Zombicide (Pt.3, abomination & runners)

Today's post will most probably be the weakest of all the Zombicide series. Not trying to disencourage you, just being honest :) Why do I say this? Beacuse these will be the least converted minis of all my set. The Abomination simply didn't need any work on it, as it's a single model, and I found the Runners some particularly difficult models to re-sculpt. Let's talk about all of that.

First of all I want to call your attention on a sensible subject. I could talk about the material of the models or the way you should keep them, but I can only advice you don't be as stupid as I was and just varnish your models after painting :(

I forgot to do so and I have experienced some problems with some paint flaking when you take the minis to the plastic trays. Those trays are useful indeed, as they allow you to keep all the game in its box, but they have the inconvenience of plastic vs. plastic graze. I have thought of using foam trays, but space is an issue, and the game trays are too well designed to simply ignore them.

I took a pic of what I'm talking about. Look at the Abomination's forehead:

 

Look closer (if you dare!)

 

Apart from that, the model is fun to paint. The camera he's carrying around his neck gave me the idea of painting him as a poor tourist who was in the wrong place at the wrong moment. The yellow shirt with green palmtrees should transmit that idea :P

Runners were tricky to me, as I really couldn't find myself involved with the models, I didn't get enough inspiration, I'm afraid. Let's go for the first round:

 

Original mini

 

As with the Fatties, I left one mini unmodified -in this case, the Brazilian supporter ;). The others went on my workbench. The so dynamic pose, though being great, makes it difficult to do anything else, so I could do nothing but minor, slight conversions, or just paint them in different colours:

 

The guy in the center shows the infecting bite on his leg

 

Some t-shirts also made sense for me

But hair is always the easiest way to make your minis different

The other round of Runners is represented by this mini:

 

When I was young, zombies didn't run. Ahh, youth...

 

Couldn't find inspiration for those either. This is what I got:

 

The one on the left of the pic is a little overweight -thus the running! Just some putty to make him different

I wasn't aiming for that, but I got a red haired guy dressed just like Fry from Futurama. Totally unintended, promise

Though they look older, they run as fast as the others!

As I told, I'm not fully satisfied with these, they lack the charm Fatties have, but the Muse was not with me when I did them. I thought of having one or two female runners, but I had to do extensive work on hips, breasts, shoulders, face... It wasn't worth of, so I left them all being male runners.

I promise the next round of Z's will be better ;)

P.S.: This weekend I have played a totally non-related game and I really feel I should write some kind of AAR, as I have tons of pics. Probably later this week you'll have some news... ;)

Zombicide (Pt.2, Fatties)

The survivors I showed you last monday were nothing but an opener for the game itself and the insanity I'm deep into right now ;). The Zombicide box gives you more than 60 zombies. All the minis are great; superb sculpts, quite dynamic and fine detailed. But (you knew, if I would find a but it would be exactly this one) there are lots of repeated poses. I never suffer two identical minis if I can avoid it, you know. So you can imagine what I was forced to do. Forced, I say.

Yup, greenstuff all over. Today I'll start with the 'fatties' (you'll get the names when I speak of the game; for the moment let's just go for the minis). As you saw on the survivors, Zombicide is designed in a cartoony style, with lots of unconcealed tributes to movies and/or stereotypes, so I just decide to do the same with the zombies and become a little rascal as the game designers were.

 

The original model

What the zed is this?

And this?

 

Hmm, it looks like they are changing a little, aren't they? ;)

Let's see them painted:

 

Once again the original guy, no additions

Another mechanics guy

Born Dead to be wild

Z's took the Godfather away from his daughter's wedding, oh my!

 

Generic geek fat guy

 

It has NYPD badges on both shoulders. Take my word

 

Don't know what the hell was I thinking of when I did this guy

 

Oh, this was necessary. It truly was

 

After having finished those I came up with some more stupid ideas, like a Santa (well, a guy acting like Santa in front of Macy's or so...) or a merchant seaman, but I had no more fatties and I left them for good.

Hope you enjoy this, I'll take some more pics on another round of zombies this weekend and try to post them on Monday... if Z's don't eat my brains! :D

Zombicide (Pt.1, survivors)

Looking for easy alternatives for quick-learning games, I found 'Zombicide' some time ago. I had never been into Z world, so this was meant to be my first experience with this ambientation. I had read all kind of positive reviews and I thought it was worth a try.

