times, and in some, the low light has affected the quality (I will get some better lighting sorted to prevent this happening in the future!).
Now, where were we?...........

When Brad asked about the upper floor, the couple told him that the door at the top of the landing was locked, and seeing as they had no firearms, they hadn't taken any chances.
Brad borrowed the fire axe and told the other guys to follow him while the girls kept an eye on things outside.
At this point, I introduced the "Risks & Rewards" deck to my campaign, counting each floor as a new building as per the main rules. When I turned to top card to see what they'd find I got this (no zombies or other occupants, but a discarded rifle) .....
......... after a quick head-scratch I decided to play it out as follows:~
The door had been locked from the inside, and after forcing it open with the axe the guys found themselves in the depot office.
A single figure lay sprawled  on the floor behind the desk, with a rifle by his side. "Looks like he took the quick way out" said Brad as he picked up the weapon.
Everyone's attention was suddenly drawn outside to the yard, as a pair of cops arrived (in response to the "Shots Fired" call made earlier) - unfortunately, it wasn't just the citizens attention that was drawn to their arrival... especially when they left the motor running when they got out of the car to investigate.
Maybe they were just tired after a four day continual shift - at least they'd obeyed the instruction to leave the siren off!
The officers spotted the zombies at the far side of the yard and saw the growing crowd by the gate.....
.... and immediately moved forward to check out the open workshop door,
oblivious to the fact that the running motor continued to attract more zombies to the scene,both in the yard area,
as well as out by the gate!
Things were turning very bad, very quickly as three zombies came around the corner of the depot building
 - the police officers turned and snapped off a couple of shots each....
...... which were either panicked or rushed because none of them hit their targets! (They did attract two more zeds though!)
Meanwhile, Brad told Travis to unlock the side door in case they get a chance to break for it that way, but the lady with the axe was shocked - "Your'e not going to just leave those two officers out there are you?"
The group gathered by the side door, and as the guy with the baseball bat stood by his partner, Brad tried to talk sense to the pair - explaining that the main gate is likely to give way at any time and when it does, all hell will break loose.
Out in the yard, only one officer gets off a round before the zombies charge and the melee starts, missing his target again, but thankfully not attracting another zombie either.
The initial melee sees one zombie despatched, but one officer is down with more walking dead closing in......
....... and the gate looking like it's about to give!
The terrified officer made a run for the open workshop door, slamming it shut behind him.....
...and with the cops beyond help the pair see sense and follow Brad's instructions as the group assemble at the side door of the warehouse,
not seeing "the feast" going on out in the yard,
but hearing the crash as the gates give way!
Winning the activation (again! so many times either the zombies won the activation roll or the group won with a "6", too high for Brad's Rep5 to activate), the walking dead pour into the yard, some closing in on the feast while others either go to the door they saw the cop disappear through, or move towards the sound of the still running motor.
Seizing their chance, on Brad's signal, the group make a break for it, but Brad himself risks taking a diversion....
.......and the surviving officer makes his escape through the door on the opposite side of the workshop.
Brad brandishes the shotgun and ammo he's taken from the boot of the patrol car, but Hannah doesn't seem best pleased with him for taking the risk and lets her feelings be known as they leave the depot and head back towards the RV!


This is how I handled "the gate" - based on the ATZ:FFO rules for barricaded doors and building defence values. I wanted something that kinda reflected the oft repeated scene in movies where the weight of the horde is brought to bear on a fence etc, and add uncertainty to solo play.
It seemed to work well enough.

Finally, here's some recently painted zombies, some of which appeared in the encounter (and a survivor who definitely didn't). They were the last four from "The Last Night On Earth" boardgame (Hasslefree survivor) and they were put in the 'zed box' when I finished 'em and  pulled out during the game for their debut before I posted the 'zed tally' photo - 95 now and the 'painting in threes' idea straight out of the window!
Speaking of windows, they're posing in front of a shop which I got very recently as of part of the Blotz bits acquired after following Andy's link on Da Gobbo's Grotto !


Thanks for calling by, and I hope "y'all come back real soon y'here" if only to read what happens next, which I'll document as soon as I find out myself!
















10 comments:

  1. Best post yet, Wargame Addict. Enthralling stuff, and I for one thought both cops were doomed - so I was delighted to see one make a dash to safety. Great handling of the group finding the rifle too - made perfect sense to me. Don't worry about sleep just keep painting, gaming, photoing, and posting!! LOL :-)

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    1. Being able to leave a game "in progress" has been a blessing, and making notes for the blog means I can pick up where I left off with no problems.
      The campaign has really got under my skin, so yep, you can expect the next episode pretty soon Simon :-)

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  2. A great batrep, Greg. I could find no fault with your photos. It was inevitable that the main gate would be breached. I, too believed the cops were doomed. Like Simon said, I was surprised to see one of them surviving. Using the Risks & Rewards cards is something I use when I'm playing ATZ:FFO. Good call!

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    1. Thanks Bryan, once Officer Dribble (I might need to give him a proper name yet!) felled his undead opponent, I gave hime game choices of continuing the melee, running to the patrol car, the choice that came up - the workshop. I hadn't even noticed the door on the opposite side which led directly out of the compound, so a lucky escape indeed!
      The Risks & Rewards deck were acquired after I saw them on your blog ;-)

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  3. Great stuff, photos were fine, the storyline is progressing very nicely indeed - all in all a cracking AAR and making me itch to play the next instalment in my own!

    I use risk and reward cards too, they are so much easier than the multitude of tables in the book.

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    1. Cheers Andy, I took care to make a better job in part two - some in the first episode have "focus issues" ;-)
      The cards certainly speed up play, and now live in the ATZ 'bits box' with the markers and dice ready for all future gaming sessions!

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  4. Great batrep and like the others I thought both cope were doomed. I wish I could get as much enjoyment as you obviously do from solo play - one of the things I just can;t get away with, with Atz.
    On the subject of ATZ, from my failing memory all the zeds should have headed for "the feast", but your interpetation is equally valid in my view.

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  5. Thanks Joe, you surprise me - I reckon zombies are the IDEAL opponent for solo mechanics to control, and ATZ seems to do that better than any of its rivals (IMHO).
    Your "failing memory" aint that bad buddy, you're absolutely right..... all zeds within 12" and with LOS should have piled in. Lets just say I went for the "cinematic" ending in this encounter (cos I'd forgotten!)
    Back to solo play, do you have a copy of "Mythic"??

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    1. Erm, "What's Mythic?" (so obviously I don't have a copy).
      [And I also approve of the cinematic ending btw]

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    2. I've just noticed that I should have been more specific - Mythic GM Emulator is what it says on the tin, a system agnostic "games master emulator", it's great for running RPG's solo. Here's a link to a full explanation....
      http://www.mythic.wordpr.com/wm002demo.pdf

      When I was looking for the link I found out that the same guy has written "Mythic", a full blown RPG system.

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