Monday 31 July 2017

More modern scatter

Hi all

I'm busy looking for ways to improve my modern urban boards, ostensibly for my upcoming debut at the PAWs show but also for my continuing ATZ campaign.  I want my boards to look authentic and urban terrain by its very nature is busy so I need lots of it!  I'll try to make as much as I can, particularly the buildings but some of the finer detail is a bit beyond my skill or desire to make so I'm gonna buy some stuff in.  With this in mind I've been scouring the interwebs for bargains and found my old friends -  Debris of War and Blotz.

First up is Blotz, this UK company is making some lovely mdf products that are simple to put together and look fab.  Among other things I bought two phone booths, one modern and the other the traditional red telephone booth.



for painting these beauts, I find adding watered down PVA glue to the undercoat stops the mdf drinking up the paint. 



with my 28mm coppers for scale
Debris of War is a cracking local company putting out interesting resin pieces which include the excellent bases I've been using for my Ito Clan.  For modern settings, the owner/sculpter - Anthony has put out the bin bags and wheelie bins that I've previously shown on this blog.  He contacted me recently and offered me some new things he's been working on.


These are fun little pieces that will "litter" **sighs** my boards, the bins are cool and will populate the tenements and alleyways with the discarded matresses.


"There's nothing behind my back officers"



Along with Dave Stone's lovely flaming barrels I'm starting to get some really cool layouts going. More pieces are on the way from all sorts of other companies and I look forward to seeing them populate my boards.

hope you enjoy
dGG

Friday 28 July 2017

Mizuki Ito

Hi all

Continuing on with the deadly women of the Ito clan, we have the Queen of the hebi - bride of the great kami Orochi.  Here is her blurb on GCT's website....

Another daughter of the Ito clan succumbed to the temptation of Orochi’s Blessing. Once a beautiful child of the Ito, with many a samurai lord interested in claiming her hand for a son. That was all before she started the visions that led her to her one and only partner, for now she is wed to Orochi. The Blessing awakening a deep power within her, granting her the power to grant minor gifts to fellow believers to conduct Orochi’s bidding.

This awesome model is a hefty investment in points at 12 rice but in my opinion worth the cost (although in a recent game she fluffed her lines).  She is a pure support model, with a poor melee profile so I lined her up with a Temple Asp as a bodyguard, if she does get in melee she does pack a bit of poison that can puts the hurt on her opponents and her "Fear (5)" can cause them to pause for thought.  However she does offer some unique skills that can either buff her friends or hinder her foes, Her Ki feats are excellent - "Blessing of Orochi" buffs her followers with a plethora of skills to choose from. "Paralyze" is really useful at causing enemy combatants in melee to lose dice with "held" and become "slow" meaning they strike last.  My fave though has to be "Obey", the chance to take control of one of my opponent's models even for a single activation can change the turn on its head and if she fires it off twice....





Paint wise, I obviously stuck with my theme colours and ensuring that the nest of vipers that make up her hair follow the red viper concept.

At the end of the day, she is an amazing model and fits beautifully into my warband, despite her shocker in a recent game I think she will be a stalwart of my Ito.

hope you enjoy
dGG

Wednesday 26 July 2017

Kahime Ito

Hi all

yet another of my emerging Ito Clan for your pleasure ;-P

This time with have Kahime Ito....

Orochi found Kaihime a worthy recipient of her gifts and bestowed upon this deadly samurai archer the means to carry out her will. Her keen eye and swift arm sew dead across the battlefield. Her arrows find their way through even the toughest Minimoto armour and if the cold Ito steel doesn’t finish her unlucky targets, Orochi’s blood soon devourers them from inside, leaving those praying for a swift end.

