Eureka Toxic Zombies in Barrels

Earlier this year I was gifted a set of four Eureka 28mm scale Toxic Zombies emerging from barrels by my good friend Fran, aka The Angry Lurker. Once again, many thanks, Fran. There are six figures in this range and I already had one of them. Fortunately for me, the one I had was not amongst the ones sent to me by Fran. That was a nice stroke of luck! Having just painted them, I thought you'd like to see these very unusual zombies.

I'd guess that the inspiration for these figures came from the "Tar Zombie" who features in The Return of the Living Dead film. He is so called because he emerges from a barrel that should have been left closed and is covered in a dark, slimy liquid gunk. I toyed with the idea of painting these in a similar fashion and tried out what I hoped was a similar looking colour scheme but the results were not very pleasing. So I went back to plan A and painted them as I paint all of my toxic zombies, which is with a greenish tint to their flesh (Citadel Rotting Flesh, appropriately enough). The one thing I did add to these figures was a couple of thick coats of Citadel Water Effects to give them that glossy wet look. You can see this much better if you left click on the photos to blow them up to full screen size.

I won't describe each one individually like I normally do, because they are all very similar. The first zombie in line, moving from left to right, is the one that I already had. The other four are the ones I received from Fran. Some of them have flesh sloughing off their bodies (one and four especially). Two of them (four and five) have got one leg out of the barrel. A nice touch on number five is his shoe, which has a sole that is coming apart at the seams to reveal his toes. Incidentally, the figure that I'm missing from this set is in a very similar pose to zombie number two but his head is in a different position.

The sculpting on these figures is very good. None of them look like fresh corpses. They all look very cadaverous, almost skeletal like. Most are bald but zombie number five has a patchy head of hair.

These are not the kind of zombies you're going to find wandering the streets. They should be assigned to a specific location, like a warehouse, a research laboratory, a storeroom in a military or corporate building or in the trailer of an articulated lorry. You could designate them as Smart Zombies or Ragers if you're playing ATZ. I'd be tempted to make them Ragers if I ever use them in a scenario.

They cost £1.90 each from the Eureka website but be warned they are supplied randomly. However, it has been my experience with the good folks at Eureka that if you specifically ask for no swaps, or as few swaps as possible if ordering more than one of each, they will comply. Each figure comes in two parts - the bottom two thirds of the barrel and the top third of the barrel with the zombie. They are not supplied with bases and will stand up very well without a base. I stuck mine to circular plastic slottabases purely to make them compatible with the rest of my 28mm scale figure collection.

Black Cat Bases Biker Gang

Black Cat Bases, a U.K.-based company, sell a nice range of 28mm scale Gangers, made by Obelisk Miniatures but sold by BCB under licence. I purchased all of the Ganger sets earlier this year and as they get painted I'll review them on my blog. First up are the Screaming Nighthawks biker gang.

One of the things that I particularly like about these gang sets is that each gang comes with its own canine mascot. It's a nice touch that I didn't expect to see. The Screaming Nighthawks have chosen an Alsatian or German Shepherd as their mascot and they have named him "Jaws Rowlf." Oddly enough, the dog is the only figure to be given a name on the BCB website. As befits a dog with such a fearsome reputation (unjustified, some would say) it is snarling aggressively.
Moving on to the humans, I have nicknamed the guy with the chain and huge revoler, "Nighthawk." I have also made him the leader of this biker gang. He wears leather cowboy "chaps" over his denim trousers, a denim waistcoat and a bandana. His grey hair, beard and moustache suggests that he's been around awhile. The handgun is most probably some kind of Magnum revolver but I'd class it as a BA Pistol in ATZ.
Next to him is "Belcher," a biker who's celebrating with a can of beer, which he holds aloft in his left hand. In his right hand he holds a BA Pistol, most likely a Desert Eagle. Note the beergut and bald patch on his head. He's another aging biker. He wears a leather waistcoat over his denim jacket. He has tied his scraggly hair back in a ponytail, never a good look for men, in my opinion.
Another biker with a ponytail is "Two Gun Tony," so named because he's armed with two guns - a Colt .45 pistol and a 9mm Mini Uzi machine pistol. He wears a pair of mirrorshade sunglasses, a T-shirt with the name and picture of some obscure rock band emblazoned on his chest, a denim waistcoat and jeans. Although he has very muscular arms, he does have the beginnings of a beergut as well.
The dude with the sawn-off pump-action shotgun is nicknamed "Slick." His hair and moustache is a silvery-grey colour, indicating another biker getting on in his years. Of course, this suggests that these guys have been around for a very long time, so it would be unwise to dismiss them as "old timers." "Slick" wears an AC/DC T-shirt, so he really is an old rocker.
Finally, we come to "Scuzz," who is also armed with a pump-action shotgun, although not sawn-off like "Slick's." I love the way he has been sculpted having an appreciative draw on his cigarette. Ah, get that nicotine down ya, man! He is dressed in leather trousers, a white vest, a denim waistcoat and a black bandana. He also totes a pair of mirrorshade sunglasses.
What I particularly like about this set is the way each figure has been sculpted. They are so full of character. I also like the fact that these are not teenage bikers but far older. I suppose you could paint them up as looking much younger than I have but with so many young biker types already available I say, why not give these guys an older appearance?
I should make a comment about their size. They are described as being 28mm scale, and this is certainly true... if you measure them from the sole of the feet to the top of the head. They will look rather small if placed alongside certain "heroically" scaled 28mm scale figures.
You can buy each figure separately at a cost of £3.00 each for the humans and £2.00 for the dog. Alternatively, you can buy all six figures for just £12.00, giving you a saving of £5.00.

