Zomtober 4 - Total Shambles

I'm going to have admit it. I've struggled with this year's Zomtober.

It's been a combination of having a lot on in terms of work (lots of marking and meetings) and home (redecorating the living room...not that I actually did the work), not really being fired up by Zombies (I'm in a Bat-fad at the moment) and having done a lot last year I don't feel the pressure to do lots more.

However, I signed up, and I will damn well complete the month!

So here's my offering:

This picture is terrible. It isn't that bad on my phone. Does anybody know why it's gone all blurry when I uploaded it?

This is a plastic Studio Miniatures Z-Clipz zombie. It's not the most exciting figure in the world - a flaw that's exacerbated by the lack of variety in Studio's plastic zombies - but it's a damn sight better than the molten lumps that are the Wargames Factory male zombies I did last year. Also, the head holds more detail than I initially gave it credit for.

To suit the mundanity of the model, I've painted him simply as an office drone. For the other Studio zombies I've got (about half a dozen), I'm going to have to be creative with painting and maybe converting to make them a bit more interesting.

Anyway, I think that's it for Zomtober this year. It's been good to clear some stuff that has been gathering dust, and I now have a proper batch of survivors, so some actual games could be on the cards...

Send in the Clowns

I managed to get another game of Batman Miniatures at the weekend. Wes was my opponent for the third time in the space of a few weeks. However, rather than repeating the Batman vs League of Shadows tussles we've been having, we both ran with different gangs.

I rolled out Joker and his clowns, and the gang was made up as follows:

Joker: Rep 90

Harley Quinn: Rep 61

Ringmaster (Clown Painting): Rep 32, $150

Sniggering (Magazine): Rep 25, $800

Contra-Auguste: Rep 21

Clown with Shield: Rep 16

High Security Prisoner: Rep 48

Wes has now bought into the game with the intention of building a gang based on the TV series 'Arrow'. He's using proxies where appropriate.models aren't available:

Green Arrow: Rep 117, $300

Huntress: Rep 66, $100

Canary/Catwoman: Rep 66

Det. Lance/ Agent Ron (Magazine & Flashlight): Rep 25, $600

Diggle/Policeman with Baton: Rep 16

The scenario we rolled up was Chance Encounter, which required all the objectives to be set up in the middle with both gangs starting off the field of battle.

Whilst we're on the subject of objectives, I've recently put together my own set of objectives. I still want to add some detail to the Titan Containers. I decided to use the guy with the briefcase as a loot counter as I didn't have enough sacks to make a second loot pile. They're not amazing, but they do the job.

Here's the set up of the objectives at the beginning of the game. Wes' Ammo Crate and my Titan Container are in the warehouse, whilst both Riddles and both Loot counters are out in the street.

And now onto the game itself. Rather than do a comic, I'll just do this report with pictures and a brief description because the game didn't really lend itself to any narrative other than 'there was this massive fight'.

Turn 1

All seemed quiet on the streets of Starling City as one of Frank Bertinelli's men got out of his cab to wait for his contact, who who hand over payment for the 'merchandise'.

Lying in wait for her target, Huntress was so intent on her quarry that she was attacked from behind by a giggling psycho in a clown mask.

Alerted to the sound of a fight, Officer Lance attempted to investigate, but was similarly set upon by an armoured clown. What were the Joker's men doing in Starling?

The street brawl grew as the city's vigilantes, ostensibly on the trail of the Huntress, leapt to intervene. Canary rushed to the aid of her father...

...whilst the Arrow took to the rooftops.

However, in all the commotion, nobody noticed another clown silently break into a nearby warehouse.

(It's worth noting that the Joker arrived this turn, but managed to miss Canary with his one shot gun.)

Turn 2

Still unnoticed, the sniggering assassin moved into a firing position at one of the warehouse windows (in base contact with the Ammo Crate).

Shots rang out and the Huntress was sent sprawling on the floor, bleeding from multiple wounds.

Meanwhile, another Clown successfully managed to plant a Smilex bomb in the middle of the road...potentially causing carnage in the parade the following day. (Riddle solved)

Ever the opportunist, Harley Quinn, spotted some cuddly toys on the back seat of a nearby car and decided that she 'just had to have them!' (Loot counter picked up)

Turn 3

The brawl continued apace. With Lance outnumbered and Huntress severely injured, Canary realised that the arrival of the Clown Prince of Crime would tip the balance of the fight against her, and so tried to make a tactical retreat to regroup.

However, this left the others vulnerable, and Huntress was shot again, overcome by her injuries and slumped to the floor.

With Canary fleeing the cage, the chuckling Master of Mirth took his opportunity to sidle up the prostrate form of Officer Lance and plant a blade between his ribs.

Too late to help, Diggle arrived to witness an opportunist clown collect his boss' payment from Bertinelli's goon for the chaos they were going to cause.

With all other elements of the plan going so well, Harley Quinn took her plush booty (meaning the Loot...nothing else) over to the warehouse, beyond which the Joker's van was parked.

