ZOMBIE GAME IMAGES

FIRE

During the early stages of the zombie apocalypse the government still try to maintain control of the city. The brave firemen of the city try to contain the random fire outbreaks from homes that have been abandoned and left in a hurry.

3 blazes have broken out in a part of the city on the edge of the quarantine zone.

The Fire engine and crew start off at one end of the table and have to work there way through the city and put out the fires.

Using the Two Hour War Games “All Things Zombie” Rule set, this was a fun game to play. The fire crew had to spend some time try to put out the fires while random events took place. Zombie’s coming in from the quarantine zone and burning zombies coming out of a flaming building. Fortunately a helpful police officer joined the fire crew and a large fire truck is great for running down zombies.

I really enjoy playing these type of games and not just because they involve zombies. I play a lot of different war games but these are so different to the set up and knock down game war games. Attached are some images of the game.  

THE SAFE HOUSE - Part 2

What makes a house safe during the zombie apocalypse?

A safe house may be a building, flat, basement, shed, garage or loft space where you can remain safe. Your safe house is where you will sleep, eat and plan your on going survival. There are a number of factors that will contribute to how you pick a safe house.

YOU’RE LOCATION

Windows

Do not choose a location that has too many windows. Windows can be hard to securer and reinforce, so the more ground level windows you have the more vulnerable you are to forced entry.

If your choice of safe house does have windows, make sure they are double glassed, reinforced or wire mesh glass. These can be extremely durable and will not simple break at first contact.

Sunlight is important to your well being both physically and mentally. So light coming in is good for you. But during the dark hours be sure you do not let any light out as this could attract someone or something to you location. Blackout your windows with card board, thick paper and blankets.

Doors

This may sound a little odd but doors are not my first choice to gain access to my safe house. I would sooner leave through an access point one floor above the ground, utilising a ladder or rope system to get up and down. This allows you to secure external ground floor doors (nail, bar and jam them shut). Any internal door leading to a weaker area of your safe house should also be barricaded to give you maximum safety.

Internal door can be surprisingly weak to punch through and even the sturdiest wooden doors week point is its latch and hinges. If you have the hardware available add additional bolts and latches to the doors.

Stairs

Stairs and stair wells can be blocked, but its better there are no stairs at all. They can be chopped away and removed. Leave yourself a make shift draw bridge that you can retract. Even better, some loft spaces have completely retractable ladders that can be pulled up from above completely removing access to your safe house.

Important Safe house Points

• Make sure you reinforce internal doors. A good old fashion barricade of cupboards and drawers can never go a miss.
• Keep any lights to a minimum, only what you need. You do not want to draw attention to yourself from zombies or others.
• Make sure your window and door reinforcements are secure. Check them regularly and do not get lazy and complacent.
• Plan an escape rout. You must always have a back door or way-out. An underground tunnel or a rope from a top floor window it does not matter as long as you can get out if your safe house becomes overrun.
• Avoid drawing attention to your safe house. Make it look like the building has been looted. Add some blood and gore around the place to make people have second thoughts about entering.

DR DALES ZOMBIE DICTIONARY - THE A-Z GUIDE TO STAYING ALIVE

BY Dr Dale Seslick

As promised the book covers items and topics from A to Z. topics like bald, energy drinks, ikea, nudity, stupidity, vox pop and zoo’s plus many many more.

Its an entertaining read and is written in a light and humorous way. Some sections are a bit silly but all in all it’s a fun read for any zombie fans.

This is what I would call great toilet reading material. A book you can pick up and put down with little concentration required. It also has some silly little drawings that did make me smile.

The book was also good value so makes for a nice treat or a little present for some zombie nut.

3.5 out of 5 zombie hands

A ZOMBIE ATE MY CUPCAKE

By Lily Vanilli

My first comment about this book is that it is not a story book but a cookery book. Not my normal choice but I got this as a random Christmas present and I thought it was a brilliant gift.

It is based on cooking horror style cupcakes. Some of the cupcake designs are brilliant. The shards of sugar glass stabbing the top of the cupcake with cherry sauce dripping out really does look excellent. There are a number of cupcake recipes contained in the book as well as a number of ghoulish toppings and designs.

Even if you are not an amazing cook and decided to purchase your cupcakes, this book does give you some great ideas for decorating your cakes. If its not marzipan finger or radioactive symbols there is some lovely ideas that you could use to show off to friends or gross out your kids on Halloween.

This book is not expensive and makes a nice treat for yourself or unusual gift for someone else.

