From DaveV: Sedition Wars Vanguard Strategic Points - 35 Points

For my final entry, I offer another set of models from Sedition Wars: Battle for Alabaster.

Some of these Vanguard "strategic points" come from the previously mentioned Terrain Pack Kickstarter stretch goal. From that box, I painted up the following, which perform various in-game effects:

• 1 x Auto-Doc (heals wounds and cures infection)
• 1 x Security Terminal (gives Tactics)
• 1 x Life Support Terminal (removes Nano clouds)
• 1 x Teleport Control (allows use of Teleport pad)

Upon reflection, the stock Auto-Doc looks a little small to hold a human patient. Also, the kit came with a couple of "Havoc" defense gun emplacements that looked way too large (like a Vulcan autocannon). I replaced all three items with 3D prints I found on Etsy from Majestic Miniatures:

• 1 x Cryopd (as Auto-Doc above)
• 2 x Alien Sci-fi Sentry Guns (Vanguard fixed position heavy weapons)

The Alien Sentry Gun models are particularly nice. They are modelled on the Weyland-Yutani weapons used in the Aliens franchise. 

After priming with GW Chaos Black, I used rattle can GW Corax White  downward at about a 60 degree angle for zenithal highlights. The Sentry Guns were glazed with GW Biel-Tan Green. The grey of the various terminals was a thinned glaze of Peach Black oil paint mixed with Winsor & Newton Liquin Medium. The glass and screens of the Terminals, Auto-Doc, and Cryopod were painted in various blue and white acrylics. Some detailing was done on the models with oils. The bases were glazed with Vallejo Rust and Secret Weapon Stone washes, then finished off with weathering powders.

Below, some Vanguard and Strain Strategic Points, seen in-game action:

With seven 28mm models = 35 points.

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Great looking objective markers, Dave. I especially like the cryo-pod and the not-Weyland-Yutani Sentry Guns. Even better, they look terrific in-use on your tabletop - game on!

- Curt

From DaveV: Sedition Wars - Strain Strategic Points (Retro - 50 points)

Like my Ogre project for last year's Challenge, this year I have become fascinated by another old board game, Sedition Wars: Battle for Alabaster.

My previous entry featured mostly characters from the human Vanguard Samaritans. I now turned my focus to the Strain. These "strategic points" come from a 70+ piece Terrain Pack that was another Kickstarter stretch goal. For this entry, I painted up the following:

• 2 x Necrocysts - each creates 1 Phase 1 Necroform (zombie) from 2 nano-virus clouds.
• 2 x Exocysts - each creates 1 Phase 2 Exoform (living monster) from 3 nano-virus clouds.
• 1 x Macrophage - evolves an adjacent Exoform to a tougher (Phase 3 or 4) beast for 3 nano 
• 1 x Gestation Vent - consumes a Phase 1 Necroform (eww!) to create 3 nano 
• 1 x Spore Engine - creates 4 clouds of nano-virus at the cost of 1 nano

The design of these plastic models is real nightmare fuel. Kudos to the designer. They are cast from a brittle, hard plastic, which takes sanding and filing better than the basic Vanguard and Strain. I cleaned up the models with sanding sticks and files, and affixed them to 25mm or 50mm square bases, to fit the 1" square grid lines of the game.

Below, the Strain strategic points on their painting handles. (Visible behind them are Vanguard strategic points, which include various computer consoles, sentry guns, auto-docs, and doors.)

After priming with trusty GW Chaos Black, I used rattle can GW Corax White downward at about a 60 degree angle for zenithal highlights. The skin, orifices, tubular bits, claws, teeth, and other protuberances  were painted with various greens, brown, purples, reds, and pinks from the Army Painter Zombicide Warpaints sets (Scaly Flesh, Zombie Flesh, Toxic Boils, Crusted Sore, glazed with Zombie Shade and Toxic Shader). The harder chitinous plates and spikes were built up with several glazes of Seraphim Sepia, and shaded with Agrax Earthshade and Army Painter Sepia.

The bases were painted with various Vallejo greys, glazed with Secret Weapon Stone and GW Coelia Greenshade washes, then finished off with weathering powders.

Afterward, all 6 models got a coat of Tamiya Semi-gloss (TS-79), and Matt (TS-80) spray can paint. I went back with some Citadel Blood for the Blood God and Green Stuff World Coagulated Blood, to add various blood effects. This was used y around the fleshy tubes, orifices, teeth, and seeping from the claws.

Below, L-R  a Necrocysct, 2 Exocysts, and another Necrocyst.

Below, L-R a Gestation Vent and a Macrophage.

Below, a Spore Engine.

With my recent Sgt. Ramirez purchase on eBay, I also received a 2' x 3' paper map that Studio McVey used when Beta testing the game way back in 2011. I took it to my regular art framer's, who dry mounted it like a poster. This gives me a striking map, much more robust than the then cardboard map boards provided in the basic game, which are prone to warping. This will be great for participation games at conventions, too.

