First of all let me welcome those who are now following my blog and whom I haven’t already welcomed in reply to any comment you may have made.
Secondly let me thank all of you who have come back, and those who are viewing this for this first time welcome !
I’ve added some of my own photographs to this page, but as I’m no great shakes with a camera (or any technology for that matter) I can only hope that the results will improve with time.
With so much time on my hands whilst in hospital last year I took in every manufacturer of Zombie figures that I could find, Vampifan’s well laid out blog page, showing many manufacturers that I hadn’t even heard of was a great help with this.
The variation between manufacturers’ ranges and scope for figures for Zombie wargaming was as diverse as the number of manufacturers . Some had a range of maybe 8 figures, whilst others had more than 60 or so individuals in their ranges. Knowing what I did about Zombies (which at the time was next to nothing ) , I new I needed a horde ! I guessed about 250 individual figures would make a suitable sized horde and I would have to have to pick and choose from several manufacturers.
The manufacturers I chose, for various reasons, were Old Glory UK (60 figures in 3 packs); Zombie Smith’s “Zombacalypse” deal (28 figures in one deal); Cold War Minis (70 figures in another great deal, including some of my first survivors); Wargames Factory (30 figures in plastic – multipart assembly) and Mega Minis (48 figures in 6 pack deals).
| My "Horde" |
So I easily made my target of 250 without even blinking, admittedly a few of these were from the USA and I’m reluctant to order much from across the pond, (customs charges, postage [shipping] all tend to put me off, but I by-passed this problem by getting them sent to my sister in Canada, who delivered them to me in person in November!
There are many, many other ranges of Zombie figures out there and as I read more about the game and the Zombie genre in general, I knew I’d need a lot more figures other than just Zombies !
Here’s the ever growing list of what I would like to either add to my collection or that I’ve already got in my collection:
Civilians are a priority, to me at least, both of the unarmed variety (Zombie fodder) and the armed Survivor variety – I’ve got quite a few of both of these types, but you can never have enough it seems. A lot of my civilian figures have come from Black Cat Bases and include cops, gangers, shoppers, clowns etc.
The Authorities, not just the men in suits, but the Police, Swat, the Army Reserve and even emergency services are all on my list too! I’ve accumulated a lot of “suits”, a good sized uniformed police force and a large SWAT unit, but alas still no Army types, regulars or otherwise. Wargames Foundry’s “Street Violence” range has a diverse mix of survivors, SWAT, Police, Suits and others of which I have a fir few packs. I already know which figures I’d like for my regular army types, but that’s for a date in the future as I can’t justify adding to my current, ever-growing, lead mountain.
Themed Gangs, there are a lot of themed gangs out there too, from “Boyz in the Hood” to “Killer Klowns”, add in Bikers, Self-appointed Militias, Cannibals, Rockers, Cultists etc. and you have a whole new facet to add to the game, and even though not essential, I already have the basis of four of these gangs.
I haven’t given out any links to the figure manufactures I’ve mentioned but I have added a new page on figures (just click the tab at the top of the page) which gives the manufacturers web page and a quick view of their ranges.
As well as populating the streets I realised I needed to "populate" the roads too, so I've been buying and acquiring the odd vehicle, here and there, so here are some of my recent acquisitions:
| SUV with Wargames Foundry miniature (£1Poundland) |
| Convertibles with accessories ! (£1 each -Poundland) |
| 3 vehicles for £1 (Poundland) ! |
| Ariticulated lorry of unknown origin |
As you may have gathered from the quality of these shots I'm no great shakes as a photographer.
The model building in the background is my first attempt at a building for my zombie campaign and is intended as the fourcourt shop for a petrol station. The roof is a temporary one and the interior is all but done, it just needs a counter and a till to complete it. I'll attempt more photographs when its complete.
The lorry is a typical heavy goods vehicle, which with some weathering will be a good addition to my set-up. Where it came from nobody knows !