Blobtober ends

With a couple of days left until Halloween, this is the last sunday of Zombtober... so it is only fitting that I finally get around to painting an actual zombie (sort of). This beastly nightmare is the Ablobination from Zombicide: Black Plague. This nasty bloated thing is an Abomination class zombie, with a ranged attack with that massive long arm... you really don't want to be anywhere near this guy. At all.

Some fantastic entries from everyone this year and thanks for letting me join the shambling hordes!

Zombtober take 1

Thanks to some technical hiccups yesterday thanks to the iOS 11 upgrade, I missed the first Zombtober deadline. So a day late, here is the first of the survivors from Zombicide season 3 kickstarter, Lucius Leon.



The zombivore version of him has gone into the pool of zombies as we tend not to use the zombivore mode. At some point he'll be done up in black and white like all the others to appear as an VIP so we don't have quite so many of Elvis wandering around.

One down... many many many more to go.

I did paint up another figure, but the photos highlighted a few issues with the paint job, so he has gone back to the painting table for later in the week.

Overdue payments

It is coming to that point in the year when the Analogue Challenge starts up again (hopefully!), so some unfinished bits in the backlog are being finished to make way for new projects to be started. The most recent one of these is a German officer for Konflikt '47. This probably gives you a hint what is coming this year, other than all those space marines.

The Germans are not getting the clear bases as I've got some metal ones that I really can't be bothered to debase. This weekend is Reading's yearly gaming event, Warfare, so I get to stock up on flowers for basing.

With the run-up to AHPC, it was about time I actually sorted out a figure for Curt from last year's challenge. I'm really sorry that it has taken so long Curt, he will be going in the post shortly! He is one of the Kickstarter exclusive characters from Zombicide Black Plague that has a passing resemblance to some historical risk taker from Scotland who was played by someone very definitely not Scottish.  

This week has been catching up a bit on the core Dungeon Saga figures in order to try and finish that off in order to get one side challenge out of the way. One of the most interesting things about the Dungeon Saga figures were the undead dwarf warriors... I'm not sure I've seen skeleton dwarves before. They, along with the three undead Basilean knights, can also be used as Armoured undead in Frostgrave. I just noticed that I forgot to do the flowing eyes... I'll have to go back and do those at some point!

After finishing those 6 skeletons, I figured it was about time for a few heroes and henchmen, so I started on some of the sneaky or different characters. First up is the assassin character from the Dungeon Saga KS. This is a once piece resin figure; nicely sculpted, but I think painting it with black armour was possibly a bad idea as you can't really see the detail in the photo. He'll also make a good thief henchman for Frostgrave.

Sticking to the thief theme for a second, I made one up for a cultist/necromancer style warband using the Frostgrave Cultist and Henchmen sets. These two plastic sets are great fun to play with and offer plenty of scope for swapping parts.

After the darker side of the henchmen list, I decided to go for some brighter souls. The smaller of the two is a halfling warrior from the Dungeon Saga kickstarter who is, I guess, supposed to be Tyrion Lannister.  He will make an interesting Templar. Next to him we have the warrior nun character from Zombicide: Black Plague. I tried to do some eyes on her, but failed... failed so badly. Unfortunately the face is quite open, so it really needed eyes as there wasn't enough depth for shadows to suffice. She will also be a templar option, or potentially one of the new Captains.

Finally is a massive flock of crows for Zombicide and Black Plague. They are a bit like Flock of Seagulls, but more goth. The plus side of finishing these off is that they can also be used as Blood Crows in Frostgrave. Technically the rules are for one crow, but it makes more sense for it to be a flock. One stand (in the photo somewhere) is converted as I stole one crow to make a Crow Master (which is in the painting queue). Painting these was a pain as crows are black with black and a bit more black...

This is 9 28mm figures, 1 halfling and 20 flocks of crows. The flocks are about the size of a 28mm figure, but I will leave it up to Tamsin to decide how to score them

Project review part 1...

With the approach of November, minds turn to Curt's painting challenge. I've no idea if it is on again this year or not, but I really do need to get back to painting regularly anyway, so what better way to get the mind prepared than to review all the partially completed (or in some cases completed) projects and see what can go and what can stay.

Jugula

First up is Jugula. You may remember last year I painted up the 8 gladiators for this one in the painting challenge, which made it the only project I've ever truly completed to the point that everything I own for it is painted.

The plus points:
- I like the system
- It is, to a certain extent, a finished project. At least to the point of having two identical teams to play with.

The negative points:
- If I want to expand it (which is a near certainty if I ever play it), I need to paint more of the 40mm figures, which I didn't enjoy.
- We havn't played it at all since finishing it.
- The figure scale means it can't be used for other games as well.

I'm thinking, for me, this game would be better at 28mm so the figures can be used for 7tv and other gladiatorial games as well, providing a bit more flexibility.

So it looks like this one is coming down on the sell site of things at the moment, unless anyone else has some good arguments otherwise?

