Hellgate

happy Halloween blogland

My apologies for the double post, but I couldn't let the day pass without posting about my Halloween night!

As well as working for my local ambulance trust and studying for a degree I also in my copious amounts of spare time (ha!) volunteer for St John Ambulance. Although recently I haven't managed to carve out any time for booking on duty, I felt it absolutely necessary to volunteer for this one - Hellgate!

This total immersion zombie experience plunges citizens into a 100 year old building built into the side of a cliff (Margate Winter Gardens) with old pre-war tunnels and tons of dark, creepy crawl spaces, the atmosphere is palpable.  The cast are immense, literally in the case of "tiny" (guess which one he is in the pictures...) and they chase and scare the bejezuss out of the gen-pop!

Sorry about the quality of the pics I only had my iPad and it was dark (of course!)

The Simpsons... *cue iconic theme tune*

Meet the Simpsons, my family of survivors from Zomtober. This is the last Zomtober post so although I haven't painted these fresh this week I thought I would share what I have come up with for them. In order to use them in a game I felt some special rules were in order to represent family bonds and children in the zpocalypse.  But first introductions are in order.

Ma Simpson (Mary-Lou) the matriarch of the family, lioness and all round star! She's rep 4 armed with a compound bow and SMG, this mother is all about protecting her cubs. She is also a medic and has a wiff of the Britney Spears about her (white trash attractive..lol)

Pa Simpson (Billy-Ray) husband to Mary-Lou, loves his beer, brawling and 'bow.  A rep 4 co star armed with X bow and machete he loves a good fight. He has the attributes brawler and hard as nails.

Next up is teenager Bobby-Joe, eldest of the young'uns he is a bit of a wild loner. Rep 3 and armed with his trusty .22, he has the initiative attribute.

Lastly we have the twins, pre-teen girls who were the terror of the teachers at Jungville Middle School. Gracey-Lyn oldest by 2 minutes (and don't you forget it!) blagged her pa's SMG and Bonnie-May who snagged her momma' favourite .357! Bonnie-May also totes her favourite prank weapon; firecrackers (6" range, no impact but makes noise 6d6 after a turns delay)

Ok so these are family specific rules but I thought they reflected some realism well.

Rule one - The family that slays together stays together!
The family never need to test at the end of an encounter for keeping it together, they automatically pass.

Rule two - protect the Cubs!
The adults will never runaway while the children are still on the table, they will always stay and fight!

Rule three - you stay close now, ya hear?
The children must stay within 4" of an adult at all times, if for whatever reason they become separated more than 4" apart the child will immediately stop moving and must remain stationary until an adult moves to within 4" (the exception to this rule is my teenager model as he is just old enough and has the initiative attribute, I see him as a loner!) They can still shoot weapons and fight in melee but cannot move away from danger as they are rooted to the spot.

Rule four - growing pains
When testing for rep increases the child can only increase on the roll of a natural 6 followed by another 6. This may seem harsh and I know kids learn quick but rep is also about demeanour, skill at arms, muscle power etc.

Rule five - a parents grief
If one (or more!) of the children die then each remaining adult must test immediately by rolling a d6. On 1-3 the parent becomes filled with rage and will 'kill' any zed on the table before ending the encounter, they will gain the rage attribute from here on out. On a 4-6 they will become overcome with grief and will become inactive until they roll a 1-3 in following activations and then they become enraged as above. Note when inactive they can do nothing at all including defend themselves!

day 21 conclusion

rather disappointingly the rest of the encounter is fairly tame, the tunnels hold only two zombies, which are easy meat for the pair of heroes.  They meet up with the weather-girl who when i rolled for her turned out to be a rep 2, unarmed teen! I was hoping for a replacement for Nash, my fat Elvis impersonator and i got Buffy's weedy cousin.  The team picked Debbie up on the way out of the area and they slunk off to lick their wounds.

The after party rolls started off well with Debbie recovering from her wounds with no problem and JJ gaining +1 rep to make her an impressive 5.  However Ling Mei once again failed to increase and massively failed the keeping it together rolls with a dismal 0d!  JJ now a meaty 5 easily passed 2d and decided to go solo and check to see if her parents survived....

So Nash dead, JJ heading for parts unknown and a weak replacement for the missing crew - not a good encounter for Ling Mei and co. I don't know whether to keep going with these guys or not?  I've recently painted up a family of survivors for Zombtober and want to give them a whirl with some house rules I've devised for them.  So maybe I'll mothball Ling Mei and Debbie and introduce the new Simpson family, a white trailer trash bunch o' kick ass rednecks?