Reaper Civilian Geeks

Amongst the humans featured in THW's All Things Zombie game I've reviewed figures from the Survivors, Gangers, Cops and Military categories, but never any Civilians. If you're prepared to look around there a lot of figures of civilians out there... and just like zombies, you can never have too many of them! Today I'm going to start off my reviews of civilians by featuring these three from Reaper Miniatures - set 50231 Townsfolk: Geeks.

To some, the word "Geek" is an insult, to others it's a badge of honour. I'm a geek myself and I have no problem in being called such. These three figures, sculpted by Gene Van Horne, represent three types of geek. First up is the pretty one. I've painted her as an Asian student. She is carrying a book in one hand and a laptop computer in the other. Her denim jeans are very tight-fitting and low-slung. The squiggly white writing on her T-shirt is meant to say Mayhem City University but at that size is totally illegible. Hey, I'm a good painter but I'm not that good! She's cute and pretty and probably more interested in her academic studies than dating boys.

Next up is the fat geek. There's always one, isn't there? He also carries a book but in his other hand he holds a bottle of fruit juice/energy drink/magic potion. The goatee beard and ponytail marks him down as such an obvious object of ridicule. Have you seen the excellent movie Shoot 'Em Up? Clive Owen's character, Mr. Smith, echoes my own opinion on men wearing ponytails - "I fucking hate ponytails!" he says as he shoots the offending piece of hair off an unnamed mook. How I wish I could do that! This thoroughly irritating character will undoubtedly be majoring in useless trivia.

Finally, we come to the nerdy geek. This guy is destined to be the next Bill Gates and become a multi-millionaire when he leaves university. However, at present he's still a rabid bookworm. Yes, he too is carrying a book. Just like his other two colleagues in this set, he'll be a virgin, lacking in social skills that allow him to interact with members of the opposite sex. All three geeks will have phenomenally high IQs but this guy will probably match that of Reed Richards. (Note comic book reference to denote my own geekdom!)

These are three excellent figures that perfectly capture their geekdom. Seeing as I'm reviewing them in conjunction with the ATZ game, the question has to be asked, how would they survive a zombie apocalypse? I'd guess, not very well, unless they can team up with a bunch of kick-ass Survivors, although to be honest, they have victim written all over them.

I am indebted to my good friend, Roger (aka Rogzombie) for gifting me these figures. The Reaper website has them listed as costing $9.99.

Vampifan's Views 14 My Monthly Musings part 3

Vampirella by Enrich (aka Enrique Torres)

I was hoping my blog would attract 200+ followers by the end of the year and now it has. Yippee! The Hit Counter is well over 100,000, so in the words of my dad, I must be doing something right! It's very heartening to know that my blog has such a devoted following. My thanks to you all!

Well, my figure buying sabbatical came to an end as I sent away to Eureka Minis in Australia for some clowns with meat cleavers riding unicycles and a group of 7 Mangaesque schoolgirls armed with firearms. It would seem that my interest in clowns has been reawakened following the unprecedented support for the evil leader of the Killer Klowns, Sunny, in my last batrep, "Who's Laughing Now?" If anyone hasn't got the message by now, Sunny will return. I still have some painted clowns that I haven't shown you but I will also be adding some new figures to the gang.

This month I finished painting 18 Foundry 28mm scale misfits and outcasts from their Street Violence range. Currently getting painted are 20 zombie figures - 9 from Studio Miniatures' wedding party and Halloween sets and 11 from Wargames Foundry's Undead range.

