I discovered I'd made an error in yesterdays game, if there is gunfire zombies automatically move towards it at the end of the turn if they didn't react to something else earlier in the turn.
Anyway, on to Game Two. Same scenario as last time, but I increased the humans to five groups of four and a leader. Still Q8 M10.
I actually outnumber the zombies at the start, this should be a cakewalk, right?
Group One moves up and enters the bar, which fortunately doesn't contain any zombies. They then open fire on the group of six zombies behind it, killing one.
This provokes the zombies to rush at Group One who successfully pass their quality check and gun three of them down with defensive fire.
The remaining two zombies are easily dispatched in close combat without causing any injury. This could be described as a good start. :)
Group Two moves through the alley beside the bar entrance.
Groups Three and Four move cautiously up the road.
And Group Five with the leader attached moves round the rear of the bar.
The two remaining zombie mobs shuffle towards the sound of gunshots they heard earlier.
And then it all goes pear shaped. Having established a nice front line, nine zombies come on as reinforcements on the flank of it. And the reinforcement roll also determined that zombie quality rises to Q8 a turn early.
Group Three opens fire on the zombies to their front, killing two of them...
Provoking the other four to charge...
Where two more are killed by defensive fire.
The remaining two zombies are quickly destroyed, but not before injuring a member of Group Three.
And to add insult to that unfortunate injury nine more zombies come to the sound of gunfire.
Group Three drag their wounded companion into the bar where they can check how badly injured he is and help themselves to a little liquid refreshment. For medicinal purposes, honest. :)
Group Four doubles up the road, attracting a group of zombies who stumble out of the alleyway to pursue them.
Given the success of my shoot/provoke/defensive fire/easy melee tactics I try it again. Group Five moves up and opens fire, missing with every shot. Oops!
The zombies charge and Groups One and Two interrupt to try to save Group Five, killing four zombies.
Then Group Five misses with their defensive fire. Not just missed, every roll was a one or a two. Still, five of my guys against two zombies, how bad can it be?
Two casualties bad, that's how bad.
And the gunfire draws four more zombies.
Who shuffle forward with their neighbouring group to the sound of gunfire.
The start of turn three brings more bad news as nine new zombies appear ahead of Group Four who had been running along the road pursued by a mob of zombies. It looks like a Group Four sandwich is on the menu for zombie lunch today.
Group Three check their injured trooper, it was just superficial and he's back in the fight.
Group One fire at the backs of the zombies chasing Group Four, knowing it will draw them towards the fire and open an escape route for Group Four. Three zombies are terminated with extreme prejudice.
Unfortunately the zombies respond by charging group One and wiping them out for the loss of only one zombie!
Group Five drags it casualties behind the bar where they can check them out.
Group Four doubles back and guns down two of the zombies at the bar.
Attracting four more zombies.
And leading another mob after them.
Group Two comes back down the alley by the bar and kills another two zombies.
And the turn ends with the remaining zombie mobs marching to the sound of the guns. Well, shambling, to be precise.
Four more zombies arrive. I'm glad I painted more or I'd have run out by now.
Group Four continues to fall back, killing the final zombie at the bar on the way.
And their fan club trails after them.
Group Two enters the bar but is followed by zombies who cause a casualty, losing two of their number in return.
The next two rounds saw another casualty for Group Two before the zombies are finally finished off.
And the sound of gunfire attracted eight more zombies, right next to Group Five who had checked their casualties, one KIA, one WIA..
The turn ends with unactivated zombies closing in on the echoes of gunshots.
Zombie reinforcements for the new turn enter in the worst possible location.
A view of just how bad the situation is.
Group Two checks their casualties, one WIA, one superficial injuries. Group Four falls back and fires, to no effect. Two huge zombie mobs pursue them.
Group Five avoids the temptation of seeking cover in the bar, knowing they will be followed by the adjacent zombie mob. Instead they draw them off down the alley. Group Three quietly barricades the bar.
The remaining zombie mobs move forward and the game ends. Groups Four and Five exit the board, Groups Two and Three will remain silent in the bar until the zombies disperse and them make their escape.
I think I was really unlucky that time, mainly in the zombie reinforcements coming in such large numbers and bad locations for me. And their quality improving one turn early didn't help.
