Day 4b: Back to the Woods

"Here's that cabin those kids told the sheriff about, Agent Kay," Sculder tells the other agent, who is on interagency loan (Agent Kay: Rep 5, "Pistol", Slow).

"Hmm, looks pretty quiet to me,"  Kay answers glancing around.

"I don't know," Sculder responds uneasily, "I wouldn't take any of it for granted.  You never know.  And these things are pretty vicious."

"Humph!  You ever been in a cockroach's belly?" Kay asks.

"Huh?" is all Sculder can get out - confused by this question.

Kay realizes he's said too much.  "Nevermind.  Let's see what we can find here."

*     *     *     *     *

 

"Uh, Kay?  Did you bring a shotgun with you?"  Sculder asks with a stutter.

 

"Well, I've actually got something better," Kay responds cryptically.

 

Sculder is again confused.  "Better than a shotgun?"

 

Kay confirms his previous statement with a "Yup!"

 

"OK, well good," says Sculder.  "Looks like you're going to need it - here come some of those things!"

 

Turn 1: There is a tie so neither side can move, but the agents whip out their weapons and get ready to fight. 

 

"What is that thing?" Sculder asks when he sees the tiny handgun Kay is holding. 

 

"A Kill-o-Zap," replies Kay simply.  (Kill-o-Zap: Range 12, Target 2, Impact 2 minimum(!))

 

Turn 2: Zeds are active first and begin to close the circle around the two agents.  Will this be the end of our intrepid agents? 

 

"Let's get the three in front of us first," Kay directs Sculder.  "That way we'll have some space to move in."  Sculder hits one for an OD with the shotgun.  "Good shot!  Here let me help," offers Kay. 

 

He fires and solidly hits the first zed, which - explodes!  The second one he only hits in the leg, but it tears the zed's leg off and drops it to the ground.

 

Kay yells, "OK - GO!" and the two of them take off running (Fast Move) through the space they just opened up. 

 

"What are you using - exploding ammo?" 

 

"Something like that."

 

Two more zeds appear as a result of the gunfire.

 

Turn 3: Agents activate first this time around.  Sculder fires his shotgun again and gets a Knockdown, while Kay gets another solid hit and the zombie explodes.  The zeds turn and move towards them, even the one missing its leg is crawling as best it can towards them.  No new zeds show up this turn.

 

 

Turn 4: Agents activate first again.  "Don't shoot, Sculder - let me try something," Kay calls.  Kay fires, getting two solid hits, but only ODs one, knocking a leg off the other one and dropping it to the ground also.  They then Fast Move to the left, trying to circle the zeds in a plan to move back to the car.  "Watch our backs, Sculder!"  Good thing Kay reminded him - another zed appears to their rear from the gunshots. 

 

 

Turn 5: Doubles - neither side can act.

 

Turn 6: Agents are active first.  Sculder fires the shotgun and gets two hits on a zed for an OD.  Kay explodes another zed, but only takes an arm off a second one.  Two more zombies appear from the shotgun blast.

 

"Head for the truck!"  The two agents Fast Move making it around the zombies to the truck.

 

Turn 7:  Zombies are inactive, so the agents jump in the SUV and fire it right up.  Fortunately, the noise doesn't attract any new zeds, but as Sculder drops it into reverse and is about the stomp on the gas, Kay says, "Wait!  We can't leave!  We have to find out the source of these things." 

 

"Darn it, Kay!  You're right, of course."  Sculder puts the SUV back in park and turns off the motor.  "Ready?"

 

"Let's do it!" and the two of them step back out of the SUV and move to where they can get a clear view of the zeds.  Kay fires and explodes another one, while Sculder fires at two of them but only hits one, fortunately getting an OD.  One new zed appears.

 

Turn 8: Agents activate before the zombies.  "Don't shoot unless you have to, Sculder.  I think it's your shotgun that's attracting them," Kay directs.  Kay explodes another zed with a solid hit.

 

 

Turn 9: Zeds are good, but the agents fail to activate!  Not a good place to be in.  Kay passes his Being Charged test against the first zed and fires, missing it completely(!).  With his second shot, he vaporizes the first zed just feet from him.  Two more charge and again he passes his Being Charged test, and prepares for melee.  In melee, they pass the same number of dice and the melee will continue.

