Sunday 22 May 2011

West Wind Biker Gang 01

There is something intrinsically cool about a biker gang speeding along the highways and byways on their motorbikes. I've had this set of West Wind 30mm scale bikers on motorbikes from their Road Kill range of figures for a long time but just got round to painting them earlier this month. There are ten figures in this set. Each figure is made up of six parts - a body and legs, along with separate arms and head, the main body and rear wheel of each bike and a separate front wheel and handle-bars. There are three different body types, twelve different heads (yes, two are spare), ten different right arms with eight different weapons (you get two 9mm Uzis and two 9mm pistols), two different left arms (bare skinned or clothed), three different body types. For the bikes, the body and rear wheel are all identical but you get a choice of fronts - chopper style or normal style.
I'll start by looking at the four guys on chopper bikes. The biker at the left of the photo above on the yellow bike is armed with an Uzi sub-machine gun and has twisted his body to fire to one side. Quite a few of the heads come with beard and moustache. Let me give you a good tip for attaching the left hand to the handlebar as most of the arms fit very poorly. I cut off the handles and the arms seemed to fit much better. It does involve a degree of trial and error to get the biker to fit on the bike properly. I glued them on using two-part epoxy resin.
I made the biker on the black bike at the right of the photo above my gang leader. I denoted this by adding a pair of crossbones to the front of his bike. They were taken from a shield from a set of Citadel plastic skeletons. He is armed with the best weapon out of the set - a Squad Automatic Weapon with large ammo drum. I added a shoulder pad with hook to his left shoulder to further identify him as the leader. The shoulder pad is one of a few I used on this set and it came from Ramshackle Games range of post-apocalypse figures.
I tried to paint the flag of the Confederate States of America on the engine of the bike at the left of the above photo but the white stars defeated me. Still, it looks okay from a distance. The biker is armed with a 9mm pistol, possibly a Beretta but I'm not sure.
In order to add a bit of variety to the bikes I added extra bits to some of them. The biker at the right of the photo above has attached a pair of jerry cans to the back of his bike. They came from the Tamiya 1/48scale Jerry Can set, which also contains lots of barrels as well as an assortment of backpacks and pouches. It's a very useful set to have. The biker is holding a 5.56mm AR-15 assault rifle.
Now we come to the normal-looking bikes. The bike at the far left of the photo above has had a couple of pouches added to the back of his back and, yes, you guessed it, they came from the Tamiya Jerry Can set I mentioned. He is firing a 9mm Uzi sub-machine gun.
The biker in the middle of this group is armed with an Ingram MAC-10 sub-machine gun, fitted with a silencer. I have added a plain shoulder pad to him. He wears a bandana to hide his face - the only biker to do so.
The biker at the far right of the above photo is the second-in-command of my biker gang. I added a small wooden box from my Tamiya Jerry Can set to the back of his bike. I sculpted a knife in its sheath to the side of his right boot and I gave him a spiked shoulder pad. His primary weapon of choice is a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun.
I painted a flaming skull design on the fuel tank and front wheel cover of the biker at the far left of the above photo. It's not perfect, but it's not bad either. I added a rolled up tarpaulin/tent/sleeping bag to the back of his bike, and it too, came from my Tamiya Jerry Can set.
In the centre of this group is a biker armed with a 9mm Heckler and Koch MP5KA5 machine pistol. I have added a studded leather shoulder pad to his jacket. This came from a sprue of shoulder pads made by Ramshackle Games. I also sculpted on a pistol and holster to his left hip.
The final figure of the gang is shown at the far right of the above photo and is armed with a 7.65 Model 61 Skorpion machine pistol. You don't see many of them about!
I'd say you have to be in the mood to make this gang as they weren't the easiest set of figures to make. Plan out ahead which arms and heads are going with which bodies. Three right arms and three left arms were clothed, so it made sense to pair them up. Then choose which bikes to match up with which figure. I made the bikes before I made the figures. As I mentioned earlier not all of the left arms fit the handles properly so I overcame this snag by cutting off the handles. Be patient and don't hurry. It took me two days to make my gang and two and a half weeks to paint them..
Mind you, once they were painted, the effort was well worth it. I can't think of any bike gang in 28/30mm scale to match this one. I am itching to get the chance to use them in my ATZ campaign, ideally as a PEF to threaten Team Vampifan.
This is set GRK15 Human Biker Gang and it retails for £20.00 for all ten figures and bikes. That is exceptionally good value for money in my opinion. With so many options available to you, you could buy four or five of this set and not have any duplicate figures. Now that would be a sight worth seeing!

20 comments:

  1. Beautiful bikes! I like the orange bike the best! £20 for all ten figures that's gotta be a bargain any day of the week.

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  2. Great bikes! I do like when you get some options, and you have done good in giving them a bit more character. The jerry cans and other bits.

