28mm Samurai Miniatures

Here's some pics of what's left of my current Samurai Clan.

 

Our local gaming group each had a clan of figures and painted them in 'sports team' colors.  I chose the red/black scheme and these were my Samurai Bulls.

 

 

Most of my custom Japanese Terrain/buildings was left behind in Tallahassee when I left.  The wooden gate is all I have left of the walled compound.

6mm Star Wars "Battle of Hoth"

Here's some pics of my 6mm Battle of Hoth miniatures. I use a home-brew set of rules, but also use the WEG (West End Games) edition of 'Battle of Hoth".

The AT-AT's are Ertyl Models. Each model also comes with 2 snowspeeders and a Rebel Golan Turret.  The Shield Generator in the lower right is custom made. The Snowspeeders have a hole drilled through them to slide up and down on the wire, mounted to a metal washer and nut. A small piece of foam below the speeder keeps it at the desired height.

The Rebel Hoth troopers are modified 6mm Epic Eldar, with their cone-shaped heads re-sculpted (a nip and tuck here and there) to resemble the Rebel Hoth 'Kepi'.   

The Imperial Snowtroopers are also modified 6mm Epic Eldar.  Again, with the heads re-shaped to resemble Imperial troops.

I needed a 'downed' rebel pilot or a few, so I converted some more epic.  

In addition to the snowspeeder models that came with the walkers, I also have the Micromachine Snowspeeders which are identical in size.

 

For additional Rebel and Imperial troops, you can also find them in the Rebel Transport/Echo Base model from Ertyl. It also comes with a model of the Rebel Transport and a Millenium Falcon. 

 

10mm Battle of Islandlwana

I've been a little lax lately, so I need to post some pics of past games.

Here's a few pics from a 2009 game of the "Battle of Islandlwana" with my 10mm Colonial/Zulu miniatures.

 Here's the column of British troops marching along.

 

A closer look at the 10mm troops. 

Here, the battle unfolds as the British engage the Zulus on several fronts in order to protect the wagons & supplies. 

The "spread out" British line is proving not to be much of a match for the zulu impis.

Celebrating 25,000+ views

In Celebration of 25,000+ views of my gaming blog, I found these pictures of a team I need to have miniatures for to 'flesh out' my Bloodbowl teams.  Enjoy.

Now, That's a team! Yes, it's soccer (football), but we'll teach them to throw and catch a pigskin. 

My New Quarterback.

I think she's supposed to be the new halfback? (T-back?)  

Gives a new meaning to excessive celebrating after the touchdown?  

No such thin g in my rulebook.

Ooh, looks like a roughing call to me.  Maybe have to give a penalty there?

 

OK, now bring on the miniatures and hit the showers.

More Barricades & Barrels...

I promised more pics of some of the barricades, so here they are.

Here you can see the pretty simple construction for the wooded barricade.  These were painted blue and then a 'Police Line' sign was added.  

These are simple concrete barricades cut from 1/4" mdf board. They've been glued to a tongue depressor base and spray painted grey with some tan highlights. then I added some 'twisted-wire' on top of the wire to represent barbed wire.  

Here's how all the pieces go together to create a fortified checkpoint or redoubt.  

The front of the 'Road Closed' sign.  The bottom feet are 1/8"x1/8" bass wood.  The vertical dowels are 1/8" diam. The horizontal slats are 1/4" x 1/8" bass wood.

 

Here's the back of the sign to show the limited amount of structure is required.   

This is the orange and white striped warning material.  I cut it into 1/4" strips and glued it to the horizontal 'Road Closed' sign slats.

Signs, Signs and more Signs...

Since I've had such a positive response to my Zombie terrain pics, including all of the signs, here are the signs that I have. You'll notice that most of the signs were customized for the city of West Chester.

I added two, 3-D Cow Miniatures painting the sign, just like you see in the real world.  

Victoria's Secret; Why not?

