Unboxing The assault group miniatures

Hello,

the assault group has entered the building!

I would like to say it right on the begining. I have nothing to do with TAG at all, I've only ordered one order. But wow, I love them! They mostly produce historical wargaming stuff that I don't play, but I'll surely go back and buy some russians and all once I get around to gaming chechen wars. Or something. I like those MVD russians with visors. And the rest of the SWAT guys. The rest, you ask? Well, I got the best pack now!

Miniatures came as they always do, in a nice carboard box with some filling to keep the minies safe. This is what was in the packet:

Oh, yeah, sorry for blurry pics again. I blame the enthusiasm this time!

 From left top to right bottom we got .50 cal SWAT sniper freebie, SAS guys, SWAT with gasmasks (sooo cool!), a bag o'weapons and equipment - I've really complicated my order here and I must thank Pete for a hundreth time...such a great service. Then we got mixed african militia with SMG (I wanted the one with MP5, but I wrote it wrong, I got what I asked for. I really liked the other one for a conversion, but I will just make this one work). In there are two deltas in civilian clothes and another SWAT guy,with a riot shield. Also ment for converting. Last pack is mix of african militia with rifles and shotguns to represent random survivors.

 Above is a large scaleshot pic. We got mantic zed, mantic-hasslefree Kev, TAG, Mantic, TAG, mantic-hasslefree tony, TAG, WGF zed, TAG, Urban war girl, mantic.

 A closer pic of a part of the line. Keep in mind Hasslefree's Kev is on the smaller scale on purpose. And that mantic zeds are a bit larger, so I guess we could say TAG's minies are a little bit on the larger side.

 Another part of the line, this time with smaller TAG mini (african with SMG) and WGF zeds, which are a bit smaller figs overall.

Here is the poor missordered mini. I wanted african militiaman with MP5 and a baseball cap, but I've already think of ideas how to use this guy. If all goes well, this may even end up as a better choice!





If I go on to minies themselves, they're made somewhat basic, compared to, say Hasslefree minies, but we must keep in mind, they're also much cheaper. Some of the weapons seem a bit small, for example one of the DELTA guys...but most of the miniatures seem pretty good to me. Detail is decent, eyes on some of the faces are a bit "hidden", but that can probably be fixed with a basecoat. I've bought a great variety of different pacs, but If you'd buy from same range...say, 4 packs of SWAT guys, you'd notice that they got same bodies, yet there are not two that would be the same.




I've decided to make a purchase because now I have a decent number of survivors to support my gaming. I could also buy some of the marines or british soldiers for the army, but I will go with SAS guys I bought for now. Then I will either keep it that way or I will go with eureka's germans. Honestly, I  think I'll just use SWAT for the "hard hitting" hunters.

The biggest gem in my order are the weapons. TAG sells them at 10 per pack, but Pete said I could mix as I'd want. I REALLY felt bad because I took horrible advantage over his kindness, but now I got such a great mixture of weapons that my survivors will acutally be able to find a 3D gun while searching the house. The downside of the idea is, that I need to get myself some furniture!

Well, thanks yet again for reading, I hope someone finds the short review useful. I will now go and base all the minies, diploma can wait. Then I will probably go make some sandbag emplacements and defenses so I can play "defend" scenario from NMRIH. With .50 cal emplacements. It doesn't get much cooler if you ask me!

Cheers,
Mathyoo

oh and it's Lord Siwoc's birthday today!

Wire fencing

I  have an exam tomorrow morning. It is know as a hard one, so I shouldn't have left the books last week, and especially this weekend. But well, I wouldn't be a student, if I'd did it, so instead, I felt an urge to a) do what I've shown in the previous post and b) finish my fences. I've cut plasticard before I left in May, and I never really felt a need to make them just yet....until yesterday evening. I should state, that I REALLY tried to study, but nothing goes in. I am simply too exhausted from May. Sure it was a week since I came home, but I don't know, it takes time, I guess. So, I kept reading since wednesday, but damn facts just don't get in my head. I also listened to band of your youth, the Sex pistols, so "we don't careeee". I'll worry about that tomorrow, hehe. Let me quit complaining before I come to politics and enjoy few pictures of my day-worthy work:

Ladies (still not sure, any ladies around? :) ) and gentlemen, I present you no less than 1 meter of wire fencing:

Idea is taken from Lucky Joe's, before anyone will admire my ingenuity!


