Zombie of the Week #6: Graham

 

 

Graham

Graham doesnt know how he got to be this way.  Occasionally he gets flashes in his head that remind him of times when he wasnt always hungry, when he wasnt always cold, when he had hands.  Sometimes those flashes in his head make Graham angry and he squishes things into tiny pieces. 

Sometimes Graham gets a different flash in his head.  These flashes are red and white and shaped in a circle.  He hears voices when he sees these flashes.  The voices dont call him “Graham”.  The voices say things like “Nemesis” and “P-Virus” instead.  When he sees the red and white flashes and hears the voices, Graham feels strong and he knows what to do.  He needs to go where the voices tell him to and squish all of the things there with his feet and his arms and his teeth and his big guns.

Necrotic Bio-Mechanoid

Graham is a weird figure but fun all the same.  A couple of years ago the Dreamblade CMG was released.  I think that it was about fighting in “dreamscapes” or something else slightly odd.  There were a load of figures for it but most of them were a bit too trippy for my games: things like guys in suits with claw hammer heads and the like.

I picked Graham up whwn I bought a few of the more suitable Dreamblade figures on ebay with the intention to use him as a Umbrella/Parasol augmented Tyrant like zombie.  According to the Dreamblade character card, Graham shoots bullets of clotted blood from those huge gun-hands.  Presumably he gets up to something similar with them in the Resident Evil universe.

Graham threatens Rocko

As you can see in the shot above, Graham is huge and quite suitable to be used as a Tank or Tyrant.  The figure was supplied as grey plastic with silver painted on the guns and black on the trousers, shoes and bandana (?!).  I drybrushed the grey areas a bit to give a little more depth to the flesh and I painted in his huge beard (?! again) just to give him a little definition.  I also painted the veins travelling down to his guns, again to give a little more colour and definition. 

I could have spent a lot more time painting Graham but I figured that he was good enough at that point.  Graham is a pretty wacky figure.

Umbrella Security Service: Gamma Team

I have had a couple of packs of Foundry SWAT figures knocking around for a few years.  I figured that they would be fun to use in modern zombie games and so I painted them up recently.  Gamma Team is the first squad. 

Gamma Team Leader (right) and Trooper. Note the Umbrella logo on the trooper.

Rather than paint the figures up as traditional SWAT teams I decided to go with a more zombie themed look.  I based the scheme loosely on the USS team that featured in the first Resident Evil movie.  I always figured that they were basically the same type of unit that featured in the Resident Evil 2 PS1 game, the guys who break in to William Birkins lab in the cut scenes (like the unlockable character “Hunk”).

Gamma Team Grunts

The paint job is simple: spray black followed by a grey drybrush. I gloss varnished some of the details to give a little more visual interest, like the uniform on the guys in the movie.  The Umbrella logos and the green eye details break up the predominantly black figures a little more too. 

Gamma Guys

The figure on the right isn’t Foundry: it is a survivor figure from KingZombie.  His look is similar enough to the rest of the guys that I decided to paint him up at the same time.  It also ties this group of figures to the KingZombie SWAT zombies (to follow) a little better.

Since I photographed these guys I noticed that they required another quick coat of matt varnish in some areas.  I went back and sorted that out, but didnt have an opportunity to re-photograph them.

Sin Eater Tactical Squad Rico: Pt 2

Missile Launcher and Bolter

Part 1 is HERE.

Although Marine squads usually max out at ten men I have painted up a few extra for Squad Rico.  They are marines with different heavy weapons, giving me more flexibility when picking a force.  That sort of extra flexibility is always something that is on my mind when preparing miniatures for games, but it rarely works out as comprehensively as it did with Squad Rico.

The Missile Launcher above comes from an old (‘89 or so) GW Chaos Heavy Weapon sprue.  It is probably most familiar from its inclusion in the Space Hulk: Genestealer expansion.  The Hybrids had a few.

Plasma Gun and Bolter Marines

Bolter Marine and Sergeant Rico

Heavy Bolter and Bolter Marines

The Heavy Bolter armament above is pretty cool looking (and would be all the more so only for that annoying shine…): its a cool model.   The hand painted insignia is easily visible on the right hand guys shoulder pad.

Zombie of the Week #5: Sam

Sam

Sam had a life.  He had hopes, goals and loved ones.  Now he only has two things: his relentless hunger and his iron bar (and he isnt really that pushed about the iron bar.  I mean, he can take it or leave it, y’know?).

Rear Shot. Note the improvised club.

Sam is one of the zombies cobbled together from leftover parts from other projects and speed painted in 2003.  As part of a project dictated by a deadline, I think that he came out fine.  The couple of visible mouldlines on his left arm are probably the biggest boo-boo.  On the other hand, Sam has featured in plenty of games and this is the first time that I have noticed those lines, so its not that bad.

A lot of the zombies in this batch boast improvised weapons, usually made from the chopped down handles of the primitive farm implements that the GW zombies come with.  At the point when I assembled Sam and co the open right hand pieces had more or less run out.  Cue “iron bar” etc.