 

Turn 10: Zeds are inactive, the agents are good.  Sculder rushes up and jams the shotgun into the mouth of one of the zeds meleeing with Kay.  He blows its head clean off.  Kay passes 2d6 to the zeds 0d6 in the melee and ODs it, but one new zed appears. 

 

Turn 11:  Zeds are inactive again this turn.  Kay explodes two more with the Kill-o-Zap, but another one appears.

 

Turn 12: The agents are inactive this time, so the few zeds remaining continue to close.

 

Turn 13: Agents are active first, followed by the zeds.  Kay explodes one more zed, but one charges Sculder.  He passes his Being Charged test and hits it for a knockdown.  Better than nothing!  No new zeds appear.

 

Turn 14: Agents are active first again.  Kay knocks one zed down, ripping its arm off.  No new zeds appear. 

 

Turn 15: Zeds are inactive.  Kay explodes a zed, but the one Sculder knocked down gets back up.  No zeds appear.

 

Turn 16: Team is active first.  Kay hits the last zed, but only knocks it down with its leg torn off. 

 

The team quietly picks off the last three zombies.  They can only crawl after all, and the team can finish them off at their luxury.  As they are finishing off the last one, another zombie appears.  On the next turn, Kay explodes it with two final shots from the Kill-o-Zap. 

 

*     *     *     *     *

 

The agents survived and can continue their quest to find where the zombies originated.  They might never know.  Or they might stumble on the secret one day.  We'll just have to hope they can solve the puzzle before they get eaten!

Day 4c: The End of Ted

That afternoon, Bob hears Ted's door opening and closing as he packs up his car.  Bob peeks out the window and doesn't see any zeds so he opens his door and quietly calls to Ted to keep the noise down or he'll attract more zombies. 

"Yeah, whatever," Ted responds as he keeps moving.  "I called the cops on you and they said if those things were around here you were doing everyone a favor and I'd better get out of here or I'd get eaten by them."  He slammed his car door.  "I don't know what connection you have to the cops around here, but I'm out of here.  Between you and them, this is obviously the wrong place to be."

"Well stop slamming doors or I'll have to say I told you so."

Turn 1: Zeds, active; Ted, not active.  Ted stops to catch his breath.  Looking up he sees someone coming towards him.  "What the . . .?"

Turn 2: All inactive.

Turn 3: Ted is inactive; Bob activates with a 5 over the Zeds' 3.  Bob hears Ted screaming and cracks the door to tell him to shut up.  But then he sees the zeds. 

Grabbing his shotgun, he heads out the door and shoots both barrels, hitting and getting ODs on the two closest zombies.  No new zeds appear.  (I'm rolling one die per shotgun die rolled per our discussion on the Comments page of Day 4a: Good Morning, Sunshine!.)

Turn 4: Bob outactivates the Zeds again; Ted is still inactive.  Bob reloads and runs to grab Ted, but he won't budge - he's a little freaked out by what he's just seen and the zeds and all.

Turn 5: This time Ted activates, but Bob doesn't (!).  The Zeds are also active.  Ted runs for his door, but Bob is in the way.  The zeds are all within charge range so charge.  Three charge from Ted's back.  He passes 0d6 on the Being Charged Test because he's fighting three opponents. 

Two of the zeds pass their melee and drag Ted down.  They will spend the next three turns feasting on him.  Bob is charged by one zed from the front and one from his right.  He cannot move, but he passes 2d6 vs. each of the zombies charging him so he can fire.  He fires one barrel at the zed coming in from the front, but only gets a Knock Down, while he gets a hit and an OD with the other barrel against the zed coming from his right.  The gunfire attracts another zed. 

Turn 6: Bob activates with a 4, while the Zeds are inactive.  Bob reloads, backs off 7", and fires both barrels at the zombies munching Ted.  Unfortunately, he only hits one, but gets an OD on it.  No new zeds appear. 

Turn 7: The Zeds activate for 4 to Bob's 1.  Bob only passes 1d6 on the Being Charged test and preps for melee, but he can't fire.  The zed is only knocked down. 

Turn 8: Zeds beat Bob again with a 4 to his 1.  Since two of the zeds are still munching Ted and the second can't reach Bob yet, so he runs, heading for the gas station. 

Turn 9: Bob gets a 3 while the Zeds are inactive.  Bob heads down the road, careful to stay more than 6" from the zeds, and fires both barrels.  He misses one zed, but hits for an OD on the other.  No new zeds are attracted to the gunfire.

