Zombicide: Black Plague - Dork Tower Survivors

Back in 2015, I posted a rather unusual review of four cartoon Survivor figures I wanted to use in some games of Zombicide. You can check it out - here.
For those who can't be bothered to check it out, here's a pair of photos of the four figures from that review.

They are from left to right, Matt, Gilly, Igor and Carson from the Internet cartoon strip, Dork Tower. These were specifically designed for use in Zombicide. I said at the time that I would review my Zombicide: Black Plague versions of them, plus two of the characters, Ken and Kayleigh, who were missing from the contemporary set. Well, here they are. I have had the fantasy versions of them for nearly a year now and painted them as soon as I got them. I was just waiting for the right opportunity to show them and that time is now.

There is a story to tell about how I came to own these six figures. Steve Jackson Games made a boxed set of six 28mm scale Dork Tower figures. When I went to purchase this set last year I discovered to my dismay that it was out of production. Bummer! So, I instigated plan B and luckily found one eBay seller who had a set for sale at a very reasonable price. The box art was correct and he included a photo showing the three heroes, Carson, Kayleigh and Ken, who you can see after these three directly below (Matt, Gilly and Igor). His description suggested it was a full set of figures but when I received it I found it was missing Matt, Gilly and Igor. This was not good. Should I return the parcel, claiming I had been mis-sold due to the set being incomplete? That was kind of a grey area. Sure, his photo showed the three figures that came in the box but there was no warning that three figures were missing. Plus, no one else was offering a set for sale. In the end I decided to keep them and I bought a second set of the contemporary Dork Tower Zombicide Survivors shown above. Once they arrived I set about converting the figures of my missing trio. I based my conversions on the box art of the Dork Tower fantasy figures set and a few photos from the Internet of the missing trio.

At the far left is Matt McLimore, an every-gamer, and the person most likely to be in the middle of things. Gaming is in Matt’s blood — he was born to live La Vida Dorka, and worships the game, Warhamster. Still, he tries to reconcile his love of gaming and popular culture with a desire to function in Society. Society appears to be on the losing end of that proposition more often than not. Friendly, unassuming, and sometimes personally insecure about his role in the world, Matt will thus always manage to be at Ground Zero for the fanboy excesses of his Mud Bay pals. His fantasy character is a Ranger. His conversion had the most work done to him. I kept his head and part of his upper body. Everything else was discarded. His bow and quiver of arrows came from my spare parts box. The rest of him was sculpted out of Green Stuff modelling putty, which effectively meant his hat, body, arms, legs, belt and dagger. He turned out okay and I'm quite happy with him, although, obviously, I'd have preferred to have the metal version of him.

Next up is Gilly Woods, who is Goth by design and perky by nature, a combination which is a constant embarrassment to her brother, Walden, the Dark Lord of Mud Bay’s Goth community. Though close friends with Igor, it was a long time before she actually got to meet Igor’s buddy, Matt. Once they did encounter one another Matt was immediately smitten, and the pretty Perky Goth and the shaky but sincere young gamer appear to have a great deal in common — including chronic datelessness and a feeling of not quite fitting in. Timing is everything, however, and Matt’s was characteristically bad, meeting Gilly only days after hooking back up with his ex-girlfriend, Kayleigh. Gilly has taken on the role of a Magician. She was the easiest of the three to convert. I cut her in half at the waist and removed her twin pistols and her pigtails. I gave her a long dress and let her hair down so it flowed all the way down her back. I remodelled her left hand. I think she has come out really well. I'm very happy with her conversion.

