I'VE BEEN BUSY!

What's occurrin'!

My posting this year has been a little slack to say the least. Hopefully that's going to change from now on. I'm feeling much better now and I'm finally starting to get my shit together at last. I haven't been idle these last couple of weeks either but more on that in a bit. Even played my first game of ATZ! Will wonders never cease?

Before we move on, let's not forget my cultural mission. You know by now I'm trying to bring a little culture to the world of zombies. This mainly involves trying to find different zombie artists and showing some of their work on my humble little blog. Hopefully enriching us all in the process. So this time I want to show you all another wonderful piece by Savagezombie (a.k.a. Chris Bolton). This one is called Fear the Dead. Enjoy!

FEAR THE DEAD!

OK, so after my last post, I decided to re-think the board. After reading your comments and re-reading the rule book I cut some 12 inch squares from stuff I'd been hoarding, namely draw bottoms and the back of bookcases from cheap MDF furniture. It isn't even wood, more like compressed card. Perfect for my use.

I then covered the squares using the two game mats I mentioned last post. This is when I hit my first snag. Even with patching I only had enough for seven boards. Arse! Not enough for the nine boards, making up the three foot square smallest playing area. What to do? Sheldon again came to my rescue. When he kindly donated the urban game mats, he'd also thrown in a railway grass mat that he really didn't like. So I covered three boards with it. Problem solved.

OVERVIEW OF THE NEW BOARD.

I also made up several road sections from card, this was then covered in true Blue Peter style. Yes, sticky backed plastic! I'd picked up some with a chalk board finish, very cheaply, from a local discount store. Just for this purpose. As you can see from the above picture, I still need to paint on some road markings. But it is heading in the right direction.

You've seen all the buildings before, so nothing new on that front. Finally able to lay out a "proper" playing area, I took the opportunity to play my first game. I don't think I made too many mistakes and everything ran pretty smoothly. A few more run throughs and I think I'll be ready to spring it on the WNI. Although playing solo was great fun too. I might need a little longer to be able to post batreps but I'm getting there.

OUR INTREPID BAND OF HEROES LEAVE THE STORE EMPTY HANDED.

The wooded areas, some old 40K scenery I made almost ten years ago, were dragged out of my storage cupboard. The lesson here being never throw anything out.

I then threw a few toy cars on for the photo's, I still haven't glued together my card vehicles yet. To be honest I haven't even dirtied up the toy ones, like I was going to do. Yet another job on the to do list.

A VIEW UP THE STREET.

So pretty pleased with the progress so far, even though there are lots of things to finish.

MY FIRST GANG!  REDNECKS HOLDING OUT IN THE OLD WAREHOUSE.

My first gang made an appearance in my first game. I went with rednecks as opposed to a more urban crew, the figures I had kind of lead me in that direction. I quite like the idea of the local good ole boys tooling up and teaming up to survive.

ZOMBIES LURCHING OUT OF THE WOODS.

You'll recognise the fences too, coffee stirrers and lolly (popsicle) sticks. They are actually finished, just about the only thing that is.

MORE ZOMBIES HEADING TOWARDS ALL THE GUNFIRE.

ZOMBIES AT THE FENCE LINE.

I've also been working on some scatter terrain. The cargo containers are free of course and came from the Combat Storm website. Are cargo containers even scatter terrain?

The "interesting" weathered look of them was the result of a happy accident. I used spray mount to stick the printouts to card. I don't think I shook the can long enough and as a result the solvent stained the printout. Saves me weathering them I suppose.

MORE CARGO CONTAINERS. SCATTER TERRAIN?

I broke out the sculpting putty for the first time in many years, and had a go at creating some rubbish bags. Amazingly, they look almost passable. Well they are rubbish! Should look even better when painted.

POORLY SCULPTED RUBBISH (TRASH) BAGS.

Well, I guess that's all I got for this time dudes and dudettes. So until next time, try and be more like the DUDE and "take her easy".

DE(AD)CEMBER WEEK # 2

What's occurrin' then.

Wow man, this year has flown by!  Eleven days until Crimbo, it feels like five minutes ago I was telling you all what pressies I got last year. Well the zombie painting has continued again this week. It was a lot harder resisting the call of the wasteland this week too, but now my son has finished for Xmas I doubt I'll get a look in until the new year.

