2X2 Terrain Board

I have really never made a terrain board before, and with an upcoming DBN tournament looming, I decided to do so. I decided it actually several months ago, but the project has been sort of stand-and-stop. But today, with the beautiful weather calling to be outside (in the garage anyway), I decided to complete the project. The overall layout of the board is Waterloo inspired.


The board is 2' square, with wooden edges. The center is filled by Styrofoam and there are two hills made with "pink stuff" (foam insulation board). After placing all of the ground, I covered the board in plaster (adding some wagon ruts when the plaster was stiff). After a layer of house paint - but while that paint was still wet, I covered the non-road areas with fine railroad ballast. When that was dry, another coat and some flock was added (again while the paint was wet). Then I sprayed it all with dull-coat to seal the flock.


For the first attempt, I don't think it is half-bad. Even if I do not keep it, it is good experience for the creation of the Vietnam boards come January. Here are some pics of the empty board. I did not take "in progress" pictures as I really wasn't sure how tings would turn out - but I will when I do the Vietnam boards.

This image is an overhead view of the board. It is difficult to see the hills in this view, so the second image shows an outline of the hills.The hills are purposely angled so as to minimize any advantage and create the need for maneuver.

 

The following images show the board with some French and Austrian troops going at it. The action is staged, no battle was taking place during the photo-taking. In some views it is difficult to make out the slopes of the hills, so I think I did a pretty good job of making contours that don't look like wedding cake.

Zombie 'Gator

On Friday night, we did manage to play a very large zombie game using All Things Zombie. What a blast!

The scenario was based in La Fourche Parrish in south central Louisiana. Now for all you Yankees, a parrish is the same thing as a County. We just call ‘em parishes because, well, I don’t know why, we just do. La Fourche is pronounced “La-Foosh” (yeah, we don’t pronounce the “r”). Here is a map of the table...

We had survivors of all sorts (nine players) entering around the table in small groups. Each group had a small objective to accomplish for extra victory points - and all players scored victory points for killing zombies and finding valuable items. I took a few pictures, but not enough as managing the game with nine players was a lot to do. Here are a couple of the most fun pictures:

This image has a nice story behind it. When the scenario started, there were three soldiers that entered the game via the small boat, using the bayou as a highway. These men had a mission to get some fuel cans refilled at the gas station and to capture two "living" zombies for the army's medical experiments.

When the group landed, they began to attract a crowd of the living dead due to the noise of the boat's engine and the shooting from their assault rifles, but they managed to get off of the boat and into the gas station - narrowly avoiding a zombie alligator! From then on, the men were more careful when near the bank of the bayou.

I did mention that there were three soldiers, but the image above only shows two. One of the soldiers went out to the gas pumps alone to fill the cans, but was soon surrounded by the hungry dead (the actions of the other players kept activating zombies!). One of the soldiers ran out to try and help the first soldier (while the third soldier stayed inside where it was safe, and climbed out of a back window!) and in so doing fell prey to the zombies. It was a terrific fight with the two soldiers battling in hand-to-hand with about 15 zombies over the course of three or four turns! In the end, the first soldier fought his way out and the "good Samaritan" soldier was killed (of course, he got up again, hungry).

You can see in the image that there are two zombies on the boat, these are the specimens they collected, although they never got the fuel. The numbered markers represent "sound" from the restarted boat motor and the gunfire at the zombie gator.

This image shows a large zombie horde moving towards the waterline where the remaining two soldiers are located (see the first picture). Yes, one of these zombies is the fallen soldier.

Oh what fun, I love these rules...they always produce excellent fun for the group!

Side Distraction

As a side distraction, I am working on a home-variant of Legends of the Old West (LotOW) that zeroes in on the French Foreign Legion's escapades in the North African desert. I think it is working well, and I hope to play it before the end of the year. I'd love to even build a Fort Zinderneuf too!

Here are a couple of photos of some of the non-Legion troops I have painted.

The basic Foreign Legion "posse" would be formed from Hero Types: "Capitaine" and "Sergent" while the bulk of the "Henchmen" would consist of "Legionnaire" and "Legionnaire 2e Classe". Similar to the "Hired Guns" from the rules, you can add these types, as "Auxiliary Henchmen" to your posse in limited numbers: "Zouave", "Chasseur d’Afrique", "Tirailleur", "Spahi" and "Les Joyeux".


I would like to also explore the possibilities of creating posse lists for several of the "Auxiliary Henchmen" types.

However, right now this project is at a bit of an impasse as I wrestle with the concept of using LotOW's "Alamo" supplement's army lists as the basis. While I do think that would be better suited, I like the idea of smaller unit focus found in basic LotOW. I feel that my resistance to the Alamo is unnatural at the moment and need the time to sort it out. Luckily, work is busy and I am spending the vast majority of my spare time learning a new technology in hopes of landing a contract in that technology...so, I have time to let this percolate in the back of my mind.

Zombie Building Update

I got some of the zombie buildings painted up, a few more are not yet painted. The buildings shown here are all Plasticville, except for the gas station which is from Walthers (all "O" scale).

First up is the motel. I desire to make a sign for the roof too, but no comical name has yet come across my brain. If you have an idea, yell!

 Next up is the main hobo building, a converted rail car. Terrific model.

 I also acquired a house. I'd love to get several of different style and build a neighborhood! Complete with backyards, etc. Maybe a cul-de-sac, that would make for some zombie fun!

 Lastly, a couple of views of the gas station. I have not yet accomplished any modifications, but I have a few in mind that are simply waiting for a little time.

 I also acquired a couple of trailers, here is one of them. Again, no time for modifications yet.

 Playing a big Halloween zombie game this Friday night using All Things Zombie. Now I have two reasons to be glad when Friday finally gets here!

All Quiet on the Western Front

Well, it has been quiet on the blogging front since the frenzy when I returned from North Carolina. It's been busy at work, had some side work, etc. Typical delay stories.

I have managed to stick some time into the hobby however. I ordered a batch (144) of palm trees for the Vietnam terrain and identified some other fauna to order. Probably won't get around to ordering any troops until January, but I have made the list!

Also, working with my brother on a small French Foreign Legion project. We'll see where that goes. I painted a zouave, a tiraileur and two Tauregs. A few more to go of course, but this project does not require lots. I also painted three Foundry mounted/dismounted U.S. Plains Wars cavalrymen that I had laying around.

Currently working on a zombie scenario for the club meeting later this month prior to Halloween. We really enjoy Two Hour Wargame's All Things Zombie! Today I picked up some Plasticville buildings to use. If you've never been to Zombie Town to see his Plasticville work, please go there.

I picked up the Hobo stuff and the Motel. Here are some pics as they are when put together straight out of the box. I'll post again soon when I paint them up. As you can see, there is some wonderful details on the models. I also ordered a Walthers Gas Station, can't wait for that to get here!