Z War One

Not everything on here is going to be Epic stuff; just most of it. 

A while back i was researching game mechanics/rules and noticed a game called z war one which took my interest. after downloading the rules i subsequently bought the box set (was a kickstarter project). Played it a few times and found it to be reasonably good [which equates to high praise].

On the recent xmas break (2017) i decided to take it along while visiting family out of town with the vague notion of playing it there. While that didn't turn out to be a thing, i did decide early on that i may as well start painting the models.

So i trotted off to the flgs and bought a 'the army painter' starter box [war paints starter set] and started work. This was my first time using army painter stuff (for more than a specific wash colour) and the paints were quite good [praise].

It would be more than fair to describe this as being an extremely lazy paint job which goes with the incredibly lazy clipping and model work; amounting to a minimum effort project to get rid of the grey models on the table... as the equally lazy camera work will attest.

This was probably the most flesh (or zombie eq) tone that i've ever done, having spent most of my hobby time on armour or xenos dermal-coverings. In part i'm documenting this to jot my notes re painting zombies for future reference.


Painting Results

Zombies were surprisingly fun to paint. Mainly what i refer to as 'artistic' pieces - where you don't need to stick within the lines to get a usable result. the three critters at the front ('diggers' in game-speak) were probably the least fun of this batch to paint.

The ubiquitous 'heroes'; in general the models are ok [praise] though the black clad chap with the machine gun in the centre really bothers me [criticism] for reasons i won't bother going into.

When i originally got the box i had an idea of play the game as a coordinated paramilitary cadre rather than ragtag, post-apoc leftovers - so i got a bunch of specific bitz from anvil and put together this lot. Turns out they are slightly 'heroic' compared to the original game models, but still work though. Theoretically they should/could be re-based onto square bases (the game uses directions/facings).
I started building this team before running the original game heroes, who turn out to be interesting enough anyway.


Models
A final word regarding the models in general (poses/stances) is that i like how they're 'ready', or 'serious' models. 
I've played some other systems where the models are literally checking out their fingernails, with smg pointed casually skyward (yeah, that's the kinda soldier i want in my squad when the sci-fi schwit hits the fan!!).
Suffice to say that anime-heavy stuff ain't my thing, though i appreciate and respect that others dig it.


Zombie Learning
Ok, so what did i learn (and value) from this project, rather than just 'get the models done'?

Zombies, blood everywhere isn't as effect as well placed blood. You want it to stick out on top of the background work you've done (however minimal) with clothing and skin.

I think i manged to get the balance ok by sticking to the following 'what do zombies do?' pointers;

- zombies eat/attack with the mouth and hands (when they still have them)
    = blood on face and hands. some splatter and dribble is ok
- zombies kneel to eat
    = possibly blood on knees and it would run down toward their feet to some extent
- zombies walk through blood and may or may not have shoes, so their feet wear and get damaged
    = blood on feet but not too much as it wears off and dries, plus dirt

- zombies may drip blood either after a feed or if they're still leaking from being killed
    = leave a bloody trail from feet or from drippy extremities (elbows, hands), injuries or mouth.
- zombies don't wash up after eating
    = if they've eaten with their hands then their hands will possibly rub against the outsides of their pants (etc) so put some blood smears there
- zombies will probably have some injury that killed them in the first place
    = blood on the injury (if obvious) and any related leakage/drips

- fresh vs dried
    feeding related bits mouth/hands (fresh) make the red wash a bit redder
    original injuries and feet (old, dried and scabby) add more brown in the wash. 

Probably should note that for most of the 'blood work' I used a drop of red mixed in with raw agrax wash and then watered that down a bit.


Wrap up
BTW i didn't get all of this done while away. I pretty much got the base coat (black) and the basic blocking in of colours done (skin, shirts, pants, weapons for heroes etc). The blood, detail and basing i did when i got home.

Really wanted to get this project boxed away as soon as possibly as i've recently got the new necromunda box set and wanted a clean painting table before starting on that.


Until next time...