 

With seven 28mm terrain models, these models for a long OOP (Out of  Production) game are also Retro, Total = (20 + 20) = 40 points.

Cool looking gribbly things, they certainly look creepy. I have scored them as 28mm minis as they won't garner you many points as terrain. Given how nice the minis are, it is a shame that the game just vanished once the kickstarter was over, your board looks very cool laid out mid-game. 

From DaveV - Sedition Wars - Sgt. Ramirez, Strain, and Drones (Under Construction - 45 points)

 

Up first is the latest addition to my ongoing Sedition Wars Project: Sgt. Ramirez, a tough Vanguard Samaritan heavy weapons trooper, and the Strain-infected version of the character. They were originally Kickstarter exclusives for the now long out of print Sedition Wars: Battle for Alabaster board game, from Cool Mini or Not and Studio McVey. This character, like several other in-game Vanguard and Firebrand models, is based on a media property: in this case, the smart-gunner Vasquez from the movie Aliens. 

From Studio McVey:

"Sergeant Ramirez is as tough as they come, and an ace with the Reaver support weapon! Laying down accurate and thunderous suppressing fire is a specialty.  Just don't talk back to the sarge!"

"It looks like Ramirez didn't quite detonate that grenade in time.  Get a free Strain version of Ramirez with every Ramirez!"

Sedition Wars is a very fun, but currently relatively unknown, board game. Very much like playing in the universes of Resident Evil or Altered Carbon, as the hi-tech, computer-networked, cloned Vanguard are pitted against the nano-virus-fueled zombies ("Revenants" in Sedition Wars parlance), and other tougher (d)-evolved creatures of the Strain. Always lots of cinematic events.

Cleaning up these resin/plastic models had its problems, which I encountered when first starting this project back in 2014.  You can't file "restic", and you can't scrape it easily; you have to cut off mould lines with a fresh, sharp X-acto knife. It took a couple of hours with a zirconium nitride blade to clean up these two figures, and I am still not fully happy with my cleanup job.  I pinned both figs to scenic bases provided in the game. 

After priming with trusty GW Chaos Black, I airbrushed several thin layers of Golden titanium white acrylic paint for the zenithal highlights. I airbrushed downwards around the model, with an emphasis of about a 60 degree angle from above and in front of the head of the model, giving a spotlight effect on the front of the figure. 

For her Vanguard version, I pre-painted the flesh tones in Vallejo Face Painting set acrylics, using the colours for tanned flesh, then laid in various Winsor & Newton and Schminke tube oil paints to emphasize highlights and shadows and to smooth out transitions. Multiple thin glazes of Games Workshop Biel-Tan Green and Seraphim Sepia washes were laid on, respectively, the armour and gun. This really brings out the highlights of areas like the tops of the shoulders and calves, and shadows like the small of the back and underneath the limbs. Further highlights were done with dots of oils.

For the Strain version of Ramirez, the decayed skin flaps, exposed muscles, tubular bits, claws, and protuberances  were painted with various greens, brown, purples, reds, and pinks from the Army Painter Zombicide Warpaints sets (Scaly Flesh, Zombie Flesh, Toxic Boils, Crusted Sore, all glazed with Zombie Shade). I punched up highlights with various artists' oils.

Below, after acrylics were laid in, before the oils.

The bases were glazed with Vallejo Rust and Secret Weapon Stone washes, then finished off with weathering powders and some oils.

Afterward, both figures got a coat of Tamiya Semi-gloss (TS-79), and Matt (TS-80) spray can paint. For the Strain Ramirez form, I went back with some Citadel Blood for the Blood God and Green Stuff World Coagulated Blood, to add various blood effects. This was used judiciously around the fleshy tubes, skin tears, and seeping from the claws.

Below, Sgt. Ramirez is seen in action on a Sedition Wars map board, fighting alongside fellow Vanguard. She is gunning down Revenants, whose corpses leave clouds of green nano-virus that still may infect the humans!

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In the game, the Hurley A.I. is a sentient drone tank that can field 3 types of mini-drones (Attack, Defense, and Sentry drones). I had previously painted up 3 mini-drones. Hurley can control up to 6 (2 of each type), so  I also added 3 more of these neat, injection-moulded plastic models. Another KS reward, they look much better than cardboard counters. After zenithal highlights, I painted them much as I did Ramirez' armour, plus adding some light weathering with oils and powders. 

For scale, below is a photo of the mini-drones, Hurley, and Corpsman Morgan Vade, a hero combat medic from the game.

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I recently received some more pre-production Vanguard Samaritan models, resin masters that have very crisp detail, are easy to work with, and will paint up nicely! I also now have all of the KS exclusive characters.  I look forward to adding more to this project. With those, plus some extra starter boxes' contents, I am spoiled for choice!

Battle Foam makes a foam tray that fits inside the game box. So far I have painted up all the models required to play the 9 scenarios included in the base game, plus several extra models. The 59 models  include extra level-1 Strain; you can never have enough, since dead Vanguard can be resurrected as Strain Revenants!

