Merry Christmas to all the followers of my zombie blog. I hope you and your family have a great one and every one is safe from floods, snow storms or heat waves (depending on where you are in the world).
Well, this brings and end to the second play by blog game.
There will be another game, but not until 2013. Due to the time it takes to play I think one game a year is enough. Having said that, I am contemplating a smaller non zombie game to go on my other blog.
Who won the game?
Seeing as every character survived, every one won. Some might feel that it was a hollow victory though, as they didn't get to waste a lot of zombies or they are hiding upstairs, cut off from the others.
Dan/"Robert" is the clear winner in my eyes for he played the game according to the mission briefing.
Everyone else broke in to smaller teams to explore the neighbourhood or 'pop' some zombies. It wasn't until there were a lot of zombies appearing that a bit more of a focus on the actual mission parameters occurred.
This did make it very entertaining though.
The turns from my point of view
Fixing the maps so that I could move items around easily was a good move... loosing the map on my hard drive at the end was not a good move.
It was just a pity that I didn't learn how to make the maps this way earlier on.
At least I know what to do for the next game's map, and next time I will include objects that can be moved as well, such as chairs and sofas.
Future Games
Rules
The next game will be played using a different set of rules. They will be much simpler to use and rather generic in places so that they easier to play. More on that at a much later date.
Game Length
The next game will only go for a certain number of turns. This will mean players will need to focus on the game objectives, and the game wont last for half a year. Maybe no more than 10 turns for a game seems about right.
Allowing for real life to get in the way of the game this would mean that a game might take more than 10 weeks to play.
* * * *
I will probably think of some other points for this AAR, but this covers the basics for the moment.
Players are encouraged to add comments or suggestions about this game and others to come.
I am unable to post a map for this turn as I can't find the master map that I made. I need the master map as I can move objects around the map rather create a new map each time.
The zombies rolled badly for initiative meaning every one on the ground floor was able to make it to the hatch, or next to the hatch, safely.
Therefor these players are safe from the zombies.
Vonnie finishes her movement at the bottom of the stairs. She will need one more turn to get to the hatch, and this means risking running the gauntlet through the zombies to reach the hatch, or go back up stairs and hide away in a room until rescued.
If the zombies win the next initiative it will be very nasty... nom nom nom...
If she goes for the hatch there is a jolly good chance they zombies will grab her... nom nom nom...
Going back upstairs is the safest bet for immediate survival.
The zombie hoard moves forward, the chance to eat fresh brains urging them on.
Blink looses his nerve and backs away as they approach.
Misty fires a burst at the on coming zombies and darts off into the kitchen.
Karen, who is very composed takes down four of the undead, giving them a small bit of breathing space.
As Lorenzo re-enforces the window at the bottom of the stairs he is joined by Grom coming down from the upper floor.
In the kitchen Robert climbs down the ladder in to what ever room is below the house.
Upstairs, Vonnie does a quick search of the room she is in before heading out of the room in to the corridor.
The zombies lunge at Karen, the small hoard seemingly flowing into the house.
Karen backs away from the hoard in a controlled panic and fires into the mass of undead, taking two of them down.
Blink and Misty add their own shots to the hoard and take a further three zombies out.
Lorenzo rushes out of the room he was in and heads for the stairs. Reaching the stairs he notices a group of zombies gathering outside the window on the north side of the house.
In the kitchen Robert looks down the hatch he has just opened. He sees the rungs of a metal step ladder built into the face of the hole going down. Lighting, like that of emergency back up lights.
No noise rises from the hole, suggesting it might be empty...
Upstairs Vonda begins to barricade the room she is in.
Grom manages to break open the last door and enters. Relieved to find there are no zombies in the room, Grom notices a number of boxes with the bio hazard symbol on them.
Misty rushes from the kitchen in to the main living room and hastily raisers her SMG and fires a burst in to the zombie in the door way. Unfortunately the burst has no effect on the undead.
Karen enters the living room, takes up position and blows the head off the zombie that Misty had fired upon.
Dropping to one knee, blink steadies his SMG and fires in to the mass of zombies he sees at the door. He manages to take out the zombie next in line to enter the house.
Robert kicks and kicks and kicks at the door and with a crash the door swings open revealing something unexpected. The cupboard is empty. Empty that is unless you count the hatch in the floor that must go down to somewhere...
Lorenzo begins to look really worried, looking from window to window to door and back to window again. Hefting his machete in his hand as if to reassure himself he keeps watch in his room to make sure no zombies break in.
