Day 2c: The Sheriff of Nowhere

Sculder and Mully, on their way to their next stop, happen to venture through the town of Nowhere and stumble on the sheriff's office.

"Do you think the sheriff will be cooperative or do you think he's just trying to push this off on the Feds?"  Sculder asked Mully as they got out of their vehicle in the parking lot.



"Don't know.  Depends on how much of a hick he is," Mully answered her long-time partner.  After a second of thought she added, "Although I'd think the hicks would prefer to deal with this kind of stuff themselves."

"Well, let's see what he has to say."  Sculder led the way to the door of the office.



As they entered the building and their eyes adjusted to the darkness in the office, they found a rather shaky sheriff and his equally shaky deputy pointing guns at them. 



"Um...sheriff, if you'll just let me get my badge, I'm Agent Sculder and this is my partner Agent Mully."

"Yeah, alright, let's see it," the sheriff drawled, holstering his weapon.  He indicated his deputy should put his away as well.

Inspecting Sculder's credentials, the sheriff asked, "so what do you Feds intend to do about this?"

"About what?  A couple of random zombies wandering the countryside?"  Sculder attempted to chasten his counterpart.

"Zombies!" the sheriff exclaimed with astonishment.  Recovering, he continued, "a couple of random zombies?  Agent Sculder, you don't know the extent of this yet do you?"

This caught Sculder off-guard.  "What are you talking about?"



"Every county to the north and west of here is covered with these things.  Haven't heard from anyone south of here, or what's going on in Suburbia, but this isn't just Nowhere's problem."

Sculder and Mully looked at each other.  "That explains all the calls we've been getting."

"No point heading north if it's more of these things," Mully offered up.  "Except we might find where they're coming from."

Sculder thought for a minute.  "That would be helpful, but at what risk?  Let's head for HQ and get more info on the extent of this - then we can plan a proper course of action."

Turning back to the sheriff, Mully asked, "Sheriff, can you join up with whichever agencies around here you think are most useful and set up roadblocks to keep these things from heading south, if, indeed, they aren't there already?"

"Well, sure can.  The sheriff down in Blowdown County is a friend of mine.  I'm sure we can work something out." 

"Good.  We'll be in touch," Mully assured the local law enforcement.

As they were leaving they could hear the sheriff already getting started.

"Now Barney, I need you to go fetch Gomer and Goober and the rest of the gang so's I can deputize them..."

*          *          *

 

The sheriff's office was made out of construction paper.  Didn't turn out too well because my only resources were a pair of kid's scissors, glue stick, construction paper, graph paper and a ruler.  If it proves useful for the future, I might recreate it later since it won't survive the trip home.  For now, though, it will do the trick.  You don't see much of it in these pics, but it has five cells in the back and three separate rooms - at least one of which presumably holds weapons and ammunition.  A useful fact in the zombie apocalypse.

Day 2b: Meanwhile...Down on the Farm

While our newly minted, yet intrepid, zombie hunters are making their way towards that Mecca of civilization known as Suburbia, the FBI has sent two of its best to investigate strange events that have taken place on a random, isolated farm in Nowhere.  (Yes, that's the name of the town.)  Agent Fox Sculder (Rep 4, Pistol, Wuss) and his partner Agent Dana Mully (Rep 4, Pistol, Hard-as-Nails) arrive at mid-day to question the farmer about what he had seen and heard.

*          *          *

 

The farmer came out the door, seeing the two FBI agents approaching the house.

 



 

"Good afternoon, sir, I'm Agent Sculder and this is my partner, Agent Mully from the FBI.  Did you report some weird events here yesterday?"  

 

"Yeah, I called the sheriff in Nowhere, but he he couldn't help me.  Said ta contact you fellas." 

 

"Where was the sheriff you called?"  Mully wanted to be sure she had the facts straight for her report.

 

"Nowhere," the farmer faced her.

 

"But...if you called nowhere...how could anyone have told you anything?" she asked, a little bewildered.

 

"Because Nowhere is the closest place to here," the farmer answered her with shrug.  "And anyways, that's what the sheriff told me to do."

