Assorted Wild West Fauna 01

As you know I am slowly building up quite a collection of 28-32mm scale Old West figures, buildings and scenery. Whilst most of my figures are humans, I have also been adding various animals and birds that are appropriate for this genre. In this post I want to showcase some of them.

These three impressive looking bears are grizzly bears produced by Acheson Creations. These are part of the Primaeval Designs range of Prehistoric Mammals and are actually sold as Giant Cave Bears, but I thought they would make perfectly acceptable grizzly bears. I actually acquired these as part of a Kickstarter that Acheson Creations ran a few years ago to promote the Prehistoric Mammals range. This set was one of the optional add-ons you could buy.

The grizzly bear is a large sub-species of brown bear inhabiting North America. Scientists generally do not use the name grizzly bear but instead call it the North American brown bear. Note the pronounced hump on its back (particularly visible on the centre figure). This is a good way to distinguish a grizzly bear from a black bear, which does not have this hump.

Here is a black bear, and it is noticeably smaller than the grizzly bears. This figure was produced by North Star and was a freebie for those who bought all three of the latest factions in the Dracula's America range. Certain individuals in the Skinwalker tribes can transform into either a bear or a wolf, which explains why this bear figure was included. The black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America and is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. The American black bear is the world's most common bear species.

The animal alongside the black bear is a reindeer produced by Ral Partha, but I'm using it as an elk because reindeer are not native to North America, but elks are. This is specifically a Rocky Mountain Elk. This was a two-piece casting, with the antlers being separate from the body. There are six sub-species of elk, which can be found in North America. Until recently, red deer and elk were considered to be one species, but DNA studies indicate that elk should be a distinct species.

These three animals are coyotes, which are native to North America and are widely distributed across the continent. The coyote is smaller than its close relative, the grey wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. These figures were sculpted by Johnny Lauck who used to run Mega Miniatures before he retired, and were part of a limited edition Kickstarter, Road Kill Animals, which I backed a few years ago. They never went on general release, making them very rare indeed.

As of 2005, there were 19 sub-species of coyote that had been identified. The colour and texture of a coyote's fur varies geographically. I copied this colour scheme from a photo on Google Images, showing a prairie dweller. Mountain coyotes are generally greyer.

These four rattlesnakes are my most recent acquisitions and they are available from TT Combat as part of their resin cast Western Accessories Set, which is an incredibly useful set, containing 26 pieces, including 10 dynamite, 5 cowboy hats, 4 snakes, 4 cacti, 2 animal skulls and 1 dynamite plunger, all for £8.00. The snakes come in two separate sculpts and so I have painted them in slightly different colour schemes.

The 36 known species of rattlesnakes have between 65 and 70 sub-species and all are native to the Americas, ranging from southern Canada to central Argentina. Rattlesnakes are the leading contributors to snakebite injuries in North America. However, rattlesnakes rarely bite unless provoked or threatened; if treated promptly their bites are seldom fatal.

At the far left of these two photos above and below is a hawk, a medium sized bird of prey that is widely distributed around the world. This figure was also sculpted by Johnny Lauck as part of his Road Kill Animals range. I was surprised that he sculpted a hawk and not an eagle but I'm not complaining.

The four remaining birds are clearly vultures. A vulture is a scavenging bird of prey. The two types of vultures are the New World vultures, including the Californian and Andean condors, and the Old World vultures, including the birds that are seen scavenging on carcasses of dead animals on African plains. Some traditional Old World vultures (including the bearded vulture) are not closely related to the others, which is why the vultures are to be subdivided into three taxa rather than two. New World vultures are found in North and South America; Old World vultures are found in Europe, Africa, and Asia, meaning that between the two groups, vultures are found on every continent except Australia and Antarctica. These four vultures are the Californian condor species, the largest North American land bird. The figure sitting on the Tombstone signpost was produced by Black Scorpion as a free stretch goal available to anyone who bought all seven gang factions in last year's Tombstone Kickstarter. The other three figures are more of Johnny Lauck's Road Kill Animals range.
Most of my Wild West games will take place in town settings and so it is unlikely that any of these figures will feature much in them. But for games set out on the range, then they will make for very useful potential encounters. Whilst my default set of Wild West rules, Six Gun Sound, does not have rules for animal encounters, its Weird West supplement, High Moon, does. So too, does Dracula's America.

