WW2Z - BTD Commandos arrive!

My small order from BTD of the British Commandos with silenced sten guns arrived in the mail today!

In the words of the great man Billy Connolly: I am shocked and stunned, and not a little amazed.

Nothing missing, nothing broken, and they arrived in good time.

If they keep up this kind of work I will be tempted to order from them again!

Photos will be posted when I have painted them, but most likely that wont be until December... I might even save them for Zedcember.

WW2Z - V1 construction begins!

The N gauge railway track arrived in the mail yesterday, and despite I have a lot more important things to do for the first planned game of the campaign I couldn't resist making a start on this project.

Dodgy concept sketch of the build... as you can see I write like a 3 year old. Maybe I should use crayons?

As I was opening my mail I spied a large piece of balsa that I have had for maybe fifteen years and done nothing with it.  Picking it up, I noticed that it would be perfect for the ramp and, by cutting two sections of equal size, would be the right size for what I need.

track laid out on the balsa before cutting the wood

the two sections of balsa with the track on top testing the size

 This morning I glued the wood sections together and started making the 'metal dividing' sections

part of the ramp for show. Note the section at the end of the ramp

I have only done one side of the ramp so far - as each divider is only 3mm wide, it was 'doing my eyes in'. I think I need new glasses :-(

 At the rear of the ramp is a section with holes drilled in to it. The real life ramp has these sections with two or three columns of holes, but doing that many was beyond my ability given the size of the thing, so I went with one column to represent it.

 Once I have done the other side I will paint the whole thing dark grey. A lot of photos show green, khaki or camouflaged ramps, but I suspect some of those colours are a bit of artistic licence used to preserve the examples still in existence.

 Besides, my ramp is owned by the SS Occult arm, so they can paint it any colour they like.

Making the legs for the ramp might turn out to be the hard part. I was going to make this out of balsa, but I fear that it would break too easily. I will use foam card as a trial, and if that works it will be all steam ahead.

Before I make any more of the ramp, I need to finish off a guard box, a house and the character cards for the first game.

WW2Z - something special for the British?

I remembered last night that someone makes a 28mm WW2 Druid miniature, and I have tracked it down:

 At first I was thinking 'bollocks - it is a para figure, and wont fit in with my commandos".  Well, after doing a bit of digging around, I have discovered that the figure comes in multiple parts, and one has the option of two different heads and two sets of arms to choose from.

I know Warlord Games sells separate commando heads, so I could make a quick conversion. I then need to come up with a back story as to why a commando is wearing a para smock, but that can be as simple as "he is a druid... he can wear what he likes"

I am not convinced on this, but I will put it in to the back of my mind for a later date.

WW2Z - German Officer

Since Zomtober my painting has slowed down to almost no existence. I might have to make every month zomsomething to keep me painting.

 About the only figure I have painted is an Artizan German Officer miniature.

The detail isn't so easy to see - my tiny Kodak camera doesn't really do a good enough job, and the much better camera I had access to is on the blink and doesn't work too well.

 When it is sunny again I will try to get a better photo so you can clearly see the uniform: he has a black coat with field grey uniform, which is a bit hard to see in these images.


Game planning wise, I think the first scenario for the campaign will be a small raid to capture equipment and destroy an antenna. This will allow my friend and I to get the hang of the rules and introduce the zombies as a gauge to see if he wants to continue with the setting, or if I take it up as a solo game.

 The store I purchased the N gauge rail track from has returned from holidays and has posted it to me... with any luck it will be here by the end of the week. If so the building of the V1 ramp will begin.

 Initially the building will be slow as I need to clean the house up for the return of Mrs Shelldrake in a week or so.

 As I build the ramp I will* post progress photos for you all to look at. 


* that is the intention.  I sometimes get so caught up in a project that I kind of forget to do this type of thing.


Oh, and Black Tree Design has stated they have posted my little order of Commandos already! Fingers crossed it actually arrives and is complete.  If so, I might be tempted to place another order soon.

