Zombicide Scenario M01 - The Big Rubble Part 2

TURN 6

RAOUL. The freelance mercenary moved from the mall corridor into the toy shop and headed straight for the exit. One blow from his Fire Axe was all it needed to destroy the lock. An unexpected and nasty surprise awaited him outside - six Zombies, made up of a normal Walker, two Toxic Walkers, a normal Runner, a Toxic Runner and worst of all, a Toxic Abomination.
"This is not good!" he snarled as he opened fire with his AA-12 Automatic Shotgun. The burst of semi-automatic fire took out all three Walkers as their heads were reduced to bloody pulps. (These kills advanced Raoul to the yellow level and he gained the +1 Action Skill.) The Abomination shielded the two Runners with its huge over-sized body. Raoul fired a second burst at the Abomination and Stared in disbelief as they caused no harm whatsoever. 
"Oh shit!" he exclaimed, "We are so screwed!"
(Obviously I knew his Automatic Shotgun would do no damage to the Abomination but Raoul didn't know that and had to find out the hard way. His Automatic Shotgun did 2 Wounds per shot but a weapon doing 3 or more Wounds was required to kill an Abomination.)

DEREK. "Let me have a go," the young locator suggested to Raoul. Working on the principle that all creatures were afraid of fire, he reckoned an incendiary round ought to have some effect on the Abomination.
"Go for it," Raoul urged.
Derek aimed his unique weapon known as Pa's Pistol at the head of the Abomination and fired just as the creature strode towards him. At point blank range he did not miss and the Abomination's head exploded in a welter of gore of flames.
"Woohoo!" Derek exclaimed.
"Way to go, Derek," Raoul said excitedly.
(Pa's Pistol is one of the very few weapons in the game that can kill an Abomination. It inflicts 3 points of damage per shot. Although it can only fire once per Action and has a lowly range of 0-1, it is still a formidable weapon. Derek was very lucky to have found it so early in the game. Naturally, this kill advanced him to the yellow level and he too, gained a fourth Action per Turn.)
He fired three more times at the two Runners but only managed to kill one of them - a Toxic Runner.

NEEMA. "Are you boys having fun?" The beautiful, dusky corporate executive asked. "I hope you've left some targets for me."
The remaining Runner proved to be very elusive to hit. Neema's .44 Magnum fired three times, missing twice before striking the Zombie in the forehead, killing him instantly.

ZOMBIES. All of the Zombies remaining on the board moved closer to the sound of gunfire. From Spawn Point 1, two Walkers arrived. Another three Walkers arrived from Spawn Point 2 and a single Walker arrived at Spawn Point 3. Two Toxic Walkers entered the area from Spawn Point 4.
 TURN 7

RAOUL. "You kill six Zombies and six more take their places," Raoul griped. "Let's thin this crowd down some more."
He stood in the doorway and fired his AA-12 a total of twelve times. Exactly half of his shots were misses or glancing hits but the other six were devastatingly effective and he killed five Walkers and a Fatty.

DEREK. "Good work, Raoul," Derek acknowledged as he stepped outside and saw that the Zombie horde was widely spread out now. He concentrated his fire from Pa's Pistol on the two Walkers approaching from Spawn Point 1 to the west of him. He missed once but hit twice and again, the Zombies died in a messy explosion of blood and flames.

NEEMA. "I've got your back, Derek,"  Neema said as she also stepped outside the mall to stand behind her young colleague. Three Walkers were approaching from the east. Two of them were Toxic Walkers and Neema scored fatal head shots on both of them but she missed the third Walker.

ZOMBIES. The female Walker who Neema failed to hit advanced to within striking distance of Neema and a Runner charged at Derek. Two more Walkers replaced the pair that Derek had just slain at Spawn Point 1. Two Toxic Runners sprinted from Spawn Point 2. A pair of Walkers arrived at Spawn Point 3 but four Walkers emerged from Spawn point 4.
TURN 8

NEEMA. Neema could have shot the female Walker who charged her but instead she used her Machete to decapitate the Zombie, although it did take two blows to completely sever the head. Just as the Runner reached Derek, Neema brought her Machete down on the back of the fast moving Zombie's head, splitting his skull open. She spun and snap-fired her .44 Magnum Revolver. The heavy calibre bullet entered the right eye socket of a male Walker and blew half of his head off.

