Me Stylish?!?

Much to my surprise, I was nominated for a "Stylish Blogger Award".  Surprised, because A) I didn't even know such a  thing existed and B) because, I've been called lots of things during my days, and "stylish" has never been one of them.

As I said, I didn't know that such an award existed, so the first thing I set about doing is finding out what, exactly, the whole thing was about.  Here is what I found...there are rules (of course, why wouldn't there be?). 

To receive the award there are four steps to follow:

1. Send a thank you and a link to the nominating blog.
2. Share seven things about yourself.
3. Pass the word on to 10 or so other deserving blogs.
4. Let them know of your nominating them for the award.

Well, it all sounds easy enough, so I set about fulfilling the rules and criteria.  I found some things out along the way.
#1 - It's really hard to sound gracious, and not come off like a duff.  Sending thank yous for the nomination, I had this visual loop running through my head of me as a weepy eyed Sally Fields accepting the award...disturbing.
#2 - I am my favorite subject; it's hard, when pressed, though, coming up with 7 things people might find interesting about me.
#3 - I am relatively new to the whole blog-o-sphere thing; I am a sort of Luddite in that respect.  Rummaging around looking for 10 sites to nominate, though I've found there are a plethora of excellent sites out there, full of eye candy, creativity and gaming resources galore.

Now, On to "7 Things About Me" or "Things people didn't really care to know..."

1. I have been married 19 years; father of two; ages 18 and 14.  My son starts his path to becoming an Officer in the U.S. Army in 23 days (we are very proud of him) and my daughter, the aspiring musician, starts high school next year (we are proud of her, too; I guess)
2. I am a United States Marine Corps veteran and life time member of the VFW.
3. Despite being an IT professional for over 25 years, my idyllic lifestyle would be to chuck it all and live in a rustic cabin in the woods, sans 90% of the daily technology we live with.
4. My first gaming memory is sitting on the living room floor playing Avalon Hill's "Panzer Blitz" and "Panzer Leader" with my dad as a child.
5. I paint and scratch-build terrain more than I game; selling off most of what I produce.  It pays for my hobby as well as keeping my shelves free of clutter.This blog is intended to get me gaming more.
6. We have 2 cats (Honey and Hildebear), a female Blue Fronted Amazon Parrot named Caesar (don't ask), and 2 Dogs, a 195 Lbs Great Dane (Russel) and a 5 Lbs Mulschipoo (Gizmo).  There is some fear that when the are both in the back yard together Russell will poop and accidentally bury Gizmo...we are very watchful.
7. I am a Christian in faith and will do my best to try and not look like a hypocrite on my blog and through my daily life.  I am usually not very good at it, so I apologize in advance.

Finally, for this post, here are my nominations for the "Stylish Blogger Award".  I chose as much on content and intent as I did for the looks of it all.  In no certain order:

General Game Blogging
Bandit86 blog; fantastic scratch builder and converter, in all sorts of genres.
Tiny Solitary Soldiers; solo 15mm gamer goodness.
Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog; the content, both quality and quantitiy says it all.
Industry Updates and WIPs
The Weekly One Five; home of the talented sculptors who brought us many of the 15mm figs that are on sale today.
2 Hour Blog; Two Hour Wrgames official blog. Ed is a dynamo in generating interest in the hobby.  Oh, to have that energy.
SciFi Gaming
Dropship Horizon; the starting place, IMO, for small scale SciFi miniature gaming on the web.
Zombie Gaming
Vampifan's World Of The Undead; no zombie gamer should miss this blog.
Brains and Guts; more zombie blogging goodness.  This guy is all over the place giving encouragement to people and being involved. He's the one that originally got me involved in this whole awards thingy, so blame him.
The Quick and The Zed; shambling through getting into zombie gaming.  He's another awards nomination culprit.
Obviously Zed; follow the Whiteface family as they negotiate the zombie apocalypse.


Now, if you'll excuse me, I am off to tell these people that they've been nominated as a "Stylish Blogger".

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For the record, I understand that this is all about building community and interest in the hobbies of miniature gaming and blogging.  So if you are a beardy old git, full of cynicism,no need to make any comments about it all...NYyyaaa! :-P

Drive-By Of The Dead - ATZ Campaign Day 3

Prologue:
The Westside Crips and the Southside Bloods had been enemies for as long as anyone could remember; different sets, different blood.  Things had been escalating for weeks.  Now with what went down at the hospital there was no turning back.  Tito and Tiny were there, but had disappeared.  They weren't in jail, and the police weren't releasing any names.  Their homies knew that they were dead.  When it all went down, and witnesses saw 2 Crips running from the scene.  The SBs were able to find out who they were.  Better yet, they knew where they were and one of them was wounded. They were holed up someplace in "the Greens", the WC's home turf.  Once home to nice working class apartments, the area was now run down, and  dangerous.  Not so dangerous that the SBs didn't think they couldn't exact a pound of flesh for Tito and Tiny, though.

