Deep Cut studio speed paint marker pens.

Hello and Welcome back, 

I recently picked up some Deep Cut studio Army speed paint marker pens. These brush pens are filled with Army Painter speed paints. I expect most of your reading this will be familiar with contrast paint or speed paints so I won't explain what they are or how they work. 

In my eagerness to try these pens, I dug out the only two figures primed in white from the pile of shame. 

These two metal Strontium Dogs figures by Warlord Games were the first two figures to paint. 

To use the pens, shake them and then depress the brush tip into the end of the cap to make the paint flow. In addition to this the pens come with spare brush nibs and can unscrew the pen to refill it.

I found these Markers to be easier to use than ordinary speed Painter paints. Coverage was good but the work can need touch ups. If you miss a spot it is glaringly obvious as the white shines through. 

The figures look good, however I find it pays to give the painted figures a wash to make some of the details pop. Some touch ups and a little detail work can help, such as the eyes and SD badges. 

I find these paints to be effective and as they are in pen form will be useful if you want to paint figures to a tabletop standard while away from your usual paint station. 

I can see myself using these pens more in the future and I will be trying out the pens on grey primed figures soon to see how they come out. 

Thanks for reading, take care out there.

Skrim rules review.

Hello and Welcome back, 

The Skirm rule book arrived on my door mat last month and I thought I would knock up a review for you (yes it took this long). 

Skirm is a small skirmish Sci Fi game set in on the abandoned world of Tapu (also known as the Gutterlands), which is a world of ancient rusting junk and weaponry. The Gutterlands and the Skrim rules are creations of Bill Making Stuff. 

The rules are a A5 sized booklet with a indie punk zine feel to them. The game is figure agnostic but does encourage players to convert or scratch build models for the game (for inspiration checkout the Gutterlands website). The book has plenty of art work and model eyecandy to make you drool, all the work is by Bill Making Stuff. At the back of the book there is a quick reference sheet that should make game play easy. The game involves your squad having to search junkpiles for weapons, loot and ammo, while fighting off the other squads or factions. 

The rules are designed for a 3 foot x 3 foot table and each faction's squad is limited to 6 figures. There isn't any points calculations to sort out before you start playing. Which is a boon if you are like me and hate all that calculating. You will also need counters for ammo, 6 scrap tokens/piles, a scrapbeast and area effect templates. 

The game looks quick and easy to play. Its a 2D6 roll based game with some pretty nice mechanics involving rolling doubles which will add a element of unpredictablity to the game. Character armour is denoted by tokens next to the figure on the tabletop and is lost after 1 hit. The leader has armour and an ancient weapon. The weapons fall into one of two categories, scrap weapons and ancient weapons (these have special effects). Ammo is limited with each faction having differing ammo availability. Extra ammo can be looted from corpses or junk piles. Junk piles have an extra risk that a scrap beast might appear and rampage around the table. 

There are 4 different factions in the book, for playing Skirm the Gutterlands. Each faction starts with a set amount of ammo and has special attacks and abilities. The factions are Colonialists, Big Red Mining Corporation (Space Dwarves), DEAP troops (think mutated peacekeeping bioweapons) and Rusters (tribals who worship the piles of rust). 

While these rules are based in Sci Fi they could happily fit into a Post Apocalyptic setting. There are no solo rules, but the AI could be stolen from another game, such as 5parsecs or 5clicks. 

I am looking forward to giving these rules a whirl. They are also making me want to create my own versions of the factions which I can worked into my Mattblackgod’s world and Wild Galaxy settings. 

Thank you for reading, take care out there!

Five Parsecs from Home - Review

Hello and Welcome Back, 

Now I have a couple of games under my belt I thought I would cobble together a review of the 5 Parsecs rules.

5 Parsecs from home is a solo tabletop Science Fiction/Space Opera adventure game by Ivan Sorensen and published by Modiphius Entertainment. We are now at Version 3 which has grown and ironed out a few kinks.