 

Seeing the continued confusion on his partner's face, Sculder shook his head.  "Well, that doesn't really matter now, sir.  Please, tell us what you saw or what happened."

 

"Well, I was headin' out ta the barn when I saw ole John Hazen comin' across the field."  The farmer gestured behind him, suggesting the barn and field were somewhere behind the house.  "Somethin' looked funny 'cause ole John, he can't walk too good no more."  He shifted uncomfortably.  "I started towards him when I could see he looked like he was hurt bad with blood and guts all over him and then I smelled that stink."  He made a face.

 

"Can you describe the smell?"  Sculder prompted him.

 

"Yeah, smelled like dead, rottin' meat."  The man stopped.  "An' he was makin' a funny sound.  Kinda groanin' like,"  he added after a moment.  Continuing he said, "I ran back ta the house and called fer an amboo-lance.  Then I called the sheriff.  He said there was sumthin' funny goin' on all over the county and I should call you.  He said he already had a call in ta the FBI hisself."   

 

Sculder pointed down the length of the house.  "Is that kind of what your neighbor looked like?"

 

The farmer peered around the side of his house.  "Yup, that's just what he looked like."

 

"Oh, crap!"

 

Sculder and Mully drew their weapons as Sculder shouted, "Stop! FBI! Hands where I can see them!"

The thing kept coming

 

*          *          *

 

Turn 1: Zeds roll a 4, while the Feds roll a 2.  The zeds close in on the Feds and Sculder takes a shot.  One round hits and since the zed is just over 6" away, he rolls against his Rep and ODs the zombie. 

 

"Got one!" he gloats. 

 

"Yeah, but there's two more comin' up behind ya," the farmer points out.

 

Mully shoots past Sculder at the zed coming in from behind him.  She hits with one round, but only knocks it back an inch.

 

"Another one's comin' across the road," the farmer yells.

 

"Oh, here we go!"

 

Turn 2: Zeds roll a three, but the Feds roll a 5 and are stuck in place.  All zeds advance, and one is about to jump Mully when Sculder fires.  He gets one hit, but no OD - just knocking it back an inch. 

 

"Dang!  Why don't these things die?"  He asks of no one particular.

 

"And there's ANOTHER one comin' now," the farmer points down the road a bit.

 



 

Turn 3: This time, the Feds get a little breathing room - they roll a 3 to the zeds' 6. 

 

"Zombies!  They must be zombies!" Mully calls out. 

 

"Well how do you kill them?" Sculder yells back.

 

"You have to shoot them in the head or bash their brains out!"

 

"Screw that!  Let's get out of here!"  Sculder makes a command decision.  "Quick, into the vehicle!" 

 

Realizing the farmer is still on his porch, he shouts, "You too.  Come on, let's go!  We can protect you!"

 

"No, I've got ma farm ta tend.  Ya'll go on an' git!"  With that he turns and heads back into his house, slamming the door behind him.

 

Sculder and Mully jump into their vehicle and start it up.

 

Turn 4: The starter balks (just like in the movies!) and the Feds are stuck in place when they roll a 5 to the zeds' 3.  They shamble forward, surrounding the SUV.

 



 

Turn 5: This time, the Feds activate first with a 3, while the zeds have to wait with a 1. 

 

"Argh!"  The SUV still won't start!  The zeds can't do anything but mill around outside it.

 

Turn 6: Feds activate with a 2, while the zeds are immobile with a 6.  And they still can't start the car!

 

Turn 7: The Feds again activate with a 3, while the zeds remain immobile with a 5. 

 

This time, the engine roars to life!  Sculder throws it into gear and jams his foot on the gas, mowing down the zed in front of the vehicle.  The zombie is knocked down, but not OD! 

 

Turn 8: This time, both are active with the Feds rolling a 4 and the zeds rolling a 2. 

 

Sculder drives around the building, and the zeds shamble on their way, now that the vehicle with those tasty morsels inside are gone.

 

Turn 9: Neither side activates.

