Survivor Derek and zombified Derek

 

I took a little hiatus from the Zombicide project while I traveled for work, but I'm back and have finished up two more figures, this time the character from Toxic City Mall "Derek."  Derek is some sort of construction worker, with a hardhat, sledge hammer, reflective vest, and a sack of wooden stakes.  I think he looks vaguely like Roddy Piper's character from the movie "They Live," but that just might be the hair, and why would they skip the sunglasses?

So in the background is a bit of a sneak preview into what I'm building on the side as I paint these figures.  More to come....

Survivor Elsa and Zombified Elsa

 

Another character from the Toxic City Mall from Zombicide.  According to the game, this is Elsa, a cat-burglar who is apparently good at lockpicking, et al.

So a quick side note: many of the Zombicide characters are based off of movie or TV characters, some more obvious than others.  This is one of the more obvious ones, namely Black Widow from the Avengers.  Previously I have mentioned painting obvious characters from popular culture in a different color scheme to distance them from the original source.  I kept this one the same because not only am I fan of the character, but her appearance is so set with the source that it didn't seem worth it.

I'm almost done with the Toxic City Mall set at this point, and it is been a joy to tackle.

Survivor Neema and Zombified Neema

 

I'm rolling right along with the figures from the Toxic City Mall from Zombicide, miniatures I hope to use in a resurrected (no pun intended) game of All Things Zombie.  My son told me you do not see a lot of miniatures painted up as people of color, so I was glad to tackle "Neema" from the set.  Like a lot of Zombicide minis, she's a little on the exploitive side, but I'm glad how she turned out, especially with my once again experimenting with skin tones.

Survivor Raoul and Zombified Raoul

 

Another figure from the Toxic City Mall Survivor set from Zombicide.  This guy (these guys) is Raoul "the Contractor" and he looks like he's better prepared for the apocalypse than a lot of people.  He's got an assault rifle, pistol, tactical vest, and even a small coffee cup.

I like how this guy turned out a lot, and feel like I'm getting better with the zombie skin tones.

Comments welcome!

Survivor Kyoko and Zombified Kyoko

 

The Zombicide supplement "Gaming Night Kit #1" features two miniatures of the same person: "Kyoko" an Asian woman with thigh-high boots clearly meant to look like Lucy Liu as Alex Munday in "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle."  One version has her armed with a flame thrower while the zombified version has her with a katana.  I'm not wholly comfortable painting Asian skin tones, but tried to match the color they used on the illustration.  I do really like how the gray zombie skin turned out, though.

As a side note, I've never thought that flame throwers would be a great weapon on zombies.  Too easy to just end up fighting zombies that are on fire.

Rick Grimes and Survivor

My first two miniatures from the new "season" are done: Rick Grimes (r) and a random survivor (l).  Both are from Mantic Games' "All Out War" starter box set.  I'm trying to paint the figures not as they appear in the comic book or television series in order to make them my own (ergo Rick's gray hair).  I'm also trying out the GW contrast paints, some of which were used in these guys.

In the background you can see another part of the project--the unpainted, unfinished apartment building I printed.  More on that later!

As always, thanks for looking. Comments welcome!

McTavish, Survivor(?)

Another Copplestone Casting Future Wars figure, this one a middle-aged, portly fellow with a Luger pistol.  I have thought if using him as a survivor, but I also considered using him as the boss of some organized crime gang that has been managing to do well for themselves in the zombie apocalypse. 

Speaking of which, I think it is time for Robb's misadventures in a world gone to Hell to continue sometime soon, don't you think?

Amber

Like I said in my previous post, I'm on a roll right now.  This is another Hasslefree miniature, a nice young lady armed with pistol, a pistol-grip shotgun (I'm assuming--it is in a sheath on her back), a knife, and a hockey stick.  She's ready for anything!  I let my daughter name her, and she called this miniature "Amber."

Zombie Survivor Peter

Has it really been since March since I updated this blog?  Well, if you have been following my other blog, you'll know I'm laid up with an ankle injury.  That means more painting time.  In addition, I'm planning on running an ATZ display game at a local gaming convention, so I need to get my roster built up!

This is "Zombie Hunter Kev" from Hasslefree, but I'm naming him "Peter" after a friend who wanted be in my ATZ campaign.  Of course, that means I need to start up my ATZ campaign again...

Irene Revised

I got the new version of Irene painted, this time in her team colors.  The RL Irene asked if I was going to paint a cast onto her arm, but I pointed out that there were not any doctors available in the campaign.

I will hopefully get a ATZ:FFO session in soon.  When that happens, a batrep won't be far behind...

My birthday present

My gaming group has a tradition of giving each of its members a special one-of-a-kind shirt to each member on their birthday.  What did I get?  Well, let's just say the gaming group is a fan of a certain blog.

In some also vaguely real-life news, the Real Irene was drafted to the local professional roller derby team.  As soon as I figure out which of the four in-house teams she plays for, I will paint a version of her miniature in the team colors.

Vincent and Jules

I finished up these two figs, both from Copplestone's "Bad Guys in Suits" range.  These two definitely look like "Vincent and Jules," Marsellus Wallace's two goons from Pulp Fiction.  I can't figure out if I want to use them as Survivors for Robb and Irene to run into, or as Gangers representing some organized crime group.

