Thursday, October 3, 2019

Zomtober 2019 Week 1 With Bad Squiddo's Van Helsing


I think this qualifies for Zomtober as it kind of falls into that undead/horror category - anyway that's my story and I'm sticking to it 😀 I have finally got my Van Helsing models from Bad Squiddo based and completed.


Sure Van Helsing isn't a great movie, but I have no problem admitting that I do like it a lot 🙂  I really like the filtered and muted colors that it is filmed in and there are several really neat sequences, like the opening fight with Mr. Hyde and the carriage chase just to name a few.


The three brides from the film are definitely a highlight - that sequence when they attack the town is really good and could make for a really fun scenario on the tabletop I think.


These vampire hunters I think are modeled after one of the old Hammer horror films, I could be wrong though.


Someone gets these guys a couple of garlic t-shirts and holy water stat!


This chap has a sword of D&D proportions! I like it 😀


I didn't realize that the two females were also vampires and mistakenly painted their skin like they spend their days at a tanning salon. Oh well, fixing that has now gone to the top of the to do list.


A close up of Dracula with Anna in the background.


And a close up of a couple of those lovely brides, well probably more deadly than lovely 😀


Here is the list so far - hopefully we'll add more to the list - of other blogs participating in this year's Zomtober

Kieron at Cheaphammer!!!
Simon at Fantorical
Terry at Miniature Mayhem
Azazel at Azazel's Bitz Box

Until next week, thanks for looking!
Ivor

46 comments:

  1. That's a nice collection Ivor. Should make for some moody games!

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    1. Thanks a lot! I agree, and now with the club opening up hopefully that can happen 🙂

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  2. Off to a cracking start and what a great character piece!

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  3. Great stuff, and they definitely count. Vampires are just zombies with style.

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    1. Thanks Kieron! That's a great description for a Vampire 😃

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  4. Wow Ivor you're off and running on this one, they look great and the staging of the photos is a masterpiece. How many sarcophagi have you got on there. It looks brilliant a real set piece.

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    1. Thanks John! I've been watching you and Frank a lot more closely than you know regarding the photos 😃
      I'll be honest, I'm not 100% sure on the count, I got the cemetery set really cheap - like almost 70% off - so I grabbed three of them. I think that there are at least 20 or 30, so I can make a pretty nice set piece.

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    2. Is the Cemetery set a Games Workshop one and still available?

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    3. It's actually from Wizkids. They have a line of pre-painted (along with un-painted lines) terrain made for specific encounters in Dungeons and Dragons adventures, and it's all done really well imo - from the actual painting and the quality and functionality of the terrain. The only issue is the premium price tags for pre-painted sets, like this particular set retails for like $50 or $60 usd - I could never touch this set at that price tag lol! I've found an absolutely fantastic seller on Ebay that sells damaged items starting at 50% off - I got three of these sets for $60 and that included my shipping!! And these boxes were huge, the height and depth of the mausoleum alone made the box oversized. Here's a link to the video I watched that made me hit the buy button on the sets https://youtu.be/QbB1V2fA4yY
      And I was way off on the sarcophagi, there are 15 😀

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    4. Thanks for the info, we have a guy in the uk doing prepainted terrain Adrians Wall I think, it beautiful but way beyond what I am prepared to pay. I've always been on a budget for wargaming which is why so much of my stuff is homemade.
      Im away from home at the moment, I try and look at the video when I get back.
      Cheers

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    5. No problem, and believe me I totally understand. It may seem like I have a no limit ceiling on the hobby stuff with everything I purchase but truth be told I'd say at least 75% of it is purchased during sales or discounts. Clearance sales are by far my Kryptonite lol!
      Like I mentioned, the cemetery set is really nice as you'll see in the video but is it full retail price nice? No way in my opinion, but at a super clearance price? Absolutely, and I'll buy a few at that price 🤣

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  5. Nicely done. I keep meaning to pick up these sets. I really like the Vampire Thralls as well.

