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Turn on, tune in, drop out

December 18, 2009

With the temperatures even here in Southern Finland dropping to a frisky -15°C, indoor activities are more than welcome. Movies are great, painting is fun and games are awesome. Despite all that stuff, I’m always more or less on the lookout for anything interesting, and it occasionally pays off.

Tonight I was delighted to run into something I’ve never even thought about: zombie-themed radio theatre. Radio theatre’s always had a kind of a mysterious soft spot in my heart. Having never really understood it as a kid growing up in the 80s and 90s, I’ve only recently come to understand its potential. Like a good book, it evokes the imagination with a combination of dialogue and sound effects, which makes for an experience very different from the one offered by movies for example. It’s nice to see this art form kept alive in these modern internet times. In this case, we’re talking about a free podcast.

We’re Alive is a pretty traditional setup. Small riots turn into a massive catastrophe, and small people – in this case a group of three soldiers – try to survive in all the surrounding chaos. As they go, they meet and pick up other survivors, leading to all kinds of drama.

In my opinion, the drama is acted out well enough, even if we’re not talking Hollywood quality. I especially like the actor doing the narration, but the others pull their load too, the actors managing to build their characters up within the confines of radio drama. The dialogue is solid enough not to make the listener wince, and the story – even if it repeats a lot of clichés of the zombie genre – makes for atmospheric and suspenseful listening. Of course, since we’re not talking about a massive budget, you’re going to have to suspend disbelief a bit and just enjoy We’re Alive like you would an old fashioned ghost story. Just let your imagination fill in the blanks.

The story is usually updated every Monday, and has been running since May 2009. Every episode is around 10-20 minutes long, which is just about right. The length is also perfect in sparking that “maybe I’ll listen to just one more” feeling, which suckers me in every time.

Listen to We’re Alive at http://thezombiepodcast.com.

Posted in Zombies | Leave a Comment »

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Zombie Outbreak Simulator

December 14, 2009

Here’s a bit of zombie fun for all you fans of the undead. Binary Space is a Flash game developer, and they’re working on a game called Class 3 Outbreak, with a release coming in early 2010. Rather cleverly using Google Maps, the game is an RTS (Real-Time Strategy) game, where the player uses a meagre police force to try and stop a vicious zombie outbreak.

Binary Space have already released the Zombie Outbreak Simulator, which is a sandbox game previewing Class 3 Outbreak. It’s simple and fun. Just set the number of zombies, the infection time, the number of armed civilians and policemen etc, and watch zombies consume Washington DC.  Despite it’s simplicity, it’s strangely attractive and addictive. I often found myself filling in small narratives, such as when a very industrious policeman put down around 50 zombies in the streets of a residential area, or when a bunch of zombies stormed a baseball field full of people. I also particularly liked my own  28 Days Later scenario, in which I set the zombies’ speed to “very fast” and the infection time to 1 second. Fun was had.

Click on the link below to try out the simulator.

http://www.class3outbreak.com/zombie-outbreak-simulator/

By the way, I noticed that my ad-blocking software for Firefox blocked the game (not really surprising, there is a lot of ad content along with the game), so you might need to disable yours on the game page, or at least create a filter exception.

Posted in News, Video games, Zombies | 2 Comments »

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Hired Hitmen by Foundry – a review

December 12, 2009

My Underworld project is giving me ample opportunity to review all the lovely new models I’ve bought, and next up is a pack of heavily armed gunmen, namely Foundry’s Street Violence pack Hired Hitmen. As some of you may know, I’m using these minis as modern vampires, giving them the trademark black clothing and very pale skin.

Like all of Foundry’s Street Violence packs, there are five models – in this case one female and four males. Sculpting is nice overall, with good and characterful facial detailing, flowing trench coats and solid posing. There is just one problem.

