Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Heroes 02

When I first saw the My Way Miniatures 28mm scale figures of the four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle heroes on Andy's blog site here I immediately liked them. They were so well sculpted and beautifully animated. I mentioned to Andy that I already owned figures of the four Ninja Turtles but that mine were in a smaller scale. He wanted to see them, so for Andy, and everyone else, here they are.

These figures were made by Dark Horse many years ago (mid 1980's) and are no longer available. They are 20mm scale metal figures and are extremely rare. I read that Dark Horse had a lot of troubles casting them with as many as one in two figures being miscast! They are very nicely sculpted and I like how they are all scowling angrily. These are not the fun-loving heroes from the cartoon TV series. They came with integral bases and I have glued them to pieces of plasti-card and filled in the surrounds with Milliput. In the days before slottabases were invented, this was how I based most of my figures. They are also painted in simple block colours with no highlighting, shading or ink washes, which just goes to show how much I have developed as a painter over the years.

I'm sure you can recognise them all but they are arranged alphabetically from left to right with Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael. I'd seen them in the very first comics they appeared in and to be honest, back then I had no idea how tall they were meant to be in real life. So, I was happy to use these figures in games using 25mm scale and later, 28mm scale figures. How times have changed.

I knew that there was no way I could write this post without showing you some size comparison photos of the Dark Horse Ninja Turtles and the My Way Miniatures Ninja Turtles. So, to begin with here are the two versions of Donatello and the two versions of Leonardo. Note that I painted the flesh of the Dark Horse Turtles a lot darker than on the My Way Turtles. I also used different shades of brown for the belts, elbow pads and knee pads. Incidentally, when I dug them out for this post I noticed they all wore the same coloured red bandana. This is how they originally appeared but I decided to bring them more up to date so I repainted the bandanas for Donnie, Leo and Mikey.

Finally, here are the two versions of Michelangelo and both versions of Raphael. Another thing to notice is the difference in height between the bases. I am not a fan of slottabases but I have so many figures glued on them it would be a nightmare to change them now. My preferred bases are either flat plastic or wooden MDF bases and you'll see more and more of my figures glued on them in the future. It is highly unlikely I will ever use my Dark Horse Ninja Turtles in a game, although a scenario in which some mad scientist villain has a shrink ray may be a good way to use them. There is no way I'll be getting rid of them, because they must be worth a nice sum nowadays.
Incidentally, I forgot to mention that the My Way Ninja Turtles cost 11 Euros each or you can get all four for 36 Euros, which is what I did. An alternative is to get all four figures plus a scenic sewer base for just 40 Euros. You can find details of their complete range here - http://mywayminiatures.com/
I have just placed an order for the Ninja Turtles' ally, Casey Jones, as well as the main villains of the Turtles, Shredder, Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady and a horde of Foot Clan Ninjas, all based on Andy's recommendations, i.e. figures from Greebo Games and Crossover Miniatures. As soon as I get them they'll be jumping to the front of my painting queue. Turtle power!

Zombicide Figures Size Comparison

When I was photographing my Zombicide figures I knew that I'd be asked for a size comparison photo. So I took one with the four zombie types from the Zombicide board-game alongside survivor types from an assortment of figure companies. If you are wondering about the Zombicide survivors, they are the same size as the zombie Walker. Do bear in mind that the Zombicide figures are not mounted on circular plastic slottabases so they appear to be a couple of millimetres smaller than the others.

Moving from left to right we have -
Copplestone Castings Dark Future Militia Trooper, or as we all know him - Vampifan.
Zombicide zombie Walker.
Foundry Figures Wrecking Crew gang member with crowbar.
Zombicide zombie Fattie.
Hasslefree Adventurer - Grant
Zombicide zombie Runner.
RAFM USX Survivor - Hanna, or as I call her, Hannah Vaughn.
Zombicide zombie Abomination.
Studio Miniatures Survivor - Ohio.
I think you'll agree that they match up well with all of the figures I've featured. This photo also gives you a good indication of just how tall the Abomination is.
What I did not anticipate were requests for a group shot of all of my Zombicide figures. The best I can do is show you this in game shot from one of the (many) scenarios that Mathyoo and I played.

Five of the six survivors are grouped together in the road square with the black and yellow triangular Noise Marker. Doug is on his own in the room at the top right hand corner, collecting one of the objectives for the scenario. At this point it looks pretty grim for the heroes but most of them made it to the end. Wendy was their only casualty, swarmed by zombies when the Walkers got an extra turn.

Size Comparison Photos - Biohazard Troopers

I'll wrap up my reviews of the Biohazard Troopers with a group photo of one of each firm's standard troopers. As with the size comparison photos of the zombies that I showed last year, I'm using my figure of Vampifan as a control figure. He'll appear in every size comparison photo I take. So, here they are.

