28mm Battle Report: Batman and Daredevil Verses Nazi Zombies

BATMAN AND DAREDEVIL FACE THE HORROR OF NAZI ZOMBIES

This game of “ZombieTV” takes place upon my usual 2x2 gaming board which has been heavily populated with lots of sandbags, trenches and bunkers. This lay-out was created in order for us to play the scenario “the Dead Will Rise” from the “ZombieTV” skirmish spin-off rule book by “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio”; albeit our game replicated a battlefield not a modern-day cemetery. The survivors have to simply get across the tabletop, corner to corner, zig-zagging through the defensive emplacements. We selected this scenario in order to get further acquainted with the variant “7TV” rules “ZombieTV” brings with it, and thought it would provide us with an excellent storyline with which to use some of my “Secrets Of The Third Reich” models by “West Wind Productions”.

“The story so far… The Phantom Stranger has recruited the help of several super-heroes in order to help him track down and stop something sinister which is happening in the past and threatening to destabilize the present as we know it. Tasked to investigate strange tales of the dead rising from their graves during the end of World War Two, Batman and Daredevil are dispatched to the Eastern Front in 1944 and immediately come under attack from Nazi Zombies. Eager to put some distance between themselves and the walking dead the two costumed crusaders embark upon a perilous route across a deserted battlefield… But just because nothing now lives within the eerily quiet trenches and bunkers, doesn’t necessarily mean nothing actually dwells there.”

THE TABLETOP - THE BUNKERS AND EMPLACEMENTS OF A BATTLEFIELD

Batman and Daredevil were placed in the northwest corner of the table, whilst a pair of zombies were placed in the northeast and southwest corners. The zombie officer leading the Undead was placed in the southeast corner. The game started with the Nazi corpses all simply slowly lurching towards the super-heroes. Batman ran east along the north edge of the table. Whilst Daredevil, snatching up a pistol from a severed hand lying on the ground, followed him. Both looked around sharply as a loud groan came from close by as a corpse clawed its way out of the ground before them.

“The Restless Dead” Event Card then caused another cadaver to pull itself from the muddy earth and before they knew it, the dynamic duo were facing two fresh Nazi zombies. With a ‘thwack’ the Dark Knight embedded a bat-a-rang into one of the zombies and moved south. Behind him, the Man Without Fear felled the latest Undead arrival with a bullet round. The noise was bound to attract further hungry zombies and to the east three more corpses stirred from their resting places.

THE RESTLESS DEAD - DAREDEVIL DISPATCHES A FRESHLY-RISEN ZOMBIE

Batman could now hear the scrambling of dead limbs clambering over battlefield emplacements all around him, and decided now was the time for a “Stirring Speech” to rouse the courage in his companion. Inspired Daredevil charged into a nearby zombie and floored it with his billy clubs. Then the blind vigilante doused the twitching corpse with gasoline from a handy nearby can of gas, and torched the fiend to oblivion. That’s one zombie that won’t be rising again. With a triumphant shout Hornhead then charged into a second walking German carcass and battered it to the ground as well.

STIRRING SPEECH - DAREDEVIL COVERS BATMAN AS THE CAPED CRUSADER HEADS SOUTH

Over the barbed-wire battlements however both heroes could hear more groaning, as their activity alerted “The Wandering Dead” and some more Third Reich walking corpses entered the table from both the northern and western edges. Batman and Daredevil swiftly headed south through the trenches as more zombies clambered over the sandbags and into the bunkers behind them. Movement up ahead alerted the Dark Knight to another corpse staggering towards him, whilst three more of the Undead were crawling out of a trench to the west.

THE WANDERING DEAD - DAREDEVIL FIGHTS A BRAVE REARGUARD ACTION

Aware that they were being encircled, the two costumed crime-fighters sought for an opening in the approaching sea of clawing walking dead. A hand latched onto the Man Without Fear, and his billy club knocked the half-rotting ghoul to the ground. With a shout Daredevil charged into another cadaver and felled the fiend as well. Batman, sensing an opportunity to possibly split the hungry zombies rushed east using a (less than) Heroic Surge. Realising his back was no longer being covered, Daredevil used his Heroic Surge to leap over a wall of sandbags in front of him and put some distance between himself and the living German dead.

THE COWARDLY CRUSADER - BATMAN MAKES A BREAK FOR IT WHILST DAREDEVIL FIGHTS ON

Despite rushing ahead, the caped crusader once again found himself facing Nazi zombies as two more rose from the mud before his very eyes. Doubtless woken by the low moan coming from the upright corpse of a German Officer in a nearby bunker. With a daring leap the Dark Knight leapt over a nearby pile of sandbags and past the hungry zombies. Daredevil too was facing many more of the living dead to the north, so charged into the fiends, breaking the head of one with his billy club. The Man Without Fear then started clambering up over an empty gun emplacement. But suddenly three more zombies pushed free from the muddy ground and staggered towards him.

TRAPPED - DAREDEVIL FAILS TO CLIMB INTO A TRENCH

With a loud groan, one corpse caught hold of Daredevil’s shoulder and pulled him back into the horde of snapping jaws behind him. The zombies were all around him now, tearing at him, desperate to get a firm hold and bite his flesh. Batman, sensing his comrade’s fatal plight, turned to give assistance and… “Cut!”

 The zombies were now assailing Daredevil with great energy. Hornhead punched one ghoul but failed to hurt it. He lashed out at another. But again their grip on him never slackened. One fiend tried to take a bite out of his shoulder, but missed. Whilst another, tottering over some nearby sandbags lurched towards him its arms outstretched for a deadly painful embrace. The Undead were also trying to take hold of Batman, but the caped crusader managed to dodge away from their fatal reach.

SURROUNDED - DAREDEVIL STARTS TO GET OVERWHELMED BY THE WALKING DEAD

Deciding now was the time to “Seize The Moment” and automatically win the initiative Batman punched a nearby zombie in the face before heading southeast and safety. Behind him he could hear The Man Without Fear vainly resisting the advances of the surging Undead. A cry alerted Bruce Wayne to the fact that Daredevil had at last been bitten by the zombies; Matt Murdock’s death was now sadly but surely inevitable. A tug on his cape brought Batman back to reality as he tore free of the Third Reich corpse’s grip and utilised “Behind The Sofa”; allowing him to move that bit closer to the southeast corner.

BITTEN - THE ZOMBIES START TO FEAST UPON THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR AS BATMAN ESCAPES

Tasting blood the zombies swarmed over Daredevil, and with a faint final cry his red costume disappeared beneath a sea of German field-grey uniforms. Meanwhile, uncovering a hidden tunnel beneath the final obstacle to his goal and safety, Batman quickly cleared his escape route of debris and slipped away like a ‘Sewer Rat’ to continue the Phantom Stranger’s mission…

EATEN - BATMAN LEAVES THE BATTLEFIELD AS DAREDEVIL MEETS A GRISLY END

Having ended the game we looked to the Victory Points to establish just who had won. As Batman has survived with his 3 Hits still intact the super-heroes were awarded 3 Victory Points. Unfortunately, the Undead were awarded 2 Victory Points for 'overwholeming' Daredevil and a further 3 Victory Points for reducing the Survivor Side to half their models... so a win for the long-dead Third Reich. For now anyway...