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.

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.

 

Zombie of the Week #56: Knopfler

Knopfler

Knopfler ended up in dire straits after a run in with the infected.  Now the walking dead are his only brothers in arms.

Knopfler was put together from leftover kit parts in 2003.  Unlike most of the zombies that I made up in that batch he is passable as a modern zombie (well, if 80′s style headband wearing still counts as “modern”).

Zombie of the Week #48: James

James

James fell foul of the same neurone plague that beset the ship that André served upon.  James had to be forced to follow Andre off the plank out of the airlock and into the depths.   Spacegoing pirate or not he and his cursed kind would not be tolerated on any vessel o’ that type.

Scurvy

More or less everything that was said about André last week could be said about about James this time around, so I will direct you there for further details.

Zombie of the Week #47: André

André

André was happy to leave the dull agri-world that he grew up on and to become an amoral space pirate when the opportunity presented itself.  He spent many a cycle lootin’ an’ pillagin an’ drinkin an’ fightin’ until he picked a fight with a carrier of the Gargleflarkian Neurone Plague.

Soon after he lost his leg he lost his mind and attacked his fellow swabs until the bilge rats subsequently threw him overboard.  Arrr!

Bandana

André is another one of the zombies that I put together essentially from leftover parts in 2003.  It was an attempt to pad out the ranks of my zombies so that sufficient number would be avilable to stress a large number of Heroclix players trying to rescue a scientist from the middle of a mall.  I ran the scenario about ten times in total over a few years and it got better as I tweaked it.

Anyway, at the time I was spectacularly broke so there wasnt a hope that I would be able to buy any new zombie figures.  While making big piles of plastic components and simply sticking them together was kinda fun, it did mean that some… unconvincing zombies emerged, like André.  Who is of course only unconvincing when it isnt International Talk Like a Pirate day.  Which is a relief, because its International Talk Like a Pirate Day today.

Zombie of the Week #38: Sid

Sid

Sid was ejected from the Ayatollah of Rock and Rollahs entourage when he took ill and attacked a colleague.  Whilst in life he pursued sources of gaz-o-line across the wasteland, in death his goals have changed from the black juice to the red juice.

Wasteland Wanderer

Sid was assembled in 2003 from a pile of kit parts that I had left over from other projects.  A side effect of using large numbers of plastic zombie heads for my Sin Eaters was that I had a lot of zombie legs, arms and bodies but few heads.  As a result a number of my rank and file zombies have somewhat incongruous heads.

Add to that the budgetary constraints that I had around then plus the limited time that I had to prepare the 2003 batch of zombies and you get a weird looking bunch of shamblers.  Sid is one of the most extremely goofy.

The only way to explain Sids hair and attire is in a post-apocalyptic, Mad Max type environment I reckon.  Everyone knows that in a post apocalyptic wasteland fancy hairstyles are a priority, followed closely by ass-less leather chaps.  Presumably Sid subscribed to this school of thought before he “died”.

Zombie of the Week #16: Dave

Dave

Dave roams the post-apocalyptic wasteland in search of food.  Dressed in rags and sodden with gore he still retains enough brain power to wield a knife, albeit in a crude fashion.  It seems to have served him well enough so far.

Undead, yet modesty still prevails

Dave was assembled and painted in 2003.  It was a crude job from start to finish.  In 2009 I went back over nearly every one of my zombie figures to repaint the bloody areas a little better.  In some cases I may have gone overboard a little, such as in Daves case.  On the other hand I quite like the hyper-messy, blood spattered 28 Days Later/House of the Dead: Overkill look to be honest.  In the context of a large horde of zombie figures, Dave fits in just fine.

Iacon Guardian Squad Nephtys

Two Iaconian Guardians

The Iacon Craftworld was the last 40K army that I painted, and it broke my heart

A bit of an aside here, bear with me:

The first army that I painted for 40k back in my teens was Eldar.  I have always been more interested in the creative side of the hobby than the gaming (although I love that too) and as such always chose what forces to play based on one of two things: either they were the figures that looked the nicest to me (Eldar) or that I thought that I could have a lot of fun with them as a modelling project (Sin Eaters).

Squad Nephtys Guardians

I played a lot of games with the Sin Eaters and they were pretty well regarded aesthetically.  That meant that when I finally got around to doing another Eldar army that I wanted to do “a good job” on them.

The Sin Eaters each took a very long time to paint and although it may not look like it, the Iacon guys possibly took even longer.  Painting that gold took ages and it doesnt even show.  Oh well.  They still look good I think, they just dont really look as good as they should considering the time spent on them.

This army was a turning point for me when I decided that the painting methods that I was using were too time consuming and that I needed to rationalise the process more.  That principle has continued up until the present day.

Nephtys Gunner and Guardian

There is a vaguely Egyptian theme running through the force (it isnt really that visible other than colour choice in Squad Nephtys) that should hopefully be more apparent in some of the other units.

Nephtys Gunner and Star Cannon Grav Platform

The hand painted symbol on the cannon fairing is repeated on the right shoulder plate of each squad member.  Although the plates used varied from squad to squad, that variable glyph motif continued through the whole force.

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.

Zombie of the Week #3: Hank

Hank

The end came quickly for 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.