You play a crew of a small star ship looking for work around frontier space getting into and hopefully out of trouble. The game is set in its own space opera background although the author actively encourages the players to use the rules in their own settings if they wish. If you check out various Facebook groups and discord channels you will find players applying the rules to the Star Wars, Star Trek, Firefly/Serenity, Alien, 40K, Necromunda (yeah I know its 40K) and Deadzone universes. Some players even use their own made up settings, myself included.

The Crew of the Problem Child aka Loop's Heros

The game is figure agnostic so you can happily raid your collection and dust off old figures, allowing you mixing and matching them together. There is nothing stopping you playing with paper chits for the figures should you wish.

While the game is solo, you could have someone play your opponents and there are notes for allowing players to play co-operatively either with one crew or a crew each.

Ever since getting my grubby mitts on the rulebook a couple of years ago I have been dying to give them a spin. My first impressions was that it was a nice rule book, but as it’s a solo set the amount of tables looked a bit daunting. However the tables follow each other logically and once you have used them that fear will melt away.  One nice aspect to the rules is that the Author encourages players to change or ditch rules to suit themselves. It is refreshing to see.

The first step is crew creation. You have a choice between a all human crew (for those of you wanting a Firefly style adventure) or a crew that is a mixture of races. If you are playing a different setting you can always substitute the closest alien to those in the Unity Universe.

A typical crew size is 6, although you can go larger or smaller with the crew if you wish. You roll on the various tables which gives you the stat lines for the Captain & Crew. They will also give you background to the characters and gives character motivations. The dice decide everything, all you have to do is come up with their names. You also get to roll what motivates and binds the crew and with a little creative thinking you can draft a story about how they met.

You will also roll crew equipment and weapons, which is up to the Captain to dole out each mission. This also allows for characters to be given the right kit and weapons as the campaign progresses.

After this you get to create the crew’s ship and how much your captain owes on it. All you have to do is name the hulk of junk you are flying about in.

Then you get into the meat and gravy. Each game is called a Campaign Turn. You get to choose what the end of the campaign should be (so many games played, target events, character development milestones) and you also choose what mode to play the campaign in. I am currently playing Normal but there is easy and a few harder modes which increase the enemies you will face among other things. I would keep those modes for a more seasoned crew as it can get a little exciting on Normal mode with a crew starting out in the adventure business.

Your captain has to pay the crew (they will strike!), pay off the debt on the ship (or it may be repossessed), dole out equipment and jobs. The main pregame jobs are (but is not exhaustive) is to find a job patron, trade, distract rivals (these will mount up as the campaign progresses) or hunt rivals down.

You then create the game from the job offer which says what, who, when, where, payment, bonuses, battlefield conditions, enemy numbers, equipment, specialists and their disposition.  The disposition describes how your enemy deploys and its approach to you being there.

Now all you need to do is tie it all together so the mission fits a story. I must admit I find this step fun but it can be a challenge trying to figure out. Then again you can always spend a Story point from your bank which will allow you to reroll a mission or enemy. Another option is to make up a scenario if it fits the story better or to use an enemy that fits better.

Off you go and good luck on your mission. The game is aimed at 28 to 32mm figures and a typical battlefield size is 3 x 3 foot although with smaller crews you might want to use a 2 x 2 foot board. The rules can be used with 15mm figures if you use cm rather than inches. There is also advice on how to populate your table with terrain. I tend to ignore that bit as I am lucky to have piles of terrain and I love a densely covered table, just to create headaches for everyone.

Then there is the after battle section where you get paid, figure out what has happened to your injured crew members, calculate experience and improve your characters. You can also go out trading for new kit or upgrade your ship. I think you can also recruit new crew members here. You also figure out if your opponent becomes a rival or if the planet is about to be invaded by Unity. I ignore this roll as I am using my own setting with many different factions.

Then you are back to the generation of the next turn.

The combat rules are D6 based pretty easy to learn and games seem to take 30 to 60 minutes to play. A player can burn through a few campaign turns in a evening. Or gamers like myself who find free time limited can work out a mission one day, set the table up on another and play the next day (or in my case a few weeks later).

