Giant 28mm Water Tower from Bad Goblin Games

    28mm water tower, 3-D printed from Bad Goblin Games -- a bargain at only $20!

Some of my favorite purchases this past summer at Historicon 2024 were from the Bad Goblin Games booth. This water tower was one of them. It has been looming over my painting desk since I brought it home in July, impatiently waiting for me to get it painted and ready for the tabletop. It'll be perfect for modern and post-apocalyptic games, and a nice piece of eye candy on the tabletop. Probably the most amazing thing about it to me was that it cost only $20! They also make a ruined one, by the way...

    Big Bass or my survivor group the Bass Reeves checks out the view from halfway up the tower

It is 3-D printed, so I gave it my usual treatment that I do for terrain. I spray painted it black first with Krylon acrylic paint and then went over it with a 50/50 mix of water and acrylic black paint when dry. I went back and forth about what color to paint it. My current water tower, a 15mm MDF one bought years ago from Impudent Mortals, is painted in a steel color. I like how it looks and have used it numerous times in my 28mm games, too. I mean, how tall is a water tower supposed to be to be "in scale?" So, I decided to copy that minus the rust effects I gave the MDF one. I struggled over the "to rust or not to rust" decision for awhile, too, but in the end thought it might look best with no rust on it.

My base coat was one of my favorite metallic craft paints, a Folk Art bottle called "Gunmetal Gray." I left the grooves between the square steel plating black, but painted the rest of it entirely in that color. Next, I used another Folk Art craft metallic called Pewter and did highlights were I thought the sun would be shining off of the tower. Parts that were underneath or would likely be in shadow I left that base coat. Finally, inside the irregularly shaped patches of Pewter, I added a splash of Bright Silver.

    I went back and forth how to paint the water tower but ended up going with boring steel...ha, ha!

This is typically the recipe I use for large, steel-colored metallic areas on miniatures or terrain. I really like how it looks once I put a black wash over it. The effect is to soften the lines between the different colors and blend it all together. Except this time it didn't. To me, the Pewter and Silver patches stand out too brightly still. At first I thought maybe I was being too critical of my work. Once it is all flocked and on the tabletop, it will look great, I told myself. Except I am still unhappy with it. No, I'm not going to repaint it or sell it or throw it away, or anything like that. It's just that normally I am fairly excited about how my terrain looks. The water tower is an exception.

    Out of breath from the climb, Big Bass admires the view from high above the tabletop

I would love to hear from readers of the blog what they think. Am I being too critical of myself? Who knows? Maybe next convention I see Bad Goblin Games at I will buy another one (it's only $20!) and try again next year...ha, ha! The flocking was done similar to how I do my standard bases with an irregular dirt and grass look. After finishing it, I also debated whether to "junk it up" with trash, discarded machinery bits, or whatever. In the end, I decided not to do that. Still, there certainly was a lot of indecision and self-doubt going on with this terrain piece!

Either way, though, the water tower itself is an amazing piece of 3-D printed terrain. The only modification I did to mine was to cut a hole in the upper platform so that the ladder comes up from the basket and through the hole. I had to cut to size the two 3-D printed ladders that came with the model. I took the trimmed off pieces and placed them along the railing inside the metal cage halfway up. I actually snipped a piece awhile back to use for my "Zombie RV" that I converted from a die cast pizza truck. Next time I am going to see them, I may ask them if I can buy more of those ladders. They could be useful for a number of things. Sure, I can scratch build them, too, but these are certainly more convenient!

    This very tall terrain piece will definitely catch the eye of passers by at a convention or game day

I highly recommend Bad Goblin Games 3-D printed scenery and buildings. I have more of it to be painted on my "short list," so you will likely see more from them here in the future. If you get a chance, please let me know what you think of the water tower and any changes you would suggest.

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 226
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 235  

Scavenging Among the City Blocks - Post-Apoc Scenario

 

    From left, Allen, Mike W, and Keith check out Mike S's ruined city block terrain

It had been since April that I'd run a game in my post-apocalyptic campaign using Wiley Games rules. My friend Mike S has been working hard on terrain for his own "Fallout" style games and was wondering if he could use his terrain for a scenario. All I would have to do is GM it -- he'd bring the terrain and set up his tabletop at our usual meeting place at Mike W's "Brewpub" basement. I knew it'd been too long since a game, so said, "Sure!"

    Allen's 'Followers of the Dark Prophet' move into the ruined shell of a building nearest them

Mike's terrain is mostly downtown city blocks buildings. All of them were fairly tall with several (or more) partially destroyed floors. Obviously, lots of work went into creating these. Some of the details are very surprising -- gargoyles on the outside of buildings, wires protruding from wrecked walls, and more. I'm not sure how many of them are "in progress" or if some or all are completely done. It was an impressive layout, for sure. Personally, I would have dirtied them up more with rubble, black-washing on the walls, and ageing the wood pieces showing. But then again, I probably never would have gotten SO much assembled like he has!