I eventually may speak of the game in a future post (though I guess that by now it's a well known game, so I'm not sure of what to do...), but for the moment let me show the minis. They are really well sculpted; they are shown in a somekind cartoony way, which is part of the essence of Zombicide itself. The game introduces you six survivors, the main characters the players will use.

 

Phil the cop

 

No, it's not Rick Grimes from 'The Walking Dead'. Of course it is not. That would be a trouble about copyrights and stuff ;)

 

Doug. (What do you mean by 'Michael Douglas in Falling Down'? Don't get that one)

Lovely Wanda

Ned. Wolverine's jacket and Comedian's pin. Totally great

Amy. You may want to watch 'NCIS' again

Josh. It was suppose to read 'Abercrombie & Fitch' on the hoodie. I tried

 

So these are the main characters. As you may (or not) know, this is a coop game, so no competition, all the players are on the same boat and must rely on each other to achieve their goals (mainly survive!). However, the game is totally enhance-friendly and you are welcome to use your own survivors and to create your own profiles for them. Geek quality ensured :).

I've begun with these as they are the characters, but I'm currently working on the zombies. Some of you might have been the minis by your own, but I promise I'm trying something... different. Later this week I'll be posting some of them, hope to surprise you ;)

Stay tuned, there will be a few Z posts on the oncoming weeks!

The Last of the Mohicans

Once again the title says it all ;)

The wife is a huge fan of 'The Last of the Mohicans' movie (she says it's way much better than the book as it's more romantic; well, that's another story...). She asked me if I could find a figure of Daniel Day-Lewis.

 

The guy

 

 Unfortunately I wasn't able to find anything in a suitable scale. Right, Warlord Games produces a 'Last of the Mohicans' set for their FIW range, but that's 28mm. scale and I was aming for something a little bit bigger, for a vignette.

Most probably someone now can tell me any obvious option, but I must say that, after browsing the net for a while, I wasn't able to find one. But what I did find was this gorgeous 54mm. mini by Andrea Miniatures:

 

Pic taken from their webpage. Go visit!

 

'The Volunteer (1776)'. Ahem. Definitely a Not-Mel Gibson in 'The Patriot'. The mini fitted the scale and general purpose, it was running and... it had a tomahawk! Looks like we have a winner...

(Beware! What you are about to see is a bunch of awful phone pics which, besides my legendary clumsyness taking photos, may result in eye harming to the viewer. Go on under your own responsibility)

 

Told you. You were warned

Some green stuff here and there

And then some more

 

The most challenging issue was transforming Mel Gibson's face (the sculptor of the mini is great, you could see the very Mel Gibson there) into Daniel Day-Lewis'. Mel Gibson's face is kinda wide with round compact edges and a quite characteristic nose, while Daniel Day-Lewis' face is longer, thinner and with very distinctive hairlines, cheeks and chin. Of course I lack the skills to sculpt a whole face, not even talking about portraying anybody in a mini. So I had to do what I could with the base face.

 

I deserve a 'you tried' internet meme

  

He might not exactly look like Daniel Day-Lewis, but I think that the mini on the whole should be recognizable enough.

 

Hope that the hairlines and hair help to contribute to the general concept

Sculpting flowing hair was a pain in the *ss

 

The original mini came with a tomahawk, but it was on the wrong hand. I cut out the tomahawk and used a Games Workshop knife for Nathaniel's left hand. You might have heard about the ridiculously oversized weapons used in 'heroic scale' games (never liked that absurd euphemism). Well, that's true. A knife designed for a 28mm. mini fits perfectly in this 54mm model. Makes you think about what's wrong with weapons scale in Warhammer...

 

Just as if it was designed for the mini

 

After replacing the rifle in his right hand for the tomahawk, I had an idea of how the model would look in the end.

 

That's it. Now the paint!

 

I was unsure about what to think of the results. The palette I had to use was quite limited and I was afraid of being all the same, with little varation between the face and the clothes.

 

Grrr, I'm the crazy albino berserker

 

But it didn't end that bad (at least I want to believe that):

 

I almost miss the Indian tattoo, had to do it when I was already working on the base

 

Using the original base as a starting point, I expanded it a little. The model also included a couple of trees without leaves, so I had to add some vegetation in order to make the vignette a resemblance of the movie.

