ATZ-FFO : AAR 2 - They shall (not) pass.

Somewhere in Normandy. June  30^th 1944.

“Ha, Oberst Muller. Good to see you this afternoon. I thought you would not come”. A group of German Heer officers was looking at a map. It showed the front with several tokens representing the different forces. Unexpectedly the German ones were outnumbered.

“We have a mission for your remaining squad. You need to cover the road here” A bony finger with a long nail pointed a small wood outside an unremarkable French village. “Your mission will be to drive away anybody, I want to emphasize - Anybody- that come from the front” this was added with an icy voice. The lieutenant looked at the officer and he was from the new entity, the SWD. He smiled to the lieutenant. “Victory is near. We have something to defeat them”.

The company commander raised his hand and brought the lieutenant to the exit. Once outside, he looked around and said: “if at 7:30 you have not received any new order from me, fall back to HQ. May God help us all.”

July 1^st 1944, 2:23am

The lieutenant Muller and his remaining 5 soldiers were keeping their part of the road. 2 hours before he had seen a huge bombing on the other side of the hills. Finally the Luftwaffe hit the American hard. Maybe that SWD officer was right. Victory was near.

July 1^st 1944, 3:40am

The radio crackled… “This is squad Helmut. We have many contacts. Request fall back”

“This is Officer Von Evil from SWD, acting commander. Stay in position and execute order. Nothing shall get pass you!”

Private Gretchen shuttered to his officer: “Oberst, I think I hear something, something like a moaning”

2 minutes after, Lieutenant Muller’s sector went hot.

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Scenario is Quarantine with the following twists –

ER Rating: 3

Zombie Generated on 5-6

Encounter on 5-7-11

PEF 1 (REP 6), PEF 2 (REP 6)

 Encounter table updated, and test "Halt Quarantine" by "Halt! Forbidden Area, turn back!"

Squad of Oberst Muller is composed of :

Oberst Muller (REP: 5, PEP: 3 , SAV: 4) – SKILL Logical

                Pistol, FOOD +1, LUXURY ITEM +1, 1 Hand Melee

Private Sven (REP: 4, PEP: 2, SAV: 3) – SKILL Rage

                SMG, FOOD +1, MEDIC +1, , 1 Hand Melee

Private Jorgen (REP: 3, PEP: 2, SAV: 1) – SKILL Greedy

                RIFLE, FOOD +1, LUXURY ITEM +2, 1 Hand Melee

Private Kohl (REP: 3, PEP:1 , SAV:2 ) – SKILL Dim

                RIFLE, FOOD +2, 1 Hand Melee

Private Gretchen (REP:4 , PEP: 3, SAV: 2) – SKILL Runt / he is the medic

                RIFLE, FOOD +1, MEDIC +2, 1 Hand Melee

Private Hans (REP: 3, PEP:2 , SAV: 1) – SKILL Slow

                RIFLE, FOOD +2, 1 Hand Melee

Jorgen and Sven on the South. They have the MMG. Jorgen will likely never stop smoking.

Muller and Gretchen

Kohl and Hans at the North and with the search light

There is 1 halftrack with a MMG and 1 halftrack with a search light (turned off at the beginning of the game to avoid being spotted by Allied night fighters). Visibility is at 12”

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Turn 1 (German:4, Zombie:2)

Oberst Muller gave the order to all his soldiers to be on their guards and draw weapon. Stressed, they all listen and searched the darkness.

Muller looked at Jorgen and ordered him to man the MMG.

Turn Random Event (German: 3, Zombie: 2) – Moving Vehicule #3

2 partisans in a car. They will try to make a run and fire weapon once at 6” from any officer.

For the Camembert!

"Jean-Jacques, I think there are Germans ahead. Do we go through?" 

"Are you crazy? You want to go back? Not me. Better trying our luck. Top speed."

Getting cheesy right at the beginning, the French Resistance is coming. Note the PEF (6) at the forefront

Turn 2   (German: 6, Zombie: 3, Other: 3). PEF was nothing but nerves (pass 1d6)

Jean-Jacques increased the speed and head toward the roadblock. The Germans are still in the shadow.

Turn 3   (German: 3, Zombie: 2, Other: 3)

Muller switched on his torch light and order the car to stop. “Halt! Forbidden Area, turn back!”

The 2 French are a little surprised by the light and the German command. They look at each other and in one single voice  screamed : "Screw it!"

Seeing that his squad was in danger, Muller ordered fire at will. Everybody has a clear shot at the car. Shot multiple times, the 2 resistants are OOF.

 

17d6 zombies summoned: only 2 zombies are coming

 Rules note: Not sure if the order and action can be taken at the same time.

More a swiss cheese than a camembert. The MMG shots were not resolved yet.

Turn 4   (German: 1, Zombie: 3, Other: 3)

Out of control, the car crashed in the barricade and exploded. No German was affected but now the car was burning brightly in the night.

Car is out of control and crash to the barricade and explode. Noise = 6d6 per turn.

