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17 December 2012

Colgar6's ATZ Event Cards

Back a few weeks ago I placed an order with a company called ArtsCow for some "playing cards" designed by a fine British Gent named Hugh, aka Colgar6. The cards he designed is a deck of ATZ Event Cards, with 54 different random events. You can find his post on these cards here Colgar6 ATZ Event Cards Final version along with a couple of images. The cards themselves can be ordered from here The Cards themselves just a word of warning you do need to create an account with ArtsCow in order to place an order. As Hugh states in his post ArtsCow does run deals all the time, when I ordered my deck of the cards they had a 30% off your order deal going. When you do register for ArtsCow you do get a number of "free" credits for various products such as 4x6 prints you get 100 credits

I just received mine today and havent had a chance to test them out. I am planning on using these in place of the Random Events table in the ATZ rulebook

The cards them selves are the same size as standard playing cards and coem in a olive green deck box.


Some of the Random Events:

Unlikely Hero- Random Grunt gains all benefits of being a Star for the remainder of the game.

Thousands of Them!- From now on all rolls to attract more Zombies have a +1 modifier to the dice roll.

Armed Zombie!- The nearest Zombie not yet in melee with  human has a melee weapon (impact 2).

Weapon Breaks- The primary weapon of a random character suddenly fall apart and is now useless.

Loved One- The nearest zombie to a random character is recognized as a loved one. The character must take the "zed or no zed" test immediately (even if they've taken and passed it before).

All Quiet- From now on all rolls to attractmore zombies have a -1 modifier to the dice roll.

No more zombies- Each time a new zombie is generated by noise, roll a d6. A result of "6" indicates that this is the last zombie to be created in this manner,  Note that PEF's or unexplored buildings may still result in the placement of fresh zombies.



All in all I whole heartedly recommend these cards to anyone who plays ATZ.

I will try to post pics when I get a chance


19 November 2012

Cirque Du Infierno

Cirque du Infierno, the Circus of Hell (Cirque is French for circus while Infierno is Spanish for Hell)
Cirque du Infierno has been around for hundreds of years, though it hasn't always went by that name, changing its name when suspicions started to get too great. During its history it has always been a haven for those who sought to sow evil where they tread. To satisfy the evil urges of its members the circus would routinely stop at small backwater European villages and towns that it knew wouldn't be missed if not heard from, kidnapping the youngest members and killing everyone else. After coming to North America the circus changed it methods, instead of small towns and villages, it would stop in large cities, and set up on the outskirts of the worst area in town, places where if someone was found dead or came up missing wouldn't raise any suspicions.

The circus is ruled over by a council of three members, the Ringmaster, the Seer and the Fool. The Ringmaster is chosen by the various members of the circus, excluding the clowns and gypsies, though different members of the circus may don the Ringmaster title for performances, there is only one individual that is addressed by the circus as the Ringmaster. The Seer is appointed by the oldest members of the Gregorski gypsies that have been with the circus since its beginning, the current Seer is Papa Georgie. While the Fool is the head of all the clowns in the circus, no matter what the name or makeup the Fool used in the past upon becoming the Fool his former identity is no more, having an all white face, with black accents and a Black and white checkered costume.

When the outbreak happened the Circus was travelling as the Roger Bros. Circus, Sideshow and Carnival. Its last stop was Mayhem City, where it now resides and thrives controlling a good portion the Old Historical Mayhem District, a fairly run down portion of the city, as the evil loving gang they are.

Some pics of my Current Gang:

 Clown with Heads and Knife- Jimbo, Knife Thrower- Slade, Midget Clowns- Biffo, Boffo & Baffo, Clown on Ball- Yama, Twho-Headed Freak- Bill and Phil, Fat Lady- Big Ethal

Firebreather- Drake (working name), Roustabout- Christoph, Roustabout- Malcolm, Fortune Teller- Madame Estella, Clown- Bonzo, In the front are the Carnies Eddie (with the knife) and Ben (with the pistol)

 
Roustabouts Christoph and Malcolm, Other then a some minor paint work Christoph is a stock Vampire Roustabout (minor paint work include the skull belt buckle, jacket repainted and "blood" to the Mallets head), Malcolm has his head swapped with a GW Catachan Jungle Warriors head, skin repaint, skull belt buckle, and "blood" to head of Mallet.

