Necromunda: Limited Edition Figures 01

I have been lucky enough to acquire some very rare limited edition figures to use in Necromunda and I want to share them with you here. In this post I am showcasing two gangers for House Goliath and one for House Escher.

At the far left is Kolossus, who I'm going to use as the leader of the Brass Brutes gang I showed you in my last post. This means that Skullshank will now be downgraded to a Champion. I have had this figure for many years now but I never used him in my old Badlands Bastards gang. When I got the new Necromunda game I dug him out and decided he'd fit in much better with my Brass Brutes gang as their leader. I added the Furnace Plate Armour to his chest, which was made from Milliput, so that he fit in with the other figures and also because I didn't want him to be bare-chested. I had forgotten who made him. I originally thought he was a Kevin White sculpt, but I recently discovered he was sculpted by Steve Buddle for Heresy Miniatures before he left to work for Games Workshop. This figure was a limited edition variant of the Barbarian Warlord, who is still available for sale. This version has a different head and his axe has been replaced with a shotgun. For me, the cloak makes him stand out as a leader. I'm looking forward to finally getting to use this superbly sculpted figure.

The next two figures were produced by TT Combat and they are incredibly rare. They were only available during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend of November 2017. If you spent £100 you'd get one of them for free (your choice of which one). They were also available to buy separately but only during that short time period. As it happened I had a big order I wanted to place with TT Combat, so I got the Escher for free and I paid for the Goliath. They are both made of resin and are very nicely detailed and sculpted.
The Goliath ganger has been named Cyber Monday for obvious reasons. He is fitted with a cybernetic right eye and a cybernetic right arm with a circular saw attachment. In addition, he carries a Power Hammer and he has a Stubber Pistol in a holster on his left thigh.
The Escher ganger was named Black Friday. Her pink and blue hair colouring was a deliberate nod to my favourite DC Comics supervillain, Harley Quinn, whom she reminded me of. She is armed with a Shotgun and a Power Sword. Note that she has been painted in the alternative colour scheme I'm adopting for my new House Escher gangers. I'm replacing the traditional yellow armour pieces with pink armour. Pink will be the predominant colour for my new Eschers. I'm hoping to get them painted soon.

Heresy Miniatures Vampires 01

Last month I finally got round to painting four Heresy Miniatures 28mm scale Vampire figures that I bought years ago. I think the only reason they lay unpainted for so long is that they all required some assembly and I was just too lazy to glue them together. My interest in vampires (which has never wavered, although you wouldn't tell from my blog posts) was reignited when I recently painted my Castle Ravenloft figures. That prompted me to dig out my Heresy Vampires and show them some love.

At the far left of my two photos is a Vampire in a long coat. He came with a choice of three heads and I chose the head wearing the top hat to make him look like a Victorian Vampire. I wouldn't mind buying another copy of him and giving him the traditional Nosferatu head, all bald with long pointed ears and prominent fangs. As is, he has an air of mystery and arrogance about him. Most befitting for a Vampire!
Next up is Lord Von Blutgericht, who is a multi-part model. His head, right hand and left leg and skull are separate pieces. You can choose between an open right hand or a hand holding a long sword. I felt he'd look more dramatic with the long sword. Actually, it just occurs to me that he'd make a good substitute for the awful plastic figure of Count Strahd Von Zarovich that you get in the Castle Ravenloft game.

Third in line is Lady Von Blutgericht, wife of the aforementioned Lord. She is also a multi-part model with separate head and a choice of right and left hands. Her right hand is open-handed but you can choose between a hand holding a large goblet or a long sword for her left hand. I see her as being every bit as vicious as her husband, so gave her the long sword. Together, they make a fearsome pair.
Finally, is a Vampire in Man-Bat Form. He was the figure I was least looking forward to making as his bat wings were separate pieces. Fortunately, I was able to drill and pin them at the arm joints and glued them in place with super-glue. In the end, he went together a lot easier than I thought he would. I had to glue him to a 30mm diameter slotta-base, because his wings made him unbalanced when I tried him on a 25mm diameter slotta-base. I decided to paint him in a dry bone colour (Foundry Boneyard 9, with a Citadel Seraphim Sepia ink wash). He was the easiest of the four to paint. Note that all four vampires have glowing red eyes, a sure sign that they aren't human!
I do like this quartet of Vampires and it's nice to start the New Year off with a post of some Vampire figures. I don't showcase nearly enough of them, which is odd as I still have loads left to review. I've just checked on the Heresy website for the prices of these and sadly, the Lord and Lady Von Blutgericht are no longer available. Bummer! The Victorian Vampire is listed as Posing Vampire and he costs £4.00, whilst the Vampire in Man-Bat Form costs £7.00.

Assorted Werewolves 04

Here is another batch of 28mm scale werewolf figures from my collection, and once again, they are a mixed bunch from a variety of companies. Some are still available to buy but others are sadly, long gone.

