Saturday, October 31, 2015

Zombie of the Month- October 2015- Mindless Zombies by Wyrd Miniatures

   Well, you have seen them appearing in drips and drabs all month long for my Zombtober articles, but that's no reason for them not to get their own, bona fide Zombie of the Month Article. So here they are, all together for the first time, like a little zombie family.

Zombie of the Month- October 2015- Mindless Zombies by Wyrd Miniatures





 
   What's so great about these zombies? The Guys At Wyrd did a wonderful job making very generic zombies that aren't boring. At first glance they have a rather Plain Jane appearance, giving them a very versatile, Simple look that will not overpower the look of the rest of your Malifaux unit, or will blend in if placed in a larger horde. And then, when you look more closely, you can tell that each one of them has a unique story. This guy clearly worked at the railroad, that guy escaped from (or got into) somewhere he should not have been able to. Wyrd managed to make zombies that were at the same time both believable common citizens and also individually interesting. And there's a good variety in the set, without being too obvious about it. There's a female, a crawler, and a big guy (though not specifically a "fatty.") Great variety, great characters, great generic part-of-the-masses quality, all at once. Great job guys. The only thing these zombies won't do for you is be your center-stage guys. They are designed to be unimpressive, as they are "peons" in the rules of the Malifaux game.

The Basics:

Scale- 32mm. And yes, they are. They will definitely be among your taller human zombies if you have a 28mm horde. Makes them great to paint, though.

Genre- Pre-modern. They will look perfect in their intended Victorian setting, and passable in modern and medieval ones, as long as you don't draw attention to the barbed wire if you're going medieval.

Material- Plastic, which is a godsend on those arrows. That would look nowhere near as hot in metal. And that big hulking guy would be totally sockworthy.

Parts ‘N’ Bits- Come on, with as much assembly as is always required with Wyrd models, do you really want them putting EXTRA parts in there?

Assembly- Hey, only 29 pieces for 5 models? That's like an assembly holiday in Malifaux. They actually range from 3 pieces for the crawler to 9 for the hulk, though your real nightmare is going to be the girl pierced by arrows. Hope you don't have big, clunky fingers. However, it is worth noting that Wyrd did their normal, good job of designing their pieces so that you can tell how the pieces that stick out are supposed to fit on the model. All the arrows and tiny protrusions are attached to larger bases that make them easier to adhere while not disturbing the lines of the model. Like I said, despite the hard time we like giving Wyrd for using so many pieces, these guys really do a good job.

Bases- Standard Wyrd issue, 30mm lipped slotted bases included.


Ratings:

Sculpt- 5 brains out of 5- Wyrd's new plastics are good. Period. Their Z-Brush artists deserve to have a career doing this, and we're glad they do.


Affordability- 2 brains out of 5- The box goes for an average of about $30. This is a little bit pricey for horde building, but honestly not bad for Malifaux force building. With 5 in the box (well, four and a half, but they take up 5 bases), that's a pretty good rate as far as Malifaux goes.


Value- 4 brains out of 5- Very good, fairly versatile zombies. They might be a little tall if you are going 28mm, or a little unlikely if you are going modern or sci-fi, but honestly, I think they are at least excusable in almost any setting.


Availability- 4 brains out of 5- Possibly even a 5, if you're lucky. Wyrd is a really big company sold by a lot of people. You might even be lucky enough to find them in your local gaming store.

Pros: Great sculpts, great characters. Pleasant to paint.

Cons: Will be pretty obvious as duplicates. You may only want one box (aw, pitty.)

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