I will try to get a pic of the Carnies front side uploaded, for some reason the pic I did take isn't loading.

I have created a new Attribute (currently a WIP) just for a couple of the figures in this gang (the Midget Clowns and the Two-Headed Freak):

Hive Mind- What it does right now (remember this is still just a working draft of the attribute) is allows the figure to ignore the first Out Of Fight or Obviously Dead result against it, though it permanently has its rep and skills all reduced by 1, all other OOF and OD results are treated as normal. Hive Mind also grants the figure the Ambidexterous ability (limited to right handed weapon and one left handed weapon, or one two handed weapon).

The idea behind it is that the characters that make up the mini are so in sync with one another that they think as one entity (or are one two minds sharing one body in the case of the two headed freak). While they can survive losing one of the members (or in the case of the two headed freak one of the heads), it comes at a cost, due to the shock of the loss of one of its "minds" the figure will be unable to function on the level it was, hence the permanent -1 to Rep and all its skills. I added the ambidexterous ability to represent that the figure is made up of more then one individual (or heads) so it can attack with little to no penalty with a second weapon.

I am also goign to be starting a draft for a custom Attribute for Big Ethel, Drake and possibly Madame Estella (though Madame Estella will follow the Psy template in I, Zombie even before the Lazarus project has been initiated, since she is supposed to be a Gypsy Fortuneteller/Psychic). Stats for the gangs members will be in a later post.


All I need to do now is get some more Killer Clown Minis. I am looking at the Eureka ones on Unicycles, just trying to find somewhere stateside to order them from to see if its cheaper that route or order direct from Australia? I also have on my short list of figures to get the other Reaper Chronoscope Killer Clown, the Ringmaster and Herq the Strongman. I also need to find some evil gypsy looking minis too to represent the Gregorski gypsy clan

Most the figures in the gang will be grunts with The Ringmaster, The Fool, Bonzo, Jimbo, The Seer (if I can find a suitable mini to represent him) and maybe one other Clown all being stars. The Stars will represent the Ruling Council and the Clowns will represent the gangs main muscle, the members that all the others follow when away from the circus.


Note: I do not know anything about the true Romani culture (commonly known as Gypsies), or their surnames. If Gregorski is a true Romani name I apologize in advance if I have caused any offense as using it to represent the "evil" gypsy clan that is part of the Cirque du Infierno in my ATZ campaign world, the use of the name is for the purpose of fictional background information for use in a game.

09 November 2012

The Circus will be growing larger

Well my Circus from Hell (Killer Klown gang) will be growing a little larger. Ordered from Ebay one Horrorclix Base set Jester (aka Sunny the Killer Klown in Vampifans games),Horrorclix Freakshow Yama (clown on a ball) and the Horrorclix Freakshow Medium. I do have on my list of minis to get the other Reaper Chronoscope Killer Klown, Ringmaster and Strongman. I am also thinking of getting the Eureka (at least I believe they are Eureka) Killer Klowns on Unicycles, if i cam find a retailer stateside so I dont have to worry about ordering from Australia. Sad news is when I get the new figures I will have to wait to do anything with them since I dont have any 25mm round bases, slotta or otherwise.

I also took advantage of the World Works Games sale that ended today (09NOV2012) and ordered Urban Grind, Podtel 6, Wildwoods Grove and Cathedra Noctis Retrofit, all sets I have been putting off getting for one reason or another. With Urban Grind I believe that completes my Urban Mayhem collection, now to start thinking about Mayhem TLX.

Wont be building any of the card models for a while, my printer decided to crap out on me, and before I get a new one, want to research CIS (Continuous Ink System) and compatible printers.

29 October 2012

Proof I am still around

Proof I am still around and trying not to just lurk.

First Up the Qwik Field/Court:

I bought some foam core that folds in half to use for my field, figuring easier storage. The empty space on the one side will have a gong (probably will be scratch built) and some stone piles for throwing at the gong.

Grid laid out (done at work while on break)

Another view of the Field, the foamcore folds in half

Starting to carve out the grid


Now on to a figure that was from my purchase last week.

