Mob Rules: ATZ Campaign Day 8

Prologue:

“The natives are getting restless”, the watch supervisor announced to the ragged looking officers in front of him.  The men in front of him and spent the last 48 hours trying to contain the craziness that had erupted in the city.  The department had already lost a hand full of men; dead and wounded.  Many civilian had also suffered the same fates, as well.  “They want more action, and they want it yesterday.”

“Well what are we supposed to do”, replied one of the men, “with all these killings and attacks, were spread so thin, we can barely take care of ourselves.

“Word is that they want the city to arm them, so they can protect themselves…and that ain’t gonna happen,” was his answer.  “A CI says that a group plans on going to the Mid Town sub-station and demanding arms.  We are going to send what manpower we can over there and see if we can nip this in the bub.  The last thing we need right now is a bunch of armed civilians running around the city.  Baakus, take these 5 men, draw riot gear and get over there ASAP.”

Baakus nodded, thinking to himself, “Great”, as he tiredly rose and headed to the armory.

Special Rules:

Using the Mob rules from eh “ATZ: Haven” book

Setup Up:

The board shows the street leading up to LPD Mid-Town sub-station (left end of board)

Baakus and 5 other officers have set up barricades and formed a line.  They are equipped with riot gear, with one of the men carrying a tear gas launcher.  Baakus stands next to one of the patrol cars, so he can use the mike to try and persuade the gathering crowd to disperse.

Down the street a crowd has gathered around a burnt out truck in the intersection.  It is the only evidence that anything is out of the norm in this part of town, as most of the attacks have taken place in Downtown and Westside.  The crowd mummers, as it builds up the courage to move on the police station.

Turn 1: (Police 1, Mob Mo Move)

Mob Rep: 3        

Police Move:  Officer Baakus gets on the loud speaker and tells the crowd to disperse

Turn 2: (Mob 3, Police No Move)

Mob Rep: 2

Mob Move:  The mob mills about but doesn't advance (Pass 1, Mob Move)

Turn 3: (Police 4, Mob 2)

Mob Rep: 2

Police Move:  Officer Baakus again tells the mob to disperse.

Mob Move:  The mob moves slowly towards the police officers.

Turn 4: (No Move)

Mob Rep: 2

Turn 5: (Police 4, Mob 1)

Mob Rep: 3

Police Move: Once of the officers retrieves and readies a tear gas launcher

Mob Move:  The mob mills about in place (Pass 1, Mob Move).

Turn 6: (Police 3, Mob No Move)

Mob Rep: 2

Police Move: Officer Baakus again tries to tell the crowd to disperse and told his men to don their masks.

Turn 7: (Mob 1, Police No Move)

Mob Rep: 1

Mob Move:  Officer Baakus's words seem to have an effect, as the mob stops and mills about for a moment(Pass 1, Mob Move)

Police Move:  The police stand fast

Turn 8: (Mob 3, Police 1)

Mob Rep: 1

Mob Move:  The mob surges forward again

Police Move: Officer Baakus gives the word to fire the tear gas.  The officer takes aim at the front row and pulls the trigger. The gun goes "BLOOP" and a smoking canister sails down the street.  As it reaches the front rank, it exploded, creating a billowing cloud a acrid smoke.  The first two ranks break and head away from the burning gas.  The mob rep drops to 2.

Turn 9: (Police 1, Mob No Move, Zombies No Move)

Mob Rep:  The crowd disperses, as the tear gas wafts down the street (Pass 0, Mob Rep)

Zombie placement:  From the back room of the convenience store, by the Police Station, rises and surveys its surroundings.

Police Move:  The police officer with the tears gas launcher readies to fire a second round. 

Turn 10: (Police 4, Zombies 2)

Police Move:  The police officers stand watching the crowd dissolve away

Zombie Move:  The zombie makes its way to the front of the store, and peers out the window.

Turn 11: (Zombies 3, Police 1)

Zombie Move:  The zombie charges out the ajar front door.  Surprised, none of the officers could react in time.  The closest officer had his back to the door.  The zombie crashed into the officer's back; it's weight knocking the man to the ground.    The zombie clawed and snapped, tearing at the man' exposed flesh at the nape of his neck.

Police Move:  Roused from their shock, the men moved to help their comrade.  The man with the tears gas launcher raises it above his head.  With a grunt, he brought the butt of the weapon crunching down on the zombie's head, killing it a second time.

Epilogue:

As tear gas wafted through the air, and the crowd disperses down the street, the police render aid to the man who was attacked.  The men who were still under the impression that this was just civil unrest looked in disbelief on the dead zombie.  Staring at the ravaged form, with its skull caved in, Most of them came to realization of what Baakus already knew; this was worse, something much worse.  Several of them made comments about taking their families and getting out of dodge, before things got worse.

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Game Notes:  I am not sure I played the mob rules correctly, or if I just had some really crappy rolls.  The crowd never worked itself up to actually attacking the police, and I played Baakus in a very conservative manner.  I figured with all that was going on, he didn’t want to cause things to escalate, unless he and his men were actually in trouble.  As it worked out, he held the tear gas back, until the mob got quite close, and just happened to have a really low Mob Rep.

I may play this type of scenario, again, just to see what happens.  if I do, I am also going to to add in my intrepid film crew, as this is the stuff that sells big time on the major networks.