With five 28mm models, this ongoing multi-year project is also Under Construction. Total = (5 x 5) + 20 = 45 points.

From MarkW : 28mm Sedition Wars (80 points)

Hi Everyone,

Thanks to everyone for the great welcome and comments on my previous (and first post) to the challenge. It was a real boost and finally, I have managed to catch up with where I wanted to be last week and get the first batch of painted miniatures fully based up.

This submission is for  16 28mm miniatures from the Sedition Wars range by Studio Mcvey that were manufactured I think in 2013. The background on them is not so clear to me, but you are basically looking at the stereotypical futuristic special forces. 

The one element of the background that does stick in my memory about them is that the operators are all "sleeved" and "backed up" before they make planetfall.

 If you have ever read any of Richard Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs series this will be familiar (but if you haven't don't worry the first book Altered Carbon is coming to Netflix soon anyways).

In Richard Morgan's series, special forces types called Envoys would have their personality and memories digitised and stored (the backed up bit) then squirted through wormholes from one end of the galaxy to the other because its cheaper and quicker than physically travelling. At the far end they would be downloaded into host bodies called Sleeves. Interestingly these could be custom built bodies or even criminals who give up their bodies for "community service".

If you like cyberpunk or hard scifi in general I strongly recommend them - but only after you finish the challenge of course. 

(oops, the front shot of these 4 was too blurry to use - shot of the back only )

Anyway, back to the models themselves - I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with them to be fair. The concept and the design is first rate but they were disappointingly cast in restic that does not capture the detail and was an absolute nightmare to clean up. 

Add to that huge mouldlines with ill fitting components and it was probably my worst hobby experience just getting these guys and girls ready to paint. And then, to top it all off, the green base spray gave them a grainy finish -  like the gods of miniatures was conspiring against me. 

They languished, unpainted, untouched and unloved in my hobby tool box for over three years until the challenge. Now I see them together in the group shot its been worth the effort. Not the best paint job I have ever done but its 80 points in the bag. I am sure you will all have similar horror stories about miniatures that feel like they just are never meant to be painted. 

But they have been, and here they are together. (The sharp eyed of you will see the count is 17, but I could not resist putting in the lone trooper from last week in the group shot)

The plan now is to finish the last 9 of them and support weapons before moving onto the creature feature of their adversary on the planet Alabaster...............The Strain. (no relation to the TV show)

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16x 28mm infantry from Studio Mcvey

Welcome back Mark and great to see that you managed to get the rest of the Samaritans finished!  As with last week, I'm a fan of the warm armour tones with the cooler visor colours.  I also like the mix of male and female sculpts, which adds variety.

I'm a fan of the Takeshi Kovacs books, so it's fun to see the same tech used here!  Are there any hero figures to accompany this lot against the Strain?  I am looking forward to the gribblies making their appearance shortly as I seem to recall there are some absolute monsters in the range..... 80 points as you state for these chaps and long may they push the rule of the benevolent corporations!

From MarkW: 28mm Studio Mcvey Sedition Wars Samaritan (5 points)

Hi Everyone,

It is the first time in the challenge for me and really looking forward to attacking the pile of metal and plastic and sharing the progress with you all. At only 500 points, I don't have the biggest target in the world but its going to be a stretch.

Today was supposed to be the big kick off, with a good sized unit of Studio Mcvey's Samaritan troopers from the game Sedition Wars.

In true challenge style I have been busy hitting the paints only to complete all the painting,  all the miniatures and the bases only suddenly realise I was going to miss the first deadline gluing them together.

So instead of 17 miniatures that were planned - I have one, but hopefully this means next weeks submission will be a lot easier. 5 points is 1% of the target, so not the worst start in the world.

It's the first time in years to truly break out the paints, so I am aiming for a quick, easy and relatively simple scheme.

This is my favourite shot; making it seem like he is backing off from something just out of shot. I have plenty of very gribbly creatures to paint up from the Sedition Kickstarter so will definitely pose a few scenes in the future.

The sculpts are first rate, but really let down by the restic material and my overzealous use of the spray cans in basing - giving the slightly roughened appearance.

Looking forward to a bigger update next week.

Cheers

MarkW

A huge welcome to the Challenge Mark!  And I note that you've immediately stumbled across the exact same issue that I (and many others I have no doubt) have in the challenge, namely the fact that time always seems to move faster the closer to the deadline you get......

 

But what a brilliant start - the blue visor is a wonderfully cool counterpoint to the warm armour tones. I'm also a fan of the "If I walk away from the large beastie I've just discovered then I have more time to shoot it with my plasma gun" pose this brave chap has struck.

 

Sedition Wars mostly passed me by, but I do like the look of a lot of the sculpts so I'm looking forward to seeing more of them.

 

It's also great to hear that the lure of the challenge has you at your paints again after a hiatus, I'm sure that'll warm the cockles of Curt's heart to hear as it's the primary aim of the challenge - 5 points as you correctly surmise and you're off and running!