Challenge update

I'm immersed in the painting challenge and am doing well, top of leader board tomorrow (hopefully).
Some VBCW German sailors from Tsuba miniatures

I have received some ruins and a graveyard from Rendera and once I get a minute I will be invading Lindisfarne.

I have completed my Zombie collection and they will be taken on holiday at Easter for a couple of drunken games

This week has been sad with the death of David Bowie. His music was introduced to me by my Uncle Robert who died aged only 50, 5 years ago. This song reminds me of him

Secret Santa and the Battle of Rose Cottage

My Secret Santa present was the garden set from Warbases and its great. I painted it up

I decided to use it in a small skirmish with a Ted and Hilda Brown and their grand daughter Daisy

They are armed with shotguns and a chainsaw (Daisy is a tree surgeon obviously), and they are defending their home against Zombies - of course

I used Akula's rules which are card activated and fun to play.

The battle started and Daisy and Hilda advanced to the gate and Daisy "kills" a Zombie but Hilda misses with her shot.

 However the next move the ace of Spades is drawn and all the Zombies advance knocking over the picket fence, causing the Browns to retreat.

The Zombies advance again. .

 Daisy takes out another and Ted blows the head off another

 Bravely Daisy advances but another ace of spades and the zombies swarm forward surrounding her and engaging Hilda. Hilda kills her Zombie and Daisy is a woman possessed.

The 1sr zombie scores a hit but only rips Daisy's skirt but Daisy kills it. The 2nd zombie rips Daisy's shirt before she kills it. At this rate she will be naked before she is dead. Daisy kills another 2 zombies and is now channeling River Tamm

The zombies advance again and overwhelm Daisy and then Ted and finally Hilda

The Zombies win but it was a fun hour.

It's been a sad day for music with the death of Lemmy, He was from the same suburb as me and while we are name dropping Slash's grand parents lived next door to my grandparents. Stoke has a short but illustrious list of great musicians and Robbie Williams.

You may have missed the death of John Bradbury, the drummer in The Specials and to be honest I much preferred them so this is the song

Sacrificing Students to Odin

I've get bloody freshers flu, still. It's just a horrible cold that has lasted 3 weeks given to me by 1 of 40,000 students that arrived from all over the planet at the start of term. I've threatened to sacrifice the culprit to Odin if I don't get better, If I can't find them then it's whoever comes bottom in the next test. I think that's fair.
Also my bath is broken and there is no localised shutoff for the tap so I have to turn it off at the stop cock which will create hell with the heating supply. Showers don't cut it when you have a cold.
Rant over.
I have managed to do some more painting in my dilapidated state. A couple of Hasslefree figures for frostgrave

an out of focus apprentice

A big buxom warrior, think we dated once

There are also a couple of zombie fighters from Northstar and studio miniatures

This guy is obviously deranged and thinks he's Robin Hood with a catapult that fires explosive arrows and dustbin lid shield

He started out as a Yakusa thug but is now a surfer

This represents my current mood

Daisy Chainsaw

Just a quick post today, my phone is playing up so just a couple of photos of completed figs. The 1st is a zombie fighter from Hasslefree

I like how she came out and will obviously be called Daisy.

The 2nd figure is a simple conversion of a 19th Century officer from a Northstar luck bag into Lord Percy's Butler

Before

After (base need finsihing

I've also finished the latest Last Kingdom book - Warriors of the Storm - by Bernard Cornwell. It's a cracking read. i'm also enjoying the TV series

This song fits the bill nicely

A big boy did it and ran away

In the last episode our plucky hero started to build a big hill from polystyrene and plaster cloth. Tips from the manufacturer state that for best durability use a mix of PVA glue and water to soak the bandage before using. However the 10 minute setting period took 3 days. So I built 2 more terrain boards and tried to paint some zombies in grey scale. This worked OK but was more grey than grey scale.
First up the zombies

These were very quick - only on hour to paint all 12 and as a horde I think will look fine. I followed the idea of having a splash of colour to set off the grey, in this case red for blood or green and blue for the ties of the office worker zombies.
Next up the terrain boards. These are 60cm by 45cm  6mm MDF which means I can use 4 on my 120 by 90 playing area or 8 on my larger board, although not being square may lead to some issues.
The first board is a wadi or canyon or, well you know. Although using same technique as the hill this dried quickly.

