Zombicide Invader - Andrei

The Black Squad has been fun to paint thus far.  I painted Andrei and Maria at the same time since there are fairly few similar steps for each and I thought I'd save some time on dispensing and mixing the paint.  Painting two at the same time, but I wouldn't want to go for three as it is nice to see a figure 'done' in an evening and a half rather than three.

Taunt and Shove can be a powerful combination.  Shove is one of my favorite skills even though it doesn't come up extremely frequently, it can really prevent a loss due to some unfortunate circumstances.  Oddly, Andrei is decked out with a power fist according to the game art, but there is no sign of it on the miniature.  I compromised and gave him a red fist...

Paints used on this model:

Next up on the workbench:

Zombicide Invader - Maria

Finishing Maria means the Black Squad is half done being painted.  

Although she has the 'ho-hum' starting skill of "Combat Reflexes", she does have the orange potential of Enhanced Senses as well as a free ranged action at red.  Looks like she is fairly balanced and can choose a melee build or ranged.  

Combat Reflexes may be helpful on occasion, but I've found those occasions to be very rare indeed.  The opportunity arises so infrequently that I often forget it is there and miss using it even when it does come up.

Paints used on this model:

Next up on the workbench:

Zombicide Invader - Kyle

 Kyle makes the 3rd Character with the starting skill of Enhanced Senses that I've painted thus far.  It is an excellent skill to have given that most of the maps are full of rooms and severely limit the effectiveness of the longer-ranged weapons.  Kyle is definitely ranged-weapon-oriented and can really wreak havoc with the +1 to dice roll at orange and free ranged action at red.

Kyle is a very neat-looking mini (what mini doesn't look neat hauling around an enormous minigun) and was enjoyable to paint.  

Paints used on this model:

Next up on the workbench:

     Hm...forgot to take a picture before I started Maria...  Here is a grayscale after the cape had been started.

Zombicide Invader - Xenium Burger Testing

 

In the continued effort to strike the balance of challenge and excitement, another round of the Xenium Burger scenario was played.  Overall we had a great time, but due to the 'luck of the draw', we didn't see any Abominations until several turns into the game.  Things play out quite differently when 'big blue' shows up during the first draw of the spawn card.  All versions of Zombicide suffer from varying difficulty depending on the order of spawn (and search) cards drawn so it probably isn't reasonable to try to solve that problem and still use randomized decks.

The title picture of this post shows what should have been nearly the last turn of the game.  Umkos, however, found a way to up the challenge and turned back to face the Juggernaut Abomination.  My favorite photo of the game is Kyle 'tapping on the glass' to taunt the poor Juggernaut and his Worker entourage.

Umkos was a bit surprised at the speed of the Juggernaut and an extra activation put it in the same zone as the unsuspecting alien.  He quickly realized he did not actually have any way to stop the beast. 

Fortunately, Kyle still had a canister attached to his Pyre Minigun and with Jean looking on to make sure everyone was accounted for, was able to dispatch it without further issue.  

This detour resulted in another half hour tacked on to the end of the game due to being in 'Red' and both spawn points near the exit still being active.  It was a lot of fun and definitely provided some additional touch-and-go moments as the group finally made its way to the exit.

I had added back in the lower-numbered spawn cards which could be part of the reason for the slow start-up with spawning.  I've removed 5 of the lower-numbered worker spawns as well as one of each of the lowest-number cards for Tanks and Hunters.  Hopefully, that tweak will up the chances of an ideally balanced game.

After playing a solo game and finding zero energy cells in the entire game, I also enriched the item deck with 5 additional energy cells pulled from the Dark Side deck.  The SMG card was also removed as nobody really wants to find more 'starting equipment'...

Zombicide Invader - Seeker Workers (part 2)

 

Wait...these guys again??  

Yes, more of them this time.  Turns out that adding the Seeker Workers and their full set of spawn cards to the deck cranks up the difficulty significantly.  Unfortunately, it cranks it up by increasing the frequency of 'Abomination Rampages'.  Since there are only 8 Seeker Worker models in the Xeno Extras package, the entire supply can be exhausted in two draws of Seeker Worker cards.  This causes not only the Seeker Workers on the board to activate again, but also all of the Abominations to get another activation.

While a healthy fear of getting too close to an abomination at the end of the player phase is a good thing, it is quite a bummer to get taken out by an abomination that started 3 zones away after its initial move.  Well, this happens quite frequently with a set of 12 abomination cards and the 11 Seeker Worker cards replacing the 11 lower-numbered original spawn cards.

I tried just removing about half of the Seeker Worker cards which did help, but it prevented the primary use of the Seeker Workers as they activated rarely and there were still only two groups of them.  To strike a balance, I'm hoping that adding an additional 8 models and staying with about half of the Seeker Worker cards will provide increased challenge, allow the Seekers to work like they should, and prevent excessive Abmonation Rampages from spoiling an otherwise exciting game. 

Zombicide Invader - Jean

 

Starting off the Black Squad, Captain Jean.  

Overall I'm fairly happy with how Jean turned out.  His face gave me some issues as I got a little out of practice.  The physical details of his mouth are a bit messed up which didn't help matters any.

Comparing the artwork to the model, it looks like I could have used a bit of a warmer black (dark gray) to come closer to matching, but it is close enough.

Paints used on this model:

Next up on the workbench:

Zombicide Invader - XN35 "Crawley" Bot

Adding to the arsenal, the XN35 "Crawley" Bot has some strong firepower.  In my quest to make the game more of a challenge, I'll likely not use this bot in-game for a while, but it was good practice for the upcoming 'Black Squad' armor.

This has been the most simple paint scheme of the models I've painted thus far for Invader as the limited color palette shows below.  I was on the fence about keeping the clear rod that held the model to the base, but after scratching it with an Exacto knife while attempting to remove the masking tape I had to protect it from the primer, I decided to chop it off.  A side-cutter made quick work of it and after a bit of sanding, you can't tell the rod was ever there.  Even though the legs have fairly small contact points, I think/hope the super glue will be enough to keep the four legs fastened to the base.

The factory glued one of the guns on at a bit of an upward angle which I initially wasn't overly impressed with.  I could have cut it and adjusted it, but it definitely looks like it is within the normal operating angle of the machine so I left it.  Perhaps it is aiming at a close-range Abomination's head.  

I'm curious as to what the four non-leg appendages are imagined to be used for by the designer.  Given this machine has no melee attack, I don't expect they are geared toward combat.  Looks neat anyway. ;) 

Paints used on this model:

Next up on the workbench: