Start Of The Week - The Weird Wild West

When I started blogging I was all about 15mm miniatures. Most of what I had done over the years has been 28mm but I was finding that I liked 15mm minis better. Then I started painting 28mm again for some games I was playing in or running myself. Which I how I got into painting stuff for the Wild West, specifically for Deadlands: Reloaded.

Back then I painted about a dozen of the figures I had before the game fell through. Since then they have mostly been sat around. Now I have the urge to paint some more oddball stuff again so why not cowboys and zombies. Oh and the Mexicans and Indians and eventually everything else. Maybe at some point they could be a project in the future.

So now for a painting plan. On top of the twenty wild west figures I have already done I have another twenty to do.They are a mixture of Artisan Designs and Wargames Foundry I think. I am going to look at doing them in batches of ten with the Indians and the few remaining western types to do. Then the next batch in some Mexicans and some harrowed/cowboy zombies. The plan is to stick with the first batch in the main, maybe work on the second batch a bit. If in doubt I have a background project which is a pretty mixed bag but mainly Wargames Foundry Street Violence stuff.

I will happy if I get ten figures done this week but I would hope to get more done which would be a bonus

Fire Engine

I was in Wilkinson's earlier and saw this fire engine. I had a look at it and thought it was about the right size for 28mm gaming. And in make a noise. You can see by the size of the pictures that it is a fairly good match. As it only costs £4 it makes it for whatever difference in size there may be.

The figures are some of my work in progress zombies from Hasslefree I think and a Copplestone Future Wars figure.

28mm Zombie Minis List

I started out with a few old fantasy tribe zombies and some old Citadel plastic skeletons in my first zombie game. For the most part these are on the small side. This was largely stuff I have had for years and some of which were the first figures I ever purchased. I had also picked up some Alternative Armies zombies along the way. This made a quick if challenging game. I decided quickly that I wanted more zombies. Lots more zombies.

I look at the zombie miniatures I own and worry that what I end up with will be something like the undead version Village People although I do need to find a motorcycle cop to make that happen. These are what I call feature zombies.

At the time I started buying zombies, there weren't too many zombies to choose from. A few manufacturers had a few small ranges. This quickly changed. You can look and minis manufacturers without finding something that works for a zombie game. Anyway, I thought I'd do a list of the zombies I have used and plan to use in the near future. Over time, I will add some more in. I know that there are plenty of zombie lists out there already. This one may be a little more subjective (in my mind that's a good thing) than some.

Copplestone – Sadly there are only ten of them. These are some of the best zombies available in 28mm. They seem to stand out in all the pictures of games that people post. Characterful without standing out too much. Copplestone are just on the heroic side of 28mm but their human zombies are not all that out of proportion with some of the smaller stuff. They have a lot of civilians that would make a nice addition to any range. They are reasonably priced and well worth the money.

Cold War Miniatures – Cold War has a nice sized range of zombies with about sixty five plus some survivors. Unlike Copplestone, they fit well with anything in the traditional 28mm scale. They have a nice mix of all the human type zombies you could want. Whilst American themed zombies are not all that hard to come by, old War have some British themed zombies too. They have a few kid and crawler zombies and even one that is on fire. I do like my feature zombies and this really dates back to the original dawn of the dead. This range has some nice ones such as Elvis, Hari Krishna (like the one from Dawn), a British Guardsman in bearskin and a whole range of others. They seem to be available through eBay at the moment. All in all a nice range. The odd figure in the range requires a little construction but nothing major. I am not sure if they still do metal bases but if they do, they are very good.

Eureka – Eureka have two nice sets of zombies and a lot of modern military types. The first pack of ten different eviscerated zombies. They look pretty good and fit in with the cold war stuff very nicely in terms of size if not style. They have a style all of their own. This makes them great as special types of zombies. I have seen these painted up very nicely as Glowing Ones from Fallout and their tattered look makes them look good for eviscerated zombie types. They also do a pack of zombies getting out of barrels that are similar in style to the first pack. I have seen these used as great terrain markers but don;t actually own any myself. What they d have in addition to this are some nice modern and cold war military figures. The have some Americans and Russians in NBC gear. The Americans really make me think of the early Romero films. Not a huge range but well worth putting an order in.

Hasslefree – These are a great company to deal with and they do some cracking miniatures. There range of zombies is quite small (about a dozen) but they do some nice miniatures. They are the place to get a zombie surfer. One of the most ubiquitous zombie miniatures on the is Ray (not Shaun). A zombie with a cricket bat. They do a nice zombie mutant/small tank. Again the great thing about Hasslefree is not their zombies but their zombie hunters. This is one of the best ranges out there. All are good characters. Again, these all fit in well with the traditional 28mm stuff out there. Their single figures are not cheap but are very nice. They do have a set of five zombies which is reasonably priced.

Studio – These started to come out about the time I was finishing my big push on zombies. If they had been available at the time this would be a lot smaller post as I think most of what I would have binged on would have been Studio. Sadly I only have a few of them. They have everything I could ever want apart from zombie dogs. Lots of female zombies which other ranges lack like kids and crawlers. They have a nice range for hospital scenarios and some of them look like the cast of Scrubs. They also have a lot if characterful stuff. There are zombies that seem very like the zombies from Left 4 Dead. They have a Santa, bride and groom, soldiers, police, clowns, superman and even Harry Potter.

Tengu – I like these minis a lot. They are a touch smaller than the regular 28mm zombies but are not so small in terms of body size that they look out of place with others. They just look slightly shorter.
If you look back I have posted some of their Grey zombies in the past and some of their regular zombies here. It is not the biggest range in either scope or size but it tends towards the small but perfectly formed. One of the best things about this range is the fact that they have female zombies, which many ranges omit. They also have a couple of mutant type zombies that really make me think of Resident Evil.