It was late at night, as the Southside Bloods approached "the Greens".  Their lights turned off, their cars eased down the street.  Guns were loaded and cocked, as drugs and alcohol were passed around to fortify nerves.   Those SOBs Ghost and Beebo were who they were after, but any Westside Crip would do.  Anybody they found would pay the price.  Oh yeah, it was payback time.

Special Rules:

• Ghost and Beebo will be found hanging out together on any doubles rolled on an occupant check,
  
• The Southside Bloods arrive from a random street.
• Zombie numbers are still low, so rural zombie generation (6 on 1D6) will be used.
• Zombie Tito, Tiny (from Day 2) will be the first 2 zombies the Bloods directly encounter.  They must take a Zed No Zed test upon seeing them.
• It's still early in the plague, so there are still no STARs, and the Humans only have a Rep3

Setup:
Lazarus Greens is located in Westside.  The map represents the neighborhood around "the Commons"; the open spaces around the center of the projects.  PEFs are located in Sector 1 (Fish shop Rep1), Sector 2 (Burger King Rep2), Sector 5 (Food-O-Rama, rep 2).  The Southside Bloods enter from road 3.  There are 3 in a car and 2 in a truck.

 

The Southside Bloods

Turn 1 (Zombies\PEFs 4, Bloods 3)

Zombie\PEF Move: No PEFs may move

Bloods Move: Bloods entered from road 3 and saw what looked like gangers inside the Burger King.  They stopped and 2 Bloods got out of the car to check it out.  They walked towards the Burger King, guns hidden.  They saw 3 Crips (all armed w/ hidden pistols) sitting by the window.  They pulled out their guns and opened fire (double barrel and pistol), through the window.  Shotgun fired and knocked one down, killing him.  He then realized he forgot to bring ammo with him (Double 1s on To Hit).  Pistol fired and missed.

Shotgun and Pistol move towards the Burger King

Turn 2 (Zombies\PEFs 4, Bloods 1, Crips Inactive)

Zombie Placement: 8 rolls, 1 zombie appears on road 4 by the Burger King.

Zombie\PEF Turn: The newly arrived Zombie moved towards the car.

Bloods Move: Shotgun saw what appeared to be a bloodied Tito stumbling around the corner of the Burger King.  Pistol saw Tito, too, and called his name (Pass 0 Zed No Zed).  The zombie closed, then lunged at Pistol biting him.  Pistol stumbled away, blood gouting from his neck (OOF Result).  Shotgun stood there in shock.  The other 3 Bloods exited their vehicles.  The car driver was attacked by the Zombie Tito (Pass 0 Zed No Zed).  They became locked in melee.  The truck driver was in shock, and didn't move.  AK-47, exited the truck’s passenger door, knowing that something was desperately wrong (Pass 2 Zed No Zed).  He charged forward and attacked Zombie Tito from behind with butt of weapon.  He bashed it twice, killing it.

Pistol stumbles away, bleeding, as Zombie Tito attacks the driver of the car.

 Turn 3 (All Inactive)

Turn 4 (Bloods 3, Zombies\PEFs 1, Crips Inactive)

Zombie Placement: No zombies were drawn to the area by the noise.

Bloods Move: The Bloods grabbed Pistol and threw him in the car, as the surviving Crips remained under cover.  The Bloods vehicles took off down the street.

Zombies\PEF Move: Food-O-Rama PEF moved along side walk heading towards the Bloods.  Fish Shop PEF ended up cutting across “the Commons”.

Turn 4 Movement

The dead Crip in the Burger King reanimated.  After passing a Zed No Zed test and being involved in a brief struggle, the Crips killed the zombie with a pistol.

Turn 5 (Zombies\PEF 4, Bloods 3, Crips Inactive)

Zombie Placement: No new zombies are drawn to the area.

Zombie\PEF Move: No Zombies or PEFs were able to activate, or move.

Bloods Move:  The Bloods sped down the deserted street, with the truck in the lead.  They took the corner and sped by a group of old men walking down the side walk (PEF resolution of D).  The old men shook their fists and yelling for them to slow down.

Turn 6 (Zombies\PEFs 4, Crips 2, Bloods Inactive)

Zombie Placement:  A zombie stumbled out of the darkness by the gas station, moaning as the tail lights of the cars sped away.  Another zombie arose from behind a trash bin next to the Inferno strip club.  Finally, 3 zombies lurched around the corner by the Food-O-Rama, apparently following the old men.