 

Turn 10: The zeds activate with a 4, and the Feds activate with a 1. 

 

The zeds continue to scatter, but Sculder catches one with the SUV.  Again he only knocks it down, but he and Mully aren't stopping to worry about it. 

 



 

Turn 11: Only the Feds activate this turn, and Sculder punches the pedal to the metal as they pull onto the road and exit.

 

In just a couple of turns, the zombies all shamble off the board, and peace and quiet again return to the farm.

 



 

*          *          *

 

In case you're interested, the farmhouse is another Whitewash City building shrunk to appropriate size.  The SUV and the pickup truck are both HO scale Model Power models, and the liquid storage tank is the 20' Tank Container from Walthers' Cornerstone Series. 





Day 2a: Truck Stop...Sort of...

"Hey, what happened up there?" Angel asked Ahmed, who was dozing in the passenger seat of the VW. 

"Huh," he grunted looking up.  "Looks like a truck rolled.  What could have caused that?" 

"I don't know," Angel responded, "but let's see if the driver is ok."  She began to pull onto the shoulder.  "We'll have to turn around anyway and find another way back to Suburbia since the road is blocked by the truck."  She pulled the VW and the Caravan around in a tight circle, while the Land Rover pulled up behind them.



Ahmed climbed up on the truck and checked the cab and the cabin, while the others clambered out of the vehicles and gathered around.  "There's no one here - it's empty."  He gestured off into the woods.  "Look around, he might be lying in the woods hurt."



As the team began to scatter to the woods they suddenly noticed that smell.  And then they saw the zombies. 

"There's more of those @#$% things?!"

*          *          *

Turn 1: The group is surrounded as both sides activate and the zeds move first.  They have two to their rear, one each to the left rear and right rear, and two more to the left front. 



Bob opens fire first being in the most immediate danger, and gets an OD.  Angel shoots the rifle, but only gets a knock back.  Joe fires from behind the Caravan, getting an OD as well.  Ahmed hits his target, but fails to OD it.  Two down, but two more enter, attracted by the gunfire.

Turn 2: The zeds are immobile, but the team is active.  Ahmed misses.  (The rest of the team is starting to wonder if it's worth keeping him around - of course, they can always use him as zombie bait if he doesn't start pulling his weight!)  Bob hits and gets an OD, then, warned by Ahmed about the two zeds behind the truck, moves around the front of the truck.  Joe and Angel both advance and fire.  Joe misses, but Angel gets an OD for the kill with the shotgun.

Turn 3: The zeds are still immobile, while the team continues active.  Again Ahmed hits for no damage.  Bob hits both of the zombies behind the truck, but only gets a knock back.  Angel gets a hit for a knock back, while Joe gets an OD to down another zed.  The fire attracts two more zeds. 



Turn 4: No one moves, activation is tied with a double 6.

Turn 5: Neither side activates. 

Turn 6: Both sides activate with the team going first.  Again, Ahmed hits with no kill.  Angel scores another OD.  Joe moves back to his original position and fires on the advancing z, but only gets a knockback.  Bob hits both of the zeds behind the truck again, but again only scores a knock back.  On the positive side, there's only one zombie left on its feet.  On the negative side, it advances on Angel.  One more zed is activated by the gunfire.

Turn 7: The zeds are not active again, while the team is.  Angel, Joe and Ahmed all miss the zed charging Angel, but Bob nails the one that just entered.  Despite all the gunfire, no new zombies appear.



Turn 8: Zeds activate with a 3, but the team activates with a 4 and gets to go first.  Angel misses in her panic, but Joe scores one hit on the zed charging her and makes it count, scoring an OD.  The other zeds continue to advance, but no new zeds appear this turn.

Turn 9: Activation is tied again, keeping everyone in place.

Turn 10: Zombies fail to activate, but the team can move.  Angel gets two solid hits, but no OD, only knocking the zed back.  Joe does get the OD, though, putting one down.  Bob backs up 4" hoping to give Ahmed a rear shot at the zombies and fires, hitting for just a knockdown.  No new zombies appear. 

