Episode 3 - There not animals....
The Police won the initiative and began to explore the dank lower level of McLabs. The quicker they can get this done the quicker they can get out. The team split up. Agent Dunham and Lincoln went south followed by some of the Armed Response guys. A mixed riot police and armed response team moved north. Both the Armed Response guys and the Riot Police were a little concerned the agents never referred to them by their names. It's like they were expendable, and who are the 'agents' in charge anyway?
Meanwhile on the level above, already searched by the Police, the McLabs security team sneack back in. Armed for bear, or should I say Zombie and begin their search for the Prof, splitting up into 3 groups. Sly Rambo the boss placed his trustee lackey Arnie 'Dutch' Matrix in front and Jean Claude as rearguard and went south. For a cleared level the 3 zombies that appear out of the blue from the marker discovered at the T Junction were a shock (from the score of 2 on a D6 then a further D3 roll for the number of 'rabid animals'). The beasties were at a T junction which meant mano o mano action with Arnie's chainsaw for 1 lucky Zombie, while it's comrades moaned at him from around both corners. With a whirr the Zombie was felled but not killed (didn't score 5+ on a D6) gaining a Living Dead status. At the end of the phase the Zombie can come back to live of a score of 6 on a D6.
The second McLabs Security team jogged down a corridor heading west and bumped in to 2 Zombies. A panicked shot from Chuck missed and the Zombie fumbled the air. Bruce couldn't shoot past Chuck. The third team headed north lead by Dolf, quickly cleared a room and turned west.
The Police's Agent Dunham reached their first room and successfully opened the door and was immediately attacked by 3 rabid humanoids. 1 well aimed shot later she noticed the 2 remaining creatures looked like staff. Unbeknownst to her she hadn't killed the Zombie, and it took a Living Dead status.
Arnie continued his fight with the Zombies at the T Junction. Chuck went down in a geezer of blood and gained a living dead status and Bruce took out 1 of the Zeds clambering over his body. Dolf ,Blaine and Russel searched their second room.
Agent Dunham keeps back the creatures she's discovered, backed up by Lincoln and a member of the Armed Response. The others in her team go to the next room along and search it discovering it's empty. The northern group reach their first room and search it. Out of the 3 rooms searched so far a only Agent Dunham's has a delightful discovery.
Arnie takes out a 2nd Zed leaving 1 to go. Chuck groans and comes to life, Bruce ignores the irony and puts him down again for good, but the other 2 Zombies clamber over the body and get within Nom Nom range. Dolf and co rub brain cells together to get out of the 2nd room to move down the corridor towards the firing (this will enable them to fire at the rear of the Zeds attacking Bruce).
The northern Police team discover an unconscious lab assistant in the corridor before their next and final room. He revives but is too groggy to help. A riot police man squeezes past to reach the door of their target room. Agent Dunham puts down for good the next creature, leaving 1 remaining.
McLabs security are having fun. Bruce goes down under a Zombie charge. Sly now has Arnie fighting in front of him and with Bruce down there are Zombie's behind him. He needn't worry as the 'The Brussel Muscle' Jean Claude turns round and blazes away missing everything. Dolf's brain trust finally get their door open and reach the corridor ready to get the problem Zombie in a cross fire. Dolf ensures Blaine Ventura is in point with the Big Gun. Russel splits from Dolf and Blaine and goes back the way him came to catch the Zombies from a third angle.
Big Gun Rules
- I forgot to add this in the Episode special rules as I'd played the gun with the boys before. Inspired by the auto shotgun in the Expendables film, you know the one the had the lad bang and the baddies fly through the air and it goes through walls. Well I gave it the shotgun rules but with a range of 12".
Stun Grenade Launcher Rules
- While I'm confessing forgotten rules a member of the Police's northern team is armed with a stun grenade launcher. I gave this the stun grenade rules and a range of 12". It doesn't work on Zombies
Back to the action.
Arnie fells the last Zombie blocking the junction and moves in to the corridor. Since 2 of the fallen Zombies have Living Dead status's and with Zombies behind him he decides to finish them off for good. Which he doesn't. Sly moves through Arnie into the section of the T that is an alcove with computer terminals. Dolf opens his door and finds 3 Zeds hungry for him. Bruce then picks his moment to come back to life and it is quickly taken out by Jean Claude who is then charged by the remaining Zombie by the lifts. Russel can now see Jean Claude and jogs to catch the Zombie from behind.
Meanwhile.... The Police northern team open the final door and unleash hell. A huge bio-beast launches itself through the door eviscerating the riot copper who opened it. Our groggy lab tech now finds the time to come round and utter 'Boy am I glad to see you. Whatever you do don't open the...Oh'. He's quickly escorted to safety by a riot policeman. I don't know who was more relieved the Lab Tech or a man armed with just a truncheon. The Armed Response sniper calmly kneels down ready to take a shot, giving his team mate a clear shot. 2 aimed shots later and the beast is stopped in its tracks.
