Converting the Cursed City Zombies

I've finished up the Cursed City deadwalker zombies. Here's a look at how I converted them...

 

These zombies look so characterful with the tree roots growing through them and their grave markers staked through their coffin lids and bodies. It's nice that the new zombie kit carries this aesthetic through. A new zombie kit is something I've been anticipating for more than a decade, and GW really hit it out of the park. 

 

I had cannibalized two zombies from my Cursed City box (one for an objective marker, and one for Queen Olivia's base), so I needed to replace them and bring the unit back up to an even ten. The zombie on the right uses the left over legs from the Cursed City zombie, and the torso from the long spear of the Corpse Cart's driver. I trimmed down the tip of the spear poking through his neck, and topped it with a root. Then I added one of the coffin lids and spikes from the plastic kit. (I also added an arm, which you can see further below.) He's got a bit of a "rat" theme, with the rat on his coffin lid, and one shewing on his ankle. The Zombie on the left is straight from the kit, but I didn't think she was "fancy" enough for a Cursed City zombie, so I put her aside, and built a new one.

 

These two are from the City; the lady on the left needed a new grave marker because I took hers to make my grave markers. She's got a tombstone, and the tree and spike from the plastic kit. 

 

I wanted to differentiate these two, so I swapped the bird and candles. The large crow is from the Sigmarite Mausoleum/ Garden of Morr. The skulls and tombstones are from my Skull Forge Scenics range, and I trimmed the stones down a little so they wouldn't take up too much of the base.

 

Here's at first zombie again, with his new arm. The one on the right is a "replacement" zombie, made from the plastic kit, and I used a head from a City zombie to make him a little more elaborate and overgrown with roots.

 

The head came from the City zombie on the right, and I replaced it with a head from the plastic kit.

 

The zombie with the shield marker, originally had a "root foot" and I replaced it with a foot from a Corpse Cart zombie. I also extended the coffin lid with some styrene card.

 

For the pair of ladies with the fences on their back, I differentiated them by extending one of the coffins and adding a larger tree with more roots.

 

In addition to the regular zombies, I wanted to make a standard bearer. For the tattered flag, I used the sleeves from Neferata, trimmed down and glued together. 

 

I smoothed over the join with putty and sculpted attachment points around the styrene banner pole. I'm still deciding what put on the top of the pole.

 

I fit the coffin lid around the tree stump on her shoulder, and extended it with styrene. I'm really enjoying building out the coffin lids like this; it really adds to the appearance that they've been recently unearthed. 

 

I considered using some of the old metal coffin lid shields, but they are just too small.

 

On another note– Since Halloween is just around the corner, craft stores have their Halloween supplies back in stock, and I was able to find the plastic skulls that I like. They were unavailable for the past few years (even before Covid). Most of the skulls you find in shops have soft details or cartoony proportions, but these have sharp, mostly realistic detail with separate jaws and are small enough to use on terrain.

 

I love using these, and I'll have to make some new undead-themed scenery. 

 

'Til next time!