Five Parsecs from Home - Campaign Turn 3

    In the hinterlands of Taxore, a Planetary Militia unit has gone 'rogue' - setting for our 3rd mission

 Captain's Log

Ship's Log, Interstellar Yacht Inconceivable, Capt. Alistair Valentine recording. I received an invitation from the Varxian ambassador on Taxore. He requested a meeting as soon as was convenient for us. He had matters that he needed to relay us concerning the well-being of the crew. I took along both Gunny McBride, my second in command, and Cephvarx Hul -- my Varxian crewman.

Capt. Alistair Valentine, Gunny McBride, and Cephvarx Hul sat comfortably around the oval-shaped table in the ambassador's office. The Varxian ambassador had invited Alistair to his office to discuss a possible mission the crew could undertake for him. Alistair was happy he'd brought his Cephvarx Hul along. He could tell his crewman was enjoying the company of his own race, chatting with the office staff excitedly before they were seen in to the ambassador's office. 

"This mission," the ambassador continued, "unfortunately could land your crew in trouble here on Taxore. Of course, my office will exert diplomatic pressure on your behalf, if things go badly. So, if you refuse, my old friend, I completely understand." It always amazed Alistair how talking with the alien ambassador, his passenger on many flights during his career with Amazonas Galacticus, seemed so normal. His language skills were paramount, and he had even mastered the art of human body language. He nodded, leaned forward, and even sighed as a native speaker. 

    Capt. Alistair & Doc Mercosius deploy in Taxoran woods with a good line of sight of the militia base

Gunny's voice interrupted Alistair's thoughts, "Exactly what kind of trouble, Honorable Ambassador? There are some on Taxore who are still simmering a bit from us shooting up the guards at the spaceport..."

The ambassador laid his huge palms on the table. "I want to be 100% upfront, Gunny. I know it is your personal mission to keep your captain -- your friend -- safe." Gunny leaned back and folded his arms. "Apparently, a Taxore planetary militia unit has recently gone rogue. Gunny's marine contacts can confirm this. They are not answering communications with their superiors at the capital. Satellite surveillance confirms they are alive and well, though, and still training at their barracks site."

    Gunny takes up the best position with a military rifle equipped with a bipod for long-range shooting

Gunny shook his head. "How does this concern the Varx? Sounds like a matter for the Taxorans to work about amongst themselves."

"We believe they have made contacts with a terrorist group that unfortunately originates from my planet -- the Pure Brotherhood of Varx." Upon hearing the name, Cephvarx Hul sat upright. He looked from the ambassador to his captain several times. "Yes, Cephvarx, I am worried they are concerned with your own activities. You see, my friends, the Brotherhood feels no Varx should go off-world and associate with alien races. Contact with other races pollutes us, they feel. Their goal is to kidnap or kill all Varx in the employ of non-Varxian organizations or working off-world. So, as you can imagine, we in the diplomatic corps are always trying to monitor their activities."

    Zorina & Cephvarx advance through the vegetation on one side of the road, SAS B61 on the other

Alistair placed his hand on Cephvarx Hul's chair, "So, by hiring Cephvarx I have endangered his life? My honorable crewmate and warrior, I know you welcome this fight as a true Varx would. If you feel the call to resign your post and devote yourself to this challenge, you are free at any time." The ambassador reached across the table and placed his lavender-colored hands on the captain and Cephvarx.

"Captain Alistair - you truly understand our race. However, Cephvarx would lose honor if he resigned. He doubtless forgives you for your concern, but likely welcomes this challenge to face dishonorable terrorists who would kill in their cowardly ways. The terrorists have contacted this territorial militia unit and offered them heavy weapons in return for being granted shelter, information and logistical help on Taxore. The Brotherhood plan to strike out from this militia unit's base at Varxian citizens on the planet, murdering and then returning to the safety there."

    Taxoran Planetary Militia deployed on the roof of the barracks, next to their heavy laser droid

Gunny cleared his throat, "These terrorists sound despicable, but is the crew of the Inconceivable to take on an entire militia unit, Honorable Ambassador?"

