Zombie RV at Wargames Among the Warplanes

 Today is the Fall 2026 outing for Wargames Among the Warplanes, a twice-yearly day of wargaming held at the National Warplane Museum in beautiful Geneseo, New York, one of my favorite towns on the planet. I attended college in Geneseo and for 20 years now have dutifully attended the gaming convention the college gaming club puts on every year (and as a student, served as Minister of Wargames, Minister of Roleplaying Games, and treasurer of the club!). I had to miss the spring show this year, but wanted to make sure I made it to the fall show, not least because Mike Demana of Lead Legionaries and his girlfriend Jenny were making the trip out from Ohio to attend. Mike's terrain builds have been a big inspiration for me, and he's just been genuinely a nice guy and supportive reader. 

The show is actually still going on as I write this, however I've been on a new medication for the past couple weeks that wonks with my sleep, meaning I've been really struggling with daytime fatigue. With an hour and twenty minutes' commute each way to attend Wargames Among the Warplanes, I decided to err on the side of caution and skedaddle on home after the morning session.  

 I used the same table layout (for the most part; some of the scatter is arranged differently) as I used for my last solo game, and had enough time in the morning time slot to play twice; the first game had three players - Mike, Jenny, and John, a gent I used to run a lot of roleplaying games for when I was living in Rochester. After the first game, John stepped away to join a Battletech table, and Mike and Jenny played a second round, changing the deployment zones they started in.

 

The only major house rule I implemented was that zombies who were not in range of seeing/hearing/smelling survivors didn't automatically stand still. I rolled a scatter die for each of them, sending them wandering where the arrows pointed, and only keeping them stationary if the die came up with an "on target" result. This did result in zombies spawning on the edges of the board and immediately wandering off of it, as well as a stretch where five or six zombies were all lined up on one table edge, standing still because I just kept rolling "on target" results for them. 

 

I think the second game is where things really started to get interesting. There were six potential loot drops on the table each time - one in each building except for the tiny little pizza place, since that was the one building on the table without a detailed interior. Or, even, a floor. When the survivors investigated one, they rolled to see what they found; these could be supplies, medicine, weapons, etc. One result that didn't come up in the first game but did come up in the second was that these loot drops could yield a survivor. And in fact, that result came up three times in the second game. 

 So while Mike and Jenny each started with two survivors, by the end of the game Jenny had a crew of four* and Mike was commanding a team of three. The second game also had the largest number of zombies appearing and wandering off the board, or standing stock-still for 3+ turns. 

 You remember that asterisk on Jenny's crew of four last paragraph? Well, three members of her crew were clustered on the table edge, on their way towards the rendezvous point to get back in the VW Vanagon that was their home base, when four zombies spawned right on top of them. The survivor "Mark" put up a valiant effort with his wrench to try and keep everything at bay, but ultimately succumbed even as his compatriots escaped with their lives. 

 I also got to see Mike's infamously bad dice luck in action. With most rolls in Zombie RV requiring a 4+ on a six-sided dice, there was a stretch where - Poor Mike! - he couldn't roll above a 3. Even switching out dice after every roll didn't help him any. 

 It may have been my fault, though - as soon as I stepped away to use the men's room, Mike immediately rolled two 6s with "Hank" and his machete, felling two of the three zombies trying to gnaw on him!

 With the second game at an end, it was just about noon; the morning time slot technically ran from 9am to 1pm with an hour lunch break before the afternoon time slot began at 2. I thought trying to squeeze a third game in might be a bit much, and Mike and Jenny were ready for lunch, so I got packed up, said my goodbyes and texted Gina to let her know I was on my way home. 

All in all, a day (morning) well spent! I'm glad I got to finally meet Mike and Jenny in person, and it's the sort of event that's just really pleasant and affirming; I'm a bit of a shut-in given Gina's health issues, so going out and having people tell me how happy they are to see me, how glad they are I could make it, how much they love seeing my models and terrain on the table... it's a good feeling that I don't get as often as I'd like. I talked a little bit to a couple of people who were happy to just walk around and watch games, including a family with some young kids. At 39, I'm one of the young bucks at Wargames Among the Warplanes - lots of guys in their 60s and at least one in his 70s, so we're all pretty keen on trying to lure in the next generation of wargamers.  

From the Files of Police Squad!

 The two police cars are finished:

 I kept things pretty simple decal-wise; the word "Police" on both front doors, and "911" on the rear next to the gas cap. I had to buy two sets of decals to get enough black-letter "Police" for both cars; I may get some more Crown Vics at some point and paint some as Highway Patrol or County Sheriff vehicles. 

In other news, the MDF buildings I alluded to the other day arrived, along with a box of resin accessory bits - air conditioners, filing cabinets, vending machines, etc - from Oshiro Models. 

