Sunday 26 July 2009

Rezolution Zombies


Rezolution is a sci-fi game by Aberrant Games. I haven't played it and don't know much about it but when I saw the two sets of zombies that they've produced for the game I knew that I had to have them. You can view their complete range at their website here at http://www.aberrantgames.com/rez/products.php First up for review is ABG6005 Toxic Zombies Pack 1, which is part of the Mercs range.
The figure at the far left has been painted as one of my toxic zombies. All of my toxic zombies get painted with GW's Rotting Flesh and have a distinct greenish tinge to them. This bald-headed gent has had his throat ripped out and his left hand is missing. His most obvious wound is of course, his stomach, which has been eviscerated. I particularly like the really evil expression on his face. It just screams menace and danger!
In the centre of the group is my favourite figure from this range. Any figure that tells a story is worth having and what a story this guy could tell! You actually get two figures here - the walking zombie SWAT trooper and his colleague whom he is dragging behind him. The set comes in three pieces - main zombie, his left arm and rifle and the zombie victim. When I first saw them in the flesh I was dubious about whether they'd fit on a 25mm diameter slotta-base... but they do! Full marks to the sculptor for getting them to fit so well. The level of detail on the pair is amazing, especially on the victim, whose wounds are just gross! Being near future figures I don't recognise the trooper's rifle but it looks like a souped version of the CAR-15. Whatever it is, it looks good and is well detailed. The walking zombie does not appear to be too badly wounded. He has a few rips and tears in his uniform. However, one look at his face and you couldn't mistake him for a normal human. This guy is definitely a zombie. As for his colleague, I'm not sure if he's still a zombie or just a corpse. A zombie could survive having both legs and his right arm ripped off, as this man has. His head is twisted too far to the left to be natural, but again, that wouldn't kill a zombie. Neither would having your left eye plucked out, as he has. However, what does make me question whether he's undead or truly dead is the hole in the back of his skull. I think it's a bullet hole - and that would kill him outright. If so, why is his colleague still dragging him along? Is it a vestige of loyalty, in that you don't abandon your brothers in arms? I don't know the answer but this set of figures is crying out for a backstory. They are a sublime sculpt!
The final figure out of this group is certainly the least useful to any collector of contemporary zombies as he is part (or perhaps wholly) android. Think Terminator robots and that's what you have here. He has been ripped in half but instead of trailing bloody entrails he shows the lower part of his clearly metallic spine. His left arm has been stripped of all flesh to reveal that it too is metallic. Finally, there is a metal plate atop his skull. It is a well sculpted figure and I will use it in my games. I'm always after zombie draggers, especially as they feature so prominently in the rules I'm playtesting. Let's be honest, if you place this figure in with your zombie horde, most people won't even notice that he's not fully human.

The first thing you notice about the second set, ABG6006 Toxic Zombies Pack 2, is that the figure at the far left is a duplicate of the figure at the far left of the first set. I don't know why Aberrant Games decided on this policy and it is slightly annoying but not an insurmountable problem. The obvious solution is to paint him up differently to the other one and this is what I've done. In addition, I've slightly altered the position of his arms by gently bending them. This figure has been painted up as a "normal" zombie with pale grey skin. Another alternative would be to paint him as a dark-skinned zombie.
The fat zombie in the centre is covered in large blisters that suggest he is some kind of plague carrier, as if being a zombie wasn't bad enough! His right arm has been ripped off just above the elbow and the resulting wound has been impressively sculpted. Once again, I like the way his face has been sculpted. These zombies really do look mean and angry. I've smeared blood around his mouth to suggest that he's recently fed.
Finally, we come to the only female of the group. She appears to be quite tall but look closer at her feet and you'll see she has platforms on the soles of her shoes. That might explain why she appears to be tottering forward as if off balance. I'm all for more female zombies. There aren't enough of them being made. This one, I like a lot. From her costume, I'm guessing she was a cheerleader or perhaps a dancer in her former life. She sports a very unusual hairstyle, which just adds to her uniqueness. As for her wounds, they are suitably gory with bites to the right lower arm, left arm and left thigh and a huge stomach wound from which her intestines are spilling out. Grisly but great fun to paint.
These 28mm scale figures are worth seeking out. Even if you have no use for the android zombie that set is worth buying just for the two SWAT troopers alone. It may well be a small range but it's a darned good range. Prices are $12.99 for pack 1 and $11.99 for pack 2. I ordered mine from an English distributor for roughly £7 per pack. It might pay you to search the Interweb for a local distributor

2 comments:

  1. Very cool stuff as always, Vamp. Top marks especially for the abundant gore effects and the creepy pustules on the poor guy in the second pack. Truly disgusting. I love it.

    I find it more than a little odd that each pack has been the victim of inscrutable decision-making at Aberrant. A dragger robo-zombie? Huh? And adding the same exact figure to the second pack is just silly. For $4 a fig or more I don't think demanding all unique minis is unreasonable.

    Despite the robo-zombie I just might pick up the first pack purely on the strength of the awesome mini-tableau of the SWAT team. As you say, story-telling minis are to be treasured.

    Oh, and a special shout-out for the CAR-15 reference. I gather the Army has had another re-naming festival and I think that same basic weapon is called the M-4 or something these days. Hell, when I was just a little gun-bunny growing up it was an XM-177! Now that's a moniker to be proud of. :)

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  2. John, you clearly know more about guns than I do! The back of the SWAT trooper's rifle does look like a CAR-15 but the front half is totally different. Hey, it's a sci-fi weapon so it could be anything. Nonetheless, it still looks cool!
    I have to agree with you, duplicating a figure in both packs is an odd marketing strategy. I can't think of any logical reason why Aberrant did this.

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