Sedition Wars

Battle for Alabaster pits the heroic Vanguard against the twisted Strain.

Figure sculptor Mike McVey had one of the early big Kickstarter hits with his campaign to release this miniatures combat boardgame, and you can feel the hard work in the final product, though inexperience resulted in dark map tiles and the poorly written original rules. The miniatures are stunning however, and the evolution/infection mechanic brings a tense and exciting twist to the usual shoot and fight framework.

In addition to the rules summary and reference sheets, this file incudes redesigned tactical unit cards for the miniatures. I found it difficult to read the original tiny all-caps text, and I also didn’t want to flip the cards over in play, so these cards are larger and single-sided. In play, I use little 5mm red dice to track wounds.

This comprehensive rules summary and reference incorporates all the changes in the most recent version of the rules and the latest errata, and also includes cards for the ‘wave 2’ extra models. It’s probably the most comprehensive and accurate version of the rules and cards for this game available anywhere.

Legacy Material

Here you’ll find all the latest PDFs for Sedition Wars. This was all made available on the internet at one time or another, and is provided here for personal use only.

Update Log

Mar 2016

Date Version Changelog
May 2017 4.1 Added duration clarifications to status effects
Apr 2016 4 Added exogenesis effects to turn orders, clarified use of strategic points, a couple of typos fixed
Mar 2016 3.9 Consistent wording for ‘tactics counters’ on summary, reference sheet, Battle Damaged Akosha card and Gnosis Suit Kara Black card
Sep 2015 3.8 ‘Decare Exogenesis Effects’ typo fixed on summary and reference sheet
Jan 2014 3.7 Numerous small errors and typos throughout fixed
Nov 2013 3.6 Small errors in summary and reference sheets fixed
Nov 2013 3.5 Rules for white doors changed back again
Oct 2013 3.4 Error in rules about white doors fixed
Oct 2013 3.3 Changes from latest errata (only unit card changed is the Revenant)
Sep 2013 3.2 Various changes from the latest errata implemented
Sep 2013 3.1 Incorrect images for crush, civilian and corpse tokens fixed
Sep 2013 3 Rules updated to 2nd edition, wave 2 cards added
May 2013 2 Stat cards updated for the 2nd edition rules
Apr 2013 1 Original release

92 Comments

  • Ken H says:

    As an event organizer for a large group, your game aids have been extremely useful. The games that you provide aids for are great and the most professional on the net. Thank you!

  • Guillaume says:

    Excellent ! Really clear and consistent, as always. It gives the degree of summary needed by the original rulebook. Thanks !

  • Brent Lloyd says:

    How do you folks like this game?

    I missed the original Kickstarter and have so far avoided picking this one up. I already own and enjoy Space Hulk (1st & 3rd Ed.), Hybrid, Descent (1st & 2nd Ed.), Claustrophobia, Steel Legions, D&D Minis and the D&D Adventure games, and a host of other corridor/dungeon crawling games.

    Does Sedition Wars really add anything new to the genre?
    There are lots of folks saying this game is buggy and hard to play “Rules as Written”, comments?

    The prices for this game have been dropping like a stone, even for the Biohazard packs and such. This makes me think it is either a good buy now, or a mediocre game that probably will not see a lot of table time.

    Peace

    • Universal Head says:

      I’ve only played two games and they were great fun. I have almost all the games you mention and I still think it’s different enough to sit happily in my collection. The infection mechanic is fun and the game does have an atmosphere of its own. As for the rules, yes, they could be better written, and I don’t understand why they don’t fast track a rewritten PDF, but hopefully this summary (which incorporates some FAQ) will make things a little clearer. No issues came up in our first two games and there were some really good cinematic moments.

      I don’t know about you, but when I read FAQs a lot of the answers seem to be for pedantic people who can’t just roll a D6 to make a ruling and get on with the game … I certainly wouldn’t call it ‘buggy’ or ‘hard to play’.

      You never know what another player will really enjoy, but I’m glad I bought it and it will definitely see table time. But then I like this style of game, some people (crazy people!) would be happy with one dungeoncrawler in their collection.

  • Brian says:

    Thanks for this. Any chance you could leave up the Ver. 1 files? A significant number of people are still using them, not the least of which are new players trying to play it out of the box.

  • nooker says:

    You’re stuff is awesome & really helps me get a better handle on the games! I do think I noticed an error in v3.3 on doors. They say white doors cost 1 movement to open, & remain open till a model closes them. The rule book says they open when a model is adjacent and close automatically when there are no more models adjacent (p11). I’m not misreading things am I?

  • WonderSlug says:

    Actually, as of the latest errata, all doors open and close in exactly the same way.

    Spend one point of movement to open or close a door.

