Santa's little helper

Following the recent line of thinking I went in search of a 'lady of the night' to match my recent pimped up Santa. The whole thing started with  my discovery of this image.

But then I kinda went in a different direction, after I got the block colours in place.

Anyway I thought to myself that one of the female Toxic Walker models might be just be what is needed. The aim was to paint her up in a 'sexy santa' outfit. Great fun. I added a little white edging to the red and it did the trick. I moved away from the green skin tones that I had been using which would have been inappropriate for this theme.

So we now have the 1970's zombie pimp Santa with his very own 'lady of the night'. A lovely couple.

Its just mad how this fine hobby can travel in very unpredictable directions. They will make a really fun addition to the game though.

Zomtober - week 3

Last night saw a change of direction. I am putting it down to the wine and a joyous feeling. I was painting up my next 1970's VIP. I was still in 'pimp' mode and had been planning a red coat with zebra black and white trim. I had even contemplated a green stuff trilby and maybe even a cane. I was in good form and looking forward to the challenge.

Then......

Well then, I just seemed to 'turn left'.  My imagination got the better of me.  I started to feel a little christmasy, if that can be considered to be a word.

The next thing I knew I was adding a beard and moustache, white hair and saying 'ho, ho, ho'. with a big smile on my face. Another comic addition to the growing hoard. To be fair, I do love him.

I still have a fair few models to go. I have no Toxic Runners completed and I need some more Toxic Walkers and some ordinary Runners. With a week to go I am on track to have the full selection of painted models available for the next game of Zombicide.

The Survivors are ready to rock and roll.

And the Zombivors are looking suitably ghoulish.

Yes indeed - Zomtober 2015 has made a big difference. I just need to keep the pedal to the metal and complete another good week. Focus now, focus.

In the lead up to Christmas I might slow down and add a couple more Survivors to the crew.

I had pledged to the Black Plague Kickstarter. It all seems to have gone quite on that front but I am anticipating a lot more zombies in 2017! Has anyone else involved themselves with Black Plague?

John Travolta reborn

Last night I just couldn't wait to get stuck into my tribute to John Travolta. Oh Oh Oh Oh, staying alive..... well before he became a zombie, obviously. It had been playing on mind all day. White can be one of those colours that gets to me so I took my time and built up the layers slowly making sure not to swamp the model with paint and lose any of the definition.

It came together quite well.

I gave him a blue belt buckle and managed to get the belt painted and keep the white loops. This gives the model some central focus.

I could have given him a black shirt but I just thought that the white was better. I love the big old chain around his neck though.

The skin tomes benefited from my previous learning curve. He looks better in real life than in the picture. I will be humming Saturday Night Fever every time he takes to the board.

This was a really enjoyable painting exercise and a model that will bring me a touch of joy every time I play him.

Thanks for your suggestions concerning the third model. 'Pimpification' is the theme and having spent some time online looking at some of the images from the suggested movies I am left bewildered at what people passed off as fashion in the 70's. They were brave - I'll give them that. Still have my thinking cap on reviewing options.

1970's inspiration - can you help?

I am looking at the remaining figures in the VIP lineup and in need of inspiration. I have the hospital orderly and the 1970's black guy to go. Lets start in the 70's.

The 1970's was all about big collars and flared trousers and some mad colour schemes. A hangover from the flower power 60's I guess. I have three remaining models to paint for the 1970's black guy.

I was really unhappy with my first attempt. Neema went much better especially when it came to the skin tones. I need to get a good colour scheme combined with much better skin tones and a decent level of attention to detail.

Inspiration, 1970's, dancing, disco diva ..... It came to me.

Tony Manero - He has the suit, the waist coat, the big collar. All white baby, thats the way to go. If I can pull it off he will have genuine character.

With my thinking cap properly screwed on I got to thinking about any other 1970's characters that were iconic.

Well Huggy Bear from Starchy and Hutch would have to be up there and his dress sense was, well, unique. This man did like a coat.

So this leads to to the final model. Have you guys any thoughts? I would welcome your input.

VIP Doctors

I am enjoying the Very Infected People box set. I started by painting one of each type.

