Zomtober 2014 - Week 4

<== Week 3 is this way

Introduction

It's the 4th and final week of Zomtober 2014, so I'm going to present another in my series of "duels" between a single survivor and a single zombie.  Rather than just launching into the models, here's a little background:

Iggy was a small, drab man who was not very successful in life.  He always felt that this was because everyone and everything had been unfair to him since the day he was born.  He'd had a hard time at school and until recently his boss had bullied him at work.  But since the plague had broken out, he'd not seen anyone else, including any of his detested colleagues.  The shops were shut, buses weren't running and even the phone lines were dead.

For once, there was no-one nearby to tell Iggy what to do or to tell him what was "appropriate".  He could please himself - and what he wanted to do most was to burn things!  There was nothing wrong with the world that couldn't be put right with some fire.  All the misery, all the sickness in the city would be cleansed by the purifying, noble flames.  He'd just have some fun to start with: a can of petrol and some bottles would do nicely...

The Duel

I don't think that Iggy is looking where he's going properly.  He's in his own dream world and hasn't noticed the zombie that's right beside him.  Also, Iggy might have found it easier to use a backpack or something to hold all his kit, as he seems to have too much in his hands: he's dropping things.

The zombie is a straightforward Studio Miniatures plastic zombie, though I've used one of my tee shirt decals to decorate him.  I made a bit of a mess of this one: the coloured background was hard to match with paint for the rest of the shirt.  Also paint seeped under the decal, blurring the white lettering.  I had to twist the zombies left leg a bit to get him to stand straddling the kerb (i.e. with one foot on a higher surface than the other), but I think this looks all right.

Iggy is made from the body and arm of a Studio Miniatures plastic zombie.  The other arm (holding the Molotov cocktail) comes from a Wargames Factory survivor kit.  The slightly over-sized head is from a Gripping Beast Dark Age warrior.  The jerry-can is a metal casting from some vehicle accessories sprue, possibly from the old VOID range.

Like many of my recent figures, both of these models make use of resin bases from Escenorama.  I've mentioned before that the heights of these are a bit uneven and that can be seen easily here.  Iggy's base has been shortened with a razor saw by perhaps 1.5mm .  However, the zombie's base was merely sanded smooth - I built him some time earlier in the month before I decided that some of these bases were really too tall for my liking.

Conclusion

I've enjoyed greatly making these models for Zomtober 2014.  Without the spur of this joint enterprise and the encouragement from all the other participants and from the spectators, I doubt that I'd have built any of the figures I've shown over the last 4 weeks.  Indeed, I've also completed several further survivors and zombies that haven't been so suitable for a "duel".  So, in theory I should have more space on my workbench as these models (some of which have been sitting there, partly built, for a long time!) are moved off it.  In practice, of course, that bench space has already been filled (and more) by other projects.  Ah, well!

So, who will win this duel?  Well, I cannot see Iggy coming out of it alive!.  Either he finds his matches or lighter in a hurry or he doesn't.  If it's the former then I suspect that both Iggy and the zombie will be burnt to a crisp - not because he desires it, but simply because fire really isn't a good close range weapon!  If Iggy doesn't find his matches then the zombie won't have any difficulty in killing him, though if there's a struggle and the can is spilt then the zed might find that fuel-soaked flesh doesn't taste very good.

Zomtober 2014 - Week 3

<-- Week 2 is this way

Introduction

It's another Sunday in October, so here's another entry in the Zomtober challenge.  Once more, I'm presenting a duel between a survivor and a zombie - or is he?

The Duel

Today's confrontation is between Rebecca and "I'm not a zombie" zombie (INAZZ).  She's a straight build from Wargames Factory's "Survivors: The Women" kit, while he is one of Studio Miniatures' plastic zombies.

It looks to me as if Rebecca has been taken by surprise: she was just about to step forwards over the kerb when the guy appeared on the road to her side.  Rebecca has dropped her mobile phone (it's on the man's base), has whipped out a couple of weapons from somewhere and is in the process of spinning round to confront her assailant.

But is INAZZ a zombie at all?  He doesn't look very healthy, but maybe he's just cold, hungry, disoriented, drunk or has a bad cold?  His tee shirt says that he isn't a zombie - but since when did you believe anything that was printed on a tee shirt?

