Brickwork and Walls

So as part of my next model project I needed a perimeter wall, I've been experimenting with mesh fences but have gone instead with more brickwork, after my demolition site model.demolition-site model. As an interim blog "filler" here's a brief explanation of how I do my walls.
I needed 3 long walls and several shorter walls for this model and used three bits of scrap foamcard for them.
The walls have to show brickwork on both sides so I've used two pieces of wall glued back-to back.
The internal wall measures 20mm high whilst the outside measurement is 25mm as the outside wall will butt onto the 5mm base of the model whilst the inside wall will sit on top of the base.
The photo above shows the basic wall uncut from the foamboard. I've measured off the walls in 5mm strips horizontally and then sliced through the top layer of card with a scalpel.
Next I ran a very sharp pencil through the scalpel cut to get a rough deep channel through the foam.

The white squares will be the caps of the corner stones.

The final stage, after making 1cm  marks across the top of the sheet, was to pierce the top layer of each alternate strip vertically down through the top card layer and into the foam below, using a larger, blunt craft knife and then repeat for the un-pierced layer, making the brick pattern. This method gives the typical stretcher bond (the way the bricks are arranged) that we associate with a brick wall.
The long walls are about 14" long (350mm) and the short ones were cut to fit as necessary.
I also wanted to make corner posts, rather than have to rabbet the wall corners together and needed another large section of walling with a height of 35mm and a footprint of 25mm so they would stand out. (These corner pieces were a pain to put together).
It may sound like it would take an absolute age to cut, slice and form the individual bricks, but it really took no more than a couple of hours.
The bricks are of course over-sized; in reality to a scale of 1:60 (30mm represents 6 foot) these bricks would be 2 foot long and 1 foot thick and would be OK for stonework, but making anything smaller is beyond my meagre capabilities.

This model is well on the way to being completed and I'll be posting more about it next week, but it is currently only one of several other projects I'm working on, including the features that the walls will surround.

That's it for this week and yet again I must say welcome to my latest followers "Fred Jackson" and "Zombie Ad". I hope both of you and my regular followers find something here of interest.

Finally, as always, your comments are both welcomed and appreciated.

Car Wreck

"More bloody mess"

I was going to go with "Wreckage" as the title for this week's blog, but it sounded a bit too grandiose for what actually is just a car wreck.
I originally had a completely different idea for this vehicle, involving the removal of transfers (decals) and a re-paint, but this was shelved after the chassis broke and I was left with a shell of a vehicle.

The original vehicle was from a pack of three soft vinyl police cars from Poundland (of course).
It was stripped of the chassis, it's emergency lights and all its transfers, leaving just the shell shown on the left.

Yes, it is blood on the door !

It didn't really matter much if bits of the glue backing the transfers remained as these would give texture to the model.
The next stage was cutting out all the lights and the top where the police lights were plugged into the model and it would act as the hole where a sun-roof would fit.
The car body was soft enough for me to cut the door on three sides so it looked to be in an open position, but I could just as easily have cut the whole door out.
I also cut a piece of polystyrene to the rough dimensions of the vehicle and bevelled off a piece of scrap plastic for the base.
The polystyrene was to substitute for the destroyed interior of the vehicle.

Photos showing the shell of the car undercoated with grey primer inside and out. and the polystyrene, roughly cut to represent the internals, glued to the base.
(The large notch in the polystyrene was to accommodate the lug inside the car that the chassis plugged into.)
The two photographs below firstly show the internal part gunged with filler and given a spray of primer and the second shows both parts of the model after being given several black washes.

 (The bits of white showing are due to fitting the shell over base.)

The internal piece was given some highlights in greys whilst the shell was given its base colour of red, which is showing much brighter than it actually was.







At this stage the two pieces were glued together, before anything else was attempted.

I used many shades of browns and ochres  to represent accumulated rust and to generally dull down the model.

To the base was added a few bricks and flock (neither of which I'm particularly happy with).

Finally I gave the finished model a couple of thin coats of matt varnish.

The driver's side (if it's a left-hand drive)

Rear of the model.

