Wednesday 11 May 2011

Corpses 01

In my last couple of ATZ scenarios I have added a new element to my game boards - corpses. I don't know why I hadn't thought of this earlier as it seems like such an obvious idea. I mean think about it - in a zombie apocalypse, the longer it goes on, the more bodies will end up dead... and I do mean dead, as in permanently dead. If your player characters kill a zombie, will they dispose of the body in a proper manner, or will they just leave it where it fell? Unless they are defending their HQ I suspect the latter. A few followers have asked me about my figures of corpses, so I have decided to show them in this post and the next. This post shows nine 28mm scale corpse figures that I have bought, whilst the second will consist of figures that I have converted.
At the far left of the top row are two 28mm scale corpses from Ramshackle Games. These are resin-cast figures and come in a pack of three for the ridiculously cheap price of £0.75. The third figure, which I haven't shown, is standing upright as he leans against a wall. He might be dead, he might be wounded, he might be drunk or he might just be tired. I haven't painted him as I'm still deciding what to do with him. If you want to see him, plus alternative paint schemes for the two corpses, check out Lord Siwoc's blog, Brains and Guts here at http://lordsiwoc.blogspot.com/2011/05/world-has-come-undone.html To be honest, I think all three of these corpses are rather crudely sculpted but there's no denying, they are good value for money.
Next in line are a pair of corpses from Chiltern Miniatures 28mm scale Modern Forces Insurgents range. These are part of the African rebels range but when I checked on their price and availability earlier I couldn't find them on the Chiltern website. There are no obvious wounds on this pair, so maybe they're just Out Of the Fight. But then again, not every corpse has to lie in a pool of blood. These are rather chunky figures and in no way should be described as 28mm scale. Like the Ramshackle corpses they come on integral bases, which for me, I'd rather they didn't. It's just a personal preference but seeing as I'm using my corpse figures purely for set dressing, then I'd rather they weren't sculpted with an integral base.
Moving to the bottom row are two corpses made by Citadel. That's right, Citadel! Many, many years ago, Citadel produced a range of 25mm scale 1920's style gangsters. That is back in the days when their figures came with integral bases and scale-creep hadn't been heard of. For those with long memories, I'm talking about the early 1980's. These two beautiful sculpts, one male and one female,  were part of that range and whilst they may appear a bit small when compared with many figures from today, I still think they are usable. After all, not everyone in real life is six feet tall. So just regard these as vertically challenged adults.
In the centre of this row is a corpse made by Cold War Miniatures from their Dead Will Walk range of 28mm scale figures. He is extremely well sculpted and will fit in with many other 28mm scale figure ranges. He is available as a single figure for £1.75 as figure Z32 or as part of set DWW7 Victims for the price of £7.00, which contains four other figures. He is probably the best commercially available 28mm scale corpse around at present.
Next up is a decapitated zombie from Fortress Figures. They rather amusingly called him Matt. He is huge, close to 35mm in size. The sculpting of this range was rather cartoon like, which may be another reason people didn't take to this range. Poor sales might explain why the company are no longer trading. If you want him, you may struggle to find him, unless someone is offering him on eBay. I like the concept of this figure but he is huge and not a great sculpt.
Finally, I present a Horrorclix figure who isn't horrendously overscale, which is unusual for Horrorclix. She was part of a mini-diorama that made up the Ripper figure from the original set. The Ripper figure was one of the silver-edged Unique figures, which will make him rather expensive, I'd imagine, if you find him on eBay. I was lucky, I got a swap of him, so I could use one to play Horrorclix with and the other to cut apart to make two separate figures. Her dress suggests she was a prostitute, which is further reinforced by the fact the she was a victim of the Ripper. I think she's an exquisite figure.
So, of the nine figures I've shown, at present only three are readily available to buy. I find that very sad. There is a niche waiting to be filled for contemporary corpses. I'd guess that there are more available amongst military ranges, which is something I haven't looked into much. I'll add that to my "to do" list. I suspect there isn't much call for contemporary corpses but I'd like to see a lot more. Of course, the alternative is to make or convert your own. That's a topic that I'll cover in my next post.

16 comments:

  1. I have a couple of those cold war miniatures pose plus some of the other ones they do, good selection but that last one is good. On a different note I have bought a lot of corpses in WW2 20mm, a far better selection including one of 3 bodies piled on top of each other.

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  2. Thanks for that, Fran. I figured that corpses of military personnel would be easier to get hold of than civilians or police.

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  3. Thanks again Vamp. Very much looking forward to he next installment. Corpse's are some of my favorite subjects for conversion. Afew dead bodies on the tabletop add an awful lot to the immersion.

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  4. Great selection of casualties you've got there.

    Silent Invader on LAF was kind enough to sell me some of his own castings. Check out this thread for more info:
    http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?topic=9113.0

    Cheers

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  5. @Brian. I totally agree that a group of corpses bring a lot of flavour to a gaming board but especially so in a zombie apocalypse setting.

    @Apeekeaboo. Thanks for that link. What I particularly like about that corpse is that it is generic enough to be used as a civilian or a soldier. More, please.

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  6. Thanks for this Bryan. Seeing this I think I'm gonna have to give some corpses a go. I have considered using the Wargames Factory plastic zeds to do this (low cost, high volume and I know they don;t scvale so well standing up, but figure lying down they shoudl work ok?) I'm guessing that you might be able to comment in the next post or so? :)

    Almost tempted so sculpt some for myself

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  7. Adam, I haven't tried converting any WF zombies into corpses but in theory they should work. Being plastic, they'll be easy to chop up or file flat where need be. I still have some spare WF sprues, so I might give it a go.

    As for sculpting your own, well... it's an option, for sure. I have some experience of sculpting figures (some of my work has appeared on my blog) but I've never sculpted a corpse. It should be a lot easier than sculpting a standing figure, but even with my experience, I'd be looking to see what will convert before thinking about sculpting something brand new. But then again, how hard can it be to sculpt a corpse? Even if, for example, you make a complete pig's ear of sculpting his face (always the hardest thing to get right) just mess the head up with a cocktail stick and say someone blew his head off with a shotgun! Hmmm, that could be quite fun!

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  8. Nice one Bryan. I've made a bunch of corpses from the Wargames Factory plastic zeds, and they work out ok for me.

    I'll try and do a post on it in the next couple of days.

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  9. @Doug. Thanks for the link but I've seen it before. You can see what I did with some of my spare Horrorclix figures in my next post.

    @Colin. I'd love to see your converted corpses and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Zombie Ad will definitely be interested.

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  10. @JayPower. Welcome aboard and many thanks!

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  11. Thanks for the link mate. And thanks for showing us the bodies hehe. It really gives it a bit more character to have these lying around on the gaming table.

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  12. I love this idea Vampifan, this is such an overlooked idea, the corpses on your last batrep looked just right mate, I will use this idea for my games also.

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  13. Thanks, guys. Sorry to be slow to reply but Blogger has been playing silly buggers the past few days and I've been unable to reply thanks to the site being down for maintenance.
    Anyway, providing Blogger doesn't screw up again, I'll show you my converted corpses tomorrow. I've no doubt that this will be a topic I'll be returning to in the future.

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  14. This is great stuff Bryan, something I have on my table, too. I have some crawling victims I am going to do. Anyway there is a D&D plastic dead man that can easily be converted to modern. I got mine from The Miniature Market. I think I'll make mine into a bum though.

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  15. Hi, Roger. It sounds like you've got your painting mojo back. I'm delighted to hear you're painting zeds and related stuff again. You must post them once they're finished.

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