Thursday 27 April 2017

Escape from Hospital, ATZ - An English Adventure part 2


Tommy flinched as the first infected nurse reached for him, her snapping jaws coated in the fresh blood of her last victim.  At the last moment he remembered the golf club gripped in his sweaty hands.  With a savage swing he caught the nurse, whose name badge designated her as "Senior Sister Jo" under her chin, lifting Jo's head back with a snap.  Jabbing the club like a sword he smashed the heavy end in the ex-nurse's throat, shattering the trachea and collapsing the cervical spine.  With a crash, the zombie’ fell to the tiled floor in a heap.  Tommy buoyed by his success, stepped over the former "Jo" and swung his club again aiming for the creature dressed in surgical scrubs.  This time he watched in horror as the 9 Iron bounced off the shoulder of the frenzied beast with no noticeable effect. Recoiling from the ‘zombie’, Tommy thrust out with the end of the club, forgetting in his desperation which end to use and poking the infected doctor in the eye with the grips.  Once again the creature ignored the petrified human’s pathetic attacks, almost lazily slashing the man’s forearm with it’s outstretched claw-like hand.  Tommy cried out in pain, pulling his wounded limb away and swinging the club in a wild arc.  With a crunch the heavy iron club pulped the temple of the beast and powered into the zombie’s skull, killing it instantly. 



The long laceration to his forearm stung as sweat poured from Tommy as waves of fear, remorse, fear, revulsion and fear again swept over him. Turning his head, he emptied the contents of his stomach onto the blood covered tiles and over the two dead former medics. In a daze his eyes swept the room in time to see another of the infected lurching into the roomthis time the sight however was too much for him to bear and the club dropped with a clang from suddenly nerveless fingers. 




Gobbo pounded up the emergency stairs to the first floor, ahead of him Putters had at least stop screaming the name of her missing fiancĂ© but the sound of her heavy, booted footsteps echoed down the eerily quiet, deserted corridors. Deserted that was, except for the cluster of infected at the far end by a door marked “pathology”. Determined not to lose sight of his crew mate, Gobbo put on an uncharacteristic burst of speed just in time to see Anna charge through the double doors leading to the wards. Hurrying to keep up, Gobbo thrust open the door to find the young medic staring wildly around the deserted ward. “CHRIS” she shrieked in a weird, half strangled cry that scared Andy who worrying about his crew mate almost forgot to pick up the packet of custard creams left by a former patient's relative, almost.  



“Where can he be Gobbo?” Anna asked with a sob, “he's not here, tell me he's not one of those….things”she spat, her words laced with horror as she moved from one end of the long room to the other. 

“lets search the rest of the floor first mate” Andy replied in his best soothing, don't poke the bear voice that he reserved for the worst of the angry drunks and off meds crazies.  

“But…..” Anna’s voice trailed off as infected hospital staff and patients poured through the door that they had entered from. As one the medics sped toward the far door away from the ‘zombies’ and back out into the corridor. Ahead of them was a room marked “Pathology”Gobbo grabbed the door handle and flung the door wide open revealing three ‘ex’ hospital staff lurking in the dark, hastily he slammed it shut and backed away. In the meantime Anna had reached a darker stretch of corridor down by the emergency stairs. In front of her a door, ominously marked up as the “Isolation Suite” and covered in bio-hazard markings loomed, a thin plume of smoke pencilled out from under the door jamb and an acrid stench leaked out from behind the portal. 




Tommy stared in horror as the clearly pregnant ‘zombie’ shuffled toward him, clutching her swollen abdomen. Bright blood swathed her upper thighs, visible below the hem of her hospital gown. Tommy backed away, his mind desperately trying to process the macabre sight of the poor woman who now staggered forward in an attempt to attack him. Sanity fled as the full weight of the events of the last 24 hours finally began to dawn on the former car salesman, the golf club forgotten he slapped her outstretched hands away and stepped back, bumping into the back wall. 




part 3 to come...
hope you enjoy
dGG



Monday 24 April 2017

Throwing down the gauntlet! - WiP 3

Hi all

and it progresses! the project is going well, so far I've made (and recorded) the basic tiles and the walls or at least some of them. So it's definitely time to get those tiles finished up :-)

I've got 9 tiles made up so far, covering 3x3 feet and as I've said they are just the basic layout without too much detail.  I have recorded the building of the sewer sections for you guys to see how i've put them together and how the board is developing and below is a pic or three of how the full tiles are looking.





here is the link to the YouTube video for the sewer sections.

https://youtu.be/t_mEQYo3O3M

So what's next then?  well firstly I'm going to build more walls, corners, junctions so that the bones of the dungeon take shape - all modular of course for as much variety as we can imagine.  But we need more than just walls and floors to populate a dungeon, so there are going to be bridges to cross the sewer, traps, altars, cells, new tiles with split levels, pipe work, statutes, treasure, lairs and other pieces to pick up and place at the whim of the DM. For 7TV2 and those TMNT dudes, there will be evil plots to foil, doomsday machines and all sorts of goodies to produce a fun filled evening or two!

