Boobs, birthdays and blogging

Happy New Year!  Welcome to da Grotto 2016.

Last year, or at least the last part of last year from when I restarted this blog, I had been heavily into zombie war gaming and there doesn't seem to be any abatement in that enthusiasm for the genre going into this year either.

Over the Christmas holiday I was mainly working night shifts on and off for the whole two weeks, but I was fortunate enough to have Christmas Day, during the day at least, off. Even more fortunately I managed to persuade the family to join me in a festive family game of Zombies!! Using the tiles from game 1 and game 3 (the mall version). Even Mrs dGG was in a festive enough mood to join us.



nothing says festive like zombies!



the full board!

 I had a fantastic haul of shiny toys over the festive period, which for me not only includes Christmas (obviously) but also my birthday! I will be painting up and showing on this blog the whole bally lot.  So a few things to look forward to (or at least for me anyway....) below is a picture of my haul which include the excellent Grekwood hospital zombies and beds to finish off my hospital project, a box of Wargames factory zombies, a couple of cool Studio miniatures survivors, a certain gang of pesky kids from Hasslefree miniatures (by the way amazing customer service from these guys and obviously corking miniatures - what a great company!) and a certain group of teenage mutants from MyWay, a Russian firm and an entire faction for Bushido from GT studios as well as buildings from 4Ground to complete my last terrain tile. Like I said all will be painted and reviewed in due time.

the haul! sans ninja turtles and scooby gang

On the subject of Hasslefree though and the first miniature to be reviewed from the haul is the boobs part of the title.... 

May I introduce Violet, so called due to the colour I chose to paint her skimpy outfit.  She is listed by HF as Jade but I liked the purple colouring I chose so the name Violet seemed more appropriate. In the HF blurb Jade is from Las Vegas and is a former showgirl who found a katana from somewhere.  Violet has a similar background, being an exotic dancer from Spearmint Rhino (a UK based strip joint...sorry gentleman's club chain) when the apocalypse began she fled the club with a katana that was kept behind the bar for protection from amorous punters.



take a twirl Miss Violet



as always i apologise for the poor lighting of the photos as i use my iPad, not having a camera or indeed any skill with cameras.  Violet was undercoated white and painted with GW Tallern Flesh, washed with GW reikland flesh and highlighted with raw Tallern then lighter highlights added using tallern/white. The top, shorts and shoes were painted with a 50/50 mix of GW Xerus purple and white scar and washed with GW purple ink. the stockings were white scar washed with the 50/50 mix purple/white and then highlighted pure white. the base was a polyfilla (spackle for you north americans) cover with the cobbles picked out with a toothpick.  Im going to start doing all my bases with a bit more care and thought from here on out and even rebase a few of the older zombies/survivors as it is an area of the modelling that i have largely ignored in the past (criminal, i know!) 

I'm still on nights, in fact i'm writing this on my meal break at 04:00hrs after being on shift for the last 9 hours straight so i hope that it's coherent.

Happy new Year guys and here's to a shiny, happy 2016 filled with games and toy soldiers!!

My last post of 2015

This may seem a little premature but this is my last post until the New Year. From tomorrow I will be working nights on and off until January 2nd. This means that over the festive period I will be either working or sleeping with very little in between, thankfully I have Christmas Day during the day off (although I will be back in the ambulance that night) so I get to spend a little time with the family but probably no gaming :(

Anyway I want to take this time, the calm before the storm as it were to wish you all a merry Christmas and fun festive period.  I hope you are all blessed with a multitude of shiny new toys and fun geeky things. Good luck to those taking part in the analogue painting challenge, although I'm not competing I intend to paint up and display my haul over the course of January as I have a lot of holiday time owed! 

Stay safe, be good to your loved ones and cherish them always

Much love

da Gobbo aka Andy

impounded finale

Bobby-Joe Simpson watched as his father rolled his shoulders and dropped into his fighting stance, the massive buck knife held loosely in his right hand.  Low groans from the throats of many and more zombies were gathering at the fence at the back of the impound lot that his family had come to, to 'liberate' the family's SUV.  The hole in the fence that they had snipped would only allow one or two monsters through at a time, but there were an awful lot of the dead-heads gathering, with the bestial moans indicating the arrival of more and more all the time.

the horder draws closer

His mom, the beautiful but deadly Mary-Lou was standing alongside her husband, her bow raised as she shot a long arrow at one of the zeds, dropping it to the street. His sisters, the terrible twins were standing behind pa, looking out into the yard trying to locate the vehicle.  Lifting his rifle to his shoulder he took a potshot at the mass of undead flesh in front of him causing one of them to fall to the floor.  With a little fist pump he started to reload the .22 keeping an eye out for any lurkers in the shadows that were gathering.