Turn 10: Bob get a 3 to the Zeds' 2.  Bob reloads and runs for the cover of the restaurant.  The zeds follow as he planned. 

Turn 11: Bob gets a 5, but the Zeds are inactive, apparently confused by Bob's movement.  He fires both barrels at the farther pair of zeds, killing one with an OD, but missing the other.  No new zeds are attracted to the gunfire.

Turn 12: Bob activates with a 4 to the Zeds' 2.  Bob reloads and heads around the back of the restaurant, again wanting the zeds to follow. 

Turn 13: Both are inactive.

Turn 14: They both roll 3s, so no one can do anything. 

Turn 15: Bob rolls a 5, and the Zeds score a 3.  Bob runs out to the road to catch the closer zed in the back.  He fires one barrel and hits for an OD.  The last zed turns and heads back towards the gunfire.  No new zeds appear.

Turn 16: Bob again activates ahead of the last Zed (just what he was counting on) and fires the other barrel of the shotgun, getting a hit for an OD.  No new zeds appear for the gunfire. 

Bob has to bury Ted's remains so it doesn't attract anything.  Darkness is falling so he gets the job done as fast as he can and returns to the room, where he barricades himself inside for the second night.  He is suddenly feeling much less secure.  He might have been able to turn Ted into an ally if Ted hadn't been lunch for the zeds.  Now, he's alone again. 

Zombie Dice

I picked this silly little game up a couple of weeks ago, figuring it would be a fun, simple game to play with the kids.  My daughter has been asking me to play a game of ATZ with me, but we just couldn't take the time this weekend, so I pulled out the Zombie Dice and we played a couple of games. 

The game is simple.  There are thirteen dice, each die with varying numbers of brains, shotgun blasts and footprints on them.  You shake the cup, remove three dice, give them another shake and roll them.  You put any brains to one side, any shotgun blasts to the opposite side and footprints in the middle.  You can keep rolling until you reach three shotgun blasts.  Then your turn is over.  If you survive long enough and work through all the dice, you then begin re-rolling your footprints (which represent your victims trying to get away).  The goal is to be the first person to reach thirteen brains.  Each game takes about fifteen or twenty minutes, depending on rolls, of course. 

Sometimes you get lucky - here after two rolls, Julia has three brains, two footprints and a shotgun blast.  She could safely keep rolling until she gets another shotgun blast.

Sometimes you don't - a couple of times, Adam and I both got three shotgun blasts in a single roll, ending our turn before it began. 

All in all, it's not a bad little game.  I wouldn't plan a night of playing it, but to pass the time waiting on your opponent to make a move or while waiting for other players to arrive for gaming it works just right.  There's also an expansion set available, but I didn't pick that one up yet.  It adds some variables that can work for you - or against you.

Day 4a: Good Morning, Sunshine!

Bob finds a small oasis in the middles of farms and woods.  A motel, service station and restaurant meet his weary eyes.  There are cars and people going about their business.  He opts to go straight to the motel, eat some of the camping food he has, and go to bed. 

He feels safe for the first time in three days, but all the same, brings some of his camping equipment and Joe's double-barrel shotgun into the hotel room to make sure he's covered.  He beds down for the night after taping cardboard over the motel window and jamming a chair under the knob of the locked door.

The next morning, Bob wakes up with a jolt.  It takes him a minute to recall what happened and where he is.  He breathes a sigh of relief and lays back but is only there for a couple of minutes before he realizes how hungry he is.  He also has to fill the Land Rover with gas. 

He showers and dresses before heading out the door for breakfast.  Breakfast?  It's nearly noon!  He slept almost 14 hours!  He walks almost to the road before he realizes that something is wrong.  He looks around and realizes that he sees some cars - one at the gas pumps, a couple at the restaurant, one at the motel - but he doesn't see any people, like he had the previous night.  Just in case, he returns to the room and grabs the shotgun, before heading back towards the restaurant.  Just as he reaches the street, he catches sight of the zeds - three coming between the restaurant and service station. 

Turn 1: Bob activates, but the zeds don't.  He advances 5 inches (sure to keep the zeds outside of 6") and fires both barrels of the shotgun, getting hits and Obviously Dead results on all three!  No new zeds arrive from the gunfire.

Turn 2: Activation results in a tie - neither side activates, but Bob reloads the shotgun.

