This project is to sculpt and produce 30mm gaming miniatures of the characters from the board game Zombie Plague.
Since its first publication in 2001 Zombie Plague has always been a lot like an underground cult movie. Many of the people who've discovered ZP love it but it still remains pretty much unknown to the general gaming public. To help bring ZP to a larger audience in 2011 we launched a Kickstarter campaign to produce Zombie Plague: The Day From Hell, a combined double-sized comic book and refined version of the original board game rules. Working with my partner Ronda Pattison and the artists Phibbz Abando and Ryan Howe we produced a book that I am truly proud of and one that I can't wait to share with others.
Along with the book I released print and play versions of the map pieces, card miniatures, and game cards needed to play Zombie Plague. Although these are an affordable and effective way to play the game I've always wanted to have well sculpted versions of the main characters, a desire that grew once we'd finished the Zombie Plague comic and I got to know each of them even more.
As part of the first Zombie Plague campaign I contracted a digital sculptor to create miniatures for ZP but this did not work out. I was unhappy with the final look of the miniatures, especially the static pose and lack of movement. So I did some research and started asking some of my favorite sculptors if they might be available. Right at the top of this list was John Winter of TinMan Miniatures, one of the true artists currently sculpting miniature figurines. John's first sculpt for us was Crissy Hot-Rod, the valiant and brave leader of the kids from Appleton High School. And he quite simply hit it out of the park. All of the movement that the digital sculpts were missing was here along with balance, great proportion, and overall solid character. If you can't tell, I was very happy with this sculpture. And John has agreed to sculpt the remaining three human characters if this Kickstarter campaign is successful.
And to give you an idea of what the other miniatures will be like, let me introduce you to the four main characters from Zombie Plague:
Crissy Hot-Rod, granddaughter of famed rockabilly guitarist "Fast Johnny" Hot-Rod and the unassuming leader of four students from Appleton High School who find themselves cut off from the rest of their town when theZombie Plague comes down.
Chelsea Harlowe, cheerleader and bass player. A girl so in love with life that when the hordes of hungry dead come to her town she must reach deep inside herself to find the bravery to continue.
John Blackthorne, the kid from the wrong side of the tracks. Physically the strongest of the four kids, John is also the only one with any knowledge of firearms which makes him especially good with a shotgun.
Timmy Leong, a baseball obsessed kid who's initial shock during the plague soon becomes gritty determination to get his world back.
Our first stretch goal at $3200.00 will unlock a multi-part miniature of the long suffering Joe Zombie! This mini will come with three separate heads and two sets of arms for added poseability and customization.
Our first stretch goal at $3200.00 will unlock a multi-part miniature of the long suffering Joe Zombie! This mini will come with three separate heads and two sets of arms for added poseability and customization.
About the team:
Brian S. Roe and Ronda Pattison are RSquared Studios, coloring comic books by day and launching super-cool games, miniatures and comics by night. Ronda and Brian use their varied skill sets to conceive, create, and execute both comic books and illustration for a variety of projects and genres. Current titles that they color include Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Godzilla both for IDW.
John Winter has been sculpting since the mid-Nineties. Notable pieces that John has worked on include the GAMA award winning Babylon 5 station from Agents of Gaming and the Hillary Clinton nutcracker (just the face, actually). Games that John has sculpted miniatures for include Battletech, Babylon 5 Wars, Crimson Skies, Crucible, Warmachine, Mageknight, Chainmail and many others. After a short visit to the toy industry where he sculpted wrestlers, Avatar (the airbender kind), Pokemon, Star Wars, Marvel & DC comic characters, and many other cartoon related toys, John returned to the miniatures business working as a freelancer and also has his own line of figures that are sold through TinMan Miniatures.
Phibbz Abando is a comic artist who has also worked in animation and illustration. He was the primary artist for Zombie Plague: The Day from Hellas well as doing model sheets of the four humans.
Ryan Howe is a prolific artist who has worked for several comic companies as well as the long running web comic Gun Street Girl and is also the lead artist for RSquared's own comic Yva Starling: Troubleshooter. Besides comic books he is a skilled graphic designer and illustrator and helped to finalize the ZP comic.
Brian S. Roe and Ronda Pattison are RSquared Studios, coloring comic books by day and launching super-cool games, miniatures and comics by night. Ronda and Brian use their varied skill sets to conceive, create, and execute both comic books and illustration for a variety of projects and genres. Current titles that they color include Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Godzilla both for IDW.
John Winter has been sculpting since the mid-Nineties. Notable pieces that John has worked on include the GAMA award winning Babylon 5 station from Agents of Gaming and the Hillary Clinton nutcracker (just the face, actually). Games that John has sculpted miniatures for include Battletech, Babylon 5 Wars, Crimson Skies, Crucible, Warmachine, Mageknight, Chainmail and many others. After a short visit to the toy industry where he sculpted wrestlers, Avatar (the airbender kind), Pokemon, Star Wars, Marvel & DC comic characters, and many other cartoon related toys, John returned to the miniatures business working as a freelancer and also has his own line of figures that are sold through TinMan Miniatures.
Phibbz Abando is a comic artist who has also worked in animation and illustration. He was the primary artist for Zombie Plague: The Day from Hellas well as doing model sheets of the four humans.
Ryan Howe is a prolific artist who has worked for several comic companies as well as the long running web comic Gun Street Girl and is also the lead artist for RSquared's own comic Yva Starling: Troubleshooter. Besides comic books he is a skilled graphic designer and illustrator and helped to finalize the ZP comic.
RISKS AND CHALLENGES
Many of the challenges for this campaign will be lessened by what I've learned from our first Kickstarter campaign. We have found a high quality sculptor to turn our concept art into miniatures and also have the ability to produce these miniatures through Fortress Figures. And instead of promising the moon with our rewards we're focusing on just the miniatures and completing them in the best way possible.
For more info or to make a pledge, click here!
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