Wednesday 9 September 2015

Victory Force Zombies 02

When my computer died a couple of weeks ago I had a load of free time on my hands. One of the things I did whilst my computer was being repaired was take lots of photos. A few years ago, an American-based figures company, Victory Force, had a sale on in which you could buy a horde of 100 28mm scale zombie miniatures. I forget how much they were but I bought them, painted them and never got round to photographing them. Shame on me! Well, that oversight on my part has been rectified and over the next few weeks I'm going to showcase my complete Victory Force zombie horde.
I'll tell you right now that these are not the best sculpted zombies you'll see. They are rather crude when compared to the likes of Studio Minis or Zombicide's zombies. Also, no pun intended, they are rather lifeless as they lack animation and appear very static. But this doesn't bother me. These figures are meant to represent a horde. They are not meant to be personality zombies (although thanks to my paintwork, some most certainly are personalities!). As horde zombies they work very well. Put your best looking zombies from other ranges in front of them, sit back and say, "yes, now that's what I call a horde!" Let's take a look at the first twenty. In this zombie horde the males outnumber the females by three to one. I have tried to group them so each set of five share a common theme. For the most part this tactic works well.
I start with a group of five female zombies whom I have designated as the Mums. Mum 1, at the far left is of African/American descent. She was stabbed in the stomach, which she clutches with her right hand.
Mum 2 is another African//American. Her brightly coloured blouse has been stained with blood from a bite to her neck. She was also bitten in the lower right leg.
Mum 3 worked as a secretary before a zombie bit her in the left shoulder and transformed her into one of the walking dead. She was a bit of a rebel, having dyed her hair bright red and shaved her hair from around her ears.
Mum 4 is the oldest of the group as noted by her greying hair. Her left hand has been chopped off, leaving her to die of blood loss.
Mum 5, at the far right, has broken her left arm at the elbow, which is why it hangs at an odd angle. Blood smears around her mouth indicate she has been feeding recently.
My first group of male zombies are the Hoodies. Hoodie 1, at the far left, is wearing a Onesie and a green and yellow scarf. He has been shot in the centre of his chest. His right hand is covered in blood.
Hoodie 2 is also wearing a Onesie and a scarf. He has a bite on the side of his right thigh and both of his hands are smeared with blood.
Hoodies 3 and 4 wear short sleeved hoodie tops and matching tracksuit bottoms. Hoodie 3 has lost his left arm at the elbow, whilst Hoodie 4 has a massive wound to his stomach, which he clutches with one hand. Hoodie 3 is a Caucasian, whilst Hoodie 4 is an African/American.
Finally, Hoodie 5 is an African/American who wears a black hoodie over a red sweatshirt. He got shot in the centre of his chest
My next group are the Biker zombies. Biker 1 is an aged gang leader and sports a mighty impressive moustache and a shock of white hair. He was stabbed in the upper chest and a bite has been taken from the back of his head but has not penetrated the skull.
Biker 2 is a muscular African/American, who has also been stabbed in the upper chest and presumably bled to death.
Biker 3 is another aged biker. He is clearly overweight and has been clawed across his stomach, bitten in the right leg and bitten in the right arm.
Biker 4 appears to be the youngest of the group and he has died hard. His right arm has been severed just below the elbow. He has a couple of bite wounds on  his left arm and a bite wound next to his groin.
Biker 5 is the only one wearing a leather jacket. He has also lost his right arm just below the elbow.
My third group of zombie males are the Negroes (I hope that is not an offensive term any more). At the far left is a blue-collar worker African/American who was bitten in the upper right arm.
Negro 2 was an office worker who suffered a small cut to his right thigh and a large bite to his left thigh. His hands are smeared with blood and blood around his mouth and neck suggests he has been feeding recently.
Negro 3 was another office worker. He died of blood loss when his right arm was torn off at the elbow.
Negro 4 wears a sweatshirt bearing a four-leafed clover to honour the Mayhem City St. Patrick's Day celebrations. He has been bitten twice in his left thigh. His hands are covered in blood as he futilely tried to stem the blood loss.
Negro 5 is dressed in smart casual clothing and has suffered a massive bite wound to his left thigh, which has bled profusely.

10 comments:

  1. A nice selection of Zeds from a company I had not heard of!

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    1. Thanks, Clint. I suspect that victory Force are better known in the USA than over here. They have a wide variety of ranges covering fantasy, sci-fi, contemporary and WW2.

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  2. Did you hear the massive crunch as normality settles back into place, zombies are back on Vampifan's blog and everything is right in the world once again.

    Lovely job on some average sculpts Bryan. They certainly have a little "personality" now. I really like the way you have grouped these, as you say they are perfect for bulking out one's horde and once deployed as such nobody's really going to notice the mediocre sculpting.
    I particularly like Biker no.1, he reminds me of Paul Sr. from American Chopper, I hope he's not as angry though.
    I hope your zombie revival (sic) continues, it goes a long way to making my day to see the old stinky shufflers back again Dude!

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    1. Yes, Bob, zombies are back! YAY!!!!!

      I totally agree with you about Biker 1. He is a dead ringer (pun intended!) of Paul Senior from "American Chopper".

      I like to add variety to my blog posts but zombies and vampires will always be my favourites. You'll be delighted that I have a lot more zombie posts ready to follow this one.

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  3. I don;t know Bryan, you wait ages for a zombie to come along and appear on your blog, and then you swamp us wiv 'em :-) Definitely not a company I'd be visiting (for their Zed sculpts at least). But clearly one whose sculpts your paintjobs have done miracles with. Some tremendous brushwork has clearly resulted in these 'iffy minis looking a rather formidable-looking horde. If I was going to have my brain eaten by one though, I'd go with the rebellious secretary :-)

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    1. I know these aren't the best sculpted zombie figures out there but I had a lot of fun painting them. I think I bought them around about the same time that I switched from using GW paints to Foundry paints (a decision I have never regretted) and I must have tried out every single one of my new paints on this horde.

      I agree with you about the rebel secretary. She's quite a babe! With very minimal work and a different paint job she could easily pass for a normal human.

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  4. Huh, I've got quite a few Victory Force zombies myself, though not as many as you, I suspect :-) . Anyway, although the style is familiar I don't think I recognise any of these ones. For what it's worth, I think that about 1/3 of my VF zombies are from Star Trek!

    Ah, one day I'll put on a game based on the book "Night of the Living Trekkies"...

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    1. I know the figures you are talking about, Hugh. A "Night of the Living Trekkies" game sounds like a wonderful idea. You have to do it.

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  5. I do remember this sale but I never bought them. I remember best this companies comic nerds line as its very unusual. Well done differentiating the zombies with paint alone.

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    1. Ah, the comic nerds! They are a lot of fun and I have no idea why I haven't bought them. Price, probably and too many other things to buy. Thanks, Robert.

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