28 Months Later: Reed – 19 January 2013

“Wilf and Ernie left us a couple of days ago; we didn’t actually fight, but we reached a terse agreement to split the food and other stuff evenly, and they took off in one of the 4x4s. The group hasn’t been the same since we lost Jules and Annie. Connie and Nick have stayed with me, but we don’t talk much any more.” – Reed’s journal.

Another discovery mission in daylight, as Reed & Co. try their luck in the nearest town, looking for supplies and maybe a new group member or two. This mission took just over half an hour, and used three human figures and 10 zombies.

I set up the group one move onto the board, then dice for zombies; there turn out to be eight of them, bunched up as usual.

Start of Turn 1: "Zombies, Reed! Fight or run?"

Turn 1

Initiative: Player 2, zombies 5. Reed rolls to Fast Move, getting an extra d6 as he is a Born Leader; he rolls 2, 4, 5 vs Rep 3and passes 1d6. Everyone on his team within 4″ of him takes the same result. Reed & Co fast move towards the closest building, which is behind them to their right, and stack up around the door, waiting to burst in on their next activation.

End of Turn 1: "In here, quickly!"

Turn 2

Initiative: Player 3, zombies 3. Nobody moves.

Turn 3

Initiative: Player 1, zombies 1. Nobody moves.

Turn 4

Initiative: Player 1, zombies 2. The zeds close up. Reed & Co enter the building, and roll 2d6 (3), -1 for it being daytime, +2 for being in an urban area for a total of 4. This indicates there are 1/2d6 humans inside, but the die comes up 1, so nobody’s home. I decide this is a retail store and everybody rolls 2d6 for loot, adding +2 because it’s an urban area. Reed gets a 13, and finds a pistol (at last!); Connie gets a 10, followed by a 4, and finds some luxury goods; Nick gets a 14, which unfortunately can’t be The Cure, so I give him a pistol instead, that being the best weapon you can find in a normal shop.

Turn 5

Initiative: Player 3, zeds 6. Reed takes a gutsy decision to fast move across the path of the zeds into the next building. He rolls 2, 3, 4 and passes 2d6, giving him a 16″ move, which everyone else also gets thanks to his Born Leader. (Man, I love that attribute!) Even deducting 2″ for going through a door, that’s easily enough. I roll 2d6 (9) -1 +2 as before, and get a 10; 1/2d6 zombies inside.

Reed decides to melee the zombies, as the group should be able to take two of them down, and gunshots bring more. He rolls 2, 2, 5 vs Rep (3), using his extra die again, and passes 2d6. In we go. Reed rolls 4d6 vs 3 in melee, scoring 2, 4, 4, 6 and passing 1d6; his opponent rolls a 1 on 1d6 and passes 1d6, so they are evenly matched; as you’ll see, this turns out to be irrelevant.

Connie rolls 1, 2, 3 vs 3 and passes 3d6; her opponent rolls 3 vs 3 and passes 1d6. Connie clearly bears a grudge and hacks the zombie to pieces.

Nick rolls 2, 4, 4 vs the zombie attacking Reed, passing 1d6. It can’t melee, having used its single die on Reed, so it goes down.

Now we loot the building, which I decide is a supermarket. Reed and Nick come up empty handed, but Connie finds some medical supplies.

End of Turn 5: "Eat sharpened spade, zombie!"

Turn 6

Initiative: Player 2, zombies 2. Nobody moves.

Turn 7

Initiative: Player 1, zombies 1. Nobody moves. This is happening a lot today.

Turn 8

Initiative: Player 6, zombies 1. The zeds close up, but as per the rules stop politely once they reach the door. Just as well, since I’ve made two bad tactical errors; first, I didn’t barricade the door behind me, so the zeds can just stroll in; secondly, we are all facing away from the door where they will barge in – I should have left at least one person facing the door to keep watch.

End of Turn 8: "They're behind you!" "Oh, no they aren't!" "Oh, yes they are!"

Turn 9

Initiative: Player 5, zombies 4. The zombies walk right in, up behind our heroes, and engage them in melee from the rear, which reduces their melee dice by two each. Oops.

Reed rolls 6, 2 vs 3 and passes 1d6. The zombie passes 1d6 also, so they are evenly matched. Connie and her zombie both pass 0d6 and are evenly matched. Nick passes 0d6, but his foe passes 1d6, and down he goes, Out Of the Fight. The player group now takes a Man Down test, but Reed chooses to pass 2d6 and they Carry On.

End of Turn 9: "Get 'em off me!"

Turn 10

Initiative: Player 5, zeds 1. Suffice to say that both Reed and Connie were overpowered by their zombie foes. All three Out Of the Fight, no-one to help them, and not even a Star can walk away from this. There’s a zombie feast, but no-one to see it.

End of Turn 10: Can you say "Total Party Kill?" I knew you could.

It’s the 22nd when the next human wanders into the supermarket looking for supplies. Stoner’s practiced eye sweeps the wreckage, and he recreates the struggle in his mind’s eye. The zombies are long gone, with their new recruits; but he pockets the bloodstained first aid kit. As he stoops to pick it up, he sees a discarded notebook under a cabinet. Intrigued, he fishes it out and dusts it off. Handwritten on the cover is the title: “Reed’s Journal”. He starts to toss it away, then thinks better of it; if nothing else, the paper could be useful. He stuffs it into his backpack and steps back outside, into the rain.