Zombie Reinforcements

 I started painting 28mm zombies back in summer 2020 with a group of 14.  I have added more over the years in small groups and my shambling horde numbered 42 as of 2024.  

My friend Mike started playing zombie games in 2024 using the rules set Zombie RV (available on Wargames Vault).  He added some mechanics for a larger game that I was interesting in trying.  But I needed more zombies.  Additional motivation was provided by Mike's collection of 75 zombies.  I was in between painting projects so decided that I would seize the opportunity to regain zombie supremacy.

I started with a batch of 14 Studio Miniatures plastic zombies.  I got a bunch of them as free rewards to a long-ago kickstarter and had painted a few in the past, also converting one of the bodies into a living biker for my motorcycle gang.  They come on sprues with 4 different bodies, 8 heads and various arms.  I had some left-over heads and arms from the Warlord/Wargames Factory male zombies, so used those to add more variety.

I have grouped each of the body types together.  I experimented with some different methods of doing skintones to add more variety.  From left to right, rotting flesh, light gray, and blue, all lightly washed with purple.  The blue-ish ones didn't turn out like I had hoped at first so I added a light drybrush of light gray.

I wanted to do some different miniatures next, so I checked ebay and found a set of the Warlord/Wargames Factory female zombies along with 6 of the original Wargames Factory zombies for a good price.  The original zombies were made before the box sets that Warlord re-released.  They are definitely cruder sculpts than the later versions and have 6 on a sprue.  Unlike the later ones they have separate torsos and legs.

I already had a set of the female zombies in my collection, but thought I could make these different with a combination of different heads/arms/painting.

I was still 2 short of my goal.  Then I remembered that I had 2 metal zombies from Studio (also free from their kickstarter) that are larger and more disgusting than your average zombie.  I dug them out of storage and voila!  

With the 34 new zombies, I now have a total of 76, 1 more than Mike.  I retain an undisclosed number of the plastic Studio zombie sprues in case of emergency.

28mm Modern/Post-Apocalypse

This week I took photos of two batches of miniatures I painted in late 2022 for my modern/post-apocalypse games.  They are all from Hasslefree and were purchased in 2021/2022.  These are the last miniatures that I have from them, so I can move on to some other sections of the lead pile.  One thing I really like about Hasslefree is that they portray different body types (male/female, height, weight) while also making them suitable for handling in games.  I have bought female miniatures in the past from other manufacturers that were so thin and fragile that they were unusable.

Photos were taken on a warm March morning.  During the first attempt, there was a lot of pollen in the air and it got everywhere.  After a thorough brushing-off I tried again the next day.  The descriptions are from left to right and the names are from the Hasslefree website.  Paints used were a mix of craft paints, Vallejo, P3, Ral Partha, Army Painter, and GW.

Every post-apocalypse movie needs a kid.  Or three.  Peter, Katie, and Young Amoy are doing quite well even though civilization has collapsed.  The younger two have fashioned weapons out of everyday objects, while Amoy wields the family sword.

Punks Joanne and Joe are ready for some mayhem.  They would fit well in a game of my friend Mike's rules Mean Streets, which cover gang warfare.  

Jim is an army veteran/urban revolutionary.  I really like the pose of Taylor mini and when I saw it on sale I bought it right away.

Foxtrot comes with an alternate head and arms.  The other head is a Imperator Furiosa look-alike from Mad Max:Fury Road.  I already have one of those from another company so I used the gas mask head.  Pulse is one of my favorite Hasslefree sculpts and is usable in various modern settings.  These are both taller figures.

Shotgun-wielding Madge and office worker Earl are ready for any trouble that comes their way.  Looters beware!

Police officer Ken comes with alternate arms holding a shotgun.  Firefighter Levon appears to have learned that an ax is an effective anti-zombie weapon.  These two are also taller figures.

Il Capello bears a strong resemblance to Walter White from the tv show Breaking Bad.  Police officer Nick clearly means business.  He comes with several arm options.

Jess is a former hockey player.  The last time I was painting zombies I missed Zombie Ray so I  painted him with this batch.  I like the half flesh/half skull look.  HF also make a living version.

Is this illegal toxic waste dump where the zombie outbreak started?  I do not know the manufacturer of this resin terrain piece as I took it out of the package several years ago, primed it, and promptly set it aside and forgot about it until recently.

All 17 miniatures together.

Four of our chickens.  They surrounded me while I was taking the photos because they were hungry.  I promised them food and internet fame.

28mm Zombies and Survivors

This a group of 28mm miniatures from Hasslefree Miniatures.  Their website is currently being renovated, so I am not including the catalog names as I normally do.  I purchased these in November 2021 and May 2022 during their sales and painted them in two batches in spring and summer 2022.  I still have a few left that I intend to work on between batches of ancients for Saga.

A father and daughter who have managed to survive the apocalypse.  

A couple of miniatures for my 7TV games.  A civilian bystander; a heroic strongarm who has a Captain America look to him, so I used blue and red with a lightning bolt symbol instead of a star; and a new member of my biker gang that has been separated from his colleagues.

Now on to the living dead.  I experimented with some different skintones this time to add some variety to my zombie horde.  A zombie school girl on the left and a zombie surfer on the right who just isn't ready to leave his board behind.