Our cultural mission also continues with another excellent example of Savage Zombie's work. He's done quite a few zombie Santas, luckily for me. So the festive theme continues. This wonderful piece is called Xmas Card 2006. Enjoy!

XMAS CARD 2006.

So even though the call of the wasteland was strong this week, this post is late. I managed to get a few zombies painted. Five of the little blighters! Left to right are a season one walker, season two walker, season three VIP, seaon two Berserker walker and a seaon two Berserker fatty.

FIVE MORE SHAMBLERS FOR THE HORDE.

Introductions are in order, again from L to R. First  under the spotlight is Beinon, a rather infamous scrap dealer before reanimating as a shambling flesh eater. Next up is Huw, an unemployed actor. Bit of a career change then! Following him is another former law enforcement agent, Officer Dalton was on the frontline the day of THE EVENT. My undead police will soon outnumber my rather small sherriff's department. Moving along we have my first Berserker, Anir was a inmate at the state pen, I think the bright orange overalls kind of give that away. Lug came from the same prison.

YOU KNOW THE JOKE NOW. FROM THE BACK.

The first present I've given myself is, to re-read my '68 graphic novels. Should get me in the festive spirit, lovely! Come to think of it a rewatch of some zombie movies will be my second. Now we're talking!

I guess that's all I got for this time dudes and dudettes, so until next time try your best to follow the path of THE DUDE. And "take it easy".

DE(AD)CEMBER WEEK # 1

What's occurrin'!

The winter of the undead continues here at the bunker. Like an out of control unstoppable undead juggernaut my zombie painting crashes into it's third month straight. I'm going to call it De(ad)cember for a bit of a giggle, it's quite surprising what you'll do to keep motivated during the long dark nights.

A new artist to continue the cultural mission this time. I'd like to introduce you to the work of Chris Bolton. Know as Savage Zombie on Deviant Art. Chris hails from Australia. Our first antipodean I believe! Just goes to show what a truly global phenomenon zombie art is. This excellent piece is called Treat Yourself This Xmas. Enjoy!

TREAT YOUR SELF THIS XMAS.

The welcome wagon needs to be dragged out of the storage shed again. I'd like you all to put your hands together and give a big BZA welcome to my latest follower Ptr. WELCOME PTR! Ptr runs the Hugg Och Slag blog, go check it out, it's really good. He likes conversions and scratchbuilding, nice!

Righty oh then! On with the show. Not as much painting as I would have liked due to the lure of Fallout 4, it's a truly massive game with so much to do. I'm up to level 31 now, don't know how many there are altogether. Inspite of the pull of the post apocalypse, I have managed to paint five zombies. A season 2 walker, three season 3 VIP's and a season 1 walker.

On to the introductions, left to right as usual. Up first this time is former gangbanger Hedd. Next up is Seaman Apprentice Aneiren Cole, caught on shore leave no doubt. Another gangbanger next, Osian or Os to his crew mates. Following along is Rhion, a construction working family man. Finally we have Wmffre a phoneshop salesman.

FIVE MORE SHUFFLE IN TO JOIN THE HORDE.

The WNI are still meeting regularly, giving me something else to look forward too every week. It really helps keep the motivation to paint going, chatting about the latest hobby releases, almost normal compared to some of the other weird and bizarre conversations we have.

FROM THE REAR! (INSERT OWN JOKE HERE).

I don't know about you lot but I'm already suffering TWD withdrawl!

I guess that's all I got for this time dudes and dudettes. So until next time you all try and follow in the DUDE'S footsteps and "take it easy".

ZEDVEMBER WEEK # 4

What's occurrin' then?

Zedvember shuffles to a close this week. So once again painting zombies has been the order of the day, here at the bunker! It has made a little dent in my plastic mountain, but only a little one. Still many more in need of paint. Does the winter of the dead need expanding? Maybe! There's a rumour of De(ad)cember, but I'm not sure yet as I really have to get some scenery finished. I haven't put the roof on my shed yet! Remember the shed from back in the summer? Maybe Shedcember would be a better idea?

It's with a touch of sadness that we say goodbye to stayinwonderland, as this is the final piece of his that I'm going to be sharing. Another fantastic piece of work, it's entitled The Fog People. Don't know if they are zombies but they certainly look like them to me, I don't think I'd be hanging around to find out! Enjoy!

All four of the walkers are Season 3 VIP's and the abomination is the normal one from Season 2. I say normal, I mean he's not a berserker, there's nothing normal about the abominations.

