Tales of The Unexpected

Game One:
The Magnificent Five

By Paul Grace

Scenario set up

Layout your town using whatever buildings you have available; David Barnes' plan of Smallpond in LW114 is ideal. Don't forget to throw in a few balls of lichen as tumbleweed. Place a building with balcony or flat roof at one end of the table with a suitable figure on it to represent Roxanne. The five good guys (Ringo; Gatewood; Hatfield; Peacock, and Fraser) are placed at the opposite end of the table. If you wish to be politically correct, one could replace Roxanne with a helpless male figure, and make Preacher Fraser a feisty female. Prepare five groups of zombies, with five or six figures in each group. To differentiate between groups, I based each group differently e.g. zombie group one: circular base, green edges; zombie group two: square bases, green edges; zombie group three: hex bases, black edges etc. A character card for the good guys and each zombie group is required. A card is also required for Roxanne but does not come into play until she is 'rescued'. Preacher Fraser is a gunman with a sawn off shotgun. Roxanne is a citizen, unarmed.

The zombie groups with the exception of group one do not appear on the table until their character cards are turned up.

There are six zombie location areas.

When a Zombie Group Character Card is turned up for the first time, or The Dead Shall Rise card allows a group to be returned, roll D6 and place them one inch apart in the corresponding location area.

Zombie Group One is placed at the opposite edge to the good guys. Roxanne does not influence zombie movement until she is rescued. Keep a note of the number of turns that elapse (i.e. number of times the character pack is reshuffled) during the game.

Objectives:

1: Rescue Roxanne When a good guy comes into base contact with the building where Roxanne is located, she is rescued (now her troubles really start): Place her figure within 3 inches of her rescuer and place her character card in the pack.

Roxanne Special Movement Rules: In addition to normal movement Roxanne may move 3" towards or away from any character within 6" of her, when their character card is turned up. This simulates her being hurried along by the others and offers a fighting chance of her getting away from the zombies.

2: Light a beacon Once Roxanne has been rescued, the good guys must try to start a fire to attract any passing cavalry patrols. Any figure in base contact with a wooden structure can attempt to set it alight. This counts as an action. Roll D6 :a score of 4 or greater sets the building ablaze. Add 1 to the score for each successive attempt on the building. Make a note of how many turns (reshuffles) it took before the fire starts.

3: Get the hell out With Roxanne rescued and the town alight, the survivors can now attempt to escape and return to their comrades. To successfully escape, they must exit the table edge from which the good guys were first set up. Note the turn number in which each character escaped.

More Wild West Zombies

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