A zombie watches as the Bloods speed down the street.

 Zombie Move: The zombie by the gas station moved after the Bloods.  The zombie by the trash can charged out into the street and reached the Pickup truck, as it slowed down to make the corner.  The driver recognized Tiny in the gloom.  As Zombie Tiny charged forward the driver yelled for him to get into the bed of the truck (Pass 0 on Zed, No Zed).  AK47 screamed "NO!" (Pass 1 Zed No Zed). 

Zombie Tiny reached through the open window of the still moving truck.  As the truck drug him along, Zombie Tiny scratched and clawed at the driver.  Suddenly, blood sprayed across the inside of the truck, as the driver was mortally wounded (OD Melee result).  AK-47 grabbed at the wheel trying to control the truck (Roll 1D6 on Loss of Control).  The truck careened across the sidewalk, glanced off a building, hit a parked vehicle, and flipped (Pass 0). AK-47 was dazed, but unhurt, as he tried to untangle himself inside the cab.  The zombie was thrown clear and knocked down (GMs discretion).

Zombies attack the over turned truck.

Crips Move:  The two surviving Crips ran towards the Green, from Burger King, to get help.  They entered the nearest project building and searched for other gang members (zombie result = Crip ganger on What’s Inside).  None were found in the first building.  The old men went running into the night, terrified.

Turn 7 (All Inactive)

Zombie Placement: 2 more zombies turned the corner across from the Food-o-Rama

The driver of the car slammed on the breaks and brought the car to a stop.  They could hear AK-47 screaming in terror.  His screams turned from terror to ones of pain and anguish.  Suddenly, the screaming stopped.  The air was quite, the only sound was the idling engine of the car, and the quite hissing of steam escaping the broken radiator fo the nearby crash.  All they could see was hunched over figures around the overturned truck (the zombies began to feast  for 1 turn).

Turn 8 (All Inactive)
Zombie Placement: No new zombies are drawn to the area.

The driver of the truck reanimated, but the was stuck in truck (GMs discretion; I didn't want to mess w/ any more figures.  Things were going badly enough for the unfortunate Southside Bloods as it was.).

Turn 9 (Zombies 2, Crips 2, Bloods Inactive)
Zombie Placement: No new zombies are drawn to the area.

Zombie Move: AK-47 arose as a zombie, as the other zombies moved towards the idling car.  Of the group that attacked the truck, only one could reach the car, even if it is unable to attack, yet.  Blood and drool fell on the hood, as it hungrily eyed the passengers.  Transfixed, they didn't see the gas station zombie come up the rear driver’s side.  It reached through the window attacking the driver in a surprise attack (+2D6 Melee).  Quickly, the driver was knocked OOF.

The driver of the car is attacked.

Crips Move:  The two Crips moved to the next building, in search of reinforcements.  They triggered the 1 Rep PEF, but it turned out to be kids playing (again PEF Resolution result of D).  They reached the building and found 4 gangers hanging out on the stoop.  They  quickly dispersed to grab their pistols.

Finding help.

 Turn 10 (Zombies 4, Bloods 2, Crips Inactive)

Zombie Move:  The Zombies swarmed the Blood’s car.  As the Zombies charged, Shotgun bolted from the passenger door, leaving Pistol and the driver to the Zombies (Pass 0 Being Charged).  Two zombies followed Shotgun to the back door of the nearest project building.  They pounded on the door as he pushed to keep it closed.  The rest of the zombies began to feast on the car's unfortunate occupants for 4 turns.

The feast begins.

 Bloods Move:  Shotgun decided it's time to get out of dodge.  He bolted through the building as fast as he could, and headed up he street they had originally come down.

Turn 11 (Crips 3, Bloods 1, Zombies Inactive )

Crips Move:  As the Crips gathered forces; they saw a person bolt from the front door of a nearby building.  Some one yelled, "There's a Blood, get him!"  The 6 took off after the running figure.  The quickly caught up with the running figure.  Five of them surrounded the hapless Shotgun, cursing.  One of the Crips pulled out his pistol and fired it point blank into Shotgun's chest (2+ Melee Successes).  Shotgun fell to the ground dead.

Shotgun's Demise

 Turn 12 (Zombies 4, Crips Inactive)

Zombie Move: No new zombies were drawn by the single gunshot, and the zombies continued to feast by the car.

Turn 13 (Zombies 1, Crips Inactive)

Zombie Move:  Shotgun began to reanimate while the Crips stared in confusion.  As the zombie rose, 3 of the Crips bolted into the nearest building.  Zombie Shotgun lunged at one of the remaining gangers, and a vicious struggle ensued. The ganger finally killed the zombie, while the feast continued by the car.

