Grocery/Big Box Store

Hi, friends. I recently played some scenarios for All Things Zombie wherein I had to go to a Big Box store and then a Grocery store as part of the Day One events. Normally I don't play a scenario unless I have the terrain finished and ready to go. That day I went ahead and played without terrain for the store. I just used a big box I had. It was still fun, but lacked the visual element so I didn't post any pics of those scenarios. I finally got around to making the Big Box/Grocery store. Just a quick job, here's pics.

Here's a shot of the Big Box store across the parking lot. In that scenario, LJ got owned by a bunch of terrified civilians because he didn't use his katana on humans, just tried going "mano a mano". Predictably, the fat squishy bastard got stomped. The scenario was over for him and he didn't get any goodies.

Here's a shot of the Grocery store across the parking lot.  As you can see I did a lot of work to differentiate the Grocery store from the Big Box store. :) The signs are stuck onto the building with removable double-sided sticky tape. Anyone recognize the name of the store? Anyway,  the Grocery store was LJ's next and last location. I did two things differently with LJ at the start of this scenario. One, I changed his attribute of Stone Cold to Brawler. Since it was Day One, I decided I'd pick a better attribute if I was going to survive the rest of the Apocalypse. The second thing was I decided that terrified civilians represented a significant threat and I took off the kid gloves. I would use the katana in melee. Worked like a charm. Between switching Attributes and using a 2-handed melee weapon, I had much better luck with that scenario. Even found a SAW, used it to kill a couple of gangers, shots attracted Zombies, which I killed with the Katana, for my first Zombie kills. That was so successful a scenario I actually got a Rep increase. So to memorialize that fight, I finished the store building.

A little about the store. It is 21 x 18 inches x 4 inches tall. It was made from an old Dell Laptop Computer box. I chose it because it had a little built-in box inside that could be used as an interior room. The walls are made from an old WorldWorks Games kitbash siding texture kit I bought several years ago. I went for a simple blue and white color scheme. I was thinking of Ikea's Blue and yellow. I used other WorldWorks Games textures for the windows and doors. Normally I use doors that open and close and windows that are open. This time I went for quick and just used the print-outs glued onto the walls. 

The tile floor is from the WWG Mega Mall set. The brown concrete floor in the loading dock area is another WWG texture. 

The shelving units and refrigerator cabinet come from Stoelzel's Structures Market, as do the register counters. The two gun cabinets in the loading dock are also from Stoelzel's Structures, I think it was the Modular Lair. The shelving is held in place with double-sided tape for stability, but I can reposition them if I want to. I left plenty of room between the shelves for getting my fingers in there.

Shot from different angle.

Shot from the back.

Scenic shot across the parking lot. How do you like the "Valdemart" sign? :)

This was a fun little project that I just sort of slapped together. I had printed out all of the paper textures a while back so I just had to glue them on. The box I used for the building had some dents and areas where the cardboard was different thickness. I could have done things to fix that, and did, a little, but there are still quite a few obvious flaws. However, for a quick job, it'll do. And, because it was made from an actual "big box", I can use it for storage. :)

That's it for now. Thanks for looking.

Minis I painted on Vacation

Hi, friends. It's been a while since I posted. The family and I went on vacation to Geneva on the Lake, a nice little resort town on Lake Erie. We had a great time, swam, relaxed and generally just chilled. I brought up some minis and got some painting done, too. Here's what I got done.

Pic above is a few GW Catachans I'll use for Survivors or Gangers in ATZ. I tried to paint them in the U.S. Navy's new Aquaflage uniform (just the pants, the shirts are just one of the colors from the aquaflage. They're based on black sand and some have road line markings to represent asphalt.

Pic above is a few Clix repaints. Nothing fancy, just a few more guns.

A few more Clix conversions or repaints. Chainsaw guy had a head swap from the Defiance Games United Americas Marine Corps. The two suits had a repaint, and one had his pistol arm repositioned.

These are "Get Some! 28mm Science Fiction minis from Sgt Major Miniatures. These are the rest of the crew and cast of Joss Whedon's Firefly series. From the left, the Doctor, Simon, his sister, River, Caylee the ship's mechanic, and Shepherd Book. I just realized Inara was missing, I found her hiding on my painting table. I used sand from the beach the bases on these minis, as well as a few others. The sand has lots of differently sized particles for a nice, irregular texture. I'm using these minis now for "terrified civilians" for encounters in All Things Zombie by TwoHour Wargames.

Pic above shows the last of my Hasslefree Minis which were waiting in my painting queue.

