The Fallout: Wasteland Warfare game is expanding to introduce many more factions from across the Fallout universe. For the first major expansion coming to retail from August (we call it wave 2) we're introducing the Raiders and you can read more about them below. We've made a limited number of Raider Wave 2 bundles available in advance which include the three Raiders sets, the Wave 2 card pack described below and the special promo Mysterious Stranger (who'll be available on his own in Wave 3). These are ready to ship for those who want to jump in and gets you a saving of £26 / $33 on the MSRP. Otherwise you'll be able to pick up the individual items in in your local store or our webstore from August 9th.
As wave two approaches, we touched base with some of the team behind the game to get their input on what to expect from the releases. With the wave release beginning in August, it won’t be long before you can introduce the Wasteland to roving bands of Raiders, as well as add some new options to your Creatures, Robots and Survivors.
We sat down with Wasteland Warfare’s designer, James Sheahan to talk about the new profiles and cards in the card pack as well as some of the mechanics that will be coming to the game that are previewed in this wave.
James - Designing the Raiders
One of the biggest new elements in Wave 2 is the Raiders - bands of thuggish survivalists who take what they want and with little regard for others. Whilst the average Raider may be less skilled than most, they have decent armor as standard and can quickly charge into close combat – effectiveness over subtlety. Due to their illicit activities, almost every Raider knows how to lockpick which makes them suited to a wide variety of objectives.
Within the Raider ranks are Scavvers who are excellent shots, and Psychos who are skilled at close combat and are fast so long as they do not wear any additional armor. The combination of these types makes the Raiders’ rank-and-file a force offering great flexibility for combat.
The alternate versions of the Raiders, such as the Raider Outlaw, are slightly less capable than their standard counterparts but have computer skills and the ability to use Action Points for Expertise skills, making them perfect for non-combat objectives.
Of course, the Raiders are not just a crew of manpower but also include talented individuals. The Veteran Raider is a grizzled, highly capable warrior, sometimes wearing custom-made Raider Power Armor – whilst not quite up to T-45 standards, it still makes for a strong and tough target.
Shady and deadly ghoul Sinjin, heavy weapons specialist Ack Ack and sharp-shooter Avery are also very skilled and tough unique Units each with their own abilities.
Wave 2 also brings the Sole Survivor Tech who is great with computers and Dogmeat Guard Dog who wears tough armor and may even take damage on behalf of a friendly nearby model. Good boy/girl!
Inside Wave 2 are some iconic Fallout items such as X-01 Power Armor – rare and expensive but also incredibly tough – as well as weapons such as the Junk Jet, Railway Rifle, and Gauss Rifle which can be charged over time to deal greater damage.
New creatures include Putrid and Bloated Glowing Ones – some of the toughest inhabitants to be found (or preferably avoided) in the wasteland - as well as the widespread scourge, Mole Rats. In addition, some new, weaker versions of existing robots and creatures are included in Wave 2 such as the Battered Sentry Bot and Young Deathclaw. These slightly less formidable versions allow players to encounter these robots and creatures more often, and their lower caps values (some less than half their normal value) makes it easier to include them in a force.
Players wanting to create a force of robots or creatures will be able to do so using new Leader cards (Robot Controller and Creature Controller) which allow one model to lead an entire force of their chosen minions.
This concept will be expanded in Wave 3 with the Automatron Deck (alongside the Institute release) which will allow a player to give their robot minions many extra abilities, and/or have the leader exert their control over them, and even add The Mechanist as their leader. Creatures will be similarly expanded in Wave 4. The Controller Leader cards are provided in Wave 2 in advance of these expansions as we know players have already expressed their desire to lead such forces.
In addition to all of that, Wave 2 expands players’ Fallout: Wasteland Warfare games with many new items, mods, quests, perks, leaders, and explore cards, as well as cards to further add variety to your wasteland with new creatures, dangers, strangers and events.
All the cards for Wave 2 are contained in the Wave 2 Card Pack so all players can have access to all this content regardless of which models they purchase. A free campaign of 5 linked scenarios specifically designed for Wave 2, containing AI settings for solo/co-op play will be available for download.