 I've never built a TTCombat kit before; I picked this one up because it's got a very different footprint from the other buildings I've got, plus I liked that it had a fire-escape. Should give me plenty of opportunity for customization as well.

On the right in the ziploc bags are two kits from Atomic Lasercut Designs; one is a two-story building from their "Mean Streets" line, with a commercial space at ground level and apartments above. The other is a rooftop access point, which I'm going to glue to the roof of the building to add more height and make it a little bit different from the similar two-story building I've already done. The rooftop access has a removable roof as well, and the interior could offer some fun customizing opportunities. 

I'm hopeful to get these both done before winter, along with the two Atomic Lasercut kits I've currently got on my workbench. I feel like my modern urban terrain collection (and figures!) are replacing the Oldhammer Orcs as my "Hobby Home" - the thing I can always take out and putter away at in between other projects or when I'm not feeling inspired for something. At this point I'm fairly certain I could cover my entire dining room table (which is 3' x 5'10", which let me tell you, is annoying for trying to get a mat to cover it!) with terrain and have some left over, but it's just so relaxing to paint and assemble. 

 The two buildings and the cars are already factored into my finished tally, but I think I should count the electrical transformer substation I got from Oshiro as scatter. Let's update the tracker:

 

Miniatures Acquired: 212

Miniatures Painted: 215

Terrain Acquired: 5

Terrain Painted: 9

Scatter Acquired: 9

Scatter Painted: 15

 

The Webster Street Irregulars

 

Back when Osprey's "When Nightmares Come" first released, I was definitely interested - modern setting, occult enemies, ordinary people pushing back against the things that go bump in the night? That's 100% my jam. North Star offered a bundle deal, if I'm remembering right, offering the rulebook and your choice of a pack of "Apex Investigators" made by Fenris Games, to use as your monster hunters. 

 While I was at it, I ordered myself some 3D printed bases with urban detailing from Etsy. Once the figures arrived, I cut the tabs off their feet and glued them to the urban bases, feeling pretty pleased with myself. 

And then, as so often happens, they sat, unattended to. "When Nightmares Come" didn't grab me by the ears and demand I play it when I first read through it, so I shrugged and put it on the shelf with the other Blue Books, figuring I could borrow elements from it to enrich other games later on.

Recently, I read some play-reports for When Nightmares Come over on the Lead Adventure Forum, and felt my interest rekindle. And reading other people's play-throughs helped me through some of the things I wasn't understanding (I feel like the 64-page Blue Book format might have hindered this one a little bit!). 

So I've decided I'm going to make playing a full six-game campaign of When Nightmares Come my goal for October - ideally, playing the final game on Halloween. This is going to entail some painting through the month of September to get myself ready; first up, the hunters themselves, finally primed and painted and ready for action.

 While I will be giving everyone individual names and backstories, for now they're presented largely without comment:

First up is my "Weaver," in the game's parlance, a minor spellcaster with the knowledge and training to push back against the supernatural. I went with gray hair, envisioning her as an aging witch who has pulled the team together. The eyepatch, combat boots and arm bands show she's no frail fortuneteller. This is a woman who has kicked a werewolf in the nards and lived to tell the tale. 

Next up are my two "Wardens." These are characters who know their way around weapons and violence; while anybody in the game can use a gun or a knife, these guys are the best at it. According to Ian over at Fenris, the one guy is sculpted to look like celebrity chef Guy Fieri, so my bleach-blonde paint job is accurate. I'm imagining the gray-haired guy with the flashlight is a retired cop who assumes he should be leading the team. 

 Finally, my "Wrights" - these are techies, tinkerers, and modern-day alchemists creating tools from scratch - monster repellents, lures, potions of speed and healing, etc. I really like the gal with the fluffy boots and the palm pilot and had to give her some raver colors.

 Together, I'm calling them the Webster Street Irregulars; Webster Street being one of the local streets I look to for inspiration with my terrain collection. It's a lot of small shops and restaurants with apartments above, and buildings like that are going to be my next priority in terrain-building so that I can add more height to my tables. I already have one, in the form of the Nickel City Smoke Shop, and a couple more are on the way. 

I've also gotten some work done today on a few more pieces of scatter terrain - a pair of Crown Victoria police interceptors from Miniature Tanks Co. These are mostly just done in cheap craft paint, other than the lights. All that's left to do is putting some decals on them. 

 I did have to order a few more figures for When Nightmares Come, but I'm really pleased at how much I was able to pull out of my leadpile and designate towards the game. 