  • WonderSlug says:

    Really enjoy these summaries. Thanks so much for your excellent work. I found a couple more correction though. Hope you don’t mind.

    Pg.3 Vanguard Strategic Points, Auto Doc. The ability should read similar to, “Remove any wounds, Infection counters, and cure bleeding.” Current wording implies it’s EITHER wounds OR infection. Bleeding is left off entirely. Update applies to all instances of the Auto Doc definition in the summary sheets.

    Pg.6 Specialist Barker Zosa: Lucifer Plasma Thrower Card. “Indirect Fire”. Change “Select an ENEMY square. . .” to “Select and EMPTY square. . .” It’s correct in the second sentence, so surely an typo.

    I’ll let you know if I find anything else. Thanks again for your awesome guides.

    • Universal Head says:

      Thanks mate, I never would have picked up on those. Will update asap.

      • WonderSlug says:

        My pleasure. I very much prefer your guides to the official rule book, which has my buddy and me constantly checking errata and FAQs to get the most current rules. It’s great having everything up-to-date in one comprehensive document.

        I haven’t played the game in a while, until finally getting back to it last night. We spent SOOOOOO much time looking through rules, and I finally remembered your guide.

        So I’m working my way through it now, and I’ll let you know anything else I find. I don’t think this game took off quite as much as some of us would have liked it to, so getting a wide range of proof readers can be difficult, especially since the rules were changed so much starting out.

    • Universal Head says:

      For the Auto-Doc, is there are rule that it cures Bleeding anywhere, or are you just assuming it does? In the rules it just says it removes damage and infection. Ah hold on, I see, it’s in the Bleeding description: ‘if the model is cured of any wounds, Bleeding is removed.’

  • WonderSlug says:

    Small correction.

    Every instance of the term, “Phase 2 Necro-form” should be changed to “Phase 2 Exo-Form”. To my knowledge, there is no Phase 2 Necro-Form.

  • WonderSlug says:

    Couple More:

    “PLAYING THE GAME” SECTION: remove the clause, “,or if he chooses,”. That section was removed from the rules, to prevent people bypassing status effects from triggering by choosing not to activate all their models. Every model must be activated during each player’s Active Phase.

    “2. ACTIVATION” SECTION: 1c and 1d can be combined into “use/secure a strategic point” The original rules had this confusing language, which has since been clarified. “use” and “secure” are the same thing. 2a and 2c are the same thing. Remove one.

  • WonderSlug says:

    I’ll try to get through the rest of the document soon. The rest of tonight is just to busy. I’m trying to be very accurate with the suggestions, verifying against the latest docs from Studio McVey.

    Thanks for being so responsive to user feedback.

    P.S. Are you the same guy who did the painting videos for Mansion of Madness? That was a good series; Enjoyed it a lot.

    • Universal Head says:

      I really appreciate it, because I’m beginning to go blind checking this – it really needs a fresh pair of eyes. Let me know when you think you’ve gone through the lot.

      Yep, I did those videos – they’re on this site! 🙂 I must do some more painting ones, unfortunately they just take quite a long time to do.

  • WonderSlug says:

    STRAIN FORCE MANAGEMENT
    2. Mutate Infected Models
    Level 4: Change “Phase 2 Necro-Form” to “Phase 2 Exo-Form”

    4. Evolve Exo-Forms
    “If adjacent squares contain models, they are pushed into the nearest adjacent clear square and become prone.” – The prone portion only applies to enemy models. Friendly models are simply pushed aside to make room.

    2. ACTIVATION
    2. Perform a focused action
    c. Focus an attack or attack ability – Remove the c subsection and add the following language:
    “Some attack abilities must be focused to be used at all. In this case, the attack does not gain Attack +1d6”

    There’s some repetition here from previous posts, but I figured I’d start at the beginning and provide exact text when possible. I’ve cleared through the Reflex Trigger section, and I’ll post more later. Off to do more family stuff!

  • WonderSlug says:

    ATTACKING
    2. Determine Attack Vector
    “A Vanguard model attacking an enemy with a tactic counter on it. . .” – change “tactic counter” to “target mark counter”
    Defense is misspelled in the next sentence.

    COMBAT MODIFIERS
    Firing Close – Suggest adding “(adjacent)” to the end of the description

    7. Remove Models
    Suggest removing “Mutated” and “Evolved”, as they’re addressed appropriately in the Strain Force management Phase section, and are not part of combat results (at least I think that’s right)

    ABILITIES
    Remove – “Abilities are always free to use, even in reflex mode.” – The statement is not true.