    With heavy cover and many windows to shoot from, each city block building was like a fortress

I was a bit worried how "fortress-like" Mike's layout was. My guess was it might minimize interactions between the five survivor gangs investigating the downtown. Mike placed a LOT of objective markers -- more than I usually do. I wanted to give him as much control over the scenario as possible, though, so said nothing. Once the game began, most of the factions advanced into a ruined building, climbing between the partially collapsed floors, and scavenging supplies. My guess turned out to be correct. There were only four gun battles that took place between the factions (plus four additional ones seeing factions firing on investigating Scout or Sentry Bots and the denizens of the "citadel." Mike had a very large building that looked like it began as a Gothic Warhammer piece of terrain. He crafted it onto a post-apocalyptic shell of a building, with ruined and crumbling walls. He said he didn't have a preference what was inside the citadel and told me to put in there whatever I want inside.

    Keith (in green) moves one of his miniatures while Mike S to his left enjoys the look of his tabletop!

I decided to make this even more of a joint scenario design. I extended an invitation to our friend Keith to come up with the bad guys or monsters that would be in the citadel. I asked him if he had any figures he'd been wanting to play with but hadn't had a chance to get on the table yet. He said he did, and sent me a link to his Orca Finn's Basement blog and pointed out the post-apoc denizens he wanted to use. I created cards for them and printed them off so they'd be ready if anyone investigated the citadel. I even offered bonus Renown Points to any faction that went inside. I didn't want to tease Keith and promise him his figs would get in a game and not have it happen!

    F Troop's Pvt. Hippie searches an objective marker (suitcase with pom pom) - the goal of the players

With five players on a 6'x4' table, I had two each deploy on the long edges, nobody on the citadel's short edge, and one on the opposite edge from it. They had to deploy all four of their survivors within a foot of the spot I indicated. I gave them extra deployment depth because I wanted to push them forward in the hopes of getting more interaction. Mike W's Bass Reeves deployed on the short edge opposite the Citadel. He groused a bit that there weren't as many objective markers near him compared to the others, likely a valid complaint. Nevertheless, his four figures advanced directly towards the building closest to their zone and began to scale it to reach the objective markers. Mike S had placed most on the upper floors. So, before the game, I asked the players how they wanted to handle scaling the interior of these buildings as there were no stairwells modeled. We came up with a system which was probably very generous. Keith likened his Nightstalker's ascent to"a group of Chinese acrobats." 

    Cpl. Killer climbs onto the roof of the citadel - modified Warhammer (?) building he incorporated

To the Bass Reeves' right, Allen's Followers of the Dark Prophet similarly moved into a city block building. They began to ascend to the second and third floors, where several markers were scattered. To his right, his brother Joel marched his F Troop forward, climbing the Citadel's roof, as well as moving alongside the building the Followers were exploring. Across from him, Mike S's Bucknuts entered the building to their front or moved down the street alongside it. We tease Mike S for his invariably aggressive play, and true to form, he fired the game's first shots. His leader Coop (yep, same figure from the Zombie RV games) squeezed off a shot at Pvt. Killer of F Troop, immediately knocking him out of action. Next, Coop fired through the opposite building's ruins and picked off Allen's Yeshua, who fell three stories to the ground, unmoving. Yep - same Mike, aggressive as ever!

    Two Bucknuts - Earle & Wrich - investigate a rubble pile in the lobby of a ruined building

Coop got his comeuppance immediately after, though, as another F Trooper climbed onto the roof and blasted away with his assault rifle. Coop toppled to the ground, wounded. The next thing to happen shows the advantage of playing a campaign over a one-off battle. Rather than firing at the shooter, Coop's compatriot Jackie dragged her wounded leader inside the building and out of line of fire. Mike knew that Coop was his team's best weapon and didn't want to lose him to a poor post-battle roll if he was knocked out of action. However, the two out of action figures meant the threshold had been reached for the Machines to be drawn by the sound of firing. In my version of the world of "Terminator," each 10% of out of action players draws a chance for the arrival of a Scout Bot. Because I was afraid the action would be limited by the terrain, with each city block a mini-fortress, I had increased the chance by an extra 10%. Sure enough, a Scout Bot rolled onto the map between Keith's Nightstalkers and Mike W's Bass Reeves.

   Scout Bot rolls onto the table drawn by the sounds of gunfire and dispatched by 'Skynet' to investigate

Seeing no Nightstalkers, it rolled in the direction of three of the Bass Reeves sheltering behind a burnt out car. Mike seemed unconcerned and was instead focused on payback against Allen's Followers of the Dark Prophet. Allen had knocked out one of the Bass Reeves last game, as well as a member of F Troop. He would pay for it as Mike sent nearly his entire force to pick off Napthali, who was actually on an errand of mercy. He'd jumped down from the second floor of the ruined building to check on Yeshua, and then carry him off-table. I give a bonus to the post-battle roll if an out of action character has been carried off the board by his comrades. Three members of the Bass Reeves squeezed off shot after shot at the black-robed survivor. He fell to the ground wounded, and then was shot again, while he lay there. Mike was relentless, though, and kept firing until Napthali had accumulated three wounds which takes a character out of action. In fact, that may be the very first time a player was taken out in one of our games because it reached its wound limit of three! Usually, a fortunate roll on the wounding table knocks them out, instead.

