Resurgen: Altlanta PD in TWD

 

Looking back I remember the fifth season of The Walking Dead as a high point in my enjoyment of the series.  In the early part of the season Gareth and the Terminus survivors made for a dark, grisly antagonist while the remainder of the season introduced Dawn Lerner and the remnants of the Atlanta Police Department.  The image that stuck with me was the menace of the dark squad cars lurking in the scenes.

Lerner, while in opposition to Rick's survivors didn't have the same malevolence of either Gareth or The Governor.  I felt she was more complicated than that.  A principled person whose power base was so fractured that she found herself making devil's bargains that tore down who she was in increments.  When compared to Rick and his people in later seasons the moral imperative of the Atlanta survivors becomes even more questionable.

With some spare models in my collection I decided to create a small contingent of Atlanta Police.  Beyond an excuse to make use of some models and play around with some simple conversions I thought it might be interesting to give the some stats somewhere down the road and introduce another faction to my games of TWD.  The three officers are all converted from extra figures I got when I bought  a kickstarter set locally about a year ago.  Doubles of Scavengers Derick, Patrick, and ornery reprobate Reggie provided most of the parts for the trio of APD officers.  The group are meant to represent an ad hoc squad of officers, complete with cruiser who patrol or scavenge on behalf of their community.

The senior officer is Sergent Frank Pulaski who was under investigation by Internal Affairs before the outbreak and looking at criminal charges for some of his shadier dealings over the course of his career.  As the investigation drew tighter he was treated like a pariah and coworkers he'd been friends with for years avoided him. For him the end of civilization couldn't have come at a better time.  It's common knowledge that Frank is a nasty piece of work but his cunning and savvy make him a tooth and nails survivor the crew in at his precinct know to never count out.

Officer Frida Alvarez had been on the force for a couple years prior to the outbreak.  Alvarez was a good cop with a bright future in the department, then things fell apart.  Before, Frida wouldn't have given Frank the time of day.  The rumour was that he was dirty and she worked too hard to be tainted by association.  In the after Officer Alvarez finds herself faced with terrible decisions that she wouldn't have dreamed of which brought her into Pulaski's orbit.  She loses less sleep when she can follow orders rather than making the hard choices herself.

Officer Chad David joined the Atlanta PD less than a year ago.  Not far removed from his academy days he is by the book in a situation that has no written rules.  Officer David had delivered an perp to Piedmont Hospital on the day all hell broke loose and barely fought his way clear.  Chad is normally dependable but becomes anxious if confronted by large bodies of walkers.

The Atlanta PD project was a way to repurpose some spares I had and personalize my collection.  Somewhere down the line I would like to add some more officers and put together some rules for an APD faction.  Using cops as a TWD group allows access to a whole slew of additional archetypes for characters.  There are more police shows out there than zombie horror ones.