Sunday 29 April 2012

Vampifan's Views 23 - Monthly Musings 09

Vampirella by Boris Valejo - oh so sexy!
It's the end of the month, so that means it's time for another of my Monthly Musings. It's been a busy month for me. The highlight of this month was getting to meet Joe aka Zabadak for the first time. Meeting any of my followers and/or fellow bloggers is such a rare event that it can't go unreported! We spent a good afternoon in Newcastle city centre chatting about loads of gaming-related stuff. The weather could have been kinder and our trip to Poundland was disappointing as neither of us found anything worth buying. Still, I scored at Travelling Man Games, where I bought two GURPS supplements - Mass Combat and Tactical Shooting. With Joe and I living so close to one another and having so much in common, a meeting was inevitable and I'm very glad we finally managed it. Joe's definitely one of the good guys and despite his age (incredibly, he's older than me!) and far from perfect health, he was very enthusiastic about zombie gaming. Hopefully, we'll meet again in the near future.
My painting and modelling projects are progressing nicely. Currently on my painting desk are the first 25 of my 100 Victory Force 28mm scale zombies. I finally decided it was about time I painted them. I'll paint them in four batches of 25, but I suspect I won't get them finished before VF releases Zombie Horde II, another 100 figures. When I buy that second lot, I won't be far from my goal of 1,000 zombie miniatures.
Ainstey Wrecked School Bus. Photo from their website.
I am also painting three Ainstey Castings 28mm scale resin vehicles that I bought in their recent Easter sale. I bought two sets of tyre walls, an armoured pick-up truck, a wrecked car and a wrecked school bus. The pick of this bunch is undoubtedly the wrecked school bus. I "borrowed" this photo of it from the Ainstey website to let you see just how impressive it is. What the photo doesn't show is just how big it is. The base measures 9" by 3" so no wonder it is selling for £20.00, although I got it for £16.00 in their sale. It comes with separate boards to fit to the roof as well as wooden panels to cover some of the windows, but I'm thinking of leaving them off. They may come in useful for other projects I have in mind.
Speaking of resin cast vehicles, last month I ordered a wrecked sports car and two Scooby Doo Mystery Machine vans from Armorcast. The reason for buying two vans was to give one to Joe as a surprise present. He was really bowled over by it, especially as I painted it for him. I'll post a review of the van and the wrecked sports car soon. I'm very pleased with them both and they will see use in my ATZ campaign.
On the card modelling front, I'm still working on my WWG 28mm scale Mayhem Junkyard set. I finished making the garage, which you may have seen when I posted photos of my man cave in my last Monthly Musings. Since then, I've been working on props from the set, and I've just about finished them. There are six vehicles included in the set and I'll probably make them next. Those of you who lurk on the Board of the Living Lead forum here will have seen that I was quite excited by another of my recent purchases - the Stoelzel's Structures 28mm scale Carnie Ville card model set. Basically, it is a collection circus tents with lots of accessories. It is something I have been after for quite a few years now. I have a large range of 28mm scale circus figures, not just clowns, although my clown population is growing alarmingly fast. Followers of my ATZ campaign will be well aware of the tragedy that befell Team Vampifan when they encountered Sunny and his gang of Killer Klowns. A rematch was always on the cards but I was never sure where it would take place. Now I have the ideal location. The Killer Klowns have a place they can call home, sweet home. Yeah right, it'll be a freaking death trap! Making the circus shouldn't be too difficult and construction of it is high on my list of things to make.
The book that I'm currently reading is Assassin's Code by Jonathan Maberry. This is book 4 of the Joe Ledger series and it appears to feature vampires as the bad guys. I've enjoyed the previous three books in this series and I'm thoroughly enjoying this one. Other books I've read recently was the novel, Outpost by Adam Baker. It was quite good but I'd describe it more of a sci-fi novel than a horror novel as the zombies featured within appear to originate from nanobots, as they become a fusion of flesh and metal. It's not your traditional zombie novel, although the setting in the Arctic circle is very interesting. I recently bought THW's 5150: New Beginnings sci-fi rulebook and was rather disappointed with it. It does have some good ideas in it but not enough for my liking. A shame, as I usually like anything that THW produce. Another book that I've read recently is War Against The Walking Dead by Sean T. Page. I don't want to say much about it here as I'll be posting a full review of it on Wednesday. However, it did get me thinking. Let me leave you with a question, which is related to Sean's book - how do you expect your zombie apocalypse campaign to end? It doesn't matter what rules you're using as this applies universally. I'll be discussing this question in greater detail in my next post.

29 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Everything I said was the truth, Joe. It really was such a pleasure to meet you.

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  2. I envy you two living so close! I will really try to visit you guys someday next year :P

    20% discount pays off when you buy bigger things. I can imagine all the uses such a bus has.

    And the Killer Klowns has to be the best gang in a Mayhem City!

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    1. Until Joe got in touch with me last year I didn't know anyone else who lived close to me, so it was a piece of luck when he began following my blog.

      The 20% discount certainly had a big influence on me taking up Ainstey's sale offer, that's for sure.

      The Killer Klowns have had such a huge impact on a lot of people. I certainly did not envisage them being so popular.

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  3. Great post, Bryan. Beautiful artwork of Vampirella. I've never seen anything bad by Valejo, but that is one of his best. Very cool that you got to meet Joe in person. He mentioned having one of the Armorcast Scooby Doo vans on his blog. I didn't realize it was a gift from you. Very nice. I've had one on order for over a month and still haven't received it. That wrecked bus is great looking. I can't wait to see it featured in one of your batreps or reviews. I'll have to see if Recreational Conflicts here in the States is carrying it. It's funny about the Circus Set from Stoelzel's Structures. When I saw it advertised on TMP, I immediately thought of you and Sunny. :) Can't wait to see these built-up, and am wondering how you'll construct them. I just finished "Assassin's Code", too. As far as ending the ATZ campaign I hadn't given it much thought. I'm always a little disappointed in movies where all of the Survivors are killed in the end, though.