To Igor, anything worth doing is worth overdoing. He throws himself into every new game, comic, craze, hobby and pastime with an overwhelming enthusiasm that has made him the official poster boy for Reckless Abandon. As the Power Gamer’s Power Gamer, Igor Olman is a die-hard, take-no-prisoners action junkie. He is in love with Apollo Smile. He is a god to min-maxing RPG munchkins everywhere, and a games-master’s worst nightmare. Igor had to be a fighter, although I am somewhat surprised he is not very heavily armed, although  I bet his sword is probably the best magic sword in the game. He was easier to convert than Matt but not as easy as Gilly. I cut off his arms and all of his weapons, and I carefully removed his headband. His sword arm and sword originally came from an old GW plastic Skeleton, I fleshed out the hand and the arm. His shield came from my spare parts box. His tabard and chain-mail armoured arms were made out of Green Stuff. I am happy with this conversion. It is interesting to compare my conversions with the original trio just to see how much they have changed. This is another reason why I included those two photos at the start of this review.

These next three are the official Dork Tower fantasy figures. From left to right are Carson the Muskrat, Kayleigh Hardcastle and Ken Mills. Let's take a closer at them and their backgrounds. These figures are made of metal and came with small integral bases. I glued them to 25mm diameter MDF bases.

Sweet-natured and easygoing, Carson is everyone’s friend and seems to fit in everywhere — which is somewhat surprising in itself because Carson is a muskrat. He is equally at home rolling dice in Matt’s various role-playing games, playing the latest console combat extravaganza, or just surfing the web. More a follower than a leader, Carson trustingly goes into role-playing situations secure in the knowledge that his boon companions will probably end up using him for a battering ram or attracting the attention of a hungry beastie who will suddenly develop a craving for Muskrat Surprise. He has a job as a part-time worker at the local Internet cafe. Carson has chosen the role of a Thief to play as his fantasy alter ego. He appears to be unarmed but he could be hiding anything in his robes.

If there was ever an Odd Couple for the new millennium, it is Kayleigh and Matt. Kayleigh Hardcastle is prim, sensible, conservative, and can’t understand what Matt sees in games, science fiction, pop culture — and, especially, his dorky friends. Nonetheless, she’s decided to give it a chance, joining Matt’s gaming group. Ken is amused. Igor is appalled. And Matt is stuck in the middle because Gilly has joined the group, too. Torn between his commitment to Kayleigh and his attraction to Gilly, Matt’s only remaining refuge is in the friendly confines of the local games shop, Pegasaurus Games, run by Bill Blyden. Being a woman of virtue, Kayleigh chose to play a Paladin. She is heavily armoured in full plate armour and shield and she carries a sturdy sword. Against all the traditional conventions of heraldry she has painted her shield pink with a white female symbol.

Ken Mills is the Thinking Man’s Fanboy, often providing a much-needed Voice of Reason. Nonetheless, Ken is 110 percent Dork (and I mean that in the nicest way), as capable of exceeding the legal limit for pop culture in-jokes and marathon game-and-junk-food consumption as anyone in Mud Bay. Even so, he appears to be closer to what Society deems Normal. Ken has opted to play a Cleric character and he is armed with a studded mace.

Here is a group shot of all six Survivors grouped together. I think they fit together as a unit very well and I wonder how many of you would have guessed that three of them were conversions if I hadn't told you? I will be using them in Zombicide: Black Plague but I have yet to create their character stats. I won't be using their contemporary Zombicide skills as some like Helicopter Pilot are not relevant in a fantasy setting. With their character archetypes of Cleric, Fighter, Magician, Paladin, Ranger and Thief, they have all the bases covered and they should work well together. Well, that's the theory!

Zombicide Dork Tower Survivors 01

One of the many things I like about Zombicide is that the creators invite guest sculptors to contribute to the game with sculpts of their own for Survivors and Zombivors. This idea began when Zombicide Season 2 was announced and has continued for Season 3 and Black Plague. One of the sculptors asked to participate in Season 3 was John Kovalic, creator of the cartoon strip, Dork Tower. I am a big fan of John's work but I didn't include his set of Survivors when I made my very large pledge for the Zombicide Season 3 Kickstarter project. To be honest, I didn't think I could find a use for his cartoon figures. That all changed once I developed a love for the Chibi figures of Super Dungeon Explore late last year. Just last month I was fortunate enough to find John's set going for sale at a very reasonable price on eBay, so I bought them and quickly painted the four Survivors from the set. Although the figures are very cartoon-like with their disproportionately large heads they are not Chibi figures. John's work is more akin to that of The Peanuts by Charles M. Schultz.
So, what is Dork Tower about? It's a story of five gamers and the lives they lead in the town of Mud Bay. Anyone who follows my blog ought to be able to identify with them. Dork Tower is unashamedly geeky but a lot of fun. The story has been in print and online since 1997 and is still going strong today. You can learn a lot more about it here - http://www.dorktower.com/ Let's meet the cast of Matt, Gilly, Igor and Carson, shown below from left to right respectively.

