My Post-Apoc Figures and Terrain (Last Zombie batch added 7/10/24)

[CapnJim]

That scatter terrain looks good, Mike.  Nicely done!

[Doug ex-em4]

So much good stuff and very nicely handled. I’d never heard of that stuff before, I must look out for it.

Excellent work!

Doug

[mikedemana]

Thanks, guys -- appreciate the kind words. There's so much of it in there...you could disappear down the rabbit hole painting it up and emerge a year later! So far, I have decided NOT to put scatter in the interiors of my buildings. I figure if I pick a building and do one, it will just show how the others are barren on the inside.

I don't know...do others put scatter on the inside of the building to represent desks, counters, racks, shelves, etc.?

Mike Demana

[Pattus Magnus]

I aspire to, but haven’t gotten that far on any of my 28mm skirmish game projects. Still too focused on putting together enough figures and terrain to cover basics.

[Kourtchatovium104]

I always try to put just one or two characteristic pieces of furniture inside buildings, often along the walls (we need space for gaming) but I don't have as many as yours. I also realised that few posters can be very atmospheric, even dragged on the floor... 

[mikedemana]

I like putting posters on walls -- especially for MDF buildings that otherwise might look a bit 2-dimensional. These are from a Sarissa Precision building that I modified to be a brewpub named in honor of my friend the craft brewer (where we usually do our gaming).

Mike Demana

[Pattus Magnus]

I like the idea of Kourtchatovium’s, of putting a few characteristic pieces in a room. That would signal what the room is, without having to do a full set each time. Pieces could also be moved out of the way for game play when figures need the space.

I have been toying with a similar idea, of making ‘drop in’ pieces - basically a few pieces of furniture on a theme on a base (ex, piano with bench and a vase on it) to go in rooms until the figures need to go there. In another thread someone did something like that done very effectively for sci-fi “tunnel crawl” gaming.

[mikedemana]

I was perusing the Forum and saw a post about a zombie apocalypse rules set called Zombie RV, by Grey Area Games. Released this March by David Bezio, it is a fast-play, tongue-in-cheek survivors vs. zombies miniatures game. The introduction and rules are only six pages, with four extra pages of scenarios. I was intrigued by the simple mechanics, and also by the fact it seemed something that would scale up easily for my larger Sunday evening gaming group. What's more, it also seemed something that you could easily add in character advancement and turn into an ongoing campaign.



Yes, I realize that is exactly what I am planning on doing with County Road Z! However, there are a LOT more rules in that book, and it is the campaign rules in County Road Z that attract me than the combat system. The actual combat system for both sets is very simple. So, while I wait on the actual hardcover rulebook to be shipped to me, what's the harm in trying a couple games with these rules?





One thing that both rules sets feature is survivors armed with melee weapons -- not just firearms. Nearly all of my post-apoc figures are armed with some type of gun. So, I figured it was time to dig into the unpainted lead pile and paint up some with just melee weapons. I have a number of these type from Battle Valor Games (which picked up many lines from the defunct Sgt. Major Miniatures). I dug through the packs and picked out five likely ones. I needed to add a weapon to one (who appeared to be just throwing a rock), so drilled out his hand and gave him an axe. An axe is a very thematic anti-zombie weapon, right?



Two of the figures had leather jackets, so I painted one black and the other brown leather for variety. These fiver are not meant to be a gang, as such. Instead, I painted them relatively generically so that they could be part of any player's group of survivors. I did decide to get a bit fancy with their clothes and gave them logos on their clothes. The leather jackets had biker gang logos on the back, while the others had Under Armor, Adidas, etc. The one in the red hoodie I couldn't resist giving a Woody Hayes style Ohio State University hat. It harkens back to the my Bucknuts survivor gang, one of my favorites that I've painted.



I also immediately put to use one of my most recent purchases -- the pack of 3-D printed bottles I picked up at Origins from Elrik's Hobbies. Most of the tiny bottles appear to be groupings of 3 or more, but there are some individual ones, too. I was able to snip them off easily and add one to each base after the flocking was done. I painted a couple of the bottles "beer bottle green," two others brown, and a final one a gray/white that I was hoping to get a clear bottle effect from. Not sure it worked out so well (look at the OSU survivor and judge for yourself). I like how the green ones turned out best.



At the same time I finished these five survivors, I also completed a 3-D printed van that I'd purchased from Diabolical Terrain at DayCon 2024. I spray painted it black, then added a 50/50 mix of acrylic black paint and water to get it into all of the crevices. Next, I painted the body of the van metallic blue. Of the handful of metallic craft paints that I have purchased, the dark blue is one of my favorites. There are a lot of metallic blue vehicles on the road, so it looks like it fits. The van is modeled with some dents and bangs (from running over zombies?), which I like. I did some rust effect where the metal would have bent and the paint may have come off. The windows are molded solid, so I painted them black and added in white and light blue cracks to show more damage.