Turn 14 (Crips 3, Zombies 1)

Crip Move:  The three Crips that retired hunkered down inside the building.  The others decided to check out what was happening down the street.  They moved cautiously (normal move) and stopped far enough from the car that they felt safe.  They could see the crowd tearing at and eat the occupants of the car!  In shock, one of the gangers ducked behind the building (Pass 1 See The Fest and Santiy).  The other two ran back to the building their friends went into.  Pounding on the door they screamed to be let in.  Once inside, they both cowered in fear (Pass 0 See The Feast and Sanity).

Ducking Back

Turn 15 (Zombies 2, Crips 1)

Zombie Move:  The zombies finished feasting on the car's occupants

Crips Move:  The Crip left out side entered the building he was next to, and locked the door.  Pulling out his cell phone and he dialed 9-11.

Aftermath:   

The Westside Crips barricaded themselves inside the project buildings.  The 9-11 call was logged, but a patrol car was long in arriving.  The gangers, and other occupants of the Greens watched through pulled blinds as the killers wandered around the outside.  Conversations were whispered, but no one was calling them zombies, yet.  Most wandered off into the darkness.  By the time a patrol car did show up, after day-break, the remaining one or two killers had been dispatched.  No one would talk, as the police gathered evidence and information.  Officer Bakkus surveyed the scene, noting the killers and the victims.  His head swam, as the word Zombies, as crazy as it sounded, rolled around his brain.

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GM's Notes - OK, this one did not turn out REMOTELY like I had hoped for, or envisioned.  I was hoping for a showdown between Ghost, Beebo and the SBs, and I envisioned getting another Blood character I could use again.  Still, it was a fun game.   

One thing I needed to reconsider was having the humans as Rep 3, as it puts them at a considerable disadvantage.  With that, the Zombies are even more deadly.  After thought, I am leaving humans at Rep 3 until day 9.  I figure that people are a bit slow on the uptake that the end is nigh.  From days 10 to 19, reoccurring characters will go up to Rep 4; I have 3 at the moment, even if they haven't been directly involved every scenario.  On day 20, any surviving reoccurring characters will be eligible to become STARs, based on their past performances; only cool people need apply. 

I wanted to use this game to get the mechanics of how PEFs and Vehicles work.  I got experience in spades on both accounts.  Finally, from the time I rolled the first dice, to the time I finished was about 6 hours.  That includes, taking notes, photos, editing them and ripping out this BatRep.  That's not including  time tinkering with the BatRep for a few days.  Not a bad way to to spend a lazy Saturday.

The Horde - Movie Review

I love Netflix, especially the Instant View feature.  It gives me the opportunity to watch all sorts of movies that I would not normally see.  I don't go to theaters except on the very rare occasion; maybe once every 4-5 years.   Netflix has quite a few zombie flicks.  Most are real stinkers, while others are really good.  I am going to periodically review these movies in order to showcase what I consider the gems, and save someone the pain of watching others.  I'll do my best to highlight the good parts, warn of the bad, and not ruin it by giving away too much of the plot.  Now, with no more undue tarrying, on to my first review.

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The Horde (2009)

"The Horde" is a French zombie flick that is surprisingly good.  Who knew the French could do horror?  Filmed in 2009, it is not your run of the mill B-grade zombie movie.  I would say that production values are on par with big hit movies like "Dawn of the Dead (2004)" and "Zombieland", even if it isn't as sweeping in its view of the Zombie Apocalypse.  The movie is in French, with English subtitles, so if you don't like subs, you won't enjoy the experience.  I don't mind them so I jumped right in.

The Plot: The plot revolves around a group of  4 police who decide to take justice into their own hands, in order to avenge a colleague/family member.  They go to take out a gang of thugs, who are hold up in a seedy apartment block in a Paris suburb. The gang consists of a couple of Nigerian brothers, a greasy Chekh, and some nameless French guys.  Well, things don't go well for the cops and they end up at the mercy of the bad guys.  This is all within the first 10 or so minutes of the movie!  Things really start to go down hill, as the returning dead show up, slowly at first, then en-masse.  After the initial zombie caused deaths, the two groups begrudgingly unite against the common enemy.  As they try to escape the building, they encounter more zombies, and what is probably one of the best characters I have ever seen in a zombie movie.  They meet up with a crusty old French guy with an axe.  He is a survivor of Dien Ben Phu, and slides into dementia every now and then thinking he's back in Indo-china.  It sounds weird; it works, though.  As the group tries to escape, there is conflict between everybody; the thugs vs cops, cops vs cops, thugs vs thugs, crusty old French dude and everyone.  Meanwhile the zombies are pressing forward.  They manage to find a cache of illegal weapons; which apparently are as common in France as Dunkin Donuts shops are in the N. Eastern US.  Not to ruin the plot, I'll leave it at the survivors make it out of the building.

