ATZ-FFO : Episode 6 : Saving Private "Dark Angel"

What is this place???

Map. Heroes entered the left next to the road

Many vehicles are on the board.

Transports had been left all over the village

Some barricades were set but no body can be seen

turn 1 (3; 4), turn 2 (5; 3), turn 3 (1; 2)

They all took their bayonet and moved fast. Johnson's team moving fast while Mallory's group was slowed down.
They were hearing sounds in the woods and in the back of the village. The men were tensed.


Johnson's group stopped and checked the woods with attention. A lot of sound over there. Could be undeads, German patrols or even  Dark Angel...
No time to think the clock was ticking. SWD troopers would arrive any time, and zombies were not seen yet.

Mallory and his team moving in the center

Johnson's running on the left

turn 4 (5; 5) Event Argument between Mallory and Peterson,
turn 5 (3; 6) (argument continue / draw)

"Lieutenant, we should leave, I don't feel it." said Peterson while stopping.
"Soldier, I don't care about your feeling. Move now."
"I can't Lieutenant. I have a weird feeling we'll not make it this time".

Mallory and Peterson arguing... Peterson has a weird feeling about it

"What do you mean not making it? Do you think I'll be here with you if there was no chance to make it?? Johnson is counting on us to cover that area of the village and you want to let them down?"
"I don't say that. Of course I..."
"Then man up, take your machine gun and get back. We all need you. We came here together, we leave together."


turn 6 (3; 1)  (argument stopped, Lieutenant won)

Mallory looked at the rest of his team.
"Ok guys. No more second thought now. Let's wait until we're back at the base. Or I'll shoot you myself, 'nderstood?
"got it"
"sh.t. 2 o'clock Lieutenant" whispered Stevenson.

Mallory looked and saw a group of zombies emerging from behind a truck. They were slowly shambling and had not seen them yet.
"Wait behind the barricade. We'll take them easy."

Zombies in sight. It's starting

Meanwhile on the other side.
"Ok, Libenstein, you get in first."
"Ok Sarge" Libenstein tried to open the door and nothing happened.
"Libenstein, what are you waiting for?"
"Sarge, door's locked"
"Then what Libenstein? You need an invitation card?"
"heu. No."
"Good, because I've lost the invite. Pick that lock in silence would you?"

"Sarge, door's locked"

turn 7 (3; 5), turn 8 (4; 4) PEF (5) generated in Area 1, turn 9 (3; 6)

New PEF far far away

"Lieutenant, what are they doing?"
"Nothing. What are they waiting for, they should heard us..."
"Maybe they haven't seen us" 
"I doubt it, they may be waiting for something or they're puzzled by your ugly face Peterson", launched Emerson.

"I told you Emerson was smelling like a dead rat." smiled Peterson.

"Good point..."

"Libenstein, I'm waiting...."
"Gimme a minute Sarge. That lock is pretty f.cked up. Seems they bolted it from the outside"
"Stop complaining and work. Lieutenant's group is signaling troubles."


"Are you sure we keep waiting Lieutenant? I have perfect aiming at them"
"Last thing I want is a gunfight and more of them. Silent and quiet I said."
"You're the boss, but they're not moving..."

"And... Got it." The door opened with no sound. It was all shadow inside.
"Go"
Johnson's group burst inside the house, and 2 zombies surprised them. By pure instinct Bob, Scott and Libenstein shot and miserably missed the zombies.
"Silent you moron" whispered Johnson while taking out one of the zombie. Lil'Bob took his bayonet and charged.
"Clear" replied Lil' Bob as he twisted his bayonet in the brain of the second zombie.

The first soon-to-be-dead-again undeads of the day

turn 10 (3; 3) Event: Sergeant Johnson has lost his ammo


turn 11 (4; 1)

Zombies in the woods. Surprising?

"Ahhaaa...." moaning was coming from all over the place.
"Oh God. What in Hell they don't understand in "Silence? .. Run guys, no time for discretion." said Mallory as his group ran for the next house.
The group of zombies next to them suddenly awake and move forward, threatening Mallory's group and Stevenson knocked down the most threatening one on his way.

"Perfect guys..." Johnson stared at his men. "Welcome to F.cked-up Land, and you've been elected President. Libenstein, open that attic door."
They could hear moaning outside and noise upstairs.
"Hope that's Dark Angel", said Scott as Libenstein opened the door. It was dark but they could see Libenstein jumping backward at ultra speed. A massive group of undeads stumbled as Johnson's group regrouped on the ground floor.

When thing cannot get worse...

