The (plastic) Walking Dead

Mike and I started a multi game zombie apocalypse campaign following the fortunes of a biker gang (him) and a Latino street gang (me) in Midvale Ohio starting on the first day of the disaster. We used All Things Zombie (ATZ) for the campaign rules and Dead Walk Again (DWA) for for the combat rules. ATZ has a good process for gaming the world of the apocalypse while we prefer the elegant DWA combat system. We had no trouble joining the two for a playable game. Note that in the pictures the figures are all portrayed carrying weapons. In this first scenario the male bikers carried concealed knives only while the one female also had a concealed pistol. Her job would be to hold the knives outside the police station while her friends were inside clearing up the misunderstanding. The Latinos carried concealed pistols and knives except one who had a knife only.

                                  Michigan Avenue in the slums of Midvale Ohio  The game started with the bikers, 4 men and 1 woman, leaving their clubhouse/abandoned store front in a very bad section of town at about noon, headed for the local police precinct station to answer an appearance ticket for a minor infraction their leader, one 'Santa Claus' Covell, might or might not have committed. At the other end of Michigan Avenue the surviving members of WTF13, the Latino street gang has heard the TV new reports of some sort of disorder that occurred overnight. While the reports were unclear on the nature of the disorder, the gang thought this might be a good time to rob the neighborhood bar, Rotten Appleby's.

                                   Blossom and friends cross the street The Bikers ran into trouble immediately. As they were crossing the street they collided with a group of terrified citizens running the other way. They forced their way through the frantic civilians with some difficulty only to encounter what they were running from. A young woman with a bloody raw wound on her shoulder and vacant eyes lurched toward them. The bikers were spread out from the encounter with the civilians and Blossom, the female in their group was closest to the stranger. The horribly wounded woman lurched forward and sank her teeth into Blossom's throat, and was cut down by the knives of the furious bikers. Blossom died moments later.

                              WTF13 on their way to rob the bar
At about the same time as the attack on the bikers the Latinos were confronted by what they thought was an overly aggressive drug addled panhandler. When the stranger attacked Paco, he and Montoya quickly dispatched him with their knives and concealed his body under one of the piles of trash bags that were dotting the streets since the collection trucks had failed to make their scheduled run the previous day.

                                WTF13 encounters frightened civilians
Soon after the killing a mob of fleeing civilians crashed into the Latinos. With punches and kicks they scattered the mob. A single police officer came out of the nearby police precinct and approached the bikers who were walking toward the front entrance. The officer asked the bikers their business and they explained they were on their way to the station to respond to an appearance ticket when they were attacked by a crazy woman who killed their friend Blossom. They had killed the attacker in self defense and were coming to report the attack. The cop seemed rattled by something more than just them, and he told them in rather unprofessional language to come back another day. When Covell tried to explain that he didn't want trouble, the cop cut him off and ordered them away from the station. At this they slouched away toward Rotten Appleby's for some ribs and beer. On the way they encountered another knot of hysterical citizens. "Whole damned town has gone crazy" quoth Santa Claus Covell, ever the philosopher.  At this, one of his boys directed his attention back the way they had come. There, in the middle of Michigan Avenue and shuffling their way was Blossom, who they had left for dead! "We'd better get inside the bar and lock the door" said Santa.

More damn citizens in the way! What the &^#@%!

As they made their way toward Rotten Appleby's they found the Latinos between them and the door. "Best step aside amigo, that's our bar" said Santa. The Latinos smiled and produced their guns. "My bar now, Homes" said Montoya. As she who had been Blossom was moving closer, and with purpose, and their own guns were back in the club house, Santa held his hands up in mock surrender and said "No problem amigo. C'mon boys, let's go home". The bikers walked around the other side of the bar to put more distance between them and the Blossom thing and walked briskly toward the clubhouse.  

                                           "My bar now, Homes"
WTF13 walked into the bar and were confronted by two waitresses holding pistols and a tough looking barkeep with a machine pistol. "Strange way to welcome new customers" said Montoya. Barkeep replied "We live in strange times, friend. Now, why don't you leave the way you came in". Montoya briefly considered taking the bar the hard way, but concluded that he couldn't afford to lose any more of his people.

Hospitality lacking at the neighborhood joint

The Latinos backed out into the parking lot just as Blossom got there. They became aware of the new threat as Maria, one of the women in their group screamed and fell to the ground with Blossom tearing her with her teeth. Paco fired a shot into Blossom's head to put her down but it was too late for Maria. She died in Paco's arms. A patrol car screeched to a halt across the parking lot exit and a cop with a shotgun got out. As he had been dealing with the horror all night, the cop was less concerned with the two dead women than he was with four armed gangbangers. "I'm going to need you to lay down those guns" he said. Montoya did a quick calculation. The police station was just the other side of the fire station that shared the parking lot with the bar. If the shooting started there would be cops everywhere. He quickly agreed to lay down his guns on condition that the cop bring them all into the police station. As the cop was collecting the guns another of those bloody things came around the corner, attracted perhaps by the sound of gunfire, and grappled with him. With difficulty he drew his pistol and shot the thing in the head. As it crumpled to the ground he said "Leave the guns where they are, let's go!" and started herding the Latinos in front of him toward the back door of the police station. They had almost reached the door when dead Maria advanced on them from the shadows! The unarmed Latinos recoiled behind the cop, who summoned his last reserve of steadyness and shot the monster in the head. The door to the station swung open from the inside. The cop and Latinos bolted through the door and it was slammed shut and locked just as yet another of the things came into view.    

"If we can just get past that thing we are home free"

Notes: That was Day 1 of the Apocalypse for the survivor groups. We hope to carry on this campaign to see how these two groups (now each reduced to four people) develop. Mike 'Santa Claus' Covell's bikers have a Day 2 objective to set themselves up a base in Rotten Appleby's. There they will have plenty of beer and pork to sustain them while they figure out what to do next. It remains to be seen what the bar owner thinks of this plan. My WTF13 is currently safe in the police station, but they are also unarmed and their status, guest or prisoner, is unclear. Their Day 2 plan is to depart the precinct on friendly terms, reacquire their weapons currently lying in a dark corner of the parking lot and establish themselves in a safe haven. From there they will be able to loot...er collect the supplies they need and recruit new members.