Thursday 29 July 2010

West Wind Zombie & Vampire Hunters

The four figures in the two photos above come from the West Wind Road Kill set GRK016 Zombie Hunters. The figure at the far left of the group is armed with a revolver in his right hand and a double-barrelled sawn-off shotgun in his left hand. He is naked from the waist up and seeing how well muscled and bronzed he is, I'm not surprised! Hey, if you've got it, flaunt it! I see him as a Hispanic, which is why I painted his flesh tones darker than I normally do. He is extremely well sculpted and in ATZ, he'd be ideal for either a Ganger or a Survivor.
Next up is a big, black dude swinging a metal baseball bat. Look closely and you'll see he has a pair of pistols tucked into the front of his trousers. Like the previous figure, he clearly works out and is very muscular. He is bald headed and wears a pair of sunglasses, a vest and a pair of baggy trousers. This is one tough hombre and again, would be ideal as either a Ganger or a Survivor.
Next in line is the only female of the group. I'm guessing the sculptor envisaged these being used in somewhere with a hot climate as all four are dressed for summer. This fit looking lady in a crop top and baggy trousers is armed with a pistol and a combat knife. She, too, has a hardass attitude and she'd be a fine addition to any group of Gangers or Survivors.
Last up is the only caucasian of the group. I think it's great to see so much ethnic diversity in this group. That gets a big thumbs up from me. This chap is armed with just a golf club, a useful two-handed improvised weapon. A golf bag is slung over his back but there are no more clubs in it. D'oh! Again, you can tell he's dressed for summer as his shirt sleeves are rolled up and he's not wearing a jacket. Plus, he too, is wearing sunglasses. They could be ordinary glasses, I know, but I decided to paint them as shades. This guy would work better as a Civilian or a Survivor. I just don't see him as a Ganger!

Continuing with the theme of zombie hunters, the two photos above showcase four of the Road Kill special characters. First up is GRKNET001 Cleaver Vine, who has an uncanny resemblance to the Marvel superhero, Wolverine! He is armed with an axe and a double-barrelled sawn-off shotgun. A nice touch is the cigar stuck out of the corner of his mouth. He has a slightly deranged look to him, but he is a great figure.
If Cleaver was borderline psychotic then this next figure, GRKNET002 Sister Saw, has tipped over the edge into full on psychosis. Her face has a very manic-looking expression, suggesting she is in a berserker fury. Her choice of weapons are far from subtle - a chainsaw, which she wields overhead, and a Big Ass Pistol strapped to her left thigh. I wouldn't want to mess with her!
Next up are the two vampire hunters from the Road Kill range. GRKNET004 Night Stalker is obviously inspired by the Marvel superhero, Blade. He is very heavily armed (as you'd expect) with silenced Ingram MAC10 sub-machine gun, katana and twin pistols. He has body armour covering his chest. A snazzy pair of mirrorshades and long leather coat completes his iconic look. I like his pose but I'm undecided about which Blade figure I like best - this one, the one by Musketeer Miniatures or any of the Heroclix versions. I like them all for different reasons, so I'll wimp out and just sit on the fence!
The final figure of this group is GRKNET007 Night Blade, a female vampire slayer. Mention the words "vampire slayer" to me and I automatically think of Buffy Summers. But in the Buffy TV series, there were other notable female vampire slayers - Faith and Kendra being the two most obvious. This figure looks nothing like Buffy or Faith but it's not too far off Kendra. And before anyone points out that the figure is missing Kendra's ponytail, yes, I know. I'm not saying this figure is definitely Kendra, but until something better comes along I'm using her as Kendra. The figure is nicely animated and is armed with a katana.
I don't review many survivor types as I tend to concentrate more on the undead. But where would the undead be without opponents? These are very nicely sculpted figures, although despite being advertised as 28mm scale these are more heroically sized at roughly 32mm. The set of four zombie hunters (GRK016) is priced at £6.00 on the West Wind website, whilst the four characters are priced at £2.00 each. They are well worth looking at if you don't already have them, in my humble opinion.

12 comments:

  1. Oooh, these are pretty darned cool! But where's Whistler?

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  2. Click on Musketeer Miniatures in the side bar under the heading Labels and you'll find an exceptional figure of Whistler. Musketeer are the only figure company that I know who make Whistler. Fortunately, they've done a top notch job on him!