I always talk you about the OST of every movie. Come on, in this case it's unavoidable!

You have it in your mind...

Running to the rescue!

So this is it, a small vignette of a movie. Some hard work (and a lot of time!) required, that's why I've been slow on my general paint production rate. I'm currently working on another totally different project involving a huge number of minis. What can that be...? I'll disclose you the secret in a few days!

Playing Bolt Action: Battle at the farm

I had been trying to find a moment to play 'Bolt Action' for a time, and I have succeeded at last!

As you could see some weeks ago, I had painted the Normandy starter set, 20 infantry minis for each side. It also included some ruined walls for scenery, and I decided to do something special with them. Instead of having a few unrelated walls, I made up a ruined house:

Ruined house as seen in a ruined photo

I hadn't read much of this game but I had heard that it was kinda Warhammer in WWII. With that in mind and having this small country building, an stupid idea just popped up in my mind: We could play the 'Battle at the farm' scenario from Rogue Trader! A few German soldiers are stuck in a farm and it was just a matter of time that an American patrol came by the neighbourhood. That's it, just that simple. I wasn't aiming any kind of historical scenario or accurateness, this was just an attempt to test the rules in a simple way. So don't expect point values nor strategy... only trying to see how rules worked.

This was the display. Equally simple

The American sniper team soon got into position

No, the pic's not blurry. Camouflage is doing its work

The German Squad behind the farm decided that the best defence is a good offence, so they didn't stay behind cover

The farm is too small for all of us. Come with me!

Come, we will find a new one!

The yankees are shooting!

Aaaargh!

As it's not a new game, I guess that many of you might be familiar with the rules. For those who are not, I can say that it's true that the game is quite similar to Warhammer. There are some differences. Each player chooses a unit of his army and gives it an order (you place an 'orders die' besides, to remember what they are doing that turn). The orders can be 'advance' (move and shoot), 'run' (move double, no shoot), 'fire' (no move, but more accurate shooting), 'down' (do nothing but take cover), 'ambush' (no move or shoot, but take up firing positions) and 'rally' (no actions as before, but recover morale, regroup...)

After the unit fulfils the order given (or miserably fails to do so), the other player chooses a unit from his own army and gives it an order. So the turn is somehow more dynamic. The rules for shooting are essentially the same than in Warhammer, rolling dices and comparing tables. It reminds me quite of WH40K 2nd Ed, with those modifiers, differences between short range-long range and so. Well, as an abstraction for playing a battle I can say they are OK so far. Let's see something more, I'm speaking too much.

Germans open fire from the farm

Man down! Set a 'pin marker' (I only could set a die), the unit can be affected

So we have a crossfire with some casualties

This American Squad woved through the flank and charged the Germans

Chaaaaarge!!

Here it comes the part that I find a little bit dissapointing. The close quarters phase is maybe too much. Let me explain: Attackers roll to damage, defenders take casualties and survivors counterattack, rolling to damage. The side which causes more casualties simply wipes the other side out of the table.

You see, one casualty per side...

That means a draw! Draws are for sissies! Immediately take another close quarters phase until one side is destroyed!

Sarges' fight!

I believe we made some mistakes here about positioning minis. But this was just about getting along with the rules, so don't worry, the result was the same: Americans caused two casualties and Germans only one. So, German side was defeated and the whole unit is destroyed. I really find it hard to see that. I would have liked it more if losers were pushed back to their positions, forced to fall back suffering additional casualties... Something like that.

The way the game solves these situations is too quick and ends up in an instant massacre while the rest of the battle is still taking part. I can see the carnage in an bayonet assault, but losing up to... what? Ten men? in a second, while the rest of the battle is being undertaken, is much more than a simple abstraction.

The time taken in that assault is inexistent to game effects. While your mates are moving, taking cover, shooting and maybe a couple of casualties are being caused, a unit has just disappeared having needed two (or eventually more) rounds of close quarters combat, which apparently have happened in a glimpse. As I say, this is the weaker part of the game in my opinion.

But enough chatting! There's a battle going on! Where were we?

We were winning!

Oh, yes. That. Then Germans tried to counterstrike

There they are! Advance!

