Easy Entrails - A 'How To'-Article Using Play-Doh (Clay-Do)

Hello all,
I've had some fun with two of the last walker zombies from the first season of Zombicide.
For some reason there were none of the archetypical 'crawler' type zombies. To remedy this, I chopped the legs of two walkers and, hey presto, crawlers!

But, what I wanted to share was an easy way to produce great looking entrails that I discovered in the process. Now, you could use green stuff or something similar, but that is expensive and takes time.

Me, I've got kids playing with clay-do all the time and this always leaves tons of the stuff on the floor afterwards. If you shape this into the shape you need, and apply some super glue to its surface, it will dry as rock hard, or harder, than green stuff.

Here is the stuff before paint and blood:

 And once the glue has dried, by an application of paint and blood it will look very much like entrails. Very easy, cheap, and fun :-).
More pictures of the walkers/crawlers:

Anyways, thanks for reading - if you found the post interesting then any comments or tips (commercial clicks :-)) are greatly appreciated!

Until the next time; stay safe and prepare to slaughter Zombies!

All the best,

Kasper

Painting a zombie in twelve minutes - an easy 'how to paint 28mm minis quickly' guide

Hello all,

So, everyone who has bought the Zombicide game will have discovered that a) there is a ton of zombies in the game (even more so if you were part of the Kickstarter and got double the minis), and b) that the game is alot more fun with painted zombies to slaughter.

This means that you will have to paint roughly a million zombies and this can be quite a daunting task.

In order to alleviate some of the distress this might cuase you, I've put together this post to illustrate how you can paint a zombie in just over ten minutes each, while still getting fairly good results, at least adequate for a  boardgame - I originally posted this on my other blog (Zombicide.blogspot.com), but seeing as this site is a bit stale at the moment I figured you guys might be interested in this post as well.

There are five steps and the object is to paint fast, cleaning up mistakes later, and painting some areas while others dry. I normally paint in batches of 3-5 zombies which will even further speed up the process but I figured if I did so I might forget to snap pictures of each stage.The trick is to paint continously and the more minis in a batch the easier this is - but painting five, seven or even ten at a time can really break your spirit so start with two or three at first.

In the following I've used Vallejo paint (although any paint will do the trick) to paint two walkers, and while these are amongst the easiest of the lot, the method works for all the Zombies in the game - hell, it works for any miniature you might wish to paint.

Step 1:

On a primed mini (I use white, always - black might be quicker but white is a lot easier for all colours) apply the skin colour of your choice, and afterwards paint the shoes. Do not fret if some of the paint goes elsewhere - we'll clean that up later. Time spent: 1 minute.

Step 2:

Time to paint the main clothes, in this case it is a suit, so I've decided it will be black. I've applied a hefty layer of black wash. This will provide a good colour and also allow us to skip any high-lighting later as the shade will do this automatically. While you have the wash on the brush, apply some in between the fingers and to the eyes/mouth area. This will, along with the following flesh wash create a face that has a lot of depth and looks suitable deceased. And it is quick and fun.

I've also mixed a base colour from grey and black and applied this to the base.

Total time spent: 5 minutes.

Step 3:

Apply another coat of black shade and while the black shade is drying, apply a wash to the flesh. 

This is my favorite stage - the mini really comes to life with the flesh wash.

Total time spent: 7 minutes.

Step 4:

Have a cigarette or browse your favorite blogs for a few minutes while the washes dry. Back when I was competing in speedpainting competitions we would blow on them and hold them near lamps. This will take anywhere from 1-10 minutes. I've allowed for 3 minutes, as the washes do not need to be completely dry, just be careful not to paint over anything too wet.

Then it is time to do some details - the shirt gets a fresh coat of white, the tie gets a suitably drab colour (grey). Then a small dab of white in each eye and across the teeth - the black shade will provide the contrast (this is where it really pays of to be careful, but any mistakes can quickly be painted over with black and you can have another go at the details in another minute or so).

Total time spent: 10 minutes

Step 5:

Congratulations, you are done. But why not smear some blood over your fine paint job? This will make the mini look gruesome, will cover any glaring mistakes and is bloody (!) fun to do. I use the version from Tamiya Colors, as it stays shining and looks like fresh blood for ever. If you need older blood, just add a bit of brown or black ink to the blood.