The ambassador reached into a desk drawer, pulled out a strange device that seemed more fitted to Varxian hands rather than human. He showed it to Cephvarx Hul. "You know how to use one of these, Crewman Cephvarx?" The Varxian reached across, took it from the ambassador's hand, and turned it around in his long-fingered hands several times. He spoke a few words in Varxian. "With this device, Cephvarx can verify the presence of any of our race nearby. If he can get close enough to this base, he will have proof of the Brotherhood's presence. From there, Gunny's old companions will take care of cleaning out these rebels and terrorists. All you have to do is get Cephvarx close enough, give him enough time, and then get him out. Do you accept?"

    Right hand side of the sentries on duty at the Taxoran Planetary Militia base that had gone 'rogue'

After the meeting, Alistair returned to the ship and briefed the crew on their mission. First, he smiled and welcomed back Zorina Valthea, who had just returned to full duty after being wounded in the last mission. The mission would also include a repositioning of the Inconceivable. Officially, in response to threats made against the crew by the spaceport guards' families and friends, the interstellar yacht was being relocated across the planet. No charges were made against the crew in light of their previous hero status for discovering and taking out the Converted infiltration team, though. Conveniently, the new spaceport where they would land after their first flight on their ship was close to the militia unit's base. Gunny took over the briefing, and pull up images of the militia unit's base and its surroundings. He began to explain his and the captain's plan.

    Another look at the base - the Inconceivable crew would come in on the left side of the board

The Game

I used my MDF prison that I'd made for my post-apocalyptic campaign as the militia unit's base. I surrounded it with 3-D printed sandbags and a few other bits of Sci-Fi scatter terrain. For the area covering where the Inconceivable crew would approach from, I used some colorful jungle scenery pieces I'd made long ago for Frostgrave Ghost Archipelago games. I was a bit worried as the militia unit, who would have six members, had military rifles, which are longer ranged weapons than all but one of our weapons. We needed to get one of our crew, Cephvarx Hul, within 2" of the center of the table. I placed a little mechanical droid to mark the center point of the table. Near him, behind the sandbags, was a civilian technician who would grant a "story point" if I could interact with him.

    Doc moves down from the woods to the cover of a massive mechanical drill to get within range

Gunny's plan would first make a tactical switch in the crew's usual deployment. Gunny traded his "hand cannon" pistol to Cephvarx and took up the military rifle with bipod. Gunny's Combat skill is +1 and the bipod would add another +1, meaning he'd hit targets in cover on a 4-6 on 1d6. Though Cephvarx had a similar combat skill, he also has melee bonuses that the crew was not taking advantage of with the alien acting as the crew's "sniper." Gunny taking on that role would be more efficient, it seemed to the ex-marine. Cephvarx, Zorina, and the security bot SAS B61 would advance up the treeline on either side of the track leading to the militia base. Gunny would deploy in the woods with the best line of sight on the base, while Alistair and Doc, with their slightly shorter-ranged colonists rifles, would deploy in the other corner's woods.

I rolled up "Cautious" for the militia's A.I., and deployed them as specified in two groups of three. The one carrying the short-ranged, hand flamer would be on the ground. The other five would begin behind the sandbags on the roof of the base's main building. Their plan would be to aim and fire and pick us off as we advanced. Unfortunately for them, they were of a poorer quality than the Inconceivable's veterans. They were +0 when shooting, meaning they hit only on 6's (they would Aim, though, which would allow them to re-roll 1's). Gunny's plan seemed solid. Let him snipe them, hitting on a 50%, while they hit only on a 1 in 6 chance.

    Gunny opens the game sniping one of the militia sentries, as another panics and loses heart

The crew did not roll well enough to "seize the initiative" and receive a free move or shot. In addition, of the seven dice rolled for "Reactions" (Alistair has a Communicator which gives a bonus die), I scored only a single "1" or "2" (which would allow the character assigned that die to act first, before the enemy). Gunny took the die, aimed, rolled a "1", then re-rolled that one for a hit. The militia were Toughness 3, also, which would make them easier to knock out of action when hit. Gunny rolled high enough and the closest militia man leaning against the sandbags pitched backwards with a cry. On their turn, two of the militia moved up to the sandbags to get line of shot on the crew. The flamer, held fast behind a small control building until the enemy came within range. Those armed with military rifles all fired, missing completely.