hope you enjoy
dGG





Sunday 23 April 2017

Post Salute post

Hi all

I'm writing this post at a first aid station lining the London Marathon route (as a first aider I assure you) and it's a bit of an extra post today as I plan on posting as normal tomorrow.  As most of you will know the biggest wargames show in the UK was hosted yesterday by the South London Warlords Gaming Group - Salute! 2017.  This massive endeavour is a highlight in the Nerding year for me as I get to speak to loads of like minded people - traders, enthusiasts, demonstrators and this year to add to the fun - bloggers!!

Yes, to my utter delight I met some of the writers of some of my favourite blogs! Jez from carrion crow buffet stalked me through the gates....lol. I'm glad he did though as we had a lovely chat and he was the able to introduce me to some of the other bloggers at the 1pm meet. Michael from 28mm Victorian Warfare and Simon from Fantorical were snagged into a photo with yours truly by Jez and they put me to shame with their fancy waistcoats, although we did sport similar hairstyles........

To the obligatory pics then, first Rich "N4L" Gates stole my iPad and took a selfie....


next up the proper pic of the Nerd herd in the queue.  from L-R Rich "N4L" Gates, Alex "Lexie" Nash, Andy "da Gobbo" Nash, Connor (rear), Damon "Rulez" Carlton and Chris "Naps" Thorne.


So to the demos then, i'm not sure of them all as I was in a bit of a daze, trying to fit them all in.


not sure what this was, i think French Indian Wars?

28mm modern conflict?

The Walking Dead demo

Frostgrave

Jurassic Park, just lovely


Infinity the game - this board was imho the best of the lot!
So to my swag then!  First up I hit the GCT stand for a shopping list load of Bushido minis that are show exclusive and/or brand new to bolster my many factions as well as purchasing a whole new faction which I will be showcasing once I get started on them (in 6 months.....).  I also picked up my copy of the GCT resources board game - The Pioneer Project.  Recently released following a successful KS programme, i'm looking forward to a romp in the post apocalyptic world.  I may have blown the budget in the first ten minutes....

Next up was some Reaper Bones models to help populate my new D&D project - some Kobolds and a couple of Heroes.  Then over to Ben at Master Crafted Miniatures to patronise his growing establishment :-).  Ben is doing some astonishingly good work designing new minis for upcoming ranges, for Bushido and for his own line of terrain and other stuff!  I got some tortoises (yes that's right!) which will populate either terrain or my Temple of Ro-Kan bases, some flying birds and toads. After that I sought out Dave Stone of Wargames Terrain Workshop where I picked up some amazing pieces which you have to see (when I paint them) to believe them.  In the flesh they are brilliant, although Dave will say himself that his photos on his website don't do the models justice (this is true, his models are outstanding!).  After that I picked up a cheap copy of the Walking Dead Starter game as well as a bargain Team Yankee armoured strike force and some amazing Hasslefree minis.  the photo below shows the extent of the haul, what it doesn't show is the distressed state of my wallet, which has declared itself a disaster zone....


anyway I'll leave it there and you'll see the close ups of the swag as and when it is table ready.  A cracking day had by all, see you next year!

dGG

Thursday 20 April 2017

Kampfgruppe Nordland Part 3

KAMPFGRUPPE NORDLAND PART 3

Hi all please find the third part of Chris's excellent "Defence of Berlin" Late War German army for Bolt Action.



So my second infantry squad is a squad of 10 Kriegsmarine drafted in to fight in the dying city.
At midnight on the 24th April 1945 Hitler gave an order for 5000 Kriegsmarine sailors to be FLOWN into Berlin to assist in the defence of the city. These would predominantly come from training regiments situated on the Baltic coast and Baltic islands. A brief account of one of the units that was to be sent into Berlin:
1 Schiffstamm-Regiment (1st Naval Instruction Regiment) under the command of Kapitan zur See Herbert Zollenkopf and comprising three training battalions was one of the units ordered to Berlin. Orders were issued for Operation “Berlin” and the personnel were issued with food, ammunition, weapons, Panzerfaust and a few Panzerschrecks. An “alarm” battalion under the command of Kapitanleutnant Franz Kuhlman would be the first to be flown into Berlin. Flying these personnel into Berlin was given the highest clearance and a largest capacity transport squadron was to be used to fly them in. 5-6 JU-352 transports took off on the night of the 25th intending to land at the small Berlin airport at Gatow as the main Tempelhof aerodrome was already being fought over and under Russian control. Only one aircraft successfully landed after attempting to land for two hours. At least two planes suffered damaged and returned to their home airfields and one was shot down with the crew surviving. In all perhaps no more than 80-100 Kriegsmarine of the 5000 demanded personnel made it into Berlin where they were employed in the defence of the Reichs Chancellery until the surrender of the city. Kuhlman survived the fighting and the war and would go on to write his memoirs.