From left to right they are Vampifan, (by Copplestone Castings) then Biohazard Troopers from Copplestone Castings, EM4 Miniatures, Hasslefree Miniatures, Horrorclix and Recreational Conflict. You can see immediately just how much the Horrorclix Scrubber towers over the others. The Recreational Conflict SPRU Trooper appears slightly larger than he actually is because I added some modelling putty to his head to make it bigger. This puts him on a par with the Copplestone Casting Biochem Trooper. The EM4 and Hasslefree figures are similarly sized and the smallest of this group but the EM4 Troopers are more bulky than the Hasslefree figures.
If you are still undecided which set to buy then hopefully this post may offer some help in making your mind up. I've reviewed figures from five ranges that I like. I know that Black Cat Bases make a range of five Hazmat Troopers but I really don't like them. I'm not sure if anyone else makes Biohazard Troopers. Given the amount of figure companies around I'm sure to have missed someone. Let me know if there is anyone else I've missed and I'll check them out.

Coming up next - what you've all been waiting for - my first ATZ batrep of 2011. I have spent three days last week (Wednesday to Friday) playing the tenth scenario of my campaign and a hell of a lot happened in it, including Team Vampifan's first encounters with Ragers (nasty!) and Smart Zombies (not that bad!). I took almost 70 photos of the action, which are far too many to show in one post, so I'll be splitting this batrep into two (or possibly three) parts. Oh yeah, Team Vampifan is back! Rejoice!

Size Comparison Photos - Zombies part 1

I hope you will find this post very useful. I'm going to compare the sizes of zombie miniatures from 32 different companies. Most of them are 28mm scale but some are taller and some are smaller.This is something I've wanted to do ever since I started my blog. However, at that time I was missing a lot of zombies from what is available now, plus since then, quite a few new companies have sprung up. A number of my followers have been clamouring for such an article, so don't say I don't deliver!
All of the figures will be photograhed alongside my figure of Vampifan, whom you can see is exactly 28mm tall. You'll notice a slight gap on the chart, below the figures' feet to allow for the height of their bases. I stick all of my figures on circular plastic slottabases. Some figures come with integral metal bases, which raises their height a bit more. Others are fitted with slotta tabs and for these I have inserted small pieces of card under them so that the soles of their feet are at the same level as the other figures. However you base your figures is not important here. What matters is the size of the figure from the soles of their feet to either their eyeline or top of head. There is still a great deal of debate in the gaming community about how to measure the height of figures. I'm not going to say who is right or wrong - I merely want to present you with photographic reference of as many zombie figures as I can. Where possible, I have chosen an upright male zombie from the companies' ranges. They are listed alphabetically from Alpha Forge to Zombiesmith.

From left to right the zombies are from Alpha Forge Games, Black Hat Miniatures, Black Orc Games and Blue Moon Miniatures.

From left to right the zombies are from Citadel (old style with integral base), Citadel (current style with slottatab), Cold War Miniatures and Copplestone Castings. Just note how small the old style Citadel figures were before scale-creep crept in.

From left to right the zombies are from Crocodile Games, East Riding Miniatures, Eureka Miniatures and Fortress Figures (one of the tallest available).

From left to right the zombies are from Four A Miniatures, Frothers UK, Grenadier (now sold by Mirliton) and Griffin Miniatures. The Frothers zombies are no longer available but ocassionally pop up on e-Bay.

From left to right the zombies are from Hasslefree Miniatures, Heresy Miniatures, Horrorclix and Mega Miniatures. Horrorclix are noted for being oversized.

From left to right the zombies are from Musketeer Miniatures, Ral Partha, RAFM, and Rezolution Miniatures. Quite a few of RAFM's USX range of contemporary/near future figures are heroically scaled.

From left to right the zombies are from Spinespur Miniatures, Studio Miniatures, Tengu Models and Twilight Inc. The Twilight Inc. zombie should be 1 or 2mm shorter. The problem for me was, he comes on such a thick integral base it has raised him higher than everyone else. He is close to 25mm in height and the smallest zombie readily available at present.

From left to right the zombies are from Victory Force Miniatures, Wargames Factory, West Wind Productions and Zombiesmith.

There are gaps in this list. Don't worry, I am aware of it. I have zombie figures by Eolith Miniatures and Mantic currently waiting to get painted. I know there are other ranges I've yet to buy. I do intend on buying zombies from every figure manufacturer who produce them in 28mm scale (or thereabouts). Me, obsessed by zombies? Er, I can't honestly deny it! This is why I titled this post part 1, as it's just the start. I definitely plan on doing size comparison photos of vampires and werewolves in the future... plus updates of the zombie ranges. I'm not sure about doing survivors, gangers, cops or military types. If there's a call for them, I will, otherwise I'll just stick with the undead. I've labelled this post "Size Comparison Photos" so that you can easily find it if need be in the future.