DEREK. With four Walkers all within close proximity, Derek fired once at each of them with Pa's Pistol. He scored a better than average three kills. He was growing very fond of this unique weapon and its lethal ammo.

RAOUL. When Raoul exited the mall, he saw that his two colleagues had eliminated all but three of the Zombies nearest to the mall. He opened fire with his AA-12 Atchisson Assault Shotgun. The heavy weapon bucked wildly and six rounds went wide or high but three rounds hit and he killed a female Walker and a pair of Runners. The immediate around the three Survivors was now clear.

ZOMBIES. The remaining Zombies were single-minded and continued their advance to where all of the gunfire was coming from. Two Walkers entered the scene from Spawn point 1. Two Toxic Walkers arrived from Spawn point 2. Spawn Point 3 spouted three more Walkers and a single Runner arrived at Spawn Point 4.
TURN 9

DEREK. "Oh, you think you can sneak up behind us, huh?" Derek asked, not expecting an answer. The two Walkers moaned at him as they shuffled slowly towards him. Derek's shooting with Pa's Pistol was erratic. He missed, he hit, he missed and he hit. Both hits were clean head shots. The threat had been neutralised.

NEEMA. Neema's shooting with her .44 Magnum was identical to Derek's - two misses and two hits out of four shots. A pair of Walkers collapsed to the ground with fatal head wounds.

RAOUL. Pistols were fine for killing small numbers of Zombies but for larger numbers an automatic weapon or area effect weapon was required. Raoul's AA-12 Assault Shotgun unleashed a barrage of 12 Gauge rounds that tore through two Toxic Runners, two Toxic Walkers and two Walkers. (Apologies for the out of focus photo. I usually check each shot before taking the next one but in this case I must have forgot. These six new kills advanced Raoul to the orange level and he choose the Medic skill. He could now heal one wound on any Survivor in the same Zone as him, including himself, once per Turn.)

ZOMBIES. A gap had opened up in front of the three Survivors. But the number of Zombies drawn to the area was now on the increase. From Spawn Point 1, four Walkers arrived. Three Toxic Runners came charging in from Spawn Point 2. Two Walkers arrived at Spawn Point 3 and another three Walkers arrived at Spawn point 4.
TURN 10

NEEMA. Moving eastwards to the T-junction, Neema stopped to shoot at a pair of Toxic Walkers. Her first shot missed but her next two were deadly accurate and she dropped both Toxic Walkers.

RAOUL. Raoul moved past Neema to check out the small one room building to his right. But first he had three Toxic Runners to deal with. They went down hard as each one required two shots to kill but Raoul's kill ratio continued upwards.

DEREK. Derek walked to where Neema was standing. Pa's Pistol spat fiery death three more times, missing once but killing twice as two Walkers moving alongside a second pimp-mobile fell to the ground with their heads destroyed and on fire.

ZOMBIES. A single Runner charged at Derek and Neema. Eleven Walkers, split into two groups of seven and four, were closing in, slowly but relentlessly. The tide of Zombies entering this danger zone increased with four Toxic Walkers arriving from Spawn point 1. Two Runners arrived at Spawn Point 3. The greatest threat came from Spawn Point 3 - two Fatties accompanied by four Walkers. Finally, four more Walkers arrived at Spawn Point 4.
TURN 11

DEREK. "You're dead-meat," Derek snarled as he swung his Claw Hammer at the head of the Runner charging towards him. With a satisfying "Thunk!" it cracked open the Runner's skull at the forehead and the Zombie dropped down  in front of him. He moved south a short distance to team up with Raoul.
"I'll get these two," Derek said, "there are far more targets for your Shotgun back there."
Derek was clearly on a roll. He fired Pa's Pistol twice and scored fatal head shots on the two newly arrived Runners.

NEEMA. "Okay, let's see if we can find anyone in here," she said as she moved to the small unmarked one room building. Her Machete shattered the lock on the door. She cautiously stepped inside the darkened room and cried out in delight.
"I've found someone! Don't be afraid. We're here to help. I'm Neema Freeman. Who are you?"
An extremely attractive young woman with long red hair and wearing a skintight shiny black catsuit stared at her with obvious relief.
"Oh, my God!" she gushed with obvious relief. "Thank God you're here. I heard gunfire outside and hoped you wouldn't pass by. I'm Elsa. Elsa Bryce-Howard."
(When Neema opened the door I had to draw a card from the Zombie deck to see which Zombie or Zombies spawned in the room. The card I drew stated that all Runners gained an extra Turn. This was very lucky for me as Derek had just killed the last three Runners on the board. Ha, ha, ha!)

