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23 December 2011

Happy Festivus


Happy Festivus my fellow Bloggers and Zombie aficionados.

Today is Festivus, a non-secular holiday that comes by every Dec. 23, it's Festivus for the rest of us.

For those of you not familiar with the Holiday it is one that finds its origins from the Great Wise Man, Frank Costanza, from the TV series Seinfeld. Granted it was a made up Holiday, but today there are many who actually celebrate it.

Now gather around the Festivus Pole (an unadorned Aluminum pole, since the Great Wise Frank describes it "It requires no decoration. I find tinsel distracting ... It's made from aluminum. Very high strength-to-weight ratio."). It is time for the Airing of Grievances (don't take any offense if I single you out for something this is all in good fun and yes I may make up a grievence or two just to have some fun).

First grievance goes to Bryan (Vampifan): You are nothign but a lousy show off, hoarding your great undead mini hoard over us, and shaming us all with your great paper modeling skills, may you become trapped under your hoard without help until you rot.

Next one goes to Fran (TheAngryLurker): You fat lazy SOB, always giving poor innocent Ray a hard time.

Ray: You whimpering little baby, always whining when Fran picks on you, grow a spine.

LuckyJoe: Take a shower already, we can smell you from 1/2 a continent way.

Colin (CMNash): Get off your fat wart covered bum and post some more Zombie related stuff.

Ed Texeria (: The Great Two Hour Wargames guy): You are nothing but a lousy, two faced, money grubbing crook, telling us that this game or that game will be out soon and them making us wait forever for you to actually release it, may the fires of hell sprout us and consume you for all of eternity.

Finally one last grievance to air, this one is directed at .................................ME: You sloven, unmotivated, disease infested, maggot ridden corpse, you need to take the time to actually play more then a quick little game of ATZ, and don't use the excuse that but I don't have time because of work, either, it wont fly. Also get off that arse of your's build some more terrain and get more Zombie minis, paint them and then take pics of everything.

OK that's all the grievances I have for now, again if I singled you out and said anything don't take any offense it was all in fun and you all are actually great guys and I am glad to know you through Blogger or the various gaming sites and forums.

Now I will open up the floor to anyone else who may have a grievance or two that they want to air.

The Feat of Strength will be skipped this year in favor of everyone playing a game of their favorite Zombie rule system or watching a Zombie movie of their choice.

22 December 2011

Gruesomely Severed head

Well as many of you may know I am a fan of the Reaper Miniatures paints, primarily using those from their Pro Paint line (3/4 oz jars) along with a couple of their Mater Series line (the 1/2 oz dropper bottles).  Every Reaper paint includes in it (as called by Reaper) a Gruesomely Severed Head. Every one I have seen is actually a Pewter Skull, the purpose behind the head is to help mix the paint when you shake the jar/pot or dropper bottle, similar to the ball bearing/marble found in spray cans.

Now every one of the skulls I have seen has been a nice silver pewter color (after washing the paint off of them), up until now. I had an old jar (about 13 or so years old) of Breonne Navy (a dark blue that was a favorite of mine for various minis in the past from the tunics of Knights to the primary color of my CAV's when I played to being used for anything that would be a navy blue (Suits, Jeans, etc.), unfortunately the color is now out of production. The paint still in the pot was mostly a sludge that even adding flow improver/extender didn't help remedy, so I decided to dig the skull out for future use be it a conversion or as part of the scenery. Unlike the previous skulls this one was ... BLACK and pitted. I am assuming this is from some oxidation and the fact that it was sitting in a sludge of half dead paint for over a decade.

  
Sorry for the bad pic but it was taken rather quickly.

I am thinking that I could easily pass it off as a fire scorched skull. I am also thinking of getting a Zombie mini that I can use this scorched skull on (as is, though might do a slight dry brushing of a gray), if my sculpting skills were better I would sculpt one just for this skull.

OK I admit it this post was nothing more then a shameless I have to post something and I don't know what to post, so I will post some random nothingness just to have a post that's something other then me saying Yes I am still alive.

10 December 2011

Still alive and kicking.

I am still alive and kicking. Just been busy working. Played a couple more small games of ATZ, unfortunately no pics or bat-reps since they are more just quick time consumers here and there. Other then that been playing some more Wii, just finished Lego Pirates of the Caribbean the game, now working on a game from probably the greatest non-zombie series ever, The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword. Great game even though I am still towards the beginning of the game.

I am hoping to have an actual batrep with pics here after the Holidays, though there is no guarantee, especially since real life likes to intervene when you don't want it to.

Now on a side note, I have already made my New Years Resolution, I want to lose about 20lbs by around March, and work towards getting the 6-pack abs I had back in 1999/2000. To help me out with this goal I am going to be working out with Wii Fit Plus. One reason I want to lose some excess weight is primarily to get back into shape, as we all know Rule #1 is Cardio, due to my last couple jobs, McDonald's (not beneficial to trying to stay healthy, especially when on your break you are limited to a burger and fries, if you wanted a salad you had to play for it out of your pocket) then working in a strip club where most the time I was just sitting there and it seemed like always had some pizza that one of the other employees or that a dancer had ordered and only wanted a slice or two, I ended up putting on extra pounds/Kilos. Luckily the job I have now I do a lot of walking so that is helping me get back into shape, but unfortunately it doesn't help me lose the gut I have put on over the past 10 years or so. One reason I have decided to go the Wii Fit Plus route is due to the fat that I am able to easily track my progress vs. if I went to a gym and worked out. I am planning on getting the EA Sports Active 2 for the Wii and some of the additional accessories such as additional resistance bands (medium and heavy), a yoga mat, etc...


Update 12/18/2011: I now have EA Sports Active 2 and a yoga mat. The additional accessories such as the medium and heavy resistance bands will most likely be bought next week, if either of the K-Marts that we have a studio in that I am covering have the EA Sports Active 2 workout kit left. I have noticed so far in a brief testing of EA Sports Active 2 that there are a few exercises I may not be able to do, mainly the push ups, due to a bad shoulder (first hit by a truck in 1991 on that side which did some damage, then enlisting in the US Army and re-injuring the shoulder, while trying to continue on and hide the injury from the Drill Sergeants, resulting in more damage being done, plus doing physical therapy exercises (that the Army Physical Therapist gave me without having a Dr. look at my shoulder or preforming any X-Rays/MRI's/ect... to see what the injury was) that I later find out from my civilian Dr. when I got out and the Sports Medicine therapist I was sent to, are not exercises that one does for the injury I had, doing them can actually do more damage).

12 November 2011

Small Update

Well noty much has been going on with me on the gaming front, no new mini acquisitions, and haven't really got any new scenry built other then a small rocket launch pad using the Reaper CAV Whisper Missile System (product #24543) as the basis. I used the following parts P07024B: Launch Pad and P07024C: Missile. I then raised the launch platform to a 45 degree angle using a bit of scrap foamcore, I then mounted them off center on a 40mm round base. I also added to the base a small control console /computer made from scrap foamcore. I have kept the missile separate (though painted) so that I can easily remove it to show that the missile has been launched, I also have the Inflight version (P07024D: Spent Missile) on the flight stand (P07024E: Flight Stand [74054] painted and mounted on an additional base to represent the missile in flight after being launched. I do plan on using the Missile as part of a future multi player scenario in which the players either need to A) get to the missile and launch it into the city to eradicate the undead and the infected there (this situation is for Castle Pharmaceuticals Black Knights security force) or B) get tot he missile and disarm/destroy it before the Black Knights can get to it and launch it (Survivors).

I did get a small game in. I set up the Ebbles Folding Unit Structures I have build (2x Small, 2x Med, 1x large and 1x X-Large) along with the two foam core knock ups of the Bachman Plasticville TV Station (area was Suburbs). The goal I gave my lonely survivor was to search all the buildings for his gf and any supplies he could find.