    Joel, Allen, Mike W, Keith, and Mike S enjoy the chance to get their survivor gangs out onto the table

This brought another Scout Bot onto the table. It ended up by Mike S's Bucknuts -- probably not a good place as his band is loaded with particularly lethal shooters. Sure enough, it was blasted several times before finally being knocked out of action. Shortly thereafter, a replacement came on board, though. This time it was a Sentry Bot clomping its metallic heavy feet in the path of the Scout Bot that was engaging the Bass Reeves. The Scout Bot had closed to within range of Big Bass and began thumping away at the concrete wall with its machine gun. The cover and the shock hit inflicted on the Scout Bot kept Big Bass safe, even though the machine missed by only one several times. Once Big Bass's men had finished off Napthali, they scrambled to the windows and doorway of the building and added their gunfire to the battle. Scout Bots were originally designed to by humanity to patrol vehicular traffic -- not intervene against heavily armed survivors. The three vs. one gunfight could end only one way with the bot knocked over, its wheel spinning as it sparked and smoked.

    Mike W's 'Bass Reeves' stalk across the streets on a mission to exact revenge on Allen's gang!

Downed bots are another source of scavenge in my games. Players can snag ammunition, valuable circuitry, and even guns from the disabled machines. Both Mike S and Mike W pounced on the bots they'd knocked out of action and quickly salvaged some parts and pieces to take back to their encampment. The Nightstalkers soon engaged the Sentry Bot as it clomped ever nearer to their location. The Sentry Bot, also only lightly armored, met no better fate. The combined gunfire of two Nightstalkers sent it crashing to the ground. Specialist Cypher of the Nightstalkers whipped out his toolkit and pounced on it. He had soon removed a valuable hunk of machinery and his gang members nodded at each other and took that as a cue to depart. The next bot to arrive, likely a Military Bot, would be much more difficult to defeat. They decided it was best to get out of the ruined city center while the getting was good!

    Keith's Nightstalkers demonstrate their 'acrobatic skills', ascending to the upper floors

There was one last act to be played out, though, before we called it an evening. Allen had darted his remaining two Followers into the citadel (carefully avoiding the firing lanes of the Bucknuts!). As they neared the open doorway, they heard loud and somewhat incoherent shouting from inside. The two nodded at each other and ran through into the room. They were met by three red-skinned mutations. They were humanoid in form, and even sported a large shock of blond hair sprouting from their skull-like heads. Their blue uniforms looked for all the world like 20th century suits. The creatures gesticulated at the two and shouted curses and profanities the two struggled to understand, but seemed too frightened to actually charge and attack them. 

    Allen's 'Followers of the Dark Prophet' encounter the citadel's annoying, verbally abusive mutants

The Followers shook their heads and raised their weapons. They fired on full automatic and soon all three were on the ground, twitching but no longer shouting. They rushed through the next doorway and first heard, then saw, three more of the annoying beings. "What the Hell are these things?" they mumbled to each other. More automatic gunfire and the creatures began to back off. From the next doorway, they heard more incoherent shouting coming closer to them. "Should we get out of here?" The two nodded to each other, and turned and ran back towards the entrance, followed by the insults of the creatures. 

    The textured round discs mark figures that have moved this turn in my games

We decided to call it at that point. A couple of the players' survivor gangs were already leaving the table. They had picked up the most accessible objective markers, and the Machines would soon be sending in its heavier warmachines. It was time to go! I was happy to see the players seemed to have fun. All five players took down at least one enemy, so the game wasn't without action, like I'd feared it might be. Still, I think I learned a bit about cramming too much hard terrain on the board. It was good to see the survivor gangs out on the table again, though. Hopefully, it won't be another six months before it happens again!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 226
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 208

Zombie RV: Exploring the Creepy Farms for Halloween

    Zombies chase survivors at 'Creepy Farms' -- a game with 6 players and 12 survivors on table

I had been wanting to run a big game of Zombie RV with all the players on the same board. Halloween being this week was a perfect excuse! I set up a countryside board this time, centered on two creepy (zombie-infested) farmsteads. We had a great turnout in my friend Mike W's downstairs "Brewpub" at this house, while the ladies partook of a Halloween-themed charcuterie upstairs. I had six players, including the return of our good friend Tom. It was great to drink beers and game with him on a Sunday evening, again. Welcome back, Ptomas!