RAOUL. Raoul moved back the way he'd come to stand in front of the parked pimp-mobile. Seven Walkers stood in front of him. Out of nine shots from his AA-12, he missed three times but scored six kills. That was impressive shooting.

ELSA. "I need a weapon," the former cat burglar stated. "I ran out of ammo recently. Hopefully, someone left something useful in here."
Elsa's luck was in. Hidden amongst the rubble and debris she found a Chainsaw. Better still, it had a full tank of gas.
"That's better!" she smiled. "Now, let's get outta here!"
"Go," Neema ordered. "I have two male friends outside. They'll be glad to see you."
Elsa nodded ingratitude and ran out of the building, blinking at the sudden sunlight. She ran past Derek, smiling at him, before coming to a stop alongside Raoul.
Introductions were quickly made. They had to be quick because suddenly they were surrounded by Zombies.

 ZOMBIES. Five Walkers moved into the Zone with Elsa and Raoul. Elsewhere more and more of the undead were moving towards the humans, hoping to feast on their flesh. Five Toxic Walkers came shambling from Spawn Point 1. Three more Toxic Walkers arrived from Spawn Point 2. Once again, Spawn point 3 produced the greatest threat. This time it was two Toxic Fatties and four Toxic Walkers. One Toxic Runner arrived from Spawn Point 4, meaning all four Spawn points brought forth Toxic Zombies. It was going to get very bloody!

To be concluded.

Zombicide Scenario M01 - The Big Rubble Part 1

"We've heard someone shooting. One, maybe two shooters. It's coming from a building in a severely damaged block downtown. We have to check it out to see if there is someone still alive, but to get there, we'll have to go through this giant, half-crumbled mall. And it's Saturday. I hate malls on Saturday."
This Zombicide batrep is based on a scenario from the Toxic City Mall expansion set and runs directly on from the last scenario that I posted recently, Death From Above. That ended with Elsa and Gary fleeing from a horde of Zombies and a flock of Zombie Crowz. This scenario answers the question of what happened next to them? The Crowz will not be reappearing but the Survivors face another new threat - Toxic Zombies, whose acidic blood can prove lethal to anyone in close proximity to them.
In this scenario I am using the three of the four Survivors from the Toxic City Mall expansion set to search for Elsa Bryce-Howard (she's the fourth Survivor from that set) and Gary Bridges. They are Derek Foster the locator, meaning he finds missing persons. He started with the +1 Maximum Range skill and a Claw Hammer. Next was Neema Freeman, a hard-nosed corporate executive, who started with the Born Leader skill (which I forgot to use throughout the game. D'oh!) and was armed with a 9mm Glock Pistol. Finally, was Raoul Nicholas the freelance mercenary. He started the game with the Webbing skill, which meant that any weapon or piece of equipment he carried counted as being in his hands. He was armed with a Fire Axe. Elsa and Gary had the starting skills of Break-in and Slippery respectively.

The photo above shows the board set up for the start of the game. There are two pimp-mobile cars and two police cars on the board and four Zombie Spawning Points. Four Toxic Walker Zombies patrol the mall corridor.

