New Pages

I've update the blog with additional blog pages you can find them just under the title picture. HOME is the main blog page, ZOMBIE INCIDENT OF 1888 this page is a gallery of figures for the zombie apocalypse EotD hybrid I'm working on, and finally GOALS & TALLIES a self explanatory page outlining the goals of this blog and my unpainted backlog.

ZOMBIE INCIDENT OF 1888

The Zombie Incident of 1888 began one foggy morning in May. Was it a demonic plague? An Infernum experiment gone awry? Or necromancy of the foulest kind? The origins of this incident are unknown, what is known is that the dead now stalk the living in London town.

These Lead Bones zombies will represent the fearless ecclesiastics who attempted to halt the zombie horde. These are the Lead Bones advert pics I'll post up my based and painted figure when they are done.

  The Zombie Incident will need special survivor bands (not the normal factions) I have three more or less planed out so far. THE QUEEN'S DINNER PARTY Queen Vic with a man portable Gatling gun and the survivors of her diner party, the WOMAN'S AUXILIARY YACHTING CLUB which will be composed of Hinderland's beautiful sailor girls; these plucky women could not allow their husbands to be dragged from their clubs, whiskey tumblers in their hands, by a mob of corpses so they liberated the contents of a Royal Naval arms locker.

 

And finally the little know FRATERNAL ORDER OF ANGRY MEN or FOAM.

(Further story updates will follow in the coming months.)
(The finger is healing nicely expect and update on the progress of Top Hat and Mr. Spectacles this weekend.)

Requiem Release Phase 1, The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

West Wind is currently running a slide show of all of Phase One miniatures on their site which you can see here, but one of these miniatures Professor Cavor is not in it.

You can see him if you look closely in the picture below.

I understand this photo to contain all the miniatures to be release in phase one.

The Good
 The phased release of the KS figures is a very good thing as it will give everyone else who wasn't a Requiem backer a chance to buy these figures. And the fact that these 200+ figures will be released on the market in a orderly fashion will prevent a panic and will certainly save many a Christmas fund if not a few lives in the bargain. You'll have the chance to pick up any one of these faction box sets for 25 pounds. Three of these sets are faction box sets with 8 figures and the Vampire Slayers is a Collector's set? of 7 figures.

Reinforcement Blisters like the following:
Brothers with Guns 4 figures 12 ponds

Gentlemen with Gatling Guns (2 figures) 6 pounds

A wide variety of special characters ranging in price from 4 to 10 pounds depending on size.

 A wide range of vehicles in resin and white metal all at the price of 25 pounds per.

I have not shown all the special characters and vehicles coming out in phase 1 for a full list you should check out the West Wind slide show on their site.


The Bad
 There are the things I don't like about this release:

West Wind is offering a 4 figure blister of Gentlemen with long guns, but the KS had only 3 figures of this type. The blister add suggests a mystery figure, who does that theses days?. In my view this is simply horrid.

Also the Orinithopter is going on sale in Phase 1 as a white metal vehicle kit yet there are no pictures of this kit in the metal. The box art is the same are that appeared in the KS. I don't think that's appropriate there should be pictures of the finished model.

 
The Ugly
When I talk about the ugly I'm mostly mentioning issues that the 623 backers of the Kickstarter may have with this release. There are 4 figures that I and I'm sure others thought where going o be KS only limiter edition figures now available to the general public in phase 1.
 
The Specimen

 Raphael

The Phantom

Great Uncle Thulu

The final issue I see KS backers having with these release are the changes to the Special Police Branch Faction Set. Here is the KS release set:

And here is the new public release set:

Notice the differences? The hound is gone, replaced by the chap on springs.

 

Now he was an additional figure that could be had on his own so Requiem backers who want him will need to buy the box set. I hope he well be offered as a single in another phase. It was noticed that the original KS set didn't have a handler for the hound so I expect a blister of hound and handler in the future. There is one other change in the new set, a new netgunner.

This is the netgunner all the Requiem KS backers got;

I prefer the pose of the first figure.

For everyone awaiting the 2nd half of the lazyman's guide to painting zombies, sorry I cut my figure on my right hand so no painting for a week or so.

Requiem KS Minatures for Sale! Hurray Get Them Today!

This is a breaking news announcement!

Figures in Comfort 
"Figures In Comfort are pleased to announce that we will have the pleasure of a pre-release launch of the full range of West Wind Productions Empire of the Dead expansion range at Warfare, Reading on 16th/17th November 2013.
This will be the first time this expansion range will be on general sale after only being available via the Kickstarter project."

So if you haven't got them yet go to Reading and get some.

Now for the Americans

Brigade Games
"Brigade Games and West Wind Productions are pleased to announce that Brigade Games will debut the entire first wave release of Empire of the Dead: Requiem in the U.S.A. at the Fall In convention this Friday 11/15, Saturday 11/16, and Sunday 11/17, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

EOTD: Requiem was the result of their very successful Kickstarter campaign. Those of you who did not participate in the KS or who want to add additional miniatures can see them firsthand and purchase them at Fall In."

"The Brigade Games' staff will be on our way to Lancaster shortly. As usual, our booth will be in the front-center of the exhibition hall. We will have all of the ranges we carry, including the newest releases, as well as our own Brigade Games, Parroom and Rattrap Productions products. I don't think I forgot to list anything, but after a week of 18-hour days, things are getting fuzzy..."