Pics above are 6 Defiance Games United Americas Marine Corps (UAMC). These are excellent plastics with great detail. I made a slight conversion on a couple in that I used a couple of torsos from GW Empire Militia. Each UAMC sprue has 3 leg sections, 6 heads, multiple weapons, but only 2 torsos, so you can only build 2 figures from each sprue. By using the GW torsos, (which fit perfectly btw) you get 3 troopers from each sprue. Can you see the ones with the GW torsos? The nice thing about using the GW torsos (which I had in the bitz box) with the UAMC parts is you can make 36 UA Marines from 1 $30 box (83 cents each), instead of 24 Marines ($1.25 each). 

Pic above is my crowd of mostly unarmed civilians including recently painted ones. I'll use them for "Terrified Civilians" in ATZ encounters. They're a mixture of Hasslefree Minis, Sgt Major Minis, Clix, and game figures from the boardgame "Last Night on Earth.


I've got a project underway which I think you will like, it's the Filling Station from Demo's Laser Cut Designs. Scroll to the bottom of the page. I saw their 28mm 4-pack of shops on PapaSpanky's excellent Geek in the Basement blog.


Also of note, I finished reading "Karl, Birth of Mystery" by D.J. Kettlety, a fellow blogger. A great read, I think I finished it 3 days while on vacation. He already has plans for books 2 and 3 of the series, which I will certainly be reading, too. 


Well, thanks for stopping by. Comments and criticisms welcome.

All Things Zombie Batrep - Day One, Location 2, Home

Hi, friends. I couldn't stay asleep. Got up at 5:30 am. Drank some coffee. Decided to do another location for Day One scenario of ATZ. I'm using rules from Better Dead Than Zed, and some from I, Zombie.  The first location I did was ATM, that went well. I had chosen 4 locations for Day One. Now it's time for location 2, home. 3x3 foot table. Zuzzy mat, homemade roads, houses mainly from Stoelzel's Structures.

Narrative:
Having just hit the ATM for some money, Joe got in his car and headed home, planning to touch base with the family, then go to WalMart and one of the nearby Supermarkets. Calling home on the cell, Joe said "Hi, sweetie. I'll be home soon. Is everyone okay? And do you have the list ready for the things you want me to pick up from the stores?" "Yes, everybody's fine, just a little scared. The list is ready", Joe's wife responded. "Be careful coming home. There's a roadblock at the end of the street, and a Police car was cruising by telling everyone to stay indoors because of a "Civil Emergency". We might not be able to go shopping to get supplies if they're closing roads." "Yeah, Joe said, "we'll see. Everything seems fine here. Okay, I'll let you go. Love you. See you in a bit." Pocketing his cell phone, Joe saw the Police barrier at the end of his street. Big-ass concrete block. "Damn, no way around that. I'll have to park and walk the rest of the way" Joe thought.

That wasn't here this morning. Looking up the street, Joe's destination, the white house, is on the left.

View from the opposite end of the board.

Lucky Joe: Rep 3, Military Reaction Table, Katana, Attributes - Stone Cold and Slow.

Rolled on the Getting There Table, by vehicle. Passed 1 d6 (Rep 3). Rep > location number. Counts as passed 2d6. "Arrive there normally".

PEF Placement

All PEFS placed behind cover and out of LOS.

Turn 1

Activation: Humans 3, Zombies 2

LJ moves 8" up the street. PEF in section 4 now in LOS. False Alarm.

"What's that behind that tree? Oh, stray cat. Gotta stop being so jumpy", Joe thought. 

I did a Fast Move once the PEF was resolved to finish LJ's movement. Used only 1 d6 for additional movement, because of "Slow" attribute, instead of additional 2d6 per the advice of Vampifan. (Thanks, Bryan) Rolled a 5, so moved an additional 5". Man, that fatboy can run. :)

The first PEF resolved is represented by the black dice under the tree. It turned out to be a stray cat. (False Alarm)

Completing the Fast Move. There's a PEF hidden in the tree line to LJ's right (Black dice).

Zombie's Turn: PEF in Section 6 can't move, it's Rep was higher than the ZED activation roll. The REP 2 PEF passed 1d6 and moved "1 section toward the nearest PEF, ending its move in cover". Hmmm, this is getting interesting. LJ's got two PEFs in the sector near him and he doesn't know they're there.

"It's quiet ..., too quiet" LJ mutters to himself.

Turn 2

Activation: Humans 6, Zombies 5.  Rolls are too high for either side to activate, but for Day One Scenarios activation rolls equaling 11 means the Police will approach you. "If unarmed he will tell you to leave the area", if visibly armed he will draw his gun and order you to surrender your weapon." 

I wasn't quite sure how to handle this. It's not illegal to carry a sword around, but you are visibly armed with a katana. I decided to submit it to the Dice Gods. 1-3 on a d6 he arrests LJ, 4-6 he lets him go. Rolled a 5. Yay. What would you guys do?

Policeman: Sir, what are you doing with that sword?

LJ: I'm just taking it home, Officer, I live in the white house behind you.