 

Miniatures Acquired: 212

Miniatures Painted: 215

Terrain Acquired: 5

Terrain Painted: 9

Scatter Acquired: 8

Scatter Painted: 15

 

Zombie RV: Game 3, "Trial By Fire"

 I had to take today off work to take Gina to a doctor's appointment out in Rochester, and we got home early enough for me to set up the table and get another game of Zombie RV in, in preparation for putting on a table at Wargames Among the Warplanes in just under two weeks. When we last left our heroes, Dave and Dudikoff, the mysterious ninja warrior, had escaped from the zombie horde with their lives, but without their former companions. This time, they've picked up a pair of new recruits, Bobby and Larry, who are armed with pistols. Both figures are from Brigade Games' "Drug War Z" line. 

 

There were supply caches to check inside the Urgent Care, in the apartments above the Dispensary, inside the Pawn Shop and on the roof of the Off-Track Betting parlor. Five zombies were clustered around the burning dumpster at the beginning of the game; on subsequent turns, I rolled a die to determine if more zombies would spawn at the dumpster or at one of the table edges. 

Dudikoff snuck around to the back door of the Urgent Care, while Dave, Larry and Bobby crossed the intersection, aiming for the pawn shop and the back door of the Dispensary. 

 Bobby, the stealthiest of the group, peeled off and turned up the street, intent on heading towards the Off-Track Betting. Unfortunately, he sneezed and drew the attention of the milling zombies.

 Meanwhile, Dudikoff found the cache in the Urgent Care but nothing registered to him as useful. And some zombies, drawn by the sound of him rummaging, were beginning to enter the building.

 Zombies spawned along the table edge between the Dispensary and the Pawn Shop, right in Dave and Larry. 

 Dave darted past them, throwing himself through the doorway into the Pawn Shop. Larry skedaddled into the Dispensary and headed upstairs. The zombies followed Dave, and once they began to push their way through the door he opened up with his shotgun.

 Dudikoff kept up a fighting retreat as he headed back towards the rear exit of the Urgent Care. Bobby, meanwhile, reflected on the fact that he'd always assumed it'd be his bookie or one of his ex-baby mamas killing him in front of the dispensary. 

 Larry found nothing of value in the dispensary and headed back down, while Dave found supplies in the pawn shop. As the zombies kept coming, Dave made a mad dash for the front door to leave them behind. Seeing Dave running, Larry took off running in the same direction. 

 

Dudikoff ran from the pursuing zombies, but the Nasty Zombie managed to catch up to him; a slash of his katana pushed the Nasty Zombie back, allowing him to duck through the back door of the Donut Shop. 

 Bobby was wounded and knocked down, but the zombies, distracted by the stench of stale beer, sweat and the cheapest cigarettes on the market emanating from Bobby's undershirt, failed to finish him off.

 Larry climbed on to the roof of the video store and started firing his pistol into the air, distracting the growing zombie horde. As the undead clustered around the video store, Bobby managed to get to his feet and begin making his way towards the RV. Dudikoff had the same idea.

 

Meanwhile, Dave made it on to the roof of the OTB and found... nothing! Even with his Scavenger skill, he came away empty-handed.

I didn't take a picture of Dave on the OTB roof. Oh well. He climbed down the drainpipe and started to make his way towards the RV, all of the zombies' attention focused on Larry's gunfire.

And then... click!

Larry ran out of ammo.

 And suddenly Dave was the noisiest thing on the street.

 Fortunately, he was carrying a shotgun into this target-rich environment, and was able to clear a path. Larry leapt across the gap between the video store and the pawn shop to avoid the zombies still pressing against the rear of the video store. He quickly made his way down to ground level and took of running. Zombies began to pursue.

 Fortunately, Bobby and Dudikoff made it to the RV, revved it up and threw it into gear. They were able to pick up both Dave and Larry, meaning the entire team survived, even if they didn't find much of value. 

***

All in all, a good game! I think I've got a good handle now on what combination of the core rules, and the house-rules written by Mike over at Lead Legionaries, I want to bring to Wargames Among the Warplanes. I also think I'm just going to recreate this layout there to make things easy on myself. I managed to fit almost all the scatter terrain inside the buildings, and I can stack those in a plastic tote so I'm not lugging five boxes' worth of terrain from my car to the venue like I did last year. 

So the one remaining question...

Do I want to allow the players at Wargames Among the Warplanes to fight among themselves over supplies? Or should I be firm about "it's all of you against the zombies"? 

What I'm working on

 Just a few small things today - first off, I finished a piece of scatter terrain from Miniature Building Authority that's been sitting, unhappily half-painted, for six months on my workbench. I'd used too yellowy of a brown for the wood of the crates and it looked bad. I stripped it, reprimed, and repainted, and now I'm happy with it. I especially like how it can sit flush against the wall of a building.

