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Saturday, January 19, 2013

One question

First, I had a blogging question: is the plain text for narrative/italics text for rules interesting or helpful?  I sometimes find myself writing things like

Robb turned and saw the zombie down the street.  He fired twice with his pistol, and one of the bullets took the zombie's head clean off.
Robb fired twice with his BAP, hit once, and got the Obviously Dead result thanks to the Easy to Kill rule.
See, I'm basically saying the same thing twice, without a lot of elucidation.  Do I keep the italics for every action, noteworthy ones, or drop it altogether?

Comments welcome

Louise and Francis


These were a little bit of a quick and rough paint job, because when I rolled two civilians on the Day 28 encounter I didn't actually have anyone painted up for the job!  These two were only partially done, but I stopped mid-game, painted them up, and then put them into the game (clever viewers may notice that the two teens were flocked in the episode like they are now).

The two miniatures are from Reaper, "Denver" and "Joplin," whose names clearly come from the movie Zombieland.  Ironically enough, I was just in Joplin (the city) right before Christmas.  It's an interesting little town, and you can see still where the tornado hit.

I was really bummed out that Louise beat Robb in the "Meet and Greet" and went on their way, but I'll be keeping them around for a return appearance.

Friday, January 18, 2013

ATZ Campaign, Day 28: Beans and Bullets, part two

You can read the first part of this adventure here, but to quickly recap:

Robb, Irene, and their new teammate Erin are exploring the city in a desperate search for ammunition and food.  They have successfully found ammunition in a gun store, but are now being chased by a small horde of zombies as they make their way to the food market.  Behind that building, they find a surprise.

"I said,'who are you?'" the voice repeated.

Robb looked with surprise at the two teenagers standing behind the market building.  One was a small young woman with mousy brown hair pulled back in pony tail and a scuffed jacket.  She held a small pistol in each hand.  The other was as swarthy, slender kid pulling a suitcase.  He was wearing a gray hoodie and had a double-barreled shotgun slung under his arm.
"My name is Robb.  This is Irene and that's Erin," Robb said, quickly pointing to his friends.  "We're obviously alive like you but we won't be for long unless we get out of here.  There's a lot of zombies on our tail, and we need to get inside there."
The girl looked skeptically at Robb.  "That's just great.  The last thing we need is to be hooked up with three losers like you.  C'mon, Francis."  She started to move away from the them.
"Louise, are you sure?" Francis asked.
"Yeah, c'mon!  Let's get out of here!" said Louise urgently, and the two began running through the back lot.
Robb let out a cry of frustration.  "There's nothing we can do.  They obviously aren't going to listen." said Irene, going for the rear door of the market.

The Red PEF showed up, having made its way across the board.  Surprisingly, it passed it ER roll by 2d6, meaning it was something.  Another roll revealed...civilians?  The next roll said there were two.
Louise is a Rep 3 Civilian grunt with the Runt attribute and two pistols.  Francis is a Rep 3 Civilian grunt with the Fast attribute.  I thought this would be an easy recruitment, but Robb flunked out his "Meet and Greet" roll, passing 0d6, while Louise passed 1d6.  That meant they would "exchange pleasantries" and move on.  Robb must not have inspired much confidence.



Turn 9: Robb 2, Zombies 6, Louise 3

Sighing heavily, Robb opened the door to the back of the store.  It opened into a small room with a second door leading onto the main floor of the store while a set up stairs led upwards.  "There must be an apartment up there," said Irene.
"We'll check it out if we have time, but I don't think we will," said Robb.  "There's still those zombies behind us."
"Presuming they didn't follow the kids," said Erin quietly.
Looking at Irene to make sure she was ready, Robb opened the door to the store quietly.  Inside the store, several figures could be seen wandering the shelves.  None of them looked healthy.
Irene fired at two of them, but her aim was low and the just tumbled to the ground, wounded but still alive.  Robb fired is pistol as well, but his shot also just sunk into the zombie's body, and not its head.
Robb ran forward and slashed at one of the prone figures, chopping it in the head with his machete.  Erin also moved forward, stabbing into another zombie's head with her knife.  Irene had less success clubbing at the zombie with her shotgun, and it kept thrashing around.

So again, rolling 6d6 for zombies within the building, I get three.  Rolling a 2 on their surprise die, their initiative total is 5.  This time Robb and Irene's total was 9, but Erin's was 6, meaning she would not shoot before melee.
Irene hit two with her shotgun but only knocked them down.  Robb shot once (I was getting antsy about attracting more zombies to the table), hit but only knocked his down.
Melee had Robb and Erin handily killing their zombies (+2d6 against a prone opponent helps), but Irene only managed to knock hers down again.

Louise and Francis passed their Fast Move roll 2d6, and moved off the table to safety.  Maybe we will see them again.

Turn 10: Robb 2, Zombies2

With a snarl, the zombie that Erin had stabbed in the face clambered to its feet.  The knife wound had apparently just gone into the lower skull, missing the brain.  Erin kicked back at it, making it fall into a rack of potato chip bags.



Doubles again, and this one it said one dead zombie comes back to life and charges.  Rolling randomly, it turned out to be Erin's opponent.  The zombie got a bonus to its Charge into Melee roll, helping it beat Erin's 1d6, but Erin managed to beat the zombie in melee 3 to 1.  She only got a Knock Down however.

Turn 11: Robb 4, Zombies 5

Irene continued to try to smash the butt of her shotgun into the zombie's face.  "Hold still, dammit!" she said angrily.  Robb's machete blade rose and fell into the skull of the zombie staggering out of the potato chip rack.

Erin couldn't seal the deal on her knocked down zombie, even with the advantages of it being prone, but Robb managed to handily get the Obviously Dead result.  Irene, however, was tied at 3 to 3.

Turn 12: Robb 5, Zombies 2

Leaving the dead zombie on the chip rack, Robb stepped over to Irene just as the zombie she was fighting had made its way back to its feet.  With a rough shove, Robb knocked it to the floor again.  There was a loud bang and its head exploded.  Erin stood there, rifle in her hands.  "Tell me that's all of them," she said.

The zombie made its way back up to its feet on its activation, but Robb got 5 successes to its 1.  Sadly, he couldn't kill it.  Erin decided, no longer have an opponent, to move over and "pop the weasel," by shooting it.  Thankfully no zombies were summoned.