 4 out of 5 zombie hands

THE SAFE HOUSE

What makes a house safe during the zombie apocalypse?

A safe house may be a building, flat, basement, shed, garage or loft space where you can remain safe. Your safe house is where you will sleep, eat and plan your on going survival. There are a number of factors that will contribute to how you pick a safe house.

The occupants

1/ How many in your group?

If there is just you life is a lot easier. You can hold up in a surprising small space, and you don’t need extra space for toiletries or “me time” as its just you.

If it’s you and a partner more space is required, but not a great deal if it’s some one close.

Things become harder when there is a group; you require a lot more space for eating sleeping and storage. Plus the more people there are the more personal space you need for those people to live in. Doubling the people does not double the space more like triples or quadruples it. Every one needs there own space, hard if crammed into a loft

2/ Age of the group.

Babies are a problem when try to hide from the undead. I understand that the new world would require us to have children continue with civilisation but in the early stages these could be a big problem. Making lots of noise is the “big one” crying and screaming will attract the undead to your safe house.

The elderly can cause you additional problems, caring for them and finding medication can cause you problem especially if disabled or infirmed.

This becomes one of those moral dilemmas that you may face; I have no answer to this one. You will need to do what you feel is right for you at the time.

3/ Adjusting nicely!

The mental state of your group is important. Not every one will cope with the changes that they have to face in the new world.

Mental State 1. No more phones, mobiles, ipads, face book, chat rooms, take away, twilight and world of warcraft. Including less important things to these people like water, heating, electricity. They just will not cope. Don’t let these people in to your safe house as they will become a liability. They will crack up slowly as they struggle to adjust. Some of these individuals will find it hard that to survive they will have to work hard and go without the luxuries and soft lives they had before the apocalypse.

There lack of social skills in the group will cause friction and someone not pulling there weight will be the weak link in a group.

Mental State 2.  The general death of those around you and the crushing realisation that the dead have risen to kill all will destroy the minds of some. These people will become a danger to you and themselves (themselves is the better option). You do ont want people who freeze or panic at the slightest thing. They will become nothing more than zombie fodder cowering in the corner. But at the end of the day zombie fodder may be there best use (if the zombies are eating them they are not eating you)

Mental State 3. Kill all zombies!!! At the other end of the crazy spectrum are those who turn into a crazed zombie killing machine “the dead can die twice!!”  They scream as they rush at the horde with an over sized machete or nail filled cricket bat. These type of crazies do have there plus points. At the front line of the zombie war there kill potential is great and when needed can make a perfect member of the group but only if you can control them and not be drawn into there reckless ways. There attitude to the new world is dangerous thought, it’s more the rest to others that you need to consider. Do not let them compromising your safe house; this is the last thing you want. Review these companions carefully.

4/ General Points

As mentioned before in my guides, do not over look the skills of an individual. An old engineer could be very useful.

You will not be able to be a fussy eater. Some one who lives on mountain dew and chicken nuggets will not be happy with there new diet choice.

Individuals that can remain positive are good (you are still alive after all). Low moral and a no hope attitude can kill groups faster than the zombies could,

Understanding the needs of the group, as it is not about the need individual anymore. To survive your group must work as a team and share all resources and responsibilities. Greedy and lazy people will soon find them selves on there own.

I have not had much time recently for much gaming due to one of those life glitches. But instead I have had moments to sit down and paint a few miniatures and model while watching 1 to 2 star horror movies (I love bad movies).

I started with some random models that I found in some old “twilight creations” game expansions. I have a collection of ordinary civilians, some armed and unarmed. I plan to use them in my zombie games. One game I am really interested in is playing a game during the very early stages of the apocalypse were the civilian population is rioting against the police that are cordoning off the infected parts of the city.  I have some great riot police officers from a web site called “Offensive Miniatures” (they make great civilian rioters to).

Next I started making some fencing from balsawood. I wanted a few more bits for the game and had a couple biohazard posters I wanted to use. Quick and dirty but they are good for what I want.

I wanted to make a few more street lamps as I only had a couple. These are very easy to make and basically involves cutting a peace of plastic wire and tube with a piece of plastic model spru cut and glued to the top. plastic tube and wire can be purchased from most model shops.

The last of this batch of stuff are some general small scenery pieces that I picked up from ebay’s “Fenris Games”. Some filing cabinets and bins for internal and external use. See below

Grab Bag

In summary this could be one of the most important bits of equipment you may have.Your Garb Bag is a bag or back pack that is there with you at all times. It contains some of the most useful items you need if you have to bug out or run from your home or safe house.  

