The radio news had been awful all day. Some kind of sickness was causing people to do crazy things and there was even the "Z" word being used. I figured the best thing to do was grab Toni, head home and fort up. Mentally going over the house supplies, I realized we were short on foods. If this was going to last a while, we might need more, as well emergency stuff. First things first though.
Get Toni. I rolled up the street to the first parking spot open and hopped out of my truck grabbing my practice sword. Seemingly from nowhere, a bunch of people stampeded right for me. Pushing and shoving, even whacking a couple with the stick and I made my way through them.
Breathing heavily, I started walking down the street to the cafe. Some drunk came stumbling out of McCray's Tavern. I walked past him, still fuming about people who were being rude.
Still walking to the cafe, I notice the drunk is following me. Creepy. Better get Toni home and away from this insanity.
Creeped out a bit by the drunk following me, I jog over to the Cornerstop and call out for Toni. As I open the front door, 3 of the patrons bolt past me, almost pushing me down. I am getting pissed off now. Then I spot Toni, shaking a frying pan at the mob gathered in the back of the cafe. "You came for me!" She is close to tears, but not scared a bit. Happy to see me, she says. About then I realize that one of the idiots walking around outside isn't just stupid, he'd dead. There is a hole in his chest the size of a baseball, and he's trying get in the cafe!
I jump at him, bringing out my tourney winning snap shot. Connecting with his temple, he quits moving. I think he's done. But I'm not sure. How do you kill something that is already dead? Where are the police? The Army? Well, time for some thrilling heroics, I guess.
Still more people push past me, almost knocking me down again. Crazy, and I know a lot of these people damn it!
Now that I see how they move differently, I see several zombies on the street, and one of them charges Jack Everett, an Attorney who had been having lunch. He screams and smashes the zombie to the floor with his briefcase.
"Toni, grab some food. We're going to need it at home." She just nods and grabs a bunch of cans, putting them in ever present messenger bag she carries. Bag over her shoulder, frying pan in one hand and to go cup of sweet tea in the other, she heads out the door to me. As I'm watching, out of the corner of my eye I see another shambler stagger at me. I rush to meet it, beating it with my stick, and it goes down.
"Let's get out of here!" We take off for the truck at a jog, and the rest of the crowd runs the other way. I am a bit nervous about getting to the truck. I see some zombies facing away from us as we jog that way. We move as quietly as possible, but the sight at the rear of the truck is sickening. A bloody corpse is starting to stir.
"Run for it!" I yell, and we get to the truck. About half a dozen zombies were around the corner where I couldn't see them. Crap, they were coming for us.
We jumped in the truck, Toni hood sliding like Luke Duke, and I got us the hell out of there. Don't mind telling you how badly that frighted me. I decided there and then to grab my armor and the shotgun before heading back out for more stuff. Shit just got real!
This is the new, smaller 3 x 3 board. The objective (Wife's work) is the small brown building in the middle. I will enter from the right. I chose this because in real life, I would get her safe first. So I played this as it would be on today, July 13th, (a Friday) 2012. In my truck is my practice SCA sword, (1 handed weapon 1 impact) and a lock bladed knife. I am a rep 3 civilian with brawler (lucky for me) and slow. I passed the getting there roll with 1 d6, and it is counted as getting there on time. Toni is a rep 3 civilian with Stone Cold (I had no idea she would turn out to have nerves of steel. Rolled it.) I will assume she picked up a frying pan (1 handed 1 impact weapon) when things got crazy. She occasionally goes shooting at the gun range around the corner, but did not today, so no pistol for her. Might have been useful. I rolled 3 Zeds to start, placed them, took a deep breath and rolled for the first turn.
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| Who is that shuffling along in the distance? |
Turn 1 and insanity ensues. Zeds 6 Me 1. I roll 7!!!!! civilians come out of nowhere when I get out of the truck, trying to get down the street. I have no idea why they trying to run me over, but I managed (barely) to push my way thru them. (I hope I did this part right.... I counted the ones I tied with (2) as pushing past me.
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| The unruly mob! |
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| The real cornerstop Cafe, from inside my truck. |
Won the other combats.) I move 4 inches (failing to move fast), trying to get to the Cornerstop Cafe.
Turn 2 doubles produced 1 more civilian to argue with, then Zed 3 me 2 Civ 5 (I figured the civilians had thier own init, and it would not count for doubles, 7's, and 11's. A boy civy is charged by a zombie and retires, hunkering down around the corner. A zombie comes staggering out of the shop in front of me, yet I fail to recognize it as such. I walk blithely past, again failing to move fast. Guess that slow is true!
Turn 3 z6, m2 c5. I finally pass a fast move test (1dice)
Turn 4 z2 m1 c3. Most of the Civs run off the board, the new guy makes it the edge. The zombie near me gets closer and the one near the civilians closes in. I move a little closer to the Cafe.
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| It must be hard to see with the chemical mask on. |
Turn 5 z5 m2 c6. I pass my fast move test and get to the Cornerstop. There is my beautiful wife, cold eyed and clutching a frying pan as a bunch of unruly customers are milling around the back of the cafe, unsure what to do.
Turn 6 doubles z1 m4 c 6. I pass a zed no zed test with 2 dice. I have to deal with 3 civies pushing past me into the street, and just as i turn around I am charged by a zombie, and pass my test with one dice. We come to 0 successes in combat, staying locked.
Turn 7 z3 m 4 c5 The civie near the cornerstop is locked in combat with his zombie, passing his charged test 1d6 but being unable to deal with him. My combat is more successful, making mine obviously dead.
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| Attorney beats man with briefcase. Suit pending. |
Turn 8 doubles produce 3 civilians z 1 m6 c6 rolling a 7 means 3 zombies appear, coming out of the store where the first zombie appeared. The civie near the cafe kills his zed,
The one near my truck loses horribly. A four turn feast ensues.
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| This poor guy is the only reason I got to keep my truck. He drug the zeds away from us. |
Turn 9 doubles (again, the board is getting crowded!) 4 civies to deal with, z 6 m2 civ 1. I fight the civies first, again tying even with my advantages. Finally we activate, search and find food, strangely enough in a cafe, and the civies run off.
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| Ran out of modern civies, so my Mordheim gang gets a cameo. |
Turn 10 z1 m5 c 6
Turn 11 z3 m 5 c1 I pass a being charged test, as the lone zed around the corner gets into the action. I win the combat and knock him down. The zombies near the truck join the feast.
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| Wiser than I am perhaps, they head off for a nearby table edge. |
Turn 12 z2 m5 c4. 2 more zeds arrive at the storefront.
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| What's that blubbering sound? |
Turn 13 doubles...sigh 1 civie. z2 m1 c5. the zombies finished their meal. They move to the hunkered down boy, killing him and starting to feast again for 4 turns.
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| Dessert! |
Turn 14 z3 m6 c 5
Turn 15 z 2 m 4 c1 the civies run while the feasting continues
Turn 16 z6 m 3 c 4 we fail to fast move, but get closer to the truck
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| Run for the truck Baby! |
Turn 17 z3 m4 c4 generating 2 new zeds out of cafe.
Turn 18 z4 m6 c3 zeds move to close distance to us.
Turn 19 z1 m2 c1 We race to board edge, but don't quite get off the edge. Zeds come close. Much depends on next roll.
Turn 20 Z6 m2 c3.... Whew! We jump in truck and roar off.... What a game! The board was empty to start and full when we finished.
