It happens every Spring in Malton. The snow finally starts melting. The days start getting longer. Birds can be heard chirping. And thousands of zombies began to wander the city, looking to slaughter every man, woman and child foolish enough to remain in our lovely zombie city.
Yes, it must be Big Bash season, and the love of harman genocide is still in the air. This past week, the Malton Herald and Sun were lucky enough to sit down with Bash organizers Bisfan, Aichon, Amber and Skoll and find out exactly what goes on behind the scenes of everyone’s favorite event.
MHS:This is third time a Bash has been organized in Malton. What has made this Bash different from years past?
Aichon: I was here! Since I only joined the game about a year ago, I missed out on a lot of the big events of Malton’s history. Being asked to help out with Big Bash 3 was a real treat for me, since I knew this was a chance for me to be involved in something big that others would be reading about for years to come.
Besides me being around (which isn’t actually that important), I think one big difference with this Bash was that we had zombie interference working for us. Older Bashers will remember Giddings Mall and the frustrating month-long siege of it in Big Bash II, but thanks to the introduction of interference, we were able to keep Big Bash 3 almost entirely feral while making steady progress, which was a first.
Bisfan: Aside from the “3” at the end of the Bash? ;)
More seriously, a lot of effort went into making this Bash capture the spirit of both previous Bashes. It has attempted to bring together players, in the spirit of fun, and encouraged them to embrace a play-style akin to a zombie wrecking ball. This Bash hasn’t been about “being different”, it’s been about encouraging fun. Malton is suffused with drama, and the intent here has been to try and put drama aside, and just do what zombies do best; eat stuff and mess places up.
Amber: I’ve only seen the last two bashes but I’ve noticed a couple differences. There was more of a sense of community. There was a wider variety of old and new zombies from other hordes wanting to get involved on some level. And there were more brains during BBII. I might be showing my age, but I find myself longing for epic sieges such as the Battle for Pitneybank, just so I can point to it and tell babahz “You see? This is why we’re still shambling.” Bizzles will probably recoil at it’s mention, but that moment - The birth of the beachhead - there hasn’t been anything like it since and there probably won’t be for a while. And don’t get me wrong. I remember throwing all my energy at barricades and barely taking them down to very heavy. Or getting headshot two or three times daily when bigger zombies opened the doors for me. And getting combat revived before I could finish a meal and popping inside to listen to the frantic screams, barked orders and pleas for help on the radio. Or getting zerg rushed - clawed down and set up a headshot while Bub swayed in the corner of Byrne Auto Repair. I remember it all quite vividly. But all of that is what made the pink, fleshy center of the mall and the Morrish Building so much more sweet.
Skoll: While this is my first time participating in a Big Bash, I would have to say what made things different from the previous two were fundamental changes in tactics such as cade blocking and the new bellow which draws zombies from a 21x21 radius. Clears buildings quick. I can also say that whole suburbs fell within a day or two during this bash, which is something that didn’t happen with the previous two.
MHS: Now I know its hard for some of your brainrotted zombies to remember, but what has been your favorite memory so far with the Big Bash III?
**Aichon:**Probably when the buzz about BB3 was first building was a high point for me. For me, as word started to leak that the Bash was coming, it was a lot of fun to see people getting really excited at just the prospect of another Bash. And when we finally posted a countdown to the big announcement on the wiki page, it seemed to me like the wiki and IRC just exploded with activity. Seeing that the wiki page had been visited something like 3000+ times in the week that we just had the countdown posted was pretty amazing to me. That’s probably when it first sunk in for me that I was part of something big.
As for during the event, it’s hard to pick just one. Arriving in Pitneybank and trashing the entire place, including the fort and the mall, in about a day and without any real organization was a major demonstration of what the Big Bash could do. And, before that, when we were first starting out and were moving so fast through the city that we were getting complaints from people trying to join up that we had moved 8-10 suburbs in the time it took them to get to where we had been just a few days earlier…that’s always a nice affirmation. We also sprayed a lot of graffiti around the city in the month or so before the event started, and it was always great when we’d break into a building and see one of our messages such as “Big Bash 3 Entry Point” or “Spread the undead - Join BB3!” inside.