    An overhead look at the 'Creepy Farms' table, with the locations of objective markers circled

The board was 5'x3', bigger than the three, individual 2'x2' areas we used last time we played (see Zombie RV Times Three). What difference would the 15 square feet vs. 12 make? Honestly, I wasn't sure! I thought it would be less compartmentalized and the players would feel more like they were all in the same mission,  and hopefully cooperating. I established two spawning points along the center line of the board, 18" in from each side edge. I represented the spawn point as the doorway to the farmhouses. Apparently, the local families had holed up inside and the zombies had broken in and were feasting on them. Lots of zombie feasters...as well as feasted-upon family members! Honestly, I think "spawn points" are one of the hardest things to rationalize on a gaming table. I can see when it is a board edge or street corner leading off-table, or something like that, but something in the center of the board requires just a wee bit of suspension of disbelief. Think of it as watching a play. A zombie play!

    Daisy & Coop leave the RV and set off to scavenge for supplies at the zombie-infested farmsteads

However, I was throwing in a twist in this game. Since each player controlled two survivors, there would be 12 total characters. That's equal to three, 4-survivor groupings in the base Zombie RV rules by David Bezio. My third spawn point would be completely random each turn. Each zombie arriving from that spawn roll would then have a separate calculation to see where on the board edges they would arrive. I divided the perimeter of the board edges 12" lengths and numbered them #1, #2, etc. We would roll to see which point we would start at for that particular Ordinary zombie, Fast zombie, or Nasty zombie,. This was followed by a d12 roll to see how many inches counter-clockwise from that point along the board edge it would be placed. 

    Jackie and Wrich set off to explore the ruined stone cottage looking for some supplies to scavenge

Afterwards, I asked the players if having to worry about zombies showing up behind them was too devastating and they all agreed it wasn't. The players get a movement after the spawning and before those just-spawned zombies move. So, they could clear out if a nasty zombie showed up just inches away -- which did happen. Ask Joel's "Earle" character, who spent most of the game running, it seemed!

    Meanwhile, the first set of zombies at the spawn point become restless and head toward the survivors

The players as a group would also start on a board edge, specifically either (or both) of the two long edges. I gave them up to three vehicles to "arrive" in. They would place the vehicle on either of the gravel roads running along the long edges of the board, and all their characters much start the game in contact with their particular vehicle. I gave the players some time to talk strategy, first pointing out all the objective markers on the board, what was difficult terrain, and so on. Although Tom tried to engage them in a tactics discussion, the group spent less than a minute doing so. NOT an auspicious start! Anyone who has played Zombie RV probably knows how cooperation amongst survivors is key to success. This dirty dozen's mission was to successfully grab at least eight of the 10 objective markers and then get off-table for the "win."

    Junior and Roman cross the ditch beside the road on the footbridge to investigate the veggie stands

As it was, they split up into three groups of four -- just like in classic Zombie RV. Mike W and Allen began on the near corner, not far from the pond. Keith and Joel began in the center, where the burnt out wreck blocked the driveway. On the far side of the board, Tom and Mike S parked my new RV model next to the toppled over truck blocking the other driveway exit. And then they scattered! Yes, they were spreading out to snag as many objective markers as quickly as possible. However, it seemed there was little cooperation or communication. Mike S turned his guys away from the shed he was heading towards once he saw that Tom's guys were going to get there first. Keith darted off down the road to the footbridge leading across the ditch which ran alongside the road. Allen's boys meandered towards the pond while Mike W's survivors split off from them towards the ruins of the old stone house. It seemed like it was every pair of survivors for themselves and -- crucially -- no group really close enough to the others to support them if they ran into trouble.

    After leaving the RV, Red and Mophius sneak inside the shed to find more supplies

Allen's Big Bass and Benny drew the attention of the zombies first. Benny drew the short straw and got to wade through the green water of the pond towards where a boat was tethered. There were a couple closed bins on it that looked promising to Allen. Oh, a side note on game mechanics: the players know the location of the objective markers. I marked them with pumpkins for this game! However, they must make a successful "Brains check" to actually find the items there. A Brains check is a d6 roll added to the character's Brains stat, which could be 1, 2, or 3. Guess what Benny's was? A "1"! Now we know why he drew the short straw! "Sure, Big Bass. I'll wade out there and search the boat if you say so." 

    Big Bass and Benny survey the farmstead before heading down the road and across the ditch

Meanwhile, Keith rolled an extra action for Roman (not "Moe" or "Schmoe"...ha, ha!), who was able to hustle down the road, across the bridge, and to the marker next to the farmer's fruit and vegetable stands. Roman is no dummy and successfully snagged some supplies. In the center of the table, Jimmy also had rolled an extra action and tiptoed quietly through the ditch, over the fence, and into pumpkin patch. He also found some supplies (probably some unharvested veggies which he quickly tossed in his backpack). Joel's other character, Earle (not Darrel!) crept along the same fence line towards the second cabin. The zombies who'd been clustered near the door ignored him and shuffled towards Big Bass and Benny, as did the ones from the opposite farmhouse.

