ATZ Campaign, Game 3: HELP! (part 2)

 ...continued from part 1.

The 6 O'Clock News

The reason that Nancy hadn't noticed as everyone else ran past her was this: she'd just seen a news team coming through the car park.  She and Goofy led a very private life together and she wasn't sure that she wanted to appear on camera.  What could she do to prevent it?

The decision was swiftly taken from her.  Just as the camera panned in her direction, the zombies that were chasing the men of the party came round the building.

Attacked from behind, the small woman never stood a chance.  The cameraman gaped with horror, but kept filming as the zombies tore her down and then disappeared behind the concrete barrier to eat the remains!

Meanwhile...

Not far away, John, Goofy and the rest of the men faced the 2 police officers across a side road.  There was some hesitation: both sides saw that the other had guns drawn and no-one wanted to make the first move.  Again, events moved on without them.  Just as John was about to call out a friendly greeting, a large pack of zombies came shuffling round the corner of the burger bar.

Everyone froze as they tried to re-orientate themselves to this new threat (bad activation rolls!).  The horde drew closer and closer...

Officer Callahan reacted first.  He turned and fled as the zombies charged, leaving his partner in the lurch!  Officer Columbo managed to knock one zombie down with a snap shot before he disappeared beneath a mass of bodies.

The party stood appalled; their hopes dashed.  It seemed that the best they could do now would be to creep past whilst the zombies were occupied with the policeman's body.  But as they watched, they realised that the fight wasn't over.

Officer Columbo beat down the first rank of the undead with his baton and then braced his pistol.  He was as calm as if on a firing range as he gunned down one zombie after another with fast but carefully-placed shots.

By the time that Salty, Goofy and Bomber regained their wits and rushed forward to lend a hand, there were almost no zombies left standing.  Even as they finished off the remnants, the cop had rushed off to kill a zombie straggler coming round the back of the police station.

The news team caught up with the guys as they stood and stared at the carnage.  "How did this happen?" asked the lady reporter.  "Did you do this?"
"Well, not really" replied Bomber.  He wished to make a good impression, so he surreptitiously wiped his bloody baseball bat on the edge of his coat.  "It was mostly that officer over there.  We assisted, but he's a real hero!"
"And you, sir" she continued, turning to Goofy.  "Could you tell us what you saw?"
"No comment!" was the surly reply.

As Columbo returned, Bomber and Captain Salty begged him to come with them to help protect the retirement village.  The reporter asked him for "a few words for our viewers".  Both requests were met with the same curt response of "Go home, citizens!  It's dangerous here and I cannot protect you all.  Go home!".  The cop then noticed the zombies that were now approaching after having finished feeding off Nancy's corpse.  Without a further word, he dashed off to slaughter them too!

The party quickly decided to go the other way.  They planned to enter the police station in case there was anyone else who could assist them.  Indeed, John was muttering something about "...going to report that guy!" as he led the way.  The others were delayed a little by the need to kill the odd lone zombie.

After having filmed the scene and done a brilliant piece to camera which just happened to include officer Columbo dispatching yet another zombie, the news team decided it was time to leave.  There would be quite a lot for them to put on the evening news, assuming that not everywhere was blacked out and unable to receive their report!

As Captain Salty and John walked through the doors of the police station, Salty casually announced "Ah, I'm down to my last bullet".  Goofy was just behind them, but hadn't quite made it through the door.  As John glanced at Salty with exasperation, 3 zombie cops rose up from behind the desk and charged!

John and Salty both fired snap shots and each managed to knock down one of their attackers.  The remaining one shambled towards John, who swung his camera case at the zombie and flattened it.  "Thank goodness for all those spare batteries", he said.  "I never thought I'd be glad of all that weight!".  The other 2 zombies lay on the ground moaning as John and Salty walked up and hit them repeatedly until they stopped moving.

"I heard noises from behind that door" claimed John.  He and Goofy opened it carefully and looked through.

Officers Webb and Dibble stood in the corridor, each looking thoroughly frightened.  "Hey!  You shouldn't be in here.  This is a restricted area!" shouted Webb.
"We need some help" replied John.  "Please, we need your help!"
But it was no use.  The officers were too traumatised to listen and could only repeat "Get out!  This is a restricted area!".

Reluctantly, the team gave up trying to convince the cops and left them to their fate.  But John wasn't going to give up that easily.  "There must be someone here who will listen to us" he claimed.  They tried the locker room

...but all they found in there was a full frontal, nude zombie (the horror!).  This was easily dispatched.

