ATZ Game 9 - Return to Golden Hills

Introduction

In game 6 of my ATZ campaign, the small community of survivors who were living at the Golden Hills retirement complex were scattered and separated.  One elderly couple (Albert and Gertrude) was accidentally left behind, while Bomber and his dog fled to the east.  His search for a pair of companions who were out foraging at the time of the zombie attack on Golden Hills was played out in game 7.  Bomber is now returning with a motley group of civilians to try to find his friends.  The mission is to cleanse the area around Golden Hills and to find out if anyone from the community is left alive there...

The Cast

• Bomber: REP 6 survivalist with brawler, shotgun, baseball bat
• Clancy: (Bomber's Irish wolfhound) REP 6 dog with brawler
• Goofy: REP 4 survivalist with nerves of steel, shotgun, knife
• Iain: REP 4 civilian with initiative, cricket bat
• Pavel: REP 3 civilian with toy Star Trek phaser.  Suffered a sprained ankle just a few hours previously, in game 7.

Based on these stats, does anyone want to take a guess as to who dies and who lives?

The Location

"Golden Hills" is a sheltered housing complex.  This part of it consists of 4 cottages, of which the grey one at the front left was smashed up and invaded by zombies during game 6.  There is also a nearby filling station as well as some lock-up garages.  These latter have been previously fortified by the residents and contain their small stock of emergency supplies.

The Action

Bomber and his companions approached cautiously from the corner near the lock-up garage.  The men could see a number of zombies on the road just ahead of them, but these were all facing the other way and did not spot the humans.  The zombies just stood on the spot, heads bowed (several failed activation rolls in a row!)
As quietly as possible, Goofy opened the nearest garage door and led Iain into the stronghold.  They rummaged about for a while, trying to keep as quiet as possible.  Iain stuck a small pistol into his pocket, whilst Goofy grabbed a lumber axe.  He strode outside and pressed the axe into Pavel's trembling hands.
"Here you go.  This'll work better than that toy" he said.
"But I don't know how to wield an axe" responded Pavel.  "I can't fight!  Anyway, this is a genuine, original series, Mark II phaser.  It cost a lot of money!"
In response, the taciturn Goofy just grabbed the fibreglass prop and threw it over the roof of the garages.
"Use the axe!" he commanded.

The humans crept forwards to the corner of the garages.  Still the zombies just stood there, not moving.
"What's the plan?" asked Goofy.  "What do we do?"

As Bomber looked round to answer, he saw Iain go pale (random event!)
"Hey, what's up, man?" he asked.
Iain gulped.  "That one over there" he said, pointing to one of the nearby zombies.  "She was my next door neighbour."  He paused, then added "I had the hots for her."
"Wow.  Tough break."
"I'll be OK.  Look, if we're going to do this then let's get on with it!" (Iain passed 2d6 and was therefore able to continue without penalty).

Quickly, Bomber and Goofy stepped into the road and fired their shotguns at the 3 zombies standing in the road.  The undead didn't stand a chance and all 3 were felled without even seeing their attackers.
At the same time, Iain and Clancy ran to attack the other group of zeds, just round the corner of the garages.  The man and the dog both knocked down their respective opponents, but both zombies were still moving.  Pavel stood rooted to the spot with fright, clutching the big axe to his chest.

Bomber and Goofy ran into the melee to help, even though both still had their shotguns in their hands rather than their melee weapons.  Between them, the 3 men and the big dog put down the 4 zombies who had been standing on the wasteland.  But it was taking too long and all the time more zombies were arriving in ones and in twos.  Pavel just stood still, watching as another pair of the creatures approached slowly along the road.

Finally, as the newcomers were almost on him, Pavel snapped into action.  He dodged around the clumsy pair and fled further up the road, screaming.

Having finished off his melee opponent, Goofy turned round to find no sign of Pavel - and zombies approaching him from the rear.  He reloaded his shotgun quickly and blew away the creatures.

Bomber and Clancy had moved on a short way, into the small park.  There, the man stood on top of one of the park benches and fired his shotgun several times to exterminate more clusters of approaching zombies.  Whilst removing the immediate threat, this did attract several more...

Pavel ran round the end of the first cottage he came to, straight into a group of 3 zombies.  They were far to close to dodge this time!

