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This is Courtney Courtny, the Channel 5 medical reporter bringing you breaking news from Lawrenceville, Ga. The Yerkies primate research center has had an outbreak of a strange virus that has turned the monkeys both lethargic and violent. Several handlers have been bitten, gotten sick and were thought dead. They seem to have gotten the disease from the primates. Not very usual in such a situation, but certainly possible. They also have turned violent, and attacked others. People are advised to avoid contact with infected individuals. That's all for now. This is Courtney Courtny, Stay Home and Stay Safe;"
There really is a yerkies primate research center for the CDC not too far from my house. Food for thought on a sleepless night. I've had my squire Kelson over for a couple of days, he is visiting from Huntsville, Al.
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| Kelson, giving me a chance to corrupt him with his first tabletop game. |
He's never played a miniatures game, but has rpg'd quite a bit. I asked him to give me a hand with my first run with ATZ, and we set up the table and made a run for the chopper. The batrep follows. I am playing the Not Vincent we will call Larry, and Kelson has the Not-Ellis we will call Bo. I assumed that we were on Day 1, in an Urban area, and armed with what was on the model, IE SMG's in both cases. I also designated a building as "Bullseye", our local gunstore and shooting range, and made it an objective on the way. We had to move from the parking lot behind the Corner Stop Cafe to the gunstore, then on to the helipad at Gwinnett Medical Center. I rearranged Lawrenceville a bit, and had to use some of my fantasy/middle ages scenery as I am still putting together the town.
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| The start for our heroes |
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| The red felt was where to fire was, the green to designate the lawn around the courthouse |
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| A quiet street, almost |
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| The helipad is on the roof of the back building |
Still, we got a game in, then part of another. Here goes:
Bo and Larry, a pair of unlikely friends, were freaked out by the newscasts. Bo had been to Bullseye earlier that day and picked up an ak-74 and an MP-5, which promptly all but melted his credit card. He meet his friend Larry at home, and they discussed what was going on.
Suddenly a large explosion goes off down the block. They run down the oddly deserted street to see what was going on, and notice a fire betweeen the Ezzard building and the Gwinnett senior center. About that time, a helicopter is flying low overhead, broadcasting "All civilian personnel, make your way to the helipad at the Gwinnett Medical Center for immediate evacuation. Avoid contact with Infected individuals." The message repeats several times.
Larry and Bo begin a heated discourse about what to do. Larry is for just running for it, while Bo thinks Bullseye is the right call. Several minutes pass as the discussion continues, and they can hear what seems like shuffling footsteps. Then they see someone coming down the alley near Bullseye.
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| Issat Tina? Don't shoot her! |
The conversation stops as she walks more puposefully at them. As she breaks into a stumbling run, Larry realizes she's infected. She is about to attack them, so he opens up with his smg, which hits her but only knocks her down. Bo starts yelling at Larry about killing Tina, the waitress at the Corner Stop Cafe, but Larry says she was obviously already dead. The large chunk of her intestine she left in the parking lot when she broke into the run was his clue. They went over to the still moving corpse and put it down.
Totally freaked out now, they decided it was time for even more firepower and headed over to the gunstore. Looted! Someone else had beaten them to it, but the empty store still turned up a AR-15 semi auto. Deciding that hanging around was a bad idea, Larry and Bo start jogging down the street in the direction of Gwinnett Medical. Near where the fire was, they spot a zombie staggering around, and also ahead of them on the street is another, both heading for them.
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| Wasting time arguing while the Zeds get closer |
Another heated conversation, some yelling, some pointing and more than a little name calling later, the pair decide to make a break for it down the street. As they look up, they realize the zeds have been closing the whole time.
Sprinting around some parked cars, the pair are making for a gap between the Brand bank and the county maintenance shed when one of the zombies charges them. Bo puts it down with the rifle, but a heretofore unseen shadow rises in front of them in the passage they were planning to use.
They hesitate, trying to figure out what to do, and now several zombies, some seen, some just heard, are closing in.
Larry and Bo sprint for the Zed in front, shooting and knocking it down. The medical center is in sight!
They pause, reloading and breathing, looking at the broken open front door of the hospital, planning. Just when they are about to dash forward, disaster strikes. The first zombie they saw by the fire has been stumbling after them the whole way, and lunges around the corner to attack Bo. Bo bats ineffectively at him with the rifle butt, then trips and hits his head on the way down. Larry steps up and smashes the Zed with his weapon. A quick check shows what must be some serious damage, as Bo is still out. Larry puts him into a fireman's carry and runs for the hospital.
As he breaks into the street, his heart sinks. Several zombies are heading for him, and his wild fire is ineffective. They grab him, and there is a welter of gore as the pair go down for... well, perhaps not for the last time.
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| The final stand of Larry and Bo |
In game terms- Board set up was designed to make us move around a bit, not just sprint for the end. I rolled 8 zeds, placed at random 4 and 4 on each half of the table, and started with two kind of near us, but one facing the wrong way.
First couple of turns had us not activating, some zombie activation. One zombie headed for us, and I passed the zed no zed with 2, while kelson only passed with 1, I shot, attracting no z's, and then we finally activated. We capped it, attracting none, (5-6 roll on day 1) and headed for the gun store. I made the rule that any loot we found there would be a gun, strange as it seems. We rolled a 3 for store, so it was empty. Kelson found the rifle, and were off again. Several turns of zeds activating and us not later, we were in a tight spot. We activated and ran fast, trying to get away without shooting to attract more zeds.
Finally we activate first and have to kill one, thanks Kelson. That fire attacts another, right in the darn way. The zeds activate, one of the ones chasing us catch up and put Kelson OOF. I melee it next activation and put it down. He fails to wake up, and I drag him off. Some of the other zeds activate and catch us in the street in front of the hospital, and the game goes all pear shapes. Oh well, we had fun.
