Wednesday 24 November 2010

Blue Moon Zombies 01

It's my birthday today - happy birthday, me! Coming up soon will be one of the biggest ATZ batreps I've ever done. I spent four days from  last Friday to this Monday playing it. The scenario is called Blackout and it lasted far longer than I expected. It's so long I'll have to use two posts to cover it. In the mean time I'm going to review 40 zombies that I've just recently painted. These guys helped push my horde over the 500 mark to its current total of 525.
These zombies are made by Blue Moon Manufacturing, an American firm, and are part of BMM111A Box 7 "I Just Can't Seem to Get a Good Night's Sleep" - a boxed set of twenty 28mm scale figures. Half of the figures in this set are armed with a variety of melee weapons, and they are the ones I'm going to review today.
I'll start with the guy at the far left of the two photos above. He's armed with a meat cleaver and a big knife. He wears a pair of trousers, which are held up by a length of rope. Perhaps, he couldn't afford to buy a belt! His most noticable wound is on his head. The top of his skull has been removed to reveal his brain. He has a bandage wrapped around his head, which seems to be a bit superfluous to me. A large piece of flesh has been chewed off his back.
Next in line, is the first of four nude males included in this set and it was with these four figures that I encountered a problem. All four were missing genitalia and their ears. I can understand the omission of their dangly bits as full frontal nudity upsets more Americans than it does Europeans, but why miss out their ears? Very strange! Well, as you know, I can sculpt figures as well, so I made all four figures anatomically correct by adding the missing bits. This guy is holding a dagger aloft in a threatening pose. His wounds are minor compared to others in the range, consisting mainly of numerous small cuts and bites.
Staying with the nudity theme, the zombie in the centre of this group is a semi-naked female, displaying a fine pair of breasts. A long dress or gown is literally hanging from her. In her right hand is a long knife but I must admit, I have no idea what she's holding in her left hand. It could be a spanner or a two pronged fork or something else entirely. She has a very nasty wound to her right side and her legs are covered in bite wounds.
Moving on, the fourth figure in line is the the first of three zombies armed with a wooden club.I like the stooped pose of this figure. He too, is wearing a pair of trousers held up with a piece of rope. However, he has lost his socks and shoes. His wounds are very minimal, consisting of nothing more than a couple of cuts and puncture wounds.
The last zombie out of this batch of five wields a club that looks to have been torn or cut off a tree. He is dressed in boots, loincloth and waistcoat, which is an odd combination for a contemporary setting but not so out of place in a fantasy setting. Yet again, his wounds are minor in nature apart from the large piece of flesh missing from his right knee.

In the second batch of melee weapon armed zombies, I'll start off with the third of three zombies wielding a wooden club. This guy is almost naked apart from a strategically placed piece of cloth wrapped around his body. This unfortunate gentleman has been subjected to lots of bites, the worst being the one on his left leg, which reveals his kneecap and part of his femur.
To his left is the only child zombie in the boxed set- a young girl holding a teddy bear and a walking stick. It is unusual to see her wearing a pair of jeans underneath her dress. Her face shows real evil and she reminds me of Linda Blair's character, Regan, in the film The Exorcist when she is possessed by the devil. She appears to have been shot or stabbed a few times in the body. She is an ace sculpt.
Next in line, is the second of the male nudes and the first of three zombies armed with a two-handed weapon. Again, I have rendered him anatomically correct with the aid of some small pieces of modelling putty. He has a tight hold of a large scythe. This guy certainly suffered before he died. I counted thirteen bite wounds on him!
Fourth in line is a zombie holding a two-pronged pitchfork. He was also one of Blue Moon's strange mutant nudes. This time, as well as adding his dangly bits and ears, I gave him a head of hair. All four nudes were bald, so I wonder if they were some kind of mutant clones. This guy is also covered in bite wounds although not quite as numerous as the previous zed. 
Finally, I come to the spear armed zombie. His clothing suggests he originates from a Middle Eastern country or perhaps India or Pakistan. His face is almost skeleton-like, with just a thin covering of flesh. His pose suggests he is almost running or at the very least, advancing purposefully. His two-handed spear is almost long enough to count as a pike. He has two deep wounds to both shoulders and to his right knee.
When I first looked at these a few years ago, I was put off buying this set because of the ten figures I've reviewed here. The notion of melee armed zombies for a contemporary setting did not sit well with me. They're fine for fantasy gaming, I thought, but not ATZ. And then THW released I, Zombie and suddenly I had a use for them - smart zombies! I found a firm selling them in the UK and ordered them, along with their other boxed sets of zombies.
It should be noted that these figures come with integral metal bases, which are circular and only slightly smaller in diameter to a 25mm diameter plastic slottabase. I've stuck mine on slottabases, purely to keep them uniform with the rest of my horde, but you might want to leave them as is. There's no reason not to, as their bases are quite chunky and very solid.
I'll review the second ten figures from this boxed set next post and I'll give you the price details then along with my overall verdict, which I can tell you will be complimentary.