Matt McLimore was a web cartoonist and Games Master for his local group in quiet little Mud Bay, Wisconsin. DM'ing made him a natural leader, gaming taught him strategy, while trying to make a living cartooning trained him to survive on little. General frustration and plenty of free time playing Warhamster: ZombieSide meant that when the zombies did come, Matt was ready and waiting. The hordes have disrupted his weekly gaming sessions and they're gonna pay - and he doesn't mean in Gold Pieces or Experience Points. And, unlike his game-table experience, he's not giving any of them a saving roll!
Matt is armed with a pair of 9mm Browning HP Pistols, a Broad Sword and has a Hand Grenade in his coat pocket. Matt starts with two Blue Level Skills. Yes, plural. A lot of Season 3 Survivors get either the Helicopter Pilot or Fast Roping Skill to make use of the new rules for helicopters in the game. So Matt starts with Helicopter Pilot (self-explanatory) and Born Leader, which allows him to give one free Action to another Survivor to use as he or she pleases. This Action must be used during the recipient's next Turn or is lost.
Gilly Woods was Mud Bay's Perky Goth fangirl and cosplayer, so she's always been an outsider, making her strong, fiercely independent and self-reliant. She's had to put up with idiot fanboys labeling her a "fake geek girl" long enough. A veteran of many Comic-Cons, she's used to dealing with the mindless, shambling, unwashed masses. Since most of the haters were zombie-like to begin with, she doesn't see a whole lot of difference between putting down a basement-dwelling fanboy with a well-timed quip, or plugging a zombie right between the eyes with a trusty Glock.
Gilly is armed with a pair of  9mm Glock 17 Pistols, a Short-Sword and has a Dagger on her upper right arm. Gilly's two starting Skills are Fast Roping (allows her to exit a flying helicopter by rappelling down a rope) and Shove, which allows her to use this Skill, for free, once during her Activations. Select a Zone at Range 1 from her. All Zombies standing in her Zone are pushed to the selected Zone. This is not a Movement. Both Zones need to share a clear path. A Zombie can't cross barricades, fences, closed doors or walls but can be shoved out of a hole. Shove can't be used by Survivors in a car or helicopter.

Igor Olman believes that anything worth doing is worth doing to excess: comics, gaming, movies and fandom in general. So it's no surprise that when the horrors of the zombie hordes appeared on his doorstep, he launched into them with all the gusto of a Warhamster Fantasy Roleplay 25th-level Dwarven Hellwarrior armed with Zordaz's +25 Axe of Lordly Slicing and Dicing, with the "Mighty Big Cleave" bonus. Nobody's quite sure where Igor got his full arsenal of bazookas and rocket launchers from. Nobody's quite sure where he was storing them. Frankly, his friends are afraid to ask. Igor calls his bazooka "THACO."
Igor is armed to the teeth with a Bazooka, three rockets for the Bazooka, one Mini-Nuke Missile, a Two-Headed Axe, a Spear and a Hunting Rifle. He didn't think it too many; in fact, he didn't think it enough! Igor's two starting Skills are Fast Roping and Bloodlust: Melee, which if he spends one Action, he may Move up to two Zones to a Zone containing at least one zombie (or rival Survivor). He then gains one free Melee Action.
Carson the Muskrat is a mild-mannered soul. But he's small, fast and clever, making him hard to get a hold of. And somehow he got hold of a vintage, fully-operational British Bren Gun Carrier. Igor may have been involved, frankly. Don't let Carson's quiet demeanour and trepidatious outlook on life fool you; when his friends are threatened, he fights like a cornered animal: literally.
Carson's Bren Gun Carrier is, of course, armed with a .303 Enfield Bren Light Machine-Gun. Carson starts out with the Skills, Helicopter Pilot and Slippery, which allows him to Move through a Zone containing Zombies without having to spend one Action per Zombie in the Zone. Entering a Zone containing Zombies ends his Move Action.
These are fun sculpts and contrary to my initial misgivings that they have no place in Zombicide, I now realise I was wrong. Looking through my Zombicide Compendium volume 1, I spotted one scenario in particular that would be ideal to play using these four Survivors. Expect a batrep soon. By the way, do any of you get the THACO reference for the name of Igor's bazooka? Old gamers, like myself, will remember it from first edition Dungeons and Dragons. It stood for To Hit Armour Class 0. My God, that takes me back many a year!

