WWX - Warrior Nation Models

I have some updates to get completed on the blog for 2014, the first of which is to do some modification to the tracking spreadsheet. I decided to go another direction over the past weekend and spent some time using my new set of P3 paints on my new WWX models. I have already mentioned the initial Warrior Nation list I had created to learn games at a 750 point level with local gamer John. Well, I sat down this weekend and completed painting that posse up, took some pictures, then build the models I plan to paint next.

Sitting Bull is the Boss I am using to lead my posse. Through the kickstarter he was available with two different sculpts, both of which I received. The standing sculpt is the one model I ran into some bubbling in the resin, although it was not too horrible for someone who has worked with either Wyrd or Forgeworld resins. I was very happy with the models and they cleaned and assembled very easily. I took some inspiration for the color scheme (skin and fur) from Valander on the WWX boards, who's warrior nation models are fantastic. I am pretty happy with the way he came out. On the knives, I decided to go with a veined blue instead of a solid blue because I mistakenly thought Sitting Bull did not have the Spirit Aim or Spirit Edge special rules. I may go back and repaint them to be fully blue on the blades.

Walks Looking is quickly becoming one of my favorite models to play, and she was right up there when painting her. Apparently I have a preference for scantily clad women who are blind and beat you with knives or swords. I was interested to find out in the fluff from the rule book and from the comic book issue 3 that Walks is Sitting Bull's headstrong daughter. I initially attempted the slight glow around her eyes as is shows in the third issue of the comic but could not get it to look right. The attempt influenced my painting her clothes off white which left me with the brown leathers for her accessories, loincloth, and boots. I went with the light blue on her knives despite the fact she is missing spirit edge or spirit aim. She does have both Decapitate and Infected blades, so I think it will work out ok. The color works as a nice reminder that there are special rules for her attacks.

Sky Spirit was a great model to paint up. I spent some time looking for a good color scheme for wings, searching through some of the old GW Griffon pictures to find something I liked. At the end of the day I ended up "winging it" as I could not find something that matched the picture in my head. The wings came out close to what I was picturing and I am happy with them. Sky Spirit was one of the first models I got painted for WN and his blue bow accurately reflects his special rules for Spirit Aim on the bow.

I field two different Mercenary models in my Warrior Nation crew. Marcus Cunningham is the model that was created by the kickstarter "Mystery Backer" and then provided free of charge to all the kickstarter pledges of a certain level or above. I was in that group and looked forward to the model. Cunningham was a utter pain in the ass to assemble, coming in four pieces consisting of body, 2 separate arms, then the hammer and hands. This means that in order to get him together correctly it becomes an exercise in balancing the arms and hammer with the body in super glue while waiting for the whole thing to dry, hoping it stays aligned. I was really hoping to dislike the models rules so I would not be compelled to play him. Despite my frustration building (and then repairing him when his hammer snapped off), Cunninghams rules are actually very good and the model looks pretty cool once painted. I was a bit worried about the blue jeans coming out with the same look I achieved using GW paints. I was happy when I saw they actually end up a bit richer in color and I am very happy with their look. For those wondering Cunningham was part of the Warrior Nation who fought against his spirit guide while mid-way through the shape-change into a Rhino. Now he's a mercenary stuck mid-change.

One of the nice bonus's from the WWX kickstarter was the creation of the Wayward 8, a set of mercenary models based on the Firefly crew. Among the wayward 8 is River Flowing, who reflect River from the show. She has been given some Warrior Nation touches and added to the mercenary list. Her Tomahawk has the same rules on the weapon as Walks Looking, so I always knew the color to use there. I also knew I wanted to be fairly close on her hair and skin color to River from the movie and show. Beyond that were her Sword and Dress, of which the sword was easy. The sword has the RJ1027 rule, which I will be aiming to represent in on the models with painting them red. I got stuck on her dress and River was actually the last model of the posse I got painted. I did some research and found some pictures from Serenity the movie that I believe are the inspiration for the models sculpt. From those pictures I was able to draw out the dress colors and then fairly closely approximate it in a way I was happy with.

That brings us to the final three models in the posse, the Hired Hands. Hired Hands in WWX are the filler models, or the chaff that fill out a crew. They were originally explained to me as those random cowboys you see in westerns, the guys on the roofs or in the windows who are watching the stars of the movie walk down the street. In this case we have 3 ranged braves, which are from the Wave 1 Warrior Nation hired hands. I actually have 2 more of the long ranged braves and then 5 close combat braves still to paint off the sprue. The Hired Hands (along with the Wayward 8) are all plastic models on par with the new Wyrd Miniatures plastic quality. They go together nicely using plastic glue and are fantastic in holding detail. I found these to be very easy to clean and the lack of random "fiddly bits" was refreshing after working with Wyrd's plastics for the past year.

Overall I am happy to have a painted posse to put on the table regularly. Now that I have a basic set of painted models I can drop back to my "only play painted" self-commitment I have help to for a fair while. Here's a final look at the whole posse together, with the alternate Sitting Bull from above.