Dead of Night: At Death's Door

"You're gonna pick me up, right?" - Nick
"Sure, but you know we're dumping you out the back when you die." - Me

This week the group (Jon Mark, Nick, Terry, Bill, Jared and me)  played scenario two of Dead of Night.  I was interested in how it played with six players.  Jon Mark and I had speculated that it would be harder the more players were present, so we put the hypothesis to the test.

The scenario's blurb was this:
"After a dramatic escape from the house, our heroes take to the open road.  After a few hours driving and picking up the odd survivor, they find the way ahead blocked by what seems to be a derelict military facility, with a huge gate across the road.  The power is out and the facility appears deserted, except for a few zombies milling around.  In order to proceed, our heroes will need to find a way to open the gate.  Unfortunately, the sound of the vehicle and the smell of their flesh begins to attract attention..."

We basically started on the left side of the board and had to open the gate and get off the right side of the board.  Easy peasy, right?

Note - Translucent zombies = two zombies.  Gray zombies = one zombie.

As you can see, there are already zeds nearby .  All we're presented with are windows that will get us into the facility.  We split up immediately, figuring that we can cover more ground quickly, before the zombies multiply too rapidly.

To make things a tad easier for us, Jon Mark drives the van closer to the gate.  We figure that it'll be that much closer for us to jump into later in the game.  Wise choice!

Nick decides to play the part of Carl (see last week's blog post) and was bitten on his first turn.  He lamented that he was screwed, doomed, yada yada, but we assured him that he was fine...for a while.  He started the game with two first aid kits, so he had time.

Things progressed well.  While we didn't find firearms, we did find fire axes and bats.  Those will do in a pinch!

We found the building housing the generator and gate control easily enough.  Finding fuel?  Not so much.  We explored the buildings past the gate, but none of them offered a fuel canister.  What to do?

Nick came up with a solution.  He was a dead man.  Eventually, his ability to replenish his energy would be depleted and he'd become one of them.  He was going to grab the gas cylinder we'd found earlier, walk it to the gate and detonate it.  Not only would it breach the gate, it would kill him and any deaders within three spaces from him.  Not the best idea, but without a fuel canister, we didn't have another choice.  Yes, fuel canisters and gas cylinders are different in this game.  Fuel is, well, fuel.  It's used to power vehicles, chainsaws, generators, Molotov cocktails and bombs.  Gas is pretty much a bomb.  Period.

Since that was the plan, one of us had to back the van out of the blast radius.  I was closest and jumped in the driver's seat.  I was soon surrounded by zombies.  Not a huge worry in this game, as there would have to be a lot of zeds to force their way into the van and I wouldn't let that happen.  What I instead did was drive over just about every single one of those suckers!  My body count skyrocketed!

Trouble's comin'!

Back it up...

 

...and pull it forward.

Pretty cleaned out!

While I was running over undead flesh, a couple other things happened.  First, Jared found a rifle.  Bill and Jon Mark promptly gave him all their rounds and he began his own mass shooting.  He managed to clear out pretty much all the threats in the center of the board closest to the gate and left himself in position to handle any new zeds.

Blam! Blam! Blam!

The second thing that happened was Terry, after following Nick to the rooms containing the gas cylinder, located a fuel canister in the generator room!  In game mechanics, it was a card draw that located the canister, but in game play terms it went something like this:

CLANK!
"Damn, that hurt my toe!  What was that?!"
(flips up canvas tarp)
"A fuel canister?!  How'd we miss that one...like five times?!?!?!"

A fuel canister?  Really?!

So a new, new plan was made.  Nick fuels the generator, starts it and then activates the gate mechanism.  I drive the van through the gate and pick up everyone for the win.  Except, maybe not.  Nick is still dying and in his wounded state starts thinking that maybe he won't be invited to the after-party in the Van of Victory.  I assure him that I'm honorable...with a smirk on my face.  The quotes at the top of this blog entry?  Insert them here.

