Wednesday 31 October 2012

Vampifan's Views 30 - Monthly Musings 15

Vampirella in a playful mood by Amanda Connor
Happy Halloween, folks! It's a joyous time of the year when the undead and the creatures of the night can come out to play and not have to worry about the likes of vampire slayers and zombie hunters.
I begin with some good news for Vampifan's World of the Undead. Two days ago it cracked the 250,000 barrier for the number of page visits! Just think - over a quarter of a million hits! I never thought my blog would be so popular when I first started out over three years ago. A huge thank you to you all!
This month I have mainly been getting prepared for my ATZ-FFO campaign. You saw in my last post the work I've done on designing a character record sheet for my cast of heroes, neutrals and villains. I'm still churning out more pre-generated NPCs. I really didn't think that such a project would have attracted the attention it did receive. A big thanks to all who commented and an even bigger thanks to those who requsted blank copies of my CRS.
On the painting and modelling front, I finished painting another 25 Victory Force 28mm scale zombies from their first horde set. just 25 left to paint before I start work on Horde 2. Currently, I am painting 12 Black Cat Bases Hispanic Gangsters (5 males, 5 females and 2 dogs) as well as 3 Reaper children and 3 Reaper prostitutes. I recently bought 8 Acheson Creations 28mm scale zombies and 15 of their Crazies and Cultists. They'll probably jump the queue and get painted next. Iain from Tengu Miniatures sent me a few samples of their new zombie figures (including zombie dogs) and I'm very impressed with them. I'll be ordering the rest of them very soon. My Stoelzel's Structures Warehouse model is nearing completion. I just have the roof to make now, but what was going to be quite a challenge as I wanted it to come off in one piece, won't be quite so difficult. Fortunately, the very helpful Mr. Stoelzel has made life consideribly easier for me by adding a support piece to the model so that the roof can be removed in one piece. This was customer service above and beyond the call of duty! You rock, Carl! Speaking of Stoelzel's Structures, any card modellers out there ought to check out his new Auto Park Playset, which contains three very easy to make buildings - a car wash, a car showroom and a 3-bay garage. But the real beauty of this set, is that it contains 125 pages of vehicles. There are 10 types of vehicles, each with at least 12 different colour schemes. These models are the equal of the card vehicles produced by World Works Games and that is the highest praise I can give them. If you want variety then look no further.
I finished reading two zombie apocalypse novels this month. First up was Meta Horde by Sean T. Page. Keen readers of my blog will know that I am fascinated by the concept of a zombie meta horde. The novel deals with three meta hordes of varying sizes. The smallest, numbering two to three million is stopped outside of York in the UK. The meta horde that receives the most attention is the one in Europe, numbering over ten million. It is about to descend on the walled city of Carcasonne in France. At the end of the novel, the survivors learn of a massive meta horde sweeping through China and destroying everyone in its path. It numbers over one hundred million zombies! Gulp! It's a good novel but not a great novel. Secondly, I read Zone One by Colson Whitehead and this takes place over three days in New York, well after the Outbreak. Humanity has survived and the clear up operation is underway, as a the story focuses on a team of three sweepers, whose job is to eliminate any zombie stragglers missed by the army when they went on the offensive and made New York a relatively safe zone. The novel is rather slow-paced but is worth sticking with as on day three the complacency of the defenders comes crashing down in spectacular fashion. Can you say meta horde? A big thanks to Varangian for recommending both novels to me. I thoroughly enjoyed them both.
I made a couple of forays to the cinema this month and saw two zombie films, which just couldn't be more different. First up was Resident Evil: Retribution, which I was really looking forward to watching. Sadly, I came out of the cinema with a distinct feeling of meh! This was without doubt the weakest film of the franchise. Catch it on DVD if you want but be warned, it's nothing special. Far more entertaining was the animated comedy, ParaNorman. As with a lot of animated cartoons these days, there is as much humour aimed at the parents as there is for the kiddies. For example, Norman, the hero of the film who can talk to the dead, has the theme music to John Carpenter's Halloween film as his mobile phone ring tone. The kids won't get that one but horror fans like me, certainly will. ParaNorman certainly has its scary moments but children nowadays are made of sterner stuff than when I was a wee nipper. I saw the 3D versions of both films.
I was recently contacted by Modiphius to run a review of a Call of the Cthulhu scenario that his firm had just produced. Three Kings was the first in a series of standalone adventure supplements in the globe-spanning Zero Point campaign for Achtung! Cthulhu written by Sarah Newton. In it you can join a band of heroic soldiers, agents, and partisans behind enemy lines on the eve of World War Two, as they discover the unspeakable horrors of Castle Karlstein in occupied Czechoslovakia. The scenario has been written for both Call of the Cthulhu and Savage Worlds. Full details can be found here - http://www.modiphius.com/ Modiphius kindly supplied me a free copy of the scenario and I must admit to being very impressed with it. Production values are very high. I was quite happy to see that zombies feature in the scenario, which is one of the reasons why I was so willing to mention it on my blog. If you are a fan of Call of the Cthulhu and/or Savage Worlds Three Kings is well worth checking out.
Finally, I received another e-mail from one of my newer followers, Cris Shaffer, who sent me some photos of a diorama that he had made and painted. I liked them so much that I promised him that I'd share them on my blog. The zombie bride and groom are converted Citadel 28mm scale plastic zombies. I must admit to not being a fan of this range but full credit to Cris for a doing such a great job on the conversions. Cris has called this diorama "Till Death Us Do Part, My Arse!" That bride is determined to get her man! You wouldn't want to mess with her!





