100.000 visitors = An Apocalyptic Final Stand (eye-candy galore)!

Hello all,
It seems the number of visitors to this zombierific blog crept above the magic number 100.000 during the weekend. I really want to thank each and everyone, but as that would take quite a while, I've decided this would be an appropriate moment to lineup all the zombies and survivors from the Zombicide game I've painted so far. Think of it as a photo-apocalyptic-thank-you from me to you :-).

The survivors prepare for a last, desperate last stand

Led by Nick and the old gang, each survivor has stocked up on weapons and prepares to unleash hell

Led by the zombie dogz and runners the zombies rapidly approach the survivors

Even the Zombie Dogz can be heard gorwling *BRAINZZ*

More than a dozen runners is a bad, bad sight

A sizeable group of fatties lumber towards the survivors, intent on feating tonight

On the survivors' right is a small contingent of the new and terrifying Toxic Zombies

The kids (from Hasslefree) are kept in reserve, although they are fully able to kick some Zombie-a**

The slightly weird, tutu-wearing uncle Ed prepares to stop the zombies from getting to the children and women

The unstoppable horde

Runners galore

How will it all end? No idea, but thanks for stopping by, commenting and following this blog. I really apprecaite it and doubt I would have gotten through half the zombies without having this blog to showcase and keep my spirits up.

All the best,
Kasper

New Cheap Photo Studio - Foldio review, comparison shots and Arkward!

Hello all,

Like most of you miniature-loving, hobbiest out there I've struggled long and hard with getting pictures that actually look like the miniature. Light, colours etc is just such a hassle.

I've tried several set-ups, lamps etc but nothing has really done the job. Thus when I saw a kickstarter for a photo studio set-up that looked great and was not that expensive I jumped at the chance. The kickstarter was for a set-up named Foldio - becuase it folds, get it? :-). It is lit up by a strip of LED lights and was fairly cheap. 

Well, it was delivered this morning and I've been tampering with it ever since. And to be honest I'm satisfied, but only just.

The first thing I should show you is a comparison shot - this is Arkward, everyone's favourite minotaur.

Arkward - before and after

On the left is a before shot - overexposed and yellowish due to the lamps used. On the right is the best I could tweak the Foldio to produce. If you expand the picture you can see that the colours are much more like they are in the real world (you can also see his nose has been chipped, Argh!!). Yet it is still a bit too dark (even after I've photo-shopped it).

All in all I do think that while the picture on the left is better to get ones attention due to the bright colours, the Foldio-shot is the best of the two as it is much closer to reality and actually shows highlights, blends etc.

So this is the tweaked version. What does that mean? Well the Foldio looks like this:

A sheet of high-quality plastic thingy that folds into a photo-box, or light box, and locks using magnets. The LED strip uses 9 volt battery and thats about it. It feels like ok quality all the way.
But I've found that a single LED strip is simply not enough. It gives dark pictures, even though it reflects well and there are no shadows.
So I tweaked it to look like this:

Ignore the miniature - it is a secret!

I've raised up the bottom to get more light from the top strip and have added a cheap strip from IKEA I had available. Together these two strips are almost enough. I think if I could find a better strip this setup would be hard to beat, I'll be trawling the Chinese LED shops for some time now :-).

So my verdict on the Foldio? Well it didn't solve all my problems in one delicious swoop, nor will it be the hasslefree experience I had hoped for, instead it will be something that needs setting up and adjusting, but not anymore than any other setup I've tried. The quality is good, but the LED are insufficient. I'll give it a 7 out of 10 - I'll use it for all photoes in the future, but I'll need to tweak it even further to be satisfied. But for 20$ I'm pretty satisfied and think it will stop me screaming at my camera and staring in disbelief at the pictures I have available to upload :-).

So, I guess this leaves just the new pictures of Arkward, the slightly confused Minotaur (read his history here) taken using the above setup - I would really appreciate your opinion as to whether this is better or worse than the previous efforts (can be seen here):

Thanks for visiting and any and all comments are appreciated!

All the best,
Kasper

Zombicide: The Three Stooges - Toxic Walkers (C)

Hello all,
So among the many new miniatures from the last Kickstarter concerning Zombicide were the Toxic Zombies. Zombies who explode into a toxic cloud when killed, and if your survivor kills them in close combat then he receives a wound from their toxic blood.
We have only used them once and to be honest, they felt like a needless complication of an otherwise smooth game. We'll give them a try sometime in the future but for now I'm just enjoying having some new sculpts to paint.

