Zona Alfa: Welcome to Chernobyl

As part of the Zona Alfa launch, the designer Patrick Todoroff decided to run a small terrain competition with some nice prizes. The rules are fairly straight forward, the terrain piece must be:
3" x 5", setting fitting, contain scratch build or converted elements.

I cut out a base from 3mm thick cardboard. Make sure to add an X with duct tape on the back, it will prevent warping when adding a lot of pva glue for sanding.

Made a roll of barbed wire from regular steel wire. Take a long piece of wire, bend it around a nail and secure the ends to your electric drill. Twist it up. Now take the twisted steel wire and curl it around a pencill Voila barbed wire.

Went online and found a picture of an actual sign at the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Cut it out, shrinked it and printed on some thick photo paper.

The frame for the sign is part of an old dinosaur cage toy. Added a tree amateur from China (got a 100 for next to nothing at some point). Also took some resin barrels and a crate from Ramshackle Games. The wheel is from a broken tractor toy. 

All glued to the base with cheap super glue. The body and legs are from an Anvil Industries lucky bag, it's not a tight fit at the joint.

Went to my bit box and dug out a bunch of different Warlord Games bits from Project Z and Bolt Action. Gave the guy some winter russian arms with gloves. Found some large pouches to hide the bad fit around the waist. Also put some gear on the box.

The head is pretty cool, also from an Anvil Industries lucky bag. It's a helmet gasmask head, but with one eye glass and the back of the helmet blown out.

The barbed wire is secured with super glue. Made sure to also had connecting points at the wheel and sign post, where I also added glue.

Then added a layer and sand to the entire thing.

I remember seeing this sign ages ago and it made an impression on me. The whole Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is a tragic but inspiring part of history. And then I had this part of the Metro book series in my mind when building the piece.

There's no shame for a stalker to loot the corpse of another. It's the only funeral honor you can expect when dying within the zone. And nobody would want good gear and ammunition to go to waste.

That's the story here. A guy dead in the zone, his gear up for the taking. Crows already taking their part of the corpse.




I'll put this piece on the table when I head into Chernya Woods in my next Zona Alfa game.

The prize

As this piece was awarded the 2nd place I was send and awesome Zona Alfa measuring device and this cool and painted zone guide - build and painted by author Patrick. That's a nice prize for making this little build.

RoSD - The Missing - The Derserted Village

I've been meaning to play RoSD for a long time and wanted to make 2020 the year of solo gaming. Now in the middle of covid-19 self isolation, I've decided to pick up the game and get going. I've been playing with my son who nearly 6 years old and he's been having a blast. Translated all the fluff bits into Danish when we played.

For this first game we used my warband and my ranger, Haela. My son picked out half the miniatures he liked the best and took control of them. Time to head into the deserted village.

Setup
For this scenario we tried to build a nice little fantasy village. A couple of huts, some fields and wooded areas around. Playing a scenario on the right terrain is a great motivator for me, and the barn and fields were finished specifically for playing this one.

The terrain pieces used for setting up this board will be covered in blog posts on this terrain hub. If not posted yet, the blogs will come there later.

Our little band of inexperienced rangers starter in the middle of the village. Something terribly wrong in a village with no villagers moving about their business. Haelga and a few guardsmen from her past took control, quickly forming a defensive circle - as right away zombies started to show from all directions.



Itching for some action, my son took control of two of his companions. Wurt the Woodcutter turned ranger recruit and Bertha the men-at-arms, rushing down a dirt road to dispose of a zombie.

The band of rangers had three bow armed members with them. Two archers and ranger Haelgo. From the safe distance, they started to shoot down the zombies before they could get close.

Having no clear enemies near him a guardsman could run right out and secure the first clue token. Much to my sons delight he found a treasure chest hidden underneath the tree. As so often the case some villagers must have hidden their values when trouble started.

The last model my son controlled was the halfling Topper, who despite being a dagger armed rogue jumped at a giant rat. No doubt the halfling was afraid that a rat would spoil some much needed supplies (who could possibly be looted from the town).

My ranger moving towards another clue token behind one of the abandoned village huts. Making sure no zombies would get to the archers at the same time.

Having disposed of the first walking corpse, Wurt and Bertha attacked a giant rat - who didn't stand a change against the combined axe blades.

The first clue token my ranger investigated turned out to be a cowardly village survivor, having hidden during whatever attack the village suffered. Wasting no time letting a coward hide, Haelga forced the survivor to join the fight. Extra hands to swing weapons at the enemies.

One side of the town secured Bertha moves back to the center, going to investigate some clues behind a hut.