I normally add some to the fingers (because they are sculpted poorly in the Zombicide game) and at least some to the face. This is where it helps painting in batches, becuase even though you have painted three figures identically, the distribution of blood can really help make them different. So a heavy layer of blood on one and a small dab here and there on another.

Total time spent: 12 minutes.

 
So, in twelve minutes you've painted a couple of zombies (you can do three in ca. 15 minutes) in a short time and it was even fun, at least I find it to be. The only stage where you really should be careful is when applying the eye-dot, and as everyone always focuses on the face it pays of to be a bit careful when applying that dot.
Anyways, thanks for reading - any comments or tips are greatly appreciated - stay safe and prepare to slaughter Zombies! 

All the best,
Kasper

Experimenting with Washes to paint different skin colours

Hello all,
So I realized there was something wrong with the assortment of Zombies I've painted so far for Zombicide. They were all of a Caucasian 'white' skin colour. Hence in order to satisfy the demography of the states, I really need to have some variance in skin colour.
I've never tried painting anything but pale skin (due to my historic armies based in the 10-15th centuries, and the general tendency of Skavens to have fur all over) so I've thought long and hard on how to go about this. And trust me, there are not many tutorials on this subject on the net.
So, to begin with I've tried with the different Washes I had available, most of which are from Lavado.

The best results came from the Sepia, the Umber and the black washes. The Sepia is not that useful, but I think the umber might be representative of some ethnic groups, if used on a darker base coat. The dark wash on the other hand seems be a quick solution to the darkest 'African' skin tones.

This is the result with two applications of the wash - although this might be too dark a tone to represent most modern 'african-americans'. I do think this works better than simply painting the skin black but I would appreciate comments and suggestions.
I will try a thinned down black wash with a thin layer of umber on top to get a better 'mixed' skin colour result.

All the best,
Kasper

New Zombicide! Game

Hello all,
Trying to keep this blog somewhat free of any Zombicide!-related content but the game is just so much fun!

Anyways, I've posted a short gameplayreport-thingie here. Everything went *abominational* :-).

Play Zombicide! Or they'll get you!

Arrrrghhhhh.......BRaiiiiinnnzzzzz!,
Kasper

Zombicide! Tie Guy Zombie (Walkers IV)

Hello all,
Almost at the end of the different zombies from Zombicide! I couldn't come up with a fancy name for this particular zombie but he is a classic shambling zombie.

Verdict: Perhaps the weakest of the sculpts. A bit too non-descript (which is also something of a good thing as you do not really notice it is the same mini once they are painted differently) and without any 'fun' details. The hands also suffer from the 'zombicide!'-syndrome and are poorly defined. Otherwise a quick paint job.



Zombicide! Information:The zombies are divided into four classes; Walkers (your average slow moving, easy to kill zombie although they spawn by the million), Runners (quick and semi intelligent, most likely candidate to destroy your Survivor), Fatties (Huge bloated master zombies - hard to kill at first but halfway through the game you'll fear the runners more) and finally the Abomination (the super-zombie-tank-destroyer-type zombie).
In each tray there is two types of Runner (8 total), five different models of Walker (20 total) and one fatty (4 copies) so each tray holds 32 zombies, while the abomination gets his own little tray - he would probably just eat the other zombies otherwise. (So I got 96 zombies, two Abominations and nine survivors in the initial Kickstarter pack - that's a lot of zombies!).

Stay tuned for the rest of the zombies!

All the best,
Kasper

Zombicide! Jogging Zombies (Painted Runners II)

Hello all,
Proof that exercise won't help you when the apocalypse comes a'knocking: more zombies, this time the remaining Runners. Zombies with double the speed of normal Walkers, these zombies will get their Brainzzz much faster and thereby spell the destruction of your Survivors:

 Arggh!!!!

These are, in my opinion, more intimidating than the other runners (posted here), yet remain disturbingly normal human beings: in their exercise clothing they look like they were having a nice jog in the park when "something" happened to them and they got a bit Brain-hungry.
Great minis - fingers are suffering from bad sculpting (?) but a large dab of blood will make that impossible to notice. No weird little detail on these minis, unfortunately.