Below, they're on my table. There are 3 pieces, 15 cm long, 5 10 cm long and 1 five. I've cut plasticard a while ago, the rest was done yesterday and today.

The poles are made of skewers, which are basically longer and thicker toothpicks. So, I've cut the poles, around 6 cm long, super glued them to plasticard (some of them more than once, but I don't have such a thick drill). Then I've applied white glue, put them in sand (twice), painted the bases, painted the poles (one coat of red to make them look old ;) ), cut the fences, washed the fences with dilluted black paint, quickly dried them with a tissue. Glued the fences on, voila. They will get a coat of varnish tomorrow.

There is not much I could say about the fences. I made some variety, above you can see a hole in one and the 5cm one. It was spare, more or less, so I just made it ripped.

Below, there is a nice atmospheric picture of Grom bravely running for the hole in the fence, while being followed by the undead. Two of the girls provide some covering fire and third just looks nice.

Well, thats it for today, I'll go check my papers a little bit now. If things go as they should, next report should follow as soon as tomorrow or on tuesday, featuring a review of something!

Thanks for looking,
Mathyoo

Even more work in progress...

 What I got for you today, is whole lot of something, but actually nothing. It is some work in progress, most of it was done since my last update, but there are some little bits that were done long before that.


On the picture below, you got most of the sculpting. I've also converted some more zombies, but that can be reviewed once I paint them. I tried myself at sculpting slovenian army's webbing. It turned out roughly okay, but well, it was a rush job.

That don't matter, however, because I don't have a photo of him. Here are some WIP body bags, bodies, little conversion of the spare "armoured Ken" I have (this one had his rifle broken, so I got a new one, didnt want this one to just be useless so I tried myself at sculpting FN F2000S rifle...WIP :P). Oh and there, in top right corner are some little garbage bags made of left overs. I've noticed the little one is turned wrong, I've took some other pictures with it placed right, but strangely, those were all blurry.

A close up on Ken and body bags. Rifle was a hard work, I had to chop magazine off, shorten it as much as I could and put some GS on it just to make it look like a lot of effort. I tried the same thing on the back side, but it turned out worse. I have no idea how I am going to sculpt a red dot.
Body bags are pretty simple concept, one is empty and the other is not. The second one was too thin and I've put some extra putty on it. I was using miliput and I couldn't blend soft on soft, so I will just wait for it to cure and sand it some time later. I have few ideas with some living dead in them, like hand stucking out, visible head etc.

 A close up on bodies this time. They are few months old, what I did was just bulky them out a bit. I think next stage should be greenstuff now, as I find miliput hard to work with for any detailed work.

 And last of the group, the garbage bags. Nothing spectacular, I've followed this tutorial. If you compare mine to his, I didn't really get the point, but oh well, who'll notice if I just put some on a corner of a building, eh?

 ...talking about buildings, I've started painting mine. I bough a set of 8 paints and this is where I am so far:

 The little buildings are going to...err...I plan them to be bright. I will paint blue with lighter shade and I will just paint green again and again until black below is covered. I may also suggest that if you are going to paint your buildings any time soon, seriously consider buying a spray paint. My undercoat is black paint, painted by hand. It takes about 3 coats to cover the cork. That being said, check the green building. Consider a lighter undercoat, or at least base colour after the black.

 The big building is failed. I wanted to go with earthy tones, used "terracota" and when I've painted first 2 layers, I figured I want my roofs too look like that. So I started adding some yelow to brighten it up. I will also wash roofs with dilluted black paint to get them a bit darker.

I will keep working on the buildings exterior, and will move to interior walls once I've got them all painted, probably. Just so, to avoid looking at natural cork on my table.

Thanks for looking,
Mathyoo

Horde doubles again!

