Zomtober 2014 Week Four Recap

This is the final Sunday for Zomtober, it has been a fun month!  I feel I have been pretty productive, I fell far short of my goal, but I did get quite a few zombies painted.  Technically we have until Friday, if I manage to finish any zombies by then, I will get another post up.  I am looking forward to actually getting back to continuing my ATZ campaign, with holidays coming up it will be a bit hit or miss.

This week's recap:

I finished my Season 1 figs, and finished one group of season 2.  As a bonus I did a quick repaint/rebase of a HorrorClix Executed Convict (#054, base set).  On with the show:

More Zombies!

White looks better in person

Anyone remember Fantasy Island?

White was one of the colors I chose for a group.  I know white is a tough color to utilize, but I figured the zombie wash would help, and make it easier.  I was kind of right, the white in the pictures looks much more bright than it does in person.  I know it's probably from the flash, but I don't have good light so - meh.

The season 2 figs were a fun change from the season 1, and a welcome relief!  I will continue painting them, not at the speed I was doing them for Zomtober, but I hope to get them done by 2015.  I'll throw some pics up as I finish them.  To be honest, I am looking forward to playing rather than painting in the near future - I just didn't have time for both this month!

I combined all the zombies from Zomtober for a few group shots.  Not a bad looking horde if I may say so myself!

Zomtober Horde

 

 

I have really enjoyed Zomtober, it was a great excuse to get some painting done.  Now to get these all used in some games!

All together now!

Mark needs more than a bat!

So the final tally this week is 32 Zombicide figs (24 from season 1, 8 from season 2) and 1 Horrorclix, for a total of 33 zombies painted.  My Zomtober total is 95 zombies painted.  I still have a ton of figs left to paint, but at least this made a dent in the unpainted figs pile in my house!

Thanks for everyone's encouragement this month!  It has been awesome to see what everyone has done this past month.  The zombies and survivors have been awesome to see, and the creativity of some people is unbelievable!

Zomtober 2014 Week Three Recap

So far, October has been a pretty good month!  Lots of people have some amazing zombies and survivors to see on their blogs.  As an added bonus, The Walking Dead has started up again.  Always great inspiration for the zombie apocalypse!

This week, I completed a few more Zombicide miniatures, and have the remainder of season 1 primed and ready as well as blocked in for color.  I hope to have the first season completed by the end of Zomtober, and some of season 2 completed as well.  We'll see!

This week's tally:  I finished a few groups of Zombicide figs, the remaining zombies from the Season 1 box are primed or have their block colors started.  If I can match this weeks production, I should have all my season one zombies completed by next Sunday.  As a bonus, I repainted a pair of HorrorClix, Sorority Zombie (#044 base set).

Group Shot!

Blue, Pink and Green

No sign of the living...

Hate to go sown that street...

This weeks total is 26 zombies finished.  That brings my Zomtober total to 62 zombies painted.  I have 24 left from Season 1 of Zombicide.  With some luck I can at least get some of Season 2 started, maybe even complete before Halloween.

Zomtober 2014 Week Two Recap

Week two comes to an end!  I am loving seeing everyone's zombie themed painting.  So many great ideas to steal!  This week's recap is as follows:

I had a bit of a disaster, my pot of zombie wash got spilled in my work area, and I had to clean up that mess, and remake my wash.  Not that it was that big of a deal, but it slowed me down this week.  I did manage to finish some of the zombicide miniatures.

Two batches:

Batch "blue" WIP

"Yellow" WIP

I did complete the yellow and blue groups, I did a basic wash and then drybrushed the flesh areas.  I also picked out a few details that needed to be cleaned up.  Overall I am pleased with the results, I am looking forward to finishing season 1 and moving to season 2 to see some different poses.

Yellow and Blue lined up

The horde grows!

Close up shot

These are going pretty quick, I just need to get some extra time and I think I can get Season 1 one complete and Season 2 started before the end of Zomtober!  It may be a zombie Christmas, but they should all get done...

Current WIP shot:

Next up, Green and primed

The tally for this week:  16 Zombicide minis complete.  That brings the total this month to 36 zombies, still a mountain to go.

Zomtober 2014 Week One Recap

This is the first Sunday in Zomtober, time for my first update.  I have made fair progress, I won't get everything done from my pile, but I hope to make a dent this month.

So far completed:

IT BEGINS!

Survivor Mark meets the new horde...

WIP of the LNOE zombies

All 20 remaining Last Night On Earth zombies.  I had to redo two "test subjects" from September, and I finished off the third test figure (but I didn't include him in the count - he was 75% or more done already!)  They are not great, but they are tabletop ready.  I did block colors and a brown/black wash over the entire figure.  I went back with some dry brushing of the flesh, hair and some areas of clothing. 