  

day 21 part 3

Debbie 'don't call me Debs' Wills gulped visibly as the four large gangers surrounded her, holding their various weapons loosely in their massive hands.  Ling Mei and JJ were too far away so were of no help to her at the moment.  The weight of her huge sigsauers on her hips, normally a comfort seemed to mock her with their unavailability.  

The leader of the gang, with his towering blue mo-hawk and 'roid loaded frame smirked at Debbie and spat on the ground.  "Ok missy, hand over those guns and any valuables you may have about that pretty little person of yours or me and the boys will have a little fun!"

Debbie, eyes darting left and right looked for a way out of the tight spot she found herself in.  The irony of being in the middle of the zombie apocalypse and dying in a straight up daylight street rip pissed her off mightily.  Seeing no escape she sighed deeply, so be it she thought to herself, her sweaty hands inching toward the butts of her 'saurs.

"She's drawing!" screeched the ganger bearing a large shotgun in his hands with a massive fireaxe strapped to his back.  The pump action swung up and a gout of flame leapt from the barrel, a cloud of pellets spraying out and slamming into Debbie's chest, lifting her up and away from the big man.  The other three gang members opened up with their guns wildly, hitting nothing but adding to the cacophony.  With a thump Debbie hit the ground, driving the remaining air from her lungs and leaving her groaning on the floor.

Ling Mei, seeing her friend thrown to the floor, let out a primal scream and shot from distance with her bow.  The arrow, rushed and wild, went high and she shouldered her bow in frustration putting her head down and sprinting toward the gangers.  JJ, her face red with anger, fresh tears pouring down her cheeks lifted her shotgun to her shoulder and pulled the double triggers.  Her first shot dropped the youngest of the gang to the floor, the pellets tearing lumps of flesh from his upper legs.  The second caught the leader of the group through the throat, the buckshot pulverising the trachea of the big man and nearly severing his neck with the force of the blast.  With a grunt of satisfaction she slammed fresh shells into the smoking  weapon. A green haired gangbanger toting a hunting rifle, took a look at the savage intensity on JJ's face and with a grim Ling Mei bearing down on them, decided he had had enough and without a second glance took to his heels, running flat out away from the carnage and leaving his mate to face the woman's fury.  With a shaky hand the last punk tried to lift his huge magnum but had barely raised it passed his waist when a freshly reloaded JJ emptied her gun at the hapless ganger nearly ripping him in two.  Ling Mei reached the screaming ganger on the floor, who had had his legs blown away by JJ's opening volley.  With a casual thrust she drove her blade through the temple of the boy to silence him.

All the noise of this combat had not gone un-noticed by the undead and several came over to investigate.  Four zeds charged Ling Mei and JJ and they soon became embroiled in melee with the foul creatues.  Ling Mei slammed her lead blade through the open maw of the first zed and used her left hand sword to keep the other at bay, while JJ smashed the other two into little pieces in a whirlwind of fury.  Ling Mei stood over her friend's prone form spinning her twin swords in a defensive weave keeping the dead-head away and finally with a lightning stroke took the head from its shoulders in a spray of black blood.

Just as soon as it started so the combat came to an end as the last zombie fell to the floor in two separate places.  Ling Mei knelt down to her friend, a quick pulse check confirmed she was still alive. It was then she noticed that Debbie was wearing the flak jacket she had taken from the national guardsmen only the week before, breathing a sigh of relief and slumping to the floor.

JJ came over to the two friends lying on the ground; "come on Ling Mei, lets go get this weather chick!  Debbie can stay here and can keep our 6 covered..."

"go on" breathed Debbie, clearly in discomfort, but also clearly determined for the group to complete it's mission.  "go get her."

Shooting a fretful glance back at her friend, Ling Mei nodded to JJ and without hesitation headed into the looming darkness of the tunnel.

Zombtober week 4

This week's Zombtober offering is back to the humans trying to make it through the zpocalypse. To that end we have a group who could be either survivors or gangers.  I have very little experience painting black skin so hopefully I've pulled it off! They have all been made up from wargames factory survivors with the only minor change of an adult head on the kids body as the boxset only has one child head, which is a bit strange! I wanted to include a young survivor to represent a "hopper" (yes I've been watching the Wire box set .....) all of the group have a superhero logo on their clothing somewhere, I don't know why but I was having a moment :)

Heroes.....

thanks to Vampifan (cheers dude!) I managed to get my hands on figs of some everyday heroes. -paramedics!  These guys might not carry big guns or dress in spandex - they might do, who knows what they do in their down time... But they save lives on a daily (near daily at least, well weekly.....ok, ok, maybe just sometimes!!) basis.  I'm not sure whether they will survive the zed apocalypse for too long given that they try to revive the dead for a living(!) but I know some tough old SOBs who wear the green so you never know, especially as a lot of them are ex-military!

