Customising ATZ encounters

I'm a big fan of All Things Zombie (both literally and in the context of the excellent miniatures rules). While I love the PEF (Potential Enemy Force) resolution tables as they exist, they often throw up requirements for figures I don't have. Now this is fine in many ways, and I can re-roll or fudge it to my heart's desire. (Usually, I end up thinking of new figures I would like to add to my collection!) The rulebook also suggests pre-loading PEFs, to match what figures are available, but I find myself wanting a different solution. I also would quite like a draw deck of encounters, rather than rolling on charts.

So I really want a method which is:

a) Card based
b) Reflects my collection better
c) Is easily adjustable

 To this end I am toying with the following solution. (Note it doesn't precisely reflect the probabilities of the tables in the rules, but I'm fine with that!)

I'm starting with a deck of 12 zombie cards, based upon how long it has been since the outbreak (using the divisions from the rules). Zombie cards will represent either 1d3 or 1d6 zombies:

Days	Cards with 1d3 zombies	Cards with 1d6 zombies
1-10	8	4
11-20	6	6
21-30	4	8
31+	2	10

The d3 or d6 roll will be modified as follows:

	Day	Evening	Night
Rural	-2	-1	0
Suburban	-1	0	+1
Urban	0	+1	+2

Then a certain number of cards, each representing 1d3 civilians are added to this deck, again based on the days since the outbreak

Days	Civilian cards
1-10	6
11-20	4
21-30	2
31+	None!

Again, the die roll is modified according to location and time of day:

	Day	Evening	Night
Rural	+2	+1	0
Suburban	+1	0	-1
Urban	0	-1	-2

To save referring to the tables I'd probably note the modifiers at the start of the game, so if it is evening in an urban environment, I'd just note Z+1, C-1 and only check again if the time of day changes.

Added to this I'd want to make a set of cards representing specific figures in my collection, so SWAT team guys, gang members, armed survivors and whatnot. Each card will specify the miniature and all applicable skills, weapons and stats. These would be added randomly to the 'core deck to bring it up to 24 (having the effect of there always being 50% chance of human or zombie encounters). What I like about this is that I can easily add new figures into the game as I buy them, or adjust the proportion of the character types with little effort, so I could add more military encounters if I am near a base, for example.

So if my encounter took place on day 15 of the outbreak I would have a deck consisting of:

• Six cards of 1d3 zombies
• Six cards of 1d6 zombies
• Four cards of unarmed normal civilains (REP3 for those who 'know the lingo')
• Eight cards of other random forces.

To add to the chance of getting the 'fun' cards, if a modified roll for Zombies or Civilains comes to less than 1, the card is discarded and the next one drawn.

I just thought this up on the train home from work today, so I have no idea how it will work in practice. All I knew is that I wanted the core of my collection (zombies and unarmed civilians) to be represented, along with a random selection of other figures which were prepared beforehand.

When I get a chance to try it out, I will report in full!