Sedition Wars: The Strain Phase #1

I have decided to take a break from painting bronze this week and have started working on what was my favourite purchase from last weekend's Salute event: Sedition Wars - The Strain. The faction represents individuals infected by a nano-tech virus that has mutated with alien matter, the sole agenda is to spread the infection. The faction and miniatures are divided into basic Necroform carriers,the forced evolved Protoform carriers and the monstrous Exoform, which seems to be the final stage of evolution (for now?).

I was lucky enough to get my hands on the limited resin box set, which includes all the current range (except one) of Strain figures and includes a new Exoform called a Cthonion, all in resin. To complete the collection I have placed an order for the Grendler Heavy Exoform. The casts are very nice, with minimal cleaning required, but they are fragile and I have already had instances where toes have come off due to excessive pressure while handling, the female Protoform looks incredibly fragile with the thin stinger barb. A little sculpting work should be all that is necessary before I go to the next stage.

Currently I have the Necro and Protoforms built, cleaned, and mounted on Sedition Wars bases. I initially wanted to wait for Strain specific bases but was impatient to get started, either way I will need to get the eventual Strain base set for the larger figures in the collection. I really like the Necroforms, in all their sci-fi zombie glory, they remind me a little of the Flood from halo and from a rules perspective I believe that game to have had some influence in design. There is a lot of detail such as folded skin, exposed cabling and muscle that I suspect will require a little patience to paint but will ultimately reward the effort. 

The Protoforms are very characterful and each one is unique, whilst retaining some of the Necroform look. I like this as it keeps in line with the forced evolution story of the nano-virus. The only thing I can say though, is that some of the weapons are described as dark matter, which I always assumed to be purples and black, while the figures seem to be painted with luminous greens, which give a more toxic look to the figures. I am not sure what I will do and will leave the weapon glows for last.

I am really looking forward to working on the Brimstone and Cthonion, while the figures have a very distinct Tyranid look to them, I think they are different enough to keep me interested with all metallic work. It is more than likely that I will paint the first batch; Necro & Proto) before constructing the Exos as this should give me enough time for the arrival of the Grendler. The nice thing about starting a 'new' project is that their is not to many figures in the collection to work on, normally when I start a new system I get overwhelmed but the range of figures, as I tend to bulk buy for sake of completism. With only nine figures in the range until September (as far as I know), I think I can manage to get these done before another significant wave hits or I lose interest. I am looking forward to starting the painting on these, as I have not painted anything 'organic' in quite some time and I feel a little burnt out from all the bronze work in the last six months.

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion