Sunday 6 January 2013

Acheson Creations Zombies

For my first figure review of 2013 I want to showcase a bunch of 28mm scale zombies that I ordered from Acheson Creations (AC), an American based company. These arrived late last year and I finished painting them just in time for Christmas. AC currently make two sets of four zombie figures and they can be found under the All Things Zombie section of their webstore. The sets are labelled Undead 1 and 2. Annoyingly, set 2 is not illustrated on the webstore, so I was buying blind when I ordered my sets. Anyway, if you are wondering what they look like you can always refer to this post on my blog.
Set 1 comprises the four figures shown in the photo above. At the far left is a female zombie crawler. She has been cut in half at the waist and is totally naked. Nudity is a common theme with this set of zombies, which may put off some prudish gamers but not me. Remember that George A. Romero showed a naked female zombie in his classic Night of the Living Dead film way back in 1968. Apart from her obvious wound, she has a deep cut to the left side of her back and a couple of minor wounds to her right arm and shoulder. I like her a lot.
Next up is a Hazmat trooper with a massive wound in his chest that has punched all the way through so that you can see daylight on the other side. God knows what hit him to cause such a devastating wound - possibly a .50 calibre bullet. He has also been bitten in the lower right arm. He has lowered the hood of  his suit and his gas mask is hanging around his neck. He is just an average sculpt in my opinion.
The third zombie in line is a nude male. His fat belly has been ripped or sliced open and his intestines are spilling out of the opening. Note how they are wrapped around his left leg. Whilst I love the concept of this figure I am not happy at the way he has been sculpted. His legs are far too short for his body. He just looks... odd. Sensitive souls should note that his spilled guts hide his genitalia so the fact that he is nude shouldn't be a problem.
Last in line is a huge bloated zombie, who is clearly overscale. He stands about 40mm tall. He reminds me very much of Studio Miniatures' Fat Man zombie, who is of a similar size. I have to admit that he was a lot of fun to paint. A slice of his head has been cut off, revealing a part of his brain in his skull. Obviously the cut did not do enough damage to his brain to kill him. Note the subtle patches of purple bruising on his body to show where blood has pooled before his transformation into a zombie. There is also a slight greenish tinge to his flesh. I sculpted an empty crisp packet on his base. American followers may recognise it as a Frito Lays classic chips packet. Man, I LOVE those crisps/chips! It is probably a good thing that they aren't available in the UK, as I'd pig out on them without a doubt.
Set 2 starts off with what appears to be a duplicate of the Hazmat zombie from set 1. But look again and you can see that he is different. His head is turned to face the right and isn't looking straight ahead. He is not wearing a glove on his right hand. Finally, the design of his gas mask is different to his colleagues. His wounds are identical to the other Hazmat trooper. Again, he is an average sculpt.
A doctor is such an obvious choice for a zombie, seeing as the medical profession will be in the front line when the zombie apocalypse kicks off. I couldn't see any obvious wounds on this figure but even so, I have dabbed his shirt and coat with blood stains. Note the stethoscope wrapped around his neck. I'd rate him as the best figure out of this set.
Next up is a zombie dressed only in his pyjama trousers. He has a single wound to the right side of his torso. He is slightly overweight. I like this figure.
Finally, is a male zombie in a two-piece suit and tie. His head rests on his left shoulder and his right arm is covered in multiple bite wounds and hangs uselessly by his side. I do think that he has been poorly sculpted. He is definitely the weakest link out of this set.
My overall opinion of these sets is that they are good but not great. You can certainly find much better sculpted zombies on the market. But if you are a completist like me then they are worth purchasing. The cost for these sets are $7.50 and I must say that I was very impressed at how quickly AC sent them to me. Good service!

23 comments:

  1. Very nice, the big guy is a fantastic fig. How many zeds do you have in your collection now? i remember you mentioned doing a game with them all in your tank review, A battle of Yonkers type scenario, is that still on the cards in the future?

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    1. Thanks, SK. The big guy is outstanding in more ways than one. If you check the sidebar of my blog you'll see a section called My Zombie Horde, which lists how many zombies I've painted. The total currently stands at 747 and I have 152 unpainted metal zombies plus a lot more unpainted plastic zombies. I haven't included my unpainted plastic zombies in the list because I don't know how many I'll paint. Most will get painted eventually but not all. Some will be converted into corpses and some I will give away to friends, so it's hard to come up with a definitive total.

      The Battle of Mayhem City, based on the Battle of Yonkers is most definitely still on the cards. It probably won't happen this year but it will happen some time.

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  2. Nicely painted zeds, I agree some of the anatomy is a bit off on some but they still look good and $7.50 is a reasonable price for four figures.

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    1. Agreed, Simon. Less than $2.00 per figure is good value for money.

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  3. That no doubt fills a small hole in your collection. Thanks for taking the risk and showing the rest of us what they are like. All the best mate.

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    1. Every little helps, as they say, Clint. To be honest, it wasn't much of a risk buying the second set without knowing what they looked like, as the rest of the range, including their survivors, gangers and military looked good.

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  4. They fill a small gap in your slowly developing metahorde, nicely done mate.

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    1. Yes, Fran, it is a small gap but as I said to Clint, every little helps.

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  5. The return of the living lead!!

    Happy new year mate!

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    1. Cheers, Johnny, and a happy new year to you, too!

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  6. Some great figures, I like the giant fat bloke, no points for who he reminds me of??!

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  7. Hi! How are you?

    Nice creepy figs i love them for making old zombies later in a campaign. The crawler wife look insane!

    I just bought tonight a Zombie Vixens box. I prefer metal but i read that was pretty plastic figs. Maybe later i'll buy the other zombie box from Wargames Factory. I have many gangers to paint too!

    So nice figs and i wait your next batrep with impatience!

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    1. Hi there, Pandafurtif. I'm doing just fine. Thanks for asking. The Zombie Vixens are a cool set. Someday I'll get round to making and painting them. I just don't know when. Having lots of Gangers is no bad thing at all.

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  8. A very creepy bunch, you've done a good job making them even creepier. I really like the crawler.
    Cheers,
    Mike

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    1. Thanks, Mike. The crawler zombie is certainly a great figure and creepy too.

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  9. Like all else have said, the nude zombies look very cool Vampifan, good job.

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  10. Nice paint-job (as always) on these bryan, but I don't really think they're for me.

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    1. Fair enough, Joe. I knew that these wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea.

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  11. Nice Painting Bryan! My favorites are the really large zombie and the woman crawler zombie. I love how you painted the purple bruising to show blood pooling! Well done!

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    1. Thanks, Dave. The purple bruising was an experiment but I like how it has come out. I shall certainly be repeating the experiment.

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