At a hefty 9 rice, she's quite expensive but totally worth it, even following the nerfing of ranged rules in Bushido. With boostable 3MS and 3RS she can fight or fire, although she shines at range. Being hebi she comes with the extra speed and "light footed" traits as well as "steady" and very importantly "blood of orochi" - poisoned arrows anyone?  With "Quick load" and "precision strike" she can whip out a volley of armour piercing poisoned arrows to boot!  To top it off she has armour (2), 8 wounds and "martial prowess" allowing her to reroll and attack or defence dice in melee.  she really has got lots to offer for that price tag.  She definitely becomes an auto-include.  The recent errata means that multiple shots in Bushido attract negative penalties following the first shot, making the quick reload less viable but I still think its totally worth it and Kahime will be my go to ranged fighter in this faction.


paint wise, I found her face a little difficult to get right but I've stuck to my theme colours and the colouration of her "hebi-portions" so I won't reiterate them here.  Needless to say I'm pleased with the results.  Added to that another lovely base from "Debris of War's" broken flagstone range and job is a good'un.




hope you enjoy
dGG

Monday 24 July 2017

Starter Set Wars battle 6

hi all



As some of you may know, Damon and I have been playing a series of Bushido games using only the minis found in each factions starter sets.  We have dubbed this series - The Starter Set Wars, rather unoriginally....

However, this also coincided with the time we decided to record and post these battles on YouTube so people could get as enthused about the game as we are. Anyway fast forward to the now and we have just finished the last couple of battles and the link below is for battle 6, the last of the decider games teeing up our final battle.




The final battle will be uploaded soon
hope you enjoy
dGG 

Friday 21 July 2017

Yuui Ito

Hi all

More offerings from my newest Bushido faction - Clan Ito.  This time let me introduce you to Yuui Ito, one of the awesome Hebi...

Another daughter of Orochi, a ferocious warrior gifted with great prowess in battle and the honour of Orochi’s snake form body. She slithers across the battlefield seeking out the cowards in the shadows and dispatching them in Orochi’s name. Although not of the Ito bloodline Yuui has risen amongst the ranks of the followers of Orochi, a rise that has not gone unnoticed by many Ito, who by birth should outrank her. 

Yuui is a cracking model and nice addition to the faction, for just 7 rice you get a 3MS model with all the benefits of being part snake! She has better than average speed at 5, is "light footed" meaning she ignores movement penalties for crossing terrain and is "steady" meaning she cannot be made prone by special attacks.  With her armour (1) and 8 wounds she can take a bit of punishment in combat, even better she can use her Ki feat "grapple" and immobilise her opponent setting them up for a beating by her kin.  With her hebi trait "blood of orochi" I can use her in the "Blessed" Theme and she contributes to the poison pool that allows me to grant poisoned weapons to some of my fighters!  Finally her ki feat "detect" allows her to sniff out those pesky ninjas!  All in all 7 rice well spent....



So the painting of Yuui followed my general theme, with green clothing and lots of gold ringlets around her tail and stuff. I gave her the trademark yellow viper eyes and repeated the colour on her underbelly.  The upper side of her tail I made a dark red to fit my "viper" theme and its not easy to tell from these photos but there is a subtle red pattern mixed in to break up the block colour.  Once again I went for the bases from "Debris of War" this time going with the flagstones to represent the inner temples of the God-Kami - Orochi.




Hope you enjoy
dGG



Wednesday 19 July 2017

Wargames Terrain Workshop 2

Hi all

A little while ago I picked up some more of Dave Stone's excellent terrain pieces, this time for my urban boards for use in my zombpoc games.



Not a lot to say about them other than, they look brilliant! You can get them in plain grey resin, as I did and paint them to your individual specifications or buy them pre-painted. I wanted them to compliment my existing terrain so bought them plain. For the gas cylinders, I went on to t'internet and painted them up with a well known global brand. As for the vending machines, I had no intention of naming the brands until I'd painted them up and then they looked like they were wearing utility belts - hence the superhero branding.

I've got plans for all of them, so they will start to crop up in upcoming AARs. Anyhoo the link to Dave's site is below, have a nose and see what you think.

http://wargamesterrainworkshop.co.uk/?product_cat=accessories

Hope you enjoy
dGG


Monday 17 July 2017

Announcement

Image result for announcement meme

Hi all

yup, I have a big announcement - at least I think it's fairly big!

I've been asked to put on a demo/participation game at the Plymouth Association of Wargamers (PAW) Wargames Show 2018.  Essentially this is the other side of the country from where I live but despite the 5 hour drive, I'm up for it and have accepted!