The rest of the crew began to execute Gunny's plan. B61, Zorina, and Cephvarx dashed forward as fast as they could through the thick underbrush. Alistair squeezed off a shot and stunned one of the militia on the wall, who ducked behind the sandbags. Doc Mecrosius realized the closest target was out of the range of his rifle and dashed forward behind one of the iron supports of a mechanical drill. I rolled to see if any of the militia panicked after losing one of their own, and lo and behold, rolled a "2." One of them called to the others that he would go and get help. They should stay and hold off the intruders as best they could.

    Meanwhile, Zorina, Cephvarx, and B61 all dash forward as fast as possible through the undergrowth

On Turn 2, I rolled two dice to act first. From his advanced position, Doc raised his rifle, aimed, and missed as the round slammed into the sandbags. Gunny switched targets, steadied the bipod, aimed, and rolled another "1." I re-rolled for Aiming and bang! Another militia man went down! The militia man with the flame thrower ducked around the corner and estimated the enemy were still out of range, so stayed put. Two others fired, one putting a stun marker on B61 as a slug ricocheted off the droids metallic head. Next, the rest of the Inconceivable crew acted. Alistair aimed and stunned the same militia man he had last turn, as the man cautiously peaked his helmet over the sandbags. 

    Hard luck Zorina Valthea, entangled by Taxoran Grasping Vines, is out of the game!

Zorina, B61, and Cephvarx continued to hurry through the alien vegetation. In fact, on Random Battlefield Events, I rolled "Lost! A random crew member loses their way and is removed from the battlefield." I numbered my crew and rolled and hard luck Zorina was the designated one. I reasoned she blundered into a patch of Taxoran Grasping Vines, and was pinned in place by the vegetation. Meanwhile, on the panic roll, another militia member lost heart and fled away from the sandbags. We'd "lost" Zorina, but they had two men down and two run off the battlefield already by the end of turn 2!

    Gunny's second shot drops another militia sentry showcasing the ex-marine's military skills

Turn 3 began with Alistair firing at the same militia man and stunning him again. The militia man carrying the flamethrower saw the intruders were almost within range, so dashed up to the sandbag wall protecting the base. Gunny saw him stop at the wall, shifted the bipod slightly, and squeezed off another shot. The militia man was hurled backwards by the force of the bullet and lay motionless. Gunny was in his element! Three shots, three enemy out of action! The remaining militia man fled the sandbags lining the rooftop (all three panic rolls had been failures -- fortune was favoring the crew this day, for sure).

    And once again, after seeing one of the number fall, another militia man panics and runs

The rest of the game was spent mopping up. Cephvarx moved out into the open (not far from the small tracked droid) and used the device the ambassador had given him. He scanned the complex thoroughly for two turns and then said he was ready to move out. He dashed back to help Zorina, who was still trapped by the vines. B61 continued forward to where the civilian technician lay crouched and cowering not far from the dead militia man. He leaned over the sandbags and assured the technician that he would not be harmed. The two had a conversation for a minute (story point!), when the droid thanked him, and instructed him to lay there till they were gone.

    As the crew gets closer to the base, the militia man with the flame thrower dashes up to the sandbags

When Cephvarx's called that Zorina had been freed from the Grasping Vines, the Inconceivable crew began to quickly back up. Alarms had been sounding inside the base for several minutes. It was time to get out of there before more militia came back for vengeance. As they regrouped a kilometer away from the base, Cephvarx held up the ambassador's device. "The ambassador's information was right. The Pure Brotherhood of Varx is inside the base." 

    That sentry becomes Gunny's third enemy knocked out of action -- truly, the ex-marine was on fire!

Gunny waved the way forward, "Let's go everyone! Double-time on the trails back to the ship. I'll call the marines when we get there."

    Wrapping up -- Cephvarx scans the militia base, while B61 goes to speak to the "person of interest"

I was surprised how easily this game seemed to go. However, I honestly feel it was due to some great die rolling on my part. Gunny was three for three in his 50% chance of getting hits on militia. His two misses were both 1's, permitting re-rolls, which then hit. All three damage rolls exceeded the enemy Toughness. And all three militia panic rolls failed. When shooting at us, the militia rolled only one hit, albeit that was probably not far off from average, with only a 1 in 6 chance. When Doc went over to check on the militia man carrying the flame thrower, he found he was dead. Scrounging through his pack, he found a Stim-Pack, along with a couple damaged pieces of equipment that he snagged and took back to the ship.