If anyone is interested, I'd be looking to sell these together, with the deluxe mat, the rest of the shield transfers and the remains of two Familia 1 weapon packs that will allow you to customise any future gladiators. RRP for this lot is £75, prior to painting. Quick note, this does not include cards or rules.

Onto

Kingdom Death

This one is staying. I've been waiting 3 years for this one and the two sessions I've tried so far have shown the wait was well worth it. The models, while slightly larger than the rest of my collection, look like they will be nice to paint up once I've worked out where all the little tiny bits go on some of the figures. The survivors aren't useful for other systems, but the monsters will be interesting for Strange Aeons games... the size only helping make them even more terrifying!

The plan here is to just assemble the 4 starting survivors and all the enemies for now, so may be a nice little self contained project for this winter's challenge (self imposed or Curt-led) as it totals to a mere 11 models (4 survivors, Lion, Antelope, Phoenix, King's man, King's hand, Butcher, Watcher) without touching on the KS bonuses.

Then

Zombicide Seasons 1 & 2

This is another one that is staying, no questions. It is a fun game with some great models that can be re-purposed for other systems easily.

Remember the massive horde of zombies from last year? Yeah, well there is more still loitering in the shadows!

To finish off Seasons 1 and 2 I just need to get around to finishing off the survivors for the earlier sets.

The zombivores are one of those things that seem like a good idea at the time, but looking back on it, probably complicate things more than was ever really needed. I'm contemplating turning all the unpainted/uninteresting zombivores into additional walkers to add some character and variation to the hordes, which should allow a quick turnaround on those. Some are fun models, so may end up joining the few zombivores that have already been done.

This would give a nice group of figures to sort out for the challenge as well. Finish the season 1 and 2 survivors as well as converting their zombivores into walkers. This should provide a nice sense of completion to this and neatens up the survivor wall case a bit!

Zombicide Season 3

Season 3 is untouched at the moment. All the zombies and survivors still need to be painted... I suspect this will take a lot of black undercoat to get started, so we'll see how finishing Seasons 1 and 2 go before we start on these ones in 2015. It isn't going anywhere though, so they will eventually appear. I may add some of the zombivores into the mix along with the season 1 and 2 versions.

Tomorrow I'll move onto the multitude of skirmish systems that I seem to have accumulated.

More Zombicide

Some more Zombicide figures were finished this week too.

We have Sean, Basil Fawlty and one of the survivors from Season 2

After looking at the full crowd shot, the full colour abomination stood out and and looked more terrifying. Sooo I went back and painted one of the berzerk abominations to see how things went. In person, I love the crab like look to the plates... but I just can't get them to photograph nicely as I left them all glossy to look more like shells :(

Zombie hordes keep on growin'

Over the weekend I posted a surprise update to the painting challenge. I thought I was done when I submitted the gladiators and instantly dreaded the 1500 point target I'd just set as the next goal. Turns out it wasn't that hard to beat after all. 1 early morning, 4 episodes of Arrow and a truck load of undercoated zombies. This first photo was what I submitted on Sunday. 65 zombies... that little lot is all of the zombies from the normal Zombicide Season 1 box, plus one spare berserk walker that I found on the painting table.

The next photo contains every zombie painted up for the challenge this year, which is a mere 92. Shame I didn't quite breach the 100. Still, it is an impressive feat.

To put it into perspective though, this is the entire horde. This is everything from the Season 2 kickstarter* and the standard Season 1 box. That totals to 78 normal walkers, 20 normal walkers, 21 toxic walkers, 32 normal runners, 10 toxic runners, 10 berserk runners, 16 fatties, 5 toxic fatties, 5 berserk fatties, 3 normal abominations, 2 toxic abominations and 2 berserk abominations. 204 zombies in total. Fear for your life if you ever see even a portion of that on the board in one go (unless you managed to herd them all into one square to firebomb)

* minus the zombie dogs, which I still need to partially resculpt to hide the gaping peg hole in their chests.

Yes, that is one lone full colour Abomination in there. I needed a flesh golem for Strange Aeons. I like the imposing look he has int he middle of that horde though, so I am tempted to go back and paint up the other abominations as full colour now, just to make them *really* stand out on the board and be terrifying.

The scary thing is I still have some unopened Walk of the Dead boxes to bulk up the Toxic and Berserk hordes a bit; plus we have season 3 landing soon. So that horde you see there is going to nearly double in size! I'd better get working on those survivors so there is someone to save the world.

Now to work out what colours to use for Skinners and Seekers so they remain B&W with one spot colour. I wasn't that keen on the preview of the VIP rules, so I suspect those will just become additional standard zombies in funny outfits.

Season 2 zombies...

This little horde is the remainders of the Berzerk zombies (25), with two toxics that I'd found in the bottom of a box. These mark the end of all the Season 2 zombies. With Season 3 delivery looming, it's quite a relief to have this lot done, even if it did kill my drybrush. The poor thing is a tiny, worn down stump of a thing, useful only for weathering powders now.