Zombicide! Information:The zombies are divided into four classes; Walkers (your average slow moving, easy to kill zombie although they spawn by the million), Runners (quick and semi intelligent, most likely candidate to destroy your Survivor), Fatties (Huge bloated master zombies - hard to kill at first but halfway through the game you'll fear the runners more) and finally the Abomination (the super-zombie-tank-destroyer-type zombie).
In each tray there is two types of Runner (8 total), five different models of Walker (20 total) and one fatty (4 copies) so each tray holds 32 zombies, while the abomination gets his own little tray - he would probably just eat the other zombies otherwise. (So I got 96 zombies, two Abominations and nine survivors in the initial Kickstarter pack - that's a lot of zombies!).

Stay tuned for the rest of the zombies!

All the best,
Kasper

Zombicide! Fatty (Painted Zombies: Fat Zombies I)

Hello all,
Continuing with the minis from the game Zombicide! we turn to the Fatties. These are the bigger and badder type of zombies that will cause survivors some difficulties, especially early on. So do the minis represent this increased level of trouble? My verdict comes after the pictures :-).

 

First of a 'family' picture of the four identical Fatties that come in each tray of minis. 

 

 And in pairs - these are without flash, not sure if they work.

And some with flash - which do you prefer?

Verdict: They certainly are big, scary, and intimidating. They remind of the possessed butcher from Diabolo (who scared the shits out of me the first time he spawned). So yes they do fit their role.
And as was the case with the Abomination, these also have weird details. The tool belt is a nice touch (it appears they enjoy eating certain types of meat...) but the gas mask around their necks is a bit undefined and just weird.
Also, considering that these are the most difficult type of Zombie (Abomniations aside), a bit of diversity would have been nice - i.e. two types would have been perfect.
All in all, they are great minis that could be used in many games (with a bit of work they would be excellent Nurgle type minis) that also look great on the Zombicide! game board.



Zombicide! Information:The zombies are divided into four classes; Walkers (your average slow moving, easy to kill zombie although they spawn by the million), Runners (quick and semi intelligent, most likely candidate to destroy your Survivor), Fatties (Huge bloated master zombies - hard to kill at first but halfway through the game you'll fear the runners more) and finally the Abomination (the super-zombie-tank-destroyer-type zombie).
In each tray there is two types of Runner (8 total), five different models of Walker (20 total) and one fatty (4 copies) so each tray holds 32 zombies, while the abomination gets his own little tray - he would probably just eat the other zombies otherwise. (So I got 96 zombies, two Abominations and nine survivors in the initial Kickstarter pack - that's a lot of zombies!).

Stay tuned for the rest of the zombies!

All the best,
Kasper

Zombicide! Guest Star Zombies

Hello all,
In order to get the Zombies painted I needed to make sure my two boys weren't destroying the house while I was painting. So why not let them paint some of the hundreds of zombies available?
These two zombies were the result. Not too bad, and they will count as painted zombies :-).

My eight year old son's zombie is the runner on the left:

And my 4 year old's is the bloody walker on the right:

Plenty of blood, if nothing else :-).

More (real) zombie paint jobs coming soon.


All the best,
Kasper

Zombicide! Abomination 1 (Painted Zombies)

Hello all,
Another of the Zombies from Zombicide! This time it is one of those insane Abominations. This guy hits like a wrecking ball and will only die when you smash him over the head with a molotov cocktail.
So does the mini convey this utter bad ass character?

To be honest, yes he does look bad ass, and will scare all survivors not presently toting a cocktail of doom into the fartest corner of the city. His head is about the size of a 10mm mini...
A great mini, fun to paint and there is quite a few weird details on him. Apart fromt he obvious spikes protruding from his oversized body, he has a small camera around his neck.. A camera? I guess they meant this to indicate something of what he was up to before become the ultimate tank-zombie, but why a tourist? But it was fun to imagine him as a fat German on holidays who got a bit too close to whatever caused the outbreak of zombification.

Good fun, and can't wait to paint another!