"Sarge!" shouted Scott. Johnson was swarmed by zombies and managed to knocked down 2 while 2 other had grabbed his uniform.
"All for himself, kill your share first, save others later" said Johnson.
Scott was under a big push of adrenalin and killed 3 undeads without blinking his eyes, but the rest of the group only managed to knocked down the undeads.


turn 12 (3; 1), turn 13 (1; 5;4)

While Johnson was fighting his zombies, every time at the very edge to lose, he finally killed one. “Libenstein, what the f.ck are you doing?” shouted Johnson as he pushed back one zombie
“Reloading Sir”
“Screw you and finish them now!”
As he was saying that the zombies were raising up. Bob and Scott popped the weasel on 6 of them, but too slow. Most raised up again and attacked Libenstein.
“Relo…”
“Aahhaa”
Libenstein raised his arm high and literally crush the skull with his thomspon.
“Told ya no need to reload” said Johnson
Scott easily dispatched his zombie and Lil’Bob only succeeded in pushing his one on the ground.

At Mallory's team side.
“Run, run… Peterson, door status?”
“Open”
“Inside go, Stevenson, cover the door. I don’t want to be surprised.”

Mallory, Peterson and Emerson rushed inside and checked the shadows. It was the quarter of the technicians, full of spare parts and ammo boxes. Emerson raised his arm. There was still human in front of us. They all stopped making noise.
“Dark Angel?” Peterson went.
“Aaaahaa”
“Wrong answer, bastard” replied Peterson as he shot killing the undead.
As he fired, another zombie raised next to an ammo box, his chest completely torn apart. He instinctively fired but missed.
“Silent, you moron. And watch out, there is enough explosive to transform you in a shooting star” said Mallory as he draw the zombie away from Peterson.
Emerson took his bayonet and stabbed his zombie without much success, so he kicked it in the guts, then jumped on it as it struggled to raise and killed the brain.

Outside Stevenson heard noises. A lone civilian survivors came out of a bush.

Who's there?

(PEF #2 seen. Survivor REP5 with SMG)
“Halt”
“Friend, friend. Save me. I've just married. They attacked us and killed everybody. My wife is wounded, I need assistance.”
“Sorry mate, not here for that”, Stevenson said shaking his head. He was sorry for the guy who was wearing a wedding suit. He could imagine the man newly married with his wife infected. But the mission was the mission. The civilian was not moving.
“Get out of here. Not a good place to stay.”
“But… Can you…”
Stevenson took one of his first aid pack and throw it to the man.
“That the best I can do” as he raised his rifle aiming at the approaching zombies . The survivor then saw them, and understood he had no chances. He took the kit and left.

turn 14 (4; 3), turn 15 (1; 6)

“Fight’s over guys” Johnson said as Lil’Bob was smashing a zombie head more than necessary.

They looked around them.

“I understand now why that door was closed” said Scott.

Moaning were approaching the house.

“Ok, we’ll make a run to the next house, get ready guys…. Go”

As they ran toward the next house, Johnson readied his best kicked ever and made fly a zombie almost 2 meters up in the air, not killing it but there was a definite style.

Benny Hill, July 1944, without the small old bold guy

 Mallory starred at his guys. Peterson came in.

“Situation’s hot outside, they’re getting close. I pushed away a survivor.”

“Got it. We clear the attic and then we take a flight.”

What's wrong with the second floor/attics in that game?

Mallory silently moved up the stairs and pushed his head against the door to listen. Then a hand cracked the door next to his head. The door crumbled and Mallory had just time to regroup with the team as nine zombies charged them.

Mallory killed 2 zombies with his bayonet and was luckily saved by the leather of his jacket as the next zombie hugged him. He raised his bayonet as the zombie had his teeth tangled in the jacket and he killed it.

Peterson and Emerson pushed back their opponents and popped the weasel. Stevenson swung his rifle in a perfect semi-arc, smashing the heads of two zombies.

turn 16 (5; 2), turn 17    (3; 6)

Johnson’s group froze. Scott had raised his arm. Scott signaled sounds ahead. They were only few meters away from the farm house. Johnson looked back and saw the zombie’s coming. He had no sight on Mallory’s group and couldn’t know if they were dead or alive. As he balanced the odds, Mallory burst out of his house using the back door.  They looked at each other. Mallory turn his hand in the air. It meant “I am circling around to take the 2 houses on the west”. And he frowned at Johnson. That meant “What’s the f.cked are you sitting like duck in the open?”

Scott, You sure it's time for a kit-kat break?

