The Comm Guild Maelstrom's Edge

The neural link employed by Bot Handlers grants them unparalleled control over their mechanical charges. This allows them to commune with their bots on a level that is impossible to achieve with the mere flesh and blood humans around them. Over years of prolonged use, Handlers begin to increasingly respect the cold precision and quick logic of the machine, and conversely despise the limitations of their own physical form. This leads many to enhance their bodies with bionic limbs, artificial organs and implants to further boost and refine their abilities. The highest ranked Master Bot Handlers take this even further, replacing their organic body entirely with a super-advanced robotic industrial or combat chassis.


Click for larger image
Exceptionally wealthy Master Handlers are often accompanied by Defender Drones, armed with high intensity lasers and packed with proprietary technology not made available to anyone outside of the Foundation elite. Defenders hover noiselessly around their Handler emitting a cascading protective energy field, a visible reminder of the wealth and power of the Foundation.

Stay tuned for more sneak peeks! In the meantime, try out the V2 Beta rules by grabbing the PDFs from the Trial Rules section of the Maelstrom's Edge website here, and grab your models from the Maelstrom's Edge webstore here! Free shipping applies to qualifying orders - check your cart for details.

You can also find a series of articles looking at different aspects of the V2 game here.

If you have any questions on the V2 rules, the model range, or any other aspect of the Maelstrom's Edge game, feel free to pop in to the Comm Guild Facebook group here.

This month, a digital version of the Epirian Support Drone marches onto the battlefield, following in the footsteps of last month's heavy weapon Contractor Drone!


A Contractor Engineer unit advances cautiously along a waterline.

This kit is comprised of a Support Drone chassis, and optional parts to equip it to join any of three different Contractor unit types. The Recon Package is the standard gear for support drones utilised by Contractor Scout units. Contractor Engineers make use of tool-equipped drones to effect repairs on other damaged bots, while medical drones in Contractor Medic units patch up the force's less hardy human elements. The digital model pack contains STL files for both supported and unsupported versions of the Support Drone, with multiple equipment options. The model has been slightly updated from the original resin release, featuring taller legs to boost the overall size of the drone.


Support Drone Render

You can find the rules for all of these Epirian unit in the downloads section of the Maelstrom's Edge website here.

Start building your army of shooty robotic doom by grabbing your Support Drone from the webstore here!

Continuing the implacable march of digital conversion, the Epirian Contractor Drone marches into the the Maelstrom's Edge webstore in STL form for 3D printing!


A Contractor Defender unit holds the line.

This digital model pack contains STL files for both supported and unsupported versions of the Contractor Drone, with multiple equipment options. The model has been slightly updated from the original resin release, with taller legs and the addition of the linked Strike Missile option. A 3D printed resin version will also be added to the webstore in the near future.


Contractor Drone Render

These drones are added to Contractor Defender or Contractor Scout units. You can find the rules for these units in the downloads section of the Maelstrom's Edge website here.

Start building your army of shooty robotic doom by grabbing your Contractor Drone from the webstore here!

Promoted from amongst the most capable veteran sergeants, SecDef lieutenants are level-headed combat experts on both a tactical and strategic level with extensive financial and material resources to hand.

SecDef Medics are combat veterans who have received additional training and equipment to administer first aid in the field. Known for being level-headed under fire, medics accompany SecDef tactical teams in the field, where they need to be equally competent at using their carbines or treating wounded squadmates.

Originally released in resin, these two SecDef character models are now available to purchase as STL files for 3D printing, from the Maelstrom's Edge store here!



This digital pack includes both supported and unsupported files, and two different weapon options for the Lieutenant.


The included parts.

You can find the rules for fielding these models in the downloads section of the Maelstrom's Edge website here.


3D printed examples, painted to a tabletop-ready standard - printed on an Anycubic Photon using Siraya Tech Fast resin at 50μm using Lychee slicer.

Printing results will vary depending on your printer, resin and settings.



