Short Hiatus

Following on from last weeks hi-jinks I am up to my gills in college and work commitments.  As a result I am going too have to take a week or two off regular posting.

Back when things calm down a bit, in a week or two.  I should be able to get some photos taken of some of the newer stuff that I have painted before then too.

Zombie of the Week #64: Tyrese

Tyrese

Tyrese new diet of raw human flesh seems to be suiting him.  At least, his physique hasn’t suffered as much as his looks have.

Furry Lining

Like invisible trumpet playing reanimated cadaver Basil from a few weeks ago, Tyrese has a little bit of “jazz hands” going on.  The stumbling/running forward pose isnt too bad though: it suggests the close range stumbling lunge from the genre quite well to me.  Although the figure was put together from leftovers from other projects I still managed to rustle up my favourite head from the GW zombie sprue.

Tyrese obviously has some trouble fitting into a modern setting, with the big over-the-shoulder chain and strange circular armoured gut area (from the GW Chaos Marauder sprue).  The figure is probably better suited to the post apocalyptic genre, famed for its larger than life fashion statements.

Real Life Consequence

No “proper” post today Im afraid.  I skidded on patch of ice on my way to work this morning (Tuesday), spun 180 degrees and crashed my car into a ditch.  Twice.

No permanent damage to me (the same cannot be said for my Toyota Corolla), but my enthusiasm for writing about toy soldiers is uncharacteristically absent right now.  Thats a rarity for me.

Despite the rude intrusion of real life into the reality-free-zone that is this blog,  I will be heroically back on schedule on Sunday.

Zombie of the Week #63: Elliot

 

Elliot

Elliot bumped back and forth around the installation for a few days until he ran out of undead enthusiasm, when he sat down and stared for a few weeks.  Then the sound of voices alerted him and gave him yet another lease of life.  The survivors that he met didnt remain survivors for very long.

 

Ouch.

Elliot is yet another of my “makeweight” zombies that were built out pf spare parts and painted very quickly.  Elliot has been a regular in my zombie games ever since then.

 

Chapter Relics

I found these figures in the attic of a relatives house last summer.  I painted them while I was living there back in 1990 or so when I was fifteen.  They are painted to match the colour scheme of my first Space Marine army.

The miniatures are the same seriously dodgy Terminators that were supplied with the original Space Hulk box.  The figures are undeniably clunky, but have a very functional charm as gaming pieces, from my nostalgia ridden perspective at least.  Being as devoid of animation as they are, they are as obviously boardgame pieces as something like the top hat from Monopoly or even a pawn from a cheap set of Snakes and Ladders.

I also found a painted Terminator Librarian from the Deathwing supplement.  Another goofy early GW plastic.

I got a kick out of finding these figures and I dusted them off ready for a game of Space Hulk or Advanced Space Crusade or something similar in the future.  While the paint jobs are a scary twenty years old, they are perfectly fine for gaming with.

Funnily enough when I traded on Boardgamegeek for a set of 2nd edition Space Hulk back in 2008 I painted up another batch of the same sculpts, visible here and here.

At the time I was going through a sort of minimalist phase in my figure painting and I was trying to see the smallest amount of work required to do to a figure to get it finished well enough to game with.  This was mainly in an effort to try to make a serious dent in the lead and plastic mountain and to get some projects (like Space Hulk, Mutant Chronicles: Siege of the Citadel and Descent: Journeys in the Dark) finished for once, at the expense of paint job quality. I found it curious to compare the figures painted in 2008 with the same figures painted eighteen years earlier.

Zombie of the Week #62: Jagger

Jagger

Jagger contemplates who his next recycled meal will come from.

Pipe Wielding Corpse

Jagger is one of the first zombie figures that I ever painted.  The figure is a Necromunda zombie that I painted for a scenario around the time that I was playing Resident Evil 2 on the PS1. A fun figure that I would approach differently if I were to paint it these days but still perfectly adequate for gaming with as is.  Apart from the hand weapons (which I would rather avoid in my zombie figures) the Necromunda zombies are nice figures that are great fun to paint.

Zombie of the Week #61: Icke

Icke

Known for his unorthodox stance on many issues, Icke was one of the least surprised people to find that a zombie plague was ravaging the country… even when he contracted it himself.

Posthumous Posterior

An unknown poster on a miniatures forum called the a Mantic Zombie sprue head on this figure the “David Icke head”.  Ever since I havent been able to think of it as anything other than that.

Like Lance from last week, Icke is one of my “fast” zombies that are themed around hospital patients (explanation here).  I like the contrast between the plain, artificial look of the gown and the slightly more naturalistic, richer mix of tones on the flesh.  The contrast makes for a good gaming figure I think.