Give me the idol and I throw you the whip!

 Nick does the right thing and opens the gate.  I do the right thing and drive by him pick him up along with everyone else.  Not a moment too soon either, as the dead heads were coming in as fast and furious as shuffling zombies can.

Hurry and get us out of here!

Um, guys?  You comin'?

We almost made it off the board.  Only one person can drive (me) and we were two spaces short of victory.  Remember when I mentioned that it would take a lot of zombies to break into the van.  This qualifies...

I hear 'em comin'!

Surrounded!

 Not to worry, though.  I rolled well and only needed a little nudge to get us off the board.  Victory!

A post-game collation of points indicated that Jon Mark "won" by swinging his fire axe, with Jared's rifle marksmanship coming in second and me third with vehicular zedslaughter.

A great game!  I think we'll complete the trifecta next week!

Dead of Night: The House of Lots of Corpses

With Kenny out for the night, it was time to get out the zombies for some ol' fashioned fun!

My go-to zombie game is Dead of Night (DoN), a web-published, print and play gem.  I also have Zombie Plague (ZP), but I wanted to play DoN due to it being "meatier" than ZP.

I've played the first scenario, The House of Lots of Corpses, a couple of times over the years and have had a blast each time.  The game truly plays like your watching the climactic end of a good zed movie or TV show.  In many ways it reminds me of the Reactor Room scenario in the incredible Aliens game.  I also like that everyone plays as humans.  The zeds are auto-ran.  Yay!!!  So...get in, get your stuff and fight your way out.  Easy, right?

The gaming gang was Jon Mark, Carl and me.  Neither of them had tried the game before, so after a couple shots of whiskey and jalapeno poppers, we commenced the fun.

My first turn I opened up a couple of rooms, fought a couple zombies in one of said rooms and then found an antique pistol and an antique rifle.  I had to drop the pistol, as it took both hands to carry the rifle.  I did pilfer its ammo, though.  Jon Mark opened up rooms and found a torch (flashlight) and an energy drink.  Carl wasn't so lucky.  He first went into the garage, where he found an old rusty van that would be a perfect getaway vehicle...if it had gas and keys.  Unfortunately, he also found a few loitering dead heads who tried to steal his brains.  While they missed Carl's cranium, they did bite his body.  Thus infected and rather mad at his luckless start to the game, he ran into the shed...only to uncover two more zombies!  A brief scuffle resulted in him taking yet another wound before heading for the house.

Unlucky Carl

The end of the first turn

The search of the house continued as the zombie horde slowly progressed toward us like ants to a brain picnic.  At first we didn't have a coherent plan.  We found a lot of sticks and flashlights, but other than my rifle, not many weapons.

They keep coming...

...and coming...

Eventually, Carl's declining health meant he was slowing down.  Jon Mark had to leave him in the back bedroom.  On the plus side, Carl then recovered a shotgun, which played a small role in the game's end.

I started clearing out some zombies with the rifle, but then the dang thing blew up in my hands, injuring me.  With my hands free, I grabbed the fuel canister and headed toward the garage.

Jon Mark ranged ahead of me with his trusty bat, intent on giving his best impersonation of the mighty Casey.  He managed to blast through six the rotters, clearing a path to the van for me.

Before...

...After!

Around this time, Carl was feeling poorly due to his bite and wanted payback.  He pumped his shotgun and nailed six of the undead suckers!  He then flipped his grip to the gun's barrel and charged the nearest target, cleaving its head like an overripe melon.  The rest is typical for this genre: He was overrun and ripped apart.  RIP, Carl's blue guy!

Nom, nom, nom!

Meanwhile, the zeds south of Jon Mark and I surged ahead and made contact with me.  I could only move half speed due to the weight of the canister and was defenseless.  Jon Mark once again showed how stout Louisville Slugger bats truly are and bailed me out of the mess without a hitch.

