The Walking Dead Corpses

When I placed my last order with Mantic Games for the Here's Negan board-game, I also ordered a set of The Walking Dead Corpses. This set comprises of six figures - 4 zombie corpses, 1 human corpse and a dying human. All are sculpted on 25mm diameter bases and are made of resin. The detail on them is very good.

At the back is the kneeling human. I painted him with his eyes closed. He would make a good hostage. To his left is the dead human. She hasn't turned yet and bears no obvious wounds. I painted her with a very pale flesh for her skin to show she is still human. The four zombies at the bottom of the photo are very obviously undead. They all have multiple wounds and their faces look very gaunt and emaciated. All of the figures have been cleverly sculpted to fit on their bases with their legs bent.
This is not an essential purchase as they serve no purpose in the game. However, for me, in any zombie apocalypse game, corpses are an essential part of the scenery. Like zombies, you can never have too many corpses, in my opinion. This set costs £14.99 from the Mantic Games webstore, so they're not cheap by any means. Although sold as a The Walking Dead accessory set, they could be used in any zombie apocalypse game.

Johnny Borg Castings Road Kill Set 01

I recently received an e-mail from an old friend of mine, sculptor John Lauck. Here is what he had to say. I hope you find it as interesting as I did.

Hey Bryan,

Just searching the net in an effort to promote my limited edition set of 80 
various road kill figures (mostly animals and some various humans and gag 
pieces).    Any promotion on your Vampifan blog would be greatly appreciated.  
Here is an official press release with a bunch of images.  I used to operate 
Mega Miniatures from 2001 to 2013, then decided to focus on other venture.  
Still going to produce some miniatures from time to time that fit my fancy.  

Road Kill Corpses 28mm  (Limited Edition of 80 figures)

Available from  July 23rd to October 31st, 2014 then discontinued.

http://www.johnnyborgcastings.com

Download the three page flyer showing all 80 figures at ACTUAL SIZE, and price 
list.  
http://www.megaminis.com/MEGA/CORPSES/Road_Kill_Corpses_Limited_Edition_2014.pdf

     I’ve spent the last year finishing off one of several projects.  Road Kill 
started off years ago as 30 sculptures that never went into production until now 
and the range has ballooned into an 80 figure set.  The set is the best value.  
However, I understand miniature enthusiasts love to pick-n-choose so I’m 
offering singles too.  Any quantity because I’ll cast whatever is needed before 
the discontinue date.  Some minis as cheap as 25 cents each with the vast 
majority in the $1 to $2 range.  This is the only release I will have in 2014.  
I’m semi-retired and don’t want to obligate myself to doing this full time 
anymore.  

     The figures are 28mm scale,  cast in white metal (tin alloy), unpainted,  
with a flat rate world shipping rate of $10, Paypal accepted, and a minimum 
order of $15 or more.      
     
http://www.megaminis.com/MEGA/TEMP/RKC.jpg

http://www.megaminis.com/MEGA/CORPSES/Category-Top-Farm.jpg
http://www.megaminis.com/MEGA/CORPSES/Category-Top-Tiny.jpg
http://www.megaminis.com/MEGA/CORPSES/Category-Top-Bird.jpg
http://www.megaminis.com/MEGA/CORPSES/Category-Top-Dogs.jpg
http://www.megaminis.com/MEGA/CORPSES/Category-Top-Australia.jpg
http://www.megaminis.com/MEGA/CORPSES/Category-Top-Deer-1.jpg
http://www.megaminis.com/MEGA/CORPSES/Category-Top-Large-Game.jpg
http://www.megaminis.com/MEGA/CORPSES/Category-Top-Humans.jpg
http://www.megaminis.com/MEGA/CORPSES/Category-Top-Accessory.jpg
http://www.megaminis.com/MEGA/CORPSES/Category-Top-Mysteries.jpg

Well worth a look, I'd say. I have already placed my order for all 80 figures. John is selling the complete set for $99.00, which saves you a whopping $51.00 if you were to buy all 80 individually. It's funny but just recently I was saying that I wished more figure companies produced corpse miniatures and suddenly, out of the blue, John contacts me with this fantastic offer. By the way, as an extra incentive, if you place an order before the end of August, John will throw in some extra freebie figures as well as a glossy full colour flyer showing the colour schemes of all 80 figures.

Recreational Conflict 4-of-1 Figures 02

As promised, here is part two of my review of the Recreational Conflict 4-of-1 sets of 28mm scale figures, this time concentrating on the females. So without further ado, here they are.

