Cops with Shotguns (Future Wars)

There are several kinds of people in an ATZ game: zombies, civilians, survivors, gangers, and military.  You need all of those to play a game, just because any could show up at any time.  Under "military" are the police, and so in order to fill out that requirement I picked up a blister pack of "Cops with Shotguns" by Future Wars (which is under the Copplestone Casting label).  In theory they are supposed to be futuristic (naturally), but I wanted to paint them up a little retro for my ATZ campaign.  These guys are armed with shotguns, pistols, and truncheons, and are led by a trenchcoat-wearing officer.

Once I get all of my categories filled out to a reasonable and workable extent, I'll be ready to start my ATZ campaign.  My goal is the beginning of 2012, and I seem to be on track for that goal.

Zombie Strippers

Click for a larger pic

These lovely ladies were made by Reaper Miniatures.  My only beef with them is that they are not particularly injured.  One has an open wound on her leg, another a sort of injury on her back, but the third is hardly wounded at all.  Maybe the bite is where we can't see it.

I decided to experiment with zombie skin colors.  In the past I've used a gray color, but this time I decided to use something a little more in the flesh tone range with a bit of green.  It's actually Delta Ceramcoat Sandstone with Antique Walnut Stain on top.  I think that, when all is said and done, it looks pretty good.

Comments welcome.

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.