Space Weirdos - Zombies in Victory Square

Introduction

We return to the ruined streets of Grozniansk.  Senior Sergeant Orlov and Corporal Pekarsky (veterans of the Federal Special Forces), are on a mission to locate a bag of classified government files that were stashed at the base of the War Memorial in Victory Square.  The square is in the territory of the self styled Lord of the Dead, Betaevski and his undead minions.  Will the soldiers be able to complete their mission without ending up on the menu?  The stats for both forces can be found here.

The Soldiers

Betaevski and the dead

Round 1

Start positions, Soldiers (red), Undead (blue)

Strangely as Senior Sergeant Orlov is a tactician, Betaevski and his zombies gain the initiative.  Betaevski uses two actions to Move to the corner of the War Memorial.  This brings him into LoS of the Soldiers so he Shoots at Orlov who is leading his unit.  He hits him and straightaway the leader of the Soldiers is Down. Orlov activates next and takes a Stand action.  His next action moves him to cover and then he Shoots at Betaevski.  The zombie leader is hit and Down and staggered.  Within the first two moves both leaders have been hit. 

Orlov opens up.

Fat Zombie 1 activates next and shuffles towards the memorial and the sound of the gunfire.  

Corporal Pekarsky now activates.  He uses two actions to Move up to cover the memorial with his sniper rifle and Shoots at Fat Zombie 1, but the movement has skewed his aim and he misses.

Skinny Zombie 1 now shuffles forward.  

The Soldiers now use a Command Point and Private Bezukhov Hustles to use all three of his actions to get to the War Memorial as quickly as possible.  Enticed by this flurry of movement, Long Coated Zombie shuffles forward and tries to chomp on Bezukhov.  His teeth and claws fail to get through the soldier's armour.  

Private Bezukhov attacked.

The last soldier to activate is Private Akinfi.  Another Command Point is used to Hustle him to the War Memorial.  

The rest of the zombies shuffle to the war memorial  

The zombies close in.

Round 2

The Soldiers get the initiative this round.  Private Akinfi uses one Move action to climb onto the top of the War Memorial, and then his remaining two actions to Use Item and claim the stash hidden in the sculptures. 

Private Akinfi scales the War Memorial.

Betaevski uses a Recover action, then a Stand action then Shoots at Private Bezukhov.  He is hit and has to Dive for Cover, moving one stick back and going Down. 

Sergeant Orlov takes Aim and Shoots twice at Betaevski, putting him Down with the first shot and Down again with the second which stacks as Down and Staggered.  That's two turns running he's had this fate. 

Long Coat Zombie shambles to where Private Bezukhov is and tries a make a meal of him.  He hits and a Down roll on the Under Attack table means he's now Down and Staggered.  The zombie makes another attack and bites down on something vital to get a Down and Staggered result.  This all stacks up to Bezukhov being taken Out of Action as he is feasted upon. 

Private Bezukhov becomes zombie food!

Corporal Pekarsky takes Aim twice and Shoots at Fat Zombie 1, rolling three times the zombie's Defence, he gets an Out of action result on the Under Fire table.  The zombie drops with it's head taken off.

Corporal Pekarsky lethal sniper

Two of the remaining zombies now shuffle towards the gunfire while two remain at the base of the war memorial snarling up at Private Akinfi. 

End of round 2 positions.

Round 3

Orlov's crew retain the initiative and the Sergeant wastes no time.  He uses all three of his actions to let rip with his assault rifle at the two oncoming undead.  He puts one Down and Staggered with his first shot, with his second shot he puts the second zombie Out of Action and he misses with the third. 

Two shots, two zombies down.

Betaevski finds himself in a familiar situation.  He uses a Recover action, then a Stand action then Shoots at Orlov.  Feeling the effects, his aim is off though and he misses.

Corporal Pekarsky has a zombie bearing down on him, too close to use his sniper rifle.  He Moves once, Aims once and then Shoots at the shambler.  The undead is put Down and Staggered. 

One shambler is no problem for Corporal Pekarsky.

Skinny Zombie 2 is feeling very hungry and as he's getting nowhere waiting for Akinfi, he shambles towards Pekarsky.  

At this point Private Akinfi decides to make a break for it.  He uses one action to climb down from the memorial, then two actions to Move to safety. 

Fat Zombie 2 sees his lunch disappearing and shambles off after Akinfi.   

The position at the end of Round 3.

Round 4

The Soldiers win the initiative again.  Using a Command Point, Corporal Pekarsky Hustles to join his two comrades. 

Under the memorial's gaze the soldiers withdraw.

An enraged Betaevski opens up on the withdrawing soldiers.  Of his three shots he hits only once, but it Staggers Sergeant Orlov.  It's the good sergeant's turn next and he Recovers and then Moves twice to exit the board.  

Fat Zombie 2 shambles towards the withdrawing soldiers.

Private Akinfi Moves twice to join Sergeant Orlov and exit the board.  

Skinny Zombie 2 shuffles after the retreating soldiers.

The two downed zombies recover to stumble after the soldiers and that's the end of the round and the end of the game.  The Soldiers have achieved their objective and Sergeant Orlov takes his team away to await their next mission.

The zombies see their dinner escape.

Conclusion

This was the second visit to Grozniansk (first AAR here) and the second adventure for Orlov and Pekarsky.  I originally built up this collection of Moderns/post-Apocalyptic Eastern European miniatures for Zona Alfa and I was intending to play using that set.  However, I just don't seem to have the brain space for another ruleset at the moment, so I stuck with Space Weirdos with which you can't go wrong.  I used the stats for zombies in the rules and reused the stats for Orlov's team of soldiers from the first game.  Each force was about 75 pts but with hindsight I'd play with more zombies to make it more difficult for the Soldiers.  

I'd got all the terrain out from the loft for my Second World War Budapest game (AAR here) and wanted to make use of it before packing it away again).  Grozniansk isn't as destroyed as Budapest was hence the better conditions of the streets.😄