Image result for zombie memesIt's all come about from one of the organisers seeing my ATZ - English Adventure campaign and him asking me to bring a game down, with some of my scenery to PAW in february.  Personally I was really flattered that someone thought my stuff was good enough to be part of their event, so felt happy to say yes.  That said i'm nervous as hell and hoping I don't fall on my ass come February.  I'm going to put on a zombpoc game and it will be participation as I want people to get involved, so I'll have to keep it fairly simple so as to engage as man people as possible but I'm not gonna give away the details of the game I have half planned for a couple of reasons.

  1. I'm not sure how its all gonna work yet, where is it going to be set? what rules am I gonna use? am I going to adapt an existing set or design my own?
  2. I want it to be a bit of a surprise
  3. I'm scratch building the majority of the board so will have to see if I can pull off what I want to do.
Image result for zombie memesSo I've got quite a bit to do and it might eat into my painting schedule, although Zombtober should help ;-P

I really hope I see some of you down Plymouth way -  3rd and 4th of February 2018, come and support the old Gobbo and have a chat, I'd love to see you there!!


cheers
dGG






Friday 14 July 2017

Homecoming part 3 - an ATZ English Adventure

Rob “Nudger” Taylor rushed toward sergeant Thomas, raising the unloaded crossbow above his head like a club and howling like a banshee.  ET watched him all the way in with his ASP held low, behind him the skag-head who’d killed Kate had paused for breath, circling him like a hyena.  As Taylor closed in, ET swung the heavy baton at the thug’s ankles tripping him and causing his head to hit the pavement hard, dazing the old lag and causing him to black out.  Using the momentum of his swing, ET spun on his knees to face the skank and loosed his tactical pepper spray fully into the face of the disheveled addict, causing her to fall to her knees rubbing her streaming her eyes.




Around him, d-subs began stumbling toward the brawl.  ET staggered to his feet, tears streaming down his face when he looked at the ruined form of WPC Kate Dodson.  He paused to pull PC Atwell up and grab the prone form of Brown.  Between the two police officers, they dragged the inert form of PC Brown toward the “panda” car that was across the street.  More and more d-subs shuffled toward the area, drawn to the fire that had taken root in the Wilson’s house and the smell of fresh blood.


Gobbo hobbled around the back of the houses and through the gap in Mrs Nightingale’s fence, heading toward the rear entrance of the middle terrace belonging to Babs and Frank Willis – a elderly retired couple.  Turning the handle, Andy crept into the kitchen hefting his trusty oxygen cylinder.  The first thing he saw was the bloodied bodies of the Willis’s sprawled across the tiled floor, the second was the three addicts that made up the remainder of Nudger’s gang looming over the bodies armed to the teeth. 




the top row of dice are the thugs reps! the bottom row is the number of success they got on the "insight" roll. Gobbo rolled two successes.
Time stood still as the occupants of the kitchen stared at each other in shock for long seconds.  Andy reacted first, taking long strides across the room swinging his cylinder hard at the first thug – a woman armed with a shotgun, figuring it best to take her and her formidable weapon out of the fight.  With a thunk the strengthened steel cylinder crunched into her chin, lifting her off her feet to fly backward into the kitchen counter.  The other two addicts stared at the enraged EMT in horror as he used the momentum of his charge to crash into the second gang member – a dishevelled male in his 30’s. Once again, the o2 tank smashed into the face of his opponent, splintering teeth and spraying blood across the once spotless tiles.  The last of Nudger’s aquaintances – a older male, lifted a crossbow and loosed a bolt at Gobbo. 