Please note that Brigade Games has not put any Requiem KS figures on their website so I'm not 100% sure they will have them at Fall In they do however advertise that they have the 5 faction/zombie box sets and all the first run special characters. They claim that they have copies of the hardbound rules with the special limited edition Professor Erazmus figure. The 2012 special book deal.

 So if you don't have any of the 2012 faction sets or special characters stop by. Some but by no means a full list of 2012 release ad photos to follow. 

Also Brigade Games will be selling new Paroom Secret Science figures they have not however put a pictures of these up on their site so If you go send me some pictures.

 And my personal favorite box set...

 There is something wrong with you if you don't want some of this.

Zombie Painting 101, the lazy man's guide

 I've received a number comments about the skin tone of my zombies, first of all thanks for that my painting isn't good enough to be worth the fuss. But, I'll write you a lazy man's guide to how I'm painting my zombies for your enjoyment.

This is the first part of a two part article on painting zombies the lazy man's way. Its in 2 parts because I haven't had a chance to finish these buggers.

Step One prime model black then spray primer grey top front down. This is supposed to help create light and shadow. Now I don't have any proof that this shows through under the paint, but it does give me a better idea of how light & shadow works on that model.

Fist I paint the flesh with a watery layer of Vallejo Game Color Livery Green,

Then give them a wash of Reaper Brown Ink to tone the bright green down,

Then a light, all most a glaze really of Vallejo Model Color Sunny Skin Tone see here's the bottle,

Now I have the basic skin tone oh it will get brown ink shadows and maybe some more Sunny Skin Tone glazes on some high light areas but that's basically it. Next I start adding pigment to the hat, shoes and pants with a Games Workshop Badab Black Wash.

He looks good in a black top hat don't he? Next I painted the shirt rags in Vallejo Game Colors Ghost Grey.

Next week I'll have more of the progress on Top hat here and his pal Mr. Speckles.

Here is a paint manufacture comparison chart to aid you.

Nadezhda Durova

Everyone who pledged in the Requiem Kickstarter received this this dashing hussar or should I say hussette? But did you know that this figure is an artistic interpretation of a real life military adventuress? Yes Nadezhda Duroa was a decorated Tsarist hero of the Napoleonic Wars! 

"The year was 1807. Napoleon and his Grande Armée, having defeated the vaunted Prussian army the year before, was on the move again, and the Russian army was marching west to meet him. Among the multitude of Russian units was the Polish Lancer Regiment, whose recruiting parties rode alongside its line of march, trying to fill vacancies in its ranks. One rainy night in March a young man presented himself to one of those parties and politely asked to join the regiment. His only answer to the captain's questions about his background was that he was a Russian nobleman who left his family to join the military in spite of its disapproval. The volunteer, who called himself Aleksandr Sokolov, enlisted as a 'gentleman-ranker.' Nobody suspected that this slim, dark-eyed man was, in fact, a young woman named Nadezhda A. Durova." 
"Once in the Polish Lancers, Durova received her baptism of fire at Guttstadt on May 22, 1807. Throughout the action, the Lancers did not fight as a regiment–instead, each squadron would make a charge and then rotate to allow a fresh squadron to take its place in line. Either in her excitement, or simple ignorance of what was expected, Nadya joined in every squadron's assault until an officer from another such unit noticed her with his squadron and chased her away.


In addition to displaying her inexperience, the battle first showcased Durova's bravery. While returning with her own squadron after a charge, she saw several French dragoons surround a Russian dragoon officer and knock him off his horse with a pistol shot. Without a second thought, Nadya lowered her lance and charged. Startled, the French dragoons scattered. Showing more nobility than judgment, Durova then lent the wounded officer her horse to get him to the nearest field doctor. She was able to recover Alchides much later–after Cossacks had stolen her saddlebags, packed with food, personal possessions and her overcoat. She spent several very uncomfortable and wet nights before she replaced the lost items with those pilfered from troopers killed in action."

Nadezhda fought in all the later campaigns of 1812, 1813, 1814 and the Hundred Days Campaign of 1815 which ended in the Battle of Waterloo. She impersonated a man throughout her military career but rumors of a cavalry-woman in the Russian ranks persisted and "Durova was summoned for a personal audience with the tsar at St. Petersburg. Aleksandr was very impressed with her and granted her permission to stay in the army. He also awarded her the Cross of St. George for saving the life of an officer and commissioned her as a cornet (second lieutenant), with permission to join the regiment of her choice. She chose the Mariupol Hussars, known for a large number of Russian aristocrats serving in its ranks." 

Despite the Tsar learning the truth she continued to wear mens clothing and insist on being address as Sir even after she retired from the army to her country estate. She found this retirement to be a bore so she wrote four novels, her memoirs and numerous short stories.The Cavalry Maiden: Journals of a Russian Officer in the Napoleonic Wars, her memoirs are available in English through Amazon.

She became a Soviet era icon due to the Aleksandr Gladkov play, A Long Time Ago.

She appears here as one of the main characters in Eldar Ryazanov's 1960's film The Hussar Ballad. 

She became such a soviet darling that her likeness appeared on a 2 ruble coin. 

She was decorated for bravery numerous times during the course of her military career and subsequently the subject of many military themed oil paintings.

She was buried with full military honors in 1866 at the age of 83. Or was she?
She appears here in Requiem in the flower of her adventuring youth could she have become one of the Nosferatu?

(Quotes taken from an article orignially publish in Military History magazine on June 12 2006. The article can be found here.