Zomtober Part 5 - the Big Reveal

Well here we are, the end of October, and with it the fifth and final week of this year’s Zomtober.

This means that, first of all, I need to post a zombie or survivor for the week. Here we go:

Muuuuuuuurrrrrr...andatory

It’s another zombie, one that I’ll admit I rushed, but it’s good to get a model off the enormous pile of unpainted models I own. The photo hasn’t come out very well for some reason, but he’s lost all the skin from his face, which is a nice gory detail for a zombie.

Anyway, with that out of the way I can move on to the main event, my somewhat over-hyped secret project. It turns out that it’s this:

Home sweet home

 A post-apocalyptic outpost, made from a toy caravan!

 I’d been planning to do something with the toy caravan for a while, and the idea hit me that might it would make a nice post-apoc terrain piece. I’ve tried to be fairly agnostic about what type of apocalypse this fits into, so hopefully I could use this for Terminator as well as zombie games.

Ideal for the young professional wanting to start out on their own and avoid being dragged off by cannibals.

So, some details. The inspiration for this is kind of a combination of a location in Fallout: New Vegas (a ranger station made of caravans) and the image of Andrea standing guard on top of Dale’s RV in the Walking Dead.

 My thinking is that this is someone’s hideout. They’ve wheeled it into position amongst some jersey barriers for some extra protection, and welded on whatever bits of junk they can find to block the windows and make things a bit less exposed.

Rusty corrugated iron always adds a touch of class

On the roof, there’s a sniper nest - a chair, a table (which I’m particularly pleased with - it’s a warhammer goblin shield with some legs made from offcuts of MDF and looks a lot like rattan garden furniture) and a bucket (from an old model train kit I’ve had for decades) for... sanitary purposes. There’s also a mattress in case things get bad enough that the roof is a better option than sleeping inside.

Great facilities for al fresco dining

The roof is accessed by a fencing section propped up as a ladder, and protected with barbed wire, which was a bugger to paint.

Overall I’m pleased with the result here, and I might be tempted to add a few more bits to it in the future. I think it’s versatile enough that it might make it to the table more than once, too.

All that said, I think it can sensibly only count as one model for accounting purposes, so doesn’t have a massive impact on my totals...

Painted: 161
Acquired: 160

Woo hoo! I’m back to a positive score! Admittedly I could have painted one model on the first of January to get to the same point, but still!

Zomtober goes 4th

I've had a bit of a trickier time of it this week. I've not had a much time with the paintbrushes as I'd have liked, so I had to quickly knock out a survivor so I could keep up with the rules. Here he is then...

I've got a gun! And I'm not really sure how to use it!

I'm not particularly thrilled with this model, to be honest. The pose came out kind of weird, for one thing (this is the only angle to photo it from that doesn't look odd) and I was rushing it so the it's not the best paint job I've ever done. 

Still, it meets the rules, and it's good enough for the tabletop, so that'll do!

Next, I've now established a tradition of showing infuriatingly uninformative pictures of my work-in-progress secret project, so here's one for this week.

It's the aesthetic appeal that really draws readers to this blog.

If you can't work out what I'm doing by now, I don't really think I can help you.

Right then, I've painted another model, so the counter ticks inexorably on...

Painted: 159
Acquired: 160

Oooh, but it's tense.

Zomtober part 3

Zomtober's third Sunday is upon us! Let's see what I've come up with this time.

First of all, I needed to follow the rules and get a zombie or survivor painted. I decided to go with a zombie this time, and found this one lying around...

Mmmnnnurrrgh.

I think this is a Studio Miniatures one. I'm fairly sure Kieron gave me a sprue of these, some years ago. I decided to try and give this one a "hospital" look. I think really it should have short sleeves for infection control reasons, but I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that this doesn't have much effect on zombie plague either way.

Second, for reasons even I don't fully understand, I painted a portaloo (port-a-potty for the Atlantically challenged).

No reason to think you won't still get
caught short after the zombie apocalypse.

This is one of a set of two that I got from Fenris Games at some point in the distant past. It's a nice enough little piece of sight-blocking terrain, and it fits zombies as well as anything else, so there you go.

Finally, it's time for another frustratingly inconclusive glimpse of my overhyped secret project:

I feel like the Mastermind theme should be playing.

If that doesn't key you in to exactly what's going on, then frankly, nothing will.

Right then, what's that done to the scores? Let's find out...

Painted: 158
Acquired: 160

Almost back at "no impact whatsoever", so that's going well!

Zomtober Week 2

We’ve reached the second Sunday in October. If you don’t believe me, go and check a calendar. I’ll wait. 

As you’re still reading, I’ll assume you’re in agreement vis-a-vis the date (although wait until you realise how many weeks there are until
Christmas, that’s going to blow your mind) and therefore will be happy for me to present my work for the second week of Zomtober. 