But then neither did my tactics, I need to work on a better plan. But hey, I enjoyed the game and I want to play more. :)
Oh my goodness, Vicki, intense! Intense because it's so desperate; I keep picturing World War Z (the movie), hordes of the bastids moving fast as hell. Your games are conveying the desperation of the situation very well, and they're laid out very well, in my opinion of course, and with the format looking a bit familiar ;)
ReplyDeleteMan, your troops (not tropies) need to work on their marksmanship. Do troops in Ambush Z get an extra firing dice when the bad guys are within effective range (8" for D8, 10" for D10, etc...)? Another dice may help? Or bigger groups. When I saw five groups of four, all I could think of was that's an extra set of gunfire and building entering that's gonna draw more bad guys, and with a better chance of missing when they fire. I'd go with four groups of five, maybe even three groups of six with a leader or two floating around to help with casualties?
Unless you've got a back story of groups that don't really like each other being forced to work together ;) I can't wait for the campaign, and the characters I figure are coming with it. I just know you're going to have me liking a character that ends up getting zombie-chomped and I'm going to get mad and stop reading your batreps! For a minute, anyway ;)
V/R,
Jack
The format looks familiar because I borrow from the best and I can't improve on perfection...
DeleteEach group of 4 includes a support weapon, so all firing has been at optimum range, 6 dice counting the +1 for that and the +1 for SW. Larger groups might be the way to go, more firepower and more defence dice.
There are going to be characters in the campaign, I'm deliberately keeping them out of the test games to try to mark these as 'unofficial'. Trouble is I need to work out how to keep someone alive long enough for a campaign to work. I have a few thoughts on that, and as it's babysitting weekend time I'll be considering them in the next post instead of another AAR.
And don't you dare threaten to stop reading, that's a two way street and I'd stop reading yours for two minutes in retaliation. :p
Regarding the format, stop it, you're embarrassing me ;)
DeleteGotcha on the firing dice, sounds the same as AA/FoF. And I'd at least try playing a test game with larger groups; on the one hand, your FP and Defense dice will cap out at 10, but 10 is a lot (hell, it may make you too powerful). On the other, fewer groups will draw fewer reactions/zombie reinforcements.
Character in campaigns, figuring out how to keep them alive so the campaign works... Well, that's the whole trick now, isn't it? And, for me, it's the bulk of the fun, and you may or may not find yourself making some table-top decisions from the heart rather than based on solid tactics. But rest assured, even if you go the other way (cold tactics over heart, costing a dear character his or her life), you can't win, John and Rod will be there to criticize your decision making! ;)
And a penny's worth of free advice: I highly recommend a making a roster of your characters, so you can follow who's been where (just for storyline), but also what kind of physical/mental shape they're in (for tabletop). You don't want to have to go back to individual batreps and read through to figure out who got wounded or killed, who's distraught from having their buddy (or maybe in your case, family member/spouse?) get whacked and turned into a zombie. It's also a spot for documenting the kinds of interpersonal relationships that could make a zombie campaign super interesting: Jack can't stand John because Jack thinks the best chance for survival is getting to the coast, but John wants to stay in the local area because he still has family members there unaccounted for, and Vicki wants to get to country or city 'X' because it's rumored they've discovered a cure there, but Shaun thinks they should go for country or city 'Y' because it's been barricaded from the zombie plague and they're rumored to have more food and water than they know what to do with. Anyway, just my two cents...
And don't worry, I couldn't stop reading, they've been too much of a good time.
V/R,
Jack
Rereading the rules I've discovered I missed some really important stuff regarding interrupts and overwatch. I'm also becoming a bit frustrated with them because the examples don't seem to match what the rules say and a lot remains unsaid and open to interpretation, I think I'm going to end up playing my version of the rules rather than what the author intended. The basic system is so good it's worth sticking with, maybe the second edition will clear a lot of it up for me. I can't wait that long to play, so I'll do my best in the mean time.
ReplyDeleteI know the author is available to talk to on TWW but I don't want to rain on his parade, especially when I suspect the problem might just be me lol
Lovely blog yoou have here
ReplyDelete