Wednesday 15 September 2010

Four A Miniatures Zombies

Four A Miniatures are a new firm who have just recently sprung up. They are based in County Durham, England, not too far from where I live. What drew me to them was their small range of 32mm scale zombies that they produce. The fact that they were local certainly helped as it meant I received my figures within 48 hours of ordering them. You can visit their website here - http://www.fouraminiatures.com/page3.htm - and here is what I ordered.
At the far left of the two photos above is a flesh Golem. However, as soon as I saw it, I immediately thought, Rager! So I painted him with Citadel Rotting Flesh, the colour that I use for all of my Ragers. It helps to differentiate them from my pallid grey skinned zombies. The fact that he is running makes him a perfect candidate for the new Rager rules that have just been published in the ATZ supplement "I, Zombie." Having read up about the new Ragers I may go back to this figure and slap a load of TCR (Tamiya Clear Red) on him as most Ragers are covered in gore from when they rip their victims apart! In fact, it's something I may do to all of my Ragers. Seeing as he was meant to be Golem and not a Rager, his right arm has been sown or grafted to his body at the shoulder and his left hand has similarly been added or replaced. I turned the stitching at his right shoulder into a cut but left the hand with its stitches showing. His muscular body and running pose make him ideal for a Rager.
Next in line is the first of Four A's three zombie figures. He is dressed in a two piece suit and tie but has lost his right shoe. There is a small cut to his lower right arm. He was sculpted by Jim Bowen, as were the other two zombies and the Golem. There is nothing really outstanding about this figure but neither is there anything to dislike about him, except possibly his height if you're a scale purist, which I most certainly am not.
Moving along, is a zombie who may have been a tree cutter in his past life. He could just as easily have been a serial killer instead. You decide. He is dressed in jeans and heavy work boots and is naked from the waist up. His upper body is well muscled and he is trailing a large two-handed axe in his right hand. He certainly looks like an outdoorsman. Rather unusually, he lacks any kind of wound, which is fair enough. There is no rule that says every zombie should be covered in gory wounds. I like this figure the most out of the zombie trio.
Last in line is a possible zombie mutant. I say possible because his tongue is unfeasibly long. He wears nothing more than a pair of trousers and his bloated body is spilling over the top of them, literally so, in the case of his stomach, which has burst open! A few pus-filled spots are visible on his back, making him an ideal candidate as a minion of Nurgle. He is a revolting figure, but I don't mean that in a bad way. He has an air of decay and rot about him. I bet you could smell this guy long before you saw him!
This is a good start to a range, which I hope will grow. The figures are very reasonably priced with the three zombies costing £2.00 apiece and the Golem costing £2.50. Heightwise, these are comparable with the Griffin Miniatures range of zombies. If the size of them does not put you off then I'd say, go for them.

12 comments:

  1. Hey Bryan thanks for the review, its always good to find something new.The only question I would have is, do they run small or large? I dont have the Griffin figs to work from. I'm getting a little more picky about size because I thought I got ripped on some figs that were way tiny with huge prices :)

    Otherwise I would buy these, they look good, at least with your great paintjobs. Its amazing how creative you are with these zeds after painting so many. Unfortunately my work load has ground my zeds to a halt. Always looking to buy more, though!

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  2. Hi, Roger, good to hear from you again. These figures are definitely on the large size, although not as big as the Horrorclix range, for example. They are certainly taller than the likes of Studio, Cold War, Zombiesmith, etc. but only by a few millimetres. I have no problem with their size but if you want all of your zombies to be the same size you'd best steer clear.

    I'm sorry to hear you don't have the time to paint your own lead mountain of zombies. Man, that must suck!

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  3. Thanks for this review! It is always good to see what's new out there. I also admire your painting skills. You are able to bring minis to life, drawing out the character of the sculpt. I'm wondering if you've ever done any tutorials on painting? Maybe some descriptions of paints you use and any special techniques (beyond the usual washes, dry brushing, etc.)? I've been painting for a long time and have my own style but I always like to hear from others and learn...

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  4. Many thanks, PDoid. You're not the first person to ask for a painting tutorial so it is certainly on my "to do" list. I mainly use GW paints and ink washes for the majority of my painting. I also use a few Vallejo paints and Anita's Acrylic Craft paints. I'd class my painting skills as slightly better than tabletop gaming standard but nowhere near competition standard, which suits me fine as I very rarely enter painting competitions.

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  5. I'd like to know you do the grey skin colour. I s it just greys and maybe a brown wash or do you include some skin colours as well?

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  6. Here's my recipe for painting zombie flesh.
    1. I do a 1/1 mix of Anita's Charcoal (or GW Codex Grey) and Dusty Peach (or GW's Dwarf Flesh). This mix is similar to GW's Dheneb Stone if you can't be arsed mixing paints.
    2. When dry it give it a GW Badab Black ink wash.
    3. When dry, drybrush it with the original colour.
    3. Dry brush it again with 1/1 mix of Anita's Blush (or GW's Elf Flesh) and Anita's Pale Grey (or GW's Fortress Grey).
    4. Then, add GW Skull White in a 1/1 mix to the above colour and dry brush that on.
    5. Paint eye sockets, mouth and lines between fingers and toes in GW Chaos Black.
    6. Finally, dot the eyes with GW Skull White.

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  7. Thanks a lot.

    QUOTE: "if you can't be arsed mixing paints." Yep, that sounds like me.

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  8. Thanks for the clarification. That size is just fine. I am pretty easy going on size but twice I have been POed by the size difference bei8ng so extreme. The first was the Reaper zombies which are as big as ogres and try as you may there is no way to justify using them in your games. The other was some very tiny figs, I expected to be slightly bigger. Otherwise you figure a zombie horde would not look like a bunch of Nappies in line heading for Russia!

    Thanks for commiserating my painting dilemma. I am hopeful to be back on track in a few months. The zeds are actually helpful to my business as they are fun and loosen me up.I experiment on them and develop new techniques. Its probably hurting me more in sales by not painting them. I'm still collecting them, though. I may suit up in a biological suit and spray prime the whole lot one day soon :)

    In the meantime you are keeping me inspired.
    BTW your batreps are awesome, your city looks real! It must seem real to you after all the work.

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  9. Hey Vampifan! This is Gabe you know me from
    LTL Dads blog. You got really nice Zeds!

    Gabe (using LTL Dads computer)

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  10. Well, hello, Gabe! Nice to hear from you. I'll be posting more zombie goodies later on today.

    Give my regards to Willy!

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  11. It's not enough that they are taking over my toys, now they are trying to muscle in on my web hangouts.
    Gabe wanted to see your blog since I told him you were mainly responsible for my plunge into Zombieland.

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  12. Don't take this the wrong way, but I always like to see fresh blood on my blog site! LOL!

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