Resident Evil Regenerators

Regenerators

Regenerators are one of the more memorable bad guys from Resident Evil 4.  They are the zombies that are animated by a number of Las Plagas parasites throughout their bodies (well they are called parasites, but I dont think that parasites inhabit dead things, do they?).

They were as creepy as all get out and required judicious use of the infra red sniper scope to surgically dispatch the various parasites that controlled it.  Regular damage to a Regenerator was inevitably… wait for it… regenerated.  They were great bad guys and according to the Resident Evil Wiki, they are the only true zombies in the entire game.  The rest of the bad guys generally being living humans inhabited by a parasitic bug of one sort or another dontcha know.

RE4 Iron Maiden (Regenerator Boss)

The Iron Maiden above is a boss version of the Regenerator.  As it is hard to find a decent picture of a Regenerator online you will have to settle for the boss version.  The only real visual difference is the spikes that protrude from the Iron Maiden.

The miniatures are Tortured Shamblers from Pardulon.  The figures are resin and the pair that I got had a lot of flashing.  As a result I had difficulty painting them, particularly on the legs which I had scraped almost featureless.

They worked out ok in the end although I would approach the painting differently if I were to paint them again.  They have that somewhat palsied look that is very suggestive of the RE Regenerators, plus they are quite tall: very zombie boss like.

Bandy-legged Rear Shot

Finally, here is a comparison shot of the Shamblers plus the Licker from a while back in comparison with some other figures for scale reference.  The Tickler is included just because it is the base figure used to make the Licker.

L to R: Horrorclix Tickler, Pardulon Tortured Shambler, Lead Bones not-Leon S. Kennedy, Licker (converted Horrorclix), Hasslefree Ray, Pardulon Tortured Shambler

L4D Chargers

Chargers

More Left 4 Dead “special” infected, this time Chargers from L4D2.

Chargers as they appear in L4D2 are strangely mutated infected, even amongst the odd special infected that appear in the franchise.  Their dominant feature is one hideously overgrown arm with a correspondingly massive diametrically opposed leg.  The remaining limbs have atrophied almost entirely: it looks to me from the reference pictures almost as if they have been chemically burnt away.

A Charger as it appears in L4D2

I was tempted to paint the wasted limbs in a similar way, but i was afraid that they might just end up looking a bit unfinished or confusing in the context of the other huge scaly arms, so I left the smaller limbs painted as the rest of the “normal” flesh as is.

This weird mutation gives the Charger the ability to charge bull-like into survivors knocking them far enough away from the group to almost ensure their death.  According to Wikipedia they can also use their honking huge arm to pick up survivors and slam them against the ground (I have only played a boozy hour or two of L4D in a friends house, so I am relying on the internet for the details).

Another L4D2 Charger. This one seems to be mutated to a greater degree than the first one.

Like the other L4D special infected that I have put together/painted I wanted to go for an immediately recognisable look, but I didnt want to feel that I had to copy the concept exactly.  Like the hoodies on the Hunters I thought that the hillbilly dungarees would help to suggest “Charger” so when I spotted the Cold Wars zombie in dungarees I figured that that sculpt would be good for use as the “chassis” for the figures.

Huge Honkin' Arm.

The right arms are made from a GW Chaos Mutation sprue arm and an Ork arm respectively.  Both of those have had a lot of green stuff work done to them to blend them in, to bulk up the shoulders and add the scales.  I had never used Green Stuff to do anything other than fill holes before these two figures and so I am pleased that they came out as well as they did.

The Charger on the right also had a head swap with a West Wind zombie.

The Hasslefree “Mutant Grant” figure is the obvious not-Charger figure available (but it isnt out until Salute in a few weeks I think).

I am a very big fan of Hasslefree figures but I must admit that Mutant Grant isnt really as Charger-y as I would like.  Grant obviously has a huge deformed arm but for whatever reason Mr. Hasslefresian decided to sculpt Grant with two normal legs.  That is of course up to him but it surprised me really.

The diagonal contrast of deformed big versus deformed small is one of the things that I like about the L4D Charger design.  As a result I chopped off one of each of my Chargers feet and replaced them with feet from Heroclix figures (Wendigo and M&M Beast to be exact).  Not that I am favourably comparing my very amateur sculpting and converting to anything from Hasslefree you understand, its just that I thought that it was a pity that Mutant Grant didnt have the one-big-foot look that I like.

Resident Evil Licker

L4D Chargers were supposed to be up this week, but I changed my mind. They are coming soon, probably next week (edit: and then I forgot to reschedule the Chargesr post anyway so the whole lot went up.  Ho hum).  I have a Resident Evil Licker to showcase today instead.

