When we think about wargaming our first thought is usually about the miniatures we play with rather than the tables we play on. But the terrain is just as important for helping set the scene, bringing another facet to the hobby to get excited about. With Wild West Exodus we wanted to create a range of scenery that works perfectly for the setting and scale. The town of Red Oak was our answer to that and has been a very popular product range. Chris from our studio has thoughts on the world beyond Red Oak…
It can be a real challenge to get enough terrain out on the table to make a good game, particularly if you want it to be specific to the game you play. Way back in the mists of time when I started wargaming I would use a Subbuteo pitch with books layered underneath to make hills. I recall having a resin church and I had made some gravestones on some spare bases I had. Finally, I had a handful of trees from the local scale model shop and that was the extent of my terrain collection.
Today hobbyists have so many great options for terrain in a variety of different materials and I am a million miles away from that poor terrain starved Chris from the early ’90s. MDF has proven to be popular because you can create some very cost-effective and visually impressive products from it. The town of Red Oak, Wild West Exodus’ default location for the past two years, has been expanded with almost every building you could find in a frontier town in the Dystopian Age .
Continuing an expansionist policy after the end of the Ore War, the Union now occupies states as far south as the demilitarised zone beyond the state of West Columbia and New Peru.
But the Union of Federated States is a vast territory incorporating over sixty states many of which were once proud independent nations with their own rich history, culture and architecture. So it was time we moved beyond the Arizona territory and explored another iconic location in the Union, this time travelling further south beyond Texas to look at the more recently admitted states. The adobe-style buildings predominantly found in the states of Senora, Durango and North and South Mexico were distinctive enough from their Red Oak contemporaries, while at the same time gave players a space to tell the important stories of Mexican independence and occupation - key themes for many characters hailing from those southern states. Welcome to Rio Sonora!
Having concept art and references from our Art Director Roberto Cirillo gave the Studio a great direction, the challenge lay in bringing these gorgeous illustrations to life. The team were up for a challenge and I hope you agree that they’ve done an outstanding job. These buildings are not only the start of a continuing range for Wild West Exodus, but also feature fully detailed interiors and, for the first time, are in multi-coloured pre-painted kits. Once assembled there is no additional painting necessary!
Rio Sonora - The finished Product
This new range gives players a diverse selection of pre-painted buildings to collect and use in their games. New stories can be woven around the town and Rio Sonora might start featuring in the narrative that weaves throughout Wild West Exodus in the product descriptions for each Posse we release. Here is a closer look at each building.
We are very excited to start exploring Rio Sonora with you, so make sure you pick up your set and join us there.
Until next time!
Chris
