This month's themed attempt to whittle away at my 'tower of temptations past' will actually focus upon my completing a number of 40mm resin models sculpted by Nikola Stankovic and 3D printed by "Encounter Terrain". I've actually been slowly working away at this growing range over the past few weeks, but thought entering a few horror-themed figures into the "Zomtober" challenge would give the project a bit of an adrenalin boost.
Now admittedly, "Doctor Who" isn't really the first science fiction genre which leaps to mind when people think about the living dead. However, I did think a handful of zed-like Cybermen might fit the bill at a push. In addition, I will be applying my brush to a few allies/foes which come from outside the BBC television programme, such as Ash Williams ("Evil Dead"), Frankenstein's Monster, Jason Voorhees ("Friday The Thirteenth"), the Wolfman, and Michael Myers ("Halloween").
Alongside these goals I'm also planning on contributing to Dave Stone's "Apocalypse Me" challenge over on his excellent "Wargames Terrain Workshop" blog. Recently, I have been attending a few local weekend Toy Fairs, and been marvelling at the incredible range of vehicles produced by "Mattel" for their "Hot Wheels" range. Now, whilst I do own the original version of "Gaslands" by "Osprey Wargames", I've never felt inclined to get into the 'Car Wars' world until now... thanks largely to spotting Fast Eddie's "Buns Of Steel" food truck.
Truth to be told, I still don't intend to play "Gaslands". However, I do already have some homemade space-fight rules I intend to adapt into a collaborative car game where a pair of drivers compete across several rounds for the infamous Juice Cup. Resultantly, I have bought the Implements of Carnage One plastic weapon/riders/vehicles kit from "North Star Military Figures", re-based/primed my impulse purchase, and armed it with couple of machine-guns so it can be fielded as Juice Cup sponsor Bob's Burgers.
Progress wise, the last month has been my best September by far, and definitely helped get me back on track to improving upon last year's annual output. I had admittedly been hoping to finish a few more "Games Workshop" models from their "The Lord Of The Rings" range, but was very pleased to complete all the Killbots by "Crooked Dice Game Design Studio" which I own instead. Indeed, combined with the start of my "Corporate Wars" project, the Lincolnshire-based manufacturer's figures have dominated my interest over the past four weeks.
Looking ahead, I can't see this enthusiasm declining any time soon, especially as I'm finding the late Jim Bowen's futuristic sculpts a nice and straightforward subject to pigment whenever I get fed up 'picking out' the intricate details on my "Horus Heresy" Sons of Horus traitor space marines. Furthermore, I expect to see quite a few 40mm scale 3D printed miniatures hitting the tabletop as I finally approach owning enough painted models to play a few skirmish games - potentially using the rule-set "Space Station Zero" by "Snarling Badger Studios"...
Hot Wheels? Another curveball. Gaslands has always intrigued me so very interested to see how your burger van (?) turns out! If Mad Max can have dudes with flame thrower guitars on bungee roles on their vehicles I am sure a burger is fine!
Space Station Zero? Interested to hear your thoughts. Hopefully it has been proof read and has less errors than their first rule set!
As Dave says, using Cybermen for zombies is an interesting and good idea; they may be mostly metal and plastic but they've got the zombie "kill anything that isn't us" mentality :-)
As for Gaslands, or at least converting toy cars, whatever you do don't look on Etsy for bits as I can't be responsible for you shelling out even more money LOL!
I reckon Cybermen would be an interesting take on Zomtober Simon, good luck with this months focus challenge to finnish off some of the mountain.