Friday 15 July 2016

Zombicide Scenario BS01 - Death From Above Part 1

It is no secret that my favourite boardgame of all time is Zombicide. I fell in love with it from the moment I opened the starter set box and read the rulebook. I have all of the supplements for it, including the spin-off game Zombicide: Black Plague, which incredibly, improves on the original, and I have just about all of the figures made for it. I was tempted to run a Zombicide: Black Plague batrep here, but there is still so much fun and so much new stuff for the original game that I haven't covered, so I'm sticking with that for the moment. Over the next three weeks I'll show you what happened in a scenario of my own creation that I called "Death From Above." The reason I chose this title will become immediately obvious. Not only will the Survivors have to deal with a growing horde of Zombies but I'm also adding the Murder of Crowz expansion set into the mix. Hence, "Death From Above."
Please note that I posted this batrep on The Gamers Cupboard blog more than two days ago, where it received just one comment (thanks, Andy!). Pitiful! I'm hoping it'll reach a wider and more appreciative audience here. After all, this is the blog for all things Undead.
In this scenario, I'm using four Survivors from Zombicide Season 2. They are Dakota, an escaped convict, Elsa, a cat burglar, Gary, a miniature figures sculptor and Ross, an ex-Army veteran and warehouse manager. Despite their widely differing backgrounds they had grouped together when the zombie apocalypse brought them in contact with one another. Dakota started with the Taunt skill (not very useful); Elsa with the Break-in Skill (which proved very useful); Gary began with the Slippery Skill (incredibly useful!) and Ross started with the +1Die: Ranged Skill (another useful Skill). Their starting weapons were a Fire-Axe for Dakota, a Pan for Elsa, a Crowbar for Gary and a Pistol for Ross.
The photo above shows the board set up for the start of the game. The upper four tiles are from left to right, 1B, 2B, 2C and 4B. The four lower tiles from left to right are 3B, 5F, 2C and 4B. There are four Spawn Points (not numbered in this photo but they are in the other photos) - two at the top (north end) of the board and two at the bottom (south end) of the board.
OBJECTIVES
Take all four Objective Tokens. One of them will be a Green Objective Token (placed face down) and it represents a First Aid Kit, which can be used to heal one wound on any Survivor in the same Zone as the person who has this Token. Healing counts as a separate Action. All Objective Tokens are worth 5 experience points to whoever finds them.
Once all four Objective Tokens have been found, the Survivors may exit the board at the Exit Point on Tiles 4B and 5B.
SPECIAL RULES
Death from above. This scenario includes the figures from the Murder of Crowz expansion set as part of the Zombie Horde. Rules for Crowz are they can move 3 Zones per Turn. They ignore doors and walls when moving. They only have one action per Turn - Move or Attack. They only have 1 wound and when killed, they are worth 1 experience point. On the Target Priority Chart, Crowz appear just after Survivors, meaning they will always be the first type of Zombies to be shot.
Out of gas! The Pimpmobile and Police Car may not be driven. However, they can be searched as normal. The Pimpmobile will contain either the Evil Twins Pistols or Ma's Shotgun.
Hah, you missed me! I decided to use the Target Priority rules from Zombicide: Black Plague when shooting into a Zone that contains one or more Survivors. This means the Survivor is only hit if the shot misses its intended target. I think this is a much fairer rule and it will be a house rule in all of my future games of Zombicide.
TURN 1
The four Survivors started in the North West corner of Tile 1B. For the most part I'll alternate who acts first in a Turn. Moving clockwise from Dakota, the Survivors are arranged alphabetically - Dakota, Elsa, Gary and Ross. Notes relating to the rules will be written in blue.
DAKOTA, ELSA, GARY & ROSS. With only three Actions per Turn, they each moved 2 Zones east and then 1 Zone south to stand alongside the police car.
"We need to find some decent weapons," Gary moaned.
"There should be some in this car," Ross pointed out.
"The keys are missing and the gas tank is reading empty," Elsa noted as she peered through the window of the driver's door.
"Hey, guys! The trunk's unlocked. Let's see what they've got." Dakota said in a cheerful voice.
ZOMBIES. Spawn Point 1 wielded one Walker. One Walker climbed out of the manhole on Tile 1B, close to Spawn Point 1.
Two Walkers emerged from Spawn Point 2 and another one arrived from Spawn Point 3, south of where the four Survivors were.
TURN 2
ELSA. She searched the police car and found an SMG. She moved 1 Zone south to stand beside the door into the big building. She deftly unlocked the door with her set of lock-picks. (She used her Break-in Skill for which no dice roll is required and it makes no noise. This counts as a Free Action for her). Inside Zombies spawned in every room except one. There were four Walkers and four groups of Crowz.
"What the fuck!" she screamed as she saw a flock of zombie crows filling the room.
She sprayed the room with bullets from her newly acquired 9mm Uzi. Most of her shots missed but she managed to reduce the number of Crowz facing her by half.
GARY. He searched police car and found a Hunting Rifle. He moved 1 Zone south to join Elsa.