Vonda manages to bust the door open, and cautiously entering she sees a dead body slumped over a desk.
Not hearing any need for assistance from Vonda, Grom heads to the third door on the first floor and prepares to open it.
Turn 13 Results
The zombies shuffle ever closer around the house, and with a shattering noise their weight of numbers breaks down the front door, and a zombie moans as it enters the house.
Upstairs Vonnie tries to force open the door in front of her, but to no success.
She hears Grom muttering to himself and then the sound of automatic fire breaks the relative silence of the house.
Taking aim through the upstairs window, Grom takes down five of the undead forming in to a hoard outside the front door.
"Hey guys.. Did you miss me?", quips Blink popping a tic tac. "I am going to go upstairs and take you the deadheads from above!"
Leaving the kitched blink enters the main room and is shocked to see the front door smashed in and a zombie in the house. Firing a hasty burst at the zombie has no effect on the zombie.
Back in the kitchen Misty says "Hi Guys, miss me?" Panting for breath she quickly starts to barricade the rear door, with Roberts help.
Having helped Misty, Robert checks out the door closest to him and discovers it is only a toilet. Fortunately nothing nasty is in this room.
Heading back to the upper door in the kitchen, Robert stops in front of it and contemplates the best way to break it down.
Karen silently barricades the window looking out on the road, not wanting to attract the attention of the zombies.
She is not certain if she alerted the zombies to her presence when she calls out "Hey, guys, there's a rocket launcher and ammo on the couch in the lounge if you want it!"
Lorenzo barricades the last window on the lower floor and flinches when Karen calls out.
Even more zombies approach the house, attracted by the sound of gun fire...
Turn 12
After hearing some thumps and cries of frustration, Vonnie moves upstairs to help Grom. Noticing Misty and Blink from the upper floor window she calls out to the other survivors 'Friendly approaching!".
Hastily grabbing some items to make a barricade with, Misty darts in and out of the shed and bolts down the path as Robert opens the door for her.
Blink runs down the side of the house and just makes it into the kitchen as Robert slams the door behind him and locks the rear door again.
Lorenzo moves to the south west room and starts to collect items to make a barricade. He is joined by Karen, who starts to look for items to use in the barricade.
Grom kicks the door in front of him in a rage of frustration - the door flies open making a loud 'bang' that can be heard through out the house.
Entering the room he suddenly pales - something is so wrong with the scene before him.
There are hospital beds and some kind of scientific testing computer in the room. Two of the beds had what appear to be corpses in them.
The body of a man in a lab coat lies on the floor, and there is blood pooled around his head. It appears someone or something tried to eat the brains on this body.
Grom is so repulsed by what he has seen he wants that he looses what little food was in his stomach.
The zombies to the North - North East of the house break through the fence.
The front door looks like it might not hold for another turn due to the mass of zombies pushing on it.
No, not the name of a crappy boy band that can't sing to save their lives, but something that will make my life even easier for a PBB.
I have learnt how to 'stitch' images together so that I only have to use one map (well, two counting the upstairs area of the game) - this means fixing the game will be very fast, and I won't have discrepancies between maps if I miss moving a survivor or zombie.
I have divided my work load by 1/4 in doing this.
The map isn't perfect as I have only just learnt how to use the stitch feature, and I need to add the barricaded doors and windows onto the map, but it is well on the way.
With every one having submitted orders I hope to post the results for the next turn tomorrow - a few days earlier than normal.
Blink turns and first at the 'good old boy' zombie coming up behind him. Maybe it is because he is startled that he needs to fire burst after burst into the zombie before it goes down.
Grom heads to the next door in the corridor to find it locked. The third door is also lock, and he attempts to break it down, but it doesn't budge.
Robert can't find the keys to this re-enforced door, so he begins to barricade the window in the kitchen.
Karen moves into the kitchen and helps Robert barricade the window.
Von crosses the room to the base of the stairs and stands prepared to defend herself or others if needed.
Lorenzo moves to the window near where Von is standing guard and quickly barricades it.
Misty, completely zombie free for the moment moves to the shed in the back yard. The handle on the door is a bit stiff, but she is able to open it with minimal effort. Inside the shed are a lot of tools and equipment such as hammer, nails, boards, and any number of gardening tools that would make useful anti zombie weapons.
The zombies at the fence near Blink really make a mess of the fence, and he is sure they will break through very soon.
First of all an apology for the time taken between turns. Not only has 'real life' managed to get in the way of having fun, but I have done a lot of work on the maps I use to make them a lot simpler to use for each turn.