The Good: There are some really good things about this movie.  First and foremost, French guys get ripped to shreds by zombies...just kidding mon ami!   As I said, the production values are pretty good.  It doesn't look like it was shot on video, or is coming right off the shelves of the SciFi channel (or whatever they are calling it nowadays).  99% of the special effects are real effects, not computer generated.  The zombies look good, and the deaths are not so gory that they are comical.  There are a couple of scenes that rank up with the best of them, too, IMO.  The first is when the group is on the roof of the building, and they come to the realization of what is going on.  The Paris skyline is back lit by fires; smoke rising in the night and punctuated by explosions.  The scene did a great job of giving a sense of wide spread chaos and destruction.  The other scene was an epic scene when the crusty old guy takes a stand in a narrow hallway against the advancing zombie horde; armed with a belt fed .30cal MG.  It's classic and exactly what ever zombie gamer wants to happen in their games.  There are a couple of heroic last stands that are done well, and one of the characters turns into a total bad-***, snapping not one, but two zombie's necks in H-2-H fighting.

The Bad: This movie is not without its foibles.  The first thing I didn't like was that the cinematography was really dark.  I mean to the point that some scenes were hard to see.  Admittedly, I watched it on a 19in CRT, streaming on my PC.  Still, it was dark; a couple of 100 watt bulbs couldn't have been included in the budget?  The second thing I didn't like was that there was a HUGE amount of cursing throughout the movie.  I'm not a prude; I spent 10 years in the Marine Corps.  I used to be able to curse with the best of them.  I also don't have a problem with the judicial use of vulgarity in movies.  Still, this was just gratuitous and did nothing to develop the characters or move the story along.  There are people that curse like that in real life, and I have found that they are, to a person, ignorant and boring; not the type I'd care about getting eaten by a zombie.  The last thing turned into more of an annoying distraction than being actually bad.  After the zombies showed up, every surface, in every scene, was smeared with blood, and I mean EVERY floor, wall, door, window, what not.  It got to the point that instead of paying attention to the action my mind would wander on to, "Geeze, where the heck did all that blood come from?"

Conclusion: In the end, the good outweighs the bad in this movie by a long shot.  The characters are not particularly deep.  They are engaging.  The plot moves along at a fast pace, with lots of zombie fighting going on.  While it's formulaic, as most zombie movies are,  there are some twists and turns that make it interesting.  It's much darker than most zombie movies in its view of human nature and the outcome of the zombie apocalypse.  There is not a complete sense of hopelessness, though.  Definitely not a movie for younger viewers to see; lots of violence and cursing.  

All in all, I thought it was a good movie; on a scale of 1-5, I'd give it a solid 4.5.  I  would recommend it to anyone who wants to get the zombie juices flowing.  There's a lot here to give you inspiration for your games, whether you do table top or RPG. 

P.S. - I forgot to mention the added bonus at the end of the movie - French Ganster Rap during the credits. Think of NWA meets Euro-trash house music; it's an experience that must be had to truly appreciate.

Code Blue: ATZ Campaign Day 2

Prologue:
An uneventful shift change took place.   There were a couple of gang bangers, from different gangs, in the exam rooms.  They each had a buddy in the waiting area, who were giving one another the ole stink eye.  The only unusual thing  was the police officer who had been brought in with a nasty wound to his neck.  Even though he had lost a lot of blood, the ER staff had managed to stabilize him.  Curious thing was that despite their efforts, he had immediately begun to go down hill.  They were waiting for an ICU bed to open up in the morning so they could move him upstairs.  Until then, he was in the ER, being monitored by the doctors and nurses.  His vitals were widely erratic, for reasons unknown, and they weren't sure he was going to make it through the night.  Being unwed, his partner was the only person, other than the ER staff, keeping a vigil for him, and he had gone out to grab a change of clothes and bite around midnight. 

The intake nurse sat at the front desk watching the 2 gangers; lest trouble start.  Security was nearby, but still...  At 3:43 the PA system rang out "Code Blue, Code Blue, ER, Stat". The nurse stuck her head around the corner and saw a bustle of activity, as her colleagues frantically worked to save the police officer.  She went back to the front to ensure nothing happened there.  Shortly, a male nurse stepped out and said that the policeman had died, and no one knew why.  He turned around and went back to tend to the body and clean up.  The nurse shook her head, thinking, "Wow, what a way to start the day..."

