I am currently on a three month research visit to Bergen, Norway, at the University of Bergen’s Center for Digital Narrative, and decided to bring my paints with me. It has turned out to be a great idea, as I’ve actually gotten things painted! I’m continuing work on Containment, my ruleset for raging infected vs. mercenaries, and as part of the project I have been painting up scifi civilians – colonists for Alien-style blue collar scifi.
The models pictured here (and photographed in very non-ideal conditions) are 3d printed ones from David Sheff Models and The Makers Cult, with the mechanic having a head from Station Forge. I’ve really enjoyed painting these and I think they turned out nice! I went for quite muted, down to earth colours to suggest that these are very much everyday people, such as those shown in the deleted Aliens scenes depicting the Hadley’s Hope colony prior to xenomorph shenanigans.
In the game, civilians will serve a key role in some scenarios. They will need to be escorted and protected, whether as part of reclaiming colonies or panicked evacuation. They will also quite easily fall to infected attacks, obviously then turning into more infected, hopefully providing players with fun, tense moments and difficult choices.
A lovely part of my visit here was organising a miniature painting workshop for my colleagues, most of who were complete newbies to painting! The reception was really enthusiastic, so I think there’s a volume 2 on the way…
Finally, as per usual around this time of the year, I’m getting geared up for Salute! Let me know if you’ll be there if you fancy catching up.
Dawn of the Lead 