Move... the Lieutenant saw us taking a break

Johnson whispered. “Go inside now”. Scott tried the door. It was open. They all burst inside. After few seconds the only sound was the door cranking as it closed. No welcome moaning…
Johnson tried his luck.
“Dark Angel?”
…
“Here” replied a good American accent. Behind an oak table two men raised. The paratroopers instinctively raised their SMGs.
“Calm down. Schultz is with me. He is looking to leave this god forsaken continent.”

Best roll ever...

(YEAH! Luck is with me. There was no survivor, despite rolling 6d6 for zombies : 1-1-2-2-2-3, and rolling as a PEF, it was 2 survivors. And one of the roll was a double. Quite a timely discovery. The other soldier is a REP 4 with a rifle that I assumed to be a German Heer deserter.)

“Ok D.A. Here is the plan. We’ll make a run outside and get away from here. You stay in the middle of us, we’ll cover the zombies. It’s the annual undead asshole gathering outside. Shluss”, as he pointed to the German,”you stay behind. I don’t know you, I don’t trust you and I don’t want you to slow us down. You stay behind, you’re on your own. You follow, you’re with the group.”

Outside, zombies are closing on the house. On the right, we can see Mallory outrunning "his" zombies

turn 18    (3; 2), turn 19 (6; 4),turn 20 (1; 3)

They ran outside as fast as they could. Behind them a large group of zombie appeared (PEF of 13 zombies), while a group of zombies was on their left, slowed down by an ad-hoc barricade.

Diamond formation. Will it save D.A.?

 “Attention Sarge” said Libenstein as he saw the large group of zombies behind. That was enough to stop Johnson for a few second to look around as he didn’t know what he was supposed to be careful of. This was enough for the zombies to suddenly speed up and reach the group.

The zombies surrounded the group and put Schultz on the ground but he kept on fighting Scott dispatched 4 zombies  and the others only pushed them back without killing any of them.

“They’re too many” freaked out Lil’Bob

“Lieutenant, got D.A..” shouted Johnson loud enough to inform Mallory, wherever he was.

Free Hug event that turned out to be a zombie riot.

Zombie version of a girl posting a sexy picture on her facebook, it attracts the wrong kind of crowd.

Mallory had no vision on Johnson group and heard the information.

Mallory has the easy part, contrary to the first scenario

“Great! We get rid of these groupies and we get away”.

Johnson group was slowly clearing the zombies, with Scott killing 2 in a row.

“How do you do that?” said Lil’Bob

“Remind me of my English teacher back in P2”

“You went to school? I though they found you in a cave just before the war” replied Libenstein.

“Stopped talking, start killing guys…. D.A. back inside circle!”

“But I can help”

“Damn you, you die, we’d have been in trouble for nothing, stay in the middle!”

Talking to D.A took away his attention and he almost lost as 2 zombies closed in, their teeth very close of his jugulars. He was only holding them with his 2 hands forcing their lower jaws to stay close and centimeter away from him.

turn 21 (5; 2), turn 22 (3; 6), turn 23 (3; 6)

“Aaaarrggghglgglglggl…” went Schultz.

His zombies rushed to feast on him. As Johnson’s group was killing their last zombies and Johnson still tied up with his zombies.

Scott, Libenstein, Lil’Bob and D.A were starring like stunned at the zombies tearing apart the poor German.

Johnson was still tied up against zombies and looked at his guys

“Move up guys! Don’t wait for me. That’s kind, but dumb.”

 The order awoke them from their stun and they hit the road.

Johnson is tied up with zombies and let go the rest of the group

 

turn 24 (6; 6) Event Hunker Down possible, but no hunker down in that scenario.

“Look here, we could hide there”, said Libenstein pointing at the tank.

“Not cozy enough, I need my king size building, plus Lieutenant Mallory snore” replied Scott as he kept running.

“How you know that?” asked Lil’Bob

“Secret information. If I tell you, I’d need to kill you”

“Fair enough”

“Lieutenant, here they are.” Said Emerson.

“Regroup” said Mallory as he rushed toward Johnson’s group.

turn 25 (4; 6; 6 ) SWD Stormtroopers arrived

The bad guys are here...

and the bad guys shoot right. the 2 blood tokens are 2 dead paratroopers.

