Flu-like symptoms and new additions

A week away on business and a bout of flu that left friends and family members ‘in the know’ wondering if they should simply put a bullet in my brain before I started chewing on them were not events that meant a whole lot of hobby done of late.

Microtactix supermarket

Before those two occurrences another building for my All Things Zombie Outbreak City did get completed. The Microtactix supermarket. It was a tricky build due to the inset entrance. It wouldn’t have been a problem if I had worked in card but my decision to use foamcore bit back. The building is very flavoursome and will likely be an obvious survivor destination.

I have another supermarket, this time from TommyGun, underway and look forward to filling them both with plenty of groceries and loot.

I did add a few additional roof access stairs and air conditioning units, to add a little more flavour and some cover for roof-top battles.

Air Con Unit

Before I went away or succumbed to being patient zero I ordered a plethora of new toys to keep the postman busy and give me something to look forward to.

The Ebbles Archive DVD finally arrived. Whoot! Unfortunately a trip to the post-office and an additional payment to Mr Revenue and Customs was required to collect the treasure trove of card-modelling goodness. Thankfully there is so much in the DVD that by the time I got it home and started browsing the charge seemed irrelevant. So many of the models work superbly for zombie gaming; underground bases a la that Umbrella Corporation, check, military vehicles, check, barracks, check, stock room supplies, check, bathroom sink (and showers) check. Whilst there is a gritty sci-fi theme running through the work there are tons of great models screaming out to be built.

Ebbles FUS, pre-build print outs

The first model to be made was a simple workshop bench, to add to the generator workshop, following Doug and Bryan’s, advice a medium FUS is printed and ready to go.


What I wouldn't do for two chainsaws and a canoe paddle

Studio Miniatures Zombie Horde #1 have had a little love, just a few pieces have been de-flashed and are ready for basing. They should be hitting the painting table soon.

Studio Miniatures - Awesome

Studio Miniatures Zombies

I needed a few more survivors and having trawled the Ebbles DVD I’m tempted to give Gun Crawl a go, with a zombie make-over. To that end I purchased the Hasslefree Hazmat Squad, with a few extra 25mm bases to replace the studio miniatures ones. I don’t have a problem with the studio miniatures bases (they are actually rather good) it is simply that a wider base makes it harder to fit miniatures into a small building and by the time you’ve filled a small room with set-dressing, a few mm can make all the difference.

Who you gonna call? Zombusters

All I need to do now is actually focus on any one of these mini projects and perhaps I’ll actually finish something.

All hail paracetamol!

For A Nickel, For a Dime

In the dark, twisted fairytale of Outbreak City the streets are full of stuff, you know, bits, things, junk…stuff: telephone boxes, vending machines, fire hydrants, park benches, road signs, lamp posts, crash barriers, trash cans, dumpsters and the boxes, bags of trash, pallets and grimy, slimy detritus that fills the rat-infested alleyways and gets sent sprawling across the street in car chases.

Outbreak Alleyway

Having started to build Outbreak City for my All Things Zombie games in the card modelling style I was keen to keep that theme going. What seemed initially daunting wasn’t so much of a problem once I started researching on the intertubes. Here is just a small selection of the many items available; more stuff than could realistically be put onto one table, unless it was a really big one.

The Microtactix range has a number of dumpsters, drinks and newspaper vending machines, air conditioning units and similar items, these come as extras with some of their buildings.

Zombie Apocalypse = Free Vend.

Worldworks Games seem to produce the largest volume of items in their Bits of Mayhem set and whilst I don’t have this yet, it is firmly on the ‘NEED’ list.

Following Bryan and Doug's advice I giddily await the Ebbles back catalogue DVD, more on that once it arrives, but I did find these ‘Harmless Containers’ for free download via their forum, here. I suffered considerable ribbing, from a friend who works with shipping companies, in relation to this photo. Note to self: stack them neatly on top of each other in future.

'Harmless' they said!

TommyGun does what with Paper? Over at WarSeer or the Ebbles Forums TommyGun has made available some fantastic items, from packing boxes to arcade machines and office workstations.

Loot, swag and first aid supplies.

No change? Try hollowpoint.

He also has a full gallery of downloadable printable items available here.

The ‘branded’ goods items are superb and it is all free. He even provides a scale guide to help you can adjust your printer. It is not just ‘bits’ he has created either. He has created an entire shanty town, perfect for a little backwoods sawmill type action, and an amazing range of modern buildings including his take on Andy’s Gun Works from the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead. Awesome! Thank you TommyGun, thank you very much.

Andy's Gun Works - WIP.

60 Minute (times roughly 6) Makeover

With city development fully underway the interiors of Outbreak City’s buildings were looking rather bland, empty and lifeless (but not in a good way). Time for a lilliputian Llewelyn-Bowen touch.

I don’t currently have a vast range of interior items to fill the buildings that are done, let alone the others planned. The Ebbles archive DVD is on its way which I am reliably informed contains some great interior items I can’t wait to get started on. I began with something simple and chose a single storey unit – a generator service and repair shop. This was also the first building I cut the doors and windows from.

Luxury swag - result!

As Vampifan has commented, each additional step in a build adds to the total build time and adding an interior is likely one of the most significant. This simple interior took a few evenings. I am glad I chose something this small as I am now have realistic expectations on the time required for the larger ones.

I added a partition wall to create a backroom and split the retail space and a workshop area. The walls were painted (I’ll try to use more printed textures in future) and the shop unit floor is a Google search for tiled floor textures. The image was re-sized and tiled to fit. The workshop floor is simply coloured paper, cut to size.

To fill the rooms I relied heavily on the superb freebies from TommyGun and re-scaled items from Jim's Dolls House Pages (more in a future post) I selected some shelving units, a workstation with keyboard and monitor. I added a wall clock, a welcome mat and a few boxes. I was mindful that the space had to be playable but needed enough interesting touches to create the illusion of a real place. I am happy with the current status but it deserves another session’s work. I would like to add a couple of generators in the retail unit and one on a workbench out back with some oily stains on the workshop floor among other small details.

Zombie free - time to snaffle generator spares!

Yup, I know - something is missing. Almost every building should actually include toilets, washbasins and a separate sink, somewhere to make drinks in a commerical unit or a kitchen in a residential property. I'll look at including those in future builds, when I have some models to make up for them.

I am guessing that replicating porcelain thrones over and over again might be a bit of a pain in the proverbial but perhaps it will help keep in mind rule # 3. Beware of Bathrooms.