Wednesday 9 November 2011

Eureka Toxic Zombies in Barrels

Earlier this year I was gifted a set of four Eureka 28mm scale Toxic Zombies emerging from barrels by my good friend Fran, aka The Angry Lurker. Once again, many thanks, Fran. There are six figures in this range and I already had one of them. Fortunately for me, the one I had was not amongst the ones sent to me by Fran. That was a nice stroke of luck! Having just painted them, I thought you'd like to see these very unusual zombies.

I'd guess that the inspiration for these figures came from the "Tar Zombie" who features in The Return of the Living Dead film. He is so called because he emerges from a barrel that should have been left closed and is covered in a dark, slimy liquid gunk. I toyed with the idea of painting these in a similar fashion and tried out what I hoped was a similar looking colour scheme but the results were not very pleasing. So I went back to plan A and painted them as I paint all of my toxic zombies, which is with a greenish tint to their flesh (Citadel Rotting Flesh, appropriately enough). The one thing I did add to these figures was a couple of thick coats of Citadel Water Effects to give them that glossy wet look. You can see this much better if you left click on the photos to blow them up to full screen size.
I won't describe each one individually like I normally do, because they are all very similar. The first zombie in line, moving from left to right, is the one that I already had. The other four are the ones I received from Fran. Some of them have flesh sloughing off their bodies (one and four especially). Two of them (four and five) have got one leg out of the barrel. A nice touch on number five is his shoe, which has a sole that is coming apart at the seams to reveal his toes. Incidentally, the figure that I'm missing from this set is in a very similar pose to zombie number two but his head is in a different position.
The sculpting on these figures is very good. None of them look like fresh corpses. They all look very cadaverous, almost skeletal like. Most are bald but zombie number five has a patchy head of hair.
These are not the kind of zombies you're going to find wandering the streets. They should be assigned to a specific location, like a warehouse, a research laboratory, a storeroom in a military or corporate building or in the trailer of an articulated lorry. You could designate them as Smart Zombies or Ragers if you're playing ATZ. I'd be tempted to make them Ragers if I ever use them in a scenario.
They cost £1.90 each from the Eureka website but be warned they are supplied randomly. However, it has been my experience with the good folks at Eureka that if you specifically ask for no swaps, or as few swaps as possible if ordering more than one of each, they will comply. Each figure comes in two parts - the bottom two thirds of the barrel and the top third of the barrel with the zombie. They are not supplied with bases and will stand up very well without a base. I stuck mine to circular plastic slottabases purely to make them compatible with the rest of my 28mm scale figure collection.

31 comments:

  1. Very unique zombies. They'd make great Zombie spawn points.

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  2. Indeed they would, Adam. That's a good idea and begs the question - how many zombies can you fit in a barrel?

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  3. QUOTE: "how many zombies can you fit in a barrel?"
    Hmm, still intact or just a crawler zombie? :o)


    These zombies are dirty and rotten...in the best possible way. I love 'em!

    Whiteface / Oliver

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  4. If you stomp them good then I would have a guess of 3 zombies in a barrel.

    Looking very good, and yes they are excellent for spawn points!

    I like the colours for them, dirty and grimy. Nice feel to them. The tar zombie is mostly just black and slimy if memory serves me well...

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  5. Those look very good. I agree they will make excellnt special zombies.

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  6. They turned out very well and I must say better than mine did:D

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  7. great stuff, the would work well on an army base or in a lab, make me want to watch return of the living dead 1 and 2.

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  8. Hah! Awesome. Did you see Walking Dead this week? Reminds me of that...

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  9. Oooops sorry - you are in the UK - might be a couple eps behind. No spoiler though...I havent ruined anything...

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  10. @Oliver. Oh, I'd have to say intact for the experiment to work.

    I'm glad you like them.

    @Johnny. I can just picture you doing the stomping, LOL!

    Yes, Tar Zombie was very dark - black and dark brown... and very slimy.

    @Luckyjoe. These are not your run of the mill zombies.

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  11. @Fran. I'm very pleased that you like how they've turned out and I really do appreciate you sending me them.

    @Shintokamikaze. Yes, I too fancy watching the RotLD films again.

    @WarRaptor. I think we in the UK are receiving The Walking Dead at the same time as you guys in the USA. None of which is much good to me because I don't have satellite TV. I'll just wait until the DVD boxed set comes out because I'm a patient man. I may be jealous of you but I am patient! LOL!

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  12. That is terrible news. Seriously. Of all people, you SHOULD be one of the ones who gets to see TWD when it comes out!!!

