Music for Zombie Gaming - Part 8

No Zombie Gaming playlist would be complete without the Resident Evil Soundtracks.

The score form the first Resident Evil movie features an awesome blend of orchestral work and industrial techno and Metal, a theme that continues through all of the Resident Evil movies.

However you feel about the transfer of Alice from video game to the big screen, the film's soundtracks stand alone as an epic background to any Zombie Gaming night.

Music for Zombie Gaming - Part 7

Bear McCreary is a name that has popped up quite a bit in recently years, if you're a bit of a nerd. The American born composer and musician lives in Los Angeles California. Not only does he have an awesomely manly name, he is also responsible for the soundtracks for the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, The Walking Dead and Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. among other things.

He also composed the theatrical film score to Step Up 3D... which is actually rather good... but less talked about, certainly by most Walking Dead fans.

Although he studied under the legendary Elmer Bernstein he has undoubtedly created his own sound which, whilst clearly versatile, shows a superb understanding of pace and timing and is quite distinctive.

Bear McCreary normally works with a limited pool of musicians, typically around 10, often using less traditional instruments, with a considerable emphasis on percussion and the deliberate inclusion of discordant counter harmonies, his themes are subtle and build into considerable crescendos.

Bear McCreary's instantly recognisable opening theme to The Walking Dead is a great example of how this works and is a perfect mood-enhancer for any Zombie Board Game, Card Game or  Zombie Miniatures game.

Music for Zombie Gaming - Part 5

So here's where the purists go mental, sorry guys. 28 Days Later... yeah, I said it. Whilst upon release it was never touted as a zombie movie and even now we recognise it as an 'Infected' movie, even director Danny Boyle went on record years later to say "I kinda wanted to make a zombie movie, but I had to do things differently to get away with it.'

So whilst the movie threw a 'runners' spin on genre, John Murphy's soundtrack on the other hand really hits the spot.

Slow building, haunting and and subtly discordant, the Original Soundtrack makes a superb backdrop to any zombie game.

Personally, I would mark this as the first of the 'modern' Zombie scores, heralding in a new era of themes specifically for the genre as we know it today. As a stand alone soundtrack it is not specifically innovative. It relies upon the standards of the horror genre in building tension and conflict, music box style melodies with contrasting resonance in the strong section but I'm pretty sure it has influenced composers of the genre since it's release. For example, as it is hard not to hear its influence in Bear McCreary's work.

3D Forge Miniatures - Zombie Miniatures Kickstarter

A quick blog post as I wanted to share this Kickstarter from 3D Forge Miniatures.

A friend of mine brought this to my attention and just in case others hadn't seen it I thought I'd share it right away, looks pretty awesome to me.

Most importantly, check out the survivors! Can't wait to see the updates on poses for these.

There are some great character zombies in here!

The devil is in the detail.

 This stuff is rubbish! Well... you know what I mean.

 There's a few basic rewards and some of the entry packs look like pretty awesome value to me.

Check out the Kickstarter here:

Zombie Miniatures,Survivors, Barricades and Walls in 28mm.

Incursion: 3D Playset - Part 1

Not much to report on this recently, as I'd mostly been doing stuff related to the 7th Annual Festival of Zombie Culture.

Incursion 3D Play-set

However, here's an update on the Incursion 3D play-set.

I decided to go for a battened board on MDF, the same as nearly all my other gaming tables, because it is a technique I am familiar with an it should suit the scale and format.

Board 1 - Stage 1

This is simply the first board marked out on battened MDF. Early days, but it's a start.

Incursion - I smell a 3D Playset

Nazi Zombies, US Deisel powered Combat Suits, scantily clad sub-machinegun wielding frauleins and the gritty British MI-13 comandos duke it out deep in the bowels of Gibraltar in an Epic Weird World War 2 struggle to destroy or deploy the dreaded Doomsday device - What's not to like?

Ein, Zwei, Die and all that!

At Salute 2011 (that's right... 2011... two years ago!!!) I picked up the Axis and Allied starter sets and a few extra figures (a zombie horde) to get the juices flowing. The trial games with cardboard counters were fun, challenging and, just as Mr Jim Bailey intended methinks - gagging for a 3D play-set and lots opf pretty models.