Special rules: 

• The Police Zombie gets a free move at the start of the game and the first human it sees automatically passes 0 on a "Zed no Zed" test.  People still do not understand what is going on. 
• Since the ER staff is trained to save lives, they will try to subdue the zombie, instead of killing it. All melee by ER staff result in a "Knock-down" on the Police Zombie
• Two hospital security will arrive, 1 D-6 turns after the zombie's first attack. They are armed with pistols and batons.  They will not have any qualms with dispatching a zombie, if a death has occurred by the time they arrive.
• OD zombie victims will re-animate 1 full turn after their death; what ever is causing re-animation is especially virulent at this point. 
• One gang banger, in each gang, is armed with a pistol; randomly decided on first activation.

Setup:
The map represents the inside of Lazarus General Hospital's ER, which is located in downtown Lazarus.  There are 6 ER staff ( 2 Doctors and 4 Nurses, all Rep 3) going about their nightly duties.  There are 4 gang bangers (all Rep 3), two of which are randomly armed with pistols.  There are 2 in the waiting area, and one each in a couple of exam rooms.  The body of Officer Jones lies on a table in the main ER area, being attended to by one of the nurses.

Z1 - Zombie Officer Jones, N1 - Nurse Davis, N2 - Nurse Sams, N3 - Nurse Thomas, N4 - Reception Nurse, D1 - Dr. Salvena, D2 - Dr. Epping, G1 - Tito, G2 - Tiny, G3 - Beebo, G4 - Ghost

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Note:  While I like ATZ's rules for action inside buildings for their simplicity, I wanted more detail.  The only thing that kept me from building a 3-d version of the ER is the fact that I have too many projects going on as it is.  I wouldn't be able to play this scenario for months, if I did.  I downloaded a floor plan off the web, and used Photoshop to edit and scale it for 15mm.  I then printed it out and taped it together.   You can get the blank floor plan here: Floor Plan.

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Turn 1 (Zombie Surprise Attack)

Turn 1 - Nurse Davis is killed by Zombie Officer Jones

Zombie Move: The body of Officer Jones rises silently from the table and attacks the Nurse Davis from behind (+2D6 for Melee). Nurse Davis is knocked OOF.

Turn 2 and 3 (Zombies Active, Humans Inactive)
Zombie Move: Zombie Officer J begins to munch on Nurse Davis for 2 turns.







Turn 4 (Humans 2, Zombies 1)

Turn 5 - The Humans "See The Feast"

Human Move: Nurse Sams leaves Beebo, a Crip gangster, in Exam Room 1 to get some gauze. He turns the corner into the Procedure Room and nearly trips over Zombie Officer J and the body of Nurse Davis (Zombie Surprise Totals 10 vs 4). He manages to keep Zombie Officer J at bay, as he tries to bite him. Other staff come running.  Reception Nurse pushes the panic button and stays at her desk (Security will arrive as the last human move on turn 9).  Nurse Thomas comes from the lounge  and freezes (Pass 0 "Wanting To Charge"). Dr. Epping saunters from the lab see about the ruckus (Pass 0 on Fast Move, unable to reach melee). Dr. Salvena leaves Tito, a Blood gangster, in Exam Room 4 and goes down the hallway; freezing when she sees the scene (Pass 0 "Wanting To Charge").

Zombie Move: Zombie Officer J manages to take a hunk out of Nurse Sams neck, putting him OOF.

Turn 5 - Dr. Salvene faces the zombies.

Turn 5 (Zombies 4, Humans Inactive)
Zombie Move: Zombie Officer J begins feasting on Nurse Sams. All the humans in LOS take a "See The Feast" test. Dr. Salvena isn't shocked and stands her ground. Dr. Epping turns and locks himself in the X-Ray room, whimpering. Nurse Thomas screams and runs back to the Employee Lounge. She locks the door and begins piling furniture against it. The body of Nurse Davis stirs and rises.




Turn 6 (Zombies 1, Humans Inactive)
Zombie Move: Both Zombies charge Dr. Salvena, who is unable to get way. As Zombie Officer J grapples with her, Zombie Nurse Davis attacks and knocks her OOF.

Turn 7 - Action in the hallway.

Turn 7 (Humans 3, Zombies 2)
Human Move: Tito sticks his head out of Exam Room 4 and sees the zombies attacking Dr. Salvena. He pulls a pistol from his waistband and fires once wildly down the hall. In the waiting room, Ghost, Beebo's Crip Homie, pulls his pistol out and scans the room after he hears the shot. He sees a Blood across the room and takes aim. Tiny, the 2nd Blood gangster sees Ghost aiming at him and ducks into the hallway. Ghost cautiously stalks him across the room (Pass 0 "Fast Move"). The Reception Nurse ducks under the counter as Ghost goes by.