Turn 13: Robb 3, Zombies 4

The three quickly began to search the store, gathering up canned goods and other items that looked safe into their pockets and bags.  After a minute or two, they had gathered all their could reasonably carry.
From the back of the store, though, they could hear pounding on the back door.  The zombies had clearly not gone after the kids, but were trying to get in.  What's more, a lone zombie was trying to smash in the glass door of the front of the store.



Robb, Irene, and Erin all passed their loot checks by 1d6, which was a stroke of good luck since I needed 3 food items for next month.  Two zombies battered at the back door, but couldn't reduce it to DR 0.  The same was said for the zombie at the front.

Turn 14: Robb 2, Zombies 5

"There's fewer out front than out back," said Robb, throwing open the front door and firing twice.  His shots were wild, however.  Erin fired her rifle, striking the zombie in the chest and making it fall to the ground.
"No time to finish him off, just run!" said Robb, stepping over the body and limping off down the street.

Robb fired two and missed, but Erin got the KD on her shot.  The white PEF showed up, by the way, but turned out to be nothing at 0d6.  

Turn 15: Robb 4, Zombies 6
Turn 16: Robb 4, Zombies 6

Robb and his friends began walking down the street.  Robb was still concerned about his ankle, and didn't want it collapsing on him.


Turn 17: Robb 6, Zombies 4

Behind them, the horde of zombies had smashed down the rear door and were moving through the store.  Out in front of the store, the zombie that Erin had shot got to its feet and charged towards them.

Turn 18: Robb 6, Zombies 4

Robb turned to see the zombie Erin had shot moving close to them.  He fired twice but missed.  Irene let loose with her shotgun at point blank range, pulverizing its head.

Robb had clearly started having problems shooting, but thankfully Irene's shotgun took care of things.  The shots summoned a zombie right in the direction they were heading, however, cutting off that route unless they could go through him.


Turn 19: Robb 5, Zombies 2
Turn 20: Robb 5, Zombies 2

The large mob of zombies exited the store and began moving towards them.  Another gave away its presence, growling as it came down the street.  In the back of his head, Robb realized that there were nine zombies, and only three of them.  Things looked pretty bleak.
"Teal, teal, teal!  Kill, kill, kill!" shouted Irene as her face took on a manic gleam.  She fired her shotgun into the crowd, shouting the battle cry of her roller derby team.  Gore sprayed in every direction as the slugs tore into them.  Robb began firing his pistol into the crowd of zombies as they surged towards him.  A bullet tore through the head of one and it fell.
Erin seemed paralyzed with fear.  "I don't want to die!  Not like this!" she wailed.

Then they were upon them.  Robb struck one in the head with his machete, then another in shoulder.  Erin snapped out of her panic just in time, lashing out with her knife to stab one in the side of the head, then slamming a second with her hip, bowling it over.  Irene neatly kicked out at one, breaking its knee sideways. As it fell, she clipped in neatly in the back of the head with her shotgun.



Hoo boy.  You have a moment in this game when you realize that this might be the last entry.  I needed EVERYTHING to go right here if the group was to survive intact.  Irene got the ball rolling, though, getting a surprising 3 Obviously Dead's from a single shot of the shotgun.  Robb managed to add another with his shot.  Erin passed her Being Charged roll 0d6, and could only melee.

Robb took on two opponents, getting a surprising Obviously Dead after beating one 3 to 2, and a more predictable Knock Down after the other 3 to 2 win.  Erin redeemed herself with her own Obviously Dead on a 3:1 win, and a second KD on a 3:2.  Irene got the third OD of the melee with a 4:2 win.  Seven down, two to go.

Turn 21: Robb 3, Zombies 5

"This ends now," said Robb, driving his machete point-first into the skull of the downed zombie.  Irene crushed her skate into the head of the other.

They looked around.  The street was completely quiet.  Nothing seemed to stir.
"That's all of them, I think," said Robb quietly.
"Time for home," said Irene, and they walked silently back.



Melee continued, but the odds were now on Team Robb's side.  Robb and Irene both beat their opponents 4:0 and got OD's.  That was the last of the zombies on the table, incredibly enough, and Team Robb could opt to exit the table or continue searching buildings.  Deciding to not press my luck, I had the team leave the table.

Epilogue

That evening, Robb found Erin sitting quietly in the living room.  Irene was humming away happily in the kitchen, cooking up a small meal for the three of them.
"You okay?" he asked.
Erin was silent for a moment.  "No, I'm not.  I'm thinking about those two kids we saw today."
"Yeah, I wish they had come with us."
Erin was silent for a time again.  She looked away from him.  "I had a family, you know."
"I didn't know.  Were...they killed after the...you know..."
Erin smiled ruefully.  "No, they weren't.  I don't know what happened to them.  When all this started, they were in Heartland City.  They were trying to get back, but the roads were jammed and people were being told to go to shelters.  My husband said he would try to find out, to let me know where they had gone.  I haven't heard anything from them..."  Erin broke down with a sob.
Robb didn't know what to say.  "I can imagine that the cities might have had some ways to help people, to keep people safe," he said.  He didn't say what he was also thinking, that the cities would also be more heavily populated, prone to panic, and fertile ground for the zombie outbreak.
At that moment, Irene came in, balancing three plates of food.  In silence, they all began to eat.

For the "Keeping It Together" post-scenario roll, Robb only managed to tie Erin with 2d6, despite his Born Leader advantage.  What's more, while Robb and Irene failed to get an increase, Erin did, becoming Rep 5.  Erin would become increasingly difficult to keep in the group unless Robb got a lucky break.

On the upside, the scenario was a complete success.  Robb and Irene are now back to full speed (for now) and they have enough food for the three of them for the next month.

As always, comments welcome.

ATZ Campaign, Day 28: Beans and Bullets, part one

"Okay, I have been reading the phone book and have come up with a solution to our problem," announced Robb as he came into the living room.  Irene and Erin looked up from where they had been playing cards for the upteenth time.
"You've been reading a phone book?" asked Erin.
"I didn't even know we had a phone book," said Irene.
"We've been cooped up in here for so long, I know everything that is in the house," said Robb.  "And I found two places relatively near each other.  One place might have bullets for my pistol and Irene's shotgun.  The other might have food."
"Food?  Food's good." said Erin.
"And bullets is even better," said Irene. "How far away is it?"
"Far enough.  It'll be a bit of a hike, so we should start early to make sure we have plenty of daylight."
Irene grinned.  "I'll just be glad to get out of the house.  I can't stand being cooped up in here."