Grab Bag Rules

• Make sure the bag is easy to carry. Back packs are good as they are easy to transport
• Do not over fill your bag, or fill with heavy objects. Your Grab Bag should be light enough to carry and move quickly with.
• Do not fill with perishable goods (it’s no good if your food ends up being mouldy or stale when you need to eat it).
• Keep it close. It’s no good having it if you can’t get your hands on it.
• Try to bag up and seal any none water proof item.
• Below are my suggestions, these item will pack into an standard size back pack. Should you add more just be aware of weight and the bulk of the items.

Content

Food and water.

Dried Fruit, seeds and nuts are good. They have a long life and provide good nourishment. Energy bars or tablets can be good but limit your self to one bar of chocolate. Do not put in tined foods as these can be heavy.

Water is heavy but is important for your survival. A minimum of two 500ml bottles, but the more the better. Add these at the end of packing, adding more if you’re happy with the weight of your Grab Bag.

Cloths

2 Pairs of Socks & 2 Changes of underwear. Light weight trousers, shirt and top, water proof cagoule (make sure your cloths are not to bulky)

Tools

Claw Hammer (Useful for securing building, opening things and if necessary it can be used as a weapon. This is a heavy item but very useful), Small Screwdriver Kit, Pen knife

Equipment

Nails, tin and bottle opener, Scissors, string, needle & thread, matches & lighters (in a water proof container), pen and small pad, knife, fork & spoon, plastic cup, detergent wipes, plastic bags, torch (mag light), batteries (in a water proof bag) and watch.

Personal Cleaning

Soap, baby wipes, petroleum jelly, small towel, compact mirror, nail clippers and scissors, small tube of tooth paste, tooth brush, travel shampoo, toilet roll, tissues.

First Aid

Plasters, pain killers, antiseptic liquid and cream, bandage and dressing, safety pins, tweezers, salt, any spare long term medication.

THIS BAG WILL KEEP YOU ALIVE – KEEP IT WITH YOU ALWAYS!

MINISTRY OF ZOMBIES – THE OFFICIAL ZOMBIE HANDBOOK (UK)

BY SEAN PAGE

The cover of this book attracted me to it at first (probably the publishers plan). Getting passed that the book is very good. The book is based around the UK (sorry rest of world, your doomed) and covers most things you would need to know or even think about during the zombie take over.

The book begins by covering zombie details and mythology leading on to zombie survival information and tactics. The guy who wrote this, really thought about some of the real things that you would have to deal with during the apocalypse. I really liked reading some of the sections that most people would over look when writing zombie guides or stories.

The next section covers the zombie apocalypse in the UK. How Britten would deal with the zombie event and what our police would and army would do.

The rest of the book covers how to best defend yourself and your home.  There are many great tips and suggestion on what you should equip yourself with and how best to deal with the new world.

The books layout is fairly plain and basic. But I believe a lot of thought went into content and It’s realy worth a read.

4 out of 5 zombie hands

MINISTRY OF ZOMBIES – WAR AGAINST THE WALKING DEAD

BY SEAN T PAGE

This is the second book in the ministry of zombie’s series. It has another great cover, even better that the first. Sadly a cover does not make a book.

There seems to be a lot less thought that has gone into this book. It seems a lot of the time the content has been padded to fill the pages, including some really badly drawn diagrams.

There are a few good sections, but I generally felt it had nothing on the first book that contained so much information.

The book covers some zombie historical events, weapon and tactics against the dead and military intervention.

Again the layout is very basic with some clip art style images thrown in for good measure.

Zombie fans may get a kick out of this but there is better books to spend your money on.

2 of 5 zombie hands.

WILL WE EVER KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON??

This was found a couple years ago. Apparently the rest of the reports were lost as they were stored on an old 3.5” floppy disk.

ESCAPE THE CITY

The game uses the “All Things Zombie” rules.  The players have to roll dice to perform most actions, and the game turns can be unpredictable for the humans and zombies.

The idea behind this game is a small group of survivors are making there way through a city. Two of the survivors are injured and can only move slowly. The group must make it to the building and try to secure it and hold out while the horde closes in from all sides.

The 6 figure begins on the edge of the table and move up the board. With only a baseball bat and fire axe they manage to bash there way through the few zombies that are between them and the building.

