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.