Licker

Lickers debuted in the RE franchise towards the end of the last century, way back in RE2.  Their first appearance was a pretty creepy scuttle across the outside of a Racoon City PD window after which they made a lasting impression in the next room, usually by decapitating Leon S. Kennedy with their enormous tongue.

Since those not so humble beginnings, they have become a staple of the franchise, featuring as the big bad in the first RE movie and hunting some S.T.A.R.S. members in the church in the second movie (before being blown to pieces by a motorcycle mounted, twin uzi wielding Alice).  They also regularly show up in most of the RE games.

A Licker as it appears in the Resident Evil games.

A couple of shots of the video game Licker.

Another video game Licker

While not “fast” zombies per se (their first appearance predates the development of that particular zombie sub-group by a few years trivia fans) Lickers are more akin in behaviour to a Jurrasic Park velociraptor that can stick to walls than a shambling zombie.

Bcause of this I chose to use a Horrorclix Tickler figure to convert into my Licker.  I always liked the half scuttling, half galloping dynamic pose of the model.  The tail and head had to go.  I used green stuff to cover up where the tail had been and I used a Heroclix Venom figures head as the basis for the Licker head.  I left the spines on the back of the figure as even though they are not strictly accurate for a Lickers appearance, I thought  that they looked good and were worth keeping as a point of visual interest on the figure.  Mutant variation like that is very in keeping with the whole RE thing anyway.

V-ACT Mutation

Lickers dont have visible eyes or ears and instead have a weirdly distorted brain that bulges out of the whole cranial area.  Making a convincing miniature brain for a Licker figure had been a stumbling block for me up until his model.

I tend to be better at assembling bits and pieces in various ways than I am sculpting things.  The apprentice period required to get to a passable sculpting level put me off trying miniature sculpting in more or less any way until this figure.  I used Green Stuff to make the brain and to add the sinewy looking muscle parts around the Lickers mouth.  I think that the brain worked out better than the sinew but I think that both are passable.

The confidence boost that I got out of the sculpted areas on the Licker has meant that I have started doing a bit more green stuff work on some other figures since (the upcoming L4D Chargers being the most noteworthy).

To top it all off I am also pleased with how the paint job worked out.  I wanted the scheme to suggest that the Licker was in some way flayed (because thats what they look like.  They have no skin) but I didnt want to get bogged down in very fiddly painting of muscle striations or anything very time consuming and Golden Demon-y like that.  I came up with a compromise that I am very happy with.

And so my project to get a tabletop worthy version of one of my favourite villains from one of my favourite franchises turned out to be particularly satisfying.  Go me

L4D Jockeys

Jockey

“Jockeys” are  sub-type of zombie (well “infected” rather than zombie really, but I wont split hairs…) that appear in the Left 4 Dead 2 video game.  Like all of the”special” zombies in L4D they have traits that distinguish them from the regular members of the horde.

The Jockeys schtick is to come out of nowhere at a players character and leap onto its back.  The Jockey then “steers” the player either towards the oncoming horde of normal zeds or else into some sort of in-game hazard, like a ravine or burning building or similar.

The Jockey as it appears in Left 4 Dead 2

I am unaware of any existing miniatures available designed to represent a Jockey.  Regardless, I thought that it would be fun to put a couple together from parts of other figures to go with my Hunters and Witches.  I based the figures that I put together on what I have seen of Jockeys in the video game (which isnt much, I just played it for an hour or two once) and mainly from the picture above.

Packed (dragged?) Lunch

I noticed recently that the plastic GW Crypt Ghouls have similarly hunched backs to Jockeys.  The ghoul heads, while nice are a bit recognisable.  The also have pointed ears which I really wanted to avoid.  They are bald too, and I wanted the Jockeys to have hair so that they looked just a little bit different to the ghouls as they are supplied in the box.

With that in mind I replaced the ghoul heads with West Wind metal zombie heads.  It was a simple thing to do, but I am quite pleased with how they turned out.  I kept the ghoul heads for use in my upcoming modern vampire project.

Jockeys tend to squat a bit, and so the poses of the ghouls are just a little more upright than that of Jockeys.  I didnt think that it would be worth the effort involved in reposing the Jockey legs however, so I left them as is.

Scraps of Clothing

In addition to the odd clumps of body hair, Crypt Ghouls are also adorned with a lot of sharpened bones.  Some are strapped to the model and others have been stuck through the models flesh like a piercing.

Ghouls that mutilate themselves is something that I hadnt ever really heard of before recently, but the last two sets of plastic ghoul miniatures that I have seen (the GW and the Mantic ones) both feature this self-mutilation motif.  It must be “the new black” for ghouls this season.