However, the post-battle roll resulted in the Taxoran Planetary Militia becoming a Rival. Things might get tougher, now, with both the terrorists and the planet's militia gunning for us! We earned only 4 credits on this mission (our least amount yet), barely paying our expenses on Taxore. If I can roll well enough in the in-between mission rolls for Alistair to finish his Pilot Training Course (which I rationalize is familiarization with the Inconceivable), we may take off and leave Taxore behind. We shall see!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 170
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 164 (see next blog post)
  

Zombie RV at Hold the Line 2024

    Zombies running amok in a trailer park during my games of Zombie RV at Hold the Line 2024

I hosted two sessions of Zombie RV at Hold the Line convention inside the Liberty Aviation Museum in Port Clinton, OH. I had three 2'x2' boards set up and was planning on two players teaming up to run the survivors on each board. Four players signed up for the 10am session and two in the 2pm session. Hold the Line is a relatively new convention with a LOT of tournament players and it is still growing its standard, non-tourney games. I feel there were definitely more attendees at the show this year compared to its debut last year. So, I was happy with a 50% fill rate.

    Morning session with four players trying to scavenge supplies from the Zombie Apocalypse

One of the boards featured my two fortified, 3-D printed trailers from Bad Goblin Games and one heavily-modified MDF trailer from Sarissa Precision. There were various other bits of terrain on the board, including burned out cars, smaller storage trailers, and a small patch of woods. This board was chosen by the players to explore in both sessions. It was nice to get my newest painted terrain out on the tabletop, and I got lots of praise from players and passers by for how it all looked.

    Zombies wandering the industrial board trying to track down the player characters (their next meal)

Another board featured an industrial area, with two factories, a convenience store, ruined building, water tower, oil storage tank, and even a smoldering, crashed helicopter. This one was played in the morning session. The third board, that did not get chosen, was my Shell service station with a parking lot full of burnt out vehicles, gasoline pumps, and various other bits of trash and rubble. I even jazzed it up with something new. I had saved the plastic windshields from the die cast vehicles that I had burnt up. I put them inside a ziploc bag and broke them up into tiny pieces. I poured this around the building to represent broken glass from all the windows. Looked cool even if no one played on that board!

    Zombies move towards survivors according to an "A.I." in the Zombie RV rules

In addition, I had created stat cards for each of the characters, listing their scores in each attribute (Might, Brains, Quickness), their two Level 1 skills (and which die rolls they affected), along with the equipment they were carrying. As per Zombie RV, one character had a rifle, another a shotgun, the third a pistol, and the fourth only a melee weapon. Two other melee weapons and one supply of extra ammo was also distributed among the characters in each four-character survivor group. I had also created a pair of double-sided QRS sheets with all the relevant charts and tables, as well as detailing the zombie "A.I." which directs their movement. Finally, I had created noise tokens from wooden disks, flocked to resemble asphalt, and featuring a number of grayish-white stones equal to the noise token number. I arranged the pattern of the stones to mimic the pips on a 6-sided die. It is one of my things, I realize. If a game calls for markers on the tabletop, I want to create something that blends in with the battlefield and adds to its look rather than detracting from it.

    Junior with his noise token indicating "2," is in trouble with zombies coming at him from both sides!

Everything was all set up for the players, including a vehicle as each group's starting point -- van, pickup truck, or RV. Five ordinary zombies were already lurking at the spawn point, ready to shamble towards the survivors after they took their first turn. I explained the rules first, and everyone agreed they were easy to pick up and had no problems running the game themselves after the first turn. Typically, I have the players make all the die rolls for the zombies, too, rather than trying to be everywhere and do them myself. My role was to dole out the zombies each turn, help adjudicate any questions, define the terrain, and so on. 

    A wounded 'Roman' is chased behind a trailer by one Nasty zombie and 3 ordinary ones

As I'd hoped, Zombie RV ran great as a convention game. All of my players had fun and some said they were going to pick up the rules themselves, too. Only one of the three games was a complete victory/success for the survivors. I define a completed mission as one in which they pick up the resource tokens on all four quarters of the battlefield, return their vehicle, and drive off. Even that one success was a near thing, too. We did a kriegsspiel at the end and talked our way through what would happen on the last couple turns. It appeared fairly likely the last straggler survivors would make it unscathed back to their vehicle. So, rather than move the enormous number of zombies they'd spawned during the two hours of the game, we did some measurements and agreed they'd make it off. Barely!