"What's the problem?" he asked.
"That's the problem!" Elsa replied pointing at the Crowz.
"Holy shit!" Gary exclaimed. He raised his Rifle and blasted the remaining Crowz out of the air.
ROSS. He also searched the police car and he found a Machete. Noticing the Zombie Walker slowly shuffling towards him he fired his 9mm Pistol twice (remember he gets a +1 die bonus for his starting Skill, giving him 2 dice to hit per shot instead of just 1 die) and blew the back of the Zombie's head off. With a satisfied grunt, he moved 1 Zone south.
DAKOTA. Searching the police car, she found a Sawed-Off Shotgun.
"Cool!" she murmured. She moved 1 Zone south to catch up with her three colleagues.
ZOMBIES. The two groups of Crowz moved 2 Zones to exit the building, threatening the four Survivors. The remaining Walkers slowly moved towards the quartet. From Spawn Point 1 came one Walker, nothing from Spawn Point 2, two more groups of Crowz from Spawn Point 3 and two more Walkers from Spawn Point 3.
TURN 3
GARY. He made the decision to let the others deal with the Crowz. He was more interested in dealing with the two Walkers approaching from the south. His first shot killed the male Walker instantly. He missed his second shot at the female Walker but calmly corrected his aim and shot her between the eyes with his third shot.
ROSS. "Hell! That's not something you see every day," he remarked as he opened fire with his Pistol at the Crowz. His shooting was deadly accurate and he killed both groups. He shifted his aim to the two Walkers just inside the entrance to the building. This time his shooting was not so accurate. He missed with his first two shots but scored killing hits with his next two.
DAKOTA. She moved 1 Zone west to enter the building. Then she moved 1 Zone south into the big room that contained one of the four Objectives. She took it but it was not the Green Objective.
ELSA. She moved 1 Zone east to stand behind the bright orange Pimpmobile. Popping the trunk she found a specially crafted Sawed-Off Shot gun with an under-slung blade. It bore the inscription "Ma's Shotgun" on a small golden plate on its stock.
"Ooh, shiny!" she purred as she took it and lovingly caressed it. It appealed to her greedy streak and love of all things valuable. She moved back west 1 Zone to rejoin Gary and Ross.
ZOMBIES. The two groups of Crowz sped 3 Zones to reach the Zone with the Pimpmobile in. A female Walker emerged from the toilets to confront Dakota. The remaining Walkers advanced slowly but were no immediate threat to anyone. One Walker arrived from Spawn Point 1. Two groups of two Crowz flew into Spawn Points 2 and 4. But Spawn Point 3 remained empty for this Turn.
TURN 4
ROSS. "Those damned crows are getting to be a right nuisance," he muttered as he blasted away with his 9mm Pistol. He missed twice and hit twice. The threat from above had been neutralised. He spun round through ninety degrees to face the two Walkers next to the police car who were lumbering towards him. His first shot went wide but his second shot hit one of the Zombies in the mouth and exited the back of his head in a spray of blood, brain matter and skull fragments.
DAKOTA. "Think you can sneak up on me, huh, bitch!" she sneered as she swung her Fire Axe in an overhead arc that clove the female Walker's skull in two.
"Now, let's see what else I can find in here."
Her search wielded some empty glass bottles. She pocketed one of them. (Note that if a Survivor has a Glass Bottle and a Gasoline card, he can combine them to make a Molotov Cocktail - one of the only weapons in the game that kill an Abomination.) She moved 1 Zone north into the toilet block that the female Walker had emerged from.
ELSA. "Don't worry, Ross," she said to the portly warehouse manager. "I'll deal with that Zedhead,"
A short burst from her Uzi Sub-Machine Gun shredded the Walker's head.
"Thanks," Ross nodded at her in approval.
She moved back to the Pimpmobile and pointed her Uzi at the female Walker a few yards away. The Sub-Machine Gun bucked in her hand and she stared in amazement as every one of her shots missed such an easy target.
"Oh, shit!" she whined through gritted teeth.
GARY. The miniature figure sculptor never imagined that a zombie apocalypse would happen for real. He had designed and sculpted one inch tall figures for a zombie apocalypse boardgame. That was for a game that should not have come true. But it had. The fantasy was now the reality. He was scared witless but also determined to survive. The Zombie Crowz were something he could not imagine existing but there they were, just in front of him and flying his way. He aimed his rifle at them and carefully pulled the trigger. He missed. He tried again and missed again.
"No way, man," he muttered. "This isn't happening."
He fired a third time and breathed a sigh of relief as a small group of Crowz fell to the ground in a spray of blood and feathers.
ZOMBIES. The group of Crowz that Gary had just missed flew directly at him. A Walker exited the big building to confront Ross. The female Walker who Elsa had shot at and missed increased her pace and reached out her bony arms to grab the leather clad cat burglar. More Crowz and Walkers moved onto the main street, attracted to the noise made by the three humans at the T-junction. Single Walkers crawled out of the sewers in Tiles 2B and 3B. From Spawn Point 2 came one more Walker. From Spawn Points 3 and 4 came two new threats - one Fatty and one Runner respectively.