DORK TOWER is the award-winning fan-favorite comic strip and comic book about five gamers, and the real world.
Sure, it’s also about the worlds they create, the games they play, the technologies they abuse and misuse and the conventions they road-trip to. But it’s a comic for everybody, geeks or otherwise. You don’t have to know Dungeons and Dragons, the music of Jonathan Coulton, the latest social networking phenomenon or the hippest meme to get it. All you need to know is that Geek if the new Mainstream, and pretty much everyone has the same hopes and fears, whether you’re a dork, a nerd, or a mundane.
DORK TOWER has been published in print and online since 1997, when it was first in the pages of Shadis Magazine, and later in Dragon. The comic book has sold nearly a half-million copies, and is collected in 9 award-winning trade paperbacks that have been published in English, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Polish…and soon Portuguese.
Games such as CHEZ DORK and DORK TOWER (Steve Jackson Games) and WARHAMSTER RALLY (Jolly Roger Games) have brought the comic’s cast to life over the gaming table. The characters also make frequent appearances in MUNCHKIN (Steve Jackson Games), which DORK TOWER John Kovalic also illustrates.
DORK TOWER is the story of Matt, Igor, Ken, Carson the Muskrat (yes, he’s a muskrat) and Gilly, the Perky Goth.
And they’re human. Just like you.
Even the muskrat.
Welcome to DORK TOWER.
- See more at: http://www.dorktower.com/about-dorktower/#sthash.aG6ppVKO.dpuf

DORK TOWER is the award-winning fan-favorite comic strip and comic book about five gamers, and the real world.
Sure, it’s also about the worlds they create, the games they play, the technologies they abuse and misuse and the conventions they road-trip to. But it’s a comic for everybody, geeks or otherwise. You don’t have to know Dungeons and Dragons, the music of Jonathan Coulton, the latest social networking phenomenon or the hippest meme to get it. All you need to know is that Geek if the new Mainstream, and pretty much everyone has the same hopes and fears, whether you’re a dork, a nerd, or a mundane.
DORK TOWER has been published in print and online since 1997, when it was first in the pages of Shadis Magazine, and later in Dragon. The comic book has sold nearly a half-million copies, and is collected in 9 award-winning trade paperbacks that have been published in English, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Polish…and soon Portuguese.
Games such as CHEZ DORK and DORK TOWER (Steve Jackson Games) and WARHAMSTER RALLY (Jolly Roger Games) have brought the comic’s cast to life over the gaming table. The characters also make frequent appearances in MUNCHKIN (Steve Jackson Games), which DORK TOWER John Kovalic also illustrates.
DORK TOWER is the story of Matt, Igor, Ken, Carson the Muskrat (yes, he’s a muskrat) and Gilly, the Perky Goth.
And they’re human. Just like you.
Even the muskrat.
Welcome to DORK TOWER.
- See more at: http://www.dorktower.com/about-dorktower/#sthash.aG6ppVKO.dpuf

