Wednesday 15 August 2012

Red Box Games Zombies

One of my followers advised me to check out a bunch of zombie figures on the Red Box Games (RBG) webstore. I hadn't seen them before. All I knew about RBG is that they made high quality sculpts of fantasy figures. As soon as I saw their Lesser Undead set of 9 zombies I was smitten. I sent away for them and here they are, along with a fantasy female that I liked the look of. All 10 figures can be found in the Infernals range on RBG's website.
The female chaos warrior/demoness is called Zyvara Helsmaiden and I was attracted to her by her similarity to one of my comic book heroines, Lady Death. I wanted to paint her up as Lady Death until I saw her in the flesh (no pun intended) and realised that her breasts were too small (Lady Death has quite a spectacular rack!) and that her hair would need some remodelling. I know nothing about the universe these figures are meant to populate, hence my uncertainty about whether she is a chaos warrior or a demoness. Her horns could be natural or they could be part of her crown. Her flesh tones are Foundry Tan 14, which contrasts well with her dark blue costume. I tried to paint her sword with a lightning effect pattern, to show it is a magical sword. I'm not sure if I was wholly successful but it works for me. She is superbly sculpted and is the first true fantasy figure I have painted in many years.
The four zombies accompanying Zyvara have a really emaciated look to them. All are bald-headed and appear to be male. What struck me when I saw these zombies is that they look to be in agony, as if being undead is a painful curse. These are no ordinary-looking zombies.
The zombie in the beige gown has been bitten in the right arm. I suppose he could be a she - it's hard to tell. His/her head is bent far back and leans to the left.
Next in line, this zombie has lost a boot. He also has his head thrown back as he looks skywards. He has bite wounds to his right wrist and both legs. The blood around his mouth and neck has come from a victim he has fed upon.
Moving on, the zombie second from the left is in a similar pose but his legs are spread wider and his back is arched even further to allow his head to stretch even further back. You can only imagine the pain he must be in.
Last in line, this zombie looks like his neck has been snapped as his head has dropped to an unnatural angle upon his right shoulder. Was he strangled or has he been hung? His knees are bloody.
I decided to paint the zombie at the far left of this group in hospital clothing, with a gown and pyjama trousers. His left hand is pressed into a deep wound in his stomach.
To his left is a zombie staggering along whilst bent over in agony. The bones of his spine are very prominent.
I'm guessing that the zombie in the centre of the group is female, purely because she is wearing a long skirt. She has a boot on her right foot but nothing on her left foot. Her pose is very similar to the previous zombie. She has a cut to the side of her head and a few other minor-looking wounds.
Fourth in line is a zombie leaning forward as he advances. He has had a big chunk of flesh bitten off his left cheek.
Finally, is a zombie in a near identical pose to the last one. What really differentiates this one is that his right eyeball is dangling down the side of his face from its socket. Gross but cool!
These really are exquisitely sculpted by Tre Manor. They may have been produced with the fantasy gamer in mind but they will work equally well in a contemporary setting. I should note that the figures come supplied with 20mm diameter slottabases. I replaced them with my standard 25mm diameter slottabases that use on the vast majority of my figures. Another point that I'd like to make regards their size. These are true 28mm scale figures. This means that some figure ranges will dwarf them (Citadel, Horrorclix, RAFM, etc.) but they will fit in well with most 28mm scale figure lines.
The Lesser Undead set costs $17.99 for the nine figures, roughly $2.00 per figure. If you are interested in purchasing the Zyvara Helsmaiden figure (and I doubt if many will) she is a lot more expensive, costing a whopping $8.99. I highly recommend the zombie figures.

18 comments:

  1. Again, a great review. Thanks! I think they look good, and your paint does them justice.

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    1. Thanks, Charles. I must admit that I am very pleased with these figures. They were a joy to paint.

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  2. Now those are some rotten looking meat sacks, well painted Bryan!

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    1. Yes, these are not your freshly dead zombies that could pass as humans at a distance.

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  3. Great review Bryan, nice looking miniatures and the paintjobs are great. The poses are excellent something a lot different to the norm.

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    1. Thanks, Simon. I agree with you about the poses and as you rightly said, they are a lot different to the norm.

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  4. Well painted (I have come to expect nothing less from you) and I love the stooped poses, really staggering about. Shambling!

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  5. Cheers mate! I am looking forward to gettiong hold of some of these as well.

    Again your painting is great. A good review of this. Thanks alot!

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    1. I doubt if you'll be disappointed with these, Johnny. They're well worth getting hold of.

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  6. Nice looking figures, I like the stooped figures, very creepy!

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    1. I think they're all creepy, Ray, but yeah, the stooped zombies are particularly creepy.

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  7. You are right, there appears to be a lot of agony in those undead. That is a nice fantasy figure as well, and I am a fan of fantasy figures, so I may keep her in mind.

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    1. Thanks, Adam, I didn't expect anyone to comment on Zyvara so you get a big thumbs up from me.

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  8. Fantastic! I was excited to see this review, and you certainly didn't disappoint with the paint.

    Thanks for sharing sir, much appreciated.

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    1. I'm really glad you like them so much, Varangian. They were a lot of fun to paint.

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  9. Very nice work Bryan, I cant wait to paint these myself...

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    1. I look forward to seeing your take on them, Roger.

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