Brides and Grooms

I thought I'd review a few survivor-type figures that you'd definitely class as "out of the ordinary" - brides and grooms. The first pair (to the left of the two photos below) are made by Black Cat Bases and the second pair by Zombiesmith.

I got the Black Cat Bases couple for free last year, when BCB ran a special promotion over the weekend  of the royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton. They had a 20% discount on all orders, plus you got a free armed bride and armed groom figure. I placed quite a big order with them and was delighted with the discount and freebies. It was a while before I got round to painting this set but they will always stick in my mind for one special reason. These two were the first two figures I painted using my new Foundry paints and the Foundry painting method as advocated by Kevin Dallimore. My method of painting is very similar to that recommended by Kevin, although I can't get away with his suggestion of painting the eyes first. I have to paint the rest of the face before I tackle the eyes. I immediately found the Foundry paints far better to use than the Games Workshop paints that I'd previously been using. Foundry works on a triad system whereby each colour is made up of a base colour, a highlight and a shade. I can highly recommend them.
Anyway, this isn't a review of Foundry's paints, so let's take a closer look at the BCB figures to the left of the photos. The groom measures 29mm from the sole of his feet to his eye level. Of course, his top hat makes him appear a lot taller. Even so, this pair are slightly oversized. He is reaching under his coat to draw a pistol from his shoulder holster. I think he looks very smart and my colour scheme works well for him.
The bride is in a much more animated pose, moving at a jog or a run. She has a most impressive rack and not much support. I fear a "wardrobe malfunction" may be on the cards if she runs too fast! She holds her bouquet of white carnations above her head, which again, adds to the height of the figure. She has hiked up her wedding dress in her other hand to reveal a shapely leg and a holstered pistol stuck behind her garter belt. I like her a lot. Both figures were a joy to paint and made me an instant fan of Foundry paints.

The second couple are from U.S. based Zombiesmith and are based on a real life bride and groom.

To the left of here is a photo of Zombiesmith head honcho, Josh Qualtieri and his wife taken on their wedding day in June 2010. Josh had the clever idea of having himself and his bride immortalised in metal. Aaron Brown sculpted the 28mm scale figures and at the wedding reception all of the guests were given a set as a wedding favour. Afterwards, the set was made available to the general public on the ZS webstore. I think they are exquisitely sculpted. Anyone looking for "true" 28mm scale figures should consider purchasing them. The groom holds a large axe in his right hand and a bottle of champagne in his left hand. The bride is armed with a pump-action shotgun. As Josh said, "no bride is complete without a shotgun to go with her bouquet!" Having the photo of the real life couple made painting the miniatures a lot easier, as I had a colour scheme for them, which I stuck to as closely as possible. These two got painted a couple of months ago. I could have reviewed the two sets separately but given the rarity of the subject matter, it made more sense to combine them for one review.
The BCB bride and groom are very well sculpted, whilst the Zombiesmith Wedding Hunters, as they're called on their webstore, are superbly sculpted. I like all four figures. They are something unusual but in all honesty how much use would you have for them in a zombie apocalypse game? For sure, a wedding could take place even if the world has gone to hell. But I can't imagine the happy couple remaining in their wedding outfits for long. And that rather limits their use. On the other hand, if you are playing their wedding on Day One of the outbreak, they may be forced to keep their wedding clothing for far longer than they envisaged. You are going to have to make your own judgement call on whether to add one or both of these sets to your collection.
The Black Cat Bases Bride and Groom costs £5.00 for the pair or you can buy them separately for £3.00 each. The Zombiesmith Wedding hunters costs $8.00 for the pair. You can choose to have them supplied with 25mm diameter slottabases or 30mm diameter slottabases. They are not available separately.