The zombies are divided into four classes; Walkers (your average slow moving, easy to kill zombie although they spawn by the million), Runners (quick and semi intelligent, most likely candidate to destroy your Survivor), Fatties (Huge bloated master zombies - hard to kill at first but halfway through the game you'll fear the runners more) and finally the Abomination (the super-zombie-tank-destroyer-type zombie).
In each tray there is two types of Runner (8 total), five different models of Walker (20 total) and one fatty (4 copies) so each tray holds 32 zombies, while the abomination gets his own little tray - he would probably just eat the other zombies otherwise. (So I got 96 zombies, two Abominations and nine survivors in the initial Kickstarter pack - that's a lot of zombies!).

Stay tuned for the rest of the zombies!

All the best,
Kasper

Zombicide! Average Joe Zombie (Painted Walkers III)

Hello all,
Another of the Zombies from Zombicide! This time its a Walker type, one I have named 'Average Joe', as he looks, well, average :-).
Wearing jeans and an undershirt, he is quite unremarkable but serves as a great generic zombie.

Pros and cons:
The easiest of the lot to paint - few details and unproblematic pose. Very Zombie-like and easy to do in plenty of variations.
He is a bit on the boring side, and his left hand must have been bitten by some other zombie as there is a lot of detail missing.
A very 'average' zombie :-).

The zombies are divided into four classes; Walkers (your average slow moving, easy to kill zombie although they spawn by the million), Runners (quick and semi intelligent, most likely candidate to destroy your Survivor), Fatties (Huge bloated master zombies - hard to kill at first but halfway through the game you'll fear the runners more) and finally the Abomination (the super-zombie-tank-destroyer-type zombie).
In each tray there is two types of Runner (8 total), five different models of Walker (20 total) and one fatty (4 copies) so each tray holds 32 zombies, while the abomination gets his own little tray - he would probably just eat the other zombies otherwise. (So I got 96 zombies, two Abominations and nine survivors in the initial Kickstarter pack - that's a lot of zombies!).

Stay tuned for the rest of the zombies!

All the best,
Kasper

Zombicide! Ipod Zombie (Painted Runners I)

Hello all,
More Zombies! And this time its those feared Runners - double the speed of normal Walkers, these zombies will get their Brainzzz much faster and thereby spell the destruction of your Survivors.
Although a very quick paint job they did turn out quite intimidating:

 Although I'm not that much of a fan of quick zombies these are scary Zombies!

Pros: Great mini - looks intimidating and scary. Fun painting - good details, little flash and no unidentifiable details. The Ipad (which I for some time thought was a stethoscope...) is a fun detail which makes them very modern,a s do the running fear. Great face (if you can describe the brainhunger as great).
Cons: Nothing really negative - perhaps the Ipad is a bit weird, especially as you need to turn the mini around to figure out what the weird wire is. Not liking the tab under  the raised foot, but in realit you do not really notice it.
All in all a great mini that looks the part it plays in the game. Also, you should paint the runners first, it is really important to be able to identify these quickly in the game,

The zombies are divided into four classes; Walkers (your average slow moving, easy to kill zombie although they spawn by the million), Runners (quick and semi intelligent, most likely candidate to destroy your Survivor), Fatties (Huge bloated master zombies - hard to kill at first but halfway through the game you'll fear the runners more) and finally the Abomination (the super-zombie-tank-destroyer-thingie).
In each tray there is two types of Runner (8 total), five different models of Walker (20 total) and one fatty (4 copies) so each tray holds 32 zombies, while the abomination gets his own little tray - he would probably just eat the other zombies otherwise. (So I got 96 zombies, two Abominations and nine survivors in the initial Kickstarter pack - that's a lot of zombies!).

Stay tuned for the rest of the zombies!

All the best,
Kasper

Zombicide! Sexy Ladies of the Night (Painted Walkers II)

Hello all,
The second type of Walker from the game Zombicide had me confused for some time. Was she a classy lady or a member of that unfortuante part of humanity who makes a living by walking along the streets at night. If so, she would naturally have been an easy target for the first zombies.

 She seems to half way between classy and trampy - but quite scary - look at the 10mm crossbowman hiding behind his shield...