Inspired by Herrodadog's awesome 3D Incursion boards (you rock sir, you paved the way) and alongside every other ludicrously ambitious project I had underway, I set out to build my own 3D playset.

Whoopsy. I just couldn't help myself.

Targets were set, deadlines missed and the whole project almost abandoned for quite some time as I lived away from home working a full time job, maintained two businesses and got involved in all sorts of other nerdish fun along the way. However...here was the basic plan.

Two 24' by 30' self-contained fully modelled 3D terrain boards
40+ miniatures
9 objective markers
Resin counters
9 Doors

Easy, right...? Not exactly... but fun.

Music for Zombie Gaming - Part 3

There seems to me to be, for the most part, three typical styles of music when it comes to zombie movies or games in recent years.

Techno/Industrial, Rock/Metal and creepy sinister and often discordant orchestral

He's something from the first category from two rather clever chaps... Tomandandy that finds a firm place in my zombie gaming playlist.

I wasn't so exactly sold on Resident Evil when it I first encountered it, it was the sci-fi element that kinda put me off.

It's certainly not that I don't like sci-fi, I love it, I just prefer my zombies in the more classic sense, even if I don't mind the running 'infected'.

Now... the whole franchise has really grown on me and despite the purist roots, for me the likes of Resident Evil, Left4Dead and Zombicide have created a firm place for 'mutant' undead.

Here's a track from Resident Evil: Afterlife



We got a Mighty Convoy!

We've got a long way to go, and a short time to get there.

I'd been looking for an articulated lorry to use on my All Things Zombie games and found a few that would fit the bill, the trouble is, the only ones I found were about £50 each, and whilst I'm not adverse to spending a bit of money on my games, that's a little too much for just one model that'll only use every now and then.

Thankfully, a chance visit to a local Entertainer store to buy some cars for my son, allowed me to find this. Although the model wasn't marked scale-wise and I'm sure that is isn't 1:43 (like the majority of the model cars I use) it seems to fit pretty well.

Best thing... it was £8.00, bargain!

It'll certainly count a location all by itself as there's bound to be either useful supplies or zombies in the back!

More All Things Zombie Survivors

At The Norwich Wargame Show 'Eastern Front' I managed to pick up some 28mm miniatures for £1 each, that's right £1 each!

The offering was pretty broad and everything was pre-based (hence the rather 'rounded' bases (I prefer to keep mine as flat as possible) and was mostly sci-fi or modern from a variety of manufacturers with a few gems hidden amongst a great deal of considerably 'meh' stuff. Thankfully there was plenty of miniatures suitable for my All Things Zombie campaign.

I can honestly say I don't actually know specifically which manufacturers these are, so if anyone does know, feel free to let us know.

Female Survivor with handgun

Street punk with handgun

Female gang member with sawn-off shotgun

The bottom figure actually had a flat base. So as an experiment, the detail of the paving is actually just painted directly onto the flat base.

I think they'll make pretty good survivors or Enemy forces for my All Things Zombie games.

Music for Zombie Gaming - Part 2

Video games do a pretty nifty job of mixing visual with audio and whilst graphically games have come a long way, I think it is the soundtracks that have improved more than anything over the years.

Arguably, some of the worlds finest up-and-coming-composers have cut their teeth on video games, Steve Jablonsky comes to mind, responsible for the first three Gears of War games and all three Transformers movies among others.

Left 4 Dead was a pretty decent game, setting aside the creeping horror for pure unadulterated action and whilst it missed the mark for many purists, it's a popular franchise for good reason, you get to shoot lots and lots of zombies... make that gazillions of zombies!

Mike Morasky's themes are dark, sinister and there's some wonderful use of piano and bluegrass guitar that gives it a small-town American feel form time to time. Pretty much all of the tunes are worth adding. I even like in game recordings from Left4Dead 2 from the Midnight Riders. Last seen somewhere near the whispering oaks fairground. Check out their website for more info.

To finish off, here's another track from me back in 97. Entropy - Machine.

Billy! Get to da Chappa!!!

Ever since I started Zombie gaming I've always wanted to include an obligatory 'Get to da chappa!' scenario in one of my All Things Zombie games.

