Thursday 1 October 2009

Vampifan's Views 03 What I'm Doing, What I'm Going To Do

More ramblings from ye olde editor. Since my last editorial I have seen my blog go from strength to strength. My number of followers has increased to 21. A big hello and an even bigger thank you for joining the ranks of my readers. What has really amazed me is the number of hits the site has received. I did not expect to crack the 10,000 mark in just six months. If I'd received 10,000 hits in a year I'd have been delighted but to top that in less than half a year is such a wonderful feeling. Again, heartfelt thanks to everyone who has clicked onto my site.
So, what am I up to and what can you expect to see in the near future? My painting table is still dominated by zombies. I'm currently working on the last 20 Cold War Miniatures 28mm scale zombies out of the 70 I bought. I have just finished painting my converted Hasslefree 28mm scale Vampirella figure and Black Scorpion 28mm scale Echo the Demoness. These will be the central focus of my Diorama of Doom. I'll also be including eight Heresy 28mm scale zombies. All of the figures are painted, I just have the base to finish making and painting. Fortunately it is nothing too elaborate - just a small part of a cemetary with about three gravestones on it. The rules of the competition state that the base should be no bigger than a CD, which limits what you can fit on it. Closing date for the competition is 31st of October and I'm confident of getting my diorama completed in time. Expect to see lots of pictures here after the closing date.
My enthusiasm for making World Works Games models remains undiminished. I recently completed my Mayhem Skateboard Park. That will be the focus of an upcoming review and should play a prominent role in my next zombie battle report. At the moment I am making more WWG vehicles. Whenever I complete a building I like to  have a break and make more vehicles. This way my vehicle collection grows at a steady pace and I don't suffer from burn-out making buildings. Although I must admit making my four-storey Mayhem lawyers' offices came close to sapping my enthusiasm. Still, the joy of completing it was that much sweeter! I'm not too sure what my next building that I make will be. I've narrowed it down to two choices - a small chapel or a general store. The chapel would be the easier model to make.
WWG have recently introduced a new way of making card scenery called Terrainlinx. Two sets are currently available - Himmelveil Streets and Himmelveil Sewers. These are primarily aimed at fantasy gamers. Nonetheless, I've bought them and I'd like to see how they work as they represent the future for how all WWG buildings and scenery will be produced. Exciting times if you're a fan, which I most certainly am.
Speaking of WWG, I was recently honoured by Denny Unger, the CEO of the company, who made all of my reviews of their buildings Sticky posts in the user's gallery section of their forum. The praise I have received from the good folk on the WWG forum has been exceptionally gratifying. I thank everyone for their kind comments.
I've just started reading Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist, having just finished his vampire novel, Let the Right One In. I bought the DVD of the book at the same time and thoroughly enjoyed them both. The book is better than the film, simply because it goes into a lot more detail than a film can. I may do a full review of them both shortly. On the comics front, Vampirella is back after a far too long absence (well, it was for me!) in a story called the Second Coming. I'm a very happy bunny getting my monthly fix of Vampirella again.
Next week sees the general release of Zombieland at the cinema here in the UK. Suffice to say, I am looking forward to watching it immensely. The scene I saw in the trailer of the little old lady dropping a piano on a zombie had my laughing out loud. I've seen quite a few trailers of zombie films that I definitely want to see. George Romero is shooting his sixth zombie film - oh joy! Rec 2 looks just as scary as the original and apparently picks up about one minute after the first one ended. There are others I want to see but my memory has suddenly gone blank. Ah, the effects of old age!
Next week I will be playing and photographing another big zombie game, which will feature in my third battle report very soon, hopefully in the week after next. This time I'll playing a scenario using the All Things Zombie rules. I've been itching to try out the new ATZ rules after they got a complete overhaul earlier this year. I was a fan of the first edition rules but they were not without numerous flaws. It'll be interesting to see how the version 2.0 rules play.
Finally, the picture that prefaces this editorial was one I found whilst Googling images of zombies. It is an unknown artist's take on Da Vinci's masterpiece of The Last Supper. I like it a lot and I'll gladly credit the artist if anyone knows who he is.

12 comments:

  1. Not sure why you're surprised at the traffic, there's a lot of zombie sites and blogs, but this one is deffo one of the top ten. Thanks for making the effort.

    If you do make a small chapel next will the zombie last supper be the altar piece?

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  2. Thanks very much indeed, 6milphil. I suppose one of the main reasons my site has taken off as well as it has is because I update it regularly - at least once a week, but more often than not twice a week. So many bloggers start off with good intentions but soon tire of making an effort or just lose all enthusiasm. I'm as keen and as motivated now as when I first began my blog.

    You know I never even thought of including the zombie Last Supper in my chapel but it is such a brilliant idea I have to do it. Cheers, mate!

