Collins tells the tale of the walking dead

Pre-Game Blah

Remember to go view my other project to see me make and paint all this cool stuff.

In this episode Rick has left his friends behind and is making his way out of town with a bag full of guns. His vehicle has run low on fuel and in order to make the distance he has stopped off at a petrol station to see if there is anything he can borrow. given the points value of rick and all the gear he has scrounged up to date means that there are 11 walkers on the table to start off with. That’s a tall order for someone to deal with.

This will be a true solo game (survivor vs walker) and so I’ve broken out the solo play event card deck for this one. should also increase the threat after every turn too to make things harder on yourself due to the lack of PvP gunfire etc.

Objectives

• search the fuel station for petrol (check the pumps!)
• search for other useful items
• help the living
• not die

Upon arrival at the gas station Rick sees that the place is crawling with undead. He’s not seen many on his way in and is tooled up to the max so is reasonably confident that now is the time to test out the newly acquired shotgun from the police station.

Taking down the first walkers he sees with ease Rick is quietly happy with his new toy. Although loud he is carful to keep out of sight so the walkers can never really identify him as lunch.

however, almost as soon as starts his search one of the walkers bumps into amnestying abandoned car in just the right way to set off the airbag and sound the alarm.

With the constant loud alarm coming from the car it seems to be attracting more and more walkers to it from the immediate area.

This gives Rick an idea, whilst the walkers are all distracted, utilise the opportunity to put them down… He moves to a slightly closer position and lets loose with his shotgun dropping most of them in short order.

The alarm however keeps going, for some reason the auto cut off after a few minutes doesn’t kick in and the alarm keeps sounding… gonna need to disconnect it somehow to stop it before it brings down the whole world on the station.

Then all of a sudden a horde turns up shambling unstoppably towards the gas station. Rick panics and runs down the to car to stop the alarm and manages to do it but is roundly taken by surprise when everyone he’s just shot stands back up and swamp him.

The report of the shotgun and revolver ring out around the gas station and then finally over the low level groans that seem constant a scream can be heard…

Seeing the writing is on the wall and that he isn’t going to be able to search for fuel or supplies Rick decides to back out before the horde gets there. He limps off towards a pile of bags hoping to grab one on the way past.

As he does he uncovers a lurker who lunges with inhuman speed at him bearing teeth and claws with ruthless abandon.

Suffering quite heavily now from his encounters he recognises that he’s not going to be able to make it back to his car and get going without additional danger so Rick scarpers off down a trail that he can double back on later…

Wrap-up

This game involved a lot of 2 things, shooting and testing to reduce the threat. I think of a few occasions I missed the opportunity to up the threat (mayhem, end of turn etc) which may have shortened the game but ultimately the result was the likely to be the same. It really was not a success for our hero, no fuel, limited supplies, lots of expended ammunition and what could potentially be a really serious/grievous wound (1HP left and bitten rule applies)

Event Cards

from the solo deck

• Too Quiet
• The Hunger
• Distracted
• The Walking Dead
• Alarm! (This one really dicks you over!)
• Frayed Nerves
• Theres a Storm Coming
• Roamers
• The Herd
• The Hunger
• Feeding Frenzy
• Wont Stay Down
• Pandemonium

only two cards didn’t come out

• Pandemonium
• Roamers

and that’s why I think I mucked up on the threat counter, there was a lot of shooting in the game and on a number of occasions I used the spare actions to mitigate the threat but getting through 13 event cards seems like a lot given almost every turn involved mayhem or melee.

Now I’m going to have to review the bitten rules and then story a way to incorporate it or escape it in the campaign.