Turn 3: Zeds activate first and move towards the sound of the shotgun.  Bob is right in the middle of two zombies coming at him from opposite sides. 

Bob fires at - and hits for an OD - the zed on his left.  He then rolls for a fast move and is able to move up to 16".  He heads for the rear of the restaurant, expecting the zeds to follow. 

Turn 4: Bob activates first and decides to take matters into his own hands.  He runs back out to the road and fires the other barrel of the shotgun at the zed by the truck in the service station, for a hit and an OD, then uses the remainder of his movement to head back towards the back of the restaurant.  The zombies move towards the sound of the gunfire.

Turn 5: No one activates.

Turn 6: Bob activates first again.  He has to reload to he keep moving around the back of the restaurant, being sure to stay out of sight of the zombies, who continue to move towards where they last saw him.

Turn 7: Bob activates first again and heads for the corner of the delivery van parked in front of the restaurant. 

From the cover of the van, he fires at the trail zombie, hitting it for an OD.  The other zed crosses the front of the restaurant towards him.

Turn 8: Bob doesn't activate, but the zed does, and charges. 

Bob passes the Being Charged Test and fires, hitting for an OD.

Just to be safe, Bob reloads and then begins a careful investigation of the buildings.  He finds no one in the restaurant, but runs into a zed in the service station, which he dispatches with a fortunate OD from the shotgun.  Searching the motel office and rooms, he finds a Male, Rep 3, Wuss, no weapons named Ted in one of the motel rooms.  They pass the same number of dice on Talk the Talk and decide to part amiably as the Wuss doesn't want to join Bob. 

Probably didn't believe what Bob told him about was happening.  Bob was carrying a shotgun and had killed a whole bunch of what - to the Wuss - looked like living people.  I mean, heck, would you believe him?

*     *     *     *     *

 

A while ago I was looking for paper buildings for this scenario, but decided it was more hassle than it was worth so I picked up some cheap HO buildings on sale from Hobbylinc and was able to build them over the last couple of weeks. 



Day 3: Interlude 2

First of all, life has been hectic, which has cut significantly into my game time.  I'm going to have to do something about that.  I finally got a (part-time) job.  Over time, it pays decently enough, but there is no guarantee of getting full-time anytime in the near future.  And I spend twelve hours a day between getting to work, getting home from work, working and the break in the middle of the work day.  Out of that, I get paid for between five and seven hours.  It ain't gonna work so something's going to have to change soon! 

Right now I'm staying at a Marriott Residence Inn on duty with the Army.  How tough can life get?  I'm doing a 5-week language refresher course and it's kicking my behind, but I'm getting through it.  This is the first refresher I've been to since I got out of DLI two years ago.  We're supposed to go to refreshers every year, but we just couldn't work it out with some other training I was supposed to do but I am here now.   Finally. 

There isn't as much time to play as I thought there would be - partly because I spent all my free time the first week and weekend here trying to finish up the Advanced Leader Course Common Core Self-Study Development, which is the on-line portion of ALC.  It's rated at 80+ hours and while I admit it didn't take that long, it was still time intensive and I just wanted to get it over with so I could focus on the language while I'm here.  I might have a little more time to play now that I'm just about done with that. 

Second, I want to

 



And your patience, by the way.

 

Third, it's time to see what Bob does next!

 

*     *     *     *     *

 

'Doggone! It feels like a year since all this started.  It's hard to believe it's only been three days.'  Bob is starting to feel the wear and tear of all the adrenaline that's been coursing through him the last couple of days.

 

 

'My friends are gone - dead or crazy.  What am I doing?  I need to find somewhere to go.  Oh, I need gas.  I need somewhere to sleep.  I need food - wait, I have food.  But I need to eat.  This is not the place to stop if it's like everywhere else I've been the last three days.'  Bob is feeling like a zombie driving down the road on autopilot trying to sort out what to do next. 

 

 

'Is the city going to be any better?  Is it worse?  I need to find out what's going on before I go anywhere else.'  He begins to formulate some thoughts, at least.  'But I need a secure place to stop and sleep.  And think.  I need to be able to stop and think for a bit without these things coming after me all the time.  I wish I knew this road, what's on it and where it goes.  I guess I'll find out.  I'm so tired.' 

 

 

Far down the road, Bob notices what appears to be a break in the endless trees and farms, and sees what appears to be signs.  He first thinks he's hallucinating.  But as he gets closer, it appears that he may have found somewhere to stop after all. 