I painted these guys in the same uniform colour as South East Coastal Ambulance (SECAmb) which happens to be my trust.

My Halloween night planned then!

on Halloween night I shall be providing first aid cover with St John Ambulance for this event

Hell yeah, I'm looking forward to this, but I'd better keep the defibrillator fully charged cos I think the public are going to be scared to death!!!
https://youtu.be/ICP1kkOPQgM
Check out you tube link people this is gonna be awesome!!

Charging....stand clear.....shocking...

I have been working on a project for the last couple of weeks, the hospital mentioned in my post - ambition.  This project has been fizzing about in my brain ever since I started thinking about zombie gaming way back in 2011/12. Then I switched careers and joined the ambulance service and started training (that never really stops!) and working shifts and gaming got put away so I could concentrate on the real deal.  Now I'm used to the shift work and settled in the job and have a little more time to dedicate to the gaming (although perhaps I should concentrate on the degree more....) the hospital project has come back to the fore. To that end I laid out the floor plans and bought some foam board!

I had a 2'x2' blank terrain board that I had already made up out of mdf and batten for another canal piece but hadn't got round to using yet.  On the plans I had drawn up a basement piece and ummed  and ahhhed about putting it in as it would protrude above ground level (the terrain board is 30mm deep and each floor needs to be 40mm) I was persuaded by another blogger - thanks N667! to put it in and I'm glad I did, the protrusion is not that bad and I have put in steps and ramps for the various entry points so that access won't be effected and as it was pointed out to me, a creepy basement is atmospheric and iconic to the genre.

The first thing I did was measure out the ground floor onto the mdf, straight away realising that I wanted the basement to be the same shape as the rest of the hospital so that subsequent floors can be stacked on top. No problem, flexibility is my middle name (odd I know, but my parents were hippies....*this is a lie*... :P) cutting the shape out with a sharp blade was simplicity itself. I then sank the mdf to the bottom of the board and fixed it in place using the outer walls of the basement and masking taping the bottoms.

I then used my hot glue gun to reinforce the join at the top of the walls to the surface of the board.  This was the first time I used foamboard in my building and it was fun and easy to work with.

Once the basic shape was done I looked at the spaces inside and decided to change things around a bit from the plans. The mortuary moved to the south east corner and the rest moved around from there.  I had planned on using 3mm board for the interior walls but hobbycraft are having a special offer on 5mm (white only which is a bugger!) so I went with the thicker stuff, which is fine as this level will be supporting a further two floors and a roof with helipad and other fun stuff.  The lift shaft stayed where it was as I need this to run through to the roof obviously! I also added some stairs, again at the suggestion of N667, as this would give me more options and they went into the same place as the stairs will be on the other floors.

After that i added a cobblestone road around the edge of the board so that it would fit in and link up with the rest of my modular terrain.  the cobblestone is in a plastic sheet from Amera plastics and are amazingly good at only £2 per sheet.  I also used a sheet of foam from a local craft store to create a paved pedestrian area at the front entrance.  the three foamboard pieces on the rear of the piece are the bases of the slopes i plan to put in so that i can put in ambulance bays and an A&E (ER for those in US) and also a delivery entrance. Ive put in some minis for some scale!

next i needed to seal the edges of the foam board with PVA and then give the whole thing a good covering with matt black car primer.  A basic paint job to follow, as this was the part of the hospital that the public doesn't see, in typical NHS style they are sparsely decorated, the floor is bare concrete and the walls an institution green.  Im not completely happy with the doors i have done for this part of the model as it is just the foamboard that i had cut out for the doorways and a staple at the top and bottom to allow it to be opened.  they are functional but don't look great so I will try something different on the next floor.  they have been painted a blue grey to match the boiler and other heavy equipment for the hospital.  I left the stairwells black for now to add atmosphere...

I have also added ballast to the rear of the hospital to make the ambo bays.  For the interior I have been scratch building furniture out of bits and bobs and i'm really pleased with the results, so much so that although i have ordered resin hospital beds for the wards etc I will scratch build everything else including all the signage which is hand-painted.

the mortuary consists of a stainless steel sink - which is bloodstained (of which i'm bizarrely proud of the tap that i built out of mdf scraps!) and tray with large scalpel for vivisection and a computer to update hospital records, a stainless steel autopsy table with drainage grooves carved into the foam for detail and of course the bank of drawers for the bodies!