{At this point the owner of the beast was a) shocked it had been killed so quickly, and b) due to weak a Achilles heel it had broken many times and he didn't want it knocked on it's side like all the other figures. Fair point. The tile it stood actually represented a corridor floor with a big rent in it. So as Umpire I ruled...}
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| McLabs Upper Level nearest and the lower level furthest away. The exit to safety is bottom right of picture. Middle left Dolf fights his 3 Zombies he's discovered. To the right of Dolf you can see the T Junction with Arnie and Sly standing over dead Zombies. Sly has just found the Prof's location in the blue room just down from Sly in the picture above. The 2 loan figures on the right outside the play area are Chuck and Bruce, having died and risen again they have been replaced by Nazi Zombie figures. |
As the beast hits the floor it rolls over and slivers out of sight. Is it dead the Police and the McLabs Security (the beasts owner) cried? Well that's for me to know and you to find out, with that umpires wisdom the Police grinned and McLabs Security called not fair as he realised that the only 2 uncovered counters were on his floor. Mwhahaha!
Agent Dunham continued to slug it out with the last Zombie. The Police with their level cleared began to head for the lift.
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| Agent Dunham at the threshold of the room at the bottom of this picture. 2 Zombies are down, 1 permanently and 1 not. The Lab Tech is the middle of the picture scratching his head surrounded by Police. The group of 4 Police nearest the to p of the picture are in the lift ready to go. To the left of this group you can see the sniper lying down having just made the kill shot on the Bio-beast. The Police figures are Offensive Miniatures and the Lab Tech is Hasslefree. |
Blaine takes out 2 Zombies and Dolf heads for the room Arnie and Sly should have gone too. Jean Claude adds to the carnage downing 1 Zombie. The upper level now only contains 2 Zombies all facing Jean Claude.
Agent Dunham in desperation thumps her nemesis and manages to punch through the skull and pulp the brain. All other coppers and their rescued Lab Tech gather at the lift and the Police start getting in. It says it can fit 16 but only 4 can squeeze in with all their gear.
Arnie's repeated attempts to kill his Zombies for good result in one coming back to life. He kills it with satisfaction. A Zombie next to the twice dead Bruce returns to live and catches Russel by surprise and goes down dead next to Bruce adding to the growing pile of bodies. The upper level now only has 4 standing Zombies on it. Sly has an idea and accesses the computer to see where Professor Bunsen is. Since there are 2 rooms left to search it will save time if they knew where the Prof was. It takes 2 goes to access the room CCTV to find him. Bingo.
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| Jean Claude takes aim at a Zombie in front of the upper levels lift. Bottom of the picture Blaine is doing the same. The zombies are West Wind, the Nazi Zombies are Studio Miniatures ( I used them for risen cast members). The McLabs Security are Citadel metal Catachan Jungle fighters. |
Arnie and Sly have to deal with another awoken Zombie who doesn't know when to stay down. Down the corridor Dolf slugs it out with his own private room of Zombies and eventually kills them all. Jean Claude grapples with his Zombie who he eventual kills with a knife to the head. The Security team suddenly find themselves with a floor with no standing Zombies. At last after 2 men go down (then up, then down again) they can get on with the mission. Since they now know where Professor Bunsen is hiding Sly, Arnie and Jean Claude double move to his room and begin taking intelligence tests to open it. On the way they find and rescue Fred, a Research Assistant whose been cowering in a corridor waiting for a chance to escape. Dolf, now the furthest away from the team begins his jog to join them avoiding the piles of dead as they have a nasty habit of getting up again.
While the McLabs Security are busy securing Professor Bunsen and rescuing members of staff, the first batch of Police return to the upper level in the lift. The doors open to carnage, 2 McLabs security guards are dead plus 1 creature. Beyond these bodies, down the corridor in front of them they can see 2 more of these dead abominations. Hurrying footsteps can heard so they quickly (in 2 moves as the lift operator is using action to move the lift) clear lift so it go go back down.
While checking the dead one stirs, Nom Nom and swiftly adds a nameless Riot Police officer to his lunch menu. As the officer dies in agony his equally nameless Armed Response colleagues avenge his death by splattering the Zombie across the corridor making sure it will not stir again. As the lift returns they move off quickly as they hear more creatures stirring further down the corridor (these were Arnie's victims who are now on their 3rd return).
