Deadzone Strike Team Builder | Google Login Added

Hi All,



I finally managed to add google login for the Strike Team builder.

http://deadzone-grich.rhcloud.com/

Hopefully this will mean that lots more users will be able to start saving teams and running campaigns more easily.


If you want to know why I'm using Google and FaceBook Read on:

I have stuck to using FaceBook and Google Logins because then don't have to store either emails or passwords on my database which is more secure for users. This is because all the authorisation stuff is done by those FB or google.

However, if you want to be able to login without Facebook or Google let me know I can sort you out private login for you. Just send me a private message and I will auto generate a password and username. This means that I still don't have to have your emails or potentially common passwords. 

As a Web dev I encourage people to use different passwords for everything and store them in something like KeePassX.

Scratch Build Deadzone Board

So here's my first attempt at a custom board. The mats are really nice but I wanted something with an additional level. I've seen several much better boards than the one I have here but I thought I'd post it any way.

• The base is 3mm MDF which seemed to work fine was cheap and strong enough. Tiles are a thin tough card cut smaller than 3"x3" to give a well defined edge. I used a paper guillotine and set square to get consistent sizes with straight edges quickly. 

• After cutting assembly didn't take a great deal of time and PVA held well.

•  I then used a mixture of PVA, black paint, sand and filler to coat the tiles leaving the road. I could had done with using a runnier mixture with a lesser amount of sand to give better differentiation to the road texture later. I did apply some to the vertical walls, but this was a mistake and is unnecessary if you use something else to cover them as I do later.

•  I then did a basic PVA and sand road, Next time i might use sand paper and cut into tiles as my sand layer wasn't as consistently flat as I would have liked. I then shaded between the tiles with a homemade black wash. The wash was standard CIF floor cleaner, water and acrylic paint.

•  I thought all that grey looked bland, so added hazard strips on the road edge. The strips are made from wooden stirrers painted yellow. Taped laterally together to allow me to draw 45 degree angled lines with thick marker and set square. I found this was really fast and looked reasonable enough for me. There's a tutorial here for doing something similar with scotch tape and paint.

• Finished off the hazard strips and clad the sides of the platform with textures plastic. Because I'm tight fisted so I used divider file I had lying around but the spray paint is peeling so next time I'll invest in Plasticard or use pillars to support the level (like a high rise carpark).

• Finally I thought I'd show it with some of the basic out of the starter box terrain. It adds a nice big line of sight blocker between the sides of the board. In addition to giving height before even putting the buildings on.

In summation it cost me ten pence and a button and was a fun build. I might add a few more detail bits but the Mantic deadzone scenery is such good quality and price I think I might just buy a ton more rather than do too much more work on it. Maybe next time I will just build a base with the card and MDF, really want to try an alien jungle as I have loads of fish tank plant bits.

Let me know you thoughts and as always check out the Deadzone Builder.

Deadzone - Team Popularity

Hello All,

I Just ran some quick stats on team popularity on the Strike Team Builder so thought I'd share if it interests anyone.

Faction	Teams*
Enforcers	39%
Forge Fathers	13%
Plague	13%
Rebs	11%
Marauders	9%
Asterians	7%
Veer-myn	7%

*I normalised the data by removing multiple teams of the same type for one user. Therefore the numbers are calculated for each Faction unique to each User (e.g. 10 Enforcer teams for 1 user counts as one).

The outcome was not overly surprising with Enforcers being the most popular faction by far. This is reflected in reality at least for me as the most popular team at my club are Enforcers. Everything else is pretty much at the same levels with Asterians and Veer-myn teams being created less.

These are only teams which have been made on theStrike Team Builder by logged in users, but fits with what I have seen at the table. I think players probably own more factions but actually use specific ones more frequently and for Campaigns.

Let me know your thoughts and if you think we need a more even spread. Personally I would like to play against a diverse range of Factions but I'm not helping the issue I guess as I only have enforcers that I really play with. I think I have about six unpainted Forge Fathers together, the rest are still on sprue 😞

Deadzone Enforcers - My Stardust Cola Redplates

Been catching up on my painting and finally got round to taking a picture of some of my Strike Team.