I also scratch built the boiler adding plastic tubes (from a real ECG paper roll-empty of course!) to represent the outflow pipes, carving dials and details into the foam front of the boiler.  I have now added some floor furniture for survivors to hide behind. i also hand painted the pin up that a janitor has hung up out of sight of the big bosses... you can just see a sewer entrance as well in the top left to add an extra objective point. 

The next room was the store room, the shelves are made with coffee stirrers and bits of mdf, the boxes i built out cereal cardboard.  The sacks were made of masking tape wrapped around card scraps and painted in a sinister bio-company logo - are they the cause of the outbreak?  I will be adding blankets (kitchen towel) to the shelves to add more detail.

This level is completed by the laundry room with scratch built washers and another piece i'm weirdly proud of - the laundry basket!

There are still loads of details to add, more posters and small bits as and when i think of them but that's the bulk of this level done.  The rest will be done later on and i'll also be putting together some corpses and bloody spots etc on bases that can be added to represent different points in the outbreak.  Let me know what you think so far, any suggestions welcome and i can either add it or put it into the next level....

cheers

Zombtober week 3

this week's offering is back to the zombies and I've managed to paint a whole slew of 'em! All from the wargames factory vixens box set and a really great addition to the hoard, which now stands at a rather paltry 45 (but healthier than september's tally of 28) Plus I painted up a dog figure from Warlords ancient Britons range, he will be used as one of the random events in ATZ. I do apologise for the poor photos, I most definitely am not a photographer. I will however post an action shot of the hoard at the end of Zombtober with a better background as well...

day 21 part 2

It was mid afternoon when the small group reached the outskirts of town, there had been a handful of zombies that had barely slowed the girls down as they journeyed the short distance from Ling Mei's building.  In the mid distance the huge satellite dish that broadcast the news and weather reports rose high above the buildings on top of Jungville Hill.  The Jungville tunnel running beneath it, gaping ominously and seemingly filled with danger and potentially zombies.  

With a swift action Ling Mei drew her bow and released a shaft at a zed 25 yards across the junction.  With a solid thunk the arrow pierced the zombie's forehead and it dropped to the floor without a further sound.  Looking around their were no more of the undead in sight and the group sprinted across the broken ground around the train yard.   Making good time the women sped toward the hill, the TV station loomed ever closer.  

Ling Mei, glanced behind her, in her haste to get to the girl she had outpaced the others and they were strung out in a line stretching several yards back with Debbie bringing up the rear.  "Damn" she whispered under her breath, slowing down. She did not want another incident happening and opened her mouth to gee the others up and close the gaps.

RING! RING! RING! a strident cell phone ringtone split the quiet air startling the group and causing them to look around frantically for the culprit.  Debbie spotted the small, black object lying in the grass and rushed to it, to try and silence it before it attracted unwanted attention from passing zombies.  As she reached the phone and switched off the ringing, she noticed some movement in the bushes across from her.  Glancing frantically around her she saw two muscular young men with huge mo-hawks and equally huge firearms rise up from behind the shrubs and a further two emerging from behind the phone box....

day 21 - don't blame it on the weathergirl...

"and the power outages around the city continue as the military and police struggle to contain the infected.  Mayor Alexander stated in his broadcast 'the citizenry must not panic, everything is under control!' ha ha that doesn't seem to be the case to this old reporter Mr Mayor.  Now over to our weathergirl - Stacey Raines."

"Thanks Bob, the weather has been particularly dry this.....what the hell is that! aaaaarrggh! Kevin get off Bob! what are you doing? stop biting him! stop...no don't look at me like that, no don't come over here....this is Stacey Raines running away! if you hear this broadcast - help me!!"

Juliana Jones crossed the small living room of her apartment, to the TV and switched it off with a snarl.  "I think we should go over to the studios and help her!" she said to the room in general.  Ling Mei sat in the window seat looking out into the streets as she had done since the death of her beloved landlord a week ago.  The tears had dried days ago but the aching hole in her heart was a constant reminder of her loss.  Debbie shot her a glance as she replied to JJ's statement "It's dangerous out there JJ and only getting worse" 

"Ha, of course it's dangerous out there Debs, but we can't sit here with no food or water waiting to die." JJ shot back.

"don't call me Debs! Listen, i don't want to shrivel and die here either but how is rescuing the bimbo going to help our situation?"

