THE PLACEBO EFFECT CONTINUES. FOUR MORE SURVIVORS.

What's occurrin' then?

Well, it's been half-term here in the principality and Dad's been in charge of entertainment. After fun days out, where my daughter seems to spend all of my money, we've settled down most nights to play Zombicide. I find because it's a co-operative game, it brings you all together to act as a team, rather than a competetive game which usually ends in sulking, tears or both. Who would have thought that the zombie apocalypse could bring the family closer together.

Let's kick off by attempting to bring a little culture to the world of zombies, with another fine piece of zombie art. This is another great example of Bryan Baugh's amazing work and is called Zombie Slumber Party. Enjoy!

ZOMBIE SLUMBER PARTY.

Well it looks like the placebo effect has lasted at least one more week. I've managed another four survivors, even though it's been half-term. Long may it last, the placebo effect not half-term.

As I type, I'm still waiting on my Zombicide Toxic/Prison paint set by Army Painter. (I'm not impressed Amazon, they were ordered Tuesday night) I liked the core set so much I ordered the next one, to expand my stock of squeezy bottle paints and give me a bigger colour range. Although these have been developed with Toxic City Mall (TCM) and Prison Outbreak (PO) in mind they will work nicely on other figures, be they zombies or survivors, just as well.

At the same time as I ordered the paint set, I also ordered a trade paperback of a zombie comic called '68. It's set the year that Night of the Living Dead came out and runs with the premise that it was a real event. So various places and events through history are affected by the zombie uprising such as the Vietnam War. It sounds like a great idea, unfortunately despite saying it had a 2 to 3 day delivery time, this hasn't turned up either.

Anyway, enough moaning from me, let's get on with the show and tell. Four survivors again this time, looks like I'm on a roll.

LET'S SEE IF THESE GUYS CAN SURVIVE LONGER THAN THE REST.

OK, so the first guy is another Studio plastic zombie torso and legs with WGF arms and head. I gave this dude's guns a little special treatment. In Zombicide there is an equipment/weapon card with a pair of gold plated automatic pistols, these are called the "Evil Twins". This guy's got them. Second dude in line is my final fat guy. If my sculpting was any better he would not be wearing flip-flops, but he does have a grenade launcher. Next fella is another unfortunate desk jockey, again this pose is difficult to change without some major surgery. I just gave him a single handed melee weapon to look different to the others. Final victim, I mean survivor, is another suit with a pistol. These are handy to use as detectives or government agents and others of that ilk.

FATTY'S ARSE IS OUT AGAIN. CAREFUL, I RESEMBLE THAT REMARK!

What I am quite pleased with is my gap filling on the fat guys shoulders, I know you wouldn't have noticed, if I hadn't said anything but to get him to hold that grenade launcher with two hands was a real pain in the arse. Still, it's done now.

I'm almost at the end of my survivors, there's some cops to come and a few zombies made out of the last sprue, but I think I've only got another two or three survivor types left. Time to get me some of them women.

Well that's all I got for now dudes and dudettes. So until next time, you try and do what the DUDE does, and "take it easy".

FOUR MORE SURVIVORS.

What's occurrin' then?
Now the NFL season is over you'd think I would have more time to paint. Wrong! The Six Nations Championship has started. You see rugby is a bit of a religion in Wales. When I was a nipper nearly every school only played rugby, no football only rugby. It's also our working class sport as opposed to football. So when you grow up with it like that you think it's the most normal thing in the world. It's almost too hard to believe that things are any different in other parts of the country or the world. Now last week we suffered again the embarrassment of losing to the old enemy, England, at home no less. It's hard to express the shame and dejection the nation feels at these times, that's why I didn't mention it. Anyway the games continue this weekend, we are away to Scotland, and another 48 hours is lost worshipping the oval ball, Bacchus and Dionysus.

To get us back on track, we shall continue in our efforts to enhance the cultural aspect of zombies by introducing more zombie art. Once again we have another piece by the amazing and strangely talented Bryan Baugh. This one is called Just Eatin' Some Brains. Enjoy.

JUST EATIN' SOME BRAINS

These new brushes seem to have increased my output this week. I've managed to finish four survivors, the most I've done in some time. Let's hope it's not just a flash in the pan! I have to admit to being mightily impressed by the Zombicide Core Paint Set. Even at the full retail price of £20, for ten bottles, that's still 50p a bottle cheaper than GW. If that's not enough these bottles have 18ml of paint where as the GW pots only have 12ml, you do the maths. I think I'll be picking up the Toxic/Prison set in the next few weeks.

So, on with the show and tell. As I said earlier I managed four survivors this week, three of them are armed with melee weapons for those up close and personal moments.

The dude on the extreme left is another kitbash using a Studio plastic zombie torso and legs, (Thanks once again Bryan.) with WGF survivor arms and head. The next guy along has been converted by cutting the long coat off at the waist, turning it in to a biker jacket, with no sleeves to make him extra tough looking. Another guy in overalls next, really hard to change the pose of this one, so I gave him a different weapon and a well known soft drink (probably worth fighting over after a hard day's slaying). The last dude is another ganger making good in the chaos.

CHOP,CHOP,CHOP.

I'm pretty sure my new kit (brushes and paints) improved my performance this week, even if they didn't, it felt like they did. I believe that's called the placebo effect. So here's hoping the effect continues for the next few weeks, at least.

THE BACKS ARE STILL GETTING A LICK OF PAINT.

In other news, I caught a film that had snuck under my radar. The Last Days On Mars. I thought it was a straight sci-fi movie, to be honest I hadn't really heard anything about it! It's fairly low budget, but doesn't feel like it. There's nothing terribly original here but it is well done.

