Victorian Zombie Campaign Journal Game 2

 Scenario 2 – The Zombie Liche

Compiled by Alan, of Tring Wargames Club ©2021

While searching the ruined town, one group discovers the presence of a special Zombie, the Liche.

Set-up

The table represents a partly ruined town. Players deploy in the usual way and activate in usual way. Players each place two caches of supplies in the usual manner.

Card Choice

Survivor	Zombie	Tank zombie	Zombie Horde	The Round ends.	Zombie Rising	Random Occurrence Card
4	4	0	0	1	0	0

 

Spawning Points

The Players each place a spawning point in the usual manner as supplies etc.

Special rules

When a supply token is collected roll 2D6. On 8+, a Zombie Liche appears and is placed randomly within 2” of the supply collector. A Zombie also appears on a roll of 7+.  Only one Liche may be on the table at any time.

Liche rules

Very occasionally, a Zombie retains a degree of intelligence a Liche. The Liche is always considered to be “active”, on any Black Number card. The Liche ignores “Knock-backs” and the figure is removed  when a 2nd wound inflicted.

If at any point in the Liche/Witch’s turn, a survivor is within 10”, the Liche may “call” other zombies, within 30”, with a high-pitched wail/moan, that counts for Zombie activation, for the rest of the ROUND (i.e. deck of cards).

At the end of each turn, one Zombie appears randomly along each table edge.

Victory points

Each player to activate a Zombie Liche receives 3 victory points. Treat other supplies as standard.

For each Zombie Liche killed, the player receives 2 victory points.

To obtain the points, the figure needs to survive the game.

 

The Adventure

The game began with the deployment of items of interest (supplies), according to the campaign rules, and then with deployment of the Zombie Spawning Points according to the scenario rules.

Martin had been the clear winner of scenario 1, by dint of his Zombie killing-spree, so he had the Initiative for the first move. On subsequent urns, we diced for the Initiative, and then proceeded clockwise around the table from the high roller.

Each team had added a new character, and also beefed up their skills and weapons to the extent allowed.  However, we did decide to allow new team members to have a weapon, but no skill.

As before, Henry opted for the Northwest corner of the board as a deployment point; Alan took the Southeast corner, while Martin chose the Northeast corner.

 

Fig 1: The terrain looking North-West

In this scenario, there were no Zombies present on the board at the start, so all three teams concentrated initially on locating and grabbing the supply caches.

Here, some different strategies were apparent. The Society of Africa and the Butcher St Boys split their teams in two, and went in different directions, presumably believing they could concentrate quickly enough if they ran into trouble.

The Bow St Runners appeared to be taking a more cautious approach, advancing in line abreast on a broad front, but remaining within sight and easy reach of each other.

The first team to find a supply cache were the Bow St Runners, who located one in the lane running past the old Apothecary. The scenario rules called for the taking of a cache to trigger a possible Zombie appearance - Martin rolled, and found that a Zombie was guarding the cache.

However, PC 452 McGarry was quick off the mark, and fought the Zombie with his truncheon, promptly killing it.

 

Fig 2: The Bow St Runners encounter a Zombie guarding a supply cache

Meanwhile, Dr Somerfield from the Society of Africa and her bodyguard George were advancing to explore some ruins, so far without finding anything, while one half of the Butcher St Boys were exploring an alley along the edge of the board, again without locating anything. The other half of their team had more luck though, when they located a supply cache next to a low wall.

 

Fig 3 - The Butcher St Boys also find a supply cache

At that point, the two halves of the Butcher St Boys were out of sight of each other among the buildings, and the wisdom of sticking together was quickly illustrated as the Bow St Runners unearthed a second supply cache.  As they picked it up, a Liche and a second Zombie suddenly appeared nearby.

PC Plod bravely tackled the Zombie with his truncheon, killing it with a single blow.