    In a previous post, I suggested adding the following language to the activation section.
    “Some attack abilities must be focused to be used at all. In this case, the attack does not gain Attack +1d6″
    Please disregard that edit, as you already have it under the Attack Abilities section. Still remove 2c, as it’s repetitive.

    STATUS EFFECTS
    Singularity: first sentence contains a period where an Oxford comma should be.
    Also suggest changing the order of the status effects to place the 3 gravity effects together, instead of alphabetically ordered [getting very nit picky here. Ignore if you choose]

    COUNTERS
    Civilians: Suggest replacing, “When an active model moves adjacent to a civilian counter, they may . . .” with “An adjacent model may. . .”

    SPECIAL STRAIN ABILITIES
    Override: add – “If a model with an override counter is no longer infected, remove the override counter as soon as all infection is removed.”

    STRATEGIC POINTS
    Teleportation Control: add – “If a model arrives in a Scenario via the Teleportation Control, any model already on the Teleportation Control when they arrive is pushed back, if necessary, using the rules for “Evolving Large Models”

    That does it for the Rules portion of the Guide. The changes here will also apply to the Player Reference Sheets. I’ll try to get through the Cards next, but this should give you something to work on for a while. 🙂

  • WonderSlug says:

    Forgot one

    First step in Strain Force Management is: “Declare ExoGenesis Effects if applicable”

    • Universal Head says:

      Wow, this is great. Any other games you want to cast your comprehensive eye over? Very thorough, I love it.

      • WonderSlug says:

        Happy to do it. I’ll see what else I can find. However, I actually just got into board games in the past year, so my collection/knowledge isn’t very far-reaching.

  • WonderSlug says:

    Vanguard Cards

    Captain Kara Black
    Close Combat Expert: Suggest changing to “+1D6 when attacking adjacent models.”
    Not sure why they chose “in contact” here, as it’s not really used regularly throughout the rules. In fact, the definition for “contact” is essentially “see adjacent”. Silly to include that if you ask me.

    Priority Target: Change to – “Select a Target Mark counter currently in play. Using that counter this active mode grants attack +1D6 instead of Attack +3”
    Current wording suggests the use of ANY target mark counter gains the benefit, instead of ONLY the one selected by this ability.

    Tech-Com Kara Black
    Sabre Kinesis Carbine: Effect: If target is killed, Target Mark all enemy models adjacent to the target’s square.

    Katar Pistol: Effect: Change to – “Does not grant a firing close defense bonus to target” – This is consistent with wording on other Katar Pistol cards.

    Threat Assessment: Suggest changing to: “COST 1 Place up to 3 target mark counters on enemy models in vector.” – I believe the current description on the card was an oversight by Studio McVey, since models can no longer have more than one target mark counter assigned to them.

    Target Mapping: Suggest changing to: “COST 1 Select an enemy model in vector. During this Vanguard active mode, target mark counters on that model grant +1 staging instead of an attack bonus when used.”

    Failure Drill: Suggest changing to: “COST 3 Mark 3 Sabre Kinesis Carbine attacks against a single target up to 5 squares away within vector.

    Gnosis Battlesuit: Kara Black
    Piloted: Change second sentence to “SHE may not activate until the next Vanguard active mode.”

    Steady Stance: Suggest changing to: “Cannot be moved by abilities” – It’s just easier to read than the original language.

    Specialist Barker Zosa
    Heavy Weapons Guy: Suggest changing to – “Focus an attack ability to gain +1d6 on attack roles with that ability”
    Current language [from original card] is too wordy. Why they felt the need to state “Barker can” and “during his activation” is beyond me. All of the abilities and traits are used “during this turn” and define something some character CAN do, etc. etc. Suggest making this change on both of Barker’s cards.

    Slag: “attack” is misspelled in the first sentence.

    Specialist Barker Zosa [Lucifer Flame Thrower version]
    Indirect Fire: Change “enemy” to “empty” in the first sentence.

    Aphid Loader Barker Zosa
    Reflex Trigger: Change “Life Shock” to “Lift Shock”

    Corpsman Morgan Vade
    Reflex Trigger: Remove “vector” from the description. All reflex triggers require vector unless specifically mentioned otherwise.

    Abilities – Suggest removing “Ability” from the beginning of the descriptions for Combat Medic and Immunotherapy. I believe this to be a poor edit from the original language, and the word is no longer needed. New format should be consistent with others so far. ie. “COST X . . .”

    Combat Medic: Focused: Capitalize “double”

    Mercy Killer: Change to – “Place a target mark on an enemy within 4 squares and mark a Katar Pistol attack against it.

    Incinerator Morgan Vade
    Combat Medic: Same edits as other card

    Biopurge: Suggest formatting similar to other abilities with a focused version. Change to:
    MOVE ABILITY Remove 1 nano counter within 3 squares.
    Focused: Removed 2 nano counters within 3 squares.

