Sunday, October 29, 2017

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

22 comments:

  1. Looks like you have been busy this week. The zombies are great and there looks like a lot of good plans for the future.

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    1. Thanks Fred, much appreciated! Hopefully I can complete at least one project to its end :)

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  2. Excellent work on your final Zombies Ivor, and very well done for your overall Zomtober 2017 outputs. Great stuff. :)

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    1. Thanks a lot! And again, much thanks for organizing everything :)

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  3. You've been very busy! I think Issue 360 had some pictures from this years Historicon

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    1. See, now that kind of makes sense - I just went back and checked and I never received #360. I thought that it was taking a long time for the Historicon recap issue to arrive - now I have to track down a #360.

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  4. Damn! Well, congrats on a successful Zomtober! Jurassic Park stuff sounds really cool. We had a guy out here that used to run a large game with lots of participants playing folks trying to escape the park (I think I still have pictures of it). Nice to see the Zombie horde grow! Jealous your WI arrived ... still waiting for mine. Odd they didn't do any pictures of the games --- perhaps they'll cover it next month. Sucks about the columns ... I always used cheap (but awesome) wedding cake columns for that type of stuff.

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    1. Thanks a lot! That sounds awesome about JP - maybe you could send me a few photos. I wonder what rules he used, that was something I was going to worry about down the road - I just wanted to build some cool terrain for now :)
      It looks like I never received the issue with the Historicon recap so I'll be looking online I guess - hopefully next month will have a cool article about a female British pulp agent *wink, wink*

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    2. Lol ... will keep an eye out for your article :-) I'll send you the pics here this AM. The guy used his own rules for the JP game ... he was known for that sort of thing (rules often changed on the spot). Not my cup of tea.

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    3. Much appreciated! Someone across the pond had an incredible JP game recently - I think it was Salute - that was jaw drop amazing. Maybe I'll get close to that
      or not :)

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  5. Awesome posting Ivor - I'm seem to be saying that a lot about your articles lately! Absolutely chock full of interesting buys, outrageous packaging and future projects. Wonderful stuff imho :-)

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    1. Thanks for the kind words! One thing I'm never short on is cool ideas - making them actually happen... well, that's a whole other story :)

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  6. The bits & bobs as you so call them really add a lot to the seen the mattress just jumps out at you in the best way possible Ivor, you've so much cool stuff going on in this post that if I was to start commenting on it all I'd be here all night typing & you be all day reading lol.

    So I'll just leave it at great work done & I'm sure the stuff not yet finished will also turn out great, been a big Sex Pistols fan I can't wait to see the Zombie wearing the T shirt with them on it, & with you now going into the movie business Nickel & Dime Productions will now have serious competition. :)

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    1. Ha, thanks Frank! I'm not sure I'll come close to your stuff - I'm like an Indie movie, you're the big budget blockbuster machine :)

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  7. What a week, that all looks so good. Really impressed.

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  8. where do you get your plastic jungle plants?

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    1. Everything was from Michaels, during their summer clearance. It was all like 80% off.

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  9. Phew! I've been playing 'catch-up' with the end of Zomtober posts I missed while away, and this one's a corker!
    Nice finish to the challenge and I'm looking forward to seeing the T shirt design you come up with for Z4 - thanks for the tip on popping Rick in the freezer btw, and what a haul those TWD:AOW mini's are!!!
    Bummer about the ruins and I hope you get your refund. I'd be tempted to report the guy anyway, since he was obviously trying to pull one over on you.
    I'm not a big JP fan, but I'll sure be looking forward to seeing the terrain modelling you'll be doing with that box of stuff :-)

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    1. Thanks a lot Greg! So much stuff to try to get finished, I'm sure that I'll get distracted and start something new entirely :)
      Yeah, I'm giving this guy a couple more hours and then I'm just filing a complaint - frustrating because I hate being "that guy" and I gave him time to fix it on his own.
      Hopefully JP will work out - what I have envisioned in my head isn't always what ends up on the table and why projects get abandoned so quickly lol!

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  10. I have that Aquarium piece and thats what prompted me to start my Jason project - this will get rebooted once the Mythic Battle Pantheon set arrives

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    1. I've been anxiously waiting for you to continue on with that project lol! And to hopefully steal some ideas from it :)

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