Warlord Games British Line Infantry Circa 1879

My Warlord British Line Infantry arrived I haven't had a chance to assemble any yet as I've worked the weekend through. I can give you my initial impressions of this box set. These are my first Warlord/Empress miniatures I've ever owned so I wasn't sure what I would get. What I got was 20 plastic and 4 metal miniatures of good quality. However I did not get any of the customizable options I have come to expect from a plastic miniature kit so that was very disappointing. The kit contains 4 trees exactly the same. No other company (Gripping Beast, GW, Perry Bros, Wargames Factory) does this and had I known that I would not have bought this kit.

Now if your don't like arsing about with plastic figures and you want a company in two lines like this picture on the back of the box then this kit is for you.

The four Empress metal command figures are full of flash which was disappointing. I haven't had flash on a miniature I've purchased for many years now and I by from many companies; Reaper, Westwind, Hasselfree, Black Scorpion, Wyrd, GW, Ral Partha and Foundry so Empress won't get high marks from me. The sculpted details are nice so they may prove to be nice figures once I put the work it but again why do I have to put that work in?  I would have much preferred a plastic command options tree in place of the metal figures but then that's just my personal preference.
So lets recap, if you want the company pictured above buy this set, if you are looking for skirmish figures for this period or want Victorian soldiers to steampunk up this isn't the kit for you. There will be a lot of hobby saw work for me in the future with these figures.

Some of you my be wondering how I purchased this set after reading my financial woes in my last post I sold some Osprey books (gasp) to make this purchase.

Ladies and Gentlemen Your Attention Please.

 Random picture to catch your eye


This past weekend's post the zombie incident of 1888 and its effect on the great Occult War was a quick sketch of a much larger concept boiling over in my mind. It was a stream of consciousness outpouring, I had a busy weekend I had gone to the Lunatic's on Sunday with my new Warlord Brits
& assorted bits to cobble together some more zombies. Unbeknownst to me the Lunatic was in the middle of re-organizing his flat, packing crates were everywhere, the Lunatic produced a copy of Zombicide and proceeded to set it up on a pile of packing crates (I kid you not). He demanded we play so we did. When I got home late that evening I realized that A) I missed my Wednesday post and B) I failed to take any pictures for Sundays post an F followed by a couple of other letters escaped my lips I sat in front of the computer and you know the rest.

 What It Will Be
This project wouldn't be yet another wargaming system but a ready made background for use in your own weird war campaigns. This would be a source book for wargamers to play games set during the Great Occult War or the Zombie Incident of 1888 a gritty dark alternate world history crawling with zombies, elder races and shadowy occult powers covering the late Victorian and Edwardian periods. So this will be a book full of background fluff; maps, historical timelines, descriptions of the nations, races, technical discoveries and pivotal battles which make up the Great Occult War. There will be chapters on zombie outbreaks, how to model the minions of the great occult powers and how to represent the units of the nations of the Great Occult War in several different game systems.

The Problem
If I want to produce this supplement for horror and VSF gamers the world over I can't keep blabbing about it here on blogger for various reasons its not copyright safe.
The Second Problem
As some of you may know I'm in extreme debt since my life threatening accident of last year I am now finally able to walk & work again but I have to devout every waking hour to paying off my debt.
Solutions?
A) We can all forget my last post and you guys can be pleasantly surprised when I produce a finish product several years from now
B) Open a Patreon channel for it. This is my preferred option because if I'm say earning $10 an hour for the hours I work on the project each month I can continue the project while paying towards my debts, as opposed to putting it aside while I focus on pay down the debts. Patreon is preferred because I can return value for money immediately by producing timelines, historical antidotes and short stories in a copyright secure way for the people who donate to the feed. So no grand Kickstarter promises. Admittedly backing a feed like this will end up costing more than a $20 PDF but if a feed like this was undertaken it would be to produce a entertaining Great Occult War gazette publishing far more material than any single PDF could ever hold. 

I have added a poll at the top of the blog please participate let me know if you are interested in backing a project like this.
Please note I'm not giving up this blog I just can't put anymore of that Great Occult War stuff on hear.

The Zombie Incident of 1888 and Its Effect on the Great Occult War.

Brussels Zombie Outbreak 1907

The Zombie Incident of 1888 preceded the Great Occult War by nine years it is considered by some scholars to be the opening salvo of the twelve year long world conflict know as the Great Occult War. The origins of the Great Occult War can be found in the Brussels Zombie Outbreak of 1907. Unlike the Zombie Incident of 1888 the Belgian government was unable to contain the outbreak. 

 

 Anti-Zombie militia Belgium 1907 

France sends troops to Belgium to help the King eradicate the Zombie menace.

 French Cuirassiers departing for Belgium.

The combined French and Belgian force successfully puts down the zombie outbreak a year later. Belgium's beleaguered King accuses Great Britain of engineering the zombie outbreak. By 1908 the great European powers had been engaged, for a number of years, in a jingoistic arms race against each other. Each empire was certain that they will be eventually attacked by another.  The king of Belgium's anguished accusations took root in France's paranoid parliament, had their historical enemy England developed an "Occult' weapon? France mobilized here armies and called up all reservists placing all of Europe on the edge of a knife.

 France Mobilizes

Diplomatic relations between Great Britain and France rapidly deteriorated culminating in the November 16th 1908 declaration of war against Great Britain by France. Not since the days of Nelson have the navies of Great Britain and France clashed so fiercely.

The sinking of the HMS Defiance

 Only the timely intervention of the Kaiser in 1909 on the side of Great Britain saved England from a successful French invasion.

