Scenery: Small Church

Just a small chunk of scenery, a small church.  This started as a small decorative building for a Christmas village.  It had a small bulb inserted through a hole in the back, which I removed and filled in.

It fits the bill

I covered the interior walls with some scrap book paper.  I also covered the floor, hoping for a tile like pattern.  I'm not trying to get a great representation of a church, the model is much too small for that, but it should work out for a small roadside chapel.

Under construction

I covered the roof in corrugated card, trying to get a tile like look.  I am pretty happy with the results, the roof texture looks better than the smooth roof of the original.

The doors are a pain

It should work fine for a quick stand in for a church in most uses.  It took longer than I expected, but I'm pretty happy with the results.

Open interior, need some details

Next up is Zomtober...  Time to paint some zombies!

On Down the Road

"We should find a car."  Dawn said as she and Jack walked along the country highway.  The sun was just peeking over the trees in the area, promising a hot June day ahead.
"Or a truck.  Hell anything with wheels."  Jack agreed.  "Maybe some more people too."
Dawn walked in silence for a bit before responding.  "Only if they're heading our way."
"I'm with ya there.  We're heading for that farm of yours."  Jack stretched out his arms as he walked and continued.  "It's going to be a long trip and more eyes to watch our backs would be nice.  Maybe not sleeping in a wrecked Suburban again for a while also..."

It is morning of Day 60.  Dawn and Jack are walking east, making for the farm where Dawn's friends are living, a couple hundred miles away.  They have left the immediate area of the FEMA camp, and are looking for a vehicle to use to make the trip quicker and easier.  They could also use supplies, and anything might be useful.  The area is rural, ER 2, with three PEFs, zombies appear on a 6,  and there are two zombies already on the board.  I am using very tight ammo and scarce looting rules.

Success for the scenario is surviving, finding either a usable vehicle or supplies and escaping the table.  They both must exit the table on the road opposite from where they enter.

Dawn and Jack walking down the road

The zombies are fairly quiet, they will simply wander around until the survivors make some noise.  Dawn and Jack get to move ahead without much worry.

Passing some wrecks, they spot an ATV

Check out the cabin?

Walking past some burned out wrecks, Jack spotted a small ATV parked nearby a cabin just off the road.  "Maybe we check out that?"  Jack pointed to the small multi-wheeled vehicle.

"I don't know how far it can take us."  Dawn countered, considering.  "It would be better than walking though..."

"Let's check the cabin, maybe the keys are in there."  Jack suggested.

The cabin has occupants!

Dawn and Jack make short work of them.

 After they storm the cabin, outside one of the PEFs moves closer.  Dawn and Jack spend a turn searching, but come up empty.  When they go to leave, Dawn decides to expose the nearby PEF.  I'd rather trigger it before it moves closer.

Something lurks in the road

Dawn wants to find out what it is!

Dawn stepped out of the cabin, the quiet morning air broken by a thump just beyond the low stone wall nearby.  "Stay with me, I think I heard something."  She whispered to Jack and jogged to the road.  Rounding the corner of the wall, she skidded to a stop as three zombies staggered along the roadside in front of her.  Leveling her pistol, Dawn took aim at the trio...

Dawn finds zombies

The PEF resolves as three zombies.  It's been quiet, but Dawn shoots, hitting and killing two zombies.  Finally some great dice!  Jack jogs up to Dawn and finishes off the third zed.  Of course, now two more zombies appear...

Jack finishes off the zombies

Two more appear near the cars

The zombies go first the next turn, closing in on Dawn and Jack.

Zombies move closer

Jack and Dawn shoot the zeds

Predictably, one more zombie arrives, another moves closer (getting stuck in the pond), and a PEF moves closer.  Dawn gets a chance to reveal the PEF, and moves forward.

Dawn sees a chance to check the pond

What lurks by the trees?

The PEF is nothing, but it does increase the ER to 3.  Jack moves up and checks the sedan parked in the road.

Jack checks the car

As dawn watched the zombie struggle through the waste deep water of the pond, Jack checked the black sedan to see if it could run.  Quickly he checked the back seats, and aside from some stains on the tan leather, the car seemed empty.  Looking at the steering column, Jack could see it had been hot wired before.  "Looks like it could be drivable!" he yelled.

"We should look for more gas."  Dawn replied, watching the zombie splashing through pond ahead.

"There's only a couple of the dead here.  Let's take 'em down real quiet and then search that house.  There's bound to be something useful in there." Jack suggested.