To start off with, here is the Asian businesswoman. In her civilian form, she is speaking on her mobile phone. I'm not too sure what she is holding in her left hand. It could be a pager or even a second mobile phone.
With the survivor version, she is armed with a 12 Gauge Pump Action Shotgun. KACHING! This lady means business!

The zombie version of her is without doubt, the most extremely disfigured of all the zombies in this range. She has been cut in two and has had her left arm ripped off. She'll still be able to drag herself along the ground with her one good arm, but her progress will be very slow. She could still surprise an unwary passerby by hiding under a vehicle.
Richard Brooks, the head of Recreational Conflict, told me last time that the corpses had all been left intact so that you could decide how they died. So, I gave this corpse a cut to the forehead and a bite wound to her left cheek.

Next in line is the waitress. She has a napkin draped over her right arm and she holds a silver tray aloft in her left hand.
In her survivor guise, she is armed with a frigging huge revolver, most likely a Magnum. I'd definitely class it as a Big Ass Pistol in All Things Zombie.

The zombie version of the waitress has lost her left arm, resulting in massive blood loss. Also, notice that her ponytail has come undone.
I painted the corpse version with a gaping cut to her throat. I must admit to a certain ghoulish pleasure in deciding just how the corpses had died.

Moving on, we come to the chav shopper. She is dressed in typical chav clothing - jogging pants with faux gold belt, hoodie top, crop top T-shirt showing her midriff and belly button and of course, a pair of designer label running shoes. Her bottle-blonde hair has been tied back in a ponytail. She has been out shopping and holds a shopping bag in each hand.
The survivor version has swapped her shopping bags for a pair of 9mm Pistols.

From the front, the zombie version looks unmarked but from behind you can see she has suffered appalling injuries. most of the skin from her back has been flayed off and she has a deep bite wound at the back of her calf on her right leg. Just like the waitress, her ponytail has come undone.
The corpse version got shot or stabbed in the right eye.

What I really love about this set of figures is the individuality of the figures. They are not all average sized Caucasians and are all the better for their different sizes and ethnic origins. This female is clearly overweight, bordering on chubby. She could be a tourist reading a tour guide or maybe she is the tour guide. She is well-tanned, so obviously spends a lot of time outdoors. I also deliberately painted her with grey hair to acknowledge the fact that not every survivor will be young, fit and healthy.
In her survivor guise, she carries a 7.62mm Model 85 Parker-Hale Bolt-Action Rifle with fitted Scopesight - a very good sniper rifle.

The zombie version has suffered a massive stomach wound and her intestines are just starting to spill out. Gross!
Her corpse has blood coating her lips, chin and neck.

I'll finish off with a better view of the four corpses. As with the males, I am a massive fan of this complete range of figures. I must give a special nod to Brian Cooke, who sculpted them. He has done a superb job on capturing them in their various forms. Every one of these figures looks as if he or she has a story to tell. I'm now looking for an excuse to introduce them to my ATZ-FFO campaign set in Mayhem City.
So, by now, you are probably wondering how much they cost? Every civilian, survivor, zombie and corpse can be purchased separately. The civilians, survivors and zombies cost $2.50 each, whilst the corpses are cheaper at $2.00 each. However, it is better value to buy them in groups. The 8 civilians (4 males and 4 females) cost $18.00. Likewise for the 8 survivors and the 8 zombies. All 8 corpses will cost you just $14.00. You can also order the Gearing Up set, which consists of all 8 civilians and all 8 survivors for $36.00. You can find all of these figures under the Lead Bones heading of the Recreational Conflict webstore.
These are amongst my all-time favourite zombie apocalypse figures and I give them my highest recommendation.

Recreational Conflict 4-of-1 Figures 01

Over two years ago I reviewed a set of 16 Recreational Conflict 28mm scale humans, featuring 8 civilians and their 8 survivor counterparts. I really raved about these figures and the whole concept of making "before and after" figures for a zombie apocalypse game just appealed to me so much. I made a plea with Richard Brooks, the head of Recreational Conflict, to extend this range further and add zombie and corpse versions of the 8 figures. Well, to my absolute delight he took my suggestion on board and late last year he very kindly sent me the new figures free of charge to review on my blog. My heartfelt thanks go out to Richard and I can only apologise for taking so long to getting round to reviewing them. In this post I shall review the male figures and on Sunday, I'll showcase the females.