Sly's McLab team finally secure Professor Bunsen. After some discussion, where Sly points out to the good Professor time taken so far, his loses and his view about having to go down another level, the Professor agrees to the riskier option of accessing the self destruct from a terminal. As the Professor lays out the risks Sly decides much to everyone's relieve to use the terminal near the exit.
As they make their way there they bump into the lead group of escaping Police officers. After an opposed intelligence test the Police believe Sly's team are searching for survivors like them and decide that since these chaps are rescuing Fred and the Prof they can be on their way. After all it will be easier to arrest people on the outside than down here fighting who knows how many more beasties.
Unfortunately nobody tells Blaine who is at the rear of the McLabs team. He fires his big gun hitting and killing the last remaining Riot Police officer in their lead group. Blaine had forgotten that his weapon had a 3" blast radius and the blast expands to kills Dolf. Dolf was not amused he'd been quietly jogging along the outside corridors of the upper level avoiding any trouble and had just reached the team ahead of the Police.
The second group of Police on hearing the shot readied for action. The sniper who was leading this group takes an aimed shot and the armed criminal goes down with a thud.
By now the Police were split in to 3 groups. The lead group and McLabs security were moving down parallel corridors. They'd all heard the shots but didn't know it was at each other. The 2nd Police group led by their sniper couldn't see more of the criminals so kept on moving. The final group with Agents Dunham and Linclon and the rescued Lab Tech were more concerned with the gathering Zombies moving towards them.
Arnie was once again in the lead. The McLabs team reach the final room. Unusually for them they opened the door first time and unusual for them threw for no surprise Zombies. This clearly wasn't right, where's the cliff hanger for the episode, so I counter threw stating that on a 4,5 or 6 on a D6 I could force them to re-throw. I won. Sly threw his dice and got Zombies, then threw for 2 of them to be in the room. I then as Umpire pointed out the hatch in the middle of the room. I rolled a D6 and scored a 5. A score I declare to bring back the Bio-beast which is trying to escape. Mwhahahaha.
This is now occupied by the lead Police team taking a breather while what or whoever was fighting it out up front (Arnie) finished the job,and their other teams could catch up. So opposed intelligence tests later the Police concur that the Professor setting a self destruct is a good idea, anyway the Police can arrest him later. They made way for him to make his attempt. Being a bright chap the Prof past all 3 tests. Everyone held their breath to see how many rounds before all went BOOM. The McLabs Security threw the dice and 3 turns it was.
At that very moment Arnie completed his job and the McLab team pushed past him and sprinted to safety. Sly counted them past and turned to block the door to the Police. He needed to buy his team time to escape and all going well delay the Police long enough to die in the blast. No witnesses was his last objective!
The Police had now reunited in a snaking line through the corridor to the blocked door. The Zombies are close behind, the klaxon and handy count down make it clear they need to get out. Agent Dunham moves up to take point. Steam begins to hiss out of pipes to join the cacophony of noise as the stars of our show square off.
Sly cocks his signature pistol and draws his huge Bowie knife. Agent Dunham cracks her knuckles on her good swinging arm and draws her own signature pistol. For 2 moves it was a blur of punches, stabs and pistol shots. They were too evenly matched till a glancing blow stuns Agent Dunham knocking her down.
2 MINUTES AND COUNTING
Sly looked at the door, his watch and then at the enraged Lincoln then sprinted for the exit. Lincoln leaped forward and picked up Olivia, sorry Agent Dunham. The Police all let out a collective gasp not realizing they'd been holding their breath and ran after Sly. All except nameless hero Riot Police Officer left at the back as rearguard who was locked in Zombie combat.
The squares to the exit are carefully counted. Sly exited with 2 turns to spare. This left no one to block their way and half the Police followed close behind. Nameless Riot Police officer goes down and the Zombies move over him scenting more fresh meat and close in. Agent Dunham carried by Lincoln gets to the final exit corridor. The Zombies can't reach them, and just as the charges go off Lincoln carries her in to the light and safety.
Conclusion
Great game with suspense to the last round. The boys voted it their favorite game of their stay. Who won?
So who won? Well a lesson learnt is better scoring criteria. Based on cast scores the Police won with more than double McLabs Security in points surviving. Plus the Police achieved their objective. Everyone they found got out, and the creatures were destroyed.
What would I do differently?
As mentioned I would have clearer victory scores. I'd also have a rule for moving past or over people in the corridor. In the game I let it happen easily, I should perhaps have reduced movement. We did however have a time constraint to get the game finished.
Would I play it again?
Yes
While checking the dead one stirs, Nom Nom and swiftly adds a nameless Riot Police officer to his lunch menu. As the officer dies in agony his equally nameless Armed Response colleagues avenge his death by splattering the Zombie across the corridor making sure it will not stir again. As the lift returns they move off quickly as they hear more creatures stirring further down the corridor (these were Arnie's victims who are now on their 3rd return).
