Poundland Fire Engines

Following on directly from my last post, here is a review of a couple of fire engines I recently bought at Poundland. I have photographed them alongside the three converted firemen that I reviewed last time. After all, what use are firemen without a fire engine?

The first thing to note about these vehicles is that they are made of plastic. However, they are quite detailed and are almost the right scale. They are a tad too small but they are acceptable enough for me.

I have a few great fire engines in 20mm scale but until I bought these, I had none in 28mm scale. It seems odd that no one makes proper 28mm scale fire engines in card. I know that Finger and Toe Models make an airport crash tender, which is close but not the same.

The cab detail is well done apart from being moulded in silver plastic. I may repaint it black if I remember to but more than likely I'll just leave it as is. Note that driver sits at the left of the cabs (facing front), which makes these ideal for an American or European setting but not so good for a game set in the UK. Although to be honest, such a detail could easily be overlooked.

As you can see, both vehicles share the same chassis and front cab. It is the rear details that make them so different. The one at the left is fitted with six storage bays (three per side) and has a few portable ladders on the roof. The one to the right has a large turntable ladder. The turntable does turn and the ladder is extendable (see photo below).

A few stickers have been added to the models but whoever stuck the sticker on to the rear of the vehicle to the left was rather slipshod in their application. Because of the way they were packaged I didn't notice this until I got home. They are stuck on too well for me to reposition it so I'm just going to have to live with it. A shame as it is distracting.

For just one pound each, I thought these were damned good value for money. In case you're wondering which came first - the firemen or the fire engines - it was the vehicles.

Finally, here is a photo of the turntable ladder at its fullest extension. The cradle is too small to fit a figure on a 25mm or even a 20mm diameter base but if you had a suitable figure without a base he could fit in.
Okay, so I'll admit they're not the best fire engines on the market but you can't argue at their prices and they help fill a gap in my vehicle collection and that's plenty good enough for me.

Studio Miniatures Firemen 01

The one group of figures that are very poorly represented by figure companies in a contemporary setting are firemen. Yes, I know that Mega Minis made a set of 8 firemen, but quite frankly, they were very poorly sculpted. I didn't buy them. The best fireman figure I've ever seen came from Griffin Miniatures (see picture to the left), but alas, he is no longer available.
After chatting with my good friends Joe and Mathyoo, it was decided that the best option to fill this gap would be to convert an existing set of figures. And so Mathyoo bravely offered to step up to the plate. He converted three Studio Minis 28mm scale plastic zombies into human firemen. The heads came from plastic WW2 German infantrymen. Sorry, but I forget who made them. It could be Wargames Factory. When Mathyoo visited England a couple of months ago to stay with Joe and me he presented me with the three figures he'd converted. Here they are.

On the whole I was delighted with them but a few things about them bothered me. And so I made a few changes. First up was the helmets which looked too much like German WW2 helmets. No surprise there, really, given their origins. However, by adding a large badge to the front of the helmets I totally altered their appearance. I could have added a big rim around the helmets but ultimately decided against it.
I was not happy with the length of their coats. Mathyoo's ended at the top of the lower yellow hoop. I extended the coats by a couple of millimetres, which made a huge difference.

The two firemen with the gas-masks and oxygen tanks originally had scarves wrapped around their faces. This was something else that I wasn't happy about. So I added the gas-masks and oxygen tanks. This was my biggest change to Mathyoo's work but one that I think vastly improves them.
One final change I made was to give them all gloves. After looking at many photos of firemen in action I discovered that most wore gloves when out in the field. It makes sense really. Incidentally they armed with, from left to right, a tyre iron, an axe and a large hammer - all useful weapons to use against zombies.
It is always nice to have unique figures and these guys certainly fill a niche that needed filling. It just goes to show what can be done with a bit of imagination. By the way, Mathyoo thoroughly approved of my changes and I kept him well informed of my plans and work. I should point out that Mathyoo's conversions were unpainted. Given the changes I made to them this was probably a good thing.