I fueled the van, then jumped in.  Jon Mark ran to the front and hot wired the vehicle.  He had a 33% chance of either being successful, accomplishing nothing, or ruining the van forever.  I guess Carl took all the bad luck, as Jon Mark was successful on his first attempt!

We quickly put the sucker in reverse and got the heck out of Dodge!  Jon Mark "won" the scenario, as he had the most zombie kills, but we both lived to play scenario two...next week!

Free at last! (bottom right corner)

A very fun night with a couple of great guys!  I can't wait for the next game!

Assault on the Falcons

My group's first foray into 28mm BattleTech gaming happened on 2/12/15.  I had secretly been collecting mechs and building terrain to use for the game.  I'd decided fairly early on that I wanted to play a game set during the Clans invasion of the Inner Sphere and focused my energies on that time period.

I can't express how hard it is to keep a secret from my gaming group!

Here's the e-mail I sent out as the 'fluff':

Backstory

Pandora.  3052.  Clan Jade Falcon, in a massive assault resulting in the death of thousands and cities turned to ash, attempts to wrest control of this lush jungle planet from the Federated Commonwealth.  Standing in their way is the Gray Death Legion.   Outnumbered and outgunned, the GDL relies on their knowledge of the terrain and a new weapon, power armor, to stem the Falcon tide.  Will the GDL be successful in stalling Clan Jade Falcon’s advance, or will it get swept under their emerald talons?

Plot

With a toehold on the planet, Clan Jade Falcon is attempting to establish several field repair facilities in key locations.  Behind Falcon lines, these facilities are made to service damaged Mechs, resupply all Clan combat units and provide rear-echelon R&R rotations for infantry units.

After the GDL’s successful defensive deployment of their new battle armor against the Falcons near Vandmaal, High Command wants to see how they operate in an offensive capacity.  For you, this means that there’s a Mech repair facility within striking distance and you’ve been given some power armor to “play with”.  Since the facility is behind enemy lines, it’s a gamble for the GDL’s defense of Pandora.  Lost units will be unsalvageable.  Pull off the raid and High Command will handsomely reward your efforts.  Fail and you’ll most likely be too dead to worry about it.

Intel reports the facility is garrisoned by Clan anti-infantry units and technician noncombatants.  There are also sketchy reports of a possible ‘live’ Mech being stored at the facility.  You’ve been given a Flea to handle the Clan infantry.  The power armor is for destroying any Mechs being serviced and recovering any ‘lostech’ intel that may be present (or as the GDL High Command calls it, “foundtech”).  Crippling the Falcons is the main goal…how you achieve it is up to you.

There is a lot of canon in the plot, so it was a totally plausible encounter.  I built the repair facility from a copier paper box, built chain link fencing and painted the Flea in Federated Suns colors (it was originally an open-cockpit, action figure-sized Star Wars vehicle I heavily converted ).  As for the minis, I used AT-43 UNA TACArms as GDL powered armor and Red Blok infantry for Clan forces.  The jeeps are Warthogs from the HaloClix miniatures line.  The Hunchback IIC is from the 1990's Tyco toy line.

The following photos were taken by scout forces of the facility.  It's a good thing that Pandora is a jungle planet.  Intel was easily attained.

Front of the facility.

Left side...

Rear...

Left side...

The stage was set.  For those who wanted to know, here's my overall idea for the scenario:

Mission Parameters

GRAY DEATH LEGION

Units:
Gray Death Standard Power Armor (2 squads - 4/sqd)
FLE-17 “Flea” Light BattleMech

Reserves (*1):
Scout Infantry platoon (4 squads – 7 soldiers/squad)
Heavy wheeled APC (carries 2 squads)
Pike Support Tank

GDL Victory Points:
Enemy infantry squad (5 men) killed: 5 pts
Supplies obtained: 10 pts
Enemy vehicle destroyed: 15 pts
Intel obtained: 25 pts
Enemy ‘Mech destroyed: 50 pts

*1 – GDL reserves are called in after the 5th turn, as needed.  They come in from the same board edge as the original assault force.  Note that only ½ of the platoon can ride in/on the APC.  One additional squad can ride on the tank.  The final squad has to ‘slog it’.

