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That story is epic, glad to see an update. I remembered it, just figured you were off in some lost galaxy doing conversions. Nice to see the fluff coming back. Hoping there's more than just one more episode to go... and if there is, you shouldn't project that. Makes me think something sudden and very horrible is coming.

GW really needs to bring back the Chaos Cults. I've been frustrated for a long time that miniscule organizations ("miniscule" being a comparative term) like Adepta Sororitas and Ordo Hereticus get the official nod and their own rules while countless Cultists that exist on the 1,000,000 known worlds of the Imperium (I would realistically guess their number in the trillions) get nothing but the occasional nod in the fluff. That's insane. Granted, a lot of the miniature range they would create for the Cult could be easily converted (a.k.a. low sales margin) but come on... ignoring such a massive militant force that has had such an incredible impact on the entirety of the 40K universe makes absolutely no sense to me.

If they do come back, I expect the flood of new P&M blogs to be impressive and hopefully bring some quality work / genuine inspiration. And it will provide plenty of opportunity for people like you and me to brag that "we were Chaos before Chaos was cool".

Love the diary-fluff! I was half-hoping to get some zombie action, or mysteriously missing personnel, or strange footsteps in the stillness... looking forward to more.

Also, your zombies are freakin' sweet- the bite marks = inspiration. Looking forward to seeing the group painted- they've got a great look to them being all different, and I'd imagine them being interesting to paint, rather than slogging through standard zombies as cannon fodder.

-Remi

@Shaso - I'm sure every guard player wishes it still worked that way! I've never really understood the guys at the back getting shot first - maybe some very lucky ricochets?!

Nah, most players would remove from the rear in 3rd and 5th to the idea of the mass moving so fast as to keep the frontline where it was as they basically bum-rush to get there.

@Dave - Brian got it, it's from the Cadian Command Sprue. Hope you liked the fluff!

@Skalk - Thanks so much, man! I've let the fluff slide a little recently on account of studying being really tough - It's a lot easier to push some putty around to relax at the end of a day than to sit down and write something. I'm really glad you like it though!
There is one update to go for this little story, but it hopefully shouldn't be too abrupt or sudden - it's more a case of it being really difficult to break up the remaining story into more than one chunk without it being too jarring. Still a fair bit to go, promise! And hopefully you won't have to wait a year for the next update
I know what you mean about the cultists - considering how many =I= types spend their entire multiple-century spanning careers rooting out and destroying insidious cults, how is it that there's no real way to represent them ingame? IG rules are alright, but don't really fit unless you force it. Plus it would be fun to be an insufferable 40k-hipster too
"Ugh, another cult army?! You just play them 'cause they're in now."

@Remi - Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it - I'm really jealous of the writing on your blog. The zombies were really fun to make - you can have a lot of fun just messing round with poses and injuries, and since they're zombies anyway, it doesn't matter if the joints are a little off Cheers for the kind words!

@Shaso - Well, people always find ways to get round the rules

Hye scarps so excited that you have a new instalment of that story.. just about to read it mate before my kids get back from school ;-)

There's also the selfish opportunist side of me that looks forward to feasting upon the corpses of numerous failed projects and shattered dreams. There will hordes of kids that will scoop this stuff up, play it a few times, and then dump it on eBay for a fraction of the original cost as they move on to the next new thing that GW releases.

Scarper wrote:
@Skalk - Thanks so much, man! I've let the fluff slide a little recently on account of studying being really tough - It's a lot easier to push some putty around to relax at the end of a day than to sit down and write something. I'm really glad you like it though!

I know what you mean about the cultists - considering how many =I= types spend their entire multiple-century spanning careers rooting out and destroying insidious cults, how is it that there's no real way to represent them ingame? IG rules are alright, but don't really fit unless you force it. Plus it would be fun to be an insufferable 40k-hipster too
"Ugh, another cult army?! You just play them 'cause they're in now."