So basically the plot is, one of the scientists finds an unknown microbe in a rock. This stuff turns people into zombies (Yeah, zombies in space). The rest of the movie is a race for the crew to get off the planet without dying or becoming infected. It was pretty cool, I enjoyed it and think that anyone with an interest in zombies should check it out.

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

A BRUSH CRISIS AND A COUPLE MORE SURVIVORS.

What's occurrin' then?
What a week, what a week. The New England Patriots won the Superbowl against nearly all predictions. I've had my first major crisis of the year, more on that in a bit. Amongst all these distractions I've still managed to paint a couple more survivors.

We'll kick off with what has become a regular feature, the introduction of some zombie art. This beautiful piece is another by the very talented Bryan Baugh and is called Nara and Hazy vs Zombies. It's a tribute to the "Dead @ 17" comic series by Josh Howard. (Was published by Viper Comics, now being published by Image Comics. Yes, the same guys who publish "The Walking Dead".).

NARA AND HAZY VS ZOMBIES.

A crisis at the bunker! Oh yes, as usual though it's all my own fault. I haven't bought any brushes in a while, (read in a while as several years) so the ones I was using had been worn away to virtually nothing. Like a typical man, I ignored the problem hoping it would go away. It didn't. Anyway after struggling along for months on end, wondering why my productivity was steadily decreasing, matters came to a head this week. I finally cracked, threw said brushes against the wall and stopped painting.

It'll be fine, I thought, I just need a few days not painting. Cue several days of clipping and gluing, whilst I assembled more of my plastic survivors. I even dug out my Green Stuff, only for gap filling mind you, my sculpting's worse than my painting and my painting isn't great. Anyway, after I finished several survivors and zombies, it was time to pick up the brushes again. Looking at them with fresh eyes, I could tell they had been pushed beyond the call of duty.

I THINK THESE GUYS HAVE HAD IT.

Time to bite the bullet, I had to buy new ones. Being somewhat miserly, if not downright tight, I really didn't want to go and pay GW's ridiculous prices even though I have a shop not five minutes walk away. Instead I turned to the magic of the interweb, with the help of my daughter of course, 10 minutes later brushes and paints were ordered and en route to the bunker.

Three days later, said items landed. Fine service indeed. What had I ordered you ask, well it's also been quite a while since I bought any paint (don't worry, not as long as the brush thing but some of them seem to be quite solid, no matter how much water I add or how fast I stir) so I treated myself to the "Zombicide Core Paint Set" by Army Painter. They come in fancy squeezy bottles, so they don't dry up. There was even a free brush in the set, BONUS. Oh and a set of fine detail brushes, eight brushes for £7.95, less than a pound a brush. BARGAIN.

SMELL THE NEWNESS.

I guess all that was a round about way of saying, seeing that my brushes didn't arrive until Friday, I've only managed to finish two survivors this weekend.

So without further ado, here they are. The rather dishevelled looking office worker on the left is made from a Studio zombie torso and legs, with Wargames Factory head and arms. While the redneck on the right is all Wargames Factory.

TWO MORE FOR THE GRINDER.

The dude on the left is the first of several such conversions, a good way to make an already good value box set stretch even further. I hope to show more of them next post.

It's my first time trying out paint in a squeezy dropper bottle and I must confess to rather liking them, not much wastage and your paint doesn't dry up as your using it. I think I shall be buying more like this.

ANNOYINGLY OUT OF FOCUS.

As a result of said crisis, things have turned out all new and improved. I like all this stuff I'm finding out, see it only takes me a few years to catch up.

Anyhow, I guess that's all I've got for this time dudes and dudettes. So until the next time, just remember to walk the path of the DUDE, and "take it easy".

YET MORE SURVIVORS.

What's occurrin' then?
Wow, another week flies by on time's arrow. Where the hell did January go?
Anyhow I managed to complete another few survivors.

Let's start with what has become customary, another great piece of zombie art. Once again this is by the very talented Bryan Baugh. This one is called Swamp Rot.

SWAMP ROT.

I'm having a little trouble with my blogger dashboard, it won't let me scroll up and down the screen. I can't even get to the view more button. Being such a techno-troll (the kind that lives under a bridge, not the kind that leaves abusive comments. Although some of you might not agree with that statement) I don't know how to fix it. So I'd like to take this oppurtunity to apologise for missing any of my regular blog visits lately. You know who you are!

Righty oh then, let's get on with the show and tell. As I mentioned earlier, I've finished a few more survivors. Once again these are from Wargames Factory Apocalypse Survivors : The Men.

We actually ventured out of the bunker today, to take these photo's in some natural light. I don't think it was quite the success I was hoping it would be. They seem a little dark, no pun intended.

THREE MORE SURVIVORS, TRYING TO STAY A STEP AHEAD OF THE ZOMBIES.

The dude in the suit kind of reminds me of a younger, clean shaven Roger Murtaugh. You know, Danny Glover's character from the Lethal Weapon movies. The fat guy has an arm from a Studio plastic zombie. Really not sure how suitable flip flops are as zom-poc footwear though.

I didn't want my crossbow dude to be another not-Daryl clone, so using the appropriate head and a suitable paint scheme, he isn't. I also tried to make a strap for his quiver, it's not lying quite right around the neck and shoulder area but it was superglued on so I couldn't change it. Never mind, better luck next time.

THE FAT GUY SHOULD BE IN PRISON FOR DEALING THAT MUCH CRACK.
LOOKS LIKE HE FORGOT TO WIPE TOO.

Right that's enough shite out of me, I've got a Superbowl to watch. So until next time, dudes and dudettes, do the right thing by following the DUDE'S example and "take it easy".