CLAN JADE FALCON

Units:
Clan Anti-Infantry Infantry (1 point – 25 soldiers)
Hunchback IIC Medium BattleMech
Jeep w/MG (x2)

Reserves (*2):
Clan Anti-Infantry Infantry (1 point – 25 soldiers)

Clan Victory Points:
Enemy infantry squad (7 men) killed 5 pts
Enemy power armor destroyed (ea): 5 pts
Enemy vehicle destroyed: 15 pts
Enemy tank destroyed: 25 pts
Enemy ‘Mech destroyed: 50 pts

*2 – Clan infantry reserves are the off-duty units resting in the Quonset huts.  They will not be alerted to danger until the first gunfire is heard.  They will form (i.e., walk outside their huts) in groups of 5 on a roll of ‘6’ the 1st turn after alerted.  This is a descending check.  Alert +2 will be 5+, alert +3 = 4+, etc.

The Game

The GDL forces opted to attack the rear left corner of the compound, letting the Flea blow through some fencing and allowing a unit of power armor to trail in its wake.  The other power armor unit was deployed on the compound's left side and would eventually see some heavy hand-to-hand combat.

Here we come!

Fry 'em!

 The first Falcon squad was decimated quickly from combined mech and power armor fire.  The second squad felt the burn of the Flea's flamer, taking further casualties.

The GDL forces were smart.  Knowing the Flea was solely an anti-infantry mech, they had entered on the opposite side of the Hunchback.  The Hunchback's Auto-Cannons could feasibly punch through the Flea's thin armor, thereby eliminating a huge threat to the Falcons.

The Hunchback's only problem was its speed.  It had jump jets, but was still a slow-moving mech.  By the time it had rounded the rear corner of the plant, the Flea was halfway to the front of the facility.

I see you!

Some nimble maneuvering and several turns later, the scrum ended at the front doors.  Infantry had disabled the Flea's flamer and it had shot its single-use rockets at the Hunchback (and missed).  That left its two machine gun arrays to whittle away at both men and mech.

Meanwhile, the Hunchback focused on assisting the two jeeps in taking out the power armor units that had infiltrated the repair facility.  It was a bloody mess in there!

GM's Note - The inside of the facility featured two K'Nex mechs, a Vulture and a Firefly, as well as 'repair equipment'.  For this scenario, the K'Nex models were considered the internal "skeletons" of the mechs and thus under repair.  In the rear of the facility was a lift tube leading to both a platform and the roof.  On the platform were technicians and the computer banks with valuable intel.

At the end of the night, the Falcons had lost a couple of infantry squads, but were still holding their own.  The Hunchback never did fire its Auto Cannons, but was still inflicting damage on the GDL's power armor.  On the other hand, the GDL was standing toe-to-toe with the Falcons.  The Flea was using its machine guns to good effect, but was surrounded by infantry bent on its destruction.

Overall total:  A draw.  We simply ran out of time.  I think I put too many objectives into the scenario, which led to none of them being achieved.  Still, we had fun.  That's the important thing.

We were also putting the rules through their paces to see how they fared.  While they weren't too bad, there was definitely room for improvement, especially concerning infantry and vehicles.

Next up?  Adjusting the rules and getting all the club's mechs statted for future games.

28mm mech gaming

Good day all,

It has been a while (again).  Sorry about that.

I've taken it upon myself to get into 25-30mm BattleTech (i.e., 'BT') gaming (thanks for that, Scott Christian and the Arkansas crew).  Why the 5mm range in scale?  Truly, scales (especially in sci-fi) are a somewhat amorphous number, considering all the various toys available nowadays.  What one manufacturer calls 28mm is considered 30mm by someone else's reckoning.  But I digress...