Bisfan: The thing I appreciate most about this Bash has been the number of zambahz who have stepped up to contribute to it. Whether it be working in a strike team, acting as ambassadors to the myriad established zambah gangz in town, administratively behind the scenes, scouting…so many of the zambahz involved have been keen to help that it has made it a pleasure to be involved.
For a specific moment…I would have to say it was a rare zambah visit to Miltown, and breaching the Fliney Necrotech Building there. There was nothing epic about it, it was just a routine break-in, like you’d see on any other day in Malton, but in another life I have worked very hard to keep Miltown safe, and Fliney NT in particular so it was a rare and personal pleasure to be there on the side this time :D
**Amber:**Probably when when an ex-escapist told me that the bash had changed his perspective significantly. It reminded me a lot of how BBII changed my views.
**Skoll:**My favorite memory? Theres so many, the entire event was so much fun, but I’ll try to pick just one… I’d have to say my favorite memories are the collective breaching and beachheading of malls that H.A.R.M. accomplished as the Bash’s only organized strike team. Except for Treweeke and Caiger, we were the ones that led the charge on every mall in Malton when the Bash came knocking.MHS: When the Bash started, the zombie:food ratio was only 35:65. Now, Escape is gone, downtown is secure, and Malton is currently mostly red, thanks to the Bash’s efforts. Are we witnessing a new era of Zombie dominance?
**Aichon:**Well, to be fair, it wasn’t just the Bash that did it; we were merely the ones that helped to tip the scale. I’m of the opinion that having one extra horde in addition to the ones we currently have makes all the difference between merely holding our own and absolutely dominating. Coming into it, we all kinda knew that Big Bash 3 was going to tip the scale, but, if this game is meant to survive, zombies can’t dominate forever any more than survivors should. We’ve had our fun, we’ve shown the harmanz what we can and will do if they push us too far or try to take too much for themselves, and now our time is at an end, as well it should be.
For at least awhile, zombies will have dominance. After that though, who knows? Here’s hoping!
**Bisfan:**We can’t take away from the efforts of the hordes of Malton. The Bash as an event has messed stuff up fantastically well, but it’s the dedicated hordes of Malton that keep the city dangerous. Is this a new era of zambah dominance? Not really…we all know that in the end, only the zambahz can win anyway; sure, you can revive a zambah, but there is no cure. We may hit some speedhumps on the road to victory, periods where it feels like the harmanz are dominating, but every zambah knows that when that occurs, it just means there’s more food…and more opportunities for glorious slaughter.
Will the current zambah dominant ratio continue? Only time will tell. But when the final reckoning has occurred, we all know that all flesh will have been eaten…
**Amber:**love your choice of words there. Lately I’ve taken to ordering humans to RAHN! GAHN, RAHN!
I’ll let you in on a “secret” that a very old zombie once told me: This city has always been ruled by death. Humans just refuse to accept it. Whether it’s one barn, Gr!gg, or some random bazaar, when a zombie tells you “-!Z ARHZ” you have a choice: you can either accept it, ambrahz Barhah and join in the feast with your undead overlords, or shuffle off and stand in line waiting for a needle like a wretched little mrh cow.
And I don’t think there’s any reason for zombies to humor this trenchcoated delusion that they’re second class citizens. I mean, sure it’s hard being a babah and getting to secured doors and not being able to open them but it’s all part of the learning process. If survivors weren’t spoon fed this ridiculous notion that a zombie apocalypse is supposed to be their chance to be a hero, maybe they’d learn to adapt like we had to in the early days of the outbreak. Sure we might look and smell offensive and drool a little on occasion, but we’re physically and intellectually superior to humans. We don’t need FAKtories. We don’t need drugs or guns. And this concept of a “safe house” is just absurd. I’m not calling survivors dumb…but I don’t think there’s any reason to believe that a life of fear, frustration and anxiety is in any way superior to reveling in undeath. I mean if you’re into that sort of thing, that’s fine. But zombies just have more fun and clearly this is the more intelligent lifestyle choice in Malton.