    After popping off a couple shots at zombie horde, Earle soon decides to run back to the road

Annoyed at being deemed insignificant and not a threat, Earle popped off a rifle shot and splattered the head of the nearest zombie. That'll teach them, he thought. This changed their trajectory, as the horde quickly hurried towards him, as did the next batch to spawned by the farmhouse door. They ignored Jimmy in the pumpkin patch, who breathed a silent thanks to his friend Earle's bravery. Earle proved that bravery by promptly firing one more shot then bolting back to the gravel road and behind the ditch. Jimmy felt he owed his friend one, though, and raised his pistol and splattered a zombie pursuing Earle. He then hightailed it through the pumpkin patch, vaulting the fence, and entering the cornfield. He was joined by Junior and Roman, who pointed back towards the footbridge. A randomly spawned zombie had appeared on the road next to the bridge and was crossing in slow pursuit of the pair.

    Meanwhile, the zombies keep coming -- a minimum of 3 from each of the spawn points each turn

To the left of the pond, Mike W's Jackie and Wrich located the supplies and found some extra ammo. Jackie began the dangerous trek past the water tower and towards the other cornfield, all alone. Wrich wandered towards the farmhouse, took aim, and shot a zombie that was shuffling towards the pond. On the next turn, thrilled to see the zombie's head explode, he squeezed off two more shots. Two more zombies went down. The mob heading towards the pond ignored him because Big Bass was busy blasting away with his shotgun with both his actions. Meanwhile, Benny was puzzled by the latches on the bins. They appeared to be locked or resisting his efforts to pull them open. 

    Junior & Roman are surprised by a zombie spawning on the road behind them & dart into the corn!

Although Wrich was out of sight of the door to the farmhouse, the zombies who had just spawned there heard his gunshots clearly. Unfortunately for Wrich, one of those zombies was a Fast zombie. The whole crew spilled around the corner towards the surprised survivor. Wrich was even more shocked when one ran fast enough to come into contact with him. Uh-oh. Things were about to go south in a big way for our host's survivors!

    The zombies chasing Jimmy, Junior, and Roman wade into the cornfield, hopelessly slowed down

On the far side of the table, Tom's survivors were able to locate and secure the objective marker in the shed. Red and Mophius did a great job playing cat and mouse, staying out of sight of the zombie spawning points. Meanwhile, Mike S's Coop and Daisy headed the other direction towards another fenced field near the corner of the board. They also stayed out of sight as best they could. Unfortunately, that meant by far the bulk of the zombies headed towards the near side of the board and Big Bass and his friends. One group of zombies chased Jimmy into the cornfield, but had little chance of catching him. The rest all seemed to converge on the pond, or on Wrich. Jackie stopped her trek towards the far board edge and came back to help her friend, but she missed with her pistol fire more often than not. 

    Too far from the others, Jackie & Wrich are swarmed by zombies, including a deadly 'Fast zombie'

The Fast zombie had wounded and knocked Wrich down. Amazingly, though, he was able to use the medicine he was carrying, heal himself, and back up one move. However, that wasn't enough distance when facing a runner! She caught him again and knocked him down and wounded him once more. This time, some of the ordinary zombies were able to catch up, too. In our experience, when a survivor is wounded, knocked down and surrounded by zombies, he's dead meat. Wrich fought for his life desperately, though. Jackie waded in and tried her best to help him targeting the zombies with her pistol (and unfortunately, continuing to miss more than she hit). However, Wrich eventually was taken down. Jackie got too close, and was also caught and eventually killed, as well.

    Mophius faces off against a horde of zombies, while Red is wounded & knocked down by a Fast one

Far away on the opposite side of the board, Junior was doing a much better job using the cornfield to keep distance between him and the zombies. When random zombies showed up on the board edge near him, he blasted them effectively with his shotgun. Between Junior and Big Bass, they probably killed three quarters of the zombies I was putting back into my magnetized box as quickly as I was taking them out for spawning! Jimmy hung out with Junior and Roman, and the three eventually linked up with Coop and Daisy, who had not really accomplished much. Two pistols (Daisy's and Jimmy's), a rifle (Coop's), and Junior's shotgun were unfortunately all far, far away from where their companions were being swarmed and overwhelmed. 

    Daisy & Coop call for the others to head back to the RV while Red tries to fight off the Fast zombie

Big Bass and Benny ("Hey Bass, it's like these bins are tugging back on me...! I can't get them open!!") were about to be inundated with zombies slowly slogging through the pond. Big Bass was magnificent, though, firing blast after blast with his shotgun. He never rolled the dreaded natural one on his attacks, though, meaning he was out of ammo. I have ruled that since the shotgun fires in a cone and allows you to attack multiple targets, you are out of ammo only if the natural one shows up on your first roll of that cone. Zombie after zombie went down in the pond, sinking to its green depths. Earle was slowly backing up towards the duo, though, calling to them, "Nasty zombies, guys! Big ones! Coming our way. We gotta go!!" This was followed by Benny's surprised shout. One of the bin's had finally come open. Inside was a man who had been trying to hold it closed against Benny's tugging. 

