So recently I got over enough of my butthurt from the initial RBG Kickstarter campaign enough to fish these Zombies out of the box. I still haven’t QAed the rest of the box or anything, and I can’t recall the rest of what I got, but I’ll worry about that later. (I do recall that I didn’t get any horses, though!)

Anyway, as part of the Undead Army that I’m putting together for Marouda, I decided that some Zombies would be quick and easy enough to paint. So just before I prime them and start with the painting, I thought I’d do a scale post and review of them, since Tre’ still hasn’t done one. In fact, I’ve just added a new category to the page so people can find these things more easily since I still get a lot of hits from people searching out this information, so this way it will be a little easier to find.

First up, let me state that these figures that I have are made of Trollcast, not metal, as the current ones are. The current ones appear to be the exact same sculpts however, and anyone who likes finely sculpted, detailed undead miniatures should be thankful that these things still exist in a form that you can purchase them in. Tre’ was actually so disheartened by the whole KS experience that he didn’t want to remaster any of these figures in metal, since he thought that he’d sold as many as he ever could or would of them via the KS campaign. Luckily several of us over on Dakka managed to talk sense into him, and these and other figures are now available to purchase in metal.

The next most important thing to point out is that the bases these figures come with, and are pictured with over on RBG’s site are 20mm round bases. They are not the more common 25mm round bases that most Warhammer 40k and other range figures have come with for the past 25 years. Tre’ has explained that he uses the most appropriate bases for the figures, with no attempt or intention to mislead anyone. He’s also said that he’ll re-photograph his various figures and show them next to a ruler, etc. Well, that still hasn’t happened, and so it’s down to blog posts like these and the occasional thread on forums to show the actual sizes of RBG’s various models.

As you’ve no doubt already checked out – the figures are finely detailed, beautiful sculpts. They’re really not rotting zombies, nor do they have the distended bellies of the recently departed. They’ve got a shrivelled, almost mummified look to them. The nods to more traditional zombie models are the twisted, distorted poses, and the semi-skeletal faces.

As you can see, they fill out both types of 20mm bases quite well, and have a bit of space on the 25mm ones. Since I’m basing all single models of this size on 25mm rounds these days, that’s what I’ll be doing, but at least you can get a better idea of their size than from the typical pictures of them showing them mounted on 20mm rounds.

At this point, I’ll provide a bunch of photos comparing them to other manufacturers’ zombies, and a few other undead in the hope of making this useful for those looking to use them in their army building or zombie hordes. I should probably do a few updates for my own painted undead models.

As you can see, the height is comparable to GW/Citadel models, but there’s a huge proportional difference.

The Mantic zombies are slighter than the GW ones, but still of a very different set of proportions to the RBG.

A lot of people interested in this genre have Zombicide these days, so here’s a couple of Guillotine Games/CMoN’s Zombicide figures. Despite the Zombicide models being overall a smidgen taller. and the RBG ones nominally being “fantasy” models, they’re still generic enough to fit in with “moderns” like the Zombicide figures, and are close enough in height and proportion to work alongside the board game’s figures,  Just paint them as though they’re wearing torn jeans and hospital gowns.

Flying Frog Productions’ Last Night on Earth is also a popular and fun Zombie game. Shame they seem too incompetent to figure out how to ship their Kickstarter products to Australia (though they’ll do it immediately with free shipping if you buy from their webstore!) Anyway, their figures are a little taller than Red Box’ ones, but close enough so that they would fit in together.

Both the D&D Miniature (Wizards of the Coast) and the Harlequin are quite different in proportion to the RBG Zombies. Both are far close to Mantic and Citadel scale.

 

Now for some larger lineups. I had to set up to take several photos since the line got too long. Just be aware to look at not only the head heights but the base heights as well. I can see I forgot to add Mantic’s Zombies in these larger group shots. Ah well, they’re still up the page. C’est la vie!

 

And now for more of a wider view against other appropriate figures:

Citadel’s pretty true-scale Barrow-Wights absolutely dwarf the RBG models. This was a surprise to me since these LotR models are quite slight in many ways. I guess they are very much powerful hero-types, though.

Again, I was surprised at how large the Army of the Dead figures seem in comparison to the RBG ones. I think an important thing to note here is that even though Citadel’s Lord of the Rings/Hobbit line is nominally “truescale”, there’s still been quite a substantial variety in their sizes between their sculpts over the past 15 years…

…as can be seen from these Warriors of Minas Tirith. Tre’s Zombies are perfectly scaled alongside these guys.

Back to the undead. These WIP Wargames Foundry figures are the only fully appropriate ones I have from this company to share the comparison shot with the RBG zombies. As you can see, these are a little smaller than their GW cousins, but still much larger proportionately than the RBG zombies. Nature of the beat when you’re talking about Skeletons in metal, I’m afraid.

Citadel’s Skeleton Horde came out in 1986 – one of Games Workshop’s first plastic kits. It was used as the mainstay for their Undead range for a solid 25-odd years afterwards. The Zombies shown above have their slightly odd proportions due to being compatible with these skeletons. Like the Foundry Skeletons above, thicker pieces was needed for sturdiness, but makes them wildly disproportionate to the RBG models.

Citadel’s line of Tomb Kings Undead are also scaled to be compatible with the very old Skeleton Horde figures above. As such, and with their additional armour, they loom hugely over the RBG Zombies. Also note the smaller height of the bases used by the Tomb Kings here.

Most of Reaper’s Undead (Bones pictured here) are often slighter than GW’s ones, but still much chunkier than the RBG line. Though as an apparent exception, the unpainted Reaper Bones Zombie up the page looks quite compatible with the RBG ones. Reaper’s range is another that’s grown over decades with many dozens of sculptors in that time (including Tre’ Manor), so like the various Citadel ranges, there’s no “true” consistent scale or style.

One of my favourite sets of Citadel’s undead ranges through the years has been these metal Ghouls. While they’re quite lithe and thin compared to much of the Warhammer range, they still look far bulkier than the RBG zombies.

Since I had these open and partly-assembled, I thought I’d add in some of these as well. Fireforge’s historical figures are typically “truescale” as so many others are, and would scale well with the Lord of the Rings models, but again appear rather “heroic” compared to the Red Box models. Especially in their head size.

And lastly, both because it appears to be the law when it comes to figure sizing pictures, and because it is actually incredibly useful for many people, a Plastic (Multipart) Citadel Space Marine. This one is on the traditional 25mm base.

 

So…

Should you buy them? Only you can answer that. Hopefully I’ve included enough comparative photos and notes to make some buying choices a little easier. I personally have no regrets on having picked these up in the KS. I’ll mix in a couple of Zombicide’s Zombie Dogs to make a unit for the KoW Undead Army. Since I’ve got a ton of Mantic and Citadel Zombies, it’s doubtful I’ll need to buy more, since having my units all the exact same size isn’t something terribly important as long as each distinct unit looks good (I’m using Historical miniatures and GW ones in these armies, after all). For less than three bucks each though – for metals of this quality, I’ve got no hesitation in recommending them to people on the fence about them. Just be forewarned about their size, and ok with it before ordering them.