Ling Mei stood in a swift, fluid motion.  Striding across the room to the pile of weapons, she grabbed her swords and bow.  "We save the girl, grab some supplies and smash any of those dead bastards along the way!"

day15 conclusion

"To judge a man by his weakest link or deed is like judging the power of the ocean by one wave" Elvis Presley

What a game! it only lasted 5 turns but they were all bad.  after the first move onto the board there were zombies everywhere.  JJ and Debbie arguing because of a random event attracted even more zeds and they began charging in from all over.  The group's shooting was poor or they could not activate and even Ling Mei who is a monster in melee could only knock down or battle zeds to a draw.  In the meantime a group of zeds charged them from the rear and it was inevitable that something bad would happen.  JJ fought like a tiger, Debbie cleared her opponent, but Ling Mei got locked into combat and that meant poor rep 3 Nash got munched as he was isolated at the rear of the group. with no help forthcoming, the zed that knocked him OOF began to snack on the aged lounge singer.  After his death JJ failed her man down and ran off the board.  With two heroes out of the encounter i had no choice but to turn tail and run, while the zombies consumed Nash..... 

absolutely gutted for the loss of the Elvis impersonator, i love the model and i thought it gave the story and the campaign some extra texture.

Following the encounter I did not need to roll for keeping it together as Ling Mei had done really well previously and no one lost any rep for the failed mission.  However the gang were a man down and morale had hit rock bottom.

ambition

I have got an ambitious project in mind.  Recently my terrain board posts have been put aside due to my enthusiasm for ATZ.  I had planned to post about how i put together the rest of my boards - the train station and the canal, but i've kind of been taken over with the need to post batreps about Ling Mei's struggles.  These terrain posts will follow later on i'm sure but in the mean time i've been thinking about a new board.  

The new board will be purely for ATZ rather than shared with my Bolt Action games and will substitute in for the radar station/hilltop.  So what i've decided to make is a hospital board, this was partly inspired by fellow blogger posts, partly by my job role and of course it is iconic in the zombie genre. I'm going to pretty much fill the whole 2' x 2' so it's a huge project, especially as i'm thinking basement and a 1st floor as well as ground floor!

First things first was to sketch out a floor plan of the way i want it to look ideally.  Then I need to get the material to build it! During that time i'm going to scour the interwebs for the bits and pieces to fill it! Paramedics, doctors, nurses, patients and their zombie equivalents, hospital beds, office furniture, library book stacks, tables, chairs, ambulances and the list goes on.....

So what do you think? I'm already starting to question my sanity! The design will no doubt change a bit when I draw it onto the board. I'm already rethinking doing a basement as the boards are 30mm deep and I need 40mm per story so it means only partially sinking the basement, will that look odd?  But basements are atmospheric and do I want to lose the morgue? Some of the smaller offices might be joined as they won't get figs in otherwise. The lift shaft will get smaller (or will it, should I leave it bigger?) should I have stairs going down to the basement or just leave it as a lift? Aaarrrggghhh!!!

Zombtober week 2

This week's offering are a couple of groups of humans - survivors and cops! All made from the Wargames Factory sets I bought recently.  Firstly the survivors! My family and I have naturally discussed our escape/survival plan for the Z apocalypse, so I thought I would put together a family of survivors, all tough as nails and as white trash as you like - the family that fights together, stays together!! Meet ma & pa Simpson, jr and the twins. A proper introduction will follow when I post the recent bat rep involving these guys.  Note pa's vest with the Flash logo, the Flash is my fave superhero so i wanted to represent!

The second group were cops painted up to look like UK police officers, as a member of the emergency services I have a massive respect for the thin blue line that keeps us safe and now these come with big guns too!  Led by a member of CID (Criminal Investigation Department) unlike most British officers these guys are packing heat, of course i can always use them in an American setting too.

Day 15 - Take back and tragedy

Pain blossomed in his chest, like a huge weight sitting on his sternum.  Nash "Elvis" Hambleton looked furtively around the room to see if anyone had noticed his grimace of agony.  With a shaky hand he wiped away the sweat from his forehead.  The pain was there most days now, easing but never truly retreating.  Fortunately the argument raging in Ling Mei's little apartment was distracting the others from his discomfort.  With a cough to try and shift the lump in his throat he addressed the small band of friends in an attempt to calm them down.

"Now, now little ladies, uh huh yeah.  Let's have a little less conversation, a little more action please!"  delivered with his soft southern accent and the authority of his years, the aged lounge singer cut through the tension in the room.  "I think Ling Mei has a point, those unholy beasts are starting to gather around here more and more. We're trapped in a world that's troubled with pain. As long as a man has the strength to dream, he can redeem his soul and fly- he sang. So lets boogie on out of here and exit this Heartbreak Hotel...."  Looking around the room at the smiles he knew he had won them over to Ling Mei, their leader's argument to look for a safe place to hole up.  Confident from their last encounters with the zombies they looked like they could take on the world, well armed as they were he thought they just might! "Why don't we head on over to the factory on the upper east side, like we discussed?  the high fences and razor wore should keep out those sorry ol' Hound dogs!"  