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    1. Boris is an artist I've admired for a long time, Joe. Look out for next month's musings when I plan on showing a Vampirella portrait by Boris's wife, Julie Bell.
      I am sure that now I have mentioned that Joe and I met a couple of weeks ago he'll have something to say about on his own blog.
      When I photograph the wrecked bus I'll be sure to stand a figure next to it, so you can see just how big it is. Even though I go on about its size, I don't think it's overscale.
      I've been thinking about how I'll make my Stoelzel's circus and I'll almost certainly stick with my usual method of reinforcing my printouts with mounting card.
      I guess ending a zombie apocalypse campaign is not something many of us think about. Just surviving from one day to the next is enough. But when you read my next post I will certainly give you food for thought.

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  4. The zombie blogging network is just fantastic!!!!

    Hugs all around!

    And looking forward to seeing that bus painted up and used in a battlereport!!!

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    1. It's true, Johnny, zombie-gaming bloggers have to be amongst the friendliest bunch of people on the planet.

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    2. How right you are your Lordship.

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  5. What a coincidence I was eyeing up that bus in Ainsty's site this morning I'm after a police cruisers and spotted one there. Look forward to seeing what you do with it Bryan.

    Nice artwork. I will have a think about how I want or hope my campaign will end. (if ever it gets started) So can add it to your next post

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    1. I have to say, Simon, if hadn't made all of those WWG police patrol cars recently, I'd be very tempted by Ainstey's police cruisers as well. They do look nice. I might still buy a couple to use as out of town's sheriff's cars.

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    2. I didn't know he did them tbh. I looked at some stuff some had put up on ebay over at the LAF forums. Then took a look over at Ainsty.

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    3. So it was a happy accident that you found them. Serendipity in action!

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  6. Very cool that you can meet up with other gaming enthusiasts, and followers of your blog no less. I can't even find other miniature gamers (beyond 40K) in my area.
    Very cool bus, can't wait to see it finished.

    As for the end of the campaign, I haven't really thought that far ahead, but I am a sucker for a happy ending. I don't really want to find a 'cure' for the zombies that are already infected, but maybe some sort of prevention drug, and then eventually an end to the zeds. (Of course the end of the zombie campaign is the beginning of the Post Apocalyptic campaign :D)

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    1. If you read "World War Z" by Max Brooks (if you haven't, do so NOW!) you'll see he ends on a high note. No cure, but humanity survives, life goes on and it's not the end of the world - it's just less populated. Of course, if you want it to roll over into the start of a Post Apocalypse campaign, that's entirely up to you and no one could say you're wrong.

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  7. Out of everything I ordered over the last month (about a dozen separate orders) the only thing I'm waiting is my ArmorCast shipment. It's a bummer as I was REALLY excited about the Scooby stuff!

    I'm pretty excited that y'all have had a chance to meet. I'm looking forward to seeing battle reports that include both of you playing! If ever you hit stateside, please let me know. If you're in the greater Charlotte, NC area I'd be happy to meet for lunch, tea, or gaming, or better, all three!

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    1. I had to wait about six weeks for my Armorcast order to arrive, which is a long time for an order to reach the U.K. from America.

      I really do hope that I will return to America someday and if I do I'd love to take you up on your very kind offer, Varangian.

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  8. Nice post Bryan!! Can't wait to see your Circus set all made up!

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    1. Thanks, Ray. It will get made soonish. I have a few other things I want to make first but as I said, the circus is high on my to build list.

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  9. Thanks for putting me on to Aintsie. I don't remember ever having giving them a look before, though I vaguely remember you mentioning them previously.

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    1. If you check out their website you'll see they make a huge range of models. You'll find the vehicles I mentioned under their car park sets.

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  10. I enjoyed the Joe Ledger series of books, haven't go Assassin's Code yet but will, nice update my friend and looking forward to lots more!

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    1. What i like about the Joe Ledger series is that they are fast paced and so incredibly over the top with their action scenes. Not everyone's cup of tea, I know, but I'm definitely a fan.

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  11. Brilliant. Zombie Bloggers unite. I've got to get up there. I love ethe circus stuff any chance of doing them soon and postng them. Circus' don't age so it'll fit with me. Take care matey!

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    1. Thanks, Irqan and please let me know if ever you visit the North East so we can arrange a meeting. I guess circuses are timeless. Although my circus isn't next on my list of card models to build it is high on the list so you shouldn't have to wait too long. The more I look at it, the more I think it'll be easy to make. The only thing is, there's far more to it than shown on that preview photo. For example, all of the models shown have interior detail.

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  12. I love the huge Vampira painting, i know they did a movie starring the gorgeous Talisa Soto, but she opted for granny pants not the skimpy swimsuit. And the movie was terrible.

    Great sculptures, good luck in your future battles.

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    1. Hi and welcome to my blog, Sundersartwork. The Vampirella movie was utter pants in more ways than one. The story sucked big time and the costume that Talisa Soto had to wear was the worst Vampirella costume I have ever seen.

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  13. Someone say killer Klowns ??? they would have to be the highlight of your campaign, and the thought of you setting up a showdown at a circus......ohhh man that is going to be a batrep to end all batreps !!
    great musings Vampifan.

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    1. Thanks, The Extraordinarii. You're not the only one looking forward to a rematch between the Killer Klowns and Team Vampifan. Having the circus terrain will be an added bonus.

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