Bonzo the Killer Klown. He is basically finished, just have some minor touch up work to do, along with adding some blood to the meat cleaver, though his gloves will miraculously remain pristine and white.
I do have the other Reaper figure and 10 of the 30 (not counting the extra "crawler" torsos on the sprues) WF Zombie Vixen primed and painting started. I am hoping to get these figures finished sometime this week, then assembling another 10 Zombie Vixen to prime and paint, before doing the last 10.


Edit 30OCT2012: I realized in my last post I said that the Minis I picked up last week were my first ones of the year, this is incorrect, I did get some minis this year, they were the Hunger Games figures that I have as for now left as is, because I didnt do anything with these other then rebasing they slipped my mind. I did finish the first 10 Zombie Vixen. Also below I commented on ordering some Horrorclix figures to be part of my Killer Klown gang, I noticed looking at the invoice I was emailed that I didnt order the fire breather, but a second Zombie ventriloquist, oops my bad. Hopefully next week when I get paid again and can throw more money onto the card Troll and Toad will still have the firebreather (will also be ordering some Heroclix singles that arent overtly super heros).

26 October 2012

It's Alive, Bwahahahahaha

I am still alive, just been busy with work. Not much new on the gaming front, other then ordered ATZ: Final Fade Out today, picked up a box of Wargames Factory Zombie Vixen along with another Reaper Chronoscope Survivor (not sure which one off the top of my head) and Reaper Chronoscope Bonzo the Killer Klown, going to try and start my own Killer Klown gang, already have the HorrorClix Cannibal Midgets (at least I believe its Cannibal Midgets) figure from the Sideshow expansion. Thinking the Reaper Ringmaster as another Killer Klown member, even though he isnt a Clown.

Other then what I bought today (my first miniature purchases of the year :( sad I know) I got a new Cell Phone at the begining of the month and have been busy playing around with that. Did download a fun game from the Google Play store called Plague Inc that was free (you can either play and win the levels to unlock additional content, or pay to unlock). The premesis behind the game is you have created a disease (depending on the level it is a Bacteria, Virus, Fungus, Parasite, Prion, Nano-Virus or Bio-Weapon, you start off with only the Bacteria iirc and have to unlock the others) and you need to evolve it to infect the entire world and kill off all life. It is an all or nothing scenario, so you need to kill every one or you fail. Granted I have ended games with only 109 people left alive, not a truly sustainable population in Greenland, which technically if you wanted to look at it would still result in the extermination of humanity, since they only have what a couple decades before they all die, the game considers it a loss since you didnt kill everyone with the plague.

I know back in Sept, I mentioned I was planning on ordering some more minis, that never happened due to other real life things coming up. I have all my Campaign notes organized, just finishing the editing before I start typing them out. Havent started the Qwik fields/courts yet, havent had much free time to.

11 September 2012

New Stuff coming soon (hopefully)

Well hopefully this Friday I will be purchasing/ordering some new minis along with getting the stuff together to start building a couple of Qwik fields, a Zombie Fighting pit, and a Zombie Race Track for use in my Mackinac Island Campaign.

Over the past week I have been slowly workign on organizing all my notes for the campaign so they are all together. I have also been editing them to clean what I have up, along with fleshing out some of the communities with  back stories (other then the one I created for Mackinac Island) and main NPCs. Right now I have about a dozen key locations for the campaign. Mackinac Island (where the campaign will be centered) Mackinaw City and Fort Michilinmackinac located there, Charlevoix, MI a ganger/Slaver town, Green Bay, WI a big trade town akin to Lake Havasu City in I, Zombie, Beaver Isalnd a farming/fishing community, Petoskey, MI home to three smaller communities, Cheboygan, MI a zombie town (with a small community of survivors holed up on the waterfront), St. Ignace, MI another smaller survivor community, Escanaba, MI a trade town, and Bois Blanc Island a deserted rock home to a terrible creature (BA Worms).

I have a couple other locations that are planned that will be uninhabited, primarily used as hunting grounds for food.

Right now I would say I am about 1/2 way through gettign the notes organized and the campaign setting fleshed out. I still have to go through and create all the main NPCs (do have a list of names already and where they are located).

I did create at least 1 Qwik team for each community, some have 2 teams.