Turn 11: The zombies fail to activate again, while the team moves.  Bob fires and knocks the zeds back again.  No new zeds appear.

Turn 12: Both sides activate, but the team can move first.  They start by regrouping, with Bob moving back up 3" towards the truck, while Angel and Joe reposition themselves on the vehicles and Ahmed continues to stay out of the way.  Bob moved just a little too far forward and finds the zeds in his face, while Joe takes a chance of hitting the Land Rover if he he has to fire on the one closing on Angel.



Turn 13: The team again moves first when both sides activate.  Angel misses the zed in her face again.  Not wanting to hit the Land Rover, Joe moves up beside her and blasts the zed, but only achieves a knock back.  Ahmed fires at one of the zeds closing on Bob and gets an OD vs. his Rep since the zed was not facing him.  Bob fires at the other one, but only gets a knockback.  No new zeds show up.

Turn 14: The zeds activate but the team doesn't, putting them in a very precarious position.  Angel is charged and freaks out - breaking and running away, and leaving Joe in the lurch.  The zed changes its target to Joe, who fires and gets a hit for a knockback.  Bob is also charged and prepares for melee.  He wins the melee, passing 2D6 more than the zombie and gets a "Pop Goes the Weasel".  No new zeds show up this turn either.

Turn 15: The team is again inactive, while the zombies are able to move.  The zombie that charged last turn gets up and charges Joe again.  He prepares for melee, but both pass 0D6 and the melee continues to next turn.

Turn 16: The team activates while the zombies don't this time.  Joe wins the melee, also getting a "Pop Goes the Weasel" and the field is cleared of zeds.

*          *          *

The team looks around at the carnage and gathers together between the cars.



 "I can't believe this is still happening," Angel says.  "We've driven for miles and we're still running into these things?  Is it going to be safe even in Suburbia?"

"Who knows?" Bob ventures, "but we need to try to get back there and see." 

The others agree.  They mount up and turn around, starting on the long detour home. 



Day 2: Interlude

We're finally getting back to some zombie action here at Wanted: BRAINS!  I'm doing some military training, but from everything I've heard from my friends I'll have a fair amount of free time here so I'm hoping to get a few games in while I'm here.

*          *          *

 

Everyone was quiet for a while as they headed out of the woods and back to town. 

 



 

"I never thought I'd say I'm glad to be leaving Eagle Rock," Angel said as Ahmed drove the Carmen Ghia.  "That was insane!  Where'd those things come from?"

 

"I don't know," Ahmed responded slowly.  "It was like they came from nowhere.  It must have been something local though.  Look," he gestured out the windows around him, "we don't see any of the things anywhere around."

 

 

In the Land Rover, Bob and Joe were thinking pretty much the same thing.

 

"I can't wait to get away from here - that was just a little too much action!" Bob said.

 

Joe agreed, "Yeah, I can't wait to get home where it's safe.  That was just nuts!"

 

"I don't know what we would have done if we'd been bow hunting," Bob mused.  "We never would have gotten out of there alive!"  He shuddered at the thought of it.  After a minute he added, "Just in case, pull in at the first sporting goods store you see and we'll pick up more ammo."

 

 

But will it be safe at home?

 











Got Yer Zed Huntin' License?

By now I'm sure you've noticed the Zombie Bloggers Association logo to the right.  No, it's not a real organization, as far as I can tell, but just another part of the fun.  Along with that I thought it would be fun to post my Zed Hunter's Permit since I just picked up my PA hunting license.  But when I did a search for them, I got a multitude of different designs.  Here are a few:

A local permit

A state permit

National permits

A regional permit

The "World Class" permit (there are

also other international permits)

And the emergency issue permit

It's a consumers nightmare.  Which permit to go for?  Which offers the best opportunities?  I guess I'll just have to take one of each.