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    1. Cheers Simon! They are a really nice set, the only slight issue is I feel the Anna figure is a bit bulky, slimmer would have made it much better imho 😃

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  6. Oh, it's that time of the year already ... yay! :-)

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  7. Yes while the movie did get little love from the critics Ivor I like your self am a big fan of it, for me its a cult classic as its my belief it was done very tongue in cheek :)

    Great work on the models & where does it say that the undead can't use a sun bed to put some colour in their cheeks LOL

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    1. Much appreciated Frank! Films that are generally disliked are the ones I seem to really like - Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is a perfect example, generally disliked but if I were to ever make a movie myself it would be just like that movie lol 😀

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    2. I'm also a big fan of Sky Captain Ivor, seems like we the same taste in bad movies LOL

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    3. Excellent! It's very clear that we'd get on pretty well my friend, maybe one day 😀

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  8. Really like these mate! Loving that cemetery setup too!

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    1. Cheers Dai! Yeah, that was a fun one to stage, just need to get it into a game now 😃

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  9. Nicely done and great graveyard setup, also the vamps you accidently gave dark skin could have had dark skin when they got embraced/turned, which would just mean they would need a bit of greyish highlights.

    The three brides of Dracula in the Van Helsing movie were interesting as I think that is the first time they were... destroyed though combat and it was done one by one, every other movie they are killed while asleep and by day, which makes sense.

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    1. Thanks! I like that explanation and it saves some painting 😀
      Interesting, I didn't know that - but their battles in VH definitely made for some really fun cinematic moments, and some neat possibilities for the tabletop too 🙂

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    2. I agree the Van Helsing movie do have more interesting combat scenes that would work well for a tabletop game.

      In the movie one bride was killed in the mid-beginning (village), the another one (oldest) was killed mid of the movie (on the road), and the last one near the end (Dracula's Castle), so much like bosses in a game, sort of.

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    3. That's a really interesting point, it very much is like the progression in a video game, great call out 🙂

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    4. When I rewatched this again I was thinking "this isn't Zomtober it's Vamptober", which is a good thing as that fits the month, now one just need to make Mumtober, Franktober, wereftober, and so on, so many possibilities :)

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    5. Lol! Ironically enough there will be a 'Mumtober' figure appearing in this coming weeks update 🤣

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    6. Looking forward what type it will be :)

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    7. Just posted this weeks update :)

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  10. As usual a beautiful game, great stuff. Looking at Bad Squiddo for some Soviet snipers.

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    1. Much appreciated George! Highly recommended, Annie is brilliant and you definitely won't be disappointed with those figures!

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  11. Is it that time of year already? 😀
    I think Van Helsing fits into the general spooky and undead theme of zombies. Great pics and quite the scene is portrayed. I imagine you must have a whole studio devoted to miniature pictures, there that good. 😀

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    1. It certainly is! I'm glad that I'm getting that general consensus because unless I dig into my 'Here's Negan' board game I'm not going to have a lot of what would probably be considered zombies left to paint - like I've got some mounted Ringwraiths that I think would be fun to do for the challenge.
      Setting up the little photo shoots are definitely something that I really look forward to after all the hard stuff is finally done 😀

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  12. Great start to Zombtober, though not my 'thing' the vampires do look good and what a fitting backdrop to display them on !

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    1. Much appreciated Joe! I think I had more fun setting up the photos than anything else 😃

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  13. Excellent stuff Ivor! I too greatly enjoy that movie! So much so, that I recently Cosplay'ed that character complete with the crossbow. Alas, my physique isn't anywhere close to Hugh's,but then we shall see how he looks at my age HAHAHAHA

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    1. Cheers Terry! I have to say I'm glad to see some more love for this film lol! Mate, you have to post up some photos of that on your blog, especially now that we're in Zomtober 😀

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    2. Thanks Ivor, they are posted on my facebook. Will see if I can drop a couple into my blog. I am still waiting on the 'good' photos from the Cosplay Photographer. Maybe those will be the ones I post!

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    3. Excellent! Can't wait to see them!

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  14. you did such a good job I think we can overlook the fact he is a vampire (LOL).

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    1. Thanks Rob! I'm going with Kieron's thought process where Vampires are just zombies with style 😃

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