Last night's entries (some Russians and these zombies) to the Painting Challenge saw me manage to breach the second points goal this year and exceed last year's total, so I'm now staring at a 1500 point goal. With under a month left on the painting challenge and various uncompleted projects still floating around, I can't decide which thing to work on next... finish the gladiators, finish the Not-Ogryns, start the second War of the Roses force for Lion Rampant, or start on the fantastic Vikings my mystery Secret Santa sent.

Alternatively... Not sure if you remember, but way back in the dim distant past, I traded my painted season 1 set with a friend when I decided to go from full colour zombies to this black and white version. This means I have another 65 zombies sat around waiting to be painted (if you don't count the extra boxes of Toxics and Berzerkers).

This isn't Acacia Avenue, but...

Bananaman!

 When the zombie apocalypse hits, you need to be ready. You need to be armed and you need to be properly dressed in order to outrun the enemy (or at the very least, your friend… it depends how many zombies there are). The day things went to hell, Robbie was working at his local food shop, Morry and Sons, advertising their fresh fruit. He’d known for ages that the zip occasionally got stuck, but he’d been assured that it had been fixed. Turns out… not so fixed after all. Robbie is now stuck inside this damn suit and can’t get out. Not even if his life depends upon it, which it kinda does!

It is a fun model, though not the best painting I've ever done. I had to have two attempts at sending it to Curt... the first time I sent it I hated the photos, so had to have a go at adding some more detail tot he figure. Second time looks much better, but there are still problems with it, like the label on the banana looks a bit wonky in places. As far as you're concerned, it's just a cheap costume, so the printing is dodgy and I'm perfectly recreating the budget printing process where the shadows and highlights on the fake label don't line up properly ;)

Santa Clause survivors

I promised to put up a photo of the wonderful present from Anibal Invictus.

Thanks again, these will be perfect for Zombicide and 7ombieTV games. You can never have enough survivors for games

Rick update

Rick finally got his zombivor counterpart, which means that all of the survivors painted so far are now matching pairs. As you can see, I forgot which paint I used for his shirt... so in the future all survivors will be painted *with* their zombivors to avoid the same mistake!

On a different note, I've managed to get hold of some of the Thiago survivors form the games night 2 kit. If anyone is interested in one I have 5 up for grabs for £7.50 each, which will include free p&p.

The chainsaw warrior

 

Not really *the* Chainsaw Warrior, though I did play the iPad game of that recently. Grindlock is wielding a Stihl chainsaw... what other make would you go for really?

D-Ed

Any resemblance to the Nick Frost in Sean of the Dead is purely... on purpose

I think a retake of this one is needed for the overview page as it's a bit dark in places... still. You get the gist

Definitely not Dirty Harry

I know you've previously seen the uninjured version of Harry, but over the weekend I finished the zombivore version too, so the pair are now complete

Not a bad model, but certainly not my favourite. In case youre wondering what the blue under his arm is for... that's the blue silk lining to his suit jacket... it matches his tie donchaknow?

Escape from Zombie City

One of my favourite survivor/zombivor pairs from last season was the Snake Plisken one. He's a grumpy looking man.

Rather than go for the Escape from New York costume, which was just black with a touch of black thrown into the mix, he's got camo trousers

Who took the wine?

The world has gone to hell, the dead are coming back to life and a madman is on the loose looking for a tin of baked beans and a bottle of cheap plonk...

Once again... not happy with the colours in the photo. I did an experiment the other day comparing the uploaded photo I was moaning about with the version on my desktop and there was a visible difference... it was nothing to do with the monitor calibration. It looks like Blogger is unhelpfully trying to "enhance" the photos... thanks a bunch!

Uncle Honk

Uncle Honk is from the Kevin Walker artist box. In it's original *bright* orange plastic, it was one of my least favourite models. It looked garish and undetailed.

One coat of paint later and he's now my favourite character as all that detail was hidden behind the blinding plastic. Do not mess with the clown!

Elsa, the Cat Burglar

Elsa came with Toxic City Mall. In the artwork she's wearing black clothing, but this was going to push her too close to the zombie colours, so she's now wearing dark red instead.

Not the best zombivor face in the world, so I may need to go back and redo that later. As with the other zombivors, the colours are slightly darker and desaturated to move her towards the zombie state 

Rob, the nearly-dead Security Expert

Next up on the survivor/zombivor combos is Rob, who is supposed to be Sean Connery, but looks rather like George Lucas at this scale.

Bit of a boring one to paint, but he was quick and ups the painted counter. You also can't see much of the blood that he's covered in as it's over his black body armour.

Thaissa, first of the Zombivors

The other day I posted a picture of the finished Thaissa. Now she's accompanied by her completed, rather messy zombivor.

Rather than go for exactly the same colours, I'm trying to make the zombivors a step towards the zombies by desaturating some of the colours, except the blood of course!

Why oh why do the colours of these look so different on this monitor? On my mac these were bright images with a near white background... I'm beginning to suspect that Blogger is messing with the contrasts when they get uploaded. I'll have to have a look at these properly when I get home!