    Operator Akosha Nama
    Change “Systema Coc” to “Systema CQC”

    Reflex Trigger: Suggest changing to – “When an enemy model activates in vector, use Killshot against that model.”

    Battle-Damaged Akosha
    Reflex Trigger: Change “3 square” to “5 squares”

    Wired Reflexes: Change to – “MOVE ABILITY, COST X”

    Terminatrix: Change “Max” to “Make” in description

    Jade “Iron” Lily
    Repair: Suggest format change for consistency:
    COST X ….
    Focused: ………

    Captain Ian Reins
    Reflex Trigger: Now stick with me here. The possessive form of Reins can be either Reins’s, as you have it, or Reins’. I’ve always preferred it without the extra S on after the apostrophe, but totally up to you.

    Bella Grange
    Reflex Trigger: Suggest removing “Bella may”

    Scorn & Derision: Suggest changing to – “. . .3 wounded enemy models within 3 squares in vector.”

  • WonderSlug says:

    I’ll continue submissions, hopefully later today.

    Hope my super, low level, nit picking isn’t driving you too mad.

    • Universal Head says:

      Not at all – all done, awaiting the next batch. I had no idea so many things needed to be fixed! 😉

  • WonderSlug says:

    Phoenix Corbett
    “Aiming to Misbehave” ability is missing a word.

    “Bully” Remove “ABILITY” from the description. It’s redundant. Holdover from a bad edit on the original card, most likely.

    Delta Chen
    Change her title from “Vanguard Hero” to “Independent Hero”

    Keegan Kor
    “Tabit Blade” & “Jailhouse Sweep” effects are transposed. Blade should gain bleeding. Sweep should gain prone.

    THI Utility
    “Mattock Mine” attack should be “Mattock Mine Pulse Canon”
    In description of attack, THI should be all caps. (All mentions on card) Really like the way you reworded that effect text.

    I notice you left off the trait, “Hard Points,” most likely due to space. Wonder if there’s a way of getting that info there somewhere, somehow. . . What if you add something to the top, just above the red attack bar. “Hard Points – When deploying, select any two attacks. This model may only use these two attacks during play. May choose Crusher twice”

  • WonderSlug says:

    That’s it for now. Kids just got home, so. . .

    More, as time allows.

    • Universal Head says:

      Fantastic, thankyou. I’m embarrassed by the number of errors I’d made!
      PS The THI addition ‘may choose Crusher twice’ – where’s that from?

      • WonderSlug says:

        It’s derived from the “Rend” ability language. I’ve not seen any mention of it elsewhere to confirm, but I can’t see Rend being usable otherwise.

  • WonderSlug says:

    Samaritan
    Reflex Trigger: add a comma after the word “vector”
    Frosty: For consistency with other formatting, remove “FOCUSED,” from the non-focused version of the ability. Should read, “COST 1 . . .”

    NIVEN BANKS
    The downloadable kickstarter card shows his HP to be 10, not 16.

    NIVEN-FORM
    I believe his ability is intended to be “Network Interference”. Misspelled on the source materials, but makes sense, given the ability’s effect.

    SERGEANT RAMIREZ
    Ability “Smartgunner” missing from card. MOVE ABILITY, COST 1: Place 1 target mark counter each on up to 3 enemy models in vector
    Morbid Grip: Bold “Biogenic Claw” for consistency.

    HEXEN PHAEDRUS
    Ability: Redirected: Missing focused effect. Re-format for consistency.
    MOVE ABILITY. . .
    focused: Move any nano within 5 squares up to 3 squares away from Hexen

    PROTO-PHAEDRUS
    Trait: Seductive Abomination: check spelling of “against” at end of sentence.
    Ability: Non-Impulse: Missing focused portion. Re-format same as HEXEN PHAEDRUS card
    MOVE ABILITY. . .
    focused: Move any nano within 5 squares up to 4 squares in any direction.
    Nano Strike: Remove “Focused” from ability type. It’s an ATTACK ABILITY

    DR. SUSAN RIDLEY
    Ability: Get Away From Her!: change ability type from “FOCUSED” to “FOCUSED ABILITY” for consistency

    RIDLEY FORM
    Trait: Infected: “Ridley” misspelled.
    Gruesome Awareness: Suggest removing “against it.” from the description.
    Ability: Spew: remove “/FOCUSED” from first line of ability text for consistency

    HURLEY-BASTION MOBILE CIC
    Ability: Deploy Drone: Remove “/FOCUSED” from first line of ability text for consistency

    ATTACK DRONE
    Suggest swapping position of “Automaton” and “Reflex Trigger” on all drone models, for consistency.
    Trait: Viral Safeguard: change “with 2 squares” to “within 2 squares” (applies to all drones)
    Ability: Tac-Aim: Bold “K-Beam”

    SENTRY DRONE
    Ability: Tactical Observer: REmove “ABILITY” from the text. It’s redundant.