It's the end of the first month, and Team Robb really needs to stock up.  By my notes they have three food items, which they will expend at the end of the month.  If they don't have food during a given month, then retaining grunts (like Erin) becomes more difficult.  As a Rep 4 Grunt, Erin is already difficult to retain, even with Robb's "Born Leader" attribute.  In addition, both Robb and Irene suffered a "low ammo" situation as as result of rolling double ones and random events in the previous scenario.  So for this game, if a double one is rolled on either Robb's BAP or Irene's shotgun, that weapon is out of ammo until it is replenished through looting a location.

For this encounter, the two target locations are the newly-created food market, and the gun store I built earlier.  Locations are not easy picking in ATZ:FFO, however.  First, each building can have randomly generated zombies, the same as rolling 6d6 against the type of community, which in this case is a suburb, meaning a zombie on a 5 or 6.  If you get zero zombies, you then treat the location like a PEF, meaning another chance at zombies or the rare human occupant.  Hostile humans are one of the most dangerous things in the game, so there is more than a little risk involved.  My hope is to either eliminate the initial zombies or at least seriously thin them out we the group can get to stores without difficulty.  PEF's have so far not been a problem because of the low ER rating of the town.  Then a clean sweep of the stores, and acquire some loot.   As a special rule (just to give Team Robb a chance), any "food" results in the gun store will count as ammo.  Passing 2d6 will count as either ammo or a gun.  In return, they can only find food in the food market. The real tragedy would be getting through all that and getting no loot at all...

Scenario background: Robb and Irene are at this point both Rep 4 Star Survivors.  Erin is a Rep 4 Grunt Survivor.  The town is a suburb with an ER of 2.  It's day 28 of the Zombie Apocalypse.





The Red PEF is Rep 6, and in zone 3.  The White PEF is Rep 4, and in zone 1.  The Blue PEF is Rep 6, and in zone 1.  All are out of sight, but the high Reps mean they will be appearing earlier rather than later.





Team Robb began their initial "from the edge" move by rolling for a Fast Move and passing 1d6.  That meant they could go 12" in from the edge (and aren't we glad Robb's ankle has healed?).  Rolling 3d6 for starting zombies got us nine, about average.  Rolling my trusty d12, I placed them about the table.  Using a d12 means that they are more scattered than just using a d6 and doubling it.

Turn 1: Robb 1, Zombies 5

"The streets are crawling with zombies!" said Erin.  She saw a lone zombie nearby and shot it with her rifle.  The round plowed into the zombies chest and it fell backwards but was still twitching.
"Head shots, dear," said Irene as she fired into a crowd of zombies, one of whose heads flew apart.  She expelled the round from the shotgun.  "And...I'm out."
"Out?  Already?" said Robb incredulously.
"Yes, I had one round and I used it.  Is that a problem?" Irene replied fiercely.
Robb gritted his teeth.  "I guess not."  He fired twice into the same crowd of zombies, hitting one in the head and another in the shoulder.  It staggered and dropped to its knees.



I moved Team Robb closer to the gun store.  They would need to address the ammunition issue before tackling the food store, or the many zombies on the table.  Erin shot once with her rifle and hit, but rolled a 6 and just got a Knock Down result.  Irene got only 1 hit from the 6d6 on her shotgun, but got the Obviously Dead result from the Easy to Kill rule.  Unfortunately that bad round of shooting had two 1's in it, and she was out of ammunition for the shotgun.  Thankfully she has the bat and her backup BAP.
Robb fired at two different zombies this time, hit both of them, but only got one OD.  The other was just a knockdown.
As a result of all the gunfire, three more zombies were summoned, however, meaning that Team Robb had a negative gain for this round.

Turn 2: Robb 2, Zombies 2

Robb suddenly felt a stab of pain shoot through the ankle that had been injured the week before.  He let out a cry of pain and staggered a bit.  "It's my damn ankle again!"
"Seriously?" said Erin, half in despair, half in anger.  "She's out of bullets, you're dragging us down again.  It's like I'm living the same nightmare all over again!"
"Robb didn't to get hurt again," Irene snarled, "and for your information, they are cartridges, not bullets!"

Doubles on activation, and at or under the ER of the location means a random event, and the dice came up with the twisted ankle situation once more.  And again, the random die roll landed on Robb. He must have not have taken it easy enough over the past week and it hasn't healed all the way.

That's two rough turns in a row for Team Robb.

Turn 3: Robb 2, Zombies 1

With the mob of zombies closing in, Erin fired her rifle into the crowd but missed.  Robb fired his pistol, but the pain in his ankle threw off his aim and his missed both of his shots.  Irene pulled out her large pistol and fired twice as well, but like Robb cleanly missed any of the zombies comings towards them.



And that'd be three turns in a row.  At least no zombie was summoned from five shots.  In addition, the Blue PEF showed up, but turned out to be nothing.  It raised the ER to 3 though.

"Quick, into the store!" said Robb, pushing the door of the store open.  The three scrambled inside, pulling it behind them.
The gun store had clearly been ransacked of most of its inventory by someone, the glass display cases smashed and racks of supplies mostly empty.  A figure moved from behind a counter, black drool falling onto his brown overcoat.  When it saw the three standing by the door, the lunged for them.  Irene was the only one fast enough to get off a shot, but it sailed past the zombie and thunked into a poster on the wall behind him.  The zombie plowed into Erin, nearly knocking her over.  She screamed and tried to beat it back.  Irene clumsily struck the zombie with her bat as she wielded it with her left hand.
Robb pulled the zombie back with his right arm and swung the black-bladed machete with his left.  It sunk into the zombie's head.



I moved Team Robb into the gun store.  Rolling 6d6 for zombie occupants, I thankfully only got one.  Next though, I had to roll 1d6 and add it to the number of zombies in the building.  I rolled a 5, making the "zombie number" 6 for initative purposes.  Now I had to roll a 1d6 for each of the humans, to see if any of them could get a higher number.  Robb got a 1 for a total of 5, Erin a 2 for a total of 6, and 4 for Irene, getting her a total of 8. That means that only Irene could fire before melee, and she missed.

Rolling to see which person the zombie would attack first, Erin became the target.  I was stunned to see her pass 0d6 to the zombies 1d6 and then get a Knocked Down result.  Rolling for recover from Knock Down, she only passed 1d6, meaning she was OOF and maybe infected.
Then, I realized I had forgotten the "+1 success if fighting a zombie opponent" rule (ATZ:FF), p. 31).  Erin was now only tied.  Back from the brink!
Irene rolled fairly badly as well, getting 2 successes to the zombies 2 and they were tied.  This lone zombie was one tough hombre!
Robb won his 3 to 1, however, and rolled a 1 for a result, killing the zombie.  Score one for Belle the machete!

