Zomtober Begins!

This month I have decided, in collaboration with my good pal Leon- AKA Pulp Citizen, that October shall hence forth be known as Zomtober. 

"What madness is this?" I hear you scream: Well basically I like zombies, and so does Mr Pulp Citizen, but we are both really bad at finishing projects as we are easily lead astray by shiny things. So we figured that the best way to get things rolling is to set a dead line (excuse the pun) and to use our respective blogs to make sure we stick to them. 
We're not going over the top- these no point in over doing it and getting Zombie Fatigue Syndrome. We will each paint at least five zombies during October. If that is all we manage, then at least we will have ten more zombies in our combined horde, but I hope we can manage a few more, and perhaps a few survivors too.
I have ordered a pack of Studio miniatures zombies, and have them based up ready to go. I have also ordered Wargames Factory's Zombie Vixens, but they have yet to arrive. 
I invite anyone else who reads this blog to join in Zomtober if you like. It might help you get over a painting slump (Brummie?) or else give you an incentive to get some half finished projects completed. Let me know if you are going to join in with the madness that is Zomtober and I will link to you blogs. 

Here's a link to Pulp Citizen's Eclectic Gentleman's Tabletop Gamer Blog were you can track his progress too. 

Osombie Review

I have just finished watching a great new movie I bought from Tescos this week- I thought I would share it with you guys. 

The film is Osombie, and it’s a straight to DVD Zombie movie (my favourite sort of zombie move!). The plot follows a team of Special Ops as they attempt to contain a zombie outbreak in Afganistan. Bin Laden is not dead, at least not properly; as he infected himself with the zombie virus just before he was killed by the navy SEALs, and is now back from his watery grave. Meanwhile the Taliban are using the zombie contagion to create an army of infected terrorist- the suicide bomber that can kill over and over again!

I bought this movie thinking it was a comedy- it certainly looks it from the cover, but it turns out it is quite serious- a little tongue in cheek perhaps, as most zombie movies are. It’s a good movie, and I really enjoyed it. It’s well plotted, with fairly good acting and script. The special effects are not bad, for a strait to DVD movie, and the zombie make-up is quite gruesome. OK, so it might not bring  anything stunningly original to the genre, but its a cracking way to spend a couple of hours. And it was only £7 in Tescos. 

The best bit, as far as I am concerned was Danielle Chuchran as ‘Tomboy’, one of the Special Forces soldiers. I have never seen her in any other films, and she is very nice indeed! A little bit too much mascara for a Special Ops solder operating behind enemy lines perhaps, but I am not complaining.

Tomboy

Osombie gave me plenty of inspiration for wargaming- Special ops vs. Zombies- you know it makes sence. All I need now is a company making 28mm Taliban zombies. I am off to goggle it straight away. 

Scum and Villainy: (Part 5) Scavangers

Since the destruction of Terra humanity has been scattered through the depths of space, surviving in colonies, refugee fleets or on the peripheries of the galaxies other societies. One of the traits that make humanity such an enduring race is the way they can adapt rapidly to changes in circumstances, find niches and start to thrive. Harrison Huck is an example of such a man.

Huck grew up an orphan in the Hope refugee fleet, but found distinction as the owner-captain of a scavenger ship named Pretty Girl. The Pretty Girl is an old decommissioned asteroid mining vessel Huck found in a scrap yard. He and his motley crew now ply the shipways, searching for space junk, worn out satellites and shipwrecks to strip and salvage. Their activity is only semi-legal, and many take exception to what they see as grave robbing, but Huck knows he can rely on Pretty Girl to get him out of a tight spot. She may look like a pile of junk roughly welded together, but the thick armour of an asteroid ship, coupled with a few surprise weapons Huck has scavenged over the years, means Pretty Girl is far from defenceless.

Harrison Huck- a born survivor!

Huck’s first mate is Catha Ray’al, or Cat for short. She is an Illtahi, a race of shape shifters. The Illtahi are universally despised for being untrustworthy and devious, but Cat seems to be something of an exception. After Huck rescued her from a Callian slaver she has been his loyal companion, and his enforcer. Her quick reflexes and the natural paranoia of the Illtahi have saved Huck’s life more than once.