Desperately, he swung the axe at his attackers.  His clumsy strokes knocked down 2 of the zombies and he managed to fend off the remaining one, for now.  Pavel called out for help, praying that his new friends would come quickly.

The other members of the party had just finished off the last of their targets when they heard the cries.  They ran in the direction of the screams, but Goofy and Clancy were a bit too slow and couldn't quite make it.  Iain was fast enough, but hesitated when he saw the zombies; he failed to attack (as a civilian, he had to take the "brown pants" test).  Only Bomber charged home, quickly felling one of the 3 zombies.
However, it was just too late.  The terrified Pavel was killed before their eyes by the other 2 monsters.

With a roar of anger, the remaining humans and the dog destroyed the remaining zombies in this group.

The survivors moved into the Golden Hills complex and started to search the houses for clues as to the whereabouts of their friends. However, they hadn't gone far before they heard ominous noises from behind them.  Looking round, they saw that a new pair of zombies had found Pavel's body and were starting to tear chunks off it and eat them!

This was too much for Bomber and Goofy!  The 2 men, closely followed by Clancy, raced back to the scene and wiped out the new zombies.

Then, with Iain's help, they dragged what was left of Pavel's corpse into the nearest cottage and found a sheet to wrap it up.  They would bury the body properly later.

The party continued to explore the cottages.  The next one (which was Captain Salty's residence when he was still alive) had been broken into by zombies before.  It was no great surprise to discover that the temporary repairs to the door and windows had failed.  2 further zombies were lurking inside the cottage, though these were easily dispatched by the battle-hardened survivors.

By now, there were only a couple of zombies wandering about outside.  One of them saw the team as they left Salty's cottage, though the humans had no difficulty in killing it quietly.

Finally, the men approached Albert and Gertrude's house.  This pair of pensioners had been left behind inadvertently when everyone else fled from Golden Hills (in game 6).
"The door's stuck" exclaimed Goofy as he tried the handle.
"Here, let me try" said Bomber.  It did seem to be jammed, almost as if something had been pushed against it from the inside.  Bomber gave it a kick and it flew open.  He charged into the building, baseball bat at the ready.
2 figures rose up from near the fridge.  The old woman was trying to start her chainsaw, whilst the man was waving a walking stick.
"Woah!  Steady on; it's only us!" called Bomber quickly.
"Hi, Mr and Mrs P." said Goofy.
It was indeed Albert and Gertrude, who had been hiding behind the couch for the best part of a day.  They had been prepared to sell their lives dearly to any intruders; their relief on being rescued was enormous!

The final zombie was now approaching the cottage, oblivious to the group of humans inside it.  However, they saw it through the windows.
"This ends, now" said Bomber.  He strode out of the front door and up to the side of the building.  When the zombie came round the corner, he beat it to death with his bat.

Aftermath

The mission was a success, in that the party did retake Golden Hills and did find Albert and Gertrude, alive.  This gave the survivors a chance to increase their REP.  Both Bomber and Goofy made the right rolls for this, though Iain and Clancy did not.  This means that the group is now equipped like this:

• Bomber: REP 7 (!) survivalist with brawler, shotgun, baseball bat
• Clancy: (Bomber's Irish wolfhound) REP 6 dog with brawler
  
• Goofy: REP 5 survivalist with nerves of steel, shotgun, knife, lumber axe
• Iain: REP 4 civilian with initiative, pistol, cricket bat

In addition, Iain has killed at least 3 zombies and has passed the See the Feast test.  In order to upgrade from Civilian, he now only needs to cause damage to an armed human.  Hmm.

So where do they go from here?  Golden Hills still doesn't look like a defensible position.  However, if Bomber's crew leave the area then how will they find the other group of friends (led by John the photographer)?  John's group were taken off to a resettlement camp, but no-one seems to know where that is.  What to do next?  And can a REP 7 character ever miss a target or be beaten in combat?

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.

ATZ-FFO Campaign, Game 5. The Battle of Golden Hills (Part 2)

 (continued from part 1)

Trapped?

As the residents frantically barricaded the front door and windows of Gertrude & Albert's cottage, more zombies were approaching from the north-west.
By now, PEF-6 had come into the open and was resolved as a false alarm - but it had raised the encounter level to 2.
It wasn't any great surprise when we had the first random event of the game - a car alarm went off!  Obviously, the blue car had a sensitive motion detector and the nearby lurching of the zombies triggered it.  The creatures milled around the vehicle, temporarily distracted from their quest for meat!