My Jake character was a  Rep 4 Civilian armed with a Pistol and baseball bat, I did give him the Brawler Attribute. Instead of rolling for initial number of zeds for initial placement I decided to use 2 PEFs (went with two due to the smaller play area). Initial placement put both in sight of Jake. Upon his initial activation I rolled to see what both PEF's were, the results were PEF1- 3x the amount of Hostile NPC's and PEF2- False Alarm. The Hostiles turned out to be Zombies, luckily they were 18 inches away, out of range. Jake moved to the first building that was on his right, upon entering I drew one card from the Risk and Rewards Deck from Two Hour Wargames, resulting in 3 zombies, and a shotgun (if Jake survives and searches for the resource). Turn ended, Next turn Jake failed to activate rolling a 5, zombies activate with a roll of 3, oh no. Zeds are all withign 3 inches of Jake so he takes his Zed or No Zed test and passes, but unfortunately they all charge him, and he only passed 1dg, so he cant fire but can melee normally. Jake gets 6d6 for melee (2 for using the bat two handed and 4 for his rep. Jake decides to divide the dice up with two per target, Zed 1 he scores 1 success more then the Zed killing it, Zed two he scores 0 more successes so he must continue to fight next round, Zed 3 he scores 2 more successes killing it. End of Turn no new zeds appear since no shots fired. Activation Jake 2 Zeds 5, only Jake Activates (Yay) Jake decides to break off contact from the zed and fast moves across the street, entering the building he runs into 2 Gangers, a Rep 4 w/ M. Pistol and a Rep 4 w/ SMG. Jake decided to do the Talk the Talk but fails miserably, the Gangers open fire on Jake. Ganger 1 with the M. Pistol scores a knock down, while Ganger 2 scores an Obviously Dead on the knocked down Jake, thus ending poor Jake's short adventure to find his GF. Obviously I didnt have good dice rolls, but as we all know that does happen, and your game can end before it really begins,


Now on to something I posted about in my last post. I mentioned about a site called Deal Extreme that is located in Hong Kong and how I had placed an order with them. Part of my order shipped on the 2nd of Nov (the items that didn't ship I did receive notice are on temporary back order and should be back in by the 18th of Nov, that's about 8 business days after the order was placed for any of it to be shipped, taking in account that it was Saturday in Hong Kong when the order was placed), and it arrived (or at least was scanned in) here int he US yesterday, and as of today it was here in Michigan at the sorting facility down in Allen park, MI (Detroit , MI area) which means barring any SNAFUs I should have the fist part of the order Monday, which will be the Pink and Blue Wii Nunchucks (for my Mom and Dad to use) and the White Motion Plus controller w/ nunchuck for use as a back-up or even for possible hardware hacks of the remote (I have found a couple that look interesting). Again I am just a customer of Deal Extreme, who has done business with them in the past and was satisfied with the purchases I have made.

26 October 2011

Update on Laptop and a cool site for some Sweet Deals

Well I got word from my brothers former Geek Squad friend. My laptop is dead. The portion of the internals that draws the power from the battery or the AC adapter is fried. He also warned me that in the past when he has seen this problem the HDD may also be toast. He did comment that he thought no one other them him could use a computer to the point of death, stating my laptop has been well used, even past the point where most people would have purchased a new one.

Luckily I still have access to this desktop (my parents old one that they gave to me) and my parents newer desktop.

Now on to an early Halloween treat for my fellow bloggers, though the treat doesn't have anything to do with Zombies. I know we all like great deals. The nice thing about this site is they ship (almost) anywhere in the world and almost every item (if not all items) they have has free shipping. The company is called Deal Extreme and they are located in Hong Kong (site can be found here Deal Extreme). I have done business with them over the past couple years for various bits of camera gear including the Battery Grip for my Digital SLR, lens hoods, a couple of Flash/Umbrella brackets (for holding a Flash unit and and Umbrella on a Lightstand), along with some other miscellaneous camera gear. Just recently I placed an order for a coupel of Nintendo Wii Nunchucks (a pink one for my mom and a blue one for my dad, $5 each, both are a third party nunchuck), a Wii Remote with built in Motion Plus and nunchuck (about $20 for the two together, third party, will primarily be used in the Wii Zapper), and a new Gamecube controller (third party for about $8) since I no longer have mine from when I owned a Gamecube. Granted you do need to be careful some items such as the Genuine Nintendo Wii Remotes (imported from Korea and Japan) and Referbished Wii's (imported from Korea) can cost more then the ones you can buy locally. Also certain items such as some of the lasers or the BB/Airsoft guns may be prohibited in your country/state/providence/region. Now I don't work for Deal Extreme, I am only a customer that has done business with them in the past and will continue to do business with them in the future, though I do typically look for the items I may order from them locally first, or in the case of the Wii Nunchucks and the Wii Remote, I purchased them because if they break or fail to work after a couple months it wont be as bad as if it was a (more expensive) official Nintendo Branded Wii Remote or Nunchuck. Also word of warning, though I havent had it happen nor has any I know who has used Deal Extreme has had it happen, as with any international order, there is a chance that you countries Customs may inspect the package and you may have to pay a Customs fee.

16 October 2011

October is a very bad month for me

Other then a few bright spots such as the Walking Dead Season 2 premier that aired today, which was awesome btw, October is proving to be a real craptastic month for me.

My laptop is officially DEAD. The Battery Gauge on the battery shows a full battery, but the laptop wont power up. The AC adapter shows the green power light but as soon as its plugged into the laptop the light goes off. I know its not the AC Adapter since it works perfectly fine with my dads laptop. So I am going to have to try and see if I can work it in tot he budget to order a new laptop from Dell. Granted I have a Dell Preferred credit account, but I will need to see if I can budget in a higher monthly bill from them.

Luckily I do have my parents old Desktop, and access to their newer desktop so I can still get online. But unfortunately most my pics are all on the laptops HDD. (will be getting a external casing for the laptop HDD so I can pull everything off of it and use it as external storage).

06 October 2011

Not looking good...

Well October has already started and it looks like I am going to have little to no real free time. Got my schedule for the month for work and lets just say they want me working shifts that kill any plans for gaming, especially since they moved me to a new studio and its about 45min drive from my house where the studio i was working at was only a 10 min drive. Plus the shortest route (the 45min drive one) is probably going to be taking longer right now since they are doing construction on part of the road and its been shut down to 1 lane for that stretch, though the projected completion time is in about a week and a half.

What gaming I have been doing is nothing to write about, it's all been on the Nintendo Wii, more specifically Wii Sports (Bowling). I did find my Game Cube copies of Resident Evil and Resident Evil 4, now jut need to get a GC memory card and a GC controller and I can play them on the Wii.

If everything works out and I have me money available after the bills I should be getting either the Wii version of Dead Rising or Resident Evil Darkside Chronicles (which as far as I can tell is RE2 and Code Veronica with a new smaller game taking place before the events of RE4). Of course I also plan on getting a non-zombie game, one of the best party games ever, Mario Party 8, and if the store I was in a couple weeks ago still has it and RE gun adapter for the Wii remote (also planning on getting another gun adapter though this one will be the one that comes with a Cabela's hunting game).

Now a question for those of you followers of my Blog who own Wii's. What are some good games you would recommend that I get (other then the RE ones, since I already plan on getting them) for some single player gaming? and how about for family gaming (just a note these ones need to be fairly non-violent since 1) my mom would be playing them and she isn't into violent games and 2) I may also be having kids between 5 and 10 playing these games too)?

29 September 2011

Small Update to let everyone know I still Breath

Just a small update so that peopel don't start thinking I joined the ranks of the (Un)Dead. Been busy with work and having to deal with a computer problem with my laptop. BTW laptop is back up and running so now I can play the Fallout New Vegas: Lonesome Road DLC.

I did get some minis this month, a couple Reaper Chronoscope figures (Edna, the Crazy Cat Lady (with 6 cats that are separate), Sister maria, Nun, and Rio Wilson, Cowboy), along with the GW Catachan Jungle Fighters Squad (10 figures). Last month I did purchase the Victory Force 50 for $50 Zombie deal, they arrived towards the end of August and I did finish them all before August ended. Granted none of my figures will win any awards for their paint jobs, as I have said before I go for the Table top (2-3ft) paint job, as long as they look good on the table from a distance of at least a couple feet, they I am happy with them. Back on the topic of the Catachan Jungle Fighters, I have taken one of the extra guns and added a longer barrel (wooden toothpick) , a "bolt" (using part of the pistol grip from one of the rifles that was cut off when the rifle was used to arm one of the Catachans), and a scope (toothpick), turning it into a bolt action sniper rifle.