06 August 2012

ATZ Equipment Cards

Back about a month or so ago there was a thread over on the THW Yahoo Group about Character Cards for ATZ. I liked the idea and downloaded the Magic Set Editor (a program for creating your own Magic: The Gathering cards along with cards for other games) to fool around with and make some equipment cards for ATZ. So as you can see I haven't totally been off the gaming grid.

I am planning on also including vehicle cards and Character cards (NPC most likely) in a later release.

Heres some of the cards I knocked out as a test.












I also added one very special, very important Equipment card that one must obtain at any cost in the game, even if it means sacrificing lesser team members.


I posted the link to the file over on the Board of the Living Lead forums. http://boardofthelivinglead.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=atz&action=display&thread=548

You will need the Magi Set Editor and possibly the Dvorak card template to view the cards and/or edit them.

21 June 2012

Sorry I haven't been posting

To my kind followers,

I am sorry I haven't been posting anything in the past couple months. Back at the end of April beginning of May I received a promotion at my job. Instead of being a Sales Rep that sells the prepaid portrait packages that our studios have, I am now the Team Lead for all the sales reps in the district (their manager). With the promotion I have increased my hours, and I also have to travel around to each of the studios in my district, a couple are about a 2 hour drive away. As such i have been spending more time at work and on the road, so I haven't been at a computer (at least one where I can get online). Add into the fact that the last two weeks on one of my normal days off I had 1) to travel down to Indianapolis, Indiana for training (did get paid the travel time both there and back along with mileage since it was a 350 mile, 6 hour trip), and 2) this week I had a training workshop I had to run for my sales reps.

I am hoping to be getting some new content posted eventually so please don't think I have forgotten about my blog. I do want to place an order for some of the Victory Force Zombies (in addition to the ones I already have) and some of their other figures that I can use as survivors, along with the Studio Miniature Zombies and survivors, but first I am looking at getting a new notebook computer and/or a nice tablet (don't know if i will go with an iPad or an Android tablet).

03 April 2012

Sales related post for Deal Extreme

As some of you may remember back last year in either October or November I posted about a Hong Kong Retailer called Deal Extreme (<- click for the link to the site), and how I ordered some stuff for my Nintendo Wii from them. In addition to the Wii items, I have purchased various items from them in the past mostly photography related, such as lens hoods and some cheap umbrella swivel mounts (that I can mount my hot shoe flash units on along with a shoot-thru or reflective umbrella on a light stand) as back ups. I regularly check out the site mainly looking for new camera related gear, though I did do a search on the site for Zombies, and discovered they currently have available on the site some Zombie themed items such as Plants vs. Zombies Conehead Zombie and Plants vs. Zombies Peashooter that shoots BBs (the Plant vs. Zombie figures look to be knock offs of the actual game characters) or A Zombie style facemask (the face mask is ABS plastic with Mesh eye holes, for use while playing Airsoft games).

As mentioned previously most of the items have free shipping (though you may see a small shipping charge of 1 penny (US) or your countries equivalent for a Tracked Airmail Service Fee). I decided to repost the link to Deal Extreme above and under my Links off to the left since I noticed the Plant vs Zombie figures. I am going to be placing an order here in the next couple weeks with them for a couple additional batteries for both my camera (Canon LP-E5's), my light meter (CR123A's) and my wireless trigger for off camera lighting (CR2540's), and a 5-in-1 circular reflector, I may also pick up a couple of additional eye cups for my camera and a macro extension tube that allows for auto focus to be used if I have the extra money.

I did include a referral code in the links above since I did sicne up as part of their Affiliate (referral) program, I get points for any referral purchase made that I then can redeem for product( mostly cheap novelty items, though they do have some items such as some rare earth magnets, or a LED flashlight similar to the Surefire ones, express shipping, or even cash back (at a rate of $0.50 per $50 in referral purchases made, so as you can see its not as if you will be making big bucks with the referral program). Any points I do accumulate will be used towards the express shipping (when I have enough points accumulated) on future orders.

30 March 2012

New Survivors coming

Well I bought my first new figures in a while today. They are the WizKids Hunger Games figures. I bought a total of 8 single figure boosters for some civilians that aren't armed to the hilt with firearms. The armed figures I have are either equipped with a Bow (1 figure) or knives, the rest are unarmed (at least visibly unarmed), which will make them perfect for random townsfolk in my ATZ games be it early days of the outbreak or the proposed Mackinac Island Campaign (set at least 2 years after the initial outbreak).

