Halloween and the end of Zombtober

Well, Zombtober has come to an end, on Halloween no less. I have painted one last survivor this month, another from the Hasslefree Sculpting competition many moons ago.

She is dressed as her favorite comic character, Z-Girl, the zombie fighting superhero (who I just made up!).

This was the real reason to get her painted up...

Worst Halloween party ever....

I am sure she will be fine....

Chris

Zombtober Week Four- Where did week four go?

Well.

Damnit.

My plans of a new historical period each week for Zombtober ran straight into an iceberg of my "real" job taking up way to much of my time and brain power, meaning I was in no shape to do any converting or painting.

Earlier in the month I did finish up one of my last figures from the Studio Miniatures kickstarter, one of the freebies- the Celebrity. So at least I did something, even if it is RIDICULOUSLY late!

Well, it isn't a new historical period, and it isn't lots of zombies or survivors.

But it is Zomb-Bill Murray. Which makes up for it

Chris

Zombtober Week Three- Painted!

Right- again slightly late (sorry!), but I have at least managed to paint up the third week of survivors.

As I showed you earlier, these guys were made from a combination of Wargames Factory, Perry Miniatures and Studio Miniatures parts.

We have a survivor with a longbow...

And a survivor with a halberd...

And we of course, have the zombies!

This group was fun to paint, I always enjoy getting to use a variety of colours which I don't normally use! I did enjoy making the zombie pincushion, as well as using the Wargames Factory legs to make the zombie group suitably shambly.

Anyway, off to assembly Week Four, while watching the latest Walking Dead :)

CP

Zombtober Week 3- Conversions done!

Right, and we are back for Week Three!

.. History recalls the conflict as the War of the Roses, a battle between the house of York and the house of Lancaster. After unearthing the remains of Richard III in a carpark. Archeologists have been searching the surrounding area for further remnants of the battle. A newly unearthed mass grave near the site of Richard's burial contained a large number of remains.

All of them had their skulls crushed, and a small number had markings of human teeth on their bones...

This week's historical period is the War of the Roses, which was between 1455-1487 AD. I have made two survivors and five zombies, all from Perry Miniatures plastics, and of course for the zombies I have combined the Perry stuff with extra zombie bits from the Studio Miniatures plastic sprues.

We have two survivors- an archer and a man-at-arms...

And we have five zombies!

I mixed things up even more for this set, using some of the more "shambly" Wargames Factory legs with Perry armoured torsos, to give this group and even more shambolic approach. All it took was some cutting, and a bit of greenstuff to neaten up the joins. I am pretty happy with how they have come out, I think they are suitably shambling!

They got an undercoat this morning, so we are all go for finishing them by Sunday.

I did also realize today that there is 5 weeks (well, the last one ends on the 1st of November), so I now need to think of another historical period. Hmmmmmmm....

CP

Zombtober Week Two: Complete!

Right- it is still Sunday in the US right? That means I am totally not late.....

Anyway, this week's historical period is finished!

We have the Roman survivor, Gaius Sullo. He has worn a masked cavalry helm since he was horribly scarred in the battle in the Teutoburg forest many years ago. Worth noting that the shield is freehand done by me, which I am quite proud of :)

And our Dacian survivor, known as the "Brute" armed with the fearsome falx and a bad attitude!

The two are fighting against zombie Romans...

And zombie Celts.....

Which makes me realize how many mould lines I missed- like the one across the crawlers head... Sigh!

Right, back to the painting desk!

CP

Zombtober: Week Two assembly!

Righto, off we go, week two!

... "Do you really think three whole legions. More than twenty thousand dead legionnaires.

Do you really think they could be caught unawares in such a simple trap in that damn forest in Gaul?

Do you really think the legion are so foolish?"

The old man slammed his hand on to the table his fur coat pulling away to reveal a clear SPQR tattoo on his now exposed bicep. The old, bearded man beside him laughed at his outburst and said something in an incomprehensible language.