The Darkest Hour

I've been debating this post for a while now.  A friend of mine, Doug Jeffreys, the sharp eyed among you will recognize his name from the occasional comment he posts to my blogs, wrote a novel that you guys might be interested in and published it himself as an e-book.  On the one hand Doug's a great guy and I don't want to hurt his feelings with anything I might say about his book.  Or it's more like I don't want him to hurt me with anything I might say about his book.  He's a pretty big guy and could pretty much squash my head between his thumb and forefinger like a grape.  Not to mention that his kid's a Marine.  On the other hand, Doug is a great guy and I'm sure he can take anything I might say about his book.  Actually, Doug is one of two friends I have who have self-published e-books, but the other one isn't about fighting zombies so you probably won't be interested in it.

Anyway, Doug's book is entitled The Darkest Hour.  I paid $0.99 for it on Kindle.  For that price you really can't go wrong.  I read it straight through and I think it took me about 3 hours to read it.  $0.33 per hour can't be beat for reasonably good entertainment.  Doug talked up his book as a thinking man's zombie story.  I have to agree with him.  It really is.  To some degree it's the same old, same old, but I really don't think that can be avoided.  I mean, ultimately, the book's about fighting zombies, right?  So there's going to be a certain amount of it that looks - on the surface - like other fighting zombie stories.  Doug explained that he did this on purpose - he followed the classic zombie/infection/post-apocalypse sequence to demonstrate the difference between his story and the typical ones that are out there.  Unfortunately, some of the uniqueness of it is actually in the backstory rather than the main plot, although there is one large chunk of plot that stands out.  Perhaps this will allow for a prequel and some novels that develop other parts of the story. 

The critters in his book aren't classic zombies, however, which he considers to be undead, but are people infected with a virus making them act like what we're used to calling zombies.  I won't give away the story, but basically terrorists spread the virus, eventually succumbing themselves to its ravages.  The hero, Duke, survives by retreating into the woods after his wife and daughter are killed by the zeds.  Two things give him pleasure: killing the infected as a form of revenge and helping other survivors to safety.  In time, he unites with various characters and groups, who in the end are able to return to a relatively normal, though depopulated world.

I'll just make a couple of observations about the characters and setting.  The hero is loosely based on himself.  Sorry, Doug, you didn't hide yourself too well, but as Doug said, he knows himself better than anyone else!  Many, if not most of the characters are loosely based on people he knows in one way or another as well.  Nope, you didn't hide that too well, either!  (And all despite the standard disclaimer to the contrary at the beginning of the book.)  The setting is also made up of mostly real places (if not all - I'm not familiar with some of the places he described), which he calculated adds to the terror by associating the events of the story with places readers have been to or seen.

Generally speaking the book is well written, but it could have benefited from some thorough proofreading and kick-butt criticism.  Two factors mar the book.  First is a feeling of incompleteness.  In some parts, it seems as though he didn't develop his outline into full story format.  You feel like you're reading his notes rather than the final version.  There are parts where I want to know more, though there are parts where the story is pretty full.  Second is a number of 'typos'.  This was surprising as having been around Doug for a few years now, I know that he writes very well.  These mostly take the form of incorrect capitalization, disjointed sentences (as though he changed a thought, but didn't fully correct the sentence, etc.), and some places where the tense shifts inappropriately.  There are also a couple (literally) of factual errors, but most people wouldn't notice those at all in all honesty and they don't play a factor in the story.  This was surprising also, as I know Doug to be very thorough and he seriously did a lot of research to be sure of the facts used in the book.  These errors simply involve the operation of military HMMWVs and their associated equipment, which you probably wouldn't know unless you've operated one.  The story could be changed in minor ways to account for them without missing a beat.  Overall though, I've read a lot of paper and ink books that didn't have as good a story, and a few that weren't much better in terms of typos.

I asked Doug to read this review before I posted it and to feel free to respond, rebut or whatever he wanted - even offering to post his response to the blog.  He gave me some explanation and told me to go ahead and post the review as was.  In fairness to him, and to be as accurate as possible with you, I did make some changes to the review so that I wasn't being misleading.  The story was originally written as a screenplay.  In rewriting it, some of the tense, grammar, etc., was lost in translation.  Doug did have a good proofreader, but maybe a bit too good - he was driving Doug nuts and in Doug's own haste and frustration, Doug went ahead with publication rather than go through more corrections.  When you realize that this is his first effort, you can understand the errors and look forward to subsequent editions and prequels/sequels to the story.  They will absolutely get better.  Good job, Doug, and best wishes with future writing.

