The Comm Guild Maelstrom's Edge

- by Iain Wilson

The arrival of the Maelstrom's Edge V2 rulebook was accompanied by the addition of an all new faction to the game - the Kaigus Pact! We're all very excited about them as the Kaigus Pact are very different to the other models we've released so far, with their alien appearance and organic approach to technology. This week, I thought I'd take a closer look at one of the new plastic kits - the Kaigus Pact Troops sprue.




The troops sprue is one of a number of plastic sprues that we created for the Kaigus Pact launch, building three bioengineered warriors.


The Kaigus Pact Troops sprue, sculpted by Kevin Johnson.

Kaigus Pact soldiers, known as Muharis, generally take to the field armed with organic weapons called Dart Hosts. These are bioengineered crustacean-like organisms that clamp over the Muharis' weapon arm and, as their name suggests, spit lethal darts with the same force as a more normal firearm. More at home in space, the massive forms of the Muharis are gangly and awkward looking on the ground, their asymmetrical torsos and giant, carapace-clad forms a stark contrast from their human forbears.


Kaigus Pact Muharis with Dart Hosts, painted by Todd McNeal.

Muharis have access to a number of other lethal weapon symbiotes, including a heavier version of the standard Dart Host, the armor-piercing Spike Rifle and explosive-lobbing Brood Host. When more close-range assaults are called for, Muharis make use of the giant taloned Ripper Claw.


(Left to right) Heavy Dart Host, Brood Launcher, Ripper Claw & Spike Rifle, painted by Todd McNeal.

Regular Muharis Sentinel units have more limited access to these, while Sentinel Strongpoint units provide battlefield support with access to multiple heavier weapons.


Sentinel Strongpoint unit with Brood Launchers, painted by Iain Wilson.

The troops sprue also allows you to build Biologis troops. more specialised than the Muharis soldiers, Biologis Attendants carry a shorter ranged but poisoned version of the Dart Host. The parts from the troops sprue can also be combined with the Proctat Upgrade sprue to build a Biologis Proctat, a Genostaff-equipped squad leader upgrade for Attendant units.


A Biologis Attendant unit, painted by Todd McNeal.

Biologis Adepts also serve as leaders in some Muharis Sentinel units, providing them the ability to spawn Thrall units on the battlefield.


A Muharis Sentinel unit with attached Biologis Adept, painted by Iain Wilson.

Because of the unique design of their armour and equipment, the Kaigus Pact troops are not quite as modular as some of our other plastic kits. The most notable difference is in the heads, which we couldn't separate at the neck as we usually do. Instead, the sprue provides a number of different torso fronts, so you still get a wide range of posing options by combining different legs and torso fronts.


Muharis with Ripper Claws.

Being plastic, the models are of course easy to chop and change to suit yourself! While weapons are fixes to the arms, again due to their unique design structure and the limitations of plastic tooling, it's easy enough to slice weapons off and switch arms to give yourself some different posing options.


Muharis with Spike Rifles. the model on the left is the standard arm configuration, while the model on the right has had the weapon switched to a different arm, and a left arm from the Proctat Upgrade sprue.

And, of course, if you're like me and enjoy wandering outside the bounds of the 'official' game units, there's nothing stopping you from going to town with these kits and creating your own units!


A unit I'm calling a 'Sentinel Spearhead', equipped with shields taken from the soon-to-be-released Orakan Shield Thrall, and a polearm made from a Proctat staff and Orakan legs!

The painted models shown here (both Todd's fantastic studio models and my more table-level versions) are representative of the Koritanii moot, found active in Zycanthus space. The Kaigus Pact models lend themselves to a wide range of organic color-schemes - we recommend looking to sea-dwelling crustaceans for inspiration!


Some alternate Kaigus Pact color schemes.

The Kaigus Pact Troops box is available to buy soon, but in the meantime you can nab the sprue in the Kaigus Pact Starter Force box available now from the Maelstrom's Edge webstore here!

What are you working on? We would love to see your models and terrain in the Comm Guild Facebook group!

For other building ideas, modeling tutorials, army spotlights and conversion walkthroughs, check out the Hobby section of the Maelstrom's Edge website here. And while you're there, grab a copy of the Maelstrom's Edge V2 Beta rules!