As Tiny enters the hallway, he sees the Zombies attacking the downed doctor and freezes. Zombie Nurse Davis turns and charges him (pass 1 "Zed no Zed"). He stands his ground as the zombie charges into melees with him. Beebo looks in the hallway, from Exam Room 1, and sees all the action.  He decides it's time to leave. The only problem is that the hallway is choked with tussling bodies. He must charge past the grappling Tiny and zombie. Unfortunately, he gets tangled up with them (pass 0"Wanting To Charge", GMs prerogative).

Zombie Move: Zombie Officer J begins to feast on Dr. Salvena for 2 turns. Zombie Nurse Sams rises and joins him. Tiny reaches up and snaps Zombie Nurse Davis's neck as they melee; killing it.

Turn 8 (Humans 2, Zombies Inactive)
Human Move: Tiny and Beebo are locked in melee. Ghost comes up behind Tiny and shoots him in the back, killing him (OD result in Melee). Tito sees this from down the hall and shoots at the Crips. He hits Beebo, knocking him down and stunning him (pass 2 "Knockdown Recovery). Ghost ducks back into the Waiting Room.

Turn 9 -Beebo goes down as the zombies feed.

Turn 9 (Humans 3, Zombies Inactive)
Human Move: Tito fires at the Zombies in the hallway, hitting Zombie Nurse Sams killing it. Ghost steps into the hallway, reaching down to help Beebo, firing at Tito in the process. He hits him in the chest and knocks him OOF. Ghost grabs Beebo and drags him through the Waiting Room and out the front door.

 Hospital Security finally arrives. They come up the stairs and turn the corner into the Procedure Room. They spy Zombie Officer J feasting n Dr. Salvena. SO Jenkins is unfazed (pass 2 "See The Feast), but SO Duncan freaks out and turns back around the corner and hides stunned in the stairwell. SO Jenkins draws his baton and advances, but is unable to reach the zombie.








Turn 10 (Humans 2, Zombies Inactive)

Turn 10 - SO Jenkins standing over the dead

Human Move: SO Jenkins raises his baton and brings it squarely down on Zombie Police J's head several times, eventually killing it.
















Turns 11 and 12 (Both Inactive)

Turn 13 (Zombies 4, Humans 1)

Turn 13 - The undead Dr. Salvena chases SO jenkins

Zombie Move: Both Zombie Dr Salvena and Tito reanimate. SO Jenkins sees this and turns on his heels retiring (Pass 0 on all related tests). He takes cover behind the counter in the Procedure Room, drawing his gun. The Zombie follows, but is unable to reach him.

Human Move: SO Jenkins regains his wits, as he crouches in cover (Pass 2 "Rally").









Turn 14 (Zombies 1, Humans Inactive)

Turn 14 - Zombie Tiny advances.

Zombie Move: Zombie Tiny sees Tito laying in the doorway, down the hall, and advances on him. Zombie Dr. Salvena charges SO Jenkins. As they fight, SO Jenkins manages to put his gun under the zombies chin and pull the trigger. The body falls to the ground, unmoving.

Turn 15 (Zombies 3, Humans 2)
Zombie Move: Zombie Tiny reaches Tito and begin feasting on him for 2 turns.

Human Move: SO Jenkins calls for SO Duncan to follow him. SO Duncan hunkers down and refuses to move. SO Jenkins cautiously moves across the room into the hallway. He sees Zombie Tiny bent over a prone body. He yells at it to freeze, which causes the zombie to charge (pass 1 "Zed No Zed"). Shocked he doesn't shoot and the zombie reaches him. The zombie seriously mauls him (OOF Melee Result)

Turn 16 (Humans 1, Zombies Inactive)
Human Move: The Reception Nurse uses the lull to vault the front desk and run out the door.

Turn 17 - Zombies make their way out into the city.

Turns 17 and 18 (Zombies Active, Humans Inactive)
Zombie Moves: SO Jenkins’s body reanimates, as does Tito's. The three Zombies follow the trail of fresh blood Beebo left behind out the ER door and into the night.









 Aftermath:

The police arrived shortly after the zombies slipped into the darkness. Even the most stalwart of the officers as shocked at the viciousness of it all. It took over an hour to coax a frighted doctor out of his hiding place. The survivors spoke of  dead bodies getting up and cannibalism.  The police wrote it off to hysteria.  One of the officers believed them, even if he didn't say so out loud.  Officer Baakus just went about his job.  Much to the Mayor's officer dismay, the news media got a hold of the accounts.  They went into a frenzy, as city officials did their best to calm the public down.

SMM Soldiers in Chemical Gear - Painted!