Although I have already reviewed the civilian and survivor types I felt it just made sense to show all four variants together so you can see a natural progression. I start off with the basketball player. as befits such an athlete, he is the tallest figure in the range. He has his basketball tucked under his right arm and in his left hand he holds a bottled energy drink.
The survivor version sees him armed with a 9mm Ingram MAC11 Sub-Machine Gun with fitted suppressor. Joe and I recently had a discussion about how the word "silencer" is a misnomer. It does not silence a gun, it merely minimalises the sound.

I wasn't too sure if the zombie version should come before the corpse version as a person has to die before they become a zombie but from an aesthetic point of view it looks better to have the three standing figures grouped together, followed by the prone figure. Here, the zombie version keeps a hold of the energy drink in his left hand. However, he has lost his right hand, so I think we can assume he bled to death from that wound.
The corpse, however, is intact and shows no obvious signs of wounding. Hey, it's not unheard of. He might have suffered a sudden heart attack or a blow to the head.

Moving on, we have another young African/American, only this time he is a skate-boarder. He is quite tall, as well. Note the silver chain hanging on his right thigh.
The survivor version is armed with a 12 Gauge Double-Barrelled Sawn-Off Shotgun that has had both barrel and shoulder stock cut down, making it more like a big pistol.

The zombie version has certainly suffered. He has lost his left arm and the lower half of his face has been bitten off, although his jawbone is still intact and in place.
The corpse version is curled up as he has suffered a gaping wound to the stomach.

 With so many ethnic minorities in this range of figures I was able to make full use of my extensive range of Foundry flesh colours. The business man shown here is another African/American and although he is darker skinned than the skateboarder, he is not as dark as the basketball player. All three are brown skinned but not the same shade of brown. The civilian version is depicted talking on his mobile phone whilst holding a briefcase in his other hand.
The survivor version is armed with a 9mm Heckler and Koch MP5 Sub-Machine Gun and a baseball bat. Rather foolishly, he looks like he is about to fire the MP5 one-handed. All I can say is, "recoil!"

The zombie version retains the baseball bat, but because of the way he is dragging it behind him is probably unaware he is still holding it let alone realise it can be used as a weapon! The MP5 has gone along with his right arm.
The corpse version clutches his stomach in a vain attempt to stem the flow of blood from either being shot or stabbed.

Finally, we have a Caucasian figure, although he is nicely tanned. The civilian version shows him as a cameraman. Given that he is wearing a multi-pocketed waistcoat for storing lenses, he is most likely a professional. He must be filming somewhere hot seeing as he is wearing T-shirt, shorts and a sweatband on his head.
He is probably used to "shooting" people at long range, which would explain the choice of weapon for the survivor type - a .50 Calibre RAI Model 500 Sniper Rifle with Scopesight.

The zombie version has lost the waistcoat and both arms. I'll resist making the joke about him being 'armless. Oops, sorry, it just slipped out! The front of his T-shirt is almost black from the congealed blood that came from him having his jaw ripped off. Note that his tongue is still intact. Actually, with no arms and no jaw, he can't be that much of a threat, can he?
The corpse version is still whole but he has been cut across the neck and has obviously bled to death.

And finally, here is a better view of the four corpses. I mentioned in my last Monthly Musings post that I was going to review what I thought were the best zombie apocalypse figures currently on the market. Well, that accolade goes to these sets of  figures. From a narrative point of view you have everything you need to play a campaign here - civilians, survivors, zombies and corpses. Now I have painted each group of four with the same colour schemes but there is no reason not to paint all 32 figures in the range as separate individuals. This would give you more bang for your buck.
I'll give you the details of their prices and reference codes next time, when I review the 16 females of the range. All I can say now is that I give these figures my highest recommendation. Once again, a HUGE THANK YOU to Richard for not only producing this range but for sending me the figures soon after I returned home from hospital. That gave me a massive boost.

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.

Battle Bunker Zombies

It has been such a long time since I reviewed any undead figures. So, it's time to put that right with a review of two sets of 28mm scale zombies from a not very well known firm called Battle Bunker Games. My good friend Adam, aka ZombieAd, who runs the Zombie Shop, sent me a blister pack containing two of these figures. Much appreciated, Adam! I liked them a lot and ordered a second set. You'll see why if you read on.

Each blister pack contains two zombie figures, minus their heads. You get a sprue that comes with a choice of three heads and two shoulder pads. To use all three heads I needed a second set. This would of course, leave me with a spare figure. Looking at how the zombie is posed I realised it would be very easy to convert him into a corpse, so, this is what I did.