The tiles used were from left to right in the top row, 7B, 4M and 3M. In the centre row from left to right are 5C, 2M and 1M. In the bottom row from left to right are 1B, 3C and 2B. North is at the top edge of the board. The four rubble tiles cannot be entered or crossed over. They also block line of sight and Zombies cannot spawn in them.
OBJECTIVES
Find the two Survivors, Elsa and Gary. They will be in one of the Zones marked with a red "X". When found, flip the token over. If it has a white "X" underneath, Elsa has been found. If it has a green "X" underneath, Gary has been found. Note that this differs slightly from the official rule, but works better for my scenario. Once found, the Survivors must exit the board in as many cars as are needed. If anyone is left behind, the mission is a failure.
SPECIAL RULES
Find the Survivors. Add the white and green objective tokens to five red objective tokens and shuffle them with the red sides facing up. When the white and green tokens are revealed, place Elsa or Gary, as appropriate, in the Zone he or she was found. Elsa and Gary start with no equipment, weapons or experience points. Each objective token discovered grants 5 experience points to the person who reveals it, whatever the colour of it is.
Toxic Roamers. Place a Toxic Walker in each of the mall corridor Zones.
You can use cars. Each pimp-mobile may be searched only once. It will contain either the Evil Twins, Ma's Shotgun or Pa's Pistol. Draw randomly. The police cars can be searched more than once. draw a card until you find a weapon. Discard the other cards. The Aaahh! card triggers the appearance of a Walker as usual and interrupts the search.

Derek, Neema and Raoul began the game in the pimp-mobile parked at the front of the mall. Notes relating to the rules will be written in blue.
TURN 1

DEREK. "Well, we're here," Derek said as he climbed out of the pimp-mobile. "I'll check the trunk out first." Popping open the trunk, which was not locked, Derek found an unusual looking pistol. On its barrel were engraved the words "Pa's Pistol". He wondered who the hell Pa was? He checked that it was loaded. It was, although he didn't recognise the make of the large calibre bullets. Still, it might come in useful and it gave him a ranged weapon. He held it in his left hand to go with his Claw Hammer which was held in his right hand. He tried to open the door to the mall but it was locked. A single blow from his Claw Hammer shattered the lock. He smelt the room's occupant before he saw him. It was the unmistakable stench of rotten flesh. A Zombie Runner snarled at him from behind a counter. It climbed on top of the counter, ready to charge into combat with Derek.

NEEMA. The beautiful, coffee-skinned executive was not having a good day. A zombie apocalypse was not on her agenda. Still, she had survived many a boardroom fight and she was ready for a fight now. Her expensive designer suit was torn and tattered from a previous run in with the undead. Luckily for her, she had found a 9mm Glock Pistol with spare ammo at the same time as she had found Derek and Raoul. It made sense for them to stick together and so here they were at a partially ruined shopping mall, hoping to find more survivors. She exited the pimp-mobile and strode to the mall door that Derek had just opened. As soon as she saw the Runner she acted without hesitation. She fired her Glock like a seasoned marksman and blew the back of the Runner's head off with a single shot.
"It's clear now," she announced as she stepped inside the trashed store.
"Thanks," Derek said feeling relieved at not having to fight a Runner.

RAOUL. The former mercenary climbed out of the pimp-mobile and moved past his two colleagues to enter the store. His eyes took in his surroundings, missing nothing. He quickly noticed a familiar looking gun butt beneath a large cardboard box.
"Oh my, you are a beauty, aren't you?" he said as he revealed the weapon to be an AA-12 Atchisson Assault Shotgun. He had used one once during his time as a U.S. Marine. It was a lethal weapon with a 32-round drum magazine and was capable of firing 300 rounds per minute. It was the perfect weapon for killing Zombies. Raoul was a very happy man!

ZOMBIES. No Zombies appeared at Spawn points 1 and 2. One Walker appeared at Spawn Point 3 and a Fatty, accompanied by two Walkers appeared at Spawn point 4. (Note I forgot to place the two Walkers alongside the Fatty in the photo above, but I remembered them soon after. See below.) 
TURN 2

DEREK. "Raoul, you lucky son of a bitch!" Derek exclaimed as he followed his two friends into the store. Raoul just smiled at him as he caressed the Assault Shotgun. Derek began sifting through the rubbish and debris on the floor. He soon found something he thought might prove useful - a Hockey Mask. (This is actually a very useful piece of equipment as it prevents 1 Wound to the wearer per attack.) He used his Claw Hammer to bust the lock on the door leading to the interior of the shopping mall. Three Toxic Walkers were waiting just outside and a fourth was close by.
"Not again!" Derek moaned.