The dried board was painted with brown and yellow water soluble paint and poster paint. Then dry brushed. Sand was then added and the whole board was washed with thinned down PVA tinted with burnt sienna ink to give it a reddish hue.

The next board is a simple large scale walled compound with 4cm high walls made from polystyrene sheet pinned and glued in place and covered in plaster cloth. Once finished with whitish walls and a more interesting base this can be used as a compound from any age if filled with appropriate buildings, either as part of a battle field of the whole play area.

Overall it's been a fairly productive week as I have been prepping figures to free up space in the to do cupboard. I've even had to hang terrain in carrier bags in the spare wardrobe such is my lack of space at the moment.

And finally Too Much Too Young

Quite Ugly One Morning

So on Saturday morning I treated my lawn with weed and feed type product to reduce the number of daisies and dandelions and rescue the tired looking grass. On Sunday morning I awoke to a lawn full of daisies, dandelions and blackened grass. Not the effect I was looking for at all.
So I had a full English breakfast with North Staffordshire oatcakes, savory pancakes that you wrap the bacon and eggs in and the greatest culinary delight that there is. Sated and with a much higher cholesterol level, I decided to see if I'd got my painting mojo back. I'd only painted a few figures in the past month and they were only OK, see a previous blog.
Northstar had been been offering lucky bags on sale, 20 random figures from their Osprey rules ranges (Ronin, Fistful of Kung Fu etc) plus a free Sumo figure for £10. I love these lucky bags as there are very few figures I can't use, so I brought 2. Lots of Samurai, some pirates, street gang bangers and some Victorian adventures that I can use in pulp, colonial and VBCW.
First up a zombie fighting street gang. Destiny is a Hasslefree Foxy Brown tribute, Big Francis is one of the sumo figures with a shaved head and a big chain. The other 2, Delroy and George, are built using bodies from zombie figures with heads etc from the bits box.

Next up is the other sumo, the tattoos on his chest are supposed to be red skulls but the look like strawberries so he shall be henceforth be known as Ichigo (think it's Japanese for Strawberry but it could be for soup)

There were a couple of cultists in the box so a gave one a glowing torch and 1 a pick. Not sure what to do with these but will look the part in a zombie game or even in VBCW meets IHMN.

Finally a couple of footmen for Lord Percy in VBCW

I'm  definitely starting to get my mojo back although it's still a little too much about finishing the figure than getting it right (see above).
The blog title is from a Christopher Brookmyre book and if you like dark comedy thrillers written by a furious Scotsman I can strongly recommend his work.
And finally a modern classic, music didn't end in 1981, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cu4Rr07bgVQ

TTFN

Apocalypse Survivors

Thank you for all you kind comments and help. I don't intend to publish this frequently but I'd done some stuff.
After 3 weeks of not picking up a brush I'm back in the groove. I have been receiving a steady stream of parcels since the end of the Painting Challenge to rebuild my depleted lead mountain. I told myself I would wait until the Border Reiver show in September but there was so much good stuff that I couldn't resit.
Top of the list were some Hasslefree post apocalyptic survivors and a big ass box of zombies, which I will try and paint in grey scale. First of all  the survivors, these are as usual all beautifully sculpted and cast. They were a joy to paint and overall I'm pretty happy with these, although there is too much rubble on the bases and once again the photography leaves something to be desired, I need a proper camera, tripod and lights, oh and some natural ability.
I am somewhat of a failed perfectionist, my desire to achieve perfection is imperfect. The result of this is a could do better attitude, which I think is more constructive. Don't do resting on my laurels, you end up sitting on dead plants. Anyway enough rambling and on to the figures.
First up the veterans

Vic - hardened helicopter pilot

Laurie - channelling Katniss Everdeen

Next up the cheerleader gang

Summer - cheerleader from Rydell High

Eve - Lara Croft wannabe in a Royal Academy T shirt

Kirsten - another of the cheerleader gang

 Morgan - mod girl 

I'm planning to use Akula's Rules ( http://akulasrules.blogspot.co.uk/) with some RPG tweaks. I've still got a slack handful of survivors to paint and then on to zombies

Finally to end on the best record ever made https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAtUw6lxcis&feature=player_embedded