The Making of a Zombie Game: Alpha play test 1

So my friend "Grum" and I played two games of our homemade zombie game, unfortunately I forgot to take pictures, but here is an overview of how it went and what we found.

The table was setup as 4' x 4' with a 6"x 6" "safe zone" at each end of the table made of blast walls and the table was filled with scatter terrain: Crash/overturned cars, jersey barriers, barrels, barbed wire fencing etc

Survivor generation is random, so Grum rolled and got 6 survivors; 5 normal guys and 1 specialist.

We set the objective to get to the other designated area within 6 turns

Game 1:
This game was an absolute massacre to the survivors; they barely got out of the 6" deployment zone before zombies swarmed them and despite one or two zombies being killed the survivors couldn't stop them. Soon enough the zombies bust into the safe room where the last survivor was hiding and feasted upon him.

What did we learn:

• Zombies were too numerous and too difficult to kill, even for the specialist.
• Weapon allocation needed arranging

Game 2:
So from the first game we changed how zombies were deployed and reduced their stats slightly. This provided the survivors with an easier route as the zombies were fewer in number, and when attacked they died quicker. Despite this only the specialist survivor reached the other safe zone by turn 6, and 1 normal guy was alive, the rest had died at the hands of the zombies.

What did we learn:

• Survivor generation needed changing
• Turns were removed
• Shooting needed some additional notes
• Melee needed some additional notes
• Terrain needed adjusting to impact movement
• Weapons to be adjusted and expanded
• Survivors stats needing adjusting
• Scenarios needed victory conditions

So although the above looks a lot, its actually only a few little changes not a complete re-write. On a positive note the table was setup, characters generated and two games were played all in an hour, so it is a quick game as desired.

With these changes in place it's back to play-testing...

However a small quandary has come up, I want this game to be completely random: essentially turn up, roll some dice and get playing, whereas my co-writer friend Grum wants forward planning with points association and turn up with a prepared list:

I have posted the following on a Facebook group, and had some responses, which were appreciated but I'd like more, to be able to make a informed decision based of want you "the community" wants:

So I ask you the reader for your feedback, would you prefer:
A) Random character selection and weapon allocation
B) Random character selection but with pre-determined weapon allocation
C) Character and weapon allocation based on a points system.

The Making of a Zombie Game

Recently a friend and I were discussing how we'd like to play a zombie apocalypse game but without the RPG element that most seem to have, or the expensive outlay like a certain well known board game; so we decided that in this overly saturated world of wargaming we should start working on our own.

At this time it's essentially it's going to be a "Beer & Pretzel" game, based on D6, with the thought that more people have lots of D6 than other dice. (although we do have ideas of making D8 or D10.)

We currently have it planned out and written; consisting of only 7 pages, including the cover! This is to make it quick and simple. That said there are elements of "character selection" at the beginning which involves a little admin/token use but once done the game should flow quickly.

But then that's what play-testing is for, which I'll be posting about once done.

Painting: Kings of War - Undead: Zombies

I've recently been working on a regiment of 15 Mantic zombies for my Kings of War Undead army and thought I would document it below.

As per my recent posts I'm all about getting multiple uses out of the same models, so although the title is Kings of War, these could of course be used for any zombie game.

Those of you that have read my blog before will know that I usually post up a "miniature" blog first where I review the building of the models; unfortunately I got a bit excited with these zombies (and all the undead I recently purchased) and built them before reviewing them so I'll do a quick review as part of this painting walkthrough.

Packaging:

It was part of the Mhorgoth Revenge two player starter set, so was a good box with the miniatures nicely stacked inside

The Models

These models have a great level of detail, and suitably gory.

The models are made of a strong plastic, which can make them slightly difficult to remove from the sprue. 

On the sprue there is a nice selection of heads, arms and some extras to bulk out the unit.

Building the Models

The model range from 3 parts to 4 parts, all are easy to put together and pieces fit together nicely. The only issue I experienced is the bodies rising out of the ground, where I couldn't get the torso so fit snugly.

The was little excess plastic or mould lines.

There we have it 15 zombies built in no time at all. Now onto painting them...

...it's worth noting that paints listed are from the Vallejo Game colour range unless otherwise stated...

As you can see I started with undercoating in Halfords Grey Primer: I decided to use grey as it's still dark but not too dark that detail is obscured.

Next I painted the areas of skin with Dead Flesh (72.035). Painting lightly over the areas in quick succession, in almost a drybrush fashion (but with more paint on the brush), this way holes, and creases were dark. I would recommend using an old brush as this process can ruin a brush. I would also advise to do 5 maximum at a time before cleaning the brush and continuing.

Once the flesh was dry I painted the cloth in Escorpena Green (72.032) .  I used this colour as I wanted something distinctive and I feel that Escorpena Green really jumps out. This is going to be my army colour

Next was one of my favourite stages; painting the wounds. Using Gory Red (72.011) I painted all the wide open wounds. I even painted over the bits of exposed bone and brain . This almost instantly adds depth and gives them a gory element.

Now I did learn a lesson when painting these: when squeezing a Vallejo paint pot, if the paint is coming out slowly don't keep squeezing instead stop and unplug the blockage otherwise the lid will pop off and red paint will explode everywhere, making your paint area and hands look like a scene from a horror film (quite apt considering the subject)

Although not clear in this picture, I painted the body parts that some zombies were carrying. Deciding to go with Pale Flesh (72.003) to give them a suitably drained look.

Using Bone white (72.034) I then picked out the teeth and all the areas of exposed bone, trying not to loose too much of red. 

Braaaaaaaaiiiiins! were painted with Squid Pink (72.013). From this picture you can see where I've picked out the exposed skull with the bone white as mention above.

Next I tidied up the models, going over any areas that needed it. Including painting the zombies hair Cold Grey (72.050) and adding Gory Red to the carried body parts.
Then onto my favourite stage; giving everything a covering with Army Painter Dark Tone.

Once the Dark Tone was dry I mixed 50% Dead Flesh with 50% Bone White and dry brushed the flesh areas, including the carried body parts. I feel this has added depth and really made the models "pop"
I also drybrushed the cloth with Livery Green (72.033) followed by varnishing the model using Matt Varnish (70.520)

Once the varnish had dried I covered the bases with sand which, once set, I painted with Charred Brown (72.045), then drybrushed with Plague Brown (72.039), then Bone White (72.034) and finally I added static grass.
I then did the same process for the movement tray.

Once the bases were dry I added a adhesive metal sheet to the movement tray and adhesive magnetic squares (cut to size) to the bases of the zombies. These have a strong magnetic bond so will allow the regiment to be stored with ease as well as helping with moving around the battlefield and by magnetising each model I can use these individually for other systems as mentioned at the start.


I'm rather pleased with the end result, and as this is my first undead unit, it sets the bar for the rest. I look forward to finishing the remaining 5 (built after I painted these using the spare legs and spinal columns, which goes against everything I believe for zombies that they need a brain to function, but makes the regiment upto 20 as required) and to fielding them very soon.

I hope you found this helpful and in someway inspirational.