    That’s it for today. I’ll do my best to finish up the strain cards tomorrow. I’m sorry it’s taking so long. It’s rare I find time to get through this, because I’m going pretty slow to make sure I catch as much as possible.

    • Universal Head says:

      All done, great! There are already people on Boardgamegeek breathlessly awaiting this new version. 🙂

      • WonderSlug says:

        For realz!?

        Well, if that’s not motivation, I don’t know what is. 🙂

        Unless work throws me a curve ball tomorrow, I should be able to wrap it all up.

  • WonderSlug says:

    BONE CRAB
    Reflex Trigger: Change “damaged” to “targeted”
    Ability: Phalangeal Rush: Remove “the” at the beginning of the sentence.

    STALKER
    Ability: Prowl: Remove /”FOCUSED” from ability type for consistency

    BRIMSTONE
    Reflex Trigger: “activates” should not be possessive. Remove the apostrophe S.

    GRENDLR
    Regeneration: There appears to be an accidental second period (full stop for those outside the U.S. ;)) at the end of the sentence.

    SCYTHE WITCH
    Furious Snare: For consistency, suggest changing ability type to “FOCUSED ATTACK ABILITY”. I know it differs from the base card, but I believe the base card is a typo, when compared to other cards, as evidenced by the fact that there is no “focused” effect for the ability.
    Spring-Heeled: For consistency, remove “/FOCUSED” from the ability type.

    GRENDLR
    Trait: Bio-Metal should be “Bio-Metal Carapace”
    Regeneration: Remove extra period at end of sentence.
    Reap: Change ability type to “FOCUSED ATTACK ABILITY”

    THAT’S IT!!! Hope I didn’t make any mistakes. I’d be pretty embarrassed after all this time and effort.

    Thanks again for providing these great guides to the community.

    • Universal Head says:

      Updated to v3.7! Thanks mate, it’s been great getting another pair of eyes with such an attention to detail. Nice work.

      You may now have a small insight into the amount of work the 200+ rules summaries on this site have required… 🙂

      Hopefully we’ve got the definitive Sedition Wars summary and reference here. Thanks again!

      • WonderSlug says:

        I definitely have a much greater respect for the amount of work that’s gone into this site so far. Your efforts are to be praised for sure.

        This game had to be especially difficult to work on, thanks to the constant rules flux since its release. I think this guide is a huge help to players, and I’m glad I could lend my assistance to it.

        I check your site every day now, by the way. Glad I found it! Keep up the good work, sir!

        • Universal Head says:

          Thanks mate, if you ever feel like proofing any others feel free! We’re always striving for perfection here at the EOG.

  • WonderSlug says:

    So So So Sorry. Just skimming through it, and found something I missed. Don’t think it warrants a new version number, but its:

    HURLEY Card
    Trait: Firewall: change “models with 3 squares” to “models within 3 squares.”

    I caught it on the drones, but not Hurley!! Again. Sorry. I know you thought you had this totally behind you. LOL

  • WonderSlug says:

    Found another.

    Ability: Prowl: Remove /”FOCUSED” from ability type for consistency

    You missed that one. 😉

  • Crashn Cor says:

    I have had this game for a while and I am now considering playing it. I am trying to decide on how I want to handle marking health. Above you stated that you use a 5mm dice but how do track units with more health than that (> 6 max 30)? Are you using multiple dice each? Let me know if there any other ideas that perhaps I haven’t considered.

    • I haven’t played for a long while, but I assume we used multiple dice. Damage must be delivered in decent amounts because I can’t recall ever having a miniature walk around with 4 dice on its base or anything like that.

    • WonderSlug says:

      We use either more than one die or D20 for anything with more than 6 HP. Grendlr uses a D20.

  • Hi all guys.

    I´m new to the game (and just found this place! =D )

    I was wondering if you have available templates for creating homebrew SeditionWars cards. I have some models from McVey with no rules, like Uriah Severn, Gemma, Commodore Grist and Phaedrus/Chirurge, and would like to field them using my homebrew rules.

    Thanks in advance!

    • Hello and welcome! My apologies, but one thing I don’t provide is original files or templates (I usually get asked for them from people who want to do translations). I once did, back in the early days of my summaries, but I almost always had to organise ways of sending large files, wrangle questions about program versions and ways I’d set up my work etc etc, and it all just resulted in a huge drain on my time – time I’d rather spend doing new summaries! So my only choice was to decide on a policy to not give people working files. Sorry!