Introductions are in order so let's get on with them. From left to right as usual. Kicking us off this time is Derfel, not sure whether he's dressed as Neo or Rob Zombie. Next up is Glanmor, doing a very passable James Brown impression. Moving along, our Princess Leia cos-player is the lovely Alwena. Maelor is quite literally the human hotdog. Finally, the big fella is known as Tudur.

FANCY DRESS ZOMBIES?

So inspite of the call of Fallout 4, I managed to push the productivity back up to five figures. I'm still playing Fallout, reached level 25 too. I'll call that a win! Remember, small steps and all that.

TAKEN FROM BEHIND! OOH ERR MRS!

Let's finish with a group shot of everything painted this month. Eighteen more zombies for the horde. Not too shabby and the whole point of this personal whimsy that is Zedvember.

THE WHOLE GANG'S HERE.

Well I guess that's all I got for this time dudes and dudettes. So until next time be a little more like the DUDE and "take it easy".

ZEDVEMBER WEEK # 3

What's Occurrin'.

Still ploughing on with the zeds. Although I have been drawn away from the painting table by the lure of a new computer game. More on that later! So production has taken a backward step. What can I say! Easily distracted, um definitely.

Keeping up with the mission, the cultural one? Another great work from stayinwonderland. His penultimate piece unfortunately. Entitled Zombie Amusement Park. I've have enjoyed his small selection of zombie images, he does a lot more than zombies if you care to check it out. All of the same exceptional high standard.

ZOMBIE AMUSEMENT PARK.

Production down, back to four zombies. Never mind, it's still four more off the plastic hill. Season 1 walker, Season 3 VIP, Season 3 VIP and a Season 2 walker.

FOUR MORE SHAMBLE IN TO JOIN THE HORDE.

From left to right. Firstly is Luc, another vest and shoes zombie, shot as well as having lost an arm. Secondly another officer of the law Deputy Hughes, obviously injured on duty. Next up is short order cook Tomos, looks as if he ended up on the menu! Groan!! Finally for this time another guy in a suit, without a tie. Maybe a software designer, called Bran.

AND AGAIN, TAKEN FROM BEHIND.

I said I'd been lured away from the paints by a new computer game. Lost quite a few hours to it this week too. My son bought Fallout 4. Oh my word, lost in a post apocalyptic reality, check! Get to shoot big guns, check! Familiar but with enough new twists and tasks to keep it epic, check! You get the idea, check! Feckin' Brilliant!!

Well I guess that's all I got for this time dudes and dudettes. So until next time follow in the path of the DUDE and "take it easy".

ZEDVEMBER WEEK # 2

What's occurrin' then?

Painting zombies once again has been this weeks task here at the bunker. Hey, it's not called Bob's Zombie Apocalypse for nothing. As  Zedvember draws to it's mid point the zombie count increases steadily, which is exactly the point of this bit of tomfoolery. Well, for me it is! The things we do for a little motivation.

The cultural mission also continues! More art from the extremely talented chap stayinwonderland. This fine piece of work is entitled Infected - Zombie RPG artwork # 1. He's a great artist but his titles need a little work. Enjoy!

INFECTED # 1.

Managed to crank out five of the little motherlovers this week, a small step back to my initial levels of production. A very small step! Someone far wiser than me once said something about every journey starting with but a single step. I'll take this as a win, the very reason this whole Zedvember thing started.

Looking back over Zombtober's posts, it suddenly dawned on me! I had been so focused on getting zombies painted, I'd completely forgotten to name them! D'oh, what a twunt! I'll be rectifing that this post.

So without further ado, (little drumroll)  on with the show. All of these zombies came in the various seasons of Zombicide. The other thing they have in common is that they are all missing at least part of one arm. My first clumsy step into converting these excellent sculpts.

From left to right, as was usual before the break. First up this time is a Season 2 walker, a besuited gent by the name of  Gwydion. He was in local government middle management when things turn bad. Next is another Season 2 walker, you've just gotta respect his hair game. The Mohawked Merfyn! An estate kid and local gang member, probably out on the streets when the first attacks started. Moving along we have a Season3 VIP. Very Infected Person. A doctor, very obviously a front line casualty when the dead started reanimating. She's called Doctor Sioned Jones. Fourth in line we have yet another Season 2 walker. Rhydian was an inmate of the state until quite late into the outbreak. Finally for this time is a Season 1 walker. Iestyn must be a pikey! I've never seen anyone else wear a vest with shoes. Not having a permanent home was not a way to survive, it seems.