Sin Eater Tactical Squad Rico: Pt1

Squad Rico Banner Bearer

Squad Rico was one of the first squads that I painted for my Sin Eaters Chaos Marine army, over a decade ago.  They have seen a lot of tabletop action including some 3rd Edition Space Hulk and Advanced Space Crusade.  I quite like their look.

A Pair of Bolter Armed Tactical Marines

Squad Rico uses a lot fewer Chaos components than most of the other squads in the army.  When assembling the force I wanted to distinguish each unit by their armour configuration as much as insignia, to aid with recognition on the tabletop.  To this end Squad Rico is distinguished by the Imperial armour configuration, Imperial weaponry plus the then brand new plastic zombie heads.

Lascannon and Bolter armed Tactical Marines

Topdown View of the Huge Lascannon

 

Part two to follow.

Space Hulk Relic, C.A.T. & Teleport Homer

C.A.T.

These three items were painted up as MacGuffins for Space Hulk (and any other game that might require them).  The Cyber Altered Task unit (CAT) is a data collecting item that the marines have to retrieve or transport in some scenarios.  Obviously calling the rather odd looking item pictured above a “cat” is a reference to Jones in Alien.

Teleport Homer

The teleport homer was not supplied with Space Hulk but as it came in the box of terminators that I used to paint up my Iron Men terminators, I decided to put it here.  It is painted in the Iron Men chapter colours.

Blood Angel Relic

The chalice above is the second relic supplied with 3rd edition Space Hulk.  Like the C.A.T., it provides an objective for various scenarios.

I like having little painted objective pieces like these in my games.  Sometimes they can be impractically large or inconvenient but mostly I will happily use these in preference to a flat counter.

Zombie of the Week #4: Maud

Maud

Maud loved gardening.  Maud was also quite adept at holding off the hordes of undead with her gardening implements: a lopper here, a trowel there.  When the virus did eventually catch up with Maud something in her now exposed brain still kept her favouring gardening implements, although this time the harvest was brains.

Reaper

 

Maud is another old 1980s GW zombie.  As noted before I tend to avoid armed zombie miniatures if possible, but Maud made it into the horde nonetheless.

 

Encampment and Ruins

Lizardmen find a deserted campsite in the old ruins.

Todays Planet Heck contribution consists of three more or less identical tents and some ruins. 

The ruins came from the 40k 3rd edition box set and from some of the GW Lord of the Rings bits that PB gave me.  I painted a few more than those shown.  The ruins were very quick to prepare and paint and although many tournament players will have seen them in various states regularly enough to be sick of the sight of them, I still like them. They are generic enough to be suitable for use in a variety of gaming settings, if you can ignore the bulletholes on the 40k ones (I can).

The tents are part of the current Warhammer starter box set Battle for Skull Pass.  I didnt really ever buy much Warhammer Fantasy stuff, although I have a few bits and pieces.  I picked up the three tents on Ebay for very little cash.  They also came with a few other fun bits and pieces like tied up dwarfs, cute little wound/encounter markers and the like.

Although the tents are quite heavily themed to look like GW Night Goblin items, the muted colour scheme makes them more than suitable to represent a Mad Max style post-apocalyptic campsite as well as something more traditionally fantasy.

The tent with the large moon on the top was assembled in the standard fashion.  I didnt want to have three of those silly looking moons dominating the look of the encampment (even one moon is more than I wanted) however.  With that in mind I dug through some bits and pieces that I had lying around and stuck some banner parts on one tent.  I topped the other tent with funny looking little piece of plastic that I have had since Xmas nineteen-eighty-something.  The part comes from a Return of the Jedi: Jabbas the Hutt Throne Room kit.  I always thought that it was the part of Max Rebos musical instrment that emits the sound, but the picture below reveals it to be a brazier or something (the items with the red circles drawn around them, obviously).  Who knew?

Image courtesy of www.starwarsmodels.com

Another Space Hulk Weekend: Pt 2

Sgt Downey climbs over the pile of genestealer corpses that he has cut down. Fourteen 'stealers are killed in close combat alone in "Return to Kalidus: Honour Bound".

Day two of our second Space Hulk weekend started with a set of missions from White Dwarf February 1993: the Return to Kalidus campaign.

Return to Kalidus came out at the same time as the original Space Wolf: Wolf Guard Terminator box, waaay back in early 1993 or so.  The Space Wolf: Wolf Guard Terminator box consisted of five terminator figures with some slightly unorthodox weapon fits.  The box, which was what the entire Return to Kalidus campaign was based on had the following configuration:

1. Sergeant with Storm Bolter and Power Sword
2. Marine with Heavy Flamer and Chainfist
3. Marine with Assault Cannon and Power Fist
4. Marine with Storm Bolter and Chainfist
5. Marine with Storm Bolter and Power Fist

Like almost every Space Hulk player on the planet, I dont have a painted terminator model with a Heavy Flamer and a Chainfist.  The difference between a Chainfist and a Power Fist is entirely cosmetic in the scenarios that we played so it didnt make any difference.