The three toxic zombies above - nicknamed "Moe, Larry, and Curly" from the three stooges, although they have all lost their hair - are great sculpts. I particular love the middle guy who looks like he still has a lot of attitude.

Great having new zombie sculpts to paint. I think their green pustules are enough to separate them on the field from the other, normal zombies.

Hope you like them - otherwise they'll - slowly - shamble towards your house...
All the best,
Kasper

Zombicide: AAR - missions Y-Zone and Small Town

Hello all,
So another game of Zombicide and another great experience. This really is a great game and always produces loads of fun. This time we began with the mission "Y-zone", which is one of the best missions, in order to introduce a new player to the concept.

 The players were Amy, Doug and Shannon. Amy is always great news and Shannon turned out to be amazing, whereas Doug is not the strongest of characters. BTW, we always randomly pick which character to play.

The game was a success for most of us. In the final turns, when everything was under control, Amy suddenly decided to charge in the opposite direction for unknown reasons. This meant that Doug and Shannon could only wait in horror to hear Amy's screams as the horde dragged her down and tore her apart. She did kill a ton of Zombies but not enough, and the survivors had to leave her behind, fearing the day when they would encounter her zombified body.

Amy's final seconds before the horde swamps her

 The second game was "Small Town" a mission we have yet to beat. And tonight was not the occasion where the survivors would become succesful. The characters this time were Eagle Chaz (always great, especially in the higher levels), Elza (ok - Break-in is not that crappy) and Adriana (rather weak - Loud is not a great skill...).
The mission is just so small that the amount of zombies quickly becomes too much to handle. It didn't help that we found little of use in the first ten turns or so and that we didn't get enough doors open before someone (not me, honest gov!) accidentally entered orange...

So the game quickly turned from the above somewhat controlled state to the below chaotic and ultimately deadly scenario.

Despite each character becoming Zombivores we couldn't beat the mission - it all came down to whether Elsa could sneak into the last building and get a favourable draw in the Red zone. The four Fatties who appeared instead just tore her apart.

Great game and nothing like playing it to make sure I get some more minis painted. I've decided to get cracking on the ton of survivors still left to paint.

All the best,
Kasper

Zombicide: Ed and Ted, Two Toxic Walkers (B)

Hello all,
So among the many new miniatures from the last Kickstarter concerning Zombicide were the Toxic Zombies. Zombies who explode into a toxic cloud when killed, and if your survivor kills them in close combat then he receives a wound from their toxic blood.
We have only used them once and to be honest, they felt like a needless complication of an otherwise smooth game. We'll give them a try sometime in the future but for now I'm just enjoying having some new sculpts to paint.

The two chaps below, Ed and Ted, are toxic walkers and great sculpts - the clothes and faces are top dollar and the shambling brain-reaching-stance perfect. They suffer the same non-descript hands that all the zombicide sculpts do, but that is a minor nuisance.

New background - more light in this one than the last and I think the burning city suits the zombies well (the background is actually part of a press photo coverage of the events in Kiev, used without permission).

All the best,
Kasper

Zombicide: Zombie Dogz - Growling Apocalyptic Puppies! C

Hello all,
Another couple of undead dogs. They belong to a pack of scary, lightning fast Zombie Dogs (or Dogz, as Guillotine insist on naming them). The rest of the pack will be featured over the next week.

They are sold in a pack of 20 beasts, with cards in several languages and a copy of the rules for these undead dogs. If you haven't got the rules (basicly they are superfast zombies) the rules for these fast and furious doggies can be read for free here.

The one on the left is my favourite of the bunch. looks suitably growling.

 

Guillotine Games describe the dogs like this: Ever wonder where all the dogs went? Well, now you know the answer. Eating infected cadavers turned them into the most feral zombies imaginable. They roam the streets in wild packs and can easily run down any prey. This box contains Zombie Dogz for the Zombicide board game, ready to stalk and shred any survivors unlucky enough to cross their path!

All the best,
Kasper

Zombicide: Toxic Runners

Hello all,
Two Toxic Zombie Runners heading your way! Nasty in-game opponents but fun to paint.

Again, great sculpts from Guillotine Games - although the hands are somewhat deformed the faces (which I guess is the most important part) are great. They even look like they are having fun, being zombies :-).