Verdict on the mini:
Pros: Great fun to paint, some clear details, looks quite scary due to mixed signals.
Cons: I have a few problems with this model. Some with the figure itself, e.g. the hands are terrible - unless they are supposed to represent half-eaten fingers. In addition, the necklace seems a bit out of place and halfdone. A second issue is that she is so distinct - even with different colour schemes she sticks out amongst the shuffling horde and is the first one where you go "oh, its the same miniature repeated over and over". Which is a shame.
But all in all it is still a good mini, fun to paint - and having painted only Skaven and 10mm historicals for some twenty years it was quite fun to paint panties for once :-).


The zombies are divided into four classes; Walkers (your average slow moving, easy to kill zombie although they spawn by the million), Runners (quick and semi intelligent, most likely candidate to destroy your Survivor), Fatties (Huge bloated master zombies - hard to kill at first but halfway through the game you'll fear the runners more) and finally the Abomination (the super-zombie-tank-destroyer-thingie).
In each tray there is two types of Runner (8 total), five different models of Walker (20 total) and one fatty (4 copies) so each tray holds 32 zombies, while the abomination gets his own little tray - he would probably just eat the other zombies otherwise. (So I got 96 zombies, two Abominations and nine survivors in the initial Kickstarter pack - that's a lot of zombies!).


Stay tuned for the rest of the zombies!

All the best,
Kasper

Zombicide! Wall Street Zombie (Painted Walkers I)

Hello all,
Finally had some sun in Denmark so I could get some half good pictures taken as my entire photo-setup has gone missing.
Anyways, I've managed to paint more than a tray of the Zombies that came with the brilliant game (Zombicide) and thought I would show what I did with them and share my thoughts on the quality of the minis. Bear in mind that you do get a shit load of figures with the game so my expectations were not that high before I got my hands on the game.

The zombies are divided into four classes; Walkers (your average slow moving, easy to kill zombie although they spawn by the million), Runners (quick and semi intelligent, most likely candidate to destroy your Survivor), Fatties (Huge bloated master zombies - hard to kill at first but halfway through the game you'll fear the runners more) and finally the Abomination (the super-zombie-tank-destroyer-thingie).
In each tray there is two types of Runner (8 total), five different models of Walker (20 total) and one fatty (4 copies) so each tray holds 32 zombies, while the abomination gets his own little tray - he would probably just eat the other zombies otherwise. (So I got 96 zombies, two Abominations and nine survivors in the initial Kickstarter pack - that's a lot of zombies!).

The first type is the Walker: Type 1 (aka "the Business Man):

 I included a 10mm crossbowman just to scale reference the Zombie...

So, to begin with these Zombies represents the first large batch of 28mm models that I have painted in a long, long time. This meant I had to re-think how to do stuff that once came automatic. But I decided this first batch would be a good place to relearn and so tried different methods. On these I used washes to paint their business attires and think that went ok. Remember these have been photographed in sun light so they look much better in real life - a lot more scary at least.
The blood was that great stuff made by Tamira - continues to look like fresh blood even when dried and great fun to dap, paint, and blob onto the zombies.
I should probably do something about their eyes.

Verdict on the mini:
Pros: Great fun to paint, good clear details, looks quite scary in a shuffling Zombie like way, realistic model
Cons: Not really any - it is subdued enough that with a bit of variance you don't really notice that its the same model coming to kill you.

Stay tuned for the rest of the zombies!

All the best,
Kasper

Zombicide!: First playtest - Superb game!

Hello all,
Got to playtest the Zombicide! game yesterday evening with three friends and we were all  impressed bythe game.
I think we all (four players, of which three are very experienced board-gamers) rated the game near maximum - somewhere around the 9 out of 10 mark.