    Zombies attacking the survivor's van where two of the characters have taken refuge

A similar thing happened in the 2pm game. A pair of survivors were trying desperately to run from cover to cover along the edge of the board and stay out of sight of the various hordes of zombies that had collected. One was wounded and moving at essentially half speed. Meanwhile, another of their original group had bailed out and exited off the back edge of the board. With two wounds, he was fairly certain that he'd never make it back to the van. He hoped to link up with his friends later, but it would be suicide to try to run the gauntlet. The other two survivors in the van (they'd located another survivor armed with a melee weapon in their first search), were driving the van back and forth running over zombies and trying to keep the attention of all the zombies on the board before the van was surrounded and overwhelmed. It was a tense ending to the game, with the player controlling those in the van ready to abandon the other two more than once!

    Sonny & Woody (new guy found hiding) race back to the van to get off the zombie-infested table

That's one of the things I really like about Zombie RV as a game. It is cooperative, and the players have to brainstorm how to get to all the search spots and not be surrounded and overwhelmed by the zombies. Players are forced to take risks, and you can feel the tension when important rolls have to be made or otherwise a survivor is likely to be swamped by numbers and taken down. That happened twice in the morning game in the trailer park. The players lost two of their four survivors and eventually fled the table back to their van. The players had to take the same risks that the other survivor gang did in the afternoon game. In the afternoon game, fortunate die rolls allowed the survivors to escape the clutches of the zombies. In particular, shotgun-wielding Junior managed to escape what looked like certain death not once but twice! However, in the morning game, Daisy and Sonny were not so lucky. When the zombies closed to contact, and the survivors tried to flee on their next turn, they were knocked down and wounded. That spelled the end of each, as there was no way to get away as it takes a wounded player's only action to stand up.

    Per the player's plan, Big Bass waits in hiding behind the helicopter, ready to ambush these zombies

I did not run out of zombie figures, which I admit I was worried about. I'm very glad I finished my most recent batch of four "nasty zombies," though. A couple games had two to three of them running around on their board. There weren't many "fast zombies" rolled, which was fortunate for the players. Their speed (equal to the survivors and twice as fast as an ordinary zombie) has a way of throwing carefully choreographed plans out the window! In fact, that's one thing that successful survivors must do -- mentally map out where the zombies will end up and ensure that survivors are able to keep their distance. If more than one zombie is able to close with the same survivor, things definitely look bleak in this game.

   Things are looking bleak for Daisy as she is chased by a horde of zombies through a burnt out truck

Zombie RV is NOT a game of mowing down hordes and hordes of zombies. Ammunition is short, firearms are in a questionable state of repair, and you never know when you're going to either run out of ammo or have the weapon jam. Then the survivor is left with a glorified club! Actually, in game terms, you do know when it is going to happen. If you roll a natural one when making a shooting attack, the gun is out of ammunition. I rationalize this as possibly also meaning badly jammed. Only one of the three firearms carrying survivors has extra ammo, too. So, if you are planning on manning a barricade and mowing down zombie after zombie to cover for your friends, your plan can fall victim to a poorly-timed "1"! In most of our games, this has led to the death of that unlucky survivor.

    Sonny confidently holds off a group of zombies until rolling a "1" -- CLICK! Out of ammo!!

With the success of my games at Hold the Line, I am satisfied that giving each character two skills instead of one special ability in the original rules does not make them too powerful. The brand new skills I added (such as Sprinter, giving an extra 1" of movement for each action), did not seem unbalancing either. The rules author had also given me his ideas of introducing three attributes (Might, Brains, Quickness) for each character. He wanted to use them to be used for various checks in the game. For example, when survivors come to a door, there is a 50/50 chance it is locked. If locked, they need to pass a successful "Might Check" to force it open. The character adds their Might score (which is between 1 and 3) to the roll of a dice, needing a "6+" to successfully force it open. If they fail, they can try again next action. Notably, this does make more noise...

