Horrorclix is a subset of the pre-painted “clix” miniature games which have themselves been doing the rounds for over a decade now. I picked up a few Horrorclix cheaply on Ebay and gave them a quick zhuzh to rapidly bulk out and add some variety to my ongoing Deathworld/Alien Flora & Fauna project.
All of these models were supplied pre-painted. Rather than completely repaint them myself I decided to wash the models with inks and then quickly highlight certain parts with simple techniques. A few areas were given a gloss varnish too, to enhance the gooey areas. In conjunction with rebasing them, this process makes the models fit in a little better with the rest of the miniatures in my collection, plus its an enjoyably fast process.
Pod Zombies
These Pod Zombies can be used to represent victims of any number of awful transmogrifying effects that a toy soldier can be subjected to in a miniature alien jungle, but in particular I plan to use these to represent victims of a Spiker. As we all know, Spiker spines quickly transmute the victim into another Spiker plant, while also turning the targets trousers blue, obviously.
I could have spent some time repainting the trousers on two of these miniatures to help avoid the cookie cutter effect, but as the goal was to get them done as quickly as possible I didnt bother. They will be more than adequate as is and will likely be spread out around the table anyway, so it just wont matter. If I can get over the fact that the guys attacking me in a multi-million dollar video game all wear similar trousers, then it isnt going to bother me in my lo-fi toy soldier pursuits either.
Pod Mothers
These Pod Mothers were bought years ago expressly for this hostile miniature jungle populating purpose. Im not so keen on the plants having eyes, but whatever. They might be real working eyes because its an alien plant or they might be mimicry like the eyespots on a butterflys wing. Either way, eyes are far from the most questionable bit of pseudoscience applicable to these models.
As for why these carnivorous plants seem to perform synchronised mastication of men in black trousers and dirty white shirts, see the blue trousers comment above.
Pod People
Lastly, these Pod People are just too entertainingly pulpy to ignore for a project like this. I dont know what scenario I will use them in, but it will happen. That morphing-into-human-form-while-stepping-out-of-pod pose is too good.
These ‘clix are goofy looking things that fit in well with the pulp miniature environment that my toy soldiers hang out in. They are usually very cheap and are supplied painted so they are well worth keeping in mind for “extra” type roles in games.
Filed under: Miniatures, Terrain | Tagged: 2014, 40K, 40K Skirmish, Alien Flora & Fauna, Deathworld, Heroclix, Rogue Trader, Sci-fi, Spiker |
sho3box 
Nice, I didn’t know the Horrorclix range very well, think I have to give it another look!
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The Horrorclix range is very varied, covering a lot of eighties slasher types alongside deranged nuns, mad scientists, monsters, robots, aliens, various zombies etc. As with all clix lines the scales varies quite a bit, so non-humans are the safest purchases.
Thanks for the feedback Subedai 🙂
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Tremendously useful models. Loving the pod people.
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The pod people are fun alright. They suggest all sorts of silly b-movie sub-plots.
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Nice use of these figures! I’m with you on the eyes and nose thing; I’d consider greenstuffing to smooth it over.
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Yeah, I did consider doing something about the Pod Mother features.
They probably would look a little better without the faces, but if I had broken out the green stuff for these models then they would have taken about three times longer to finish than the time that I spent on them though. I figured that was a poor return on time invested, so I didnt bother. Turnover is a watchword for me. Id rather spend that time working on the next item instead
Thanks for the feedback 🙂
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There are all those high end science products arround that might do the trick in the same time you paint them, being an example liquid putty (both vallejo and citadel have it on their paint ranges). A coat or two and you would have erasen those faces off the mother pods. Even if you push me, you could directly mix paint with the vallejo paste so in one coat you’ll be both painting and covering eye detail etc.
Seriously, sometimes it just takes 2 bucks and 30 extra seconds to achieve desired results (while yours are really nice IMHO).
Greta work, tour figures’ selección would make a nice set for Mutants and death ray guns’ game.
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Hi Javi, thanks for the feedback. Im going to address a couple of things that you said and I am going to try to be clear. Its tough communicating on the internet sometimes, so I just want to assure you that even if I come across like I am pissed-off, I am not. Its only toy soldiers after all 🙂
I have Liquid Green Stuff and every time that I use it I realise that I should have used proper green stuff instead of taking the lazy route 😀
Im a big believer in paying a couple of € to shave time off projects: my time is valuable so its well worth it. Its the “30 extra seconds” that you mention that I have the issue with.
Firstly, nothing really takes thirty seconds: how many times have you been told that fixing something on a computer will take “a minute” when it actually takes two hours? Properly filling the faces on those models would take about ten to fifteen minutes I reckon. Thats more time than I spent painting all nine of the clix shown or writing this comment. Thats a bad investment of time, for little gain.
Secondly, if I spend extra time converting all my miniatures then I end up painting far fewer overall. I used to modify pretty much everything and its a lot of work for very little gain, so I dont do it often any more. Turnover is more important and more satisfying.
Thirdly, while I would prefer if the Pod Mother faces were not there, they dont really bother me much. I dont need to fill them and its better to get something else started instead. Life is short and I have projects to finish.
I do appreciate your input and your opinion is just as valid as mine, but I dont agree with it. But thats totally fine 🙂
I have played a few games of MDRG and I am looking forward to using these models in the second edition of the game that is due out soon.
Genuine thanks for your feedback javi 🙂
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Those are impressive, the possibilities they offer for new scenarios and ideas are endless!
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Thanks Suber. A low effort/high return sub-project. I love those.
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Awesome miniatures and superb paintjob. I love the plants and pod people. I’ll be interested to read some game reports where you make use of these models.
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Simple, cheap filler for my games, with the added bonus that they are quite interesting little pieces too, with loads of narrative potential.
The Pod Zombies and Pod Motheres are quite simple to incorporate, but working out how to get an Invasion of the Body Snatchers vibe going with the Pod People models is intriguing. Whenever I work something out it will feature on this blog somewhere.
Thanks for the feedback daggerandbrush!
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[…] Deathworld Jungle: #2 – Refurbished Planimals […]
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Awesome! They look like they belong in The Last Of Us!
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Thanks Marc.
I didnt realise that The Last Of US featured enemies like this: I thought that game was about a post-apocalyptic environment slightly more grounded in the real world than pod-zombie types. I guess I was wrong 🙂
I must borrow a PS3 and play that game actually.
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