WW2Z - Black Tree Design

I took a risk with BTD this morning. I know others have no complaints with them, but all of the orders I have made with them in the past have either taken six months+ to arrive, or been incomplete.

 But seeing as the are now accepting Pay Pal and had a discount of 25% with an additional -10% for registered customers, I decided to order a pack of Commandos with silenced sten guns.

 The postage was a bummer, making each of the minis cost close to $5AUD each, so I thought long and hard about getting them, but the evil voices in my head told me I needed them, and very soon I wont have too much of a budget for getting minis.

 I was tempted to order a few more packs, but as I only wanted one or two of the figures in the pack I decided it wasn't worth the cost.

Hopefully my order will have the same good luck that other people have been having lately with BTD and it will arrive ASAP.

  I also couldn't see how to include Hitler or Stalin in the scenarios, so although very tempted to include them in the order, I listened to the good voices in my head and didn't order them.

Bugger - I just thought that maybe Hitler had been cloned, a la "The Boys from Brazil", and the Commandos would have been able to kill a clone each mission as a bit of light hearted fun. Poo Bugger Bum - having placed the order I certainly can't justify the $18AUD cost placing a new order for one figure!

 As someone in a comment on the blog once called me - sodding git.   Although they meant it in fun ;-)

WW2Z - V1 project planning

I have finished building and painting my V1.  A very simple model with a paint job to match.

Until the track arrives to take measurements from, I am limited as to what I can do for the V1 project at this stage, but I have made some concept sketches for the ramp as well as put the boards aside I intend to build the ramp on:

 Basically the ramp will be split in two (theory) to make it easier to transport and store. This is mainly because I will be using two pieces of MDF for the base and I have not the slightest clue as to how to join them so as not to come apart.

 Having just typed that, I just had a thought - don't glue the ramp to the MDF - instead make a one piece ramp and glue the legs to small section of MDF I have lying around.  This will make it easier to place on gaming tables, and enable me to make it a bit longer if need be.

Regardless, this is all in the initial planning stages, and anything can change between now and the finished product.

 Once production starts I will scan my concept drawings and post them for others to see.

WW2Z scenery

I finally finished a bit of scenery for my game that I have been working on and off for a little while now.

 At this stage I will be using them as barracks, and thus potential spawn points, for my first game, but they will appear in other scenarios with different functions from time to time.

The plan for these came from Matakishi's Tea House with the only changes being what I used for the windows, and the fact I glued them both to the same base.

I would have finished them weeks ago, but I put my energies into painting the zombies for Zomtober.

If time and resources permit I would like to make another two buildings like this, maybe more.

I haven't ruled out adding extra bits to the base: things like grass or flower beds to liven it up.

Zomtober 2013 - the final days

Now it is November and Zomtober 2013 is over.

 In the dying gasps of October I finished another batch of Commandos and WW2 zombies - just.

 I think there was only four hours left in October when I finished the very last of the figures for Zomtober, managing to crank out five more commandos and six more zombies:

 And as promised, he are two photos showing the entire number of figures I painted for the challenge:

 This was quite a feat for me, as it has been a long time since I painted so many figures.

 But it wont end there; I still have something like eleven zombies still to paint up from the box of Studio Miniatures WW2 zombies. Three will be Type 1 zombies in black, with the remainder being Type 2 zombies.

 I wont be introducing Type 1 & 2 zombies in to the game with my friend just yet... I want he to get over the shock of playing a zombie game and then settle in comfortably before ramping up the threat level.

 As I wont have enough uniformed zombies to play a game I will be using my Mantic zombies. These will represent civilians that have been bitten and turned.

WW2Z - name for the zombies

I wasn't thinking of creating a name for the Nazi zombies at all until I stumbled across something that made me think.