I don’t usually complain a lot about my miniatures. Like most sensible people, I buy models that I like so there’s usually not that much to fault. That’s the case here, too, except for the atrocious mould lines on these miniatures. While I’m not averse to spending a bit of time to file and screape off mould lines and such, on these models it was a chore. I must’ve spent between 10-20 minutes on each of them with a selection of knives and files to get them to a paintable state and even then I had to (read: ran out of patience) leave some lines on in hard to reach places and on hair in places. The moulds have apparently been very misaligned, and if these hadn’t come from a trusted seller in an official Foundry blister pack, I’d seriously be suspecting a recaster. Then again this isn’t by far the first time I’ve received faulty castings from Foundry, as miniatures almost regularly arrive with missing thumbs or gun barrels, or with my favourite: a mould line with thick flash running right across a model’s face. It’s a shame that such wonderful models are let down by sloppy casting.

With that off my chest, it’s on with the miniatures!

Model #1 – Gabriel wears a suit under a long trenchcoat. His pose suggests that he’s either keeping watch or moving towards a corner, holding what seems to be a G36assault rifle. The model is ok, but it’s exactly that. Ok, nothing fancy nor too characterful.

Model #2 – Ivor Trobsky carries a light machine gun, and wears a fur-lined trenchcoat over his suit, meaning that he could probably be painted as the most heavily armed pimp ever. The model is pretty static, however, and the copy I received has an awful mold misalignment screwing his head up somewhat.

Model #3 – Valerian is cool. The combination of shades, four long braids of hair and a massive arsenal (an AK47, an MP5K and a grenade launcher. Yes, a grenade launcher.) somehow make her seem, I don’t know..unstable? She certainly looks like she could level a city block. She wears a sweater like Leon’s under a business suit.

Model #4- Leon looks somewhat menacing (or like an evil wargamer) with his bald head, moustache and beard combination. He’s leaning slightly forward and to the side, indicating either movement or just a very aggressive posture. He carries an MP5 with a silencer attached, and wears a ribbed turtleneck sweater under his coat. Leon just might be my favourite in the pack, although it’s a close race with the next guy in line.

Model #5 – Ian McIntyre has the appearance of an elegant gentleman, with a suit and an executive haircut. Combine this with a sniper rifle, and you have a classic modern day assassin. Ian’s competing with Leon for the title of nicest model in pack.

Like all Street Violence packs, Hired Hitmen costs €17.15, which amounts to a little under €3.50 per model. It’s not that bad a price for quality wares, but since in this case the quality was dubious, I’d have been pretty disappointed had I not happened to buy these for the measly price of €6.50 for the whole pack.

Overall verdict: These people appear to be solid professionals. Their business-like attire attests to this, as well as their fairly heavy and sophisticated weaponry. While I use them as Underworldish vampires, there’s a ton of other uses for them as well. As the name suggests, they’re excellent as hitmen, but could serve as organised crime or corporate operatives just as easily. However, if  you have a chance to pick these up in person, do so and check the casting quality to spare you from the chore of crunching through tons of mouldlining.

As I’ve mentioned before, Foundry has some pretty terrible fixed p&p rates, so you’ll probably get these cheaper from a retailer. The German MiniaturicuM is a good choice for EU residents.

Posted in Miniature reviews, Miniatures, Vampires/Werewolves | Tagged | 1 Comment »

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Even more upcoming zombie goodness

December 3, 2009

I now officially declare Europe as the sovereign of the Zombie Movie Kingdom. As if Shaun of the Dead and Rec (and most probably Rec 2) weren’t enough, here are three more to whet your appetite for undead action.

First up is Zombies and Cigarettes, a Spanish movie. If there ever was a stereotypical name for a European zombie movie, this would be it. The movie looks very entertaining, with normal people instead of action heroes caught up in the situation.

Then there’s Mutants, a French one. Don’t let the name fool you, it’s a zombie movie. Is this a Danny Boyle thing again? Can’t tell much from the trailer, but from the few IMDb reviews, it seems to have a bit of psychological thriller in it too.

Now, I apologize for the mental image, but the following trailer of the French movie La Horde pretty much made me wet my pants in excitement.