Start building your elite force of corporate doom by grabbing some SecDef models from the Maelstrom's Edge webstore here!

- by Iain Wilson

Back in 2016, I converted up a model using some spare parts that came to be called an 'Epirian Warden' - a clingfire-toting, flightpack-equipped veteran of the frontier. I also created an unofficial rules card to go with him, for use in V1. Well, following on from the Thunderbolt Sentry Drone a few weeks ago, I have now updated the Warden's rules to suit V2!




You can check out the original Warden conversion article here for ideas on how to build your own, although as an unofficial model you should feel free to build yours however you think appropriate.



You can download the updated rules page for the Epirian Warden along with the Maelstroms' Edge V2 Beta rules from the website here!



To build your own soldier of trailblazing doom, grab some conversion fodder 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.

SecDef, the Epirian Security and Defence force, are the elite amongst the varied Foundation military. The men and women of SecDef are better trained, better armed and better equipped than the Contractors that make up the majority of Epirian defences on frontier worlds. SecDef take only the very best recruits, typically recommended by a trustee after a number of years of dedicated service as a Contractor. Those promoted into SecDef spend over a year training at dedicated off-world bases on Foundation worlds throughout the Spiral Arm, where grizzled veteran instructors inflict a brutal schedule of combat, security and fitness drills. Many recruits wash out during this gruelling period of indoctrination, and only the best of the best become members of the SecDef's feared infantry squads. The Foundation likes to play up this robust selection and training system, because the SecDef are a source of both great pride and great profit. The SecDef are billed by their corporate owners as the ultimate in precision combat. Even one SecDef squad is a honed killing machine, clinical and effective. Rich companies and individuals alike across the galaxy look to hire SecDef infantry as the finest mercenary units, working as bodyguards, military escorts or even leading attacks on rival corporations or hostile alien worlds.



A SecDef unit moves in on a Broken battle line.

SecDef soldiers wear augmented power-assisted exoskeletons, with servo motors boosting the power of their arms and legs. As well as enabling antigrav aerial insertions from high altitude, the exoskeleton also allows them to wear thick ballistic armour without losing full mobility or movement. Their helmets are equipped with state-of-the art targeting and threat-identification heads-up displays, which when coupled with their years of advanced training and experience gives them an unparalleled instinct for tactical action on the battlefield. SecDef infantry sport the most advanced maglock weaponry produced by Araldyne Systems. The superior craftsmanship and state-of-the-art materials in an Araldyne AR60 assault rifle or G20 pistol makes it lighter to hold and more precise, with targeting optics linked into their helmets and a more expensive deadlier armour-piercing round made from rare earth metals. A squad can be supplemented with sniper or machine-gun armed specialists for specific combat roles, whilst the SecDef Annihilator team, armed with two Araldyne CG100 Chainguns, is capable of taking on even the most heavily emplaced fortifications. The combination of intense training, advanced exoskeletons and cutting-edge weaponry makes the SecDef the finest fighting forces in the Epirian Foundation - or for those with the resources to purchase their services.


A SecDef Lieutenant (left) and Medic, holding a strategic location

Promoted from amongst the most capable veteran sergeants, SecDef lieutenants are level-headed combat experts on both a tactical and strategic level with extensive financial and material resources to hand. Often taking on the most difficult (and therefore highest paying) missions with their platoons, the aim of most lieutenants is to accrue enough backpay to purchase a field commander commission, and the heavy combat rig that goes with that position.

SecDef Medics are combat veterans who have received additional training and equipment to administer first aid in the field. Known for being level-headed under fire, medics accompany SecDef tactical teams in the field, where they need to be equally competent at using their carbines or treating wounded squadmates. Equipped with an advanced diagnostics and treatment device and requiring weeks of additional training, medics represent a not-insubstantial investment for SecDef Commanders. While most still attribute significant cost savings to a medic's ability to save the lives of expensive SecDef troopers, the return on investment tends to be carefully monitored by SecDef administration. It's not uncommon for units to be refused additional medics where higher-than-normal attrition rates suggest that high recruitment costs would not be sufficiently reduced by the presence of medical personnel.