 This German word, not only sounds cool compared to the word zombie, but will help add a bit of background flavour to the game setting: "Wiedergänger"

According to various on-line sources (which disturbingly all seem to quote wikipedia, which means no independent verification ) the word means:

The name "Wiedergänger" (also Widergänger), directly translating to "again walker" in English, refers to different zombie or ghost phenomena from different cultural areas. The word means "one who walks again" (literally Again-Walker, the term is in German Language, and the core of the wiedergänger myth is the concept of the deceased, who - often in the form of a physical phenomenon - return (as "undead") to the world of the living.

Not speaking German*, I could be totally wrong about this word, but I think it would be a great name for my game.




* apart from "would you like to go roller skating?" and replying "No, I have homework to do"both useless remnants from a single school term in Year 7.  I mean really? Why teach only one school term of a language and hope anyone will learn from it!

WW2Z - game play aid memoirs

My WW2Z game will be what I term a true skirmish; that is every figure acts as an individual, rather than as part of a unit.

 During a game, each figure will be given orders, and those orders can be different to that of other figures with in the section or platoon.

 Normally when I play my games I write up statistic cards to make it easier to record relevant information for game play. This is good, except for half of the time I forget to use a piece of equipment they carry, or over look a skill that would have saved the figure's life.

To get around these oversights, I am creating some game play aid memoirs.

Basically I have a character card with a photo and handy information that I will need to check during a game.

 I have done this in the past, but always seem to forget something important during the heat of the battle.

 Thus I have taken my initial info card one step further and created equipment and skill cards.

 The idea is that I stack cards representing any equipment or skill the figure has with the character card, and when it comes to the figure's turn to be given orders, I pick the stack up and look through them until I find the relevant piece of information that may be applicable for the order being given.

 Once the figure has been moved I pick up the next figure's stack and so on.

Here are some examples of my aid memoirs:

example 1

Example 1 shows the character card, and at a glance you can see the Rank and Name of the character, the TAC and Morale ratings, weapons and equipment carried, any skills he has, and some basic notes.

 Next to that is a card for the Thompson SMG, showing the range bands and the attack ratings for those ranges.

 The third card is a skill card telling me some important information that is good to remember, but often over looked.

Example 2

 Example 2 has two more equipment cards, again with important information that will come in handy, plus another skill card that is very important to remember during melee.

Example 3

Example 3 includes two grenade cards showing game play information. When the character throws a grenade, I remove a card from his stack, thus eliminating the need to keep records.  The last skill the character has is also in the example, reminding me that the character has a bonus to spot things during play.


 All the examples have been designed for the rules "Arc of Fire", thus most of it would look alien to most readers of my blog, as I am guessing not many of you have the "Arc of Fire" rules.


 The examples are the prototypes at this stage: I intend to alter the formatting a bit, and make them look a whole lot more 'purty' that what they are at the moment.

 During game play I can also add in to a character's card stack wound cards, to remind me to adjust movement or chances to hit, as well as anything else that would normally require some form of record keeping or a jolly good memory.

WW2Z - V1 flyingbomb is here!

Yep, my model V1 arrived today.

 Not the hardest kit I will ever put together - 11 pieces in all. Glad I didn't pay a fortune for it.

  Looking at it, I will be using N gauge railway track for the launch ramp, so I am happy I waited until it arrived before getting any rail.

 The bad thing about it is the ebay shop I purchased the rack from seems to be on holiday, so I wont get the track until mid November. Poo Bugger Bum Snot!

 In the mean time I will make my V1 and start drawing up plans for the ramp and walls for the launcher.

 It looks like I will have to make this in two parts, as I will need more than one of my MDF boards to complete it, but this will allow me to store it a lot easier when not in use.

WW2Z - V1 rocket scenario thoughts

The more I think about the V1 rocket scenario, the more I like it.

 I have been doing a bit of research in to the rockets so that I can make the appropriate scenery to go with it.

I can't start building the launch site yet, as I need to know the size of the V1 rocket I am eagerly waiting.