Hello, finally a worthy update again!

During weekend and last three days, I've been slowly working on painting my horde. I've decided I'd go with 6 this time. I found out painting 3 at a time would take way too long, but while I was painting, I also figured that 6 is too much for me. I was also exhausted from last month and I've been sloppy. They still came out okay, I think...in the end, they're just a tiny drops in an undead wave of destruction and despair.

Below, you can see the pics. Sorry for bad quality, again. And sorry for lack of a decent background, too lazy to put sheet of foamboard on the end. But I did put them on a road tile, all I need now is a building and scene is set!

All 6 of them:

 It isn't too noticable, but most of them are slightly converted. Not the first, he is just a dumb placed ballerina. I still am not sure If I really wanted him to stand that way, lol. Second one is a doctor. I gave him face mask and that thing for listening to breathing. Somehow I keep forgeting how it is called. Stetoscope or something. Check his cool blue crocs :D. Third one is my first african american and he has his left wrist sculpted profesionally by me.You didn't see it coming, eh? :D Nothing but repositioned left arm on the fourth one, a knife-in-the-belly of the fifth and nothing changed at all on the sixth. I did, however, built (and, indeed, painted) him as an (ex) soldier. He is dressed in urban cammo uniform that soldiers who came to contain the outbreak wore. Looks like he was off duty, as he carries no extra gear.

 Above is my horde in all its might, chasing poor weekend solider across the town. At this point, I think calling my little group a "horde" is an insult to other zombie bloggers. So, lets refer to it as a GROWING HORDE! That fixes it!

Last two pics are just a little bonus. Yes, dark again. Sorry.

Here are my two army men both togethers, posing for pic:

And what I think is a better picture of Grom, the character for Shelldrake's PBB, which I will hopefully start playing with the rest of the survivors.

Now that we got the machinery rolling, whats next?
To be honest, I am kind of tired of painting minies for a while. Which is good, because I will go paint some of those buildings I've made a while ago. I also sculpt a bit now and then, got some dead bodies and garbage started. I am waiting for greenstuff at the moment, but I've also came home with an idea of slovenian soldiers. I spent at least few minutes a day since last friday, drawing some sketches and making ideas for packs. It is a bit high flying goal, considering my limited sculpting practice and skills, but well, some ambition is always good, people say.

Thanks for looking,
Mathyoo

3,000 views!

Hey guys!

Just a short thank you post for this weekend.

The blog has been less than active over May due to my absence, but that will change now and we're back in business!

A big thank you for all the support, all this blogging wouldn't even be half the fun without you guys showing interest in the posts and sharing ideas and comments.


Cheers,
Mathyoo

Campaign Set up - theory 1

Hello,

I've written this post before I left, because I knew I wouldn't have time to do much of anything hobby related. 

I am thinking much about how my campaign should be run and about tweaks in the rules that I'd need (want?) to make.

Don't get me wrong, I am really satisfied with the rules, but they come out too simple, so to say. Then again you can fit limited amount of things in one book.


Some of the chagnges, as zombies control and additional weapons, will be used in normal games as well, but others, like improved search tables and some campaign specific scenarios, will be, at least for the beginning, limited to campaign play.

I only have rough idea of what to do at the moment, but this is no problem, as I have plenty of time to fix things.  I have also picked the name of the town, by the way, but lets reveal that when the time comes.

To keep it easier for me, to keep it interesting for you, and because my handwriting is horrible, here is a rough to-do list before I start my campaign, by no special order:

Scenery:
- paint buildings
- build more building (fire house (department? station?), police station, clinic or hospital, more apartments)
- build more scenery (trash, rubbish, waste, bins, fences, walls)

Miniatures:
- paint miniatures (obviously)
- purchase survivors (main characters and some random gangsters and police, army, too - rules are very light on NPC alive people, so I will fix that a bit, but I guess team Bloggers will be pretty lonely)
- purchase additional zombies (because...there is never enough!)