One of the joys of 5 Parsecs is the additional rules available in the Trailblazers tool kit (which also has Ship and colony name generators and an introductory campaign), Freelancers Handbook, Fixers guidebook and Bug hunt (one for Aliens and Starship Troopers movies lovers) which all expand the game and the Unity universe (these four titles are available in the Five Parsecs Compendium). There is also plenty of player homebrew rules available online in various Face book groups.

So far I am really enjoying playing the rules and think it could be changed easily for many other Sci Fi game settings. Now all I need is for Ivan Sorensen & Modiphius Entertainment to give the Post Apocalyptic 5 Clicks from the Zone rules the same treatment….pretty pleeeaaassssseeee!

Thanks for reading and go give 5 Parsecs from home a whirl. It’s a blast.

 

 

 

 

 

Punk Apocalyptic

Hello and welcome back. 

This week the Punkapocalyptic KS landed whetting my Post apocalyptic appetite again.

The KS came with a rule book (in English at last!) and a book of additional rules (also in English).  The resin figures each have multiple weapon options and 3 or 4 heads. This gives lots of options and plenty of conversion fodder. I am looking forward to getting them assembled and painted. 

I had a quick flick through the rule books. The main rules are designed  for small numbers of figures from 3 up to about 18 per side. They are miniature agnostic rules for 28 to 32mm figures, although the publisher Bad Roll Games, would like you to have some Punk Apoc figures. Both books have a wealth of background, stories, beasts and faction lists for the Punk Apocalyptic world. There is some nice eye candy pictures too. Characters have quite amusing spoof names. One word of warning is that some of the language in the books is colourful and not very politically correct. Hey it’s after the end of the world, what did you expect? High tea and Queen’s English? 

Most of the action takes place around the area of Scrapbridge in what was the USA. The background fully covers the area in detail and there is a detailed world view. With the closed off high tech cities you get the feeling some Judge Dredd style figures would fit these cities well. There is no reason that you couldn’t use the rules for what ever part of the world you fancy your wastelands to be. Or if you are a 2000AD fan, a bit of Cursed Earth action.

This is a D10 roll set. Activation works off the figures attribute score. Highest figure on the table goes first, with highest dice rolls for same number until all figures have activated.

Shooting and close combat are the usual number with modifiers vs dice roll. Close combat is figure vs figure rolls. Then a wound roll which is toughness with modifiers and weapon penetration. 

There is no rules for moral, that I have noticed. Rare weapons are limited to 3 of a type of firearm per team (ie 3 pistols, 3 shotguns etc). You have to buy ammo for weapons and use it sparingly. You have to say how your warband is equipped but not how much ammo you bought which keeps the other side guessing. There is also rules for special ammo. There are also mutations and psychic rules too.

Both books have lots and lots scenarios and campaign rules. I need to dig further into this. There are rules for toxic and radioactive areas. Not forgetting the wandering beasts rules.

The optional and extra rules have beasts, campaign, solo rules, stories, new characters and a new faction. 

I will have to give the rules a whirl sometime. When I get a couple of spare hours. The ammo rules gives a real PA feel. Reminds me of the Mad Max video game where you have to use ammo sparingly and make the shots count. 

The Punk Apoc gangs and lines fit with other PA figure manufacturers such as MEP miniatures, Ramshackle, Lead Adventure and Copplestone. 

Thanks for reading, I hope to see you in Scrapbridge one day. 

Take care out there.

After the world ends

Hello and welcome back.

I am looking at a book I picked up called “After the World Ends”.

I picked up this book from Kickstarter. It is a detailed list of post apocalyptic films from he mid 70s through to the mid 90s. It lists all the main films and even the awful Roadwarrior rip offs too. For me as a gamer, movies have always been a good source of inspiration so this book was a must for my book shelf.