DON'T WORRY THEY'RE 'ARMLESS REALLY!

Some of the conversions were more successful than others. Pretty pleased overall, besides they'll get lost in the horde.

Well it seems that even with the incentive of Zedvember, I couldn 't bring this in on time. It's my first Zedvember, what can I say. Slacker! Anyway back to the NFL. Arizona v's Seattle!

AND TAKEN FROM BEHIND!?!

Short and sweet this time! Before I go, I want to extend some best wishes to fellow blogger and honourary Dude, Vampifan. He's had to go offline to visit hospital. Take her easy Bryan! We'll still be here when you get back.

I guess that's it, for this time dudes and dudettes. So until next time, try and follow in the DUDE'S footsteps and "Take it easy".

ZEDVEMBER WEEK #1

What's occurrin' then?

An idea that has been percolating for a couple of weeks and a chance remark in a comment I left on Chris Hird's blog. That's Chris's Miniature Woes. Has kind of become the start of something. There seems to be a few events running this month, such as Movember and Dinovember. Well I had such fun in last months Zombtober and I still have lots of zombies to paint, so the idea of continuing this into the next month really appealled. Chris Hird was saying that he had zombies to finish and wanted to extend Zombtober into Zomvember. I said it was a great idea but Zedvember sounded better. A week later, here's my first Zedvember post. Chris already posted his first Zedvember post last Thursday.

To make things nice and simple let's make the guidelines, I prefer to call them guidelines who needs rules man, the same as Zombtober. So that's one completed zombie or survivor a week, posted by the Sunday. To be honest I'm going to paint these zombies anyway, I just thought it was a nice way to keep the momentum going.

Let us not forget the cultural mission. Another great piece from the very talented stayinwonderland. This one is called Zurvival League - Zombie Survival Game Art #1. Another unwieldly title. Enjoy!

ZURVIVAL LEAGUE.

Managed to paint another four zombies this week. All from Zombicide. The crawler sculpts are the final ones from Rue Morgue, I've shown all the different sculpts from that now. The walker is from season one, I was given another load of season one zombies last week. Along with a whole bunch of Berserker zombies and VIPs plus a couple more seekers. These came to me via Sheldon from Paul Kennedy, one of the stalwarts of Crow Valley Crusaders, my local gaming club. Cheers Paul! You may have noticed that I converted him. The Santa is another VIP in a different colour scheme.

MORE ZOMBIES SHUFFLE AND DRAG THEMSELVES TOWARD THE HORDE.

In the surprise package last week was around about 100 zombies including a whole tray's worth of season one, virtually a whole tray of berserkers plus a few season two regular zombies and another shedload of VIPs from both boxes of Very Infected Persons #1 and #2. Looks like the horde is going to be bigger than I thought it would get!

ANYONE FOR A LITTLE BLOOD?

I'm still really enjoying this season's The Walking Dead and hope everyone else is too.

Well I guess that's all I got for this time dudes and dudettes. So until next time try and do as the DUDE and "take her easy".

HORDE #5 BREAKING 200!

What's occurrin' then?

Zombtober felt a little short this year, with almost a full week left of the month after the final Sunday deadline. Although I've still been painting zombies and survivors, I thought that this was a prime opportunity to catch up with a horde progress report. I hope other participants also take full advantage of this "bonus" time.

The welcome wagon needs to be dragged out of the storage shed. It's been given a wash, oiling and has balloons and streamers added! Why? Well it's a special occasion, my 50th follower! So, as is usual, let's have a big BZA welcome for my latest follower Bullcher Feb. WELCOME BULLCHER! He runs the Waaagghhh! blog, go check it out, it's really good. Buckle up Bullcher this journey is going to take awhile yet!

Amongst all the excitement and stuff, we can't forget the cultural mission. You know the one by now! So with out further ado, I present another great piece by stayinwonderland. Again more of a landscape or panorama, I must say I'm enjoying the change. This picture is entitled Infected zombie RPG artwork #2. Enjoy!

INFECTED #2

My fifth horde update, yes it has been quite a while since the last one. That's down to me making and painting other things to try and get this game off and running. I think it's going to be a little while yet, I appreciate your patience.