With a cry Gracey-Lyn, started forward as she spotted the black SUV over the other side of the yard, not straying too far from her father's side but pointing the car out to her mom. A loud crack from Bonnie-Mae's .357 drew Jr's attention back to the fight behind the fence in time to see the back of a zed's head blown out.  Billy-Ray had a massive hand wrapped around the scrawny neck of an elderly zombie while driving the broad blade of his knife through the open mouth of a fat dead 'un in her nightdress. Ma and Gracey had ghosted into the yard leaving Jr trying to look everywhere at once, a movement from the lee of the outbuilding drew his attention as a zombie detached itself from the inky shadows and started toward the sound of his sister's gunfire.  Grimacing at the sight of the undead creature he aimed his trusty .22 and set the stock firmly into his shoulder, a quick squeeze of the trigger and the zed fell to the ground, it's black blood dripping from the small hole in it's forehead.

gulp!

His mom's voice could be heard over the heaving mass of zombie flesh and the grunts of his pa as he slashed another zed from groin to chin.  Looking over the way, he could see his mom had stopped on her way to the car to talk to a young, athletic looking woman on the other side of the fence with a pump action shotgun casually resting on her shoulder.  The way she was seemingly ignoring a trio of dead folk that were shambling toward her spoke of her confidence.  She seemed amiable enough and her and Mary-Lou were happy to exchange some pleasantries, before the girl who introduced herself as JJ levelled the big scatter gun at the trio of zeds and started blasting away, two of the foul creatures falling. 



JJ unleashes hell on the undead

"Sorry i can't join you" she threw over her shoulder as more of the undead started to gather at the sound of the boomstick, "but i got to meet my friends and then we can bounce." Ramming more shells into the breech of the gun she quickly pumped and pointed, unleashing more fury on the dead.

boomstick baby!

with a shrug his mom pressed on toward the car, trailed by Gracey-Lyn.  Bonnie-May and his pa were thinning the numbers by the fence. Unlocking the car from the spare fob, Mary -Lou piled into the vehicle and got it started.  Hearing the sound of the big diesel engine of the SUV, pa turned to see what was happening, with the impaled body of a zed still on the blade of his buck and missed the small, child zombie that ducked passed him to pile into Jr. The first Jr knew of the attack was when the zombie jumped onto his back and started trying to chew into his neck.

sorry the photo for this bit did not come out *hangs his head in shame*

Jr screamed as he felt the teeth of the child zed catch on the straps of his backpack a bare inch from his jugular. The weight of the creature forcing him to his knees and knocking the wind from him, Jr tried desperately to keep the zed from biting him.  With a bang he felt his head bounce of the hard packed dirt off the impound yard and his vision swam as he tried to remain conscious. The child's face filled his whole world and Jr prayed that the end would be quick.  Just as the jaws descended, a heavy work boot crashed into the side of it's face, kicking the zombie off of Jr.  That blow was followed by a quick swipe of the big knife that took it's head from it's shoulders.  Billy-Ray's jovial face replaced that of the zed as he reached down a huge hand and lifted Jr from the ground and cradled him in his arms like he had when Jr was a baby.  Breaking into a loping run, with Bonnie-May running behind him like a hunting hound they dashed for the car to the sound of JJ's shotgun mincing the faces of the remaining zombies that were threatening the family. 

JJ pulps more zeds

Ma was behind the wheel and rammed her foot to the floor when the whole family were onboard, causing a huge spray of dirt to fantail over the broken remains of the undead strewn across the yard. JJ threw a salute to family as the car leapt forward and sped through the open front gate smashing through a trio of zeds milling around the property.  Jr could feel his father's hands expertly checking him for wounds, the TV had said that the bites of the infected could spread the contagion.  Satisfied that there were none, he grunted to no-one in particular. "Well good god-damn if that weren't one whole barrell of fun!"

the family make their escape

with that the family escape off the board, Jr's "Harry, are you okay?" roll was passed after his knock down in melee, which had my heart in my mouth.  I like to make things difficult for myself, so had ruled that if Pa drew in combat their was a chance a zed could slip by him and attack another member of the group as long as their base is touching (or nearly!) Nearly curtains for the boy as he is a rep 3 citizen and armed only with the rifle and he got bowled over by the zed, fortunately Pa dispatched his opponent and was able to rescue the young pup.

