Newbie First Game

Back in November I managed to enjoy a game night with my beloved.  We planned a date night to introduce her to All Things Zombie.  She had seen my blog and my models and was flattered when I painted up a figure to represent her on the table (http://zedstormrising.blogspot.com/2011/08/more-minis.html).  She is interested in learning more, though she can't say she totally 'gets it'.  Still, we had a really fun evening.

We played a couple of simple introductory scenarios to learn the rules and then we set up a Take Back scenario.  We decided on a rural location with just a few buildings.  It was a crossroads where there had been a pile up with a small store and auto workshop nearby.  The scenario takes place on a cool, summer evening about a month or so after the rising.  Sorry to say the pics are rather poor as I was using my iPhone.

E is a Rep 5 Civilian armed with a BA pistol. She has no attributes.

D is a Rep 5 Civilian armed with a Shotgun and a Cricket bat.  He also has no attributes.

(I decided to have us be higher Rep to keep the game moving and interesting for E.  I also decided to not use attributes so as not to confuse her with too many rules at first.)

D and E enter the table from the north edge, walking up the road to see what they can find.

We diced up three zombies and placed them using a scatter die.  One ended up in the woods to D and E's left.  It can barely be seen in the above pic.  Another was in the open to their left and a little behind, almost at the edge of the table.  The third was in the road in front of the car wrecks...

Turn 1:  Initiative roll - Humans 3, Zombies 4

Humans win initiative and get to go first.  D charges the zed near the cars and with a quick smack of his bat takes it down.  E moves up more cautiously, watching the wrecks closely in case any other zeds are lurking about.  During the zombie turn the zeds shamble after D and E, stumbling through the woods..  (The red bead is my way of marking kills so at the end of a scenario I can get an overview of the flow of the action.)

Turn 2: Humans 4, Zombies 3
Again we win the initiative.  We decide to fast move to the nearest building.  E passes 2d6 and ends up at the door to the auto shop.  D passes 1d6 and tries to keep up. (This sparked some laughter in RL since E is a triathlete like me...only she is consistently faster than I am...)

Again the zeds shamble after them.

 

Turn 3: H 3, Z 5
The zombies win initiative but have rolled higher than their Rep.  Confused by the car wrecks and not sure which way D and E have gone, the zeds stand still.  One lets out a long, low moan of frustration.  E waits at the door to the auto shop for D to arrive.  When he finally moseys up to the door she smiles and says, 'taking your time or just waiting for me to clear this building for you?'  D grins and offers her his bat.  'Ladies first,' he says.

Turn 4: H 3, Z 6
Again the zombies win but are unable to act.  One zed continues it's unearthly moaning as it stands and rocks back and forth.  The other stares slack jawed, great gobbets of drool dripping to the ground.  D and E prep their weapons and burst through the door.  In the dim light from the sun coming through the dusty windows they quickly see the store is empty.  It has been looted and the only thing of value left behind is a rifle scope.  Neither D nor E can use it but D pockets it in case he ever finds a rifle.  'Might come in handy,' he says with a shrug.

Turn 5: H 2, Z 4
The two zeds begin shambling again only now they've lost sight of D and E.  They each move forward 6", heading to the point where they last saw the humans.  D and E exit the auto shop and move to the rear of the RV parked next door.  'Now this could come in handy,' says E, patting the rear bumper of the RV.  'Better make sure no one is living in it first,' says D.  He hefts his shotgun and sidles along the rear of the RV, listening for any sounds of movement from inside.

Turn 6:  H 2, Z 5
Again the zeds stop and stare, unsure where to go or what to do.  They seem to have lost their purpose.  D and E move to the door of the RV and enter.  Inside are two zombies!  D and E achieve total surprise and before either zombie can do anything D and E fire their weapons. (Zeds rolled a 1 for surprise and D and E each rolled a 6!)  E drops her zed with a swift shot from her pistol.  D levels his shotgun from his hip and lets it roar.  In the enclosed space the zed catches the full blast and nearly vanishes into a reddish spray across the far wall of the RV.  'Nice,' says E, 'so much for an RV to live in.  Did you really have to splatter that thing all over?'  'Just watching out for my baby,' says D, 'besides, you don't like RVs anyway.'   They take a minute to rifle through the cupboards and E finds food.  Looking out the back window, D sees another zed moving behind the pickup truck across the street.  'I suppose we ought to be more quiet,' he says.  (D's shotgun blast has attracted another zed.)

Turn 7:  H 2, Z 6
Again the zombies are aimless.  D and E exit the RV and move to the road.  'Only one more building to check out,' says E.  'Yup,' says D, 'and then maybe we can settle in for the night.  Might even stay here a few days.  It seems pretty quiet.'

Turn 8:  H 2, Z 1
Ducking low, D fast moves across the road to the door of the small store.  Keeping low herself, E follows at a slower pace.  They move in such a way as to keep the pickup truck between them and the zombie that showed up after the shotgun blast.  They just manage to stay out of sight.  The zombies are on the move again.  The one behind the pickup shambles into the road, looking for the humans it saw leave the RV.  It is unaware they've given it the slip.

Turn 9:  H 2, Z 5
Again the zeds are inactive, only standing and moaning, unable to perceive their prey.  D and E enter the store and inside they find two survivors.  On the Meet and Greet table E manages to win by 1 success.  The survivors, Randall and Carl, decide to join D and E for the remainder of the scenario.  Randall is a Rep 5 Survivor armed with a shotgun.  Carl is a Rep 4 Survivor armed with a Semi Automatic rifle.  As they rummage around the store, D finds a unit of fuel. 

Turn 10:  H 4, Z 5
Again the zeds are inactive!  Since the store was a two section building we still needed to search the other side.  Everyone spread out and searched but we found no other humans or zombies.  Randall found a bow and some arrows.  At this point it was getting late so we decided that the party could easily take out the three remaining zombies on the board.  We deemed the mission a success!

In the aftermath Randall and Carl took off.  I would have liked for them to stay on but they didn't want to be weighed down with a couple of civvies.  I diced for advancement for D and E and neither of us were successful.

Overall it was a fun game.  I was surprised at how often the humans activated and how often the zombies didn't.  We literally moved every turn and the zombies only got to activate 4 times.  That's the way of it in ATZ though.  Next time I'm sure there will be some other, nastier surprises.

The best part was that E enjoyed the game.  She seemed to get into it as she understood the rules better.  There were some nervous moments when we weren't sure what was going to happen and we had some good laughs at a few points.  As I said earlier, she doesn't completely 'get it', but she appreciates that I like it and she's willing to give it a try.  All in all a great, albeit somewhat nerdy, date night!  In fact, we are going to do it again tonight.

So why not give it a try?  Talk to your significant other, set it up, make it easy and fun and have a game.  Who knows?  Maybe you'll discover something else to share.  Peace.