The figure at the far left of my photos has been slightly altered by gently bending his arms into new poses - right arm down and left arm up. I used the bare head for him. His shirt and trousers have been severely shredded and he is missing a sock and shoe from his right foot. His injuries are very extensive, ranging from cuts and bites to his head all the way down to a massive bite wound at the back of his lower left leg. I have smeared his hands in blood, which just adds to the overall gory look of him.
In the centre of the trio of standing zombies is your basic figure with no changes done to him. I gave him the American footballer's helmet head and glued a shoulder pad to his right shoulder. I painted him in the colours of the Mayhem City Marauders. I'm slowly building up a small collection of American footballer and cheerleader zombies from various figure companies. I did paint a number on this guy's shirt but when I came to painting on the gore effects (TCR mixed with black) it got totally obscured.
The third standing zombie was given the biker helmet head, and so I gave him a black T-shirt and a pair of jeans, to reinforce his biker look. His arms have been ever so slightly repositioned to move them closer in to his body. You can do this easily enough just by bending them in your fingers. The colour schemes and different heads help to make all three look different. I've painted more gore on his arms than on the other two, again, just to make him look different.

To make the corpse, I first of all cut off his slottatab with a pair of model clippers. I slightly repositioned his arms and I added a small amoubt of modelling putty to the small of his back, to fill in the gap between the bottom of his shirt and his belt. I snipped off the back of his left boot so it lay flat on the ground and I ever so slightly bent his right foot forward. Finally, I gave him the bare head, which I stuck on at an angle, facing to his right. I drilled a small hole above his left ear and a much larger hole above his right ear, indicating that he'd been killed by a head shot. All in all, it was a very simple conversion, but one which I think works very well.

I have no idea if Battle Bunker Games will be adding any more figures to this range or not. They are nicely sculpted figures and they do have a lot of wounds on them, so gore-hounds like me, can really go to town splashing on the claret! The choice of heads is a nice idea but I would recommend doing what I did and buying two sets to get the most use out of them. This brings me to what could put a lot of you off them - their price. A blister pack, containing two figures and the sprue of heads costs £7.99, as near as dammit as £4.00 per figure. This, I know, will put them out of the price range of a lot of you guys and I fully understand. If you're on a tight budget, these would appear to be a luxury you could well do without. Even so, I'm glad I have them as part of my horde. Plus, even if Adam hadn't gifted me with a set, I'd still have got round to buying them.

Foundry Zombies and Corpses

I have a sneaking suspicion that a good many of you won't know about these Foundry 28mm scale zombies that I'm goung to review. They are part of their Undead range of fantasy figures. Technically speaking they aren't really zombies, seeing as they are listed as UND028 Emaciated Plague Victims. Well, that may be true but just take one look at these poor souls and tell me they aren't zombies. I bought three packs of them - one to use as zombies, one to convert into corpses and one to give to my friend, Roger, who was in need of cheering up as he was about to move house. Always a stressful time. Anyway, let's take a look at my zombies first and then I'll show you how I converted them into corpses.

You get five figures in the pack and they are the five you see standing in the photo above. I'll talk about the zombie crawler later. When Foundry describes these as being emaciated, they aren't kidding. These are amongst the most skeletal looking zombies I've seen and so I wanted to do something different with the paint scheme of them. So I decided to paint them as African zombies, with inspiration coming from the excellent film The Dead, which is set in Africa.

The zombie at the far left of the photo is the village elder, recognisable by his straggly grey hair. He's holding onto half a leg, which he has been feasting on. All of these figures have non-existant stomachs, as if they have shrunk away to nothing, or as I decided in a few cases, like this figure, to show with a lick of paint that his stomach has been picked clean by other flesh-eating zombies when he was still alive.
Next to him is a zombie with an outstretched bloody hand as if preparing to grab hold of a victim. He too, got the same chewed up stomach treatment as the village elder. I also made his sunken left cheek look like a chunk of flesh had been bitten from it by painting it with Tamiya Clear Red (TCR), the best paint on the market for painting gore effects.
The third figure in line has a mane of long hair and I did think about converting him into a female by adding breasts to him but in the end I left him untouched. Quite by accident, I got a piece of sand stuck to the inside of his lower left leg when I was basing him. I didn't notice it until after I'd primed him. I thought about scraping it off but then decided it looked good as a flap of skin hanging from a zombie bite. Sometimes a little accident can bring about a rewarding result! I also painted on bite wounds to his left shoulder and upper right leg.
The fourth figure in line is another of the three bald-headed zombies in this pack. He has his head raised skywards, as if he's emitting a loud moan to alert other zombies of the presence of fresh prey nearby. I gave him a bite wound on his right arm and also where his stomach should have been.
The final figure in this set has been left unbloodied. He is in a walking pose as he slowly advances. Incidentally, if you are wondering what colour I painted these figures in, I used Foundry Bay Brown 42 on them. I have now switched from Citadel paints to the much better Foundry paint system. Two of the things that particularly attracted me to these paints were their selection of flesh tones and secondly was the three tones of each colour - shade, base colour and highlight, which blend together so well. I plan on running a full review of the Foundry paints soon as I am so impressed with them.