SecDef Rapid Intervention units are experts at speedy assaults.

SecDef forces excel at rapid insertions and mobile strikes against enemy positions. Sometimes though, even these elite troops run up against opposition that is too well entrenched for a normal assault. Against these targets, boostpack-equipped Rapid Intervention Teams are brought to bear. Selected from amongst the most skilled SecDef veterans and armed with twin Araldyne CB22 Assault Carbines, Rapid Intervention Teams use the greater mobility afforded by their boostpacks to outflank and surprise enemy defenses, quickly overwhelming them with a hail of deadly short-ranged firepower. Where an extra punch is required, Rapid Intervention Teams are equipped with Araldyne CF13 Clingfire Sprayers or FG19 Flakk Guns: more effective and streamlined versions of these ubiquitous weapons, typical of the improvements Araldyne is able to create.


SecDef Field Commanders are a one-man army.

The SecDef value nothing more than completing the job they're assigned to in a timely manner, regardless of what it takes to do so. SecDef Field Commanders are the ultimate representation of that mantra. With prototype machine-assisted armor with the strength of several men, firepower equal to a whole squad and advanced targeting and comm systems allowing them to monitor several different feeds simultaneously in real-time, Force Commanders have all of the tools necessary to decimate the enemy.

As with all SecDef units, Field Commanders tend to carry high-end sophisticated Araldyne weaponry, but in their case, these weapons are mounted onto advanced machine-assisted arms, allowing multiple weapons to be fired simultaneously with ease. Each Field Commander is given complete leeway to choose their own weapons load-out to best support their particular fighting style: Hydraulic Fists to rip the enemy apart at close quarters, Araldyne FG19 Flakk Guns obliterate targets at short range, Araldyne LM14 Machine Guns to mow down foes by the dozen and Araldyne LS99 High-Intensity Lasers to melt through even the toughest armor. Not to mention the option to take either back-mounted cluster missile pods or advanced targeting systems.

Dominate the battlefield with your own SecDef force! You can pick up the SecDef model range from the Maelstrom's Edge webstore!

While you're there, you can download the V2 rules from the Trial Rules section of the Maelstrom's Edge website here. The Beta rules documents contain all of the rules for playing V2 games, but keep in mind that these are just 'preview' documents - some rules may be revised based on feedback, and the final layout including background material for the factions and the Maelstrom's Edge universe, artwork and other 'flavor' material is missing.

If you have any thoughts on the new rules, pop on over to the Comm Guild Facebook group, or start up a thread in the Maelstrom's Edge section on the Dakka Dakka forums. We welcome any feedback, and would love to hear how everyone's forces stack up in the new rules!

- by Iain Wilson

Alongside the slowly expanding Maelstrom's Edge model range and associated rules, we have from time to time released additional unofficial rules to accompany conversions or kitbashes of models borrowed from other ranges. When we tracked down the PDC Gaming gun carriage and added it to the webstore, we also released some rules to use it in your Epirian force as a Thunderbolt Sentry Drone. This week, we have updated the Thunderbolt rules for use in Maelstrom's Edge V2!




Thunderbolt Sentry Drones add some heavy firepower to Epirian forces, trundling around the battlefield and laying waste to enemy units with a range of different heavy weapons.



You can download the updated rules page for the Thunderbolt Sentry Drone along with the Maelstroms' Edge V2 Beta rules from the website here!

The Thunderbolt is a vehicle, and follows the rules for Large Models. Note that the section on page 27 of the Beta Rules entitled 'DIRECTIONAL MOVEMENT' has been removed from the final version of the V2 rules, so this section should be ignored.