Acheson Creations Crazies and Cultists 02

Here are the final two sets of Acheson Creations' 28mm scale Crazies and Cultists. The first set is actually called Clown and Crazies, for a very obvious reason. I'd like to issue a few words of caution about the Female Crazies and Cultists set. First up, it is advertised on the webstore as containing four figures, although only three figures are shown. When I received my set there were only three figures in the package. Oddly, it cost the same as the four figure packs in this range. Go figure. The second point is a warning to those viewing my blog at work - the pictures of the females may not be suitable for work and one in particular may cause retinal damage!

Shown in the photos above and directly below are the four figures from the Clown and Crazies set. At the far left is a pilot in his flight suit. This guy has Star quality in abundance. He is armed with a pistol with fitted suppressor and with a machete - a good combination for taking on zombies. Whenever I look at him I am instantly reminded of the unnamed narrator and hero of J.L. Bourne's novels Day by Day Armageddon and Beyond Exile, as he was a U.S. Navy pilot. He's certainly not a Clown or a Cultist and he doesn't look like a Crazy to me.

The next guy in line, however, certainly does look like a Crazy. He has the look of a tramp or hobo about him, with his long unkempt hair, straggly beard and his ragged clothing. Look closely at his eyes. They are the eyes of a killer and I can see him getting ready to take on all comers, be they human or undead in a berserker-like fury. He wields a sawn-off pump-action shotgun and a machete, which is quite a popular weapon in AC's sets.

Will it come as anything of a surprise if I say that my favourite figure in this set is the clown? I thought not! But he's not just a clown, he's a clown with a chainsaw! How dangerous is that? He's going straight into Sunny's gang of Killer Klowns and he'll be a welcome addition. We all know that clowns are evil but just how evil is this guy? Shudder!
At the far right of the group is a civilian with a sniper's rifle and scopesight. He is bald headed with a goatee beard and moustache. He has a tool belt around his waist with pouches for an assortment of tools, making him a handy ally to have on your side.

And now we come to the controversial Female Crazies and Cultists set. I say controversial because two out of the three are fully nude. The young lady at the far left is armed with a 9mm Sterling Sub-Machine Gun. It is the first time I have ever seen a figure armed with this weapon, which was used by the British Army from the late 1950's until 1988. She is a blonde-haired but her pubes show that she is not a natural blonde. No matching "cuff and collar" here. Something that I have wanted to do with a nude female figure for a long time (stop sniggering at the back!) is to paint her with visible tan lines. So I painted her with Foundry Tan 14 but painted the flesh bits covered by her bikini a lighter Foundry Flesh Light 5C. I must admit that I am very happy with the results.
I can understand why young blondie would want to flaunt her body but not the mature lady in the centre of the group. I have to say that she is possibly the scariest figure I have ever seen. Ye gods, but she is UGLY! You can actually see the cellulite on the back of her legs! With her fat belly, huge pendulous breasts, stumpy legs and a face that could curdle milk she is the stuff of nightmares. She holds a 9mm Heckler and Koch MP5KA5 Machine Pistol in her right hand. I wonder if she's just an old hippy, or perhaps she's one of those Cultists who dance around naked at midnight to perform some ritual.

Finally, at the far right of the group is a more modestly dressed woman, although she still manages to exude a lot of sex appeal in her choice of costume. There is a slight comparison to a certain female vampire whom I am rather fond of but I assure you my choice of colour scheme was a pure coincidence. I just thought she'd suit black hair and on the AC webstore she is depicted in a similar red costume. After I had painted her costume I gave it a coat of Tamiya Clear Red to emphasise the red even more and to give it that glossy finish. It's one of the few times I have used TCR for something other than gore effects. She is armed with a 9mm Pistol and a katana.
I should mention that all of the AC figures that I have reviewed in this and the previous two posts were sculpted by Richard Deasey. Too often the sculptor is uncredited, so it's nice to give him a bit of recognition here. I think that the four figures in the Clown and Crazies set are very well sculpted, but be warned three of them (pilot, tramp and clown) are heroic scale and are roughly 33mm tall. The female Crazies and Cultists are definitely an oddity. I am broadminded enough not to be bothered by the nudity but I can well understand if others feel differently. I can't think of any good reason why they should be naked, other than it being part of a cult ritual.
Both sets cost $7.50. I have no idea why the three females should cost the same as the four males.