Policeman: Okay, sir. Just get inside your house and stay there. The Mayor has declared an Emergency Curfew and all citizens are required to remain in their homes and stay off the streets until further notice.

LJ: Yes sir, Officer. No problem.

With that, the policemen gets back in his cruiser, checks the roadblock and heads back up the street.

PEFs must still have not been in LOS because of the trees.

Turn 3
Activation: Humans 4, Zombies 2. LJ rolled too high, can't activate. Both PEFs pass 0d6, can't move either.


Turn 4
Activation: Humans 3, Zombies 2.
LJ moves 8". Off to his right he thinks he sees something in the tree line.

Pic above shows the 2 PEFs hiding in the trees.

PEF Resolution - Rep 2 PEF is a false alarm. Rep 3 PEF rolled on Random Road Encounter. Result was "It's Freakin Hot". Either consume 1 food unit, or Rep is decreased by 1 for the remainder of the scenario. Great, now I'm Rep 2. At least I didn't get all killed up by Zombies. :)


Fast Move an additional 5". Rolling good.

LJ's almost there.

Turn 5

Activation: Humans 2, Zombies 6. All of the PEFS have been resolved, but I figured I still needed to roll because you never know if you'll get doubles (optional PEF generation), a 7 or 11. However, LuckyJoe continues to be lucky and moves 8" to enter his home, ending the scenario successfully, and bloodlessly.

Honey, I'm home. And where's all the damn furniture?

Another lucky run. No Zombies at all, again. LJ is beginning to doubt the existence of Zombies, probably just some media hysteria for ratings. However, next locations will be a Big Box store (need ammo) and a Supermarket (need beer food). 

Well, that's all for now. Thanks for looking. 

Day One - Campaign Starting: Hit the ATM

The following lead-in to the scenario is rated "R" for bad language. If you want just skip it and go to the batrep below that big paragraph.

It seemed like all the news shows were carrying stories about the outbreak of what some media dicksmack was calling "Chinese Rabies or CR". Apparently a disease caused by some unknown pathogen, it caused its victims to become crazed, shambling, and murderous, biting and eating the flesh of the non-infected. It was reported that the the disease spread by being bitten by an infected person, making the bitten person "turn" within a matter of 12-24 hours into another ravenous thing. "Chinese Rabies, my ass", Joe thought, "they're Zombies". So far there were some reports of CR in big cities, especially ones with international airports, but nothing reported in small towns, yet, like Findlay, where  Joe and his family live. It was a Saturday and the kids and some of the grown kids were home at the house with their Mom. Joe had been scheduled for a 1/2 day at the Acute Clinic where he worked. Relieved at noon by the oncoming, Joe was headed out the door. The oncoming Doc said "I almost called off. There was a case of CR reported in Toledo." "Damn", Joe said, "That's too close. If any of those crazies show up, you should get the hell outta here. I'm gone, good luck." Leaving the clinic, Joe thought that things were getting bad fast. It's only 45 miles to Toledo. Shit, I better get home. I'll call home and make sure everything's okay. Entering the car, a little Hyundai, Joe saw the back seat was still  full of his son Stephen's junk. Most noticeable among the junk was Stephen's replica Katana. He had bought it a yard sale for 20 bucks. Steve had borrowed the car  recently and gone to a Renaissance Fair with some friends. He had the Katana sharpened at the Fair. He said the swordsmith had told him was a very good replica, and was worth considerably more than he had paid for it. It sharpened up very nicely. Might come in handy, Joe thought. Calling home on the cell phone, his wife Patti told him "Everyone is okay, but it looks there's trouble in Toledo according to the news. We might have to get some supplies, can you stop at the ATM and get some cash?" she asked him. "Sure, it's on the way home", Joe said.

And so the scenario begins.
I decided to do 4 destinations. 1- ATM. 2- Home. 3- Box Store. 4- Supermarket.
The following is an account of the trip to the ATM.
Joe Rep 3 Star Retired Military. Attributes: Slow and Stone Cold. Weapon: Katana.
Playing on a 4x4 foot table, I placed the ATM objective 18" from the starting edge.
Rolled on the "Getting There Table" vs. Rep. Passed 1d6 but since my Rep (3) was greater than the location # (1) it counted as passing 2d6 - Arrive there normally.
Parked the car at the table edge 18" from the ATM.
Per the rules, no zombies are placed at the start.
Turn 1
Rolled Activation
Humans 3 Z-4. Total was 7. Gotta check to see if a Zed is generated. On Day One Urban areas count as Suburban for Zombie Generation purposes. Need a 5-6 to get a Zombie. Rolled 4. Too low, no Zed.

Move - Did a fast move using the new Fast Move rule. Wasn't quite sure how to play it with the Slow attribute, but decided to ignore Slow since there's no mention of it in the new rule. Even a fat guy can run fast if he has to, at least for a little while. Maybe I'll Houserule it that Slow reduces the additional move by 1/2.  What are you guys doing?

