Monthly Archives: January 2013

Trying Out the Table (with Zombies)

I’m gearing up to play my first game of No More Room in Hell, by Iron Ivan Games. I figured I’d set up the table with some appropriate terrain and the majority of my zombie and survivor miniatures to see if I need more minis and/or terrain or less space. Plus, it’s just fun.

All the zombies are from Wargames Factory, with the exception of the three or four Hasslefree zombified survivors. Survivors are from various companies. I will endeavor to identify them all in the pictures below.

Here’s the table all set up. The buildings and street tiles are from World Works Games’ Streets of Mayhem sets and from Model Paper World. The MPW stuff is FREE! so that’s always nice, but the WWG stuff is awesome and more than reasonably priced.  The various vehicles were purchased at CVS in their toy aisle. They’re all made in China (surprise) and retail for about 5 bucks each, although I bought a bunch when they were on special for 2 for 1. They constantly rotate their stock so every month I usually grab one or two. Various other terrain pieces are from Armorcast (like the dumpsters), Pegasus Hobbies and JR Miniatures.

Seems like the two chainsaw chicks got the same idea…raid the gun shop! One of them Is Hasslefree’s Ashley Campbell (who is actually facing off against the zombified version of herself), the other is Reaper’s Berklee, Zombie Survivor.

These funkadelic survivors square off against a pack of zombie dogs, from Mississinewa Minatures. Clockwise from left to right, the survivors are Horace “Action” Jackson, Ebony Foxx and Sly Withers, all from Reaper. Out front is Delilah, from RAFM.

Father Thomas tries to ward off the shambling horde with his cross. Good thing Rex has his trusty sawed-off to back him up. Both minatures are from Reaper. The zombies come from Hasslefree, Wargames Factory and Mississinewa.

Hey guys…don’t look now, but…

The not-Shaun and not-Ed are both from Hasslefree: Ray and Tony, respectively. The lurking hairy zombie is from Mississinewa.

Some folks just like to stomp zombies the old-fashioned way… with their bare hands. All the Z’s are from Mississinewa. El Diablo and Butch “Killer” Davis are both from Reaper, while Tanshiro is from Hasslefree.

When do you not trust a couple of clowns in an ice-cream truck? When they’re zombies!!!

The clowns are from Mississinewa, the rest of the Z’s are Wargames Factory.

Besieged by naked (and clothed) zombies. The naked ones are from Mississinewa. The more modest Z’s are from Wargames Factory.

Another view. The Elvis clone is The Pretender, from RAFM. The fireman in his jockstrap is Mad-Dog, one of my favorite Hasslefree miniatures.

Sometimes it’s better to call in the pros. On the left is RAFM’s Gloria with Uzis, center is Hasslefree’s Harby, and on the right is Hasslefree’s Cobra.

Not all cops protect and serve. Some are zombies.

These gangers are from Bobby Jackson’s Thugz line.

After a careful look at the table, I realize I’ll probably need more zombies. Good thing I still have the 40 Wargames Factory Zombie Vixens to paint, plus a few others like Reaper’s Zombie Strippers.

A 6′ x 4′ table full of terrain looks great, but I’m left wondering where I’m going to roll my dice without sending buildings and miniatures flying all over the place. Maybe I’ll only use a 4′ x4′ surface and roll the dice on either side of the play area.

Building a Gaming Table Part 3

So real life and the holidays got in the way for a while, but the gaming table is finally finished. I had to make another trip back to Home Depot for some last minute incidentals. I can’t remember how much I spent, but let’s just say the gaming table cost me an even 400 bucks in materials and beer. A heartfelt thanks to my baby brother.

My brother did a bunch of work on the table on his own, since I wasn’t able to get to his house as often as he liked (not that he ever really needed me there) and it was taking up room in his barn. Notice I referred to his garage/workshop as a barn. That’s because my brother read the two previous blog posts and has since set me straight:

“It’s not a garage, asswipe. It’s a fucking post-and-beam barn. If it was a fucking garage it would be made out of the same shit we built your table out of, not rough-sawn lumber. And it would have been put up in a day, not two months.” That’s pretty much verbatim.

Also, my tabletop is not (emphasis on the not) MDF board. It’s something else that I forget. Of course, it looks an awful lot like MDF board to me, but my brother has loudly and repeatedly assured me it is not.

So on my brother’s birthday(of all days) he decides to load up the table into his truck and drive to my place, where we will finally set it up in a room I have set aside for gaming. Of course, it didn’t really work out that way, because I am an idiot. I didn’t measure the doorway. To put it simply, the tabletop went in fine. The frame didn’t fit.

 Of course, we tried for about 2 hours. In the cold. Still wouldn’t fit.

So since my brother insisted on making this table to his bare minimum standards, the hardware was under facing boards and wood glue. Everything had been sanded. We couldn’t just take a couple of legs off and work our way in. We had to cut the table in half. Well, he cut the table in half. I stood there in shame and tried my best not to utter a sound. 

So, after reassembly with an additional crossbrace and some bolts, here is the table. Right next to my painting area.

My brother constructed the tabletop out of a sheet of plywood cut into three panels. That way I can use it as a workbench, which I will be doing very soon as I construct some World Works Games buildings. When I want to game, the panels lift out to reveal the emphatically not-MDF board game surface beneath. Like so:

Note the shelf underneath holds some modular pinkboard. It’s supposed to be 2′ x 2′ square, but like almost everything else sold at Home Depot, the measurements are off. (“Square” is defined differently at Home Depot.) I bought six and painted one side green and one side gray, for rural and urban terrain surfaces. Once the plywood panels are off the table, the pinkboard fits right in and is held snug by the framing boards. Like this:

At least that was how it was supposed to go. Even foamboard this small warps, and each one of the tiles is warped in some way. That plus the aforementioned shitty Home Depot dimensions makes them a bit of a problem. You can’t really tell from the picture, but it can be a very uneven join. I can get around this by covering the joins with roads, or I can just do what my brother says and get one big piece of foamboard, make sure it fits the table, then make my own cuts. More work and more painting, but whatever.

My brother is insisting I re-sand the table, especially since he had to cut it again. He’s also insisting I stain it and polyurethane it. I told him I’d think about it. But I’m definitely not waiting to do any of that before I use it.

Let the games begin!