The treasure is being held closely by the guardsman and not wanting to risk losing it, my son moves this guy directly towards a board edge. There's no way he's letting the treasure get into harms way.

After only a few turns the city is cleared of enemies. A few lonely rats and zombies come from the events during the end of turns. But the archers are having no trouble taking out most of what comes along. Still lots to investigate in town. Still no idea what's been going on.

A zombie emerges from the old barn, moving slowly towards the closes target - only to get turned into a porcupine by arrows.

Lots of huts to search for clues as to what's happened to the villagers. The doors prove to be no match for the heavy axes of the guardsmen. While they work the archers keep watch.

The guardsmen find some strange tracks leading out of the house, somebody has been pulled away from here - by something not human.

Topper the halfling rogue uses he skills to pick the lock on the barn and investigates in there. We find a corpse, with terrible bit marks. Something unnatural is happening here, the town wasn't attacked by men.

While Topper is searching the barn another zombies emerges from the trees nearby, another old town citizen. Bertha is ready and attacks it, before it has a change to get to the smaller halfling.

Still zombies come shambling through the woods or crawling out of hiding spaces in the huts. And forcing the survivor to join the fight might not have been the best idea - he's unable to fight the zombie. Perhaps the survivor was able to recognize a former neighbor or something. The result is the same though - he's bitten in the neck. He's scream is short before the blood in the throat stops the sound. Haelga finishes off the zombie.

The group has enough evidence to figure out what's happened. Giant spiders har grown fat, large and bold - the village have been attacked by them. As the ranger and her companions starts grouping up as hut collapses. No one knows how the accident happened, but the dry wooden hut burst into a giant pyre.

We're about finished searching for all the clues. We find multible clues telling us some kind of monsters have been taking the villagers with them. We also find the body of a dead ranger colleague, he's beyond saving.

The ranger must have been an experienced man in high regard because was armed with a masterfully crafted sword. The sword belong with the King's armory, but for the time being Haelga gives it to Wurt the Recruit. Wurt has been using his woodcutters axe to great effect, no reason to think he wouldn't do well with a sword.

The last zombie is cleared out and it seems like no other villagers are around. We find no further survivors and nobody else have been killed here. I looks like the rest of the villagers have been taken and now we hope to find and save them.

To secure the health any remaining survivors and contain any further zombie trouble, all the bodies are thrown on the burning hut. First ranger Avantine is giving an unceremonious funeral, then all dead villagers are burned.

We the town clear we've following the tracks towards the dense forrest near the town.

Aftermath
Our first game of RoSD was a great succes. The survivor died - so we didn't get XP from him. So for the future we know 'survivors are not bait'. The ranger got just short of 100 xp and remains at level 0.
The treasure chest turned out to contain some Anthalas herbs, great for when the Ranger actually goes down one day.

The gang seemed well rounded, archers are good to bring along and saved of for nearly half the dangerous melee fights.

I really like the clue and event mechanics for the game. Especially seeing the look on my sons face when I read the clues aloud in Danish. Excellent stuff.

With their first fight as a gang done as with nothing but a few scratches it's time to head into the dark forest and hunt those spiders.

Terrain: Tuk-tuk and hover car

A big part of making the perfect cyberpunk table is traffic, there needs to be lots of vehicles on the board. For me that brings a feel of busy sprawl, that's needed in cyberpunk. And then there's the mix of cultures, also a big part of all good cyberpunk.  So tuk-tuks is a perfect thing to add!

On ebay I've found some very cheap tuk-tuk, they'll cost you next to nothing. They're made from beer cans and toy car wheels. I re-painted mine in blue and white colors and added the Blue Sun logo to the top off it - always good with a Firefly reference here and there.

The next tuk-tuk is an actual toy, also found on ebay. It was originally in some very ugly silver, pink and blue colors. I decided to make it into a taxi, made a checkered pattern and some taxi sign in Paint, simply printet and added with pva glue.

Last tuk-tuk was a gift from my friend Lau, the guy I place most often in all these skirmish games. He found this in a thrift store, looking for other modern cars for terrain. This little vehicle already had some nice graphics on it, so I only gave it a dull coat of matt varnish and then a layer of brown wash.

Hover car'

Last is a hover car made from an old PC mouse. I've seen these done absolutely amazing on the Reality's Edge facebook group, so I wanted to have a go myself. I added a few resin pieces from Ramshackle Games (who makes a great 'spaceship parts' set. Since this build, I've obtained two more broken mouse, so I can build some more.

The windshield needs the most works, I think a darker grey or blue might be the way to go.