Anyway, it was an easy enough job to remove the bones and make any of the remaining bits along with the hair look like scraps of clothing.

Jockey #2

I am ok with the idea of Jockeys (and a couple of the other L4D “special” zeds, notably Hunters) having enough wherewithall to sort of dress themselves: they seem to be smarter than the average zombie.  Therefore I didnt get too worked up about the idea of the strapping and rags that they are wearing.  Who knows, maybe after the zompocalypse is over maybe the dominant society will be a Jockey one?

Scarred

Finally, the Crypt Ghoul figures are quite heavily scarred.  In the case of Jockeys, again I am not too stressed at the concept of them retaining some ability to heal themselves (probably at an accelerated, Resident Evil Tyrant like rate).

I didnt do a terribly good job of painting the scars.  Additionally, the second Jockey has a whole lot more of them and as he was the prototype Jockey that I made, I like his pose less than the first guy shown too.  I prefer the first guy quite a bit as a result.

The next L4D zombies that I get together will probably either be Smokers or, more likely, Chargers.

L4D Hunters / Modern Vampires

"Smart" Infected or Modern Nosferatu

I picked up these guys from Black Cat Bases to serve as Hunter zombies from L4D.  Hunters are distinguished (in the first game at least) by grey hoodies and brown trousers.  They also have duct tape wrapped around their arms and legs at various points for some reason.  I decided to skip that part of the look as I figured that it would be load of filing and sculpting work and probably not worth the effort.

Like how I painted the L4D Witches (here & here) I used a small bit of artistic licence with the colour scheme.  The Hunters in the game are pretty close to monochrome.  Therefore the brown shades on the trousers and the blue/grey shades on the hoodies are a little more colourful and varied to give the miniatures a little more visual interest on the tabletop.

Stealth Zeds

After I painted these then I realised that these guys would also serve well as unarmed modern vampires.  As I hope to play a few Buffy and 30 Days of Night games in the future it is no harm to have these guys serve double duty.

The guy on the left is my favourite, nice and menacing

Zombie of the Week #17: Sadako

  

Sadako

 

Subject exhibts symptoms and behaviour similar to that of subject ZoTW:10.  Also note that subject remains in possession of a firearm (nearly fully obscured by bodily fluids).  Although whether subject still retains the ability to discharge the weapon is unknown, the fact that the subjects regards the weapon as worth holding on to despite massive bodily trauma is of note. 

Infected Screamer

 

I painted Sadako at the same time that I painted Samara, and I used the colours above for the same reasons.  As I have painted more miniatures to represent the various “special” zombies from L4D, I have used the same flesh tones on them.  It helps to match them to the look in the game and it distances them slightly from the rest of the horde.

  Samara and Sadako are the two names used for the creepy little girl in the US and Japanese versions of “The Ring”.

Zombie of the Week #14: Bajingo

 

Bajingo

The compulsive desire to eat can take on a physical aspect in rare cases of infection.  In the subject shown above it has manifested as a gross distortion and mutation of the subjects mouth, resulting in increased energy levels.

Bajingo Rear Shot

 

This is a second Helldorado “Damned one of Gluttony” like Hoo Hoo from a few weeks ago.  Another genuinely unpleasant looking miniature.  Obviously the figure would be suitable as a L4D Smoker or a Resident Evil Licker variant or similar.

I am aware that naming the figure that is a bit silly, but the name had already “stuck”.  Not that it really needs a name anyway.

Zombie of the Week #12: Hoo Hoo

 

Hoo Hoo

For unknown reasons a very small proportion of infected mutate to a much larger extent than normal.  The forms that these mutations take are unpredictable.  In the extreme case shown above it appears that the subjects digestive processes have mutated greatly, in addition to vastly increased bulk.

 

Saggy Rear

Hoo Hoo is a Heldorado figure.   It is probably one of the more disturbing figures that I own: I find it quite repulsive and not a little Freudian.  I intend to use it as a Tyrant or Tank or possibly a Smoker.  The figure is called Hoo Hoo as a “joke”.

Zombie of the Week #10: Samara

 

Samara

 

For unknown reasons a small minority of infected mutate into more advanced forms.  Subject shown remains passive unless confronted at which point she emits a high pitched sonic scream.  The exent of the power of this assaut is as yet undocumented.

 

Infected Witch

 Samara is the zombie version of Hasslefrees Suzi.  I always thought that she looked a bit like the girl from The Ring.  I painted her up as a Witch, in the Left 4 Dead sense.  I put her on a square GW base to help with ID-ing the special zombie type on a table covered with zombies.  I usually never use square bases,  I far prefer circular ones.  In addition I used a  muted pallete suggested by the underwear wearing Witch in L4D.

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.