Well, it sure took me a while, but I finally managed to get a break from gaming and the Holiday in general. So here comes the final episode of the Christmas adventures of LTL Mom and her gang of cuddly adventurers.
This is a very long batrep so get yourself a nice refreshing beverage and buckle up.Our friends have been keeping Santa and Ingrid safe at camp while getting together the resources to get out of the area and move on. After procuring the 18 wheeler and food they embarked on their journey to find a way to get Santa back home. So here we go!
LTL Mom and her Posse. They are traveling heavy and all grim faced.
Here's an overhead shot from the facility side.
Mom, Dad, and Bobby move around the back of the truck with Santa and Ingrid in tow.
True to their word, Nick and Maggie get out of the truck and start to walk toward the compound.
They only make it a few feet before a Ganger by the rock quarry opens fire with his SMG! Always listen to Mom, she's always right! This time the kids are lucky as the Ganger misses because he's out of range!
Nick returns fire and scores two hits to the head of the Ganger! Double OD baby!
This is too much for a nearby Ganger Wannabe, he ducks back. The Hard Case behind the rock is nonplussed but is hopelessly out of range.
Then Nick finishes his activation move by dropping prone and squeezing off a couple more rounds from his SA Rifle. Crack crack! and the Hard Case goes down also. Nick is feeling pretty darned bad @ss right about now and telling anyone who will listen. And telling them.. and telling them.. Maggie gets back into the truck. For a moment, we are all very nervous that she might try to drive off!
Santa's distress with the shootout brings the North Pole enforcers. They have been tracking him for a while now and finally they can zero in on his vibes. Fortunately for our friends they come from the other side of the camp.
The adults start making their way through the woods.
Mom and Dad use their long range weapons to take down the Wannabe who had ducked back from Nick's barrage.
Meanwhile, the Ganger and Punk by the chopper start to scramble.
And all the shooting brings three more Gangers out of the living quarters.
They are met by a hail of long range gunfire from the now very confident Nick who is blasting away at anything that moves. He doesn't hit anything but he manages to get them all to duck back for cover.
The Punk sees the Enforcers as he runs down the stairs and pops off a couple of rounds. He hits a Snow Goon but the bullets don't seem to do anything! By this time the first Zeds are starting to show up due to all the gunshots.
Nick has been shooting and scooting his way up the middle. I told you he is getting confident! When all of a sudden a dog runs up with six Zeds chasing it. Maggie is having nothing to do with this and is already heading off to find her Mom.
Reunited with Mom, Maggie and the adults decide to give Nick a hand with those pesky Zeds that are coming up on him from behind. They form a firing line and open up.
They manage to kill a few, and knock down some others. This will slow them down!
Back in the camp, the Gangers and Enforcers are both too confused to do much of anything for the moment.
So far our friends are lucky. With all this shooting, they are still not attracting too many Zeds.
Mom and company move out into the open where they can move faster. Nick is working his way back to rejoin the group. Maggie is calling the dog, trying to get him to come to her.
They all open fire on the remaining Zeds that were behind Nick but the shooting is poor and all they manage to do is knock them all down again. Quite pathetic actually.
They just can't seem to finish a job anywhere!
Nick has had enough of this nonsense! He runs over and pops the weasel on the whole mob. Enough is enough. Nothing worse than incompetent adults right?
One of the Gangers has decided to try flanking our Heroes position.
The Gangers are horrified to find the North Pole Enforcers in their rear and they spring into action!
In an incredible display of marksmanship, the lady Ganger by the living quarters finds the "sweet spot" and takes down a Snow Goon! She yells "Aim for the nose". Her partner manages to knock down a Penguin.
Our Heroes slowly move up and try to decide what to do.
More and more Zeds are being attracted to all the commotion.
Zeds aren't the only problem. The Enforcers are fully on the offensive now. The stunned Penguin is back up, a Goon and the other Penguin have demolished a Ganger, and the Lady Ganger with the amazing aim has managed to draw a matched melee with a Snow Goon! This is one incredible Woman of the likes of LTL Mom. I wonder if we can find a way to recruit her. Well, if she lives I mean.
The "flanking" Ganger has set up behind a large rock formation. This is causing problems for our Heroes advance.
Back in Snow Goon Central, we see what the Lady Ganger has been up to. She has vanquished another Snow Goon! At this point Mom states that she is not messing around with this gal. That is quite a compliment.