Germany enters the war on the side of Great Britain

 German's intervention sparks a world conflagration in which engulfs all remaining empires in a world wide modern war. Russia and Italy ally with France against Great Britain and Germany, the Austrian-Hungry Empire allies its self with Germany but is mired in a major war with the Ottoman Empire and several Balkan states. By 1910 Europe is carpeted with warring armies.

British troops man assault ships during the Battle of Calais

In 1911 zombie outbreaks begin to appear all over Europe with alarming regularity and without any apparent cause or pattern a situation which continues to the present day.

Major zombie outbreak Warsaw

History books record the first revelations of the Great Occult Powers to have begun at this time*. This war and the emergence of the Great Occult Powers are the catalyst that creates the world in which we live today.  

* Great Britain had entered into it's pact with a Great Occult Power in 1889 over a decade before France or Germany entered into their pacts but this was not know outside of an inner circle of government ministers at the time.

As slow as a shambler

Work on the horde and associated characters for The Zombie Incident of 1888 is moving slower than a shambler but there is some small progress. As you may have noticed I'm trying to clean up, convert & based  all the figures I've got earmarked for this project so far that's 40+. Hopefully things will start speeding up (or at least look like they are) once I've gotten some of these ready for priming. And I'm going to need to get a move on as I've just placed an order for the Warlord Games Plastic box set.

24 more figures for use in zombie conversions and some as anti-zombie forces which will need to be cleaned up, converted & based!!!!

 

This is the bride from the Studio Miniatures "Till Death Us Do Part" set she is getting her dress Victorianized (Yup made a new word.) the bustle is beginning to shape up, I need to do something with the veil though maybe give her one of those tiny hats? Well what do you think of the progress?

 

Mr Cross in the back is by the irrepressible scallywags of Lead Bones he's a modern vicar get the joke?  I think with a slight re-sculpt of the collar I can paint him up as a laborer (no offense Padre).

Zombie Nun also by Lead Bones no conversion needed.

Little boy zombie from the same Studio Miniatures "Till Death Us Do Part" set. You can never have enough zombie children in a horde.

The "Hopper" is a leftover from a long defunct project he is a "Hanged Man" ghost(?) figure from Wyrd Miniatures originally he was floating above the earth but I bent the feet so that he's now hopping along as it where. He is all tied up and still has a noose around his neck maybe someone took the law into their own hands and tried to end his life before they realized he was all ready dead? There is a story in it somewhere when I find it I'll let you know. Stay tuned for more progress next Sunday.

This blog isn't even 2 years old yet but its now over 20,000 hits this is due entirely to all you nice people following my miscue efforts. This blog would have most certainly been abandoned were it not for those of you who post comments so thank you. And speaking of thank yous I'd like to give a warm thank very much to all these Google Plus followers who I haven't thanked before:
Julia Morgan, Congtan Huynh, CJ Kilbride, Tom Candlin, Matt Eastwood, Kevon Downs, Fred Jackson, James Baldwin, Stephan K, Bullcher Feb, Ken Reilly, Mark G, Danny Jeurissen, Shay O'Shea, Uber Toten, Alexander Noorlander and Thrym of Thrym's Table now on the blog roll her at Feinds in Waistcoats.  I suspect that even with this new list I've overlooked someone if that is the case I'm sorry.

Tiny Work Table update

Some hasty shots of some of the things I've been working on this weekend. More to come next Sunday.

New Member
I would like to welcome Evan Hughes the editor of the next issue of WBQ (Wargame Bloggers Quarterly) to the blog.
Correction Dave Docherty will be the QBW editor for the November issue not Evan. 

Its Here... Wargame Bloggers Quarterly

 

What?! You didn't know you were waiting for something with baited breath? We take it from me you were. You were waiting for Wargame Bloggers Quarterly the brain child of Michael "Millsy" Mills. That's right a free wargaming PDF periodical featuring articles from the big names in wargame blogging like Loki, The Big Red Bat, Dave Docherty, Michael Awdry and mere dabblers like myself. So pop on over to Millsy's Blog to download a copy.

Another New Member
Welcome Ken Reilly of Yarkshire Gamer following on that Google thing.

Also I've added many of the great blogs of you guys me readers to my blog roll so many if fact  I don't remember which ones have just been added.

Not Really a Horde More Like a Crowd

 As you can see 16 figures is not much of a horde and most of it remains unpainted to boot. I have a handful more of unbased zombies in the bins but I'll have to acquire many more before they resemble anything that can be called a true horde. So far the "horde' consists of Westwind, Lead Bones, Studio, Wyrd and Horrorclix figures.

ATZ is a game of characters not factions in ATZ players play a "star" character who leads an ever shifting band of "grunts", other survivors who look to the "star" for leadership or even hope through the zombie Apocalypse.  So with this in mind I've been gathering a cast for the Zombie Incident of 1888 which will include; Her Majesty, the Great Detective and the Dr., the Gentleman from Norwich, Sister Agnes Zombie Hunter, Sir Francis, the dog Buttons, Jim the milk lad, the White Rabbit, Roundhouse Ray the Prizefighter and Professor Pratt just to name a few. Some of the characters mentioned about will be heroes others villains while more will be innocent bystanders or victims if you prefer. I want this project to be a showcase of sorts of the Gothic Horror/Steam Punk miniatures I've been collecting for the past 2 years so the Werewolf of London and other oddities will make appearances in the game.

Left to right the dog Buttons, Jim the milk lad, Professor Pratt.

New Members

More new members Sander of "mon cher Alava, Marmont est perdu!" and "Modus Reg Magni Momenti" and Navin of The Painted Figs Projects Blog. These new member welcomes so far haven't included all of you lovelys following with that newfangled Google + thingy like Evan, Millsy, Darrell, Ray, Paul, and so many others but I welcome you all as well. I haven't been paying much attention to this Google + thing but I promise to use the +1 button in the future.