As the World Dies Trilogy a Great Read- Updated

As mentioned in my last post I now have an Amazon Kindel Fire HD. Been doing a lot of reading on it.

Just finished up the entire As the World Dies trilogy by Rhiannon Frater. I am not going to post reviews but links to an outstanding reviews of the books that Bryan (Vampifan) has already done and I don't think I could say much that he hasn't already stated in his reviews.

The First Days Review
Fighting to Survive Review
Seige Review

Now Rhiannon also has two more As the World Dies books out with a third one on the way, they are the Untold Tales. These two books (Untold Tales 1 and Untold Tales 2) provide some background other characters in the books. I won't really be reviewing the Untold Tales since a review of some of the tales in them will give away too much.

Untold Tales 1 Starts of during "Day 1" and reveals how Lydia (Katie's wife) met her end as one of the living, this all takes place before book 1: The First Days starts. Next we meet Monica, Jaun's cousin, find out what happened to her before she arrived at the Fort. Both Monica and Lydia's stories are short, only a handful of pages long. Finally the bulk if Untold Tales 1 is Eric's story and how he met Stacy and arrived at the Fort. This book is a great companion to the As the World Dies trilogy, letting us know about some of the other important Survivors (or in Lydia's case, a major characters loved one), and some of the struggles they had to endure before reaching the Fort.

Untold Tales 2 starts off with Katrina's story, then The Unknown's Story, a story about a family that didn't survive to make it to the Fort. Finally we have the story of Ken and Lenore's struggles on thier way to the Fort. I haven't read thsi book yet, just finished Untold Tales 1, and if its anything like the Trilogy and Untold Tales 1 it is a must have for the As the World Dies collection.

Untold Tales 3 hasn't been released yet but from what I have been able to gather it will tell us Rune the Bikers story, Senator Bitch Queen Paige Brightman's story after she abandons the Mall and tries to reach Central Government. Finally the third story will be about the after math of the Seige and one unknown (as of this time) woman's struggle on the decision whether to give up and die or to keep on living. As soon as this book is available for the Kindle I fully intend on purchasing it, as I have enjoyed the first 4 books so far and am already looking forward to reading Untold Tales 2.

I also currently have cued up to read Last Bastion of the Living and
The Living Dead Boy and the Zombie Hunters (this is actually a young adult novel by Rhiannon), along with some of the other Zombie books I have downloaded through Amazon.

I also have for the As The World Dies trilogy and Untold Tales 1 and Last Bastion of the Living signed kindlegraphs. A Kindlegraph is basically the way the author can sign a digital copy of thier books, It is a pdf file of the books inside title page with the authors signature and any personalization they may include. I opted for the basic personalization and didnt request anything special.


Well I am off to start As the World Dies Untold Tales 2.


Edit 2APRIL2013- Finished Untold Tales 2 and it was a perfect companion to the As the World Dies Trilogy. Am putting Living Dead Boy the Young Adult book by Rhiannon Frateron hold in order to read a non-zombie book series that I have heard great things about, and has a pretty good TV series based on the series, the Song of  Ice and Fire series (aka the Game of Thrones series) by George R. R. Martin. Bought a bundle with all 5 (currently released) books for the Kindle. So far I am about  6 chapters into The Game of Thrones (Book 1) and it is pretty good. Will probably be reading the Song of Ice and Fire series for at least the next month or so, while watching Game of Thrones from the beginning.

Sweet New Toy

Well last week I decided to waste a couple bucks on one of those No Chance in Hell Arcade games were you can win cool stuff like GPS units, Nintendo 3DS's, etc.... The one I was playing had an Amazon Kindle Fire HD, barely hanging on. Ended up hitting the string just right (not with the blade that cuts it) and the Kindle dropped, I am guessing that due to the weight of the Kindle and the shock of hitting the string created just the right combination of force to cause the already weakened string to finally fail.

Currently have all my ATZ rule books on it, along with some Kindle books I bought, most based off of Vampifans reviews, and of course a copy of Max Brooks Zombie Survival Guide & World War Z (already have the hard copies of both).  Now I do have some classics such as HP Lovecrafts complete works, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's complete works of Sherlock Holmes, and some Jules Verne (currently rereading Mysterious Island by Verne, last time I read it was about 15 years ago in school).