Finished model alongside a clone of the original.

As I never worked on this for more than 30 minutes at a time I think overall I took less than maybe 4 hours to complete, which doesn't include time between each stage where the model was drying - the photographs only span a range of 6 days !

That's it for this week, I have started another, larger, scenery project and next week will probably be a WIP report but I'm also planning another game to once more introduce new rules to my games.

Once more I welcome my latest follower "Pitac" and here's hoping both he and my regular followers find something of interest here.

As always your comments and both welcomed and appreciated, without them I doubt I would have got this far.

Crash, Bang Wallop (2)

So the scenario was all ready to go and the encounter rating was set at 6 - the highest. Each turn a d6 would be thrown and a result of '6' indicated an event occurs !
So, Turn 1. With my son throwing the dice and using Colgar6's excellent event deck (Colgar's blog can be found  here) I shouldn't have really been surprised that an event occurred immediately. - a gas leak ! It was diced to determine which of the likely locations (buildings, the construction site and demolition site) were the source of said leak and it was found to be the demolition site.
Next we determined initiatives Zombies 8; Security Forces 8; Emergency Responders 4; Civilians 4; after a dice-off, our "dashing heroes" the security guards would go second.
The dead paramedic in the ambulance turned into a zombie (he needed a 6, thrown each turn) and Zombie Ivor immediately attacked the ambulance driver. His three dice were more than a match for the driver's two (he was penalised a single die for being strapped in and attacked from the rear) and in the resulting melee he scored two successes whilst the unnamed driver managed none - the driver was killed instantly (an obviously dead result).
Next up, the security guards went about their business patrolling and eating donuts, they'd been hearing sirens all day and weren't bothered by yet another one.
There were now no responders but their ambulance was still speeding along uncontrolled and the dice indicated that it would swerve 45 degrees to the right.
The resulting crash at a speed of 2 would probably had killed the driver anyway had the melee not already done so.
The civilians, went about their business and two more arrived on the table (even though there was a greatly reduced chance of this happening), along with another civilian vehicle.
As seemed to be the way of things,  the crash seemed to attract the new civilian activity.
Turn Two arrived with yet another Event !
Luckily though the event wasn't relevant to this encounter at this stage and was ignored.

"Let's get a closer look !"

As previously, initiative was diced for giving the Zombies 7, Civilians 7 and the Security Guards 5.
Zombie Ivor feasted on the driver whilst the now new zombie in the ambulance staggered to its feet.
Civilians moved according to dice scores, resulting in one chap wanting to get closer to the action and another stood and gawked at the crash. Yet more civilians and vehicles were uncannily drawn to this corner of the table.
The security guards were obviously now aware of the crash and began to take an interest in the events outside their compound, even if they did so at a leisurely pace. (There must have been a rule about no running on site).
Turn 3 had the two security guards arguing about whether or not to go and see what happened (the first '1' of the game thrown for initiative) whilst the zombie feast now had two attendees.
The civilians near the crash site had mixed reactions,  a woman stopped to rubberneck and another rushed across the carpark; a chap with a briefcase rushed as quickly past as he could whilst the man in a hoodie, stood at the back of the ambulance decided to call the police.

More civilians arrived on the table sufficiently away from the action that it would take quite a while for them to affect it, if at all.
All the civilian actions were dealt with by throwing dice; those in the immediate vicinity of the crash had logical choices made for them dependant upon how many dice they passed.
Basically it was along the lines of : Pass 2 dice something positive; Pass 1 die - a passive attitude and pass 0 dice gave a negative result .

"Stupid cops, running out of gas!"

Turn 4 had no event, but had the Civilians acting first, then the Zombies and finally the Security guards.

"You've got the key - right ?"

One civilian approached the  crashed ambulance having passed her brown trouser test, whilst hoodie boy continued to watch. Other civilians and vehicles were diced for with a solitary vehicle making it's way to a call-out.
Those not in the immediate vicinity of the crash carried on.
The zombies continued their feasting malarkey in their cosy ambulance.
The two security guards sauntered over to the gate nonchalantly.
  