"Man! I thought you was zombies!! You scared da crap out of me!" The survivor, who they'd later learn was nicknamed Curly for his bald, black head, leapt out of the boat into the pond, wading desperately towards the shore, away from the horde of zombies in the water. Benny followed him towards the gravel road, as did Big Bass. Earle zipped by all three of them, firing one final shot behind him. A pack of zombies were on his heels, including two Nasty zombies in the lead.

    Things look grim for Big Bass - out of ammo, wounded twice, and facing two Nasty zombies

Big Bass cocked his shotgun again, shaking his head and planting his feet. "Muthaf...BOOM!" He blasted away at the pack of zombies, again and again. His friends called to him to run, but Big Bass refused. The shotgun boomed out again. Suddenly, he was down and wounded. Still he raised his shotgun and aimed, "CLICK!" After being reliable all game and never running out of ammo despite the odds, Allen finally rolled a "1". Big Bass continued to fight, though. His friends had seen enough. They darted for the van to escape.

Across the table, a similar scene was played out. Tom's two characters were both in contact with zombies. Amazingly, Mophius was able to break away and make it back to the RV. Unfortunately, Red (not Trunk Monkey!) went down. A Fast zombie caught him, and when the ordinary ones caught up with the downed and wounded survivor, it was a brutal end. As three vehicles spit gravel as they pealed out, putting distance between themselves and the creepy farmsteads, silence soon returned to the area. The screams had stopped and the only noise was the sibilant, sickly sound of zombies feeding on fresh human flesh.

Roughly two and a half hours after we'd begun, it was over. My big game experiment with Zombie RV seen one of the highest percentage of survivors lost (33%) in any game so far. Had I made the game too difficult? I don't think so. In my opinion, a lack of cooperation had doomed the survivors who died. Wrich and Jackie were far away from any other survivors. So, when they hit their first setback, no one was there to help them out. Similarly, when Red went down, there was a lot of firepower unable to help him. Big Bass' end was probably a foregone conclusion. He had defied the odds all game long, dispatching hordes of zombies. He simply held his position too long. Benny took too long getting the objective marker, and Big Bass stood when he should have ran. 

I liked the big battle version of Zombie RV. Hopefully the players did, too! I will give them their experience points and let them buy new skills or improvements for next game before we try again. Feel free to comment below if you have questions about my additions to David's excellent rules. Oh, and Happy Halloween!!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 226
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 208

RV Scratch-Build for...well, Zombie RV!

    Zombies swarm survivors holding out atop their RV, scratch-built from a pizza truck die cast shell

Readers of my blog know that I've been playing Zombie RV over the last few months. Instead of an RV, I've been using my 3-D printed vans, SUVs, land cruisers, etc. But the name of the game is RV (or campervan, Airstream, mobile home -- whatever you want to call it), so I've been trying to pick up one either from die cast, 3-D print, or anything, really. After striking out finding anything I liked commercially, I finally decided to scratch-build my own. I picked up a inexpensive pizza truck die cast toy from the local grocery store and set out to convert it into a recreational vehicle for my survivors.

    The material I used to convert the pizza truck into an RV was JTT Corrugated Siding sheets

First step was to find the corrugated material I intended to plaster onto the sides. I was surprised that the local craft and model trains didn't carry it any longer. I ended up having to order it on Amazon. No biggie, but my mantra is to shop local and support the hobby and craft stores. I feel that if we all end up ordering things online rather than driving down the street to get what we need, our local stores are going to go out of business. Others may disagree, but I feel pretty strongly about it.

    1st step was to glue wooden craft sticks to the corners of the truck to create the frame & level surface

Next step was to cut to size and glue craft sticks to the corners of the flat sides so that the material would have an even and not sloped surface to adhere to. I used tacky glue to do that because the plastic material was going to completely encircle the vehicle. The chances of it being popped off were slim, I felt. The craft stick frame also gave something for the corrugated material to attach to at all corners. 

    Next step was to glue the corrugated material to the craft sticks and front of the truck

You've heard the phrase, "Measure twice, cut once?" I took that to heart and double checked my measurements when I but the corrugated material in the next step. I wanted it to be as exact as possible (especially on top, where I wanted the vent fan to project through a hole). I was pleased that the care I took paid off and I had no disasters or mistakes from bad measurements. Essentially, I was enclosing the pizza truck in a corrugated rectangular box. RVs tend to have a grooved or corrugated material, it seems, so I chose this material to make it give that effect.

    No matter how careful you are cutting, there will be gaps where they don't join perfectly

Even though I feel I did a pretty good job cutting the five sides (including the top), I knew there would be places where it didn't line up perfectly and there would be gaps. The photo above shows what it looked like after all the sheets were glued onto the truck and craft stick frame. Besides no cutouts for the wheel wells, it looks a little haphazard, doesn't it?