NEEMA. "I hope you guys have left something useful for me to find," Neema said as she also searched amongst the garbage and litter.
"Any luck?" Raoul asked.
"Oh yes!" Neema replied, smiling happily as she pulled a Machete from beneath a vending machine.
"Do you need a hand again, Derek?" she asked as she moved in front of him to look out of the wide open exit door.
"Huh?" she muttered as she raised her Pistol. "Spiky Zombies! I haven't seen them before."
This was their first encounter with Toxic Zombies. She wondered what made these Zombies different from others they had met? Her first shot punched through the centre chest of a male wearing a white shirt. Her second shot struck him in the bridge of his nose. The blood that spattered from both wounds made a hissing noise as it landed on the floor and it bubbled for just a few seconds. Neema's knowledge of chemistry immediately kicked in.
"Be careful guys," she warned. "I think these bastards have acid blood!"

RAOUL. "Duly noted," Raoul replied as once again he spotted something very useful lying behind the counter - a .44 Magnum Revolver. He was happy enough with his AA-12 but he knew that Neema or Derek would appreciate having the heavy calibre weapon.
"Any of you guys want a .44 Magnum?" he asked as he showed it to his two surprised looking colleagues.
"Oh, please!" Neema replied quickly. "I had one of those back at home."
"It's yours," Raoul said as he passed the Revolver over to Neema. She tucked her 9mm Glock into her skirt pocket and lovingly took possession of the .44 Magnum.
"Now to deal with these deadheads," Raoul announced. He selected semi automatic fire for his Assault Shotgun. Three rounds boomed out in a near deafening noise and blasted the heads off the two Toxic Walkers about to enter the store.
"Holy shit!" Derek exclaimed. "That was freaking awesome! I want one of those!"
ZOMBIES. The one remaining Toxic Walker in the mall corridor moved slowly towards the door of the store that the three humans were occupying. From Spawn Point 1 one Runner appeared. Nothing appeared at Spawn points 2 and 3 and one Walker arrived at Spawn point 4.
TURN 3

NEEMA. Making sure she kept her distance from the female Toxic Walker who was approaching the doorway, the young executive tested her .44 Magnum and found it to her liking. One shot and one kill. Making sure she didn't step in any spilled blood she moved cautiously down the corridor to the musical instruments store next door.

RAOUL. Raoul quickly followed Neema down the corridor. He tried the door handle to the store but found it locked. One blow from his Fire Axe swiftly dealt with that problem, only to reveal a new problem. Locked inside the store was a single male Zombie Walker.

DEREK. "I'll deal with him," Derek proclaimed as he quickly joined his colleagues. "Now let's see what this little beauty can do."
He aimed the strange weapon called Pa's Pistol at the head of the Walker and pulled the trigger. The Walker's head exploded in a ball of flame.
"Incendiary round," Raoul explained. "Very nice, my friend. That's a keeper, I'd say."
"Yeah, cool!" Derek replied, feeling good about his new weapon.

ZOMBIES. Attracted by the sound of gunfire from within the mall, all of the Zombies outside headed towards the rear entrance to the ruined mall. (Note the two Walkers accompanying the Fatty. I didn't forget them after all.) Unbeknownst to the Survivors they were in big trouble. All of a sudden, a Toxic Abomination emerged from Spawn Point 1. This was really bad news! Two Walkers appeared at Spawn Point 2, one Runner from Spawn Point 3 and two more Walkers from Spawn Point 4. 
TURN 4.

DEREK. Derek moved into the musical instrument store but found nothing of interest inside.
"Let's move on," he suggested.
(The objective token he found turned out to be a normal token and not one of the missing Survivors. he earned 5 experience points but nothing else.)

NEEMA. "Let's try door number three," Neema said as she walked over to the store directly opposite. It was a budget shoe shop, not the kind of shop she would normally frequent. Of course the door was locked but she thought she could smash it open with her Machete. Maybe she lacked sufficient strength or maybe she just hit it in the wrong place but both of her attempts ended in failure.

RAOUL. "Here, let me try," Raoul said in a sympathetic voice as he saw how frustrated Neema was getting. He moved alongside her and with one mighty swing of his Fire Axe he destroyed the lock. He was greeted by a male Toxic Walker who had clearly heard them trying to open the door and was standing just behind the door. The door bumped into him as it swung open and distracted him for just a brief moment. It was all the time Raoul needed to turn the Zombie's head into a fine red mist with a 12 Gauge Shotgun round from his AA-12.