The figures here are the Warlord games Kriegsmarine. They are great figures, superbly sculpted and I think posed excellently – no overly “heroic” poses. Are they accurate for Berlin though? The predominant clothing is leathers and combined with beards easily marks the majority out as a U-Boat crew. The three in dress uniform are probably acceptable but it is more than likely that the majority would have been wearing the dark navy blue working dress as in the photo below.  I do think these figures are excellent and they stand out immediately as something “different” so I will continue to use them.


Please excuse the quality of the third photo – I’m no N4L behind the camera but I wanted to show a picture of the posters I managed to find in 28mm scale.


thanks Chris, this project just gets better and better

hope you enjoy
dGG

Monday 17 April 2017

Throwing down the gauntlet! - WiP 2

Hi all

I hope you've enjoyed/are enjoying the bank holiday weekend. In my last post on this project I posted a video on how i started to build my modular sewer/dungeon tiles for the 7TV2e game I'm planning, I'm also planning on using them in a summer D&D campaign that my daughter will be hosting (she doesn't know this yet.....bwahahaha).

Anyway, I've completed another video on how I've put the walls together and how they fit with the tiles.  Props to Luke Fellows (Luke's APS) and Steven Fletcher (Steve's Small World) for a couple of the techniques which I have blatantly (stolen) borrowed.



Here is the link to the video


Thursday post will be the next update from Chris's excellent Nordland project, which is shaping up beautifully and then we're at Salute! I hope to meet some of you there.

hope you enjoy
dGG

Thursday 13 April 2017

Escape from Hospital, ATZ - An English Adventure part 1

With a crash, Anna burst through the double doors at the far end of the emergency department.  Her agitation evident she hurriedly scanned the brightly lit corridor, looking for the signs to the Imaging department and oblivious to all else.  Gobbo following closely behind his crew-mate hefted the oxygen cylinder, acutely aware that the anxious paramedic was rushing blindly into danger, the infected had gained access to the hospital and could be anywhere. 

the hospital all laid out and ready to go

Putters and Gobbo, ready to head out!

As if in response to that thought, a low moan emanated from the far corner of the corridor to his left and the sound of shuffling feet drew his gaze toward an infected patient. Dragging his drip stand with him, the 'zombie' headed toward the medics moving slowly due to what could only have been poor mobility in life.  Gobbo grimaced as the smell of feaces and pus running from abscesses, that now were the least of the patient's concerns, wafted over to him with every swish of the patient's gaping hospital gown.   



A growl from his immediate right tore his attention from the shuffling creature as an infected in a once pristine lab-coat stumbled from behind the reception desk.  With outstretched arms the once lab-tech desperately tried to reach the startled EMT, who stepped back in surprise.  Near gagging at the sight of fresh blood drooling from the infected's mouth, Gobbo thrust out with the heavy base of the cylinder smashing the bloody teeth back into it's throat.  With a roar of defiance, the medic chopped down with the metal tube onto the forehead of the former NHS worker, splitting it's skull and dropping it to the floor.  

Gobbo dispatches his opponent
Putters stared at the approaching 'zombie' that staggered toward her, this was the closest she had got to the infected and the sight of the former patient tore at her heart.  First and foremost she was a paramedic, a person who had dedicated a sizeable portion of her young life to studying how to save lives and promote health in her patients.  The shambling creature in front of her was the antithesis of all that she had worked toward.  With a clang the oxygen cylinder she had carried with her dropped to the floor, rolling a few feet toward the struggling Gobbo. The infected patient reached out toward her, as if to embrace her.  Anna flinched as the cold, lifeless  hand brushed her face before entangling in her hair, pulling her toward the snapping teeth of the 'zombie'.  [Putters failed her citizen brown pants test and could only draw her break melee roll, she now counted as unarmed] 

Seeing Anna frozen in the face of the patient, Gobbo kicked at the cylinder rolling around on the floor, sending it bumping into the paralysed paramedic with some force and causing her to stumble backwards away from the grasp of the 'zombie'.  With a cry of alarm, she lifted her arm as if to ward off the foul creature and somehow managed to topple the drip-stand that the infected was still, inexplicably dragging along.  Tangled up with the tall, metal pole and the plastic tubing, the former patient tripped and fell to the floor, landing awkwardly. With a loud crack that resounded down the corridor, the infected's head twisted backward, hyperextending it's neck and snapping the vertabrae.   With a final twitch, the infected human lay still in a heap of medical equipment.  [She still won the combat but after two draws]

then Putters "kills" hers
Anna stood stock still as the implication of the sudden assault and the consequences of her subsequent actions hit her.  She had taken a life, albeit in self defence.  Her crew-mate had done the same and the bodies of their "victims" lay side by side in the hospital corridor. Doubt struck her hard, rocking her back on her heels, what if there was a cure for the infection that was driving these people to attack their fellow man?  What if she had been able to restrain him and let the doctors work on the disease that was the root cause of all this madness?  She and Gobbo had had their fair share of drunks and other patients attacking them in the course of their duty, diabetics in hypoglycaemic crisis often lashed out in their confusion, but this felt different somehow. This time the patient's looked different, they looked "hungry". 

