Project Zeke Survivors and Zombies

Up for review today are three of the latest 28mm scale figures from Project Zeke Miniatures. We have Zeke the Smart Zombie, Bridges the ex-Texas Ranger and Eddie the veteran biker.

First in line is Zeke the Smart Zombie. When Zeke first heard the adage “Marines don’t die, they just go to Hell and regroup”, I don’t think he realised it would be quite so accurate. Zeke comes complete with broken leg, torn cheek and dangling eyeball but none of these things were enough to pry this Marine away from his rifle. That one’s his... and he knows how to use it! It's just as well Smart Zombies are so rare. By the way, his rifle is a 5.56mm Colt M4A1 Assault Rifle.

Next up is Hoyt Bridges. Former Texas Ranger, Bridges, is the cool head that everyone needs around during the apocalypse. Wise and capable, Bridges and his Semi-Automatic Rifle get it done. Bridges’ rifle (supplied) is a separate piece so can be easily swapped for another weapon in your collection. I have no idea what type of rifle he's holding. The closest likeness I could find doing a Google search was a .30 Springfield M1 Garand Semi-Automatic Rifle. By the way, in case you're wondering about his right hand, it is drawing something out of the pouch, most likely a spare ammo clip.

Finally, is Eddie Ross. This Vietnam veteran could never settle down for a quiet life. Bikes, beer and broads kept this unfortunate son going until the apocalypse gave him a reason to pick up his 7.62mm  M60 Machine Gun once more. Note that this figure of Eddie replaces the original Young Eddie. He's now older, wiser and much better armed.
These are all perfectly acceptable figures. I'm glad to see that Simon (Hunter) has started adding zombies to his range and as the company mascot, Zeke, was an  obvious character to make first. Be  warned though, he is overscale when compared to most other 28mm scale figures. Scale creep never bothers me but I know that some of you aren't keen on this sort of thing, hence my warning. I did think about replacing Bridges' rifle with one from my spare parts box but then I realised I have hardly any figures using a Semi-Automatic Rifle, so the weapon HAD to stay. My only criticism of Eddie is that M60 looks to be underscale, but that's just a minor criticism.
All three figures cost just £2.00 each and come with integral metal bases, which makes a nice change from slottatabs. I glued them onto 25mm plastic discs.

Project Zeke Miniatures 01

Simon Hunter, the sculptor and man behind Project Zeke Miniatures kindly sent me the first five figures that his new company had produced so that I could review them on my blog, and hopefully generate more sales for him. I promised him I'd do a review as soon as I finished them and last week I did finish painting them. So here they are.

 First up is William, a grizzled veteran Survivor. I liked the way that Simon had painted his version of William but decided not to copy it. Instead I opted for a more military look with a camouflage jacket and army style trousers. He carries a backpack, no doubt full of essential supplies and he is armed with a Bolt-Action Rifle with scope-sight and a makeshift bayonet, which is actually a kitchen knife taped to the gun barrel. I like that bayonet. I can well imagine it is just the sort of thing a post apocalypse survivor would do.
Next up is Young Eddie. This is a limited edition figure. Once he is sold out he will be replaced by Older Eddie, sporting a mustache. I have pretty much copied Simon's colour scheme for Young Eddie. He is armed with a street-sweeper automatic shotgun, a great weapon for taking out lots of zombies... just as long as he doesn't run out of ammo.

The next three figures are security guards for the Prosperity Corporation, hence their PC logos on their right shoulders. The Prosperity Corporation are the bad guys in the ATZ-FFO scenario, High Rise to Hell, a supplement I can highly recommend. There's not much I can say about these guys. Their colour scheme was a no-brainer. Black always works well for security guards dressed like this. They are all armed with Assault Rifles but I must admit that I do not recognise the design of them. They also have holstered pistols on their right hips. Their poses are very similar but I'm okay with that. Their faces are hidden behind balaclavas, to make them look more intimidating. They wear body armour, helmets and protective knee-pads and sturdy boots. I think these are a great set of figures and I hope Simon makes more of them. A leader type would be an obvious choice.
These figures are on the large size for 28mm scale figures. To counter this I stuck them to some of the flat plastic bases I got with the Studio Minis plastic male zombies, rather than on my normal circular slotta-bases. Young Eddie and William cost £2.50 each and the security guards costs £5.50 per set of three. Remember, if you order them before the end of March you get a 10% discount off the price of them. Oh, and one more thing, if you order them all, Simon throws in a set of four assorted backpacks for free. I haven't used mine yet but I'm sure I will.

Vampifan's Views 46 - Monthly Musings 27

Vampirella by Michael Bair. Nice water colours.

