Second wave of Zombie Plague Kickstarter minis

This post may in some ways alleviate or abrogate or some other appropriate verb beginning in "a" the debt I owe our undead brethren and, to some extent, my fellow bloggers.

I utterly failed to fulfill the goals of Zomtober this year, despite my stated intent to participate and its amazingly low bar to be dubbed a participant -- paint four zombies or survivors during the month, debuting them on each Sunday of the month. Despite the great organizational and promotional efforts of the Eclectic Gentleman Tabletop Gamer, I blew it. I painted zilch. Zero. The only zombie-related activity I had during the month was posting my (still popular) unboxing of Wave 2 of the Zombicide Kickstarter. See that post here.

So now I've got Wave 2 of Brian Roe's Zombie Plague Kickstarter minis. (See the post about Wave 1, the survivors, here.) With Wave 1 I also picked up the new comic release that includes the latest version of the Zombie Plague rules.

Wave 2 comprises solely zombies and some themed resin bases. Unlike the earlier survivor minis, these zombies don't depict particular characters or creatures from the comic storyline.

As big a fan as I am of the pop-culture representations that have become commonplace in current zombie products (Zombicide, I'm looking at you!), I have to say that I find these original creations even more inspiring. And as I am a fan of so many retro things (7TV's '70s vibe, Atomic Cafe's skewed 1950s post-nuclear landscape), I find this '50s-looking bombshell called "Dead Sexy" to cause my chilled heart to beat just a little faster. She's a perfect realization of the concept art, and the casting is nice and clean. She has such personality (and sex appeal) that I may have to find a role for her as a "smart zombie," or some kind of unit leader for the undead. I can't decide whether she died in the Fifties and was just revived or if she dresses like she's into '50s car and Tiki culture and was caught up in the zombie apocalypse. Either way, she sports minimal injuries to her curvy form -- dead sexy indeed.

On all these minis there was some minor flash, most of which I was able to clear away with just my fingers. Some mold lines are visible but are so mild that I can't really differentiate them by touch. This should bode well for cleanup -- a quick swipe with a file and we're ready to rock.

Below we have Dirt Nap, captured in the act of emerging from the loose loam of his own freshly dug grave. I believe it to be a makeshift grave, too, as he's accompanied by a garden gnome. I wonder if this man's wife did away with him and planted him in the yard under her begonias, only to have her dispatched husband return, now perhaps to wreak his revenge? (Why am I hearing the sentence in Jonathan Ross' voice? "... weturn, now perhaps to week his wevenge?")

Forgive the intrusion of my Blu-Tack in the photo below, but it was the only way to get him to stand up long enough for this photo. The recesses on the custom base are well done and will work perfectly once the mini is actually glued in. Gotta wait until I clean him up, though. The little gnome is a hoot, too (and there's a spot for him over the zombie's right shoulder, but I couldn't get him to stand there. Uncooperative little gremlin. Uncooperative Blu-Tack too.)

Sorry for the blurry photo below, but it was the only one I captured of the multipart Joe Zombie. You can check the Updates in the Kickstarter project to see a couple of different ways he can be assembled. I think he's a stroke of genius. There are popular plastic zombie sets out there, but having that kind of choice for a metal model fills my with delicious dread. And I can always find good use for some extra arms and heads. My only regret is that I didn't order more of him. He is a great example of the miniature-maker's art and will make a great addition to any wargames table that needs a modern zombie. All hail the Roebeast, harbinger of the Zombocalypse!

And below we have the multipart female zombie, Rose Frum. (Took me a few minutes to get the pun. I know, sometimes I overthink things. Love it!) Rose is a little more hunched than Joe but has the same great choices for arms and heads. Her body's showing more damage than Dead Sexy, and her choices of heads span the gamut from vacant-eyed undead girl to meatbag corpse. We've also got a sprue (Is it still a sprue if it's metal?) of extra weapons -- the weapons wielded by the survivors, to boot. They are, as with all these, precise, clean, clear, direct and delicious.

And here's the zombie Brian calls Tubby. Her corpse is what cops would call a "floater," someone whose corpse was immersed in water after death and now features bloated flesh and sloughing skin. The presence of a bikini bottom makes me think she was in a lake or river rather than in an actual tub, but maybe she bathes in her underwear, who knows? Her sculpt again does a great job of capturing the putrescence present in the concept art.

And may I say I really appreciate the effort that Brian went to here with women that look like real women, not the siliconed-out supermodels we often see depicted in fantasy minis. Admittedly, these women are dead -- or rather, undead -- but they're amazingly realistically proportioned, which is, sadly, not the norm in the gaming industry. Kudos, Rsquared!

Here we have 10 themed Mud and Gutz resin bases that add horror to zombies, survivors, or just about anything. There's two each of five designs below, but you'll probably have a better result if you go the the Kickstarter pages and check Update 32 to see already painted versions. There's mud, blood, guts and skulls tromped into the dirt of these bases, and they look suitably horrifying.

So there you have it, compadres, a Kickstarter fulfillment that exceeded expectations and added unique, intriguing and useful components to my modern zombie collection. Every design choice in these figures tells a story, and it will help you tell stories through your own games. Whether you're playing ATZ, 7ombieTV, No More Room In Hell, AR:SE or Zombicide or even Last Night on Earth, any other zombie skirmish rules, these minis are a worthy addition to your own zombie horde.

So back to the boards, everybody, and I'll see you across the tables.

Remember, check back later this weekend for some more fiction from my IHMN setting featuring Miss Rossum and her Anthropomorphic Automatons and another piece revealing the women of the Ladies' Auxiliary. Cheers!

