Sedition Wars Project - Phase II Update: train and chopper

Next in the painting queue was a maglev train from BP Laser. It's a cool, massive MDF kit, with about 5' of track, and the tender and 3 flatbed cars around 4' long. The photo below, from their website, shows what it looks like when assembled, without paint.

The kit is great; all the MDF parts are cut out cleanly and fit together well. BP Laser provides detailed assembly instructions as downloadable PDFs.  I was impressed by all the clear parts for the various windows; they are slightly beveled on the edges, so they can press fit very snugly into their locations without glue (after all the painting is done).

Below is a photo of the completed train, sitting on its rail near the edge of my urban table.



The tender is striking, with finely cut details.



I painted and slightly weathered the three flatbed cars. I painted them in different colours. I figured that in the future the various evil corporations represented on my table would still have some of their own "rolling stock" (floating stock?), which would be connected together to form cargo trains.





There are 5 laser cut plastic windows located around the front of the tender. After painting, I test fit them with their protective paper covering still on. I removed the paper, then, wearing nitrile gloves (to avoid finger prints), carefully press fit them into the openings.



The roof comes off so you can have fights inside the tender. I left off some parts, like the tender's rear door, the drivers' seats, and the couplers, for easier for placement of figures.



I freehand painted the control panel as if the left console was active.



Also threw some light weathering around the base of the rail sections.



Here is a shot of the train loaded with cargo, with a 28mm Vanguard Samaritan standing on the nearest flatbed for scale.



This model is a significant addition to my stock of near/future terrain. As with the other buildings and pieces, it will be useful for various sci-fi games.

I am now ready to run the next two scenarios in my ongoing Sedition Wars Outbreak Campaign. The first is a race to the train (using probably just the tender and two flatbeds), followed by a running gunfight on the full train itself!

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Yesterday I received in the mail yet another addition to the pile of sci-fi gaming stuff. It's a 1/48 scale air ambulance from Dust Studios that I found on eBay. It's a funky design, created for their Dust Tactics miniatures game, This model is part of their "Premium Edition" line, so it comes fully painted and weathered.  To me, the "Weird War II" aesthetic makes the model usable for all kinds of sci-fi backgrounds. It could be used as an active gaming piece, as a scenario objective, or just as a neat bit of terrain for Sedition Wars, Infinity, 40K, Gunschwarm, etc.

Sedition Wars Project - Phase One Complete!

A couple of weeks ago I finally unveiled the collected results of my long-gestating Sedition Wars Project. I hosted a few games using the figures and terrain that I have been modeling for the last 19 months.

The Strain 

I had some vacation time this summer, so I finally painted up 28 Strain models of various types. There are 21 Necroforms, basically human corpses animated by the dreaded nano-virus plague, There are 5 2nd-level Exoforms (evolved creatures, like in Resident Evil): 3 Stalkers (close combat types), and 2 Quasimodos (large creatures with an acidic shooting attack). Rounding them out are a pair of 3rd level Exoforms: a Scythe Witch (a kick-ass close combat expert), and a Brimstone (a big creature with a nasty gun in its chest).

I also picked up a couple of zombie paint sets from Army Painter:
Warpaints Zombicide Core Zombie Set
Warpaints Zombicide Toxic/Prison Set

I painted the 21 Revenants as if they were animated corpses, with muscles showing through rents in their greenish-tinged skin. With colours such as "Scaly Hide" and "Crusted Sore", I hope I have given these an adequate aura of putrefaction and fear.

Below, some of what I call "Lefty's" - Revenants with a HUGE left arm and a protruding right eyeball.







"Skeletors" - more traditionally zombie-like Revenants.





"Dunce's" - these are the most disturbing to me; their brains and skulls have collapsed and have basically been absorbed into a tentacle thingy.





Below, from L-R, a Stalker, three Revenants, and a Quasimodo take cover behind a container. The 2nd level, evolved Strain are painted in more traditional human flesh tones as if they are "alive", to help differentiate them from the Revenants.



The Brimstone, mounted on a 50mm diameter base, painted basically like a huge, animated temple dog.



Two views of the Scythe Witch, painted as if she has a chitinous carapace; I did not want to go the metallic route with the armoured plating on her body. She's also very tall, noting that she is mounted on a 25mm base..







The Game Board

My Hawk Wargames Urban Battle Board finally arrived last month from Games and Gears. The package contained six 2'-square plastic boards that fit together. I used four in the photo below, for a 4' x 4' table. The streets and crosswalks already came painted. There would have been even more painting and weathering on the boards, but the company lost its entire shipment to a flood in China last year. This was a Kickstarter fulfillment, so they sent out these replacements with the basic paint job. I really like the detail and texture. Some airbrushing and oil washes will set these right in the future.






First Sedition Wars Game 

A couple of weeks ago I hosted my first Sedition Wars game using the new models and terrain. Eight (!) Conscripts dropped by for the inaugural game.

For setup, the Vanguard Samaritans deployed in the street behind the non-burning armoured truck, needing to get to the square blockhouse to the north, and then had to scan the area for survivors for 4 turns. The Strain had to kill or infect all the Vanguard. Below, Conscript Keegan overlooks the board. The long pale rectangular terrain piece is the rail for a mag-lev train.



Below, Keegan and Duncan contemplate a flanking attack by hordes of Strain.



