Safe House 2015 - Finale

Game 10

Death of Hope

And so we arrive at the conclusion of our adventure with Smudge, Cornetto, Coach and Lupe touching down on a Nova Scotia highway just outside Camp Nova.

Appropriate sonic delights

Already it's clear that the camp is barren of all life, human or zed. The soldier had been right.

The road cutting through the camp terminates in front of a three-storey office block that shows signs of a hasty fortification, evidence of a rushed last stand.

The group decide to start investigating there...

Camp Nova

Staying frosty

I constructed a floor plan to represent the offices using the building interior rules from I, Zombie.

The group break through the poorly barricaded front entrance and immediately recognise the signs of a desperate fight for survival.

Supplies and bedding litter the floor, signs of this once being a sanctuary form the roaming dead...the blood on floor showed its demise.

What have we walked into

The stairwell has been destroyed, no doubt as a means of further hindering the zeds.

The group gather up some wooden pallets from around the building and use some survivor ingenuity to ascend to the 2nd floor.

That was fun

At first glance, the 2nd floor seems as bereft of life as the rest of the camp. The survivors split up to search the individual offices.

The 2nd floor

The group splits up

Smudge and Lupe stick together and search the first office. The evidence of a massacre keeps piling up as decrepit zed torso, clearly a critically injured survivor that had been hurriedly left for dead, crawls idly towards them. Smudge wastes no time in casually stomping its head.

Curb stomped

Coach enters the adjacent office and is immediately hit by the smell of gasoline, a half emptied jerry can sits on the floor with the severed, chewed hand of whomever had tried to burn the building down still grasping the handle.

What the hell happened here

Cornetto and Coach search the remaining offices finding two abandoned zeds.

Cornetto shotguns a zed

Coach grabs his axe

The floor now clear, the survivors climb up to the 3rd floor. The floor is very quiet and, unlike the rest of the camp, devoid of any signs of fighting.

Eerily quiet

They call out to check for zeds and proceed to the first office...where they meet with quite a surprise.

Who goes there?

The 2014 survivors!

A.J., Jim and Sunny (the escaped survivors from Safe House 2014) hold their fire, just happy to see live faces.

They explain that after their evacuation to the oil rig Romero an outbreak on board forced them off once more. Camp Nova had been safe haven for a time but eventually the plague always finds a way in.

The camp was completely routed, many of the zeds showing powers and abilities previously unseen as if the virus was growing stronger. The military had been keeping tabs on the level of infestation and at last count, it was complete.

Our survivors relay their own experiences on this score and the reality of the losing battle of the living was finally sinking in.

Whatever the situation may be, it was time to leave the desolate Camp Nova. But where will they go?

"If we heard you arrive in that plane..."

"...then so did they."

With the camp rapidly filling with zeds the survivors make a break for it, their goal to reach the Humvees at the camp entrance, get them running and get out of dodge.

Cornetto and Sunny run the gauntlet, charging back-to-back directly through the centre of the horde.

You and me, bro

Coach and Jim break right, aiming to skirt around the perimeter, but they get tied up in melee with some zeds. Coach gets locked in combat with a Siren emerging from the hangar and Jim tackles a torso.

Punching through

Smudge, Lupe and A.J. move left, blasting anything in their path and banking on losing the zeds in the maze of tents.

Tents of terror

A.J. takes some pot shots

After a miraculously uneventful charge through the horde, Cornetto inspects the closest Humvee while Sunny stands guard.

The damn thing's fuel tank is dry.

Nothing but dust

Coach finishes the Siren and makes his way to Cornetto's Humvee with the fuel he found in the offices. Good thinking, Coach.

"I'm done here."

A.J's skills as a pro baller are still sharp and he sprints through the tents to the other Humvee. He finds it fully armed and ready to go and hops up on the mounted M60 to cover Smudge and Lupe's arrival.

Oh yeah

Lupe get in to man the turret

Cornetto moves into the middle of the road running through camp to greet a couple a zeds that are getting too close. One of the zeds looks stronger than the other and Sunny joins the fight to try and bring him down.

An epic battle ensues

Smudge, Lupe and A.J. begin motoring through the camp, mowing down tents and zeds with the mounted guns as they go.

A suicidal zombie mount the vehicle and starts to attack Lupe through the window.

Time to kick ass

BRRRAP, BRAP!

The zed snaps at Lupe for several turns, Smudge unable to shake him off.

This guy won't give up

Smudge skids to a halt and jumps out to rip the zed from the window and finish him off. (That zed must've hung on for about 5 turns. Lunatic.)

Get outa there

Cornetto and Sunny finally destroy the Brute but he takes a chunk out of Sunny's neck before going down.

Cornetto applies pressure to the wound and starts dragging his compadre to Coach's Humvee, double headshotting two zeds blocking the way (it was an amazing shot).

"Sunny, no!"

"Hang in there, buddy!"

Coach finishes gassing up

Smudge's Humvee starts to get mobbed by the remaining zeds in the camp, drawn in by A.J's chattering M60. However, the baller has plenty of ammo left and hoses the gathering dead.

Smudge guns the engine and backs over the remaining zeds toward the camp entrance.

Zeds gather

Like fish in a barrel

Jim and Cornetto mount up with Coach and drive into the road to cover Smudge's retreat.

Time to go

Smudge splatters a last zed across his bonnet as a final farewell to Camp Nova.

Later!

Safely on the road, the Humvees trundle off the board, leaving the destruction of Camp Nova behind them.

And a final gunshot sings out across the desolation as Sunny succumbs to his wounds...

Camp Nova in ruins

Victorious?

There we have it. Our survivors make it out more or less intact but drive on toward an uncertain future.

Final thoughts:

There were some great moments and lessons over the course of the campaign:

1. My camera needs replaced...badly
2. Machetes are awesome
3. The new zombie types add some welcome new flavour

You may have noticed that some of the survivors' armament changed slightly during the campaign.  

I actually pre-painted some loose weapons and packs from the Wargames Factory kits for this purpose and I highly recommend them as nice little touches to a campaign for times when players find new gear.

I had great fun running the campaign as GM but missed having my own survivor to care for. Maybe next year.

Well, that's about all. I doubt this will be the last we'll see of our survivors and I am planning a new ongoing campaign as we speak.

But for now I hope you all enjoyed Safe House 2015.

Safe House 2015 Links

Intro, Act 1, Act 2, Act 3, Finale