House rules:
- additional weapons and equipment (supressor!)
- zombie control
- scenarios (write "quarantine" scenario, inspired by ATZ, but basic. I was thinking police/army roadblock, survivors need to get out of the area - so updated "On the road" scenario from NMRIH; tweak other scenarios to fit campaign - will do that as campaign progresses)
- improve search tables (currently those are pretty basic. I will make special for apartment buildings, police station, firehouse, clinic, various types of stores etc)
- NPC? There are some ideas of NPC in the book, as people shooting at you and so on - will try to make it so they actually appear. The good guys (gives your team bonuses for scenario) will be able to join team for the duration of scenario, or, if I decide, join the team for the campaign)


The plot:
I already have rough idea of the first mission story, but will have to playtest a thing or two. Obviously, story will be made up as we go, regarding the things happening on the table.

After I come home, I will start painting zeds. I will try working with 6 at once, because 3 will take up too much time. Then I'll paint the buildings (bought some less expensive acrylics) and start experimenting with the house rules. I am most bugged with the ammount of zombies on the table, I will have less points on table than it is advised, and don't want my survivors to get overcrowded. To keep things simple, I might just play with the lowest zombie threat level (for example, using rules for rural densitiy, but playing in urban area). I don't want to dig too deep in the mechanics of the game.

You can see I've named this post "theory 1". The reason is, I plan to post updates say...once every 2-3 weeks, when I'd have something big finished. I will start blogging twice a week next week.

Cheers,

Mathyoo

Shelldrake's PBB Mini me

Hello,

I've been just whining and complaining for past two weeks and now I've decided it is time to get a grip and start putting things that belong here. So I present you my character for Shelldrake's PBB 2 game. I've started painting this fellow before I left and finished him yesterday. He is not as good as I'd want to, but well, not too bad either, concerning my skills.  Photos are much worse!

I've added two pictures of his front, none is really good. Ian, please tell me if they're too bad, I will take some more today or next weekend.

As for the miniature itself, I've decided for him to represent me as he is a bit shorter and kind of slim. His hair is awfully done, I just can't paint that. He carries G36C assault rifle, which will probably be my imaginary country's main firearms. Just need some eureka germans and more hasslefree, hehe. I've painted his buletproof vest in "olive drab" kind color, but I went with urban uniform. Main reason is, I wanted to get some contrast to him, all green wouldn't work good for me, neither would all black-white, as I will probably do my SWATs in greys, too. Don't like blue too much. So, if we go back to our man, he could be a reserve formations soldier, with limited uniform. This would justify woodland vest and urban uniform beneath it. He has full cammo pants (which I am very satisfied with, as I was somewhat scared to start it) and grey turtleneck, for cold days in urban enviroment. Its based on one color green turtlenecks we got at the army. It is not designed for use without full cammo shirt over it, but well, who has time to obey regulations once the dead walk the earth?

Painting him was a real joy. I love the fingerless gloves. I love the neck guard on the vest. Don't like the vest itslef much, but well, a man can't have everything! I will definitely buy a civil version of him, give him an axe and use him as me for my own zombie slaughtering campaign!

As for the campaign characteristic, he is conveniently armed the same way as the figure I picked from Shelldrake's list of choices. The only difference, thus, is, this one is really mine :P.

Here are the stats:

Grom (it is just an acronym from my first and last name - it means "thunder" or "thunderclap" in slovenian, I am bad to the bone! :D)
Guns 7 (30)
Fists 8 (21)
Guts 11 (18)
=69

Badass zombie slayer (30)
Gunslinger (5)
I would follow him trough the gates of hell (15)
= 50


Gear
The char no. 4, my choice, was armed with an assault rifle, body armour and a pistol.So is this guy. If you're interested, he carries pistol on his left-side ribcage area. Because it all adds over 50 points limit, Grom counts as having:
A body armour (20)
An assault rifle (30)


= 50

I will jump in the game in June, after I come home so people wouldn't wait for me for no reason, and we will see how Shelldrake delivers me, once we get there!




I am glad my wargaming blog is wargaming blog again and will keep it that way

Blast! I've copied stats from forums and now its all weird. Sorry for that, seems I can't fix it -.-




Cheers,

Mathyoo