Zomtober 2020: Week 2

Introduction

<== Week 1 is here

OK, it's Zomtober, it's another Sunday - I can do this.  It's no big deal.  Just put up pictures of another zombie vs survivor "duel", like I've done before.  OK?  Here we go, then...

Polly vs Prison Escape Zombie

This week's confrontation is between a young woman called "Polly" and a zombie who is possibly in prison uniform.  Did he escape from a nearby incarceration facility?  Perhaps; the broken sign over which he is stumbling would add weight to his idea.  Let's call him "prison escape zombie" (PEZ).

Polly is a classic example of the concept that there is no dress code during the zombie apocalypse.  All I'm doing to say about her costume is that it is (to my way of thinking) a very weird assortment of styles and colours.

So, are these her working clothes?  Did she choose to dress this way when leaving home in the morning?  Or were these the only items of apparel that she could find?  All these theories seem somewhat implausible and I'm not entirely sure that I want to know the answer.

Polly comes from one of Wargames Foundry's weirder packets in the hit-and-miss Street Violence range.  I'm happy enough to have one such model in my collection, but I don't think I want a whole load more "sluts with guns".

In contrast, PEZ is a fairly plain zombie, dressed in a ripped (more accurately, shredded) tee shirt with orange trousers and gym shoes.  He's moderately damaged, both on the face and the belly - but is still lurching along.  PEZ is a Studio Miniatures model.

So, who will win this duel?  Polly seems totally relaxed and confident, she has a potent gun and seems healthy, aware and fit.  Is this a slam dunk for her?  Can anything go wrong?  Does PEZ have a chance?  You decide...

Bonus Article

Some weeks ago, when I was contemplating how to tackle the Zomtober challenge, I thought that it would be nice to include a scatter terrain or objective piece with each week's entry.  Well, I failed completely to have anything ready for Week 1!  However, I had one large (70mm?) urban base left from my long-serving, assorted packet of Escenorama resin pieces.

I also had a packet of "corpses" from TT Combat, plus quite a few bits from various Wargames Factory zombie & survivor kits.  I decided that I could put these all together to build a pile-of-bodies model.  Note that several of the contributor models have been converted, mostly to reposition limbs.

If you think that this is somewhat macabre then I agree completely.  My only defence is that this is no more associated with real life than is any zombie movie or book.

So, for bonus points, what happened here?  It looks as if someone with a gun shot down several zombies, maybe because they were feasting on the fat man.  But one of the models (centre) has no obvious injuries.  Is he/she dead?  Indeed, is he/she a zombie or a human?

Final thought: maybe Polly is feeling confident because she knows that she can kill any number of zombies; she may have been the cause of this massacre!  Just like swatting flies...

Follow me for Week 3 ==>

Zomtober 2016, Week 5

<==  Week 4 is this way

Introduction

I can hear you all thinking "Wait a minute - it's still Saturday.  Zomtober posts are traditionally made on each Sunday in the month".  True, but there's nothing in the rules (such as they are) to say that it can't be done earlier than Sunday, as long as it's each week.  Anyway, I've got a Halloween battle report to come on the 31st, so I wanted a bit of a gap between that and this post.

This will be the last of my zombie/survivor duels for 2016, so make the most of it.  After all, it's not every October that has 5 Zomtober Sundays (err, Saturdays) in it!

The Duel

Today's confrontation is between Matt and Big Momma Zombie (BMZ).  As you can see in the picture above, he is creeping up behind her, with a spade raised and ready to strike!

I usually pose my "duels" with both models facing each other.  However, when I took this pair to be varnished, I just happened to place them down on the spray turntable with her facing away from him.  I decided that I liked the way this looked; it gives quite a different angle to the story!

BMZ is from Studio Miniatures' Zombie Mob 002.  There's not really a lot of detail to paint on this model, just flesh and nightgown/slip.  I attempted to make her clothing slightly translucent, just to try out a new technique.  However, I don't think it quite worked out; the nightgown looks like a dirty white instead.  Which is OK for a zombie, but not really what I had intended.