I am now going through the 'painting by model type' phase. It is actually quite interesting and you get to learn a lot about the model when you paint the same one several times. Always searching for ways to make the models seem different. Colour is the obvious way to do this but also the position of gore and blood trails can help. The aim is to draw the eye to different places.

Most recently I am working on the female doctor set. Her bedside manner leaves a little something to be desired. She does look hungry to me.

There is quite a lot of detail when you look closely at the model. I like the face and then there are things that don't stand out straight away, the mouth guard, the stethoscope, the bow at the back of the neck even a small name badge over the left boob. All these disappear when the undercoat goes on on and then present themselves when the model is subjected to some close scrutiny.

Again I have gone for different uniform colours to separate the models.

Zomtober - week 3

I have promised myself not to start another model until I have finished the bulk of those that I have started so with this in mind I set about the painting table. I started with the Survivors.

At this stage I have quite a crew including a somewhat unplanned Neema. We have Chef Ramsay, Wanda, Doug, Neema, Phil, Josh and Elsa. Everyone now has faces and I have tidied up a lot of the detail. Elsa remains my favourite model although Neema, Phil and Josh are also looking good too.

Next I worked on the Zombivors for the same characters.

They are much more dramatic in their poses and all have clearly been in a rumble as they are dishevelled with torn clothing etc. I went for white on red for the eyes and added plenty of gore. Josh has a particularly 'hunted' feel to him.

I still need to get more of the Zombies to the table so I pushed myself and finished off four of the Runners.

I think it is the scale that is bothering me with these guys. They are too big and don't really feel like they belong with the other models. But I need to have some in order to have the complete set of models available.

My favourite model at the moment is the Rocker model from the Very Infected People (VIP's). This is somewhat unexpected as I didn't like him at all when he came out of the box but he has grown on me.

I debated what to do with colour schemes here and in the end kept the 'block' colour effect on all of them i.e. coat and pants the same. I just varied the t-shirt. I don't know what it is that has grabbed me about this guy. It could be the pain in his face or the placement of the hands or the coat itself maybe even the odd angle of his left leg but it just works.

And so to food. The suggestions for the final two 'hot-dog' men were: -
1. That that just off the BarBQ look by adding griddle burn marks
2. Go for the Texas Wiener look that is chilli and onions

I had to look this up and can share the following image with you.

I must say that looks kind of good. I may just have to delve into a recipe book and give it a try.

My four hot dog men do all look different which I did not really think would happen at the start. I am really happy with them and they are definitely fun. I still have a little tidying up to do and can't wait to try them in a game.

I finished the weeks work with a Fatty. The Zombicide Fatty is a great model I have enjoyed painting each one.

For this guy I went with a pink vest. I have found that adding a little white paint to my pink really improves the colour. I gave him a pair of yellow marigolds just to be a bit silly and I am loving the final look.

What a week it has been and I am very pleased with the output.

Anyone for a 'Hot dog'? Name your poison.

You see this hobby of ours can take some unusual direction changes. This summer I really got into my BarBQ. Don't get me wrong I have always loved to BBQ but this summer we moved house and there is an artisan butcher called Marchants less than a mile from the house. Their food is to die for and I have been working my way through their counter with much helpful advice along the way.

Anyway as part of this journey I got into burgers in a huge way. All kinds of burgers with all kinds of toppings and sauces. Different type of buns. I have even moved into mini burgers so that people can have more than one or two. I have progressed and made my own burgers trying different combinations of herbs etc.

I have really enjoyed the ride.

What I have noticed is that we just don't get 'hotdogs' in the UK. When I was a student I spent some time in New York working as a doorman. It was great fun and about as different from my West of Ireland upbringing as you can get. I explored American culture and tried every kind of food and needless to say the Hotdog was high on that list.

The reason for all this rambling is that the Very Infected People box set have four 'hot dog men' that need painting up. I have completed the first. A light coloured bun with a simple stripe of mustard for this guy.

This lead me to some research to see what other options I might have for colour schemes. I entered the world of unlimited hot dog options.

My painting tray is like these basic dogs just waiting on the 'treatment'. What wonders await?

