WWX Mercenaries!!!

One of the things I felt was very cool with the WWX kickstarter was a group of models which were added as mercenaries. Namely, the Firefly crew which Outlaw Miniatures renamed the Wayward 8. My wife and I are both big (huge) fans of Firefly and the movie Serenity, and seeing models based on those characters was fantastic. Eight of the nine characters who crew the Firefly are in the game as playable characters, missing only Shepherd Book (which makes me sad, and makes my friend Dixon very sad!).

"The Wraith"

Outlaw Miniatures went on to do some very cool things with the Mercenaries in WWX. At this date they are not a playable faction, requiring the selection of a Boss from another faction to lead the mercenaries. In addition, all Mercenary models to date are either Sidekicks or Underbosses, plus the Dark Council which comes in as Hired Hands. In addition to the "Wayward 8" (the renamed "NOT-Firefly crew"), Outlaw Miniatures allowed a specific level of kickstarter backer to create their own models. Each of these models was added to the game as a mercenary as well. It's interesting to notice that of the 3 backer-created models, 2 of them seem to be derived from other intellectual property as well. One looks and feels a lot like the Punisher of Marvel Comic fame and the other shares some striking similarity to Scorpion from Mortal Combat.

"Sasha Tanner"

I want to point out that all of the derivative models are incredibly nicely done, both with fantastic sculpts and rules that pay homage to their inspiration. I particularly like the "Cowboy Scorpion" spin that Sasha Tanner brings to the table. I was really happy with the way the model was sculpted, as it allowed me to incorporate some colors which called back to the mortal combat heritage which still maintaining enough presence to be distinctly different and very "Wild West" in aesthetic.

"Marcus Cunningham"

The final backer created model was Marcus Cunningham, who was provided to all kickstarters above a specified pledge level at no cost (the cost being provided by the "mystery backer"). Marcus was one of the first two mercenary models which I built, and was not easy to assemble. After assembling and painting him I actually made the comment (in my first game) that I hoped his rules were horrible so I would not have to use him much. Upon working him into the game and playing with him as part of my posse, Cunningham has become a crucial part of my Warrior Nation posse selection. His rules are fantastic and I have become very happy with how he fits into the crew overall. Happy enough, in fact, to forget how frustrating it was to assemble his body plus 2 arms plus hands and hammer. For those who have not done-so yet, it's a pain to get them all to line up and then glue them together without making a mess!!!

All of this brings us to the Wayward 8. In my case I only have the Wayward 6, as I have not finished painting up Kaylee (K-Free) or Wash (Hicks Kincade). I have them on my painting table and plan to paint them up for completion sake (In addition to Kaylee being my favorite Firefly character), but I am not in a rush overall. The use of those models in the game is very much in line with the inspiring Firefly Character's roles in the show and movie. Both are characters based on supporting the ship (Kaylee as the mechanic and Wash as the pilot) and this is reflected in WWX with character abilities tied to supporting heavy vehicles. As I do not have any heavy vehicles at this point, I would not be able to make good use of those two characters.

This leaves me with the remaining 6 characters. I have only been able to use River in my own posse's so far, and she is fantastic. I have often faced Mal (Marcus Wayward), Zoe (Zarelda Kincade), and Inara (Sierra Icarus). I have twice faced Jayne (Jake Mattia) and once faced Simon (Sun Totem), who play interesting roles when played. Jayne is slow but is really good with his ranged weapons, while Simon brings the interference rule to the table in a truly effective way. Interference "shuts down" most non-warrior nation weapons that are in the game, and Simon is unable to be seen from over 8 inches away while being able to shoot his interference gun 18 inches. He will be a nice little boon to my warrior nation lists.

So let's get to the pictures!

Mal - "Marcus Wayward"

Zoe - "Zarelda Kincade"

Jayne - "Jake Mattia"

Inara - "Sierra Icarus"

Simon - "Sun Totem"

River - "River Flowing"

There we go, the mercenaries. I have an alternate sculpt Dark Council coming shortly, as it was the March $5 model. It looks pretty cool and will add to my existing Dark Council model you see to the left.

That's all for this post. I am working on some more Union models to complete my Union collection. I have Lincoln and his special forces on the painting tray and set to finish up next. After that I am going to finish up my Warrior Nation hired hands and be ready to move onto my Enlightened. The only aberrations to that schedule which I currently see is I will likely paint up Jesse James and Bill Brocius so Dixon has a leader for the Wayward 8. Bill Brocius makes a particularly nice Badger to lead the Firefly crew.

Now I just need to start getting in more games on a regular basis. Hopefully my schedule will start to allow that post-Adepticon!