Following that, departmental head Jon Webb had some thoughts about the models that are getting released.
Jon
The Raiders Wave, as we know it internally was a pretty special one for me as it contains the first released set of models I briefed with the various Raider poses we added to the initial seven sculpts previewed way back in the mists of time.
Amusingly, these were not the first batch of briefs I have done, but due to the vagaries of release waves and production schedules, the Raiders get to shine before anyone else (hold out for Wave 3 for more of my “babies”).
One of the things I was keen to push was not repeating sculpts. Given the Raiders are the most “swarmy” of the various factions in the game, they needed a decent number of models to ensure no two were the same. I was particularly proud of the sack hood Raider and getting to put some nods to the Fallout 4 concept art with the two extra Scavvers.
Luigi, one of our sculpt team did a superb job with the briefs and I’ve had great fun building a number of pre-production copies for my own purposes (oh, and playtesting too... ) I just need to find some time to paint them.
The other cool thing that we managed to sneak in to the wave was the extra profiles for the Robots and Creatures. James did a great job running with that, allowing players to build a more varied Robot force and hopefully make use of all the Assaultrons that will be booting up and looking for poor survivors to laser come September. That’s only the start of his plans for the Robots too… Wave 3 has something special for players looking to rule the Wasteland with a force of implacable steel.
Hope everyone enjoys what we’ve put together here and it won’t be long before Wave 3 arrives, with the Institute coming to the surface looking to rebuild as well as more troops and profiles for the wave 1 factions.
We had a chat with our studio painter Adam Huenecke, who painted every model in wave 2, about his experience prepping them for the boxes and promo shots we rely on to show how awesome the figures are.
Adam - Painting the Raiders
The Wave 2 miniatures were some of the most fun to paint- The raiders, glowing ghouls, and X-01 Power Armor are some of the most iconic characters in the series. They allow for lots of grime and weathering that allow you to have fun and get sloppy (and have the results turn out even more realistic).
I’m not a huge fan of “paint formulas,” because they are only as good as what you do with them, but I can share the colors I used for the primary elements and perhaps that can help folks get good results on their own stuff.
I’ll explain everything in terms of four elements- Base Coat, Shadow, Highlight, and “Special Effects.”
Base Coat- The first main color you can ‘block’ out your colors with. In most cases, I’ll color out each of my basic elements in their ‘Base’ color before I do any shading or highlighting. This can help you plan out your overall scheme and get a feel for what the miniature will look like when you are finished.
Shadow- These are the colors that will add depth to your base coat. These are typically a darker, richer tone than your base color. You can often add these colors as a thinned wash or a careful addition to the areas where shadows would naturally fall.
Highlight- This is the color that you will use to make your colors ‘pop’ by adding a little additional light. These are typically a brighter version of the base color and should go on the surfaces that light would hit.
Special Effects- These are the extra additions that give your color scheme a little more realism. They can range from rust, slime, glowing effects, or anything else to give your model a little more drama.
Raider Armor
Base Coat: Reaper Blackened Steel
Shadow: Scale75 Petroleum Grey (Note- this is one of my favorite post-apocalyptic paints. It’s a great dark grey/brown that can add a gritty feel to nearly anything. I often use this in my airbrush to shade my terrain as well).
Highlight: P3 Pig Iron / P3 Cold Steel
Special: Rust- P3 Bloodstone (thinned). I don’t know what it is about this paint, but a well-thinned P3 Bloodstone, with perhaps a bit of glaze medium added, makes an amazing ‘wash’ for a realistic rust effect. When it dries, it tends to separate a bit into a flat orange/brown effect that tends to pool in all the right places. Play with this a bit and you won’t be disappointed. Works great in an airbrush as well.
