It's Been Quiet For A Few Days

It's been quiet, at least on the blog front. I've had some paperwork to do which I been putting off. This has caused me a bit of an impasse. So I have very little. I have kind of been working on a RAFM zombie. I think I have spent longer getting the wood on the base to make it look right, which sadly it still doesn't. Hopefully next week will be a bit better.

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.

Got A Little Distracted

I spent most of the day yesterday working on zombies. A bit of a labour of love but still not finished. I have taken some pics which will get posted in the next few days. I was browsing at the pics I have taken already and I found a few I hadn't posted. I was working on Traveller stuff a while back and didn't get round to posting these.

I love this old stuff. It was the old GW traveller minis that first got me thinking about 15mm gaming. When Rafm got the rights to make them I was made up. I probably have more figures in vac suits than I need (about 30) but I am sure that they will get used. I will have to work them into a scenario. 

Back to the zombies.....

RAFM Dracos Warriors

RAFM kind of made my day when they re-released these figures. The originals were going for a small fortune on eBay at the time. Having done the Car Leonis (Aslan) and the Warhounds of Sirius (Vargr) I thought it was about time I completed the third of the Traveller alien races, the Droyne. They are produced by RAFM in two packs. Most are in Dracos Warriors pack and there are a few in the Support Staff pack.

The base coat is dark angel green which was highlight with a variety of greens to give a little bit of variation.

I just need to get another Traveller game going again.

War Hounds of Sirius - Not Vargr

Another reverential tip of the hat to Traveller. The old Citadel Vargr minis are now the War Hounds of Sirius from RAFM.

There are ten in the Warhounds pack a few more in the Support Staff from pack. At $5.95 for ten figure in the main pack and another two from the Support Staff pack they are not badly priced with eight different poses. Just about enough for the crew of a Vargr Corsair.

War Hounds of Sirius out of the blister

The set, short of basing is now just about finished. These to my mind are the nicest of the Traveller aliens and in some of the most animated poses of all of the range.

Work in progress

I picked a fairly neutral colour palette (for the most part). The fur I wanted keep to the same as regular dogs. Having chosen very bright colours for the Car Leonis and striking colours for the Dracos Warriors, I picked a earth tones and white, greys and black. There are a few brighter colours for contrast. I looked at the few colour pictures from my Traveller days for my inspiration for this.

first six Warhounds of Sirius

another six Warhounds of Sirius

For speed I used the fur colour as the base coat. This was later picked out in the paint job by using a mix of washes and highlighting.

RAFM Car Leoinis figures

The first RPG to really catch my attention was Traveller. It's was ground breaking at the time. It's still the only game that I can think of that you can die in character creation. It is one of those games that has gotten by (by and large) over the years. I had aquired a few over the years but not enough to form the basis of what I wanted.

When I first got the 15mm buzz it was the memories of figures that were produced by a certain games company that may or may not have originated in Nottingham that first got my interest.

I went to eBay to try and fins some. When I had picked my jaw up off the floor I worked out that were often going for about £3 a figure, I put that idea out of my mind. Then RAFM got the moulds.

Then I got a boat load of them as a present from Swimbo. The first to get the treatment were the Car Leonis Warriors and some figures from the Support Staff pack all of which used to be the Aslan.

The impression I had from the few colour pictures was that they wore bright colours. They also seem to have the look of something like a cheetah with a lion's mane. I gave them a very bright colour palette for the clothing and a series of browns that gave a big cat feel.

Car Leonis make great RPG figures. They come in a nice variety of poses with a range of equipment. Felids from Khurasan make a nice substitute. If you were looking at putting together an Aslan mercenary company the Felids which look like they are combat armour or battledress might make a better bet. Whilst these would make a better bet for Tomorrow’s War they lack real RPG character.