Zomtober Week 5 And The Future

I got ambitious for the final week of the Zomtober painting challenge and primed 4 zombies. Like most things, I didn't complete what I started and only got 3 finished. But overall I completed 15 zombies to a tabletop standard, had 7 I made a complete meal of that need buried in the back 40 (the first ones I did using the AP Quickshade), and weathered up a police car, so overall I'm pleased.

I completely forgot to take WIP photos of the 3 new zombies -  I only managed two.

Apologies for the brightness of the photos! I didn't gore this group up very much and also tried a more ash/gray tone for the skin - which is a pointless statement to make with that bright of a photo because you can't see a thing! But I have to say I'm probably most happiest with these final 3 additions.

Here is the 4th figure that didn't get completed. I think that will give me time to figure out how to give him a Sex Pistols t-shirt though :)

I got some bits and bobs from TT Combat to add some flavor and narrative to the games and table.

Hopefully these will take my painting style well and won't look awful.

Living on a horse farm it was mandatory I pick up the Rick on Horse booster, even though it looks like it really doesn't have any real value in the game - that arrived mid-week.

I had seen a few of the other Zomtober bloggers put this figure up and remember them saying they had difficulty painting Rick because he came attached to the horse. I threw mine into the freezer for a full day to see if I could then pop Rick off the horse - freezing the figure makes it easier for the glue to release.

And with no problem Rick came right off! The only thing I'll need to fix is the reins. Overall, I think it's a great little model, just need to maybe try my hand at some green stuff to lengthen that tail - that thing should be at least twice as long!

I got an amazing deal on a huge lot of TWDAOW figures off of Ebay last week as well. I got the boosters for Carol, Lori, Shane, and Andrea. 

Then also the Walker and Roamer boosters. So a total of 6 boosters for under $50 which included shipping! An absolute steal :)

So when you get a great deal on Ebay, you're sure to get an rotten egg too. Well, I certainly got one last week. One thing that I have been dying to try to do is some kind of Harryhausen-esque game. Specifically, Jason and the Argonauts. There are so many great sequences in that movie it's hard to choose a favorite, but the part with the harpies is definitely a stand out, mostly because of the setting. I just love the ruined columns. 

I had been looking at aquarium décor for that setting and found one I liked some time ago but the cheapest I could ever find was like around $40. I came across someone selling one for $30 or best offer. I submitted $24.00 and he took that, so I thought great, another steal especially since it was free shipping. 

Yeah, not so much. It literally looked like a bomb went off when I opened the box. Being the kind of guy I am, I even attempted to glue it back together. I think the thing that is really making me mad now is when I got the base together as best I could and tried to put it back in the box it came in, you can see it doesn't even fit.

So clearly the seller broke at least part of it before the box was even sealed. I've been in contact with him since it arrived and he's been apologetic and has said a claim has been made and I'll have a refund by November 1st. So we'll see. The photo above is what it should have looked like.

As I stated when I started Zomtober, I'm really not into horror movies or stuff like that, but I did go to see the Rifftrax version of Night of the Living Dead on Wednesday night. If your not familiar with Rifftrax they are same guys who did Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Basically they make fun of the movie - every aspect of it, from the acting, the story, the editing, the dialog, wardrobe, anything at all! It's literally laugh out loud stuff, and nothing is off the table - from Oscar winning films to the worst of the worst B movies - highly recommended! Rifftrax

My latest issue of Wargames Illustrated arrived yesterday and I'd been looking forward to this one for a while because it's usually the issue that has a feature on Historicon. This is the only time I can ever flip through the magazine and say "I saw that table" or "I got to play on that table" - and of course also say "I didn't get to see that table at all". Well, not one single photo from the floor of Historicon this year - they have 6 full pages on the painting completion, but not one photo of any of the amazing tables this year, and there was some absolutely incredible stuff this year. Extremely disappointing.

I also went back to messing about with some of 4Ground's Jesserai line of buildings. Before I went all in on TWDAOW, I made the decision to try my hand at doing some kind of Jurassic Park table, and the I felt that the entire Jesserai line could really work with some modifications and different paint schemes.

I wanted to do something from the second or third movie where the game takes place in an abandoned and overgrown setting - which is also why I took to TWDAOW so quickly. This box is overflowing with all kinds of different items that is going to help with that look and feel.

So I went back to a model I had started but didn't finish. I did the landing pad first because it looked the easiest. And it was. I just started to work out where I wanted the "H" to go and some yellow hazard lines on the platform.

I threw a few InGen logos up on the sides too. Lots and lots of weathering to do, but I thought I'd share another WIP table.

Here are a few close up photos of, what I'll call 'The 15', with the police office back with her vehicle again :)

Finally, I just wanted to thank Pulp Citizen and everyone else who participated in this years Zomtober - it was an absolute treat to interact with new people and see all the different blogs everyone has. You have no idea what that means to someone who is basically a solo gamer. I have several new blogs that I now follow and incredibly I also have several new people following the madness of Saturday Mornings :) Again, thank you all!

Until next time, thanks for looking!
Ivor

Zomtober Week 4

Well, one more walker down. Certainly not doing a whole lot for getting the unpainted mountain down in size with just one figure completed, but I guess I can say that all the walkers from the Woodbury set are completed, so there is a small positive.