26 comments:

  1. HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND LONG LIFE TO VAMPIFAN !!! I look forward your next batrep !

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  2. Happy Birthday! Your Zeds need little hats and wizzlers!

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  3. Hippo Birdy-2-Ewes!! err ... wait, sorry! I meant Happy Birthday to You!!

    Many Happy Returns Bryan, you big tease! "a 2-part batrep is coming up ..."!

    And thanks for reviewing the Blue Moon figs - been wondering what they were like in the metal

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  4. Thank you kindly, one and all!

    @Kobayachimaru. I'm looking forward to posting my next batrep! I'm still working on editing the photos. I took 46 and I'll use them all.

    @Willy. I'd rather have Vampirella wearing a little hat and wizzler! Now that'd be a present worth unwrapping!

    @Colin. The ATZ game I just finished playing was my birthday treat, even if it didn't quite fall on the right day. More Blue Moon goodness to follow at the weekend!

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  5. Happy Birthday! I'm really looking forward to your next batrep.

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  6. Thanks, DB, and welcome to my blog. I'll try to get the batrep as soon as I can, hopefully in a week's time.

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  7. Happy birthday Bryan, and many happy returns!

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  8. Many thanks, Mikko and Brutpaul. I appreciate the sentiments.

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  9. Happy Birthday! Great job on the zombies, too. Looking forward to the big bat rep.

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  10. Brian - You've given us a pretty extensive look at all the Zombie figures from various manufacturers in your collection. I'm sure your survivor collection is just as exhaustive. Have you any plans to review the figs and companies that produce them? They're a lot harder to find that zombie miniatures (at, least, now that I can just look up your previous blogs). I'd love to see some survivor reviews.

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  11. Most definitely, Brian. You're right as well, my survivor collection is vast! When I posted the zombie size comparison photos recently, I asked if anyone would like to see a similar post for survivors, gangers, military types, etc. and got a very positive response. I am planning on doing a lot more reviews of survivor types (and other humans, like gangers, cops and soldiers) next year. All I can say is watch this space.

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  12. Happy birthday man, strange Zeds....but painted real nice :)

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  13. I am a bit late, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

    I am really looking froward to you big batrep!

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  14. Happy belated birthday! Minis look great! I'm looking forward to that coming 2-parter! Meanwhile, we celebrate Thanksgiving in the States today. Giving thanks for you and all the zombie goodness you publish so regularly! Have a good one!

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  15. To Luckyjoe, The Extraodinarii, Oliver and PDoid thank you so much. I'm heartened by everyone's good wishes. It's amazing how many people I now regard as close friends I've made since starting my blog.

    On Sunday, I plan to post the second half of my review of this boxed set of Blue Moon zombies. After that, my next post should be part one of my Blackout scenario. So, hang in there, guys. Not long to wait.

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  16. Late too, but happy birhtday to you and your zeds collection.

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  17. Thanks, Ulu. Your good wishes mean more to me than your timing.

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  18. Happy birthday, my good friend!

    Nice job on the Blue Moon stuff. I know what I want for Christmas now :)

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  19. Great stuff, really enjoy the side by side comparisons. I have some pics for another box set of BMM zeds posted on my minis blog.

    They're more modern in appearance than the ones above...

    http://pacarat.blogspot.com/2010/11/more-wip-zombies-blue-moon.html

    --pacarat

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  20. Hi, Roger. I hope you're keeping well. Look out for for more Blue Moon goodness coming real soon.

    @Pacarat. I've just been over to your blog site and I really like your paint jobs. Well done! I have all the figures you showed. I hope to review mine very soon.

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  21. Now you've done it. Thoughts of unwrapping Vampirella have permeated my brain and I shall be worthless all weekend. Well, more worthless than usual.

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  22. I'm like that all the time, Willy! Hey, you can't be that worthless. After all, you managed to post another entertaining batrep today.

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  23. Thank you for the nice photos and descriptions. I was looking around for ideas on how to paint these guys. I think the clay Johnsons are funny. This is a very nice set.

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