Books Currently purchased that are Zombie related:

Can You Survive the Zombie Apocalypse by Max Brallier
As The World Dies Trilogy by Rhiannon Fater
As the World Dies Untold Tales Trilogy by Rhiannon Fater
The Last Bastion of the Living by Rhiannon Fater
LZR-1143 Perspective and LZR-1143: Within by Brian James (both were free zombie books so thought I would check them out)
World War Z and Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks
Dead and Moaning in Las Vegas by  Brandon Meyers and Bryan Pedas (was a free kindle book)

I also bought (some such as the Jules Verne books were free)
The Mysterious Island, Around the World in 80 Days, From the Earth to the Moon: and Round the Moon all by Jules Verne
Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
The Complete Collection of HP Lovecraft
The complete collection of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The games I currently have on it are
Disney's Wheres my Perry (had a free download code for it so dont judge me)
a couple hidden object adventure games
and paper toss (you throw a wad of paper at the waste basket, though you have a fan that blows at different speeds each throw that will affect your aim)

I will be downloading the various rules for the Munchkin card games that I own (Zombies, Apocalypse, Star Munchkin and regular Munchkin), along with Zombie Fluxx, Zombies!!! the Game, etc...

Order Updates

Well last Friday as I previously posted I ordered some Hero/Horrorclix figures from Troll and Toad, they shipped Monday and arrived yesterday when I was out of the house. Excellent shipping service. Now one one of the figures (Harley Quinn) isnt in the best shape (the fuse on her bomb is cracked where it looks like it could easily break off), though I did order her as a Damaged/Repaired figure so this isnt a complaint. I have started to pop these off the clix bases for mounting to the 25mm round slotted bases (when they arrive) along with starting the repainting of one or two of the figures.

My Order for the 25mm round slotted bases from Hong Kong shipped on the 3rd (the 4th there in Hong Kong, was processed and left the Hong Kong Post for its trip here to the US on the 6th (7th there in  HK). Depending on the US side of everything I could have the bases anytime from Monday on.

Now as an edit to my last post I mentioned I purchased Munchkin Zombies (and the two expansions), well I ended up picking up yesterday the Munchkin Deluxe (regular Munchkin that also comes with 6 plastic munchkin pawns/miniatures (Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Purple and Orange, though the orange one looks more like a dark yellow), 6 additional cards (one for each munchkin pawn in corresponding color with the Male Munchkin on one side and the Female Munchkin on the other to show your characters sex), and a game board for keeping track of your levels, which also has a spot for the door deck, door discard pile, treasure deck and treasure discard pile. In addition I picked up the 3 currently in print Munchkin Holiday boosters of 15 cards each, the Penny Arcade booster, the Skullkickers booster and The Guild booster (Felicia Day who plays Cyd Sherman/Codex is hawt, hey I have a think for geeky redhead babes what can I say, LOL). Last night about 12am I ordered from the Warhouse23 (Steve Jackson Games online store) the Warehouse 23 2011 and 2012 exclusive booster packs that contain an assortment of cards for the various munchkin sets, along with two of the munchkin pins (Black with Blue and Black with Red). Email from SJGs at 0923 this morning said the order has been shipped, must say that was a fast fill and ship if it is true.

I have found that be it the Zombie version of the non-zombie versions, I really enjoy playing Munchkin, especially since it lets me stab my friends in the back and be a complete @sshole, and they cant get pissed at me since its how you play the game. I am planning on getting the Munchkin Apocalypse version along with Munchkin 2-8 expansions, and Munchkin Chthulu (and its expansions) over the next couple months as the funds allow.

New minis on the way

Well I did someting I know I shouldnt have, I ordered me a bunch of Hero/Horrorclix singles from Troll and Toad (where I previously ordered Horrorclix minis for my Cirque du Infierno gang) to help fill out my human population.