To pick up your own gun carriage of superheavy doom, head over to the Maelstrom's Edge webstore here! You will find the gun carriage in the 'Terrain & Accessories' section.

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.

- by Iain Wilson

This week, we're taking a look at the multi-part, poseable plastic kit for the Epirian Foundation's feared security bot.

Scarecrows are area patrol units, designed to provide security to various types of property ranging from industrial perimeters to agricultural and terraforming facilities. Equipped with an advanced suite of thermal and motion tracking sensors, the Scarecrow is designed to detect and deter any non-authorized biological or technological intrusion into its designated patrol area.




The Scarecrow kit is designed to build a couple of different variants of this farming-bot-turned-military-asset, which lets you field the regular Scarecrow Sniper in a Hammer slot, or the Command Array-equipped Command Scarecrow leading an all-bot force. These can be armed with a shoulder mounted railrifle, and either a clingfire sprayer or chemtek sprayer on one arm.



If you 'borrow' a second clingfire sprayer (leftover from building a chemtek variant, obviously!) you can also build the twin-flaming Subjugator variant that often accompanies Contractor Suppression Teams.



The best part of the Scarecrow kit is its extreme flexibility. With separate ankle, knee, elbow and shoulder joints, the Scarecrow is our most poseable kit, and being plastic is a fantastic base for adding alternate parts and mixing things up even further.



To build your own implacable robot of avian-frightening Doom, pick up the plastic Scarecrows in a pack of two from the Maelstrom's Edge webstore!





While you're there, you can download the Maelstrom's Edge V2 rules from the Trial Rules section of the website here. The Beta rules documents contain all of the rules for playing V2 games, but keep in mind that these are just 'preview' documents - some rules may be revised based on feedback, and the final layout including background material for the factions and the Maelstrom's Edge universe, artwork and other 'flavor' material is missing.

For other modeling ideas, tutorials, army spotlights and conversion walkthroughs, check out the Hobby section of the Maelstrom's Edge website here.

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

- by Iain Wilson

My long-awaited Army Painter Speedpaint Starter Set finally arrived last week, and I was impatient to give them a test run. I've had a bunch of plastic SecDef models assembled for a while, for a little side-project, and figured they would be perfect for the job. So I grabbed the first squad of models out of the hobby box and set to work!




I started off with a basecoat of Army Painter Matt White spray. I did experiment on a couple of initial test models with a plain white basecoat and a zenithal base using white and purple, but decided that the zenithal basecoat didn't make enough of a difference to the end result to be worth the effort.

(A zenithal basecoat is where two layers of colour are used - a darker colour in the recesses/undersides of the mode, and a lighter layer sprayed down from above. This can be handy when combined with certain painting methods, particularly using thinner 'glazing' paints to accentuate shading and highlights.)



For the uniform, I went with Highlord Blue, applying to any visible cloth areas and trying to avoid too much spillover onto the armour plates. I also added the blue to the raised surround on the helmet.



After a quick touchup where necessary with some Matt White, I painted a layer of Hardened Leather over pouches, straps, boots, gloves and face, and then went back over the face with Crusader Skin. The double layer on the skin was to give a darker skin colour - my initial test showed the Crusader Skin to be a bit more washed out than I wanted, but layering it over the Leather gave a nice, dark tone.



Next up, I painted over the weapon, belt, exoskeleton, and helmet commlink, targeter and chinstrap with Gravelord Grey.



For the armour plates and helmet, I went with a coat of Zealot Yellow. This settled nicely on the lower areas of the plates, providing a lovely contrast against the blue uniform.



To finish up, I added some Blood Red over the goggles, and while that was drying added some gravel mix to the base. Without a dark brown in the starter set, I used a 1:1:1 mix of Hardened Leather, Blood Red and Hive Dweller Purple over the gravel, giving it a drybrush of Tanned Flesh and Ash Grey (regular acrylic paints) when it dried. With a quick run of Matt Black around the base rim and some white specular highlights on the goggles, he was ready for the table.