The book gives a plot outline, facts and availability of each film. Many of which have now vanished. There are pictures of promo posters art and some movie stills too. Zombie movie fans will be disappointed as the book doesn’t cover them. 

In addition there is short essays covering each the components of a post apocalyptic movie from the era and films in a similar vein such as post apoc in space and the adult movie industry efforts. There are also producer, director and actor interviews.

I found the book to be an interesting read. It has given me a few game scenario and campaign ideas. I now have a list of films to track down to complete my collection. 

Thanks for looking.

Tales from the Toxic World.

Tales from the Toxic World is a book of short stories from the Toxic World Series of novels by Sean Mclachlan.

I am a fan of the Toxic World setting & novels. I would go as far to say that they are my favourite of the Post Apocalyptic genre. These short stories are set in between Radio Hope and the Refugees from the Righteous Horde books but do not contain any story spoilers from the main series of novels. Although they do feature some of the characters. The book also introduces a new setting/township Tiretown. I do wonder if Sean Mclachlan is going to feature this town in the future of the series somehow, although he does state that Tiretown and New City (the city central to the Toxic World Series) are unaware of each other’s existence. Maybe it will get its own novel? I hope so as the Tiretown story was a gripping read. 

All the stories are great, they add extra depth and colour to the Toxic World. Some of the stories make for good plot hooks for Post Apoc RPGs. 

If you want to read some good post apocalyptic short stories that aren’t the usual run of the mill PA stories then I recommend this book. 

Zona Alpha

Welcome back to my blog, over a month since my last post. Life has been hectic. Earlier this week the rulebook for Zona Alpha landed on the door mat. So I thought I would give a quick review. 

As a long time fan of the Stalker computer games I was thrilled to see a rule set aimed at gaming expeditions into the zone. 

Now if you are wondering what the Stalker computer games was all about, the background mixes the novel Roadside Picnic and Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker movie fluff with the real life Chernobyl exclusion zone. 

There is a second explosion in the centre of the “Zone”. Then things get weird. The Zone is thought to be alive. Generating anomalies in the laws of psychics to act as traps. These anomalies move, vanish and arrive often instantly. Then the mutants arrived (called Children of the Zone in the movie). The mutants in the computer game are far more horrific. The zone attracts criminals, fugitives and adventurers. 

Zona Alpha is by Patrick Todoroff and published by Osprey Wargames. The game is aimed at 28mm scale figures but there is rules for using them for 15mm scale. This is simply changing the rule measurement scale from Inches to Centimetres (a conversion that I have often used in the past).

There is 64 pages dedicated to gaming in the Chernobyl Zone Exclusion Zone. There is plenty of game pictures and art to inspire games. There is also plenty of examples of the rule mechanics. 

The game is story driven and focuses on your team of Stalkers from one of 6 factions. You are looking for salvage and adventure but ultimately looking to get rich. The games have mission objectives with additional hotspots that may hold loot or mutants or deadly anomalies. Or sometimes a mix of them.

The Zona Alpha game looks quick and fun to play with not much number crunching or chart checks. There are four main stats for figures Movement, Combat Ability, Armour & Will. Your figures can be of one if three levels Rookie, Hardened and Veteran. As well as stat improvements higher level figures get extra action points too. As missions go on there is a system to improve your crew and promote them. There is even a a 10,000 Rubel retirement plan. You also have to pay dues to your selected faction. 

Zona Alpha uses GW sized templates for grenades and flamethrowers. Hopefully you will probably have some laying about. If not you can buy them from GW or many war games accessory suppliers. If you are handy you could probably make you own from cardboard. 

Back in the day, way before Lead Adventure Miniatures began making their wonderful figures I made one of faction from the Stalker video games for gaming “the zone”. Mainly converting figures from various ranges. I look forward to getting them out and on the table again. 

Zona Alpha could also work in the Metro-2033-averse as Metro took inspiration from the Stalker video games. Instead of the zone it will be teams looking for loot to trade at the Metro stations deep below the ruined city streets. There maybe a few faction tweaks. As Metro uses pre Apoc cartridges as currency the pricing may have to be adapted, possibly using a tenth of those in the Zona Alpha rules. Also the mission rewards should be reduced by the same factor.