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  3. But if you use Whistler in a game and he's Obviously Dead...better leave him dead. Everything else is disappointing storytelling.

    Whiteface / Oliver

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  4. I couldn't agree with you more, Oliver!

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  5. Bryan
    Just found the blog, wonderful work! I've spent days reading through the old posts.
    May I ask a question about one of the earlier posts about making the lawyer's building? What's the best way to make the parapet for the roof?
    Apologies for going off-topic, but this seemed a more sensible place for the question.
    Cheers and thanks for the inspiration.
    Pat

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  6. Hi and welcome aboard. Old School. I don't mind you going off topic - it happens a lot around here, lol!
    The parapets for the lawyers' offices were made from a strip of foamboard with a strip of mounting card (called art board in America) glued on top of it. Then I glued the parapet itself to the top and both sides. The parapet was printed on 130gm matte photo paper. An alternative method (which I almost considered) would be to glue five or six strips of mounting card atop one another. I chose the foambord method as it involved less cutting out. If you choose either method you will end up with very solid parapets.
    I hope that helps and if you have any more questions don't hesitate to ask.

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  7. Thanks for the advice. I have only recently started making the World Works buildings and have spent most of that time deconstructing and rebuilding them in Photoshop and Illustrator to give them a 1930s/1940s feel.
    I love your interiors, but after a lot of thought decided to go down a different route. I am building them as solid boxes with recessed windows and doors, but making separate interiors as 'stage sets' which makes it easier to move and photograph the figures.
    I'll be interested in your take on the TLX versions. I really don't like them at all. Beautiful textures but so far I have not found a way to make them work for the box style construction.
    Pat

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  8. Hmm, interesting, Pat. I can see the logic in your method. It's a smart idea to make your interiors separate. Of course, just like movie sets, you can make them bigger than they ought to be. Well, you'll need extra space to move the lights and cameras around, lol!
    I like the idea of recessing your doors and windows. I'd certainly be very interested to see your work.

    As for TLX buildings, I have my reservations about them as well. As a consequence, I won't be making any this year until I figure out how to marry the WWG method of construction with the Vampifan method of construction. I've been pondering it awhile and I'm still pondering now. There is a lot I don't like about the way TLX buildings are put together.

    However, TLX ground tiles are a different matter and I'm totally sold on them. I'm busy cranking them out as fast as I can to use in my next games of ATZ.

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  9. I like these Road kill figs, Bryan. Nice paint jobs as usual. I have chainsaw girl, its just a shame shes so damn big. She towers over my biggest male. I thought maybe the chainsaw being up would create an illusion but she is just plain tall! Former female basketball star I guess. She is still probably the coolest fig from the line. BTW it's cool that they are sold separate.

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  10. Thanks, Roger. I agree, you've got to love Sister Saw! I find with me having so many figures from such a wide variety of companies that she blends in well with my other figures and her size isn't a problem. It is worth noting as well, that she is no bigger or smaller than the rest of the West Wind range so she fits in well with the others. There was an interesting thread about tall females in real life on the Post Apoc forum. They do exist, such is the variety of life.

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  11. Just finishing off one today, email me at patrickconnor at btconnect dot com with a contact and I'll send some pics.

    I use the roads from Fat Dragon, they use PDF layers on all their buildings so I can turn off the road markings, better for the period and I don't have to spend ages in PS removing them.

    Fat Dragon do some excellent buildings, not as grungy as WWG but textures just as good.

    I had real problems with foamboard roads warping, but have now moved to using 3mm foamed PVC with 2mm for the pavements. No warping at all and a really nice solid feel to them.

    Pat

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  12. I've sent you an e-mail, Pat, so you can contact me. I've seen some of the Fat Dragon stuff but I don't own any of it. I could be easily tempted to buy some of their stuff but I have so many projects that I want to complete with my WWG and Ebbles sets that I don't really need anything extra on my plate!

    Can I ask how big your foamboard roads were? some of my two feet square modular gaming boards are starting to warp, which is another reason I've switched to TLX tiles. A six inch square tile is far less likely to warp than a much larger two feet square tile. I've heard that high humidity can play havoc with foamboard warping, although that isn't a problem with where I live in the chilly North East of England. Still, you seem to have come up with an excellent solution. Now I'm even more looking forward to seeing your work!

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