Gobbo takes out the first....


then the second, while the third takes cover and starts shooting!
Nudger, his head spinning from the blow he’d taken spotted the retreating forms of the coppers and rolled to his hands and knees, before getting to his feet.  Staggering after them, he fumbled with the string of his crossbow finally loading the ‘bow. Reaching the end of the road, he saw the policemen loading their unconscious colleague into the back of their motor before jumping in themselves and gunning the engine.  With a loud crunch, the car was thrown into gear and shot backwards in a thick cloud of burning rubber, as the coppers sped away from the area.  Nudger stood stock still as he tried to think of his next move, his drug-addled brain struggling to formulate a plan.  A nearby groan pulled him out of his pondering as an infected closed in on him, forcing him to step back and lift the ‘bow. Pulling the trigger, he smirked in satisfaction as the heavy bolt thudded into the middle of the d-sub’s chest and causing it to fall backwards.  

the coppers make their escape

and Nudger tries to fight off the d-subs
That smirk turned to a grimace as more and more of the infected shambled toward him, surprisingly quickly for their awkward gait.  Nudger reversed the heavy bow and used the stock like a club, waving it to keep the zombies at bay.  However, the creatures were not deterred by his pitiful defences and used their increasing numbers to swarm him. First one, then a second grabbed hold of his arms and pinned him while a third latched onto his hand with it’s jaws and bit off three fingers.  With a howl, the middle-aged thug pulled back his torn appendage and tried to get away but he was held fast and more zombies were crowding in.  A searing pain in his abdomen drew his attention to an infected d-sub “digging” into his stomach with clawed hands and ripping his bowel out.  Pain flared everywhere as teeth pulled at skin and tore off muscles before a heavy blackness descended on him, the last thing he saw was the pitiful remnants of his street gang being torn apart by dozens of the foul creatures.

Nudger gets surrounded

The police scarper in a cloud of smoke

more and more d-subs are drawn into the area
Nudger gets surrounded

and gets munched.......

Andy spun around as the heavy missile crashed into the kitchen cabinet, lodging into the wooden frame.  Grabbing the bow of the now deceased ganger, he snapped off a quick arrow at the third and final member of Nudger’s gang of street toughs.  In his haste he missed, but the snap shot did distract the thug who fumbled with the string of the xbow, nearly dropping a bolt on the floor.  Using the distraction, Andy piled forward and swung the bow catching the ganger in the face and causing him to stumble backward.  Andy kept up the momentum, following the move with a series of snap kicks and blows with the bow keeping the thug on the back foot until he stumbled to the carpet of the Willis’s front room.  Wading in, Andy used the heavy steel of his O2 cylinder to bash the street tough into oblivion.






the zombies chow down on the remnants of Nudger's gang

Looking around the elderly couple’s wrecked house, Andy gathered the various weapons from the unconscious or dead gang members.  He didn’t feel remorse just yet, he’d taken human lives and that was utterly repugnant to him but he didn’t have the luxury of emotions at that time. He had to get across the road and get to his family, with the image of them held firmly in mind he strapped the xbow to his back and crossed that with the bow, stashing the quivers where he could.  Hefting the shotgun, he found a box of cartridges in the pocket of the female’s jacket and headed toward the back door a plan in mind.  Peeking around the door frame and seeing the back yard free of infected, he crept toward Mrs Nightingale’s ruined house.  The shotgun, well maintained despite its previous owner felt heavy in his hands as he broke the barrel and loaded bird-shot into the breech. Sending a brief prayer to a God he didn’t believe in, Andy reached the corner and discharged the weapon into the air. Spinning around he hobbled as fast as his sprained ankle would allow, heading for the Willis’s property.

Andy discharges the shotgun, in hindsight of course he could have at least taken a shot at a zombie for the same effect....

and attracts the entire horde....

Gobbo hobbles to the front door and waits for the right moment to sprint across the street
Making his way through the house, Andy realised just how exhausted he was.  He had been up for over 36 hours now, first dealing with the effects of the “Mother of all Storms” and then the long fight that had got him to this point against the infected or “d-subs” as the coppers had taken to calling them and now the killing of human beings, actual human beings! Albeit ones that had shot at him and tried to kill him first… Andy brushed away the tears that threatened to come, forcing the rising emotions back down as he thought of his family and how they needed him, how he needed them! Standing behind the closed front door to the house he tried to judge the perfect time for his “dash” across the street.  When he thought the d-subs had probably moved far enough he flung open the door and took his first step outside....

just as he's about to go, a black dog runs up the street pulling four zeds in its barky wake!!
As his foot touched the path, a loud barking caused his heart to leap into his throat.  A large black dog, possibly belonging to the Millers from over the way, ran up the road - howling and barking madly.  Following closely behind WERE the Millers, or what was left of them! The whole family – infected, chased after their cherished pet as it scampered away.  Gobbo winced as the noise resounded around the close packed buildings, the sound of a living creature would draw the zombies to it and undo his clever distraction.   Andy was about to step back into the house and try his ruse again, when he spotted a twitch of the curtains in the house opposite – his house!