I also ordered 100- 25mm round slotted bases for $10.99 from ebay, the only reason I went with Ebay is because slotted bases are next to impossible to find around here and when I can get them they are the GW ones that come with the 40mm, 60mm and motorcycle bases for $10 or the smaller pack of 10- 25mm round slotted bases for $4.95 (these are a rare find around here and when I can find just the 25mm round slotted bases it is usually only a single pack of them). Almost all my figures other then the Wargames Factory Male Zombies (20mm square bases iirc), the WF Female Zombie Torsos (again 20mm square bases iirc), the Last Night on Earth minis (integrated bases) and some of the Heroclix figures (30mm round lipped bases) are on 25mm round bases (all but the GW Catachan Jungle Squad are on slotted bases) to try and keep everything fairly uniform. The Heroclix on the 30mm bases are the newer ones that were case with a base that then fits onto the 3 pegs on the clix dial base, though the ones I just ordered will be mounted onto 25mm round bases since I am out of the 30mm lipped bases from the Heroclix singles I bought a couple weeks ago (along with the HF, West Wind, Reaper, and Crooked Dice minis) ended up using all the 30mm lipped bases I had in my possession.

The list is as follow (Figure name, #, Set, inteneded use. Note If use is for Cirque du Infierno I am puitting it as Killer clown for simplicities sake, even though the figure might not be a clown, the same goes for possible gangers and civilians, they will be listed as survivors)

The Joker #013 Batman DC Heroclix  - Killer Klown

Amanda Waller #012 Arkham Asylum DC Heroclix- armed survivor

Captain Gordon #031 Arkham Asylum DC Heroclix- armed survivor or police officer

Hitman #022 Arkham Asylum DC Heroclix- armed survivor

Per Degaton #029 Arkham Asylum DC Heroclix - Survivor?

Street Thug #008 Arkham Asylum DC Heroclix -armed survivor

Mugger #006 Web of Spider-Man Marvel Heroclix - armed survivor

The Burglar #105 LE Marvel Heroclix Web of Spider-Man Marvel Heroclix- armed survivor

Arkham Asylum Guard #003 Batman DC Heroclix- police officer

Dick Grayson #027 Batman DC Heroclix- police officer

Sasha Bordeaux #023a Batman DC Heroclix - armed survivor or police detective

Code: Blue Officer #005 Web of Spider-Man Marvel Heroclix- police officer

The Joker Thug #004 Batman DC Heroclix- Killer Clown

Officer Friendly #048 Freakshow HorrorClix- Police Officer

Tattooed Man #076 Freakshow HorrorClix- Killer Clown

Wildman of Borneo #006 Freakshow HorrorClix- Killer Klown

Wolfboy #008 Freakshow HorrorClix- Killer Klown

Daken #031 Web of Spider-Man Marvel Heroclix- Killer Klown

Black Canary #003 Streets of Gotham DC Heroclix- Unarmed Survivor

Mary Jane Watson #030 Web of Spider-Man Marvel Heroclix- Unarmed Survivor

Harley Quinn #035 Experienced DC Heroclix Hypertime- Killer Klown

Thug #014 Experienced Marvel Heroclix Infinity Challenge- Armed Survivor

Professor Xavier #076 Rookie Marvel Heroclix Infinity Challenge- Unarmed Survivor

Tiger Lily #013 Rookie Indy Heroclix- Armed Survivor (ordered 2 not realizing it at the time)

      Note: I also picked up a copy of Munchkins Zombie, Munchkins Zombie 2 and Munchkins Zombie 2, and the Munchkins Zombie Kill-o-Meter. As soon as its back in stock at the LGS and I have the money I will be getting the Munchkins Zombie Meat Locker (two card boxes for holding all the cards one for the treasure cards one for the door cards). I am also already looking at getting Munchkins Apocalypse when I have the money to spare.

Back in the Ranks of the ...

Well it is official. I am back in the ranks of the Unemployed. My last day of work was yesterday 24JAN2013. The Portrait Studio company I worked for decided to close a number of our Studios, the ones I worked at were all on the list of closures. In all there were 266 of our studios closed, everyone at those studios, including some of the higher up management, last day of work was yesterday.

I did file for Unemployment benefits, so everything isnt a total FUBAR. I am also trying to get into one of the Companies other Studios in the area, one of which the Manager did mention she will be looking for another photographer here in the next month or so.. If I am unable to get into one of them I will then try to get a job with one of competitors, be it another Photography Studio Chain or one of the Local Photography Studios.

