"To Me, My Board!"

"A lifetime of endless adventure beckoning before me!"

This 28mm plastic “Wizkids” model of the Silver Surfer is miniature number 76 from the Marvel “Heroclix” Supernova range. This cosmic space-travelling herald of Galactus was created by Jack Kirby for “Marvel Comics” in 1966 and made his first appearance within the pages of Issue Forty-Four of “The Fantastic Four”. This particular uncommon figure of Norrin Radd actually proved impossibly hard to acquire for a reasonable price this side of the Pond, so I ended up purchasing it from “Troll And Toad” in America as part of a bulk order.

I initially painted straight over the miniatures’ silver pre-paint with “Vallejo” Gunmetal Grey, before applying a wash of “Citadel” Nuln Oil over the entire model. Once this had dried I then heavily dry-brushed the former astronomer from the planet Zenn-La with more “Vallejo” Gunmetal Grey. I next gave the figure a dry-brush of “Citadel” Ironbreaker before finishing with a light dry-brush of Mithril Silver.

Plant-Zombie WIPs - I plan for a number of these 'man-eaters' to stalk the corridors of Chase Manor

Lastly I attached the model to one of the transparent plastic flying stands which used to be sold by “Mongoose Publishing”. Rather frustratingly I found that in order to properly fit the surfboard to the flight base I had to drill right through it as otherwise it would not stay connected.

As Zomtober 2015 is fast-approaching I have started to prepare and base a number of models and some scenery to paint-up during the challenge. My inspiration for this year is “Doctor Who and the Seeds of Doom”; a wonderful 1976 six-parter from the British science fiction television series, which saw the Earth threatened by the alien Krynoids and had a couple of zombie-like plants running around trying to kill people. To this end I plan to attempt to host a game of “Zombicide” based upon this theme at the end of October using a plethora of miniatures by “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio” and some scenery from the “Mars Attacks – The Miniatures Game” by “Mantic Games”.

Chase Manor - The ruins of Chase Manor all undercoated and ready for Zomtober 2015...

 As a result I have started undercoating the first of my Krynoid-influenced plant-zombies and an unfortunate member of "crazed Botanist" Harrison Chase’s security staff, who has already been infected. The two Spawn creatures are wonderfully-detailed single castings. Whereas all my infected will be constructed using the various heads and mutation sprues “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio” currently have available.

In addition I have assembled a number of ruined walls, doorways and debris from the “Mars Attacks” Scenery Upgrade Pack. These will be free-standing terrain which will indicate which areas of my "Zombicide" tabletop are actually part of the semi-ruined Chase Manor.