Turn 4

Looking down from above, the Arrow saw his 'allies' in dire straits. His concern for them was clearly throwing off his aim and he would probably need to wait until the end of the series, and the city was in ruins, before he had the faintest clue what was actually going on.

Canary was set upon by yet another of the Joker's goons: a knife wielding psycho from Iron Heights.

She once again tried to retreat, but was assaulted by a whole troop of clowns and succumbed to their blows.

Not wanting to bother reading the rules about gangs breaking from combat, we decided to end the game there with a brutal victory for the Joker.

To be fair to Wes, I think he was hit by a perfect storm of circumstances that led to his defeat.

 - although were were both fighting with new gangs, the Joker's henchmen all having the Trickster rule really made them easier to adapt to

 - the good guys were outnumbered but scenario meant that they were unable to keep their distance and use their ranged superiority

 - extra men meant the Joker Gang were able to fight and grab objectives at re same time

 - Green Arrow misfiring meant that Wes was effectively fighting with a 200 rep gang

 - lack of familiarity with the Joker crew meant that Wes was not really aware of how dangerous Sniggering's assault rifle was until it was too late

 - the Joker was on fire when doing damage, twice inflicting his maximum blood total to dispatch both Lance and Canary in short order, neither of us were clear on how best to deal with him using Wes' gang

It was still a good game and adding in the objectives did make the game more interesting than a straight fight.

We made loads of mistakes with the rules, as we were unfamiliar with our gangs and forgot how several things worked from last time.

Now that we have a few games under our belts, I'm going to spend half term re-reading the rules and making up some crib sheets for the skills of particular gangs. Specifically, I'll make one for Wes as he's going to stick with this line up to learn their rules properly.

With that out of the way, I can now get back to Zomtober.

Zomtober 3 - Out Of Time

Not a very exciting post today as I've been somewhat busy with it being my daughter's birthday this week.

I've also been busy with some Batman bits (of which, more this week), so I've only done one survivor.

I'm not sure why, but I want to call this guy Bill. He's the first survivor model I've done which the name is not based on a tedious pop culture reference.

Bill's an ordinary guy, who had an ordinary family, an ordinary job and live an ordinary life...then everything changed.

Now he packs a shotgun he took from an abandoned police cruiser and he's out on his own. Although he's lost everything, Bill has found that he's coping quite well with his new, out-of-the-ordinary, life.

The model is actually made from a Studio  Miniatures Z-Clips body, and the head and arms from the Wargames Factory make survivors sprue.

I promise to do more this week.

Zomtober 2 - Faces From The Past

It's that time of the week and I present my offering of fresh meat on the slab of Zomtober:

To be honest, just like last week, these models weren't actually painted last week. They're all models I've had for some time that have been, to varying degrees, re-touched, re-painted and re-based. This year Zomtober is helping me to clear the decks quite effectively.

As you may remember from last year, I like to give my survivors names with cliched pop-culture references. So, without further ado, I'll introduce the team.

Daniel Bielski (to my mind he looks like Daniel Craig's character in 'Defiance') is the leader of a group of survivors. Tough and uncompromising, Danny is determined to do whatever it takes to keep his group alive. 

The model is a KGB man from Copplestone Castings' Kiss Kiss Bang Bang range.

Carlton is from a rich family and is not the most practically minded individual. Prone to panic and moaning about the life he left behind.

Another KGB man. From way back the suit with roll-neck sweater just made me think of the character in 'The Fresh Prince of Bel Air'. This picture has also made me realise that his eye has spread onto his nose and needs fixing.

Mitchell was a car-mechanic before the outbreak. Gruffly spoken and likely to solve problems with his fists, Mitchell seems to have a limited range of facial expressions.

The last KGB man from the pack. I've done his jacket in black ink so that it's a little shiny like leather, however it doesn't show up well in this photo. And yes, I do think this looks like Ross Kemp.

Ellen is a trucker who was the only survivor to escape the epicentre of the outbreak. Over time, she's learned how to protect herself and is prone to taking extreme measure to eradicate Zombies. It's the only way to be sure.

I have no idea where this model came from, but I've had it for at least twenty years. She was part of my Necromunda gang which was named after the characters from Aliens (I've never been good with names). This model was Ripley...thus she's now Ellen.

On a separate note potentially of interest to Zomtober visitors, I watched a film called 'Stake Land' this week. Although technically dealing with vampires rather than zombies, apart from a couple of moments, it could easily have been fast zombies.

What was particularly good was that it didn't focus on the outbreak but on survival in the post-apocalypse world. It also avoided many of the group dynamic cliches usually found, and generally, folk behaved in a cautious and more believable manner.

It had a quiet and measured tone, but with plenty of action thrown in. I'd definitely recommend it to my fellow Zomtoberists.

Also this week we had a game of Black Powder to introduce Wes and Pete to the rules. Realising that I had no skirmishers painted, I quickly fixed that problem to at least give my brigade some options in terms of formation.

While I was at it, I took the opportunity to paint something a little different. I did a detachment of the 1st US Sharpshooters. It gives me something a little different (not blue) and will also give me variety in the game.