I went back and forth whether to base the model like I have done for my other post-apocalyptic vehicles or not. I decided that vehicles that would be the survivors' "rides" would be un-based, while those that are wrecks would be based. This will allow us to move it wherever needed on the tabletop, whether on streets, sidewalks, or through fields, and have it not look out of place. I painted the bumpers a dark gray and the chrome Pewter. At the top of each window, I added in a two-tone blue "sky reflection" off the glass window. Maybe I need to go back in and add tiny diagonal white lines on the black part of the glass so it is obvious what effect I was modeling? What do you think?

[Kourtchatovium104]

Funnily, I focused on the bottles as soon as I saw yours minis, even before reading your comment about them. They add an interesting touch to your minis. They are all well painted, but I prefer the green and the white ones. And no, I don't drink much alcohol 

[CapnJim]

They look good, mike.  Well done!  And I think the bottles turned out nicely.

[Mr. White]

These new editions look great!
I'll be interested to read how you like these rules as compared to FFoL and XR for your Sunday crew.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Nice, the bottles add a unifying theme to the bases.
I have used Zinge Industries engineering bricks (https://ultravanillasmurf.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-walking-dead-all-out-war-even-more.html) and just started using Great Escape Games Dead Man's Hand scatter terrain bottles.

[mikedemana]

The final batch of zombies are finished, and now I'm getting ready to try out both "Zombie RV" rules and "County Road Z." These were designed by Kraken 3D Studios and printed by JS Wargamer Printing. They're a bit smaller than I was hoping, in keeping though with the other two batches of zombies I received.



The above picture shows all 10 that I painted up. I divided them into three categories. The big dudes with ball caps are meant to be "bloated" or "nasty zombies" -- depending on the game. I gave them a distinctive brick road basing pattern. That way, my players can tell them apart easily on the tabletop. They are the "infected" style from the series The Last of Us.



Here's a closeup of the big guys. I love how they have bib overalls that are sagging and falling off of them in some places. I also like the ball caps. I tried to do one as a "MAGA" one,  but the hat's surface and my skill with the micron pens meant that I didn't pull it off completely. I painted the overalls in different colors, hoping to differentiate them a bit. They are the same pose, though, which there isn't anything I can do about.



The back side of the nasty zombies. You can see the huge Cordyceps fungal projections sprouting from their skin. I went back and forth on what color to paint them. Internet searches weren't definitive, and neither were Google Image searches. So, I settled on a base Terra Cotta color with a dull yellow highlight. I think it turned out pretty good.



Next up are the "Runners." Many zombie games have a category of speedy zombies, and these running poses seemed perfect for it. Once again, I gave them a distinctive basing (a patterned styrene sheet which looks like cobblestone). The pose will help identify them, but I want to make it as easy as possible without affecting the look of the game. Aesthetics in a miniatures game are important to me. I hate just putting a colored bead next to things and saying, "these are the runners" -- or something like that. 



I like this pose -- it really looks like it is trucking along! What's more, I think Kraken did a nice job on the ripped and torn clothes. I heavily dry brushed over the base coat to make the clothes look faded, too. The dark black wash over them also makes everything about the zombies look grungy. Also, unlike most figures I paint, I did these with a spray prime of Krylon Acrylic Black. For the skin, I paint a light flesh tone -- one that would normally consider too pale. The black wash over it gives them a good gray, decaying look, I feel.



Last up are the four standard zombies. You can see their flocking is done in my usual asphalt look from using Woodland Scenics Blended Gray fine ballast. I do a dark wash over the ballast after it dries, and then a light gray drybrush to pick out the pattern. I add the usual bricks and debris, including the discarded 3D printed bottles onto the base. I really like these four poses of infected zombies. My favorites are probably the crouched female pose (which I did in bright green pants and purple top), and the guy on the right with the mass of painful Cordyceps projections. I also like the one on the left with the classic, arm forward zombie pose ("Brains...")  .



In these photos, you also get a nice look at the 3D printed land rover I painted up at the same time. It was one of the batch I bought at DayCon 2024 from Diabolical Terrain. These are great prints and paint up very easily. I have dirtied them up a bit with dents, rust, and cracked windows. That way, they look like they fit more in the apocalypse theme.  I used a metallic green, but got impatient waiting for a day I could clear coat them. I did it when we had what I thought was a break during a week of humidity. Obviously, it was still a little bit humid. You may be able to see a very light frosting on it, which actually worked out and looked like ash or dust had settled on the vehicle.

Anyway, I hope to play out a test of one of the zombie apocalypse rules sets soon, and will post a thread on here with my report. Thanks in advance for any comments!

Mike Demana

[Pattus Magnus]

They look great, in an infected, putrefying sort of way! I’ll keep this thread in mind for inspiration when I swing back into my post-apoc project.

[Basementboy]

They look fantastic!