But, here are some images I have found on the net I am using for ideas:

Diagram of a 'typical' launch site

Walls that protected the launch ramp, which has been removed

V1 on launch partial ramp

Ramp as see from the rear

 Depending on the size of the V1 model, I am thinking of using HO/OO railway track for the top of the ramp itself, with foam card plus embellishments for the body of the ramp.

 I will have a crack at cutting out the struts for the ramp as seen at the front of the ramp on the last photo, but failing that I will 'cheat' and just make a solid support.

 The blast walls I will make with foam card, and I might tackle making buildings 'R', 'Q' & 'K' as shown in the top diagram.

I am hoping I will be able to get away with a shorter ramp and mount it on an A4 sized piece of MDF I have, but failing that I will find a board I can use.

 A lot does depend on the size of the model!

The launch sites also had a bit of variation of how they were built, so I can get away with not being 100% accurate should I need to be flexible.


For a bit of inspiration I found this on you tube:

Zomtober - week 4

Well, it is surprising how fast Zomtober has gone - week four already.

This week I finished my figures off before the weekend, which was a great effort on my behalf if I say so myself.

The flash really sucks on these figures

 This week I painted up six "type "3 zombies and five commandos. 

 I know this weekend is the last for Zomtober 2013, but I am extending Zomtober into next month simply because I only have five more commandos to finish and six more type 3 zombies to finish.

 After I have done those I want to finish off the Type 2 & 1 zombies, but as I wont be  using them for my games right away they are not an immediate priority.


 I have really liked Zomtober for it kept me actively painting, and I might not have done any painting this month if I hadn't joined in the fun.

I liked it so much that I am going to do a challenge for December and put it out there for others to join in... but more on that towards the end of November.

~                             ~                              ~

 WW2Z notes

 Two of the commandos shown above are very important to my game if I am to use the "Arc of Fire" rules.  The sniper has longer range than almost every other Commando due to the others having SMGs, and has an impressive +3 to a d10 dice roll to hit.

 The Bren Gunner not only has very long range with the Bren Gun, but he has the best chance to kill a target than any other Commando in a fire fight.

 These two figures will need to be protected at all costs if the Commandos are to have a good chance at surviving. 

 Due to the high number of SMGs and the Bren Gun used by the Commandos, there will be a lot of chances zombies spawning during a game. Mwhahahahahaahhaa

WW2Z - scenario ideas

I have been thinking of some scenarios for my World War Two Zombie game.

 I have a German Officer with a brief case waiting to be painted up.  The scenario involving him is fairly simple - capture him and return him to Blighty.  Sounds simple, but he could escape before capture, or not actually make it off the table safely.

Artizan's "Major Kriepe"

Once the officer has been interrogated sufficiently he will spill the beans on other people involved in the zombie plot, as well as locations of research bunkers etc.

 This can lead to a mission to capture mad scientists, occult leaders or both.

Artizan's "Dr. Klomp"

 Maybe V1 rockets will be used to deliver a zombie chemical into the allied lines - this would be a fun project to make a launch site, provided I could find a model V1 rocket to the correct scale. I could always use a smaller model (which I can find) and call it a Z1 rocket.

image stolen from another web site to show the 'fun' level of the V1

 I did consider a V2 rocket, but I think the V1 would be more fun for the game.


Then of course there is always the Marquis / Resistance that could be the focus of a few missions - the Commandos have to meet up with them and are then guided to a location of story driving importance.

Artizan's Michelle

 I would love to find a reason for a German U-Boat and crew for the game... maybe they will be carrying something important and need to be stopped before they leave the docks

Brigade Games: the big one is out of my price range, the small one is WW1... research will be done into the use of WW1 u-boats during WW2. Heck - zombies are involved, so I can't see why I couldn't use one.

Do I allow Priests to have an effect on zombies? If so, the Commandos can take one along with them and protect him. Maybe this would work only on the occult created zombies.

Artizan's Priest miniature

More ideas when the spring to mind...

