The Zombie Hand Painted Themed Chess Set by Italfama

• Presented on a stunning 16 inch board
• Exquisitely ornate
• 3 inch king.
• Felted bases

THE PIECES
With a regal demeanour, the Kings are instantly recognisable, although their Queens are equally as intimidating. In the green army, the bishop a particularly gruesome cloaked creature with a skull capped staff.

Although they are draped in cloaks in their colours, it does little to hide the fact that the horses too are mere skeletons but combined with their rider, these knights are a ghoulish force to be reckoned with. Following the skeleton theme, pawns are armed with sword and shield to defend their respective armies but the most dramatic pieces in this set are the rooks, with a fortress atop a large demonic skull on one side and a castle atop a mountain of skulls on the other.

Despite their gruesome skeletal theme, these chess men are incredibly ornate in detail. The armies are comprised by similar looking characters but defined by different colours. One army is adorned in blue and purple tones whilst the other is more rustic hues of brown, green and orange.

They meet in battle on a stunning 16 inch walnut and maple board from Spain making this a very enviable chess set. The Zombie Chess Men are, however, also available without the board, but either way, makes for a superb gift for a zombie fan.

THE HISTORY
Created through the resurrection of human corpses, Zombies are fictional undead beings more commonly found in fantasy and horror genre works. Originating from Haitian folklore, a zombie is created through various means but most commonly through magic over a dead body. Nowadays, zombies are more likely to evolve through science such as mental diseases, viruses, radiation and other scientific accidents, rather than the traditional magical influence.

First recorded in 1819 the English word "zombie” is deemed as being of West African origin in The Oxford English Dictionary comparing it to the words from the Kongo: nzambi (god) and zombi (fetish).

The Magic Island, published in 1929 by W B Seabrook, is a sensationalised narrative of an individual who encounters Haitian voodoo cults. It was one of the first books to expose Western culture to the idea of the voodoo zombie.

Having being subjected to a changing literary heritage, Zombies have been depicted as mindless unthinking henchmen under an evil spell. Subsequently horror movies depicting ‘monsters’ hungry for human flesh, or introduced the concept of them eating brains, were not described as Zombies in the film but merely given the title by the movie fans. In spite the grisly and unearthly nature, the concept of Zombies continues to give endless entertainment, not only through the written word, television and cinema but also through the increasingly popular Zombie-cons.