WWG Mayhem Junkyard Walls

A while ago I made a set of 12 walls from the World Works Games' Mayhem Junkyard set. Each wall measures 6" long by 2" tall and they come in four different flavours. All walls are glued to bases that are 0.5" wide on either side.

The wall at the left of the photo above is a plain blank wall with no markings or graffiti on. I made six of these and two each of the other walls.

The wall at the right of the photo above bears a "Private Property" sign. It also has a very amusing poster that reads "NB Trespassing. Violators will be shot. Survivors will be shot again."

 The wall at the left of the photo above has been spray painted with graffiti.

 The wall at the right of the photo above has has numerous advertising posters stuck on it.

The photos directly above and below show the reverse side of the walls with their support columns.

All reverse sides of the walls are identical. These were incredibly easy to make. The walls and bases are reinforced with mounting card.

Foundry Juno's Crew

Continuing my theme of Wargames Foundry's Street Violence range of 28mm scale gangers here is set SV01/6 Juno's Crew. This set could be used as a smartly dressed criminal gang or they could work for some covert government agency, which is the option I chose when I used this gang in my Feng Shui campaign. Juno was quite a thorn in the sides of my player characters. There is an extra figure that I've added to this group, made by Copplestone Castings and I'll explain why later.

First in line is Juno. Juno may be her real name or more likely, it is an alias. She is one tough cookie. She was born in Hong Kong as a member of the Ascended faction in the Secret War. This made her one of the ruling class of the contemporary era. She is armed with a 9mm Heckler and Koch MP5KA5 Machine Pistol and a 9mm Glock 17 Pistol. She is equally skilled in gunplay and martial arts.
To her left is Tracy Smith, a skilled assassin. Tracy also wields a 9mm Heckler and Koch MP5KA5 Machine Pistol. If you removed her pistol she'd make a good civilian.
Malcolm Taylor, known to his friends as Mac is third in line. Mac is armed with a .50 cal. IMI Desert Eagle Big Ass Pistol. Mac is quite a brute and can soak up a lot of punishment.

Fourth in line is Carter Hagget. He, too, is armed with a 9mm Heckler and Koch MP5KA5 Machine Pistol. Curiously, he has been posed firing his Machine Pistol gangsta-style, which is never a sensible thing to do.
The last figure from this group was called Ace by the Foundry folk, but seeing as he is a dead ringer for John Travolta's hitman character from the film Pulp Fiction, I have called him Vincent Vega. I'm not sure what make of Pistol he's using but no doubt it'll be some form of nine mil.
As fans of Pulp Fiction will know, Vincent was partnered by Jules Winnfield, played by Samuel L. Jackson. As it happens Copplestone Casting make a perfect Jules Winnfield in their Future Wars set FW26 Bad Guys in Suits. So that is the reason I have included this iconic figure with this set. You can't have Vincent without Jules. He, too, is armed with a 9mm Pistol.
Juno's Crew is available for sale for £12.00 from the Wargames Foundry website. As mentioned, the Jules Winnfield figure is part of the FW26 Bad Guys in Suits set and they cost £8.50 for five figures. I'll review the rest of them at a later date.

ATZ FFO supplement - High Rise to Hell

High Rise to Hell (hereafter referred to as HRTH) is the newest supplement for All Things Zombie - Final Fade Out by Two Hours Wargames. It is written by Ed Teixeira, the head honcho of THW.
HRTH is a scenario pack that takes place in the Prosperity Corporation headquarters situated in an urban centre wherever your campaign is set. The goal of the player characters is to search the building in the hope of finding the Cure to the zombie virus that has affected so many. Whether there is a Cure to be found there or not remains to be discovered. If it does exist there, it won't be easy to find.
Each floor of the building is a separate encounter with six storeys above ground and three underground. Access to the upper floors is via stairs or elevator, whilst access to the underground section is restricted to elevator only, and then only with a key card or a computer override.
The scenario features a wide variety of opponents to be dealt with. Most are hostile but some are friendly or neutral. Opposition includes the obvious - Pro Corp security personnel and scientists and of course, the ever present zombies. Smart zombies and Ragers, both of which were first detailed in the I, Zombie supplement, are also present, although their rules have been slightly tweaked to make them fit in with the high rise environment. The oddities that can be found include vampires, werewolves and aliens. The vampires are not of the traditional supernatural kind of legend but are genetically modified humans known as Stage One Vampires and the more powerful but rarer Stage Two Vampires. The aliens include a smattering of races from THW's 5150 universe. I'll say no more, so as to not spoil your surprise. Strictly speaking, the werewolves are also another alien race from the 5150 rulebook - the Lycaons. An important point to remember about Lycaons is that their wolf form is their natural form and they can transform into humans. They are not humans who can transform into wolf-like creatures. Human survivors, gangers and magic users (known as Casters) are also present. Full rules for all opposition are provided along with the option of using any of them beyond this scenario. Indeed, some of them could join your party to aid them in future encounters.
The scenario includes five pre-generated Grunts to be led by your Star, if you want to use them. There are one each of civilian, ganger, military, police and survivor. I'd imagine most folk would want to use their own crew and that's fine. However, by using the pre-generated Grunts, it allows some of their backstories and motivations to come to the fore when they meet certain characters in the high rise.
HRTH opens the world of ATZ to a host of exotic races and creatures, which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your point of view. Those looking for more variety in their campaign or tougher opposition when their crew are all Rep:5+ will most likely welcome the challenges brought by the fresh blood. However, some of you may decide that there is no place for anything but zombies in a zombie apocalypse. If that is the case, then this supplement is not for you. On the other hand, if you can accept the premise of a zombie apocalypse it isn't too big a leap of faith to accept vampires and Lycaons. The way the new races are introduced and presented has a logic to it that makes sense.  My personal opinion on the matter is that I can accept the concept of HRTH as canon in the world of my own ATZ campaign. However, it is not a scenario that I'd want to play until at least one year of campaign time had elapsed. HRTH is not a scenario for starting characters. One of the things that I particularly like about this supplement is that if you do successfully complete the encounters, there is scope for further encounters involving Pro Corp and the aliens.
Another big plus about this supplement is that it addresses what I felt was a major omission from the After The Horsemen rulebook, namely the lack of rules for the likes of vampires and werewolves. I also think it is a good idea introducing some of the races from the 5150 series. They add even more variety to the mix.
A PDF version of HRTH costs $17.00 from the THW webstore, whilst a hard copy costs $20.00. I ordered the hard copy and got the PDF version for free. I'd like to leave by mentioning a new ATZ project that Ed has just launched on Kickstarter. This is for a range of 28mm scale figures, including casters, vampires and werewolves found in HRTH as well as zombies, smart zombies and assorted human types. You can find them here - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1377449800/28mm-all-things-zombies-and-more-miniatures?ref=email
I've already made my pledge for it. The sculpts look very good indeed. Ed's Kickstarter project for the 15mm ATZ figures was a success, so hopefully, this will be too.