A few random words of praise:
* The rules are succinct and easily read and remembered. Although I was the only one to have read the rules (twice) and we spent about half an hour goofing around and learning the rules, once the game began I don' think we needed to consult the rulebook more than four or five times. Pretty impressive. In addition, the nifty summary on the backside of the rules? Well, I had made a few copies but after the first turn noone needed to consult them anymore. Even more impressive. Very intuitive.
* The game itself flows smoothly, is quite frankly intense. Very intense! I read somewhere a review which described the game as cinematic, and it really did feel like watching a zombie-survivor horror film at times. Quite scary to see a horde of zombies shuffling down the street towards your few survivors.
* The board is brilliant - great design, brilliant details etc.
* Great variety within the game - plenty of different items and gadgets. The Survivors are very diverse - some are fighters others are more akin to scouts or gatherers. Some are better than others but that doesn't really trouble me.
* The missions seem to be very diverse as well, and all in all I think the game has excellent replay value - even without any future additions.
* The experience system is brilliant - great fun getting better skills and at the same time intimidating to watch more and more zombies enter the game (as the amount scales to the best player in the game).
* The whole idea and mechanics of the zombies being controlled by the game rules is great and works almost perfectly.

And a few minor irritations:
*Game length - although it was our first game, difficult mission etc the game appears to be just a bit too long to squeeze two games into a single evening of leisurely gaming. Although this might change with more experience etc. Also a turn limit might increase the pressure even more, which could be fun....
* Perhaps a bit too few "surprises" - Although deadly and nasty, I felt there was a bit too long between special event-cards - i.e. when zombies suddenly pop up from manhole-covers etc.
* We quickly became supremely well-equipped (Sniper rifles, dual SMGs, etc) sue to intensive searching and the Survivor Ned's special abilities. This somehow felt to have happened a bit too quickly.
* A bit too much "micro"-management e.g. swapping items between players to create perfect combinations - but perhaps we were a bit too cooperative in our attempts at surviving.
* Minor rule issues: e.g. that a molotov cocktail makes noise when it is thrown not when it explodes :-).

But, apart from these few comments we were very pleased with the entire experience and heartily recommend the game. And to paint the minis - made the game a lot more fun that the zombies were painted (btw, one 'tray' of zombies was fine until we came into the 'orange' danger level).

Anyways, I'm so glad I bought this game!

All the best,
Kasper

Zombicide Painting Progress: I

Hello all,
So almost got a third of the zombies ready. They just need a few touch-ups, base details and of course that all important blood-gore-splattering!
So far I am quite pleased with the models. I'll be doing a review of each of the eight different zombies and how they paint up, but so far so good. There are a few irritating details, i.e. the zombie disease seems to eat away any new zombies fingers - for some reason most of the sculpts only have weird clumps to represent fingers.

Apart from that they are pretty cool, and some are even intimidating (especially so the runners and the two female sculpts).

All the best,
Kasper

Zombicide: Initial impressions

Hello all,
As I mentioned earlier, I was one of the lucky ones who backed the game Zombicide (produced by Cool Mini or Not and Guillotine Games) on Kickstarter. After a lenghty discussion with the Danish custom authorities (argh!) I finally got the game home this weekend and thought I would just share my initial impressions with you guys.
Also, weirdly enough, the game arrived on the same day we threw a Zombie birthday party for my son - hence the picture below

The blogger considering wether or not to slay this young zombie - notice the T-shirt :-).

So, initial impressions (I'm planning on painting a few zombies tonight and playtesting the game with a few friends next week, so stay tuned!)...
* The game looks and feels amazing. High quality and tons of details.
* The rules seem well-written (a few errors and discontinuities aside) and simple enough to produce a great cinematic game, without having to look up every last move in the process.
* The ton of miniatures are of an adequate detail level (I'll know better once I get a few painted). The soft plastic doesn't seem an issue. They seem to be quite tall - i.e. Games Workshop tall. And the amount of minis is just stupefying - especially with the Abomination add-on I bought.
* Also, I cannot help but be amazed at the skill with which they have packed so much content into the box - quite ingenious.
* All the extra stuff are fine - T-shirt seems of good quality, the print is fine (although what I'm going to do with that I do not know, not like the wife will allow that on the wall....),a nd the extra die are cool.
* The only minor issue I have so far is that the cards (items, random events etc) are a bit small - they seem to disappear in my hands, and I would have preferred regular sized cards. But once the zombies start pounding on the door I don't really think that will be something you worry about too much.

So far, it seems a brilliant game, with great miniatures, and I cannot wait to try it out.

The contents of the box (including the Abomination additions). My own camera ate the picture so this one is stolen from www.goodreads.com/author/show/5151420.Michael_Langlois/blog who wrote a review of the game

All the best,
Kasper