Dawn waits by the pond

The next turn, the survivors go first, Dawn moves close to the pond, waiting for the zombie to crawl out.  Jack moves up to cover her back.

Dawn faces a soggy zombie

With a wet slapping sound, Dawn swung her machete through the skull of the zombie as it clawed its way out of the sucking mud of the pond.  The lifeless body fell into the reeds along the shore.  Wiping the jellied gunk from the zombie from her machete, Dawn nearly retched.  "Ugh.  That was even more disgusting than usual."

"Damn woman, you've seen worse than that."  Jack said over his shoulder, taking aim at a lone zombie wandering just across the driveway.  "Want me to just plug 'em?"

"No.  Wait, I'll handle it."  Dawn said, twirling the machete in her hand, anxious to to get to the undead.

One left

Dawn charges the undead farmer

 Dawn wins the melee after charging the last zombie.  The board is clear of zeds, and there is a lone PEF in the house to deal with.  It hasn't wanted to move yet, and it stays put as Jack and Dawn head to the garage and investigate.

Dawn and Jack head for the garage

Dawn checked the door to the garage, it was unlocked.  "Let's check in here.  Hopefully we can get some more gas for the car."

Carefully opening the door, Dawn let her eyes adjust to the dim interior before moving very far.  The hot stale air of the garage held an odor of oil and hay.  Crates and barrels, plus tools and other odds and ends were scattered through the building.

"Looks like it's empty."  Jack whispered.  "Let's hope there is some gas at least."

The sound of a shotgun action racking cut the silence.  "You may want to rethink that."  An older man said, raising up from behind a set of crates.  "This is my farm, and you are not welcome here..."

Entering the garage, the deck reveals a lone survivor

Meet Zachary, the farm owner

The meet and greet goes poorly, Dawn and Zachary each get three successes.  They exchange pleasantries, and that's all.  I decide they can trade as well, and Jack trades his luxury item for 2 units of fuel for the car.  It's enough for now, so they leave the farmer alone and check a gas tank nearby, heading for the car.

Reckon we got us some gasoline?

I make quick ruling that the tank has 3 - d6 units of fuel, so 0-2 possible.  I roll a 1, and they find 2 units!  Sweet, they have most of the gas they need to get some distance in the car.  As they head back to the car, they stop and check the wrecker truck for anything useful.

The truck proves to be empty

Jack tossed the empty can in the trunk after filling the car with fuel.  Jumping in the driver's side, he worked the ignition, starting the car.  "It's been sitting for awhile, but seems fine."  He said, looking over the dash and then backing into the road.

"Let's make it a bit more bearable in here."  Dawn said, turning on the air conditioning.  Cool air flooded the car, slowly cooling the hot interior as they drove down the highway.

Driving down the road

They found a car and got some fuel.  We'll call it a success.  Dawn gets two successes versus one for Jack on keeping it together.  Jack will stick around, plus we don't need to check after the next mission.  They need to find some more fuel to be able to 'travel', but at least they are a little more mobile!

A New Path

The air was heavy from the humidity and morning sun.  Dawn sat drowsy on the riding mower's seat as Jack finished a bottle of water, sitting nearby on a bag of potting soil.  Birds chirped outside, giving the impression of a normal early morning.  "Well, let's hope today goes better for us."  Jack offered.
"I hope so."  Dawn sounded weary.  "It can't be worse.  Well, I guess it could be..."  She shuddered.
"We ain't done yet, sweetheart."  Jack said, flashing a grin at Dawn.  "Let's get moving, you'll feel better doing something besides thinking about what went wrong."
Sighing heavily, Dawn brushed off her pants and stood up.  "Where do we go?"  She asked Jack, adding "The house, head east for my friends, or somewhere else?"
Jack rubbed his chin for a moment, then looked at Dawn.  "Let's see where the zombies are, and just go the other way."

It is morning of Day 59.  Dawn and Jack start roughly centered on the table, in a shed they have spent the night in.  The area is suburban ER 5, there are 4 zombies on the board (2d6) and 3 PEFs.  Victory conditions are pretty straightforward - survive and exit the board on any roadway.  They are just trying to get away from the immediate area, they will head either back to the safe house or just continue on towards the east once they escape the table.

Doing a quick inventory, Dawn has a backpack with a unit of food, a shotgun, a SMG and a unit of luxury.  This plus her body armor, BAP and Machete.  Jack has an SMG and a knife, plus a pack with food, luxury and a BAP.  They don't need to panic yet about supplies, but they will need more if they want to get back to the farm.