To add a little colour to an otherwise very drab model, I painted a little tattoo on BMZ's right shoulder.  It's possibly a little too bright & solid, though?  I also added quite a bit of detail to the newspaper at her feet.  I wonder if anyone can guess which (UK) publication I used as a pattern?

Matt is one of Offensive Miniatures' street kid/young rioter models.  He's been fixed to a Basius II base, but is otherwise unconverted.  I've tried to decorate his clothing with the various stripes, slogans and logos that such a young thug might well wear in real life; this probably makes him a bit more interesting than if he was dressed in a plain-coloured top and plain trousers.

OK, here's the important bit: who wins?  Matt clearly intends an attack; presumably BMZ is blocking his path or his access to some resource.  Although maybe Matt just feels like shovel practice - you never can tell with barely-educated street kids?  He looks determined enough, but is he strong enough to inflict fatal damage in one blow (and skillful enough?  I think I might use the edge of the blade to hit the zombie, rather than the flat part)?

If Matt doesn't fell BMZ with a single strike then he might be in trouble.  If she turns and grabs for him then he'll have difficulty breaking free - just look at the size of her hands!  And I don't think she'll have any qualms about eating him either; I'm pretty sure that not all the blood on the gown is her own!

Zomtober 2015 - Week 3

<--  Week 2 is this way

Introduction

Another Sunday, another Zomtober challenge entry.  Will the madness never stop?

Naw, it's all right really; I'm loving it!  I've probably painted more miniatures this month already than I did in the previous 3 months put together - and they're not all zombie-related either.  For Zomtober this week, we have an old mini that I've finally finished (after it had been on my workbench for what seems like years) as well as a brand new figure, built from start to finish in the last 10 days or so.

The Duel

Once again, I shall present a duel between a survivor and a zombie.  This time, the confrontation is between Father Murphy and Garden Party Zombie (hereafter "GPZ").

Father Murphy is an out-of-the-box build from the Wargames Factory "Apocalypse Survivors: The Men" kit.  I glued this model together many months ago and started the painting, but didn't get very far before I ran out of inspiration.  He seemed to be just another fairly bland, assault-gun-wielding, trenchcoat wearing action guy and that didn't excite me enough to complete the model.

As part of this Zomtober challenge, I looked at the figure again.  It suddenly came to me that a black shirt and a white dog collar would turn him into a priest.  Suddenly, the model had a completely different vibe!

GPZ is a "Zombie Vixen" (again, from Wargames Factory).  She's had a hat added from a Warlord Games set of Royalist Infantry, although I think it's sitting a little bit high on her head.  It seems that straw hats were all the rage for 17th century English peasants as well as for modern ladies...

Her base is made from a Basius II pad, though all of it apart from the fallen sign has been covered with flock.  The lettering on the sign is a home-made decal.

GPZ has been in the wars a bit; she has torn clothing, significant wounds to her leg and one arm is partly missing.  For all that, she is (was?) a tall, if somewhat skinny woman and probably has a certain amount of physical strength.

Who will win this encounter?  Father Murphy has obtained some heavy weaponry from somewhere, but does he know how to use it?  He's firing from the hip (never a good sign) and he seems to be aiming at her torso.  Whilst a burst from an M-16 will certainly chew up a zombie badly, it won't finish the job without a head shot.  Does he know what to do and is he capable of executing it?

On the other hand, GPZ looks somewhat surprised to find that she is indeed a zombie.  If she has any remnants of her previous humanity left then she might be too well bred to chow down on the vicar, at least at first.  How will this end?  I'm not sure...

Week 4 is this way -->

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 ==>

Zomtober 2013, Week 3

Week 2 is this way <--.

Well, this is now week 3 of Zomtober.  I'll confess that it nearly caught me out, since I've been concentrating on painting witch hunters for the last week.  Still, I had some appropriate models on my workbench that were largely completed, so I've finished them off quickly.

Today's duel is between "Emma" (codename "M") and "Romero zombie".  Emma is a rookie member of the secretive "Men in Blue" organisation, though obviously women are also recruited.