 



*     *     *     *     *



Is this somewhere to stop for the night?  For a couple of days maybe?  Will he be safe here or will he meet his demise here?  Stay tuned to find out more.

Zombie Avocado Pit

Well, it's been way too long since I posted anything on here.  Sorry about that.  Life and messed up computer screen kept me from bothering too much with my computer except for the "had to" kinds of things like, oh, looking for a job.  Anyway, the wife saw this on-line somewhere and decided to try it out with the kids since we just happened to have an avocado in the fridge.

So all you have to do is get a hold of a fresh avocado pit and carve it into a face.  As it dries it will crack in interesting ways creating a zombie avocado pit face.  Give it a try and see what you end up with.  Heck, send me the pictures here with Zombie Avocado in the subject line and I'll put them up on here. 

Yes, I still owe Rebel Mike and Chris figures.  I have them sitting on my workbench, based and primed, so that's a step forward!  I'll put up pics when I get them done.  I have a small commission job sitting in the queu just ahead of them, but I admit that I keep getting sidetracked by a recurring love interest (1/1250 Coastals).  I also have the stuff for another installment of my ATZ campaign, but I still need to put together the paper buildings and play it out.  I keep waiting for a quiet time in order to get it done.  So far, I haven't really had one.  I will make time in the next couple of weeks to get a game in.  Have a good one, friends!

Random Blather

That's what I've been hearing all day from my 6-year-old, who could give James Joyce a run for his money when it comes to stream-of-consciousness.  I think he would drive the esteemed Mr. Joyce into the asylum, actually.  He hasn't stopped talking since he got up this morning around 7, even when we've asked him to.

But he did have an interesting story to tell about a "dream" he had.  No, not really, but that's what he said it was.  It was a zombie who turned people into cookies.  He had 2200 bakeries in his chocolate chip muffin fortress.  People called him Mr. Cookie because he ate so many sweets and everyone knew he was going to die.  He was 90 when he died.  I guess I better watch it, with all the sweets I eat, when I die I'm very likely to turn into a zombie who turns people into cookies.  I'm a long way from 90, however, so you're all safe for the moment. 

This "dream" of his was probably inspired by my Valentine's Day present from my sweetie:

A box of custom made zombie-themed valentine cookies.  You might not be able to make it out in the picture, but the little people have a bite out of their heads and their brains are showing.  The pink hearts are a little hard to make out, too.  They say, "Be mine or else".  The blue ones are heart-shaped brains.  And the white ones at the top say "I love you like zombies love brains". 

Never expected this one.  My wife is always full of surprises.  Last year, her gift was a box of Peanuts cookies from the same cookie decorator.  She has some standard ones she does, but I think my wife specifically requested some with Snoopy sitting on his doghouse as the World War I flying ace, because I really love Snoopy as the World War I flying ace.  Probably sounds silly coming from a 47-year-old-man, but it's true.  I have a tie with him on it.  It was my daughter's first Father's Day present.  I even have the book, Snoopy and the Red Baron.  Believe it or not, it's sitting on my bookcase alongside every book about Manfred von Richthofen (the real Red Baron) that I can find.  Yes, I'm something of a fan of his, as well.  I'm sure I posted pics of the Peanuts cookies somewhere but I can't find them now (of course) and the digital copy was lost when my computer had to be reformatted after a virus got me.  So I guess I'm out of luck.  But they were very, very cool - I really hated to eat them.  I thought for sure I'd put them on FB but no luck.

If you are interested in giving someone special some zombie-themed cookies, I couldn't find her website, but here is her FB Color Me Cookie.  She's located in Tire Hill, PA, but she'll ship anywhere. 

I have another post for you, too - maybe next week.  I haven't had time for a game since I've gotten home.  I have all the paper buildings for the next installment and I know what I want to do, I just have to find time to assemble them and game it out.  And I admit I still have to get the zombie figs out to Rebel Mike and Chris Wilson.  Chris, I need your e-mail so we can set up getting these zombies to you!

And the Winner Is...

Drumroll please...

I was somewhat disappointed that only four of you decided to offer up suggestions.  I was hoping to have several ideas to choose from.  All four had merit, but there were actually two of them that stood out - especially since they really captured the essence of what I was aiming at here.  So, without further ado, the envelope please...

Chris Wilson and Rebel Mike - will you both please come on up and take a bow!