At this point, the strain began to tell.  "There's no-one here" said Goofy.  "We should go."
"No!" shouted John.  "There must be someone!  I haven't come all this way to give up now!"
"Give it up!" replied Goofy.  "They're all gone.  Or worse."  He turned and left, just as Bomber came into the lobby.
"What's eating him?  Ah, no pun intended, sorry."
"Come on" said John in desperation.  "We haven't looked upstairs yet."

But there was no-one upstairs either.  John and Salty searched the chief's office; there was a box of donuts on the table (still fresh), but no people.  Bomber looked in the squad room; the place was a mess and looked as if a hurricane had hit it.  Still, there was nothing moving in it.  "I'm having this!" Bomber said quietly to himself when he saw a pump-action shotgun sticking out from beneath some files.

As they left the building, the trio ran to catch up with Goofy.  He was some way down the street by this time, with Terry following him.

Salty and John ran along the road, catching up with Goofy just as he entered the burger bar.  Bomber struggled to keep up, having exhausted himself earlier with his bat-wielding exertions.  Terry just looked confused; he didn't really know any of these people and couldn't understand what was going on between them.

There was a brief fight inside the burger bar, as yet more zombies appeared.  "Dammit!" exclaimed Goofy, as he finished off one of the zeds.  "I just wanted a quiet place to sit down for a few moments, but these...things; they're everywhere!"

As they stood in the doorway, John and Salty considered what they might say to him, but before either could open their mouths, another pair of zombies approached from behind, having come round the blind side of the building.  John was first to react; he whipped round like lightning and fired a couple of hasty shots.  He was extremely lucky; both the attackers were killed instantly.

Terry and Bomber joined the sombre party inside.  "Hey" said Goofy as he gazed at the undead corpses at his feet.  "This one has an iPhone.  I always wanted one of them!"  He pocketed the device.  Bomber bit back a remark about there not being any way to charge it.  Terry came from behind the counter, where he had been rummaging about.  "Look what I found!" he exclaimed.  "Do you think this will be useful?"  He was holding an unopened carton of burger buns.

"Let's go home" said John.  "There's nothing more we can do here".  The team trooped out of the restaurant, not noticing that one of the zombies they had killed inside was beginning to stir.  As they walked away, it rose to its feet again and lurched towards the door - which had swung shut by this time.  The reanimated zombie scrabbled at the glass, but it couldn't work out how to leave the building.

Across the road, a small dog came running towards the party.  It looked exhausted, which was probably not surprising as it was being pursued by another 2 of the living dead.  John called out "Hey, over here!".  As the zombies looked in his direction, he set off a camera flash that left them (and the dog!) reeling and blinded.  "Salty, grab the animal!" he commanded, as the party ran past the temporarily incapacitated zombies.  Goofy paused briefly when adjacent to one of the monsters and called "I'm SICK of you!"  He then fired his shotgun into it, blowing it to pieces.

Following this, the men fled back to the comparative safety of "Golden Hills" without any further incidents.

The Aftermath

"Ah, you're back!" said Gertrude as the weary adventurers came through the front door.  "How did it go?"
"Not so good", replied John.  "There's no help to be had from the authorities - they're all under siege as well.  By the way, this is Terry."
"Pleased to meet you, Terry" she said.  "Is Nancy with you?"
Goofy grunted.  "We got separated."
"Ah well, I'm sure she'll be back soon.  Now, I've got some good news for you boys: the power came back on just after you left!  I'll just go and make us all a cup of tea and then we can sit down and watch the news on the telly.  That'll be nice, won't it?"


Part 4 is available here.

ATZ Campaign, Game 3: HELP!

 A Wet and Windy Sunday.

On Sunday, my friend Steve and one of his sons visited for the day.  We'd decided to play ATZ; it ended up being quite a big game.  Read on to find out what happened.

The Plan

There were armed gangs (and worse) roaming the streets now.  Without any power and without working phones, the occupants of the "Golden Hills" retirement complex couldn't tell what was happening more than a few blocks away.  At a brief council of war, it was decided that a group should try to make it to the nearest police station and seek for help.  Maybe they could persuade some officers to return with them to bring law and order back to the area?

It was agreed that the party would consist of:

• John (the photographer).  REP4, pistol and camera.  See "John the photographer goes shopping" to discover how John obtained the pistol.
• Bomber (the caretaker's brother): REP4, baseball bat, brawler (+1d6 in melee).
• Captain Salty (a retired seaman, but one of the younger and fitter residents of the complex): REP4, pistol.  In his younger days, Salty had visited a number of the wilder parts of the world; he still had the revolver he carried to protect himself on those adventures.
• Goofy (the neighbourhood survivalist): REP4, shotgun.
• Nancy (she comes with Goofy, though is quite a lot younger than he is.  No-one is quite sure if she's his wife, or daughter, or maybe just an associate.  It's thought impolite to ask).  REP4, pistol, small (-1d6 in melee).

