Vampifan's Views 43 - Monthly Musings 24

Vampirella by Dorian Cleavanger

Phew, what a busy month this has been! I have lots of good news to spread, so I'll start with my hobby news. In my last post I reviewed the four new survivors from the revamped Zombie Plague game. Earlier this month, I received nine 28mm scale zombies to use in the game. They're waiting to get assembled and painted.
However, these were eclipsed a week later when I finally received my huge Zombicide 2 parcel. It arrived a week before my birthday which was great timing. So what did I get? The Prison Outbreak and Toxic City Mall supplements took up the bulk of the order. In addition I got a set of 9 new gaming tiles, 2 packs of 20 zombie dogs, 2 packs of 6 hero dogs, 9 new survivors and 9 zombivors (heroic zombies), a pack of 31 assorted zombies, 2 packs of 6 dice and a pack of 10 markers. Christmas had come early. I've read the new rulebooks and they offer a lot of new options that will help keep the game fresh, interesting and entertaining. By the way, Prison Outbreak contains 6 survivors, 6 zombivors and 78 berserker zombies (immune to ranged fire). Toxic City Mall contains 4 survivors, 10 zombivors and 29 toxic zombies (they explode when killed, spraying everyone in the same zone as them with poisonous toxins). All told, I make that 234 new figures to paint. Gulp! Incidentally, this was not everything that I ordered. There are more figures to arrive next year. Double gulp!!
I received a very nice and unexpected surprise from Richard Brooks at Recreational Conflict. He sent me three packs of brand new 28mm scale figures. A while back I reviewed his combination civilian/survivor figures. These consisted of 8 unarmed civilians and the same 8 figures but armed to use as survivors. I praised them very highly at the time and I mentioned that it would be so cool if Richard brought out zombie and corpse versions of them. He listened and to my utter joy that was what was in two of the new figure packs. Richard, sir, you are a hero! As if that wasn't good enough, he also sent me the new Hazmat troopers he's been working on, which complement his first set. It's at times like this that I love being a blogger of all things undead.
For a long time now I have been eyeing the figures made by Crooked Dice Games. I finally bowed to pressure and made a couple of orders to them. My first order consisted of 3 Doctor Who minis (Matt Smith, Amy Pond and Captain Jack Harkness), 7 agents and sidekicks and Misty the zombie killer. They have all just come off my painting table. The second set, about to get painted, contained 5 more Doctor Who companions and 7 St. Searle's schoolgirls. I'll definitely be placing more orders with CDG.
I have finally got to grips with my new computer and, touch wood, it is working just as I want it to. I now have a 2TB hard drive, which should be more than enough memory for my needs. I also have a 1TB external hard drive, which I use as a back up for my work. Windows 8 took a bit of getting used to but I think I've mastered it now.
Finally, I leave you with some very sad news. I received news from Ed at Two Hours Wargames that his ATZ poster girl, Carolee Gee, had died of a terminal disease. It is always sad to hear of the death of anyone loved by the gaming community, but when that person was so young and so beautiful it just makes it harder to take. My deepest condolences go to Ed and to Carolee's family and friends. I have no doubt that God will have a place reserved for her in Heaven. She will be missed.

Zombie Plague Survivors

Earlier this year, Brian S. Roe at R Squared Studios launched a Kickstarter project for his revitalised Zombie Plague game. I already had the original game and figures from when it was first launched quite a few years ago. The update greatly intrigued me, especially as the figures were going to be revamped and remodelled. The new sculpts are vastly superior to the old ones and I present them here.

At the far left is Crissy Hot-Rod. Her grandfather was "Fast" Johnny Hot-Rod, a famous guitarist from the golden age of Rock and Roll. He taught Crissy how to play guitar from when she was just a toddler. She is the leader of this group of four survivors and she has a spunky personality. When the zombie apocalypse kicked off she armed herself with a hockey stick. All four figures are two-piece castings with the hands and weapons separate from the rest of the figure.
Next up is Chelsea Harlowe, Crissy's best friend. She's a cheerleader and bass player in Crissy's band, "The Sleepy Ones." Chelsea is a free spirit with a happy-go-lucky attitude. Initially, she had a hard time coping with the zombie apocalypse. But that all changed when she found a chainsaw. Now she's turned into a psycho bitch from Hell. Zombies beware - she means business!

Timmy Leong was one of the Appleton High School's best baseball sluggers. His mother is Chinese and his father, American. Chelsea calls him "The New Kid" and even though he has attended the same high school as Crissy and Chelsea for the past two years, Chelsea argues that because there have been no more new arrivals, he is still technically, "The New Kid." Not surprisingly, he is armed with a baseball bat.
Last in line is John Blackthorne, Crissy's boyfriend and mechanic at the auto-centre of Appleton High School. He works there with his dad. He is the only one of the four survivors to be armed with a firearm - a pump-action shotgun.
These 28mm scale figures are very well sculpted and nicely posed. I wonder how many of you can remember the original Zombie Plague survivors? Here they are in the photo below. From left to right they were Timmy, Crissy, Chelsea and Scott. Note that John has now replaced Scott and that Timmy is now half-Chinese. They are quite crude sculpts and were produced by Fortress Figures. They are no longer in production. I reviewed them years ago. I thought it would be interesting to compare the two sets. The new figures are not currently for sale. I guess if you wanted them you had to back their Kickstarter project. Still, I'm glad I have them and you have to admit , they are FAR better than the original survivors.

As you can see I have sorted out my photo editing problem. My brother told me to download Picasa 3 because a) it is free and b) it is very good. As usual, he wasn't wrong. Now I'm off to enjoy the rest of my birthday with a young lady friend of mine.