Chris made the suggestion of people photographing a mini zombie diorama and adding a caption to it.

Mike thought it would be fun to see people paint up their favorite undead celebrities.  Or is that celebrity undead?  Either way, I think it will work. 

As a result, I'll paint up zombies for both of you!  I'd appreciate it if you guys dropped me a comment with your e-mail so I can get info on where you'd like your zombies sent (comments don't post automatically anymore so don't worry about giving the general public your e-mail address).  Thanks for playing and congratulations guys. 

I'm in the midst of playing Mr. Mom and a massive job hunt so I may be a little slow getting these out (still have a couple of Christmas presents around the house that need to get sent off - need I say more?), but I'll definitely get them to you in the near future.

A Bit of Christmas Cheer

No, I didn't get oodles of toys for Christmas.  Just a few.  And none that fit into Wanted: BRAINS! in any way, shape or form.  But my last post catapulted me well past 5000 page views (actually went from 4968 or so, to 5233 as of just a few minutes ago - that's 265 views in just the couple of weeks since my last post).  That may not seem like a lot when you consider there are blogs that have a thousand, or fifteen hundred, or even five thousand subscribers.  But I think it's a nice round number for my little zombie blog with 31 subscribers, 27 (well, 28 now) posts and which has only been in existence for a year and a half or so. 

At any rate, to celebrate, I wanted to do something for you, my readers, fans, stalkers, or whatever you consider yourselves to be.  Obviously there are a lot more of you lurking in the shadows than just the 31 zombie hunters that subscribe to the blog.  Which is a good thing.  A really good thing.  I mean, I could blog all the games and figures I wanted, but if you didn't read the posts, it would all just be for myself, now wouldn't it?  And I already know what the little suckers look like, and how the games turn out, and etc., and etc., so there's really no point in me blogging for myself.  Fortunately, I can say, with some measure of success, that I really am blogging for you!

So to show my appreciation for reading, I wanted to do something for you.  (I guess I said that in the last paragraph, but I had to segue into the next line somehow and that seemed the best way to do it.)  I have been mulling over a competition of some sort, with the prize being a handful of painted figs (painted by me, that is) to the person that I deem to be the victor of whatever nefarious scheme my madness generates.  Problem is, my madness isn't generating a whole lot of anything at the moment, except for an annoying buzzing sound inside my brain somewhere.  In discussing the idea with my significantly better half, she said when she's seen blogs do this sort of thing, they just ask a question of some sort in order to generate a lot of comments, then pick randomly from among the comment posters.  OK.  That's one way to do it, but it just didn't seem like a lot fun to me - for either me or for you.  Let's face it - this blog is all about having some fun for both of us! 

Since I'm not coming up with any good ideas, I thought for my first contest, competition, or what have you, I'd ask you for the good ideas for a contest, competition, or what have you.  Yup, that's right.  The first contest is a contest to come up with cool ideas for contests.  If you want to play along, just post a comment with your idea for a good contest for a zombie gaming blog like this one to host and the poster of the idea that I like the best will receive a handful of painted (by me) 15mm Rebel Minis zombies in the mail.  I'm supposed to go to some more military training in January for a month or so, so you might not receive them until February or March, but I guarantee you will get them.  I'll give you until midnight on December 31 to get your ideas posted.  No, you don't have to post at midnight on December 31, that will just be your last chance to post. 

That reminds me, I changed how comments are posted on the blog.  Now, you don't have type the two messed up words that you can never read into the box ('Is that a lower case 's' or an upper case 's'?  Can't tell - stupid thing!').  Instead, just type your comment and hit 'Post', 'Send' or whatever it says for you to do with it, and it magically pops up in Blogger for me to check the box and and click 'Post Comment' or whatever it says for me to do with it.  Then, BINGO, your comment appears on screen.  It's amazing. 

OK, so on with the contest.  READY. . . SET . . . POST!

3b: Back to the Sheriff's Office

The sheriff noticed the men standing around the office door as soon as he turned off the highway.

"Well, howdy, Jeb," the sheriff called as he stepped out of the car.  "What can I do you for?"

"Sheriff, these things are taking over the county!  We insist that you arm us immediately," Jeb, who seemed to speak for the group, said firmly.

"You knows that I can't do that, Jeb," the sheriff responded.  "We don't have 'nough weapons for everyone in the county, and those are official police weapons.  If they were to be used in the committing of a crime, well, that just wouldn't be good." 