To achieve this goal of mine, I have acquired over the years several Exo-Squad mechs, a couple ED-209s from the original RoboCop movie toy line, a first generation Transformer that can be used as a Phoenix Hawk LAM, as well as some of the Tyco MechWarrior toys based on the 90's cartoon series.  Not all of these scale with each other, but based properly, should work.  The ED-209s aren't really usable as "BT" mechs, unless someone can find me a light/medium mech that is visually similar (please do!).  Also, I have other gaming group members that have additional Exo-Squad and Tyco toys that I am lacking in my collection.

There's a wonderful article on the Myomer Dreams blog that deals with some of the toys I'm talking about.  The good fellows at Chicago Skirmish Wargames also know the game.  Peruse their sites.  They're full of awesomeness.

After thinking about it, I've got mechs from two different BT eras: early and post-Clan invasion.  I'll have to figure out what I want to do with them.  My AT-43 UNA and Red Blok forces will work as infantry from any BT era and the toy tanks and vehicles I've found at various times and locations will help with the combined arms aspect I am wanting to attain.

More to follow concerning where I go with this genre...

Going the Distance Indy car racing

Happy holidays!

As you know, I only blog about the games I host at the casa.  It has been pretty quiet as of late.  Both Terry and Ken have filled the Thursday night scene with wonderful games (the Penny Whistle blog covers them).  While I've been relatively active gaming-wise, it hasn't shown on these pages.

It was a low-key night for the group and consisted of Jon Mark, Terry and myself.  After much debate, I decided to try a new track for the group's racing game of choice: Going the Distance (GtD).

The track is from the out-of-print WizKids game, Race Day.  This game was produced in 2005-2006 and ended abruptly when NASCAR and WizKids had some sort of falling out.  The game featured constructible styrene race cars and simple rules for damage.  It wasn't the greatest game, but it did give me a very large track on which to play GtD.

Unlike other GtD tracks, this one featured lanes that started and ended in the turns.  It also featured some interesting challenges pertaining to tire wear and centrifugal force 'slipping'.  I made the rule that everyone was using "A" compound tires.   While not as durable, they give the driver a dedicated handling die (Note - If that means nothing to you, the original rules are available through the link I included earlier).  Also, the pole position rules had to be reversed due to the track's nature, meaning that the pole driver started on the outside lane instead of the inside.  I know this isn't 'accurate', but it was the only way it worked with the map. We also had to modify the pitting rules to accommodate the track.  Pitting proved to be much more difficult than normal and definitely was a strategic factor in the game.

We started with three cars apiece.  The race was five laps, with the 'field move' consisting of 3d6.  This proved to be perfectly suited for the track and yielded some fantastically chaotic results!

Terry won the pole, with the rest of the field following behind.  His lead car shot out quickly, with Jon Mark and me following closely.  Some deft maneuvering and lucky dice rolls led to the front of the pack looking like this:  Terry's purple car leading the race, with my car hedging out Jon Mark's Ferrari.  The blue Viper is used to indicate the race leader and is a key component to GtD.

 The first turn didn't fare well for Terry.  His second car blew its engine off the starting line (the car flipped over in the picture below), creating a hazard for every car behind him...

...while his third car rammed the back end of Jon Mark's car (Terry's is the purple car turned sideways in the lane in the photo below.  This indicates he's collided and stopped).  Fortunately, this happened at the end of the first turn, so it didn't negatively impact (pun intended) anything but the two cars involved in the collision.  You can also see how cool the track looks.

Around we went.  Terry managed to blow the engine of his lead car, leaving him with a final vehicle that struggled to keep up.  It eventually got lapped and caused the lead cars no end of trouble before going DNF itself.

Team Green (me) held the lead through most of the race.  I was nursing depleted tires and was moving in to pit my front two cars when disaster struck.  One of Jon Mark's cars blew a tire and flipped right in front of the pit entrance, effectively blocking me from pitting!  With a prayer and a lead foot, I gunned my cars to make another lap.  This proved to be catastrophic, as they in turn both blew out tires and wrecked.