Both of these models are decorated with home-made tee shirt decals and have been fixed to resin urban bases from Escenorama.  You can read my mini-review of these bases here.  I haven't yet written an article about the tee shirt decals, but I will do so really soon - I promise!  Just be patient for a little longer, please...

Conclusion

So, who will win this duel?  It looks to me as if Rebecca is about to land a flurry of blows from her meat cleaver and katana on the unresisting INAZZ.  If he's a zombie then that's well and good; he'll go down.  However if he's really another survivor then will she have the presence of mind to realise this and halt her attack?  Or is she just reacting instinctively, too startled to do anything other than lash out?

Week 4 is this way ==>

Escenorama Urban Bases

Introduction

Normally when I'm basing miniature figures, I use either the plain base that came with the model or I use a 25mm washer and some filler.  Either way, I then decorate the base a little with (usually) sand, gravel and a little static grass.  That's fine for most rural or wilderness scenes, but doesn't really portray town or city streets very well.

Many months ago, I purchased a mixed bag of bases from one of North Star's occasional sales.  At the time I had no particular need for them, but they were cheap enough for me to buy "just in case".  In other words, they were a bargain!

The Facts

Now that I'm building some zombies and survivors as part of the Zomtober 2014 challenge, I've retrieved this bag of bases from storage and examined them a bit more closely.  So, what can I tell you about them?

Firstly, these are resin bases, made by Escenorama of Spain.

There are 3 different sizes of round base in the mixed set that I bought: 25mm, 40mm and 63mm (?).  I'm not sure if the latter are nominally 60mm or 65mm, but careful measurement suggests that they're somewhere in between.  As might be expected in such a variety pack, the smallest bases are more numerous than the bigger ones.

There is a very good variety amongst the bases.  Both of the largest ones are of different designs, the 40mm bases have several forms and I've discovered 10 distinct patterns amongst the 25mm bases.

What I Like

• The number of different patterns is very impressive and should allow me to produce some quite unique models.  Lots of variety!
• They're cheap - though since I bought mine in a sale that's perhaps not a completely fair comment.  Your mileage may vary, as they say...
• Resin is easy to drill, glue and paint, so they present no great technical difficulties.

Nit-Picking

• This may be a bit fussy, but there are a few tiny air bubbles on some of the bases.  More significantly, one or two bases still have some of the rubber mould attached to them; they've torn the moulds when they've been released.  That's not so much of a problem for me, but it will degrade the quality of the next casts from those same moulds.  Of course, it might be that the manufacturer binned those damaged moulds and made fresh ones anyway, in which case there would be no problem at all.
• Some of the bases are very slightly distorted, as if the moulds have flexed a little as the item was being cast.  I don't think that anything will be noticeable once the bases are sanded, painted and finished, but it might annoy a purist.
• Another really petty point: the discarded items on the bases (crushed cans, sports bottles) are a bit over-scale.  They're larger than they should be for 28mm figures.  Looking on the bright side, it'll certainly make these features stand out when the bases are painted!
• Although they're all different, there are a lot of manhole covers on these urban bases.  OK, I suppose that they add interest to what might otherwise just be featureless paving or tarmac, but other things could do that as well.  Perhaps the odd damaged piece, a pothole in the road or something like that would be nice?

Things that are less good

I haven't really got much to say here, but I feel that I need to put something otherwise this review will look a bit unbalanced.

• The depth of the bases is a bit uneven - some are much deeper than others.  Also, they have a distinct "wasp waist" around the middle of the rim.  I've had to use filler on the ones I've used so far, just to give the bases smooth, sheer sides and while that's not a difficult task, it's an extra piece of work that maybe shouldn't have been necessary.

The Bottom Line

These are perfectly acceptable accessories that will paint up well and add a lot of interest to suitable figures.  The full price may put some people off and the quality of manufacture is good rather than excellent.

What happens next?

This should be obvious, really!  Some of the 25mm bases will make an appearance as part of the models I build for Zomtober 2014.  You should be able to see the first of these in next Sunday's post, so stay tuned.

I'm less sure about the 40mm and 63mm bases.  I suppose that if I was using these for proper military forces then they'd be good for crewed weapons such as heavy machine guns, mortars or small anti-tank guns.  However I'm pretty much only using this style of base for individual skirmish games.  I suppose that I could use them for multi-based hordes of zombies or rioters?  The larger bases should be able to hold 10 or 20 shamblers easily enough...