I am looking forward to getting some games of Zona Alpha in. Thanks for reading. Take care out there.

Gangs of Mega City One review.

Hello and welcome back to my blog. 

A few weeks back I spotted a copy of Mongoose's Gangs of Mega City One on evilbay. The game is a small gang srkimish

As many hardened readers of this blog will know I am a huge fan of 2000AD's Mega City One background and Judge Dredd. It is a major inspiration for the Utopia city faction. I was tempted to buy the game, sealed as new but for £15.00 it seemed too good to be true. Especially as every out of production and classic game fetching sily prices. I have been burnt by dodgy eBay sellers in the past.

I have wanted this game since it came out in 2004 but sadly funds would not allow me to purchase it even if I had enough figures from my Combat Zone and Babylon's Burning collections to start playing right away. Throwing caution to the wind I hit the Buy button.

A couple of days later the parcel arrived. With a mixture of excitement and dredd (did you see what I did there?) I opened the parcel to find a complete game, still sealed.

With some delight I ripped the cellophane away and dug through my treasure.
So what is there?

A rules and background booklet.

Some dice & 12 unassembled plastic gang figures.

Some templates & a bunch of card terrain (buildings, cars and street furniture).

A paper play mat.

Not bad for the asking price and it is rare to get a bargain on evilbay these days.

The rules seem pretty straight forward and have a campaign section so you can grow you gang and raise their reputation. One nice rule is the Call the Judges rule which allows you to set the law on your opponent.

What is missing from the rules are rules for vehicles, cursed earth gangs, robots, Cocalids and ape gangs.

Reading previous reviews from back in the day many herald the GMC1 rules as Mongoose's attempt at a Necromunda style skirmish game. That is true in some respects but the background is much, much richer. It is generally unknown but 2000AD's Mega City One was a large inspiration for Confrontation (Necromunda' s forefunner) and early 40K.

In the last 40 years Mega City One has seen much wackiness and gaming the mean streets would give a lot of fun. There is the undercity (sorry Nercomunda Fans, MC1 had one before 40K was born), the cursed earth, crazy gangs, ape gangs, crazies (called futsies), death judges from another dimension, wars with other mega cities, block wars and features many cross overs. The Aliens and Predator vs Judge Dread are examples of such cross overs. MC1 was also used to parody many current events and celebrity stories if the time. Then there is the Burger Wars andDinosaurs out in the cursed earth.

Shame the game and the later edtiton (The Judge Dredd game) fell by the wayside. With the background offering so much scope to feed the imagination these games could keep a club gaming for years.

Now for me I have to find the expansion book "Death on the streets" next. Anyone have a reasonably priced one for sale?

Thanks for reading. Take care out there!

2000AD's Cursed Earth

Hello and welcome back. One of my ambitions for 2017 is to get more blog posts up, so this is a good start. 

Part of my Christmas haul was a copy of 2000AD's Judge Dredd, The Cursed Earth uncensored book. 

This is from a Judge Dredd story 2000 AD ran back in 1978. In the story Mega City 2 is hit by a terrible virus. Mega city 1 has a vaccine but can not deliver it to Mega City 2 as the infected hold the cities airport. Judge Dredd volunteers to cross the 3000 miles of Cursed Earth to deliver the vaccine. Or as I like to think of it, Judge Dredd does route 66! 

Reading this graphic novel/comic book took me back to being a child. It was 1979 and I had chicken pox. My Aunty left a pile of old comics belonging to a cousin for me to read. In there was a pile 2000ADs. The issues with this story line or most of it was in the comic pile.

Looking back it started my love for the 2000AD comic, my interest in Science Fiction/Fantasy genre and most importantly my love for the Post Apocalyptic Genre. 

The Cursed Earth isn't just a hellish wasteland like those of Mad Max. It is filled with towns, ruins and wrecks. The art work in the graphic novel is enough to inspire the terrain builder. 