Here's another good use for those magnetic advertisements usually attached to the front of your yellow pages book.  In any modern/future game, you're always going to have death, taxes, and lawyers. 

Pawn Stores are everywhere.  

We ran one series of scenarios based on the show '24'.  So, I created some signs to be placed on the tabletop.  

Need I say more? The best puns in the world can be found at Hooters.  

I don't know what they're advertising, but I'm sold.  

 Every city has to have their favorite greasy spoon.

That lizard certainly gets around.  He was even spotted in West Chester.

 

Here are the sign files (8.5"x11" .jpg's)

 

Billboard Sheet #1

 Billboard Sheet #2, with some additional Zombie themed signs and barricades

 

Store Signs #1: Some generic and not-so-generic store signs for your city retail buildings.

 

 



Let's get POLITICALLY Correct...

Our local game group has a set of rules, and one of them is not to have political discussions during games. (Or at least we try to keep them extremely limited and civil.)  A couple of us are obvious Democrats while others are staunch Republicans.

So, during our most recent Zombie Apocalypse game, I decided to have some fun with the terrain. (I am so evil sometimes.)

First, I have several billboard frames with metal washers attached.  This allows me to have a multitude of billboards, color printed onto paper and mounted to magnetic sheet that easily 'sticks' to the metal washers on the billboard frame. So, I downloaded a few photos of pro-democratic and/or anti-Republican ads, simply imported them into Microsoft Word, and turned them into billboards.

(Here's the tall billboard made of wood dowels, foam-core board, metal washers, and some 'granny plastic'.)

 

 

(Here's one of the roof top billboards.  The frame is made from bass wood, and the sign board is made from foam-core board and some metal washers.)

 

 

(I always seem to work McDonald's into the Terrain, one way or another.)

 

Then I figured, "what good are billboards if they're aren't matching yard signs to go with them?"  So, I made Obama-Biden yard signs.  They were pretty easy to make.  The sign frame was made from a piece of a metal paper clip, bent into a 'U' shape with two little legs at the end of each U leg, in order to be glued to a base.  The sign was color printed with two signs, side by side, cut out, and then folded in half to make a double-sided sign.  Then this was glued over the metal frame and walla...a yard sign.

 

Needless to say, there were several smiles and chuckles on both sides of the political aisle that night. I even let some of the yard signs go home as souvenirs of the evening.    

Dead Walk Again: Florida Zombie Apocalypse

We recently held a 'monster' of a 28mm Zombie game.  When 6 people normally show up for our weekly game, we had 12 show up, plus myself, the Zombie Master. Luckily, I have enough survivor figures and a decent scenario, so we were able to split up the forces appropriately.

We used 2 squads of 4 police officers, 2 CDC staff, 4 Redneck clan, 4 NRA Militia types, and 4 National Guardsmen.  I had a box full of zombies and eventually deployed close to 200 of them, recycling many of them.

Here are some pics from the night (of the Walking Dead, Florida Edition) with some of the scenario background information for flavor.

(An overview of the small Florida town in Central Florida)

Scenario: “The Initial Outbreak; Central Florida Evacuation”

October 2012

The dreaded brain disease has finally reared its ugly head.   There are reports throughout Florida that a sickness has taken over the bodies of many individuals.  These ‘hapless’ seeming people have been seen wandering aimlessly throughout the cities and towns, attacking civilians and causing overall mayhem.  Some early reports even make reference to these attacks as almost animal like, with the attackers feasting on the limbs of the victims.  Experts don’t know what is causing the ‘disease’, but say that these are ‘isolated’ incidents and no need to be alarmed.  

Local law enforcement has been overwhelmed with calls to assist the civilian population.  The Governor has called out the National Guard to assist local law enforcement agencies to deal with the menace.  A voluntary evacuation order has been issued for all coastal and central Florida areas.  The law enforcement and emergency management agencies are assisting with the evacuation as best as they can.  