Turn 5 heralded yet another event  - wrong
ammunition ! One of the two characters involved would find that when they came to fire their gun (if either of them ever did) one of them would find they the wrong ammunition and had but a single round !

Add caption"What's going on ?"

The zombies would start this turn wiping their lips having finished their evening supper (the feast ended). Their next course was just outside and all they had to do was get to it (they failed this turn but did manage to smash through the door and broken window of the Drivers side).
One of our two "dashing heroes" decided to take a leisurely look at the scene, whilst the other muttered something about not leaving the site.

"Not much"

Of the three civilians at the crash site two stood and watched whilst the closest one quickly made for cover, having peered inside the ambulance and witnessed the zombies feasting.Yet another emergency vehicle entered the table, following the previous one but still not the one  that the civilians had called earlier.

"Riding along in a breakdown truck"

Screw this  !

Turn 6 had little going on in real terms, the two zombies flopped out of the ambulance,  through the shattered driver's  door,whilst the zombified ambulance driver still didn't turn. The security guards decided to stand and argue (another '1' for their initiative), the woman that had previously ducked back decided she's had enough and fled whilst the hooded character at the rear of the ambulance   was revealed to

"There's trouble ahead, quick turn right !"

be John Adam, a relation of Ivor who had just appeared wailing and covered in blood from the ambulance! John was stunned, having recognised that his brother was now a zombie and immediately ducked for cover whilst other vehicles and pedestrians went about their business whilst the cops turned away from the action at the first opportunity.
  Thankfully Turn 7  had no event and saw the two zombies

Step 1: Accelerate and take aim

again moving first,  heading towards the single security guard outside the site, he in turn edged forward to get a better look and his colleague ventured out of the site whilst the others around them seemed to be fleeing in horror. The most significant event though was a civilian's silver car that had been placed on the table the previous turn heading straight towards the two zombies. The car was now just under 6 " away from the zombies and hence had to take his "Zed or no Zed Test" (he passed and recognised them for what they were), he then passed his "Brown Pants Test", and then we decided his actions using our "Have a go Rule", which he passed with flying colours ! It was decided he would accelerate to speed '3' and aim for the zombies !

Step2: Turn those suckers into pulp

Step 3: Head for the Hills.

Only three photographs were taken for the whole of turn 7, all of which concentrated on the action of the silver car ! The driver took a "Lose control Test" after mounting the kerb and hitting the zeds (passing easily). The result of the collision was that one zed  was mush and the other must have taken a glancing blow and was knocked down.

Turn 8 had no action to speak of as the two  Security guards decided once more to stand idle (another '1' for initiative), The remaining zombie stood up and the potential zombie (the driver of the ambulance) still refused to turn as he would the remainder of the game. The Cops that had been called earlier finally arrived on the table though, just a street away from the action whilst various other civilian vehicles and pedestrians did arrived but were welll out of the action area.  The civilians in the immediate area of the zombies were now all beating a hasty retreat or fleeing.

Turn 9 had the zombie moving towards the nearest security guard who, recognising the zombie for what it was, bravely retreated to the corner and was there joined by his colleague.  Yet another civilian vehicle entered the fray, the driver being shocked at what he saw deciding to duck down whilst the cops continued there race to the crash site. (the blue counter in the vehicle represents the driver being stunned).

Yet another civilian vehicle arrived!

Turn 10 and the zombies moved first, heading of course to the two security guards, causing a "Zed or no Zed"  check for the second guard, which resulted in him ducking back into the site entrance. The cops slowed turned the corner and slowed down, but both were stunned to see the zombie which caused them both to duck down in their seats.
It now came down to our "dashing hero" shot.
Would he hit ? Would he be able to get a second shot off ?
Had he packed the wrong ammunition ?
The answers weren't favourable, he didn't hit (he did have a 50% chance to do so) and he didn't get his second shot off as he had packed the wrong ammo (determined by a die roll).
Turn 11 had the civilians moving first but taking no actual part in events. The single zombie attacked before either security guard activated and in the melee that followed downed the security guard. 3 dice for the zombie beating the four dice of the guard. The impact of the melee was rolled, a '1'  and the security guard bit the dust, to become a zombie at some later date.

