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Thursday 25 December 2014

How about some festive fun?

For no prize just the amusement of our fellow blogers.

Post up or reply here the best (which really means the worst) Christmas Cracker joke you got/heard this year?

I'll start the ball rolling.

What does Santa use to take his Christmas pictures?



A NORTH POLE-AROID!!!

Ho, ho, ho!

PS I'm full of good turkey and a fine wine. Hope you're all having a good time.

Lorcan

Wednesday 24 December 2014

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

Sabbatical over, time to return to the zombie bloggers' fold.

My 200th post is a short one. It's just to wish you all out there
A
VERY
HAPPY CHRISTMAS.



Lorcan.

Saturday 4 October 2014

A Sabbatical

Those of you who are kind enough to follow my blog know that I have this habit of writing my batreps in a sort of story style. These I later combine and fill in the blanks with further prose. This drives my gaming. Sadly, the zombie in me is lacking and I can't get into it again. Subsequently, I am going to take a sabbatical from zombie gaming. So what's going to happen?

Every year there is a monthly novel writing marathon know as the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriM: http://nanowrimo.org/) which takes place in November.




 So I've taken up the baton. I'm going to push into VBCW. I will use the Zombtober concept to focus my modelling on VBCW, I need all sorts of scenery and gaming counters as well as troops. When the troops are assembled I will run a campaign and it write up as a novel. Therefore I'm transferring my efforts to my brother site (A Plastic Very British Civil War: http://lrqan2.blogspot.co.uk/) for a couple of months.


A Plastic Very British Civil War
As most of my inspiration comes form you guys I won't be a stranger to your sites. I hope to return refreshed and ready to the ZBA in time for a Christmas Campaign.

Thanks for reading. See you soon.

Lorcan.

Saturday 27 September 2014

Sitrep-nothing exciting, I nearly got some zed gaming in.

The last Saturday in September and it's the last 'car boot' sale at my club for the year, which signifies the end of summer.

It is overcast on the peninsula and I thought with the Ryder Cup going on I'd have a go at THWs Zombie Golf  (golf is not a game that I particularly like despite there being some 13 golf courses within 10 miles of where I live.)



Well there I was planning my course ready to 'tee off' when in comes the 1st heir.
"Dad," says he, in that sort of' there's something more coming my way' voice. "Adamo is going scootering, Mater is off to a coffee morning, so I was wondering if we could go to the club and watch the derby?"

I'd completely forgotten about that! "When is it?" asks I.

"Twelve-forty five, but you'll need to get there early to set up the big screen."

I sighed and put away the golf course.

Maybe it'll look something like this. But I think not.

Is it: COYB or YNWA

The two days of this pairing are not unlike the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse as the streets of our borough will be deserted for 90 minutes, very eerie.

There's a very good 'crazy golf' course on the front, I think I'll visit that for inspiration. Hmm zombie crazy golf.

Keep safe out there.

Lorcan.






Thursday 18 September 2014

Another X Wing post - Home made escape pods.

1. Get your tools together.
(The mints are crucial, the tea not so) 
As you may know I do like to run pre-set scenarios into a mini campaign. The next one in X Wing is the protection of a wounded ship. It came to me that the ship(s) could be the escape pods from the Senator's shuttle in mission 1. As there are no such items in the X-Wing world I thought I'd cobble some together.


2.Cut out balsa bases.
1/4 the size of a small ship.








3. X-Wing tac -tics

4. With a steady extra hand,
 drill holes into the mints.

5. Stiff wire supports inserted into holes
and glued in place.

6.Raiding the spice cabinet for some detail.


















7. A lick of paint
(Must practice close-ups again)

8.Ready to enter the fray.











The mat is a trial run on scrap piece of material that I am hoping to make a 3'x3' gaming mat on. If I get it going I'll blog the project.

I'm also working on a new zombie campaign. I think Gunnery Sergeant Highway will make a comeback. More to follow.

Hope all is well with you all. Keep safe.

Lorcan

Thursday 11 September 2014

Getting the Mojo back.

As part of getting back in the swim I thought I'd address the vexed topic of my man cave. As you all know it is a nomadic space. However, I have neglected it only ripping out the bits I needed for the little projects I did. So when I decided to hit it today. Well pictures paint a thousand words.

Oh Lordy
Ever get that feeling that you wish
you'd never started something.





Everything has a place and a place
for everything.

FYI: The skull in the bottle is a WIP trophy. The whisky carton was a gift (as I can't stand the stuff) it contains a Piecepack set that I built from scratch. It didn't come out too well hence no pictures of it. The idea is good for gamers, if you like game theory and just playing. More info can be found here:  http://www.piecepack.org/ 

Future projects: A game mat for X-Wing and in the near future a couple of ships for the same (more will be revealed in the relevant post)

Catch up to you all soon.