In any case, they were a joy to paint like everything Copplestone does.  One note: my blister only held four figures, while the one on their website shows five.  That stinks.

Irene, Roller Derby Girl

So, I was thinking for my eventual ATZ campaign that I needed an alter-ego for my wife.  I showed her a lot of miniatures, the typical lot of Lara Croft or Resident Evil or Underworld knock-offs, but my wife picked this one.  It's a reasonable pick given that she is, in fact, on a roller derby team.  I figure the apocalypse will kick off while she's at practice, and maybe give her alter-ego the "fast" characteristic.

Rufus, survivor

I scrounged around and found the last figure of the Street Violence blister set I owned, a guy who I guess is supposed to look like Rob Zombie or something.  Since I'm Robb, I decided to go with "Rufus" instead.  Rufus is armed with a grenade, a knife, a gun, and a drum-fed shotgun.  That's a pretty solid kit.  Maybe it is the gut and the big belt buckle, but he's got a good "survivor" vibe going for him.

In my inventory of the miniatures I have that might work in this range, I discovered I only had about a dozen zombies, and they are all the Wargames Factory ones.  So I ordered a horde of new miniatures from Zombiesmith on Black Friday (he had a sale, 18% off).  It might be a while before they get here, but in the meantime I have a few more I can be working on.

Stephanie, survivor

In anticipation of launching my solo ATZ campaign, I've been going through my giant collection of odd miniatures in hopes of finding ones that can be, if you'll forgive the term, cannibalized for participants in the game.

This figure is one of rarest I own, and is special to me because it is one that I helped design.  Many, many years ago a friend named Steve Eserin launched a miniatures and terrain company called "The Figure Trader."  To support the line, he created a very interesting game called "Sabotage."  I was asked by Steve to provide some of the concept sketches for the game, and even got my name on the book.  Or rather, I got this accidental pastiche between my real name and my internet handle that Steve apologized for later.  Sadly, The Figure Trader lost a ton of money as a vendor in the meltdown of i-kore,which subsequently declared bankruptcy, forced their debtors to write off the loss, and then had the assets purchased by a member of their own staff who relaunched the entire line as Urban Mammoth.  (As a sidenote, one of i-kores disgruntled sculptors went onto be the guy behind Hasslefree miniatures.  If you ever look at the Void 1.1 line, you'll see his hand in it.)

Anyways, as a thanks for being part of the creation of Sabotage, Steve sent me a ton of resin sci-fi terrain which I still use, as well as a bunch of miniatures, including quite possibility the entire casting lot of this one.  Somewhere I've got about two dozen of this figure, whom I named Stephanie in honor of Steve Eserin.  She's got a little of the cheesecake look to her, but I'm thinking a blowtorch is an interesting option as an improvisational weapon against zombies.

As a side note, despite some health problems Steve still works for Terragnosis, which you should really go check out.

Berkeley, Survivor

Hard to believe I haven't done anything on this project since July, but I got sidetracked by some other things.  Now I'm back, and starting things off with "Berkeley" from Reaper Miniatures.  She's a great looking fig, but she's armed with two of the most problematic weapons in ATZ: a shotgun and a chainsaw.  Both work just fine against zombies, but tend to draw more zombies like flies to honey.

If you read my primary blog, you know I'm kind of kicking about some various projects.  Well, I've decided to come back here.  I've been reading and re-reading the ATZ rules, and I think I know what one of my biggest hang-ups about the rules was, and I've come to grips with it.  Now it's time to get some figures, both alive and dead, painted up and ready to launch.

Jolene

This is "Cyrise" from the Foundry Street Violence range, but I'm calling her "Jolene" which just sounds more Southern.  She's got a big pistol on her left hip, an SMG, and a knife and grenade(!) on her right hip.

Okay, I know there are a lot of zombie gaming enthusiasts, and I've got a question.  I need to bulk up my repertoire of zombies for my upcoming ATZ campaign.  I have the zombies from Wargames Factory already, but they look more like "zombie extras."  I'm looking for some front-row zombies, available in the US.  Suggestions?

Michelle, Survivor

I like this miniature for several reasons.  First, you don't get a lot of modern/post-apocalyptic figures that depict minorities.  Second, you don't find a lot that depict women.  Third, of the ones that do, many rely pretty heavily on racial stereotyping. 

So, this figure, which is actually from the old Dark Age miniatures game, depicts a minority woman who looks pretty bad-ass, and not like she's from a Krumm cartoon.  I named her after an old school friend with whom I continue to keep in touch.

The Private Detective

This figure is "Max Decker, Private Detective" from Reaper's Chronoscope series.  I love this figure, being a longtime fan of Dashiell Hammett and other gritty Noir writers.  In fact my fondness for him is what got me to call this blog "Hard Boiled Zombies."  Someday when I actually start my ATZ campaign, I may use this guy as the primary Star.

Roger, Zombie Apocalypse Ganger

Here's another ganger from Foundry's Street Violence range.  Pretty soon I plan on actually doing some more typical survivors.