I haven't really looked through all my boosters or expansion sets so I don't know how the other walker figures look, but I have say this one is... it's just a really gross sculpt! As I stated when I started this zombie thing and watching the Walking Dead, me and graphic violence just don't mix at all - and this guy enjoying a large intestine appetizer is just plain gross lol!

Anyway, I wanted to try something different with this particular figure because he has so much flesh showing, so instead of trying the gray mixture I actually started with a regular flesh tone for this guy.

Hey, brown pants, there's something new *eye roll* lol

I put a blue wash on the skin and some dark washes in the recesses, then did some highlights with some dulled down skin tones.

Again, I think I completely missed the mark - he looks like he was in a fire, as his skin looks a bit on the burnt/charred side. Meh, someday I'll figure it out. Or more than likely, I'll pay someone else to figure it out :)

All the zombie figures so far painted in their group kill photo for the yearbook. I went back and added some more details to the police car - I took off the front tire and added some newspapers and other papers to the front of the car. You can see them much better in the first photo.

Until next week and the final wrap up of Zomtober, thanks for looking!

Ivor

Zomtober Week 3 - And What, Post #100??!!

First and foremost, I can't even believe that this is blog post #100!? Madness! And it's even crazier to think I actually have people following the madness, so a huge thank you to everyone who has  subscribed, followed, commented, or stopped by the  blog - it's extremely humbling to say the least.

Mid-week I was feeling good about getting some painting done, so after I got my Universal Monsters all based up I got ambitious and grabbed the last 4 zombies from TWDAOW Prelude to Woodbury starter set and got them ready to get primed.

After watching a few more episodes of The Walking Dead (in a desperate attempt to catch up for the season 8 premier next Sunday, just finished season 4 today) I have decided that I am no where near the right skin tone for these zombies or any of the ones I've already completed. I primed these 4 with the AP Necrotic Flesh again, but I tried for a more gray or ash like color with thinned down gray paint and failed miserably.

The other huge problem I'm really having is "dressing" the figures. I can't pick clothing colors to save my life! Everything just ends up some kind of muddy brown earth color.

Maybe I need to look at a clothing catalog or something to try and find good matching color schemes for tops and bottoms. These two I tried a purple like color and a green color.

I will say the little details on these figures is amazing. The figure above for example has a broken leg and the bone is literally sticking out below her knee?! And each figure has also managed to lose a shoe along the way somewhere as well.

And a close up of the three new walkers, with one of my new police cars all weathered up. I got several police cars off Ebay for super cheap so I thought it'd be fun to get some abandoned cars on the table.

I added leaves from JTT Scenery to give it a bit more narrative. So overall happy to get three more figures completed, not happy with the skin tones at all though. I guess we'll just keep at it, maybe I'll get lucky eventually and find the right paint mixture.

I also threw together a pack of the 4Ground pallet sets.

These went together super fast and super easy.

The set comes with 3 large and 3 small pallets. Highly recommended for scatter terrain and back alley fodder.

Honestly I didn't think I'd get as much done as I did all things considered. Saturday has really been my main day to get up to the studio, I usually can get about 12 hours up there. But not this weekend. Saturday we had a party to go to for one of my wife's clients and then immediately after had to get the horses and trailer ready for her to take them to train for four days in Pennsylvania. The club we were at for the party had this really neat stone bridge over a stream and the whole time I'm there all I can think about is gaming scenarios with a stone bridge as an objective.

We got back to the barn late and got everything ready for the trip and had brought the dogs out with us.  Always leave it to the little one to find a blanket so sleep on no matter what - you can see it makes zero difference that it's a horse blanket.

Until next time, thanks for looking! And again, much thanks for following along through 100 posts.
Ivor

Studio Miniatures Classic Monster Figures

The very first miniature Kickstarter I ever backed was the Monster Madness Character Miniatures by Studio Miniatures - I can proudly say that my first ever Kickstarter was to help bring back Mystery Science Theater 3000 :)

I can't remember exactly where I stumbled across this Kickstarter but I absolutely love the old black and white Universal Monster movies, as you can see with my complete movie collections, and then when I saw they had two figures from the movie "Young Frankenstein" I was immediately in shut up and take my money mode, even though more than half of what I was going to receive with my pledge I had no interest in at all.

Ultimately I knew that they would more than likely just be display pieces and never actually make it on to the tabletop for a game. So when the figures arrived I knew I wanted them to have a grayscale paint scheme that would match that classic black and white movie feel. Not feeling the desire to pick up the paint brush at the time, I sent these across the pond to Arthur at EZ Painter Studio and he absolutely knocked it out of the park on what I had envisioned.

Getting into the case with those German zombies last week made me realize that these guys still needed based, so with some extra motivation that was this weeks mid-week project. I did my usual pins and clear bases for everyone.

The Monster and The Bride.

The Wolf Man and The Invisible Man - the details on his robe are amazing!

The Mummy and The Creature From The Black Lagoon.

The Phantom of the Opera, Dracula, and The Baron - Peter Cushing from the old Hammer horror films.

And my two favorites! Igor (it's pronounced EYE-vor - wait, that's how you pronounce my name) and Frederick Fronkenstein ! Just brilliant figures and brilliant brushwork :)

Working on some more of the Woodbury TWD zombies for the next post.

Until next time, thanks for looking!
Ivor