Standby, Standby. Go! Go! Go!

The first public appearance of Outbreak City took place this week. As always, an exciting and nervous event for a new project. We played All Things Zombie, the game went superbly well and the whole play-set was well received by the players and other club attendees alike. The battle report is now under construction so expect to see that soon.

In the run up to the game I was, like always, frantically trying to finish as much as possible and fighting the demons of ‘do without and do it properly another time’ and ‘just stay up late and get it finished’. For the most part the former prevailed but I did manage to get a reasonable amount of things out of the workspace and onto the table.

I finished the Hasslefree Hazmat Squad. They were a pleasure to paint. I was also forced to buy a new bright yellow and their tanks received a coat of clear gloss varnish to help them ‘pop’ a little more.



Hasslefree Hazmat Squad. Tip of the spear. Bio-threat style.

"Zulu Down!"

"Stack up."

"Why are there no grey gloves left?"

"100% bada$$ and I still have to wear orange gum boots."

Andy’s Gunworks had its sign fitted at last, although I still need to finish his roof access and add some white garden funiture, a pallet and a barbeque to keep him happy.

"So What's the Bad News?"

I finally finished painting my original four Hasslefree survivors. They were usable before but I wasn’t satisfied with their bases and needed a final pass and highlighting before I could call them done.



Hasslefree Survivors - Ray, Ken, Suzi and Lara

Having spent a little more time on these miniatures than I normally would, and having enjoyed every minute, I am keen to explore acrylic mediums to help with the blending (the paint was drying out quite quickly as I blended). I also want to expand my pallet of tools and colours to help make the most of the models.

With Easter not that far away I decided to add this little nod to Zombielarp. Bioflex is a multi-billion pound corporation that dedicates a considerable amount of its focus on bio-technology and military grade hardware. Worried? Justifiably so.

"Delivery for a Mr P. Anderson?"

Finally, on Saturday the 5^th March I attended Zombielarp: Evolution. The bad news is, the gun-cam footage was not captured. I’d like to blame a technical fault, but once the adrenaline-fuelled frenzy had subsided it was just as easy to point a finger at my own stupidity in the chaos of the moment. That aside, the good news is I captured enough footage during the night's proceedings to put this little ditty together.

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!

My First Survivors

One of the many things that appealed to me with this project is that fact that I did not have to paint many, many, many, many, and did I say many, miniatures of the exact same pose to be able to play. Sure, there’s that horde of zombies, and who doesn’t aspire to amassing a fully painted horde the size of Vampifan’s? But from a survivor point of view, I knew that I could simply paint up just enough to get started and add to them whenever I felt like it.

I was instantly drawn to Hasslefree Minatures Survivors range. With dynamic poses, an assortment of armaments, a cheeky nod to movie tie-ins and a good mix of male and female characters it seemed difficult to go wrong, so I initially opted to order just four miniatures with different weapons to get the ball rolling.

My survivors of choice were Eve (My other half yelled ‘Oooh, get Lara’), Ray (Shaun), Suzi (You can see her knickers, why wouldn’t you?) and Ken (Kenneth from the 2004 DOTD remake anyone?)

The purchase went smoothly and hand-written note and the sweet made me smile, which was nice; it is good to know the personal touch is not lost, thank you Hasslefree.

I wanted to try a different basing technique and having seen the Tengu Models advice I decided to give milliput a try for the first time and attempt a paving slabs effect. Thank you also to Jim for the pointers. I was pleased with the results however I think I will add a little extra ‘detritus’ and mix elements of milliput, gravel and other scattered randomness to future bases as the project progresses.

Milliput 'flagstone' bases

I think the painting turned out ok however, although the models are playable they are not quite finished, requiring a little more highlighting before they finally get a coat of matt varnish.

Hasslefree Adventurers, almost finished. L-R: Eve, Ray, Ken and Suzi