Bucket List: Dr Shotgun

A few weeks ago, I decided to finally check off something that's been on my bucket list for some time – to get my very own model sculpted.

I dropped Giorgio Bassani a line to pick his brains about it. I've worked with Giorgio a fair bit on figures for the various Frostgrave lines, and the stuff he's been doing recently has just been phenomenal. Amazingly, he had enough time in his schedule to squeeze in a 28mm figure, and I jumped at the chance!

First thing was a concept – that was easy. A generic gunman with relatively low-key equipment, for use as a zombie survivor, a Delta Green agent, STALKER, or whatever merc-of-the-week was called for. Next, I put together a brief document outlining what I was looking for – costume, equipment etc. – and included some reference images to give Giorgio a starting point. Again, this was simple – I knew a flat cap was a must, ditto a shotgun, and the rest just fell together as I started pulling images.

References!

That done, I left it with Giorgio until, a week or two later, I received a work in progress sculpt with the pose and everything blocked out.

The work-in-progress sculpt.

I approved that, and Giorgio started putting in the details, and turning my concept into a full-blown little masterpiece (well, I'm biased, but I think it's great!).

The finished thing!

I chatted to Nick at North Star a line about getting him cast up, and over the conversation, we came up with the idea of offering him as a promo figure for Ash Barker's forthcoming Last Days: Zombie Apocalypse ruleset. And, lo and behold...

Not only has my little guy come a long way from a spur-of-the-moment whim, but he's also been christened Dr Shotgun! I could not be happier with how he's come out, and I hope he finds his way onto tables all over the world.

If anyone would like to get their own Dr Shotgun figure, pre-order Last Days through North Star (link). The figure's a freebie, so I'm not making any money off that shameless plug, but it's a great game, and worth checking out! If you'd like to learn more about Last Days, the Facebook group (link) is a great place to start.

Will I commission any more figures now I've got this out my system? Probably not. Am I tempted? Oh, definitely...