I shot the Sheriff...

Day One – Location #8

Cast: Mr. and Mrs. Whiteface

Objective: enter he military base, receive food and protection

Area: suburban

Even without a lot of cash the Whitefaces had decided to check the supermarket for some food. Several shops had already been set afire by rioters and Mr. and Mrs. Whiteface had to fight a large mob of looters. They realized very quickly that they had no chance to push through the crowd and with only a small chance of finding something useful in the supermarket they had decided to walk on.

The Whitefaces arrived at the Camelot Army Base on the outskirts of Whiteville in no time. Some refugees had set up their trailers right at the wall, but there isn’t any sign of a strong military presence at the moment. With a tilt of his head Mr. Whiteface guides his wife’s attention to a tall man approaching them. They don’t fail to notice that the stranger has a big pistol in his hand and Mr. Whiteface clenches his spade with both hands while hearing the distinctive noise of Mrs. Whiteface’s telescopic steel baton getting ready for action.

It's amazing what those Army Engineers can build with a few thousand Hescos.

This scenario is played on the usual 4’x 4’ table. The Whiteface Family didn’t succeed in location #7, the supermarket. They had been OOF’ed by ten terrified civilians even before the game started. The Whitefaces had needed one additional location to get to the supermarket and now arrived at the army base without further delay (2 successes).

Turn 1: (Eleven!) Everyday something new. The tall man steps out of the shadows and the sunlight glints of the badge on his breast.
  

“Halt! Drop your weapons, creeps, you are under arrest!”
  

I decided that they do the “Halt!” check from ATZ:Haven against the freshly spawned Rep 4 police officer with a BA Pistol.

“Get lost, moron!” With an unnerved battle cry (The Whitefaces win the test with +2) the Whitefaces charge the cop.

Comment: Right at this point, before checking for being charged I came to the conclusion that this may be my most stupid decision during Day One. This guy is a REP 4 with a firearm. Hello, anyone at home?!

The cop wants to show his superior melee skills and doesn’t use his BA Pistol (only 1 success on being charged). The missus annihilates him with a sickening sound (+3 successes in melee).

Turn 2: (Seven!) The Whitefaces don’t stop (both active) to stare at the pool of blood and brain on the road. While Mr. Whiteface grabs the BA Pistol and some ammunition his wife is checking the corpse for some additional loot, but finds nothing. Some zeds must have noticed the enticing smell of human brain and appear further down the road (2 x 1d3 = 6! zombies). Due to the clockwise correction of zeds placed outside of the border I have four zeds appearing at the same place on the road, a lady of negotiable virtue next to the Mercedes and a zombified cop on the road to the military base.

Uh...hello officer?!

Turn 3: The Whitefaces analyze the situation (inactive) while the zombies are closing in.

Do you think they've seen us?

Turn 4: Mrs. Whitefaces urges her husband to “Do something!” but both don’t dare to move (inactive) while the zeds are closing in (active)…and start feasting on the dead police officer at their feet (for six rounds 4 – 9).

“Urrk! This is gross!” says Mr. Whiteface (2 successes on see the feast) while Mrs. Whiteface runs toward the cab for a better place to throw up (1 success on see the feast and 2 successes on sanity check = stunned).

Turn 5: Mr. Whiteface stares horrified at the feasting while his wife covers her face in her hands. (both inactive)

Turn: 6: “Whoa, you really should see this, honey!” Mr. Whiteface shouts to his wife. She continues to throw up (both inactive).

Turn 7: (Eleven!) “I am the law! Get away from that officer” Another cop appears, this time a Rep 5 Veteran with a BA Pistol. Mr. Whiteface glances at the S&W Model 29 and yells “They’ve killed him, these horrible creatures killed your partner!”

I decided that the cop wouldn’t confront the Whiteface Family in this situation.

You've got to ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?"

Turn 8: The zeds continue feasting, the cop walks slowly towards the carnage and fires two shots at the zeds. The first shot is a solid hit and kills one zed, but the second shot misses. No zombies are generated due to shooting. Mr. Whiteface stares at the killed zombie next to him while Mrs. Whiteface cautiously tries to get his attention (both inactive).

Well do ya, punk?

Turn 9: The last round of feasting and there are still a lot of zombies around. The activation dice show a (Seven!), so more zeds will appear. Eight new zombies for three humans on the board. All three humans have been placed so cleverly that many zombies 12” away from them are in charging distance of another human. Seeing so many new zombies arrive and noticing that the previous zombies are finishing their picnic every human is alert (all humans are active). Mrs. Whiteface gets on her feet and Mr. Whiteface runs over to cover her from the zeds in charging distance at her back. All the while the Police Veteran is shooting at the zombies but doesn’t hit anything. As a result of his shooting two more zombies appear…right in charging distance of The Whiteface Family. Can anyone say “bloodbath”?

Look for Mr. Whiteface at the cab...

...just where the zeds spawned due to shots fired. Bummer!

Turn 10: The feasting is over, let’s find a new snack! (Eleven!) Another cop enters the scene right next to the vet. This time it’s a Rep 5 Detective with BA Pistol. The Whitefaces are shocked by the amount of walking corpses around them, but the police veteran is pumping more lead into the zombies. Two shots, two zeds killed, one zombie generated. At least the new zed is farther away.

Do you need help, Harry?

Trust me. I know what I'm doing.

Turn 11: This is a job for the professionals! Only the cops are active in this turn. The veteran remains at his place, but the detective walks over to support the Whitefaces. Both cops fire two shots at the zombies. The veteran kills 2 zombies and the detective kills a zombie threatening the Whiteface Family. As a result one zombie is generated. At this point I felt very, very bad for killing the police officer in turn 1.

How many shots can he fire without reloading? This is like one of those old wild west flicks!

Turn 12: Yeah! Hah, how I needed this result! (all humans are active, the zombies fail to understand what is happening to them and are inactive). Both Cops fire again. The veteran misses twice, while the detective knocks down one zed. I pondered about the situation for some time, but in the end I decided to leave the table with a fast move. This was way too dangerous for Rep 3 civilians and I wasn’t bent on discussing the whereabouts of a missing BA Pistol with two Rep 5 cops.

Note: the green and the trees on the right side of the road are not part of the 4' x 4'.

Believe it or not, this used to be a great neighborhood - till it changed.

Final Comment: Wow, this was so close! I was so nervous and so thankful to receive help from the cops and yes, I really had a bad conscience about turn 1. This Day One was way more entertaining than the first one, but I rated it as unsuccessful for the Whiteface Family. If they had found Dotty it would have been a success regardless of not getting cash from the ATM, not getting food from the supermarket, but without Dotty? No success, so I rolled the dice for a possible Rep reduction, but both Stars stay at Rep 3 (with Mrs. Whiteface now being a survivor).

Day One is over for the Whiteface Family, but I decided to finish this scenario with both cops. They deserve all the honour! Just this much: Turn 13 will start with an activation dice total of (Seven!)…

Whiteface