Right now all but two of them are still on the little tower/pillar base. I do plan on getting pics of what I have when I get a chance, though unfortunately I don't know exactly when that will be, hopefully Tuesday, though they wont be mounted on any bases, I am running short on my 25mm round slotted bases and haven't had a chance to pick up more.

21 March 2012

Still Hanging

Well the weather has been super nice lately, in the 70's, so I haven't been inside much (other then when I am at work). One of the things I have been doing outside is of course yard work. I have also been trying on my days off from work to get out to the shooting range to get some target practice in. Unfortunately the one range I prefer no longer allows anything but paper targets, so I can no longer use the "zombie" targets I built, all they are is a PVC pipe skeleton with a small melon (cantaloupe, watermelon), small pumpkin, or similar item for a head, I have in the past used foam mannequin heads, until I realized that they would be better for use as test targets for experimenting with different lighting schemes for photography. I do have a couple of paper "zombie" targets I can use so not all is lost. I am still getting a quarter size groupings with both my WASR-10 (Semi-auto AK clone in 7.63x39) and my USGI M1 Carbine (.30 M1 Carbine) using only iron sites at 100-110 yards.

I have also been out and about with my camera in the local park and nature preserve trying to capture some of the local flora and fauna, or in my back yard shooting pics of my mom and dads dogs playing.

While I am inside I have been fooling around with my newest toy, a copy of Adobe Lightroom 3, I have Lightroom and Lightroom 2 already so I am already familiar with the program. What I like with 3 is I can now easily shoot tethered to a computer without having to use a second program for capturing the images from the camera, now all I need is a new laptop so I can shoot tethered on site. Even though I just bought Lightroom 3, I may end up in a month or two getting Lightroom 4 which was just released earlier this month in order to play with the new features. In addition to Lightroom I am going to have to learn how to use Photoshop CS4 Extended (bought it back a couple years ago via a student discount, and have only used it maybe 2 times just to fool around with it) or GIMP (an open source Photoshop clone), especially if I want to do some kitbashes of the WWG cardstock models.

Well off to get ready for work, want to leave early to see if I can get some pics of a Great Blue Heron that has been at a pond on the way to work the past couple days.

13 February 2012

Zombie Fluxx: New Card Ideas



For those of you who aren't familiar with the game of Fluxx, it is a game of ever changing rules. You start off with two basic rules Draw One Card and Play One Card. As the game progresses you can play additional new rules such as Hand Limit 0 (meaning at the end of your turn you need to discard any cards you have in your hand), Draw 3 (you get to draw three cards), Groaning Required (you need to moan/groan like a zombie), Play 2, etc... Currently you have available Fluxx 4.0 (Version 4 of the core game), Martain Fluxx, Eco Fluxx, Family Fluxx, Pirate Fluxx, Star Fluxx, Oz Fluzz (soon to be released), and of course Zombie Fluxx. Each version is a stand alone game, though you can combine versions for "new" games of Fluxx (though some of the cards from different versions might now play well with other versions). There are also a number of Promotional cards available, some can only be used with certain version of Fluxx where others can be used in any Fluxx Deck.


Over on the Board of the Living Lead forums I have a thread for Zombie Fluxx New Card Ideas and House rules. Here are some of my Zombie Fluxx: Board of the Living Lead Expansion cards that I have came up with. All Creepers I have created count as Zombies. Currently all the Keepers I have created all count as A Friend, though unlike the Friend Keepers in Zombie Fluxx they aren't turned into Zombie Creepers by the card Dead Friends or by any other means (such as the Creeper Patient Zeros ability to turn any friend Keeper you control into a Zombie Creeper).



Keeper: Friend Vampifan

When you have Vampifan in front of you choose one Player and move any zombies in play to him, you may even chose yourself. Vampifan May Not be turned into a Zombie.


Creeper: Patient Zero

Patient Zero turns any Friend Keeper(s) you control into a Zombie Crreper, Every Turn Patient Zero moves to the player on your right, while the Friend Zombie moves to your left. Any Friend turned into a Zombie by Patient Zero stays a Zombie while still in play.