 On another more upbeat note. I have most the new minis I purchased a few weeks ago finished. The Crooked Dice may Killian (Not-Amy Pond) figure that I painted for my friend was delivered (along with a 1/42nd scale die cast Police Cruiser). She absolutely loved it, and has it sitting on a shelf all by itself (with the Police Cruiser of course). She now is talking about getting some of the Wargames Factory Zombies (both males and females) to try her hand at painting, while she has me paint some of the Reaper Chronoscope Zombies for her. I have already started to assemble a ATZ Starter kit for her consisting of Dice, a Ruler, Tokens (some of the Litko ATZ ones that Ed had available for a while), and a carrying case for miniatures (a hard shelled pistol case designed for two pistols). As for the rules I will probably let her keep the copy I printed out right after I purchased the FFO rules, since she seems to have already claimed them as hers along with the 3-ringed binder they are in. I am planning on ordering another set of Colgars Event Cards for her along with printing and assembling some of the Stozels Structures (right now I have the Circus and the Fire House, though I do have a friend down where the one studio I primarily worked at that has the bank, Hospital and Farmhouse that I could probably have print out for me to build) and WWG buildings I have for her so she has some scenery for her games.

New Goodies

Well I ended up with some new goodies today, a late Christmas Present to myself. Some were even from companies I have looked at but never purchased from.

Heres the Goodies as follows (note there wont be pics since they are still in the packaging or just assembled, no priming or painting and wont have time to work on them till tomorrow evening at the earliest).

Reaper (Chronoscope line)
Bonnie, Futuristic Heroine
Circus Ringmaster (for my Cirque du Infierno)
Herq, Circus Strongman (again for the Cirque du Infierno)


Hasslefree
Bubba
Sadie B (already have Sadie A from the Hasslefree/Mantic set) who will be armed with the Katana


Crooked Dice (New company for my collection, though only one of the figures will be mine)
Tweedy Mattison
Policewoman May Killan (this is being painted for a friend that I told if she could find a Mini she wanted to use as her Mini me in ATZ I would paint it for her)


West Wind (the other new company for my collection)
Zombie Hunters 4 pack


I also picked up some more Heroclix figures
John Jameson (unarmed civilian)
Nightshade (armed African American female)
Manchester Black (unarmed civilian)
Bruno Mannheim (will be used as a Thug or Bodyguard
Intergang Underboss (again will be a Bodyguard or Thug)
Maxwell Lord (Unarmed Cop/martial Arts Instructor)
Human Target (armed Civilian)
Lex Luthor (Convict or Escaped Convict)


As it stands most if not all the Heroclix figs will only receive a rebasing and if they do get a brush taken to them, it will be just touch up work. Only one I may do more then touchup to is Maxwell Lord. I am thinking of giving him some Urban Camo pants instead of the solid grey ones he has now.

May is going to be similar to one on the Crooked Dice website with the hair being a slightly different shade and the uniform being a navy blue with white sleeves. As for all the other figures don't know what colors I will be using on them other then the Ringmaster (Red Jacket) and Herq (maroon "speedo")

In addition to the minis I picked up the Army Painter (another company I have never purchase a product from) Metal Miniature Starter Set with the Metal Flash Side Cutter/Sprue Clippers and Hobby file (it was $2US more at the Local Gaming Store then just the Clippers and it came with a sample of the Army Painter Superglue). I have been using a hobby knife to cut bits off of sprues and have been putting off the clippers for the longest time.

I also picked up some incense to go with the Dragon Skull incense burner my parents gave me for Christmas (2 of each of the following scents Lilac, Lemongrass, rosebud, sage, and eucalyptus) along with some Lilac aromatherapy oil to use as a spray mist on my cats litterbox to hopefully freshen up the room it is in.


Edit: Forgot to mention the new cardstock model files I also bought.

I took advantage of the Stoezel's Structures sale and picked up the Carnie Ville (for my Cirque du Infierno) and the Firehouse.

Dont know if I mentioned it back in October/November but picked up from WWG Cathedrea Nocits Retrofit, Podtel, Wildwoods Grove and Urban Grind . Dont know when I will be printing abd building since have no ink for my printer and before I start printing want to upgrade to printer that I can go the CIS route with.

Also while not Zombie related took advantage of the Looney Labs (makers of Zombie Fluxx and the many other Fluxx games) sale on the Back to the Future card game. Since thier licence with universal Studios expires at the end of January they have a couple deals on the BTTF game, one is the game, Pizza Hydrator Promo, Swap Plays promo (for Fluxx) and a BTTF Game poster for $11 the other is the game, 10 posters 25 Pizza Hydrators and 25 Swap Plays for $60, or one could get just the game for $20 without any of the spiffy extras.

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