Lorcan.
  

Sunday 7 September 2014

Tempus fugit - A new game and a new batrep.

Hi Guys, it's been some time. Sorry about that. Bottom line is I haven't coped too well with retirement and instead of relaxing and enjoying our hobby I got far too engrossed looking for work. It took my son and nephew to bring me to my senses again. The former just told me to start playing with my zombies again and the latter got me into X-Wing miniatures. So now I'm contemplating a new ATZ campaign (with my current characters). By way of an apology here's a batrep for an X-Wing game. (Hope you don't mind as it's not zombie orientated, but I really enjoy it as a game.)





Turn 1
“Shuttle, Red Wing Six, no duff. Over”
“Shuttle, send Red Wing Six.”
“No duff. Two boogies twelve-o-clock. Stay close. Wait, out.”
“Roger that. Stay close. Out.”
“Tango two four to Tango Leader. Do you copy that sighting? Over.”
“Tango two three, yes, yes. IFF says one X Wing and standard shuttle. Maintain current course.”
“OK. Out.”




Turn 2
 Pilot Officer Silas Shodon eased the power to his four Incom 4L4 fusion engines and his T-65 X- Wing slowed allowing his escort to close up. He already had eyeball of two Imperial Tie fighters. He raised his shields whilst simultaneously engaging the holographic targeting system.
“Tango Leader. Split, split, split.”
“Tango two four. Moving NOW!”
Shodon marveled at the Ties’ maneuverability as both fighters barrow-rolled to their open-side.
Shodon sighted the starboard ship and opened up with his four KX9 laser cannons. 



Flashes sparked on his target and the X-Wing’s Fabritech tracking computer registered two hits. Yellow streaks of Imperial laser flashed passed his cockpit burning out harmlessly in space.


Turn 3
Banking starboard Shodon started his pursuit.
“Shuttle, maintain speed and course. I’m engaging.”




“Shuttle. Roger; Red Wing Six. Remember our mission. Over.”
“Red Wing Six, not forgotten. Out.”
Tango Leader. Maintain formation.”
“Tango two four, roger.”

Turn 4
“Tango Leader. Re-engage!”
“Tango two four. Re-engaging.”
Banking to his right, Shodon noted his enemy’s twin Koiogran turns bringing all their guns to bear on the Ambassador’s shuttle.



“Red Wing Six, Red Wing Six. We’re receiving damage. Hull integrity reduced to sixty percent.”
Shodon opened the T-65’s engines and his ship banked hard starboard.



Turn 5
Red Wing Six’s holographic system followed the shuttle’s desperate attempt to evade its pursuers. Shodon pushed the T-65 harder.
“Mayday, Mayday. Hull integrity thirty percent. Abandoni…………………..” 




The silence in his headphones deafened Shodon. He eased off on his power and scanned for any escape pods.
“Tango two four; nice work Romeo, Tango, Uniform.”

“Roger, roger; return to unit.”

Aftermath
This was my first mission game. As I was used to playing the Imperials (nephew was always Han) I flew the Ties better. A rerun of the match, now with a better understanding of the X-Wing capabilities, led to a resounding Rebel victory, destroying one Tie fighter, running its partner to one remaining hull point and giving the replacement Tie a bad fright. Needless to say the Ambassador was able to deliver his chocolate balls. 

Well thanks for popping by. Sorry for not keeping up with you all. I will try harder from now on.

Yours,
Lorcan.

Sunday 18 May 2014

Birthday Post

It's been an odd few weeks with no modelling or gaming. But then it does tend to happen at this time of year. My birthday, my blog's birthday and on the peninsula there are a few beer/cider festivals as well as the end of the egg chasing season. The conclusion is I do nothing during May but be merry!!!

So happy birthday Plastic Zombie.



And happy birthday to me! (54)
 
Sorry to all you guys that have been posting but I have not been studying the web of late. But Monday sees the resumption of normal service.

Take care out there.

Lorcan.

Wednesday 7 May 2014

An AAR

The reason for the previous post and my absence from the blog-o-sphere is that I went on rugby tour with my son's under 16's and a stack of other Dads. Here's a flavor.

Turn 1

Fancy Dress start.
 I turned up as Po, the Kung Fu Panda, no pictures of that.

Turn 2

The accommodation is a converted barn. No one around, nothing about, so there was plenty of space and time for shenanigans.
The view from our accommodation: Beautiful Much Wenlock. 
The team played at Wolverhampton RUFC. A big thank you to them. They entertained the tourists royally. Despite us all having odd shoes on and put on and took off items of clothing at different scores.