The game was fun as the four of us either  got to grips with or struggled to remember the rules. Matt and I won through a combination of knowing the rules (when our opponents didn't) fortunate dice roles and having nearly twice as many units painted as our opponents.

That wasn't the point though. Pete and Wes got a hang of the rules and know that they know that Black Powder doesn't really have a points system, I suspect a full on painting arms race will ensue.

Speaking of which, where did I put that artillery?

Zomtober 1 - Zed Rising

It's just about still Sunday, so here's my first Zomtober post.

These three chaps are Mantic plastic zombies I won in a blog giveaway. As they're a bit bulkier and feral looking than the Wargames Factory zombies I've used  previously, I'm planning on using these as fast zombies.

I have to admit that I've cheated a little bit as I'd actually painted most of these some time ago. I had planned to do some survivors, but a complicated week that involved flat tyres, train journeys, hospitals and wargames shows has left me with very little time and so I figured I'd finished these guys off to sneak under the deadline.

I still need to dry brush the bases and repaint the feet where I've ham-fistedly splattered grey paint, but at least I'm off and running.

In other news, I went to the Derby World Wargames show today. Lots to see but I kept the spending light. A few bits if urban scenery, some 6mm ACW artillery and a few Bolt Action pin markers was all I bought.

Expect to see these making an appearance soon.

Zomtober Reborn (on a Monday)

It's that time of year again, when the noxious undead claw and clamber their way out of lead piles across the globe and shamble into the pale light of the blogosphere.

The basics are this:

Paint some zombies or survivors each week of Zomtober.

Post them on your blog before the Sunday of each week.

Simples.

Last year I mainly focused on Zombies, getting a starter horde of roughly two dozen done. This year, I have a plan to build some themed survivors from the Wargames Factory boxes, although some additional shamblers may make an appearance.

However, to kick things off and round off my recent spate of Batman related gubbins, I present my pre-Zomtober offering of: Solomon Grundy!

Yes, I'm aware that it's actually the Hulk miniature from Knight Models, but I've been being creative.

I originally got this model for my birthday in April, and I was intending to use him as part of my Matvel project. However, this miniature is pretty big next to 35mm miniatures and just dwarfed my 28mm superheroes, so he never got painted.

I was intending to sell him to find the purchase of new Batman minis, but it occurred to me that with the right paint job he'd pass for Grundy. Admittedly his clothes are a bit more torn than most versions of Solomon Grundy, but I didn't have to search for long to find something to convince me that this would just end up looking like Grey Hulk...

Despite his size, this model was really straightforward to paint and I'm really happy with the outcome. I still need to fill a decent sized gap under his left arm, and I think I want to do a little bit more work on a mould line over his shoulders, but I've impressed my self with the whole concept of this model.

So, Zomtober is up and running. Trying to get something done this week could actually be tricky, as I'm away most of the weekend, so I'll probably start small.

If you want to get involved in Zomtober, all you need to do is head over to Brummie's Wargaming Blog and sign up on this link:

http://brummieswargamingblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/zomtober-2014.html?m=1

I Believe in Harvey Dent

There's a new face in town.

Two-Face. Former District Attorney Harvey Dent. The bipolar bad guy of divided loyalties, ruled by Lady Luck and his double-headed silver dollar.

Two-Face has always been one if my favourite Batman villains, even though the crimes themed to the number 2, are a bit crap (pun intended). His origin story is one of the most interesting, especially as told in The Long Halloween.

The miniature is another Heroclix model, and one if the better sculpts. It was also a doddle to paint as it had a pretty decent paint job already and just needed touching up here and there before being given a was.

I've held off 'painting' Harvey for some time as I didn't have a gang for him. However, when I recently ordered Poison Ivy, I took the opportunity to get a couple of henchmen for the Two-Face gang.

I went for an orange and black colour scheme as I'm beginning to like the running theme of orange jumpsuits running through most of the henchmen (and some of the Free Agents) I'm painting. It means that the ubiquitous Blackgate Prisoners gel well with whichever gang they're attached to, but the little differences, Two-Face's half and half design or Joker's clown masks, provide enough difference for easy distinction on the tabletop.

Although I'm really happy with how their uniforms turned out, I have to admit that I didn't particularly enjoy painting the guy wit the axe.

The rubber mask he's wearing prevented me from really being satisfied with the face. I don't like the look of the masks from the Arkham City game and now that  Knight Models are releasing Mobsters as alternative henchmen for Harv, I'm not sure whether to get more of the same or switch to Mobsters.

Further complicating matters is the fact that there isn't another pack of henchmen for Two-Face. If I stick with the prisoner style gang, I'll need to buy the starter pack, which will include another Harv. Hmmm...choices...

Anyway, I've also finished another three sewer entrances, bringing my total to six, which, barring special rules, is how many you need for a game. 

They're from Fenris Games. They do a set of Gotham Sewers, but they didn't have any at the Other Partizan show, so I bought a mixed set. This hassle the rather dull job of painting them at least a little varied.