 (One of the two major roadblocks on this side of town manned by the local police and 'Zombie Response Team'.)

 

Local Law Enforcement

The local city and county law enforcement agencies are manning several roadblocks in an effort to create a security perimeter around the city, to help facilitate the civilian evacuations, and eliminate any of the ‘diseased’ threats.  The officers have been instructed to shoot at any ‘diseased’ individual and protect the civilian population.  It is recommended to shoot hostile targets in the head as damage to other parts of the body seem to have had little effect.

“Attention all units, this is CDC command. There are reports that the security perimeter has been breached…be on the alert that the last helicopter….…Arrghhhh!!! No, get away…Owww…Bang-Bang-Bang!...Oh my god, I’ve been bitten…..help m…..<static>” 

(This is the other roadblock.  However, these deputies decided to jump in their Sheriff's Pickup truck and abandon their post at the first sight of a suspected zombie.) 

(The CDC has set up a Zombie Response Team Center and Civilian Rendezvous area in the parking lot of the local hospital.)  

(With the abandonment of this fortified roadblock, the zombies easily take control of the intersection and proceed up the street towards the CDC HQ.) 

(A hoard of zombies shamble towards the CDC facilities virtually unopposed.) 

(The helicopter arrives with National Guard support after some local staff members eliminated the zombie threat at the landing zone.)

Florida National Guard

The Governor issued an order calling up the local National Guard units to respond the repeated requests of local law enforcement. They have arrived via helicopter with automatic weapons and vehicles, but they are spread thinly throughout the city.  They will do their best to protect the civilian population and to defend the states security interests.  Evacuation of the CDC staff and civilians is a priority.

 

(Half of the redneck team in the Jeep are overtaken by a few zombies.  The redneck duo take out the zombies, but not before suffering a flesh wound each.  The rest of the clan is catching up in their 'Winebago' from the Kwik-E -art.  They were searching for some food supplies to satisfy their victory conditions.")

 

Polk County Rednecks

It seems that the week, poor, and drug addicted were the first to be infected with the ‘disease’.  Therefore, Polk County was one of the first counties overrun by the blight.  Luckily for this Redneck Clan from the ‘Rural Ghetto’, their mobile home was well protected from the neighborhood by tall fences and lots of guns. Seeing that their days may be numbered if they stay in the compound, ‘Pa’ has decided for the family to make a break for the city in order to evacuate the area and perhaps join some of their relatives up ‘north’ in Kentucky and Tennessee.

 

 

(Here, the Florida Militia Fanatics race through town in their HUMVEE SUV trying to find some businesses to loot for more guns and ammo to satisfy their victory point conditions.")

 

Florida Militia

 

“You can have my gun when you pry it from my cold, dead, fingers.”

The local NRA and other gun enthusiasts have seen enough inaction by local government authorities.  Therefore, they have taken up arms and are trying to evacuate the area, taking out as many ‘diseased’ individuals that they can.  Supplies are low, and they will need to acquire some supplies as they attempt to leave the city for greener, and hopefully safer pastures.

 

 

 (This police squad has since left their roadblock as well as the zombies began to outnumber them. Here, they are trying to clear a path as well as rescue/force the evacuation of some civilians in order to meet their victory point conditions.)

 

(The deputies are trying to clear a path for their truck and rescue some civilians as well.)

(The Zombie hoard proceeds towards the CDC and the loan gunman after running past the previously abandoned roadblock.  After an ill-timed gun jam, the zombies eventually overun this officer dealing some severe wounds and future zombification. 

 (A pic of the line of zombies proceeding up the street unopposed. It's like a scene out of Thriller.)

 

The final tally was two minor wounds to the Rednecks, 1 CDC staffer taking numerous wounds (future fatality), and 6 civilians eaten and turned into zombies. An estimated 120 Zombies were killed in the exchanges with the players. The PC's played very well, covering their escape and isolating herds of zombies.

 

Fun was had by all and we look forward to another Zombie game.