23 comments:

  1. I am unfamiliar with Savage World, but Cthulhu, zombies and weird WW, sounds interesting!

    Love the diorama, awesome idea and even better execution!

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    1. Mathyoo, I too, have never played Savage Worlds but I played quite a few games of Call of the Cthulhu in the i980's and 1990's. It was one of the few games where I was just a player and not a games-master. A very rare but most welcome experience.

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  2. Well done on such an epic milestone mate 250'000 you run such a great blog dealing with such a lot of great topics as well. The books I will definitely track them down and give them a try as I hadn't heard of them.

    I will track down those movies when they hit dvd I think I'm not a huge fan of the Resident Evil movies to be honest. I played the games when they first came out and really enjoyed those.

    As for the diorama I agree the GW Zeds aren't that great but this is asuperb theme and very well executed. Well done mr Shaffer

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    1. Thanks, Simon. Both books are worth reading. As for the films, you should definitely try to see "ParaNorman." I have never played any of the "Resident Evil" games but I am a big fan of the film franchise. However, RE:5 was a big disappointment. I'm glad you (and Mathyoo) liked Cris's diorama. That'll be music to his ears!

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  3. Gratz on such a magnicicent page hit total really impressive. You musings are always worth a read.

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    1. Many thanks, Clint. It continues to amaze me just how many hits my blog receives.

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  4. Lots and lots of hits! Congrats Vampifan!

    Love the diorama from Cris too...nice work mate!

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  5. Quarter of a Mil!!!! In three years! Wow. You deserve it as you are good at this stuff. I love your reviews, wish I had the courage. Good set of musings. Looking forward to your new campaign. Take care Vampi.

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    1. Thanks, Bob. Working on my blog is such a labour of love. I guess it shows.

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  6. That is a lot of hits! No wonder your blog is the epicenter of our community.
    That is a pretty sweet diorama as well. Very unique.

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    1. Cheers, Adam. Yes, a quarter of a million hits is a lot.

      Cris's diorama is rather wonderful, isn't it?

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  7. One of the best blogs out here and one of my favourites, keep it going and coming!

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    1. I fully intend to, Fran. Many thanks for your enthusiastic support. I do appreciate it.

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  8. Woot! I knew you'd get here!

    I'm glad you enjoyed the books. I haven't read Meta Horde (I'm still working on his earlier books, I'm slow sometimes...). I figured you would pick up on that stuff in Zone One. I thought he worked the guy's sayings into the novel really well, and the ending was pretty interesting. I admit, I hope he writes a sequel.

    I have to admit, your blog is always inspirational. The amount of work you put into it is great, and you seem to have a great time with it. Your love for the genre really shows through.

    To that end: I'm working hard on my third zombie horde. This one the largest yet... I'll let you know when I'm ready to show off the progress... It's the "unusual" project I mentioned earlier when you gave me ratios for models for ATZ.

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    1. Word of mouth recommensations for books (or anything else for that matter) is always the best form of advertising. So I felt confident that with you suggesting I'd like both "Meta Horde" and "Zone One" that I would. And, of course, I did. So, many thanks for the heads up, Varangian.

      As I said above, working on my blog is a labour of love and I am very enthusiastic about the world of the undead in many forms. I hope to carry on blogging for a very long time yet.

      There was a question on the TMP Horror forum yesterday where someone asked what is a good number of zombies to own? Ed from THW suggested 10 zombies for every human. With you mentioning your "unusual£ project, I just thought I'd mention that to you. I can't wait until you reveal what you're up to. Colour me intrigued!

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    2. Oh wow, kinda forgot about this: Happy Halloween!

      I'm waiting for my account on the Board of the Living Dead to be approved, once that's done I'll be putting my pictures up over there. Well, in a couple of days at best.

      I wish you many more years of blogging, and good gaming!

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    3. Thanks, Varangian. We had four groups of trick or treaters on Halloween evening, all who left with a bag of treats. Is it any surprise that I like Halloween?

      I look forward to seeing your work on the BotLL. You'll be guaranteed a warm welcome there.

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    4. How long does it normally take to get approved? It's killing me! It's been since Sunday, and I might be getting antsy!

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    5. I know you have some sculpts by Bobby Jackson. Have you seen that he has his own "catch all" line? He just throws stuff in that he's wanted to do under the title Bobby Jackson Miniatures. If you've not already seen it you might want to look at them.... there's a zombie you might like... though be warned, it's creepy as hell to my eye.

      I'm on the hunt for a survivor model to represent me. I think the Armed Office Workers might have the right guy. Have you seen any that are close to that, except wearing jeans and a t-shirt?

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    6. Approval for the BotLL should be very quick. I can't understand why you've had to wait so long... unless the forum administrator is ill and has been off line all week. I'll send him a PM to see what's going on.

      I am aware of Bobby Jackson's range of figures and I have seen the figure you're talking about - pregnant woman and baby chewing her way out of her stomach. Yes, it is gross, but it's right up my street. It is rather expensive however.

      As for a figure for your alter ego, I'd suggest looking at Foundry's Street Violence range, Hasslefree's adventurers and RAFM's USX Modern Day Heroes (check out their Burt Jackson figure in jeans and T-shirt. He's a dead ringer for Kurt Russell from "Big Trouble in Little China" and is in a pose that is easily cobvertible).

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  9. Happy Halloween Bryan. Thank you for keeping us inspired. I am finishing up my present batch of zombies today in honor of Halloween! Good book reviews btw. Meta horde sounds good. I read one book with this phenomena and found it quite interesting. I might have to check that one out.

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    1. Happy Halloween to you too, Roger. I look forward to seeing your latest batch of painted minis. Always a real pleasure for me.

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