General overview. Captain Hammer in the background added for dramatic purposes

Germans in the house shoot everything they have

Though Americans went down, they received casualties

And more casualties

For those who haven't played the game, I told previously that suffering casualties is bad for morale. How is that so in the rules? Remember, you set as many 'pin markers' as casualties received (I'm still using those green small dice until I develop something better). When a unit is 'pinned' and receives an order, the soldiers might be reluctant to accomplish it (or they may be too scared to act properly... these things). In that case you must take a morale test to see if your troops overcome adversity. Roll two dice and if the result is equal or less than their morale value, they can act normally and discard one pin marker.

This happened to this American Squad, which had suffered two casualties. They checked and...

Fubar!..... I'm sure you don't need me to translate that acronym

Being that the case, you have to roll again to see the effects for that. In this case...

Snafu!.... (it means basically the same, you know)

They were forced to fall back. 'Tactical retreat' should be a formal way to say that.

On the other side of the table, the sniper was beginning to get some spectacular results

Whooops! Where did that came from?

The German Officer and his aide, having witnessed the uberpower of close combat, bravely decided to charge the enemy

Notice the Officer pinching the enemy's nose

But... What went wrong here?

The American Lieutenant decided to bravely do the same stupid thing that his counterpart and advanced towards the farm

Trust me, I've seen this in the movies

The sniper was causing some serious mayhem, the German unit had to take that flank seriously

They received a rally order, which they gladly accomplished

And here it comes the absurd. The Lieutenant and his assistant reached the house in an epic run. Charging through the door, the Private fights to death.

Just so you can see the situation

The American Private kills an anemy

Aaaargh! (Read with German accent)

Sooo... Yup, that's it. Americans win the round and kill/take prisoners/whatever the whole squad. The German squad is wiped out. Wow. That's a thing, man.

We deserve a movie!

 Of course, their mates were scared to death to see what two guys could achieve. They had to ensure that could not happen again.

The Americans die, but it was totally worth of

It looked like the battle was quite decided by now. Americans advanced cautiously.

Our youngest general oversees the progression of operations. Geek parenting is meritorious

This was the situation at the moment. I believe I can predict the result...

Being under siege and pinned, the German Squad has to roll dice in a morale check...

Twelve? This happened twice in the same game? Seriously?

They checked the chart and just went 'down'. Unfortunately for them, the sniper team was at the top of their skills. One shot, one dead. The poor guys in the farm tried to 'rally'. Being pinned, they have to check and........

Come on! This is becoming ridiculous!

Well, what can I say. This was hilarious. The jinx squad had no other option than fall back and leave the farm.

Enough for one day, I'm no paid for this

American victory! The guys in green take control of the farm.

On the whole I can say the game is not bad at all, but I believe it lacks 'something' to be that great. I find it valuable that the abstractions are made in a simple way and easy to understand. You get the dynamics of the game in a glimpse, specially if, as it's my case, you come from the WH40K world. You can see Rick Priestley's hand all over. The game has charts, modifiers and all that hallmark, but it's not complicated, you can get used to that in no time. Some of the concepts are nice and quite logical and a general overview to the rulebook makes you see that there is a lot of work behind and it's well thought in general.

But there are some things that are not well solved. I have pointed the close quarters, for example. For me that's a thing that almost kills the game. I'm not talking about it being decisive, but being unrealistic, almost clumsy. I believe it really needs some work and a re-thought.

The pinning system is well conducted in general terms and I like it, but as you can see, we had a 'fubar' event three times in the same battle. For sure that's out of statistics, but it also became something weird. Maybe an excess of charts and crossed references, don't know.

It has been my first incursion in a historical wargame, so I have different thoughts on the subject. First of all, I wanted this kind of things, for a change. I was in need for something different that Space Marines and Orks, and I really wanted to play WWII, so I approached the game in a good mood. That said, the warhammer-esque approach has made me easy the adaptation, buy I realize I expect something 'different' from a historical game, not just 'Warhammer in WWII', if you know what I mean. Playing a wargame is a matter of abstraction, of course, but there are ways and ways to conduct that abstraction. Though not being displeased at all with 'Bolt Action', I believe there are some aspects that could be improved in one or other way.

For sure we will give the game more chances, so I will tell you if my thoughts on it change.

For all of you who already know the game, how were your experiences like? Similar to mine or totally different? How do you face the aspects I mention? Any thoughts on that? Thanks!