This set has so many zeds they almost overran my light tent!

I admit it, I’m a metal snob. I suppose it’s a consequence of how long I’ve been in the hobby. When I first started painting there weren’t really any plastic figs to speak of (at least not outside the military modeling world). When plastic kits finally started to come out, they were often poorly-designed and lacking in detail compared to their metal counterparts.

Games Workshop’s introduction of plastic trooper box sets in the early 2000s helped to change that perception, though of course my beloved Eldar ended up with by far the worst quality kit of the era. The excellent plastic Space Marines and later the Imperial Guard and others showed just how much could be achieved with modern multipart plastics.

So when I heard that Wargames Factory was planning to produce a set of plastic zombies at a quite reasonable price point I was very interested, The defining characteristic of zombies is that they appear in vast hordes, and a horde of metal minis can get expensive in a hurry.

When I first took the pack out of the shipping box I was surprised to see that what I thought was a box was really just a sort of plastic bag containing the four sprues with a cardboard insert inside. I was a bit disappointed until I thought about it for a moment from Wargames Factory’s perspective. Why spend money on a box your customers will just be throwing away anyhow? Efficient packaging like this is surely one of the ways they can offer such low prices on their products, and I salute them for it.

Inside the pack are four identical plastic sprues, each containing the parts for six zombies. Since there are extra heads and arms provided on each sprue the opportunities for customization are truly impressive. The Wargames Factory (WGF) website claims there are a possible 936 unique combinations, over 1800 if you’re not concerned with matching the other sleeve on a given torso. This means that even if you decide to go for WGF’s “Super Horde” deal (10 horde packs for a massive total of 240 zeds) you won’t be stuck with duplicates.

Each zed consists of head, torso, legs, and left arm (the right arm is molded on each torso). One body is molded with legs and torso already together since it’s wearing a lab coat/duster that had to be modeled as one piece. I was initially a bit upset about having one of the arms effectively preselected for me on each torso, but then I realized a) it’s easy to clip them off an swap them around if you really want to, and b) I already had more than enough assembly to do as it was.

Yes, it had been some years since I’d last assembled any small plastics, and it was a bit of a chore relearning the art of handling small, slippery components and applying the proper amount of cement instead of hugely too much. Assembly took a lot longer then I had anticipated, simply because 24 zeds multiplied by four pieces each is nearly a hundred parts to glue together, not counting the time to clip them off the sprues. Unless you’re a plastics ace I would plan to allocate at least a couple of hours just to getting your zeds assembled. Also, these minis will have to be attached to some kind of base, since they’re so light they fall over at the drop of a hat if forced to rely on just their small integral bases.

I initially had my doubts about how strongly the spindly arms would attach to the shoulders without any sort of peg-and-groove to strengthen the joint, but I was very pleasantly surprised to find that once the glue set the arms (and heads for that matter) were solid, even surviving several accidental trips to the floor. It seems that WGF made an excellent choice of plastic for this kit, as I got rock-hard bonds with just bog-standard Testor’s plastic model cement.

The detail on the minis is a bit on the “blurry” side. Facial features like lips, cheekbones, and especially eyeglasses tend to fade into a smear by the time you get primer, paint, and sealer layered on top. One torso has an open dress shirt with a tie dangling down and I had to paint it more or less from memory because the tie was so hard to pick out from the chest. Maybe I went too heavy on the primer, but I used the same gesso method I always do and I’ve never had this much trouble picking out details before. A Minwax dip helped somewhat, but from a detail standpoint these figs aren’t in the class of even mid-range metal zeds like ZombieSmith or West Wind.

That paragraph makes it sound like they’re utter garbage, which is far from the truth. The body proportions are quite good, avoiding the bulging heads and giant hands of second-rate makers like Mississinewa. But the detail on these mini IS fairly shallow, which means that it’s essential to keep your coats of primer, paint, and sealer as light as possible. I think if I’d known that ahead of time and had more time available to build and paint the set I might well have gotten some better, more detailed results.

L to R, Studio, Cold War, WGF, Hasslefree

The other  issue with these zombies concerns the way the pieces fit together, or rather the way they occasionally don’t fit together. The problems are all concentrated at the waist joint where the various leg and torso pieces join. Some combinations simply don’t go together very well. With the “fat guy” torso especially there is quite a sizable gap at the waist with each set of legs I tried. I attempted to  fill the gap with putty, but my inexpert patchwork ended up looking worse than just leaving it alone. The issue isn’t enough to ruin the look of the figs by any means, but it’s  a bit distracting to my eye.

The bottom line is that this set represents a truly outstanding value. The detail may not be nearly as fine as you’d expect from top-line metal zeds from the likes of Studio or Griffin, but considering that the metal minis tend to cost $3 each if not more as opposed to the plastic ones at $0.75 apiece it’s not hard to see the appeal of the plastics. Based purely on aesthetics, this set would rate a 3/5, but I had to award a bonus point in recognition of the extraordinary value it represents.

This pack is a great way to bulk out your zombie horde without spending a fortune but still end up with good-looking minis. At this price point, the only real competition is from Twilight Creations’ Bag O’ Zombies, which are dramatically inferior to the WGF figs in every way  (although they do glow in the dark). If you’re looking to build a truly epic army of the undead, this is your kit.

Pros: Great value, Excellent variety, Easy to customize

Cons: Somewhat blurry detail, Some fit problems

Final Verdict: 4/5

MSRP: $17.95

Source: Wargames Factory (review copy)

Popularity: 36% [?]

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