That left three cars on the track: Two of Jon Mark's and one of mine.  Jon Mark's lead car "found the groove" and took the checkered flag, while my car pitted and regained much needed tires. 

In the end, Jon Mark won, while I took second.  Nine cars started, two finished.  That's some seriously bad racing, but it made for a fun, entertaining evening!

The map played very well and with some slight modifications to the GtD rules, can be worked into the track rotation with ease.

Axles & Alloys Racing!

Gentlemen, start your engines!

Those words are never spoken in the Deadzone.  

Instead, gangs put forth racers for the 'Deadzone Championship'. Little more than an excuse to blow the living hell out of rival gang members and then crow about it, the "DC" is held in a neutral location (at least for the duration of the race) and is the only thing the gangs consider sacrosanct.

That was the hook...

After discussion with a couple of group members, I decided to give this aspect of A&A a whirl. I had recently thrifted some ZipZap cars and track pieces (they look like Jersey barriers), which propelled this back-burner project to the fore.

I decided to build a "figure 8" track, knowing full well that the middle was going to become a hotbed of contention. I also included napalm, smokescreens and speed reduction strips (SRS) as part of this track to make things more interesting.

The race was played differently than in the A&A rules. The players have three cars to use: one light, one medium and one heavy. They can race them in any order they choose, but can have only one vehicle on the course at a time. Vehicles enter from the left-hand gap in the wall (as seen in the above photo) and have the choice of leaving the race through the right-hand gap or continuing on subsequent laps. If a vehicle leaves the race, it can't re-enter. Another of the player's vehicles can only enter when the previous is off the track. Starting speed is between 0-6. Each lap completed equals one point. Five points wins the race.

So, with jalapeno poppers, peanuts and adult beverages primed, we began.

For our race, the action started hot and heavy.  In the first round, the SRS in the middle of the intersection had everyone jockeying for position to hit the initial gap without being toasted by those around them.

photo courtesy of The Penny Whistle blog

I had the only light vehicle on the track, so I shot out to the lead, clearing room and allowing the 'big boys' to tussle.  The first 'kill' of the day occurred when John Mark's vehicle collided with Ken's monster truck.  You can see the results below.  This was the beginning of a series of collisions in that general area of the track.  This eventually created a 'choke point' that was difficult to navigate.

I kept speeding up, but had to slow down in the first loop.  Terry's Jeep was right behind me, its missile launcher a consistent threat.  I not only had to be faster than Terry, I also had to be faster than his missiles!  I kind of felt like the teenager running from the walking serial killer in a slasher flick....or the cat damsel running from Pepe lePew.  Anyway, my speed was what eventually caught me in the second bend...

Rounding the bend, I lost control and drifted into a patch of napalm, catching my car on fire.  My speed was high enough that I then rocketed straight into the side of a rock formation.  My driver, Pinkie, was ejected from the buggy and laid unconscious on the track.  Prime pickings for Terry!

One less Pinkie in the world...

Meanwhile, further back on the track, Kenny and John Mark were yet again making a scrum of it.  This time, John Mark came out on top, sending Kenny's truck careening into a wall.  He then zipped around the ever-more-dangerous first turn of the race in his "fishbat" car.

Terry's Jeep, 'the Dutch Oven', managed to complete a lap, earning him one point.  It stayed on the track and was quickly given a "how you do" by my medium vehicle, 'the Fez'.  Wounded, it continued on its inexorable way through lap two.  

Kenny's second vehicle managed to make it around the track once before meeting Terry in the middle.

Passing Pinkie's corpse

It didn't go well for Ken.  It did manage to knock Terry around a bit, though.  He had to do some deft driving to get back on the right course.

There was much jockeying, ramming and shooting in the second lap, with casualties piling up.  The Fez had no choice but to ram the back end of the Dutch Oven and was soon added to the list of casualties.  Would anyone stop Terry?

