Pripyat intruder
15mm
I'm nuclear
I'm wild
I'm breaking up inside
A heart of broken glass defiled
Deep inside the abandoned child
To enter the Chernobyl Incident Exclusion Zone is forbidden. But some do it anyway, out of curiosity, desire for adventure, or to scavenge any remaining valuables. It's certainly a risky venture however; while radiation levels are now low enough that exposure doesn't mean certain death, there are other, more immediate perils lurking within...
This is an Alternative Armies figure with a bit of detail added to the rifle and gasmask (giving it an oddly spider-like appearance). The fences and sign are scratchbuilt, with model barbed wire.
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| "Good you are here, tovarisches! They are escaping!" |
Note: this figure and terrain are inspired by fiction like the PC game "S.T.A.L.K.E.R.", depicting the Exclusion Zone as a bleak, sinister, apocalyptic landscape full of savage, mutated horrors. While this is a cool fantasy, the real Zone is actually what many areas abandoned by humans rapidly become: a safe haven for wildlife and flora to flourish without disruption:
The Exclusion Zone can even be visited safely, without automatic weapons and creepy, grotty Soviet-surplus gasmasks, via professional guided tours that visit highlights like abandoned schools, parks, and even the plant itself.
Great job! I love the weathering on the sign.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Of course, the real signs I modeled it on are all in MUCH better shape, probably because somebody bothered to maintain them over the last... three decades 🤔. But where's the fun in painting that? 😄
DeleteReally cool job! 🤩
ReplyDeleteWas looking forward for such stuff, I am really into Stalker set up: so grim and dangerous. Ace work! 😉
Glad you like 🙂
DeleteI also just learned about a game called Zona Alfa, with a similar premise. I mean, I'll never play it, but it sounds interesting.
Great work on the mini and the terrain pieces!
ReplyDeleteThat's so nice! There's something unsettling about the whole vibe of the mini and the sign, it's so great
ReplyDeleteThis actually made me think of stalker, the Strugatskis' book, not the game (which I never had a chany to try out).
ReplyDeleteI guess that's a compliment. Love all that "hello intruder" , "comrade" et all the Russian language references, really added a lot, atlichno!
Every time I se stuff like that I deeply feel sad for them minis not being part of an actual game. You present the scene as if it was a battle report climax.
Sorry for not being active lately on the comments. Real life is like bummer everywhere.
Cheers pal!
I'm glad you like it Javi! your comment sent me down a rabbit hole... I'd never heard of "Roadside Picnic", the film made from it, or the fact that the film was novelized. And yet they're all so obviously related to this post. My supreme ignorance of science fiction outside of the anglosphere is glaring.
DeleteVery nicely done on the mini and terrain pieces. And yes, it's great to see nature thriving there again even if it's becoming rarer in other places as the years go by.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Yes... this specific case is an interesting one... the Korean DMZ is another human-free area that's like this.
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