The foolhardy youth had disturbed to two old men while they drank, his friends spurring him on, daring him to ask the old man about the battle in the forest. Their cohort was headed north, passing through the forest on their way north.

Now he really regretted it.

The old man grabbed the boy by the throat, and drew him close to his face. He whispered with menace.

"It wasn't the Gauls boy. It was the dead. Men. Women. Children. Legionary and Gaul alike. I watched three legions die with my back to a gaul as we fought to live, fought to save Rome, save everywhere from that horror.

We survived.

You wouldn't last three minutes."

The bearded man laughed again. Louder this time.

So that should give you enough of a clue of what this week's zombies and survivors will be!

I started with a variety of plastic sprues from Wargames Factory and Warlord Games....

And once I combined that with some glue and some greenstuff, we got two survivors...

And we got some Roman-Zombies...

And some celt-zombies...

And now I have till Sunday to get some paint on them!

I will have the tank scenario up tomorrow, and then a Walking Dead Wednesday. And then maybe a painting update.

Busy week!

Chris

Zombtober Week One: WW2 Zombies, and Hellboy!

Righto, so week one of Zombtober is now officially out of the way!

When starting my "Zombies of History" project, I realized that I didn't have much time, at all for the first week (four days in fact), plus I knew I was spending most of that time with my son's birthday, and his birthday party.

So, taking it easy on myself, I chose the easiest theme to start with, in WW2.

Why so easy? Well, because Studio Miniatures already make a set of plastic WW2 zombies, plus I already own them, plus I have been playing WW2 games for years, and so have a pretty good idea on how to paint them!

This is how they came out:

They are pretty much standard builds, with a random assortment of arms, based on what I had available.

And as for this week's survivor, it is one which I have had lying around for a year or two. He is from the Hasslefree range, and as soon as I saw his big hand as an option on the sprue, I knew I had to have one! The only modification from me was to give him his horn stumps on his head, other than that, all of the work has been done by the excellent team at Hasslefree.

Now, please forgive the slight ahistory to Hellboy. Yes, I know he was "born" in WW2, so when fighting Nazi zombies, he probably should be a child. But, perhaps they are modern Nazis he is fighting, who like to wear traditional uniforms? Or perhaps they have been sealed in an underground bunker for years, only now emerging, which the BPRD are investigating?

At any rate, this is my version of Hellboy :)

And of course, him facing off against the zomb-nazis....

Update tomorrow on my plan for next week's historical period :)

CP

Zombtober- My plan... (now updated with the real rules!)

So, it is October, which in Zombie blogging circles, means it is Zomb-tober.

From what I have found out, Zomb-tober is an opportunity to get a survivor or zombies done each week, as a way to force oneself to keep painting. Which, sortof doesn't work for me, because that is what I have been doing all year!

Edited: I have just spotted the ACTUAL rules- head here for more info!

"The rules

The Zomtober rules are simple. To take part you just need to paint one Zombie or Survivor (or more!) each week, in any scale you like, posting it to your blog by the Sunday (we use Sunday's as the end of each Zomtober week). So that means one or more minis each week on or before the 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th of October 2015."

So, what to do for Zomb-tober then?

I am a big fan of the book World War Z by Max Brooks. I am sure you have noticed my attempts to copy his style with the little stories I provide for the survivors each week!

So knowing that, one of his follow up books to World War Z was Recorded Attacks.

Which is a graphic novel of a series of zombie attacks throughout history. I think it is a pretty cool idea, mixing up the "modern" zombie genre in an interesting a varied way. I reckon it is really clever!

And so, my plan is to paint at least one survivor and one zombie for a different historical period each week of Zombtober. I am going to aim to post them up each Sunday (in accordance with the rules!), and I will be holding off on the Friday Survivors while I work through October. I am going to finish the last of the Walking Dead Wednesday, and then take a break from that as I focus on making zombies for this challenge!

Right, so there is the plan. Week One's historical period?

World War II

:)

So what are you going to work on this Zomb-tober?

CP