    Sonny tried to run, but when the zombies made contact and knocked him down, the end was near

Since characters are still scrambling to complete the missions successfully in our games, I think the balance has not been thrown off by these additions. Next, I plan to introduce my experience points ideas. I'll have the Sunday night gang choose to spend the experience they gained when we played it a few weeks back (see Zombie RV Times Three). Then we will play some more games. I plan to keep track of how many "skill improvements" each survivor gang has earned and either add in more zombies or modifiers to the spawn roll each turn to balance it out. That will probably be a judgement call based on how successful the players have been.

    After a handful of turns, the entire board seems to be crawling with zombies

The other thing I have planned is to try one big game with up to three vehicles of survivors rather than each band of four on their own 2'x2' board. I would like to go with a 3'x3' or 3'x4' board. I will include one spawn point for each vehicle's (4 characters) worth of survivors. I am also thinking that instead of a third spawn point, perhaps have zombies show up randomly on board edges? I would number the board edges and roll to have three lone, wandering zombies show up. Or perhaps I will randomize the number of wandering zombies? Roll 1d6: 1-2 = 3 zombies, 3-4 = 4 zombies, 5-6 = 5 zombies. One roll would establish which board edge they're coming in on, and then a D12 to see how many inches from that corner it arrives on. I think this would definitely foul up the survivors' plans more with the uncertainty of where they're coming from.

    You can also find other survivors in hiding on the board, as was the case with Woody in red

Plus, I always enjoy miniatures games where we get the whole group playing together. I am imagine there would a be a lot of hilarity as we laugh at the struggles (or poor die rolls) of our fellow players! So, while my painting for the zombie project is coming to an end, the playing of games is hopefully heating up! Stay tuned for more highlights from my zombie apocalypse!

    His friend inside searching the trailer, Sonny covers him from the porch, blasting away at zombies

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 170
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 154

 

Drawn by the noise of tires squealing and the crunch of a van hitting bodies, zombies hurry forward 

    Despite 2 zombies in contact, Junior was fortunate on his rolls and was able to slip away and survive

'Nasty Zombies' Plus Another Batch of 10

    2 'Nasty zombies' lead a pack of Wargames Factory zombies prowling through the industrial district

I think I am nearing the end of my zombie painting spree. These two batches should enable me to run Zombie RV for three vehicle crews (12 survivors). That will probably be about as big of a game as I need to run anytime soon. Since the rules have three tiers of zombies, with "Nasty Zombies" being the meanest, I figure I needed more of them. I dug through my Post-Apocalyptic unpainted lead and picked out four that could be painted into zombies, I felt. I also did the next-to-last batch of male zombies from the Wargames Factory box.

    Five of this batch of Wargames Factory zombies - do they sense survivors inside the factory?

The 10 ordinary zombies were done exactly like the others I've been doing (for what seems like quite awhile, now!). So, I won't really talk much about them. I am trying to personalize a handful in each batch. I did some tattoos on the shirtless zombies. I think they look better in person than in the photos. I also tried to put writing on their shirts or lab coats, which I think turned out fairly poorly, unfortunately. I think I was in a hurry because I also forgot to bricks or other debris on their bases. I didn't notice it until I was putting them away.

    Two of the 'Nasty zombies' -- one an OSU fan and the punk rocker...a gamer?

Speaking of which, it IS quite the zombie horde I'm accumulating. And the mass effect of them all together in the box looks really good, I think. Hopefully, they look equally good horded together on the tabletop! Well, maybe not to the survivors, but visually...!

    The other two 'Nasty zombies' leading their pack of five to investigate a downed helicopter

Unlike most metal figures, I did prime these black to go with the same overall look as the rest of the zombies. I made sure when painting the pants and shirts to leave a bit of black around the exposed flesh where their clothes are torn and they've been slashed or shot. I would need the zombie aspect of these to jump out more to the eye, so I painted lots of tears, blood stains, and such. Two of the zombies have punk rock style haircuts or goatees. I decided to have a little fun and paint one of them like a friend of mine. We'll see if he notices that he's been "immortalized" as a zombie. The lettering on the jacket and mohawk color should be a giveaway, if you know him.

    The nasty with the red mohawk and goatee is probably my favorite of the bunch!

The other one has a very bright punk rocker red mohawk and goatee. He's probably my favorite nasty zombie of the group. I think his brown leather jacket, blue jeans, and. bright green shirt worked out nicely together. The one next to him above is from Battle Valor Games and their "Space Cannibals" line. He has improvised armor that apparently didn't work out to well for him against the zombies!