The unit assembled - regular SecDef models, with a custom made energy mortar using some plastic tubing and parts from the 2nd Maelstrom's Edge terrain sprue.





They're not perfectly neat, but for a quick, table-ready paintjob these paints are fantastic, giving some perfectly acceptable shading and highlights with a single coat. I'm looking forward to getting the rest of this force painted up!



To have a go yourself, pick up the plastic, multi-part SecDef kit from the Maelstrom's Edge webstore!

While you're there, you can download the V2 rules from the Trial Rules section of the Maelstrom's Edge website here. The Beta rules documents contain all of the rules for playing V2 games, but keep in mind that these are just 'preview' documents - some rules may be revised based on feedback, and the final layout including background material for the factions and the Maelstrom's Edge universe, artwork and other 'flavor' material is missing.

For other modeling ideas, tutorials, army spotlights and conversion walkthroughs, check out the Hobby section of the Maelstrom's Edge website here.

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

- by Iain Wilson

A few weeks back, we published some sample force lists for the V2 Maelstrom's Edge rules. These got me a little inspired to put together a new force for myself, and so I dove into the unbuilt model pile and put together 120 points based on the Epirian sample list.




The force roster is almost identical to the sample list. I found myself short by one Firefly drone, so I dropped those to a unit of three, and gave the Contractor Defenders a Chaingun drone and one of the Journeymen a second Dominator pistol to make up the difference.


Journeyman Bot Handlers with micro drones (the drones are 3D printed test models - the finished models will be coming in plastic soon!)

I wanted a colour scheme that was quick and easy to paint, and also visually distinct from my existing forces. Starting out with a basecoat of Army Painter Uniform Grey spray, I then added a 'zenithal' highlight by spraying down from above the models with white spray. Over that, I applied a wash of Army Painter Soft Tone. Metal parts were picked out with AK Gunmetal and then washed with Army Painter Dark Tone - two coats for the weapons.


Contractor Defenders.

The pants on the Contractors were painted with a layer of Army Painter Blue Tone to give them a denim look, while the chaps were given a coat of Army Painter Mid Brown wash. I painted the skin with a coat of Army Painter Flesh Wash, and then as it still looked a bit pale added a layer of Mid Brown as well.


Firefly Drones.

For the red details, I painted on a coat of Citadel Blood Angels Red Contrast. This didn't look quite the right tone with the sandy coloured armour, so I added a layer of Army Painter Purple Tone over the top, before highlighting with Army Painter Pixie Pink.


Spider Drones with flakk guns.

I had found with my previous Epirian Bot Force that the weapons on Spider Drones can be a little hard to differentiate from across the table, so I made sure I painted them differently, leaving the machine guns bare metal and adding a red casing on the flakk guns.


Spider Drones with machine guns.

I used Army Painter Ultramarine Blue for lenses and sensors, shading with Purple Tone and highlighting with Army Painter Gorgon Hide.


Hunter mechs and Scarecrow bot.

To finish up, after gluing on some fine sand and a few pebbles for detail, I painted the bases with Uniform Grey, washed over the top with Army Painter Dark Tone, and then drybrushed with Vallejo Light Grey and White before adding some splotches of Mid Brown here and there to break up all of that grey.


The full force deployed.



Get started on your own V2 force by heading over to the Maelstrom's Edge webstore!

While you're there, you can download the V2 rules from the Trial Rules section of the Maelstrom's Edge website here. The Beta rules documents contain all of the rules for playing V2 games, but keep in mind that these are just 'preview' documents - some rules may be revised based on feedback, and the final layout including background material for the factions and the Maelstrom's Edge universe, artwork and other 'flavor' material is missing.

If you have any thoughts on the new rules, pop on over to the Comm Guild Facebook group, or start up a thread in the Maelstrom's Edge section on the Dakka Dakka forums. We welcome any feedback, and would love to hear how everyone's forces stack up in the new rules!