I am semi-moving away from the Sabol Design Army Transport Case for figure storage and transport. Instead what I am doing for figure storage is some Flambeau Pistol Cases (Model # 1011), These cases fit inside the Army Transport case I have (with the foam trays removed). I can fit 4 stacked on top of each other horizontally, and one next to them vertically, along with 2 of the Mantic "DVD" cases that my Hasslefree Adventurers (Mantic licensed) came in.

On the scenery front I haven't been doing that much. I did find a Hot Wheels Ducati 1098 at one of the local stores, bought it and have it mounted on a GW "Pill" Motorcycle base.

I finally found a copy of Steve Jackson games, Zombie Dice. I have had the iPhone/iPod touch version for a while now and couldn't find the physical version locally so put it on the back burner.

On the gaming front not much happened this month, other then some Fallout New Vegas (before laptop problems, and now that they are resolved after). I did get a couple games of Zombie Fluxx and Zombie Dice (physical not the iPhone version) in.

I am also going to be purchasing the WWG Roll Arena this Friday (tomorrow), which I am planning on building, and modifying the card drawer so that it will fir the ATZ Risk and Rewards Deck in one of the spots for cards, and the other two will be one open area for additional dice, tokens, rulers, etc... As for the Roll Arena's top surface I am thinking of seeing if I can bash a disk with a nice picture of a Survivor fighting a Zombie, either with a firearm or in melee (maybe both, a pistol firing in one hand and a machete/Baseball bat/Lead Pipe/Katana/etc... in the other hand).

One another awesome note, I finally got me a console system for gaming. I ended up buying a Nintendo Wii. I bought it both for myself and also for my mom since she wants to do Wii Bowling and Wii Fit. I will most likely be getting the RE games for it, and also see if I can find my copies of RE0, RE1 (remake), and RE4 that I bought when I had a Nintendo Gamecube. right now only games I have for the Wii are Mystery Case Files: The Marlgrave Incident, and Wii Sports. I am a fan of the Hidden Object games, having a Big Fish Games Club Membership, which I use the free game credit i get each month to get a new hidden object game, and luckily my mom also loves playing them so they all get installed on my parents main computer in the front room for anyone in the house to play.

I am hoping that October will be a more eventful month on the scenery front and even the gaming front

03 September 2011

More Zombie Goodness

Well I have some more Zombies that I thought I would unveil to you guys and gals.






Not-South park Zombies







23 August 2011

New Survivors of Mayhem City

Here's a shot of my Newest Survivors. The recently moved to Mayhem City from a small town in Colorado called South Park.

The New Kids- Tripps, Dan, Derrick, Lyle, and Benny (names may be changing)

The New kids along side Mantic/Hasslefree Rose (front left), Reaper Peaches (back left), eM4 Cameraman, eM4 Fat Biker w/ auto-shotgun, Reaper Frank Russo, Reaper Ellen Stone, and Victory Force Zombie (front right)
The kids are actually repainted toys from a gumball machine. They are a rubbery plastic of a solid color (there are various colors available) with a "skull" screen printed for the face. There are different "skulls" available, I ended up with 3 cyclops skulls, one semi regular looking skull and one with the teeth looking some what like tentacles. As you can see I repainted them. I mainly painted them up as a comical group of survivors for games of ATZ.  They probably wont see a lot of actual play.

22 August 2011

Just a small Update

Just a small update. I do have a couple more businesses (and the Multi-national MGCIS) that I have created fluff for, just need to dig out my notes for them. I also have been throwing around some ideas for characters for my Mackinac Island Campaign, two characters that I am debating on using is one Marshal James Raynor and one Captain Matthew Horner (10 geek points to the first person who can identify where I stole borrowed the names), who will travel around the Great Lakes, aboard Raynor's ship, which is helmed by Horner in a similar fashion to the Marshals of the Old West, traveling from community to community as needed dispensing justice. Another character will be a Sheriff Jack Carter (another 5 geek points for the first one who can identify where this character comes from), who will be the law for one of the smaller communities.

Other then working on some additional background fluff on both characters and businesses, I just received in the mail today my order of 50 Zombies from Victory Force Miniatures. right now I have all 50 primed and the zombie flesh painted in on all of them, my preferred color for my zombies is the now Out-of-Print Reaper Pro Paints Ghoul Gray, once the pot I currently have is no more I will probably use Reaper Master Series Ghoul Skin, Moldy Skin or Bloodless Skin, though right now I am unsure what one of these three colors I will use.

When I get some more free time, and am not painting I will try to post additional business fluff or character stats and fluff.

11 August 2011

Fictional Companies in my Campaigns Part 4- Podtel

Well this post is in anticipation of the upcoming Podtel by Christopher Roe (aka Mel Ebbles) as part of his new partnership with World Works Games. Even though the Podtel's are supposed to be for a future setting I do plan on getting the set and building one or two for my Mayhem City Campaign. now on to the Fluff, again this is being written on the fly and may require some further editing, so please don't count it as a final version of the Podtel fluff.

Podtel- The Hotel of the Future Now

Envisioned by the eccentric billionaire, Ian McCauldwell, as the future of hotels. Ian got his idea after visiting Japan and seeing and staying in one of the Capsule Hotels there. Ian though that he could improve on the idea, instead of little cubes for the guest they would be larger and offer some amenities such as a small kitchenette and a bathroom, which the Japanese Capsule Hotels lacked.

Ian chose Mayhem City as the location for his first set of Podtel's. Each complex would consist of 2-4 towers surrounding a pool house for the guests. The first Podtel complex opened in 1989, with great popularity. Ian had another three complexes built in Mayhem City, along with another 2 dozen built across the USA, with 3 in Las Vegas, 3 in Miami, 3 in New York, 1 in Tuscon, 2 in the Washington DC area, 2 in Atlanta, 2 in Detroit, 2 in Boston, 3 in Los Angeles, and 3 in San Fransisco. For the next 12 years Podtels seemed to be doing great business, unfortunately this wasn't the case. Due to some shortcuts construction crews took in building the Podtel's outside of Mayhem City, they began to fall into disrepair faster then they could be maintained. Soon after this news came out Podtel went bankrupt, and all but the mayhem City Podtels closed their doors.

The ones in Mayhem City remained open but were soon put up for sale due to the lack of customers, two of the complexes were bought and turned into cheap apartments, McCauldwell Heights and Mayhem Towers Apartments, with the pools filled in and the pool houses torn down, due to the low cost to rent one of the pods as an apartment they condition of them has also deteriorated over time, where as the other was bought for almost nothing compared to the original building cost and continued to function as a hotel, though the new owners slowly let the condition deteriorate, before selling it. It was again purchased, now it operates as a low cost hotel, still under the original Podtel name, where one can rent rooms buy the hour, day, week or month, while the pool and pool house are still open it isn't advised you use the facility, the occasional body has been found floating just below the scum on the waters surface in the pool. Mayhem PD does rent two of the Pods for use as a mini police station, unfortunately those who live in the neighborhood, know unless you have paid the officers the monthly protection fee not to expect a prompt response time from the officers stationed there, even then those who have paid might be waiting for a officer to arrive well after the crime has been committed. Many in the neighborhood see the cops as nothing more then armed thugs using the name of the law as a way to do what they want, and not to start problems in public about the officers being crooked cops, if they value their lives.

Currently Mayhem Towers, McCauldwell Heights, and Podtel, are all on the Mayhem City Health Departments watch list, and it is expected that within the next 5 years all three will have been condemned due to the deteriorated conditions, unless something is done soon to renovate them.

09 August 2011

Fictional Companies in my Campaigns Part 3- Blue Diamond Pawnbrokers

Well here is the third installment of fictional Companies I will have in my campaigns. Please take note that this is a very very rough version of the info, all typed out in about 5-10 minutes, I haven't even proof-read it yet, only did a quick spell check.