Wargames Factory – In general I am not a big fan of plastic kits, they take too much time to put together and tend to be fairly fragile. More importantly, they seldom seem to fit with anything else. I actually own two boxes of Wargames Factory Modern Male zombies and they do assemble into something that fits in very well most of my other stuff. Because they are plastic you can in theory get a huge range of poses but there are quite a few that don't work to well. That said there are thousands that do. They can also be turned into corpses and crawlers with a knife, some green stuff and about five minutes.If you are looking to build a new zombie hoarde or bulk out what you have already, these are the zombies to go for. Although I don't own them they do have a pack of female zombies which is unusual. They also do two plastic box sets of survivors, one male and one female. This makes a wide enough range that you could populate your entire game with these minis.

Black Cat Bases – Their range of zombies is not huge and it does not really stand of from the crowd. I have used some of them as glowing ones. I think they are all badly beaten up and largely naked. The poses are not my favourite but they are not bad and cheap for metal figures. I have painted some of the as glowing ones but I am not sure they look as good in this role as the one from Eureka. They have a range of modern ghouls which are really fantastic. Again, not a huge range but these are really nice modern figures. They look like crazed teenager in hoodies and with pointed ears. There is one I don't own where the creature is coming out of a sewer which looks nicely threatening. They look a little like hunters in Left 4 Dead. They fit well with all normal 28mm figures.

RFAM – This company do have a a nice modern range with a number of zombies. I think I am right is saying that these are the grandaddy of modern zombies. All are nicely detailed sculpts. I've been a fan of their for a long time and a huge fan since they picked up the old Citadel 15mm Traveller minis which have featured on this blog several times. I got a boxed set of zombies a few years ago but I only have a few of these painted. There are some nice zombie minis and some quite a range of civilians and zombie hunter types. On the down side, the bases are very chunky on some of the models. I have added matches to one wooden base to even it out. If, like me you add a standard sized base to each figure, this is going to make them look a little tall. This is about the worst thing I can say about the minis. Some of them look very human and have little damage, which is a benefit and a curse depending on which way you look at them.

Westwind Productions – These are nicely generic so could probably be used in fantasy and pulp games as well and quite cheap as well. They are quite chunky though and definitely on the heroic side of 28mm. If your game features big chunky zombies, these will do nicely. The range features some nice zombie hunters and red necks which work well as survivors. This range would not be first on my list but there is something of the completest in me.

Foundry – Not a huge range and they are cowboys. Cowboys may sound like a strange idea but for a game set in the American South, they do okay and as ever, everyone needs a feature zombie. I painted one up for Zomtober last year.  They may be an impulse purchase but they fit is as slightly (but not unworkably) bigger than standard 28mm.

Stuff I wouldn't recommend
I do like the Zombie Plague game and miniatures. I ordered the full set and all the survivors from the states several years ago. The miniatures made by Fortress look very good too and they are impressive in the flesh as it were. Sadly they are huge compared to everything else and are closer to 32mm than 28mm. Some of the GW stuff looks very nice but next to none heroic 28mm it is a little chunky not to mention the fact that it's a kit. The stuff from the Zombies!!! game is really small for 28mm and wouldn't be all that out of place in a 20mm game although their zombie dogs might be worth a look.

A New Month

Last month was a good month for the blog. I got just over 5000 hits which is a record. I am hoping that I can do the same but I am not sure that I'll have as much time this month. My life is famine and feast at the moment. That said, there is a lot of stuff on the cards that I might just enjoy. It was also a good month for me as a gamer. Despite weakening and ordering some stuff from Heresy, my lead pile has decreased. What is even better than that is that some of the lead has been sat around for a number of years. I managed to get some repaints and tart ups of figures I had already done. They are far from up to standard but I feel a lot better about letting them out on tabletop.

I have been frothing abut Copplestone since I started doing the zombies again and dug up a few that had been started and played about with them a bit more. The one the third form the right definitely needs his eyes redoing. These should be finished quite soon.

The basing bash went well. I hate basing but what I have done, although time consuming, was a lot easier than I was expecting. Whilst it was not the best basing I have ever done,  it was pretty good. It will do very nicely for tabletop and is robust enough to handle players and their grubby clumsy little fingers as long as they don't start juggling (you know who you are, Paddington Bear stare). I keep thinking that 15mm stuff is all but indestructible and too small to juggle with but I have had people try.

I got some freebies from Duncan for the Viking game. You have to love freebies and anything I can get hold off is always welcome. I now have another five figures which will make a great team of bad guys. Thanks Duncan.

I think the best thing about last  month was the rekindling of my love of zombies and post apocalypse. This is in part down to Andy's game and the return of The Walking Dead which I am really loving. It has been a real inspiration and has got me reading some old  Zombie rule sets again.

I have dragged out a lot of the old stuff and working on these at the moment. These are very work in progress at the moment. I seem to be using a lot of green last month. I like the mutants which seem a little Resident Evil to me which is something else I really love.

Once the Viking game is done, I suspect that I will be doing a bit more of this. That is assuming that X-Com does not get in the way. I suspect that a lot of what post apocalypse and X-Com are can be duplicated.

Whist the figures are small they have a lot of detail, maybe too much in this case. I have found that this makes them very easy to paint. Once the ink hits them, the Tengu figures soaks it up in all the right places making them a pleasure to paint. If you are anything like me, not interested in perfection but like a nice quality tabletop standard model, Tengu do some really nice stuff.

I have some zombies from Tengu and Hasslefree here. They are nice. I was a bit disappointed when I got them because they are a little on the small side but I justify that by saying that not all people are the same build. They are very nice though so can't be all bad.

What does March have in store? There will be some zombies but I can't help but think that the Viking game is only about ten weeks away.