Your eyes do not deceive you: that is indeed former British prime minister, baroness and milk snatcher Margaret Thatcher wielding a Bren gun as a small horde of former cabinet members zombies attack.
I bought all five minis from Brigade Games. I got an email off them last week that included a coupon code for 10% off, so I popped over there to see what they had, and next thing you know I'm the proud owner of four dead people and a... well, technically five dead people, seeing as Maggie shuffled off in 2013 and was memorialized in this superb Steve Bell cartoon:
Maggie is part of Brigade Games' Post-Apocalyptic range and when I saw her I had to buy her. I'm in no way shape or form a fan of hers and never have been; seeing the economic devastation caused to my grandparents' South Wales Valleys town thanks to the closing of the local coalmine and steelworks, along with the wider economic and societal divides that have lasted till today thanks to her policies, does that to a person. But the mini is pretty awesome and I wish Brigade Games did other British politicians. I'd happily pay to have a shotgun-toting Harold Wilson or John Major armed with a cricket bat.
Politics over, back to painting.
Tory blue is the obvious way to go, so Mags was painted with Vallejo Game Colour Ultramarine Blue, which for some reason is more purple than Vallejo Model Colour Ultramarine Blue. I don't understand why this is seeing as VGC Goblin Green is identical to VMC Olive Green and VGC Terracotta is the same as VMC Dark Red. Anyway, after the blue went on it was washed with Blue Tone and then highlighted with more Ultramarine and White.
Her skin is painted with my mix of Heavy Flesh and Basic Flesh, and the Bren gun is just Ash Grey shaded with Black Wash. Her famous bouffant hairdo is Gold Brown with some Soft Tone.
Thatch was really easy to paint and took all of about 45 minutes. It's a great sculpt and really captures her likeness.
The zombies are from Brigade Games' Drug War Z range. It's a skirmish game that involves the DEA, Mexican Policia, drug cartels and zombies. There are five sets of zombies, and I bought the Zombie Men I group.
They were really easy to paint and took about 20 minutes each. After painting all the skin with Dead Flesh I plastered them with Green and Purple tones to give the skin its manky, rotting look. Once all that dried it was just a case of choosing colours for what's left of their clothing; from left, Yellow Ochre, Mutation Green, Off-White and Blue-Grey, and Warlord Purple. Some basic shading and highlighting and they were ready to eat brains.
All five figures are based on the usual modelling paste painted as a road surface. I think it took longer to wait for the paste to dry then paint, shade and highlight it, paint the rims and finally varnish the bases than it did to paint all four zombies.
Finally, one thing I love about buying from smaller companies is the personal touch:
A handwritten note pretty much guarantees I'll be buying from Brigade Games again.
What a cracking way to start Zomtober, Matt. Excellent stuff and was super-quick paint-times you've achieved too. Blimey!!! Lovely work on Mags, and a corking quartet of zeds too. Nice to see your excellent boarded up building in the background. Really looks the biz!
ReplyDeleteThanks very much! It's always nice to start a challenge with a bang LOL! That MDF building really does suit Mags and the gang :-)
DeleteExcellent work on the zombies, and her who will not be named Matt, first out of the gate on another challenge again, You seem to be starting a trend here ! LOL
ReplyDeleteOoo, for once I'm a trendsetter LOL! Cheers, Dave, Maggie turned out looking pretty good, as did the zombies.
DeleteUnfortunately there's going to be a bit of a gap until my next batch of zombies and survivors show up in the mail.
Lovely work mate, Maggie looks really good (never thought I write that!!), and the Zom's are awesome love the way you done the flesh on them, that looks fantastic!
ReplyDeleteThey all look great in front of your boarded up building, another business gone under that's to the Tories!
You need to pace yourself better mate, I've got three Zom's to paint each week of October photographed, primed and lined up ready to go. 🧟♀️🧟♂️🧟♀️😉
Cheers Roger.
I didn't actually realise that Zombtober is a case of posting once a week, so you have a point, I should have paced myself a tad better!
DeleteThe zombie skin is just the technique I've used for the past couple of years. It works well, I've never bothered to change it up.
You are right about the building, I guess it is difficult to work out if it's in a post-apocalyptic world or just in a non-Tory town LOL!
Wait, so you’re telling me that you bought those minis a week ago and they’re painted already? That’s a thing that people do?
ReplyDeleteJokes aside, great looking stuff!
Haha! I shocked myself at how quickly I got these minis painted, I'm usually a bugger for procrastinating! Glad you like them, and thanks for the comment!
DeleteIf I remember correctly, Matt, there is a sculpt available of a handgun toting John Major... Got it, Forlorn Hope Games https://www.forlornhopegames.co.uk/products/0081_corporate_fugitive_handgun__suit__briefcase
ReplyDeletePart of the old Grenadier Future Warriors range sculpted by Mark Copplestone and only £2.00. Only other British politician I've seen was a tommy-gun wielding Winston Churchill, but can't recall where I saw that.
Ooo, thanks very much for the John Major link! I did manage to find images of Churchill with a tommy gun, but it looks like it was a limited-edition model. Oh well.
DeleteI really like this opening to Zomtober, cracking sculpt of Maggie and the other zombies. I can only recollect seeing one other mini of Maggie (from Bad Squiddo?) and I'm pretty sure there's one of Winston Churchilly carrying a tommy gun too.
ReplyDeleteOld glory have a complete set of 12 world leaders as Zeds iirc.
My des all have a grey tone to their skin but yours look great !
Thanks Joe! I actually tried grey skin the first time I painted a zombie years back but didn't like it too much, so I tried Dead Flesh and have gone with it ever since. The Maggie sculpt is spot on.
DeleteFrom googling around, the Churchill mini is unavailable as it was a limited edition. I'll look for the world leaders zombies, thanks for the tip!
Excellent premier entry into Zombtober! Maggie looks smashing tho good luck to her finding the correct caliber rounds for that relic.
ReplyDeleteThose zeds too are really nice. Am off to the website to peruse their range right now.
Cheers, Dai! I just ordered some more zombies from Brigade Games and am looking forward to getting them.
DeleteGreat work on a politician who shall not be named! I'm lucky to be young enough that I was alive when she was in heyday but I don't really remember or know much about her. In this case, that is most certainly a good thing. The zombies look good too though I find it amusing that they have shed most of their clothing in the afterlife :) I don't know many British politicians but Winston should get a post-apocalyptic version just for laughs!
ReplyDeleteCheers! Happily my memories of Maggie are fading, so at least the therapy bills should drop! I have to say that the mini is spot on and really well sculpted, so adding her to my ranks of survivors was an absolute must. Although I'm sure the rest of her group will do their best to trip her up when being chased by zombies LOL!
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