Here it is!

Wave your crowbar in the air like you just don't care

That’s right, I’ve just done a single survivor again, and I’m trying to hide that fact with unnecessarily verbose blog posting. 

He’s another plastic Wargames Factory fella. I dithered around what colour to do the jumpsuit, but in the end figured that a prisoner was more use than a mechanic for future games. He also doesn’t have a gun, which tends to be unusual with these models, so he’d fit nicely with the rioters I bought at great expense over six years ago and have yet to paint. 

So, I’ve met the rules of Zomtober for another week, and knocked another model off the to-do pile, both of which are good things. However, my real aim for Zomtober is to complete a secret project! That’s moving fairly nicely, so here’s a bit of a teaser - what could this be all about?

Concrete proof of something or other

One last thing then - my painting total for the year. With another survivor done, that can tick along ever so slightly...

Painted: 156
Acquired: 160

I’m now painfully close to having made no dent whatsoever. So that’s... good, maybe?

Anyway, stick around for next week, who knows what might happen?

Zomtober kicks off

October is here, and that means it's time for Zomtober to start!

As ever, the rules are simple - post about a newly painted zombie or survivor every Sunday throughout October. 

So, my first Zomtober post this year is also simple. A single survivor...

This is one of the Wargames Factory apocalypse survivors, that I've had assembled for a long time but never painted. He was a very easy paint job, which was nice as otherwise I think I'd have fallen at the first hurdle and failed to make the first post...

Conveniently, getting another model painted also nudges my painting totals for the year in the right direction, so here's where they stand at the moment...

Painted: 155
Acquired: 160

Zomtober 2014 - Calling car 6

Just time to sneak in a final post for this year's Zomtober! I've stuck with the survivors once more - and in fact I've stuck with the police too, this time with a couple of patrolmen and their squad car. 

The car in question is a Hummer - having been called to a "disturbance", the cops arrived to find mutilated corpses attacking people and wisely beat a retreat. The big, chunky, military-style car finally made sense, and they were able to make good their escape. 

The car is in fact a poundland "army force" model with a new paint job, and a set of lights courtesy of Kieron. The freehand on the lettering could use some tidying, so I might do that before I move onto something else. 

The cops themselves are more Wargames Factory plastic survivors, with one dark ages arm and a piece of spare baton used to give one of them a torch. 

The plastic survivors are a bit limited in their poses, but still hoping to get more variety out of them before I'm done.

So there you go, a quick post, but I'm pretty pleased with the results I've got here. When I get chance, I think a Zomtober round up post is in order. 

Not sure what comes next - it was going to be napoleonics but I don't think I'm in the mood for that now. Watch this space to see what I come up with! 

Zomtober 2014 - This ain't no riot...

The third week of Zomtober comes to an end, and once more I've added to my heap of survivors, this time with a squad of riot cops.

As the outbreak started, the authorities were slow to realise what was actually happening, and many early reports were confused or misunderstood. 

For these unlucky officers, this led to their being deployed to deal with a "civil disturbance" - quite a euphemism for "the dead have risen and are eating people!"

The rest of the police contingent was wiped out - these four had been tasked with guarding a side street and managed to get away when they saw what was happening. Now they use their riot gear to good effect, as armour, helmets, shields and batons can be very effective against zombies when you know what you're doing!

These models are from Offensive Miniatures. I've had them for over three years, so it's good to finally get some of them painted (although I do have a lot more and a project in mind for them that I'd like to finally get to).

I actually used one of my mountain reduction challenge jokers to add some more mounted police to this bunch at Derby Worlds recently, so assuming I actually get to them, watch this space for more riot police in future!

Zomtober 2014 - Lieutenant Ba

Week two of Zomtober is drawing to a close, so here I am again with another painted survivor. 

This is Lieutenant Ba. You might notice he's a member of the Chinese PLA. 

Ba was part of the guard at the embassy at the beginning of the outbreak. As the building was overrun, he used all the ammo for his QBZ-95, but wasn't able to save anyone else and was the only one to make it out alive. 

Now reduced to just his handgun, and unable to speak English, Ba is on the lookout for two things - a safe place to stay and some more bullets!

This is another of my Empress PLA models. I suppose he's a bit of a stretch for Zomtober, but he was just sat there on my paint station, so what was I to do? More survivors to come next week, I hope....

Zomtober 2014 - Suzie

The first week of Zomtober draws to a close, and so I present my first painted survivor!

This is Suzie. 

She's toting a shotgun, and as her ex-boyfriend was an extra on the remake of Red Dawn, she's wearing the Chinese camo shirt he have her. Also boots. 

This is one of the Wargames Factory plastic survivors. Not the most detailed models, and the poses are a bit limited, but still like them and have plenty more to  go at. 

Next week - something else!