New Rule: Dawn of the Living Dead Miniatures

If you own any Zombie Miniatures or Survivor minis you must place one Zombie mini in front of you for each Zombie Creeper Card you have out, one Survivor Mini to represent you and one survivor Mini per Friend Keeper you have in your control. Those who have done this are now allowed to draw 2 additional cards and play up to two additional cards per turn.


Action: Knowledge of the Undead

If you can name at least 5 Zombie themed movies when playing this card Draw 3 Cards and Play any 2, keeping the 3rd one.

If you can't name 5 Zombie movies only draw 1 card and play it.

Goal: Board of the Living Dead

If any player controls the Keepers Vampifan, Brummie, Eldorf Dragonsbane and Creepers Patient Zero, Zombie Chow and LordSiwoc then they win the game.

Creeper: Zombie Chow

When killed Zombie Chow moves 3 players to the left, if move results in Zombie Chow returning to the player it stated the turn with then he moves 1 player to the left.

Creeper: LordSiwoc

When LordSiwoc is in your control destroy one non-weapon keeper that you control unless you discard 2 cards from your hand.

Keeper: Friend Brummie

May not be turned into a Zombie. When Brummie is in your control you may choose to Draw one additional card at the cost of Playing one card.

Keeper: Friend Eldorf Dragonsbane

May not be turned into a Zombie. While in your control Eldorf Dragonsbane can be used as a substitute for any one other keeper needed towards the current goal.

Action: Challenge Test

Draw five cards and reveal one. Now have one opponent shuffle the 5 cards and place face down on table. Pick one card from the face down set. If its the revealed card then take all 5 cards and immediately play the revealed card. If you do not pick the revealed card all 5 cards are discarded.

Action: Search for a Cure

You may search the deck for any one Keeper needed for the current goal or any one New Rule of your choice. If searching for a New Rule immediately play it.
 

I am thinking of additional card ideas. All cards I come up with will be turned into actual cards using the Fluxx Blanx cards (though they may not have artwork on them). Blanxx come in packs of 5 cards (6 if you count the cover card that has the barcode and instruction on how to use the Blanxx on it). They are 1 Keeper, 1 Creeper, 1 New Rule, 1 Action and 1 Goal. They are blank (other then having the text related to the card type (such as the Keeper card saying Keeper at the top, having the Keeper Icon {a Check mark} and having the text :"To Play this Card, Place it face up on the table in front of you."). A pack of Blanxx is $2US (MSRP, though you may be able to find them online for less).

26 January 2012

Promised some Backdrop test shots

As promised some backdrop test shots.

The first is the office building setting. I did a staged shot for this setting.
Rita Reporta of Channel 13 (WMCB) interviews Miss Peaches Aplenta on the recent zombie attacks at the Mayhem City Research and Development Building on W. 75th St. While Sgt. Jethro Manning takes aim at another zed, and Mike Stillwater the Channel 13 bodyguard stand guard next to the Channel 13 SUV. The red Motorcycle is a Hot Wheels Ducati 1058 and the Tan vehicl off to the right is a Hot Wheels Beach patrol trike (Can Am Spyder clone) repainted. The SUV is an Ebbles Miniatures M114x4 (now out of print). The satellite dish on the SUV is an Ebbles Miniatures (now Ebbles Lab on the WWG site) a Frontier Farmstead Solar Generator scaled down with a seed bead and wire painted black to represent the feedhorn.



The second is the Brick Building.
 
James "Got the Shot" Canon, Sgt. Jethro Manning, Rita Reporta, Peaches Aplenta and Mike Stillwater. These names are just ones I created on the fly for this post and do not represent any manes that I may use with them. The Cameraman and Reporter are em4 Miniatures and the other three are Reaper Chronoscope. Jethro Manning is actually Terrel, Zombie Survivor, Peaches is Peacher, Biker Girl, and Mike is Stillwater, Zombie Hunter. As you can see I kept Peaches and Stillwater having their names in this post (with a surname for Peaches and a first name for Stillwater). I do like the name Rita Reporta (or something similar) for the Reporter, as for James gave him the last name Canon (which he will keep unless I get the Recreational Conflict Photographer) since I am a Canon Camera user. If I get another cameraman (or Rec. Conflict Photographer in addition to the one I want that I mentioned above) I will give him a different paint job and probably the last name Nikon.