Warm Bodies DVD

When I got back home from hospital one of the first things I did was to send an order off to Amazon.UK for a few DVD films and books I had missed. One of the films that I bought was Warm Bodies, a zombie romantic comedy. I can remember seeing the trailer for it months ago and I thought that it might be interesting to see. Sadly, I missed its cinema release, so I was determined to buy the DVD when it came out. I am mighty glad that I did because this is a thoroughly enjoyable film.
THE FILM. Warm Bodies stars Nicholas Hoult as R the zombie hero, Teresa Palmer as Julie Grigio, his love interest, John Malkovich as Colonel Grigio (Julie's father) and Rob Corddry as M the zombie. It was directed by Jonathan Levine. This Canadian production was low budget, but achieved high production standards and utilised a great location in a zombie-infested airport in Montreal. It was released on 8th February 2013 in the UK and a week earlier in America.
THE PLOT. A young zombie named "R" (he can only remember that his name began with an "R") retains a semblance of intelligence as he wanders aimlessly around an airport terminal looking for a meaning to his undead existence. His best friend is another zombie, who goes by the name of "M". The pair of them grunt to one another at the airport's bar. R's life changes when a small group of survivors raid the airport. Two major events change his life forever. First, he kills a survivor called Perry and eats his brains. Doing so gives him access to Perry's memories. Apparently, this is why zombies are so fond of eating brains. The second major turning point is that he sees another survivor in the fight, a young female called Julie Grigio. Perry used to date her and so R instantly falls in love with her. He saves her from the other zombies and takes her to his secret hidey hole inside a passenger jet stuck on the runway. It was at this point that I realised this was not going to be your normal zombie apocalypse film. What follows is a plot similar to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet play. Note the similarity of the lover's names. Slowly but surely, Julie comes to realise that R is different to other zombies and is really a nice guy. He has the power of speech, which helps to convince Julie he can be trusted to look after her. For the most part the other zombies ignore the couple but the really old zombies, known as the Boneys due to their resemblance to skeletons as they become seriously emaciated, are not fooled and cannot be persuaded not to eat humans.
THE VERDICT. I absolutely loved this film. It was refreshingly different to most zombie films. Note the 12 certificate, indicating this was not going to be a gorefest. Saying that, there were a few gory scenes early on in the film. My mum couldn't watch them! I enjoyed them but I wanted more gore. Yes, I am a sicko! There is a lot of humour in the film. And romance. R's love for Juliet grows so strong that he passes his love on to other zombies, starting with M. Soon there is a horde of friendly zombies looking for love. Not the ending you'd expect but totally in keeping with the film's premise. I must give praise to the special features on the DVD. When the extras on a DVD last longer than the film, as in this case, I know I'm going to be in for a treat... and I was. Special mention must go to Rob Corddry, aka M, who was incredibly funny and witty. The interviews with the cast and crew were always interesting and entertaining. This is a zombie film that you can watch with your parents and older children and has a real feel-good factor to it. Charming is not an adjective I'd normally use for a zombie film but it perfectly suits Warm Bodies. I give this film an 8/10 rating. It scores an extra point just for the special features.

Vampifan's Views 39 I'm Back

 As Mikie told you earlier this week I'm back home. Recovery is still ongoing and it will take many weeks before I'm fully fit and mobile. At the moment I'm hobbling about on walking sticks whilst indoors and using a three wheeled Zimmer contraption for when I go outdoors (very rarely). In myself I feel fine. I'm typing this on a laptop as it's going to take me a month or more before I can get back to my upstairs den/bedroom. I'm confined to the downstairs of my house. As a consequence, you'll have to wait a while longer before I can get blogging on a regular basis again.Sorry!
I'd like to thank everyone for their support and well wishes during my long stay in hospital. They meant a lot to me and were greatly appreciated. I knew I was ill before I was rushed to hospital but I never realised how serious my condition was - a hole in my bowel, which was leaking poisons and toxins into my stomach. The four month recovery period in hospital was far longer than I expected. Still, it's great to be back home and I can't wait to get back to blogging, figure painting and model making.
Kind regards to everyone.