Moving like a fat blur, our hero Fast moved almost to the ATM at the end of turn 1.

Turn 2
Activation: H -1 Z-6. Another 7, is a Zombie going to show up? Nope, rolled too low again.
Moved to the ATM and collected 3 Luxury items. I guess that's money for this scenario.

Turn 3
Activation: H-6 Z-3. Rolled too high to activate.
Nervous, Joe dropped some of the cash and had to pick it up, count it, and make sure he had it all. "#$%%@%" he muttered.

Turn 4
Activation: H-2 Z-1.
Fast Move: 14 inches toward the table edge.

Almost there.

Turn 5

Activation: H-3 Z2.

Got back in the car and headed for Home (Destination 2).

So, destination 1 is done. Once again my luck held out. Thanks for looking.

Some more Hasslefree Minis Survivors

Hi, friends. Here's a few more HassleFree Miniatures minis I'm using as Survivors.

This is Bubba, an Elvis impersonator. 

Next up are Jess and Tony. Tony is looking at a cellphone in his hand.

These two are Witch Hazel and William.. I'm hoping to use them when Two Hour Wargames releases After the Horsemen, their post-apoc Horror supplement for ATZ.

I only have a few Hasslefree Minis left to be painted. My son Stephen is working on not Nicholas Angel from Hot Fuzz, and PC Sam Ford is in the line for painting. Also just primered four EM4 suits and the Tinpot Dictator for use with the Presidential Limo I featured a few posts back.

Miscellaneous stuff: West Wind Night Rangers, SWAT Decals and a pretty tree

Hi, everyone. I got today off. Kids are at school, wife is doing things that don't involve me. So it's time for some fun. Here's the tree from the title.

This is the view out my painting window today. You may remember the pic of this tree in winter with the birds in it. What a transformation. This is right off the back deck. The air smells beautiful near it, the flowers are very fragrant. Great Spring morning.

Another shot of the tree from the balcony of my work room.

I was sitting there using the natural light to paint some minis and finish some small jobs. Here's one of them. I ordered some decals from Company B for my SWAT guys. Had great service and fast delivery. I applied the decals to my SWATies.

I think they came out okay. The letters are a lot better than I could paint them, that's for sure. :) I've got a lot more decals left. Anybody wants some send me a e-mail.

Next are my West Wind Night Rangers Special Ops guys. I decided to go with a camo uniform similar to the one I used with my Victory Force Zombies a while back. I mounted them on some
Fenris Miniatures 30mm round DS Rubble City resin bases. I love these resin bases. I kept the base paint jobs simple.

Nice, dynamic poses on these minis, and there's a lot of detail on the Fenris bases.

Well that's it for now. I want to get back to painting. I'm working on a couple more Hasslefree Minis; a not Spike and Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Thanks for looking.

West Wind 28mm SWAT

Hi, friends. Here's a few more minis. These are West Wind GRK10 SWAT Team. I got them from warweb.com here in the States. Vampifan already featured them on his blog a while back. These are nice minis at a decent price.

Very dynamic poses. I went for a simple paint job of black bdu's with gray highlighting. Didn't do well on the lettering at all, so I placed an order with Company B for some SWAT decals. I'll probably just paint over the lettering black and apply the decals.

Thanks for looking.

Some new vehicles for ATZ games

In the course of the morning's running around I went to a Rite-Aid drug store and found some cool vehicles. I also had a couple of lucky finds at the Dollar General and Big Lots.

Pic above is a nice little Camper from Rite-Aid. About 1/43 scale. $4.99 each. I've been looking for one of these forever. Both front doors open.

Pic above shows the van with an EM4 biker for scale. The van has a detailed interior. You can see a TV on the wall inside the van with a picture of a zebra. I wish to God it had been a penguin instead. Cue Monty Python music. "What's on the telly? Looks like a penguin..."

This view is looking through the back window of the camper. There's a kitchen sink and grill, a dining table and benches, the tv mounted on a cabinet, and the open door you see is a tiny bathroom with a toilet. The ladder goes up to a loft bed over the driver's seat.

Pics below are of a nice little 1/43 Hummer from Dollar General. Costs just $2.50, but the doors don't open.

EM4 Biker for scale.

Pics below are a 1/43 Presidential Limo from Big Lots. The most expensive vehicle of the group, $9.50, but I think well worth it. Doors open, and lots of nice little details.

News Team 5 interviewing the limo's occupant. 

Next vehicle is another 1/43 Rite Aid vehicle for $4.99. Great details.

With EM4 Bikers for scale.

I've been wanting a nice pick-up and this one fits well.

Well, that's all for now. Thanks for looking. I may actually try to paint something today.