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  3. Thanks for the excellent blog, Bryan! Seeing that a new VWotU update is available in Google Reader provides a good measure of excitement.

    I've been looking at your WWG stuff with envious eyes for a good while, maybe it's finally time to start building that Plasticville table that's been waiting for ages...

    Keep up the good work!

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  4. Thanks, Mikko! I do appreciate your support and I most assuredly enjoy your own blog. You sure got a great response to your review of Zombie CSU! As you can see I've got some (hopefully) entertaining plans for the near future. Doing battle reports is always an exciting prospect and a huge amount of fun. I can heartily recommend dipping your toes into the world of WWG. My battle reports just wouldn't look the same without their marvellous scenery. I admit that it requires a lot of time and effort to get the most out of this side of the hobby. Also storage can quickly become an issue. But for me, the positives far outweigh the negatives.

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  5. No worries mate, say as I find.

    I think regular updates are important even though I'm slipping on mine, but I also think a pile of pics and/or tone of writing are just as important.

    Interesting thing I've found with mine, and I imagine you're getting it too, is now once it's about 6 months old the traffic really starts to boost through searches and links like it's reached a certain "maturity". I imagine quite a few blogs are dead by six months so from now on in it's all "Braaaaaaains". ;-)

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  6. Well said, 6 milphil. I thoroughly agree with you. Say, I wonder if you could give me the address of your own blog-site so that I can give it a visit? I appreciate you dropping by and leaving a comment.

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  7. Sure mate, although you should be able to click on my name above and it automatically take you there; http://6milphil.wordpress.com

    cheers

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  8. Thanks, Phil. I've had a good browse through your own site. Whilst I only collect 28mm stuff I do admire what you've done with your scenery. I've always found that good scenery can transform a game into a memorable experience. Too often, scenery building is overlooked in the desire to get the newest shiny figures on the table. Good on you, mate!

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  9. Glad you enjoyed it, the scenic side is one of my fave parts of the hobby, and you're quite right about it bringing games to life.

    I've lately been drawn towards 28mm zombies, this is completely the fault of you, Mikko over at DotL, and another couple of rotters with your great sites of course. Well maybe decades of loving dumb zombo movies played a part. The interesting thing is how I didn't realise what great ranges of zombie figs were available, until coming across blogs like yours.

    I'm looking at making a small zombie board in the style of Vypers over at Frothers, but making it totally British so I might have a post or two of interest in the coming months.

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  10. The amount of 28mm zombies that are available now is staggering. I have roughly 300 painted zeds and I'm still collecting them. I'd love to play a big game that uses them all!
    Mikko is a very good friend of mine, as is John Price who runs the Screaming Alpha blog-site (worth checking out as he covers similar stuff to Mikko and me). If I have converted you over to collecting zombies then that is mission accomplished, lol!
    I've seen Vypers work over on Frothers and commented on it. It is an interesting idea to set a zombie apocalypse campaign in the UK and there are figure companies who will cater to your needs. Hasslefree Miniatures immediately springs to mind with their not-Shaun of the Dead and not-Hot Fuzz figures.
    If you do start this project I will be very interested in watching your progress. If I can offer any help or advice don't hesitate to ask. I wish you the very best of luck!

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  11. Yes Screaming Alpha is a good 'un as well, I can't imagine how much work he puts into that, especially with all that video.
    Yep I've already started buying the metal, bought Blue Moon's box #2, Hasslefrees Shaun & Ashley, in both survivor and zed, one set of Cold Wars, a couple of other blisters, waiting on a delivery from Zombie Forge and from my local shop for those Wargame Forge Plastics, most of which I'll build but they also stuck me as handy for body parts. Next on my list is the outstanding Studio ones. But don't these big figs take a while to paint???

    I think Vyper has raised the standard for zombie boards and I like the idea of eventually matching his standards - this is the great thing about the web, we're not small groups of isolated gamers like we were back in the day.

    Oh it's deffo my next project, thanks for the offer of help. The zeds should start to make an appearance on the blog in the next couple of weeks, plus I'll likely to do a round up of zombie sources mention your good self et al.

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  12. Painting 28mm scale figures can be time-consuming or very fast (say a couple of hours). It all depends on how much detail you want to add. Personally, it takes me about 10 days to paint a batch of figures, with a batch being anything from 5 to 20. More than that and it becomes a chore! 10 days is a long time but It only represents about an hour per day so if I had the time I could do it in a day.

    WWG are a Canadian company, so it stands to reason that there models look better in an American or Canadian setting. Some will sit very well in an English setting. Just look at my semi-detached houses that I made from the Shellendrak Manor set. But if you enjoy scratch-building then you ought to have a blast! Vyper is well worth looking at for inspiration, but even he uses some WWG models.

    Many thanks for the offer of publicising my site. 'Tis much appreciated. Now that you've clearly developed the zombie bug I'll be watching your own blog with keen interest.

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