Welcoming Wednesday

Today we welcome Louis Britton, known as UrbanWulf, author of the blog Lead Dead Redemption. He's currently tracking his All Things Zombie Final Fade Out campaign. Also joining us is painting maven Anne O'Leary of O'Leary Miniatures. Her rendition of Tom Meier's Ballerina Princess Fairies will lift the coldest, grumpiest heart.

The latest in my largely uninformed opinions

There's a lot going on in the gaming world right now, and lots and lots of electronic ink is being spilled on various sides of multiple issues. In the off-the-cuff, top-of-the-head, shoot-from-the-hip kind of coverage you've come to expect here at Dispatches from the Rim, I am going to give you my feelings on some of these issues.

-- Games Workshop is curtailing Internet sales of its minis except in its own online store. In North America, its trade account policies are spreading from the U.S. to Canada. At least, that's what the documents seem to be saying. I haven't worked in retail in years, and I was never at the "dealing with trade accounts" level anyway. Their policies seem pretty draconian to me, and I wonder if their short-term gain is going to hurt them in the long run.

Because of these changes, MiniWargaming has decided to close its online store. This makes me sad, but I was not a customer of theirs. They are running a big closeout sale, so that might be worth looking into. I'm sure others are contemplating similar actions, so I wish these shopkeepers well in their deliberations and decisions.

-- Another closure I just learned of was Dastardly Designed Games, which was until recently The Armchair General, makers of the steampunk wargame When the Navy Walked and the hilarious skirmish game It Came From Beyond the Still, also known as Aliens vs. Hillbillies. Owner Robert Adams stated on the various company blogs that, because of a lack of customer interest, the game company will close. The two new books he had in the pipeline for ICFBTS will appear on Wargame Vault as pdfs and print-on-demand products. I'm glad of that, as ICFBTS III is "From Reel to Real," which brings the world of B-movies into the game.

I'll be sad to see this game no longer being developed, as Robert has a great imagination. He says he's likely to keep the blog going, and I hope he does.

-- Google Reader is being shut down. This sucks. I love Google Reader and use it all day, every day. Let me know if you've found a good replacement RSS aggregator. I just hope this doesn't mean Blogger is next. Guess it's time to learn how to use tumblr.

-- Now the good news: Ed the Two-Hour Wargames guy has added two 28mm minis to his store. These are ones I've wanted practically FOREVER, and I've been bugging him about at last one of them for YEARS. Longtime fans of THW will be familiar with Carolee, the THW girl. She was the "poster girl" for THW and had some very attractive poses in a sexy black outfit carrying a sighted pistol. She also appears as an NPC on a special card in the Risks and Rewards game aid deck for All Things Zombie.

Ed's long sold a 15mm version of Carolee, but now a 28mm version, sculpted by Richard Deasey,  is available. He's also made available an older Patrick Keith mini, which was called Trixi the Recovery Agent. The Trixi mini previously played the part of Suzi in the THW gameplay examples. So she's available again, in the THW store. (Trixie was also one of the "relic" rewards in Patrick's recent kickstarter for his Bombshell Babes.)

Here are the painted versions on the THW store site.

-- Just heard today that Kevin Adams, lord king sculptor of all things gobliny and orcy, was seriously injured in a knife attack Wednesday by three men when they invaded his home to rob it. They demanded jewelry, according to the website of the Nottingham Post, and Kevin suffered "significant injuries to his face and a cut to his shoulder," from what is presumed to be a kitchen knife. Police were still seeking witnesses to the late-afternoon incident. An Apple iMac computer was stolen during the incident, the report says.

Ian Brumby at Fenris Games has been doing a great job of keeping everyone up to date on this (he provided the above link as well), and he and others are looking to produce new minis, sell some of Kevin's sculpts, or outright just make donations to help Kevin with the expenses of his recovery. More manufacturers are banding together in this cause as events go on, so I would say check with Ian for the latest and how you can help.

James Herbert

Rick Hautala

-- RIP: The horror world lost some notable lights this week, authors James Herbert and Rick Hautala. They were 69 and 64 years old, respectively.

More as it occurs to me, folks. Also, again this week, there was no "welcoming Wednesday" post because, even though readership is slowly increasing, we're holding steady at 38 official followers of the blog. So thanks, everybody, for keeping it real, making it fun, and for keeping it real fun for me to share this hobby with all of you.

Broad strokes

Still no pictures yet as I sort out some terrain for backgrounds, but I should give you a broad sketch of a couple of the projects I've got under way.

Modern zombies: I've got the nucleus of a zombie horde primed (a state they've been in for at least two years) and ready to paint, and I've got some Hasslefree adventurers on hand ready for some paint. I've also got the beginnings of a story ready for my zombie campaign. I'll probably use All Things Zombie and its two expansions  from Two Hour Games because of the great campaign mechanics, but I'm also thinking about giving 7ombieTV from Crooked Dice a shot, using the campaign rules from the Summer Special. The horde will grow later this year when Zombicide is released.

Victorian SF/Horror: Just ordered my copy of West Wind's Empire of the Dead rulebook from FRP. I've got some VSF figures from Eureka's Pax Limpopo line hanging around to play the heroes, but I am looking forward to acquiring some of the particular minis manufactured for this game. Everybody seems to be out of stock at the moment, especially on the Cirque du Noir Ape, which of course I MUST HAVE.

There will also be some ongoing post-singularity SF stuff using the Infinity, Reaper, old AT-43 minis and others I have. Not sure on a rule set yet though.