Vampifan's Views 65 - Monthly Musings 43

Miss Vampirella June 2015 - Kitana Baker

I start this month's musings with another of my favourite Vampirella models - Kitana Baker. She was born in 1977 as Christi Michell Josenhans in Anaheim, California. Keen to get into show business, Kitana began working as a showgirl in local clubs, eventually winning Local Showgirl of the Year 1998 and National Showgirl of the Year 1999 awards along the way. She also began modeling, posing for various magazines and web sites, and caught the attention of Playboy magazine in February 2001. Playboy hired Kitana to work on their network, and she has been a feature of the Playboy empire ever since. She was hired by Harris Comics in 2003 and appeared on the cover of numerous Vampirella magazines between 2003 and 2004. She certainly fills Vampirella's red costume magnificently, which I'm pleased to see that Harris have altered for the better. The costume is perfect and whilst I have absolutely nothing against the gorgeous Kitana, she is just far too busty to be Vampirella. That does not mean that I don't lust after her! She's welcome at my home any time!

This month's gaming news is exciting... well, it is to me! First, I have backed the Zombicide: Black Plague Kickstarter project. That was a no-brainer, obviously. There is still over a week for it to run and it most definitely is going from strength to strength with nearly $2.5 million already pledged. Will it reach $3 million? I hope so.
My second piece of gaming news is that a few days ago I received a small parcel from Studio Miniatures, containing the Survivor and Zombie figures I ordered in their Z-Clipz: Outbreak Kickstarter project. Obviously, with these being Studio Miniatures, they are superbly sculpted. I received about 50 figures and a resin cast wrecked car. The figures are primarily based on characters from popular films and TV series, especially The Walking Dead and George A. Romero's classic zombie film, Dawn of the Dead. Ever since I first saw Dawn of the Dead way back in 1979, I have been waiting for someone to make the four heroes of the film. My patience was finally rewarded when this Kickstarter was launched. Sorry I have no preview photos to show you of the figures I received but they are high on my painting list and I hope to review them soon.

I have been adding to my collection of Zombicide Season 3 stuff by buying a few sets I missed out when I made my initial pledge last year. First up is this boxed set of a Murder of Crowz. It contains 15 stands with each stand containing 6 zombie crows. Anyone who has seen the film, Resident Evil: Extinction will know about zombie crows! I must admit that these figures will be an absolute doddle to paint. Although I received a few of these Crowz with my Kickstarter package, I didn't get any rules or spawn cards for them. Now I do have  them.

I bought all of the Special Guest Sculptor boxed sets of figures that were offered in the Season 3 Kickstarter launch except one. That one was the set you see here to the left. It features four characters from John Kovalic's popular Dork Tower comic series. This series has been running since 1997 and features a group of nerdish gamers whom most of us will recognise from our own gaming groups. I passed on this set because the figures are so cartoonish. I didn't see how I could use them in any realistic game, especially one as dark in tone as Zombicide. But the more I looked at them, the more I realised I wanted them. Yes, I am a Zombicide fanboy. I admit it! It did bug me that I was missing a set. So, when I saw them on offer on eBay with the Buy Now option my willpower collapsed and I bought them. I am now a happy bunny. I already have a few scenarios in mind that should be ideal for them. I see no reason not to inject a bit of fun into the game.

Now some of you might be thinking I bought them because they look like Chibi miniatures. Wrong! They may be cartoon characters but they most definitely are NOT Chibi characters. John Kovalic has placed a huge backlog of Dork Tower cartoon strips on his website here - http://www.dorktower.com/ which I have thoroughly enjoyed going through. Yep, I read them all... although not in one sitting! I happen to know that John does a lot of work for Steve Jackson Games so I did a search to see just exactly what he had done. I saw that there was a Dork Tower boardgame, which didn't interest me, and set of 28mm scale metal figures to go with the game, which did interest me. Sadly, the figures were out of stock and out of production, but a quick search on eBay revealed a seller living just a couple of miles away from where I live with a set for sale at the ridiculously low price of £6.95. What a bargain! I leapt on it. This time the characters are dressed in fantasy garb and I plan to use them in an offbeat game of Zombicide: Black Plague sometime in 2016. As soon as I get both sets painted up I'll review them.