Theme : These Enforcers work for the massive multi-system drinks company 'Stardust Cola Company'. Many of their missions involve preventing the loss of, or retrieving Stardust Cola's assets and/or drinks recipes.
Rumours abound to the secret ingredients of their best selling cola and their competitors are ever keen to obtain the evidence to back those rumours. Whether their motive is to extort the company or inform the consumer, this cannot be allowed to happen. After all "Stardust Cola Company is a cheerful, family orientated company" (what could be more wholesome). It has its employees and consumers best interests at heart above all else. Sure it makes a large profit for its investors but it sponsors many charities and sports too. As companies go they truly are a paragon of virtue in these dark times.
.......Soylent Green is people??

Still need to paint up the pathfinders. Then Buying some Peacekeepers & Jet Bikes (Super cheap now Warpath squads are out). Will be getting a squad of Striders at some point but not in the near future.

Run Deadzone Campaign On Team Builder

Hi All,

Update on the Deadzone team builder.

http://deadzone-grich.rhcloud.com/

I have added some campaign management/tracking for users who log in.

To Create:

1. Click Manage Campaigns
2. Create Campaign and get Invite Code
3. Give Invite Code to Friends 

To Join:

1. Select a Team
2. Click Join Campaign with Team
3. Paste Invite Code 

You can start a deadzone campaign by clicking the new 'Manage Campaigns' button after logging in. When you have created a campaign you will be the manager and it will be listed in your manage campaigns view with an invitation code.

You can supply this invitation code to your campaign friends who can then use it to join it with their teams. A team may only join one campaign. Once joined the user can see how their team is fairing with 'view campaign for team'  button.This lists all the teams which have joined the campaign;Total RP and Campaign points.

Only users can edit their own teams RP Points etc. its literally just a view so its an honor policy I guess. Managers cant change the values. In addition currently there is no delete campaign for the manager or leave campaign for the teams.

This is new and virtually untested so let me know if there are any bugs or errors.

Hope this is useful for people, let me know either way. There is a feedback function on the site or just ping me a comment.

All the best

Rich

Deadzone Team Builder

Free Use Deadzone Team Builder

Hi All,

I have created a Deadzone Team Builder for use on single games and campaigns. Features are printing, PDF etc with more functionality for campaign management coming. Easy and secure login for team saving functionality with Facebook. With a view to add google login in the near future.

http://deadzone-grich.rhcloud.com/

It is currently hosted at the above URL but if it gains enough traction I will be able to afford it a proper domain.

Any and all feed back is appreciated.

Rich

The Three Plains : Epic Games - For my Kings of War on a Budget

I have recently been looking a lot more into paper model wargaming. My main rationale are the resources of time and finances. Although in an ideal world I want a stonking great fully painted army for wargaming, what I really want to do now is play games! I enjoy modelling and painting but not to the commitment level that is required to get an army fielded as quickly and to the extent that I want too.

That for the most part has been the reason my current miniature collection consists of the skirmish style or team games. This is not for lack of desire for epic scale wargaming. Many people I speak to have the same thoughts. One of my friends actively avoids miniatures games to some degree for that exact reason even though he was heavily into Warhammer and other games in his earlier years. He now sticks to card or tiles games generally cool little ones he's found on kickstarter.

This thought stream lead me to finding the following.......

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The Three Plains

Epic Wargaming - Home Page Rules

I gave the rules a quick read myself and they are very extensive and detailed. However there is a lot to digest and finding an opponent willing to put the time in for a trial game may prove difficult. I found a good full review of the rules on The Shell Case:
The Three Plains Rules Review

Whats Here
Lots and lots and lots of free to use paper models. A full set of free rules, extensive resources and youTube videos of battle reports.

Free Model Downloads
So There are currently a total of four full armies of paper models for free download: Elves, Men, Mercenaries and Orcs
There appear to be more on the way including Dwarves and Summoners. The art is good quality and the variety is huge.

Overall
Simply put a large amount of work has gone into this and it deserves major props to Epic Games and the creator Dave Scholes.

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My Uses
So why am I talking about Kings of War? So the rules for The Three Plains are free too and as I said they appear to be detailed, in-depth and well conceived. But I return to my previous point of "what I really want to do now is play games!". Do I invest the time in learning a new rule set (Yes) but I still need to find a friend who wants to learn the rules too. I know the rules for Kings of War, it is a quick game to get in to and also has the benefit of having a current large player base/community. I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem to field a paper army at my club while I build my model base.
I do want to play The Three Plains (the lore reads nicely, blue magical orc hags!!) I just need to find me an opponent. What I really want is a precident set that paper models are a serious alternative for gamers to get into a rules system.

Any way let me know your thoughts.