December of Zombies: Zombicide 1st Edition: VIP Zombies – Kings and Princesses!

Zombicide 1st Edition: VIP Walker Zombies, Zombie Princess Leia, Zombie Elvis, Very Infected People

Another pair of VIP Zombie sculpts in today’s post – This time we have the (dead) Elvis Impersonators as well as a trio of ladies dressed as a particular instance of a Princess hailing from a certain Galaxy Far, far Away…

Zombicide 1st Edition: VIP Walker Zombies, Zombie Princess Leia, Very Infected People Zombicide 1st Edition: VIP Walker Zombies, Zombie Princess Leia, Very Infected People

First up, the trio of Princesses. Interestingly, they don’t appear on the artwork for the VIP Zombies set – I wonder why? Possibly something to do with a litigious Mouse, I imagine. As we saw with Union Worker #42 yesterday, clearly there was indeed some sort of cosplayer-attracting con when the Zombie Apocalype started – perhaps that’s where all of these Celebrity/Actor/Character survivors came from? I painted them as cosplayers of Princess Leia in her Jabba’s Barge costume rather than the actual princess, which gave me the opportunity to vary their skin tones, hair and tabard colours slightly – as promo and BTS photos of the costume from 1982-4 and on do vary depending on the lighting and the state of the photo.

Zombicide 1st Edition: VIP Walker Zombies, Zombie Elvis, Very Infected People Zombicide 1st Edition: VIP Walker Zombies, Zombie Elvis, Very Infected People

Three more VIP Zombies in the form of The King of Rock’n’Roll – Elvis Presley. To be honest, caring about Elvis was a bit before my time, but I do recall when a a young’un I heard that he’d died come over the radio news – and then going to find my mum to tell her that it happened. These three could fit into a cosplayer con, but to me, they just say “Vegas” much more. Are Elvis Impersonators still much of a thing these days? Do Millennials even know who Elvis is or why he was important in the development of modern music? I won’t even ask about Zoomers! 😀

Anyway, I obviously had to go with the iconic white jumpsuit, but that then left me with a few choices for the others – Black, Red or Blue. I was going to do the black one but eventually changed to blue since there were so many images of him in the Blue one. Also, a bit more colourful and standout-ish for the special VIP version of Walkers in the boardgame. If I could find one more, I’d paint it in black – but I don’t want to pay going rates for another entire box of these – and while I’ve just discovered that eBay does seem to have a fair whack of “fell out of the back of the factory” zombicide models listed, I can’t find Elvis in there, so it’ll have to wait or just never happen.

All six of these models were completed after Boxing Day but before New Year’s Day – and as such manage to also qualify for Dave’s latest Paint what You Got challenge. I do have more that fit into this slot as well, since I managed to get onto a bit of a painting tear in the final days of 2022. 

And finally, while painting each of these two sets of models I did have a couple of songs going in my head, so for those interested in hearing what sometimes goes in in here, I’ll link a couple of videos…

See you tomorrow with some more models from my December of Zombies!

December of Zombies: Zombicide 1st Edition: VIP Zombies – Scrubs, Goths and Cooks!

Zombicide 1st Edition: VIP Zombies, VIP Walkers - Doctor Nurse Zombies in Scrubs, Goths, Goth Zombies, Cook Zombies, Kitchen Hand Zombies, Cafeteria Worker Zombies, Very Infected People

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.

Zombicide 1st Edition: VIP Zombies, VIP Walkers - Doctor Nurse Zombies in Scrubs, Very Infected People Zombicide 1st Edition: VIP Zombies, VIP Walkers - Doctor Nurse Zombies in Scrubs, Very Infected People

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. 

Zombicide 1st Edition: VIP Zombies, VIP Walkers - Goths, Goth Zombies, Very Infected People Zombicide 1st Edition: VIP Zombies, VIP Walkers - Goths, Goth Zombies, Very Infected People

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.

Zombicide 1st Edition: VIP Zombies, VIP Walkers - Cook Zombies, Kitchen Hand Zombies, Cafeteria Worker Zombies, Very Infected People Zombicide 1st Edition: VIP Zombies, VIP Walkers - Cook Zombies, Kitchen Hand Zombies, Cafeteria Worker Zombies, Very Infected People

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. 

Zombicide 1st Edition: VIP Zombies, VIP Walkers - Doctor Nurse Zombies in Scrubs, Goths, Goth Zombies, Cook Zombies, Kitchen Hand Zombies, Cafeteria Worker Zombies, Very Infected People

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!