The Rise of the Tod-truppen!

Zomtober 2014 - post#3

My word these Sunday posts come around a bit quickly, but I'm delighted to report that I've made the deadline again - albeit just!  Regular followers of this most humble weblog will have, by now, realised that I have the attention span of a small child in a very large toy shop - picking up and discarding projects with apparent gay abandon.  One such project was, 'In Her Majesty's Name' a steampunk, skirmish, wargaming rule set that was launched, a couple of years ago now, with some rather splendid miniatures available through 'Northstar Military Figures'.  Suffice to say, I bought heavily into this and having picked up my swag at 'Salute 2013' it has subsequently laid, unmolested, on the hobby shelf behind my corner of the dining room table.

Now getting to the point*, I was adamant that this year 'Zomtober' wasn't to add to the lead  pile, instead all offerings had to be pre-bought, one likes a challenge!  So whilst excavating the undead from the deepest strata of the mighty mountain of lead, I came across these chaps - the abominable Tod-truppen.

*Yes finally!

To quote from 'Northstar's own page:

The Tod-truppen are basically zombies. The Society’s Jägers go into battle psychically pre-conditioned and fitted with electro-chemical devices that re-animate them pretty much immediately after they go down, called a Revivifier. Provided, as noted above, that they are within the field of an Arc generator. In this animated condition they lose their human memories and skills but, in typical zombie fashion, are very difficult to stop with conventional weapons. A side-effect of the reanimation process is that the Tod-truppen decay much more rapidly than normal corpses, hence their grotesque appearance. This also means that they are rarely good for more than one battle. 

Splendid, thinks I, not only a legitimate 'Zomtober' entry, but one that makes a small dent in Mount Lead to boot.  Having only just rediscovered the thrill of wielding the paintbrush after my September break, these proved the perfect choice and hugely enjoyable to paint - just what was required.  In fact, I was quite surprised just how quickly I got on with them to the point where, depending how much time I'm allowed at the table this afternoon, I might be able to sneak in a mid week post as well - oh how I spoil you!

Finally, in other news, I received my 'Across the Dead Earth' Kickstarter through the post yesterday.**   I had recently been lamenting my involvement in Kickstarter - the world's largest funding platform for creative projects, particularly as my first pledge, 'Mars Attacks', where I allowed myself to get carried away with the moment and invested hugely, still hasn't materialised nigh on year later!  Yet receiving my rules and miniatures from Rich Chappell has rather restored my faith in the process.***   The whole package was really well presented, signed by Rich himself, who had even gone to the trouble of printing out a set of the event cards and tokens that are actually available as a download.  I'm not sure when the miniatures will ever see a coat of paint, but if you are interested in reading more about the rules then I would strongly advise you to head over to Simon Quinton's wonderful 'Brummie's Wargaming Blog'.  Simon, was heavily involved in the play testing of the rules and is certainly who I'm blaming for my involvement in the Kickstarter, not that I could ever hold that against him.    Coincidentally, Simon is also coordinating the myriad of entries in this year's 'Zomtober', which rather neatly draws this post to a close.

**Yes I know, another distraction.

***Just as well really as I have subsequently gone on to help fund Zombicide: Season 3 and Studio Miniatures latest additions to their Z-Clipz: Outbreak,;yes I know I'm weak!