The tales are typical 2000AD with some parodies of the modern world and a little bit of wackiness. It fits my style for Mattblackgod's World. 

If you are stuck for ideas for gaming the post apocalyptic world then The Cursed Earth is worth a look. If you game Judge Dredd then this is a must. There are mutants, cultists, mutant beasts, bio engineered beasts, insane robots, aliens  (the 2000AD world made it to space before wasting the world), warbands and many more ideas to inspire. Ideas as such as the burger wars story may inspire similar warbands maybe with a more modern or localised slant. 

In short, Judge Dredd The Cursed Earth is chock full of ideas and art inspiration for the post apocalyptic wargamer and modeller. It isn't for the gritty or modern setting but fits any sci fi one. It's well worth a look.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading. Take care out there!

Whiskey - post apoc novel review.

Hello and welcome back to my blog. I read a lot of Post Apocalyptic fiction as it often provides some inspiration for the hobby. In this post I would like to review Evan Pickering's new novel Whiskey.

Whiskey is the sequel to Hood, which is the first part of Evan Pickering's American Rebirth series. The novel is available through Amazon.

In the book, Whiskey and Tay are on a training mission in the ruins of Manhatten and find themselves being dragged into another war in Post Apocalyptic USA. This story is set 20 years after Hood and the world has moved on. Whiskey and Tay now serve the in Rangers under Son's of Liberty which run the nearest thing to a small country. A feudal near medieval style country, it is the nearest thing to stability out in the ruined USA.

The novel has any interesting characters and factions. I enjoyed this novel and found it an exciting page turner. It is a fitting sequel to Hood. Great read and I look forward to the next novel in this series.

So what is in it for the humble Post Apocalyptic Wargamer? Evan's world features a lot of reclamation of the human world by nature. Fans of Across the Death Earth will like the series and I would advise they read it just for inspiration.

There are plenty of different factions and ideas for games. Fitting for us PA wargamers many fights are small scale skirmishes between handfuls of survivors. Don't let that distract you as the novel does talk of past larger scale battles if you fancy larger games.

I liked the variey of characters, factions and ideas in this novel. There are plenty of terrain ideas too. In all worth reading in my opinion.

Thanks for reading and take out there!

Pursuit of the Apocalypse - book review.

Welcome back to my blog. In this post I will be reviewing a post apocalyptic novel. I hope I don't drop any plot spoilers **whistles innocently**

The novel I am reviewing is “Pursuit of the Apocalypse” by Benjamin Wallace (find him on twitter @BenMWallace) . This is the third novel in the series. The other novels in the Duck and Cover Post Apocalyptic Adventure series are “Post Apocalyptic Nomadic Warriors” and “Knights of the Apocalypse”. I am a huge fan of Benjamin Wallace's work. The series are good books with a comic twist. One way to describe them is Post Apocalyptic mixed with Monty Python.

Pursuit of the Apocalypse is as the name suggests about a pursuit. The main character is pursuing his kidnapped wife across the wastelands. The kidnapper is a sinister bounty hunter who has the most horrific clothing I have seen in any post apocalyptic setting. The novel has a great and exciting plot, and fantastic characters. I was howling with laughter reading this book. As I was on holiday I was getting evil looks from other holiday makers who must have thought I was either a nutter (guilty) or laughing at them!

Benjamin Wallace is the Terry Pratchett of Post Apoc fiction. As a massive Terry Pratchett fan myself that is a huge complement.

I could not put the novel down and wished I could read more when I had finished it. I was left with a book hangover thinking what happens to the characters next? Which of the other characters will reappear in the next tale? I hope that there will be another novel in the series.

So what is there for us tabletop gamers? The Pursuit of the Apocalypse novel has some great factions and locations. It made me want to start building new tabletop models there and then. If like me, you like a bit of satire in your wastelands this novel is for you. There are bike gangs (as a non Harley rider myself Benjamin Wallace hilariously hits the nail on the head), strange townships, entertaining characters (Willie and Coy are brilliant) are car chases and battles.

