Why Zombies?

Some friends have asked, 'Why zombies?'  OK, not in so many words, but that was kind of their meaning.  I've seen some of the classic zombie films like Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead and enjoyed them, so it wasn't like I was getting into something I wouldn't enjoy.  To be honest, I'm not sure I've been bitten by the 'bug' either.  I sort of fell into zombie gaming.  I had a little free time on weekends and wanted to do some gaming, but I haven't been able to hook up with gamers here in town because of schedules and timing.  I wanted something simple, different, that I could game solo, and that I didn't need a zillion minis for since I didn't have time to paint that much.  I've been in school for the last 15 months 3000 miles from home, and my friends, family and minis are still back in PA and IL while I'm here in CA. 

I was actually looking at sci fi skirmish gaming with GZG figures and while poking around on the internet for rules, I checked out Chain Reaction 3.0, the free rules on Two Hour Wargames' website.  I liked the mechanisms in it and the fact that it could be played solo, and shortly after that someone on The Miniatures Page just happened to offer ATZ1 for sale at half price.  I jumped at it, reasoning that since I liked the game system and I knew you could play with just a handful of minis in addition to a bunch of zombies.  While researching figures for ATZ, I ended up at the Rebel Minis website and I haven't been the same since!  They have almost everything I needed.  In fact, one more order and I'll have everything I need for zombie gaming and more, since the figures have a lot of modern crossover potential like hostage situations, police reaction to bank robberies, active shooters, riots, etc..  Unfortunately, that last order will have to wait as I now need to get the terrain for the zombie games. 

In the meantime, I'll keep painting what I have.  For example, here's part of my Bioterror Reaction Team:

They are a government paramilitary organization that is so secret no one knows anything about them.  They follow their mandate to the 'T', but I can't divulge what it encompasses.  However, I can say that it does not include hunting down and killing zombies.  They leave that to the police, military and civilians to accomplish.  Congress keeps funding them because they each figure someone else knows who they are and what they do, and the name sounds pretty darn impressive when embedded in funding legislation.  "Why, I voted to continue funding the Bioterror Reaction Team," Congressman McTwit recently stated while defending his position to his constituents.  See - it does sound good, doesn't it?  We do know that the team only answers to one person.  Who that is, though, no one knows either.

And then there's the team of intrepid journalists in army surplus flak vests to keep them safe from all sorts of potential hazards: 

Everyone needs journalists to get the story, get in the way, be rescued or get munched by zombies.  My own opinion is that most journalists should be munched by zombies, but I'm sure somewhere along the way, my zombie hunters will end up rescuing this bunch.  The journalists are from QRF Models LTD. 

And here's my last two zombie hunters:

I particularly like the way the camo pants on the girl on the left turned out.  So there you have it.  Until next time.

SWAT Team and the Zombie Hunters Up Close and Personal

The SWAT team was actually the first set of Rebel Minis that I painted - they paint up fast since they're just black with a grey drybrush, flesh with a brown wash and hair in various shades with a highlight.  (I'm still working on getting the photography down as you can see.)

Some friends wanted to see close-ups of the zombie hunters so I reshot them with the macro setting.  I haven't named all of them, but some of them bear a resemblance to, or in other ways remind me of, real people.  So let me introduce you to my zombie hunters:

Tina, Jessy and Ahmed

The first one is Tina.  Tina is a sheriff's deputy in Louisiana with a military background.  I know she knows how to take care of herself and her friends.  Next we have Jessy.  Jessy is a great friend, former spec ops and a professional body builder who's been in Mr. Universe competitions.  He is also a martial artist extraordinaire.  Visiting the school I trained at, he accidentally broke my collar bone (yes, really).  He felt really bad about that, but was ecstatic when I was in his town on business and called him up to train with him.  Next we have Ahmed.  He resembles one of my teachers, who is from the Sudan.  So he had to be Ahmed.  Two notable quotes: "So this is '50 Cents' [sic].  I wondered who this '50 Cents' [sic] person was.  You call this music?" and "What do they export from Yemen?  Terrorists."   You have to imagine these being said with the appropriate accent. 

Bob, Rich and Emily

This is Bob.  Bob was an excellent ASL player, but he disappeared a long time ago and no one has seen or heard from him since, at least that I know of.  He used to have trouble traveling to Canada because one time when he flew up there he forgot he had a bag of weed in his pocket.  And they found it.  Then we have Rich.  Rich is also former spec ops who basically made military schools a way of life.  He was the most overtrained, overqualified person I've ever known in the civilian or military world.  Finally, we have Emily.  I dated Emily for a while years ago.  The real Emily wasn't as interesting or exciting as this Emily is.  Just made me think of her for some reason.

Hillbilly rednecks or street punks?

In some ways I want to call these three Billy Joe, Bobby Joe and Joe Joe.  Or Jim Bob, Joe Bob and Bob Bob (to distinguish him from Bob, of course).  But somehow I just don't see them as the hillbilly, redneck or backwoods types.  They seem more like just plain old street punks to me.  I also suspect that in action they'd be more like Moe, Larry and Curly if allowed to operate together.  Or maybe Huey, Dewey and Louie.

Meet the rest of the girls.

The girls are some of my favorites, but I don't have names for them.  I guess I'll have to work on that.  The first one might be Maggie.  Not sure.  I'll have to think about that.  I think the second from the left was supposed to be a native American guy with the loincloth, but I figured I'd just paint the figure up like a girl and I'd have a female with a shotgun.

My zombie racing stable for Dead Heat.

These are my favorite zombies.  They turned out just the way I wanted them.  If I only had one more, I could run a complete game of Dead Heat, the zombie racing game from Two Hour Wargames.  I'll have to pick one of the others just to fill in.

I hope to have the scenery I need to do my first zombie game in a couple of weeks, but timing will be tight as I will be moving in the middle of September so it may get put off for a few days.  I'd also like to use the Comic Life software to build my AARs.  I like the way they look and feel of them for this type of gaming.  So there's another few days purchasing and figuring out the package.

Before I forget, if any readers have a dedicated zombie blog, they'd like me to add to my blog list, drop me a comment. 

Zombie Hunters and Zombies

After working on them for months, I've finally finished my 15mm Rebel Minis zombie hunters and zombies.  Don't know when I'm going to get my first game in yet, though, as I don't have any scenery here!  Perhaps in a month or two.  In the meantime, I will be painting up various figures so check back occasionally to see what's up.  I can only promise that posts will be irregular, but that I will keep posting.

Most of my intrepid zombie hunters. 

Some zombies for them to hunt!

And more zombies!

I apologize for the poor photography.  I didn't realize that my camera had a macro until I was almost done taking the zombie pics.  I'll do better in the future.