What can I say? Just one word:

AWESOME.

Posted in Movie trailers, Movies, News, Zombies | 5 Comments »

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Bargain Zombies

November 27, 2009

Every now and then you run into something that is simply so AWESOME (notice all caps), that you can’t justify passing it by. For me this something – or the latest in line – was a t-shirt that I found on Threadless, named The Horde. It’s designed by Aled Lewis, and features the wonderful image below of a lone survivor stalling the inevitable. That’s just so amazingly AWESOME that I had to order two. The price? 6€ each, due to Threadless’ holiday sale.

Click to go to Threadless

I suggest you browse through the Threadless site. There are loads of cool t-shirts and hoodies available, and The Horde isn’t the only one available with a zombie theme, check out Zombie Food and The Red for two fine examples.

I haven’t made up my mind on the Wargames Factory plastic zombies. They look okay(ish) in some pictures, and utterly terrible in others. Some people in the hobby are calling them the most AWESOME thing since the last one, while others are stomping them to the ground for all their faults.

Being a zombie (and a miniature) blogger, I felt that I simply had to know first hand. With Wargames Factory having their Black Friday free shipping day, I put in an order for two zombie packs. With the Euro so strong vs. USD, the price for the 48 miniatures amounted to a little over 20€. If they’re truly horrible, it’s not a big loss, and if they’re ok, I just bought me 48 miniatures for under 0.50€ each. It’s not like I have other miniatures waiting to get painted, right?

Click to go to Wargames Factory

This should give me my zombie fix for a while, and for a pittance too. I’m slowly getting back on track with my painting as well, so I hope to get back to more frequent posting in the near future!

Posted in Miniatures, Zombies | 6 Comments »

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Mastiffs by Sgt. Major Miniatures – a review

November 9, 2009
English mastiff

An English mastiff

EDIT February 14 2013: As the Vendel lines were acquired by Sgt. Major Miniatures, I’ve changed the title of the post. These are the mastiffs originally produced by Vendel Miniatures.

First, a few words about mastiffs (courtesy of Wikipedia):

With a massive body, broad skull and head of generally square appearance, it is one of the largest dog breeds in terms of mass. Though the Irish Wolfhound and Great Dane are taller, they are not nearly as robust.[…]When in 1415 Sir Peers Legh was wounded in the Battle of Agincourt, his Mastiff stood over and protected him for many hours through the battle.[…]The breed is characteristically innately good natured, calm, easygoing, and surprisingly gentle for its size.

This is the dog we’re talking about in this review, or rather, miniature renditions of the breed. I’ve always been a fan of mastiffs, and the idea of actual dogs of war in general. There’s simply something endearing in the mental image of a pack of 100+ kg dogs slamming into basically whoever they want to slam into.

I’ve been drooling over the mastiffs produced by Vendel Miniatures for years. I’ve never really had a use for them, which has kept me from making an order. Enter a friend about to start an RPG campaign and in need of a few guard dogs and hell hounds and what do you know, I’m in possession of seven mastiffs, three of which I’ll eventually keep after painting. Yes, seven, even if Vendel’s site says six. I don’t know if this is just a lucky accident, but I’m not complaining!

There is a variety of poses in my seven mastiffs. Three of the dogs are in fairly neutrally posed, either walking or standing. Two are in more aggressive postures, with one growling and the other reared on its hind legs, leaping at an opponent. The final two would be at home in dioramas: one is sitting and the other laying down, seemingly relaxed. Though you might not expect it from dog models, the miniatures have a lot of character, and the two aggressive ones for example are positively ferocious. Vendel mastiffs are available both with and without collars, these are of the former type. The mastiffs mostly fit on 25mm round bases, As usual, the models below have been given a black ink wash to show the detail better. Larger versions open in a new tab.

Mastiffs 1

Click for a larger version

Mastiffs 2

Click for a larger version

The sculpts are very nice indeed. The miniatures are well proportioned and really look like the animals they’re supposed to portray, which is sadly far too rare in dog miniatures. They’re large and robust, really conveying the feeling of huge dogs well. There were some mould lines and flash present, but nothing terrible. I cleaned up the seven models in less than ten minutes.

