Ral Partha Zombies

Give yourself a pat on the back if you can recognise these four figures, as the title of this post is a little bit misleading. Yes, these are Ral Partha 28mm scale figures but officially speaking, none of them are zombies. Nonetheless, I'm using them as zombies and they fit in well with my horde. The first three figures in line are all ghouls from the Shadowrun range. The smartly dressed zombie at the far right is, I believe, a revenant vampire from the AD&D Ravenloft range. I might be mistaken about the origin of him as it is such a long time since I bought him. He might possibly be from the Vampire: The Masquerade range, but I don't think so. Anyone who knows for sure what range he comes from please let me know.

The only thing that differentiates the three ghouls from zombies is their hands. They have extended fingers, ending in claws. This is most noticable on the two males but less so on the female.

Looking at them in closer detail, the bald-headed zombie at the far left has had his shirt badly ripped. There is a deep cut to his right thigh. I have smeared his mouth and chin with blood, which has dribbled down to his chest. These figures all came with integral bases, and what I particularly like about this figure's base is that the sculptor has added a gravestone that has been knocked over. Look closely at his base and you can see the letters RIP inscribed on the gravestone.

The zombie in the torn black T-shirt has the longest fingers of the three, which to be honest, are only noticable if you look closely at the figure. He has a small cut to his left shoulder and a bigger cut running along the length of his lower right arm. I think that the main reason for using these as zombies rather than ghouls is that they don't fit my idea of what a ghoul should like. And what should a ghoul look like? Check out the range of ghouls by Heresy Miniatures - they are what ghouls should look like. These three are just too well dressed for ghouls despite the fact their clothes have been torn and ripped.

The female zombie does not have any obvious wounds although her dress has been torn and holed in places. I have smeared both of her hands in blood and the corners of her mouth are dripping with blood, although the effect is far subtler than what I used on the first zombie in line. Again, the sculptor, who I think was Chris Fitzpatrick, (he did a lot of work for Ral Partha in the early part of the 1990's) has added a knocked over gravestone to the base. this gravestone is in the shape of a cross, although only the top third is visible.

The face of the well dressed zombie is why I decided in using him as a zombie. It is almost skeletal-like with the flesh drawn back but still in place. In short, he looks like a corpse, and because he's a walking corpse, I decided to use him as a zombie. In gaming terms both he and the ghouls will see far more use as zombies than what they were originally intended to be used for. It is not often you see a zombie as smartly dressed as this chap. His clothes are immaculate, with not a mark on them. You could have a lot of fun thinking up a back story for this zed.

Sadly, all four figures are now out of production. I checked on the Ral Partha Europe website this morning to see if they sold the ghouls but despite stocking a lot of Shadowrun golden oldies, these were not on the list. If you are wondering why I am reviewing old figures that are out of production it is simply because I made a promise when I began my blog to showcase every single zombie in my horde. That is why my recent reviews have been distinctly retro. However, I've just finished painting a batch of new stuff, including the FU-UK zombies and zombie hunters. I'll be photographing them shortly and will probably start reviewing them with my next post.