This Ganger on the pad who was previously stunned by Mom and Dad has popped back up to take a shot.
Turns out this was a very bad idea. The second he shows his mug he catches hell and goes OOF. Looks like Mom and Dad were still watching for him.
Yep. Mom's sharp shooters are still out there popping anything that comes into sight.
Mom and Dad finally decide it is safer to get back to the cover of the woods and advance that way. They have a go at a Zed on the way in and botch the job. Time to pop the weasel.
In the meantime, over confident Nick is working his way into the trees across the clearing from Mom's group.
Here's another one of those great examples of why it is dangerous to shoot and then move. The Zeds are popping up all around our friends at point blank range.
They are popping up in other places too. Nick stays real quiet in the trees.
The flanking Ganger has lost his nerve and is moving back towards the buildings.
The Gangers keep blasting away at the Enforcers but their fire is ineffectual.
Uh oh. Someone wasn't paying attention to detail. A Zed slams into the backside of the punk! At Rep 3 and fighting from the blind side, he's clearly not ready for prime time and goes OOF.
And Nick is having Z trouble of his own.
And so is Santa's escort. What I'm trying to say is that Zeds are everywhere!
Bobby drops his Zed no problem, and Maggie at least knocks hers down temporarily. The way this group has been shooting, we'll take what we can get.
Completely enraged by the cheekiness of this upstart Lady Ganger, the remaining Enforcers make an all out charge!
And her luck finally runs out. The Lady Ganger goes OOF after a brilliant display of martial prowess.
About time our friends get a little break! A chopper flies over, sees all the destruction and decides to keep going. Some of the Zeds start to give chase. This turns out great for Nick, not so great for the rest of his family.
With their nemesis biggest down and out, the Enforcers make a bee line for Santa while the Zeds head for their first feast of the day. The Enforcers and Zeds ignore each other.
Yum Yum! This tender young Rep 3 Punk is soooooooooo delicious.
Mom and company are still milling around in the woods with the Zeds. They are getting nowhere fast and wasting too much time.
One of our Heroes catches a glimpse of that idiot Ganger and squeezes one off to knock him down and stun him. Too bad nobody is in position to finish him.
Our friends are finally on the move again. They have got to get out of these woods.
All they are managing to do is attract more and more Zeds.
It really is time to go.
Dad takes rear guard while the others move up and start trying to blast their way through.
Dad decides that those two Zeds have gotten close enough. They get a taste of his shotgun.
The others are having limited success against the Zeds but cannot manage to do anything to the Snow Goon.
While Mom and the others are taking their terrifying trek through the forest, Nick is screwing around by the quarry. The group sure could use that extra gun right about now. Speaking of guns, a couple of random occurrences have left Nick with a broken SA Rifle, and Mom without ammo for hers.
Dad says "hurry up, I can't hold them forever you know!"
And situation Snow Goon is getting critical up front. Our friends just can't seem to bring him down. They are bringing plenty of Zeds however!
The ATZ rulebook simply doesn't cover what to do when the activation dice come up like this. I know that nobody activates, but I figure something REALLY big should happen when the bones come up two headed snake eyes! I was thinking of something along the lines of "all previously killed Zeds rise again" but decided against it as this mission looked like it was going to be tough enough as it was. Besides, when I mentioned this I received cries of bloody murder from Mom and the kids.
Now even Dad has joined the desperate firing line and nobody can stop the Goon. Gulp.
Finally! Bobby scores a single hit with his SMG and brings down the Goon! Now for those darned pesky Penguins..
What's this!?!? That idiotic panicked Ganger is still running around and he's making for the truck. This can't be a good thing. If there is one thing we've learned over the past couple of months, it is that vehicles kill.
All that time wasted with the Goon has given the Zeds a chance to catch up.
Well that tears it. The Ganger has jumped into the truck and to top it off the alarm has gone off and is stuck!
Somebody kill this guy fast!
Well here we go again. It seems our friends are pretty good at hitting their targets, just not real good at keeping them down.
The Zeds just keep getting back up.
And finally the last of the Enforcers go down for good. It's about time! I wonder if there are Polar Bear Enforcers? I sure hope not.
Now all that our friends need to do is figure out what to do about all the Zeds they've attracted with their crappy shooting.
The Ganger has been busy attracting Zeds of his own while backing up the truck with the car alarm blaring.