John and Darcy could only watch as more and more zombies gathered around the front of the cottage.  Occasionally, one of them would catch sight of one of the men standing in the open, but careful shots from John's or Darcy's pistol took them down before they could get too close.

Another random event occurred; it was with a sinking feeling that the humans remembered the nearby lockup garages.  They had spent effort in preparing them as a refuge some time previously, but obviously no-one could reach them now!

Back at the cottage, the zombies were massing and the barricades were failing.  Just before the mob broke through, Bomber hustled the old folks back into the bedroom.  He took a look around, wondering whether he should attempt a last stand on his own (well, with Clancy the wolfhound), but thought better of it and followed the other humans.

Even as Bomber closed the door behind him and the group prepared to barricade it, trouble came from behind.  The zombies who were distracted by the car alarm had lost interest in it and continued to shamble up the road.  When they saw the flurry of activity behind the bedroom curtains, they immediately started pounding on the window, breaking the glass and reaching in to grab whatever they could!

This was Clancy's moment.  With a low "wuff", he leaped at the intruders and sent them sprawling!  In FFO, beating a zombie in melee doesn't automatically dispatch it.  You use your margin of victory as "impact" when assessing damage, so it pays to win big!  Otherwise the opponent will be knocked down - and a knocked-down zombie will just get back up again.

Quick as a flash, Bomber and Salty rushed to the window and opened fire with shotgun and pistol.  They both hit their targets; the shotgun blew apart one of the enemy, but Salty's shots merely thudded into the zombie's body without crippling it.

A Change of Heart!

At the front of the cottage, the door and one of the windows finally crashed open as the last of the barricade was swept aside.  Then, one of those game-changing moments occurred.  A random event was indicated and a "He's over here!" card was drawn.  This is not a part of ATZ-FFO, but rather is one of the new events in my random event deck.  It has the effect of making zombies suddenly take notice of a character of whom they were previously oblivious.

There was a brief pause as the mob at the front of the cottage hesitated before entering.  In that moment, Laddie gave a little yelp of excitement.  The crowd of zombies turned, saw the man standing in the open and immediately lurched eagerly in his direction.  "Bollocks!" exclaimed John, as he turned and fled.

At the same time, Salty and Bomber continued to fire on the remaining zombies at the back of the cottage, destroying both with ease.  In FFO, dice rolls for gunshots or other noise are now made immediately, rather than at the end of the turn.  Although the humans had been lucky so far and hadn't attracted any more zombies, their luck turned as Salty's shots caused a newcomer to enter the table right behind an unsuspecting Darcy.

Despite being taken by surprise, Darcy managed to disable his attacker.  There is no specific penalty for a rear attack in FFO, although a character won't be able to use a melee weapon in such a situation.

Darcy then ran round the back of the nearest cottage, as some of the zombie mob split off from chasing John in order to pursue him instead.  He had intended to climb through a window and join Bomber's group, but decided that the pursuit was too close to attempt this.  Instead, he just kept running...

This is The End, My Friend.

The zombies lost sight of Darcy fairly quickly.  However, they were now perfectly positioned to see the huddled group in the back bedroom.  One of them broke the glass and leaned inside, champing and clawing at whatever it could reach.  As the pensioners screamed, Salty collapsed to the floor.  "He bit me!" mumbled the Captain, before he started to convulse.  In FFO, you test immediately on being wounded or stunned by a zombie to see if you are infected.  If so then you might change into a zombie yourself, on a '1' on your first activation, '1' or '2' on the second activation and so on.  Salty failed the "Harry" test and then rolled a '1'.

"Everybody, get out of here!  Now!" yelled Bomber.  The residents were only too happy to obey and left the bedroom as quickly as they could.  "Sorry, mate" he whispered, as he chambered a shell in his shotgun and blew away the newly risen Salty zombie.

Another random event!  This time it was "out of fuel", which wasn't too important since no-one was driving at the time.  However, for future reference, it's Darcy's red compact that is empty.