Just a quick WIP

hi all (all 16 of you haha)

Haven't finished the last write up for my latest family escapade yet so thought I would post a little update on my hospital project. I haven't progressed massively due to some horrendous shift patterns and my rubbish back but I did manage to tile the first floor, no pic for that effort as it looked the same as the ground floor, although you can see the bowls of hand painted and cut tiles I had prepared.

 However the reason for the post was the roof, I've decided to the do the roof at the same time as the first floor.  I had already cut out the roof when I did the other floors, using the same large sheets of foam board that i purchased from Hobbycraft when they were on special offer. So it was really simple to add a little wall around the edges, I also dropped the wall a little lower than the floor to create a lid and secure the roof when in play. The best bit about the roof in my opinion was the purchase of a stone effect spray by Plastikote from the Range, over a base coat it produces an effect like this.

The spray is textured as well so it feels great as well as looking cracking. The only downside was trying to stop the foam board from warping, which has happened of course, this has involved me now spraying the underside and lots of weighting down with various household objects. 

But I do love the effect, let me know what you think.

Impounded part 2

Groaning loudly as they tried to get at the humans, the zeds closed in on the family sheltering behind the copse of scrubby bushes in the lee of mount Jung. Two of the zombs headed toward Billy-Ray, the towering exUSMC father of Bobby-Joe (or Jr to the rest of the family). With a feral glint in his eye Jr's pa hefted his X bow and slammed it hard into the solar plexus of the first zed throwing it backwards several feet before it came crashing to the ground, it's neck twisted at an unnatural angle due to the impact.  The momentum of the strike carried Billy-Ray further forward and barrelling into the second zombie and it fell over in a heap before he ended it with a hard thrust of the Buck knife he had pulled. Ma lashed out at the infected that was trying to close in on the twins, tripping the creature with the curve of her bow and stamping hard on the face of the zombie over and over until it stopped moving.  His formidable parents gathered up the twins and started to retreat down the road covering the street with their bows.

the parents deal with the undead

In the distance Jr could hear the sounds of a siren as a police cruiser tried to close in on the sound of gunfire, however it did not seem to be getting any nearer until the sound stopped suddenly and did not restart again.

*Detective Vincent Morolo cursed as Officer Dale slammed on the brakes of the cruiser.  The big car skidded to a halt as the vulcanised rubber finally caught, narrowly missing the rear end of a military pick up sitting in the middle of the junction. Morolo cursed again when his forehead bounced off the dash of the vehicle causing his shades to slip of his nose and hang askew. "Watch where you're going Dale, you ass!"  He added, before getting out of the cruiser. 

the police turn up but have to abandon the car

Drawing his service weapon he scanned the area, seeing infected citizens crawling out of the goddamned woodwork at the sound of the big Diesel engine. Looking back in the vehicle he was in time to see Dale grab the scatter gun from its rack, working the slide of the pump gun and loading a shell into the breach.  "Let's move on out Dale, the shots came from over there" Morolo said gesturing at mount Jung with his beretta.  "Keep your eyes open officer!" He added as he started off.

noisy diesel engine draws some dead heads

Neither policeman noticed as a pair of zombies crawled out from behind the hedgerow of a nearby house and stumbled toward them.  The first Morolo knew of their presence was when the first zed clamped onto Dale's neck with its teeth and ripped a huge chunk of flesh away in a spray of arterial blood.  "For f*cks sake!" he srceamed as the second jumped on top of the jerking Dale's body and started digging into his stomach with it's bare hands.  A dark stain spread across the front of his suit pants as he turned and ran, leaving Dale writhing on the floor.

Dale falls to the ambush

Morolo turns tail and flees

Jr kept looking down the street hoping for the flashing lights and strident siren sounds of a police cruiser, but as the seconds ticked by the silence deepened until a visceral scream split the air.  Tears flowed unchecked down his face as he realised the help was no longer coming and that it had fallen foul of the undead.  The day seemed that bit darker, more foreboding as his young mind tried to grasp what that meant.