Ken did.  In a stroke of brilliant driving, he power slid to right in front of Terry, forcing yet another ramming situation.  The damage to Dutch Oven was too great and the Jeep finally gave out.

By the end of the night, the tally was as follows:

1. Terry - One point, two vehicles left
2. Ted - One point, one vehicle left
3. Ken - One point, no vehicles left
4. John Mark - Zero points, no vehicles left

Terry took home the Deadzone League trophy (a surprise to the group, as I hadn't announced I'd made a trophy for this).  Here's me presenting the trophy, fez intact (even if the car that I was wearing it for wasn't), and Terry enjoying the moment.

Photo courtesy of the Penny Whistle blog

Photo courtesy of the Penny Whistle blog

All in all, a fun night.  We hashed out some things that can be improved in future races, but I think the first attempt was a success.

Tutorial: 1/64 scale Tire Stacks

In my group's quest to complete an Axles and Alloys campaign (more on that later), I started thinking about how to make "towns" and "centers" of humanity (think Mad Max II's refinery).

A quick Google search for pics of Mad Max II only shows three photos from the movie: a long shot of the entire refinery complex and then two stills of a gang member getting toasted by a flamethrower in front of the refinery's gate.  After studying the photos, I saw that I'd need to make tire stacks as walls for either side of the gate.  Another quick Google search of "How to make miniature tire stacks" utterly failed.  Another try, using "How to make HO scale tire stacks" yielded what I needed from a page on Trainweb.org.  Below is my tutorial on making these cool stacks.

Parts list:
Sharp blade (X-Acto, box knife, etc)
Cutting board
Rubber hose
Sandpaper
Hot glue
White glue
Cardboard/Mat board
wooden craft stick
Needlepoint grid
Paint and brushes
Toy car tires (optional)

I went to my local hardware store and bought two, one foot segments of flexible tubing of different diameters.  I wanted the tires to be of different sizes, so made sure to buy two different kinds of tubing.  Total cost was $1.25.

The tubes' surfaces were smooth, so I used sandpaper to roughen them so they'd take paint easier. I then cut the tubing into sections, making sure to vary my width to simulate different tires.

Note - Make sure that you lay the tubing flat, with the curved ends pointing down.  If you don't, you stand the risk of making irregularly shaped tires.  This can be useful for making leaning stacks, but they may look "off" to the discerning eye.

When that bit was completed, I then separated the pieces into four groups.  My reasoning was that if we are running two scenarios at the same time and they are both attacks on compounds, I'll need two sets of stacks.  I wanted the bigger tire stacks flanking the entrances, so made sure to use the larger pieces of hose first.  I threw in a few toy tires for effect.  Next, I cut the mat board (you can use cardboard) into 1" x 4" strips.  This proved longer than I needed, but the extra length provided me with a place to hold the pieces during construction.

The stacking process was simple:  Hot glue the pieces together.  I started by gluing the bases onto the mat board and then layered up from there.  I used my tallest vehicle (i.e, Motherload) as my gauge for the wall's height.  I figured that if the driver of the vehicle can't see over the wall, then it's tall enough.  When the larger sections were finished, I started on stacks using the smaller tires.  As you can see from the pictures, I used toy tires to "cap off" the stacks.

After all four walls were built, I used an old brush and applied white glue over the entire surface area to give the tires more texture and solidity.  I tried to use brush strokes that moved around the circumference of the tires so I could have "tread" when I painted them.

Allowing for drying time, I cut out some needlepoint grid (aka granny grid) to use as ladders.  I think the results look great!  I also cut small pieces of craft stick to use as platforms for the weapons that will eventually be on top of the stacks.  I glued all of these bits into place and again let the glue dry.

Next, it was time to primer the stacks with black paint and then drybrush gray onto the tires.  I used metallic gray on the ladder and platforms.  Orange and brown inks and Georgia Clay orange paint created both dust/dirt and rust stains on everything.

Voila!  Tire stacks!  Now, onto building the actual land the towns sit upon!  That's another tutorial...