Nash looked from face to face, noting Ling Mei's nod of gratitude for his support and the grim determination of the other two friends - Juliana and Debbie.  Checking their weapons they headed out on foot, figuring to scout out the industrial district without risking their precious supplies.  On the street a handful of zombies meandered aimlessly about.  The nearest zed, a youth dressed in skater gear turned toward them and received an arrow in the eye for his trouble, dropping soundlessly to the floor.  Nash gulped visibly at the casual dispatch of what was once a young guy who may, in what seemed like a life time ago have been old enough to be his son.  The pain came once again to the fore, causing him to breathe hard and loud.  Ling Mei shot him a worried glance and he shook his head and gestured for her to go onward.

Gliding like a swan on tranquil water, Ling Me's effortlessly moved up the street with JJ and Debbie behind, the young ladies bickering loudly as they went - a little too loudly!  Nash grit his teeth and tried to will his arms and legs to move, finally getting them to obey his commands even though it felt like he was wading through knee high mud.  Maybe they should have hunkered down a bit longer he thought as he tried to catch up to the others.  "Maybe i should try to find some aspirin" was the next thought.... "damn this hurts!" was the last thought as he stumbled to his knees.  As he went down he saw zombies gathering from a side alley behind the girls, who were oblivious to their presence! With a massive effort of will he hurled himself forward, managing to get to his feet and stagger a couple of paces, with a cry of pain and distress he lifted his right hand that was filled with his precious army colt and shaking with the effort of lifting the weighty firearm.  Ahead the noise of his cry caused the girls to turn in time to receive the zombies charge.

With a whirl of blades Ling Mei, kept two of the foul undead at bay.  The points of the twin swords poking and probing but not doing any serious damage.  JJ shrieked like a banshee as she stove in the forehead of the zombie she was facing with the butt of her shotgun, lifting her arms above her head in a victory pose over the broken form of the octogenarian she had battered to the floor.  Debbie ducked her shoulder to avoid the grasp of her opponent before jamming her big sigsauer into it's abdomen and blasting the spine out of it's back before crushing it's head under the heel of her boot. 

Nash bit his lip in frustration as one of the zeds peeled away and headed toward him.  The weight of his pistol kept dragging his aim off as the pain in his chest was expanding at a rapid rate.  As the zombie got closer, the more the pain spread into his neck and down his arm.  With a sigh, he slid to the floor, the world went dark and the last sight he saw was the broken puppet like movement of the zed who loomed over him......

Ling Mei dispatched the last of the nearest zombies with ease, the blade slicing easily through the scrawny neck of the old man in front of her.  Looking up the high street she saw a dark mass of zombies shuffling toward her, damn she thought, glancing around at her friends.  JJ and Debbie were not looking at the approaching hoard of monsters however and she peered past them only to see the sight of her landlord's body being ripped apart by a zombie in a tattered nightgown. 

"No!" the word almost silent as she couldn't find the breath to form it properly.  With a snarl she lifted her swords and crossed the distance between them in the blink of an eye, bringing the sharp blades down and severing the zed's head in a single blow.  Tears coursed down her face as she smashed the swords over and over into the dead woman's body, slashing and tearing at the creature until nothing but a shattered carcass lay on the tarmac by her friend's still form.

A tug on her shoulder brought her to her senses, Debbie was urging her to get up and start running.  the zombie hoard was yards away and moaning loudly in anticipation of the warm flesh to come.  JJ was already in full stride, howling her grief.  With a last look at Nash's gaunt face, Ling Mei started to run after her friends.

day 8 part 3

Gritting her teeth JJ grabbed the shotgun tighter and jammed the barrel through the open mouth of the zombie bearing down on her.  Pulling the trigger she heard the dry click of hammers on empty barrels and cursed loudly, pushing harder she felt the barrel tear through the back of zed's head and the monster dropped to the floor.  Pulling the gun back out she swung the stock and connected solidly with the forehead of a second zombie,  a loud crack accompanied the blow and the zombie keeled over.  A third grabbed the gun and started to pull at it, trying to get at Juliana.  Letting go of the shotgun she pulled her pistol and popped the z in the brain pan as it stumbled backwards. Ling Mei faced off against the last zombie and with her swords, slashed the creature to pieces.  

Looking for the other two members of the group Ling Mei called softly for Nash and Debbie to pull themselves together.  Sheepishly the pair rose out from behind the bushes and avoided the deathly stare of JJ who had been left to fend for herself moments before. "Sorry lil lady, these dead folk are enough to cause me chest pains" apologised Nash Hambleton the former lounge singer, his face looking very grey and grave given credence to his statement.  "yeah sorry darling" said Debbie, a hangdog expression crossing her pretty face, all the time she was reloading the big ass sigs she carried.

