ATZ Day 1b: The Hunters Become the Hunted

After the last game, I went back and reread the rules and realized that I did a couple of things wrong in the first game.  Shotguns for one.  I misused them.  I should have been rolling more dice per shot.  There would have been more hits (maybe - depending on my bad dice rolling) and more kills earlier and it would have been a shorter game (maybe - depending on my bad dice rolling - and yes, I did repeat that on purpose). 

I was pleasantly surprised to find that I did a few things right that I wasn't sure about.  That's always good.  I have to go back through the rules again because this next game will be making use of more of the checks so I better make sure I know what I'm doing there.  I thought about making a sort of flow chart or at least a crib sheet that laid out the tests and when to take them.  Did any of you make something like that or did you just flounder back and forth in the rulebook like I do?

Today's game will see our heroes on the move trying to get back to the cabin.  For this game, they have to cross the board of woods as they head back from the fire tower.  Will they make it without becoming a tasty snack for the undead?  As noted above, the guys with shotguns should all do much better now that I have the shotgun rules straight, but Ahmed better sharpen up his shooting if he expects to survive long. . .  (He kind of got thrown into the mix since the only other figures I had with shotguns were Joe's twins.  We need someone to make ordinary citizens with bolt action rifles, etc., as well as SMGs and AKs.)

So. . . here we go for round two. . .

Initial Move:
Angel is Slow and rolls a 6, so the team loses 3" of movement as they opt to stay together rather than leave Angel to the zeds.  They move 5" onto the board.  Of course, nothing is easy - when I roll for zombies, I roll the max and the team faces seven zombies right from the get go.  They have three to the left front, two to the front and one each to the left and right rear.  They aren't aware of the ones to the rear, but should be able to ignore them anyway as they will (hopefully) be moving at least as fast. 

Turn 1:
Activation rolls 3 for the zeds and 1 for the team.  They move second, but all of them can move without a problem.  Bob and Ahmed both pass the In Sight test with two, Angel passes one and Joe passes none meaning that neither Angel nor Joe may fire this turn.

Bob fires, hitting two zombies and ODing (Obviously Dead) one and knocking the other one down.  Ahmed misses and probably shouldn't even bother shooting with his cap gun.  All he's going to do is make them angry.  The team then takes off to the right where there's no zombies.  This time, Angel rolls a 1 and the team can move 7".  No new zombies are generated due to the gunfire.

Turn 2:
Activation is double 3s so neither side can move or fire, but the zed that was knocked down recovers.

Turn 3:
Activation comes up with a 6 for the zeds so they can't move, and a 5 for the team - fortunately, Bob's a Rep 5 so the team can move.  Angel rolls a 1 again allowing the team to move its max, but she and Bob can't resist a parting shot at the zombies.  Angel misses everything, and Bob again gets an OD and a knock down.  No new zombies are generated due to gunfire.  The team's now about half-way across the table. 

Turn 4:
Activation is 3 for the team and 6 for the zeds - zombies go first but can't do anything.  The original ATZ rules (which I'm using) don't provide for PELs like the later ones do (I think) so I'm going to roll for zombies just like an initial placement because the team has now outstripped the ability of the original zeds to intercept them.  After the team moves, they see three zombies to their front and one to their left front.  Another pops up behind them and the remaining zombies will continue to pursue just in case I get a spate of bad die rolls.

Turn 5:
Activation is a 6 for the zeds and a 4 for the team.  The zeds are again paralyzed (this doesn't sound right - am I screwing it up?)  but the team can move normally.  They shift farther to their right in an attemp to avoid the zombies.  Angel rolls her third straight 1 for movement and the team can move 7" again.  On the In Sight test for the new zombies, only Joe passes 2 and can fire.  Joe fires both barrels of his double-barrel shotgun, but only gets one hit because the other targets are secondary targets and miss by one.  He does OD the one he hits, though.  Drat!  Joe brings on the hurt - three new zombies appear due to his fire.  One pops up in front of them, one to their rear and one to their left rear.  Thanks, Joe. . .

Turn 6:
Bad timing, Joe!  The team rolls a 6 for activation pinning them in place, while the zombies activate normally.  Fortunately, the team's last move to the right put a pretty good amount of distance between them and the zeds.  Let's hope we can get some good shooting this time too or someone's going to get munched! 

Bob is the only one to pass the In Sight test on the new zombies so he ODs the one to their front and Angel ODs one of the zombies to their left front while Joe reloads.  Ahmed sensibly holds his fire.  He can't do anything but attract more zeds.  Phew!  No new zombies are attracted by the gunfire.

Turn 7:
Activation comes up with the team moving first on a 4 and the zeds rolled a 3.  Bob ODs the other zombie to the left front and the team takes off.  This time Angel rolls a 5 slowing the team down to 5" this turn.  The team has only 2-1/2" to go to exit the board, but they have three zeds within a 6" move of them. 

Turn 8:
An activation roll of double 5s keeps everyone in place.  The suspense continues.

Turn 9:
OH, NO!  The zeds won the activation with a 4 over the team's 3.  Two zeds charge Bob and one charges Angel.  They both pass their Surprise check for being charged from the flank/rear and their Being Charged check with 2!  Bob ODs the first zed and has to melee with the second, and Angel ODs her zombie.  Bob passes the Melee check by 2 and the zed fails, but Bob fails the 'Pop the Weasel' roll and is stuck in melee!  Fortunately, no new zeds appear from the gunfire, but some of the zeds that were bypassed earlier are starting to catch up. 

Turn 10:
The team again fails to activate, rolling a 6 to the zeds' 1.  The closest zed charges Ahmed, and the other three are now within 4".  Two more zeds are still a little more than a foot away.  This time around, Bob passes 2 more than the zed (he has Brawler) and manages to 'Pop the Weasel'.  Ahmed and his zed both pass 1 leaving them in melee for another turn.  Angel knocks down the closest zombie and Joe ODs one of the farther ones, leaving just one zombie in range, besides Ahmed's friend.  The gunfire attracts two more zeds - one to the left rear and one to the front.  Will they ever be able to escape?

Turn 11:
The team finally won an activation with a 4 to the zeds' 5.  The zeds can't move.  Ahmed breaks off melee and the team beats feet, finally exiting the board safely and leaving 6 zeds behind. 

Evaluation:
WOWZERS!  What a game that was!  Again, I thought it was going to be a cakewalk after the first couple of turns.  Just before exiting the board, everything started to go wrong and it was touch and go for a few turns there until the zeds lost an activation and the team was able to escape.  It appears that I played the rules right this time. 

Next time up, the crew reaches the cabin.  Until then.