Thursday, July 19, 2012

Zombies!

This past weekend, my friend Matt visited me - he hung out all weekend (he's adopted family to us!) and stuff - and we managed to play a zombie game (All Things Zombie) and drink some beers.

We set up a table using the terrain that thrilled us the most and decided to each take two characters into the game - one Star and one Grunt each. We decided to use the four "redneck" miniatures I have, they're a lot of fun - and we decided to give ourselves two each randomly determined goals for the game. Yeah, we were just making this shite up as we went. That's one of the awesome things about ATZ: your imagination can just flow.

We sprinkled the town with about a dozen or so walkers in a spread pattern so that there were zombies in every area of the town. Then we drew up a little chart of items to find and rolled some dice. Matt's two guys had the goals of locating booze and medical supplies. My two guys had the goals of locating fuel and ammunition.These were our goals.

OK, looking at the town, there was an ambulance, a medical tent and a sports bar. So, Matt has a good chance of finding his stuff. There is a police car, a police station, a gas station and many abandoned vehicles, a good chance for my characters to succeed as well! The thing is, the world ended as we know it about two months ago, so there has been a lot of looting - so you'll never know if you'll actually find what you're looking for...chances are, other folks were looking for that stuff too.

We randomly determined where we'd enter the table - and caught a break coming in near the park. That meant we could make a beeline for the police/gas station/ambulance.

I got to the police car with my guys while Matt's guys swung around and headed for the ambulance. On the way here, we had to take down a few zombies - some via our guns - which while helpful do draw more zombies to the area.

After some tough fighting, my guys were able to search the police cruiser - nothing, picked clean. So we headed into the police station. After looking around in there for a while, there was nothing of use to us. Sure, there was stuff, but wasn't there were the two things on my "scavenger hunt list". Frickin' looters and other desperate folks had been here before us.

While I was doing my thing, Matt's guys arrived at the ambulance - not without a scary moment for his Grunt character - mobbed near a phone booth. He managed to kill a zombie and push his way out of the melee without getting bitten tho. Matt's Star had by that time gotten into the ambulance and found some remaining medical supplies - score one for Matt! When the Grunt arrived, they decided to try and start the ambulance (good for hauling booze too!). This failed and the noise drew a crowd. The guys had to high-tail it out the back doors of the ambulance. Well, to the sports bar!

As Matt's guys moved off towards the sports bar, battling zombies and using guns, and drawing a crowd - my guys left the police station and hopped in the police cruiser. We had to hotwire it, but we managed to do so and off we went! But, really, there was no gas in the tank...so...the car sputtered out. By now, a few walkers had gathered around, so we had to get out and scoot.

We decided we'd head to the gas station. We saw an SUV there at the gas pumps with the driver's door open. Hopefully, the driver fueled up before meeting his doom - 'cause the power is out everywhere in town, meaning the pumps are not going work.

As my Star steps out of the car, a barking dog runs up to me...being followed by zombies of course! I took down a few zombies with my pistol, but they got the dog. Bummer. I could have used a side-kick because, unfortunately, Cletis, my Grunt character got attacked getting out of the car...some walker in his tighty-whities got him.

Well, he's bit now and on the ground, there's nothing good I can do about that, so I run towards the SUV at the gas station knowing that the ghouls will all head to Cletis now for lunch. I can put him down later, on the way out of town.

So, Matt's guys arrived at the sports bar, there were a couple-three walkers in there, so he put them down after a little trouble. His Grunt kinda freaked out and hesitated. So while the Star handled the walkers, the Grunt started barricading the door. I don't know why, 'cause next to the door are big plate glass windows!

A little horde of zombies grew and eventually got through the door and the windows and flooded into the front of the bar. Matt's guys headed into the back room and the rear exit from the building. Although the front of the house had been cleaned out, there was some booze discovered in the back room. Each character grabbed some and made for the back alley.

Matt's guys then just battled their way out of the town - they way we came in and got off the table with both goals met.

My guys? Well, one is zombie chow and I have met none of my goals. The SUV was a bust. There was no gas in the tank - but there was a zombie in the back seat. Yay. Seeing the circumstances - I decided to beat feet with Matt's guys and head home empty handed. Hopefully, I'll get a swig from the booze Matt found. Cletis? Na, I don't think he ever got back up...at least I'd like to hope not. As I ran by, there didn't look like there was enough left of him to reanimate.

One other thing Matt and I did was keep track of how many zombies we killed with our little teams. After jumping out to a big lead, Matt ended with like 24 or so put back down. But, I nailed a handful more. I don't recall the exact numbers now, but we were shocked that I ended up killing more. My boys suck at scavenging - but at least they were good exterminators!

Fun stuff. Matt, thanks for the game and the mental relief I needed - you know what I mean, I don't need to drag that crap into the blog (even if I am thrilled about it!)...


The town, before the mayhem...

The town, before the mayhem...

The town, before the mayhem...

The town, before the mayhem...












2 comments:

  1. Great Stuff! Love the board, minis and buildings in particular, which really suit the genre - nice one!

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  2. Thanks Monty! ATZ is a fun little game. Zombies are a great "enemy" to be run by a game system - they move towards food they see or hear. Allowing players to cooperate!

    Good tension too. We seem to always lose at least one member of the party!

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