Helping Hand - Part 1

With a rumble, the Hummer rolled down the side street, zombies following behind.  Larry kept the speed up, trying to put distance between the truck and the horde of zombies wandering up from the highway.  "Where are we heading?"  He asked.  "We're going to run out of streets eventually..."
"North a few blocks and then we'll head to the right, go east."  Trish answered.  "We can't go too far north, the army is setup around the gas tanks up here."
"Watch Out!"  Blake yelled, dropping into the Hummer from the gunner hatch.  An explosion rattled the truck, making Larry swerve across two lanes before regaining control.
"What the hell was that?"  Dawn shouted, looking out the window.
"I saw a drone dropping out of the sky."  Blake shook his head.  "I saw a few drones and at least one helicopter flying around.  There's more smoke and explosions a few blocks southeast of here."
Larry turned a corner, avoiding a pile-up that blocked the street.  "There are a lot of wrecks out here, and more zombies too."  He said as he turned back north.  "maybe we should get off the street..."
"Keep moving, whatever is going on, if we keep moving, it will be harder for us to get caught up in it."  Dawn said.  "Let's keep an eye out for a good defensive location though, just in case."

The group has moved off the highway, and is making their way through the side streets, trying to get out of the city.  This board has a planned encounter with a pair of survivors.  They are suffering from a break down of their SUV, and will ask for help.  The PEFs will be normal, but will have a chance to be the corporate team sent to recover Trish.

This is still day 37, afternoon.  The ER is 5, zombies will spawn on a 4+ and there are 13 zombies on the board.  The team enters in the Hummer going at speed 16.

Just head down the street...

"Watch out, there are zombies wandering all over the roads."  Dawn cautioned Larry as he drove down the street.
"No problem.  I'll try and keep us moving and away from them."  Larry said, aiming for a nearby zed.
"Are there people by that SUV and camper?"  Dawn said peering ahead.  Slow down and let's see if they're friendly."
"Are you crazy?"  Trish almost screamed.  "Just keep moving, we have to get out of here!"

The first turn, nobody activates, so the only movement is the Hummer moving forward.  I hope this isn't the whole game...
As the Hummer moves forward, they clip one zombie.

It's dangerous to cross outside the crosswalks!

Passing through the intersection

Three more zombies spawn from the engine noise.  Otherwise, a very quiet start to the game.

On the next turn, the survivors go first, followed by the zombies.  Two of the PEFs will also activate, but move after the Hummer (moving vehicles move first).  Larry pulls up next to the SUV and camper, and triggers the meet and greet with the survivors there.

What do we have here?

Larry slowed down as they pulled up to the SUV.  "Stay down Blake."  Dawn said as the hummer rolled almost to a stop.  "Let's try to not intimidate these folks."
"Just go!"  Trish yelled.  "We need to keep moving!"
"Calm down.  We'll be rolling in a sec."  Blake replied.  "Maybe they can help us out.  If we never stopped for anyone, you'd be dead on the highway."
"Can we keep the argument for later?'  Dawn said as she turned towards the pair of survivors by the SUV.
"Hello!"  She yelled.

Mary and Nathan having car troubles

The meet and greet goes well, and Mary and Nathan (both rep 4 survivors, armed with BAP each) join the group.  They have an SUV that was towing a camper, but it has broken loose.  As the team stops the Hummer, planning to help either tow the camper or fix the problem, the nearby PEF moves out.

Agents Attack!

Agent Hammer saw the Hummer pull to a stop below.  He had hoped they would pause to help the other civilians, it looked like his plan was going to work.  "Eagle, we need pickup at point Sierra Four."  Hammer waited for the reply from his helicopter extraction.
"Roger.  On site in four mikes."  A choppy response came over the radio.  Hammer allowed himself a small smile.
"Team Alpha - Go."  He calmly said into his communicator.  The ambush had started.

More agents arrive

The PEF revealed as a group of corporate agents, I determined this was the strike team sent to retrieve Trish.  They gained a Hummer and 3 more agents blocking the road just ahead of the team.  The leader of the agents, Hammer is Rep 5, with BAP and Sword, he has Hard as Nails and Brawler, and is considered a Star.  The remaining agents are all Rep 4, BAP, stun gun and baton.  They all have the 'agent' advantage which gives them limited star powers, and allows them to ignore 'man down' rolls until they more than half their starting number.