Cat the shape-shifter

Huck is a Games Workshop Tank Crew. I love his helmet and shifty look- he just looks like a scavenger! I am not sure who makes Cat- I got her of my mate Leon, so perhaps he can enlighten me. I like her because she is clearly morphing her hand into some sort of spiky weapons- a pretty cool look.

Horses in VBCW

More VBCW nonsense here.

Civil war in the 1930’s is a strange affair. On the one hand, modern inventions such as radio, tanks, air planes and the machine gun have fundamentally changed the way war is fought, but on the other hand, a lack of supply lines and military infrastructure means that all factions in the war are forced to fall back on many of the tried and tested methods of warfare.

One such example is in the use of horse on the battlefield. Although full frontal cavalry charges are something of the past, horses still have a role to play. Some units use horses for manoeuvrability while others use them to transport goods to the front line or tow artillery pieces around.

This picture depicts a postal worker from the Liverpool Free State, who is working as a courier, transporting vital documents behind the front lines. In the days when radio communication is not secured, such a job is of the utmost importance to the war effort.

LFS Mounted Dispatch Rider

Here we can see Captain Webster of the BUF, who has been seconded to the General Staff of Lord Winterfield in Somerset, where he is acting as his intelligence officer. Captain Webster is not a natural cavalryman, but as Lord Winterfield insists all his staff ride into battle (mostly for propaganda reasons- because it looks heroic) Captain Webster is doing his best to learn.

The mounted postman is, I think, a Renegade Miniatures WW1 British Cavalryman. My pal Tym, of the Gentleman’s Wargame Parlour, painted it for me. The horse is a plastic horse from Warlord Games. All I have done is add a base so that it matches the rest of my army.

Captain Webster is a BUF officer from Musketeer Miniatures, and the mounted officer is a Spanish Civil War figure from Empress Miniatures. Although they are both sculpted by Paul Hicks they are from different ranges, hence they are not exactly the same, but they are close enough for what I need. 

Two More VBCW Characters

And now two more figures for my VBCW camping. In truth these are old figures rebased to match the rest of my VBCW figures.

The first is Professor Neville Barnes-Wall, an engineer recruited by the British (fascist) government to head up the Unconventional Weaponry and Tactics Division – Generally known as U-WAT. Mr Oswald Moesley, the Prime Minister, has personally authorised U-WAT to develop solutions that might bring about a swift conclusion of the British Civil War. Professor Barnes-Wall has recently been sighted in Somerset in the company of Lord Winterfield. Quite what the eccentric inventor is working currently on remains a closely guarded secret.

The second figure, slightly less dramatically, is a Victorian sailor I have rebased to be an office in my crew of merchant marines. Originally painted as part of a crew of a steam ship plying the River Congo, he is now more at home on the River Mersey.

 Professor Neville Barnes-Wall

A Merchant-Marine

As far as I recall the Professor is made by Pulp Figures and the Victorian sailor is by Wargames Foundry.

A look in the Zombicide box.

  As promised, a quick review of the new game Zombicide. My gaming buddies and I cracked open the game to get a look at the icky goodies inside. My first impressions- what have they put in this box- bricks? This is one heavy box, crammed with bits and bobs. There are loads of plastic zombies, and a much smaller number of survivors. The board is built of a heavy card and is lavishly (and gorily) illustrated. It consists of double-sided tiles that can be arranged in various ways for the different missions.

  The sculpting of the figures is very good, although they are not 28mm scale- closer to 30-32 I would say. That doesn’t bother me, but I think some people were hoping they could use the zombies in their wargames.

  The production quality is fantastic- the best I have ever seen in a board game. The rulebook is in full colour and beautifully illustrated throughout. The figures are great: The board is great.

  Based on what I have seen, without playing the game, I would say it looks great, and I would certainly recommend it to any fans of Zed based games.

The Rules- Very pretty!