To be continued.

14 comments:

  1. Awesome report Bryan. Nice to see all those painted figures in use :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers, Simon. It was nice to give some new figures an outing.

      Delete
  2. Good report Bryan and some very interesting figs on show (that's not all that was almost on show eh, Elsa!).

    Cheers Roger.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Many thanks, Roger. I think the motto of Dakota and Elsa must be, "Bras, we don't need no stinking bras!" Perhaps their bras are in the wash today!

      Delete
    2. Even zombies are distracted by a well endowed lady.

      Delete
    3. Well, they do have more flesh on their bones, Phil.

      Delete
    4. Well they do say "orange is the new black" so I guess you have both bases covered (even if your figures aren't!).

      Cheers Roger.

      Delete
    5. Good point, Roger! *Chuckle!*

      Delete
  3. Now I can see why you recommended those crows to me as part of my "Black Plague" Kickstarter, Bryan. Awesome foes imho and I can't help but be reminded of the infected crow from "28 days later". So glad I took your advice and picked a box up. I've also not yet used vehicles in my games either, so it was interesting to see them being searched etc.

    As the others have said, its great to see a painted "Zombicide" BatRep, especially one which is so well-written and entertaining. Love this sort of posting as well you know, though when you started by saying it was going to be based upon a scenario of your own invention I did momentarily think we were going to see re-fight one of the momentously tense scenes from your fave zed-flick "World War Z" ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're such a wit, Simon! I could replay the whole of the "World War Z" and it would be VASTLY more entertaining than the shite we were served. At least my version wouldn't have so many MASSIVE PLOT HOLES IN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      The Crowz mainly remind me of a scene from "Resident Evil: Extinction." The speed in which they move across the board coupled with the fact that they ignore walls and doors make them truly frightening opponents.

      Delete
  4. Very interesting. I've been tempted by zombicide. May have to try it out. Love the report and your miniatures.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you kindly, David. I am obviously very biased but I highly recommend Zombicide to anyone even remotely interested in zombie apocalypse gaming.

      Delete
  5. I keep waiting for "Zombiecide" to turn up at my club! But alas it has not yet so I am still to try it!
    But the AARs and play throughs you do are sill keeping me interested! keep them coming

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's a shame you can't get to try out the game, Clint, as it is highly addictive and very well thought out. Plus, the boards and miniatures are so gorgeous. Have no fear, I have many more Zombicide batreps planned.

      Delete