I think all post apocalyptic fans should read this series of novels. They are funny and challenge many of the post apocalyptic conventions. They are cleverly written and have many satires that the reader can relate to. I cannot recommend these novels enough to Post Apoc fans or anyone else who likes a good read. As I have mentioned in another blog post I measure any novel by “would I read it again?”. I am currently planning on rereading the whole series soon.

Thanks for reading.

Wasteland Saga - Book review.

Welcome back to my blog. I have recently returned from holiday in Spain. Whilst there I hammered through a few post apocalyptic novels. I will review them here and do my best not to drop any spoilers into the review. As this is a wargaming blog I will try to point out what ideas can be used for the table top.

I have read novels by Nick Cole @NickColeBooks and Benjamin Wallace @BenMWallace . In this blog post I will be reviewing the books by Nick Cole.

I read three novels by Nick Cole which are a series. The novels are The Old Man and the Wasteland, The Savage Boy and The Road is a River (also available as a single book called The Wasteland Saga).

The Old Man and the Wasteland:

For me this was the second read of this novel. I picked it up as I had little to read just before going on Holiday. It was only then a dim and distant light in the back of my skull blinked on and I remembered Nick Cole tweeting me some time back saying that he had written sequels. I immediately had to download them.

The novel is set some 40 years after a nuclear war. It focuses on a Old Man who leaves his village to go on a epic salvage exhibition in the cursed wastelands.

The novel is well written and at the exciting bits it is a real page turner. There are plenty of plot twists and interesting characters and encounters. I recommend this novel to any fan of the Post Apocalyptic genre.

For the Post Apocalyptic role player or table top gamer there is plenty to inspire. Small skirmishes and escapes the Old Man gets into. There is the Old Man's village (old industrial complex with the usual fallout style shacks), a few places along the Old Man's journey, a tribe and at least two major battles. This would keep any gamer going for a while.

The Savage Boy:

The Savage Boy is the second book in the series. It is set in the same setting but it is a different story. The novel follows a Boy and the pre war Army Sergeant who took the him in. The Sergeant is trying to finish a mission he was given in the countries dying years. The tale takes you through many events and emotions. Life after the end of the world isn't easy!

Like the first book there is many encounters and great characters. This book explores the world in more detail. You get to see what had happened and how the world has changed (or in some cases devolved!). It is a great read and a real page turner.

I really liked this novel as it packed with great ideas for you to use. Many tribes and lots of great characters. Lots of adventure and battles to repeat on the tabletop. There is a Chinese remnant/enclave in the novel and I can clearly picture using Copplestone 19^th Century Chinese for these forces. I have added this to my ever increasing hobby to do list.

The Road is a River:

The Road is a River is the third installment in the series. The Old Man is back and Nick Cole cleverly mixes to two tales together. It is a mix that works well.

In this novel the Old Man's people receive a strange message pinned on a dead man in a old times dune buggy. As a result the Old Man heads out across the wasteland in desperate rescue mission. This tale visits many places and there is a crazy warlord (aren't they all?) out there.

The Old Man makes a few friends and a few enemies a long the road. Again it has a few hidden twists and plenty of excitement.

For the table top has plenty of things to inspire. There are plenty of battles and lots of tribes to emulate.

In short these books are great post apocalyptic adventures which have given me lots of ideas. They are highly detailed. There is lots of excitement, lots of fantastic factions and tribes. There is a couple of reoccurring themes in the novels which are key to main characters however these do not detract from tales. The novels left me with a serious book hangover. I would love to read more adventures in this setting with some of the other characters (hint hint!). One measure for me of any book is would I read it again? Yes I would re-read all three again (and again). I recommend these books to any fan of the post apocalyptic genre.

Go grab a read and enjoy! Thank you for reading. 

