Sunday 16 October 2016

Zomtober 2016, Week 3

<==  For week 2, follow this link

Introduction

This is a slightly late posting, but it's still Sunday and therefore within the Zomtober rules.  Phew!  I've been away for the weekend (it was my wife's birthday), so it's just as well that I had prepared these figures earlier last week than usual.

So, as is my custom for these posts, here's another duel between a zombie and a survivor.  What do you think happens next?


The Duel


Tonight's main attraction is a contest between Nadim and Chicken Man Zombie (CMZ).  Nadim is using an unusual anti-zombie weapon: a giant firework rocket ("The Big One").  He is wearing a handkerchief over his face, possibly to protect against sparks or to protect himself from inhaling zombie bits if his planned rocket attack is successful.  That may also explain the hoodie pulled up over his head.



CMZ has been described by the owner of Studio Miniatures (who make the figure) as "the unluckiest man in the zombie apocalypse".  I'm paraphrasing here rather than providing an exact quote, but I expect you get the idea.
After all, having a job that involves dressing up as a giant chicken is fairly unlucky in the first place.  Being bitten by a zombie and therefore infected yourself whilst at work in a job that requires you to dress up as a giant chicken is just stupendously unlucky!
[Hmm, that could be another theme for someone to pursue in Zomtober: "the unluckiest man/woman in the apocalypse".  Please feel free to use this if you wish...]



As mentioned above, CMZ is from Studio Miniatures, specifically from "Zombie Mob 002".  Like many of my recent urban figures, he's on an Escenorama base.  In this case, CMZ is trampling a sign that had been placed on the grass.  I found a picture on the internet of a suitable admonition, scaled it down, printed it and stuck it to the sign.  In case you cannot read the sign under CMZ's foot, the it reads "Please do not feed the birds".  There is also a small sheet of green paper on the ground nearby; perhaps this is an advertising flyer that has been dropped by CMZ?

Nadim is yet another of the young thugs from Offensive Miniature's "12 Street Kids" pack, in the Near Future, Rioting Mob range.  His base is also from Escenorama, though in this case it's a rather simpler pattern.  There's nothing on the ground here other than a small metal cover and a cigarette butt (visible in the earlier pictures).  Maybe that's what Nadim used to light his firework?



So, here's my reading of the situation: if Nadim hits CMZ with the rocket and if the firework catches on the zombie's costume then I've no doubt that the resulting explosion will do a lot of damage to the zombie.  But there are a lot of "ifs" here:
  • A firework is going to be hard to aim, firstly because of its inherent lack of directional stability and secondly because of the uncertainty over when exactly it will ignite.  It might have some value as an area effect weapon, fired into the middle of a mob (note that I wrote might, not should).  However, targeting an individual, even at close range, is going to rely on a lot of luck!
  • Even if the firework hits the intended target, the motor will probably still be running for at least a few seconds.  I reckon there's every chance that the rocket will just bounce off and keep going in a semi-random direction, unless of course the target has a lot of nooks and crannies in which the missile might become jammed.
  • A firework rocket contains gunpowder (or some close equivalent) as a bursting charge, but it doesn't have a metal case or anything else which might produce a lot of shrapnel.  Whilst blast damage isn't to be taken lightly by a human, a firework, even a big one, won't necessarily destroy a zombie.  If you're lucky (there's that word again) then the zombie will be sufficiently disabled to allow your escape.
No, I think that this is what happens: the rocket ignites but the backblast burns Nadim's face and blinds him.  The firework then skids off CMZ or misses him completely and the zombie attacks immediately and bites the stunned human.  Assuming, of course, that CMZ can bite anything whilst wearing that ridiculous costume rooster head...

Week 4 is here ==>

35 comments:

  1. Both characterful minis. I love the firework on a stick armed survivor I wonder how effective a weapon it would actually be tho!

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    1. I think that fireworks would totally suck as weapons! After all, militarys across the world tried for many hundreds of years to do pretty much that (British in Napoleonic wars, Chinese for a long time &c) and all attempts were all but useless. At least until WWII and better rocket technology...

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  2. Arguably your best Zomtober submission ever, Hugh imho. I absolutely love them both. Great detail on the fireworks and the chicken-suit's feathers. I think the survivor would have better luck stabbing the zed with his homemade bazooka than anything else. Terrific duo :-)

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    1. I think that I agree: the stick is a better weapon than the rocket. Mind you, it's probably not much more than a rough splinter of cheap wood, so not the best thing to use to poke a zombie.

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  3. CMZ for the win, I love both figs and own the Studio miniatures one. Lovely as always

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    1. I'm backing CMZ here as well, I think :-) .

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  4. The chicken zombie makes for a fun change of pace. I fear the firework would not be quite enough to kill the zombie. The launching stick is probably a better choice for a weapon!

    Love the Zomtober posts, keep 'em coming!

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    1. Yes, I agree. The firework is far too unpredictable; the stick, whilst not a great weapon, is probably the better option.

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  5. Great paint job on both of them!