EDIT - Woot! I just found a 1/48 V1 kit selling at a decent price here in Australia!  It should arrive next Wednesday, so I will have to start looking at making a launch ramp once I have built it.

Bolt Action Zombie - Not

As followers of my blog will know, I have been tinkering with the Bolt Action rules to a) play it as a true skirmish game, and b) use this adaptation of the rules to play a zombie game.

The concept only partially works and leaves me thinking I would need to transform the rules so much that it is not worth the effort.

 As I have been cleaning my house up to make room  for a shipping container load of Mrs Shelldrake's items coming from Japan, I have had chance to uncover a number of rules I have played and then put aside as each new shiny thing came along.

 One of these rules is "Arc of Fire".  I re-read the rules and played a few turns using the commandos and zombies to see if the rules will do what I want them to do.

 Now Arc of Fire is not a 1:1 skirmish game: the figures on the table represent individual soldiers, you still move them as a group; thus you control a fire team or a section rather than a single soldier.

 The good thing is that with very little tinkering I can play the game the way I want for my games.

 The great thing is that the rules cover Colonial to Modern settings, so I can use the rules for my Vietnam campaign and other projects if I ever get them finished (like the Rhodesian Bush War for example).

 I also want to work on some game cards to speed up play and have information at hand rather than need opening the book to look information up.  More on this another time.

 So, instead of using the title "Bolt Action Zombie" I now need to come up with a new title for my game setting.



 

Zomtober 2013 week 3

ok, I could have posted these earlier today (like this morning and not in the evening) but I was caught up in a play test for my WWW2 game, and playing a computer game called "Endless Space".

 As you can see, I have painted four zombies and four commandos this week.  I have decided that all the zombies with helmets will represent the nastier type 1 & 2 zombies for my games, with the others being type 3 zombies. 

 This will make it very easy to tell what types they are during a game without the need to think hard or pick up a figure to check the detail on the out.

 I have already made a start on next week's effort - this time I hope to paint six zombies, but I only have five commando in the line up to paint, leaving me with only three commandos to paint up to have the lot finished.

Edit - it appears I have five more commandos to paint up... two more were hiding in amongst Vietnamese villagers.

Zomtober week 2

Here are my results from week two of Zomtober (still not sure on the name - some call it Zomtober, and others Zombtober...):

This week I painted up two more commandos, a Nazi zombie and a type three German zombie.

I hope to do three or four of each for next week's efforts.

Zomtober 2013 - Week 1

Being a Sunday, it is time to post my first photo for the work I have done for Zomtober 2013.

I painted up two WW2 Commandos (who are filling the role of survivors) and one Nazi zombie.

I still can't get over how shiny the matt varnish is I use.

 As you can tell I only paint to get figures on the table, and not as master pieces.

 The angle of the face on the zombie makes it hard to see his red eyes, but that should be easier to make out on the zombies I have to follow this photo.

 The arm band on the zombie is not what you are thinking it is either.  I created my own arm band, and the symbol on it is different to normal.  I will reveal more about this in future posts as I am including it with the back story for my game setting.

Zomtober 2013

 I haven't participated in any thing like Zomtober before, but as I need a kick in the back side to get some figures painted, I thought this would be an excellent way to get me motivated.

 From Brummie's (and others' sites):

 

"The plan is simple any mini's blogger who wants to join in with Zombtober basically agrees to paint up 1 Survivor or 1 Zombie figure per week in October.

Hopefully the plan is to post your figure on  each Sunday of the month!

So dig out those figures you've been meaning to paint and come join the fun!"

 I will include a list of others participating in this event once there is a complete list available so I don't have to keep editing my blog.


 Thanks to a funny story (funny weird, not funny ha-ha), I now have a box of plastic Studio Miniatures Nazi zombies to make and paint up.

 I am also working on the edge of the rules maybe, but I am including my WW2 Commandos as survivors, so I will be including these in my tally.

 So, I should get cracking on making the nazi zombies, as the game will be a foot tomorrow.