If you can forgive or ignore the negative facets, you're in for a treat.  Especially after you've read the book and you go back and think about some of the elements that aren't completely voiced, such as the political and terrorism linked backstory, and some elements that are, such as Juice's part of the story (you'll have to read it yourself - I'm not going to tell you).  These add a menacing element that really becomes apparent after the reading, as the reader ponders the consequences of the decline of society.  And again, whatever you think, for $0.99 you can't beat the price for a couple of hours of entertainment.  If nothing else, show your support for a budding author who actually has original ideas for a change.

More Figs and some Transport

I need to pull everything out and get a good zombie game going again, but in the mean time, I've gotten some painting done.  First up are Rebel Minis' Modern Spies set.  Unfortunately, they are all the same pose and in this pic they look mostly to have the same paintjob, but I assure you they are individual.  I painted each one a different color, like they were trying out various colors for night camouflage.  There is, in no particular order (mainly 'cause I don't know which one's which), black, dark grey, dark blue, dark brown and a dark purple/plum. 

Next up, we have Rebel Minis' Gang Task Force.  These guys are in your basic olive-ish green with black equipment.

Finally, my government contractors/gray ops/black ops outfits have some new transportation - a black Ford Explorer (HO scale from River Point Minis) and a black MH-6 (QRF).  These boys get around!  Additional equipment installed in these vehicles is classified.  Sorry.

Sorry about the picture quality, they all have a reddish cast because of the dark red walls in the room, as you can see in the background.  Next time, I'll light them differently.

Bio-Tech Research Facility Revisited

A few weeks ago when I revealed my super-secret underground bio-tech research facility, I didn't have any pictures that showed the full scope of it.  I promised I'd put some up and in lieu of getting a game in towards my campaign recently, here are the pics of the facility with an explanation. 

The bases for each level are foam core board - green for ground level with it's nice grassy surface; white for the sterile floors in the lab itself.  The walls were built of 1/16" x 1" balsa with doors cut into them where needed.  I built the major walls first - that would be the outside and long interior walls.  Then I cut the smaller interior walls to fit it all together.  I didn't draw any "blueprints" first.  I had an idea in my head of what I wanted and just went for it.  In planning it and laying it out, I was operating on a 1" = 10' basis.  Actually, I think 15mm should be slightly larger than that, but this kept room size calculations simple.

Here's the ground floor.  The grey paper square is the parking lot.  Of course, every super-secret underground bio-tech research facility needs a parking lot!  Where are those scientists and administrators going to park otherwise?  I thought about putting the little yellow lines on it, but that would have been a couple of hours of work just for aesthetics.  Maybe I'll add them someday.  To the left is the furnace room with the chimney for the crematorium.  On the right is the main entrance - a small foyer with elevator at the top of the building and stairs underneath (in case the electricity goes out and the elevator doesn't work, of course!).  At the bottom is the ventilation building with the a/c unit and duct work.  The buildings are all painted green and brown for camoflage so that no one will notice them standing around this parking lot out in the middle of some Nebraska cornfield.  I should have added a generator building so that the electricity won't go out, but didn't think of it at the time.

Next is the first subfloor.  (The pictures are all oriented the same as the first so you should be able to pick out the stairs/elevator and the crematorium chimney, and we'll go from there.)  Immediately upon exiting the vestibule by the stairs/elevator, you enter the lobby where there is a security desk with 24/7 security.  The rooms adjoining this one are the president's secretary's office, which gives on to the president's office, at the top.  At the bottom of the pic is the security office.  Once you gain access to the building proper, there are two corridors.  At the top of the pic are offices, between the corridors are two conference rooms, and at the bottom are the offices of the division heads and the lunchroom.  Yes, even eggheads have to eat sometime!

The second subfloor contains the labs with a central corridor.  At either end of the row of labs at the top are small storage spaces/offices and there is one at the left of the bottom row of labs as well.