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  6. Absolutely wonderful, I'm giving this to Nadim who, if brave enough to wait until the CMZ is at close range, should see a cloud of yellow feathers appear in front of him.

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    1. Ah, an optimist! The general opinion seems to be that Nadim is doomed, but who knows? Perhaps he'll get the lucky shot?

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  7. Another tremendous duel, and involving one of my favourite Zombie sculpts. Excellent stuff. :)

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    1. Everyone needs a miniature of a zombie in a chicken suit, right :-) ?

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  8. As for whatever happens next is down to the script writer. For me though I will accept a hit on the Zombie but non "lethal" so the zombie keeps going. Worse still it attracts other zombies towards it and they attack the now burning zombie. Allowing the youth to escape.

    For me a very good duel once again very different and very amusing. Other script writers may disagree but If the Kid is more than a "Red Shirt" wearer he'll survive. If he is "Supporting cast" he is now out of the series for a few episode until he can come back as a zombie.

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    1. Hah, you are completely correct, of course! "What happens next" is a completely theoretical question since there's no way to prove that there is a correct answer. You might as well make up the result you like best :-) .

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  9. Impressive job on some wonderfully unique figures!

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  10. Two great figures but I have to side with the zombie for who will win this duel. The firework is just too unreliable and not powerful enough to kill a zombie. It may, however, cause enough of a distraction for Nadim to run away.

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    1. This seems to be the majority opinion: the firework is not a good weapon. Whether it causes enough distraction for the human to escape is, of course, uncertain. I do remember at least one zombie film where the infected were pacified temporarily by a fireworks display (they all stopped whatever they were doing to watch).

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  11. Great pairing C6; Chicken man is an amusing zed, but Still deadly againstpoor rocket poor, whom, by the time he's lit the rocket will be zombie chow imo. He'sovviously not read the instructions of handling fireworks, lighting the blue paper, retiring etc!
    Yellow for the chicken man is an obvious choice, but when do we ever see a yellow chicken!?
    Lovie all the little bits of detail you've managed to spot and paint.

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    1. You're quite right that chickens are never yellow. However, *chicken costumes* are always bright yellow. Strange, isn't it :-) ?

      I agree that Nadim hasn't read the instructions, or has decided that the situation warrants ignoring them. I think he's going to get burnt and then chewed!

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  12. The firework might be more useful if pointed in the opposite direction - the exhaust used to spray the zombie and distract it.
    The key skill then would be letting go before the payload bursts.

    As portrayed, the odds seem to favour the zombie (Unless the Chicken-suit is one of those cheap non-flame-retardant ones).
    The most likely outcome is that Nadim injures himself.
    If he's smart, he runs away and saves the rocket for more favourable times.

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    1. An interesting idea: use the rocket as a crude flamethrower? As you say, you'd need to let go before the firework exploded; I imagine that this would be very difficult to judge correctly.

      I think the general feeling is that Nadim is going to hurt himself, or the zombie is going to get him, or both of the above...

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  13. More fun miniatures your showing us! I would agree with your assessment that Nadim will be blinded by the light & die horribly with the Chicken Dance song stuck as the last thought in his head. As to the Chicken suited Zombie...he has already suffered enough humiliation!

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    1. Thanks, Terry. The Chicken Dance is not something that I had thought about - until now! Of course, it won't go away from my head now...

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  14. Zombie all the way with this one, at that range the rocket will his and fall to the ground before it explodes, and probably shoot off away from CMZ anyway.

    Really nice painted figures anmd you've got to love a zombie in a chicken suit!

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Yes, I think the jury has spoken on this duel. Rockets are for longer ranges, if to be used as weapons at all. I suppose that a firework might make a good distraction, especially if it made a whistling sound as it flew through the air...

      The zombie is certainly distinctive, isn't he!

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  15. You know, I'm not sure that you're taking the zombie apocalypse entirely seriously. :)

    Btw, Chicken Man for the win.

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    1. Ah, well...
      I don't really like the idea of a slapstick apocalypse, but equally I don't want to portray a completely grimdark version either. Yes, there is horror, but there is hope as well.

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  17. Thank you for this post! I bought the Zombie mob that Chicken Man Zombie comes in around the time you wrote this post (so two years ago) and only got around to assembling and painting them today. I thought I had lost a tail piece somehow and was losing my mind trying to figure out where it might be when I realized that maybe he just didn't have a tail piece.

    Your blog is the only site I've found that has pics of CMZ from BEHIND, confirming that there is no tail piece and my model is complete and ready for painting. So you have saved me a lot of frustration!

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    1. Glad I could help :-) ! I imagine that the costume on which this model is based may have had a tail at one point, but that it's been lost in the previous adventures of CMZ (just like the right wing).

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  18. Also, I think the idea is you stab the rocket into the soft, gooey flesh of the zombie after lighting it, letting it explode inside the things rib cage. That's how I'd use it at least.

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    1. I guess that might work - though it sounds a little hard to achieve. If I had to melee with a zombie then I'd prefer a nice, sharp farm implement with a long handle rather than a rocket :-) .

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