ZOMBIES. The Toxic Abomination joined a Runner outside the mall's rear entrance. Elsewhere, the other Zombies shuffled their way to join them. From Spawn Point 1 came two Toxic Walkers, whilst two normal Walkers appeared at Spawn Point 2. Spawn Point 3 remained clear but one Walker appeared at Spawn Point 4.
TURN 5

NEEMA. Neema moved into the shoe shop and gave it a quick once over. It was just as litter strewn as the other stores. She saw nothing of interest and informed the two men it was clear. She moved back out into the mall corridor. (Finding the blank objective token advanced Neema to the yellow level. She gained the +1 Action skill.)

RAOUL. The muscular and ruggedly handsome mercenary moved back along the mall corridor to the only store they hadn't searched yet - a toy shop. He used his Fire Axe to smash open the locked door. He was not surprised to find a Zombie inside. This time it was a male Runner. The Runner was quick and dodged the first shot. The second caught him in the right shoulder and practically tore off his arm. The third shot was fatal and made mincemeat of his head.

DEREK. "That's the only way to deal with them," Derek said as he slapped his buddy on the back and moved inside the toy store.

ZOMBIES. Now there were six Zombies outside the mall entrance - a Toxic Abomination, a Toxic Runner, two Toxic Walkers, a normal Walker and a normal Runner. More Zombies were closing in and now that Neema was at the yellow level, their numbers would increase. From each of Spawn Points 1 and 2 came one Walker. From Spawn Point 3 one Runner emerged whilst from Spawn Point 4, two Runners arrived together. It was getting quite crowded outside and the three Survivors had no idea what awaited them. They'd find out very soon.

To be continued.

Vampifan's Views 83 - Monthly Musings 57

This has been a fantastic month for me. I have a lot of good news to share but first I will start, as always with another picture of the gorgeous Vampirella as painted by Joe Jusko.

On the painting front, I have been extremely busy working on my Shadows of Brimstone 30mm scale figures. I have painted two thirds of my collection and have taken photos of most of them. That's over 60 figures all done this month! Expect to see lots of reviews of these Weird West figures next month. Shadows of Brimstone is a game that greatly excites me and I can't wait to start playing my campaign and of course, chronicling it on my blog. In a related topic I have been buying more MDF scenery for my Wild West games. I bought two more log cabins from 4Ground and lots of furniture items from TTCombat (chairs, tables, bar counters, bottles and coffins). I haven't made any of these yet as I only recently received them, but they will get made sooner rather than later.

The best news ever for me, was that I received my huge parcel of goodies for the Battle Systems Urban Terrain sets. Good grief, but that parcel was HEAVY! I spent far more on this Kickstarter project than any other project I have backed. I won't say how much, but I consider it money very well spent as these sets are going to totally transform the way I play so many games. Let's take a look at some of the stuff I got. Note these photos were taken from the Battle Systems' website.

I bought four cityscape sets. The photo above shows just what you can do with four sets. Each set comes with a gaming mat measuring 60cm by 60cm (roughly 2 feet square), which are made from synthetic cloth with a 2mm thick rubber foam backing, much like a mouse mat, making them very durable. The four sets combined as above will cover an area four feet square. Just imagine gaming on a board like that! These sets are ideal for zombie apocalypse games or contemporary 7TV2e games but I also plan on using them for my forthcoming Judge Dredd campaign (more of which later).

I also bought two shanty town sets. The photo above shows the contents of one set. Again, this set is ideal for any post apocalypse game or even a contemporary setting that takes place in the slum area of a city. This set will also see extensive use in my Judge Dredd campaign. Mega City One is now just a shadow of its former glory as much of the vast metropolis was destroyed in a recent war and its population greatly depleted. Shanty towns are now prevalent there.

Here we see one of each of the cityscape and shanty town sets combined, which just goes to show how versatile they are. This is how I want my Mega City One to look like. This is what I love about these sets - you can mix and match to your heart's content. Later this year, Battle Systems will be launching a new Kickstarter campaign - this time featuring sci-fi terrain. I can't wait for it to be released as it will give my Mega City one a more futuristic feel and allow me to recreate the interiors of the vast city block buildings. I have cut back on the Kickstarters I'd like to back but this one just fills me with excitement. Best of all, it will be fully compatible with the urban terrain sets.

