Thursday, January 6, 2011

The moon ain’t gonna rise in the sky… (Part I)

Day 21 - Late evening
Cast: Mr. Whiteface, Mrs. Whiteface (OOF), Dotty Whiteface and Lynn
Objective: Discover
Area: suburban Whiteville
Special: still Day 21, late evening with a LOS of only 18”


It’s a beautiful, warm summer evening in the southern US. Nothing disturbs the peaceful silence outside. No traffic noises, no church bells or even sirens can be heard. The girl – Lynn - has been observing the area through the sun-blinds for more than two hours now. Without saying a word.
You may not see it on her face, but the sound coming from the inside of the trailer is wearing her down. A long moan, not loud, but with a hollow, unearthly voice. Hushed words behind a closed bathroom door and the soft sobbing of a little girl having run out of tears many hours ago.
Lynn glances over her shoulder at the door of the bathroom. This wasn’t going to end well. She knew the signs.


Setup: It’s the same 4’ x 4’ setup as in my previous batrep The sun ain't gonna shine anymore. All zombies have been removed from the table and the little group of survivors is still hiding in a sun bleached trailer in section nine. The is one PEF in section two, inside the diner, another one behind the Humvee, in section four and a third PEF in the supermarket in section 6.


Turn 1:
(6 / 3) Only the PEFs activate. The PEFs move.


Turn 2:
(4 / 4) All are cancelled.



Turn 3:
(4 / 3) All are active, Team Whiteface activates first.
Team Whiteface activates and Mrs. Whiteface rolls a d6 to check for “Harry, are you OK?”. As a Rep 3 Survivor she needs a 6. Unfortunately it’s just a 4. Not enough to survive in a desirable condition. Her husband opens the door. Without talking everything is understood and Lynn calls for Dotty to join her in the living room and takes the little girl in her arms.

After a short moment a single shot breaks the painful silence.

The PEFs move closer toward the white pick-up in the trailer park.

The single shot doesn’t create any zeds.


Turn 4:
(4 / 2) All are active, Team Whiteface acts first.

“Hush, I think I’ve heard something!”
Team Whiteface moves to the window to get a better LOS to the PEFs. The first PEF (REP 5) turns out to be a false alarm.

“Prob’ly just a cat.” Whiteface says under his breath.

The second PEF (Rep 3) is a false alarm as well.

“These days it’s never just ‘a cat’...” Lynn whispers without looking at him “and by the way I really, really hate cats.”

The third PEF (Rep 2) exits the supermarket and moves until it is only 18” away and therefore in LOS. It resolves to be the third false alarm. Being on the bright side of life, eh?
 

Turn 5:
(6 / 4) Team Whiteface doesn’t activate and there isn’t anyone else to play. I do roll for activation, because it is possible to have a random occurrence by rolling a double six.


Turn 6:
(6 / 4) Team Whiteface isn’t in the mood to activate. They still continue to observe the area.


Turn 7:
(4 / 5) Team Whiteface activates.
Mr. Whiteface grabs his sports bag, his BA Pistol and Dotty, who’s still staring at the bathroom door. Lynn puts on her baseball cap, grabs her new assault rifle and follows them outside. All move to another trailer, home of Darlene and Billy, as a colourful sign next to the door announces.


Turn 8:
(5 / 2) Hesitating. Listening. Breathing. No one activates.


Turn 9:
(1 / 2) Team Whiteface activates.
They enter the other trailer to find Darlene and Billy in full zombie mode. Having expected trouble Team Whiteface wins the zombie surprise test.
Whiteface fires two shots with his BAP at Billy and knocks him down.
Lynn fires a single shot with her assault rifle, but misses. Despite of having the RUNT attribute she kills Darlene in the ensuing close combat.

Three shots draw the attention of granny zed from the nearby supermarket.


Turn 10:
(4 / 3) All are active, Team Whiteface acts first.
Whiteface walks up to the knocked down Billy finishes him.

Granny Zed shuffles closer.

No new zombies are created.


Turn 11:
(2 / 3) All are active, but Granny moves first.
The elder zombie lady walks enters the trailer park.

Whiteface activates and exits the mobile home. He charges the zombie and kills her.
 

Turn 12:
(6 / 4) All are inactive. No one to play.


Turn 13:
(1 / 5) Team Whiteface activates.
Whiteface walks back into the trailer while absently removing blood from his large BA Pistol.


Turn 14:
(5 / 2) All are inactive. No one to play.


Turn 15:
(6 / 2) All are inactive. No one to play.