Product review: Bondic

Assembling plastic models and wargames figures has a few problems. Use polystyrene cement and the fumes incur the wrath of my good lady. Use superglue and you end up with fingers stuck together or plastic parts attached to your hand. 

I spotted Bondic on Amazon. Bondic is a plastic welder tool. It uses a resin that is then cured for 3 to 5 seconds using a UV LED. It is fume free and there is no chance of gluing your fingers together. 

What you get is the lamp and a tube of resin. Extra tubes of resin glue can be bought.

Here is a hard plastic warzone figure which I used the Bondic to glue. Works well. You drip a drop onto the surfaces. Here you can see the glue on the base. In between the figures legs there is a lump of set resin. 

This is the UV lamp. It is battery operated and is handy as it can be used away from a power supply. 

Shine the lamp onto the joint or resin for 3 to 5 seconds. Hey presto the resin is set. 

The Bondic also works well on softer figures like those from GW. The only thing is you will need to figure out how to hold the part in place as you shine the lamp on it. 

This is handy for filling gaps on kits and repairing every day items. It is a handy tool to add to your hobby tool kit. 

Thanks for reading. 

2014 - a review.

I have seen this idea on a couple of blogs and I thought I would shamelessly steal it. Hey I am a wastelander....don't leave things for me to loot!! 

So what did I achieve in 2014? First thing to note is that all my 2013 gaming and modelling plans fell apart when Post Apoc Santa left me lots of new wargaming toys to play with. 

I will have a look at the highlights as it will take too long to post all the pictures from the last 12 months. However this post will still be quite picture heavy but relax, open a Rad Beer and enjoy the eye candy. 

I started looking for a Warlord for the Wasteocrates (Republic of Dan) Vs Great Lakes setting. I decided on this guy. 

I also knocked together some random guys for the Wasteocrates

Brummie know as Bummie in various places on the web. 

Then there was the Great Lakes military

I got a couple of Dreadball teams painted. I have not had a chance to play it yet. 

I would like more Dreadball teams one day but it's wiser to hang fire until I have actually played the game. 

Then there was my salute to the Red Dwarf Crew. 

There was also some new Flora & Fauna for my Wastelands...

A horrific new cult rampaged across the Wastelands - The Cult of the Mattblackgod

The Mags of Utopia City got a new Grav Tank...

My mate Jay made me a gang - The Souljackers Crew

Then there was the 15mm Sci Fi for my Wild Galaxy setting. 

Then there was the gangs of modern Post Apoc Liverpool that features in my After the End setting. Many of these gangs where recycled from my collection. I did paint a few new figures: 

I also got some terrain built too. 

In short it has been quite a productive year. It is shocking to look back over the last 12 months and to realize just how much I have managed to get done. On top of this I have learnt a lot and sharpened some of my skills. 

So what's in line for 2015? 

My Squat and Vermen forces will be getting some reinforcements. I got some Space Wolves for Xmas so I will be adding them to the Frozen Wastes as a Bunker type force.Speaking of the frozen wastes I will be attempting to make some snow boards. The Urban boards will be getting a make over too. I am not happy with the road markings I put on them.

I got a deadzone terrain set for xmas too so I plan some Necromunda type terrain. 

On Mattblackgod's world there will be a new mutant town I want to make. I will put it on the edge of Rosstralia, the continent where Utopia city is based. It may also be fun to make a gang of explorers who go out into the Wastes from Utopia to travel around the world getting into trouble. 

15mm is also another project. I have got the Hammers Slammers starter so I will be using  those cool models for the Wild Galaxy Blue Devils Mercenary force. There is another force for another colony type space nation to build too. Plus there is a few 15mm critters from 15mm.co.uk to paint. I blagged a cheap Dinky Space 1999 Eagle which I plan to repaint. 

Over in the Liverpool wastes I have some Cultists and New Albion figures to strip and repaint. 

On top of this there is a couple of 1/24 scale cars I have which I plan to post apoc up just for fun. 

So another busy year next year. Oh yeah I should get some more games in too. I think I had 5 games all year in 2014.