About now, Mom and Dad decided it was time to stop screwing around and go for broke. No more shooting except in reaction. Our friends make a break for it and come tearing out of the woods.
Some Zeds charge in but Mom, Dad, and Bobby take them down. The Ganger can't make the turn so he peels rubber and blasts off between the buildings in his bid for freedom. Dad curses his missed chance at capping that SOB.
As you might have guessed, between the shooting, driving, and the car alarm, it is becoming increasingly unhealthy around the camp. Zeds are really starting to accumulate fast. The only good news is that some of them have found some nice feasts to keep them busy for a while.
Yeah baby! The Ganger finally gets his due. While trying to speed through the gap between the trees and building he loses control and rolls the truck. He's dead before the wheels quit spinning.
While our friends are fending off attacks, a wily Zed sneaks up from behind and pounces on Ingrid. The poor little Rep 2 hussy never stood a chance. At least Mrs. Claus will be happy.
Zeds, Zeds, everywhere. I think they smell another feasting opportunity.
This is a real bad time for indecision. Come on guys, get your butts in gear!
Every moment of delay brings more and more Zeds closer.
Now this is more like it. Up the stairs and over the rail while the Zeds are still feasting. The original plan did not include our Heroes going on a trip, but in light of the current situation everyone has decided to take a ride.
Our Ganger friend is about to become a nice meal for the Zeds, and a nice distraction for our Heroes.
It looks like Ingrid is going to serve the same purpose..
After getting into the helicopter it occurred to our friends that nobody knew how to pilot a chopper. Then Dad pointed out that if Santa could make a sleigh and a bunch of dumb deer fly, he certainly should be able to get a chopper airborne. Santa confirmed this with a "no problemo" and so here we can see the rotor winding up. Notice the rotor blur, how the blades are in motion? I'm very proud of this special effect.
As our friends take off, they survey the camp. They see the feast begin on the reckless Ganger.
And on poor Ingrid, with more Zeds on the way. Santa wipes a tear from his eye and mourns the loss of his lovely assistant. Then Mom cries out "where's Nick!?!? we gotta find Nick!"
Nick hears the helicopter and runs out into the open while frantically waving his arms.
Just to be on the safe side, our friends lower the rescue line and pull Nick up from a hover. Mom had fun designing and making this little prop on the fly. So I bet your wondering if LTL Mom and her Posse have decided to accompany Santa to the North Pole, but I can't tell you as she hasn't decided yet. There's also still the matter of the truck full of food and supplies that were left behind. Maybe they'll come back for it, maybe not. The adventures of LTL Mom and her clan will continue.
Mom finally made a rep roll!!! And so well deserved it is. In fact, everyone made their roll including Dad who is now an astounding Rep 6. Notice also that Dad started the mission with Bubblegum in inventory and finished with none :) Maybe wants to keep Bozo the dog and I have given him the "healing saliva" special ability as suggested by John Paul. He will also come with the side effect of possible random bark.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone from the Veloci clan.
Yes, at last, Rep increases! LTL Mom deserved hers more than most but congrats to the rest of the clan as well. The addition of Santa, Ingrid, the Snowmen and penguins was inspired! I liked your scenery, Willy. The Ebbles buildings and helipad worked well for this scenario. What I particularly like, however, are your collection of helicopters. A question I have been meaning to ask you is this, when you photograph a helicopter in flight how did you keep it in the air? If its by thin wire or something similar, it doesn't show up in the photos. Your whirring blades special effect was very well done. What other battle report features CGI special effects, I ask? Lol! Many congrats for a hugely entertaining Christmas campaign that has been such a joy to read and follow.
ReplyDeleteLTL Mom finally gets what she deserves....
ReplyDeleteCorrect me if I'm wrong, but Mom doesn't just kill people with her weapons, she also kills them with her THOUGHTS. All the people she has been said to dislike (the hussy, Ingrid, and the lady ganger) have all died. THAT is power.
Vamp,
ReplyDeleteI usually suspend it from the garage door fixings with heavy sewing thread. I have a sling rigged up with a hook for easy movement changes. For the special effect I spin the rotor and try to get the shot before it stops!
And here was I thinking you had some special CGI program for your computer! Lol! Well, it works and that's the main thing. I still can't see the thread, though, so double thumbs up!
ReplyDelete