The police station is the yellow building at the far end of this picture.  It's quite a nice area, with some parks and trees to the right, though there are also some garages in the foreground, a burger bar in the centre and a petrol station in the back left corner:

Cautious Steps

"I'm not just marching up the road!" said Goofy.  "We might be seen!".
"Well what do you suggest then?" replied Bomber, sarcastically.
"Just take it carefully, that's all I'm saying" was the reply.
The group crossed the street and huddled in front of the door to the garage whilst considering their next move.

"That's strange...this door is warm" John commented.  But before anyone could offer an explanation, the group were interrupted by the appearance of a man assisting a woman round the end of the lockups to their right.
"Help!" shouted Terry (the man).  "She's hurt!  Please help us!"

As Terry spoke, three things happened simultaneously.  First, thick smoke started to pour from the upper part of the garage in front of the party [what, again?  A building caught fire spontaneously in the last game as well - I think my random events are playing tricks on me!].  Next, zombies appeared all over the place.  Indeed, it turns out that Terry and his lady friend were unaware that they were being followed.  Lastly, Terry's companion gave a shudder, started to moan piteously and then lunged forwards in an attempt to bite him.  She had just turned into a zombie.

For a few moments, everything was pandemonium!  Captain Salty ran and hid behind the pickup truck, even as John and Nancy dispatched 2 of the attacking zombies.  Bomber and Goofy ran up to see what was happening, but were too late to do anything.  Astonishingly, Terry (REP3, unarmed), despite being attacked from behind, put down 2 zombies on his own.  He even managed a weak smile afterwards!

Bomber looked round when he heard noises behind him.  "Guys!  We've got to go!  Now!" he called.

Captain Salty was still crouched behind the truck, mumbling something quietly to himself.

"Come on!  Now, Salty!" shouted Bomber.  "Now or not at all!"  At the last moment, the old Captain mumbled something about worse things happening at sea and started running after the rest of the party.

Nancy had scouted ahead a little way and was peering round the far corner of the block, looking into the burger bar's car park.  As the men of the party ran for their lives past her, she wasn't paying attention and no-one remembered to warn her.  They reached the far end of the park before anyone noticed.

Across the road from the park, Goofy could see 2 figures approaching from the direction of the police station.  They were cops - officers Columbo (REP5) and Callahan (REP4).  This was just what the group was looking for!  Help was on its way!

...to be continued.

HoTTing up Warhammer: Painless Rebasing

The Idea

Over the years, I've collected a considerable number of figures for Warhammer Fantasy Battles.  Indeed, I have 4 large armies, several of which have enough troops to be subdivided so as to fight decent-sized civil wars.  And the really strange bit about all this is that I've never even played Warhammer...

Some time ago, I was looking for new rules for the kids at the Helensburgh Games Club and I remembered all these Warhammer figures.  I still didn't wish to play Warhammer - I'm sure it's a very fine system in its own way, but I needed something that was simple and could easily produce a result in a couple of hours.

The answer was blindingly obvious: "Hordes of The Things" (HoTT from now on), which was already sitting and waiting on my bookshelf.  Although HoTT is often played with 15mm figures, the rules do have sizes and measurements for 28mm as well.  Since I'd be providing the entire setup, there would be no issues with compatibility!

The Problem

Warhammer uses individually-based figures, typically on 20mm squares for infantry or 25x50mm for mounted troops.  HoTT uses multiple-figure elements with 60mm frontages (for 28mm models) and varying depths, depending on the troop type.  Clearly some new bases would have to be devised!

Fortunately, some types of infantry element happen to be a precise multiple of the Warhammer base sizes.  For example, Spears use 3 models on a 60x20mm base - exactly the size of 3 Warhammer slottabases.  It wasn't too hard to just glue 3 models onto a suitably-sized piece of card.  Similarly, Hordes require 6 models (more or less) on a 60x40mm base and these could just be glued together so as to make a single element:

These multiple-figure bases could still be used in Warhammer (should I ever desire to do so), especially if I kept aside a few singly-based figures.  But what to do with the bases where the HoTT size wasn't a clean multiple of Warhammer bases?  I didn't really want to rip all the models off their existing bases and fix them to new ones of the right size for HoTT - firstly it would be a lot of work and secondly it would render such figures unusable for Warhammer.  What to do?

The Solution

1st Attempt

Initially, I tried just making simple trays that were the correct size for HoTT elements.  These were very unsatisfactory, mainly because the models kept falling off.  Additionally, they were hard to pick up and move.  I experimented with magnetic trays, but found that adding the magnetic paper to existing bases made them very thick.  In any case, the magnets weren't strong enough to hold any metal models.

