Day 2, Where To Go (long)

The morning sun came up red on a bleak charcoal cityscape.  Smoke still hung in the air, and the occasional crack of gunfire could be heard in the distance.  Echoing through the streets was the more rare siren of an emergency vehicle, and the moan of the undead.

Allen looked out over the neighborhood.  A couple of shapes shambled along the streets, paying him no notice on the roof where he and Mark had spent the night.  Allen wondered if he would ever make it home.  

They had barricaded the doors last night and felt pretty safe, but Allen worried about his wife and kids.  Minneapolis was still a long ways off, and if this was happening everywhere...  The sound of a truck starting up and speeding off broke his reverie, and woke Mark up as well.

"Anything happening?"  Mark rubbed the sleep from his eyes and walked up to Allen.  The red pickup sped off, into the morning light.

"Nah, its all good.  Just a couple of walkers down there."  Allen took a drink from a plastic water bottle.  "We should check that bar for some more grub.  Maybe look in those garages."  Allen nodded to his left.

"No time like the present I guess."  Mark stretched out a bit, picking up his bat.  "I don't know how long we want to be here, maybe we get some gas from that pickup for the jeep.  We can try and get to my house, its in the burbs - nothing ever happens there..."

"Well, let's see what trouble we can get into around here."  Allen laughed.  "Do you 'spose the bar is open this early?"

This scenario is Day 2, morning.  The objective is to search the warehouses, the truck and the bar (and of course survive!)  The guys are looking for fuel and food, but of course anything at this point might make a difference.  From the previous scenario, they have barricaded the doors to the building they are in.  To start, only one door is going to be opened.  The front door is the one I picked.

Out the Front and into the Street...

Turn 1 started and I generated 3 PEFs.  Two were in buildings, the third was in the ruins of the factory across the street.  I started out moving towards the warehouses, figuring on taking care of 2 objectives as quickly as possible.  There were two zeds in the area between the buildings.  As both Allen and Mark have good melee weapons, I figured starting out quietly was the way to go.

Nice early morning zed fighting

"Let's take these down quick and quiet."  Mark whispered to Allen.  The two of them hefted their weapons, and ran across the parking lot.  Both zombies were standing, swaying in the morning light.  Mark's bat splattered the head of one zombie across the pavement.  Allen ran up to the other zed and his machete split the zed's head like a melon.  Both corpses collapsed to the ground.

First up was warehouse #1 - it had a PEF in it, so almost a guaranteed encounter.  I resolved the PEF and found a civilian.  Apparently he had been hiding in the warehouse all night, because he was eager to join Mark and Allen.  Ben is rep 3, with a shotgun and medic skill.

I can think of worse place to hide.

Ben introduced himself to Mark and Allen as they searched the warehouse.  "I was on campus a couple of days ago when this gross dude crashed through a window and bit this chick sitting there!  I saw the whole thing, that guy should have been dead even before what the glass did to him.  I didn't see anything on the news, and when I went to the physiology prof, he had cancelled class for the week."  Ben checked his shotgun absently.  "I knew something was up.  I came here to get my car, but more of those things showed up, plus I still have a busted axle.  I was afraid I was stuck."

Searching the warehouse yielded a baseball bat, food and meds.  The car will not be drivable, but does have 2 units of fuel for the team.  After the search, the group moved to the next garage.

Let's be careful in there

Only one.  Batter up!

The zombie was knocked down by Mark.  Ben ran in and got his first kill, using the recently found bat, he brained the zed.  With a cool pile of loot, I had hoped for some good stuff.  Instead, all the group found was food.  Disappointing, but still something useful and needed.

The team headed out the back door and towards the pickup truck.  Thanks to some missed activations, one of the zombies spotted Allen, and moved closer.  This actually turned out to be a good thing, although I wasn't paying attention to the PEF at the time...

Always look around...

Allen fired two shots, one knocked the zombie down, but he had missed the head.  "Damn!  I thought I was a better shot than this!"  Allen grumbled.
"I got him"  Mark sprinted forward with his bat at the ready.  The zombie head made a squishing sound as it exploded.  Mark shook off the gunk from the bat and looked up the street, he knew more zombies were around...

Got him.  Ben, do you see something?

More survivors!

The PEF resolved as two civilians.  The first was Cindy (rep4, armed with an SMG, skill:Initiative) the second is Dawn (rep3, pistol, Skill:Logical).  They were moving through the intersection between three zombies.  We were not exactly at a meeting, but I ran the meet and greet at a distance - and gained two more for the band!  So far a very successful scenario.  Now if we can all survive...

"Hey!  Head over here, we can work together!"  Mark shouted.  The zombies milled about the two women, who broke into a run towards the pickup truck.  Soon gunfire echoed around the block, the women fired as they ran, and Ben let loose with his shotgun.

Sound and Fury...

Wow, so I let loose with 13 dice of shooting, and managed to hit only once - Dawn with her pistol.  As it is impact 1, the zombie barely flinched.  Hopefully the dice gods were not going to totally leave me...

On a side note, I elected to not have the police roll up from the gunfire.  It is only day 2, and they should have arrived in d6 turns, but I was playing this as a less populated area of town, and I wanted to see how shooting was going to work for me, so I fudged it this time.

Only a few more zombies

"Get back to the truck, we will fight them off there!"  Mark yelled as the group fired wildly at the zombies around them.  A sense of dread was starting to come over Mark, as if something had gone wrong, and he just didn't realize it yet...

Having a rep 4 leader really helped me activate so much more, it made some of the tactical movement easier.  My shooting didn't improve though.  I love the shotgun, all those dice helped Ben get a kill.  Of course its a lot of noise...