Dawn is suffering from lack of sleep, and will be counting as Rep 4 until her first combat check.  Jack is his standard Rep of 4.  I am using scarce looting and really tight ammo rules as well.

Dawn of a new day

Starting off, two PEFs move closer to the shed.  Dawn fast moves towards the stone wall, and we reveal the first PEF.

The PEFs move closer

Dawn runs forward

Dawn stepped out into the early morning light, he eyes adjusted quickly from the dark shed.  She could see a couple of the dead wandering around, their attention drawn to the squeal of the shed door opening.  Keeping her pistol at the ready, Dawn trotted to her right, towards a low stone wall.  "Jack, head right and cover me."  She said as she moved forward.

Dawn's attention was focused on a lone zombie in the clearing past the wall, but movement caught her eye as she aimed.  A middle-aged man with a bolt-action rifle and a teenager crouched at the end of the wall, staring at Dawn.

"I didn't see you..." Dawn said slowly as the zombie shambled towards her.

"We're just passing through."  The man said.  "Me and my boy are just going to leave."

Two civilians meet Dawn

The PEF resolves as two civilians, one armed with a bolt action rifle, the other with a knife.  Both are rep 3.  They win the meet and greet and choose to just walk away.  Dawn shoots and misses the zombie, but Jack jogs up and takes care of it.

The zombie is killed...eventually

Three more zombies appear from the shooting.  The next turn has the zombies moving first, and one catches up to Jack.

Here they come!

One attacks Jack

Jack heard a dry dragging sound from just behind and quickly spun about.  Without even aiming, he sprayed his SMG at the undead postman sneaking up.  Several shots went wide, but several pummeled the corpse, one crashing into its head, killing it.

"That's how to do it."  Jack said with a short laugh.

Jack kills the zed

When Dawn and Jack get to move, they check the nearby campsite.  The tent and the truck both count for drawing occupants and loot.  They are both completely empty.

An empty camp

The man and boy move off, I am rolling their actions per the NPC movement rules.  The man with a rifle will fire on the nearest zombie if he has a clear shot each turn they move/activate.

The man shoots and misses

A lone zombie appears next turn, near the gas station building.  The PEF moves towards Jack and Dawn.  I'm trying to be cautious, but I'm hopeful for a better encounter from the PEF, so Jack reveals it.

Something moves closer...

Jack takes a look

 Stumbling through the brush was a lone undead teenager.  Jack paused when Dawn hissed at him "Don't shoot!  Let's stay quiet and get to the building!"

Jack nodded, breaking his aim and jogging with Dawn towards the gas station nearby.

Dawn charges the zombie

Jack catches up

Dawn and Jack are making their way into the nearby gas station, the lone zombie nearby slowly chasing them.  Meanwhile, towards the center of the table, the two civilians are looking like they may be in trouble...

Zombies close on the civilians

Jack and Dawn approach the rear door

The next turn, the civilians have a burst of speed, and they even manage to kill a nearby zombie!

They run, but the father stops to take a shot

And gets a kill!

Entering the rear door of the gas station, Dawn slowly let her eyes adjust to the gloom.  As she and Jack slowly walked through the room, small bits of debris were sent skittering across the floor.  Each time a bottle tipped or a wrapper crinkled, Dawn froze, expecting the undead to pounce.

"I think it's empty."  Jack said, relaxing after a minute.  "Maybe there's something we can use." he offered.

Dawn looked around, disappointed.  "This place looks like a mess and its been looted a few times already."  Shaking her head she continued, "Let's get going, there's noth.."

Jack stood up suddenly, a four pack of toilet paper in his hand.  "Jackpot!  Looks like they didn't get everything!"  He grinned at Dawn.

Dawn paused and couldn't help smiling, then even giggling a bit.  "Well it IS useful!"

Dawn and Jack search the store

The shop is empty, but Jack manages to find a luxury item.  They exit the front of the store, hoping the car out front is usable.

The car is out of gas, and so are the pumps..

The man and teenager make a break for the road.  Looks like they might be able to make it to safety.

The civilians make a break for it

The next turn starts with a random event.

The garage is secured

With the garage secured, a PEF close by and not much else to do, I elect to move off the board when the team activates.

Dawn and Jack escape down the road

It's a successful mission, and they start down the road to the east.  It will take some time to get away from the FEMA camp area, but they are on their way.  Now if they can find some wheels...