Turn 16:
(4 / 2) Team Whiteface activates.
Lynn and Whiteface take their time to investigate this mobile home. Lynn finds a .45 BA Pistol and Whiteface puts a smaller Pistol in his bag. He would have preferred something to eat, but you take what you can get.


Turn 17:
(2 / 4) Team Whiteface activates and leaves the trailer.
 

Turn 18:
(6 / 6) See, I told you! A random occurrence!

“Over there!” Lynn shouts and fires a single bullet through the sun-blinds of the third trailer, because she thought she saw some moving shadows. Dangerous shadows.

This shot creates one zombie.

“Calm down, Lynn, there’s nothing to be afraid of. It’s just shadows.”


Turn 19:
(2 / 3) All activate, the newly created zombie acts first.
He shambles closer between the trailers.
Whiteface puts away his large revolver and prepares his assault rifle. Lynn fires a single shot at the zed. A well placed bullet kills the zombie.

This shot doesn’t attract any zombies.


Turn 20:
(3 / 4) Team Whiteface activates and enters the last trailer. They find two civilians inside. A girl…boy…well, who knows what may be hidden under that haircut…with a SPAS-12 (Rep 3 civilian) and a woman with an assault rifle. Whiteface isn’t sure what irritates him more: the barrel of her AK following every movement of his head or the Eagle, Globe and Anchor on her shirt. (Rep 5 civilian).
He loses the NPC Interaction by minus two successes and has a serious run in. I ignored the part about “plotting revenge” for this time, but it was pretty obvious that she wasn’t in the mood for small talk. Maybe Lynn shouldn’t have shot a bullet into their home?
The woman orders Team Whiteface to leave her mobile home and no, they can’t have any of the MRE packs piled up in the kitchen. Whiteface hesitates, but eventually concludes that the odds aren’t in his favour.

They would have been a great addition to Team Whiteface.


Turn 21:
(3 / 2) Team Whiteface activates and leaves the trailer.

Turn 22:
(5 / 1) All are inactive and scanning the surrounding.

“Just shadows, eh?”

"Oh, shut up, Lynn..."


Turn 23:
(6 / 1) All are inactive while making some new plans.


Turn 24:
(5 / 6) All are inactive. There is a hushed voice coming from the trailer:

“If those bozos outside aren’t gone in ten seconds I’ll kill them…”

Comment: I am not adding an activation dice for the civilians, because they won’t do anything but barricade themselves in the trailer.


Turn 25:
(4 / 5) Team Whiteface is active.
They fast move across the road and enter the super market. This building is occupied by a single zombie, but win the zombie surprise test. Both fire single shots and Lynn kills their target. Whiteface loots a combat knife from the corpse and puts it into his sports bag. The knife, not the corpse.

Two shots generate two zombies.
 

Turn 26:
(4 / 1) All are active.
Team Whiteface leaves the store to fire at the new zombies. Both fire single shots and miss.
The zombies move closer.

No new zeds are created.


Turn 27:
(2 / 6) Only Team Whiteface is active and both charge one zed, with Whiteface scoring another zombie kill. It’s something personal.
 

Turn 28:
(1 / 1) All are inactive.


Turn 29:
(2 / 4) All are active, the zombie acts first.
The shuffler moves closer.
Team Whiteface activates and charges the lone zombie. They kill him violently.


Turn 30:
(6 / 5) All are inactive to catch their breath.


Turn 31:
(4 / 6) Team Whiteface is active and walks to the diner.
 

Turn 32:
(3 / 1) Team Whiteface is active again and enters the diner. The building isn’t occupied.
 

Turn 33:
(3 / 1) Team Whiteface is active. There isn’t anything to eat, but Whiteface finds a machine pistol and some ammunition in the microwave oven.


Turn 34:
(4 / 6) Team Whiteface is active. The exit the diner and move towards the brown apartment block. They stop at the lawn where the Whiteface’s had met the rogue National Guard soldiers some hours before.
 

Turn 35:
(2 / 6) Team Whiteface activates and moves closer to the brown apartment building.
 

Turn 36:
(3 / 2) Team Whiteface activates and enters the ground floor.

The camera lingers outside for some time, slowly beginning to zoom out until a sudden black screen ends Part I.



Final comment (Part I): This is the last building (two floors) to check and this has been a very sedate scenario so far. The civilians in the trailer don’t cause any trouble and there isn’t a single zombie on the board. What can probably go wrong?

I guess you know the answer.

Check in tomorrow to see if you are right.
Whiteface

13 comments:

  1. Another splendid batrep Oliver, but ... Oh no! Mrs Whiteface gone! Mr Whiteface seems to be exacting his revenge most efficiently on the local zeds.