Turn 4: Robb 2, Zombies 4

"Irene, lock that door.  And then let's find what we came for," said Robb.
Irene threw the latch and then everyone began tossing the store.  Robb went to the boxes of bullets and pulled out several marked ".45 ball" and pocketed them.  Opening another box, he began stuffing bullets into the several clips he had on him.
With a squeal of glee, Irene found the shotgun shells and began stuffing as many as she could into the various pockets of her belt pouches and quiver.  Erin looked around, grabbing various additional boxes as she came across them.
Outside, a large, overweight zombie looked through the bars of the front door, seeing the three tasty humans inside.

Robb, Irene, and Erin all passed their loot checks 1d6 (not bad, considering they had to roll a 3 or lower).  That meant Robb and Irene were not suffering from the tight (or nonexistent) ammo situation anymore, and Erin's bonus find meant that they would ignore the next double-one roll this game.

Zombies were beginning to gather at the front of the store, though, which meant it was time to review the "battering down doors" rules.

Turn 5: Robb 5, Zombies 2

The large zombie began pounding away at the door of the store.  Everyone jumped and looked over at his direction.  They could see more zombies coming up behind the first.  "That door is not going to hold for long," said Irene.

Zombies can batter down a door by reducing its DR to 0.  The locked door had a DR of 1, and with one zombie pounding on it he failed to do any damage.  Team Robb needed to get an activation, however.

Turn 6: Robb 5, Zombies 2

More zombies appeared at the door and began hurling themselves against it.  With a crack, the lock gave way and they began scrambing over themselves to get in.
"We need a plan, and now!" said Irene.



Up to three zombies can strike a door at once, and rolling 1d6 versus that total, I rolled a 2 and the DR of the door was reduced to 0, meaning it was effectively open now.  And there were a lot of zombies about to pour through.

Turn 7: Robb 1, Zombies 5

"Out the back door! Now!" Robb commanded as he made his way to the rear entrance of the store.  He smashed into the crash bar and it flew open.  The three rushed out, only to see two zombies standing mere feet away from them.  Irene leveled her shotgun and pulled the trigger.  Both zombies fell backwards, the spray of the shotgun's shell piercing both their brains.
"And she's out of the penalty box and back in the jam!" Irene exclaimed with a wide grin.

Finally, a lucky break.  The zombies wouldn't activate, and Team Robb could get away.  There was two zombies (summoned from earlier gunfire) lurking out back, and Irene hit with 3 of her dice and easily got two Obviously Dead results.

Turn 8: Robb 1, Zombies 2

"Around the back, there's probably a rear entrance to the store next door.  Hurry!" said Robb as they ducked around the back of the food market.  Inside the gun store, a half dozen or so zombies were knocking over display stands and scattering loose merchandise and they rushed towards the back entrance.

Robb and his two friends raced around the back corner of the store, trying to get out of sight.  Suddenly, a voice said, "Who're you?"



Cliffhanger!  Who is waiting behind the back of the store?  Stay tuned to the next part of our story!  As always, comments are welcome.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

The Village Shoppe




I finished my first "Food Market" from Stoelzel's Structures.  It is a two story building with the shop on the main floor and a stairwell in the back leading up to an apartment.   The roof and the upper floor lifts out, as you can see.  I haven't built any of the interior pieces yet.  Since ATZ:FFO doesn't incorporate rules for inside combat but leaves it fairly abstracted I don't feel the huge impetus to get it done.  Besides, I tend to find the smaller pieces a little fiddly.

A food market and an apartment make for a great encounter location (two, really) for the game, and this is where Team Robb will be heading this weekend, hopefully.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

A Second Ranch House


Today I finished up my second Raised Ranch House from the Stoelzel's Structures line.  It is essentially identical to my earlier one, just a different color.  The pdf for the house, which is printed out on cardstock and then mounted on foamcore (I like to use black because it covers more sins), features several different wall colors so you can build an entire neighborhood.  I didn't include pictures of the interior because it looks identical to the interior of the previous house.

Hopefully I'm going to be getting at least more new building this week, and then try again for another session on the weekend.


Friday, January 11, 2013

ATZ Campaign, Day 21, part two: A Friend in Deed

"So let me get this straight.  You're here to help me?" Erin asked quizzically.
She looked at the two people sitting in her apartment.  One was wearing a trenchcoat and a fedora like he was out of an old Sam Spade film.  He even had a tie on.  Under his coat was a large pistol and a machete hanging from a holster.  He was also taping up his ankle using an ace bandage he had found in her bathroom.
The other person was a tall woman decked out in elbow and knee pads and appeared to be wearing a bike helmet.  On her feet were black roller skates, and across her back was a shotgun and a bat in an improvised quiver.  A large revolver was tucked in a belt she wore around her waist.
"That's right," said the woman who called herself Irene.
"We've been chatting with you on the newspaper's website," said the man, who was named Robb.  "We decided we ought to try to make contact and stick together.
"Unfortunately, things haven't worked out as well as we'd hoped.  I sprained by ankle on the way over, and we're both running low on ammunition.  But we've got more back at our house, along with some food and some other things."
Erin thought it over in her head quietly.  Robb and Irene seemed okay.  Certainly a lot more normal and friendly that what she'd run into already, and she had been very, very lonely.  "Okay, let me get my stuff," she said.
In a little while Erin returned from her bedroom.  She had a hunting knife strapped to her thigh and a pistol-gripped firearm across her back.  In her left hand she lugged a chainsaw.
"Chainsaw?" asked Robb, raising an eyebrow.
"You know," said Erin, "for emergencies."
Irene grinned.  "I think I like her, Robb."

Erin (whose name is too close to Irene, but I had chosen to use friends' middle names for their alter-egos in the game) is a Rep 4 Survivor Grunt with Pep 2 and Sav 3 and the Agility attribute.  She is armed with a knife, a chainsaw, and "the hogleg."  I'm not sure what's on her back in the miniature, but it has a pistol grip but is longer than a pistol, so I'm calling it a pistol-gripped rifle, something like a carbine.  She can either fire it two-handed normally or one-handed with a -1 Rep penalty.  