Now, I'll take a look at the corpses and the zombie crawler. These figures come with integral metal bases, so the first thing I had to do was remove the figures from their bases, I did this using a good set of model cutters that I'd bought from Heresy Miniatures. They sell some of the best modelling tools. I quickly discovered that these figures were made of a much softer metal than say for example, the Foundry Street Violence range. This made converting them an absolute doddle as it was so easy to bend and reshape arms, legs and necks into new poses. All of them have had a very small amount of Milliput added to the small of their backs to help them lie flat and to strengthen what is a weak part of the figures.
Moving from left to right in the photo above, the village elder has had his right arm reposed to lie flat. His feet were bent at the ankles to lie flat on the ground. His head was tilted much further back, as was his body at the waist. as with the standing figure I made his stomach a gaping hole.
The zombie with the outstretched arm had it repositioned by gently bending it upwards. I also turned his head through 90 degrees so that it faced to one side. His legs were slightly reposed and his feet were bent forward. This was a simple conversion that just involved the bending of certain body parts. Always take your time when bending limbs and be careful not to bend them too far, otherwise they'll snap off. Actually, for a corpse this might not be a bad thing! Even so, I'd still advise caution when reposing body parts.
The third figure in line was the one that had the most conversion work done to her. This time, I did change the sex of the figure and I added a pair of breasts to her chest, which I painted on a black bra. I filled in part of her stomach cavity but left a big, bloody hole on the right side of her abdomen. Her upper torso had to be bent back to help her lie flat. Just as a change from the others, I decided to paint her as a Caucasian corpse. I think the sex change on her has worked well and it's nice to add a female to the set.
The fourth figure in line was another simple conversion achieved purely by bending limbs so that they lay flat and by twisting his head to one side and by straightening his back. I twisted his feet so that they were pointing inwards. I drilled a small hole on either side of his head between his eyes and ears to show that he'd been killed by a head shot.
When I received these figures, I immediately noticed that one of them had been snapped in two at the waist. Normally, this would have resulted in me sending them back to be replaced but in this instance I decided to make good use of the mishap. So I ended up with two figures out of one. The legs were ever so slightly reshaped and I remodelled the loin cloth into a short skirt with Milliput modelling putty. This very simple conversion gave me my second female and again I painted her as a Caucasian. I wanted her to have a nice flowery and summery dress as a stark contrast to the violence of her death.
For the zombie crawler, I had to slightly reposition his hands so that they gripped the rim of the slottabase. I added some bloody entrails to his lower torso trailing behind him. Again, this was a really simple conversion, but it's worked very well. He too, was painted as a Caucasian zombie.
Set UND028 Emaciated Plague Victims costs £10.00 for the set of five figures. However, you can buy three sets for £27.00, giving you a saving of £1.00 per set. Alternatively, wait until Foundry hold one of their frequent sales and you'll be able to get them even cheaper! I like this set a lot. Even though they were designed with a fantasy army in mind there is nothing about them that precludes their use in a contemporary setting. Plus, as I've shown, they're great for converting into corpses. If you're looking for something slightly different for your zombie horde than I highly recommend buying this set.

Cold War Minis Corpses

A couple of months ago I mentioned in one of my Monthly Musing editorials that I'd painted two extremely rare Cold War Miniatures' 28mm scale corpses that were sculpted for their The Dead Will Walk range but never got put into production. The two I have are of the redneck in baseball cap, holding a metal club and the priest brandishing a cross.

The photo above shows the two figures that the corpses were based on. Both of the standing figures are available from set 14 - Survivors.