Both the subject and the variety of poses makes this pack useful to a large crowd. As said, I’m painting some of these as hell hounds and some as regular dogs. While my friend will keep the hellish variety, my dogs are off to do some zombie/vampire/werewolf-hunting as well as ending up as police dogs and fighting dogs for gangsta gangs and the like. Historical gamers will find a lot of uses for these as well, as they were regularly used as fighting dogs. The collarless variety would make fora  great pack of wild dogs for post-apoc gaming and such. As the size comparison shot below shows, the mastiffs go well with other 28mm minis. Remember, these are big dogs.

Mastiff comparison

Humans from left to right: Copplestone Castings, Hasslefree, em4

Overall verdict: They’re mastiffs. No, seriously, if this is what you’re looking for, look no further. The ratio of price to quality is excellent, and there’s a ton of uses for big dogs in miniature. The only small gripe I could find is that not all of the dogs fit snugly on a 25mm round base, but this shouldn’t be a deal breaker. If you need them, buy them. If you don’t need them, make up a reason to do so. You can find the miniatures here for $10.50.

Posted in Miniature reviews, Miniatures | Tagged , | 2 Comments »

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FU-UK Zombies now available

November 3, 2009

The web community Frothers Unite! UK (FU-UK for short) hosted a sculpting competition earlier this year, with the ever-so-lovely theme of  “Zombie Apocalypse”. The winning – as well as runner-up  – entries are now available for purchase at the FU-UK web shop. These are all great sculpts, with two of the three winners sculpted by Sylvain Quirion. The sets are dirt cheap as well, with the winners set costing £7 and the runners-up set costing £18. Both prices include international p&p. You also have the option to purchase both sets for £25 and receive a special zombiefied version of Col. Marbles, FU-UK’s…Colonel.

Seriously, you have no reason whatsoever not to buy these, so click on the images below for more information!

FU-UK winners

FU-UK runners-up

Posted in Miniatures, News, Zombies | 5 Comments »

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Left 4 Dead 2 demo out

October 29, 2009

The Left 4 Dead 2 demo is now playable to people who have preordered it. That would not include me, with my poorly student budget. I can, of course, console myself with the following trailer/opening demo for the game.

And man oh man, that is some sweet stuff. To the people that created the atrocious – and appropriately named – Resident Evil: Degeneration movie: This is how you do CGI zombie action. Oh, and this is how you do dialogue as well. Oh, and characters.

If only we could get a feature-length film of this.

Posted in News, Video games, Zombies | 4 Comments »

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So, you seen these?

October 15, 2009

To make up for the lack of updates lately, I’m going to do something useful for a change. “What’s that?” I hear you ask. In reply I will introduce you to some movies you just may have missed, and might keep missing if it weren’t for a blog post such as this one. Not all of these are zombie movies per se, but are close enough to be a part of the genre.

Pontypool tells the story of a small group of people trapped in a radio station building, when a strange mental plague strikes. It turns out that the plague is caused by certain words in the English language, making the life of radio journalists precarious indeed. While the film boasts some amazingly obscure and zany theories about the incident, it has a few very good actors in it. All in all it’s a fun little film and well worth watching if you’re in for some zombie-ish entertainment.

Mulberry Street is a movie about rats. Or rather, people getting bitten by rats and turning into bloodthirsty ratmonsters. Need I say more? Mulberry Street will certainly not win prestigious culture awards, but it is pretty fun, with decent acting and well-executed gore. And I liked the way no character was really safe in the movie. Oh, and the ratmen were actually pretty nasty and repulsive.

Last of the Living is a wonderful, low-budget Australian movie that centers around a group of three friends as they make their way through the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse. The effects and makeup aren’t by any means top-notch, but where this movie excels is in its characters and acting. I sympathized immensely with the characters in the film, and as this is what usually makes or breaks any movie – zombies or no zombies – I found myself liking Last of the Living a lot. Sure, there are clichés and silly things aplenty, but they couldn’t defeat the attraction of the characters. The movie’s pretty funny, too. Not really on par with Shaun of the Dead, but it did give me a fair few chuckles.