    These L-shaped pieces of plastic would cover up the joins between the sheets and any gaps

I had planned for that, though! The local model train store has a great selection of Evergreen plastic pieces (no corrugated material, but lots of rods, L-shapes, U-shapes, and so on). I bought two sizes to be on the safe side and went with the larger one. Weirdly, I don't have a picture of the size I ended up using -- "295" or 5/32". Anyway, I carefully measure these and glued them into place. Where one L-section joins another, you have to slice away a little rectangle of the material otherwise it will stick out. That called for even more careful measurement!

    The RV after the L-shapes are glued into place at each join and the wheel wells cut out

In the end, all these extra steps give you a much more smooth looking vehicle. L-shape pieces can also be used for MDF or hand made buildings at the corners to give it a smoother look, too. As for the wheel well, I kind of eyeballed it. I traced a likely looking arc onto a piece of cardboard. I cut it out the cardboard, and then traced its arc onto the corrugated material with a Sharpie. The corrugated material is thin enough it can be cut with a sharp pair of scissors, which I did carefully, then covering up the edge with arcs of cardboard to represent the trim. The base RV was done. Now, it was time to trick it out with windows, doors, and other accessories!

    The window frames were pieces of MDF from a bag of doors and various other Sci-Fi pieces

I dug through all my various MDF pieces and other terrain pieces looking for something I could glue onto the sides of the RV to be the window frames. Eventually, I found some "Block O" shaped pieces that I thought might work. They were a little thicker than I liked, but the shape appealed to me, so I went with them. I would put two windows on the side without the door and one on that with it. The back, besides the ladder, would have a narrow oval shaped window which I also had a piece of MDF to match.

    Before gluing the MDF window frames to the RV, they were first glued to clear plastic surface

Some of you may be thinking, "Wait -- won't the corrugated material look silly as a window?" YES! You are correct! However, I thought of that beforehand, as well. I dug through my unpainted stuff and found something in a blister pack. I cut out the thin plastic material and glued the MDF window frames to them, first. Then I used an X-acto knife to trim the edges. The blister pack plastic would sit atop the corrugated material and would paint smooth, giving a more believable window.

    The back of the RV with all of its add-ons done, including a ladder and big electrical outlet socket

I got really lucky on the ladder to attach to the RV! I had recently bought some 3-D printed trailers and a water tower from Bad Goblin Games, each of which included ladders in them. Some of the ladders were a bit long, and I could cut off just enough to make a nice ladder on the back of the RV. The circular MDF piece above is meant to simulate an electrical plug-in (in happier, pre-zombie apocalypse days...).

    The other side of the RV with the door, a Liberty Bell coin, and a tank and tube on top

For the RV's door, I just used a piece of balsa wood with a slatted look to it. I created a frame for it from craft sticks, and then almost forgot to glue on a tiny piece of dowel as the door handle (look for the finished pictures to see this late, oh crap, addition! The coin with the Liberty Bell on it has been sitting in my bits box for a couple decades, I would guess. I knew I would use it one day, and today was that day! I glued it to the side so that it would have a nice, patriotic design on the side. Atop the roof, I added a 3-D printed propane tank on its side and a piece of pipe from Miniature Building Authority. I decided not to use the tire in the end, as you will notice in the finished pictures. I figured it didn't make sense to store spare tires up there -- how would you get them up there? And would you just toss them down??

  RV painted and covered in a dirty black wash to simulate the grime accumulated since the apocalypse

I painted the corrugated material with white acrylic gesso, in hopes it would stick to the plastic surface better than just ordinary primer. The corrugated material was painted a craft paint called "Maple Sugar" and then dry brushed a very light yellow. Since nearly all RVs you see on the road are two-tone, I decided to go with a dull red since, well, the die cast truck was red! The corrugated material made making the stripes easier than it might have otherwise, just following in the grooves. I dry brushed the red trim with salmon to give it an equally worn look. The propane/water? tank atop was painted Iron Wind Metals Steel and highlighted Pewter. Same with the ventilation grill on the roof.   

    Zombies swarm the RV on all sides, looking for a way to get at the survivors atop it

I am really happy with how the RV came out. It is not perfect, of course. I need to make the sides of the RV not drag so low to the ground. Maybe there is a way to glue the wheels into place so it stands off the ground a little higher? Or, as I plan on doing another one, I could always cut the corrugated material shorter leaving a higher ground clearance. The window frames are probably too chunky, too thick. For my next one I will experiment with something smaller. I imagine I could also just use thick cardstock cut to the correct shape. I got lazy on the windows. I did them like the windshields on my 3-D printed cars, and it doesn't look as convincing here. Another idea I had was to find an image online of curtains pulled back in a window and just print it out and glue it into place. I may try that for the next one.

    Will the survivors drive off the hordes from their rolling home? Stay tuned & see in Zombie RV!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024 (Next year, I want to tally terrain and scatter, too. If anyone has any ideas how to do that, I'd love to hear!)

