Thick-skinned undead

Zombie Rhinoceros
28mm scale

Animal zombies... a philosophical mystery.  We know human zombies as mindless, bloodthirsty savages, reduced to a single drive: kill the living.  But when other animals are infected, do they become the same species of generically aggressive, flesh-rending creature?  Or is some vestige of their original nature preserved?

This is another Bears Head Miniature, received as a miscast freebie in my last order.

Since somebody asked, the basing is Milliput textured with an Instant Mold stamp of the bumpy privacy glass from our bathroom door :D

The last sight of many an African zombie-hunter...

Bear Market

It's always exciting when some good mail arrives.  Of course, as an adult your only mail generally is bills, and things you ordered yourself... But an order from Philip Hynes' Bear's Head miniatures is exceptional!  This is the output of a couple of unique Kickstarters plus his regular, fantastic catalogue.

Received: 28mm "Mother of Spiders", Nancy the Gnome Barmaid, an orangutan, a fox... and Narthoks the sci-fi Beholder!

Bonus: resin miscasts which Philip sent me for free: a zombie rhino, bigfoot, bear, and bartender Narthoks!  A bit of TLC and putty should be enough to make these guys look great too!

 I'm currently finishing up an unrelated craft project, which I'll share soon, but I can't wait to get painting these. 

The Parasitoid Undead!

Worm Zombies

15 mm

Following infection by Gordius anthropophagus, a human victim slips into a days-long coma, only to awake ravenously hungry.  After days of savage, indiscriminate feeding, the higher nervous functions break down and the head lolls back as the parasitoid worm typically erupts from the neck or face.  The host body lurches to its feet again under its rudimentary control and the worm whips around voraciously seeking new hosts to inject its eggs into.

I was inspired to make these by thinking about the fungal zombies from"The Last of Us" and real-life horsehair worms, which are basically the hideous parasitoids that insects would make horror films about if they could.  As it is, their sheer horribleness is well-documented on YouTube.  Figures are Khurasan's "The Dead" and "The Raging Dead".

Kooky Tanuki!

Traveling Tanuki
15 mm scale

Tanuki, or raccoon dogs, are a common subject of Japanese folklore.  They're good-natured, even foolish trickster spirits capable of shape-shifting and disguise.  Traditionally, tanuki were often depicted in humorous art, wielding their preposterously large and prehensile scrotums as tents, hats, fishing nets, and many other useful items. While not including this particular feature, this sculpt from 15mm.co.uk. was still a cute, fun project to quickly paint up.

---

And a sneak peek at a project I've just started.  It's what I believe is a... unique take on the "parasite" zombie concept.  Figures are from Khurasan.

Dead Snow

Nazi Zombies
15 mm

After finishing the Untoten Soldaten for my brother, I liked them so much I decided I wanted some too!  I gave these ones snow bases, obviously inspired by the Norwegian zombie film Død Snø (Dead Snow).

Grr Argh!

(Hey, apparently the whole film is on YouTube... for now.  It's probably the second bloodiest zombie film I've ever seen, I think Peter Jackson's Dead Alive wins first prize.)

Untoten Soldaten - finished

Nazi Zombies
15 mm
 

Corporal Bauer huddled inside the ruined bakery, listening for any hint the hideous creatures outside might have detected his presence.  The scratching and moaning continued to come from the street outside however, interspersed with wet sounds he was sure were his dead squadmates being dismembered and consumed.  After a day of heavy fighting, they had been caught by surprise, by what seemed to be a group of their own Waffen-SS... but empty-eyed men soaked with blood and stinking of death, attacking with bare hands and teeth.

A tiny scuffing noise made him look frantically around the debris-strewn room.  In one dark corner, a British soldier crouched, a heavy coating of grime and mud making him almost invisible.  Bauer spasmodically clutched his Mauser, but the Englishman only brought a finger to his lips, and with his other hand, held up a cloth bag bulging with heavy, egg-shaped objects.  Bauer stared for a moment, then glanced down at his own belt, where a single grenade remained...

---

It took me way too long to do these, but some days I feel like a zombie myself. I think I'll keep them to admire for a while before the go in the mail to my brother...  Anyway, you can check out a much, much more impressive 28mm WW2 zombie project, entitled "Don't Fraternize with Germans" at Anatoli's Game Room.  Amazing!

Nazi Z's in progress

The Obersturmführer:

The mooks:

So I guess they're Waffen-SS, for that extra dose of evil :O Finishing the leader (do zombies have leaders?) has definitely helped motivate me to work on the rank and file (all 5 of them, ooh!). So far so good, though I was hoping the uniforms would look "field grey" which is actually more green. Maybe I can fix that with the highlighting.

Untoten Soldaten

Zombie Nazis
15 mm

These guys will be a birthday gift for my brother, so if you are reading this M___, I guess you spoiled the surprise! Anyway, $11 got me a good handful of these from Rebel Minis, and they're going to be fun to paint. They're pretty cute little sculpts, I like the guy dragging his rifle and the missing-arm/carrying-an-arm pair (I based those two together).

The gift minis will have dirt-n-bushes bases to match M___'s Flames of War Panzergrenadier army... but if I ever get to paint some for myself, they'll have winter bases... Død Snø style :D

For my own future reference, FoW base sizes are:
Small: 1 1/4" x 1"
Medium: 2" x 1 1/4"
Large: 2 1/2" x 2"