    For a game you could easily have these gangers roaming the streets, trying to loot whatever or whomever is around. Not that I see Vampifan as a law and order man, but he may have had enough of it! Maybe even banding together with another group of survivors to try and stop this menace or at least scare them of from this part of town.

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  3. @Ray. When you look at all you get in the pack and the amount of options you have, these really are great value for money. Plus, they are very well sculpted.

    @Johnny. A stand alone scenario, featuring a marauding biker gang is a great idea! I may well be changing my plans for my next ATZ scenario! Mind you, just imagine how many zombies are going to be generated by a biker gang riding into town. Even if I just use these ten, they'll be generating 120d6 to roll for zombie reinforcements every turn!!!!!!!

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  4. Oh crap.... That ia a damn lot! A bit of reconsidering the plot or generation of zeds may be in order. I suggest Team vampifan to be on the roof of a tall building!

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  5. Yup, that was my first thought when I saw those badboys too! Damn thats a lot of zombie dice. Lovely mini's though. Great paintjob too.

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  6. It is a lot! If I set it in an urban setting (hah, like that's going to happen!) I'd be looking to bring on 60 new zombies every turn! Even if I set it in the suburbs (my most likely option) that still means 40 zombies appearing each turn! I think your advice for Team Vampifan to find a high building before the game begins is a sound one. I still want to do a scenario involving a biker gang but it's going to need some careful thinking through for it work fairly.

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  7. Great set of figures my friend, great value, great paintwork, I'm very tempted.

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  8. Fran, if you can find a need for them, then I'd advise buying them. Otherwise, put them on the back burner.

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  9. Amazing, these bikes tramples zombies lol now you need a police officer on horseback as walking dead, a greeting.

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  10. You may think of cutting the zombies that enter in half (Hehe...in more than one way) To symbolise that the gang has been roaming around and actually cleaning up. With that arsenal they are packing they are sure to have killed some zeds.

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  11. These are great Bryan, and such a bargain too. 120d6 zombies...perhaps I should rethink the question posed in my last post...is 500 zombies enough? :)

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  12. @Jhon Sebastien. Greetings to you too. Is a police officer on horseback such a good idea, given what happened to Rick's mount in the Walking Dead? Still, they are a lot quieter than motorbikes.

    @Johhny. A biker gang of this size and this well armed would prove a serious threat to the zombies. So, yes, I see merit in your suggestion.

    @Adam, It's funny but I was thinking of your question, are 60 zombies enough? when I wrote about 60 zombies appearing in one turn. With my collection of 700 zombies I could easily run out of zeds unless the biker numbers dropped dramatically. Bottom line is, you can never have enough zombies.

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  13. The horse idea I think is good. The Walking Dead and World War Z are the only places I can think of where an animal was attacked by zeds. In Dawn of the Dead they ignored the dog that went over to help Andy. For the long run, finding food and water for a horse would probably be easier than finding fuel and parts for a truck, although riding may prove difficult if you haven't done it before.

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  14. @MiniGeek. The idea of using horses isn't such a daft idea as there are rules for using them in the ATZ supplement - I, Zombie. In Romero's last film, "Survival of the Dead" the zombies eventually learn to eat horseflesh.

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  15. Sorry remove mi coment por a error of the translation Lol

    If true, Rick suddenly collided with a horde of zombies and the horse was difficult to handle (in fact it was eaten by the shaker hehe), I have some figures of cowboys on horseback (30 mm) and I will use some but only as heroic characters (Obviously the officer Rick), but have the disadvantage of being vulnerable to a horde of zombies (I suppose that a host should have at least 10 zombies) and can not move through them ... A greeting Vampifan 's!!

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  16. Hi again, Jhon Sebastian. I've removed your previous post as requested. I like your idea of using cowboys on horseback to use as survivors. If you have any contemporary weapons going spare you could do a weapon swap on them. Replace a Colt .45 revolver with an Uzi sub-machine gun, for example.

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  17. Hi Bryan, great work here, I really like the bikes and the work you've made on them....
    I must try to grab some myself... :)
    The only thing we need now is some bicycle!!! :P

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  18. Hi, Gnotta. I'll say it again - this is a set I can highly recommend. You can have a lot of fun coming up with different figure and bike combinations. Bicycles? I have some riders on bicycles but they are designed for WW2 gaming.

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  19. Cheers for the link Bryan. knowing where to get them has deffinitly made my day. I will be ordering these when I get back from work tommorrow morning. (Finish at 8am so home by 9 o'clock! Ordered by 9:15 no doubt.) I have looked at the other figures in the range, like the Zombie Hunters and Brothers especially the ones on bikes.)

    I am now inspired and will kick off a "new" project straight away. All I can say is that I really appreciate the link.

    Cheers Mate Fantastic.

    All the best Clint.

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    Replies
    1. I'm absolutely chuffed for you, Clint. Believe me, it was no problem helping you. After all, we are all part of a community, and helping each other out is what we do.

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