I painted up the Sgt Major Miniatures Soldiers in Chemical Gear 1 & 2 packs(codes Pulp11 & 12) from the previous 2 postings. They turned out pretty good, and are ready to take on hordes of undead.  Actually, these guys will be spending more time killing mutants in a ruined Post Apocalyptic world.  They will be on stand by, though, if I find someone wanting to zombie game in 28mm:

Pulp11

Pulp 12

As I said before, due to their size, I mounted them on 25mm round slotta bases; in order to give them height. Here is a comparison of one with a Street Violence(l) and a Alpha Forge(r) fig. It all worked out very good, and they are quite compatible.

Sgt Major Miniatures - Get Some! 28mm (Pt. 2)

I liked the first two packs I got from SMM, so I went ahead and order the packs that compliment the ones I had.  I got SMM Pulp 12 and SciFi 12 packs.  Again, shipment was fast, and communications were excellent.  The flash on both sets was WAY less on these figs than on the original batch I got.  Both packs  give a good mix of poses for 10 man units.  Here's what they look like.

Pulp 12 has 5 minis in it, one of which is a com guy; that's the guy in the middle.  The only down side to the Pulp11/12 packs is the absence of support weapons.  I told Andy he needs to offer a support pack with 2 M-203s, an M-60E1, and a M-14 with Starlight Scope (very 80's), so people can field a complete squad with attached support.  Anyway, I've based them on 25mm rounds, in an attempt to give them some height.

SciFi 12 adds 5 more feral looking figs.  Again based to give them some height.  I may buy one more pack of these and convert them to carry guns; giving the unit a little more punch.

The next post will show what the Soldiers in Chem Gear look like painted up and ready rock n roll.

Sgt Major Miniatures - Get Some! 28mm (Pt. 1)

I wanted to check out Sgt. Major Miniatures, and see what they were like.  I'm gonna offer up a brief WIP and review of them.  I bought these in primarily to use in a Post Apoc setting.   With that said, the Chem Suited troopers would work great in a Zombie game.

I ordered 2 packs of minis from their 28MM "Get Some" range; Codes Pulp 11 and Scifi 11.  I ordered them late Friday April the 9th.  They arrived today, Thursday the 14th, via USPS Priority Mail.  The total cost , with shipping was $30.20 USD; which has each of them costing $3.02 each. 

PULP 11 are Soldiers in Chemical Gear 1, and are armed with M-16s.  They have an 80's vibe to them, but they are nondescript.  The gas masks are not 1980s military issue, but rather like the newer ones.  The sculpts are good, with decent details,and the poses are great, IMO.  The only down side to them was the amount of flash on them, and the fact that one of the castings was really mis-aligned.  I know that this happens, so I am reserving judgment until I get another order of figs from them.  It took me an hour to get most of the flash off, and fix the mis aligned fig.

SCI-FI 11 are described as "Space Cannibals"  on the SMM site.  A better description should be "Not Firefly Reavers" :-)  The Get Some 28MM SciFi line thus far released/pictured is "Not Firefly", so it's all good.  The amount of flash on them was far less than on the other set.  Again, the sculpts are good, with decent detail, and the poses are very animated.  The faces have what I would call a Troglodyte look about them, making them look rather primal.  They are armed with improvised armor, and weapons fashioned from scrap metal.  The only down side is the fact that some of the hands are rather "mushy" on the sculpting. 

Here's a photo comparing them with some Foundry Street Violence figs, and an Alpha Forge one; from L to R , Street Violence, SMM Pulp 11, Street Violence, SMM SciFi 11, Alpha Forge.  They are smaller; but not enough to preclude them from use, IMO.

The Pulp 12 and SciFi 12 codes have the same type of figs in different poses, giving you a good variety in a ten man unit.  A big plus is that they are a lot cheaper than other ranges; Foundry's Street Violence and Pig Iron come to mind first.  The down side is that the crispness of the sculpts are not  as good as the more expensive figs.  Being a frugal gamer, the trade off is quite fine with me.  There is no doubt in my mind that both these lines are perfect for Post Apoc gaming, and I plan on getting more, in the near future, as I bulk up my Post Apoc forces. 

I give them a thumbs up.

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Addendum: I originally posted the above on a Post Apoc gaming forum I frequent.  I let Andy at SMM know about the review, out of courtesy.  Upon hearing about the mis-aligned figure, he immediately offered to replace it, free of charge.  There was no need to do that; still the offer was greatly appreciated, and my stock in his company went up even further.  Good customer service is always a plus.

We're Alive Zombie Podcast

The latest installment of "We're Alive" at zombiepodcast.com is out.

If you haven't heard this podcast, check it out.  It's the story of a group of survivors in the LA area, post Zombie Apocalypse.  The zombies aren't your standard Romero-esque  types, so the purist may be disappointed.  They put out 1 part of a three part chapter once a week, on average.

All in all, its a good yarn and great fodder for the imagination.  I throw it on while painting minis and time flies.