PEF resolved as ER rising to 4

The parents were backing down the road with the twins just behind them, Jr could see in the distance a group of zeds heading toward them and raised his rifle. Just then he heard a scream from behind him, spinning around he could see Bonnie-May pointing at a trio of zombies emerging from the tunnel mouth of mount Jungville.  As he raised his .22 to his shoulder he could see the girls running and hiding behind a nearby car (special rule - they cannot be more than 4" from parent) taking a quick snap shot and missing, he yelled out to his pa to warn them just as another zed stumbled out of the tunnel and headed toward them.

ambush!

From the corner of his eye he could see his ma take out a zed with her bow before two more crashed into her and pa. Backing away from the newly emerged zeds and working the bolt action of his rifle Jr was torn as to what to do, clearly his parents had their hands full but he didn't feel like he could take on three adult zombs. "Calm down boy, take a breath" he muttered to himself, drawing in a shaky breath and then another.  Lifting the rifle, he aimed down the iron sights at the lead zombie and squeezed the trigger.  The small slug slammed back the head of the zombie as the bullet tore through it's cheek and nestled in it's brain. 

Two of the other zeds crashed into the back of his parents as they were fighting off the first pair, while a zombie wearing a construction hat headed straight toward Jr.  Sweat poured down his face as he struggled to load another round into the chamber with the zed bearing down on him.  Closer and closer it came, breaking into a shambling run before Jr felt the reassuring click as the round slid home. Just in time he lifted the end of the barrel up and pulled the trigger firing pretty much from the hip and catching the zed up under the chin and lifting it backward and away. 

the fighting gets furious

Looking over at his parents he saw his pa slash through the forehead of the zombie in front of him with his buck knife before slamming his elbow into the jaw of the zed that was trying to grab hold of him from behind.  Ma had already put down her opponent but was just fending off the snapping teeth of the dead-head that had jumped her.  Jr's dad grabbed hold of the spikey hair of the teenaged zombie lifting it up and away with one hand before nigh on decapitating it with his knife.  Casually he stomped down on the throat of the zed he had put down, finally putting it out of it's miserable existence.

"right kids, let's go" ma called, collecting the twins as she jogged down the back of the impound lot.  Jr followed on, trailed by his pa as he kept an eye on the large group of zombs gathering at the junction.  Reaching the corner, ma started cutting her way through the fence with some bolt cutters brought along for this very moment.  Pa started shooting bolts down the street trying to thin the number of the infected, Jr and Gracey-Lyn added the weight of their own firearms with very little success.  Quick as a flash ma had cut a hole and was worming her way through the gap followed closely by Bonnie-May, Gracie went next leaving Pa to cover their backs.

quickly, get in!

Groans from ahead indicated the arrival of three more infected on the outside of the fence.  Jr watched his dad roll his shoulders and draw the massive knife again in preperation, turning to Jr he flipped him a wink and dropped into his fighting crouch ready to sell his life dearly.

Impounded part 1

Bobby-Joe Simpson, Junior to the rest of the Simpson clan moved quietly forward following the curve of the rail line.  Nervously he tinkered with the crude iron sights of his trusty .22 bolt action while trying to look absolutely everywhere all at once. In the trailer he had been ballsy about trying for the car, sick of the arguing between his parents, he had goaded them into a raid on the police impound lot to liberate it.  Out here on the street with the infected citizens of Jungville attacking anything remotely alive, that gung-ho attitude had begun to falter to be slowly replaced by trepidation.

The sight of his burly, hard as nails, ex USMC father confidently striding alongside him with a big wolfish grin across his face reassured him somewhat and he relaxed a little.  Stalking on the balls of her feet as she glided along like a beautiful panther, with purpose, menace and without a sound, Jr's mom exuded an aura of grim determination and this helped jr even more to believe that his family could prevail over anything.  Behind his formidable parents, came his baby sisters.  Normally the bane of his young life, the twins would follow him everywhere, trying to get him to join in with the pranks they pulled on the neighbours, teachers and local police officers.  Both of them cradled massive weapons that seemed even bigger when held in their pre-teen hands. Gracey-Lyn was muttering to her sister in low tones about the SMG she was carrying, from what he could make out it sounded like she had put the wrong mags in her pinafore dress and was concerned that she would run out of ammo real quick.