The alley is blocked!

Here come some more friends

Ahh yes, finally a bunch more zombies appear.  Eight more zeds entered the board, with two of them blocking my planned route.  I figured it was time for Mark to earn his star status.

"Follow me - down the alley, and around the building!'  Mark charged into the alley to clear a path.  "And stop firing!  Its just bringing more of those damn things out!"

Two more for the count.

Now I started to move around the abandoned building.  I wanted to limit the approaches the zombies could use, so I could maximize the effectiveness of shooting when the time came (the SMG and Shotgun could hit multiples I figured.)

Of course plans don't always work out quite right...

Move along

The corner looks clear

The zombies didn't activate for two turns.  This would have normally be great, but I needed them to move.  Now I had to wait and hope for decent activations from behind the building.

The horde on the move

Here they come...

So the horde moved towards me, and piled down an alley, where one zombie had gone (I figured they would follow-the-leader in that case) and I had a nice narrow opening to face them one or two at a time.  The first one was knocked down, but not killed.  Then I drew a random event...

I just know who is going to get this...

Yep.

Mark smashed the zombie down, but as he went for the finishing blow, the bat slipped from his gore-covered hands.  "Crap!  Get around the corner and into the building!"  Mark yelled as he wiped his hands on his filthy pants.  He grabbed the bat and ran after the others towards the corner.

It could have been worse, Mark activated the next turn and the zombies didn't.  I was figuring on getting inside and to relative safety and finishing the scenario as a marginal win, so I picked up the bat and moved.

Which door is open?

It made for a good cinematic moment, but I couldn't believe I had forgotten the door was barricaded.  Even if I spent the time to open it, the zeds would just pour in after me.  Well, onto plan B.

I think they found us!

View from the TV 4 helicopter over head...

I only need to get past one zombie to get to the front.  This seems doable - Allen has a machete, and Ben has a bat, we can deal with this one and run for the front.  Mark can hold for a turn and then we run for it.  If I can get everyone out of sight of the zombies, we have a good chance to get away.

"Allen - take that one down.  Ben, stand by to help out with the group when they come through.  The rest of you get around the front quick!"  Mark set his feet between the building and the heavy dumpster, ready to deal with the zombies...

So far so good.

Mark saw the group piling up around the corner.  The press of bodies threatened to overwhelm him.  Swinging furiously, Mark fought to hold his ground, but felt the pavement slowly slipping under his shoes...

Hold the line!

Again, Mark is going to earn his star status.  I figured a mass of zombies realistically could just run him over.  Not very fun to just let that happen though.  I checked how many zombies could move past him, and rolled a d6 for each one (8d6) versus Mark's rep (4d6) if the zombies scored more, it would work just like losing melee.  If Mark scores more, he stands, but doesn't kill any zombies (he's just holding them up).  It seemed reasonable.

I scored 3 successes to 3 three successes.  I figured Mark held, barely.

Not pushing my luck, I tried to open up the area, Mark fell back and I started shooting.  Predictably, more zombies started showing up.  Things started looking grim.

They're everywhere!

Not how I want to go out.

Step up and..

Put 'em down.

Ben clocked one down with the butt of his shotgun.  Mark was swinging away as the zombies crashed into them.  The zombies were not going to stop.  The crackling of gunfire shattered the morning air, the boom from Ben's shotgun reverberating off the walls.  Mark could feel the hail of bullets stream around him as he pummeled a pair of zombies down to the ground.  As the smoke cleared, and Ben's shotgun clicked empty, everyone had a moment of hope.

The next waves come in.

Maybe its help?

Nope.  Just one zombie from the last PEF

"Go for the front!"  Mark wanted to get off the street.  If they could get past this group, maybe it would be clear.  "Just get inside, but stop shooting!"

Close Combat

Is that a zombie around the side?

Dawn managed to make it to the door.  She found it open, and was about to push inside when a dragging sound came from her left.  A zombie shuffled around the corner, outstretched arms covered in gore.  Yelling at Cindy she ran back up the street.

Any more?

Stop shooting!  Start running!

Even though Allen shot when he was charged, it worked out okay.  He managed to kill one and knock a second zombie down.  The horde was definitely broken at this point.  Now the group moved around the front, with some people going inside, and Mark hanging out front for the last two zombies to come close.

I need a good workout

Mark stood outside yelling at the last pair of zombies.  "Over here you rotten bastards!  I got what you need!"  He clubbed them down and split their heads.  When no more appeared, he figured the area was as clear as it would get.  "Let's hit the bar while its clear."  Mark said from the doorway.  The others all moved out with him.

Maybe we shouldn't split up

The groups split up to search the bar and the two cars parked behind the buildings.  After the first search (luckily no zombies!) I came to my senses and kept everyone together for the last car.  No zombies, thankfully.  I did manage to find a pistol, two units of food, and  two units of luxury items.  the group retired to the abandoned building after this.

The after game checks went well.  Mark advanced a rep, to go to 5.  Very nice.  Allen also increased, going to 4.  Nobody else managed an increase, but everyone decided to stay (Dawn won't have to check after the next, mark more than doubled her successes.)

Mark proved himself a star in my mind.  I am going to have a new 'survivor' fig done for him.  I may do the same for the girls as well.  I realized as I was playing I need to make up some more survivors!  I have several gangers, cops and such, but I have not been making many survivor types.  Luckily I have the the Men and Women sets from Wargames Factory, plus some hero/horror Clix I can convert.

Quite the busy morning!  I figured I would have some trouble, but I didn't expect this.  Still, I more than doubled the size of my band.  The next scenario is going to be trying to get out of the city, although I think they will be using Allen's big rig (its all they have available that will carry them all.)