Zombtober 2014 - Week 1

Okay, so apparently I missed one of the rules of Zombtober...

You know, that rule about posting updates on a Sunday? Yeah, I missed that part, so I claim ignorane, which is bliss in this instance as I've simply been working away oblivious and enjoying every minute of it, and anyway, rules are there to be broken right?

So far I've re-based both of the Zombicide miniatures on 25mm round bases and added some milliput detailing and everything is now undercoated and ready to paint (George was already undercoated and painting had already begun).

It'll be nice to get back to painting on a white undercoat. I switched to white when I started painting my Studio Miniatures zombies for my All Things Zombies games, it was clear the miniatures on thier website were not painted on a black base-coat. However, recently, due to the darker base colours I've used with the majority of my Dust Tactics miniatures, I've steered clear of white in many instances and to be honest, I've missed it.

Time to get some paint on these guys!

My First Survivors

One of the many things that appealed to me with this project is that fact that I did not have to paint many, many, many, many, and did I say many, miniatures of the exact same pose to be able to play. Sure, there’s that horde of zombies, and who doesn’t aspire to amassing a fully painted horde the size of Vampifan’s? But from a survivor point of view, I knew that I could simply paint up just enough to get started and add to them whenever I felt like it.

I was instantly drawn to Hasslefree Minatures Survivors range. With dynamic poses, an assortment of armaments, a cheeky nod to movie tie-ins and a good mix of male and female characters it seemed difficult to go wrong, so I initially opted to order just four miniatures with different weapons to get the ball rolling.

My survivors of choice were Eve (My other half yelled ‘Oooh, get Lara’), Ray (Shaun), Suzi (You can see her knickers, why wouldn’t you?) and Ken (Kenneth from the 2004 DOTD remake anyone?)

The purchase went smoothly and hand-written note and the sweet made me smile, which was nice; it is good to know the personal touch is not lost, thank you Hasslefree.

I wanted to try a different basing technique and having seen the Tengu Models advice I decided to give milliput a try for the first time and attempt a paving slabs effect. Thank you also to Jim for the pointers. I was pleased with the results however I think I will add a little extra ‘detritus’ and mix elements of milliput, gravel and other scattered randomness to future bases as the project progresses.

Milliput 'flagstone' bases

I think the painting turned out ok however, although the models are playable they are not quite finished, requiring a little more highlighting before they finally get a coat of matt varnish.

Hasslefree Adventurers, almost finished. L-R: Eve, Ray, Ken and Suzi