This set from Reaper, 50042 Townsfolk - Modern Children, fills a niche in the market. Very few figure companies make figures of contemporary children. Hasslefree Miniatures is a notable exception. So, I was pleased to see this set in Reaper's excellent Chronoscope range.
The set consists of three 28mm scale schoolchildren. At the far left of the group is a young lass standing in a casual pose with her hands on her hips. I do not like her hairstyle, but that is just a personal opinion. I painted her sweat shirt in Foundry Ochre 4 and her jeans in Foundry Tomb Blue 23. For her blonde hair I used Foundry Canvas 8.
The kid in the middle is in a more animated pose. He could be walking to or from school. His backpack features a portrait of Harry Potter on the back with the Harry Potter logo above it. Fiddly work, I can tell you, but I like how it's come out. His hoodie jacket was painted with Foundry Spearshaft 13 and his jeans with Foundry Night Sky 62.
At the far right is a kid on a skateboard and he is my favourite figure out of the set. He was the easiest out of the trio to paint. I used Foundry Forest Green 26 for his jacket, Foundry White 33 for his T-shirt and trainers, Foundry Bay Brown 42 for his trousers and Foundry Granite 31B for his skateboard.
These are a welcome addition to my collection of civilians, as I don't have many figures of children. This set cost me £4.90 from the Miniature Heroes webstore. I have mentioned them before in previous reviews of Reaper figures. For UK-based customers, they are worth patronising as they pay the postage costs from America, and more importantly, any customs charges. You may have to wait up to three weeks for the figures to arrive from America, but I didn't mind that. The fact that I knew that I didn't have to worry about Customs and Excises ripping me off if I placed too large an order made it well worth the wait.
They're good figures (as are most, if not all in the Chronoscape range, but couldn't the two figures on the left be girls ?
ReplyDeleteNice detaied painting as always.
The figure on the left could be a girl. The one in the middle could be of either sex.
DeleteThe figure on the far left is most definitely a girl. That haircut is de riguer for American schoolgirls. No boy could wear it without being killed on the playground.
ReplyDeleteOkey dokey, so he is a she. You can tell that I'm not a parent. Kids are a complete mystery to me! I shall edit the post accordingly.
DeleteLooking great! I like the motion feel of the one with skateboard.
ReplyDeleteAnd awesome freehand on the backpack mate!
Thanks, Johnny. I love the kid on the skateboard as well. He is very animated.
DeleteNice review! I just started looking around for models of children as well, so this was great timing!I love your paint, as always.
ReplyDeleteI think that our zombie-world heroes may end up running orphanages as they find children. As we've been discussing building the necessary resources to fight against the living dead I think that scouts and zed hunting teams would end up finding more than a couple of children. Figuring out how they might work mechanically would be pretty interesting.
I seem to have a knack of posting stuff just when you need it, Jon! :)
DeleteI'm in two minds about kids surviving a zombie apocalypse. On the one hand, parents will do anything to protect their kids, even sacrificing themselves if it means that the kids can get away. On the other hand, kids are much easier targets for zombies to attack than adults. Child casualties in the first weeks of the Outbreak could be shockingly high. As you pointed out, there will be a lot of orphan children about just waiting to be rescued.
Maybe child will be harder to catch for Z and they can hide where adult can't. But it's right many orphans in the cities but not many can survive by themselves like find food alone.
DeleteOr maybe like in east europe we will find gangs of organised children. I don't know really what children alone could become.. Maybe it will be surprising.
So very nice models!
The organised child gang idea is a very good one, Pandafurtif, and I could certainly see it happening in some cities. I would imagine that in a zombie apocalypse, children are going to have to learn to grow up very quickly in order to survive. Just look at Carl in the "The Walking Dead" graphic novels and TV series.
DeleteOh man, that sounds very "Lord of the Flies" with various child gangs who've banded together for survival during the zombocalypse. You could even use West Wind's church choir from the Gothic Horror range to emulate the hunters from Golding's book.
DeleteRegarding zombies and kids, I guess it's like the old joke, "I love children, I just can't finish a whole one by myself."
Yeah, gangs of kids could be brutal adversaries, even for adults. It's impressive to think of how capable they could be on their own, as gangers. They definitely can develop a pack mentality very quickly, Lord of the Flies was a great exploration of that part of human nature. Being brought back into a society, even a small one, could give them a chance to assimilate again. It could be there chance to go from gangers to survivors, that once in a lifetime chance to change that Ed mentions. I could see the older ones still being armed, specifically in order to help create a last chance reserve to defend their living spaces.
DeleteAs always, great discussion!
You guys are full of good ideas. Lord of the Flies was one of the novels I had to study when I was doing "O" Level Literature, so I am very familiar with it. Once you've read it, it does stick in the memory.
DeleteThe Enemy series by Charlie Higson (http://www.the-enemy.co.uk/Home/) are a gripping account of gangs of kids surviving a zombocalypse; ok, infected rather than undead zombies but still....
DeleteIndeed. I have read some good reviews about this series.
DeleteNice set of figures Bryan. I love the freehand work that you have done them very neatly done. I'd agree the first one seems like a girl to me. I'd like to get this set and arm them up a little perhaps with some bats and such.
ReplyDeleteThey shouldn't be that difficult to convert, Simon.
DeleteI like them all. Unarmed kids are difficult to find so its nice to be able to grab them when you can.
ReplyDeleteAs a somewhat recent convert to Foundry paints, I really appreciate seeing you list what colours you used. I only ordered about 10 triads to start with, so I am keeping my eye out for which ones to expand into. Using the palette on the site is difficult, so its nice to see the colours on some minis. I appreciate it!
It's funny, but when I was typing in this review, I thought about you, Adam, and I figured you would appreciate the info about the paints I used. There aren't many Foundry paints that I don't have, although their Napoleonic range is a notable exception. It did not take me long to fully convert to this range and the Foundry Painting and Modelling Guide is one of the best books I have read on painting figures. I'm glad you appreciated the info. Plus, as you said, you get the chance to see the colours "in action" as it were.
DeleteOne of the great things about yuor Blog is that it shows a wide variety of figures from many different manufactures. It helps that you are a very good painter as well and that you know the subject. Excellent Job.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for the kind words, Clint.
DeleteCiao Bryan,
ReplyDeleteyou've an excellent work and the harry potter backpack is a work of genius!
One question, did you had moldlines issue with those? I have this pack but the lines are terribles, especially on the skateboard kid..
Thanks, Gnotta. I can honestly say that I had no problems with mould lines with these figures. They were all perfectly cast. It looks like you were just unlucky.
DeleteNice models, i love the back pack and flower shirt.
ReplyDeleteThanks, SK. The Harry Potter backpack was not easy to do but the flower design was relatively simple.
DeleteNice work again Bryan. I agree about the hair on the girl.
ReplyDeleteReaper has a hard time with kids. I have her ready to paint I think. I am thinking about giving her a hockey jersey, it was either that or some kind of hippy shirt which you did with the big flower. Unfortunately for the moral decay of our children, no american girl that age would be caught dead in jeans that werent sprayed on.
Kids, huh? Who can fathom them?
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