Turn 3





The lads got to the final of the county championship, by default really. The last day of a tour was not the ideal time to play and they got whacked. But here they are getting their 'runners up' medals.

Turn 4

Well I'm just about getting over it, so there'll be no more modelling for a good few days as I've all sorts of personal admin to do. A tour wasn't the ideal prep.

On a modelling front. If you like model aircraft check this article out.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2621589/Astonishing-collection-model-planes-encompassing-years-flight-leading-WW1-reveal-bizarre-designs-really-did-airborne.html

Thanks for popping by. See you soon, when the shaking stops.
Lorcan


The Post that never was!

I was supposed to have posted this one last week as I knew that I would be out of commission for a few days. See the next post.

It was to support the WIP of the Paula M.

Having no TD skills whatsoever I was tongue in cheekily showing off this lack of skill.
The start!

Planning and Design at its Peak!

The idea is to draw out the deck plan on the left and then convert it to the model on the right.

All will become clear, later!

See you soon.

Lorcan

Saturday 26 April 2014

Quick SITREP - Easter

Easter is a busy time for me and what with a couple of job interviews to prep for and go to (neither of which I got) I haven't been able to do any modelling or gaming.

However leading on from my last BATREP I've decided to take the gang on board the Paula M , secure it and hopefully save the ABs that fled. This requires the manufacture of the smack's internal geography. I was inspired by this work of art which is one of two on the local beaches.

The heirs on a blowy day
Just out of curiosity this instillation is on Hoylake seafront. This is were Daniel Craig (007) was brought up, the promenade was featured on the ITV series Watching for those of you old enough to remember it. On a wargaming front the town was also the site of William of Orange and his army's campsite before his embarkation to Ireland prior to the Battle of the Boyne. Additionally, there is a full Viking longboat buried under the car park of nearby pub, which makes it too expensive to excavate.

So this week's task is to convert the below into the innards of a rum runner.


Take care out there.

Thanks for stopping by.

Lorcan

Tuesday 15 April 2014

Moor City Zeds - Episode 2 - Dockland



Turn 1 (Gangers 3- Cops 6)

Buggs was not happy. Fog had held up the Paula M. and with her docking only an hour before sunrise the gang were still offloading the hooch. Still Jay and Mr. Joshey had worked hard. The tanker was full and they only needed to load a score of crates on the remaining truck. Now the sun was up Buggs regretted only arming Ally the Eagle. They could all use some fire power. Anyway Ally was a good lad and patrolling the top of their warehouse would give the team an eye in the sky, on the plus side they shouldn't be long.

 Ally the Eagle, checked the ABs working Paula M’s deck, and started his umpteenth stroll, he was tired and bored.
A random dice throw gave the gang four activations to load the remaining wagon. Then it was ‘all aboard’ and away.

Turn 2 (G6-C5)
Jack Regan ducked under the barrier and cautiously moved up the dock road. Don Orville followed a bemused look on his face.
It was a slight sign movement in his peripheral vision that pulled Jack’s attention to the warehouse roof. He didn't need a second glance, the sight of Ally’s rifle was all he needed. Grabbing Don’s belt he dragged him into the cover of a nearby warehouse.
“Keep it shut Orville. Do as I say, when I say it and don’t think about it.”
Don’s face paled and he nodded his understanding.
In sight test was passed by JR but failed by Ally.


Turn 3-4 (5-6) (1-3)

Jack pointed to the far corner of their cover away from Ally. He made a walking sign with his fingers and then indicated a right turn. He formed a circle with his thumb and forefinger and put it to his eye, indicating he wanted to spy out the land.
Don just stared at him. Jack mouthed, ‘follow me.”
Buggs put his hands into the small of his back and stretched, “well done laddy. North End Bobby’ll be right pleased there’s a fine haul here.” He pulled a bottle from a crate and examined the label, Canadian Scotch, “Mr Joshey, a little bonus for the boys. What do you think?”
Mr. Joshey, finished roping down his load. Despite not being the sharpest tool in the box, he knew enough to cotton on. He threw a wave at his boss. Jay strolled up to his boss and pursed his lips at the fresh booty.

Turn 5 (4-4) (No random event) (1-2)
Jack, followed by Don, edged his way to the front warehouse corner and peered around. Buggs’ work gang filled his eyes, ‘bloody hell, Lynch was right,’ he thought. Ducking back he turned to his rookie.
“Listen sharp. We got the Shamrocks loading hooch. I count only two and there’s the gat on the roof, bit that’s the only weapon I see. We’re going to take them down. We’ll move, double quick, to a stack of crates near the waterline, you can’t miss them. From there it’s all or nothing. Questions?”
Ally snapped from his revere at the sound of breaking wood coming from below his position. He strained his eyes into the flotsam that had formed behind his station.