This is part two of the "Escape!" scenario from ATZ:FFO.  The heroes must move diagonally from one side of the board to the other.  I'm using the same board as before, retaining the zombies and PEF from the previous turns.  Robb is currently at -2" movement and has no reloads for his BAP.  Irene also has no reloads for her shotgun.



Turn 21: Robb 4, Zombies 4

Another random event, but it was the "if you just checked a building" one, which didn't apply.

Turn 22: Robb 2, Zombies 2

A large dog bolted from across the street, heading right for Robb and his friends.  "Another dog?" asked Irene.
"Yes, and like the other one, he's brought friends," said Robb



Another random event?  And this one was the dog again.  My kids were upset that the dog died in the previous adventure, so I was a little glad for a chance to have another dog in the game.  Also she was being chased by only one zombie.

Turn 23: Robb 3, Zombies 4

As the zombie moved closer to them and the dog, Erin unslung her carbine.  "I got this one," she said confidently as she fired at it, but the bullet missed the zombie entirely.  Robb tried to coax the dog closer to him.  "C'mere girl.  You're okay.  We'll take care of you."
But the dog wasn't having any of it, and kept Robb at a distance.  Panic was evident in her eyes.

Erin is the only one who could hit the zombie at more than 12", but missed.  Thankfully her shot didn't summon any zombies.
Robb attempted a "Meet and Greet" with the dog, who was Rep 4 but outnumbered 2:1, giving Robb a 1d6 bonus.  Robb only passed 1d6 to the dog's 2d6.  I counted the dog as a Survivor, so he's just exchange pleasantries and move on.

Turn 24: Robb 2, Zombies 6, Dog 1

Robb moved closer to the zombies coming towards them along the side of the buiding across the street.  "No one messes with a dog in my town," he said, firing twice.  A zombie fell to the ground, dead.  Irene and Erin both fired as well, but both of them failed to hit.  But their gunfire was attracting more zombies, including behind them.



Robb shoots two, hits one, and gets an Obviously Dead thanks to the "Easy to Kill" rule (I think the shoot two, hit one, kill one should be called the "Robb Special.")  Erin and Irene both missed, Irene having switched to her BAP in hopes of not attracting more zombies from the sound.  What's worse, they summoned two zombies between them from the noise.

Turn 25: Robb 5, Zombies 4, Dog 1

With a yip, the dog took off down the street.  Man's best friend, Robb thought grimly, but he didn't blame the animal for running away.  The zombies drew closer, hemming them in.

Zombies moved close and would be in melee range on their next activation.

Turn 26: Robb 2, Zombies 1, Dog 5

Irene holstered the pistol and drew her shotgun.  The trio of zombies in the alley were too tempting a target to pass up with the scattergun.  She fired, hitting three and killing two outright.  Erin fired her hogleg as well, killing another.  Robb turned in the other direction and pulled the trigger on his pistol twice.
Once again, it clacked impotently.  "Son of a bitch!" Robb snarled, realizing that he'd worked his way through the last of the ammunition for the pistol.



Irene shot and hit 3d6 and OD'ed two, Erin fired once and got another.  Robb, however, rolled snake eyes again for his pistol.  Because he had only passed 1d6 when he had reloaded it previously, he was not out of bullets and the pistol could not be used for the rest of the game.

Turn 27: Robb 3, Zombies 4, Dog 5

The zombie rushed at Robb, whose eyes widened in fear.  He got his black-bladed machete up just in time, blocking the zombie's rush and knocking the disgusting creature to the ground.  "I got it," said Erin, whipping out her dagger and plunging it into the zombie's eye socket.

Robb was charged and passed 2d6, but it didn't matter.  He beat the zombie 3d6 to 2d6, but only got a Knocked Down result.  Erin moved in to assist, getting 3d6 to 1d6 because the zombie was prone, and got the Obviously Dead result.

Turn 28: Robb 6, Zombies 5, Dog 3

Tongue lolling out her mouth, the dog turned left, away from the zombies down the road now approaching it, and broke away.

Turn 29: Robb 1, Zombies 5, Dog 6

Robb felt the tide turn in his favor and he began hacking away at the last zombie still standing.  It fell to the ground.  Irene stepped in, clubbing the zombie with the butt of her shotgun and crushing its skull.  "See, I can finish off my boyfriend's opponents too," she said to Erin.



Robb got 3d6 to the zombie's 2d6, knocking it down.  Irene, benefiting from the same bonus Erin had, got 4d6 to 2d6 and got the Obviously Dead.

Turn 30: Robb 1, Zombies 5

With a sigh, Robb slid the Colt 45 ACP back into its holster and switched the machete to his right hand.  "Looks like you're my dancing partner now, Belle," he said to the gore-covered blade.
"He's talking to his machete," Erin whispered to Irene.
Irene looked back at her steadily.  "If that's his only eccentricity after all that's happened, I'm not complaining."

The heroes finally began to move towards the opposite end of the table.  I decided, in the fear of getting Robb snarled up with his ankle again, to move them the crawling 6" pace, which would mean several more turns on the table than normal.

Turn 31: Robb 2, Zombies 3

Robb and his friends continued down the street, not aware that behind them, the door to the building was swinging open.

Turn 32: Robb 5, Zombies 2

Three zombies, all wearing scanty g-strings and pasties emerged from a police station behind them.  In the back of his head, Robb wondered if they had been picked up on some charge, but then been attacked while in custody.  Any attraction they might have once held was gone with their pallid flesh and grisly limbs.  A second later the three undead hookers were upon them.  Irene raised the shotgun and hit one, its head snapping back before it tumbled to the ground.  Erin swung her carbine up in an awkward one-handed hold and pulled the trigger.  The hogleg missed, and then the zombies were upon them.  Robb fended off the first with his machete.  Irene slugged the second across the jaw with the stock of her shotgun, crunching in the skull.  Erin's knife lashed out at the zombie whom Robb had knocked to the ground, but it thrashed around too much for her to be able to get the blade into its skull.



One thing I hadn't realized until recently was that zombies didn't need to be in actual contact, just within a few inches of the heroes to start melee.  That meant that melee was much more likely, and these zombies were well within range from the building in which they had first appeared.

Robb passed his Being Charged test 3d6, but it didn't matter.  It just meant he'd still count as being armed.  Irene and Erin both passed 2d6, Irene taking out one zombie instead the three I'd been hoping for, and Erin,whose shooting was down 1 Rep from being one-handed, missed.  I kept the hogleg at the one-hand status because I wanted the knife in the inevitable melee.

