Skirmish Outbreak: Zombie Apocalypse

It's time to play another game that I purchased years ago and then sat on forever!  This time, it's "Skirmish Outbreak" by Radio Dishdash Publishing.

Ok, first of all, for legal reasons, this game has been renamed "Skirmish Ragers".  So if you're looking for it, that's the new name.  Also, if you buy the PDF from Wargame Vault, it's locked so you can't print it, so be warned.  Also, the print book is printed with a bright yellow background, which doesn't bother me, but does bother some people, and probably isn't a best practice, since nobody else does it.

"Ragers" is what they call the fresh, fast, angry zombies.

I'm looking at the start of a campaign game, so I make my tiny little group of Survivors at 250 points.  Mr. Greene -- an "Average Joe" with a shotgun, and Dave & Buster -- "Average Joes" with pistols.  They met at a refugee camp that was overrun by the dead, which also grants me (at no cost) Agent M -- a "Professional" with the "Old and Wise" upgrade (+4 Morale, +4 Firearms), for whom I buy light body armor and another pistol.

Here's the table.  I guess it's kind of the future again?

I swear, this neighborhood has the WORST luck!

Our Survivors are huddled in a little group behind that building on the left.  There are 13 Zeds (normal, slow zombies) scattered around the table.  The Survivors are hungry and need food, so they have to search the buildings for it.  The cars won't have any food, so searching them won't help.  In order to consider this mission successful, the Survivors have to earn 250 points (equal to the size of my entire gang, not just what I brought to the table, although this time I brought everybody).  Points can be earned by finding resources and taking them off of the table.  They can also be earned by defeating zombies or rival Survivors.  Excess points can be used for upgrades.  Killing Zeds is only worth 25 points here, so the Survivors are going to need a couple of good finds in the buildings.

TURN 1

Morale Tests: None
Loud Markers: None
Rager Markers: None

Action Points:
The Survivors roll 1d6 per Survivor and halve the total.  (6+4+2+2)/2 = 7 AP.
The Zombie Controller just gets 3d6 (6+4+4) = 14.  Sure, that's fair.

Action:
Each Survivor player (just me) can activate one Survivor and spend from 1 to 3 action points.  Agent M will run 6" (1AP) to behind the smaller building, walk 3" (1AP) around the corner, and shoot that Zed (1AP).  It's out in the open, so no spotting roll is needed.  Agent M is ridiculous, and needs a 20 or less (on a d20, I assume, because I can't find where it actually says) to hit.  Also, he's within 4", so he actually needs 26 or less.  He gets an 8, which totally hits, and he adds his points over 20 (6) to his damage roll.  Destroying a Zed takes a 9+ on a d20 (plus 6 in this case).  I roll a 14 and the Zed is down.  Agent M generates a LOUD marker, and the Zombie Controller checks the "zombie chain" by rolling 1d20.  He gets more than 10, so no new zombies show up in reaction to the noise.  I've got 4 AP left, and gained 25 "Survivor Points".

BANG!

The rules are a little fuzzy here.  The Zombie Controller can activate up to three zombies.  Each Zed can spend up to 2 AP.  There's talk about activating the closest ones first, but it's not super clear if that's only when visible or what.  Anyway, three of the nearest Zeds make two moves each toward the noise.  They still have 8 AP left.

"RRR! BRIAN!  They killed Brian!  RRRR!

Next, Buster activates.  It's implied, but not clearly stated, that you have to activate all Survivors once before you can activate them again.  So Buster walks 3" (1AP) around the corner, takes aim (1AP for +2 skill), and fires (1AP) at the oncoming zombie.  Unfortunately, it's a moving target, and he misses.  He does, however, attract THREE new zombies that climb out of nearby cars or windows.  One shows up right near Agent M, which is totally legitimate, as long as it's out of Buster's line of sight.  Yikes!

New Zeds by the small building, by the car, and on the roof.

Again, it's not clear, but it feels like maybe you have to activate a different zombie each time.  Anyway, the Zed near Agent M lurches at him, but (barely) misses.  The one by the car shuffles toward Buster and flails uselessly at him.  The one on the roof moves toward the nearest sound, but can't get over the roof's ledge.  The Zeds have 2 APs left.

Mr. Green runs 6" (1 AP), and that's all of the Survivors' Action Points.  The ZC moves one more zombie toward the loud noises, and is now out of APs as well.