More and more of the zombie horde clustered around the bedroom window.  "Come and get it, you dead b*stards!" yelled Bomber, as he exterminated them ruthlessly with his shotgun.  He was past caring about the noise now; he just wanted revenge.  Bomber was very lucky with his rolls to attract zombies.  Out of 36 or more dice for noise, he only generated 2 new zeds, but he killed many more than that!

A Walk in the Park

Meanwhile, John and Laddie were hotly pursued by the other, smaller part of the mob.  Laddie didn't seem to understand the new game very well and fell behind.  Just as John turned round to see where the dog was, the 2 leading zombies reached for him!

Laddie ran between the legs of one of the clumsy zeds and tripped him up, even as the other clutched at him and missed.  Amazingly, the REP 2 dog won one melee (by 1) and was evenly matched in the other!

 Without hesitating, John pulled out his pistol and fired into the melee.  He killed one zombie outright and knocked down the last one, before calling Laddie to heel.  FFO has rules for firing into a crowd.  Roughly, if you hit your target then that's fine.  If you miss by a wide margin then you miss completely.  But if you almost hit the intended target then you actually hit something else close by.  John's shooting was very, very accurate and he didn't hit Laddie!  Mind you, I forgot in the heat of the moment that an Impact 1 pistol doesn't cause knockdowns!

Back in Abe's cottage, Lizzie was peering out of the window.  She could see Albert, Gertrude and Edna preparing to flee from the furthest cottage.  She also saw a single zombie come round the end of the cottage after them.

Quickly, Lizzie explained the situation to Abe.
"Can you shoot, miss?" he asked.  "I reckon your hands are steadier than mine".  She nodded, so he passed her his hunting rifle.

Carefully, Lizzie edged the window open and stuck the rifle through the opening.  She took careful aim, squeezed the trigger and shot the zombie through the head.

That's All, Folks...

Sadly, at this point, we ran out of time and had to pack up.  However, there were only 2 or 3 scattered zombies left on the table and all the PEFs had been resolved as nerves or figments of the imagination.  From that point of view, the game was all but over, so I ruled that the remaining humans could have hunted down and destroyed the surviving zeds reasonably easily.

John, Bomber, Darcy and Lizzie had all killed zombies and the victory conditions for the game were met (i.e. defend the homes).  All four were therefore eligible to roll for an increase in REP and astonishingly, all of them were successful!.  That means that John and Bomber are now both REP-6 hard men and Darcy and Lizzie are each a very capable REP-5.

ATZ-FFO

So, what's it like playing with ATZ:Final Fade Out?

Well, much of what we used would be very familiar to anyone who knows ATZ:BDTZ.  The initiative rolls, shooting and zombie movement are similar to the older rules, though not necessarily identical.

Many of the rules that are different from ATZ:BDTZ didn't come into play in this game.  The new In Sight test wasn't used because there weren't any other humans (In Sight isn't triggered by zombies).  The FFO encounter tables weren't used because none of the PEFs was anything more than imagination.  Mind you, I would probably have used my own encounter cards anyway.  We didn't need to use the FFO vehicle rules or the campaign rules.  In the rush I forgot to apply some of the standard reaction tests (most obviously, Man Down when Salty fell and probably Zed or no zed for the old folks.  Although Bomber would likely have passed and the others intended to run away anyway, so I can claim that the outcome would have been the same if I had remembered to take these).

FFO has new (or more developed) rules to cover a number of useful situations, such as shooting into a crowd or barricading doors and windows.  Interactions between vehicles and pedestrians are better defined, whether involving shooting or charging.  Lots of things are clearer.

Melee is totally different.  I like very much the fact that the margin of victory is used in determining damage.  I'm neutral about the melee ending after one set of rolls (we used to like the to-and-fro tension as each side's pool of dice shrank with each successive roll, until finally one side failed completely), or about melee being resolved one opponent at a time (no more decisions about how to split your available dice).  I expect I'll keep using these rules as written.  I'm really not sure I like the lack of a possible failure on the Charge into melee table: the attacker will always charge home.  Finally, I'm not comfortable with the lack of a penalty for a surprise melee attack, such as from behind.  Still, these are items which are easily amended by house rules if I choose.
Finally, the penalty for losing a round of melee to a zombie is likely to be severe.  If you are bitten then you will turn into a zombie and that is likely to be sooner rather than later.  Poor Captain Salty.

Game 6 can be found here.