This month I want to give a big thank you to four  heroes of mine - friends and followers who have gone the extra mile for me these past few weeks. First up is one of my all-time favourite heroes, Carl Stoelzel. I mentioned to Carl that I wanted to make a small version of St. Trinian's School based upon his Haunted House model and I sent him a  photo of what the school looked like. Carl agreed that it would be ideal for what I wanted but there was just one problem. The Haunted House is a wooden structure, whereas St. Trinian's School should be a stone structure. Can you imagine my delight when a few weeks later Carl informed me that he added an upgrade to the Haunted House with stone exterior walls? Carl, I salute you! Now, the only problem I have is that I want to make both versions of the model - the one with wooden exterior walls for my own Scott Mansion haunted house and the one with the stone walls for my St. Trinian's School. Still, it's a nice problem to have. Believe me, no one does customer service better than Carl!

Not Yet Dead Schoolgirl Survivor.

I became friendly with a very talented sculptor called Toni Morey, who posts on the Board of the Living Lead forum under the name NotYetDead. Toni is unusual amongst zombie gamers, and possibly unique in that all of the figures he uses in his campaign are 1/35th scale.  He comes from Germany and his figures will be available for sale later this year. He posted a picture of this schoolgirl survivor you can see to the right and as soon as I saw her I knew I wanted her. I got in touch with Toni and he told me that he had produced miniature versions (i.e. 28mm scale versions) of her and five other survivors. They comprised three males and three females. He asked if I'd like free copies of them? Would I? I'll say! A few days later they arrived and I was just blown away by the quality of the sculpts. They are true 28mm scale figures and they are on my painting table right now. As soon as I paint them I shall review them on my blog. You can tell from the schoolgirl survivor just how talented Toni is. Toni, I'd like to thank you for the figures. I truly appreciate them and you are my second hero of the month. In case you're wondering, yes, this schoolgirl will be enrolling with St. Trinian's School.

My third hero is noted horror writer Craig DiLouie, who wrote the excellent zombie novel, Tooth and Nail. See here for my review of it - http://vampifansworldoftheundead.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/tooth-and-nail-by-craig-dilouie.html
I gave it an 8 out of 10 rating. Anyway, Craig got in touch with me and asked me if I'd like to review his new vampire novel - Suffer the Children? Oh yes, I was up for that. I like vampire novels even more than I like zombie novels. Suffer the Children is different to any other vampire novel in that here children start dying then coming back to life with an unquenchable thirst for blood. Without a regular supply of blood they will die again, only this time, for good. The question that Craig poses is this - as a parent, how far would you go to feed your child with the blood he or she so desperately needs? An interesting dilemma that raises some fascinating moral questions. From what I have read of other reviews of this book it is a rather harrowing tale. I have a PDF copy of it, which I only received yesterday, so I've only just started reading it. A full review will appear later

Private Security Force

My fourth and final hero of the month is Simon Hunter, who has  been writing to me for a few months now about the new figure company he has just launched this month - Project Zeke Miniatures. He has sculpted five figures - all humans for his initial release. More survivors and zombies will follow, including Zeke, the intelligent zombie and company mascot.

William

I should point out that Simon is not a professional sculptor and he is setting up his company more as a sideline than as a full-time job. The first batch of 28mm scale figures he has sculpted are human types that he wanted to see. The three Private Security guards would work well as security personnel in THW's scenario Highrise to Hell. 
Next up is William, a survivor with a hunting rifle with scope-sight. He has taped a carving knife to the barrel to use as a makeshift bayonet. He is my favourite figure out of the group.
Finally is Young Eddie. He is a limited edition figure. Once he sells out he will be replaced with Older Eddie, who will have a moustache. He appears to be armed with a multi-shot grenade launcher.
The set of three Private Security guards cost £7.00, whilst William and Young Eddie cost £3.00 each. However if you click onto the Project Zeke webstore at http://projectzekeminiatures.com/

Young Eddie

you will find a discount coupon offering you 10% discount on your first order. Just type in launch10 when you place your order.
I have some good news for all zombie bloggers. Simon has also offered a lifetime 10% discount to all of you who run a zombie gaming blog. Rather than reveal it here where anyone could access it I'll give you that code if you send me a personal e-mail message at vampifan at talktalk dot net. I'm sure you can work that out. Alternatively, you can contact Simon personally at hunterpest at hotmail dot co dot uk. It is an incredibly generous offer.
Simon is going to send me these five figures free of charge so that I can paint them, review them and promote his company, all of which I am very happy to do. I wish Simon all the best with his new venture.

And that's it for another month, folks. Thanks for reading and take care.