Thursday, September 8, 2011

A walk in the park...

2nd Month, Day 11
Cast: Mr. Whiteface (Rep 4 Star), Lynn (Rep 4 Grunt), Dotty (Rep ? Special)
Objective: Discover & leaving Whiteville (on foot = one full month) towards rural area.
Area: Whiteville city limits, suburban
Special:
1. This mission uses my Lazarus House Rules
2. Gather enough food to end month 2 (see Chickunnnh!).

"Six days" said Whiteface "I can't believe it took us six *BLEEP!*in' days just to leave town."
"Yeah, but we made it, right? You'll see, everything will be so much easier in the countryside." Lynn replied, smiling weakly.
"Sure, but we ain't ready yet. We need to get as much food as we can before leaving. There won't be many buildings out there."
Lynn took a deep breath while counting to three.
"White...we are talking about rural Georgia and not the *BLEEP!*in' Kalahari..."
He stared at Lynn with a blank face.
"Kala-what?"

Setup: It’s a standard 4’ x 4’ setup. Team Whiteface is placed in section 7 behind a small shack. Three PEFs are present: REP 4 in section 1 next to the church, REP 4 in section 2 behind the army vehicles and REP 2 in section 6 next to a tree.
As far as I know there will be no Lazarus effects.

Turn 1:
(3 / 3) Everybody takes some time to scan the area.

"OK, you're probably right about gettin' some food..."

"Don't worry Lynn, this will be easy. Just a walk in the park or something..."


Turn 2:
(2 / 3) All are active, but two PEFs move first.

PEF #1 moves from the church to section 2 (behind military Humvee).
PEF #2 moves from the Humvees to section 5 (behind yellow H2).

Team Whiteface moves to the front of the wooden shack, but stops at the door.

Turn 3:
(2 / 2) Lynn hasn't been the same person after the incident last week. She tends to be more hesitant.

"Let's be careful, OK?"

"Yeah, sure..."


Turn 4:
(6 / 1) Only the PEFs activate this round.

PEF #1 doesn't move. A double "6".
PEF #2 doesn't move. A double "6" again. Yeah, really! I guess my dice are up to something.
PEF #3 moves to section 6 (behind white van).

Turn 5:
(6 / 2) Only the PEFs activate.

PEF #1 moves to section 5 (behind the white Porsche) and has to be resolved.
PEF #2 moves to section 5 (around the yellow H2) and has to be resolved.
PEF #3 moves to section 8 (next to black car / blue pickup) and has to be resolved.

PEF #1 is an involuntary encounter with a hostile gang. Their fancy convertible has broken down on the road behind them.
Ganger #1: REP 5, BAP (out of range)
Ganger #2: REP 4, SMG
Ganger #3: REP 4, MP (out of range)
Ganger #4: REP 3, SMG
Team Whiteface wins the encounter awareness test and will do an In Sight test with 2d6.
Whiteface and Lynn fire full bursts at the gang. As a result Lynn misses and is out of ammo, while Whiteface kills the boss #1 with two "1" OD.
It's time to test the remaining gangers. Ganger #2 will hold his position, but G#3 and G#4 dive for cover behind the Porsche.
PEF #2 turns out to be a false alarm.

PEF #3 is another involuntary encounter. Maybe someone to help me? Yeah, right...
The new arrivals are three members of the cannibal cult of chtulhu. They are hungry and hostile.
Cultist #1: REP 5 Leader, Assault Rifle
Cultist #2: REP 4 Sister, Shotgun
Cultist #3: REP 3 Follower, Crowbar
Team Whiteface wins the encounter awareness test and is allowed to do the In Sight test with 2d6.
Mr. Whiteface will fire a full burst at the cult leader, but Lynn can't do anything as she's out of ammo. Cultist #1 is going down, OOF.
The other cultists didn't expect this much resistance. Both duck back behind the cars - C#2 just because she's out of range by 1 inch.
9 shots fired generate 4 zombies.


Turn 6:
(1 / 5 / 6) Only Team Whiteface activates. Good thing I downed their leaders.