 The Survivors- Very Colourful!

Glow in the dark dice- Mad but cool. Useful for when play a board game in the dark.

This is Doug's character sheet. There are also blank character sheets so presumable you can create your own.

A sample of the board tiles. Lovely. Check out the trails of blood!

A sample of the many zombies in the box.

This bad guy is an Abomination!

I can't wait to get a few games in.

Zombicide arrives today!

An exciting day for me as my copy of the brand new zombie skirmish board game Zombicide arrived from the states (after having been delayed by the good people of HM customs wanting their slice of the pie- the buggers!). Guillotine Ggames and Cool Mini Or Not produced this game using the Kick Start website.

It came in a suitably big box, with some other goodies. Here is me unpacking it!

I’m just off to my Thursday night gaming session with the lads, and I am going to open the game box then. I will post some pictures of the game content tomorrow, but from what I have seen already it looks amazing!

 

Me desperately ripping open the box

 Oh  T-shirt. I forgot I ordered that!

A print- A nice surprise

How excited am I!

BUF TK-3 Tankettes Ready for Action!

Captain Webster, (commander of the Manchester BUF Battalion sent to Chester to bolster the defences) is now rather pleased with himself, as he has managed to acquire, through semi-official channels, a pair of Polish TK-3 Tankettes.

These nippy little armoured vehicles have an improved version of the British Carden Lloyd chassis, 10mm of armour, and a 7.92mm Hotchkiss machine gun. They won’t stand up to a tank, but Webster is very keen to see how they perform against the lightly equipped Wirral Socialist Workers Militia. He is hoping that it will prove and effective counter to the deadly firepower and manoeuvrability of the socialist dreaded Trachankas

Quite how they ended up in Britain is a bit of a mystery- shady deals between the right wing members of the polish government and the BUF seem most likely. Webster himself had to pull some strings and call in some major favours to have them sent to Chester under his command. The Duke of Farmham, the royalist commander of the Chester Defence Force, and nominally Webster’s CO, is reportedly spitting feathers that the BUF have managed to acquire Armoured Fighting Vehicles. The duke’s dream of establishing a fully mechanised battalion has yet to be realised.

These lovely little tankettes are made but Black Tree Designs and are just lovely models. As always, I have found Black Tree to provide excellent customer service, despite the many nay-sayers. Even better, I managed to pick these up in one of their 50% off sales- so I picked up both TS-3s for £11! Better than a poke in the eye. They are cast in metal, not resin, and are satisfyingly heavy when I plonk them on the table. They came with minimal flash and went together perfectly- rare for metal vehicles, in my experience. I would heartily recommend these TK-3s.  

Lord Winterfield of the BUF

I haven’t posted for a while but please don’t think that I have been neglecting my painting- in fact I have been busy prepping my British Union of Fascists (BUF) army from a ‘Big Game’ of Very British Civil War (VBCW) in October. I am taking the role of Lord Winterfield, Commander of the BUF (and by default; the royalists) as we seek to undo the dastardly work of the Anglican League and Somerset Freedom Fighters. To this end I have been painting up bits and bobs for my BUF army, including converting and painting a Lord Winterfield model.

Lord Winterfield is the commander of the BUF in Somerset. He is a man noted, by his sycophantic entourage at least, as possessing a noble bearing and a daring nature. Needles to say, he prefers nothing more than to ride into battle mounted on his favourite dapple grey charger, Bunty. What could be more heroic or dashing than seeing a black and scarlet clad officer, heroically braving enemy fire as he directs the battle?

  It should be noted that Lord Winterfield is no fool- His trademark bulletproof limousine will be close at hand in case it is necessary to beat a hasty retreat. It’s always good to have a contingency plan.

The model on foot is an unconverted model from Mutton Chops Miniatures. The mounted version is a conversion from the same model and an Empress Miniatures Spanish Civil War cavalryman. There are some Work in Progress pictures to be found on the Gentleman’s Wargames Parlour: Click here for a link.

There will be some more VBCW stuff posted on this blog very soon.