Final situation at close of play.

Turn 12 had the security guard moving first and now recovered sufficiently to peer around the corner and take a couple of shots against the zombie, but he hit and killed the zombie with his first shot.
At that stage we called a close to the game.
The security guard would take another ten turns before turning and the driver of the ambulance would take twelve which was far too long a period to wait for more action.
The game worked well in our opinions, even if it was a little low key and took about three hours to play.
"But who was the dead guard ?", I hear you say - the dice decided it was the unfortunate Russel Francis.

And that's it for this week it just remains for me to welcome my latest follower "Matt", I hope both he and my regular followers find something here of interest.

As always your comments are both welcomed and appreciated.

Crash, Bang, Wallop (1)

Having finished the construction site and with my room tidied up enough to have a game it was time to try out my rules and their amendments yet again.
The scenario would be a follow on from the scenario When Jimmy met Millie way back in May/June this year.
To that end the scenario would be the ambulance racing to the hospital with the now stirring Ivor Adams (who becomes a zombie). The most important amendment to my previous thought on the rules was  the "What do we do now Butch rule ?". This gives any player controlled force a chance to stand and do nothing (more akin to the original ATZ rules, but not as harsh). I still feel it absurd that a general non-player group (the general mass of civilians in this case), having nothing to do with the action at hand would stop for no apparent reason, but accept that indecision happens. So, if a player led force leader throws a one for initiative then the force is indecisive and does nothing that turn.
The main characters in this scenario, were Russell Francis and Lee Raymonds, two security guards at the construction site. Both had all their characteristics (Initiative, Leadership, Shooting Melee and Driving) set at (3) and both considered themselves the leader !

(The die indicates the speed of the vehicle)

The security guards are each armed with a nightstick and pistol, with no reloads, but there is a shotgun in their site hut.
The only other player controlled character is the  ambulance driver whose characteristics are also all (3), except in driving (4), although his partner did have a (4) for initiative in the previous scenario.
The ambulance enters the table on the road shown above at a speed of 4, giving it 4 x 6" of movement plus and optional +1d6". It is making its way to the top of the table and will turn left at the first junction.
 To keep the game simple none of the player controlled characters had attributes.

The solitary civilian car at the start.

 Dice were then thrown for the supporting cast:
The seven sections of road were diced for to see if any civilians were still roaming the streets despite the warnings, but even with a half a chance for each section only three civilians were initially present. (1,2,3 - no civilians 4,5 -one civilian, 6 - two civilians)
There was also a third of a chance of a single vehicle in each section of road, but again  people were heeding the advice to stay off the roads and only a single solitary vehicle was present as the game started. The civilian vehicles all initially travel at a speed of 2 (12").
Further civilians and vehicles had slightly reduced chances of entering the fray.
In order to make this scenario viable I had played a couple of preparatory turns to set the scene for the on table action. So at the start of turn 1 for this game, the now zombified Ivor, in the back of the ambulance has already attacked and defeated the paramedic. As the ambulance enters the table the "feast" had also concluded. The remaining crew member, the driver, is currently unaware of the situation. 

So having set the situation up to hopefully wet your appetites, I'm leaving the actual action until next week's blog.


In other news:
This month has once more been declared Zomtober, with the intention that the challenge is to paint a zombie (or survivor) each week. Unfortunately unless I manage to get new reading implements by the end of the month (currently unlikely) I'll not be partaking, good luck to those that are though.
I also received a parcel this week, from a fellow blog in the post containing many "wonderful things" as Howard Carter would have said. Modesty forbids me telling you who my Great Dane benefactor is but it was gratefully accepted and once fully inspected I'll be pondering over the many uses I'll be making from the contents.

Before closing let me welcome my two latest followers "Maj. Diz Aster" and "End is nigh" and as always your comments are both welcomed and appreciated.