The whole Team enters the closest shack. They find a REP 3 civilian with a Bolt-Action Rifle. I score a +2 positive reaction...and roll a "1". OK, at least this guy won't cause me any trouble.
Lynn uses this turn to reload her assault rifle, while Mr. Whiteface fires through the open door at Ganger #2.
The ganger - being behind cover - is missed three times. He reacts by snap firing back at Whiteface - who is in cover too - and scores two *BLEEP!*in' hits.
Thanks to being a Star Whiteface is only Out of the Fight. Wrong day, wrong dice. Lynn decides to hold her position.
6 shots fired generate 3 more zombies.


Turn 7:
(1 / 6 / 2) Gangers & cultists acting first, followed by Team Whiteface.

Ganger #2 opens fire at Lynn who's in cover behind the window opening. He can't repeat his lucky roll and scores no hits. His target scores two successes in her Received Fire test and shoots a hail of bullets at the ganger. She doesn't hit anything AND is out of ammo again. I am sure I heard my dice laughing at me.
Now the gangers do their reaction tests and ganger #2 opens fire at Lynn again. He misses and is out of ammo too. Fair enough.
Lynn's following Received Fire test is another blow below the belt. She roll's a double "6" and will now retire. She leaves through the window in the back of the shack.

Ganger #3 and #4 dare to leave their cover and open fire at the single zed in front of them. They score a total of 6 hits. Zombie boy is dead, dead, dead.
The cultists leave their cover and step on the road. An improvised NPC Interaction determines that both groups don't like each other, but will not open fire.

Comment: OK. This calls for some desperate measures. What I need is a...

                            Deus Ex Machina!

Or in this case Dea Ex Machina. You see, Dotty has never taken any action in my missions, but has always been counted as a full character when determining the amount of NPCs in an encounter or when sharing food. She will from now on be a REP 2 character and not beeing protected by the "Bleens" rule anymore (see ATZ, p.40). 

Dotty (REP 2) is the only member of Team Whiteface to be activated this turn. She is already in contact with her father and will allow him to try for recovery during the encounter. With lots of shouting and crying she manages to get her father back into the action.

"Whoa! I think we gotta go now!"

I was wondering for a second or two if Mr. Whiteface is allowed to move directly after regaining consciousness and couldn't find anything about this in the rules. Whatever, with two successes I decided to let them follow Lynn through the back window.
15 shots generate seven zombies.


Turn 8:
(2 / 6 / 2) No side activates.
"Daddy, are you ok?"

"Yeah, but my head hurts like hell..."


Turn 9:
(4 / 6 / 4) No side activates.

"Would Lynn have left us behind?

"I don't think so, but she's tired and everyone has a breaking point. C'mon Dotty, we gotta help her."


Turn 10:
(1 / 4 / 4) Only Team Whiteface activates.

Mr. Whiteface rallies Lynn with full successes. Everyone leaves the battlefield.



Final comment: Well, sometimes surviving is the best you can hope for. This mission was a failure for everyone, but no one loses a point of reputation. I was pretty close to recruit a civilian with a Bolt-Action Rifle, but alas...no.
Team Whiteface hadn't time to gather any food and will have to stay in month 2 & Whiteville for at least one more mission. Because this mission was pretty short, I guess the next mission will probably use the same table. I hope you didn't mind my little...err...improvisation.
What more is to say? Oh, it's pure coincidence that this batrep is puplished at the same time as Bryan's latest batreps. I started playing this scenario last friday.

Take care,
Whiteface

24 comments:

  1. Oliver, I almost called my latest batrep "A Walk in the Park" because for Team Vampifan it really was. I was thinking Team Whiteface would fare just as well. But having to resolve three PEFs in one turn is just inviting trouble. Gangers and Cultists were not a good combo. The only bright spot was that they were hostile to each other. As you say, "sometimes surviving is the best you can hope for." Very true.

    Let's give a round of applause to Dotty, though, undoubtedly the hero of the day. The girl did well!

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  2. Maybe I should have waited for both groups to get into a brawl or getting overrun (overshuffled?) by zeds, but I thought firing from cover would work. Well, it didn't!

    Dotty saved the day. And probably the campaign. I was lucky to have enough time for rallying Lynn too. She could have easily ended as zombie lunch.