I am planning on getting more pics taken, with both better lighting and better focus. These were nothing more then some quick test shots to see how the backgrounds looked. As for the interior I am planning on taking some test shots with the Ebbles barracks props (bunks, lockers, tables, Desks) That I currently have printed out. First I want to get all my lighting gear out and make sure the bulbs (I think one or two of them may have been burnt out, plus want to make sure they aren't broke from getting knocked around while they were being move about the house when we were doing painting last winter) are still good, if not I will need to get some new full spectrum bulbs (sometimes called daylight bulbs since they give a closer representation natural lighting from the sun). If I do need to get some new bulbs it will probably be a week or so till I can get more photos taken, will have to wait till next paycheck.

23 January 2012

Proof That I'm Not All Talk

Well here is some proof that I am not all talk about getting something new posted other then a Hey I am still here post.

Knocked together some backdrops for taking pics on.

Two Exterior backdrops

Exterior Office Building backdrop. I did have to support the Building facade with some scrap foamcore so that it would stand up and not fall over. And yes I know the ground tiles aren't perfectly lined up or edged. I will be correcting the edging here shortly. Newspaper boxes and Bench glued down to add depth so everything isn't flat.

Brick exterior w/ flower box, trash can and fence to add some depth so its not completely flat.


One Interior backdrop

Interior, right now plain with no props.

Please ignore the ratty red plastic table cloth, it is only on the table I use as a work station/ computer station for when I am painting so that I wont get paint on the tables surface.

All Wall Textures (Interior and Exterior) are World Works Games, Bits of Mayhem Downtown for the office backdrop and Mayhem Armory (apartment) for the brick home backdrop. Exterior ground and Props are also WWG's. All WWG items are from the older Urban Mayhem sets and not the new TLX sets.

Interior floor is from Jim's Dollhouse Minis.

I am hoping now that I have a decent backdrop (or three) I will be motivated to take pics of all my minis. The Office Exterior w/ road will primarily be used for vehicle pics, where as the other two will be used for minis (interior will also be used for interior props such as tables, lockers, desks, chairs, beds, etc..., where the Brick Exterior and office will be used for outdoor props).

I am going to probably over the next couple days start taking pics of all my minis (and vehicles if I can find where they all are, LOL) on these backdrops.

Edit 23Jan2012 @ 14:00- I have taken a couple test shots on the two exterior bcadrops. I should be posting them either later today or tomorrow.

04 January 2012

New Content finally

Well I finally got off my bum and added some new content, Primary ATZ Characters and Other ATZ Characters pages.

The Primary ATZ Character page will consist of the many group(s) of characters I am/will be playing. right now it has the group that I stated a campaign with back before I started the blog, I believe I played about 4 games with them before other things got in the way. I have modified the back story for the entire group some, along with their bios, initially it was just Doug and Rebecca that were Law Enforcement, with the other two being a civilian and a ganger. James was a civilian doctor (hence giving him the Medic ability), and Mikeala was just a petty crook (nothing major, but decided she should be a ganger due to her having a criminal background). Initially the four of them were in the same building (Doug and Rebecca were there to follow up on a tip) when the SHTF, and ended up remaining together since safety in numbers.

As for the second page Other ATZ characters, these are ones that I have created as an homage to real or fictional individuals, or ones I may use as NPC's in a game. The first two characters are an Homage to Starcraft, being Jim Raynor and Matt Horner, and will more then likely be included as NPCs in my Mackinac Island Campaign set about 2-3 years after the initial outbreak, and take place on the Great Lakes, specifically the Northern parts of Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, including the Green Bay area (Green Bay, WI is going to be similar to Lake Havasu City in I, Zombie, meaning it will be a corrupt community where one can buy or sell almost anything from drugs to weapons to even slaves, though while not Ganger run, it will be a haven for many gangers). This campaign will primarily center around a group of survivors living on Mackinac Island (a good lawful settlement that abhors the actions of the gangers, and will regularly police the waters around the island for any ganger activity), when they go out on supply or trading missions. These survivors in the group I will play may or may not be the same ones from my Mayhem City (initial outbreak) Campaign, since I haven't gotten that far yet, only playing a couple games for the initial outbreak.