How do I know that Emma is a rookie?  Well, for starters, she's turned up for the apocalypse in totally unsuitable shoes.  High heels like this are really not very practical for fighting or running ("shoes to die for"?).
Secondly, she seems to have fired low: the zombie has wounds only in the belly and these will not incapacitate it.

The question is this: will Emma retain her composure enough to aim for the head (and will she be steady enough to achieve this)?  If so then her machine pistol will easily have enough fire-power to dispatch the zombie.  However, if she continues to try for the easier body shot then the zombie will only be knocked back and inconvenienced until her ammunition is exhausted!

Emma is from Wargames Factory's "The Women" survivors.  "Romero zombie" is a special edition figure from Studio Miniatures (and could in one sense be described as "patient zero"; the person who started the entire zombie plague).

Week 4 is here -->

Zomtober 2013, Week 2

Week 1's entry is here <--

Right, we're well into Zomtober 2013 now; this is the second week (see here if you don't know what Zomtober is).  Once again, I'm going to present a small duel between a survivor and a zombie.  So, without further ado, here they are:

"Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough!"

Once in a while, any long-term model-maker comes across a figure that is just right.  So it was with "Joan", the survivor with the pipe bomb in her hand.  She's been built from Wargames Factory's "The Women" set, without any conversions or additions.  However, the moment I had selected the parts I wanted and had glued them together, I thought that I had something special.  I've tried to make the painting fit my vision of this survivor and overall I'm very pleased with the way she came out.

Facing her is a very skeletal zombie from Studio Miniatures.  This came as part of my Kickstarter reward a while ago; I think that he (she?) was created especially for that event and isn't generally available.

In my mind, he's a "smartie" zombie, or at least he's retained some level of threat instinct.  He's clearly a bit taken aback by the defiant attitude of the woman and is pausing to consider his next move.

So, who will win this duel?  If Joan can ram her pipe bomb into the zombie's exposed rib cage then it's all over.  However, he may be too cunning to let that happen!

Week 3's entry is here -->

The Workbench: Mixed Allsorts

Introduction

I've been making slow progress with my model-making projects recently.  At least it seems very slow, though maybe that's because I am dividing my attention so many different ways.  Each separate task doesn't advance by much, but maybe the total output is reasonable.  Anyway, here are some things I've been working on over the last month or so.

Apocalypse Survivors

These figures are both from Wargames Factory.  I think they're very well proportioned and sculpted plastics.  Only time will tell if they are robust enough to take handling...

A slightly unfortunate angle here for the guy on the left.  Before anyone else says it, he looks like he's taking a leak.  While shooting someone.  It's really not like this - just look at the front view!

Prison Zombie

I've painted this Studio Miniatures plastic zombie up as a prisoner.

It's hardly an original idea, but these "smock" bodies from the kit work well for such a costume.  I wish Imy hand was steadier when it comes to lettering, though!

Barbarians

I don't normally show part-completed pieces, but today I'm making an exception.  These are some of my part-painted 28mm barbarian army for "Hordes of the Things".  There's still a long way to go with them and I'm hoping that merely displaying them here will give me enough momentum to carry on painting.  This lot have their bodies and clothing mostly finished, but weapons, hair, shields and bases still need work.  I might add some war paint as well.

Wicked Witch of the West

Here's another part-completed model.  In this case, it would be fairer to say that it's only part-started, perhaps.  It will be the magician general for my "Wicked Witch of the West" Hordes of the Things army (from the Wizard of Oz, of course).  As well as the witch herself, I plan to have flights of crows decorating the stand, since in the book she sent such birds to attack Dorothy's group.  Rather than just having a flat base, I intended the crows to be flying over a tree stump - it'll give them a bit more height and add some useful texture.  The yellow lump of filler on the base is my first attempt at sculpting a stump, though note that I haven't done any roots or stuff like that yet.  I'm not very happy with my sculpting so far...

Space Battleship Yamato

Lastly, here's the finished second ship from my plastic "Space Battleship Yamato" kits.  This is obviously a small craft and I'll probably use it in 5150: Fighter Command as a civilian vessel - a space yacht or a fast courier would seem appropriate.  To be honest, I don't much like the design of this vessel and I really wish I'd modified it by cutting the "wing" into 2 halves and repositioning it - but instead I built it straight "out of the box".  Ah, well.