Blue Diamond Pawnbrokers

Blue Diamond Pawnbrokers, Mayhem City's premier pawn shop, has been serving the area for over 90 years. Established in 1919 by Ezekiel Robertson. The original Blue Diamond Pawn Shop was located at the corner of W. 4th St. and Baker St, where it remained for the next 35 years before moving to its current location at 1549 Castle Avenue. Ezekiel was a popular broker, primarily due to the fact that he would routinely overlook someone coming in up to a month late to pay off their loan. Though business was rough during the 1930's Blue Diamond Pawnbrokers survived, to become the place to buy and sell secondhand items, or find that rare collectible you have been after. It wasn't till the 1950's with the move to the current location that the business really started to excel. Ezekiel at the recommendation of his son, Issac, branched out to do business in objects other then the standard, gold, silver, jewelry, and artwork. Blue Diamond Pawnbrokers began to take in anything of value from old movie posters, to vehicles, to firearms, Issac also liked to joke around that if the it was legal to buy or take a living human in pawn they probably would deal in that too.

Today Blue Diamond Pawnbrokers while still located at 1549 Castle Avenue, now takes up the entire block. Thier showroom alone is over 3000 sq feet, with another 2000 sq feet outside dedicated to housing the vehicles they have for sale. Blue Diamond Pawnbrokers also currently operates 2 satellite shops one at the Mayhem International Airport, where they sell various aircraft that they have received either in sales or in pawn, and one at Mayhem Marina where they handle the watercraft they have received. Currently there is only one watercraft that the shop has that they wont sell, the 200ft luxury yacht, Mayhem's Pride, the former Division head of Castle Pharmaceuticals yacht that he lost in a poker game with then Mayor William Shoals. The mayor sold it to the Pawn Shop, and used the money to build Shoals Park for the community. Now the yacht is used by Rebecca Robertson-Gaines, Ezekiel's granddaughter, and her husband as a home.

Recently Blue Diamond Pawnbrokers was purchased by Castle Pharmaceuticles, who do have plans of turning Blue Diamond pawnbrokers into a franchise, based on how well the proposed Los Angeles does. With the sale Rebecca Robertson-Gains will continue to work for the Castle Pharmaceuticals as the head of their pawn shops, a position which now gives her the chance to travel the world, primarily via her yacht, scouting locations world wide for future Blue Diamond Pawn shops, as the Mayhem's Pride is equipped with a Helios 3 MCS and a personal office for Rebecca to handle any work she needs to do.






Unknown to almost everyone, with the exception of Rebecca and certain Castle Pharmaceuticals employees, with the acquisition of Blue Diamond Pawnbrokers by Castle Pharmaceuticals, the brokerage has taken a darker turn, in addition to putting pawned items on sale for those who default on their loans, they are also harvesting the organs of those who have defaulted on multiple or high valued loans. The individuals are killed in a "mugging" and then Castle Pharmaceuticals harvests the organs during the autopsy. These actions go unnoticed due to the fact that the Mayhem City council previously passed the Organ Donor Law, giving Castle Pharmaceuticals full right to harvest healthy organs from recently deseased individual so that they may be used to help others in need of an organ transplant. Unfortunately only 50% of all organs harvested get used as intended, the rest are used by Castle Pharmaceuticals for experiments, or sold to the wealthy who don't want to have to be on the waiting list.

04 August 2011

Fictional Companies in my Campaigns Part 2- Bulls-Eye Burger

Bulls-Eye Burger (Bullseye Burger and Bulls Eye Burger also trademarked and used by the Bulls-Eye Burger Corporation)

A typical Bulls-Eye Burger sign. Most received "bullet-holes" while still at the factory to add to the "authenticity" of the signs, in truth the holes typically resulted from employees creating the signs deciding to use it for their own target practice before they were shipped out to be installed at the various Bulls-Eye Burger restaurants.
Bulls-Eye Burger opened their first restaurant in 1975, it was a small drive up place located just outside Mayhem City (in my campaign Mayhem City is located roughly where Flint, MI is located) in the suburban town of Burtucky. Right away Bulls-eye Burger proved to be a popular place to eat. Within 2 years Bulls-Eye Burger had expanded to 40 locations across the state, and by 1980 there were approx 500 Bulls-eye Burgers across the nation with 3 over in the United Kingdom. By the mid 1990's there was a Bulls-Eye Burger on every continent (including Antarctica at the McMurdo Station and the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station).

The main attraction of their menu was the aptly named Bulls-Eye Burger, a 1/4lb burger with lettuce, onions,
tomatoes, cheese (your choice of American, Swiss, or Pepper Jack), 6 strips of thick cut bacon, it also came with Mustard Ketchup, Mayo or the Bulls-Eye Sauce (a special recipe Bar-B-Que sauce).

Bulls-Eye Burger's menu also included other standard staples such as their specially seasoned french fries, onion rings, chicken sandwiches, a fish sandwich, soft drinks, alcoholic drinks (for the adults, they could chose from Whiskey, Scotch, Beer (from both nationally known brands and local breweries), or the Bulls-Eye Bourbon Special, a drink that mixed a shot of 170 proof bourbon with the soft drink of your choice), shakes (vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, banana, orange or the special of the month), a smaller burger (the Little Target Burger), a double burger (Big Target Burger) and chicken fingers.

The Bulls-Eye Kids Meal consisted of a small soft drink, shake or milk as the beverage, a small Fry or Onion Rings and the main entree of either a Little Target Burger (with or without cheese) or chicken fingers. Every kids meal came with a prize for the child,a scratch card that the child could win either a small plastic gun that shoots the suction cup darts or a Matt Black Deluxe BB gun (1 in 50 cards was a Matt Black Deluxe), based on the iconic Time Traveling TV hero, Matt Black's handy rifle which he used to kill the evil Aliens, Nazis, Communists, Indians, Cavemen, ect... that might be opposing him in the time period he visited that week. Later Bulls-Eye Burger introduced the Big Bulls-Eye Kids meals for older children, these consisted of a medium soft drink or shake, a small fry or onion rings, and a Big Target Burger (with or without cheese) or a chicken sandwich. The prize continued to be the scratch off cards, but for the Big Bulls-Eye Kids Meals, they small plastic suction cup dart gun was changed to a spring loaded bolt action airsoft rifle, and the Matt Black Deluxe BB Gun was changed to the Matt Black Deluxe .22LR (North American Stores only), with a 20 round magazine (these came with a mail in order form to purchase additional magazines of 20, 40 or even 100 round capacities), and a pad of 1000 targets (consisting of the aforementioned Evil Cavemen, Nazis, Aliens, Communists, Indians, etc... with each one on a separate page in the pad, the order form for the additional magazines also allowed for one to order additional sets of targets), (stated odds were still 1 in 50 for the .22 but in actuality they were closer to 1 in 30). Outside of North America all prizes were either the suction cup dart gun or the airsoft gun (1 in 100 were an airsoft spring loaded bolt action rifle).

03 August 2011

Fictional Companies in my ATZ Campaign Part 1

Well I have alluded to a couple of companies I created for the background fluff in my campaigns, the main one and most detailed to day is Castle Pharmaceuticals, though they aren't the only company I created. In my last post I mentioned using the Ebbles Helios Thermosolar generators from the Farmstead set (now out of print, though it may be back in the future via Ebbles lab over at World works Games), so I figured I would knock out some quick fluff for Helios, please note this may not be the finalized background fluff for Helios Communication Technologies.

Helios Communications Technologies

Founded in 1927 by Randolf Alexander Helios. Helios Communications Technologies was originally called Helios Radios. During the 1930's and 1940's 4 out of 5 households that owned a radio manufactured by Helios. When the build up for World War II began, Helios was chosen by the US government as a contractor to produce the field radios. After the war ended Helios radios changed their name to Helios Communications Technologies, to reflect the fact they they were no longer just manufacturing radios for households to listen to, but telephones, broadcasting equipment, and television equipment.