    The hand-lettered lab coat and lawn worker shirts were a 'fail,' I think -- less is more in this case!

I have to admit, I am actually looking forward to wrapping up the zombie painting. They've all painted up quickly and turned out fairly well. I'm just getting a little tired of painting nearly the same thing over and over. You may have noticed the nasty zombies have brighter, brick base texturing. I'm not 100% sure it worked out great. However, I admit, it is more of a game mechanic so players can easily recognize the nasty zombies vs. the regular zombies. The styrene plastic pattern isn't grooved very deeply, so I added a couple tiny bricks atop the metal base the figure is cast onto. It looks so-so. I should probably have done the entire base in those tiny bricks. That would have looked better, I think.

I'm working my way back towards a positive total for my painted vs. acquired tally. I would say I will even it up within a couple weeks. I have that final batch of 10 zombies (sigh...) and two painted warlord stands to do for the Advance the Colors 2024 Saga tournament. That'll put me at 170 vs. 170, most likely!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 170
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 154

Fortified Trailers for Post-Apocalypse from Bad Goblin Games

    The first of the two fortified trailers with some of my survivors keeping watch

My favorite "find" at Historicon were the products from Bad Goblin Games. Even before I played in their Trailer Park Apocalypse game on Saturday, I had snapped up two of their 3-D printed, fortified trailers. They had six different varieties. I purchased my two favorites (#1 and #6 on their packaging). I wanted to use them in my Zombie RV games at the upcoming Hold the Line convention in Port Clinton, Sept. 13-14. So, it was time to put work on the horde of zombies on hold and get cracking on "them thar trailers!"

    The rear of the trailer - note the gaping hole and the cracks...this trailer has seen some battles!

They were incredibly easy to prepare for painting. I saw no flash or strings or anything that I needed to clean up. If I were to do another one, though (check that -- when I do another!), I would shave some material off the top, bottom, and side of the doors. They open and closes easily until you prime and paint them, and or in my case, put patterned paper down as the flooring. All those layers of paint and paper add to the thickness, so to speak, and I would rather it not scratch it every time I opened or closed it in a game. This is an incredibly minor point, though. I am very happy with these models.

    Roof of the first trailer. All of the fortifications are part of the 3-D print -- none of this was modified

I cut a piece of 9"x5" plastic styrene to base each trailer on and used two-part epoxy to attach them. I did my usual method of prepping -- spray painting it first with Krylon Fusion Acrylic Black Primer, and then following that up with a 50/50 mix of water and acrylic black paint. For the base coats of the colors, I had to apply two coats to get it to cover over the black undercoat, though. For the first one, above, I used a light straw color and then did a white dry brush over it. Next, I painted the brick a dark red and dry brushed it Howard Hues Middle East Flesh. I used a light Terra Cotta color for the trim to keep it in the same color tone. I dry brushed the trim pieces tan. The door was painted a dark red with window frame.

   Zooming in on the first trailer -- I did a heavy black wash over the surface once it was all painted

The roof was painted Georgia Clay, then dry brushed with Middle East Flesh. All of the woodwork was painted dark brown first, dry brushed Camo Brown, and then tan. I thought it was cool how they added street signs into the fortifications, too. So I painted them up to as "STOP" and "YIELD" signs, with appropriate gouges in them. The oil barrels were painted a light blue, dry brushed a bluish-white, and then I made them rusty with several colors: light brown, Georgia Clay, and then bright orange. 

The interior was purposely done in what I felt would be tacky, "trailer park" colors. For this one, I chose a light salmon color. Once again, I needed two coats to cover the walls sufficiently. However, with all of the explosion or fire damage on this model, I did a lot of black dry brushing to simulate smoke stains or fire damage. For the floor, I used patterned scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby left over from an earlier project. It is a light gray, which I dirtied up a bit with black dry brushing to simulate smoke and dirt accumulation since the apocalypse.

    The floor is patterned scrapbooking paper dirtied up with black dry brushing

I admit I was definitely going for an Appalachian vibe in my decorations for the walls. There are pictures making strident statements about gun rights. There is a hunting painting. And, since you-know-who seems to be very popular in Appalachia, there is a political poster honoring their leadership choice. For these, I simply did Google Image searches, downloaded suitable files, and resized them, gave them a reddish brown border for a "picture frame," and printed them off on a laser printer at the local office supply store. I cut them out, painted white glue onto the backs of them, and applied them to the walls. 

