Swamp Zombies

I bought a box of the new Warhammer zombies, which I ‘de-rooted’ & ‘de-branched’. I managed to stretch the box from 20 to 23 models, kit-bashing in some other bits. I also bought 12 of the Black Tree Designs’ ‘Zombies of the Sweltering Swamps’ to mix the unit up a bit more. I was hoping they would scale well and … I think … they did.

When I modelled them, I cut LOTS of fiddly bits off the plastic GW ones, and I replaced most of the Black Tree Designs polearm shafts with brass rods as the originals were quite weak and bendy.

Here are a pair of the plastics and a pair of the metals, to show how (I think) they fit well together …

Some of the metal polearms looked like they might survive handling …

Whereas quite a few needed cutting off, the hands drilled and brass rods inserted. I just stuck the original blades on the end and wah lah!

I love the weird long polearms, some sort of swamp beast fighting gear they died attempting to use?

I reckon that when painted (and rebased) they will mix and match quite convincingly …

I then had 35 to spray, paint, dip, varnish and re-base. I thought the acrylic paints and dip technique I had been trying recently (after 35+ years of enamel black lining) should work well on these.

Here are some kit-bashed ones. Two with Mantic skeleton legs, one with a Frostgrave Ghost Archipelago Crewman’s baggy pants!

First, I did a ‘paint test run’. Having ditched enamels after 35 years, I went with acrylics and Army Painter dip (which I washed on with a brush), then anti-shine. I had been experimenting for a year and I think I’m getting the technique about right now.

The first model is a Black Tree Designs metal figure, which I am glad to see fits in with the plastics well as I bought all their swamp zombies. His thin, bendy, lead spear shaft was replaced with a brass rod. The middle one is one of the very new GW plastic zombies, with all the roots/branches weirdness chopped off. The third has a new GW top half, and a Mantic Miniatures’ skeleton’s legs!

I was convinced by this very simple technique – spray primer/base coat, block painting with acrylic base paints, washed with an Army Builder dip. So different to my old style. I will show them here complete, apart from basing.

The command are all Black Tree Designs swamp zombies. The standard came out much darker than I wanted but I will know next time …

Part of the front two ranks, Black Tree Design …

Another part of the front two ranks, Black Tree Design with lovely long spears (again, I replaced the bendy originals with brass rods) …

This is the rear of one of the guys. Those skulls, that chain, are far more realistic than I ever achieved in 35 years of enamel ‘cartoon’ style. And I bloomin’ love it …

3rd rank, GW, de-rooted …

4th rank, GW, de-rooted …

In the 4th rank is the one ‘space filler’ I needed to make my 35 into a 6×6 footprint! The stake still needed more work, obviously …

5th and 6th ranks, all GW, de-rooted!

Finally, I sorted the space filler – here she is based.

I had an idea for a story about her ‘situation’ that reveals something important about the marshlands! It forms part of the marsh-battle report prequel.