Bolt Action Zombie - work on more scenery

Ok, it has taken a week and a half for me to finish off my recent purchase: the guard tower I found here for sale in Australia.

 It took a while as it was not quite what I was expecting.   I had in my mind it was a laser cut kit you just put together rather like those excellent products made by various companies.

 Instead it was more like a plane kit, where the pieces had to be cut out of a sprue, then files or sanded where the pieces joined the sprue before you could put it all together.

 Here is a sample of the 'sprue' to better show what I mean:

 The instructions said you need a good hobby knife, but I found a Stanley Knife was the best thing to use.

 As I cut the pieces out and filed the tabs back I assembled it without using glue to see how it went together, and once I was happy I glued my tower together.

 Next I added some corrugated card to the tower walls and roof to try and give it more of a WW2 to Modern feel about it.

At first I was a bit uncertain about this, but the end results left me feeling very happy that I made the effort.

The kit has the option of glueing the roof in to place or keeping it separate so as to make it easier to place figures in the tower.  I decided not to glue to roof in place.

Finishing off the tower had to wait about half a week as I wanted to get some brown paint for the legs that I felt was the best colour for it.

 Having secured the paint I proceeded to paint the legs and the ladder and then the walls, roof and leg supports with a dark grey undercoat, followed by a lighter grey top layer.

 As the whole thing looked a bit too clean I used a diluted ink wash on the model to weather it a little.

Once it was all dry I glued it to a base for extra stability and then finished off the base to make it fit in with my other scenery.

These photos show the end results of my work:

Tower with roof on

Tower with roof off

Commando Sniper in the tower. Safest place to be really. Or is it?

It wasn't until I was editing the photos that I noticed the zombies had knocked a tree over in the background. Stupid zombies.

Other scenery

I am making some buildings for use in the game and will have photos of these as soon as I have finished the first batch of them.

 I also found 4Ground make a nice German guard box, so I have requested a Paypal invoice from NorthStar who are selling it with the best postage rates I could find.  4Ground really need to look at their postage rates if they want overseas customers to buy from them directly.

 I also want to make some fences for a German base, but I am not 100% sure on what I will do for this.  I will tinker around to see what is the easiest to make without compromising how it looks.

Bolt Action Zombie - German zombie types

I am thinking of three types of zombies for my WW2 game.

  The nastiest will be SS Zombies - these are creations of an occult experiment conducted by high ranking members of the SS.  They will be fast, hard to kill, able to climb, use things, be semi intelligent or better, have leadership and, fortunately, be in limited numbers.

The nature of their creation is what makes them dangerous and hard to kill.
 
 They wont have the ability to infect others. They are pure killing machines and nothing else.

Type one zombies

 Next will be your German soldier that has become a zombie through chemical testing to create a Super Soldier. They will be harder to kill, but lack the ability to move fast, climb or use items. Basically a normal zombie, only harder to kill than average.

 Only 'first generation' zombies will be harder to kill; basically only those created through chemical testing will be tougher.

 As they were created in a laboratory  through experiments that have gone wrong, they will carry a virus that infects others that they bite.

Type two zombies

 The third, and last type, of zombie are those bitten by the 'type two' zombie.  They can be other German soldiers, Allied soldiers or even Civilians. They will be easier to kill but still remain infectious, thus passing on their undead curse to others.

Type three zombie

 What does all this mean in game terms?

Type One: can run, open doors, climb ladders, has a troop quality of 10 and is killed on a 6+

Type Two: slow moving, has a troop quality of 9 and is killed on a 5+

Type Three: slow moving, has a troop quality of 8 and is killed on a 4+

The levels as to which the different zombie types will spawn also matches how hard they are to kill. Thus a Type One will only spawn on a 6+, whilst a Type Three will spawn on a 4+.

I will have to play test the different zombie types, but I think they will work.

How to tell the difference between these zombies?

 The Type One zombies are easy to tell - they wear the SS uniform.