This photo gives you a much clearer view of what the corpses look like. You can see that these are human corpses not zombie corpses, as the brain is intact on both figures. The red-neck has been bitten in the stomach, whilst the reverend has been chewed on in his legs. I like how even in death, he retains his hold upon his cross.
Now, I should stress that these two figures are not available for sale, so don't go looking on the CWM website for them. I mentioned the story of how I got hold of them previously, but it's worth repeating again. One of my oldest followers and close friend, Roger, aka Rogzombie, wrote to CWM on my behalf. How he knew about these ultra rare figures I do not know but knowing how much I'd like them he put in a request to Richard of CWM to ask if he could let me have a set if there were any still available. Obviously, Richard did still have a set going spare and he promptly sent them off to me. He mentioned in his covering letter that he was going to make corpse figures of his five survivors but the plan fell through as he was unhappy with the quality of his sculpts. It is a shame as I think it's a great idea, given that there are far too few corpse figures available. Despite that, these two figures did have a very limited production run and that's how I ended up with them. Once again, I'd like to offer my sincere thanks to Roger and Richard for ensuring I could add these amazing figures to my collection.

Here's a photo from my last batrep that shows both corpses in situ. Oddly enough, it was the corpse that I placed in the red hatchback that attracted the most comments. I'm managing to build up a fair-sized collection of corpse figures and it is something I will continue to add to. Even if the corpses have no effect in a game, you have to admit that they make for great "set dressing" on the gaming board.

Corpses 03

Well, it has certainly been an interesting week. I was all ready to post this review on Wednesday of last week when I found I had three nominations for a Stylish Blogger Award. I couuldn't possibly ignore them and had to respond. I think I ended up with seven nominations, which is just so heart-warming and gratifying. It's not only been a rewarding week for me, but also for a lot of other zombie fan bloggers. Well done to everyone.  My friend, Mikko, who runs the Dawn of the Lead blog responded to a comment that I left on his site "New blogs have sprung up like crazy, and blogs like yours and mine are already starting to feel like established, old-timer affairs. How crazy is that!"  I know the feeling! Here I am, in my third year of blogging, and already I feel like one of the founding members. Crazy, indeed!
Anyway, back to normal now with my third look of figures of corpses. I was recently digging through my collection of swaps of Horrorclix 35mm figures when I spotted a bunch of figures just ripe for converting into corpses. My first lot of Horrorclix corpses came from the original set. These five that I'm reviewing today are from the Freakshow expansion set.

At the far left of the photo above is a dead fire-eater. I cut off the flame coming out of his mouth and the jar he held in his right hand. By holding the figure over a lighted match, I was able to bend his limbs slightly so that he lay flat. I gave the flesh parts of his body a liberal wash of Citadel Baal Red ink wash to indicate he is a burns victim. He was a very easy conversion to do.
Next line is the zombie ventriloquist. He was also a very easy conversion. I cut off his right arm holding his dummy and remodelled the arm with Milliput modelling putty so that it appeared he was clutching his stomach. You don't have to be a good sculptor to do this, as most of his arm is hidden from view due to his position. I twisted his feet slightly using the matchstick method. You just need to hold the figure over the flame at the point you want changing (in this case, his ankles) for a couple of seconds for the heat to soften the plastic. I drilled a small hole in his forehead and a much larger hole in the back of his head. You can't beat a head shot for killing zombies!
In the centre of this group is a vampire roustabout aka the circus strongman. He was a much tougher conversion. It took me a while to decide if he worked best as a corpse lying facedown or on his back. In the end, I went for lying on his back. First thing I did was remove the hammer from his hands. Then I had to make a V-cut where his left leg met the hip to bend his left leg back. The V-shaped groove was filled with Milliput. I made a number of similar cuts on his arms and neck. I cut parts of his denim jacket away and added Milliput to the small of his back to help him lie flat but I was still having trouble with his arms and head. I had a sudden "lightbulb moment" when I realised if his head and arms were resting on something, like for example, a paving stone he'd lie flat. So I cut off a small piece of plastic sprue from some model I had close at hand and stuck it in place behind his head and arms at the elbow joints. Perfect! It worked a treat and he now lies flat without any gaps showing beneath him. A job well done! I finished him off by drilling a small hole just to the side of his left eye.
Fourth in line is Carny. He held a big lollipop in his left hand, as if offering it to someone, but he held an even bigger knife in his right hand, which he hid behind his back. I removed the knife and the lollipop. I made a few V-cuts in his legs at the knee joints and hip joints to get his legs lying flat. His arms were repositioned by slightly heating them. I used the same method to twist his head to one side. Unfortunately, you can't see my favourite bit of his conversion. I sculpted on spools of intestines spilling from a massive stomach wound. From the angle I have photographed him, which is how he'll appear in most situations, he looks like he could just be sleeping. Anyone turning him over is going to get one hell of a shock!
Finally, is the corpse of a circus knife thrower. He needed quite a bit of work done to get him to lie flat. I had to cut a large V shape out of his upper right leg at the hip joint. I completely cut of his right arm. I removed the hatchet he was holding in his left hand and almost cut off the knife in his right hand. The reason that I didn't is that by leaving it in place it gave me two anchor points to attach his arm to the body - at the right shoulder and right knee. This gave his arm a stronger bond when glued in place. He was another figure to have a small hole drilled in his forehead followed by a larger hole in the back of his head.
It took me a day to convert them and they were a lot of fun to do. Next time I play an ATZ scenario I'll be sure to include them on the gaming board. I have a window of opportunity for the next chapter of my ATZ campaign in the middle of June, which isn't that far away, so look out for another batrep soon.

