A 'spiked' keg, Zombies and the Scooby Gang!

This week I made the regular, but a rather bracing brisk walk on this occasion, down the hill to Arabianknight’s refuge of gaming delight, on a dreich Scottish winter evening. We’d planned to re-visit the congenial Star Wars: Pod Racing, however with one thing or another, we ended up playing a hastily arranged game of Fear and Faith instead. Arabianknight had selected another delightfully wacky scenario from the ‘Kooky Teenage Monster Hunters’ supplement, Zombie Kegger!

Nothing says you’re grown up like going to collect a college kegger…they’re totally great…except when some big bad nasty spikes the hooch with zombie juice!

Our game had the zombie hoard protecting the 'spiked' keg from the Scooby Gang. Yep, they’re back! They were last seen in Zoinks! It's Freddy Kreugar!  I opted for the zombies, but quickly regretted the decision after having a closer look at their anaemic stats! But hey, what did I expect – they’re zombies! The Zombie Kegger scenario included rules for picking up or throwing the keg, especially useful for the defenders. Also, any monster carrying the keg could deliver a dose of ‘zombie juice’ to any destroyed model, spending an action to raise the model as a Party zombie!

After I’d deployed the zombies, protecting the keg within the ruins of an old building, Arabianknight followed up with Freddy, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby.  The Scooby Gang were all tooled up - quite literally in Velma’s case  - with a Chainsaw! Surely a bunch of brainless zombies wouldn’t prove any challenge to the renowned monster hunters?

No high strategy here, the Zombie Lord simply had to stay within the confines of the ruins, concentrating his hoards at the weak points. Meanwhile, the Scooby Gang assuredly approached one of the more exposed areas, with the exception of Scooby who appeared to be totally distracted by his canine instincts, cocking his leg at every tree in sight. Ree hee hee!

The skirmishing quickly started, with Freddy easily dropping a zombie using his pistol whilst whilst Shaggy tackled the hoard with a huge fire axe. Velma also charged the shuffling zombies, confident in the soon to be delivered destruction of a Chainsaw! Except it broke. Ha! To use it, Arabianknight had to throw two D6, one for Combat, the other to test the integrity of the weapon. It went horribly wrong. The Chainsaw was all but dead weight.  But this wasn’t the worst . Jeepers! Poor old Shaggy found himself caught out and mobbed by frenzied zombies. He was cruelly brought down. In shock, the remaining Scooby Gang sought to regroup, with Velma sheepishly retreating to a nearby copse to find a replacement improvised weapon. The zombies were proving

more resilient than the Gang expected.

Whilst the Scooby gang were re-grouping, the Zombie Lord approached Shaggy's still warm corpse. Conjuring dark energies he efficiently performed the ritual of Resurrection. After a few twitches and groans, a terrible facsimile of the former Shaggy slowly unfolded to its feet. Shagzee had joined the Zombie Hoard! 

Shagzee rises!

A few turns of sombre and cautious manoeuvring by the Scooby Gang followed, probing for weak spots in the zombie defences, attempting to lure out the un-coordinated hoard, hoping to create an opening to snatch the keg. The Zombie Lord ordered one of his minions to carry the keg out of harm’s way, which it dutifully did.

Scooby’s tree-watering trance was broken on hearing the terrible cries of his best friend. Shhaaggy!" He then used his superior canine movement to flank the ruins whilst Freddy, Velma and Daphne distracted  the enemy, engaging more of the zombies including wee brother and sister zombie bairns. The Dark Side of the Scooby Gang was unleashed!

Freddy was nearly caught out himself by zombies, whilst Velma – now armed with a sharpened stick  – stoically fought  nearby. Daphne found herself in a position with direct access to the zombie with the keg, whilst Scooby had also closed the gap. The Zombie Lord had a decision to make – order a strong attack on the imperilled Freddy or order the zombie with the keg to retreat further. Tempting as it was to watch the titular Fred Jones be torn apart by zombies, the Zombie Lord decided the safety of the keg was the imperative. Unfortunately, the zombie carrying the keg thought otherwise. Or, more accurately, didn't think at all. It just stood there!

With this fortuitous turn in the battle, Freddy escaped. Daphne and Scooby stepped up, closing in on the keg, "Scooby Dooby Doo!"  But the overwhelming zombie numbers told and the keg-bearer was soon  joined by its fellow corpses, including the eponymous Shagzee! Daphne spotted the trap and sought the protection of nearly woods. The battle was over. The loss of Shaggy heavy on the Gang, with morale rock bottom and still facing an overwhelming zombie hoard, they wisely gave up the fight for the keg. 

They would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for those meddling zombies!