"Well, you better do something, sheriff, because here come a whole bunch of those things," Jeb pointed, surprising everyone.

"Aw, heck."

*          *          *

 

Turn 1: Everyone activates, with the police going first, the civilians second, and the zeds last.  Two of the deputies open fire, getting one OD between them.  The one with the shotgun isn't sure whether to cover the civilians or the zeds. 

 

"There's more coming this way," one of the boys shouts, pointing to the rear of the building. 

The sheriff and the shotgunner move to the sides of the office.  "Get behind us," the sheriff yells to the civilians, who mass together by the office door.

 

The zeds just take their move forward.  Two more appear as the result of the gunfire.

 

Turn 2: Zeds move first, followed by the police, and then the civilians.  This is not looking good!  Four (!) zeds surround one of the deputies and another zed reaches a second deputy.  In the second match, each side passes one and melee will continue, but in the first match, the zeds overwhelm the deputy and knock him down.  They will spend the next turn feasting on him.  Three of the four civilians pass 1d6 on the See Zombie Death table.  Two of them Duck Back to the front of the police car and huddle there - these guys cannot move until game end, while the third Ducks Back, then collapses.  He will have to check on the Crazy About My Job table at the end of the game.  The fourth civilian is unaffected.  The sheriff and the other deputy maintain their positions and don't see what happens to their buddy, yet.



The sheriff and the unengaged deputy now move to help their comrades.  The sheriff takes out the zed in melee with his deputy, while the other deputy moves to help his friend who's down.  When he first gets a look at the zeds munching on the deputy, he runs away, but gets a hold of his wits and will activate normally next turn. 

 

The one good civilian runs up to the group of zombies that is munching the deputy and starts to bash one on the head with a rock.  Melee will continue as he did not achieve an Obviously Dead.

 

No new zombies this turn.

Turn 3: Most of the zombies are busy this turn but the others will move after the police, while the civilians failed activation. The two good order deputies and the sheriff now run to help their comrade. The sheriff passes 2 on his See Zombie Death check and carries on, while the other deputy, who was fighting the one zombie, Ducks Back behind the police car, but will activate normally next turn on the Sanity Table. The sheriff and deputy each OD one zed in the pack.

"Hey, watch out!" the sheriff yells to his deputy just in time, as a zed is ready to pounce on him. He is surprised, though, and cannot react fast enough. He will only have 1d6 in melee. The sheriff is able to get a round off at the zombie charging him, but it has no effect. The sheriff and his attacker will continue in melee, while the deputy is knocked down and munched, the zed spending the next turn focused on its lunch.  (GRK!  Due to a technical glitch beyond my control, I lost all of the narrative beyond this point, but I will summarize the rest of the game as well as I can.)

Turn 4: The zombies fail to activate, but the police and civilians both activate.  The sheriff gets a Knock Down in melee followed by a Pop Goes the Weasel.  The civilian with the rock bashes in the head of the one zombie, leaving the one eating the deputy and the one facing the civilian.

Turn 5: The zombies and civilians both fail to activate while the police move to get better shots at the zed in front of them.  All shots miss, though.  At the end of the turn a black Suburban pulls up and Sculder and Mully jump out, armed with shotguns this time.  Unfortunately, neither has seen a zombie death and must roll.  Mully only passes 1, ducking back behind the Suburban and she'll have to roll on the Crazy About My Job table at the end of the game.  Sculder immediately lets off at the zed munching the deputy and gets an OD.  Miraculously, no zeds appear.



 

Turn 6: Zeds, police and civilians all fail activation, so Sculder runs up and takes out the last zombie without attracting any new ones. 

 

The final tally is two deputies munched, and both Mully and one civilian degenerate to blithering idiots as a result of the See Zombie Death table.  The other civilians recover at the end of the game. 

 

*          *          *

Wow!  Another crazy game with people and zombies falling left and right.  It could have been a lot worse, especially with those See Zombie Death rolls. 

 

I'm done with my training this week and heading home on Friday.  Unfortunately, the sheriff's office won't survive the trip home, but I might need to rebuild the sheriff's office as with the sheriff acquitting himself so admirably (as well as Sculder - who knew?  Especially with that Wuss attribute), the sheriff's office might become a bastion of sanity amidst the zombie wastes.

 

Don't know when the next game will come, but happy gaming, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in the meantime!