Corpses 02

And so I move on to part 2 of my look at figures of corpses to populate your board with when playing a zombie apocalypse game. Last time I looked at some of the commercially available figures, which sadly, weren't too many. This time, I'm going to show you the 10 figures that I have converted.

The first four figures on the top are very old Citadel Miatures 25mm scale zombie corpses. These came out in the early 1980s at about the same time as the two Citadel gangster corpses that I reviewed in part 1. The figure at the far left is as close to the original figure that I have. I only made one minor modification to him; after turning his head to face to the right, I sliced the top of his skull off so that it is hanging on by a slight piece of skin. The brains spilling out were sculpted by me using Millput modelling putty. To use a term from ATZ, he is Obviously Dead! No zombie could survive a head wound like that.
What I particularly liked about these figures is that they were made of soft metal (probably lead), which made them very easy to convert. Note how I have bent the left leg and left arm of the second corpse into new poses. Using Milliput again, I extended the left leg of his trousers, added socks and shoes and gave him a polo-necked jumper, to which I added a line of bullet holes, indicating he'd been shot by some kind of automatic weapon, like an SMG or assault rifle. The head has also been repositioned.
The third Citadel corpse has had a tattered shirt added, along with a pair of trainers on his feet. He was killed by a head shot to the right eye. In hindsight, I wish I had bought a lot more of these figures. They were a converter's dream!
The fourth and final Citadel corpse has had a tattered T-shirt added, as well as a sock and shoe put on his right foot. I cut his head off and glued it back on in a different position, so that it faced to his left. I also cut off most of his left arm and added Milliput to better define the stump. This corpse has had half of his face and neck chewed off.
The last figure in the top row of my photo is one that should be readily available to everyone. He is a conversion of one of the 25mm scale zombies from the Twilight Creations Inc. plastic figures from their Zombies!!! game. I cut his base and right foot off. He seemed to work best as a corpse by lying face down. So I cut off his right arm and remodelled it with modelling putty. In addition, I used Milliput to cover his torso on the front so that he lay flat without a gap appearing beneath him. Finally, I drilled a hole in his head to show how he died. It sounds like a lot of work, but it wasn't and it was a very easy conversion to do. Seeing as I have so many of this figure, I'll probably make more corpses out of them. Being made of soft plastic, it is so easy to cut bits off him to make unique corpses.
Moving on to the lower row, all five figures are conversions of Horrorclix 35mm scale figures. All are from the original set and apart from the last figure in line, all are converted zombies. At the far left is the Zombie Lawyer and he was, without doubt, harder to convert than any of the others! The problem is his basic pose is leaning forward with his arms stretched out, which makes it difficult to get him lying flat. I managed it by doing a lot of cutting and remodelling with Milliput. This is a conversion for experienced modellers only.
The Zombie Cop was much easier to convert. I cut off his head and arms and repositioned them. I also cut his back and buttocks, so that he lay flat. Any gaps in the arm and head joins were filled in with Milliput.
For the Shambling Zombie, I cut off the arm he was carrying in his right hand and removed his left foot. His head, right arm and right leg were cut off and repositioned. Once again, any gaps at the joins were filled in with Milliput. He was harder to convert than the cop but easier than the lawyer.
The Sorority Zombie was a doddle to convert. Her pose is very flat to begin with, so I didn't have to reposition any body parts. I drilled a small hole in the left side of her temple and drilled and modelled a massive exit wound on the right side of her head.
Finally, is the one Horrorclix conversion not based on a zombie figure. This figure began life as a Ghostfinder (not to be confused with Ghostbusters!). I cut a V-shaped notch at the back of his knee on his left leg and filled in the gap with Milliput. I cut off his left arm and resculpted it, so that it was tucked under his body, clutching his stomach. I removed the scanning device from his right hand. Finally, I drilled a small hole in his forehead and a large exit wound in the back of his head.
The Citadel zombies and the Twilight Creations Inc. zombie are a bit on the small size but are usable as teenagers or small adults. On the other hand, the Horrorclix figures are definitely oversized, but what the heck? They were all fun to convert and I'll certainly be converting more corpses and possibly sculpting some of my own.