random event - wrong reloads

Suddenly his dad's demeanour changed as he spotted his first zombie, one minute he was almost swaggering down the railway track, the next, in a fluid motion he had brought up the crossbow that had been dangling loosely in his hand and let fly a steel bolt. The missle sped across the yard in the blink of an eye to sprout from the forehead of a zombie, clearly a patient of Jungville General.  The two zeds accompanying him, dressed in a nurses smock were already in a stumbling run directly at them.  How had he missed seeing them! Jr saw Ma lift her bow and let loose a shaft but she did not have time for a full draw and the arrow merely stuck in the side of the zombie's neck. Before Jr could think to lift his rifle the dead-heads were amongst them and grappling with his parents.  Pa used the recurve of his xbow to force nursey zed backwards a step before dashing her brains out with the stock. Jr had just processsed this information when his Ma tripped the other ex-nurse to the floor and grabbed hold of the arrow in it's neck, thrusting it up into its brain through its chin.

Ma initially missed the shot against a charging opponant, Knocked them down in melee and then in the next turn, activated first and popped the weasel.

the whole family in action

"Holy shit!" he shouted, earning a black look from his mom. "That was insane!" Jr seemed to be having a hard time hearing over the ringing in his ears from the adrenalnie rush.  The twins were wrapping themselves around their daddy's legs, their eyes huge with fear. 

"Come on kids, we'll go around the back." Ma said trying unsuccessfully to peel Gracey-Lyn from her husbands leg.  Finally succeeding and with his parents leading the way they ducked behind the platform and headed toward the Jungville tunnel, hoping to cut across the wasteground and make their way to the rear of the impound lot. 

Jr jogged around the corner ahead of the others, his rifle across his chest ready for action.  He could hear his family behind him as he turned the end of the wall, the huge entrance to the tunnel loomed in the middle distance with the massive satellite dish of the local TV station perched on top.  Closer though was a pair of zeds, not 20 feet from him! Without thinking he lifted his rifle to his shoulder, the sharp crack of the .22 making him jump as the round sped wildly away.  That crack was drowned out by the long stutter of Gracey-Lyn's smg as she depressed the trigger in a drawn out burst.  The cacophony of sound split the air like thunder and caused the still standing zombies to turn and face the kids, fixing them in place with their dead eyes.  Jr gulped as they started to lumber toward him, hurridly he worked the bolt action of the rifle trying desperately to drop another round into the breech, when the lead zed dropped to the ground soundlessly a long arrow protruding from his face.  The other zombie similarly sprouted a bolt from it's cheek before it sank into the brain and collapsed the z to the ground next to its companion.

the two kids rip the air with gunfire only to miss wildly



this was my fault, i was trying to 'blood' the kids as there were only two zeds and i wanted them to start working their way toward survivor status - mistake!

Pa, looking furious smacked Jr upside his head as he stalked by directing them to move behind the copse ahead as more zombies came in closer to investigate the gunfire.  A snapshot from his xbow missed as he took up a position at the end of the scrub between the kids and the zeds, his Ma taking up a similar stance on the other side.  Ma drew back her bow as three of the infected shambled closer, missing her shot by a gnat's fine hairs.  The zeds picked up speed as they spied the humans behind the bushes, baring their gore soaked teeth in a skeletal rictus that froze Jr to the marrow.

The parental unit miss their shots - gulp!

A post night shift thought....

I've just completed a run of night shifts, all 12 hours and all busy as ever.  As we move into the time of the year the NHS refers to as winter pressures our call volume goes sky high and crews are run ragged as a result my brain has become even more sleep deprived so excuse the rather disjointed thought process. 

Anyhoo this is about a particular call. I was called out to a house fire that had gutted the place, thankfully the occupants were all safe and no one was hurt but it had taken all of that person's worldly possessions.  This is of course very sad but like I said no one was hurt and at the end of the day it's just stuff, however.....if your house was on fire, If all of your loved ones inc pets were safe and away from your house. What one item, bearing in mind that this a gaming blog so keep it game related, what one item would you save from the flames?

No pondering, no time to debate or think, 5 seconds....tick.....tick.....tick....tick.....tick

Your answer?? Comments please (and pics if you got 'em!)

For me it was this high elf prince riding a griffon, the first model I painted after returning to the gaming fold and for once a decent paint job and a minor conversion with the dragon scale shield. I have painted better but I have a real fondness for the model that meant I played it despite its limited effectiveness in the field. As ever sorry about the quality of the pictures.