    FYI, this is a decent site to watch current and previous episodes
    http://series-cravings.info/watch-the-walking-dead-online
    Obviously not high def, but its pretty decent quality.

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  13. @WarRaptor. I shall certainly try out that site. Many thanks for providing it. Seriously though, it is unbelievably frustrating reading all the comments about the series on various forums and blogs and not being able to comment or contribute to the discussions. I have all of the graphic novels and I have the boxed set of series one and both are firm favourites of mine, so once again, thanks for the heads up.

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  14. Yeah, like I said, of ALL people, its just not right!!!!

    If you can think of any other way I can help you get the series (ie, something I can get in the USA that you cant? I cant imagine that is the case though...) dont hesitate to put a message up on my blog (theraptorsnest.blogspot.com).

    It is the one series on TV that I absolutely can not miss weekly.

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  15. All i can say mr.V is they are kewwwwllll looking Zombies I really like them!

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  16. These are awesome. The only thing worse that a zombie is a radioactive zombie.

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  17. Very nice indeed. I have been eyeing these off as spawn points myself, but I am torn between these and the ghouls coming out of the sewer made by Black Cat Bases for the spawn points.

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  18. @WarRaptor. I thank you for your kindness and generosity. You, sir, are a true gentleman!

    @Brummie. I love your use of the word "kewwwwllll!"

    @Sub-Radar-Mike. Radioactive zombies - who knows what mutation(s) they possess?

    @Shelldrake. I've seen those ghouls by BCB and you're right, they would make good spawn counters as well. See which is cheapest and go for that.

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  19. Those are class my man. I just recently downloaded and watched all of the return films again. Saw the first one in my early teens and it scared the drawers off me. Your collection continues to inspire and entertain. jp

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  20. @Jonathan. Thanks, JP, My memories of when I first saw the original RotLD film are mainly of amusement at the plot and lust for Linnea Quigley (aka Trash), especially when she got her kit off in the cemetary!

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  21. Good stuff vampifan, I have these aswell but they dont really inspire me, but you have done a swell job on yours.

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  22. @The Extraodinarii. Fair comment, mate. I like them but I can't see myself using them very often.

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  23. These are must haves! Putting them on my get out of poverty and play list :) Beautiful job on them if thats the right word, lol.

    BTW is it possible to lay a barrel down? Does the bottom look right? I would probably do this just for variety and chaos sake :)

    Thanks for showing me something new to get excited about.

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  24. Thanks for your enthusiastic response, Roger.

    Looking at the poses of the figures I'd guess that zombie number 1 (the one at the far left of my photos) would be a fair candidate for a lying down zombie. As far as I remember the bottom of the barrel is flat. You'll probably have to do a bit of filing on the side of the barrel touching the ground just to get it to lie flat. It certainly would have been a good idea if Eureka had made a lying down barrel with the zombie crawling out of it.

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  25. Great set of figures and your usual great paintjob; your choice of white for the colours of the barrels was truly inspired, it really sets of the figures well.

    It would have been nice to have seen a barrel on its side with a zombie crawling from it though.

    As markers for spawn points or whatever these pieces come into their own.

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  26. Thanks, Joe. As I said to Roger, I think that one of this set could be used as a fallen barrel, although I do afree with you both that a properly sculpted fallen barrel with zombie crawling out would be a bonus. By the way, I thought long and hard about what colour to paint the barrels and I went through loads of colour combinations in my head before settling upon white. I agree, it does work well.

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  27. These are, like all the eureka figs, just lovely. Did you order direct of Aussietopia? I get my Eureka from Ian at Fighting 15s, always handy for a show order.

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  28. Thanks, Phil. My order went directly to Eureka in Australia. I've ordered from them on a few occasions and I've never had call to complain or long to wait. A delivery time of two weeks is fair enough in my opinion. I must admit, I haven't heard of Fighting 15s, but I will check them out.

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  29. Yep the foreign firms do seem really quick... often I order from a UK firm on the same day as a foreign one and a lot of the time the US/Canadian order is here before the UK one... it doesn't fade my consumer nationalism though ;-)
    Of course Ian at fighting15s is good, both mail order plus show orders, and it's good to see the bits he has which you might have missed... like the not-Flashman figures I picked up at Legion.
    His site is... http://www.fighting15sshop.co.uk/eureka-miniatures-1-c.asp

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  30. Many thanks for the link, Phil. It's much appreciated, and it's good to hear that your own experiences in receiving goods from abroad mirror my own.

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  31. BT should rightly run a dedicated cable to your house, specifically just so they can send TWD direct to you on release... or beforehand.

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