After the Third Apocalypse - Zombie Campaign part 4

 Part 4 of my campaign set in my post apocalyptic world of 2500AD. The Zombies of Russia periodically rise up and batter their way through eastern Europe intent on devouring the rich pastures of western Europe.

The campaign will involve four battles, all using the One Hour Wargames rules for Pike and Shot as adapted for Zombies and appropriate scenarios to build a narrative. Basically it will let me play with the three armies I have painted.

Following the Zombie victories in part 1 & 2 the Medieval forces stopped the Zombie menace in part 3. Part 4 is to hold out a desperate last stand to even the score.

The Medieval forces have the technology to produce armour that can stop zombies biting them and turning them to zombies. This stops their casualties becoming part of the problem. They have primitive guns and can run out of ammunition. 

30: Last Stand - the humans trying a final defence against the encroaching zombie horde.

Narratively the last stand is an attempt to halt the zombie menace long enough for the civilian population to escape.

Zombie rules adaptations are:

Zombies count as Infantry who can't shoot. Out of ammo from start of each game.

Zombie Unit Combat: When zombies cause any casualties on an opposing unarmoured unit they will get “reinforcements” from the enemy dead. These reinforcements will be equal to one half of the casualties caused rounded down. These will reduce the Zombie unit casualty marker by the same amount. The marker cannot be reduced below zero.

Human Unit Morale: When a human unit is activated, roll a D6 and add it to the current casualty marker of the unit. If the result is 15 or greater, the unit must retreat one full move. 

Scenario 30 Last Stand: The zombies need to destroy all the human units by the end of turn 15. Any zombie unit lost comes back the following turn from the start line.

All human units are considered elite and have +2 for all combat rolls.  One human unit is in a redoubt that means it is considered in cover and which takes the zombies one turn to enter and attack the humans within.

 I have added additional decorative terrain in the form of fields and a small wood to the layout. These have no impact on the game other than to make it look better. The large wood is impassable to all units.

Where a unit is destroyed will be marked by three red counters - to help show the carnage of the battlefield.

End of turn 1 - the zombies advance and humans fire at the advancing hordes causing 7 & 8 casualties from left to right.

End of turn 2 - the zombies continue their advance. On the left the human unit has run out of ammo. On the right another round of fire has managed to destroy the leading zombie horde. However this unit has also run out of ammo.

End of turn 3 -the zombies are crossing the ford and the bridge. The human units have retreated so they can charge the next turn and cause the first casualties.

End of turn 4 - the humans charge but cause few casualties.

End of turn 5 - the hand to hand combat continues. On the left the zombies reach 13 casualties and on the right only 4. Both human units have very few.

End of turn 6 - the combat continues. ( I realise now looking at the photos I forgot to update the zombies casualties on the left - oops!) On the right they reach 10 casualties vs 4 for the humans.

End of turn 7 - zombies on the left are destroyed. Human casualties there are 11. On the right the zombies casualties are 13 vs 6 for the humans. The line is holding!

End of turn 8 - The humans on the left have been destroyed. On the right the zombie unit is destroyed but the humans now have 8 casualties. Still the line may hold.

End of turn 9 - on the left the zombie hordes advance towards the redoubt. It will take them a few turns to get there and then they need to destroy the human unit.

End of turn 10 - The humans on the right still hold on but with 14 casualties they can only last one more turn.

End of turn 11 -The zombies on the left have been destroyed by fire from the redoubt. On the right the humans have gone down to the zombie hordes.

End of turn 12 - the zombies contact the redoubt from the left and on the right more zombies make their way through the town.

End of turn 13 - The zombies continue their assault but the humans hold.

End of turn 14 - another zombie unit is destroyed but two others take its place with more following.

End of turn 15 - the humans have held on! They would not last much longer but they have held on enough. The evacuation is completed.

So the score is now tied at two all. Maybe one more game to settle the issue.

I have always thought that modern battle techniques would not work against zombies and that Napoleonic tactics would be much better. One more game to see if I am correct.

Figures:

Medieval troops with guns are from Pendraken 

Zombies are N scale railway people from Aliexpress. They come painted, all I had to do was base them and add some red. This is a very quick and cheap way of creating a zombie horde. Not as good as Pendraken's but much easier to get the mass.

The town buildings are from Outland Models. A quick modelling night has created the fields to go inside the fences. I think it looks much better than before.