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 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.