    Maybe, just maybe your last batrep inspired this batrep's title ;o)

    Whiteface / Oliver

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  3. There's no luck lately, good bleak batrep, need to buy new dice maybe?

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  4. Nice BATREP, Those dice are great with all those '6's just the wrong game system lol. Looking forward to more

    Brummie/Simon

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  5. @TAL:
    Oh, I have a long, long history of bad dice rolling. Changing dice didn't help, so it must be me.

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  6. @Brummie:
    Thanks. The thing is, I am rolling double or triple 1's when I am firing and only 5+ when I need low results.
    But I sound ungrateful, at least the zombies weren't able to activate for even a single turn.

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  7. I think you shaould say that Whiteface and co didn't like this part of town and try a different part!

    Staying alive is always a bonus Mr W

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  8. @cmnash:
    No, Team Whiteface will wait for the evening to try again. The gangers & cultists will probably have left the area or stopped breathing by then (translation: I would hate to rebuild a table that hasn't been used much).
    I think Team Whiteface needs a big cup of coffee.

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  9. @Dangerous Brian:
    I don't think I believe in possibilities and statistics anymore.
    Come to think about it, if I add the die roll history of a very good friend of mine to my own we will have a perfect statistical middle. He has been the lord of critical hits and advantageous random effects for the last 25 years.

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  10. I wrote up a bit of a long comment here, but forgot to do the 'text verification' so it was lost. I'll try again.

    Thanks for posting such a great battle report, it is a lot of fun to read. I liked to see that Dotty is now a useful member of your group, though protecting her will become a lot harder.

    When I first picked up ATZ I planned on playing through it with a mock up of my own family. But your reports have convinced me that things won't likely go as planned, and it probably won't be much fun playing through scenarios with the killing of my children.
    Most likely, I do a recreation of my wife and I 'before kids' era.

    Thanks for posting, as always.

    Adam
    http://adam-mph.blogspot.com/

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  11. @Adam:
    Mr. Whiteface and myself have a lot in common. He has worked in an office and in previous batreps Mrs. Whiteface has been introduced as a teacher.
    In the Real Life (TM) I am a father of a 3,5 yo. son, not a daughter. Same reasons for not taking this into the gaming world. Mrs. Whiteface was at least able to use firearms.

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  12. bad dice, and a close call, but you live to fight another day

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  13. good report, surviving the odds make for an exciting batrep.

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  14. Well, sometimes thing simply go bad... after all you survived, so you can try again!

    Go for it!

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  15. Great Batrep as usual Whiteface, table spread is always good aswell, its good to read a rep where the heroes get a bit of a bruising, but still manage to escape hehehe, and the highlight for me was the intense gunfight, I wish you'ld post batreps more often.... :)

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  16. @all
    Thank you very much for reading & commenting!

    It definitely was an intense game. I was sure the Team wouldn't be able to leave the area without casualties.
    Extra, to post more often I would have to play more often. I write a batrep for every ATZ mission, but there aren't that much.

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  17. Another great read and at least they live to fight another day or night.

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  18. Good batrep, the characters are coming on well. I empathise with the dice rolls, somethimes the dice gods do laugh at you!

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  19. Great batrep! Thanks for the fine story telling. Dotty def saved the day and it didn't seem like cheating to me at all. Just good drama. Your table looks great too! Love all the cars. Keep up the good work.

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  20. @Graham
    Thank you! Living to fight another day is an important goal in ATZ. Everything else is a bonus.

    @Irqan
    Thank you! The characters are coming on well? Hmm, I wish their REP would increase...I definitely need a REP 5.

    @Darrell
    Thank you, there isn't much actual story telling, only random bits of conversation. Everything else is happening inside your head. Works for me, I think I have found my way to write batreps.
    I like my table BUT nothing beats a supermarket that really is in scale for 28mm miniatures...

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  21. Great report and I really like your table too. Wish I had the space for a 4x4 setup!

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  22. @Spacejacker
    Thank you. The table is a 6x4, but for ATZ I resrict myself to 4x4. It's easier to keep all the rules, dice, markers, camera etc. at hand.

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  23. I love your posts and everything looks wonderful. I love your idea thanks for sharing.

    livescore Football

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