“Buggs, we got something back here,” he sung out covering the pile with his rifle.
JR’s in sight passed as did Ally’s revealing the PEF’s location at the back of his warehouse.

Turn 6 (4-3)
Buggs sighed, “Joshey, I’m going to check out the ghosts that Ally’s found, you saddle up the tanker and get ready to leave. Jay come with me.”
Mr. Joshey dropped from the rear of the truck and headed towards his task.
Turning the corner Buggs spied a figure, “Ally, I got him, behind the cases, cover him! OK buddy what’s your beef?”
A dishevelled figure rose from the rubbish, “Mister, I never seen nothin’. I was just trying to get some shut eye. Don’t do me no harm, I means nothing.”
 Buggs yawned, “Skedaddle, you seen nothing, right?”
The hobo nodded, turned and made off.
“Ally, just a bum. Git yerself down here we’re hightailing it.”
“Ready? Move,” Jack burst from cover and headed to his next bound.
Mr. Joshey jumped out of his skin at the sight of two officers running across the dock.
“G-MEN!”
Jack redoubled his effort and crashed into the packing case, Orville panted after him. Jack, glanced around his cover, “freeze there boy!”
Don Orville stood rooted to the ground as a figure barely recognisable as human staggered from nearby warehouse. He brought his police special to bear and loosed two rounds. He knew not where they ended up all he knew was the figure lunged at him.
Acting instinctively, Don swung his revolver at the beast’s head. His barrel passed right through the creature’s lower face taking its jaw clean off. It grabbed Don’s arm and tried to force it into what was left of its mouth.
The 1st  PEF resolution led to one civilian. Joshey was making to his tanker when the cops moved his insight test spotted them. As the cops got to their cover, the 2nd PEF resolved to a zed, DO ended up locked in melee. A second zed was created which appeared on the boat. I won’t go into this action any detail, it attacks one of the ABs and spends the rest of the encounter feasting.

Turn 7 (G4-Z5-C1)
Buggs and Jay pulled around the corner and for the second time in less than an hour Buggs cursed his lack of arms as he took in the scene at a glance, “Mr. Joshey get going! Jay the wagon! Ally double quick laddy, we need your artillery!”
 Jack stepped from behind his cover and levelled his pistol, “Game’s up boys. You coming quietly?”
“Go to hell copper!” answered Buggs picking up a piece of four by two.
Joshey said nothing. He was transfixed by the sights he had just witnessed and remained paralysed at the rear of his vehicle.
Don, brought the butt of his revolver crashing onto his attacker’s cranium. The metal crashed through weakened bone and the beast collapsed in a pile of rotten gore.

Mr.Joshey ducked back and all others were out of range.

Turn 8 (3-1)
The only thing Ally saw as he turned the corner was the inside of county gaol. He propped his rifle against the corner of the warehouse, steadied his aim and fired. He cursed as his shot whistled its way into the dock’s hinterland.
Jay Bellisini, slipped unseen between the back of the roped up truck and his boss. He slipped along it’s offside towards the cab.
Jack drew a bead on Buggs and sent him across the Jordan. He shot a glance at Orville who was staring bemused into the distance.
“Don, no time for that! The tanker. Follow me, NOW!” he yelled as he struck out towards Mr. Joshey’s ride.


Mr. Joshey shrank to his haunches and tried to make himself as small as possible, he rocked back a forward hoping it would all just end.

Turn 9 (3-2)
Ally the Eagle took stock. His boss was dead Joshey was less than useless and he couldn’t even see Jay. He turned and fled.
Jay struggled behind the wagon’s wheel and tried to kick over the engine. It burst into life
Jack stepped from behind Joshey’s tanker and into the path of Jay. He levelled his automatic at the gangster. Jay revved the engine, Jack fired twice and Jay Bellisini met it boss.

Turn 10
Jack offed the zed that had pushed itself above Paula M’s bulwarks.
“Don. Lock him up,” he said jerking his head towards the cowering youth. “You did good there kid. Now about that play. You sure Duck bought the farm. Couldn't he have survived, been captured and the others have to rescue him? Then you've got a series.





Epilogue
North End Bobby has lost his shipment, zeds are creeping into the city bit by bit, the ‘Stallions’ (a gang) have yet to appear. Where to next?
Thoughts

I went the whole hog in FFO and it developed a very enjoyable RPG type of encounter. I’m going to stick with it for the next couple of games and see how it pans out. Playing on a smaller board I converted the inches to centimetres. It works well for movement but not so well for firing. I’m going to have to alter this little house rule.