AAR - WTF is going on? - Part 2

TURN 6

Grimacing in pain, Jimmy could only groan as it began to pour down with rain. The shamblers moving up behind him become nothing more than hazy silhouettes in the distance.

"This day just gets better and better." Jimmy said to himself grimly.

Meanwhile the rest of the shamblers started moving towards the sound of the gunfire. 

With shamblers moving towards him, Jimmy reloaded his shotgun and fired. The shots hit two of the shamblers, the first dropping dead, but the second fell on its back and continued to move.

"Damn it" said Jimmy. He limped forward, determined to get to his bike.

Jimmy won activation with a roll of 10; however he rolled a double 5, so generated another random event.

This time, it caused a sudden downpour which lasted D6 turns (2 in this case). This results in visibility being limited to 18" and all ranged shots being -1 to hit.

I fired two shots at the two closest shamblers.. You are allowed to shot at a different target with each shot if you wish. However, whilst both shots hit, 1 wasn't a head shot, and so the shambler was simply knocked over.

All of a sudden Jimmy felt himself grabbed from behind. He hadn't noticed the shambler moving over to him and he was now forced to fight it off. 

A shambler was able to move into close contact with Jimmy on its second action, so was able to make 1 attack. It missed, but locked Jimmy in place.

Jimmy was unaware, but he had company coming his way. Unless he started to have a bit more luck, Jimmy was close to being overwhelmed.

If shamblers cannot see any survivors, they will move towards either where they last saw a survivor, or the loudest cause of noise within 24".

Despite none of the other shamblers being able to see Jimmy, they were all within 24" of him, so moved towards the noise of the shotgun via the quickest route.

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TURN 7

There seemed to be no break in the weather and the rain continued to come down.

Jimmy fought back against the shambler that had grabbed him.

As a couple more appeared around the corner, Jimmy knew that if they caught up with him he would never get away. 

All he could do was shove the shambler away from him and limped away, trying to put some distance between himself and the shamblers behind him. 

Damn this ankle!!!

I elected to shove the shambler away again as this is an automatic action and my other two actions were moving towards the bar. 

I decided to move between the car and the shamblers coming in from the spawn zone to hopefully give me a bit of respite as they would have to move around the car to get to me.

The twisted ankle was a pain as I was not able to create enough space between myself and the shamblers to get any breathing room, and in my haste to move away, I hadn't reloaded by shotgun, so couldn't shoot either.

Moving behind the car, Jimmy realised that he had moved into a dead end. The jack knifed trailer had created a wall that he wasn't able to climb over with his ankle as it was. 

Jimmy began to feel that things weren't going to end well.

4 shamblers moved around the car and charged into him. He fought, the instinct to survive meaning he did whatever it took to fight them off. 

However, a shambler bit his forearm. The pain was agonising and the shamblers seemed spurred on by the sight of fresh blood.

A shambler was able to move into base contact with its first action, so got to attack twice in the turn - 1 attack per action. 

The other 3 moved into combat in their second action, so whilst there should have been 4 attacks against Jimmy during the second action, his Agility trait came into play and he was able to reduce this to 3 attacks.

However, despite this, the numbers were too great and one was able to get a successful hit and wound. 

Survivors get a 5+ save to represent that they are wearing sensible clothing, however this was failed.

Jimmy now ran the risk of succumbing to infection.

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TURN 8

The rain stopped but the attacks kept coming. Another shambler moved in, clawing at Jimmy with its fingers.

Despite the pain in his forearm, Jimmy was able to hold the shamblers off, and even managed to kill two of them.

However, he could see the rest were getting closer, attracted to the struggle Jimmy was in.

Jimmy had to pass an infected test as he suffered a wound last turn. 

Before any actions are taken, any survivors who have taken a wound need to roll a D6. 

On a roll of 1, they succumb to the infection and suffer a further wound with no save allowed. 

Rolling a 5 meant Jimmy was okay.

No new shamblers were generated but the shamblers went first. Another moved into combat, meaning Jimmy was now up against 5 shamblers.

However, despite the number of attacks against him, none successfully hit Jimmy.

As there were 5 in combat, Jimmy was unable to shove any away as there were just too many. 

This meant my only option was to fight or flee. If you flee you break from combat, but every enemy gets an automatic hit against you. Add to the fact that Jimmy had nowhere to go, the only thing I could really do was try to fight my way to freedom.

I rolled well and managed to kill 2 shamblers, but was still in base contact with three more. 

More and more were coming around the corner from the back alley.

Things were not looking good...

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TURN 9

Jimmy was in a fight for his life, and knew that he needed a minor miracle to survive. 

The bite on his arm was starting to burn, but he was able to act first, and brought the hilt of his shotgun down onto the forehead of one of the shamblers, which went down.

By this point Jimmy could see that the shamblers that had followed him down the back alley had just about caught up - the twisted ankle and the amount of shamblers that had got in his way meant that he hadn't been able to create any room for himself.

The bar was only a block away, but in his situation, it might as well have been on the moon.

Jimmy was able to kill a shambler in close combat and keep the infection in check, and hold the shamblers in combat off, avoiding all their attacks. 

However, with every turn he was unable to get away, the other shamblers were getting closer and closer.

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TURN 10

Enraged, Jimmy brought his hilt down - again and again, but despite everything the shamblers didn't fall. 

 He opened his body up to swing, and before he knew it a shambler lunged at him, its teeth tearing at his throat. 

Stunned, Jimmy dropped his gun, and instinctively put his hands up to cover the wound in his throat, leaving himself open.

Another shambler bit down, tearing at his flesh, and Jimmy fell to the ground, lost under a mass of bodies.

Within minutes, all that was left was chunks of flesh and blood, as the shamblers piled on, pulling Jimmy apart.

 Jimmy had won activation, but missed with all his attacks.

Down to two wounds, the amount of attacks from the shamblers started to tell and three successfully hit and wounded.

Jimmy failed 2 of the saving throws and as result was killed.

The shamblers started to tear him apart.

THOUGHTS...

Okay... so that didn't end well. 

This playthrough was focusing on shambler mechanics, basic movement and shooting mostly but we have come up with a lot more in the rules I could have done that may have resulted in a better outcome.

Random events was something I was testing for the first time and in this game, I think it ended up determining the outcome! 

The twisted ankle was the game changer - the result where I could no longer sprint and lost 1 inch of movement per action really hampered Jimmy - and once I got bogged down in combat I think the result of the game was inevitable.

Shamblers are weak individually, but get enough of them in combat, they'll get through eventually. 

Survivors having more actions and more freedom with movement really helps, and when they lose that, it makes it very difficult to get them to the end of the game.

My plan in moving towards the truck and trailer was to attempt to try the climbing rules by getting Jimmy to climb up onto the top of the trailer and jump over the other side - something that survivors can do but shamblers can't. However I was unable to get out of combat long enough to try it so that is why it is worked into the story the way it was.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the read - Jimmy joins the horde of the living dead, and there is a free bike available at the back of Lucky's Bar downtown if you can make it.

Let me know if there is anything you want to know. Over time I'll probably update this blog with more details on the rules as they progress, but I'm happy to answer any questions people may have.

Cheers All,