    Another look at the trailer without any miniatures to clutter up the picture. The couches are my own.

I gave the trailer a couple coats of clear matte spray. I did have to go back and add a black wash over the warning signs on the doors, too. They looked too bright white without it, I felt. Note in the photographs, I posed some couches, love seats, and recliners sitting outside and look worse for the wear (in true hillbilly fashion). These are my own and were not included. A friend of mine molded them in dental plaster -- not sure where he got them from (maybe Hirst Arts?).

    The front of the "blue" fortified trailer, with its bullet holes, rounded end, and cinder block stairs

One of the things that I really liked shopping at Bad Goblin Games booth at Historicon was the sheer variety. If I remember correctly, there were six varieties of fortified trailers and just about that many of ruined or partially ruined trailers. It allowed me to pick out the ones I liked best and were different from each other. If you go to their website, I'm not sure why they are not showing up, yet. Maybe they don't want to put them up there until the convention season is over and they've built back on their stock. By the end of Saturday at the convention, their shelves and racks were looking pretty sparse. I wasn't the only one who was buying up their stuff (which is very affordably priced, by the way)! Another thing I liked was the choices they give in staircases leading up to the doors. They give you both the wooden one shown in the yellow trailer, and the cinder blocks in the blue one, above.

    The rear of the trailer, which has two doors, allowing me to use both types of staircases on this model

I used a pale blue for the exterior of this one, dry brushing it a light, bluish-white. The trim was done in a Denim Blue craft paint, also dry brushed to give it a worn and sun-bleached look. For the roof, I decided to go with a light gray-green, dry brushed a very light gray. I love the wooden boards covering the windows and the crack in the walls. As with the previous one, I did a black wash on the exterior to make it look dirty, run-down, and possibly abandoned.

    A look at the roof of the blue trailer, which is a completely different style than the first one

Not only is the vinyl siding pattern different on this model than the first, the roof is completely different, too. Rather than a ribbed, almost corrugated steel look, this one looks more lilke siding. Instead of the sandbags and wood barricades atop the roof, this one used piles of cinder blocks. Apparently, Bad Goblin Games also sells bags of 3-D printed cinder blocks, but they were so popular they were sold out by the time I made it to their booth! I love the tire, open hatch, and random cinder blocks that come printed on the roof. These would normally be a customization done by the modeler, but Bad Goblin does it for you! This saves tons of time compared to my MDF trailer from Sarissa Precision, which I spent hours and hours modifying!

    A good look at the posters I put up on the walls of my trailer -- "America" & "Dogs playing poker"!

Really, the only thing I tricked out on these two models is the interior. My choice of tacky colors were blue and green for this one. I painted the walls a medium "Leaf Green". Next, I dry brushed it a lighter green, and finally went over it in a dark, black wash. The interior door was painted dark green. For the flooring, I cut more of the patterned paper you can find at craft stores (I think they are intended for scrap booking). For this one, I also did a black wash on the flooring after I had glued it in place and done a first spray clear coat. Big mistake! After a few minutes, the water began to warp the paper. I took a paint bottle and smooshed it down (technical term). Then, when it was drier, I smoothed it down with my fingers. It looked better. Unfortunately, the black washing of the surface was left a little streaky. In the future, I will follow the method I used on the yellow trailer, above.

    A look at the interior, with the ugly leaf green walls clashing with the blue and white flooring

For interior decorations, I kept up the tacky, hillbilly kitsch. The famous painting of dogs sitting around a table playing poker had to be in there. An "America - love it or leave it" belonged in there for that well-known, rural patriotism. I also threw in a hunting painting and a Jesus one. I have gone back and forth about furniture on the interior, and have pretty much decided not to do it. I want my terrain pieces to look good, yes. However, I want the miniatures to be able to move around inside, as well. 

    A close up of the blue trailer, including the classic door sign warning away trespassers!

These two post-apocalyptic trailers will see playing time in about a week when I run Zombie RV at Hold the Line in Port Clinton, OH. I have other things from them that I need to paint up and get ready for games, too. The tall water tower will be an eye catcher on the tabletop, as will the dumpster fire and other fun pieces using LED lights. Stay tuned to my blog for those!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 168
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 140