2nd Attempt

The HoTT bases need to hold the slottabases in place.  They also need to be cheap and reasonably easy to make.  Almost by accident, I came up with the idea of using sprue!  Yes, the stuff that you normally just throw away:

The Recipe

1. Trim the Sprue

First, select your sprues.  Most manufacturers of wargaming models produce a sprue with flat faces and sloping sides (a trapezium, for those of you who know their geometry).  This is the stuff you want to use: the plastic of the sprue slopes at about the same angle as the side of a slottabase.  If the sprue is round or any other shape in section then it's no use for this purpose.

Cut the sprues into straight lengths, discarding any awkward corners or the occasional wiggly bit.  Although you could use a knife to do this, I find that a pair of side-cutters is much quicker and easier:

Cut off all protrusions (again, a side-cutter makes this easy!) and smooth down any rough patches that remain.  Note that for most pieces you only need to smooth the base of the sprue and one side.  For centreline pieces, however, both sides must be smoothed.  You'll see what I'm talking about in due course:

2. Glue to the Base

The following picture should give a better idea of the base construction than words alone can do.  These are 60x60mm bases, designed to hold 2 cavalry slottabases, though other shapes and sizes use exactly the same technique.

Firstly, cut squares of the HoTT base size from thick cardboard.  Then, stick lengths of sprue to the base, narrow edge down.  In turn, glue one piece of sprue across the back of the base.  When that's dry, glue a centreline piece down the middle.  That's the piece of sprue that you smoothed on both sides, remember?  Finally, glue on 2 side pieces:

There's a trick to sticking on the side pieces; it's very important to make the gap just the right size for the base it will hold.  If the gap is too wide then the HoTT base won't be very satisfactory because the models won't be held down.  On the other hand, if the gap is too narrow then you won't be able to fit a model into the slot at all!

I've used an old base of the desired type to make sure that the side sprue is stuck on at just the right distance.  If you add a thin piece of card to one or both sides of the old base then this makes it much easier to obtain the correct gap size.

3. Finishing

Once dry, trim any sprue that overhangs the base's edges.  Then use filler around the outside to improve the appearance, thus:

The base can be undercoated and finished in any way you like.  Since I needed to match some of my early 28mm models (before I became adventurous with basing!), I undercoated the bases and then painted them green and flocked them.  I also like to add a label, so it's immediately obvious which troop type the model represents and to which army it belongs:

Finally, all that remains is to slide the Warhammer models into their new bases.  If the slotabases fit snugly then there won't be any problem of troops being knocked off their elements and you're all set to play HoTT:

Of course, this technique could also be used for other games as well as HoTT...

ATZ Campaign, Game 2. John the photographer goes shopping

Introduction

The remnants of the wedding party licked their wounds back at the sheltered housing where Albert and Gertrude lived (see The search for Gramps and Nanna for part 1).  They described what had happened to the caretaker, Chad and his brother Bomber, whilst Darcy and Lizzie tended to the injured wolfhound, Clancy.  The few TV channels that were still broadcasting showed scenes of increasing lawlessness and all the phones were dead.  Then, the power went out.
"Right" said Bomber.  "That's it.  We've got to get some weapons!  I'm not going to be helpless when they come for us."
"Yeah!" replied Chad.  "There's a gun shop over in Eastborough.  They'll have something."
Lizzie considered this.  "Um, don't you have to wait for several weeks to get a gun, or something like that?".
"I'm sure they'll make an exception for us" claimed Bomber.  "I'll go fetch my bat".  Chad followed him out, heading towards his own flat.
"Eastborough isn't a nice area even at the best of times" mused Gertrude.  "Go with them John, please.  I'm afraid that those two young men are going to get into trouble."
"Who is coming for us?" said Albert.  "Will they be bringing my medicine?  I'm 84, you know."

The Mission

"Bob's Bargain Bullets" is the gun shop in Eastborough.  It's at the far end of the street, on the right.  All that John, Chad and Bomber have to do is walk along the road past the basketball court and the petrol station, past the garage and the lockups, past the adult bookstore and the memorial park - and they'll be there.  And who knows, the shop might still be open!
The streets are deserted; nothing is moving.  There are a couple of wrecked cars in sight.  One of these has clearly been a recent accident; both an ambulance and a police car are at the scene.  However there is no sign of any emergency workers, or indeed of anyone else.

