Sunday 12 August 2012

Armorcast Road Kill Animals

When I posted July's Monthly Musings post I mentioned that I was painting some figures whose identity I wanted to keep a secret. Well, the secret can now be revealed. These six unique figures are from the Armorcast 28mm scale ACM001 Road Kill set.
As soon as I saw these on the Armorcast webstore, I knew I had to have them. They just appeal to my sick nature! I have arranged them alphabetically, so from left to right are an armadillo, a coyote, a jack rabbit, a raccoon, a rattlesnake and a skunk. When it came to painting them I could have easily copied the colour schemes from the Armorcast webstore. However, I was bit suspicious of the accuracy of their paint schemes when I saw the rattlesnake painted green. So I did some research using Google Images and all of my colour schemes are based on real life photos of the various animals and are thus accurate representations. I am very happy with how they have turned out.
As for using them in games, these are like any other piece of street furniture or corpses. They aren't an essential purchase but they will undoubtedly add to the ambience of your gaming board. I would not recommend using all six on the same gaming board. One, or at most two, will work best. But you can ring the changes from game to game. I am often complimented on the corpses that litter my game boards when I run my batreps. Now I can (and will) add a bit of variety to the human corpses.
My only criticism of them is that they are rather limited for use in the USA. It is, I must admit, a very minor criticism. If you wanted to use them here in the UK, the coyote could be repainted as an Alsatian dog, the jackrabbit as a hare, the rattlesnake as an adder if you cut off its rattle, and the skunk as a squirrel. You could only justify the inclusion of the armadillo and the raccoon if they had escaped from a local zoo.
I'd like to see a second set made up of domestic pets - a cat, three dogs (small, medium and large), a hamster and a rabbit.
As I said, these are not an essential purchase, but my god, they are a lot of fun! I can guarantee that if you do use them in one of your games, they will be a talking point if anyone sees them. This set costs a very reasonable $6.00.

28 comments:

  1. Odd, but in an exceptionally good way!

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  2. LMAO these are absolutely fantastic Bryan. A great find and I really like how you've painted them up. I shall be trying to spot these in your games from now on

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    1. Hey, they make me smile, too. Yes, you can all play spot the dead animal in my future batreps.

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  3. On the Menu at the RoadKill Cafe? We call armidillo Possum on the half shell, by the way.

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  4. Those are brilliant!! Gross... but brilliant hehe

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  5. Hehe....Well...More dead things to have lying around on the street as Team Vampifan go hunting for Sunny!!!

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    1. Here's a frightening thought, Johnny, perhaps Sunny is hunting Team Vampifan!

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    2. Last picture from the last battle.... Yeah I guessed as much...

      Not seen the last of those bonkers!

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    3. We certainly have not seen the last of Sunny and co. And yes, that last picture of my Assault on Precinct 13 sce3nario was a hint about who is hunting who!

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  6. Haha, well, I feel sorry for every roadkill I pass, but those are really something special. I like the bright colours, gets a bit "cartoony" feel, which, I think is just great for your terrain!

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    1. I had a similar reaction when I first saw them.

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  8. Nice paintjob on those, good and squished!

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  9. I'm at a loss for words.
    I'll join in the "spot the road kill" game though.
    Nice paintjobs as always.

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    1. Wow, Joe at a loss for words! Now that's a first!

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  10. How very odd!!! But great painting nevertheless!

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    1. In no way are these your normal run-of-the-mill figures!

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  11. BAHAHAH how very bizarre !! nicely painted Bryan, they do look good.

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  12. Great set of roadkill. As has been mentioned many times, corpses bring a lot to add character to the table, and this does the same. For my neighbour hood the Coyote, Raccoon and hare could easily be used. We don't have such snakes though!

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    1. That's interesting to know, Adam. If I was setting my ATZ campaign where I live I'd be hard pressed to use any of them.

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