To keep the figures usable for LNOE, I have done three different bases, one with green grass, one with a sand/brown finish and one with a plain concrete, but with blood splatters.  These will correspond to the green/brown/red groups for that game.  (The underside of the bases are not painted, so I could always look at that...)

Continuing work:

Zombicide Season 1 figs WIP

Zombicide Season 1 figs.  I have one group primed, a second group with some block colors done.  I am picking a single color to make the 'primary' color for each group.  The first color I selected is yellow, not that it won't be used again, but this should give an idea for what I have in mind for the remaining figs.

To summarize:  20 zombies completed.  About a billion to go.  (Okay more like 120 or so...)

Zomtober is coming...

I'm not sure who created the banner, but I selfishly stole it from Brummie's Wargaming Blog.

I am looking forward to participating in Zomtober this year, hopefully it will help me get something painted!  My understanding is that it is open to zombies and survivors - I am going to concentrate on zombies.  I have plenty to work on - Wargames Factory zombies and zombie vixens, my copy of Zombicide (seasons 1&2) and Last Night on Earth.  That should be more than enough fodder for the paint table.

Gathering the horde for painting

I took a 3 of the LNOE zombies for test subjects.  I am trying different washes, and wanted to try and decide what to use for the horde.

Test Subject #3

I still need to work out the consistency, but overall I am pleased with the results.  Keep in mind in the picture all I did was block color a few parts and did a wash to see how well it 'stuck'.


Now, hopefully I will get some time to work on them...

Vacation Recap

This is off topic of the zombie apocalypse, but I wanted to share a few pictures of my family's trip out west this summer.  This doesn't have much to do with the miniatures side of the blog, but I did see a few interesting sights that may be inspiring for scenery... 

In August, we traveled to Denver, Colorado to start our trip, and from there crossed Wyoming to Rapid City, South Dakota.  From there we traveled back across South Dakota and Minnesota to return home to Wisconsin.  We spent nearly a week on the trip (which was just under 3000 miles total distance) and saw some neat places.

Crossing Iowa, we did encounter a military convoy (the first of several on the trip) which can be a pain to deal with, or interesting to see military equipment in use.  At a random rest area in the middle of the state there was an interesting display of a blade from a wind mill/electrical generator.  This would be a bizarre landmark after the apocalypse...

Convoy!

Random rest area in Iowa, with a blade from a wind turbine

Side view of the bottom of the blade

Outside of Denver, I took a few pics from Lookout Mountain (is it a warning?) while a shower moved through.  Its a small mountain, but it feels like you can see forever...

Looking West/Northwest

Golden, Colorado - East of the mountain.

Those plateaus would make a good place to hold up from the zombie apocalypse...

 We went up Pikes Peak on the train, which is roughly a 3 hour round trip.  Pretty nice ride, you can hike or drive to the top as well as the train.  When we got the top, it was clouded over, so not as cool of a view as I had hoped...

Moving up the mountain

Just above the tree line, not quite to the top

Not the peak, but it looked cool

The old train station on the peak

Panorama of the only break in the cloud cover.  (Is that a bunker?)

 After our adventure in Colorado, we crossed Wyoming to South Dakota.  Along the way we stopped at a portion of the Oregon trail, where wagon ruts can still be seen. 

Wagon ruts along the Oregon Trail

Wyoming, near the Oregon Trail

Driving across Wyoming I had a moment where I thought I had crossed into the Sea of Grass of the Dothraki from Game of Thrones.  If you have never traveled the great plains, vast hardly describes it.  The fact that people crossed this in wagons and horses is amazing.

This seems to never end..

This went on for hundreds of miles.

We made our way to Devil's Tower that afternoon...

It looks fake!

 From there we crossed South Dakota, stopping at Wall Drug (a tourist trap, full of kitsch and western memorabilia, but a fun place to stop) and the Badlands.  The Badlands is definitely sci-fi or fantasy terrain.  Very cool if you get the chance to wander around.

Some sort of mutant land mount...

Is it planet K?

Desolate hardly describes it

Wouldn't want to get lost here

  Just outside the park, near a gas station/convenience store I found this (unfortunately closed for the day!):

Apparently I found a WMD site...

If it had been open...

 Crossing Minnesota I did have a brief encounter with a giant.  Turned out to be pretty friendly, even if he wasn't wearing pants...

Archeologists will have a field day some day...

An HO scale layout of the Green Giant processing plant.  Would have been a fun game board...

The rest of the trip was uneventful, and I didn't get any interesting pictures after Blue Earth.  I had hoped for pictures of the Mississippi crossing to use as a reference for my river crossing scenario, but traffic had a different plan.  In the end I settled for crossing and being glad to make it home.

Now to prepare for Zomtober!