Acheson Creations Crazies and Cultists 01

At the same time as I sent away for my two sets of Acheson Creations zombies (shown in my last post) I ordered their four 28mm scale Crazies and Cultists sets. I'll review two of the sets today and the other two in my next post. I'm not too sure if the designation "Crazies and Cultists" applies to all of the figures in these sets but they certainly apply to some of them.

The four figures shown above come from the Male Crazies and Cultists set 1. First in line is a Biohazard Trooper dressed in a Hazmat suit, with gas mask and flamethrower. I have given him the same paint job as my EM4 Biohazard Troopers, as he closely resembles the look of them. He is actually a much better figure than the flame thrower trooper in the EM4 set because his flamethrower looks like a real weapon and not like a Warhammer 40,000 inspired flame rifle. He is a nice figure but is he a Crazy or a Cultist? No, I don't think he's either.
However, the next guy in line could be either or both. I decided to give him bright orange overalls, to indicate that he is an escaped prisoner. I am not too sure what he is armed with. Fantasy Fixtures (whatever happened to him?) suggested on his blog site that it was an M79 grenade launcher, but I'm not convinced. I shall probably rule that he is armed with a sawn-off shotgun.

Third in line is a paramilitary type, who could be a Ganger or a Survivor. He is armed with a 5.7mm FN P90 Sub-Machine Gun with an integral scope-sight. The military version of this innovative SMG comes with a 50-round ammo clip, whilst the civilian version comes with a 30-round ammo clip. He also has a pistol in a holster and a number of pouches on his belt, as well as a water bottle. He seems well prepared to survive a zombie apocalypse. I like this figure the most out of this set.
You may be forgiven for thinking that the last figure of this group is a boy holding a machine gun. But if you think about it seriously, that assumption is just silly. How could a young boy possibly carry such a heavy weapon? No, what we have here is a dwarf adult, which is most unusual but not improbable. He is of course, armed with a 7.62 mm Saco M60 General Purpose Machine Gun. I gave him a sleeveless camouflage jacket over his coat. Just like the previous figure, he appears to have had some military training, and again, would work well as a Survivor or a Ganger. Perhaps his comrades think he is crazy for hefting such a heavy weapon around!

The next four figures are from the Male Crazies and Cultists set 2 and the figure at the far left clearly falls under the category of Crazy. One look at this doctor's face tells you all you need to know about his sanity, or rather his lack of sanity. He has a wild-eyed manic look about him. He is a very characterful individual and I like the almost cartoon-like way he has been sculpted.
The figure standing next to him is the only one that you would definitely describe as being a Cultist. I thought long and hard about what colours to paint his robes before I settled upon this red and white colour scheme. The white front denotes that he is a leader. I would imagine his followers would be dressed all in red. I chose red as a reference to the Cult of the Red Queen from the Vampirella comics. No surprises there, huh? He wields a double-barrelled sawn-off shotgun in his right hand and an ancient tome in his left hand. If magic exists in your games, that could be a book of spells. He does make a great cult leader.

Finally, are a pair of negro Gangstas (Crazies?). Both are armed with 9mm pistols and both are holding their firearms "gangsta-style," which may look "cool" but is not an effective way to fire a pistol. Of the two, the one I like best is the dude in red, second from the right, What I particularly like about him is his machete - an excellent zombie killing weapon. In the second photo of him, the blade has really caught the light. However, if he is going into zombie territory he'd be well advised to ditch the iPod and headphones. That said, they are a nice touch to the figure.
The other Gangsta is also wearing a hoodie top, but he has pulled his hood up. His pistol is fitted with a silencer, so he'd be well worth mugging for that! He is pointing his pistol downwards, which may seem odd, but I think he is waving it up and down as if gesturing to someone to drop their weapon. In his left hand he holds a mobile phone. These are a well sculpted pair and would make a worthy addition to any African/American gang.
Some figures in these sets are probably more useful than others, depending upon your needs and preferences.These two sets of four figures cost just $7.50 each from the AC webstore, making them good value at less than $2.00 per figure.
A word of warning for next time, when I review the female Crazies and Cultists set. It contains what is possibly the scariest figure I have ever seen! Be afraid! Be very afraid!