Finally

That's all, folks.  See you next time!

Miguel and Ann - Zombie Survivors

Just a quick update today, showing some of the models I've completed over the last month.  It's taken a while to get back into the swing of things after a long winter/spring where I didn't feel much like doing any painting.  But, I'm getting there...

Miguel

This model is from Studio Miniatures, where he's called "Miguel".  I decided that the name given by the manufacturer fitted very well, so I've kept that for my version.  He's armed with a strange weapon that looks like a spear gun to me, so I've added a small arrow head to the end of the barrel.  No doubt he's modeled after a character from some zombie film or game, but I don't recognise him.  I expect someone will tell me who he is, though :-) .

The original model had a very strange pose, as if peering into the ground.  I suppose this would make sense if he was leaning over a body of water to get a shot with his spear gun, but it didn't really work for me.  Instead, I've straightened him up and rested the left foot on a broken-down wall.

Ann

Ann is a converted Wargames Factory Zombie Vixen.  She's dressed only in her night clothes, though I've added a large kitchen knife to her hand.  I imagine that Ann has woken up to find the apocalypse has started without her and has run out of the house in terror, stopping only to grab the nearest weapon!

For comparison, here's Ann beside a zombie I made some time ago from the same kit.  There's nothing much you can do to change the basic body pose, but different arms, head and colour make them quite distinct.

Zombies

As well as these survivors, a couple of fresh (?!) zombies made it to the end of the production line in the last week or so:

Look out, this one's armed!  He's dragging a cricket bat from one hand, though I'd say it wasn't certain that the zombie knows how to use it.  Still, you never know.   This is a limited edition model from Studio Miniatures; I received it as part of their plastic zombie kickstarter deal.

Finally, here's another Studio figure.  She's obviously dressed up in her party clothes and even though there's no blood and no bite marks on her, I find this model quite sinister.  There's something about child zombies that makes me shudder.  Even though a "representative" population should certainly have young victims, I don't plan on collecting more than a token few.

Studio Survivors and Zombie 3

Introduction

Back in December last, I showed some of my Studio Miniatures 28mm plastic zombies.  I also described a survivor that I'd converted from one of the same models.  Well, I've continued to experiment; here are 2 more survivors and a further zombie.

Scott

Scott was made from the body, head and left arm of a Studio plastic zombie.  The right arm and gun were spares from the Hasslefree "Kev" figure.  Because of the way that the gun arm was sculpted, I had to remodel the (plastic) supporting arm quite a bit to make things fit.  Indeed, Scott's left arm is a bit longer than his right arm - though this is only noticeable from certain viewing angles.

Isaac

For Isaac, I only used  a body from the Studio plastic zombies.  The head, arms and weapon are spares from a set of Westwind bikers.  Again, the left arm had to be repositioned quite a bit to make it fit.  The added metal parts are clearly a bit chunkier than the plastic body, so Isaac looks rather top heavy.

"Traffic Cone" Zombie

At the same time, I made another zombie as it was intended to be made!  This is a straightforward, Studio Miniatures, plastic zombie to help swell the ranks of my horde.  The traffic cone is scratch built.

Conclusion

If you have a well-stocked spares box then it's obviously possible to convert the Studio Miniatures plastic zombies into something else.  Positioning arms for a 2-handed weapon (or a 1-handed item braced with the second hand) is a pain, in my experience.  If you're looking for an easier build then don't choose a 2-handed pose!  Also note that even though I have a reasonable amount of spares from other manufacturers, many of these parts just didn't look right.  Typically, spare metal parts will be too bulky for the more delicate Studio plastics.

My final thought: I've spent a lot of effort on these (bah!) but ended up with some unique models, very cheaply (yay!).  Of course, if I'd been just a little more patient then I believe that Wargames Factory are now about to ship or are already shipping a set of plastic, multi-part survivors.  Perhaps converting models like this is not needed after all...

[Update: now that the Wargames Factory survivors are available (Men and Women), I've done some further conversion work here: http://colgar6.blogspot.com/2013/09/wargames-factory-conversions.html ]