Raider Leather
Base Coat: P3 Bloodstone
Shadow: P3 Umbral Umber
Highlight: P3 Bootstrap Leather
Raider Cloth
Base Coat: P3 Greatcoat Grey
Shadow: Scale75 Petroleum Grey
Highlight: P3 Bastion Grey
Causasian Skin Tone
Base Coat: P3 Beast Hide
Shadow: P3 Battlefield Brown
Highlight: Reaper Tanned Highlight
Special: Blush- P3 Khardic Flesh- A thinned down Khardic Flesh (a pinkish tone), with a little acrylic drying retarder added
X0-1 Power Armor
Base Coat: P3 Pig Iron
Shadow: Scale75 Petroleum Grey
Highlight: P3 Cold Steel
Glowing Ghouls
Base Coat: P3 Necrotite Green
Shadow: P3 Thornwood Green (This was less of a shadow, and more of the color that I used for the darker hands and feet)
Highlight: P3 Cygnus Yellow (mixed with base color)
Special: Radioactive Glow- Vallejo Game Color Fluorescent Green, via Airbrush. I applied some of this extra glow to the model with an airbrush, which gives it a glowing look (and makes it glow under blacklight!)
Ethan and Charlie - Playing the Raiders
Playing Raiders is wildly different from playing with any of the existing factions in Fallout: Wasteland Warfare. They are a group that prefer brawn over brain, Chems over Charisma and numbers over tactics. They can throw enough bodies at a problem to overwhelm most enemies, and have the speed to run away if the fight doesn’t go their way. Wherever there are Settlers desperately working to survive the desolate wasteland, there will always be Raiders nearby searching for easy prey.
A perfect way to begin looting the Wasteland is with the Raider Core Box containing a Veteran Raider (modelled in Raider Power Armor), 3 Raiders, 2 Psychos and a Scavver. This is a solid start to any aspiring scourge of the wasteland. In most cases, the boss in your warband will have the best equipment and in this case that Veteran Raider can throw on a suit of Raider Power Armour and lead from the front. Whilst in the Power Armour, the Veteran Raider gains access to the strength bonus from being STR 7+, so load them up with a Melee Weapon that packs a mean punch or a Heavy Weapon that can fire with deadly accuracy.
As much as they would like to be able to, the boss can’t do everything on their own! Make sure they have some backup, such as allowing the Veteran Raider to use a nearby friendly model as a Meat Shield. Raider units are well rounded and can fit into many roles, be that long range support with a Rifle or up close and personal with a Machete. Where the Raider faction really comes into its own is with its specialised bands of Psychos and Scavvers. Load up a Psycho with a Melee Weapon and a ton of Throwing Weapons and watch your opponent panic at the fast moving whirlwind of chaos tearing its way across the battlefield. Scavvers on the other hand are the workhorses of the faction, able to reliably provide long range support. If you’re in need of someone a little more suited to objectives than fighting, the Outlaw variants of all 3 basic Raider units sacrifice a small amount of agility to gain a large boost to intelligence, along with the skills to hack into any terminals in their way.
There is always the choice of bringing along one of the infamous Raider bosses for the ride. Ack Ack, Sinjin and Avery are the paragons that all Raiders aspire to be, if Raiders have aspirations that is. If you feel that your Raiders aren't killing enough, fast enough; Ack Ack and her Minigun are an excellent addition to your force. Even better, if you activate other models in the same turn as her, Ack Ack’s Bullet Storm ability allows them to hit even more often. Sinjin on the other hand prefers the careful approach. Unlike his crew, he can’t throw out a lot of damage, but he can do it reliably. The free Silenced Mod fitted to any Pistol he brings means you have a good chance to not trigger any enemy models waiting in ambush. Finally you have Avery, an expert in exploiting the enemies Weak Point, allowing her to turn a blank face on a black dice she rolls into an Armour Break. Load her up with a Combat Shotgun and watch as she tears through the ranks of any force that dares stand up to the might of your Raider warband.
In addition to all these great units and abilities, make sure you stock up on a load of Chems. For Raider faction models, the final round of an active Chem lasts one additional round. Load up on Fury and dish out devastating damage in melee, take some Overdrive and charge up that critical attack even faster or pop some Orange Mentats to steady your aim whilst waiting in ambush.
Follow Ethan and Charlies Raider games on Youtube - Episode 1 here.
So, get out there and make me some Caps!