Trouble is, despite my best efforts, I never really found a decent enough looking helicopter for the right price.

Thankfully I finally managed I pick up this bad boy about 6 months ago.

28mm Model for scale

1/43 scale Fast Lane Agusta A109 fully licensed Die Cast Helicopter.

It was £14.99 from ToysRUs, and I'm pretty pleased with how it looks on the table top and it is likely to feature in my next big game.

Music for Zombie Gaming - Part 1

I don't know about you, but when I get into something, I REALLY get into something.

You know; watch the movie, read the book, wear the t-shirt and listen to the theme tune... whilst drinking a cup of tea from a mug with a bio-hazard logo on it... that kind of thing.

Music has been a massive part of my life for years. Before I got a real job I was a working musician. Click on the EP cover below and you can listen to one of our tracks from 1997.Yes, that's me on bass and lead vocal. Sheesh, 97 feels like a long time ago these days!

When I'm playing a game miniatures game, board game or working on a hobby project, I usually gravitate towards film, television and video game soundtracks.

So for a bit of variety, I'll be posting some of my favourite zombie gaming tracks.

Johnny Cash is not who I naturally think of when it comes to the Zombie Apocalypse in musical form but the use of 'The Man Comes Around' during the closing credits of the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead nailed it for me. This track made the playlist pretty early on.

Outbreak City: How to Build a 28mm Zombie Gaming Table - Part 4

With the show looming and with TONS of work still to do I kinda knew I had to knuckle down and get the 'texturing' stage finished. You can play All Things Zombie on any surface really, but once I had the vision in my head, I just had to make it a reality.

I was working away from home during the week whilst this project progressed, and I wanted to get this to a 'ready-to-paint' stage before going  away again on the Sunday night.

Rather than lock myself away in the man-cave, and miss out on my family, I commandeered the living room on Saturday morning and set about moving things forward whilst the family caused even more chaos all around me.

The texturing progressed.

Whilst I was 100% behind this method, I couldn't help wonder what had really let myself into.

Cutting out squares of card for something small is one thing, anyone who has scratch built a slate roof knows that by the time you hit the second half the novelty diminishes, but this, as simple as it was in principle, was something else.

Perhaps I had over-estimated the time it was going to take... maybe... perhaps... erm... yeah... I did. A lot.

Minutes rolled into hours and daylight vanished. By the time everyone was tucked up into bed I put a little backgorund inspiration on.

Resident Evil flowed into Night of the Living Dead and as the credits rolled on Dawn of the Dead a little face appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Were they being chased by monsters Daddy?" Whoops, error.

My daughter was a awake and quite possibly scarred for life. It was around half three in the morning and I still had loads to do if I wanted to get a sealing coat of paint into the boards. I should be taking her up to bed again and settling her down.

"Can I help Daddy?"

I need all the help I can get, and my daughter; a hobbyist? Epic.

"Yes please." I confessed.

My other half woke up a few minutes later. For some inexplicable reason, none of us could sleep, so, perhaps in sympathy, an army of cardboard engineers marched onwards.

Cardboard Engineer Reinforcements - 3.30 am. Thank you guys - I love you.

Not only was the help appreciated but with three people sticking the tiles down, things progressed ever more rapidly. We finished the boards by the time the sun came up and thankfully, we all hit the sack, exhausted.

One of three 2' by 4'  sections.

On an easy Sunday filled with lots of sitting down quietly, pancakes and copious amounts of strong coffee I headed to the garage and sealed the edges of the boards and the sidewalks.

Sealing the main detail on the board, and the sides of the battens, with MDF Primer.

So far so good. Perhaps more of a 'How NOT to' guide for this stage, but after a close call the project was back on track again.

To be continued...

All Things Zombie

"Tidy your Man-Cave"

Do you ever get that feeling that you need a clear out?

After a massive amount of recent hobby time spread across several different projects at once the mess on the workbench finally got the better of me.

Spot the Project - If you dare?

With the second half of an unfinished a match of Blood Bowl and a try-out of Dust Tactics planned for yesterday and another Blood Bowl match, 1st try at Malifaux and another Dust tactics planed for next weekend I finally had a clear out of the man-cave and now I can actually see the gaming table.

