Wednesday 23 July 2014

Zombicide Season 2 Survivors and Zombivors 01

Following on from my previous post, which looked at some of the Survivors and Zombivors from Zombicide season 1, I'm now moving on to season 2. Sadly, I did not support season 1 and I bitterly regret not doing so. The extra Survivor and Zombivor figures that were produced for season 1 are selling for insane prices on evil-Bay. £50 for a single plastic 28mm scale figure - no way! However, I did see the light when season 2 was launched last year and I bought every figure that was produced for it. I'm going to start by reviewing the four Survivors and their Zombivor versions from the Toxic City Mall expansion set.
Let's start with Derek Foster the locator. What that means is that he is good at finding people, objects and places. He has eagle eyes and not much escapes his vision. Survivor Derek is armed with a 9mm pistol, a hammer and a bag full of wooden stakes. Zombivor Derek has replaced the pistol with a double-barrelled sawn-off shotgun and his stakes with a  baseball bat. His hammer is now tucked in his belt. He starts the game with the +1 Max Range skill, which allows him to increase the range of any ranged weapon he uses by one Zone - very useful for shooting zombies at a distance.
Next up is Raoul Nicholas the contractor. He used to be an army medic but when the zombie apocalypse began and he lost a lot of close friends he became a freelance mercenary. Survivor Raoul is armed with a 5.56mm M16 assault rifle and a machete. Zombivor Raoul is armed with a pair of 9mm pistols. He starts the game with the Webbing skill, which means that any weapon or piece of equipment he carries counts as being in his hands. Normally, a character can carry up to five items but only two are ever considered being in his hands. So you can see why this is a very useful skill to have.
Now we move onto the female characters and first up is Elsa Bryce-Howard the cat burglar. Elsa was born beautiful but came from a poor family. She soon learned that agility, attractiveness and subtlety could open the doors to fabulous wealth. Although gold and money are now worthless her lock picking skills are just as useful as ever. Survivor Elsa is armed with a pair of Magnum revolvers, whilst Zombivor Elsa is armed with a katana. Elsa starts the game with the Break-in skill, which allows her to open any locked door without special equipment and without making any noise. In addition, opening a door counts as free action for Elsa. There's handy! Incidentally, I used gloss black paint to paint her cat suit. I think it looks very cool and sexy.
Finally, is Neema Freeman the executive. After ruthlessly climbing to the top of the corporate ladder, Neema proved she was a born survivor. When the zombies ruined her former life, they triggered something inside her, something feral. She is now an alpha female leading her pack with wise words and rightful fury. Survivor Neema is armed with a 9mm Uzi sub-machine gun and a .44 Magnum revolver. Zombivor Neema is armed with a katana and a .44 Magnum revolver. She starts the game with the Born Leader skill, which means that during her turn she may give any other Survivor or Zombivor a free action, which must be used in the recipient's next turn.
Once again, these are nicely sculpted and well detailed. I have yet to use any of them in a game but I can see that they all have useful starting skills. As such, I have not formed an opinion on which one I like best.

21 comments:

  1. Great job on them Bryan. It has surprised me immensely how collectable the exclusive figures have become. I've been helping a friend recently source proxy figures for various characters

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    1. Thanks, Simon. I recently put in bids on evil-Bay for all of the season 1 promo figures that were produced. Suffice to say, i was soon outbid. The bidding started at £3 for a single figure or £4 for a pair but quickly escalated into silly money. Anyone who is prepared to pay £50 or more for a single figure clearly has more money than sense. Yes, proxy figures are the way to go and not that difficult tto find.

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  2. Nice one mate all very good additions to the horde and the last of humanity!

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    1. Cheers, Clint.. Yep, they're all worthy additions.

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  3. Lovely job Bryan.
    Elsa looks great in gloss. The WNI has used all these guys in anger, my favourites are Elsa (opening doors without equipment is invaluable) and Derek (any ranged weapon becomes even better) but others have their own favoured choice.
    As a group, we all kept forgetting about Neema's free action distribution, until we gave her owning player a token to give out (similar to the first player token) which seemed to solve the problem.

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    1. Elsa looks stunning in gloss, Bob. As I said, they all have very useful starting skills... providing you remember to use them! Giving Neema a token to hand out is a great idea. I'll certainly be adopting that idea.

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  4. Whilst I know that what the figures are armed with isn't necessarily what they have in the game it seemes a bit strange to have the zombie version armed differently.

    Does the zombicide 3 kickstarter not allow you to get older add-ons ?

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    1. Actually, Joe, there is a good and valid reason why a Survivor and his or her Zombivor may have different weapons. Whenever a Survivor loses a wound, they place a wound card in their equipment deck and this replaces one item, which could be a weapon or a piece of equipment (player's choice). So after the second wound, which always kills any Survivor, they could have lost two weapons, hence the Zombivors sometimes having different weapons.

      Yes, Zombicide season 3 does allow older add-ons.

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  5. Nicely painted and yes the cat suit does look great in gloss.

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  6. Good to see you've gotten your painting mojo back, I also look forward to the upcoming card modelling. Too bad I missed entering the competition, but I enjoyed reading your answers to the questions.

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    1. Thanks, Sean. I'm sorry you missed the competition, but rest assured, there will be more in the future.

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  7. Nice work Bryan. Sorry I've been away in my darkness ;) I really love the Zombicide character figs. Some of the best survivors made to this date. I think I may make them the focus of my games. I saw the Hannibal Lecter painted and now yours and am really impressed with how good plastic can look.
    I'm waiting for the z3 big finalle.

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    1. Hi, Roger. It's great to hear from you again, mate. The Zombicide figures are indeed of a high quality and thankfully, being made of hard plastic, they don't bend very easily and they take paint well. Zombicide season 3 is getting better and better all the time. I'm looking forward to it hitting the $2 million mark... which it will!

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  8. Very nice Bryan. I really like your line work on Neema!

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    1. Thanks, Adam. Neema was a lot of fun to paint. But, I can honestly say that about all of the Survivors and Zombivors.

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