yesterdays post today

Well as I was very busy yesterday I thought I'd invest a few minutes today to catch up.  On Sunday we had a club meeting and finally got round to playing the zombie car park game at the Rainham club. I only took one picture (to the right) because as soon as I produced a camera some of the players got up and walked out. That crimestoppers programme has a lot to answer for. (IT my be because the kettle boiled about then as well though so not too sure.) It was one of those games where it started with me and two other players (Relfie and Kev) we got everything ready I told them the rule changes and we just started and Fraiser (one of our new and young members) turned up. So to keep things fair Kev and Relfie gave him two characters (one each) and we started. WE got a turn done and then Patrick and Tim arrived (pictured) we had a quick break to admire Tim's painted treasures. And Patrick decided to play some loud 1970's horse racing game on his own in the corner. So Tim started and we had another couple of turns. Then Patrick decided he was gonna play and him and Fraiser split their forces. When I use the term "Herding Cats" you get an idea of what it's like from that brief description above of how the game started. Anyway here's the cast list:

Relfie: Brown (trousers) erhm suit and a Little Girl.
Kev: Army Girl and a Store keeper.
Tim: Biker and Heavy
Fraiser: "Sleazy man"
Patrick: Eccentric Shop keeper.
Clint (me): Zombies.

All the Zombies were classed as extras and all the characters were classed as co-stars and we were using the 7ombie TV rules. Given that there were 4 teams of 2 characters, Patrick and Fraiser being paired due to Patricks late arrival/participation and because they are friends. I shoved 35-40 Zombies on the board to make it "balanced".

The game started with the search for keys with some pretty MAJOR hints (from Kev who had read the blog) to the younger players as to where you might find them, which they ignored for most of the game. It's great having a mixture of ages as the younger players tended to do their own things with out regard to the victory conditions and how to escape, although they were pretty keen on stitching other players up at the same time. Most players searched the loos and stairwells first thinking perhaps that people had discarded their car keys in such unlikely places as they attempted to escape the grey horde. You are hardly going to make good an escape by chucking car keys down a ladies loo. Still they wanted to search and so they did. Patrick and Frasier spent most of the rest of the game searching the skips and getting a few scavenger cards including a bicycle, dolls head, a crowbar and 2 Molotov's.

Meanwhile elsewhere the sheer number of Zeds mad it impossible to move without being reached by at least one of them. Tim's Heavy was the first to succumb to the grey horde and taken down quite quickly as he kept trying to use his luck re-rolls and kept failing to alter the result. It then took that character 3 turns to shake of the stuns before he could come back as a Tank. Hugely disappointed with the 4 inch tank move he plodded towards his real life son with all the built up taxi-dad hatred he could muster. kev and Relfi had by now found keys and were trying cars as often as they could. Special mention to Kev for killing (headshot) three times as many zombies as everyone else combined. (I need to check his dice next time, not saying they were loaded, but I have my suspicions.) Relfie's little Girl was the first to find a car. Tim's Biker and the Brown Suit man were about to jump in when the grey mass swamped Mr Brown suit right in front of the little girl as he was trying to get in the door. The biker edged away and ran for another car (he too had keys) needing 5 or more for the keys to fit in this car he of course rolled a 4 on 2d6. dragged down by a feeding frenzy of 4 zombies he lost his second character.

Kev also lost his crack shot shop keeper to a small horde but the army girl also had keys and had got a car working. The little girl a notorious bad driver managed a sharp turn and fearing a collision stayed in first gear where they were better able to control their vehicle. While the army girl was crashing up through the gears at every opportunity.

Meanwhile back at the skips Patrick and Fraiser becoming surrounded by zeds, including two tank zeds (Tim and Kev's ex characters) and as yet without keys decided to let loose with the Molotov's right next to the petrol tanker. Throwing them both, the missed both times and both petrol bombs scattered. Four Zombies were turned into crispy critters and three of the four took head shots as a result and died. The forth staggered around on fire no doubt to be talked about by TV critics for days to come.... too much violence on TV these days etc.

Having negotiated all the obstacles the little girl put her foot down and made swift progress stopping just 1 inch from victory. Then the Army Girl covered the distance to the exit to take the game.

So that's the game report. To me it's quite funny how the two characters to get out in cars were both the same ones as at the Sittingbourne club and yet played by different people. It's also interesting that the Heavy died first in both games even though again played by different people. Both the youg players want to play the same game again using the same scenario so I know they enjoyed it.

Elsewhere at the club there was some boardgames being played and an ACW naval battle. So I think it was quite diverse. The concept of the battlefield in a box (my paste table idea) was received very well and I can see other club members taking it on board and making it their own. Tim was also mentioning the possibility of "re-doing" the dead cowboys in 20th century clothes which I think has a lot of merit. He originally sculpted a series of dead cowboys which the rights were bought for by someone in the states. So if he re-sculps them to be more contempory dead (not living dead) I think he could be on a winner, but time will tell.