Saturday 26 January 2019

"Resident Evil 2" Board Game Report: Spider-Man & Black Widow Verses Zombies - Part Two

SPIDER-MAN AND THE BLACK WIDOW BATTLE BRAIN-CHOMPING ZOMBIES
"The story so far... Whilst visiting Raccoon City on a photography assignment, the Daily Bugle's Peter Parker has uncovered some alarming report's concerning the Umbrella Corporation. Having contacted the Avenger, Natalia Romanova, for some much needed support, the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man has donned his crime-fighting costume and started to make his way to Raccoon City's Police Department. However, both Web-head and the Black Widow soon find their way to their rendezvous point blocked by the brain-chomping Undead..."
THE TABLETOP -  THE ALLEYWAYS AND ROOMS SURROUNDING THE R.C.P.D. BUILDING

Trapped at the beginning of an alleyway, Spider-Man utilised his web-shooters to their maximum potential by rapidly firing three volleys of webbing at the fast-approaching zombie in front of him. The Daily Bugle photographer's aim was off though, and only succeeded in allowing the Undead cadaver blocking off his escape root to make an "Out-Of-Sequence" Reaction, and stumble directly into the costumed crime-fighter.

Ordinarily, any subsequent attack risked the chance that the flesh-eating ghoul would be able to gouge a chunk out of its prey, however, because Web-head had the "Cool Under Fire" special ability, it was agreed that he would be able to use his web-shooters (an item) on this one occasion "while one or more enemies are in his square without making an evade roll." This decision potentially somewhat jarred with the rule "Attacking An Enemy In The Same Square", within where it states "If the attack is unsuccessful, the targeted enemy makes a basic attack which cannot be evaded", but it was felt under the circumstances that our 'house rule' better represented the smart-mouthed vigilante characteristically keeping his head when under intense pressure.
SPIDER-MAN DEMONSTRATES HIS "COOL UNDER FIRE" SPECIAL ABILITY
Shockingly, the triple attack once again missed, and it was only during Spider-Man's third action that he finally managed to buy a little breathing room by pushing the moaning minion backwards. A fourth attempt to overcome his foe resulted in the super-hero completely running out of web-fluid and the walking dead being right at his throat. The Black Widow would seemingly need to come to the rescue of Peter Parker's alter-ego. However, having sensed movement inside the Upper Room, Natalia ended her activation outside the location's open eastern door. Confirming her worst fears, Romanova spotted a zombie shuffling towards her...

Spider-Man attempted to somersault over the Undead corpse before him, and evading the ghoulish monster's attack bounded north past his ungodly opponent and further up the alleyway. Behind him, the youth could hear his pursuer groan and turn in his direction. Meanwhile, the Black Widow managed to push the zombie bothering her up against the Upper Room's locked south-western door with a triple blast from her Stingers, and race up to the door which adjoined the Final Room. The walking ghoul at the Avenger's location slowly stumbled north towards the black-clad S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.
THE BLACK WIDOW BLASTS AWAY AT THE WALKING DEAD
Activating her "Reckless" special ability, the Black Widow took "an out-of sequence activation" and opened the door to the Final Room. A double-zap from her Stingers pushed its Undead occupant from the centre of the location back to the R.C.P.D. entranceway. With a groan, the zombie lurched towards his assailant, whilst behind Natalia she could hear the brain-hungry ghoul in the Upper Room shuffling after her. Meanwhile, Spider-Man, deciding against entering the Tiny Room, simply rushed up to the Upper Room's locked south-western door and caught his breath. The walking cadaver he'd previously somersaulted over could be heard slowly stumbling along the alleyway some way behind him.

Peter Parker's alter-ego opened the door to the Upper Room and due to not having any remaining web-fluid acrobatically made his way towards the building's north-east corner. His dramatic entry caused the location's zombie to turn its full attention upon him rather than Romanova, and it closed to within biting range. Unfortunately the sound also allowed the Undead in the Final Room to react too, and the zed frighteningly closed upon the Black Widow as a result.
SPIDER-MAN RACES TOWARDS THE BLACK WIDOW'S FINAL BATTLE
Despite "attacking at point-blank range... only [being] advisable as a last resort" Natalia manged to push her attacker back and took the opportunity to run to the R.C.P.D. entranceway. With an inhuman snarl, the zombie lurched towards her, hoping to get in a tasty bite before his prey escaped. Behind them, the ravenous brain-eater circling Spider-Man attacked, but was unable to take a chunk out of the costumed crime-fighter due to the super-hero's spider-sense.

The Daily Bugle photographer finally kicked free of the hungry monster and sped into the Final Room, slamming shut the Upper Room's door as he went. Unfortunately, the noise caused the zombie which had been previously bothering the Black Widow to leap upon Spider-Man instead, and only the youth's speedy reflexes saved him from a nasty bite.
THE BLACK WIDOW OPENS THE ROUTE TO THE RACCOON CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT
Realising that her would-be-assailant in the Final Room was now otherwise occupied, Romanova decided to put her mission first and foremost, and escaped through the entranceway into the Racoon City Police Department. As she sought sanctuary she heard her costumed companion somehow manage to dodge yet another attack from the walking dead.

However, Spider-Man was unable to steer clear of a savage claw down his arm as he hurled his opponent backwards one final time and raced to the safety of the R.C.P.D. himself. Fortunately, he felt he would have time to tend to his solitary wound before returning to his investigation of the Umbrella Corporation, and perhaps by then other super-heroes would have joined his cause...

8 comments:

  1. Great conclusion Simon, like the house rule you used to better depict the characters in play. To better represent the characters I think they should have a lot more shots available to them, just a suggestion

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    1. Thanks very much indeed, Dave. To be fair the super-heroes' firing was absolutely shocking, so 15 bullets (as it were) should have been more than enough. Plus, there's usually plenty of ammunition (and an additional weapon) dotted about the board in the opening scenario too, imho. Unfortunately, the dice simply weren't with either Spidey or Black Widow. A free reload or something though might come in down the road if this sort of thing keeps happening :-)

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    1. Cheers Simon. I was originally hoping to cover the game in a single post, but it was a long scenario :-)

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  3. Having played this scenario three times and completed it successfully each time, it is an easy introduction to the game. Admittedly, I was using four characters and my dice rolls were much better than yours. I'm sure if you played the game again, you'd have better luck. Still, at least the two heroes escaped without serious injury. I hope you post more RE2 scenarios.

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    1. Thanks Bryan, I've played the 'opener' a few times myself, and this was by far the worst dice rolling I've experienced. But the scenario is a good introduction to the basic game mechanics. I'm hoping to post some more "Resident Evil 2" BatReps, as I'm going to try and scale down the rule-sets I play this year - and "Resident Evil 2" is one of ones I've chosen to stick with :-)

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  4. I love how you change up the games with alternate heroes. Brilliant

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    1. Cheers Andy. I do like to mix things up a bit when I can :-)

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