@Remi - Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it - I'm really jealous of the writing on your blog. The zombies were really fun to make - you can have a lot of fun just messing round with poses and injuries, and since they're zombies anyway, it doesn't matter if the joints are a little off Cheers for the kind words!

LOL... "slide" my arse. I'd love to see what you write when you're on a roll! Your stuff is consistently good, and I for one, enjoy reading it as much as watching the models being built. When can we expect the next fluff update?

-Remi

Got distracted the other day , just took time to read it mate..

glad I did .. really like your description of there decent into the bunker... some brilliant pacing .. builds up nicely .. not too fast..

Liked the line about the pre-recorded voices coming on over the vox... great stuff as per mate..

just wondering what's in those container now..and which poor sod will find out first.

scarp, you dont happen to have a place where you keep all of your fluff do you? if not, you should because i would really like to just read it all through without having to explore your threads

Cadian Command Sprue?
I've bought 4 sets of Catachan Command sprue, never a Cadian...I'll need to change this soon.

The Cadian Command Sprue is GLORIOUS, Dave. Glorious.

There will be one on the shelf of my FLGS until tomorrow after work

dsteingass wrote:Cadian Command Sprue?
I've bought 4 sets of Catachan Command sprue, never a Cadian...I'll need to change this soon.

didnt we just have this conversation on my thread too go buy one!

@neil - Thanks so much! I've been trying to keep an air of threat up without too much happening at the moment. No telling how long that'll continue though

@skalk - I hadn't even thought of that! My internal evil capitalist is laughing evilly as we speak. I'm really looking forward to the ally rules to be honest - it would be a lot of fun to do a refitted land-speeder style skimmer crewed by wastelanders, or even a storm-style transport!

@Remi - You're too kind, man, honestly. Thank you! Not sure when I'll next have a chance to do a little more (I'm moving flat in a few days!), but will do my best to get the rest of Solomon and co.'s tale up asap. I know where I'm going with it, so it's just a case of getting the time and inclination to sit down and write!

@RW - Not online, I'm afraid. I've got a thread for finished things which has most of the character fluff and longer stories for the Jackals on it, but the rest of it is just floating around. I'm adding the QA stories to it as the models get painted, but as you're aware, that's embarrassingly slow progress I'll need to make a thread or something and get it all together at some point soon.

@Dave - It's a great kit! There's loads of little gubbinz in there which turn out to be surprisingly useful. Especially if you're not above hacking them to component parts

Sorry for the mini absence - finished my finals a few days ago, and got my results on Friday, so lots of sitting in corners rocking slowly back and forward, first out of fear, and then due to hangover I passed though, and graduate a week today! Still no time to do proper projects as I'm also moving this week, so sorry if I'm dipping in and out. That being said, here's another quick zombie! Pretty simple stuff, but I was trying to get across the idea of a military policeman or something similar. He's got an unnatural arc to his spine, and he's just noticed that juve you were trying to sneak round the back


Luckily he's a leftie.

I also picked up this set of modular plaster terrain from a gent on Lead Adventure:

There are a fair few more tiles out of shot. It's obviously medieval rather than futuristic, but should still be a lot of fun for skirmish games until I've got a bit more space to make my own proper terrain! Playing with a good friend of mine tomorrow - probs 40k, but I might be able to talk him into a kill team or something if I bring this gear

Wish me luck with the move, and if there's radio silence over the next couple of days, that'll be why. Thanks so much again for all the kind words on the background!

New zombie looks cool, hilarious how suitable the Catachan stroke victim heads are for your purposes. He could maybe use a tiny bit more zombification as apart from the missing hand he looks pretty healthy.