I'd completely lost count of how many zombies I'd painted for this project. Well as the title says, I've broken the two hudred barrier. Two hundred and two to be exact. It's great to say that Zombtober helped immensely getting my over that milestone!

Anyway enough gabble, on with the pictures!

THE HORDE IN ALL IT'S GLORY. LOL.

So after taking the group shot, my official photographer then took a few close ups of different parts of the horde.

SOMEWHERE ON THE RIGHT.

Yes, that's an old Heroquest mummy. He was at a Fancy Dress Party on zed day!

SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE.

Below is a selection of crawlers, don't know how many I'll need but there's loads in Rue Morgue.

SOMEWHERE ALONG THE FRONT.

Although there's a lot of repeat sculpts, I hope for now that my different colour schemes are enough to provide diversity. My conversion skills are not the best so for now they will have to do.

SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE AGAIN.

So that's my close to Zombtober, the end of the month at least. It actually feels like I'm getting somewhere. I've so much more left to paint! Half the TCM Toxic zombies, all the Prison Outbreak zombies, Rue Morgue zombies, loads more VIP zombies and  over half the stuff that came as part of the Infected kickstarter box. That's not including the survivors and zombivors! Let's just say, I'll be painting zombies for a fair bit yet.

Wow man! Is TWD ramping it up or what, best season yet!?!

Well, I guess that's all I got for this time dudes and dudettes. So until next time, try taking a leaf out of the DUDE'S book and "take it easy".

ZOMBTOBER 2015 WEEK #4.

What's occurrin' then?

Still ticking over steadily this week, this years Zombtober has felt quite manageable compared to last year when everything felt rushed and last minute. It's also really helped my get back to painting and keep me on track the last few weeks. Also discovered some new bloggers and their blogs, which I find the bonus side effect of the event. Gotta spread the infection, right? I think what I'm trying to say is that I enjoyed the whole experience much more than last year. Congratulations to everybody who took part and a big thanks to those who dropped by and made this year's event fun to be a part of.

Pressing on with the cultural mission, it is my pleasure to bring a new artist to your attention. He's a digital artist called Andy Walsh but he uses the name stayinwonderland, so that's what I'll be calling him. A different style too, more landscape than portraits of zombies. All beautifully rendered too, as they say, a change is as good as a rest. This fine example is called Zombie Alley. Enjoy!

ZOMBIE ALLEY.

So, we come to the last of this year's Zombtober offerings. More V.I.P.s from the infected box that came with my season 3 Zombicide kickstarter. I'm pretty sure a couple of these were kickstarter exclusives too!

So we have, I assume a cosplayer dressed as Princess Leia in her slave girl outfit. Next, what would the zombie apocalypse be without an undead Santa Claus. Finally an iconic punk rocker to round out this week's selection.

MORE V.I.P.'S

We used the V.I.P.'s for only the second time last Wednesday, I must admit to liking the mechanic. You have to collect five different V.I.P. walkers, just keep them on your survivor's card when you kill them. When you have five, you can trade them in for one of the cards from a deck of special weapons. Your supposed to include all of the "pimp" weapons you have into this deck too.

I'M STILL PAINTING THE BACK OF THEM.

There's some really cool weaponry in this deck, a golden AK-47, a Thompson sub machine gun and a pink M4 to name just a few. Plus you get to use all your "pimp" weapons even if there's no pimpmobile on the game board.

To finish off Zombtober I wanted to paint something a bit special, so this is the second Skinner Abomination that came as part of the kickstarter deal. Like one's not enough, right!

ALTERNATE SKINNER SCULPT! HE'S A BADASS.

This guy is a nightmare to play against! Not only have the rules for him changed, (he has no toughness stat anymore), meaning only Molotov's, the flamethrower and Will's Comet Launcher will kill him. He's also able to drag survivors into his square from all adjacent squares at the end of the zombie phase. Like I said nightmare! I guess that's why he's got really long arms, all the better to drag you in with!

AGAIN, I'VE PAINTED THE BACK OF HIM!

A group shot of everything I've painted this Zombtober, not amazing numbers but I'm happy enough, plus it's done the job and got me back painting regularly. Now that's a result in my book!

CLEETUS LOOKS LIKE HE'S IN TROUBLE!

I must ask how is everybody enjoying the new season of TWD? I'm loving it!

Well, I guess that's all I got for this time dudes and dudettes. So until next time, be more like the DUDE and "take it easy".