Analogue Painting Challenge: Sedition Wars Project - Sgt. Ramirez, Strain, and Drones

 

Up first for this entry are the latest additions 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 2013.  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 for the Challenge.

Sedition Wars Project: mini-update

Over the Christmas and New Year's holidays I had hoped to get a few more Vanguard Samaritans done up, and then get a start on the pile of Strain that I had organized. However, like a lot of folks in Winnipeg, Jen and I were laid low by the flu. Suffice to say, we didn't do a lot for over a week, other than consume copious amounts of liquids and various antibiotics, and watch Netflix.

Last weekend I did manage to work on a second female Samaritan Grenadier, using a beautiful resin figure from Studio McVey. It was a very clean casting, requiring very little prep other than a couple of wire pins for the left wrist and right foot. This resin figure had no moulding flattening or misalignment, almost no flash, and had crisper details than the "restic" figures from the Sedition Wars basic game box. The downside is that it cost maybe 8 times as much as the restic version. I used one of Studio McVey's resin bases, which are also very detailed.



Did the usual zenithal highlighting: primed with Black P3 spray, airbrushed white highlights using Vallejo White Surface Primer. Multiple thin glazes of Games Workshop Thraka Green gave shape to the armour. Since it was such a nice casting, I picked out some edges and other highlights with Titanium White oil paint. The visor was under-painted in GW Golden Yellow, Blood Red, and Red Gore, then detailed and blended with Cadmium-Barium Yellow Medium, Cadmium Scarlet, and Titanium White oils. I used Gryphon Sepia washes for the grenade launcher, punched up with Titanium White. The little bombs in the launcher's open magazine were washed in Baal Red, under-painted in GW Golden Yellow, Blood Red, and Red Gore, then detailed and blended with Cadmium-Barium Yellow Medium, Cadmium Scarlet, and Thio Violet oils.







Pushing some of the hot spots to pure white (on the helmet, gorget, shoulders, calves, rear end, etc) added greater contrast and helped pick out some of the fine details of the resin figure. The etched brass ID on the base came from Hasslefree. The base was completed with washes of Badab Black and Vallejo Rust.



In the game, the Grenadiers are elite troopers that can utilize up to two Tactics counters, can fire indirectly, and are able to use three types of ammunition (incendiary, radiation, and gravity implosion, though the latter two types are are limited to only one or two shots each, depending upon the scenario). The Grenadiers are my favourite of the special weapon troopers. The lance and the SAW are cool, but the grenade launcher is the most flexible of the three weapon types.

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Speaking of bases, I have decided to use larger than specified bases for the Quasimodos in my Strain force. The Quasimodo is a Phase 2 Exo-form, an evolved monster merged with a bio-matter gun that shoots a corrosive or infectious blast. The figure is a large, bulky one; if it stood erect it would be well over 40mm tall. In the game it's supposed to fit on a 25mm base. That just looks wrong, since its feet both stick off the surface. Because of the way this single-piece fig is sculpted, crouched down leaning on one arm, there's no easy way to re-pose it either. Since I intend to use these figs for tabletop play anyway, I purchased some 40mm resin bases from Studio McVey, from their Firebrand faction range. I think they will look much better on the larger bases.



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This is also the first time I used my Foldio lighting kit. It came from a well run Kickstarter campaign, and now is available for retail sale from the Orangemonkie website. It's a foldable plastic lighting box that sets up in seconds, due to the magnets that hold it open. Several colours of foam backdrops are available. (The 40mm diameter black resin plinth is from Rick Taylor.)



I have installed one 9-volt powered LED strip, but I may install the second that came with it for increased lighting.



Orangemonkie have offered an even larger sized kit in a recent Kickstarter campaign.