    I really, really like the picture of Mr Whiteface through the window of the diner - splendid!

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  2. Oliver, I meant to ask, in your previous post you said you'd been on a 1/43 buying spree ... where did you go for this? was it somewhere online, and if so where? I want to get some cars for my game ... thanks

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  3. @cmnash: Thank you. I did a lot more pictures during both battles because I wanted to use them with comic life. During my "You can run..." batreps I had simulated close-ups, because I had taken only normal pictures. This time I was prepared to have overviews and several close-ups for every turn (for thought / speech bubbles). Well, would have been way too much and way too boring for this type of batrep.

    I bought some of my first cars on ebay, but most of my nicer cars in online shops in Germany. My latest shopping was in an online shop, but this isn't a real bargain. I think you get the most value for your money with cars made by a company called "Welly", especially those model kits you have to glue yourself. I ignore BBurago, although they are cheap and have a large variety, because in my opinion they look to much like children toys. I could tell you my online shop, but I guess an online-shop in the UK would be better for you. There has to be one.

    I will do a post about my car park soon.

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  4. Sorry about the missus but damn good batrep.

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  5. @TAL: Thank you very much! I got Mrs. Whiteface fully painted & varnished just in time to get her zombiefied. At the moment I am painting my new team member Lynn; maybe I shouldn't finish her.

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  6. Really sorry about Mrs. Whiteface. Good batrep though. Looking forward to hearing/seeing the rest. Thanks for the info on the cars. I've been looking at Welly but need to find an inexpensive source...

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  7. RIP Mrs Whiteface. Such a sad loss but given the odds of surviving a zombie bite not too unexpected. Still, my condolences to Mr. W for his loss.

    Your batrep was as good as always and your photos were really good. I, too, liked the close up of Mr. W in the diner.

    I hope you don't mind me pointing out a mistake you're making in your games. If you only have two sides active (or even one) when you roll doubles for the activation dice they do not mean neither side can activate. That only occurs if there are three or more teams involved. What you should do is re-roll the dice for activation. Check up the rules for the Turn Sequence on p.11 of BDTZ and it clearly states "if the die scores are the same (doubles) re-roll them. In some circumstances you may have an event triggered by the doubles being rolled."

    Don't even think about not finishing painting Lynn! Get her painted forthwith! By the way, nice choice of figure for her. I'm looking forward to part two with bated breath.

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  8. @PDoid: An inexpensive source for Welly (and Cararama, Yat Ming etc.) cars? Tell me when you've found one! But I think that some Toys'R'Us (USA) Fast Lane cars look like models from New Ray, but are way cheaper. $ 9,99 instead of € 16+ (Germany) for a truck.

    @Vampifan: Hmm, isn't re-rolling the activation dice the same as a turn of inactivity? Can't see no difference, unless you're counting turns for a feast...or else.
    Lynn told me she remembers you from her time in the Copplestone Citizen Militia ;o) I like her picture for turn 29. She looks as if she's slapping the zed with her bare hand.


    You don't have to wait too long. Part II (final) is already finished and scheduled for today at 21:53 CET.

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  9. Good batrep, sux about the Mrs, looking on the bright side though..... you have Lynn hehehe.

    Police car with the opening doors, who makes that, and were do I get one (a link would be awesome), cheers.

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  10. @The Extraordinarii:
    It's a Police Car from Welly. Glue-it-yourself kit. It has more than just opening doors...it has a pull back motor for ultimative mayhem on your gaming board *harharhar!*
    My online shop is in Germany, so I think the delivery cost would be too high...and you live much closer to china anyway. You could get it in the US for 5.00 US-D at www.policarmodels.com, but even that would be far away from you.

    Concerning Lynn, who would really like a young red-blonde woman in a tight T-Shirt? No one? See, I thought so! ;o)

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  11. Re-rolling the activation dice is not the same as a turn of inactivity - at least not in my games. Your mileage may differ. If I roll doubles for activation when only two teams are involved I re-roll as if the doubles never happened (unless the doubles indicated an encounter like snake eyes or box cars). It all happens on the same turn. If you think your interpretation is the correct one then go for it, my friend. 'Tis hardly a matter of life and death, is it?

    And I'm sorry to be such a pain in the neck by disagreeing with you again, but... I most definitely would like to see a young red-blonde woman in a tight T-shirt! LOL!

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  12. Great report. I got some of the fast line cars when they are on sale. Great pickup if you can get them. Now I need some police and utility cars to flesh out my vehicles.

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  13. Cracking good board and report!!

    Cheers
    Christopher

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