Clamping his teeth against the pain, Andy hobbled as fast as his busted ankle could take – he had to get across the road, he had to get to his house and get to his family. “Fuuuuckkk!!” he screamed as the pain intensified and slowed his flight to a crawl.  Only yards away, zombies were spilling back around the corner drawn by the sounds of living, breathing creatures. The pain was excruciating, his ankle felt like it was made of jagged glass as hundreds of splinters of pain pierced his ruptured joint every time he put it to the floor.  Tears ran freely down his face as the familiar front door loomed in front of him, only feet away when he felt the hand of the closest infected pulling him back…

and pulls all the zed's attention back to the front of the buildings

who then spot Gobbo as he races (with a sprained ankle) to his front door

hordes of infected scramble toward the living desperate to feast...
Screaming his frustration, Andy spun on his torn ankle – fresh pain flaring hellishly from the insult to his already damaged ligaments.  The blood-spattered oxygen cylinder once again coming to his aid and crushing the temporal lobe of the ragged creature. “Fuck off!!” he bellowed madly in the face of the next closest zombie, pummeling the d-sub with the blunt end of the steel tube, the loud crack of broken bone accompanied by the worrying hiss of compressed gas leaking from the badly abused piece of medical equipment. With a grunt he threw the fractured cylinder at the nearest zed, hefting the shotgun he’d liberated from Nudger’s junkie buddy, prepared to sell his life dearly.

Andy fights off the closest d-subs
Suddenly, the door behind him was flung open causing Andy to fall into his hallway with a thump.  The door slammed shut and Andy watched as his son, Stephen threw his burly bulk against the door bracing it against the press of infected bodies pushing up against the gate to the Wosa kingdom.   Andy crawled on hands and knees to slump with his back against the heavy wooden door, further barricading it and glanced around the neat little house.  As the zombies banged against the front door, intent on gaining entry and snacking on the Wosa men, Andy openly bawled huge tears of joy as his beautiful wife and his awesome daughter – Lisa and Astrid, crowded into the narrow hallway and hugged the battered EMT.  His stoic son, back against the solid wood of the door held on to his shoulders as if to share his strength with is exhausted father.

The Wosa family watch the street fill up with the dead...

Andy falls into the hallway and braces the door with Stephen's assistance

desperate for the flesh of the living, the d-subs batter at their front door
As ever, it was Lisa who bought Andy to his senses.  “Right, up you get Gobbo, off your fat arse and let’s get out of here!” Pulling him to his feet, she relieved him of the xbow and threw it to Astrid who checked the bolt was firmly in place before making her way through the house toward the back garden.  Snatching the bow from him, Lisa followed her daughter knocking an arrow onto the string as she went.  


Stephen nodded at his old man, “Let’s do this!” the youngster yelled over the cacophony of the gathering zombies. Thrusting Andy’s pride and joy replica gladius into his hands, Stephen hefted his baseball bat in his own and sprinted after the girls.  Andy drew a deep breath and leaving the infected to batter down his front door he ran after his family….



from L-R, Astrid Wosa, Andy "Gobbo" Wosa, Lisa Wosa, Stephen Wosa

hope you enjoy
dGG


Epilogue:


Curious eyes followed the family as they ran down the rubbish strewn alleyway that backed onto the property.  In the fading light of the day, those eyes could just make out the tired EMT as he stumbled after his kin toward the ambulance he had abandoned earlier that evening.  Behind those eyes, a brain whirled with a mix of emotions and random thoughts as it processed the day’s events. Finally with a small nod, those eyes turned away and focused on the narrow streets that made up the sprawling estate that Gobbo lived near, narrow streets that led back to the hiding place the owner of those eyes had discovered when the shit had hit the fan and the world, at least this corner of it had come to an end!