ATZ-FFO Supplement - Hospital 911

Two Hour Wargames recently released their newest supplement for ATZ-FFO, Hospital 911. To quote the blurb on the back cover,
"Hospital 911 takes you to the first recorded encounter with an infected person in the US. In Hospital 911 you will have a variety of roles from patient, to police officers and much more. Some are good, some are bad, but all must escape the Zeds.
In Hospital 911 you'll find:
Fifteen scenarios from eight points of view.
Six unique colour floor plans.
A variety of characters to play.
New rules for the ever present News Crews.
New rules for Firemen and fighting fires.
Over forty locations to be explored.
Rules and scenarios that can be brought into your normal All Things Zombie games."
What makes this supplement different from other scenario packs are the six hospital floor plans. These are all A3-sized and are meant to be used as gaming boards in this game. Essentially, Hospital 911 is part board-game and part table top game. Your figures can move so many squares on the board as opposed to the normal x amount of inches. A word of warning, most characters, including zombies, are slow moving. SWAT Troopers, however, are incredibly fast. Zombies can move three squares. Hospital patients move 1d3 squares or not at all, depending upon what they roll. Non-patients can move four squares. SWAT Troopers are Fast, meaning they can move five squares and if they Fast Move, they roll 3d6 and count all results! (Note that a successful Fast Move roll grants the figure an extra two squares of Movement. In theory, a SWAT Trooper could move 11 squares in a turn!) The squares on the maps measure one inch by one inch or 25mm square, making them ideal for use with 28mm scale figures on their 25mm diameter bases.
Three new rules that were introduced in the new Chain Reaction 3.1 rulebook are included in this supplement. They are In Sight, No Stunned and PEFs. For In Sight tests only the leaders (or temporary leaders) of each side take the test. Whoever wins, gets to activate all of his figures In Sight of the enemy. This makes a huge difference to the game. Winning this test is now vitally important!
The No Stunned rule means that if a character receives a Stunned result he ignores it and Carries On instead. However, he still has to stand back up and this results in him losing half his Movement allowance. What I most dislike about this new rule is that it now makes Body Armour totally worthless. My solution? If a character gets wounded and they are wearing Body Armour, have them roll 2d6 vs their Rep. If they pass 2d6, the Body Armour totally protects them and they take no wound. If they pass 1d6 then reduce the wound level by one. So Obviously Dead becomes Out Of the Fight. Out Of the Fight becomes Stunned, and Stunned becomes Carry On. If the character passes 0d6 then the wound stands as is. I would also add that any roll of 6 is classed as a failure to avoid Rep:6+ characters wearing Body Armour gaining total immunity from wounds.This works in a similar manner to a Star's Star Power advantage in that it can help reduce damage but it works differently. It has more chance of success but it also helps Grunts as much as Stars. Note that it can be used in connection with the Star Power advantage. Use the Body Armour test first. Also note that in both  cases, Stunned still means being Stunned and would necessitate a Recover from Knock Down test. This is just a House Rule but it is one that I will be adopting.
For PEFs, they now all have a Rep of 4 and the way they move has changed. The PEF Resolution Table (taken against the PEF's Rep) is very much geared towards this particular setting and should not be used in normal play away from the hospital.
Moving on, we come to the scenarios. You don't have to play them all. In the order they are written they concentrate on the point of view of one character type, starting with a Civilian Patient. This is followed by a scenario in which you play a member of the hospital staff. Next, are two scenarios in which you take on the role of a  Police Officer. These escalate into a SWAT response and there are three scenarios in which you take control of a SWAT Team. Most scenarios take place on just one floor (i.e. one map) but the third SWAT scenario requires the team to clear out the whole hospital floor by floor, staring at the bottom and working up. This is unquestionably the toughest scenario in the book. Moving on, scenarios 8 and 9 introduce a news team as the heroes. In one you play a reporter and in the other, a cameraman. Next up are a series of three scenarios in which you play a Ganger. In scenarios 13 and 14 we discover how Firemen work in ATZ. Here are the rules for starting fires and how to put them out. In the 15th and final scenario you are an assassin working for the Prosperity Corporation (see the High Rise To Hell supplement for more details about this shady organisation). Your task is to assassinate a rogue Pro Corp doctor who released the zombie virus in this hospital.
At first glance the scenarios seem fairly simple (with the exception of that SWAT scenario I mentioned) but they are all challenging and different and offer a  great deal of variety. Would I play all fifteen? Probably not. One way you could use this supplement is to play the scenarios as flashbacks for party members of your own group. This would allow you to slot any scenario from this supplement seamlessly into an existing campaign.
I must admit that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this supplement and I can even forgive it for adapting a board-game feel to it in lieu of a more traditional tabletop game. Special mention must be made of the six maps, which are really good. They are printed on thick cartridge paper in full colour with a very matt finish. You could buy the PDF version of this supplement and print out your own maps but for me it was worth paying a bit extra just to get the proper maps. Plus, I much prefer "real" books to electronic books. The PDF copy of Hospital 911 costs $15.00, whilst the printed copy is $20.00. Both are available from the THW webstore. As an introduction to the zombie apocalypse presented in the world of All Things Zombie - Final Fade Out this succeeds very admirably and so I'm happy to award it a 9 out of 10 rating. For those of you on limited budgets or with little room to set up a big game board, this will be ideal. You don't need to build a big 3D hospital to play it. The maps work just fine and take up hardly any space at all.

NOTE: You still have time to enter my 500th Post free competition. See my last post for full details and prizes. The closing date is 12.00 midday on Wednesday 16th of July 2014.