That brings us to the third subfloor.  This level houses (from the right) the containment units, the morgue/autopsy rooms, and the crematorium.  I did a little finagling with wood to make the cremation units looks like cremation units, rather than just a wall or block of some kind.  I used 1/4" x 1/2" square balsa for the base of the cremation units, then built an upright to divide it into two units, with a crosspiece at the top front.  The sharp-eyed among you will notice that there are two rooms at the end of the containment rooms without doors.  I don't remember now what I meant those to be - I think they were where the machinery for the containment units are located and the pipes/lines for the cremation units.

So there you have one super-secret underground bio-tech research facility.  Now go build one yourself and let me get back to gaming and painting!  ;o)

Super-Secret Biotech Lab Breached!

A few weeks ago my usual game group wanted to give a zombie game a try.  I built a super-secret multi-level underground biotech research facility out of balsa and foam core board for them to explore and came up with several parties for the players to run.  There was facility security trying to keep people out of the building, the in-house biohazard containment unit trying to contain the crisis, local law enforcement responding to a call of strange goings-on, a spec ops team sent to find out what IS going on, a group of G-men with a warrant to find out what's going on, a bunch of local thugs who had heard the place was abandoned and just wanted to explore, and a group of local survivalists who also heard that the place was abandoned and decided to make it their new headquarters.  It seems to me there was a group of dedicated zombie hunters who had heard that they could find the cure here as well.

Each group had a different mode of entrance as well - except that I ran out of entrances. Security and the biohazard team were already in the building.  The thugs, cops and G-men all went in the front door.  The spec ops team went in the air vent - and I think the zombie hunters did too - and the survivalists went down the chimney.  The survivalists found themselves in the crematorium, adjacent to the mortuary and juts down the hall from a fractured containment unit.  They spent the entire game fighting a handful of zombies from when they jumped into the room without looking where they were going first.  The spec ops team spent almost the entire game in the air vents, moving from room to room watching what was happening and gathering intel.  Near the end of the game, they rifled the executive offices and bugged out without anyone seeing them.  Everyone else was involved to some extent with battling zeds for several turns before they finally managed to kill all the escaped zeds and contain the disaster.  I forget which team it was that found the containment room and discovered that that was where the zeds were escaping from.  They kept shooting zeds in the room and stray rounds would knock out other containment units and release more zeds.  Finally they retreated into the hall and waited for the zombies to exit the room before shooting. 

The survivalists in the crematorium fighting zeds hand-to-hand

The zombie hunters intelligently taking on zombies in the labs.

At the end of the hall are the elevator (left) and stairs (right)

connecting to other levels.

The spec ops guys on the right, having exited the air shaft to

explore a room and the biohazard containment team searching

for zeds.

If I'd had more time, I would have built some simple furnishings for the rooms, just to give them some 3-D obstacles.  I have an idea of how I wanted each room laid out, so it would just be the time of building the little things and glueing or at least sticking them in place temporarily.

I thought I had some pics showing the whole set-up and complete floors, but I must have blanked them from the camera, as lighting was bad.  At any rate, you get the idea.  I might shoot them again just to put here, and/or use them in another setting.  (Hmmmm, top secret facilities in Yerbouti?  Not that anyone in Yerbouti knows about!) 



A Couple of New Figs

Rather than catching up, I'm falling farther behind.  I just have a couple of things to put up here today.  First up are Rebel Minis Irish Hitmen.  For the zed campaign, they are just more zombie hunters, but they might come in handy if I branch out some. 

Although I haven't been able to get a game in lately (hopefully later this week), for my birthday, my wife got me this rather amusing tome:

Although not as hilarious as the author bills himself, it is a fun book to pick up and browse from time to time.

I also have to note that the wife actually recorded Zombieland for me one day just on the whim that I might want to watch it.  Had I known it had Woody Harrelson in it before hand I probably wouldn't have, but I have to admit it was a reasonably decent film, although it has zombies running (!) in it.  Heresy, I say!

Until next time!