My Scavenger Force
by Freek Mandema

When you are stuck in whatever post apocalyptic world, lawless society or zombie infested town you are still going to need supplies. One option is, of course, to steal it from others, but I always feel scavenging your stuff from among ruined and abandoned buildings is the smarter choice. Not only is everything free, but you might even avoid having to fight anyone for it. In the Combat Zone, however, avoiding fighting might be fairly hard. My scavengers therefore won’t go unarmed. I started with a number of the EM-4 scavengers, but when browsing through the online shop, I noticed not each type of weapon in Combat Zone was available with a scavenger model.. Rather than doing weapon swaps on scavenger models I decided to change other models into scavengers. This article explains how I modified and painted miniatures from other forces to fit in my scavenger force. The first model I converted was EM-4 miniature 0323 Corporate guard SMG. I chose this model because it had a SMG and because I just liked the mini. To make him look like a scavenger I first used some putty to give him a backpack. To make him look less like he is wearing a uniform, I smoothed his lower legs with a modelling knife and than used putty to make his pants go over his boots. His pants were further ‘scavengerised’ by adding a patch to look like the trousers have been repaired. I also ‘taped’ another magazine on his gun and gave him a drinking bottle, which is hanging on the back of his belt, and puttied a piece of cloth around his left arm. I painted the model with a bright orange vest to make it look less like a flak jacket. A small touch I like if I may say so myself are the tips of his boots. That’s about the way my boots look if I never polish them. The second model I converted was inspired by a 'Where is Waldo?' picture. I guess this guy found Waldo and made him pay for his lost time…

Originally the model is EM-4 miniature 0076 Male Rebel SMG I first cut of his boots and than cut of part of his legs. Using a combi-tool I also made a cut halfway through the leg just above the left knee. I then pinned the parts back together and with some putty I rebuilt the legs, making his trousers look torn. I also cut off his mp-3 player, gun holster and magazine pouches, to make him look less ‘organized’. Some more putty was used to repair his boots, give his shirt some torn sleeves and give him Waldo’s hat. I painted him up in red and white stripes, so now he is ready to merge into a crowd. The third model I converted used to be EM-4 miniature 0061 Drummer with two pistols. I thought he would be a perfect New-York-City-black-out type of rioting ‘scavenger’. All I did here was change the arm position and putty a television in his hands with a power cord dangling down his legs. I also removed the drum sticks in his back pocket to make sure there was no trace of his rocking history. The rest of my scavenger force are EM-4 miniatures without modifications. When painting them I wanted them to have clothing that looked toned down from of long term wear and tear. To achieve this I mixed up just about every colour I used with a bit of dark brown. I also made sure not to use bright colours for large patches of clothing. The weapons were all painted grey. Although they should just be black, I felt this did not fit the models. Many of the backpacks, pouches, gas masks, drinking bottles and gun holsters I painted army-green to make it seem as if they found a stash of army supplies. This also allowed me to use one colour for many small parts which is good, because I get easily de-motivated when I am finishing up my models and can’t think of which colour to use next.