Things go wrong quickly.  At least they don't have to contend
with a rival gang.

TURN 2

Morale Tests: None
Loud Markers: Remove all
Rager Markers: None

Action Points:
Survivors:  (6+6+5+3)/2 = 10 AP.
Zombies (3+2+2) = 7 AP

Action:
Mr. Greene runs around the corner (1AP + 1AP for the U-turn) and attacks the Zed in hand to hand combat (1AP), knocking it prone!  (No new zombies appear.)  Behind him, the zombie in the pink dress lumbers toward Buster and attacks him, ripping his throat out! :o  The virus immediately spreads to Buster's brain, turning him into an eponymous Rager, and Buster spends 3 AP to get up and run toward the sound of fighting nearby, eyes rolling in his head and teeth gnashing!  He doesn't quite reach Agent M, but it's close!  The Survivors have 7 AP left, and the zombies have zero (but it's actually worse than it sounds).

Crap.  This might end up being a short report.

Agent M pistol-whips the Zed's head in (1AP), turns around (less than 180 degrees) and shoots the Rager in the face (1AP), dropping it!  With one action left to him, he runs into the door of the building (1AP).  The sounds of combat don't spawn any new Zeds, but it turns out that there are THREE zombies inside the building, "guarding" 100 Resource Points worth of food.  This is going to be difficult.  At least the sound of gunfire won't travel outside of the building.  The Survivors now have 4 AP left.  "Killing" another Zed and a Rager brings the Survivor Points up to 100!

Here's where it gets dirty.  The zombies have 0 Action Points, so now they ALL get to take one action.  Just like that.  So they ALL shuffle 3" toward this kerfuffle in the corner of the map!

Yes, Agent M is a bad-ass.  They don't let just anyone become
an Agent, you know.

Unfortunately, Agent M and Mr. Greene won't be able to act again before the zombies.  I've got to use Dave at least once.  I want to make sure that Agent M gets more actions, so I just have Dave run (1AP) past the zombies to the back of the building.

Dave gets brave!

Unfortunately, now ALL of the zombies get to go again.  Most of them lurch forward, but the three in the building also lash out at Agent M.  Two miss, but the third rolls a '1', successfully attacking him!

Mr. Greene: "Do a barrel roll!"

However, Agent M rolls a successful Dodge (1AP), that that avoids the blow and moves him back (up to) 3".  There's also the option to Parry, which doesn't seem to cost any action points, but doesn't move you.  More importantly, the Parry skill doesn't seem to appear as an option for any character.  So, kind of hard to use in that case.  Edited to add: OK.  I found where Parry was hiding.  In plain sight?  Am I some kind of moron?

With his remaining two Action Points, Agent M kills one of the Zeds, but misses the other.

Not shown: A buttload of LOUD markers inside the building.

On the zombie's final turn (since the Survivors are out of APs, too), the Zeds all move in and attack everybody!  Mr. Greene gets wounded!  Dave gets seriously wounded!  Agent M gets infected!

TURN 3

Morale Test: EVERYBODY!

Everybody has to make heavily penalized Morale tests for being injured.  Also for seeing poor Buster turned into a Rager, though it's not clear what would happen if they fail just from seeing a friend turn, since the failure charts only list "shooting" and "hand-to-hand" results.  Either way, everyone fails and runs away.  They've technically got a chance to make a second test, but at even worse penalties, and Agent M is two turns from turning into a Rager anyway, so this is pretty much a total wipe-out.

The heroes bravely run away!

So that was that.  There's a solid core of a game in here.  I like the idea of having to collect enough supplies to "survive" with surplus going to experience, equipment and new hires.  The basic, roll-under system is easy enough to understand, and even playing solo, I didn't feel overwhelmed.  Having said that, the rules are super vague about nearly everything and kind of poorly organized.  And the Parry skill!  That might have been useful.  What happened to that?

For what it's worth, I'm using an old copy of the game.  Maybe reprints are better.  I actually ordered a hardback direct from the company (it's on sale) that includes the rules plus a bunch of Kickstarter add-ons.  Maybe that book will have things cleaned up.  Despite getting murdered, which happens, I guess, I still kind of had fun.  I'm looking forward to getting my hardback book.  I really hope that it fixes the problems. [SPOILER: (It didn't.)]

Rarr!  Brains!

Jason "Ludanto" Smith C;E