Vampifan's views 46 - Monthly Musings 27

Vampirella by Michael Bair. Nice water colours.

This month I want to give a big thank you to four  heroes of mine - friends and followers who have gone the extra mile for me these past few weeks. First up is one of my all-time favourite heroes, Carl Stoelzel. I mentioned to Carl that I wanted to make a small version of St. Trinian's School based upon his Haunted House model and I sent him a  photo of what the school looked like. Carl agreed that it would be ideal for what I wanted but there was just one problem. The Haunted House is a wooden structure, whereas St. Trinian's School should be a stone structure. Can you imagine my delight when a few weeks later Carl informed me that he added an upgrade to the Haunted House with stone exterior walls? Carl, I salute you! Now, the only problem I have is that I want to make both versions of the model - the one with wooden exterior walls for my own Scott Mansion haunted house and the one with the stone walls for my St. Trinian's School. Still, it's a nice problem to have. Believe me, no one does customer service better than Carl!

Not Yet Dead Schoolgirl Survivor.

I became friendly with a very talented sculptor called Toni Morey, who posts on the Board of the Living Lead forum under the name NotYetDead. Toni is unusual amongst zombie gamers, and possibly unique in that all of the figures he uses in his campaign are 1/35th scale.  He comes from Germany and his figures will be available for sale later this year. He posted a picture of this schoolgirl survivor you can see to the right and as soon as I saw her I knew I wanted her. I got in touch with Toni and he told me that he had produced miniature versions (i.e. 28mm scale versions) of her and five other survivors. They comprised three males and three females. He asked if I'd like free copies of them? Would I? I'll say! A few days later they arrived and I was just blown away by the quality of the sculpts. They are true 28mm scale figures and they are on my painting table right now. As soon as I paint them I shall review them on my blog. You can tell from the schoolgirl survivor just how talented Toni is. Toni, I'd like to thank you for the figures. I truly appreciate them and you are my second hero of the month. In case you're wondering, yes, this schoolgirl will be enrolling with St. Trinian's School.

My third hero is noted horror writer Craig DiLouie, who wrote the excellent zombie novel, Tooth and Nail. See here for my review of it - http://vampifansworldoftheundead.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/tooth-and-nail-by-craig-dilouie.html
I gave it an 8 out of 10 rating. Anyway, Craig got in touch with me and asked me if I'd like to review his new vampire novel - Suffer the Children? Oh yes, I was up for that. I like vampire novels even more than I like zombie novels. Suffer the Children is different to any other vampire novel in that here children start dying then coming back to life with an unquenchable thirst for blood. Without a regular supply of blood they will die again, only this time, for good. The question that Craig poses is this - as a parent, how far would you go to feed your child with the blood he or she so desperately needs? An interesting dilemma that raises some fascinating moral questions. From what I have read of other reviews of this book it is a rather harrowing tale. I have a PDF copy of it, which I only received yesterday, so I've only just started reading it. A full review will appear later

Private Security Force

My fourth and final hero of the month is Simon Hunter, who has  been writing to me for a few months now about the new figure company he has just launched this month - Project Zeke Miniatures. He has sculpted five figures - all humans for his initial release. More survivors and zombies will follow, including Zeke, the intelligent zombie and company mascot.

William

I should point out that Simon is not a professional sculptor and he is setting up his company more as a sideline than as a full-time job. The first batch of 28mm scale figures he has sculpted are human types that he wanted to see. The three Private Security guards would work well as security personnel in THW's scenario Highrise to Hell. 
Next up is William, a survivor with a hunting rifle with scope-sight. He has taped a carving knife to the barrel to use as a makeshift bayonet. He is my favourite figure out of the group.
Finally is Young Eddie. He is a limited edition figure. Once he sells out he will be replaced with Older Eddie, who will have a moustache. He appears to be armed with a multi-shot grenade launcher.
The set of three Private Security guards cost £7.00, whilst William and Young Eddie cost £3.00 each. However if you click onto the Project Zeke webstore at http://projectzekeminiatures.com/

Young Eddie

you will find a discount coupon offering you 10% discount on your first order. Just type in launch10 when you place your order.
I have some good news for all zombie bloggers. Simon has also offered a lifetime 10% discount to all of you who run a zombie gaming blog. Rather than reveal it here where anyone could access it I'll give you that code if you send me a personal e-mail message at vampifan at talktalk dot net. I'm sure you can work that out. Alternatively, you can contact Simon personally at hunterpest at hotmail dot co dot uk. It is an incredibly generous offer.
Simon is going to send me these five figures free of charge so that I can paint them, review them and promote his company, all of which I am very happy to do. I wish Simon all the best with his new venture.

And that's it for another month, folks. Thanks for reading and take care.