Robb beat his zombie in melee by 1d6, but only knocked it down.  Irene beat hers by 1d6, but I rolled a 1, meaning the zombie had been killed.  Erin went after Robb's zombie again, but failed this time to do any damage, despite beating the zombie by three.

Turn 33: Robb 5, Zombies 3

The last of the zombie strippers staggered up, just in time to have its head removed by a wide sweep of his machete blade.  Robb glanced over at the two women.  "Sometimes, I kill my own zombie," he said with an ironic grin.

The zombie got up on its activation, but lost melee combat to Robb by 3d6.  Robb got the Obviously Dead result.

Turn 34: Robb 3, Zombies 1

The trio moved up the street.  There, several zombies who had just hours ago been feasting upon a dead dog came shambling towards them, blood still dripping from their mouths.  Erin aimed her carbine at the group, squeezing off a shot that cleanly hit one of them in the head.  Irene fired as well, hitting two and killing it outright, which the other was just knocked to the ground.

The gunfire summoned one zombie.

Turn 35: Robb 3, Zombies 1

Erin fired at the zombie as it struggled to rise, but missed.  Irene cocked the slide of her shotgun and fired once more, and the zombie stopped moving.  Irene moved the slide of the shotgun up and down again, but this time the sound was different.  She pulled it down and glanced in the chamber, then looked at Robb.  Robb stared back at her, knowing what had happened.  Irene's shotgun was out of ammunition as well.  Without a word, she put the shotgun in her back sling and pulled out the bat.  Her fingers tensed on the handle nervously.  In her other hand she pulled out the revolver she had scavenged from the semi-rig whose occupants had nearly killed her the week before.



Erin had fired and missed, but Irene had fired and hit three times, easily getting the Obviously Dead.  Unfortunately there were two 1's in the roll, meaning she was out of ammunition from the random event earlier in the session.  We were now down to Erin's carbine and Irene's pistol.  The bat is technically a two-handed weapon, but I was going to just penalize her 1d6 like it was being used off-handedly.  The pistol also was in the wrong hand, just so the bat didn't have a double penalty.

Turn 36: Robb 2, Zombies 5

The three of them hurried around the corner, moving closer to their goal of getting to safety.  Unbeknownst to them, two zombies were lurking in the alley, having been slowly following the sound of gunfire from before.

This is one of those moments where I was doing something that wasn't as smart as I could, but I was thinking "in character."  The zombies were moving towards them, but were shielded from sight by the buildings.  I could have swung out wide, but that would mean acting on knowledge that Robb & Co. didn't have.  It might cost me, but I want to play this straight.

Turn 37: Robb 1, Zombies 4

The alley disgorged two zombies silently behind them.  Robb and Erin were both totally taken by surprise, but Irene had caught the slightest glimpse of them and her derby-borne reflexes had her spinning, pistol barking out loudly.  The bullet went wide, however.  Still spinning, Irene brought the bat crashing sideways into her target, and the zombie sank to the ground.  Robb and Erin had not been expecting the attack but had both shrugged off their attacker and brought him to the ground.  Robb's machete rose and fell repeatedly, slashing deep cuts in the zombie's face until it stopped moving.



Robb and Erin both failed their Being Charged tests at 0d6 because of the penalty of being charged from behind.  Irene passed 1d6, but her shot missed (thanks in no small part to the off-handed penalty).  In close combat, Erin beat her zombie by 1d6 and only knocked it down.  Robb beat his by 3 and I had high hopes, but they were swiftly dashed and he failed to roll low enough to kill it.  Irene, despite her penalties, beat her zombie by 4 and killed it with the bat.

On Robb's activation, he beat his own zombie by four (thanks to the prone penalty) and got the Obviously Dead.

Turn 38: Robb 3, Zombies 2
Turn 39: Robb 2, Zombies 1

Robb looked around.  He thought he could still hear moaning off in the distance.  He considered whether he wanted to duck into a building, half for safety and half on the chance of finding something useful, but decided against it.  "Between those buildings.  Go," he commanded and staggered towards the gap between the two stores.

Within a few minutes, they were back at their home.



Even slowed, the zombies still on the board could only pursue without catching the team.  Robb, Irene, and Erin moved off the board steadily, finishing the scenario successfully.

Despite that, I had to roll on the new rules about keeping the group together.  Erin is Rep 4 (randomly determined) and wouldn't just fall into line.  Robb got 4d6 to Erin's 3d6, being helped out by his "Born Leader" attribute.  Erin obviously had some questions about how competent Robb and Irene were, given everything that went wrong, but they were all alive and that counted for something.

This does mean that they are now out of food at the end of the month, however, and would need to go out again soon.

Rolling, none of the three got advances.  Perhaps next time.

Comments welcome.

ATZ Campaign, Day 21, part one: A Friend in Need


“Robb, I have a question,” said Irene quietly as Robb entered the room.
“What's that?” said Robb.
“Do you think I should have given him the bat?” asked Irene, looking up from where she was sitting, the bat in question resting across her legs.
“Excuse me?”
“Monty. He asked if he could have the bat. I didn't give it to him, but then I never used it once when we went out to look at that truck. Maybe if he had been holding the bat, he wouldn't have died.”
Robb sat down beside her. “Irene, there's no way of knowing that might have happened. Monty could barely take care of himself as it was, and we certainly didn't cause his death. If anything, he was safer with us than on his own. Did you see those two zombies that came out of the house next to the truck? That was his house. If he hadn't been with us, then they might have gotten him, and then we'd be having to fight him off instead of his being with us. But what's done is done, and you and I are still okay.”
“But we're going after that other person?” asked Irene, looking up.
Before Monty's death, he had shown Robb and Irene how to access the city-wide wifi system despite their not having an account. The local news media hadn't updated their articles for over a week, and the final posts had been full of conflicting and unhelpful information.
But many of the articles had comments posted at the bottom of each page.  And over the last few days, Robb and Irene had seen a person in River City posting regularly, someone named "Erin" who appeared to be holding out across town.  But she was alone, and was reaching to any one else left in the city.  After some discussion about the risks involved, Robb and Irene had decided to try to make their way to where Erin was holed up.  Much of their decision had been influenced by the guilt both of them were wrestling with over Monty's death.
"Yeah, we're going," said Robb as he pulled his overcoat on and rested his hat on his head.  "Are you ready?"
Irene snapped on her helmet and tugged down the edge of a light blue tank top.  She had not put on her practice outfit, but had instead opted for her official uniform.  "I'm pretty," she said with a slight smile.