A fresh zombie who isn't ready to let go of her pistol just yet, and my favorite of this batch, the zombie mime.  One of those miniatures that makes me smile every time I look at it.  Deadly because he can sneak up on you without making the usual zombie noises, the quick-witted survivor can save themselves by using the Invisible Wall technique.

Zombie doctor bitten by a patient and a zombie who appears to be very upset about her current state of existence.

The obligatory group shot.

Quick 28mm Zombies

 After painting my first batch of zombies in June it didn't take me long to get out the rest of my plastic Warlord (ex-Wargames Factory) zombie sprues.  I had one sprue each of the the male and female zombies, minus the 6 I already painted.  I also found 5 sprues of plastic Studio Miniatures zombies (4 per sprue) I had gotten as a bonus from their Turf War Z Kickstarter in 2018.

After some quick assembly I had 16 zombies ready to be painted.  I again used a mix of GW contrast paints and my normal paints as I thought these would be a good batch for a second experiment with the contrast paints as I wouldn't be disappointed if something went wrong.

I started on a Saturday morning and about 7 hours later (with plenty of time doing other things i between painting sessions) I was done; significantly faster than my normal painting speed.  The detail on these miniatures is fairly shallow for the most part but they accomplish their purpose of serving as cannon fodder against survivors of the zombie apocalypse.  I do still have a few of the Studio Miniatures sprues left to build but I think I am done with zombies for the foreseeable future.

My favorite of this batch reminds me of the Tall Man from the Phantasm movies (though he is missing his jacket) so I painted him accordingly.

The whole batch.  The Studio ones are on the left side and are less animated.

28mm Zombies and Contrast Paint Test

I am a long-time zombie movie fan, ever since I saw Night of the Living Dead, the sequels and Return of the Living Dead on cable tv in my youth.  However I only have two painted zombies which doesn't seem right for post-apoc games.

In late April ago I ordered some gaming supplies from Recreational Conflict to take advantage of their free shipping offer.  While browsing their website I came across the zombies in their Lead Bones range.  I had bought a pack of their clerks in the past and was happy with them.  Two of the zombie packs really caught my eye and I added them to my order.  After a quick delivery I cleaned, based and primed them.  The Lead Bones zombies have a lot of character without having too many small details to paint; things such as partially-exposed skulls, bite marks, etc.  To this group I added 6 plastic zombies from Warlord (originally Wargames Factory).  I bought several sprues for $1 each during one of their sales a few years ago, had put a few together in early 2019, and neglected them since.

Part of my motivation to paint this batch was to try out the jars of Games Workshop contrast paint I had bought in February 2020.  I wanted to try them out on figures that I didn't need for a particular project in case the results weren't good.  I watched several videos to get some tips on how to use them.

I think that my experiment was a success.  I used contrast paints for all the skin, most of the hair, shoes and belts and some of the clothing and thought they shaded well.  There seems to be a little more definition than using a normal wash.  For exposed bone I found the Skeleton Horde contrast to be too dark on the raised areas so I highlighted with Army Painter Skeleton Bone.  I didn't have any problems using both contrast and normal paints on the same models.  Doing a large group allowed things to dry quickly to minimize wait time.  Best of all, I finished all 14 miniatures in 24 hours, starting them Saturday morning and finishing Sunday morning.  I'm not sure about the total time spent painting, but it was low.  They are not my best work, but I don't need that for zombies and I would be happy to use them in a game.

Lead Bones pack 1 (l-r):
Civilian: contrast paints except for the pants.
Priest impaled with cross.  The cross came as a separate piece I superglued in, you could substitute something else easily.  All contrast except the collar and cross.  Reminds me of the priest from the movie Dead Alive.
Police officer: I used normal paints on the uniform to test out a possible color scheme for the unpainted police miniatures I have.
Biker: contrast on skin, belt, shoes and hair.  I want to add a decal on the back of his jacket, but I couldn't find the leftover decals from my biker gang I painted in 2019.  I'll keep looking.

 

 Lead Bones pack 2 (l-r):
Surfer: I love this miniature.  Contrast except for the hair, intestines and surfboard.  There is a nice bite pattern in the surfboard, which comes as a separate piece.  The question I have is was he bitten by a shark after becoming a zombie or was he bitten by a zombie shark?
Nun: contrast except for the white and the rosary beads
Altar Boy: contrast except for the white
Punk: contrast except for the leather jacket and mohawk.  This mini reminded me of the first victim in the movie Return of the Living Dead.
The priest, nun and altar boy will go well with the church model I have.

 

Warlord zombies: contrast paints except for (l) jeans, red shoes, (c)dress and apron and (r) gun, shirt and tie

 

More Warlord Zombies: hospital worker, visitor and patient.  Contrast except for anything white, brains and the visitor's pants.

 

A bonus terrain piece.  While I was painting these minis, I dropped a brush which fell down the back of the armoire I use as a painting station.  It landed on one of the bottom shelves and when I was moving things around to get it out, I found this set of resin barrels.  I have no memory of ever buying it so it was a nice surprise.  The resin seemed different from Acheson which is who I get most of my resin terrain from, so an unknown manufacturer.

The full zombie horde.  Run!