Sunday 17 August 2014

Zombicide Season 2 Survivors and Zombivors 05

I continue my review of Zombicide season 2 survivors and zombivors with another four characters. Three of these guys are based on characters from films - The Big Lebowski (Ross and Gary) and Zombieland (Ralph), whilst one is from the TV series, The Big Bang Theory (Will).
I begin with Ross Goodman the warehouse manager, who is obviously based on John Goodman's character, Walter Sobchak from The Big Lebowski. Ross is more than he appears. He left the army twenty years ago with scars and PTSD but believed he had moved on. Now that the zombie apocalypse is here his soldier's instincts have come roaring back along with his tactical awareness and skill with weapons. Now if he would just put down his bowling ball... Survivor Ross is armed with a .44 Magnum revolver and a bowling ball, which he keeps in a shoulder bag. Note that he comes with a unique equipment card for his bowling ball, which can inflict a massive 3 points of damage! Zombivor Ross is armed with a .38 revolver. He starts the game with the +1 die: Ranged skill, which gives him an extra die to roll for all Ranged Weapon Attacks.
Next up is Gary Bridges the miniature sculptor, and he is based on Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski as played by Jeff Bridges in the film, The Big Lebowski. Note that in the descriptive text about him on the back of the survivors and zombivors boxed set he comes in, he is called Mike. Clearly some confusion here. On his character record card he is called Gary. Being obsessed with his sculpting work, he never noticed when his wife left and took their daughter with her or even the arrival of the zombie apocalypse. That was until he wandered outside and joined a small group of survivors, who find it odd that he quite readily accepts that zombies are "finally" running around. Survivor and zombivor Gary/Mike are each armed with a double-barreled sawn-off shotgun. Note that survivor Gary/Mike has a  torch tucked into his belt. He starts the game with the Slippery skill, which means he does not have to spend extra actions when he performs a Move action through a Zone occupied by zombies.
Moving on, we come to Will Wolowitz the game designer, who is based on Simon Maxwell Helberg's character, Howard Joel Wolowitz in The Big Bang Theory TV series. Will served his stint at a video game design company as a noob trainee, spending more time carrying coffee than programming. After three difficult years, he finally got a full time job and his own noob trainee. Only his passion for video games - and above all, zombie video games - gave him the will to endure this. Now that the zombies have come for real, everything is perfect. Survivor Will is armed with his unique comet launcher. Just like Ross's bowling ball, this weapon comes with its own stat card and it is a mighty powerful weapon. It will kill ALL zombies in a single Zone at a range of 2 to 3 Zones. And, yes, that does include Abomination zombies! Zombivor Will is armed with a hunting rifle with scope sight. Will starts the game with the +1 Damage: Ranged skill, which gives him a +1 bonus to the damage of all Ranged Weapon attacks.
Finally, is Ralph Wood the cowboy and he is based on Woody Harrelson's character, Tallahassee in the film, Zombieland. After a successful investment, Ralph earned enough money to buy a quiet ranch and retire. When he heard zombies had come from the city to invade the country, he fortified his house and armed his family to face anything. Later, he decided to return to the city to help his friends there. The situation is even worse then expected but, so far, wilderness lessons apply very well to urban survival. Survivor Ralph is armed with a hunting rifle with fitted scope sight, whilst zombivor Ralph carries a baseball bat. Ralph's starting skill is Steady Hand. which allows him to ignore allied characters when making a Ranged Attack or driving a car through a Zone.
As always these are nicely sculpted figures although I'm not too happy with my paint work on Ross and Gary/Mike. They're adequate I suppose, but once I get my eyesight fully restored I'll probably redo them. Oddly enough, I painted Will and Ralph at the same time and I'm much happier with them. Ross and Will are unique in Zombicide due to them having their own personal weapon cards. Mind you, once they get mixed in with the other decks anyone could find and use them. Both weapons are extremely powerful and are able to take out a zombie abomination, which makes them well worth owning. Who'd have thought a bowling ball could wreak such carnage!

NOTE. I'll be taking a short break from all hobby related activities for the next three weeks as I'll be spending my time entertaining my beautiful new girlfriend. I'll try to keep up with your blogs but I hope you'll understand if I don't leave a comment. I haven't had a proper holiday this century so this is long overdue. Take care and have fun. I know I will!

21 comments:

  1. Spending time with your new woman is far more important than blogging I hope all goes well for you both.

    And a fine set of figures as well.

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    1. Thank you kindly, Clint. I'm sure this holiday will do me the world of good. God knows, it is long overdue.

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  2. Awesome looking characters. Great job on painting them up as well. I love the idea of using a bowling ball as a weapon a sort of self made morning star

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    1. The bowling ball is a great idea for a weapon but I'm still surprised at just how lethal it is. Up till now the only weapon that could kill an abomination was a Molotov cocktail.

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  3. It always gets me how much better the zombivor models are compared to their living counterparts. Great work as ever, Bryan.

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  4. Well, best of luck with your holiday.

    I'm not sure I like this quartet as well as the last lot. The first and third figures look fine, but there's something about the sculpting of the 2nd and 4th models that seems a little odd.

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    1. Thanks, Hugh. I agree with you about the Gary/Mike figure, but Ralph seems just fine to me. I guess with Guillotine Games producing so many figures it is inevitable that some will be weaker than others.

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  5. I think these are rather poor fare compared to the others you've shown, but of the four I think I like only the first. The Wolowitz figure is a poor likeness of the TV character, as is "Tallahasse" from the film but they're still usable. You seem to have gone to a khaki and browns pallette which I quite like too.

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    1. Cheers, Joe. These are not my favourite figures out of the range and they wouldn't be my first choice of characters to use in a game but they have their uses and their unique weapons are certainly worth finding.

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  6. Nice painting Bryan. You know I'm going to love the DUDE and Walter. Have a great time away.

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    1. I'd expect nothing less from you, Bob. I'm sorry my painting does not really do them justice. I will certainly go back to them and do a better job of their faces.
      I'm immensely looking forward to my holiday.

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  7. Nice painting on these I'll have to agree that some of the figures seem a little weak as look-a-likes. Have fun on your vacation.

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    1. It's a fair comment, Robert, and I do agree with you.
      Having fun is the primary goal of my holiday.

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  8. Great work as usual Bryan, I like the earthy colour palette on the first couple!

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    1. Thanks, Mathyoo. I can't honestly take credit for the colour schemes. I merely copied those given on their character record cards.

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  9. Very cool Bryan. Enjoy your short time away from the blogosphere sir!

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  10. Missed this post!

    Looking good as always mate. Could be fun to have a battle with the living on one side and their zombie doubles on the other side.

    "WELCOME TO THE TWILIGHT ZONE!"

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    1. Funnily enough that is now an option with the season 3 rules, Johnny.

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