17d6 zombies summoned: 8 zombies

BAOUM! Vengeance. That car will be a zombie magnet up to the end.

Turn 5   (German: 3, Zombie: 3)

The soldiers reloaded their guns and the pressure increased. Now, any sound or movement could be another threat.

6d6 zombies summoned: 1 zombie

Turn 6   (German: 1, Zombie: 2)

More and more moans were heard coming from the village. The soldiers kept their position. This missing was getting difficult.

6d6 zombies summoned: 2 zombies

Turn 7   (German: 2, Zombie: 4) Projector turned on. PEF was nothing but nerves (pass 0d6)

Maxi searchlight, maxi problem

"There! There is something. Switch on the search light"

Being in the dark with a very limited visibility, Oberst Muller ordered the search light to illuminate an area where he believed something was hiding for nothing. But it illuminated a crowd of slow moving people that look very very deadly.

15d6 zombies summoned: 3 zombies

Turn Random Event (German: 5, Zombie: 2) – Rain in 1d6 turn (rolled 6)

Turn 8   (German: 3, Zombie: 6)

Seeing so many people moving slowly and with the weather deteriorating, Muller shouted "Everybody, stop you shall not pass!". Believing he would have the convincing tone necessary, he failed to show his fear and the moan get louder and louder.

Nobody’s react to the “Halt! Forbidden Area, turn back!” All fire. 3OOF

12d6 zombies summoned: 5 zombies

Turn 9   (German: 5, Zombie: 1)

"Fire, Fire at will! We will not let them pass. God bless us." Muller shouted and fired his rifle. The crowd continued to move. Move of the shot were lost, or did not even affect the targets. 

"What the hell?", said Sven, firing full auto with his MP40. All his shot seemed to not affect any of his target.

"Here, There", Hans was panicking and was shooting randomly between the left and right crowd.

All fire, 3OOF

23d6 zombies summoned: 8 zombies

Turn 10 (German: 2, Zombie: 2)

"Fire, Fire, Fire, Fire". Muller was losing his nerves. Most shot were missing. The light of the search light was not helping in building a threatening atmosphere.

The moaning crowd was slowly moving forward.

23d6 zombies summoned: 5 zombies

Turn 11 (German: 2, Zombie: 2)

"We should getaway!" urged Kohl. 

"Nein!" said Muller. "We have clear order"

The firing was not decreasing but the zombies kept on shambling toward the roadblock.

23d6 zombies summoned: 5 zombies

Turn Random Event (German: 6, Zombie: 5)  

Erik and Gunter never miss a party

"Gunter, the light there. I think that's Germans."

"Prey they can hold until we arrive, this is the end of the world here". Gunter speeded toward the sound of the gunfight and the searchlight, passing through a village, he finally saw a German hold roadblock, a potential salvation.

The last turn showed a crowd of people moving to the roadblock and the 2 Germans in the sidecar were able to see what they were: "Undead"

"Erik, clear these things from the road"

Car- German side car, pass the zed no zed, fire at once.

upside down for some reason. But to show that the sidecar is not alone...

Turn 12 (German: 2, Zombie: 5)

they are getting close

"Oberst! See a side car, they are ours. Do we stop them?" ask Sven between 2 salvo.

"Are you crazy, we have other things to do that killing our own people"

27d6 zombies summoned: 3 zombies

Note: I rolled a people challenge with the 2 Germans on a vehicule (better view) and one had 1 success only. I rolled the leader for confirmation that they won't fire at the incoming potential ally.

Turn 13 (German: 3, Zombie: 2)

More and more undead where coming. Time was running short, rain will be coming soon. 

The radio cracked "To all units, we all pull out in 10 minutes. Get your men in order."

A smile appeared on Muller's face. They may be able to retreat in  good order.

27d6 zombies summoned: 10 zombies

Turn 14 (German: 6, Zombie: 2)

A zombie reached Hans. "Damn scheisse!" Hans fought for his life. Everybody continued to fire while the Sven and Jorgen are starting up their half-track. Gretchen failed to start the kubelwagen.

Heavy rains arrived and decreased the visibility. Would they succeed to leave?

2d6 zombies summoned: 2 zombies

Turn 15 (German: 4, Zombie: 2)

Hans finish his Zombie and jump on the halftrack while Khol start his halftrack. Gretchen try to start the kubelwagen but the key fall on the floor of the car.

The zombie reach the main roadblock and get tangled on the barbed wire.

 

Turn 16 (German: 2, Zombie: 6)

"What the hell are you doing Gretchen. Start this car or we both die!" Muller shouted while Sven was already leaving the area and Kohl was making his final move.

Gretchen got back to his sense and finally started the car. The Kubelwagen moved full reverse.

 Kubelwagen start.

Turn 17 (German: 2, Zombie: 2)

The Germans sped up and left the area. Meanwhile the zombies started to flow into the wood. Muller looked at it and looked at Gretchen.
 Both said at the same time: "What the f.ck was that?"