Acheson Creations Zombies

For my first figure review of 2013 I want to showcase a bunch of 28mm scale zombies that I ordered from Acheson Creations (AC), an American based company. These arrived late last year and I finished painting them just in time for Christmas. AC currently make two sets of four zombie figures and they can be found under the All Things Zombie section of their webstore. The sets are labelled Undead 1 and 2. Annoyingly, set 2 is not illustrated on the webstore, so I was buying blind when I ordered my sets. Anyway, if you are wondering what they look like you can always refer to this post on my blog.

Set 1 comprises the four figures shown in the photo above. At the far left is a female zombie crawler. She has been cut in half at the waist and is totally naked. Nudity is a common theme with this set of zombies, which may put off some prudish gamers but not me. Remember that George A. Romero showed a naked female zombie in his classic Night of the Living Dead film way back in 1968. Apart from her obvious wound, she has a deep cut to the left side of her back and a couple of minor wounds to her right arm and shoulder. I like her a lot.
Next up is a Hazmat trooper with a massive wound in his chest that has punched all the way through so that you can see daylight on the other side. God knows what hit him to cause such a devastating wound - possibly a .50 calibre bullet. He has also been bitten in the lower right arm. He has lowered the hood of  his suit and his gas mask is hanging around his neck. He is just an average sculpt in my opinion.

The third zombie in line is a nude male. His fat belly has been ripped or sliced open and his intestines are spilling out of the opening. Note how they are wrapped around his left leg. Whilst I love the concept of this figure I am not happy at the way he has been sculpted. His legs are far too short for his body. He just looks... odd. Sensitive souls should note that his spilled guts hide his genitalia so the fact that he is nude shouldn't be a problem.
Last in line is a huge bloated zombie, who is clearly overscale. He stands about 40mm tall. He reminds me very much of Studio Miniatures' Fat Man zombie, who is of a similar size. I have to admit that he was a lot of fun to paint. A slice of his head has been cut off, revealing a part of his brain in his skull. Obviously the cut did not do enough damage to his brain to kill him. Note the subtle patches of purple bruising on his body to show where blood has pooled before his transformation into a zombie. There is also a slight greenish tinge to his flesh. I sculpted an empty crisp packet on his base. American followers may recognise it as a Frito Lays classic chips packet. Man, I LOVE those crisps/chips! It is probably a good thing that they aren't available in the UK, as I'd pig out on them without a doubt.

Set 2 starts off with what appears to be a duplicate of the Hazmat zombie from set 1. But look again and you can see that he is different. His head is turned to face the right and isn't looking straight ahead. He is not wearing a glove on his right hand. Finally, the design of his gas mask is different to his colleagues. His wounds are identical to the other Hazmat trooper. Again, he is an average sculpt.
A doctor is such an obvious choice for a zombie, seeing as the medical profession will be in the front line when the zombie apocalypse kicks off. I couldn't see any obvious wounds on this figure but even so, I have dabbed his shirt and coat with blood stains. Note the stethoscope wrapped around his neck. I'd rate him as the best figure out of this set.

Next up is a zombie dressed only in his pyjama trousers. He has a single wound to the right side of his torso. He is slightly overweight. I like this figure.
Finally, is a male zombie in a two-piece suit and tie. His head rests on his left shoulder and his right arm is covered in multiple bite wounds and hangs uselessly by his side. I do think that he has been poorly sculpted. He is definitely the weakest link out of this set.
My overall opinion of these sets is that they are good but not great. You can certainly find much better sculpted zombies on the market. But if you are a completist like me then they are worth purchasing. The cost for these sets are $7.50 and I must say that I was very impressed at how quickly AC sent them to me. Good service!