On the card modelling front I managed to build the Finger and Toe Models' Quonset Hut, which you'll have seen in my last batrep and more recently, in a dedicated review. Work has restarted on completing my WWG Mayhem Police Station, so don't worry, I haven't forgotten about it. I'm busy working on furnishing the station's evidence room.

After reading the hugely enjoyable Rise Again by Ben Tripp I moved away from undead literature to something more mainstream - Spider Bones by Kathy Reichs. I'm a big fan of her forensic crime novels and of the TV series tie-in Bones. I finished reading Spider Bones last night and I have to admit it is not one of her better Temperance Brennan novels. Next up, I plan to read Rise of the Governor by Robert Kirkman. This is a tie-in novel to his comic series The Walking Dead. Fans of the comics will know exactly who the Governor is and what an evil piece of work he is!

October has been a barren month for cinema going as I didn't see any films at my local flea pit this month.

The picture of Vampirella that I've used to illustrate this post is the same one that I'm using as the background to my blog-site. I thought you'd like a better look at it. There aren't that many good illustrations that feature Vampirella with zombies but this one by Enrich is a cracker!

I'd just like to close by wishing you a very Happy Halloween. Have fun!

Foundry Vampires

With the amount of coverage I give to zombies, you'd be forgiven for thinking that they are my favourite type of undead. But they're not. Vampires are. Vampires are so much cooler than zombies and having played Vampire:The Masquerade role-playing game (both the White Wolf and GURPS versions) I have quite an affinity with them. Plus, of course, Vampirella (all praise her name!) is a vampire. What this long-winded intro means is that I have some new vampire figures to review. These four 28mm scale figures come from Wargames Foundry's Undead set UND034 Vampires.

 

Dante the Cruel is the name of the vampire at the far left of the the two photos above. That's the name given to him by the chaps at Foundry and I have no reason to change it. He is dressed as a high class Victorian gentleman, which doesn't preclude being able to use him in a contemporary setting. Having attended a few vampire Halloween weekends at Whitby I can attest that quite a few Goth Guys (and Girls) like to dress up in Victorian clothing. Dante carries a skull-topped cane. His cloak is a separate casting and I painted it and the rest of the figure before gluing it in place, because otherwise, it would have been very fiddly trying to paint the spiral patterns on the inside of the cloak. He is very well sculpted and the sculptor has captured his haughty arrogance and potential cruelty very well.

Next to him is Cynthia Black and I just can't get over how closely she resembles Angelina Jolie. There is the mere hint of pointed fangs in her mouth. She is dressed very seductively in a basque and long dress split down the middle to reveal her panties and thigh-length boots. She also wears very long gloves. If she looks tall, then that is because she is. Although Foundry advertise these figures as being 28mm scale they are closer to 35mm scale. Cynthia is 35mm tall from sole of feet to top of head. Dante is not far behind at 34mm tall.

Next in line is Ophelia von Hagen, another sexy female vampire. She is dressed in a figure-hugging long crimson dress that flares outwards at her feet. She is armed with a long knife with a curved blade. I painted her eyes bright red to indicate she is not human and also that she is about to attack. She is much shorter than Cynthia and Dante, being 31mm tall but still taller than 28mm. I see this figure as being on the verge of uncontrolled blood lust. Very dangerous for whoever she's facing!

The final figure of the group is called Nosferatu. Oh dear, I'm sorry, Foundry, but Nosferatu is not a vampire name but a type of vampire. Players of Vampire: The Masquerade will know that the Nosferatu were one of the seven clans who made up the Camarilla. I have named my figure, Graf Orlok, after the vampire played by Max Shreck in F.W. Murnau's silent film, Nosferatu. Orlok is the least human looking vampire out of the group. In V:TM the Nosferatu were noted for their ugliness. This figure has a hunchback, long bat-like ears and a very ugly face. In other words, a perfect Nosferatu vampire.

I was very pleased to see Foundry release this set and I had no hesitation to buy them. All four are very well sculpted although I have no doubt that some of you will be put off by the size of them. To me, their size is not a problem as they should be larger than life. I do not see any of this group as being fledgling vampires. They look like they've been around for a century or two (or longer) so I'd imagine they'd be formidable opponents in any game. I'd also have no qualms in using them in a contemporary setting. Too many companies make vampires that are designed to fit in a fantasy setting and not nearly enough make contemporary based vampires. These are designed in such a way that you can use them with a fantasy army or in the modern day. Top marks, Foundry!

This set of four figures retails for £10.00 from the Wargames foundry website. Incidentally, I have loads of painted vampires that I'd like to review, even though many of them are long out of production. I amassed quite a large collection of vampires during the 1990's when V:TM was at its peak. Rest assured, I will get round to reviewing them sometime.