Gobbo could see that his crew-mate was struggling with what just happened, despite her tough exterior Anna was a sensitive soul, passionate about medicine and dedicated to saving life.  He however, was having no such crisis of conscience.  A veteran of B movies and horror flicks, he had sussed out the zombie angle back on the street when he was protecting the ambulance from the creatures. As far as he was concerned he was putting the poor (dangerous) creatures out of their misery.  Grabbing his crew-mate by the arm, he carefully steered her around the pooling blood that spilled from the infected tech's skull and toward the Imaging department. 





Just a short distance from the ED the medics skirted the waiting room that had previously been overflowing with desperate folk, cradling bloodied and broken limbs or looking for missing or injured loved ones.   Heading into the Imaging room, Gobbo lead the way, absent-mindedly pocketing the Snickers bar that was sitting on the radiographers  work station.  "Waste not, want not" He muttered to himself. 

A high pitched scream shattered the relative quiet of the department causing the medics to spin round, a child – six or seven years if she was a day tore full pelt past the startled ambulance crew. Putters reached out to grab the child, who without breaking stride, deftly dropped her shoulder and shied away from the paramedic.   Behind the little girl, at the end of the long corridor, four snarling ‘zombies’ pursued her with outstretched arms, desperate to attack the fleeing child. [this was an event where the dog appears with a load of zombies following it, but as we're in a hospital…] The astonished medics watched as the girl flung herself at an air vent that had been pulled off the wall, barely big enough for her lithe form she wriggled once before disappearing from sight, leaving the adults to deal with the infected bearing down on them.   

the child attracts loads of zombies (top of the pic)

thanks kid!

Closer and closer, the ‘zombies’ lurched toward the frozen medicsGobbo slowly reached for his trusty oxygen bottle, his hand grasping for the handle as he scrutinised the approaching infected. “Wait a minute” he thought to himself as the ‘zombie’ closest to him appeared to wink in his direction, “what the hell?” He realised he'd said out loud as the lead monster stood more upright and stopped staggering closer.  





“Wait, wait, don't hit me with that thing!” Shouted the creature as, with a flourish, the ‘zed’ threw off the filthy, blood soaked gown to reveal itself to be an uninfected man armed with a golf club. Quickly stepping away from the ‘zombies the manusing the club to hold off the infected, shouted at the medics hysterically to help him. Andy lifted the heavy cylinder onto his shoulder and took a step forward intent on jumping into the desperate melee.  Behind him, Anna pounded up the stairwell screaming her fiancĂ©’s name. Torn, the older medic took another step forward before loyalty to his crewmate won out, throwing an apologetic shrug at the struggling man he  ran up the stairs after his frantic partner. [event – one of the zombies reveal themselves to be a human, the meet and greet didn't go well] 

the lead zombie is actually......

Tommy!!

Tommy watched the EMT pound up the stairs after the younger medic in despair.  swinging his nine iron in a wide arc to create some space he ducked into the imaging dept in an effort to put distance between him and the crazy people trying to eat him!   Hiding behind the looming X-Ray machine, Tommy tried desperately to catch his breath, he wasn't used to all this exercise – just the occasional evening at the Manston driving range and the massive surges of adrenaline was causing his heart to lurch in his chest. Since this morning he’d seen his best mate ripped apart by a group of school children, Bloody children for Christ's sake! With their milky eyes and jerking movements, they had scared the bloody life out of him.  The violence was something that he'd never witnessed before outside of films and he'd hidden behind some nearby bushes until the screams of terror and pain had turned to the pitiful mewling cries of a broken human.  Shamefaced at his cowardice and consumed by grief, he ignored the dark stain spreading across the front of his jeans and gripped the club’s handle with slippery palms 



“Right” he muttered to himself, let's not be a big girl’s blouse old son and fucking have them!” Tommy attempted to gee himself up, he needed to be angry not scared, he needed to use the adrenaline that flooded his systems to fight these things, he needed to…the dark stain got bigger as the doors to the imaging room crashed open and the infected poured through. 

that's it for this part, concluding part next time
hope you enjoy
dGG