That plaster scenery looks ideal, is it hirst arts stuff? You can easily add a few 40k flourishes to it, like some piping, crates or wires, that will make it look more suitable. It wouldn't take much to make it look like the catacombs of some gothic cathedral or the basement of a dingy cult hideout.

congrats on the graduation scarp! and I'll probibly fiddle through that thread to read all of your fluff to get some better backstory to your nice models, speaking of which this zombie is looking great! Now as Bruticus said about the head, what about trying some torn skin on the left cheek? Not only would it look cool, but it could give you some sculpting practice

congrats on passing!
not too keen on the latest zombo but as others have stated he looks to alive.
i do look forward to your fluff so write more damnit!

alabamaheretic wrote:
not too keen on the latest zombo but as others have stated he looks to alive.

Then again, the paint job will do wonders

oh i agree totally that a paint job on that dude will make it look 100% better

Congrats Scarper.. very pleased for you mate . good luck with the move..

The zombie is another good looking shuffler.. looks like he still has his night cap on though ;-)

Will e interested to here how the painting of the plaster terrain goes.. the rocks i used were so absorbent.. looks good though.

Heya Scarp! Loving it all mate! Possible some of the finest zombies i've seen here...
Sorry my thread hasn't been all that active, i've got no camera anymore, and with a car that needed a complete new drivetrain and engine I hav not been ale to get a new one yet. But trust me, it will be revived, i have way too much stuff done that still needs showing.

Keep it up, i'l keep following, and you'll b th first to hear when i've got new pics

@ Bruticus -

Bruticus wrote:Catachan stroke victim heads

absolutely cracked me up. I think they were going for some kind of Sylvester Stallone look, but for the whole army?! Most of the Catachan heads genuinely do look like one side of their face is melting. I appreciate what you mean about zombifying him a little more - I was thinking I could do it with paintwork, but I should probably try something a little more. Will update soon!
I think it is Hirst arts - I really need to get some of those moulds, the brick sets would be so fun to build with! I was considering modelling it up as a basement kind of level to a gothic church building I have, but I was worried it would look like I'd just tacked 40k bits to a medieval church. Will have to try one or two sections and see how it looks. Thanks for the suggestion!

@RW - Cheers, man, I really appreciate that! Torn skin is a good idea, will have to try that out and see how it looks. I've actually carved down the face a fair bit already - straight from the box he has one of those IN YOUR FACE GW UBERJAWS that wouldn't really be possible on someone without acromegaly, so I fixed what I could Will post up when I've made a little progress.

@Bama - Thank you, mate! I'll try and deaden him up a little more and have another bash. Cheers for the feedback!

@Neil - Thanks so much, Neil - I really appreciated the good luck messages too! And don't talk to me about that strike, I have some strong opinions about out-of-touch GPs and inflated egos Cheers too for the kind words on the zomb. When it comes to the plaster, I've heard that it might be worth varnishing before painting - it's supposed to make it less absorbent and stop the paint flaking off so much afterwards. Will need to report back when I've tried it

@MauS - Good to see you round again! Thanks so much for the compliment, that's really kind to say. I feel your pain with car overhauls - it gets so expensive so quickly, everything else needs to take a backseat for a while. Do you know anyone you could borrow a camera off to whet our appetites though? Looking forward to seeing you online again anyway - love how original all your gear is!






Got a chance to try out the new terrain today - played a zombie / objective collection game with my friend Mark over a few beers. 100 points each - a scavenger guard squad for me and 6 tooled up marines for him. There were 6 or 7 zombies on the table to start, and 4 objectives, with the zombies cycling back on by one of three randomly allocated entrances when they got put down. We gave them a 3+ invuln to represent their toughness, and a 2D6" move for a bit of a zombie shuffle. Anyone they took down also stood up and attacked the next round, so they were a scary force!