Blood Bowl was great, despite a 2-0 defeat and Dust Tactics' fast-paced and uncomplicated gameplay sits perfectly with me, and... there's zombies in it!

Whilst The Lead Will Walk The Earth is a zombie gaming blog, and I mostly play All Things Zombie, if you fancy seeing anything else I'll happily post some choice zombie 'Diversions' if there's interest.

The sun is coming out; time to kiss SADS goodbye and start undercoating outside again.

Happy Hobby Days.

28mm BMX Bandits

Like a few other fellow bloggers I've been having difficulty with blogger this last week, guessing it might be an i.e. and hope to be able to sort that out this week. So a short post and deviation from my All Things Zombie gaming table posts for now.

Enjoy the little things, they say. Well some of the things I enjoy really are quite little.

My good friend James, who knows I am on a quest to fill Outbreak City with all sorts of awesome 'stuff' picked me up these BMXs for my birthday. In his words "I thought they'd look great just lying in the street." Thank you James!

The red bike and the blue bike had a race.

If you buy it and paint it right away it doesn't count...right...and if someone else buys it for you and you paint it right away, even better.

I always wanted a Raleigh Burner.

What I got was a Grifter instead.

These 28mm scale bikes are available from Black Cat Bases, as well as all sorts of other fantastic street-filling detritus, junk, bottles, cans and other waste that I can't wait to get my grubby little mitts on. Well worth checking out.

Outbreak City at Eastern Front 2011

Only slightly more overdue than Episode 1...

Outbreak City at Eastern Front 2011

On Sunday 1st August this year Eastern Front, I made the decision to put on a display game  of All Things Zombie at the East of England Wargames Show. The show was held at St Andrews Hall in Norwich.

After announcing here I was doing so, one of our fellow bloggers, Colin (cmnash) said "I might just try and get over to Norwich to see you there!"

I knew that Colin wasn't local and seeing as he's a gamer and a zombie gamer to boot and making he effort to travel I emailed him to say "Why not play?" A few emails later and, before you know it, a plan was hatched - we were putting on a game together.

Great news because, whilst I was happy to put on the game, I'd only actually done it once beforehand and certainly not alone.

So Colin brought his massive horde of zombies, a few survivors, some wrecked cars, street furniture and a few other goodies and I brought the Risks and Rewards Deck, the gaming table and the terrain.

Colin's rather impressive zombie horde.

For a full report of the games we played, and bucket loads of pictures, check out Colin's post Eastern Front Game with Zombie Ad.

Humorously, Colin turned our display game into a full-on participation event with once quick question to a lady who scanned the board with interest, telling us it was the kind of game she and her husband could play together. "Cool, so do you wanna play?"

"Ooh, ahhh, that's how it starts. Then there's the running and screaming!"

We hadn't realised the impact us taking someone through the game might have on the other people watching. As soon as that game finished (she survived and made it off the table...just) we were approached by another group of gamers who asked "Can we get in on the next game?"

Colin and I exchanged glances and shrugs. "Errr...sure!" we replied.

Things turned ugly fast. Real ugly.

It was great to meet Colin and our combined ability to teach others to play ATZ (with equal measures of us getting the rules right and wrong, the wrong bit being mostly me) drive the narrative and lead the players into as much peril as we possibly could, worked perfectly.

We were busy with people at the table all day long, I was told we had one of the busiest tables and, most importantly we, and everyone who either played or stopped to ask questions, seemed to have a great time. It was great to meet with everyone, discuss gaming, terrain and zombies. Thanks should go to Mike and Dug who both dropped in to say hello and an extra special thank you to Dug, whose photos are shown here. My other half had the camera for a day out she had with the kids and I only had a phone to get pictures on. Epic fail.

Local 'Irwins' capture the action from the roof of the cinema.

One of the most amusing things was more than one person asking "So do you guys play a lot together?" to which we could only answer, "Actually we met a couple of hours ago."

The undead's clumsy ambush was no match for the cowgirl's firepower.