There you go, three movies for your viewing pleasure. It’s always good to be on the lookout for stuff like this, as these films tend to pop up in dvd clearance bins, message board discussions, tv-guides and the like. Keep your eyes open and remember to tip me off when you spot something interesting!

Posted in Movie trailers, Movies, Zombies | 8 Comments »

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Zombie CSU – a review

September 30, 2009

Zombie CSU by Jonathan Maberry

Good zombie books are hard to find. They often slip into cliché-ridden [insert time of day] of the Living Dead copies or include too much underlined angst or present us with an implausible scenario. Occasionally – and far too often – all of these aspects are present.

Zombie CSU – The Forensics of the Living Dead by Jonathan Maberry takes another approach. It plays on that most fruitful aspect of the entire zombie culture: “What if?”

Hands up everyone who has ever speculated on what would really happen if the dead really rose up and started attacking the living. Probably every zombie enthusiast, am I right? Books like Max Brooks’ Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z both explore this to very good effect, and I’m happy to say that Zombie CSU is a good addition to the fold.

Zombie CSU looks into a possible zombie apocalypse from the point of view of experts, such as law enforcement, medical and military personnel. The book presents several scenarios familiar from zombie movies, and examines – and often debunks – them.

The book makes for fascin…no, not fascinating but very interesting reading. For those of us not inherently familiar with police and hospital procedure such as crime scene investigation and disease control, there a lot of information here written in a style easily digested and well written. The book was in my opinion a bit heavy on the forensics side, as it explored just about every single aspect of crime scene investigation, not all of which seemed particularly relevant in regards to zombies.

The credibility of a book like this depends a lot on the people interviewed, and Zombie CSU succeeds in this department. The experts do indeed seem like experts, being experienced professionals, lecturers, doctors and university professors. It’s great fun that such people have been willing to speculate on such an unlikely scenario in a serious, professional manner.

The book contains artwork and quotes from a lot of current zombie pop culture names as well, such as aforementioned Max Brooks and Robert Kirkman of the Walking Dead fame. The artwork varies tremendously in quality, but breaks up the chapters in a good way.

What conclusions does the book draw, then? Basically, that in most cases the zombies don’t really stand much chance against modern civilization. This basically launches my biggest gripe about the whole book:

While the book presents a psychological point of view also, it is sadly neglected in the conclusions. Sure, zombies are slow and and vulnerable, but are you really sure that basically pretty much anyone can deal with them simply by learning simple arm locks and basic self defense? That people – professional or not – will keep operating according to standard procedure when dealing with the dead returning to life? That people will just magically cast aside cultural and political differences and stand united against a common enemy? Call me a cynic (or a behavioral science major), but seems a bit optimistic. The US point of view of course skews things a lot. Most European countries have very very strict gun control laws, and for example in Finland it always makes headlines if a police officer needs to use his sidearm. Lately we have been discussing whether it is acceptable for taxi drivers to refuse accepting passengers with swine flu. Let’s see a society like ours dealing with zombies, let alone some developing country with limited infrastructure. Such themes aren’t touched upon sufficiently in the book.

Funnily enough, it’s this overly confident approach that would in my view cause the situation to escalate in the first place. People are irrational, emotional and more or less psychologically unstable, and society is composed of people.

Overall verdict: Zombie CSU is an entertaining read, which I’d happily recommend to anyone who’s into zombies. Since you’re reading this, you’re probably a part of the target audience. Take it with a grain of salt, however, unless you have total confidence in humanity and its authorities.

Zombie CSU is available in bookstores, I picked mine up from The Book Depository (which is my favoured choice for online book purchases). See also the book’s official homepage.

Posted in Book reviews, Books, Zombies | Tagged | 20 Comments »

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