Helios released the very first cellular phone in 1965, the Ranger Mk. 1, for US military communications use. The Ranger Mk. 1 while housed in a backpack, proved to be very popular with the military due to the fact that the soldiers could use it to call home while in the field, and when needed to call secure lines, as the Ranger phones were able to use the the signal encryption that the US military used. These phones gradually replaced all other US Military communication radios, both in the field, in military vehicles/watercraft, and command centers on US military bases, on board navel vessels and on bases the Ranger Mk. 1 were built into a special console that eliminated the portability of the phone, larger navel vessels also received Ranger Mk 1.5 phones (also built into a console) for the crews personal use for calling home to family while deployed at sea. The Ranger Mk. 2 released in 1980 cut the size of the phone in half. From the Mk. 2 model Helios released a civilian version the Eagle. Initially the Eagle was used by those who ran companies, financial moguls and brokers, Helios seen the need to release a more consumer obtainable model, which they did with the Pilot, a cellular phone that while it cost $200 without any service when initially released, Helios did offer great rebates, in some cases up to 80% off the retail price, for those who purchased it, they also went with including a free years worth of service with selected cellular providers that Helios partnered with. Currently 1 in 3 cell phones are a Helios smart phone using the Helios Sunfire OS, and 1 out of 3 phones by other manufacturers use the Sunfire OS. The Helios Sunfire OS has proven to be an very popular OS for smart phones. It is both efficient and easy for the user to use, phones with the Sunfire OS also have on average a better battery life, typically a talk time of up 15 hours to 20 hours longer then other cell phones, and 300 hours (12 1/2 days) of stand by time.

Helios also was one of the leaders in the pda/multi-media phone/smart phone field along with computer networking, both wired and wireless. Helios modems, routers, and network servers sales soon surpased even those of Castle Pharmaceuticals, which lead to a partnership between Castle Pharmaceuticals communications division and Helios, with Helios as the majority partner. Through the partnership Helios manufactured select communications equipment, primarily limited to computer networking equipment, and the Castle Pharmaceuticals Axiom cell phone, for Castle Pharmaceuticals to sell under thier own branding.
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During the early 1990's Helios released the Helios Satellite Communications System (SCS), which has since been adopted by 80% of the worlds broadcasting networks. The Helios SCS consists of the Helios 1 Communications Array. The Helios 1 unlike other Broadcasting arrays of the time was a fration of the size, the dish was about 6ft wide, and attached to a base station of approx the same height. The Helios 1 was designed to be upgradeable with any new technologies that would come out in the next 30 to 40 years. In fact Helios 1 SCS were broadcasting the first true digital signal back in 19968, years before any other broadcasting communication system was. Helios soon released the Helios 2 SCS a smaller man portable version primarily for use by news teams in the field, that was able to broadcast its signal out to a 1000mile radius without having to broadcast to a satellite orbiting in space. Helios also released the Helios 3 a higher powered version of the Helios 2, that was able to broadcast up to a 10,000 mile radius, again without having to broadcast to an orbiting satellite, further if it was broadcasting to repeater stations. It isnt uncommon for a news team to carry two Helios 2/3 units, one mounted on thier vehicle and one that they will set up on location for those times where its not feasible to have the vehicle right there on site. The Helios 3 SCS also found favor on various marine vessels due to the range it could broadcast, because of this Helios released the Helios 3 Marine Communications System (MCS) version of the Helios 3 SCS, with refitted the Helios 3 with more durable weathering seals, slightly higher power, the Helios 3 MCS could transmit out to a 15,000 mile radius, and also the Helios 3 MCS has a built in emergency life support system that transmits the MCS's location in case of an emergency to search and rescue teams, that consists of an inflatable life boat for up to 15 people, and a weeks worth survival bars, a high calorie, high protien energy bar and a small water distillation/desalination plant that can process 2 gallons of water a day for 4 weeks, in addition to the standard first aid kit, flare, survival blankets, etc...



I am do have other companies and businesses I have created for my background fluff, that I do plan on posting later, as previously mentioned I will be adding an additional page to my blog of the various companies like I have done with Castle Pharmaceuticals.

18 July 2011

Mayhem City Broadcasting Company- WMBC Channel 13 News

Well after deciding in my last post that I would call the TV Station (and Radio Stations) Operated by Mayhem (City) Broadcasting Company WMBC, I needed a vehicle for the News team. I have the eM4 Female Reporter and Cameraman for the team. The vehicle I have for them right now is the now Out of Print Ebbles Miniatures M11 4x4 (pulled it off the also now Out of Print Ebbles Archive DVD that I purchased back before Christmas 2010), I chose the Grey version for the News team. For the transmitting equipment I tried to see if I could find a Satellite dish on the Ebbles Archive DVD, unfortunately i wasn't able to, so I went with the Helios Thermosolar Generator from the 2008 Farmstead set on the DVD, since it looks like it might pass as a satellite dish of a sort.

I am planning on building a Jeepvee 4x4 also for the News team, as a newer vehicle, that the Channel 13's top reporter will use.

Here's some pics of the cardstock model with the eM4 Female reporter and cameraman (along with some eM4 Bikers as security) for scale, and one of the Ebbles Helios Solar Generators that is a stand alone unit.

The Channel 13 News team with their new ride and some body guards.

The News team close up. Note the Helios Solar Generator (Helios Satellite Transmitter/Receiver) on the M11's roof.

 
 
Another Helios "Satellite Transmistter/Receiver". This one received a small mod, I added the "antenna" you see on most satellite dishes, its made from a piece of wire bent into a U shape and a seed bead.

Just a small note the Helios Thermosolar Generators were printed at a Reduced scale. When printing I chose the option for multiple pages to be printed on one page, and had it selected for 4 pages. Since this is only a one page model it only printed in the top left corner of the page, feeding the page through the printer 3 more times, with each time feeding a different edge netter me 4 of the generators on one piece of cardstock, more then enough for the New Team, with an extra one or two for use by the Military or even a community of survivors who use it to communicate with other pockets of Humanity.

14 July 2011

Small WIP sampling

As many of us know the Bachman Plasticville buildings are a great source for modern looking buildings on our gaming tables. Unfortunately some of the more desirable ones are currently Out of Print, like the TV Station.

Now over on the Lead Adventures Forums one of the members zizi666 posted a link to a template based on the Plasticville TV station, granted it isnt a 100% copy of the actual product, though it is close enough.

I downloaded the template and decided to build a mock up of the TV Station out of some cheap Dollar Store foamcore.

Here are some picks of the mock ups:


Basic Plain Jane build of the TV Station from the template, please not I haven't done anything with the windows other then leave them open. If I decide to actually keep this building, both windows will be done with some clear plastic from a blister pack, the door will also likely be made out of the blister pack plastic. This was built primarily as a mock up so the painting of it is rough, wanted to give it some contrast for the pictures instead of having it all while. If I do use this the painting will be more finished so that the window frames aren't bare white foam (interior is painted GW Skull White), and the roof/ceiling will be all black. Roof is removable so you can easily place a figure or two in the building. I will be using the THW Building Interior rules for the TV Station.

The second one I built I did a small modification to as you can see
I opened the front and right side window some more and added a counter out of foamcore. This building will be used as the Office/rental Shack for a Miniature Golf course, a Go Kart Track or as a Concession Stand, or as a combination when used with a Mini Golf Course, you can pay for a round of mini golf, then after you and your date are done playing, grab a hot dog bag of chips and a pop/soda or an ice cream. I am planning on making a small wire basket filled with seed beads to represent the golf balls, and I may look into seeing if any company produces putters in 28mm, if not I may sculpt one with wire and greenstuff, then try my hand at casting the putters up. Again this one also has a rough paint job, if actually used I will give it a more finished paint job. Roof is also removable. I am still undecided if I will be using the THW Building Interior rules for this building or if I will play it as is.

Miniature used above to show the scale is the eM4 Camera Man.

If this works you can find the template by Zizi666 here http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?topic=31067.msg369531#msg369531


I have decided that for the TV Station it will be operated by Mayhem Broadcasting Corporation, and will function as a TV and Radio Station, both AM and FM, with the Call Letters WMCB (W is since its located east of the Mississippi River her eint eh United States and MCB for Mayhem City Broadcasting). It will operate on Channel 13 for WMCB-TV, for WMCB-FM it is on station 103.9 (My favorite Flint area Radio Station is 103.9FM, so figured I would give them a small nod in my games), and WMCB located at 600AM on the dial (there is a local Flint AM station that uses 600AM but I couldn't tell you what it is since I rarely, as in almost never, listen to AM radio). I am trying to decide if I want to write some background fluff for Mayhem City Broadcasting,  if I do I don't know if I will have them as their own independent company or as a subsidiary of Castle Pharmaceuticals, I am leaning more towards an independent company so I can have them investigating some rumors on Castle Pharmaceuticals in the fluff.

