West Wind Road Kill Zombies

West Wind Productions are a UK-based miniatures firm with a huge output of 28mm scale figures. My favourite range is their Road Kill modern horror figures. This range includes zombies, vampires, werewolves, religious fanatics, cops and survivors. I have every figure in the range and I intend to review them all as they are all relevant to what my blog is about. To start off with, I'm going to look at set GRK12 Rage Virus Zombies, which comprises of eight figures in five different poses.

In the two photos above, at the far left, is the figure that I consider to be the leader of this group. The way he is posed just exudes power and malevolence. Note how his hands are dripping in blood! Like all of the figures in this range, he is bald and extremely muscular. By painting his clothes with Citadel Catachan Green, I'm suggesting he was once a soldier before he succumbed to the virus. Also, because these are Rage Virus Zombies, I've painted their flesh in Citadel Rotting Flesh tones rather than my normal pale grey that I use for the majority of my zombies. This zombie has a small hole in his stomach. He is also one of the two "unique" figures that you get in the pack.

Standing next to him is the second "unique" figure. What I mean by unique, is that he is not duplicated in the set. A common theme with these zombies is the bloody hands, which they probably use to rip their victims apart. This zombie has been bitten in the left cheek. The sculptor has done a great job on defining the muscles on his upper body.

Third in line is a zombie standing in a macho pose, flexing his muscles and no doubt, reveling in a fresh kill. His shirt and trousers are ripped and torn but he bears no obvious wounds. Once again, I have painted both of his hands covered in blood.

The fourth figure of this group is a duplicate of the third, but in order to make him appear slightly different, I have bent his arms ever so slightly. Of course, the easiest way to make two identically posed figures appear different is to give them differing colour schemes, which is what I did with the clothes of this zombie. I left his hands unbloodied but I did smear red paint around his mouth, neck and upper chest.

The figure at the far left of the two photos above is similar to to the figure I designated as group leader in that there is a stream of blood dripping from his right hand. When I first saw these figures in the flesh I thought the bits dangling from their hands were entrails but a closer look shows the dangly bits originate from the finger tips, ergo, it is dripping blood. There are no wounds on the figure but I do like that his belt is unfastened. It's just a little touch but it makes him stand out.

Next to him is his duplicate, which you can clearly see I have altered by reposing his left arm. I also bent him forward at the ankles to show he's about to lunge at a victim. I've left his left hand unbloodied. As with the other figures in this set I greatly admire the musculature of the sculpt.

The third figure in line is in a jogging pose with his left arm raised high above his head. As well as covering both his hands in gore, I also smeared blood around his mouth and neck. The blood on his hands must be fresh as it has ran down his left arm and body to soak his left hip. Despite all of the blood that I painted on him, none of it belongs to him.

The final figure out of this group is a swap of the previous figure, Once again, I repositioned his arms slightly and omitted most of the blood that I painted on his lookalike partner. There is a slight cut running from above his right ear to the corner of his right eye that, unfortunately, isn't very apparent from my photos. Other than that, he is gore free.

These are not your normal run-of-the-mill zombies. Someone has experimented on them to get them into this state. I like them a lot but sadly don't have much use for them in my All Things Zombie campaign. That will change, however, once THW release part three of the ATZ series, a supplement called Ragers. It was supposed to be released months ago but keeps getting pushed back in THW's release schedule. Fans of 28 Days Later and films of that ilk ought to like these zeds, although there are two potential problems. One is that they are all bald. The second is that although they are advertised as being 28mm scale they are much nearer 32 or 33mm in size. Neither problem bothers me but it might put some of you off. The pack of eight figures cost £9.99 from West Wind's website.