Whilst the buildings had all been built long before the show, the street layout was new and reached the stage it was seen in these pictures in the wee hours the night before the show. It is not finished, there's tons of detailing to go and I'll share the journey of it's development in some future posts.

I'm sure I'll be putting on another public game at some point in the future and this time it will likely be a participation game from the outset.

Thanks Colin, awesome stuff sir!

RTA: An All Things Zombie Batrep - Part 2

With blood on his knuckles and a second body at his feet the realisation hit Troy like an offensive line. This wasn't an isolated incident; not road rage gone insane.

Something was wrong in Outbreak City. Something very wrong.

Above the typical quiet of an early morning, shrieks of terror could be heard in the distance. Low moans and guttural, feral cries replaced birdsong.

"Hey!" he yelled at the woman reaching in through his now broken car window after Hank. Her head snapped in his direction and she shambled towards him with a high pitched scream.

In she rushed, dead eyes fixed on Troy as he prepared himself for the assault. He braced himself as she came in and grabbed her flailing hands as she clawed at his face. He twisted, turned and pulled her to the ground. She almost had her teeth in him as he slammed her into the tarmac and her vicious thrashing ceased.

Hank's heart reached a crescendo as he repeated to himself 'Gotta get outta here!' under his breath. He cursed himself, frozen with fear, cowering upside down with his head in the footwell of his friend's sports car, unable to even close the door beside him.

Hank snapped out of his panic when Troy slammed the driver's side door. Troy fumbled in his pockets for a moment and realised Hank must have the keys.

"Give me the keys!" he yelled as Hank squirmed like an eel in a barrel in the ludicrous position he'd gotten himself into.

Outside, the walking dead, drawn to the commotion, shambled ever closer to the car.

Hank twisted into a seated position and scooped the keys from out of the footwell. Troy snatched them out of his hand and gunned the engine just as the undead were upon them.

As Troy struggled to keep his composure the squeal of rubber heralded their escape and attracted the attention of more creatures. Out of the darkened alleyways they came.

Troy ploughed across the intersection, the roar of the 3.6 liter engine accompanied by high-pitched screams as the undead, threw themselves at the car in a furious blood lust.

"Look out!" cried Hank as two figures lurched out into the road and Troy drifted to avoid them.

As they neared the figures Hank saw a gaping head wound and bared, broken teeth as the bloody mess flung itself towards them.

The car door slammed hard against Hank's shoulder and he winced at the impact. The body spun and crumpled and a shock of crimson spray appeared across the windshield and wing.

"Holy shit!" said Hank as he looked back at the crowd of walking dead gathered in the street.

Troy didn't say a word. Nor did he risk a glance in the mirror, for fear of what he might see.

They'd certainly had better days.

All Things Zombie

RTA: An All Things Zombie Batrep - Part 1

The sun was almost up over Outbreak City. It was quiet, very quiet and too early for Hank. He'd stayed up late last night to watch the game. The Outbreak City Ragers, his team, were through to the play-offs and, seeing as adrenaline had prevented him from hitting the sack, he'd downed a few more beers to celebrate. It seemed like only a few hours ago, it probably was. Troy pulled the car up across the street from the incident. When he cut the engine Hank breathed a sigh of relief.

Troy Pulled the car up across the street from the incident.

"Does your car have to be so loud?" Hank asked.
"Said the bear with a very sore head." replied Troy, with an eyebrow raised.

The ambulance crew had called in the RTA about an hour ago, single vehicle, most likely a DUI.

"Point taken." said Hank.

This incident really looked no different from a typical scene but something didn't add up. Troy and Hank had worked together for a while now. Road Traffic Accident Analysts; Crash Scene Investigators and they had seen enough scenes to know something was amiss.

As they strode over to the scene they could see two figures stumbling around behind the crashed coupe, both bloodied, both shambling, perhaps delirious from blood loss.

"This doesn't look good." said Hank as they both started off at a trot.
"Sir. Step out of the roadway sir." Troy called out.
As one of the figures stepped from behind the car a glint of recognition flickered in Hank's eye.
"Tony? Tony are you ok? What happened?" asked Troy, setting off towards his colleague, a paramedic he recognised from the work they'd done together.