"You fought like a tiger!" came a fresh, male voice from behind the group.  Spinning on their heels and bringing up various weapons, they came face to face with a young man, well face to chest as he towered over them by at least 6 inches.  Carrying a hunting rifle and accompanied by two other males, both considerably older than him, he carried on as if he didn't have a care in the world.  "Well done, nice to see someone else smashing these monsters into little bits instead of just running away."  Ling Mei considered the group of humans in front of her, taking into account the well armed nature of the men.  "Would you like to join us? we might have a better chance with all of us together." she asked.  The young man looked amused at the suggestion that he would need any help and shrugged before replying, "Naw i think we'll just head off all the same, thanks though."  with that he headed off up the street.

Within moments a half dozen zeds were barreling into the men and they were in a fight for their lives.  Before Ling Mei could act another zombie sprang out of the shadows and she was embroiled in a fight of her own.  Debbie began firing at a group of zeds a few yards up from them dropping them to the floor, one flopping around with broken legs and another still from the huge hole in its temple.  JJ joined in with her shotgun and "killed" two more.  Nash shrank back away from the gunfire, once again a greasy grey pallor to his lined face and clutching a hand to his chest.  Ling Mei dispatched her zed with contemptuous ease, looking up she saw the big youth smash the zombie he was facing to the ground with a pile driving blow from the butt of his rifle to join the already crumpled form of another zed.  One of the other guys was struggling with two zombies, with a loud cry he succeeded in downing the first with a terrific blow. But the effort cost him leaving him open to the grasp of the other zed, tumbling to the ground and smacking his head on the curbstone.  Before the zombie could bite down on him, the teenager grabbed it by the scruff of the neck and shook it like a terrier with a rat, breaking its neck and cracking its skull on the pavement.  The last man emptied the clip of his Glock into the pair he faced off with and they fell away with large parts of their faces bloodied.  Grabbing his companion and throwing him over his shoulder, the youth tipped a wink at Ling Mei and ran off down the road and out of sight.

"Quickly now, lets get these last couple of houses searched and get out of here.  Those gunshots are attracting more zombies by the minute."  with that Ling Mei directed Nash to cover the doorway while they went inside the first.  Nash nodded at took up a post, grateful that the young ladies could not see the pain that was coursing through his body. He was afraid of going in the house but he was more afraid of letting them down again so he clutched his pistol and the neck of his steel guitar tightly.  A short haired zombie drifted close to him and he dropped it with a well placed slug through the side of its face. "Are you lonesome tonight...." he sang, softly to himself.  The muffled sound of a single shot came from inside the house as Nash scanned the streets for any stragglers.  in the middle distance a few zombies shuffled closer.  "Come on, lets get it moving" he muttered.  With that Debbie came out of the house with a determined look on her face, "Ling Mei wants us to check out the last building while she finishes up in there."  She strode over to the house across the street and flung the doors open with Nash trailing behind her "nothing but a hound dog...." he sang checking the chamber of his revolver.

Rushing through the doors, guns up and tracking around the open plan living area.  Across the room emerging from the kitchen came two Guardsmen, the first an officer of some kind with a pistol in his hand and a private with a shouldered assault rifle.  The two groups seemed surprised at the presence of the other.  the officer was the first to recover, lifting his pistol pulling the trigger twice.

Both slugs breezed past Debbie's face, one drawing a thin red line on her cheek as it went.  The private fumbled for his rifle off of his shoulder getting the strap caught.  Debbie returned fire, her right hand sigsauer spat flaming death to the officer and he crumpled to his knees with blood pouring from the wound in his neck.  Her left sauer aimed at the private, took him out with a slug to the knee before Nash calmly unloaded his .45 into him.  "Sorry boys, but can't have you hurting the lady now."  Searching the bodies they stripped them of their body armour and weapons, finding a grenade in the pack of the officer.  With a final salute to the fallen, Nash and Debbie left the building meeting Ling Mei and JJ in the street.

Outside there were more zombies gathering, Ling Mei let fly with an arrow at the closest and dropped it soundlessly to the floor.  Storm clouds were thickening the air and the first, fat drops of rain began falling from the sky.  Ling Mei looked at what they had gathered so far and determined it was enough to be going on with.  Signalling to the others she ran off up the road and headed home.

