How Not to Survive the Apocalypse

Yes I know I have been ranting about the roads a bit recently, well they now close the main road through nearby Carnforth every evening from 1800 hrs, yes I know it needs repairing but to close it completely so that we are almost cut off from the rest of Lancashire unless you travel roads last used by a coach and horses is a bit much. Anyone want to put money on roadworks within a few weeks of it being finished?

Right, Club Night and only six of us in a rather empty room, Stuart had brought along his latest purchase, "Last Days" Osprey's attempt at getting in on the Zombie genre, which is probably approaching overkill I suspect. Although a two man game Stuart played umpire and brought us all in to the game. We had three gangs of survivors all armed with different weapons, from assault rifles to clubs, the objective was to grab some usefull items which lay scattered about the playing area, you are free to kill zombies and the other gangs.

My guys on the way out.

The play sequence seemed a bit overly complex but that may have been because we had three gangs and five players rather than two, we were fairly quick by the time the game ended. The actual zombies to me were harder to kill than the other humans considering how many of the Undead in The Walking Dead are despatched on a regular basis. I have played Zombicide, The Walking Dead and now Last Days and the first is still my favourite as far as killing zombies goes. How did I do, Charlie and I were in charge of the most useless bunch of survivors ever, probably estate agents, double glazing salesmen and life coaches, we lost. "Zombie's are people too" shouted the Social Justice Warrior as her throat was ripped out.

My mate Julian kindly gave me a copy of Black Powder and then shortly after Warlord Games put it online for free, uh oh. Yes, Black Powder Second Edition is on the way at a whacking £30 as far as I am aware. Now if it is anything like Bolt Action Second Edition it will have a few new rules, almost the same typesetting and no index, ching! I am going with Black Powder for my Seven Years War project as eventually they will be large games and it seems to handle these with no problem, I may use Honours of War for smaller actions, this also has no index, none of Osprey's rule books do as far as I am aware, certainly not the two I have. This is a major annoyance with me, especially with a book which I am forking out £30 on, an afternoon on Word will get you a half decent index, buy a small programme and you will have a worthwhile addition to the tome. The War and Conquest rule book is an excellent example of how to do it right. At £30 don't cut corners.

OK, hoping to get delivery of some wee sojers today or tomorrow as I should finish the Bretagne battalion tonight, varnishing tomorrow, based by the weekend. I have also been inspired to add more 'scatter' terrain to my Bolt Action set up after seeing Matt's bits and pieces over the weekend, also on the list is at least two more Charlie Foxtrot buildings. Several new vehicles are also being added to the orders of battle. Aventine have brought out their Agema cataphracts and they are gorgeous, I had intended not to buy these but get the Companions, I think it is now only a question of when I buy them rather than will I. So a lot going on at Casa Anderson for the rest of the year.

Nearly forgot, a new movie about Robert the Bruce is premiering on September 6, only in select theatres and Netflix, read into that what you will. I have seen a two minute trailer and I do not hold out much hope for a great drama about my number one hero, next to Batman closely followed by Spiderman* and James Longstreet. Why does Hollywood always think it can improve on a great story by contemptuously tossing the story aside. A very small part of me hopes against hope this will be a good movie, but I fear disappointment is on the way.



*not the new 'inclusive' Spidey of course.