As it stood I had to open up and arrange things on 9 separate mini maps, then join them together into bigger maps to get the images I post in the blog. On top of that, I would spend a lot of time getting frustrated when the program I used would play "silly buggers" and delete my maps so I would have to start again.
This could take anything from 2 to 3 hours for each turn to be processed depending on how temperamental the program was going to be.
To fix the problem I have copied the larger maps and found a way to save them so I can move the characters and zombies around them each time I open the image file.
This took me between 3 and 4 hours of work, but I have finally finished the work I needed to do on them, so hopefully this means I can speed up the game a lot more.
This 3 or 4 hours of work should mean 10 to 15 minutes per turn of work for me, so it is worth the time I have put in.
Anyway, enough rambling... on to the parts you all want to get on with, assuming I still have players that is.
Turn Results:
Blink opens up on the two zombies near the red car, putting both of them down with multiple hits to each.
As the path is now clear, Misty rushes to the car and is disappointed to see there is nothing of interest in the car.
Vonnie looks around near the door and sees a board for holding keys on the wall near the door. Locking the door behind the survivors she and Lorenzo begin to pile furniture around the door to make a stronger barricade.
Karen moves into the centre of the room and stands guard for those barricading the front door.
From the kitchen area of the house, Robert yells out, "We've gor a friendly upstairs I found hiding in the closet. His name is Grom. Could one of you bring something to help barricade the back door."
Listening at the door, Robert can't hear anything. The keys he has doesn't fit the lock in the door, and the door appears to be a lot stronger than any of the other doors in the house.
Grom beats at the door in front of him, but thinks he needs some extra help from other survivors to really break it down.
Thank you to the players for being patient for this turn. So, with out any fanfare...
Grom heads up stairs - everything is very quiet on the first floor, and to his frustration, the doors seemed locked.
Misty fires two bursts into the zombie at the fence before it goes down. With relief she heads to the corner of the house.
Blink fires a couple of times into the zombie approaching from the south east. Most of the rounds strike the zombie before, it too, goes down. He proceeds to pop a tic tac as a reward.
Robert grabs the keys from the table, checks that the rear door is shut and then attempts to open what appears to be a cupboard door. The door is well and truly locks, and it even appears that is is made of stronger materials that you average broom cupboard.
Karen moves up to the child zombie and thrusts a gun against its head. The resulting pink mist leaves very little of the zombie remaining. Without skipping a beat, Karen enters the house.
Von and Lorenzo move into the house behind Karen, closing the door behind them.
More zombies appear, and the hoard to the south seems to be getting larger as it makes its way to the front door.
The zombies shuffle forward towards what ever their rotten brains tell them to do.
The zombie closest to Misty moves to the fence and starts to shake the flimsy wooden structure. It doesn't look like it will take too much to brake the fence at all.
Misty moves and puts a burst into the zombie at the fence, but the damage in minimal.
Blink moves up next to Misty and fires at the zombies coming towards them from the back yard. he kills the closest one easily enough, but doesn't take down the second closest one.
Robert opens up the door to the bath room, and to his relief he only sees a few bags of canned food in bags on the floor.
Going to the next door he notices a set of car keys on the table.
Grom leaves Robert to deal with what ever he comes across and heads up the stairs by himself to the first floor.
Karen, Vonda and Lorenzo move towards the front door of the house - the little girl zombie is scratching on the door and hasn't noticed them... yet.
But the trio are now sandwiched between two zombies as another one appears opposite the front door, but this shouldn't be of too much concern to them.
For those of you that are not aware of it by now, Studio Miniatures from the U.K. has a global funding project on "Indiegogo".
Squealing in fright at being discovered in the wardrobe, Grom enters the room and introduces himself to Robert.
"Please, this is not my house - I was only hiding in here so local gang members that terrorise the neighbourhood wouldn't kill me"
It seems to Robert that Grom might have been in the wardrobe for most of the day, missing out of the rising of the zombies on the streets.
Taking stock of the situation Robert replies "Thanks for not shooting me, I'm Robert".
Robert says, "I wouldn't mind letting you come with me, but ultimately its up to the group. There are a number of us outside. If and when they ever decide to come in and help fortify this place we can all decide then. However, if you would help make sure the rest of the building is clear of zombies that would go a long way to helping the group welcome you in."
Signalling Grom to follow him, Robert re-enters the main room and moves east to the next door and reaches out to open it, but holds back at the last second, his heart pounding.
Misty and Blink move towards the East and open up on the zombies. Misty's shots are ineffective, and Blink only manages to take down one zombie with his shots.
