Yep, back to the Zombies today. There’s a reason I’ve been calling these catch-up posts “December of Zombies”, after all – and after the aberration of those little D&D critters, we’re back to the Undeads.
I did enjoy these models a lot more than the typical zombies – having these slightly more characterful sculpts with only a few of each meant I put a bit more time/effort/care into doing them and had some fun with (most) of them. These first four doctor/nurse miniatures I decided to paint up in a variety of colours of scrubs, which got me thinking… so, yes, I painted one of them as Carla and another as Elliot. It was also an opportunity to get in some reps in painting pastel (and pastel-ish) clothing using combinations of Contrast, GSW Dipping Inks and of course regular hobby acrylics.
Next up we have the four “Goths” (no, it’s not Emo, Mom!) Kinda hard to tell in these final photos, but I used these as a chance to practise painting different kinds of black. A bit (ok, a lot) of the subtlety was lost in the varnishing, but these are in the end boardgame modesl destined for a lot of handling, even if we don’t eat greasy, powdery snacks and such when playing – so the varnish is pretty required. The one on the far left, with the green hair was found (oh-so-lucky) a couple of weeks after I finished the first three, so he got done later in the mad, final sprint to get all of my VIP Zombies finished before 2022 was done. As such, he actually fits into Dave’s latest painting challenge – Paint what You Got challenge as it started on December 26th. More on that in upcoming posts, though.
And finally for this set, we have the kitchen hands, or cooks, or diner guys. You get the idea. I went with the scheme in ther CMoN artwork, and figure that they look like they could easily work in the Hospital cafeteria alongside the ladies in their scrubs. Again, a chance to play with pastel colours and Contrast+ to achieve some nicer effects.
Across all of these models, I continued with the bluish-glowing eyes and blue car park road markings on all of their bases to distinguish them as VIP Walkers on the table without going so far as to give them more immersion-breaking (to me, anyway) coloured base rims. I prefer to make these sorts of things blend in on my painted models if I can.
In the end I did get all of the VIP Walker Zombies finished, though I was indeed painting them right up to and on December 31st! I’ll have one more VIP post with the final batch of them up shortly!
Azazel's Bitz Box. 
Great work on all mate, the variation you’ve managed to achieve in each batch is excellent, especially all the different forms of black.
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Thanks Dave! Hopefully useful in future, but worth making models like this useful for getting those reps in while making them just slightly different to one another – even if it’s not really distinguishable.
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Very nice- sadly I now look like the kitchen hand physically after spending my youth as the goth…..
Cheers,
Pete.
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Cheers, Pete! Sadly, I’ve got a bit of that happening as well!
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I think that’s one hospital diner I wouldn’t want to visit! Nice work on the minis! 🙂
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But just imagine the smorgasbord they must put on!
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Fortunately I have had my breakfast otherwise that thought would have put me right off! 😉
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😀
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Excellent work as always Az.
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Cheers, Guru!
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Your horde of zombies looks good (so to speak, being horrible undead…). We too appreciate the character of the sculptures and how you managed to differentiate them.
We ask you how you made the blood splatters on the miniatures: do you spray them with the brush?
A final doubt: if doctors/nurses and diner guys fit well in a hospital, what role do “goths” have? Had they gone to visit their hospitalized relatives?
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Thank you! Yes, I use an old toothbrush and GW’s “Blood for the Blood God” paint. After it’s drym, I go in with the brush and add in extra where I think it’s needed, as well as add dilluted BFTBG to add larger softer stains (like the apron) turn errant and too-large spatters into stains on cloth and the start of streaks on skin.
As for the goths – anyone inside a hospital is fair game to the undead, I guess!
These are of course the third bunch of models painted from these sets:
One more batch of these to come in the next days!
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Funny, a lot of the nice work you did gets hidden in the big mob pic, but luckily you have the smaller group shots. The pastels are really nice on the nurse/doctors with nice variations. The experiment in blacks on the goths is great. That brownish black coat looks quite nice and could be really useful. The variation in skin tones on the last batch is really smooth. I especially like your recipe for dark skin. Great job mate! 😃
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You’re right on the money there – it’s one of the reasons I take the individual (or smaller group) and rear shots of the minis I paint. It’s their one, brief moment in the sun – and given how a lot of models I paint may never get any gaming use or be put on display, I figure if I bother to paint the back of the models, I may as well show them as well!
I really did enjoy painting those nurses – a good chance to try out a combo of softer Contrasts with some of the pastel range from my AK set of paints – and now those techniques could easily resurface on fantasy or sci-fi models down the line.
Same deal with the goths, but slightly less enjoyment due to so many versions of black on the same model each time! 😀
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Great work on all of these, mate. I really like the versatility of the zombie miniature. They can really be any kind of person and sometimes painting something as mundane as a nurse can be really rewarding. Seeing these makes me want to paint up some zombies, not for the first time and probably not the last considering how well you do with them 🙂
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Cheers, Kuribo! Absolutely true – I know a lot of the 2nd edition sculpts lean into different kinds of everyday people and professions (and also some crazy things as well). If you think about it, we rarely see models like nurses or anything like that outside of combat medics (or even firefighters, etc).
Perhaps one of the Zombicide game boxes might be a project for your future? The game is completely playable solo and also works very well as an entry-level game while being 100% co-op – so perhaps something that Kuribo could play with Mrs.Kuribo…?
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Yeah, that is well said, mate. I appreciated that about Mantic’s Walking Dead minis. They had all kinds of mundane zombies which were pretty fun to paint. Its a shame that game didn’t stick with me because the painting side of it was definitely fun.
Zombicide is definitely an option. I reckon a more modern Zombicide would be best for my painting interests (even if the Wild West one sounds cool). If I ever get my Fallout terrain in order, a game like Last Days (or maybe some other ruleset that focuses on survivors vs. zombies is a possibility too). As far as getting Mrs. Kuribo to play, I’ve had little luck outside of playing Monopoly with her, which is a game that she likes and I tolerate. I can’t even get her to try playing Switch so its a real uphill battle over here!
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Did you end up keeping any of the TWD stuff, or did it all get sold off? You could certainly use the modern models zombies very easily and there’s all kinds of homebrew survivor cards out there, and I’m sure you’d be able to adapt the WTD characters pretty easily if any aren’t already done.
I don’t know if a game like Zombicide would work for her or not, but the tactile nature, co-op aspect and straightforward systems (compared to a mins game) could be a positive when compared to video games where the focus is on a screen and using a controller. The theme can help or hinder, depending on her tastes – Does she also like TWD?
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Lovely job – the pastel colours are particularly nice!
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Thank you, Alex! 🙂
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Got to love the Goths mate! brilliant, and the kitchen hands are pretty flash to.
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