Well for my second attempt I thought I would go for a seeded bun and then a mustard and ketchup zigzag with an undercoat of green stuff (maybe lettuce, maybe spring onion - who knows)

This leaves me with two to go. I have them based with the basic colours ready for some filling. 

Anyone got any thoughts on what way I should go? I would love your input.

Very Infected People (VIP's)

I had a look at the rules for playing the VIP's and at first I just didn't get it. There were loads of cards in the box in lots of different languages and it was a bit beyond me to figure out, or was that red wine? Who is to know.

Anyway I had a second read last evening (minus the red wine) and it all became clear. First off I split out the English cards. We were down to a manageable pile. These cards spawn VIP models. They are to be mixed into the normal spawning deck.

Random VIP models spawn. The idea is to kill different model types. As the models are killed the Survivor retains the model instead of returning it to the zombie discard pile. Five models, one of each type, can be exchanged for a top level weapon. There are 5 different types of VIP and 4 of each type making 20 in total. You just know they are all going to 'need' painting. I like the idea. Its like big game hunting.

There are 3 new weapons available.

These are combined with the top level weapons from the various rules sets to form a 'pimpmobile deck'. For example the original game has Ma's Shotgun and the Evil Twins. The Survivor may choose a weapon from this deck when handing in 5 VIP models.

Overall I think this is a rather cool addition to the game and I look forward to giving it a try.

Very Infected People

Last night saw some progress on the first batch of Very Infected People. I have box set number 1. I started with a single model of each type and they are good fun to paint. Very different characters.

In the box we have have a 1970'ies black guy, some kind of rocker dude, a hospital Orderly, a female surgeon doctor and of course hotdog man.

They are coming along nicely. I have kept them to the original paint spec (not the Toxic Green Zombies). We are not playing their special rules as yet so I be treating them as normal walkers. They add a nice bit of variety to the growing hoard.

I gave 'hot dog man' a big yellow mustard stripe.  I might try to zig, zag it on the next one.

There are five models of each type so it is going to be interesting to see how different I can get them looking.

This has been my first attempt at painting black skin and I am chalking it up as a fail! Well at least a learning event. I have learned how not to paint it. The trouble is you get one or two attempts on a model before it becomes swamped with paint. I have decided to try again but on a new model.

The plan this time will be to put in a base dark brown colour and then take that up through a series of highlights before knocking it all back with washes. This worked really well for painting black generally. In fact I am getting quite confident with it at this stage.

Zomtober 2015

Inspired by the blogging community I have joined the fun that is Zomtober 2015. This is my first ever community painting excursion and I am feeling excited and enthused. Its a great idea!

The rules

The Zomtober rules are simple. To take part you just need to paint one Zombie or Survivor (or more!) each week, in any scale you like, posting it to your blog by the Sunday (we use Sunday's as the end of each Zomtober week). So that means one or more minis each week on or before the 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th of October 2015.

For more information visit for full details.

For week 1 I had been working on the two Elsa's and the Abomination. 

So by Sunday morning (The end of week 1) my painting table looked like this.

The two Elsa's and the Abomination have been decently painted.

The original Survivors have a basic paint job but need much more in the way of detail, faces, eyes, highlights etc.

The Toxic City Mall Survivors and Zombivors have been base coated and one or two have had a first coat, block colour trial.

Chef Ramsay has had a very quick bit of painting but also lacks detail, face, eyes etc.

I also have the joy of playing with the Very Infected People (VIP's) box set. There are five basic types and a few of them look really cool including - Hot Dog Man. I love him to bits. Will he be a Chilli Dog, or maybe Mustard Man? I am tickled pink by the possibilities. They are about to be base coated.

Other than that I have the two boxes of Zombies, the original box set 13 of which seen some paint with one of the Fatties having a decent paint job, lots of detail picked out etc and then the Toxic City Mall zombies, none of which have seen any paint.

My plan is to achieve a couple of things: -

1. Get some of the Survivors and their Zombivors properly painted. I have targeted Phil, Wanda and Chef Ramsay for starters

2. Increase the number of Zombies available by getting stuck into some of the VIP's

3. Finally, if I get around to it, increase the number of painted Runners available