Martin’s team had also learned their lesson well in scenario 1, and a fusillade of gunfire greeted the Liche.  Inspector Gadget managed to wound the Liche with a headshot, but Sgt. Callahan missed with his pistol. Unfortunately for the Runners, under our campaign rules, Liches are tougher than ordinary Zombies, and two fatal wounds are required to destroy them, leaving the Liche still very much active and dangerous.

It took the Runners another turn to despatch the Liche when PC Dibble stormed in to melee, and killed it. Fortunately for the Runners, the Liche was slow off the mark too, and the Runners got away without any casualties.

 

Fig 4 - The Runners duel ineffectively with the Liche and a Zombie

Meanwhile, over on the South side of the table, the Society of Africa were about to run into trouble. Dr Somerfield and George located a supply cache in some ruined buildings, and when George went to collect it, another Liche and a Zombie appeared close by. Fortunately for George, the Liche appeared on the western side of the building, allowing him to retreat eastwards, covering Dr Somerfield, who fell back behind a wall which would block the Zombies approach for a while. Dr Somerfield, as a doctor, had no combat skills or weapons at this stage of the campaign.

George was also able to use his shotgun, inflicting one wound on the Liche, which was pursuing him through the ruins, and now began calling to the other Zombies

Fig 5 - George wounds a Liche

Fortunately for George, he proved to be more agile than the Liche among the ruins, and his second shot despatched the Liche. He then returned to the ruins to collect the supply cache, and successfully despatched a Zombie in the process.

At this point, the Zombies got a chance to spawn, and suddenly there were a number of them loose on the table. All the gunfire and the presence of the humans attracted them, and they began to close in on the teams.

Suddenly, the Butcher St Boys were surrounded by Zombies as they tried to collect a supply cache, which turned out to be guarded by a Zombie. Henry actually rolled and got a Liche as well, but the scenario rules prohibited more than one Liche on-table at a time, which given the number of Zombies in close proximity, was perhaps lucky for that half of his team.

This time, though, it was Henry’s team who prove to have become the Zombie-killers, and the Zombies were quickly finished off, one by gunfire and the other in a melee. The team had, however, learned its lesson, and they regrouped in order to defend themselves and their supply caches.

 

Fig 6 - The Butcher St Boys are surrounded by Zombies

Meanwhile, the Rev. Green and Alfred the Butler, from the Society of Africa’s succeeded in locating their final supply cache, which turned out to be guarded only by one Zombie.  Rev Green once again proved to be deadly with his chosen melee weapon, a heavy Bible.

 

Fig 7 - the Society of Africa collects a supply cache and faces a Zombie

Alfred collected the supply cache, and together with Lord Dunce, the third member of their sub-team, they then began to withdraw towards their deployment point.

To all intents and purposes, that concluded the scenario. No Zombies remained close enough to the teams to present a threat, and the ones which had spawned earlier were simply finished off at long range with firearms, as the teams withdrew.

Tallying the Adventure

We had agreed to rewrite the Doctor rules to accommodate healing wounds during the game, but as it turned out, none of the teams received any wounds from the Zombies, so that will have to wait for the next scenario.

There was consensus that not enough Zombies were generated during the game to present a real threat, and/or the Liches were ineffective, both in terms of their increased hardiness, and their “calling” ability.

After some discussion, we decided to go with a new table-driven Zombie spawning rule, which it is hoped will significantly increase the number of Zombies on-table at any one time.

Under the campaign rules, Victory Points were awarded for gathering supply caches, the triggering of a Liche, and the killing of the Liche and other Zombies.

Martin’s Bow St Runners had retrieved two supply caches, summoned a Liche and killed it, and killed 3 Zombies – worth a total of 10 points.

Henry’s  Butcher St Boys  had retrieved two supply caches, and killed 4 Zombies – worth a total of 6 points.

Alan’s Society of Africa had retrieved two supply caches, summoned a Liche and killed it, and killed 5 Zombies – worth a total of 12 points.

Thus the Society of Africa was awarded victory in this scenario.