**Skoll:**I’d say with the lower population number and the generally higher coordination amongst the zombie hordes needed to be effective, as well as the definite zombie bias in Urban Dead, theres no question of zombie dominance. Its never a matter of holding us back, its a matter of how long it takes us to eat you.
MHS: Now everyone knows what happens at a Big Bash party, stays at a Big Bash party. But…you can tell us at least one story? Right? Off the record?
Aichon: Honestly, it’s kinda a haze. I think it’s all the oxygenated blood I’ve been consuming. Beats the scraps I’m used to, but it does have a tendency to make the lights sparkle and noises sound like they’re coming from inside a long tunnel.
Bisfan: Well, you didn’t hear it from me, but let’s just say Aichon, Moonie and Amber doing a scene perfect re-enactment of Zombie Strippers in the back room was something to behold…or did I just imagine that?
Amber: If you’ve got more booze…
Skoll: If I told you, I’d have to kill you. That and I don’t need anymore charges brought against me.
MHS: Some so-called experts believe that harmanz are slowly being hunted to extinction, and that mega-hordes such as the Bash not only show a distinct lack of foresight with regard to responsible harvesting and resource management, but are a main reason for our dwindling food supply. As one of the Bash’s leaders, what do you think? Are we really running out of food?
Aichon: Ehh…yes and no. If the Bash had actually coordinated with the other mega-hordes in order to wipe out harmanz and had treated the game as serious business, I honestly do believe that we could have swung the ratio WAY over in our favor and wiped out most of the survivors. I really do. But that wasn’t what the Bash was about.
Instead, we mostly just talked to the other hordes so that we wouldn’t encroach on each other, and then we just did our own thing (i.e. goofed off). We never took it seriously, nor did we didn’t make a big point of choosing routes that were designed to cause destruction. Even so, we did cause a good bit of damage, which we recognize, and so we’re ending things while we’re in our prime. These allegations of us showing a “lack of foresight” are unwarranted and untrue (and those harman “experts” can grab my manbagz).
Bisfan: In a nutshell, yes. But we’re also running out of zambahz to eat the food. Events like the Bash artificially inflate zambah numbers as long somnolent zambahz shrug off sleep to get involved. But when the party ends, and things wind down, a fair portion of those zambahz go back to sleep and we return to a period of status quo.
And Malton is shrinking. This lockdown has been on for over five years now. The population is a shadow of its former glory, and it feels like forever since we woke up to the scattered street candy of times like Yahoomas. Will we run out of food? Inevitably yes, but every zambah knows attrition is the natural state of things.
**Amber:**Fore-siiight? Look, I’m no bureaucrat. I’m just one zombie who likes to party. I mean, sure I think about the future of Malton like every other zombie out there. But speculation is a bit like masturbation, isn’t it? You satisfy yourself but did you actually accomplish anything? Just take each meal as it comes and be grateful for it. And if there’s enough to share with your zetheren? Well, that’s a little bash right there, isn’t it?
Skoll: As long as there’s trenchies, theres food.
MHS: Now that the Bash is winding down, what’s next?
Aichon: Well, as I mentioned, a big part of the Bash was showing feral zombies what it’s like to be a part of something big. For them, there are plenty of things to do next. They could return to their lone feral ways, or they might choose to join up with one of the other hordes in the game and pursue things with them. I’m hopeful that the other hordes will see a boost in numbers following our close. I’ve also already been hearing whispers and rumors of Mall Tour ‘11…
**Bisfan:**That’s a question for someone else. As the Bash winds down, I find myself feeling weary. Ennui has set in, and I will be going to sleep. It will be up to those who have stepped up during the Bash to determine what its legacy will be. For myself, it will be the sleep of the dead…
Amber: Maybe we’ll all get revived and re-take the fort. That’d be really wild
**Skoll:**Conceivably, Mall Tour ‘11 will be next… Or maybe even another Naked Twister Party. Who knows? I’m sure 2011 will have some great things instore for Malton. BARHAH!
MHS: Well, thank you again for your time and helping show Malton the true spirit of Barhah. As always, it has been fun.