This episode will be using the "Escape" scenario from All Things Zombie: Final Fade Out.  The heroes have to move diagonally across the board from zone 1  to zone nine.  Having done that, the group will automatically gain a new teammate.  They then have to re-enter the board at zone three and make their way across to zone seven, diagonally the other direction.  Time to move fast and not get too stuck in with distractions.

Robb and Irene's stats are now featured on a separate page for the blog.  I'll update them as we go along in the campaign.  In case it changes later, both are currently REP 4 Star Survivors.

The Encounter Rating for the session is 2, for being a suburb.  There are three PEF's: Red (Rep 5, zone 3), White (Rep 6, zone 2), and Blue (Rep 2, zone 4).  I noticed the instructions of the scenario have the heroes starting in the PEF zones, which seems odd since most of the time you don't, but I'll see what happens, even if it means I have three PEF's very close by.

Rolling 2d6 for starting zombies, I got four.  I use a d12 now to determine location, rolling 12, 12, 11, and 8, and place them accordingly.  A low zombie count at the beginning is a good sign.







Turn One: Robb 2, Zombies 1

Robb and Irene moved down the street cautiously.  They immediately saw the zombie ahead of them, and one over by the building to their left close by.  They moved closer to the zombie to their left, Robb raising his Colt 45 and firing two shots.  The first caught the zombie in the shoulder, but the second one took its head off.    Irene took aim at the one down the street with her shotgun, blasting it away.  From their new vantage point, they could see three more zombies lurking behind the building to their right, while another was farther down the street to their left.
"We need to get moving before something bad happens," said Robb, "I'm getting a bad feeling about this."



Robb fired twice, hit twice, but got a Knock Down on the first shot.  The second shot, however, got an Obviously Dead.  Irene rolled 6d6 and kept 3d6, but the zombie was too far away from the others to catch more in the blast, so she had to get by with only killing one.  The 5d6 in noise summoned two zombies.

The White PEF moved into LOS, but only got the result of +1 to the ER.  The Red PEF also came into view, but generated nothing.  The Blue PEF only passed 1d6 so it moved farther away.

Turn Two: Robb 3, Zombies 3

Robb turned in surprise to see a dog running down the road, six zombies in pursuit.  "Oh, that's all we needed!" said Robb angrily.



Thanks to the ER now being 3, the doubles created a random event, in this case a dog appearing 6" from the heroes (rolled randomly for location) with 1d6 zombies 12" behind it.  I rolled a 6, which made the situation even worse.

Turn Three: Robb 1, Zombies 1

Turning to run from the dog and its pack of hungry zombies, Robb felt his ankle take a sharper twist than intended as it fell in a small pothole.  He shouted in pain.
"What's wrong?" Irene asked.
"It's my ankle," said Robb through gritted teeth.  "I think I sprained it."
"Are you kidding me?" shouted Irene with exasperation.

Doubles again meant another random event, this time one of the heroes would suffer a twisted ankle and be -2" for movement and could only pass 1d6 with Fast Movement.  Moreover if they rolled 0d6, they would fall down.  I couldn't imagine a worse thing to happen, given this scenario.

Turn Four: Robb 2, Zombies 6, Dog 6

"We got to try to keep going," said Robb as he grit his teeth and began to trot with a painful limp away from the mass of zombies gathering on the street.  Irene easily zipped along behind him.  Some of the zombies had turned their attention to the dog, while others were still following them as they hobbled along.

I risked a Fast Move, passed 1d6, and moved Robb and Irene 9" from the zombies, barely more than what they could have done with a normal move.  I've learned the hard way, though, that running from zombies makes a lot more sense sometimes than standing and fighting them.

I added the dog into the activation list for the time being, but decided not to count him towards doubles.

Turn Five: Robb 5, Zombies 1, Dog 4

Robb saw an alley across the street.  Hopefully, Robb thought, they could lose them in there.  His ankle felt like it was wrapped in hot copper wire.

The dog continued to run away from the zombies pursuing it, but others close by had begun to circle around, pinning it off.  With a moan, they lurched towards the animal.

The dog has a Rep of 4, but it attracted the attention of some of the zombies generated earlier in the game when it went by, and they drew within inches of it.  Others continued to close in on Robb and Irene down the street.

Turn Six: Robb 3, Zombies 2, Dog 6

"Go, go, go!" urged Irene as they continued to run awkwardly for the alley.   Down the street, the zombies began to grapple for the dog, but it growled, skittered, and lunged at them, knocking several down with its blows before becoming entangled up with another.




Robb passed his Fast Move 1d6 again, and I ran both of them 9" to the lip of the alley.  Irene could easily have made it off the board by now if she went alone, but she would never do that.

Four zombies entered melee combat with the dog, rolling 3d6 to the dog's 4d6 (I counted him as having an improvised weapon).  The dog managed to knock down two of his assailants in combat (thanks to the +1 for fighting a zombie rule) but tied the other two.  Sorry, pooch, but this doesn't look good.

Turn Seven: Robb 3, Zombies 6, Dog 4

A shooting pain shot up Robb's leg, causing it to buckle beneath him.  He fell to the ground with a cry of agony.  "Robb!" shouted Irene with alarm, stopping suddenly to avoid running into him.

Meanwhile, the dog pounced atop one of the zombies before jumping onto another, ripping viciously at its head and ripping it open.



Robb passed his Fast Move 0d6, meaning he takes a Knock Down but is Carry On.  The dog fought the two zombies with which it was locked in combat, getting another Knock Down result with one, but getting a lucky Obviously Dead with the other!  Go dog go!

Turn Eight: Robb 5, Zombies 4, Dog 5

Slowly the zombies scattered around the growling, snapping dog stood up.  Other zombies moved towards the downed Robb as Irene readied her shotgun.  "Time for a last stand?" she asked.

The zombies' sole activation meant that they all got up, or moved closer to the heroes.  Things were getting very tense.

Turn Nine: Robb 5, Zombies 6, Dog 5
Turn Ten: Robb 5, Zombies 5, Dog 5
No random encounters because the roll was over the ER.
Turn Eleven: Robb 2, Zombies 2, Dog 4

Farther down the road from the alley, a cell phone began to ring somewhere in the vicinity of a red car.  Irene glanced at it quizzically.  "It's Lady Luck calling," said Robb drily.  "She's calling to say she's pissed at us."