09 July 2011

New page(s)

I just added right to the left of the main blog page a section for new pages related to the content on my Blog. The first new page is a consolidation of the Castle Pharmaceuticals fluff that I previously posted. More will be added as I work on more fluff for Castle Pharmaceuticals (primarily the White Rook Experiments).

I also plan on adding a page for other fictional businesses in my campaigns, this will be multiple businesses on one page unless they are a major business like Castle Pharmaceuticals or Mayhem Scientific Research and Development, Inc. (MSRD will be getting its own post eventually, if I haven't already posted the fluff for the company).

I am also thinking of adding a page for the main characters in my Campaigns once they get going. The page will be in the following format:

Name of Character
Starting Rep/Current Rep
Starting Class/Current Class
Attributes
Weapons (if any)
Misc. Equipment/Loot (both starting and found)
Characters background fluff (if I have provided any)

An example character:
Doug
Rep 5
Military/Law Enforcement
Born Leader, Stone Cold
Semi Auto Rifle w/ Scope and Silencer, BA Pistol, SMG, Knife
Equipment/Loot: Tactical Vest (Counts as Body Armor/Protection)
Doug is a former Solder in the Army, serving 8 years active duty as part of a Ranger Unit, upon leaving the military he took the job as the head of Mayhem PD's S.W.A.T. Unit as a favor to long time childhood friend Commissioner William Johnson, to help clean up the corruption from the former SWAT commander. Once settled in Doug hired Rebecca Chase, a fellow Army Ranger (in my alternate reality Women are also able to serve in the military in combat related positions such as Infantry), to act as his second in command and as the Team Sniper, reprising her role from the Army. Doug then announced that there were to be open qualifications for all positions on the SWAT team, any mayhem PD Officer was eligible to try out for the team, and all current SWAT members would have to compete in the qualifications if they wished to remain on the team. With the new Team formed the SWATs corruption was gone, and they preformed valorously on many calls. Doug operated the Team like a well trained Military Unit, requiring each member, himself included to qualify on all weapons they might use 4 times a year, the exception was Rebecca, her qualifications came through the Military and Law Enforcement Sniper Competitions she participated in, typically one per month around the nation. Doug also procured a 150 acre plot of land that the city obtained through a Drug Bust 4 miles outside the city limits, for use as a training Facility for the SWAT, with funds from Drug Busts, Police Auctions, fund raising and donations, the facility was built with, 2 repelling towers (200ft tall each), 8 different shooting ranges (6 of which are ranging from 25yards to 1000yards, 2 are set up for stages, such as starting at 200 yards with rifle, walking towards the target and firing, reloading behind a screen and then moving an shooting to a second screen where the individuals will then pull out hand guns and then continue to move and shoot at the target), 3 houses, 1 small Apartment complex (2 stories, 20 apartments, plus office and a rec room), a Small Store/Bank (could be configured as either depending on training session) and a small school (two Story, 15 classrooms, a gym and cafeteria), all bare walls, limited furniture, fully wired (for lighting, camera surveillance, and limited controlled pyrotechnics) and no plumbing (other then the sprinkler system and hoses in case of a fire), for use in the training sessions. Within 2 years of completion the facility gained national recognition for the training preformed there and soon had SWAT units from across the nation requesting access for training. Doug has since hired a staff consisting of personnel from the military and other SWAT units to function as the the facilities training staff and to handle the scheduling of other SWAT units then Mayhem PD's. The Mayhem SWAT routinely while not on duty, train along side members of other SWAT units, and also assist in the training of the other SWAT units as needed. Due to the fencing around the Facility, and the supplies stocked there (food, water, weapons and ammo, since it wasn't uncommon for the Mayhem PD SWAT to stay there over night and on weekends training, they stayed in the Villa, the house that was originally located on the property) Doug has used the facility as a base of operations for the survivors of the SWAT team and any other survivors they may have come across. each training building has had the pyrotechnics system disabled and is now set up to house the survivors, with the "Villa" functioning as the housing for the SWAT along with the dining facility and Doug's office for planning resupply and rescue missions. All resources recovered are cataloged and then stored in the facilities secure storage.


Please Note that the fluff above for Doug is slightly different then what I will be using for my Star, primarily the part about the 150 acre training facility. In my campaign the Mayhem PD SWAT uses the MOUT training facility at Fort Liberty (a fictional Military base located outside Liberty City, both named for a fictional Civil War Colonel, who initially used his land where the base is located to train a fictional Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment at the beginning of the Civil War), approximately 15 miles south of Mayhem City. And until I actually get the campaign going I wont know where Doug has his base of operations set up.

01 July 2011

New goodness

Well i am finally getting some time to post some actual new content. Picked up the  Hasslefree Miniatures (Mantic licensed product) Adventurers: Juveniles today. the set included Hasslefree Miniatures figures: Palin, Parker, Katie, Peter, and Rose. Sorry in advance about the poor quality of the photos, took quick shots of the minis with my cell phone and forgot to have the flash on the phone turned on. Wanted to get quick pics taken so I could at least have some new content. I will try to get better pics later.

From Left to Right: Rose, Parker, Peter, Katie, and Palin.

Close up of Katies Trash can lid. Tried to make it look like on of the Captain America shields. Fluff wise going to say that Peter or Palin painted it before they gave it to her.

I also picked up some Heroclix. They are the new Captain America figures, released as random singles heres 3 of the 5 I got:
From left to Right: Nick Fury (S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent, only repainted his weapons), Sin (Hydra Agent, repainted her skin with reaper propaints Caucasion flesh, her hair which was originally a bright red to a dark brown, and her Bodice which was red and black to maroon, along with her gun) and Howling Commando (dont ask the faction, no repaint other then the weapon).
The other two Heroclix figures were a Hydra officer (still on original base and original paint job) and a Captain America (the James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes capt. America not the Steve Rogers one, still on the base, I may end up doing a head swap, getting rid of the Capt. America cowl, and repaint, turning the shield into a street sign instead of the Capt. America shield.).

14 June 2011

Still Alive

I am still alive, just have been uber busy between work and other things in real life. I am planning on posting some actual content here soon (as in someday, LOL). Right now I am debating whether to post some pics of the Copplestone Bio-Chem squad and Zombie Troopers I have or some of my scratch built scenery (and the background fluff for said pieces), which consists of a couple of signs for some fictional businesses in my initial outbreak campaign, that is set in Mayhem City (in my campaign Mayhem City is located where Flint. Michigan is, and Genesee County is Mayhem County, the rest of the state for the most part will remain as is, with maybe one or two exceptions, such as a large military base and city outside of it located where the real world communities of Fenton and Holly are). I have already posted one of the signs over on the Post Apoc forums http://s1.zetaboards.com/Post_Apoc_Wargames/topic/4242944/1/?x=90#post373415 Though now the sign does have some additional details on the base.

I might also continue posting some of the background fluff for my initial outbreak campaign, fleshing out the Mayhem County area and Liberty City/Fort Liberty (the above mentioned Military base which is named after a fictional Civil War Colonel, Col. Ebenezer Liberty, that commanded the fictional 33rd Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment (at least as far as I know the unit is fictional), who also used his own land (where the base is located)  for the training of his regiment). I might also include some of the major groups in the area such as the Mayhem County Gun Club and the pro sports teams in the area.u

25 May 2011

Stylish Blogger Award and an update to my Blogs Apperance

Well I needed to repost this since for some reason the initial one was lost in cyberspace after i hit publish.

Stylish Blogger Award




Thank You
Well just seen over on Adam's (Zombie Ad) blog http://theleadwillwalktheearth.blogspot.com/ he is nominating me for the Stylish Blogger Award. First of I would like to say thanks for the nomination.

