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.

I'm back!

So... that was what they call a Hiatus then?

After setting up Zombie Shop, and then JJD UK, both of which have been and continue to be fantastic fun, and then taking a full time job over 200 miles from home things became a little difficult to keep the blog going. Travel, late nights and a crazy schedule meant something had to give, unfortunately it was the blogging.

So. Just over 18 months later and I'm finally back home, this time (fingers crossed) for good.

Thankfully there wasn't a complete vacuum in gaming or hobby or Zombies, and luckily, after starting blogging I got into the habit of taking pictures of things as I made them, so to make up for lost time, I'll be posting a few tasty morsels of everything I've been up to.

So what's next?

There's the completion of Outbreak City for my All Things Zombie campaign, quite a bit of Dust Tactics, new survivors for ATZ, some Judge Dredd miniatures, a 3D Incursion Board (that's half-way through) and more Live Roleplaying fun.

Most of all though... I've missed you guys.