The Vanguard Grenadier bravely sacrificed herself; though wounded and bleeding, she stayed to fire off a grav grenade, which stalled a bunch of Revenants in their tracks. She succumbed to her wounds, leaving behind a corpse counter.



As Duncan and Dallas look on, several Strain converge on the blockhouse, only to be gunned down by Vanguard lasers.



Clouds of nano-virus mark dead Revenants; however, the nano-virus could still move and infect the Vanguard!



Too little, too late. Though several Vanguard were infected, they were able to complete the scan and win the game.



Other dead soldiers that evening. Mmm, beer!




Play Testing

Last week Conscript Mike came by to help playtest the next Sedition Wars scenario in the Outbreak Campaign. We made some errors in the rules during the previous game, which we went thorough carefully for the play test.

This time, the Vanguard have to break through the Strain ranks to catch the mag-lev train, which will arrive at the end of turn 4, and leave at the end of turn 6. The winner is the side with the most models on the train!




Below, a couple of infected Vanguard Samaritans support an advance through Taco Bell.



An incendiary grenade fired indirectly finds it mark, igniting several Strain. Burn, baby, burn!





A Quasimodo guns down a Samaritan with a corrosive acid spray!



Surviving Vanguard grimly carry on.



Several Revenants take cover behind the mobile hospital module.




Infinity The Game

Like Dallas` Stalingrad terrain, this table can be amortized over several games and gaming systems.
To that end, DerekY came over for the first Infinity game on the new table.

Below, some Pan Oceana Fusiliers (proxied by my Vanguard) seize an objective, ahead of Derek`s Nomad in the far doorway.



A Nisse Sniper provides covering fire, as a Trauma Doc approaches another objective.



Automatic weapons fire shredded the hair salon, leaving two unconscious soldiers!



The Trauma Doc managed to hack the objective, despite not having any hacking skill!



The Nomads pulled back and managed to hack two objectives in the final turn, for the win!



Infinity required a denser terrain setup (including another store, another truck, some street barricades, and more cargo containers). I will probably use denser terrain for Sedition Wars, too.




Sedition Wars Project - Phase Two:

In order of priority, the following modeling projects are in queue:

• MDF mag-lev train for Scenarios 3 and 4 of the Outbreak Campaign
• Strain: more Revenants (for tabletop play we need double the number used in the board game version of the game), and bigger nasties including a 4th-level Grendler and a 5th-level Cthonian.
• Vanguard: a resin Gnosis battle-suit from Studio McVey, 6 civilians from Hasslefree and Corvus Belli (also usable as High Value Targets for Infinity), several corpse models to replace the cardboard counters, and more Vanguard Samaritans and A.I. drones
• Other Terrain: More MDF buildings

Nineteen months into this 12-month project (yeah, I know), I`ve managed to finish 52 models and a couple of dozen buildings and terrain pieces. For me that`s a significant amount of effort. I`m glad it turned out pretty well.

Sedition Wars Project Mini-update: Opticamo Vanguard

 I was able to buy on eBay a few more clear resin "Opticamo" Vanguard Samaritans (like the thermo-optic camouflage from Ghost in the Shell).

I just finished three more such Opticamo female Vanguard Samaritans, all armed with laser carbines. The clear resin was slightly easier to clean up than the original restic (PVC?) models. I used super glue for assembly.



I airbrushed zenithal highlights on the lower portions of the figures, using Vallejo Black and White surface primers. I then laid in thin  glazes of GW Thrakka Green for their armour, and a little bit of Gryphon Sepia for one of the figures' carbines. Highlights were picked out with flat white. The bases were glazed with Badab Black and Vallejo Rust. The resulting effect simulates the cloaking process at different stages for each figure.



For comparison, here's what a solid resin figure looks like:



The basic rules don't use the thermoptic camouflage, so these new Opticamo figures can be used a regular troopers. With the addition of these three models, I now have enough Vanguard Samaritans, heroes, and drones to play all the basic scenarios in the main Sedition Wars rule book.



I have not been idle on the Strain side. I cleaned up and assembled 28 Strain models of various types. There are 21 Necroforms, basically human corpses animated by the dreaded nano-virus plague, There are 5 2nd-level Exoforms (evolved creatures, like in Resident Evil): 3 Stalkers (close combat types), and 2 Quasimodos (large creatures with an acidic shooting attack). Rounding them out are a pair of 3rd level Exoforms: a Scythe Witch (a kick-ass close combat expert), and a Brimstone (a big creature with a nasty gun in its chest). These are now ready for priming.



I also picked up a couple of zombie paint sets from Army Painter:
Warpaints Zombicide Core Zombie Set
Warpaints Zombicide Toxic/Prison Set

With colours such as "Brainmatter" and "Crusted Sore", I hope to give these an adequate aura of putrefaction and fear.

After this lot is done, I have in queue one each of 4th- and a 5th-level Exoforms, some strategic points from the Sedition Wars terrain set, and several corpse counters to represent both the detritus of previous battle and Samaritan casualties caused during the course of play.

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The big cabinet in our library now has a real mix of figures and models: 1/6 scale dolls from history and fiction; various 15mm and 28mm figs that I have won awards for; some 1/7 and 1/8 scale action figures from anime, comics, and TV; and a bunch of pieces for other games like CheckYour 6!, Wings of Glory, De Bellis Antiquitatis, and Coaling Stations.