Now for the award there are a couple things one needs to do upon receiving the nomination and the rules are as follows:
  1. A thank you and link back to the nominating blog.
  2. Share seven things about yourself.
  3. Pass the award on to 10 or so other deserving blogs.
  4. Let them know of your nominating them for the award.
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Well on to the rest of the list since I did #1 above.

Seven things about me:

1) I was born and raised and still live in the Flint, Michigan area, and yes it is how the news actually makes it out to be.
2) I am a child of the 80's, born 1980 and prefer the music from that era (and earlier) over the stuff released in the 90's and later.
3) I am a Technogeek. I love gadgets such as my iPod (160 GB iPod Classic, and 8GB iPod Touch) my Android OS phone (Motorola Droid), my computers (desktop and laptop), etc...
4) I have worked for a small student owned and operated landscaping company while in High School, at a Scout Summer camp during high school, a Fast Food Restaurant, the US Army (basic Training, ended up injuring shoulder then getting discharged), a Gentleman's club (Strip Club) as a bartender, and currently as a Sales Rep for a photography studio.
5) I am an avid Photographer, going to school for photography, and have been paid to to some portrait sessions and modeling sessions (mostly friends and family).
6) I spoil my cat as though he was a kid, bought him stuff like his own fleece throw blanket (a $20 blanket), numerous toys, and am always buying him moist cat food and giving it to him as a "treat" just because I like to spoil him.
7) I am an avid Zombie movie fan and reader of Zombie fiction. I have read World War Z by Max Brooks a good 100+ times from cover to cover, and am always noticing things I had previously missed in past readings. Another book I read regularly is Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers, I try to read it at least twice a year , once in May/June then again in Nov/Dec.

And the Nominees are:

1) Vampifans World of the Undead- A great Zombie Blog run by Bryan, a great guy. Would love to have him sitting at my game table any day of the week. Like me a fan of the Two Hour Wargames game All Things Zombie.
2)Obvisouly Dead- Anotehr great Blog, plus Oliver like Bryan is a great guy, and another ATZ fan, who I wouldn't mind sitting at my table for a game or two or 20.
3) Tactical Miniatures Gaming _ Willy, aka LTL Dad, aka Veloci, is a great guy and I always look forward to bat reps. A great guy who can sit down at my gaming table and join in any time he wants.
4) Chez Ebbles- Christopher Roe's (aka Mel Ebbles of Ebbles miniatures fame), a great cardstock model designer. I am a big fan of his models and have been building some of the vehicles and his Folding Unit Structures for use in my ATZ games.
5) 2 Hour Blog- The blog for Two Hour Wargames, nominated this sicne I am not sure if the THW Yahoo Group would qualify. If you play ATZ or any of the THW games, the yahoo group is the place to go if you have any questions, if Ed doesn't answer the one of the many knowledgeable group members over there will answer and 99.99% of the time they will give you the same answer Ed would.
6) Zed Storm Rising- Darrell, while he hasn't posted in almost 2 months, does have a great WIP of a scale model of his actual house that he is making for his zombie games.
7) Down Among the Zed Men- Colin (CMNash) is the guy I stole, borrowed, the PEF miniature idea from. Another great guy who can sit at my gaming table for some sessions of ATZ.
8) Rebel Miniatures- The blog for Rebel Miniatures, a great source for 15mm zombie figures.
9) Quick and the Zed- While a fairly new blog, I have been following Spartan117's work on a couple forums for a bit now.
10) Akula's Blog- A great blog with links to Akul's various project blogs. Akula is the creator of Akula's Rules: Skirmish Edition (AR:SE) and its variants that he originally created for FU:UK forums Salute hosted a couple of years ago.


Again I would like to thank Adam for nominating me for the award, it is the first award I have been nominated for that I know of. Now I might have to have an Awards area on my blog.

Edit 26May2011: I decided to fiddle around with my blogs appearance. It may be changing again in the next couple weeks. I finally got around to adding more links to Manufacturers and a couple of gaming forums. I do have more written down on a list to add as I get the free time.

18 May 2011

US Government takes Zombie Outbreaks Serious

Just noticed a post over on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

http://blogs.cdc.gov/publichealthmatters/2011/05/preparedness-101-zombie-apocalypse/ (Warning may take a while to load)

This is also linked from the main CDC website down on the right side of the page under News & Events.

Now I am wondering if the other US Government Agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will be following suit and posting about what they plan on doing in case of a major Zombie Outbreak.

17 May 2011

Same Old Stuff, Nothing New, yet

Unfortunately nothing new yet. Been busy working, and unfortunately due to the weather going from being in the 80's for a couple days down to the 50's with rain, its playing havoc on my sinus's.

I did get the Copplestone Casting Bio-Chem Squad and Zombie troopers that I bought from Chris Roe (Mel Ebbles) when he had the cleaning out the closet sale before closing his site down (which is sad for the gaming community), finished. I had them basically done before, was just debating on how I wanted to paint a couple details. Pics hopefully will be coming soon.

10 May 2011

Still no Surprise, but I will tell you what it should have been

Still no surprise, I was planning on, as a couple people had guessed, my first Batrep, but unfortunately the game I was playing ended up getting cut short due to real life and my notes I had taken on the part of the game I did play, seems to have grown legs and walked off, so I figured I would let you know what I was planning since I don't know when I will have a real chance to get a game, with pics and write up done,   luckily it was only the first 3 or 4 turns I got to play so it wasn't a total loss. I did forget to take pics of the game for all but the 3rd turn, so the fact that I cant find my notes and the game was interrupted so early on in it, means its not a big deal to start over from the beginning again.

I do remember a couple things I was doing wrong in the game, from a quick review of the notes, I was giving the Humans the wrong movement speed (giving them 12") due to some poorly written crib notes I was referring to so I wouldn't have to bring out the rule books as often.

The scenario I decided on playing is based around 2 members of the Military trying to make it across the board (Suburban setting) to their transportation (an APC), after receiving orders to abandon their post, one of about 6 check points meant to keep the infected on the island (the Island for background purposes is about 3 miles long at the longest point and 2 miles wide at the widest, 1/2 mile wide as the narrowest point) on the western side of a river, unfortunately the check points to the south were over run fell due to the onslaught of refugees trying to get off the island and away from the infected and the infected themselves. I did rule ahead of time that the 2 military members have seen zombies before and have seen them feasting, due to them trying to hold the check point, though any survivors they come across I will still roll for seeing the feast and Zed or No Zed, since up until just recently the military was able to keep the situation contained on the other side of the river and on the island.

When I finally do get a chance to play the scenario, I may have it take place after the lazarus Project was initiated and have Smarties and Ragers pop up. This scenario wont be an official part of my Campaign, though it will take place during the first half of it (in a different location then where the campaign will be centrally located), the initial days of the outbreak, the second half of the campaign will be my Mackinac Island campaign where it is a couple years after the outbreak.

Main reason I don't have anything yet is due to my work schedule, when I would be starting the game I am at work, since I do most of what I have to get done (yard work, errands, shopping, etc...) in the morning before work. I do have right now Mon-Weds off, though spent all of yesterday and most of today doing work around the house and in the yard since it has been nice out. Tomorrow I am planning on going over to the Local Hobby Shop for a couple of supplies to build my scratch built Fishing Trawler/Patrol Boat/Cargo Ship that I currently have mocked up out of card stock.

26 April 2011

Sorry No Surprise Yet

I am sorry to say the surprise I mentioned I was hoping to post either this last weekend or today (April 26) has been delayed. I had some real life stuff come up that didn't allow me to finish everything. I will try to post what I am able to here in the next couple days or so, if I get the chance.

22 April 2011

Ebbles miniatures Sale

I just scored me some Copplestone Casting Zombie troopers (1 pack of 5 figures) and a pack of the Copplestone Casting Bio-Chem Troopers over on the Ebbles Miniatures Forums. Christopher Roe (aka Mel Ebbles) is having a Clearing out the Closet Sale! on his forums to liquidate various miniatures he has no use for. You can find the thread here http://www.ebblesminiatures.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=2503 The thread is already a couple days old, I forgot to post this the day he put the thread up. He requests you contact him regarding the figures you would like with an offer, he isn't accepting an offer of trades or gift certificates to other companies for additional minis, and if he feels its a reasonable offer he will let you know the total cost for the figure(s) you would like with the shipping.