Karen grabs the two ammo clips and says with a broad smile, "Oooh, shiny!"
She pockets the spare ammo in her long coat. Then opening the door to the car she takes a better look.
"Hey, guys" she says, "Anyone want a rocket launcher? If not, I'm grabbing it."
"A rocket launcher? Really?", Lorenzo says in disbelief. Continuing he says, "Hey gang. What about going inside the house? Go North, there is only a couple of them."
Jumping off the car, Lorenzo charges the zombie close to him and cleaves it into three pieces.
Vonda moves forward and engages the closest zombie in hand to hand combat. Without even batting an eye lid she moves in on the zombie and dispatches it mercilessly.
The zombies shamble forward relentlessly and three more zombies join the potential battle.
Blink takes aim and manages to kill the closest zombie to him, all other shots either missing or hitting the zombies harmlessly.
Misty has better luck and takes out the two remaining zombies closing in on their position.
Robert tentatively enters the next room, his heart pounding in his chest, feeling like it will explode through his rib cage.
Slowly he enters the room and notices a bed, a pot plant and a desk with a lap top computer on it.
Breathing a sigh of relief he opens the closet to see what is inside - and gets a fright when he sees another survivor hiding in the closet, wide eyed and weapon ready.
Nerves pound as neither of them shoot and they struggle not to hyper ventilate.
Lorenzo climbs on to the car and swings his blade at the zombie. With one clean sweep his take the head clean off the zombie clawing at him.
"Braaaiiiiiins" moan the zombies as they shuffle forward, with many more zombies appearing in the area, almost as if someone advertised on FaceStalk that there was a party in the area.
Blink decides that caution is better than valor and jumps the fence and climbs up into the back of the jeep to give himself a tiny buffer from the on coming shamblers.
Misty takes careful aim and manages to take down the zombie that was coming up behind Blink from the west.
Robert moves on to the door step of the house and motions to the Karen/Vonda/Lorenzo group that he is going inside the house. At least that is what they think he means.
Heading back into the house, Robert is a little creeped out by the child zombie that has appeared opposite the footpath leading to the house.
Going inside, Robert stops before the closest door from the entry way.
Karen tries to pick the lock to the car, but is unnerved by the sudden appearance of a zombie on the other side of the car.
Vonda and Lorenzo ready themselves for the quickly forming hoard of zombies coming from the east....
The zombies in the north half of the area shamble closer towards Blink, one of them almost gets within reaching distance before Blink can act.
At very close range Blink puts all of his rounds into this zombie but fails to get a head shot. Misty, moving up to the fence fires a solid burst into the same zombie, but it isn't until the end of the burst before the zombie's head explodes and it goes down.
More zombies appear to the south east of the area.
Robert cautiously opens the door. Nothing jumps out of nowhere, so he enters the front room of the house.
Vonda and co. gather upon the car to the south west. Peering inside they see a dead man in the drivers seat, a gun shot wound to his head. Packed in the car are all kinds of goodies - weapons and food supplies amongst them.
The car is locked.
Studio Miniatures that makes some really cool zombie figures has a public fund raiser on the go to get some plastic zombies out on the market.
Studio Miniatures has gone with "Indiegogo" as the fund raiser rather than the more widely used "Kickstarter". This might be a very good move, as Indiegogo allows you to pay your support with credit card or paypal. Kickstarter only allows for the use of credit card - something I wont use online ever again.
I think I will chip in on this fundraiser - maybe paying in a few weeks. They have 90 days to reach $5,000 and have $85 from two donors at the time I type.
Those interested can check it out here - and if you are interested and have a blog please do like myself and others are doing - mention it on your blog.
http://www.indiegogo.com/zombie-miniatures?c=home
Turn 3 Results:
Blink pops a tic tak and raises his silenced smg. He fires a short burst at each of the two closest zombies - the first one goes down with it's head exploding into a red mist. The second zombie takes a round to it's body and shuffles forward.
Misty moves to check out the window - the curtains are drawn and she can only make out very little in the way of shadows through the tiniest of gap.
Robert moves to the front door - the door is open, but only by the smallest of cracks.
Lorenzo moves to catch up with the other two to the south of the house. Calling out to Karen and Vonda he says "Hey, should'nt try to get inside? Maybe we can make a better stand inside..."
Vonda thinks the dog is a normal dog just getting a free feed. The zombies near by don't seem interested in the dog. The red marks on the path appear to be blood.
More zombies start to appear, and those already on the scene shuffle towards a likely meal.
