More Fun With Zombies and Scavvies

 Now that normal service has been restored, I have more pictures for both of you who read this blog. This week, I've been working on some of Necromunda's less flamboyant inhabitants: the rancid, low-living scavvies and their plague zombie friends.

The second batch of plague zombies included some damaged models. It seems that, many years ago, I converted them to introduce some variety, with mixed results. I took the opportunity to do some repairs before painting them.

I ordered a sprue of Frostgrave female cultists (sold under the name Frostgrave Cultists 2). These are really good models, with a ragged, crazy look. The cultists wear masks and bandages, and carry nasty-looking weapons. Some of the arms have a groping pose that works well for zombies.

And here is the second bunch, painted up. As with the first lot, I used a limited range of colours for the clothing, all of them drab and grubby. I kept with three shades of skin: bloodless blue, rotting green and recently-dead yellow. They work as individuals but there's enough overlap to make them seem like a unified mob.

Not too shabby! Actually, very shabby. But still.

I also started work on a batch of scavvies. Scavvies are filthy and inbred, but they are still live humans, so these guys would be looking more lively. There are official GW scavvy models from the 90s, but I'm not too keen on them: they've got that unexciting, slightly cartoony quality that was common in GW at the time, and they're nowhere near as well-sculpted as the Escher ganger. 

I wanted them to look crazed and feral, and the Frostgrave cultists worked perfectly for this. Some of them were given left-over Stargrave arms, using the most basic-looking rifles. It's easy to make nice, dynamic poses with the plastics.

In painting them, I used fairly drab, earthy colours to suggest dirt, rust and worn-out gear. I also gave them bits of red clothing, to suggest danger. They're at least partly inspired by the Reavers from the film Serenity.

They look charming. I do enjoy making these weird models out of bits and bobs: there will be more scavvy soldiers to follow. After the neatness and bright colours of the Eschers, it's interesting to paint these filthy maniacs.