For the purposes of this SH campaign, the marines are from the Space Wolf chapter.  In game terms that means that every member of the squad gets an additional +1 in close combat.  Not too shabby, particularly for the Sergeant, doubly so if he is on 3rd ed Guard orders.

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Return to Kalidus Mission I : A Quest for Power

A Quest for Power Set Up

In this scenario the marines are trying to get to a console on the opposite side of the map and spend some APs to find the location of the items to be procured in scenarios 2 and 3.

MTs crusade marines are joined by an Iron Man.

Despite a very promising set of opening turns, the Crusaders lose their Sergeant and Assault Cannon suddenly.

Soon the 'stealers have the run of almost the entire map.

Finally the only Marine representative still alive has a flamer with enough ammo for one shot. He bought the farm shortly afterwards.

The game ended in a win for the Genestealers (me).  Amusingly, the boy MTs performance is so hilariously dismal that it means that the rest of the campaign is supposedly defunct, as the remaining two missions simply cannot be completed without a marine victory in A Quest for Power. 

We decide to play the next one anyway, despite the campaign abruptly ending on a technicality.

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Return to Kalidus Mission II : Honour Bound

Honour Bound Set Up

Honour Bound involves an identical squad to the one that appeared in A Quest for Power trying to get through the map to find a chapter relic in one of four rooms.  The ’stealer player gets two blips per turn plus an unprecedented six starting blips.  This does not bode well for the marines.

The Marines inch forward, covering each others flanks against the vast number of 'stealers.

The flamer uses the last of its fuel to clear a room for the slow advance. The flamer marine dies almost immediately afterwards.

Sgt Downey slowly hacks his way through the corridors, a battle brother guarding his back.

The slaughter continues and the Sgt racks up his tally of bugs at this point. His battle brother is about to be overwhelmed however...

Sgt Downey is finally overcome, failing in his mission.

The game ends in a Genestealer victory for MT.

——-

The Return to Kalidus campaign is hard.  Considering that it was written for 1st ed (where Marine shooting is less effective than in 3rd ed overall) it is hard to imagine the Marines winning the second mission very often.  The only reason that the marines got as far as they did in Honour Bound was because of the Sergeant: +2 combat, plus Parry plus Guard orders is not to be sneered at (even if it is a bit uninspiring to play with/against).

Lastly, we decided to leave the third and final Return to Kalidus scenario until next time and to play one more Marine vs Marine game to round off the weekend.

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Retrieval

Retrieval Set Up (we reused the Honour Bound map, seeing as it was already set up).

We made up Retrieval on the spot.  We placed a Maguffin (a C.A.T. this time) equidistant from both sides which both sides had to get back to their deployment room.  We also used the rules from Mission IX: Regroup to stagger the arrival of the ten Power Armour marines that we each had.

MTs Emperors Voice Tactical Squad ready to deploy.

My Sin Eaters Tactical Squad Van Helden ready to go.

The game was a hair-raising, back and forth affair, with Marines diving into overwatch zones hoping to get a shot off before they got killed by return fire.

Sgt Van Helden makes an early break for the C.A.T. (top right).

Van Helden and a battle brother, just before Van Helden is cut down by enemy fire.

The lone Sin Eater sprints down the corridor after the now randomly moving C.A.T., avenging his Sarge with shots from the hip. The Emperors Voice flamer marine puts paid to his antics however, with not one, but two blasts of promethium.

The game ends with a Emperors Voice marine win for MT.

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In conclusion, Space Hulk is great.  The marine vs marine games are a bit weird, but they were fun all the same.  I will try Marine vs  Marine games out again, but I am uncertain that the mechanics are suitable for games where both sides have guns really.

That said, I still havent played any games with my Hybrids so I am sure that there will be another Space Hulk session again soon.

Zombie of the Week #3: Hank

Hank

The end came quickly to Hank.  The strains of  “Frankie Goes to Hollywood” on his i-Pod drowned out the approach of four ghouls until it was too late.  Although Hank kept himself in good shape, one infected nibble was all that it took.  This meant that “Relax” was the last song that Hank ever heard.  The rest of the album fell on dead ears.

Work those glutes Hank

Hank is a ridiculous miniature.

Hank was assembled and painted as part of the big batch of zombies prepared for Heroclix in 2003.  At the time I had lots of bits of GW kits lying around, with nearly enough zombie parts left over from the Sin Eaters to adequately zombify the other kits.  Nearly, but not quite…

 Some of the kit parts were perfectly suitable for use right away (the legs in combat pants from the Catachan sprues springs to mind).  Others, such as poor old Hanks torso from the Chaos Marauder sprue… somewhat less so.

Explaining Hanks ludicrous attire in a modern context is pretty difficult.  I took the cheap way out.