Zomtober 2025 week 3: a brief diversion…

 Moving away slightly from the Silver Bayonet theme this week, I present a zombie cowboy:

Apologies for the picture being so dark on the face, this was hurriedly taken this morning while it was starting to rain! Here’s a WIP pic from last night that I sent a buddy that proves that I painted the face:

This is an odd entry this month, as I have literally no use for a zombie cowboy (although I do own a copy of Dracula’s America), but it was one of those times where inspiration struck while converting some other zombies, as the Wargames Atlantic heads with cowboy hats were so cool I couldn’t resist! The rest of him is straight Great Escape Games Gunfighter, which are such beautiful clean sculpts that they are a real pleasure to paint!

I also painted the back too, as is traditional.

To keep things on the Silver Bayonet theme though, I also painted this Ghostly Norman Horseman:

One of the nice things about reaching an age and having been in the hobby for a while is that I’ve hit the point where if inspiration strikes me, I’ve probably got something in the backlog that would be suitable (which is handy, as otherwise I’ll order new miniatures, and that initial rush of enthusiasm may well have waned by the time they get here). This singular knight, for example, was thrown in during a trade made on the Lead Adventure Forum at least fifteen years ago, if I recall correctly.

Here’s the other side. He’s come out a little bit chalky (my pot of GW white is basically a globby brick at this point), but done is done, and he’ll look snazzy enough on the table if I ever get round to finishing my Silver Bayonet warband. You’d think this is a three step paint job, but as ever, I made things more complicated than usual by drybrushing several successively lighter layers onto the grey base coat in the hopes that would then show through the ghostly layer, but in hindsight I probably would have gotten much the same result just washing it onto a flat base coat, but that’s just how it goes sometimes. 

Finishing these two miniatures brings the Tally to:

27 vs 247 = -220

Next - more zombies!

Zomtober 2025 week 2: roamin’ remains

 Roaming, like Roman, right?

Another themed offering for Zomtober, this time some zombified romans:

I know, technically they’re meant to be skeletal Romans, but this is what I’ve got.

Like last week’s Vikings, they’re a mashup between some Warlord veteran sprues (handily, they come with campaign worn and battered equipment) and a mix of bits from the Wargames Atlantic zombie sprue and the Frostgrave Cultists. Some parts are straight swaps, while others got spliced to attach zombie arms to Roman shoulder pads. Yes, I know, the Centurion’s sword isn’t historical, but I figured that it would help him stand out a bit more on the table. 

I’d planned to do a few more figures with shields, but didn’t get round to it, which is probably for the best as putting the aged transfer onto the one I had was a nightmare last night. I’m not sure if it was an old transfer, a bad transfer, or just the fact that I only know where my Micro Set is (the Sol is probably somewhere in a bad in the garage), but it wasn’t plain sailing. There were white edges, clear bits that weren’t looking very clear, and one side that kept lifting, but with some cunning repainting, judicious application of varnish to try and stick it together, and them some hefty (perhaps too hefty) weathering, it looks just about palatable, which is the low bar that I shoot for. Speaking of a low bar, don’t look too closely at their glowing eyes, they’re a lot better looking at arms length I promise.

Here’s the back too! Just about visible is the one Roman where I cut off a leg and twisted it to give that classic dragging leg zombie look (which I think was a tip in a Peachy Tips video), but for ease and speed I skipped it on the rest, and I think they look just fine.

Painting these brings the Tally to:

25 vs 247 = -222

Now, if I was a smart guy, I’d have rationed these out and posted one a week to hit the Zomtober target of weekly posts, but that’s not how I roll - and to be frank, I’m also quite enjoying that I’m well on the way to doubling my total painted for the year so far in just one month… Next: more zombies, I hope!

Zomtober 2025 week 1: historical edition

Well, to a certain degree of historical!

With the release of the latest Silver Bayonet expansion featuring the rise of undead from Britain’s history, I figured that was the perfect prompt for a themed Zomtober this year, so I present my first offering, some zombie vikings:

They’re made from a mashup of Gripping Beast vikings, Wargames Atlantic zombies and Frostgrave  cultist parts (an idea shamelessly stolen from someone else on a Facebook group, as I’d forgotten that they had some nice undead bits). Some feature straight part swaps, others have had parts spliced from two sprues to make it look like there’s a zombie arm wearing armour, for example. If I were to do it again, I’d probably splice all of the arms, as the ones without chainmail on one arm look a little uneven, but it’s not so jarring that I wouldn’t use them in a game. 

Looking at these pictures as I write this post, I realise you can’t really see the shield, which is probably for the best - I went a little overboard weathering it (and the sword, for that matter), and so had to go back and freshen them up a little first thing this morning before everyone else in the house got up. 

With regards to the Silver Bayonet, these guys are likely to stand in for quite a few enemy types in the new book (Danish, Norwegian, and even Scott potentially), as I received my book after I placed an order for some sprues, and if I’d had it before I would have probably ordered up some generic dark ages types to zombiefy! On the other hand, I already have those nice generic zombies that Gripping Beast sell painted up, so I can probably cover most bases between them all. I even used the same glowing eye colour on these ones too, so I could pretend that I’d planned that all along!

Painting these (as well as bringing an end to my months long painting drought) brings the Tally to:

19 vs 247 = -228

Next: more zombies, hopefully!