The figures make it to the building with no serious injury (one figure got bitten; if they survive this may be a problem later). But it does all becomes to much for one of them who’s mind snaps and becomes a useless wreck.

Once they are into the building they start to block some of the windows and doors with furniture scattered around the rooms. One figure locates the stash of weapons left by some previous survivors and begins to hand out them out. A crowbar, a few double barrel shotguns, two pistols, a machine gun and a flamethrower.

The players start to secure room 1 dragging a large cabinet across the door. They leave the corridor as they think this will be lost to the zombies first. One figure holds out in room 2 with a flamethrower (yes, it was a lucky find) hanging it out the window the figure burned anything approaching. The figure that had lost its mind huddled in the corner of room 3.

The players proceeded to move through to room 3 and block the lower door and window. The remaining two figures moved into room 2 dragging the coke machine with them. Unfortunately the zombies had already started to gather on the glass doors at the front of the building (room 3)

Players started to shoot the zombies through the holes in the glass doors (as the zombies smash them in) the other figures in room 2 take some shots at the zombies trying to get into room 1, then they pull the coke machine across the door and move to help the others in room 3.

The players loose control of room 1 and the main corridor. Due to some bad luck on the player’s part the zombies smash two of the glass windows in room 3 and begin to fall into the room.

The players decide to not hold room 2 and move into room 3 and try to kill the zombies and holdout. They manage to kill most of the zombies breaking into the room through the glass doors but lose one player in the process.

They then make the brave choice to leave the building in the hope that they find a car with keys in (cars are great at ramming and running over zombies).

Those able to make a dash for it move to the car, losing another figure to the zombies in the process. Success! Keys! Sadly they only had enough fuel for 1 turn of driving (what a shame).

This spells the end of the players. The zombies smashed there way through the unprotected doors stopping only briefly to eat the poor cowering figure in room 3. The zombies also came at the figures from around the side of the building to closing in from all sides. They put up the good fight, and did mange to kill a lot of zombies. But they were all taken down unprotected outside building.

End game review.

The players should have probably stayed in the building and tried to hold rooms 2 & 3. The flames thrower had done a great job clearing the side from room 2 and a well reinforced door (the coke machine) is a good defensive position.  If they had then lost room 3 they could have backed up and made a final stand in room 2.

AFMBE RPG - “All Flesh Must Be Eaten” Roll Play Game

By Eden Games

I love the zombie games (as you may have guessed) I have over the years collected the various books and modules for AFMBE RPG (role playing game) but not had the chance to play.

In reality my big fear was that the game would not live up to the image I had in my mind of how I think the beginning of the zombie apocalypse would go. Also I thought it would be dull to play and not have the excitement of what i wanted from the game.

Finally biting the bullet I roped a couple friends into giving it a run.

I was pleasantly surprised, as were the players. The game was far simpler to play than I first thought; it was easy for me and the players to pick up. I decided to make the players choose some pre-generated characters. This saved allot of rule learning as the player only need to learn the skills and abilities that they were given. The characters also had qualities and drawbacks which are designed to set out personalities that the players should follow (Cowardly, Brave, Heavy Smoker etc) it made the characters more human.

I used a small module called “Coffee Break of the Living Dead” and changed the end a little to suit my ongoing game ideas. The players with some NPC’s (none player characters) begin stuck in a lift as the power goes out. This began there tale into the brave new world.

The games main rule focuses on an achievement chart. This chart is broken into levels of success, the better the level the better a task has been accomplished or an attack has been made. This makes a good way to role play as it gives the GM (Games Master) the opportunity to vary how players conduct there actions from simple tasks or maneuver to cinematic action scenes.

The zombies play very well (For most of the game I used a standard zombies). They are hard to take down as the players had to hit the head with guns or hand weapons, and this proved not as easy as they had hoped. Zombies on there own where not to bad but a large group was very menacing (just as I had hoped). The players found it easier to knee cap them then brain the zombies while they are down.

The game weapon rules were good. Guns are dangerous (as they should be). The shotgun comes up trumps, even if you miss a zombies head you are likely to cause major damage to other body parts.

The game leaves great scope for player and NPC interaction. With a lot of skills and abilities it makes the game more than just a shot and chop. The players need to negotiate with and persuade others. Improvise weapons and equipment, find food, water and a safe place to sleep keeps the players on there toes.

Overall I was really please with the game. For anyone wanting to play a zombie RPG this is great. There are few resource books and stories available for ideas and game setting that can be used with the game adding variety to it.

4 out of 5 zombie hands