Tony lurched forward, blood oozed from a wound on his face, his jaw hung limp but his teeth gnawed. He was closely followed by another male, who had to be like the victim of the accident, with a broken nose and what looked like lacerations on his neck.
"Are you sure that's Tony?" asked Hank.
Before Troy could answer the two figures lunged towards them with viscious intent.

Gnashing and flailing the two assailants rushed towards Hank and Troy. Troy jostled with the thing that once was Tony a Hank struggled with the man on him. They were caught off guard but moments later Troy's college wrestling day came flooding back to him. He manhandled the paramedic onto the ground and held him in a headlock.
"What the hell?" yelled Hank holding the wrists of the man biting at his face.
Troy pulled hard against the paramedic till a dull crack reverberated through his limbs and, to his horror, the body went limp. He rolled up out of the hold as Hank kneed his attacker in the face. The thrashing ceased as his assailant dropped to the tarmac.

"We gotta call this in." panted Troy as Hank raced off back towards the car.
"I'm on it." came the reply as Hank opened the door and reached for the radio.
"What just happened?" asked Troy. He stopped in the street, looking back at the two bodies in the middle of the road.

Hank poked and prodded the radio as he slammed the car door
"Just static." He yelled to Troy. "It's like nobody is answering."

Troy rested his hand on his thighs and tried to breath deeply. Adrenaline coursed through his veins and his hands started to shake.
"Let's get back to the office ASAP." yelled Hank. He twisted the ignition key. He was in no state to drive, but at least he'd have the car running for Troy. The engine turned over but the car wouldn't start.

As he looked up from the instument panel to his horror he saw another bloodied figured reaching for his friend.
"Troy, TROY!" yelled Hank, but it was too late. The raging thing was upon Troy just as he seemed to be gesturing to Hank. Hank turned in his seat to open the door but right beside him was a woman, bleeding from a viscious wound on her head, clawing at the car window with hate in her eyes.

Troy twisted as cold bloody hands clawed at his neck. He brought his large fists to bear on the man who had grabbed for him. Once, twice, three times. More than any normal man should be able to take. He connected with a stong right hook and the attacker finally went down like a sack of rice.

Hank jumped out of his skin as the woman smashed the car window and reached in to grab him. He pushed himself away from her as fast as he could, kicked at her hands and cowered down in the passenger footwell.

To be continued...

All Things Zombie

Let's Go Camping! - Even More Vehicles for 28mm Zombie Gaming.

I was going to post another All Things Zombie Batrep this week but having fine-tuned my scale-dar, this was too good not to share.

I went camping with the family this weekend, just a few quiet days with nothing to do except stay out of the rain, catch the sun (when it dared show it's face), eat far too many baked beans and share your sleeping bag with grass and earwigs. It was a chance to completely switch off from hobbies and zombies and I didn't even take a zombie novel with me. My scale-dar had other ideas!

I was looking for a lighter (we'd forgotten ours and uncooked bacon just doesn't cut it) what I found, in the on-site 'glamping' store, was these.

VeeDub
First up was this 1962 VW Campervan from 'Welly'. It's not particularly fancy and it wasn't marked for scale although it is pretty iconic. Having picked up quite a few vehicles recently I was happy to take a chance - the second purchase was marked for scale and the two looked okay side by side. The doors don't actually line up that well but I'm fine with that. It is a toy, not a collector's model. and priced accordingly at just over £4.00.

'Welly' 1/43 VW Campervan with 28mm Studio Miniatures Zombie.

It's the freedom it gives you
The second find was the one that got me really fired up. This 1/43 scale 'Teamsterz' car and caravan set is superb and the caravan would definitely count as a building or encounter location. The generic SUV is nothing to write home about but it's a good representation. A little under £7.00 is not bad, especially as you get two models. The caravan is pretty much all plastic but the SUV is die-cast.

"Pull over!" Teamsterz car and caravan.

SUV from the car and caravan set - with opening doors and tailgate.

These two vehicles have given me a great idea for an All Things Zombie scenario, so it's likely they'll crop up in a future Batrep.

The boxed models - if you want to go internet shopping for these.

Speaking of Batreps... coming soon on The Lead Will Walk The Earth...