# a tense encounter that achieved its objectives with each of the group gaining some supplies and escaping the encounter.  JJ after an awesome fight has earned a rep increase to 4, although poor Ling Mei still has not.  Some milestones to survivor have been reached by the group, only Ling Mei has seen the feast so they are still counted as citizens for the next encounter.  Finally Ling Mei manages to roll very well with the keeping it together and will not have to roll after the next encounter (which turns out to be fortunate!)

day 8 part 2

"where's JJ ?" hissed Ling Mei to the other two members of the group. All three of them looked around frantically for the missing teenager.  In the near distance zombies wandered aimlessly up and down the High st, moaning softly to themselves.  The group were moving toward the first house when inspiration hit Ling Mei "Gary's house!"  Juliana had witnessed Gary as a zombie not moments ago before Ling Mei put him down, now she may be heading towards his home not far away.  Without missing a beat she started toward the building where Gary had lived with his parents back when the world made sense.  In front of them was a lone zombie and in a fluid motion she drew an arrow from her quiver and sent it flying through the eye socket of the zed.  

as the gang approached the property they could see JJ in the garden on her hands and knees, tears rolled down her cheeks.  Nash walked over and placed a kindly hand on her shoulder, the old singer hummed an old battle hymn softly as she worked through the demons coursing through her brain.  Slowly the tears dried up and were replaced by a determined grimace, clutching her shotgun tightly she stood with her friends and nodded to Ling Mei.

Bursting through the front door of the house the group entered the living room, ahead of them a zombie hurled itself at them.  Short and wearing a floral nightdress, Gary's mother closed the gap with surprising speed causing Ling Mei to miss with her shot.  Nash recoiled in horror as the zed gnashed it's jaws inches from his face before it was hurled away by the 10mm slug that tore through its body!  Debbie fired 3 more shots centre mass and the zombie went down in a heap.  JJ stepped forward and putting the barrel of her shotgun to its temple gave some peace to Gary's kin.

Searching the house they scraped together some bandages and antiseptic in a bag and moved into the street heading for the next building.  With a shrug Nash put his shoulder to the door and forced it open as the rest of the group surged into the foyer of the property. Ling Mei dropped a zombie with her bow and Debbie opened up with her massive pistols and knocked the legs out from under another as JJ rammed the stock of her shotgun through the back of its head.  With some small measure of shame, Nash plundered some diamond earrings from the master bedroom.

As they headed out of the house a single zombie in the road ahead spotted them and started up toward them, Ling Mei drew back on her bow and another lethal arrow tore through the zeds head.  The others formed a firing line as a larger group of the undead rushed toward them.  Debbie opened the shooting with her sigsauers but remarkably could not get the vital head shot before clicking empty on one of the huge guns!  With a roar JJ's shotgun sprouted flame as she discharged both barrels knocking two zeds off of their feet, but again no head shots and the zeds started to struggle to their feet. Nash could not draw a bead on the monsters and only manage to graze the temple of one of the beasts who ignored the bullet and pressed on.  In a flash the zeds were among them, reaching out for the firing line matching the humans in numbers.  JJ with a primal scream of rage swung the shotgun like a club, sweeping the zed to the floor as the other two struggled with their opponents.  dropping her bow and drawing her swords Ling Mei stepped forward to defend her friends when she heard a shuffling behind her, barely turning in time to avoid the swipe from a zombie.  Three more of it's buddies crowded around her trying to bring her to the ground.  With a swing she took the first's head from it's shoulders and with the backswing buried the blade in the next one's forehead.  her left hand blade swept out to the side and crossed back to slash through the thin vertebrae of the third, half severing the creature's neck.  stepping back she managed to block the outstretched hands of the fourth zed and with a blizzard of blades reduced it to mincemeat.  

Across the way Juliana crushed her opponents windpipe under her boot and braced herself for the charge of another three of the creatures.  Debbie and Nash dispatched their zombies but at the sight of the next group ducked behind the bushes that lined the road leaving JJ to face them down on her own...

Zombtober, a first foray!

Apparently today is the 1st day of Zombtober. A chance for all zombie fanatics to paint up their zeds and survivors that they seem to never get to.

During Zombtober I will be using the figs made up from the plastic box sets put out by Wargames Factory.  I have 90 figs so I need to make a big dent in them if I can.  Some of the figs I will be making up as police and gangers and some as military for those encounters where at the moment I'm making do with the figs I have from my other game systems.  Which is why some WWII british soldiers and nazi civilians are making guest appearances in my ATZFFO campaigns....  The rest will go to bolster my bands of survivors and the horde of undead I've started to assemble (58 so far, not so much a horde as a crowd!)

This is my first Zombtober so I thought as I'm in the same business I would put out a trio of my second favorite medical professional (after paramedics of course) - nurses! Zombified naturally.  These angels were obviously ministering to the infected when they turned, still in uniform.......