I had hoped to have this ambush in another scenario later, but the dice decided to move along sooner.

The agents attack the survivors

As the agents jumped out of the Hummer, Agent Hammer pulled out the flash-bang.  "Remember we need the primary target alive.  Eliminate all others as needed.  Agent Williams, disable the truck please."  He calmly said over the communicator.

We go to in sight checks...

It could be worse...

The first of the in sights are threes, two of the agents and Dawn get to act.  The first agent is "Williams" who fires a special weapon (think one of those EMP weapons from Fast and Furious) to disable the Hummer.  He scores a hit, and the successfully kills the Hummer's engine.  It will need to be restarted, but only after two turns have elapsed can the survivors even try.

The Hummer is disabled as Dawn returns fire

Dawn fires back, hitting Williams.  She kills Williams, for what its worth.  One agent from the ground fires at Mary, but misses (she has cover from the SUV).

Man down!

The twos go next, with Larry and Mary firing on agents, knocking one out of the fight, killing another.  Larry is hit by one of the agents and goes OOF.  Agent Hammer throws his flash bang, with devastating results.

Hammer throws the flash bang

 I used the flash bang rules from Better Dead Than Zed.  In short its a 6"blast, each model takes a test - pass 2d, keep going, pass 1d, stunned, pass 0d take knock down test.

Ouch.

Dawn, Mary and Trish are stunned.  Blake goes OOF.  Nathan is the only survivor to pass the test.  He also still gets to act.

The last agent and Nathan take aim at each other

Nathan reeled from the explosion, he shook his head and looked around.  Bullets pinged off the pavement, and Nathan saw an agent firing from a nearby roof.  He raised his pistol and fired...

They both manage to kill each other

The insight checks are done, the agents on the ground pass a received fire check, and Agent hammer, being a star, passes 2d for his man down check.  I roll to see if the agents activate, and they do, acting before the zombies.  Hammer moves down and out the front of the building.  The two agents on the ground run to the Hummer and pull Trish out. (On a side note, I had declared the Hummer stopping during the survivors turn, otherwise the agents would have had to wait until next turn when it was stopped by the EMP.)

The agents grab their target

Trish couldn't focus her eyes and the ringing in her head was making her head ache.  Suddenly strong hands pulled her from the truck, easily knocking the pistol from her weak hands.  They dragged her out and into the street.  "Just stay calm, we'll get you to safety."  She heard one agent say.

The agents are making a run for the top of the nearby parking ramp, a helicopter is inbound to the top in 4 turns.  As they reach the end of the Hummer, I realize they draw line of sight to another PEF.  While zombies ignore PEFs, I figure other people can trigger them.

Another PEF comes in sight

"Hammer, we have movement in the street ahead." Agent Jenkins said into his communicator.  As the two agents cleared the end of the Hummer, he saw a military foot patrol.  As he spotted them, they saw the agents, and raised their weapons.  "Contact!  Military infantry in the street!"  Jenkins yelled, bringing his pistol up to ready.

Soldiers surprise the agents

The PEF resolves to a 4 man team of military infantry.  The dice are really pulling out all the options today.  I figure they spotted the military Hummer come under fire and are moving to support/recapture it.  The current situation makes the corporate agents enemies of the military anyway, so once they spot each other, it's time for in sight checks.
The soldiers are all Rep 4, armed with assault rifles and pistols and are protected.  The 'leader' which is the figure with his rifle pointed up, has a grenade as well.

Military in sight checks

Agents in sights

Hammer turns out to be too far away to be able to fire, so his 4 passes are wasted.  Agent Jenkins manages to fire and  knock one soldier OOF.  The remaining soldier fire on the agents.  They fire on the agent carrying Trish, one soldier misses completely, and runs out of ammo!  The other two soldiers manage two hits, one hits Trish and she goes OOF, the other shot kills the agent.  Really poor shooting from the soldiers.

That's just...terrible.

The soldiers roll, and don't activate this turn.  Finally it's time for the zombies to act...

Zombies crash into the soldiers

In melee, the soldiers fare a little better.  They manage to kill one zed, and knock down another.  After all the shooting another 12 zombies spawn, attracted by all the gunfire.

Zombies roam the streets

Finally that ends turn 2.  Hard to believe that was all one turn.

To be continued...

On a side note, this has been a crazy month.  No excuses, just lots of work and family stuff.  I'll get the next part to this up soon, no 3 week gap this time!