Another random encounter, this time a cell phone.  Rolling 3d6 for the noise, no zombies were summoned.

Turn Twelve: Robb 1, Zombies 5, Dog 2

"Let 'em have it!" shouted Robb as he pointed his pistol at the closest zombie and pulled the trigger repeated.  The slide moved back and forth with a clack, but nothing else happened.
"I'm out?" Robb said disbelievingly.
"Oh for the love of God.  Let me handle this," said Irene.  She turned her shotgun towards the crowd of zombies and fired.  One single zombie staggered and fell, but the shot had clearly landed low.
"Not saying anything," said Robb flatly.

Elsewhere, the poor dog had been finally wrestled to the ground by a pair of zombies.  They began to tear and claw at its flesh.  The dog howled briefly, then fell silent as the zombies began stuffing flesh into their mouths.

Robb fired twice, but rolled two ones.  By the "Tight Ammo" rules for campaigns, that meant he was out of bullets until he tried to reload.  Robb was truly snakebit this game.  Irene fired her shotgun but only hit one out of 6d6, and what's worse only knocked it down.  No zombies were summoned, though.

The dog lost the first combat with the pair of zombies and was knocked down.  With a second zombie attacking him, it was over and the dog was Obviously Dead.  Rolling 1d6, the zombies would be feasting for two turns, but were so far away that they had lost sight of anyone else.

Thankfully, no zombies were summoned by the phone.

Turn Thirteen: Robb 2, Zombies 3

As the zombies drew even closer, Robb turned back towards the alley.  "This way," he said.
"No," Irene said, tugging him towards the car.  "We've got to stop that phone ringing before it draws every zombie in the neighborhood."
Robb didn't feel like arguing, but instead slapped another clip into his pistol.  He realized as he fumbled around his the pockets of his trenchcoat that he didn't have another one.  "Um, hon?" he said quietly, "after this one, I'm out."
"Out?  Jesus, Robb, what were you thinking before you headed out today?"  Irene picked up the cell phone lying on the ground and immediately turned off the ringer.  She'd figure out who was trying to call later.
Robb lips tightened into a frown.  "Fine, I'm sorry."
Irene glanced back at the zombies continuing to come after them.  "Never mind.  I'll give you my pistol if you run out again.  We have to keep going, though."

I resolved the cell phone like a PEF, but once again got nothing but an increase of the ER to 4.  Robb reloaded, but passed only 1d6, meaning he could not reload again.  The Blue PEF moved away again.

Turn Fourteen: Robb 2, Zombies 1

Robb began firing his fresh clip into the zombies, backing slowly away from them.  "I'm not sure I'm up to running."
One of his shots collapsed a zombie's head.  Irene fired as well, taking out another.

Robb fired twice, hit once, and got an Obviously Dead (this seems to be statistically the norm for him).  Irene fired, hit two, and got an Obviously Dead and a Knocked Down.  Their shots summoned one zombie, this one behind the others.

Turn Fifteen: Robb 1, Zombies 3

Robb continued to back away, firing continuously and killing another zombie.  Irene was more lucky this time, catching three in her shotgun's blast.  Two were killed immediately, while the other staggered to the ground.  "That's the lot of them," Robb said.  "I feel like I might be able to run if I needed to."

Robb fired twice, hit once, and killed one.  Irene hit three and got two OD's and a KD.  One zombie was summoned, this one in the way that they needed to go, however.
The PEF didn't move.

Turn Sixteen: Robb 6, Zombies 4

Turning around, they saw a zombie moving across the grass of the empty lot towards them.  Robb sighed heavily.  "Want me to hit him with my bat?" asked Irene.
"No, the way things are going he'd kill both of us," said Robb.

The zombie moved closer  Other zombies got back up that had been knocked down.  The PEF moved away, but was at the corner and wasn't going anywhere.

Turn Seventeen: Robb 2, Zombies 5

Robb raised his pistol and fired twice, hitting the zombie squarely in the skull.  He and his girlfriend continued through the field.

Robb fired twice, hit once, and got an OD.  

Turn Eighteen: Robb 6, Zombies 2

Behind them, the zombies shambled closer.

Turn Nineteen: Robb 3, Zombies 3

Irene felt in the pockets of her small bag around her waist to check and see how many shotguns shells she had.  Her fingers sifted through several large bullets.  Bullets?
"Robb, honey...Listen.  It looks like I only brought bullets with me for my pistol.  I don't have any shotgun shells left when I'm out."
"Not saying anything."

Again with the random events, this time telling me that a random hero had backed the wrong reloads.  If it was Robb, it wouldn't really matter since he was out anyways.  Unfortunately it was Irene, so her shotgun would be out when she rolled double 1's.  I was surprised it hadn't happened yet, given that she was rolling 6d6 every time.

Turn Twenty: Robb 2, Zombies 1

Irene glanced around at the street signs at the corner.  "We made it.  We're almost there."
"Thank God.  I really need to get off my feet." said Robb wearily
Behind them, the zombie they had been outpacing moaned sadly, its meal having gotten away.



I risked another Fast Move, and got the two off the board, the zombie right behind them.  Now, they'll re-enter on another corner, this time with another team member, Erin!

Comments welcome.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Irene Revised


I got the new version of Irene painted, this time in her team colors.  The RL Irene asked if I was going to paint a cast onto her arm, but I pointed out that there were not any doctors available in the campaign.

I will hopefully get a ATZ:FFO session in soon.  When that happens, a batrep won't be far behind...

Quick, go to the grocery store!

I was shopping at Kroger's (a midwest grocery chain) when I noticed in their two bin that they were selling the same brand of model vehicles I have purchased in the past at CVS for 50% off.  That means that a $6.00 car was being sold for only $3.00.  While many of them are not appropriate for my zombie game, or were ones that I already owned, I did see one that I thought would be a good addition to my collection.

Get me to the nearest gun store, and step on it!

As you can see, the scale isn't a bad match at all.  Right now I'm painting up the new version of Irene (Irene 2.0?) in hopes of being able to use her in the RL Irene's team color's for the next batrep.  I'm also getting some additional survivor-types painted up in hopes getting Team Robb beefed up a little.

Speaking of the RL Irene, the early reports on her injury are good, and hopefully she'll be able to play most if not all of the season.  If you're interested in following Irene's team, head over to the KC Roller Warriors website and check them out!