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 170
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 183 

LAST of the Zombie Horde (and a Vehicle)

    My final batch of zombies (hopefully!) along with a 3-D printed car from Diabolical Terrain

Okay, so I swear -- this is the last of the batches of zombies that I will be painting up for awhile. Hopefully, for quite a while...maybe forever??  We shall see if my horde proves to be enough, though. I think it will be. The ultimate goal is to be able to play a game of Zombie RV with three vehicle's worth of survivors (a dozen) on the table. This should be enough. If not, I have some more of the original 3-D printed on from John Leahy of JS Wargamer Printing I could rush into service.

    Though there is a lot of possible variety with the WF zombies, I was getting tired of painting them

These are the last 10 male zombies from the Wargames Factory box I bought in the flea market at Historicon 2024. It was a great deal ($15), so 50 cents a figure! I do admit I am tired of painting them up...ha, ha! My friend Keith did a nice job putting them together and varying bodies, heads, arms, etc. Still, there are only so many of each type and it is beginning to feel repetitive. Still - my friend Jason M in South Carolina informed me that I have now eclipsed his zombie horde. Keep an eye on his blog (Miros' Games) to see if he paints some more to regain the upper hand!

    Three of my gaming friends as zombies -- Keith, Joel, and Allen (from left to right)

I had been threatening all along to paint some of these WF zombies up as my gaming friends. I made an attempt with this final batch, painting up a Keith Zombie, Joel Zombie, and Allen Zombie. Not 100% sure I nailed it or not. There's only so much you can do with the paint brush and finding a pose that matches my (thankfully) not undead friends! Still, it might be good for a laugh on the table. Especially if Keith Zombie kills Keith's character in a game...

    Guys go off in search of snacks, Allen in his Bexley shirt and Keith in his Rules Lawyer one

These were painted exactly like the previous batches, so I won't bore you with repeating my recipe. Interestingly, I did run out of 1" circular bases with this batch. So, that means I've painted more than 100 figures using this size and shape base this year. I'll take that as encouragement that my production is continue to hum along since retirement. I am looking forward to painting some new stuff. I'm also eager to get back to painting some Sci-Fi stuff, soon. Thanks to a friend's recommendation (Steve P from San Diego), I picked up a set of rules called Space Weirdos from Wargame Vault. They seem quick and easy, and I like the rolling of two dice to get a more consistent average as opposed to a single die. The dice progression aspect, with players rolling as anything from a pair of d4's to d6's, d8's, d10's, and d12's sounds like a nice mechanic, as well.

    Are these the last zombies I will paint up? If I have enough now, then the answer is YES!!!

I intend to try them out for Sci-Fi skirmish games for the Sunday evening crew. We have been playing Wiley Games' Galactic Heroes, which works fine. I'm not crazy about the short ranges for futuristic weapons, though. Yes, yes, I know. Stormtroopers can't hit anything even at close range in Star Wars. However, the short ranges in Wiley Games rules somehow feel wrong in this period. Ranges are line of sight in Space Weirdos. There are modifiers for some weapons if they are further away, but every shooting weapons can hit everything else, range-wise, in the game. Of course, the board is smaller, 2'x2' or 3'x3' being what they recommend for two player games. I will probably have to extend that horizontally for six-player games, of course. We'll see if it feels "weird" shooting the whole length of the board!

    Aww, I think I hurt their feelings...they are walking away. Come back, guys -- I didn't 'mean it...!

The other thing I painted up in this blog post is another 3-D printed vehicle from Diabolical Terrain. Rather than sitting down and painting up everything I bought from Ron, I have been mixing them in here and there. As always, I spray paint the vehicles Krylon Fusion Matte Black, which is followed up with a 50/50 mix of acrylic black paint and water. I decided to paint this one silver as it is such a common car color on our roads, nowadays. Plus, it will show any discoloration and rust a bit better. I went back to painting a blue band at the top of the windows to represent the sky reflecting off the windshield and windows. And of course, I added in cracked windows because most of my games that I use them in will be post-apocalyptic (or zombie apocalypse). 

    I have been pleased with the 3-D printed vehicles I've bought from Diabolical Terrain

For the rust effect, I painted the area a dark brown first, followed by a lighter "rust" brown inside that area, leaving a dark brown line. Inside the rust brown, I painted a Georgia Clay to show the brighter, more flaky, rust. I am happy with how this one came out. I know that I ran out of 3-D printed vehicles when I set up my board for Hold the Line, so I need to get cracking on working these in more regularly!

    These 3-D prints paint up quickly and look nice on the tabletop, I think...

Speaking of getting cracking, I am actually nearly done with my next batch of figures -- two warlord stands to donate as prizes for the Saga tournaments at Advance the Colors. I also have some Sci-Fi terrain that I have spray painted. So, quite a bit should be coming up soon! Stay tuned, and see what's next!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 170
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 164