  • WonderSlug says:

    Peter! I was just browsing BGG today and I came across a lovely foam core design from you with this game. Why isn’t it available here!? 😉

  • The8thPagan says:

    Weirdest box insert ever on Sedition Wars. Two boxes with plastic trays like those found in every CMON game I own. One Box is moulded to hold dice, cards and tokens, so useful for game play and setup.

    The other box is moulded for miniatures… before assembly… so it’s useless once everything has been glued together. I’m planning to make a foam core liner for that box to use for miniature storage.

    Odd design though. One useful and one useless.

  • WonderSlug says:

    “Tactics Counter” is used consistently throughout the book, but I noticed a few times where it was used as the singular form in the summary. These corrections go toward fixing that. It should always be “tactics” not “tactic”

    In both the full rules guide and the mini summary sheets
    Vanguard Force Management
    2. Designate Targets
    change to ——> “You may spend a tactics counter….”

    Unit cards:
    Battle Damaged Akosha
    Both of her attack effects should says “gains 1 tactics counter”

    Gnosis Suit Kara Black
    change the effect of her first attack to “If target is killed, Kara gains 1 tactics counter unless already at max”

    That’s all for now.

    I swear, last time I played I found a “a” where a “an” should have been but I cannot find it now. So frustrating. LOL super critical, I know….

  • CK Lai says:

    Just played the first mission of the campaign using the latest version of the EoG summaries. First Vanguard victory!

    And… the game is fun! I remember when I first played it (sans EoG summary) it was plodding and had too many unanswered questions. Now, it’s a tense game between 2 very asymmetrical factions.

    The Strain player seems to have the most fun as he cackles with glee every time he moves his nano counters. Man, I hate those counters!

    Thanks again to @Universal Head and @WonderSlug for a GREAT job!

    Pity CMoN and McVey botched the initial launch of the game. The rules as they now stand are actually a very good set of miniatures skirmish rules. Just change the Movement values from squares to inches and you’re good to go! If Sedition Wars had taken off, we’d likely be seeing more expansions, missions, factions etc.

    I’m setting up the board next weekend for campaign mission 2. You know a game is now good when you’re looking forward to play the next game 😀

    • I must play this again, it’s been ages. And I don’t think I’ve played with the new rules. Yep, they certainly stuffed up the launch and support with this game. Better communication could have gone a long way to keep this game alive. And of course, the rules, should have ben playtested more thoroughly before the game was launched. Get a bad rep in this small industry, justifed or not, and it can be a big hole to climb out of.

      Anyway, you can pick it up for a steal now, and it’s worth getting a copy.

      • CK Lai says:

        You should dig the game out of storage. I hadn’t touched it for over a year when this thread became active again. The Vanguard are few but elite. But I think it’s the Strain player that’ll have the most fun with his nano counters. 😀

  • CK Lai says:

    @UH: after playing a bunch of missions for the campaign using your excellent rules summaries, I’ve discovered a couple of tiny errors (nothing major) and maybe some areas where you could make some useful additions.

    Tiny errors:

    1. SPECIAL STRAIN ABILITIES : Engulf. “If the consuming (model) is killed…” (word dropped out.)

    2. HAVOK Gun : “A model on the HAVOC can (use) the gun…” (word dropped out.)

    Possible additions to improve clarity?

    1. During the Strain Force Management Step 1 : Declare Exogenesis. Perhaps you could just list down what the 3 effect are? (Gestate, Expunge, Metabolise). The thing is, models with this ability are so rare you hardly ever run across them. We can always look it up later, but it’s a good reminder what they are. Especially in the mini-rules summary at the last page.

    2. Using Vanguard Strategic Points: I know you’ve taken those sections word for word from the rule book, but the sentence “Spend 1 Tactics counter…” is a bit ambiguous. Active model spends, or spend from the Tac Pool? Turns out the actual rule book pg. 17 says “the model using the strategic point must pay the cost”. So perhaps you might want to clarify that section for the Life Support Terminal, Security Terminal and Teleportation Control (especially that last bit as it’s mighty unclearly worded in the actual rule book)?

    Thanks for all your invaluable contributions to the gaming community!

  • WonderSlug says:

    Wow. Good job catching those errors. I feel ashamed… 🙁 Do you know how many times I scoured that summary? LOL

    Nice suggestions too. It’s always helpful having another set of eyes look over things from a fresh perspective.

    • CK Lai says:

      @WonderSlug : Don’t worry… you did a STELLAR job catching the obvious errors. But I guess that’s the difference between copy-editing the rules, and as an actual USER of the rules where you’re desperately trying to look for answers to a gameplay question 😀

      Here’s hoping our esteemed UH will implement my suggestions 🙂

  • I’ve uploaded a v4. Check it out and let me know if anything else needs to be done.