At the far left is a huge and very scary werewolf in its Crinos form from Heresy Miniatures. This is a multi-part kit containing head, torso and right leg, tail, left leg, right arm, left arm and base. It was sculpted by Andy Foster and I must say, he's done a cracking good job. Note the blood around its mouth and snout, indicating it has fed recently. This is one of my all-time favourite werewolf sculpts. It is in a very animated pose and it was a joy to make and paint. He is available to buy from Heresy's webstore for £8.00. Do bear in mind that for that price he is very tall despite the fact he is crouching down, and he is a multi-part kit.
The white werewolf was originally made by Grenadier Miniatures but is now available from Mirliton. He is part of their Nightmares range and comes in a pack of three figures marked as NM020 Lycanthropes. The other two figures show him in wolf form and in half-human form. Price is 5.96 Euros for all three figures. I must admit that I think this is a rather average sculpt. By painting him white, he could almost pass for a small polar bear.

At the far right is an old Ral Partha figure who is not actually a werewolf at all but a werejackal. He is quite small and the fact that he is crouched down in a running pose makes him look even smaller still. I actually like this figure for his uniqueness. Ral Partha made a lot of werewolf figures. They had the franchise to make figures for White Wolf's Werewolf: the Apocalypse RPG. This figure, however, was part of their fantasy range. Ral Partha closed shop many years ago so you will struggle to find a copy of this figure.

These two huge werewolves in their monstrous Crinos form were made by Alternative Armies as part of their old Firefight sci-fi range. They were allies of the evil Shia Khan forces who fought against the Free Companies Crusaders in what was known as the Ion Age. They stand 42mm tall from the soles of their feet to the tops of their heads.

I see no reason why they can't be used as contemporary werewolves. They are nicely sculpted and although they are huge in comparison to a normal 28mm tall figure, they are still in scale. A Crinos form werewolf is generally about nine feet tall. Sorry to say that these figures are no longer available.

Eolith Zombies 2 and Heresy Zombies 2

The three zombies I'm going to review today are from the second half of the Eolith range of 28mm scale fantasy zombies sculpted by Steve Buddle. Even though Steve's zombies are designed primarily with the fantasy gamer in mind, these work just as well in a contemporary setting, as I shall show you. Shortly after I bought these, Steve closed down the Eolith website as he was going off to sculpt figures for the evil empire known as Games Workshop. Fortunately he had the good grace to sell most of his 28mm scale moulds to Andy Foster at Heresy Miniatures. So now Heresy are making these figures and that ought to explain why I have titled this post the way I have. Enough waffle, let's look at the figures.

 

There is something about grossly fat and obese zombies that I like. I just can't get enough of them. So hats off to Steve for sculpting this magnificent specimen at the far left of my two photos. His trousers were meant to be tied up by a piece of cord, but I've painted the two ends of the cord that hang down as a small piece of chain and painted the rest of the cord as a black leather belt. A simple paint job was all it took to transform him from a fantasy zombie into a contemporary zombie. Also, by painting his trousers denim blue was another way of "modernising" him. He has a mass of wounds all over his bloated body, the biggest of which is to the left side of his face and neck.
In the centre of the group is a very dainty sculpt of a small girl zombie. This cute little critter still keeps a tight hold of her dolly. I painted her with her throat ripped open and so blood has soaked down the front of her dress. From behind she looks just like any other normal human little girl. From the front she's the stuff of nightmares.
Finally, we come to my hoodie zombie. Once again, it is the paintwork that has transformed him into a contemporary zombie. He only has one shoe but I have painted it as a trainer, even though it looks like his foot is bandaged from the front. I should have taken a sideways photo to better show it off. I deliberately chose drab grey colours for his clothing to reinforce the drab existance of his prior human life. His life as a zombie is probably not much different to his life as a human. He'll still hang around on street corners with his undead mates offering nothing positive or productive to human society. Yet another waste of skin!
I am a big fan of Steve's work and I'm sorry he's no longer working on his own but I understand that bills have to be paid and even though I'm no fan of GW, he'll certainly earn more with them than if he'd carried on with Eolith. I wish him well for the future. He will be missed.
As for these figures, I think they are delightful. There is a lot of fine craftsmanship in the sculpts of them and they will grace anyone's zombie horde. You can now purchase them from Heresy's website for the very reasonable price of £5.00 for the set of three. At less than £2.00 per figure that is a good price to pay.

Diorama of Doom 2009

For Halloween, I thought I'd show you my entry for the Diorama of Doom 2009. This is a competition run on the Forum of Doom by the four companies that host the forum - Black Scorpion, Eolith, Hasslefree and Heresy. The diorama had to feature figures from any of the four companies, the more the better. Mine comprises Vampirella (a conversion of Hasslefree's 28mm scale Taxxis the Demoness), Echo (a Black Scorpion 28mm scale Demoness) and eight Heresy 28mm scale zombies. The gravestone directly behind Vampirella came with the Echo figure. The other gravestones came from Hasslefree. The tree is from the Citadel Warhammer Walls and Fences set. One of the restrictions placed on everyone was that the diorama had to fit on a CD or a smaller-sized base. Mine is on an old CD, covered with Polyfilla.