“Herr Oberst, Ich hore etwas auf der rechten Seite” (Lieutenant, I hear something on the right)
“Vorsicht” (Careful)

Mallory was unaware of the German arrival and ran in the open. He glimpsed sight of them, but too late. The German were in full alertness and when they saw the paratrooper just in front of them, they opened fire and killed him (CHEAT DEATH but I will resolve if he makes it back to the USA for recovery or not, because it’s unfair…).
As Peterson moved to cover, he was shot to death too. Emerson shot back, missing a German. The German aimed and killed him outright with accurate fire. Stevenson shot back, missing one of the troopers.
(Ok, need to stop. The German missed NO shot even with Emerson and Peterson in cover, and rolled at least 1 "one" every time.)

turn 26 (5; 5; 3 ) PEF (3) is generated in area 5

turn 27 (4; 5; 4 ), turn 28 (3; 1; 4 ), turn 29 (1; 4), turn 30 (6; 2), turn 31 (4; 6), turn 32 (1; 3)

Lil’Bob and Scott moved behind the dragon tooth to cover their teammate as Libenstein ran with D.A away from the gunfight. They hunker down and aimed. The German saw them too. They exchanged heavily fire. Lil’Bob was put out of fight instantly while Scott successfully wounded the flamethrower. The German officer fire at Scott and knocked him down. Stevenson hide behind the vehicle, being outgunned.
Johnson heard the gunfight and understood things were not going right. The sound of the Thompson was too little.
“Situation?” he shouted as he could not see anything.
“5 of us down, 1 Sweed (terms for SWD in the paratroopers) down and 4 to go. They’re good. Lieutenant HS."
“KIA?”
“No but in the open. I am outgunned”.
“God Damnit. Use your smoke soldier! Retrieve wounded and we get away. That ain’t a good place for dead heroes”
“Copy” said Stevenson. He took one of his smoke grenade and throw it in the middle. The heavy smoke was a safe screen between him and the German.

In 1944, nobody's asking you to stop smoking.

“Oberst?” The SWD agent pointed at the mass of zombies attracted by the gunfire coming.
“Wir gehen. Lassen sich die Amerikaner mit den Untoten” (We go, let the Americans with the undeads)

The SWD troopers left with their wounded as zombies were flooding the area. Stevenson ran and carried the lieutenant as Scott carried on despite being hit. He took Lil’Bob with him and they ran away from the area, leaving the zombies feasting on Peterson and Emerson bodies….

Taking their wounded with them, the paratroopers retreat too

Epilogue

out of 8, 2 dead, 2 out of fight. Man of the match, Scott (not Lib is Johnson and J' is Libenstein... All confused when I wrote their names

The Colonel walk into the private room where Lieutenant Mallory was recovering. He was playing dice with Johnson.
"Good job soldiers. You did great and General Einsehower wanted me to personally thank you for it."
"Colonel, we took heavy casualties in that raid", Sergeant Johnson was standing in-lieu of lieutenant Mallory, still recovering.
"I know that. Good job nevertheless. We have acquired great intel from Dark Angel and the High Command has decided to pull back all forces but few volunteers in highly protected area."
"What about the civilians?" worried Johnson.
"We'll see what would be left in the transports, but there won't be room for everybody. We'll leave enough equipments for them to defend themselves and with God's help...". the Colonel left his sentence there and turned his back.
"Fact is, we're losing the control of the situation. France is a no man's land that even the Germans have left. We bombed few chemical centers and from the little intel we got, the Rhur, Holland and Denmark are under undead control. Germans have wiped out the Red Army, East Prussia and Poland it's a total blackout, whatever Staline said. And... this is top secret... we've lost New England, few Liberties landed full of undeads, New York is lost completely and the President has left to Dallas. Southern England is a mess and we only hold because of the airfields North London. We take all troops we can and we send them home to take our country back. Same goes for Pacific. USMC will be left alone while the Army is coming back home....Which leads me to the next part..."
Mallory and Johnson looked at each other and understood right away.
"We need the best here, in Europe, to make sure the SWD cannot play with their rules. We need paratroopers, rangers and any man who volunteer. To be honest, they'd be left alone, surrounded by death and SWD. The few civilians will be hostile because you'll have supply. We will airdrop as much weapon, food, medicine as possible, until we come back. Would you be those men?"
Mallory raised from his bed hiding his pain, and Johnson stood up
"It would be a honour Sir. To kick SWD anywhere, anytime we want, dreams come true!"

REP increase potential
Johnson: Failed
Stevenson: Failed
Scott: Failed

No REP change:

Mallory (recovers)
Lil'Bob, Out of fight, sent to the rear and will be replaced by a new comer.

The team had lost 3 soldiers and they will be replaced for the last time. They will have 30 items of every supply, 2 jeeps and 1 tank (Sherman). Every month, there would be a roll for airdrop (1-10 items each airdrop) with a risk of no airdrop.