A different kind of farm creature

The peace didn't last long! Three players (Daz, Ed and Phil). Three seperate foraging parties; cops, SWAT and gang members. The peaceful farm was about to erupt into a cacophony of gunshots and low, steady groans.

The action started tentively, with each party reaching towards the centre of the farm. The cops took a steady, quiet approach to one of the outlying homes, quietly and carefully disparching the zombies that they met. After considered entry into the house, they found...very little.

The SWAT team, aware of tactical discipline, stealthy moved past the barn to watch the activity around the main farmhouse. Having seen the shamblers become slightly agitated, and move towards the other side of the house.

Gunfire erupted, zombies reacted, more zombies stumbled into the farm. Now acutely aware of their situation, the SWAT fell back to the barn. Due to the increasing pressure of the chaos near the farmhouse, the team opened up!

Unfortunately the raucous bellows of 12 bore, pump action force drew more attention. The team finish with a clearance of the barn which they passed on their way in.

The tact and guile shown by the previous two teams was certainly not the approach of the gang members...their assured, arrogant attitude was displayed by moving straight towards the main farmhouse, guns blazing.

On house entry, zombies poured forth that even the hoods could not handle confidently. Forced out to the porch area, guns continued to blaze, attracting even more deadly attention. The game ended with the gang fighting for their lives...

The ATZ formula worked well as a gaming system. The simple foraging scenario showed that the game provides a great 'sandbox' experience which can be shaped well by the imagination of the scenario designer.

 

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The beauty of hexes

A friend is over from his Itslian home visiting family and folk, and luckily, he can spend a whole day for gaming! In deciding what to do. I thought about a light hearted evening game - so zombie apocalypse it is! (Not so light hearted, maybe)

I've been thinking of just taking a straight port from the boardgame version of 'all things zombie' by lock n load publishing. It fits my hexon tiles and doesn't require a massive amount of hexes to have a fun game.

What's good about the rules is that there are only two types of terrain - rough and building. I've recently modified some of my plain, unflocked boards in either rough, or grey. This has meant that the scenery has been placed in what ever looks good, but from a gaming perspective, it's the hex texture underneath which dictates it's function - brilliant!

We'll see if it works with the gaming party tomorrow...

 

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All Things Zombie - Supply Run Part Two

A short post this one...

The Zombie meter was just to high for Tonya and Beck to deal with. It seemed each gunshot drew a fresh Zombie, and each house entered spewed out yet more deadly dead opponents.fight or flight? Better a fresh attempt another day...both characters barely escaping with their lives!

 

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All Things Zombie - Supply Run

I've recently overhauled my boardgame collection and shelved them inside the house. The ready access to the games library has encouraged me to delve into some of them a little more...hence All Things Zombie!

It's been a while since looking at this game, so I decided to give the first scenario a go...a supply run into the suburbs. Here's a photo log of the first ten turns.

An interesting, unpredictable story of two lonely survivors fighting against the eternal odds. Pistols and bludgeons so far keep the desperate pair alive, with only a vest to show for their efforts. Will have a go at the next unfolding chapter tomorrow.

 

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Cleansing the Unclean

Empress miniatures provide a line of modern horror figures. I wanted some exterminator type characters for my zombie games and low and behold, there are three packs of 'containment' troops. Maybe I've been slightly influenced by the video game 'The Division', but there are some pretty nasty fellows whose role it is to burn out a pandemic in New York City, whether the 'patient' is infected or not. On this basis I decided my paint scheme was to be fairly simple and to the point - red for danger!

I have never liked painting in red, as I struggle to define and brighten the affect. Whilst better than normal, that's still the case with this paint job - even though the base coat spray was Ferrari red! Never mind, I'm sure that no players will misunderstand their intentions, as they will zombies and living alike. Well, you can't be too sure who is infected, can you?

 

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Road Warriors

Going through the survivors continues...with the revamp of these bike freaks from WestWind. I think I've another two somewhere to paint, as well as a traffic cop. I enjoyed these figures a lot, quite a bit of character, particularly the one with no neck! (Don't think this was intentional, more down to my modeling skills. Here they are a little closer...

Next posting will show my finished small purchase from Salute.

 

 

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More Zombicide...

Bank Holiday Monday, watch televisions? Nah, more Zombies to kill! Here's the scenario and board:

And here's how the scenario played with Will (Josh and Phil) and Sam (Amy and Ned) in charge.

The characters quite comfortably dealt with the unwanted incursion. After acquiring some weapons, the room clearing began with the players staying in the middle of the building, with slight movement towards the top. The only real threat occurred when a group of runners made it into the central redoubt. As the characters were grouped together, they soon made short work of the assault. Sam cunningly kept the character experience levels down to yellow, ensuring less viscious zombies were spawned. Once the zombie spawn deck was exhausted, the characters really went to town on thinning down the undead.

As the body count mounted, We decided to call it a day, as the characters could easily 'gun and run' to escape the brainless hunters (especially when the streets outside the building could be used). Might look at getting out my 'All Things Zombie' boardgame next.

 

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Weekend Zombicide

This afternoon was an opportunity to get an old game out for Will and his friend. I think my recent interest in painting and playing my own zombie rules helped me to get out Zombicide. It does seem to have some oddish rules (shooting through squares with figures in them, but always hitting survivors first in the target space), but thematically plays well with a great narrative to keep the action moving along. It's also relatively simple which allowed me to keep the game moving while the boys concentrated on what they wanted to do. Here's a photo log of the action:

The boys did seem to spend a very long time collecting and swapping their equipment whilst the shambling hordes slowly increased in size. The first 3 objectives fell easily into the clutches of the needy living. The boys finally plucked up enough courage to start to go toe-to-toe with the street walkers. Well, with a small arsenal of firepower, they began to make short work of the hordes. The characters did however get divided into two groups with the threat level rising, bringing the unwanted attentions of further zombies. The pinnacle was reached with Wanda dodging a Fatty to grasp the last objective. Not all the party made it, Josh and Doug succombed on the streets, with the other characters fighting for their existence from a group of runners. A very close game.

 

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