The story for the diorama is really simple. Vampirella interrupts a zombie summoning ritual by the Chaos demoness, Echo by decapitating her with a scythe that she found lying in the graveyard. A small number of the undead have already risen from their graves but they will prove no match to the Drakulonian heroine.

Here is a close up of Vampirella holding Echo's severed head. This was a real labour of love. I have never entered a painting competition before and I have no idea how well I'll do. Today is the closing date for the competition, so I'll find out soon how I've fared. There have been a lot of positive and heart-warming comments about my entry on the Forum of Doom. Of course it would be great to be a winner, but even if I don't I have had a lot of fun working on this project and that is surely just as important.

Heresy Miniatures Zombies

This review looks at the range of 28mm scale zombies from Heresy Miniatures. These were sculpted by the talented Andy Foster, an all-round nice guy. Do keep an eye open for John Price's interview with Andy on John's Screaming Alpha blog-site. Heresy make two packs of zombies, each containing four figures. At first glance they would appear to be designed for a fantasy setting with four of them armed with melee weapons and one wearing a horned helmet, which may seem rather anachronistic in a modern day setting. But I have no problem in including them as part of my horde of contemporary zombies. Hopefully, I can persuade you to consider them as well.

From HV027 Zombies pack 1 above, starting at the far left is a crouching zombie, holding a meat cleaver in his left hand. His only wound is a massive one, as his stomach has been ripped open, causing his innards to spill out. Most of these zombies are naked, so I decided to add them to my small group of toxic zombies (see my reviews for the Eureka zombies http://vampifansworldoftheundead.blogspot.com/2009/06/eureka-miniatures-zombies.html and Spinespur zombies http://vampifansworldoftheundead.blogspot.com/2009/08/spinespur-zombies.html ) This of course, meant painting them in shades of green instead of shades of grey.

Next in line is an unarmed zombie with the flesh stripped from his knees. His arms were separate components and are very thin. I thought I'd have problems gluing them in place but I didn't. I used superglue for the initial positioning then I reinforced the joint with a further coating of superglue. The superglue that I use comes with a brush in the nozzle so I can "paint" the glue where it's needed. This is a very thin and emaciated zombie with an incredible amount of detail on him - as indeed, they all have.

Moving on, we see a zombie armed with a scythe. For a contemporary setting I'd have him as a former agricultural worker to explain his choice of weapon. Whether he can use it or whether it's just a prop in his hands will depend on the rule system you use. The same applies to the other three armed zombies. Some rule systems don't allow for zombies to use weapons (ranged and/or melee), whilst others do. This zombie bears no obvious wounds.

Last in line is what I consider to be the sickest zombie out of the range. He carries a sickle in his left hand, which would make him another former agricultural worker. Hmm, I see a theme here.

What makes this figure stand out from the rest is his stomach wound. Look closer at the photo and you can see a huge rat burrowing its way into his stomach. Note how the rat's tail wraps around the zombie's leg. Andy, what were you on when you sculpted this guy?! I love him! He's just so gross!

HV030 Zombies Pack 2 contains more of the same. Three of the figures are simply conversions of those found in pack 1, which may put some of you off but not me. The one original sculpt is the first in line and as you can see he's been ripped in half. I have to admit when I first saw this zombie I thought he was rising from the ground. It was only when I got a closer look that I released he'd lost the lower half of his body. If I have one criticism of him it is that his right arm is just too long. That apart, he is another great sculpt, and as I've said before, zombie draggers are always welcome.

To make the zombie with the out stretched arms different to the one in pack 1, Andy has sculpted some clothes on him - a pair of trousers, a left boot and a horned helmet. Who would wear a horned helmet nowadays? A biker gang member, perhaps. If you really think it looks too out of place in a modern day setting, clip the horns off and paint it up as a beanie hat. Problem solved! This figure also came with separate arms and once again, I had no bother in gluing them in place.

Again, Andy has done a similar trick to the next zombie in line. He's added clothes and long hair and replaced the scythe blade with an axe-type blade. It's enough of a conversion to make him different, so I'm happy to accept him as a part of the group.

The zombie at the far right of the group has had his left arm extended to replace the sickle holding arm of the similarly posed zombie in pack 1. He too has a huge stomach wound but no rat feasting on him. Most of his internal organs are missing as the gaping hole in his stomach reveals his spine. It makes a nice change from seeing intestines dangling from a stomach wound.

Both packs cost £5.00 each, but if you buy more than one of each pack they drop down in price to £4.50 each. Heresy are like Hasslefree in many ways (not surprising as they both form part of the Forum of Doom) in that they send your figures out very quickly (they usually arrive within two days here in the UK) and they include free sweets with your order. I got a lollypop with my last order! I have nothing but praise for Heresy as a company. If you've never dealt with them before, don't hesitate in sending them an order. They are well worth supporting. Have I persuaded you to add these extremely well sculpted zombies to your horde? Only you know the answer to that one but I hope you'll at least consider them.