Welcome

Today we welcome Бородин Николай, 
which the Internet translates into Borodin Nicholas in English. Hope you enjoy everything you find here.

A few questions I had about Season 2 minis answered.

Since I posted my (very popular!) unboxing pics of Zombicide Season 2: Prison Outbreak and the Toxic City Mall expansion, I had a question for CMON and wanted to share what I discovered.

When looking at my questionnaire responses, I knew I had ordered and paid for all the add-on characters Guillotine was offering during the Kickstarter. If you go to the KS page for Season 2, they have a link to a nice graphic explaining what all is available at the Fugitive pledge level (the sweet spot, pretty much.) At the bottom of the graphic it notes that some of the unlocked free survivor/zombivor pairs won't be shipped until the first quarter of 2014.

This includes Smith, Chuck, Mack and Mike -- not-Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) from "Escape from New York", not-Ed (Nick Frost) from "Shaun of the Dead," not-Cameron Poe (Nicholas Cage)  from "Con Air" and not-Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) from "The Shining."

I may be off on the Mack item. That's the look, but the write-up also reminds me of his character John Milton from "Drive Angry."

The graphic also notes that the Moustache Pack, an add-on three-figure set, won't be out until next year. The set includes Don, Frank and Bob, who resemble Basil Fawlty, Thomas Magnum and Sean Connery's character in "The Rock." (Thanks, Brian Roe, for letting me know this wasn't supposed to be Burt Reynolds!)

Other delayed add-ons include the three special guest boxes by artists Karl Kopinski, Adrian Smith and Kevin Walker.

So I contacted CMON to ask about the four additional add-on survivors that I paid for and didn't receive. It doesn't list on the graphic that these four won't be out until Q12014. But we have to wait on Helen, Ross, Will and Fred (and their zombivor versions.) I got confirmation from CMON customer service on Friday via email that these will be part of "Shipment 2." Why it doesn't say that at the bottom of the Season 2 graphic with the other information escapes me. Helen is a not-Clarice Starling from "Silence of the Lambs," Ross is a not-Walter Slobchak (John Goodman) from "The Big Lebowski," Will is a not-Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) from "The Big Bang Theory," and Fred is a not-Shaun (Simon Pegg) from "Shaun of the Dead."

So, as much as this shipment gave me a Christmas-come-early feeling, there's plenty more to be waiting for after the first of the year. And I have to commend CMON on their quick response time to my question, and taking the time to answer it to ease my troubled mind.

Back to the boards, everybody, and I'll see you across the tables soon.

Zombicide Season 2 (Prison Outbreak) and Toxic City Mall Unboxing (Pic Heavy!)

Received my giant box from Guillotine Games and CMON with the rewards from the second Zombicide kickstarter. That is the Toxic City Mall expansion for Zombicide, and then Zombicide Season 2: Prison Outbreak.

I had to get to my ear via my elbow trying to get these photos posted, and there are plenty of them. So I've managed to get a little confused in between taking them, managing finally to regain access to them, and getting them posted here. If I don't have some labelled, or labelled incorrectly, please forgive me.

Toxic City Mall

Toxic City Mall includes four new survivors and their Zombivor versions,
plus the Zombivor versions of the six survivors from the original Zombicide.

Toxic Zombies!

The game includes four modular, reversible gaming tiles.

Kickstarter Fugitive-level pledge stuff

Survivors and their Zombivor versions from the Kickstarter -- Brad, Gary, Ralph, Thaissa, Aunt Rose, Kirk and Achille.

Thirty-one bonus Kickstarter Zombies!

Red dice, Orange dice, and additional spawn cards.

Kickstart Add-ons!

These are some of the survivor/zombivor add on sets.

Of course you get character cards of the characters!
Flip them over for their zombivor forms.

Prison Outbreak

Punch-out tokens.

Return of the Pimpmobile.

Six new survivors and their zombivor forms.

Nine double-sided tiles. These tiles are, like the tiles
in the original Zombicide, strong enough to build a house out of.

149 new cards, both zombie and equipment cards.

I'll put up more closeups of the minis once I get to dig into them. Back to the boards, everyone, and I'll see you across the tables soon!

Welcome aboard!

We've got some new crewmates this week.

Up first is Michael Awdry, author of the very fine blog 28mm Victorian Warfare. Given that subject matter, you know I'm a big fan.

Next is Mr. Marx of Bloggity-blog-blog. Mr. Marx covers a variety of scales and subject matter, but there's a preponderance of VSF among his archives that make it worth a comb-through if you've never visited.

Kasper has been piped aboard. I know Kasper mostly from his Zombicide! blog, but that is far from his only port of call in the blogosphere. He also maintains the following: Skavenblight, World of Tanks and Planes and  Warmaster, as well as two non-wargaming hobby blogs, The Fishtank, and GeocachingDanes.

Grigork has also come aboard. Grigork writes the blog The Megalomaniac (Mwahaha). You've got to love a blog that comes with its own sound effect in the title. It's an especially great blog for those of us who aren't in the UK and want to see what's going on at all the great wargaming shows.

Thanks again, everyone. I've got a lot more slated for this week, as soon as I can clear some other things off my plate.

Steamscrunts!

I know the title of this post sounds like some kind of infestation by VSF pubic lice, but it's a portmanteau of two of my favorite things. OK, one of my favorite things and an overwhelmingly charming line of minis that I love.

Bob Olley's planned steampunk Scrunts. Arms and Heads are interchangeable. 

Bob Olley's Scrunts models have long been the go-to models for people who love dwarves in settings other than high fantasy. I'm not normally a "dwarf" guy -- I don't usually choose them in fantasy milieux, nor did I ever play stunties in 40K. Let me note that Thorin Oakenshield in the new version of "The Hobbit," well, if I had a gold mine, he could work my shaft anytime.

Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield. Yum.

But Olley's Scrunts are fantastic. My personal favorites are the Texan Scrunts that I bought many, many moons ago. (No, they don't have paint on them. Stop asking! You're making me feel guilty!) They look like someone left the guys from ZZ Top in the dryer too long. They are just full of attitude, charm and charisma.

Now Bob is planning to launch a kickstarter to fund a line of steampunk Scrunts. Here are some photos of them I stole from his Facebook page.

Bob calls this bottom row the "Zeppelin Air Hostess Troops.

Enthusiasm for these has been so great over on Frothers that he says he's entertaining the possibility of making several sets of Victorian (nonsteam) civilian Scrunts. Excuse me while I break into a sweat and go to my personal altar to thank whatever gods might help bring this to fruition.

Bob has also shown pictures of the steam backpacks and the interchangeable arms that will be available. There are also gas mask heads which he says will be available separately.

So when will the kickstarter begin?

Bob says "soon." So I wait.

Further bulletins as events warrant, folks. Come to me, my lovely steamscrunts!