In typical zombie movie style, everything was going great until it all went to hell incredibly quickly. The shamblers didn't seem too much of a threat at first, and both sides swiped 2 of the objectives and put them down with ease. Just as we were discussing maybe upping their difficulty a bit, 4 zombies burst out of a side room and sprinted down one half of my guard team (we decided that it must have been a Red Bull storage compartment), they nommed away while the 2 survivors limped off with their objectives. The sarge was the first to go down - his 'lead from the front' plan didn't go so well. The space marines promptly shot most of the remainder dead as they fled around a corner corridor, stealing the tokens that they were carrying (bastards). A lucky bite then resulted in a couple of zombie marines (seriously tough guys!), and in the end, of the 16 who ventured into the catacombs, it was only the SM sergeant who emerged with all 4 tokens!

It was a lot of fun to play, and the homebrew rules were exciting, even if it did result in a messy end for my side. Was really great to get a game in - it's been so long since I had the time!

good to hear you got a good game in.
well i know you are going to make them look great so let the awesome commence!

wow the game sounded like a lot of fun, you should post your homebrew rules!

Sounds interesting Scarper. Mind posting your zombie rules forme to try out?
I'll see bout that camera. Maybe a friend of mine can be coerced to come over for a few pints tonight so he can take some shots... Got some zombies, some orks, a few gangers and some more scenics I really do need feedback on. Specially the stolen dumpster idea

I've always found it odd that the Catachans were supposedly a nod to Vietnam era US infantry forces (based on chatter from the '90's when they first came out) and that they all have some sort of slack-jawed dimwitted 'Rambo' look to them.

It's nice to know that the Empire still holds the colony in high regard.

@Bama - Thanks a lot for the show of faith, man!

@RW - It really was! It wasn't a very serious game, and we hadn't really planned it out, so I'm sure you can find better zombie rules out there. If you're interested though, it ended up like this:

1.The zombies that start out on the field have the basic stats of a guardsman. They are also fearless, have a 3++ save to represent how tough they are to kill, and have special movement rules. The more you can get on the table the better, and tight corridors and rooms are the way to go for setting up terrain!

2. A 'zombie turn' takes place before either player goes, i.e. one per 'turn'. For example: Zombie turn, my turn, Mark's turn, zombie turn, my turn, Mark's turn and so on.

3. Zombie movement depends on if they can see or hear people. If no-one is within the 90degree arc a zombie is facing, they move 2D6" in a random direction (scatter dice) and remain facing that direction at the end of their movement. If they can see someone, they move towards them. If their movement leaves them in B2B with an enemy, start close combat immediately. If a model leaves the zombie's LoS before it reaches him, the zombie will continue to move towards where he last saw the model. If he's still not there when the zombie gets to that point, the zombie will then lose interest and move randomly. We also played that any loud noises (weapon discharge, close combat etc.) within 18" would attract zombies.

4. If a zombie is killed, they reappear in the next zombie turn from one of three random entry points - roll to see which one. If a zombie kills a player, the player comes back as a zombie in the next zombie turn. They retain their stats, so zombie marines are scary! We allowed firing into combat, with rolls to determine randomly which combatant was hit. When one of my guardsmen was mobbed by three zombies, his buddies didn't hold back :O

5. The scenario we played had us using 100pts per side with kill team rules (but without the bottleing out). We were collecting tokens and trying to get out the way we came in, but should work for whatever you wanted to do.

Like I said, not the best rules, just something we threw together that evolved as we played. Let me know if you give it a try!

@MauS - Rules are above, let me know how it goes if you try them out! I'd love to see your new stuff - did you manage to convince your friend?

@Skalk - At least we think you're pretty buff?

Not much new to show today, just another junky barricade using some parts you've already seen. There is a super awesome modelling bit from RSJake in there though!



Anyone played any other zombie rules? I've heard good things about Akula's free AR:SE rules () - will have to try them out at some point!

Ah. I see you used Google Maps to zero down onto my neighbors across the street.


*edit* Yes, I have some Zombie rules I've played on my table. I'll find them and PM them to you. You can post them here if you like them*

HAHA! The trash bags rock!! Excellent little touch!

wow that junk pile is amazing scarp! how did you do the trash bags?