Also Chris is currently liquidating his entire physical stock of supplies in his sites supply depot. He has a thread in his forums announcing the reason behind this which I will not go into here. Everything he has left is currently 50% off, other then the down-loadable card stock models, these aren't included in the sale. Also unfortunately he has suspended international shipping to Canada, since he gets very similar USPS (US Postal Service) shipping rates on both domestic (USA) and Canadian packages.

While I am happy I scored some figures I have on my wish list, i am saddened to hear that Chris is getting out of the physical inventory business, I would rather order glue and replacement Olfa blades from him then order them from somewhere else or even shop locally at Wal-mart, just so I could help out a small business owner here in the USA.



BTW this is not the surprise I mentioned in my previous post, that I am currently working on finishing up the last of the little details so I can post it here. I am hoping to either have it finished and posted tomorrow or Sunday, if not one of those two days, I am aiming for Tuesday April 26th. Everythign all depends on if I can as mentioned finalize the details and find time to post it between working at my job, eating, and getting house/yard work done.


Update: Chris is also going to be getting out of the direct to customer sales of his cardstock models. He will continue working on cardstock models for personal projects such as his Saga of the Uppity Robots (the models he currently has on his site for sale), though these will be through his blog http://melebbles.blogspot.com/ I believe he mentioned over on his Ebbles.com forums the models on his Blog will go back to the Free, but if you like please donate some money format, but please don't quote me on this I may be wrong.

17 April 2011

Surprise Coming Soon

I have a small surprise coming soon to my blog. I am not going to tell you guys out right what it is, but I will give you a Hint, it is something that hasn't been posted on my Blog yet (which could be a couple of different things, BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA). I am hoping to be able to post the surprise here within the next week or so. If it isn't this week it should be next week (probably Tuesday April 26th), it all depends on how long it takes me to finish everything.

12 April 2011

More Metal Goodness

As promised here are a couple quick shots of the latest miniatures acquisition.

  
Hasslefree Adventurers: Femmes Fatales- Witch Hazel. Kitty, Sadie and Dionne
 The Hasslefree figures above are all distributed by Mantic Entertainment the makers of the great plastic Ghouls that I have previously posted pics of for use as Ragers. They are all in one of the 4 sets of Hasslefree figures that Mantic currently is distributing, the others are Juveniles, Girls with Guns, and I believe Female Soldiers. I am planning on getting the Juveniles and Girls with Guns, the Female Soldiers I am still unsure about at this time. Keven White is an exquisite sculptor, and I do regret waiting this long to purchase some of the Hasslefree Miniatures.

Reaper Chronosope- Harvey the Psycho-Killer, General Drake, and Phat Clark the Gang Boss
Reaper Chronoscope- Ninja, and the Ladies of the Night

Reaper Chronoscope- Ladies of the Night. Each one has a Tattoo, A butterfly on the one in the Blue, a vine of ivy on the one in the white fur coat, and a rose on the left shoulder blade of the one in the hot pink pants. I am currently calling the one in the Fur, Ivy (due to the tattoo) and the one in the pink pants, Rose (after her rose tattoo). The one in the Blue is currently unnamed, though the names for the other two are just working names and may not be the ones I use in games.

10 April 2011

New Vehicles

Well I picked up some new vehicles for my survivors and gangers to use. They are the Hot Wheel clones of the Can Am Spyder motorcycles, though they aren't fully accurate copies, they are close enough to the real things while still avoiding copyright infringement. The Spyder is actually a tryke with two front wheels and one rear wheel. They all are/were the same scheme, I have repainted two, one in Reaper Pro paints  Desert Tan with Reaper Pro Paints Dragon Black for trim and the other in Reaper Pro paints Dragon Black, the third I left as the original Beach Patrol scheme.

Original Beach Patrol Scheme
Beach Patrol, Tan and Black
Edit: As promised in the comments here's some pics with miniatures for scale.

eM4 Biker Babe w/ Auto shotgun and Biker w/ Auto shotgun

Reaper Chronoscope Peaches the Biker babe with one of the Reaper Chronoscope Ladies of the Night (note hand drawn rose tattoo on the "Lady's" left shoulder blade)

Reaper Chronoscope Mira, Post Apocalypse Heroine and Frank Russo, Mercenary

HassleFree Kitty
 Yes I know some of the figures I have slight touch up work to do, such as to Kitty, the bottom of the pants on the right leg has a spot where the paint chipped off during handling, I still have to put the matte varnish on some of them, have been just waiting for the weather to warm up some so I can take them outside and use the Matte Varnish spray I have. Plus I know the eyes don't look quite right, the smallest brush I have right now is a 3/0 so I was surprised how well the rose tattoo came out on the first attempt, granted its not perfect but it looks good enough at table distance.

Edit 2: I have now painted the windshield/front piece of the Beach patrol bike from Blue to black with what I hope resembles a police light bar, the right side has the Blue light and the Left side has the Red light with a smaller white light in the center like some of the light bars here in the US have, though the white light might also work as a headlight. I am going to paint a headlight onto the Black and the Desert tan bikes along with a red break light (on all three bikes).

09 April 2011

New minis coming soon

I just purchased me some new minis from the Local Hobby Shop. They are as follows from Reaper: 50157 Townsfolk Ladies of the Night (3), 50147 General Drake, 50037 Harvey, Psycho-Killer, 50112 Phat Clark, Gang Boss and 50182 Ninja. I purchased Phat Clark and Harvey for use as gangers and Gen. Drake, while being about a 35mm figure, will be used as a Rouge Military General during the early days of the outbreak, and a Dictator/all around not nice guy (ala the Governor from I, Zombie) in the later campaigns (like my Mackinac Island Campaign). The Ladies of the Night (professional escorts, aka prostitutes) will be used in the initial days of the outbreak as panics civilians and then in the later set campaigns they will be used as the escorts they are supposed to be. As for the Ninja every good zombie game needs at least one person who thinks they are a ninja and I now have mine.

I also picked up a Hasselfree Miniatures boxed set that Mantic Entertainment puts out through a license with Hasslefree. The boxed set is Adventurers "Femme Fatales," it contains Dionne, which some of you may recognize as the figure Oliver (Whiteface) used as Mrs. Whiteface, Sadie (a Not-Buffy figure), Kitty and Witch Hazel. I will be using Sadie, Dionne and Kitty as regular survivors and Witch Hazel as Psy in the later set campaigns.

Right now I currently have the figures all assembled (for the ones that needed assembly), primed and based (after I finish painting the figures I will be painting the top of the bases Grey). Unfortunately I have to work all weekend so they probably wont go much beyond the primed stage for at least a couple of days.

02 April 2011

Update: No Real Update

Well nothing really new to report. Been busy with real life. Back towards the beginning of March (March 6 to be exact) finally found employment after not having any luck for over a year of looking for a job.  Been busy working, and trying to get my truck back up and running, it looks like it needs a new transmission, luckily I was able to get a used one that looks to be in great condition for $500, now just need to find time to pull the old one and put the new one in.

Between the weather flip-flopping between warming up and then freezing again here, causing my sinus to give me problems, aka I am getting to the point were I am not feeling that great at all, matter of fact the past couple days I have felt like crap, only thing keeping me going right now while working is Dayquil and Red Bull, and working, I haven't had much time or drive to do do anything gaming related. Add to the fact that I haven't gotten any new miniatures in about a month and a half (at least), haven't gotten to do any painting, hence the Ebbles Models I was building during February and part of March. I did get the World Works Games Battle Packs: Battle Basics to check out the Blast Templates, Fire/Smoke effects, and possibly the Flame Templates for when I work out everything for using Flamethrowers in ATZ (have to dig out, ie find the thumb drive its on, the copy of FNG that I have to see how the Flamethrower works).


I am hoping to be able to either pick up some more miniatures from the local hobby shop (survivors) or order more online (most likely Zombies) here in the next couple weeks, it all depends on if I can get my truck back up and running and not have to spend a small fortune doing it.