Sly's McLab team finally secure Professor Bunsen. After some discussion, where Sly points out to the good Professor time taken so far, his loses and his view about having to go down another level, the Professor agrees to the riskier option of accessing the self destruct from a terminal. As the Professor lays out the risks Sly decides much to everyone's relieve to use the terminal near the exit.
As they make their way there they bump into the lead group of escaping Police officers. After an opposed intelligence test the Police believe Sly's team are searching for survivors like them and decide that since these chaps are rescuing Fred and the Prof they can be on their way. After all it will be easier to arrest people on the outside than down here fighting who knows how many more beasties.
Unfortunately nobody tells Blaine who is at the rear of the McLabs team. He fires his big gun hitting and killing the last remaining Riot Police officer in their lead group. Blaine had forgotten that his weapon had a 3" blast radius and the blast expands to kills Dolf. Dolf was not amused he'd been quietly jogging along the outside corridors of the upper level avoiding any trouble and had just reached the team ahead of the Police.
The second group of Police on hearing the shot readied for action. The sniper who was leading this group takes an aimed shot and the armed criminal goes down with a thud.
By now the Police were split in to 3 groups. The lead group and McLabs security were moving down parallel corridors. They'd all heard the shots but didn't know it was at each other. The 2nd Police group led by their sniper couldn't see more of the criminals so kept on moving. The final group with Agents Dunham and Linclon and the rescued Lab Tech were more concerned with the gathering Zombies moving towards them.
Arnie was once again in the lead. The McLabs team reach the final room. Unusually for them they opened the door first time and unusual for them threw for no surprise Zombies. This clearly wasn't right, where's the cliff hanger for the episode, so I counter threw stating that on a 4,5 or 6 on a D6 I could force them to re-throw. I won. Sly threw his dice and got Zombies, then threw for 2 of them to be in the room. I then as Umpire pointed out the hatch in the middle of the room. I rolled a D6 and scored a 5. A score I declare to bring back the Bio-beast which is trying to escape. Mwhahahaha.
Arnie bravely battles the beast for 2 rounds before it returns to the hatch in defeat. The 2 Zombies are then quickly dealt with clearing the way to safety. While Arnie Professor Bunsen doubles back to a terminal they'd past.
At that very moment Arnie completed his job and the McLab team pushed past him and sprinted to safety. Sly counted them past and turned to block the door to the Police. He needed to buy his team time to escape and all going well delay the Police long enough to die in the blast. No witnesses was his last objective!
3 MINUTES AND COUNTING
The Police had now reunited in a snaking line through the corridor to the blocked door. The Zombies are close behind, the klaxon and handy count down make it clear they need to get out. Agent Dunham moves up to take point. Steam begins to hiss out of pipes to join the cacophony of noise as the stars of our show square off.
Sly cocks his signature pistol and draws his huge Bowie knife. Agent Dunham cracks her knuckles on her good swinging arm and draws her own signature pistol. For 2 moves it was a blur of punches, stabs and pistol shots. They were too evenly matched till a glancing blow stuns Agent Dunham knocking her down.
2 MINUTES AND COUNTING
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| The escapees. The none security McLabs staff are all Hasslefree Miniatures. |
1 MINUTE AND COUNTING
The squares to the exit are carefully counted. Sly exited with 2 turns to spare. This left no one to block their way and half the Police followed close behind. Nameless Riot Police officer goes down and the Zombies move over him scenting more fresh meat and close in. Agent Dunham carried by Lincoln gets to the final exit corridor. The Zombies can't reach them, and just as the charges go off Lincoln carries her in to the light and safety.
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| The final look at the board before destruction. Only 3 Zombies are standing, but 3 having the Living Status with the addition of their last victim the nameless Riot Police officer. |
Conclusion
Great game with suspense to the last round. The boys voted it their favorite game of their stay. Who won?
- Police scored 10 with 9 of their team escaping with 1 rescued Lab Tech. I count Agent Dunham.
- McLabs scored 5, with 3 Security men and 2 staff. They are also blew the lab, but left witnesses, but got out first so they could ambush the Police on the way out. Possibilities, possibilities all for another gain I think.
So who won? Well a lesson learnt is better scoring criteria. Based on cast scores the Police won with more than double McLabs Security in points surviving. Plus the Police achieved their objective. Everyone they found got out, and the creatures were destroyed.
What would I do differently?
As mentioned I would have clearer victory scores. I'd also have a rule for moving past or over people in the corridor. In the game I let it happen easily, I should perhaps have reduced movement. We did however have a time constraint to get the game finished.
Would I play it again?
Yes