For the Type Two zombies I am thinking of painting yellow "glowing" eyes. They will also be in Wehrmacht uniforms.  The reason for the glowing eyes is to tell them apart from Type Three zombies in uniform.

 And Type three will be anything else.

Bolt Action Zombie - back ground fluff

As part of the campaign I am putting together some player hands outs, or red herrings, for the game.

 The first one is an excerpt from a 'top secret' document on the creation of the commando unit that will be the focal point for the game:

It is a work in progress and I will add to it and change parts as time goes on.


I haven't done too much about the game this week - real life is taking presidence again, but I hope to dedicate at least a few hours over the weekend to doing some play testing.

Also I am hoping my guard tower will arrive in the mail early next week so I can add it to my scenery.

MDF Guard tower

I might have found a guard tower made here in Australia of all things!

miniaturescenery make this and a number of other items that are useful for other wargame settings.


At first I thought the tower might not be suited too well for a WW2 game, but a quick google turned up that it is idea, or at worst needing the slightest make over to make it look the part.

Bolt Action Zombie - another play test

I managed to play test another game today.

 This time I only used four commandos, as the others are busy being painted up.

 To start the game I rolled 4d6 for the number of zombies starting on the board and I only rolled 6.

 As the commandos were mostly out of range for a number of turns, I put them on over watch waiting until the zombies came in range.

 The sniper was the only one to fire any shots, and he didn't do too well (as normal). This lead me to make some changes to the sniper rules for the skirmish variant.

Once the zombies neared the dragon's teeth I started firing at them in earnest.  A lot of stuns were dished out, but it wasn't until the zombies made it to the wire did I start to get some kills, and only then by concentrating my fire on the nearest hoard closing in.

Lucky for the commandos, I rolled very poorly for spawning zombies - in about eight or ten turns I think I only added about five more zombies to the table.  Part of that was due to holding fire and keeping the noise levels low, so this helped play test that side of the game.

zombies close in on the commandos

I played this game with the stuns in place, but only with a kill on a dice roll of 6.  My next game will have them killed on a 5+ to see how that works out.  My logic being that zombies are easier to give killing blows to as they move slow and don't use tactics to keep out of danger.


Some other modifications that I will play test include:


Figures with the "Ambush" order get +1 to hit targets.  As mentioned in the rule book, the ambush order includes over watch type of thing.

The Sniper will kill a target automatically on any to hit roll of 7+.  The sniper hit almost every time during my games, but rarely killed anything. Not what I imagine a sniper being capable of.


Oh, and in case anyone is wondering about the bunkers in the photo above and pondering how zombies will be able to attack anyone in them, please keep in mind the scenario I have planned out calls for the player to set charges on them... once they have been blown up, they will have a nice hole in them ;-)

Bolt action zombie - underground bunker

Yesterday I started building an entrance to an underground bunker.  After a quick sketch of what I wanted I started work on it like I was possessed.

 Using an MDF coaster I purchased at a hardware store a long time ago I cut out a bunker from foam card, which included stairs down to the entrance itself.

 It was after I made the actual bunker that I changed tack a bit and started added parts of styrene boxes around the bunker so as to give it the appearance it was actually in the ground.

At this stage I started to take photos to post on my blog:

Bunker glued to the base, with bits of styrene placed around it to see how it would work

Same stage, but showing the rear of the bunker.

After covering the inside gaps with masking tape, I started on the next level.

The bunker built, with slight sculpting on the sides.

Undercoat on the bunker itself

Undercoat on the hill. Note the sides have sand glued to them before painting.

Top coat for the bunker applied.

Flock added to the top of the hill; note the glue is still drying at this stage.

The bunker 'in play'

I am toying with the idea of adding more scenery to the hill and the top of the bunker - a clump of grass or small bushes for example, but not too sure on that yet.

The bunker isn't exactly a master piece, but it will suit my purposes.

  Now... is the bunker a haven, or where super nazi zombies are lurking?