Had some opportunities for some fun details - a radiation hazard symbol on the barrel (that's probably fine to leave in a random alleyway, right?) and "FRAGILE" upside down on one of the crates.

 

Some months back, I got another set of irregular terrain bases from Things From The Basement, and built them up with cork layers with an eye towards making another set of jungle terrain.  Well, the second batch of trees I got were just absolute junk. Greasy, warped plastic in weird colors. So I never got around to making the jungle terrain, and these corked-up bases were just sitting there, until I started working on my samurai and I thought, "some pieces to make a bamboo grove would be nice."

So I ordered some model bamboo, and set to work painting the bases. Tonight, I drilled holes in two of the bases and inserted some bamboo stems of different sizes to see how they'd look:

 I might have made a mistake by not flocking the bases before drilling holes, but overall I'm happy with them and I can flock around the stems without egregious difficulty. I packed the bamboo in pretty densely so nobody can argue with me about whether or not they'd block line of sight. 

I'll work on finishing these two bases tomorrow and then tackle the next five or six - I forget how many I've got. Enough for a respectable grove!  

 

Miniatures Acquired: 207

Miniatures Painted: 210

Terrain Acquired: 3

Terrain Painted: 9

Scatter Acquired: 8

Scatter Painted: 13

 

The Road to More Terrain

 A couple of packages arrived today, both furthering my goals to play more samurai games. 

First, a resin house, a well, and some accessory odds and ends picked up from Oshiro Model Terrain. I did a lot of thinking and weighing options for Feudal Japanese terrain, and I decided that, at least for smaller buildings, I like the Oshiro Japanese houses best, plus they've got the best line of accessory bits. 

 The roof comes off the house and it has a plain, though accessible, interior. I'll be adding a base to it, much like I did with the MDF temple kit. The plan, such as it is, is to ultimately add a few more of these houses to my collection over time so I can put a small village, or at least the outskirts of one, on the table. 

The other thing that arrived today is a 3D print of Itto Ogami and his son Daigoro, the titular characters of the "Lone Wolf and Cub" franchise. Lone Wolf and Cub ran as a manga series from 1970 to 1976, and has been adapted to television, film and even the stage, the story following Itto, the shogun's official executioner, as he is framed and disgraced, forced to become an assassin with his young son in tow, and ultimately strives for vengeance (consistently described as "The Road to Hell" in the manga) on those who framed him. More recently, Disney's "The Mandalorian" is basically a retread of this with a Star Wars gloss applied. 

 The print came from a vendor I found on eBay, and came in three pieces - Itto Ogami himself, the baby cart, and little Daigoro. I've had a lot of disappointment from 3D prints this year to the point where I'd basically written off the entire medium, but I took a chance on this and was really pleasantly surprised. It's a really nice, crisp print, it was delivered to me almost totally free of any supports or excess bits of material, and without any odor. This last one's been a big deal for me! Almost every other 3D printed figure I've gotten this year has been inproperly cured, resulting in a powerful resin stink and in some cases the figure still being sticky. 

 Scale-wise, it's about on par with my Bad Squiddo samurai for size, and a little smaller than my Clan Wars figures. Once painted and on the table I don't think it'll be too noticeable.  

 The resin house has already been accounted for in my tracker, but I'll add the Lone Wolf and Cub, counting them and the baby carriage as three figures.

 

Miniatures Acquired: 207

Miniatures Painted: 210

Terrain Acquired: 3

Terrain Painted: 9

Scatter Acquired: 8

Scatter Painted: 12

 

Even More Zombies!

 When I took possession of the decade-plus old Wargames Factory zombies that had been sitting in my friend Dave's Closet of Shame, it was at our regular Monday Night Paint & Chat, which Dave hosts. So I sat down and assembled two sprues' worth of male zombies while I was there. Over the next two days, I got them primed, and sat down to start painting.

 And discovered I was not having a great time with them.

The level of detail is... not what I'm used to. It's very shallow, especially on the faces - to the point where applying a wash of Army Painter Strong Tone was obscuring it, instead of making it more clear. Some of the faces I was left guessing if there was a beard present or not. 

 

So I pushed through, and painted them to be "good enough" for mixing into hordes of zombies. I didn't bother trying to paint eyes or teeth or anything like that (couldn't find them!) and didn't apply as many highlights as I did with the previous 34. 

On the plus side, that does raise the total number of zombies I've got painted to 46. I've got five zombie dogs primed and ready to go and that should put me in good standing for Wargames Among the Warplanes. 

 

Miniatures Acquired: 204

Miniatures Painted: 210

Terrain Acquired: 3

Terrain Painted: 9

Scatter Acquired: 8

Scatter Painted: 12