Opening the Zombicide: Black Plague kickstarter box was truly magical. My 20 month old daughter was my companion for the opening ceremony. After each item we removed, she would utter "awesome" in her most powerful (for a 20 month old) voice.

The thing is, she wasn't wrong.

It was awe inspiring. Box after box of miniatures and artwork were pulled out. There was an endless supply of miniatures, both hero and vilian, and we had an incredible time looking through all of them.

Since that wonderful evening a week and a half ago, I have tried to focus that excitement into painting as much Black Plague as possible. The zombies are the largest portion of the work, and the least exciting. I started with the first nine of the walkers, runners, and fatties.

The first Zombicide zombies covered in Army Painter Strong Tone Quick Shade

The only problem was that I lacked the quick shade, and my FLGS did not have the Strong Tone Quick Shade that I was looking for.

Instead, I started focusing on the first six survivors I wanted to paint. First up were Cadence and Lady Grimm:

Lady Grimm and Cadence from the Marc Simonetti Guest Box

Lady Grimm was a bit of an experiment, and the first mini I have painted in less than an hour. I used Army Painter Silver to base her armor. The armor was then covered in a blue shade, hoping that it would give good depth and make the armor look more like steel. Unfortunately, it didn't come out like I hoped. She does have a good amount of depth though, and I think she looks good on the table.

Cadence is my favorite survivor sculpt out of the many (30+) that came in the Kickstarter. She's dynamic, interesting, and just damn cool.

Looking at her now, my only regret is that I didn't put more contrast into her face. The Reaper fair skin triad does not produce enough contrast, and I need to start shading down further.

I then moved on to Baldric and Nelly.

Nelly and Baldric from the Zombicide: Black Plague core set

I worked on Baldric first, and tried to crank up the contrast by using an excess of wash. It worked really well. I love how his hair and the inner brown robe turned out. The hair is Celestra Grey, blue shader, and then highlights with Celestra Grey and Reaper Ghost White (a white with a hint of blue). The robe is the Reaper Ivory triad with a heavy wash of Army Painter Strong Tone, a brown wash equivalent to Agrax Earthshade. His outer robe is Reaper HD Armor Grey Shaded with Nuln Oil, and highlighted up. The skin is Reaper's Tanned Skin triad.

Honestly, Baldric is an exceptionally easy figure to paint. He looks fine without eyes. His robes have deep grooves to help give him character, and all of the cloth is easy and obvious to highlight.

Nelly on the other hand is not. Her arm blocks access to her face. Her sword is flimsy and- even after straightening multiple times using hot water- bent back awkwardly. Her apron, which is whitewhite in the character art, is angled oddly which makes it difficult to highlight.

I tried a few different things with her. Perhaps the most radical was mixing a dark base skin tone. I combined Rakarth Flesh and Mournfang Brown to create a dark rosy skin tone, and base coated the skin (that I could reach) with it. I then created harsh highlights using the Rosy Skin Shadow, and highlighted up appropriately from there.

Her eyes were also nearly impossible to get right. I intentionally left them large and thoroughly surrounded by eye liner and mascara. The addition of a white dot on the pupil provides the simulated glint of crazy eyes. I feel this makes her look a little more like the barmaid who has lost everything and finally snapped.

Her hair is the standard Reaper red hair triad. The apron and blouse (that's what a frilly shirt is called, right?) are Celestra Grey, washed with Nuln Oil and highlighted up to white. It has nice depth, especially in hand.

The weakest point of both figures is unquestionably the sword. I don't really know how to pull off True Metalic Metal well. They lack the depth and interest of the other parts of the model. For that reason, I may switch to NMM... But it's so slow, and more work than I want to do on these figures.

It is worth noting that Sorastro's approach to painting on bases is quite incredible. It doesn't take much work, but turns into a lovely painted road pattern. Bigger stones and smaller lines look better, but it is kinda hard to mess up (I would have messed it up otherwise...) because each "mistake" simply gives it more character.