The Action

The intrepid trio made their way part way down the road, about level with the basketball court.  Here they paused for a while (for something like 4 or the first 6 turns, the activation dice were doubles.  The number of PEFs - Possible Enemy Forces - hiding off side streets was enormous!).  "Something's wrong" said John.  "We should get out of here".
"Quit your moaning, you wuss!  I'm going to get me a gun." taunted Chad.

 As they passed the abandoned pizza delivery car, there was a rustle from behind the garage.  2 of the PEFs moved round the corner into full view, but resolved as false alarms.  Just small pieces of rubbish being blown in the wind, or mice, or something like that.  The party wasn't really paying attention to these because at the same moment, a young woman with a pistol came out of the park further up the street (Nancy: REP 3 hostile ganger).

 

She looked very surprised to see them and while John and Chad immediately ducked behind the pizza car, Bomber and Nancy stood and stared at each other.  She regained her wits first and called out "Hey, we've got company!".  3 more gangers ("Jasmine": REP 4 with BA pistol and 2 REP 3 with SMG) came round the corner of the game store.  They had been looting the ambulance, trying to set fire to the buildings and doing other antisocial things that amuse young punks.

"Run!" shouted John to his companions as he turned and fled round the corner of the basketball court.  Bomber was a little slow to react, but followed anyway.  Chad said "Hang on, guys.  We can take them!"  He stood for a moment, but turned to flee when he realised that his companions had already gone.

John and Bomber paused for breath in the woods on the other side of the garage.  "Where's Chad?" asked John.  Bomber looked confused.  "Shit!  He was right behind me, I thought.  Perhaps he went a different way to try to draw off those punks?"

The truth wasn't as kindly.  Chad was too slow to flee.  As the gang advanced to the crossroads, they opened fire with everything they had.  Although it was mostly "spray and pray" shooting, they put enough bullets in the air that he was cut down, obviously dead.

The noise attracted 2 zombies, who started to close in on the gang.  However, the shambling undead didn't even get close!  For several turns, the group of gangers at the crossroads gunned down everything they saw with massive firepower.  "Is that all you got?  Bring it on - WE'RE DA KINGS!" screamed their leader as they shot time and time again.  Each turn, a couple more zombies would appear, only to be gunned down immediately.

Fortunately for John and Bomber, they were too far away to be involved in the gang's fight.  They were trying to find a way through the woods at the other side of the garage, so as to approach the back door of the gun shop. As they came to the edge of the woods, they walked straight into yet another ganger ("Candy" REP 5 with pistol).

Candy was too fast for the guys and immediately snapped off several shots at them.  Although one was very close indeed, these all missed.  John shouted "GET HER!" and leapt for the woman.  Bomber hesitated for only a moment before he also charged, brandishing his baseball bat.  As she fell to the pavement beneath their combined weight, her head hit the concrete with a crack, obviously dead.  John scooped her pistol up from where it had fallen and the pair proceeded across the street to the back of the gun store.  (Although this happened in sight of the other 4 gangers, it was a city block away and they were preoccupied with their own fight.  I ruled that they didn't really notice or react to what had happened).

John and Bomber sidled along the alley at the back of the gun shop and tried the rear door.  It was firmly locked; there was no sign that anyone was inside.  "Please, let us in!  We're here to buy!" called Bomber, but there was no response.  The pair briefly considered trying to break the door down, but it was obviously made to deter all but the most well-equipped burglars.  Almost certainly it would be impervious to anything short of an oxyacetylene cutter.  "Crap!" Bomber exclaimed, as the futility of their mission sunk in.  "Let's get out of here before that gang finds us!"

Even as he said this, a number of things were happening on the other side of the building.  Firstly, the run-down games shop burst into flames.  Maybe the juvenile gang had been trying to torch the place when they were interrupted?  If so then their efforts were rewarded now!

Almost immediately after the fire broke out, a horde of zombies came round the corner - no doubt these were attracted by all the commotion.

The gang members took one look at the approaching mass and fled.  Oddly, the REP4 Jasmine fell seriously behind the REP3 others - perhaps she had a problem with a shoelace, or maybe she didn't appreciate the danger as keenly as her fellows.  Either way, she had only run a short way before the mob caught up with her and tore her limb from limb in a grisly feast.  The other gangers vanished into the neighbourhood (off the board), safe for now but thoroughly shaken!

The Aftermath

Meanwhile, John and Bomber made their way safely along the back alley, through the woods and off the map.  The zombie horde was too busy feasting to pay much attention and in any case the guys couldn't be seen very well through the basketball court.  They returned to their temporary headquarters, despondent at their disaster of a shopping trip.  They still didn't know what had happened to Chad, but they feared the worst.  On the bright side, John now had the pistol that he had taken from Candy!

Part 3 is available here.