Corpses 01

In my last couple of ATZ scenarios I have added a new element to my game boards - corpses. I don't know why I hadn't thought of this earlier as it seems like such an obvious idea. I mean think about it - in a zombie apocalypse, the longer it goes on, the more bodies will end up dead... and I do mean dead, as in permanently dead. If your player characters kill a zombie, will they dispose of the body in a proper manner, or will they just leave it where it fell? Unless they are defending their HQ I suspect the latter. A few followers have asked me about my figures of corpses, so I have decided to show them in this post and the next. This post shows nine 28mm scale corpse figures that I have bought, whilst the second will consist of figures that I have converted.

At the far left of the top row are two 28mm scale corpses from Ramshackle Games. These are resin-cast figures and come in a pack of three for the ridiculously cheap price of £0.75. The third figure, which I haven't shown, is standing upright as he leans against a wall. He might be dead, he might be wounded, he might be drunk or he might just be tired. I haven't painted him as I'm still deciding what to do with him. If you want to see him, plus alternative paint schemes for the two corpses, check out Lord Siwoc's blog, Brains and Guts here at http://lordsiwoc.blogspot.com/2011/05/world-has-come-undone.html To be honest, I think all three of these corpses are rather crudely sculpted but there's no denying, they are good value for money.
Next in line are a pair of corpses from Chiltern Miniatures 28mm scale Modern Forces Insurgents range. These are part of the African rebels range but when I checked on their price and availability earlier I couldn't find them on the Chiltern website. There are no obvious wounds on this pair, so maybe they're just Out Of the Fight. But then again, not every corpse has to lie in a pool of blood. These are rather chunky figures and in no way should be described as 28mm scale. Like the Ramshackle corpses they come on integral bases, which for me, I'd rather they didn't. It's just a personal preference but seeing as I'm using my corpse figures purely for set dressing, then I'd rather they weren't sculpted with an integral base.
Moving to the bottom row are two corpses made by Citadel. That's right, Citadel! Many, many years ago, Citadel produced a range of 25mm scale 1920's style gangsters. That is back in the days when their figures came with integral bases and scale-creep hadn't been heard of. For those with long memories, I'm talking about the early 1980's. These two beautiful sculpts, one male and one female,  were part of that range and whilst they may appear a bit small when compared with many figures from today, I still think they are usable. After all, not everyone in real life is six feet tall. So just regard these as vertically challenged adults.
In the centre of this row is a corpse made by Cold War Miniatures from their Dead Will Walk range of 28mm scale figures. He is extremely well sculpted and will fit in with many other 28mm scale figure ranges. He is available as a single figure for £1.75 as figure Z32 or as part of set DWW7 Victims for the price of £7.00, which contains four other figures. He is probably the best commercially available 28mm scale corpse around at present.
Next up is a decapitated zombie from Fortress Figures. They rather amusingly called him Matt. He is huge, close to 35mm in size. The sculpting of this range was rather cartoon like, which may be another reason people didn't take to this range. Poor sales might explain why the company are no longer trading. If you want him, you may struggle to find him, unless someone is offering him on eBay. I like the concept of this figure but he is huge and not a great sculpt.
Finally, I present a Horrorclix figure who isn't horrendously overscale, which is unusual for Horrorclix. She was part of a mini-diorama that made up the Ripper figure from the original set. The Ripper figure was one of the silver-edged Unique figures, which will make him rather expensive, I'd imagine, if you find him on eBay. I was lucky, I got a swap of him, so I could use one to play Horrorclix with and the other to cut apart to make two separate figures. Her dress suggests she was a prostitute, which is further reinforced by the fact the she was a victim of the Ripper. I think she's an exquisite figure.

So, of the nine figures I've shown, at present only three are readily available to buy. I find that very sad. There is a niche waiting to be filled for contemporary corpses. I'd guess that there are more available amongst military ranges, which is something I haven't looked into much. I'll add that to my "to do" list. I suspect there isn't much call for contemporary corpses but I'd like to see a lot more. Of course, the alternative is to make or convert your own. That's a topic that I'll cover in my next post.