ATZ-FFO Campaign, Game 6: Evacuation!

Introduction

At Golden Hills, the residents had finished clearing up the mess from the first zombie attack (see here).  They were gathered in the park to hold a short memorial for Captain Salty, when there was a roar of engines as a convoy of vehicles approached.  The survivors watched a couple of soldiers approach them, wondering what would happen next.

The Scenario

The National Guard have orders to evacuate all civilians and take them to a safe holding camp.  Of course, the survivors may decide that they don't want to be evacuated.  And there will also be zombies...

Survivors

• John: REP 6 survivalist, pistol, camera.  Followed around by Laddie, REP 2 Shetland collie.
• Bomber: REP 6 survivalist, police-issue shotgun, baseball bat.  In charge of Clancy, REP 6 Irish wolfhound.
• Darcy and Lizzie: REP 5 married survivalists, each with a pistol.
• Gertrude and Albert: REP 2 elderly citizens.  Gertrude has a chainsaw.
• Abe: REP 3 elderly citizen.  He drives a mobility scooter and has a hunting rifle.
• Edna, the crazy cat lady: REP 2 elderly citizen.  Always surrounded by cats.

National Guard

• Lieutenant Costner: REP 5 military, BA pistol.
• Corporal Van Damme: REP 4 military, assault rifle
• Connery: REP 4 military, assault rifle (drives the GPV)
• Dalton: REP 3 military (drives the first truck)
• Eastwood: REP 3 military (drives the second truck)

I decided that the survivors would place all their figures first, not knowing what was about to happen.  The convoy would then arrive and a "meet and greet" would be carried out between the 2 sides.  Once that was concluded then the game proper would start with the arrival of an appropriate number of zombies along random table edges.

The area was judged to be suburban and the encounter level was 3.  These are both a bit higher/more dangerous than in the previous game over the same terrain ; the zombie plague is definitely spreading.  No PEFs will be used for this game (there are enough humans on the board already!)

Meet and Greet

"We've come to evacuate you" called Lieutenant Costner to John and the other survivors.  "Please make your way to the trucks and we'll take you somewhere safe".
"Um, where is this safe place?" asked John.
"I can't tell you" confessed the officer.  "We'll receive instructions when we've loaded everyone up".
"And suppose we don't want to go" asked John, smiling but tense.  "What happens then?"
"Ah, err.  I...  Just give me a moment while I contact my commander" Costner fluffed (Lieutenant Costner lost the meet-and-greet roll badly!).  However, he never got a chance to ask for clarification; just at that moment Corporal Van Damme shouted out "STAND TO!" as hordes of zombies approached from all sides.



(A total of 39 zombies were placed initially; I think this must be a record for any of my games!  They came from every side of the table.)

Surrounded!

Straight away, John and Bomber opened fire on the nearest group of zombies...

...with considerable success!  However, considering the numbers facing them, this was just a drop in the ocean.

Back at the convoy, the troops were in trouble.  Zombies besieged both trucks and managed to smash the door and window of Eastwood's vehicle.

Connery manned the M240 MMG on the roof of his patrol vehicle and began gunning down the mob that was approaching from the west.  However, it didn't seem to matter how many he destroyed; there just seemed to be more and more of them!  (By the end of the game, this player had acquired such a reputation for attracting zombies with his several characters that all the other players demanded I prevent him from shooting!)

Lieutenant Costner ran back to help his men, but didn't make it all the way before he came face-to-face with one of the approaching undead.

Meanwhile, the rest of the survivors and Corporal Van Damme ran about in a panic in the middle of the village, not knowing where to turn as the northern horde came closer!

Respite

Just as the situation looked truly grim, a small miracle occurred.  For several turns in a row, the zombies failed to activate and just stood around moaning or shuffling forward very slowly.  John organised a firing line along with Bomber and Van Damme; together they did considerable damage to the largest horde of zombies in the north:

Once this area had been quietened down a bit, Van Damme led Albert and Gertrude into the nearest house and started to barricade the door.  Bomber stayed outside, mopping up the closest straggler zombies.

Eastwood used the pause firstly to kick out the zombie that had already entered the cab of his truck.  He then grabbed his automatic rifle and fired on it and the group that were following.  All were knocked down, but none killed before Eastwood ran out of ammunition.

The resourceful soldier threw his useless gun onto the floor of the truck,started the engine and began to drive.  The heavy vehicle wasn't going fast, but its all-terrain suspension took it straight over the 3 zombies, crushing them instantly.

In the lead truck, Dalton wasn't so lucky.  Although the zombies hadn't yet managed to break into his cab, he had tried (and failed) repeatedly to start his vehicle.  The flooded engine backfired noisily, as more and more zombies appeared in the middle distance.

Finally, Darcy reached the GPV just as Connery was about to drive it away.  The lieutenant also reached the GPV, having dispatched the zombie that he had encountered, but decided to stand directly in front of the vehicle (so that he couldn't be attacked from behind?).  The infuriated Connery couldn't move forward without running down his officer and couldn't reverse because of the truck right behind him.

On the bright side, Darcy proved to be a natural with the MMG and started to thin out the zombie hordes that were attracted by all the noise.  Lizzie stood just outside the vehicle, taking down lone zombies with careful, single shots.

Exodus

Eastwood continued to drive his truck steadily along the road, crushing zombie after zombie with the big tyres (in FFO, vehicles keep moving even when the driver doesn't activate.  The zombies were lined up nicely and didn't really stand much of a chance when hit by the 5 ton truck).

John ran north, to try to finish off the last couple of zombies that were blocking the way there.  He flattened one in hand-to-hand combat, but had to leave Abe and Edna in order to do this.

Abe had spent much of the game on the path in the middle of the housing , taking potshots at distant zombies and cursing manfully when he invariably missed.  However, a straggler broke through the thin ring of defenders and was nearly on him.

John saw the danger too late; he tried to run back to protect Abe but couldn't make it in time.  Instead, it was Edna who plucked up courage enough to attack the shambling creature.  For a horrible moment, the 2 of them were tied in combat...

...but then the old lady brought her walking stick crashing down on its skull and dropped the zombie like a pro (she won the melee by 1 point, then predictably rolled the necessary '1' to kill it!).

It now looked as if the southwest would be the best escape route.  With John's assistance and encouragement, Abe and Edna made it to the vehicles, just as the convoy set off.  Corporal Van Damme saw them going and leaped out of the window of the cottage where he had been hiding with Gertrude and Albert.  "Wait for me!" he called, as he ran after the departing trucks.
Large numbers of zombies were now approaching from the southeast; the survivors barely managed to escape; even this was only possible because Lizzie and Darcy continued to pick off the closest threats.

Bomber and Clancy had no trouble in shooting their way through the pack of zombies to the northeast; they made their escape on foot in that direction.

Aftermath

Amazingly, nobody died!  I ran out of kill markers for the zombies, hence the variety of such tokens in some of the later photos.  Even so, there were still plenty of zeds roaming the table at the end of the game.

The party did get well and truly split up.  All the soldiers made their escape in the convoy, as did 2 of the pensioners, Darcy, Lizzie, John and his dog.  Bomber escaped in the opposite direction, but the remaining 2 pensioners were forgotten and left behind.

"Lie down and keep quiet" hissed Gertrude.  The elderly couple huddled together behind the settee, whilst from outside came noises: shuffling, moaning, shuffling, moaning...

Updates:
Game 7 tells what happened next to Bomber and Clancy.
Game 8 gives the further adventures of John, Darcy, Lizzie and the convoy of guardsmen.