    • CK Lai says:

      Nice! Thank you and excellent work as always 🙂

      Not sure if you needed to spell out the Exogenesis effects in detail in the main rules summary for the Strain Force Management Phase since you already have it in the Special Strain Abilities section but it’s always nice to have. And it’s definitely a must in the Player Aid.

      Will let you know if there’s any other issues but looks like it’s complete. That said, I’ve 3 more missions to go and have yet to use the Cthonian in a game so who knows what else is going to pop up? 😉

  • CK Lai says:

    Oops. Spoke too soon! Just noticed something as I was checking the FAQ for something else, but:

    Not sure if you want to mention that large models that are Prone still block vector (ugh why can’t they call it LoS?) but normal models don’t.

    It’s a bit nit-picky for sure, though and not a must.

  • Guwen says:

    I might be a bit late to the fray, but there are some clarifications that I don’t understand. And I haven’t found any good resource of rules anywhere else.

    1a. Are there any limits to a length of a vector?
    1b. Does it mean that reflex triggers “trigger” if seen all across the board?

    2. What happens when a reflex trigger triggers on an action that cannot be preformed after the reflex ability has been resolved? e.g. reflex model walking out of line of sight, of aiming active model.

    3. Are all status effects that don’t end with a status roll (i.e. singularity, inversion and crush) never ending? Or how do they end?
    If they are never ending, are the models inside inversion and crush, “stuck” (not the game term) the rest of the game? (That would suck…)

    I have no clue if anyone will read this at all, but I’m glad if someone would clarify it for me. And yes I have never played the game, I bought it pretty recently.

    BTW Great summary of the rules, I needed to look in the original palmflet a few times for ruling examples but otherwise much more streamlined! Thanks for your work.

    • Sorry to be not very helpful, but I try to avoid answering rules questions here, mostly because Boardgamegeek will give you a far larger pool of players from which to get a good answer, but also because I can’t personally keep track of the authoritative minutiae of 270+ games. 🙂

      So it’s best if I direct your questions to the Boardgamegeek Sedition Wars page.

  • CK Lai says:

    @ Guwen: I’ll take a shot at answering your questions:

    1a: Vector: read page 10 of 2nd Ed. rule book. Vector only blocked by 3 conditions, plus a cover bonus for target model. That said, your distance is only limited by the weapon you are using (rules on same page).

    1b : Reflex (aka Overwatch) : yes. Page 7 of 2nd Ed. rule book. “If more than one models’ reflex triggers conditions are met simultaneously…”

    2. : Reflex: that would never happen as the rules state : “The triggered ability interrupts all other actions, and is resolved immediately. Once the reflex ability has been resolved any interrupted actions may be resolved normally.” Also, using the reflex trigger is mandatory. “When a reflex trigger’s conditions are met, the controlling player must declare the use of their reflex ability.” UH’s rules summary is pretty clear on this one.

    3. OK, this one is really super tricky as the rules are all over the place. The 3 Status effects are classified as ZONE AOEs (described on the unit cards). And annoyingly, the explanation of a Zone AOE is found on page 36 of the rulebook: “A persistent area of effect that remains in play until the end of the activation during which it is placed.”

    Hope that helps!

  • Thankyou for doing that CK.

  • CK Lai says:

    You’re welcome. I guess as one of the few who actually has 10 games under his belt, it behooved me to do my bit 😉

  • Guwen says:

    Awsome CK, I am more than thankful for these facts. The only reference I had, was the printed 1ED book and Universal Heads rules summary. Thank you for helping out.

    • CK Lai says:

      You’re welcome!

      If you don’t have the 2nd Ed. PDF rules, Universal Head’s is actually THE most complete rules available that’s even better than the official rule book because it’s been proof read, then battle-tested, and incorporates some important info from the official FAQ that never made it to the rule book because CMON and Studio McVey decided to sweep this under the carpet instead of doing all the hard work to fix it. So use his rules summary with confidence! 🙂

  • Daria Winter says:

    Hey all! I’m new here, but I’ve been holding on to my copy of SW for a veeeeery long time, and I am excited to see all the work that you all have put into this!

    I am pretty sure I have the original version of the game, rather than the reprint, so I’m wondering where I might go to find the rules for the game, or at the very least am wondering if the rules summary is useful as an update in general.

    I think the scenarios probably stayed the same, but I could be wring about this as well.

    I would love to give this game some playtime, but I want to make sure I am prepared before I go jumping into the deep end.

    Thanks a bunch!