Here's a preview shot of what you can expect to find in the sci-fi terrain sets. I am drooling over this already as my mind fills with ideas for gaming possibilities. In a rather prescient move on my part, I bought a couple of the sci-fi terrain mats which were on offer as an add-on extra. That's forward planning for you!

In addition to the four cityscape and two shanty town sets I also bought numerous add-ons, including these fine houses to make a suburban housing estate set up. Other sets that I bought were the fire station and police station, the art deco buildings set, the diner set, the generator set and a fair few duplicates of sets from the cityscape and shanty town sets.
Bear in mind, these sets are made of thick card, they can be assembled by means of plastic clips and when you've finished, disassembled and stored away flat. Roofs and floors can be removed easily to gain access to a building's interior. In addition to the buildings the sets also contain loads of furniture items, scenery items and scatter terrain. For these smaller parts, I'm glueing them together. One other thing I'm doing, which is a pain in the ass, but essential in my opinion is to paint the white edges of the components. This is something I do with all of my card scenery and the results speak for themselves as a sofa, for example, that has been edged looks like a proper miniature sofa and not a cardboard cut-out. It is very time-consuming but well worth doing. Note that everything shown in the photos above have been edged, so Battle Systems also think it is worth doing.

Finally, I also bought a couple of these transition game mats to better combine the cityscape mats with the shanty town mats. I really do love these mouse mat style gaming mats. These sets are incredibly versatile. I remember that World Works Games attempted to make buildings and scenery that could be assembled without glue and taken apart after use. They were the TerrainLinx range, often abbreviated to TLX. I really disliked them and I never made any of them as they were overly complicated to make. Plus, I much preferred buildings that did not come apart. What Battle Systems have done is solve the construction problem that WWG failed to grasp properly and they have made these flat pack sets such a must have item for gamers with storage problems. I'm a convert to their way of thinking. These sets most definitely appeal to me and I rate them the best thing to happen to my gaming hobby!

As I mentioned above, I am keen to start a Judge Dredd campaign. I will be using the Judge Dredd Miniatures Game rules by Mongoose Publishing. I am currently building up my collection of Judge Dredd figures, which is fairly extensive anyway, with the figures and vehicles I'm missing from the Warlord Games range of Judge Dredd miniatures. Warlord Games currently sell the largest range of 28mm scale Judge Dredd figures. Their various boxed sets are a cheaper way of buying the figures when compared to buying each one individually. You're usually saving £10.00 per box.
My plan for my campaign is to use a small force of Mega City One Judges, who will all be named after my blogging friends. The force will be led by me, Senior Judge Scott. The other Judges I'm planning on using are Street Judge Gilbert (my good friend and co-editor of The Gamers Cupboard, Steve), Street Judge Hillers (Steve's wife), Street Judge Moore (Simon/Blaxkleric), Street Judge Webb (Roger/Dick Garrison), Street Judge Crowe (Jez, who asked to be called Judge Crowe instead of Judge Winstanley), Street Judge Burnett (Clint), Med Judge Nash (Andy/Da Gobbo) and Psi Judge Tarot (Tarot from the Gamers Cupboard). These names and posts are not yet set in stone. So if you want a name change (Hil and Jez did), just let me know. Also, if you want to play another role like for example Cadet Judge (surely not!), Rookie Judge (again, surely not), Exorcist Judge (unusual), Heavy Weapons Judge, Riot Judge, or Tek Judge, just let me know and hopefully we can work something out. The campaign will be more combat oriented and less investigative. If anyone doesn't want to be included or wants to be included but hasn't been mentioned, do let me know. I don't know when I'll be starting this campaign but anywhere between one and two month's time is most likely. Depending on interest I may well run a play-by-blog scenario to run alongside the campaign, using the same characters. This however, will likely happen next year after everyone has gained some experience and risen in levels.
If you are interested in my look at a history of gaming Judge Dredd on the tabletop, please check out my article on the Gamers Cupboard blog which you can find here - http://thegamerscupbard.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/gaming-judge-dredd-on-table-top.html

Generally speaking, my Monthly Musings post comes at the end of the month but I've posted this one a few days early because my next few posts will be a Zombicide batrep, which I wanted to run over consecutive posts without a break in the middle. It features the return of Elsa and Gary, who fled from a growing horde of Zombies and Crowz.