Discord - COVID19 - Stay social - apart

Saw a post on Facebook that made me think. A friend, very outgoing and social type - doesn't really have any hobbies, don't play computer. Isolated at home, living alone. He was starting to stress about about it.


And when I was gonna spend a quite night having a beer, checking in on some CS:GO, writing battle reports for Rangers of Shadow Deep, Zona Alfa and Reality's Edge. My wife's training CS:GO with her team, my kid fell asleep early after a long day outside.

So I've set up a Discord server. A free platform for text and voice chat. So feel free to and invited to join my for a beer, hobby talk or talking wind and weather.

Please consider jumping in if self isolation is getting to you, we're in this for the near future. Staying home is the right thing - but isolation can be bad for your mental health.

Stay safe, stay happy, stay hobbying.

Discord is free. Here's my server: https://discord.gg/xwcRSs7

I'm logging on whenever I do hobby work in the evening.


Here's the rules I set up for the server.


Hello fellow Hobbyist and welcome to Bloodbeard's Garage Discord. 

This Discord is setup for hobbyists to have a social hangout online, with the possibility to chat both text and voice based. Discord offers a way of interaction that's not great in the way Facebook groups or twitter threads work. 

RULES: 

1. Dont act like a scumbag. Be nice to other people, be supportive, be constructive - or be quite. 

That's it really. Breaking the rules could result in a ban. 

ALLOWED: 

- Cool hobby work and miniature talk all over the place. - Feel free to link your personal blog or facebook group, but don't spam. 

- Share videos or photos from you games and projects. It's all cool. ENCOURAGED - Name tags, if you drop me a message I can add you real name to the Discord name. Makes it easier to figure out who's who. But some value the privacy of internet names. See my own for example Søren / Blodskaeg 

- If you feel like there's missing a channel for something - specific game, WIPs, your own hobby blog - whatever. 

Feel free to ask, we'll probably set it up. Both text and voice - you'll become a moderator of your own room. 

Have fun, glad you've joined in. I'm personally online for voice chat when doing hobby work in the evening. // Søren Emil / Bloodbeard

RoSD - New Ranger and companions

Played my first game of Ranger's Of Shadow Deep with my son. Being isolated at home, for at least 14 days during this COVID-19 crisis. My son really enjoyed the game and I decided to quickly build and paint some models for him.

My son picked out the models and bits himself, I build the miniatures. The paint scheme is made to fit my own Ranger and her companions.

For the first scenario we played, my son had recruitment points for 3 companions, so that's what we build.

Ranger Bottond the Black

My son picked out an Oathmark human body (with a cool ranger fitting cloak) and Frostgrave barbarian head. He wanted he leader to have a big two-handed axe for beheading all the evil monsters and picked out a GW high elf lord bit. The armored free arm is an old GW empire militia bit.

As his ranger found some healing herps in the first battle, it was important for my son that he had potions flasks in the belt. It's gunpowder canisters from old GW dwarfs. Lastly he got a small crossbow, for that free shot at the start, before getting into melee.

Man-at-Arms
This is an old metal GW dark elf assassin, he was missing his right arm when we found him. Ny son picked out a nice one handed axe for him and after looking at all the shields (there's so many in a bit box) - picked out this one. Glad he ended on this, as he was also considering a big chaos knight shield.

Archer
The archers had great succes in out first game, so he wanted an archer to support his ranger. The body is an Oathmark human and the head is from Frostgrave cultists. Simple model, only added a bowstring to the bow for the extra detail.

Recruit
Last is a Reaper Miniatures armored assassin. I got this model as a freebie from King Games once, so it's nice to put it on the table. Originally the model was armed with two knives, but that that's not a cool load out, he needed a sword. The sword fits perfectly and is from the Oathmark human kit.

Terrain: Cyberpunk signs and adverts

I try to build most of my pieces myself. But sometimes it's just so much easier and relatively cheap to buy the finished stuff. That's what I've done with signs for my Cyberpunk setup. As a quick way to up my modern terrain to sci-fi looking pieces, I've added a lot of bright colored signs.

The acryllic signs are from Mad Gaming Terrain and the print-on-mdf kits are from Antenocitis Workshop. Using the same technique as when I build signs for my modern board, I've added hooks with bend plastic sprue. So it's really easy to just hook these signs in windows from roof tops or similar.

It'll take around 30 seconds to turn any board cyberpunk this way. Money well spend.

I've attached a few examples, but I got so many signs from the orders I placed. You can see many more if you check out some of my Reality's Edge AARs.