    • My summary and unit cards have all the rules for the latest version of the game. There was some other stuff available on the ‘net: suggested Load Outs for the Outbreak campaign, the latest FAQ Solo rules, the Outbreak and Quarantine campaign etc. I’ll upload them all here when I get a moment!

  • Martin says:

    just wanted to say big HUGE thank you to everybody who contributed to clarifying the rules. After many years i decided to give it a try. To my dismay (and disbelief!) there was no rulebook with faq included. Thanks to you , i will hopefully crack this nut and have so much fun with this game as everybody else! Cheers!

  • Charles says:

    This game was my very first Kickstarter campaign, and honestly I think Studio McVey overall made a great product. They had some missteps for sure, and it hurt them a lot, but looking over all the material they did release for the game in terms of campaigns and scenarios, you can really tell they believed in their product. Also, the reference sheets and updated cards you’ve done are wonderful as usual. I’ve not played this game for years but recently dug it out and plan to paint all the models I assembled and primed long ago. I’ll likely end up using the solo rules, but this game WILL be played several times by me in 2018!

    • They made the typical rookie mistake and released a poor rulebook, which put people off the game and gave it a bad reputation. It took me ages to put together this latest version. I must play it myself again one day; I’ve painted most of it.

  • Much thanks to everyone involved for the great materials, especially the rules summary.

    The only person I know personally who got into the Kickstarter was, fortunately, a member of my gaming group. To this date, he and I are the only people we know in our town who have painted up the figures. I’ve since collected some of the KS exclusives, and some of the resin figs, bases, and heavy armour from Studio McVey before they ceased.

    I think there were two main issues with the game. One is the state of the first edition of the rules, as discussed above. The other is that, as a board game, it was not ready to play right out of the box (with unpainted figures). The figures, though very nice, are fiddly. I spent a lot of time on cleanup and on pinning wrists to arms and the like.

    We’ve mostly played the game as a miniatures game with terrain; we’ve also played it as originally intended, on the provided boards. Here’s our gaming group’s blog, with some old SW articles:
    wpggamegeeks(dot)blogspot(dot)com/search?q=sedition+wars

    About a month ago we recently played the game again while on vacation at the lake with our wives. No Wi-Fi, just hiking and board games in the evenings. (No tabletop buildings/terrain, that’s too fiddly when the car is already loaded down with provisions.) The game is still tense and exciting!

    • Yes, this was an early Kickstarter and a first (and last) game for Mike McVey, and inexperience caused some problems. I imagine he was very burnt by the whole process. Such problems are really common in Kickstarter campaigns these days, but he really did cop it from the public at the time. I’ve painted it all up too, and really must play it more often!

      • This seems to be the only site that might have an answer for a question that I have:
        Q. Other than Kara Black’s, are there any rules available for Gnosis Battlesuit models?

        I have resin models of Commodore Grist, Gnosis Battlesuit C, and the Gnosis Battlesuit with Heavy Weapon. I was thinking of basing them on Kara Black’s card, with adjustments.

        For example, Commodore Grist’s battlesuit would be a Piloted frame, usable by Kara or a character with the Pilot trait. it would function much like Kara’s, with the same Attacks, Traits and Abilities, except:
        – instead of Dai Dachi as a Close range Attack, it would have something like Power Fist: Mod 5; Range C; D/S 4/4; Effect – Target gains prone.
        – model would NOT have Focused Attack Ability Killing Floor

        The Gnosis Battlesuit C, and the Gnosis Battlesuit with Heavy Weapon would be piloted by special Vanguard Troopers who would count as Samaritans if their suit was destroyed. As above, the suits would have the same Attacks, Traits and Abilities as Kara Black’s suit, except:
        – instead of Dai Dachi as a Close range Attack, they would have something like Armoured Bash: Mod 4; Range C; D/S 3/3; Effect – Target gains prone
        – models would NOT have Focused Attack Ability Killing Floor
        – the Gnosis Battlesuit with Heavy Weapon would have as its ranged Attack, Plasma Cannon: Mod 5; Range L; D/S 10/4; Effect – BLAST AOE – Models in blast take 4 damage and gain Burning// TRAIT Artillery; Effect – Heavy Weapon Samaritan cannot make ranged attacks against targets within 4 squares.

        Costs for all would be ~50 points. Probably needs some play testing.

        Cheers,
        Dave

        • Sorry David, I don’t have all the information for the 300 or so games on this site in my head! 🙂 I have no idea; I haven’t played this for years. Boardgamegeek would be the best place to ask your questions and make your suggestions.

  • Bill Hartley says:

    Just picked up 3 sets for the game and a doors,etc set. The game was indeed plodding until I found your site LI am a veteran with years of D&d, Tekumel, etc and will love placing some new strain monsters in my other games!

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