All the best,
Kasper

Zombicide: Zombie Dogz - Growling Apocalyptic Puppies! A

Hello all,
Managed to get a few more zombies painted. This time it is a pack of scary, lightning fast Zombie Dogs (or Dogz, as Guillotine insist on naming them). The rest of the pack will be featured over the next week.
They are sold in a pack of 20 beasts, with cards in several languages and a copy of the rules for these undead dogs. If you haven't got the rules (basicly they are superfast zombies) the rules for these fast and furious doggies can be read for free here.

They are fun to paint - lots of wounds and teeth, but in some places have very few details, the paws in particular. But once painted they really look vicious!

Guillotine Games describe the dogs like this: Ever wonder where all the dogs went? Well, now you know the answer. Eating infected cadavers turned them into the most feral zombies imaginable. They roam the streets in wild packs and can easily run down any prey. This box contains Zombie Dogz for the Zombicide board game, ready to stalk and shred any survivors unlucky enough to cross their path!

BTW, any comments on the background? I'm still playing around with these, and I can see I'll need to fix the overlap. Also the dark background seemed to soak up the light and made it difficult to get crisp pictures, for some reason. But I do think it looks better than what I've used so far...

All the best,
Kasper

Fun with zombies

Hello all,
forgot to post these pictures from wya back - shows what happens when I get bored with basing zombies :-):

Anyways, thanks for reading - if you found the post interesting then any comments or tips are greatly appreciated!
Until the next time; stay safe and prepare to slaughter Zombies!

All the best,
Kasper

Painting queue - toxic zombies, nurgle trolls and other treats

Hello all,

Just a quick 'hello' from the painting queue:

The toxic zombies, Nurgle Troll (well, its an old TSR troll, but disgusting enough) and a confused but angry orc, would all like to wish you a great weekend :-).

All the best,
Kasper

Review of some (very) cheap brushes - or how to enjoy painting with kids...

Hello all,

So while it is great fun to (finally) have the sons (and their friends) involved in painting miniatures, it is absolutely devastating on the brushes. So to stay mellow, I've tried out a few, cheap, alternative solutions and this post is my review of these cheap brushes from China.  

A great place to read more on the other side of the issue - the brilliant but truly expensive brushes - is here: http://arcanepaintworks.blogspot.dk/2013/12/all-about-brushes.html. 

While I would love brushes like these, I myself have so far only bought medium quality brushes (ca. 8-12$ each), but these are still a bit too expensive to be ruined by the kids after a few hours of painting (and trust me, they will be ruined quickly - according to my estimates by a six year old in half an hour and a nine year old will also, with time, destroy any brush).

So I've bought the following brushes, via Aliexpress, as a way of preserving my smile while the kids have fun painting minis.

The first are these:

Aliexpress description: "3pcs Tiny Liner Drawing Painting Pen Brush Acrylic Nail Art Detailed Design Tool set" (whatever that means...)

Three brushes, of various sizes, total prize (including the (free) shipping): 2.99$ or 1$ each.

Quality: Actually surprisingly nice brushes - I love the thick grip and the brush itself keeps its point fairly well.

This is after app. three hours worth of painting by a nine year old:

They have now given up their point, but each was able to paint two minis before quitting on us.

Verdict: I actually used the small one of these quite a bit and have found them to be respectable brushes (within their price range) and will definately consider purchasing more of these, particular at 1$ each.

The next brushes are these:

Aliexpress description: "12pcs Colorful Nail Art Brush, Design Brush Pen For Fine Details Tips Drawing Wholesale 4260".

A set of twelve "nail brushes", dirt cheap: 4.47$ for the set or 37 cents each!

Quality: Not great, but not that bad either. They are useful for blocking in colours and absolutely great for kids. They will with heavy use loose their point within hours, but each will give a kid ca. three hours of painting time and can afterwards be used for drybrushing or base painting. I must admit I've found myself reaching for these (the new ones) when needing pinpoint accuracy and at 37 cents each these are wonderful to have available.

This is after app. two hours of heavy-duty painting by a nine year old:

and by a six year old:

They are more or less destroyed - although they will be used for drybrushing etc - but at a price of 37 cents each, they have done their job.

Verdict: To be honest, I'll definately be buying a set more when these twelve are all gone - the possibility to have the kids, and their friends, paint minis without fearing for my favourite brushes is well worth their price, and I've found it really useful to have some cheap, adequate, and disposable brushes near at hand.

So, if you find yourself with kids who would like to paint and share "daddy's hobby", which is some of the best quality time possible, I really recommend buying some of these or similar brushes - they'll make your smile genuine rather than grusome :-).


All the best,
Kasper