- by Iain Wilson

When Stargrave arrived on the gaming scene, bringing the popular Frostgrave rules into a sci-fi setting, it sparked all sorts of interesting ideas amongst gamers for building crews. While there is an official model range for the game, it also encourages players to use whatever miniatures they like, which is a perfect excuse to break out some models and get creative! I was particularly interested in the rule allowing any crew members to be robots, and set to work building up a crew using (mostly) the Maelstrom's Edge Epirian Scarecrow plastic kit!




The bulk of the crew was made up of very slightly converted Scarecrows with different heads taken from the Remnant Militus battlesuit kit to denote different 'classes' of robot. Thanks to how wonderfully poseable the Scarecrow kit is, it's really easy to get a range of different looking models out of it! I also used a resin robo-dog from Artel W for a guard dog, added a (still to be painted) space dwarf from Victoria Miniatures as a first mate, and a converted Remnant Nimbus battlesuit for the Captain.



I wanted an easy paint scheme that I could get done quickly, and used Army Painter paints for the bulk of it. I started with a base coat of Uniform Grey spray, followed by a top-down (or 'zenithal') spray of white, so that the grey would stay visible in the creases and underneath surfaces to provide some shading. I then went over the joints and other exposed metal parts with a coat of Dark Tone, and gave the weapons three generous coats of the same. The final details were done with Citadel Contrast - Iyanden Yellow for the tanks on the robot's backs and Leviadon Blue highlighted with Army Painter Ice Storm and white for the eye lenses. The different classes of robot also received some shaded panels to tell them apart - yellow for techs, orange for soldiers and red for specialists.



I'm still deciding how to paint up the first mate, and how closely he will mimic the colour scheme, but here's the rest of the the crew all assembled:



Captain and Guard Dog:



The Captain was built from a Nimbus battlesuit with the head taken from the Karist Heavy Weapons kit. The energy blade is part of a trimmed down lightsaber from a Star Wars figure, left over from an old project. He represents a cyborg in combat armour.

Tech crew - Hacker and Chiseler:



Chiselers are normally equipped with lockpicks. I decided to go a more direct route and gave him a cutting torch using part of a weapon from the Broken Rabble kit.

Troopers



I gave the troopers bulkier left arms to house their combat knives using spare Scarecrow shin pieces. The knives are taken from the Faction Expansion Sprue.

Specialists - Burner and Sniper:



The Burner has a pistol and knife as well as the flamethrower, so I gave him the same knife arm as the regular troopers and mounted a mini grenade launcher taken from the Epirian Handler kit to his shoulder to represent the pistol. The sniper has a different head to the regular troopers, and his sniper rifle was a handy way to make use of the second set of arms that come with the Captain's Nimbus suit.

Time to get that mate painted up and send these bots out on into the black!



To build your own robot crew of clanking doom, you can pick up the Scarecrow kit along with the rest of the Maelstrom's Edge range from the 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.

While StackaRack moves on towards completion and production following the successful Kickstarter, we're also hard at work on new releases for Maelstrom's Edge. In the coming weeks, we'll get back to the usual modeling articles here, but in the meantime, here's a short spotlight video on one of our favourite Epirian miniatures - the SecDef Lieutenant!




You can find this fantastic resin miniature in the Maelstrom's Edge webstore here.

- by Iain Wilson

When pursuing conflicts outside of its zone of control, the Epirian Foundation makes use of portable uplink drones that link to orbital satelites and airborne recon to provide battlefield intelligence and allow Bot Handlers to remotely interface with Epirian assets on the ground. The Battle for Zycanthus box includes a cardboard marker for the Automated Uplink Relay, but for those wanting a more 'solid' version, I shared a kitbash idea some time ago using parts from various Epirian plastic kits and metal tracks from a Bombshell Miniatures model. The arrival of the PDC Gun Carriage gave me an idea for an alternative, all-plastic version!




I made a few changes to the drone design this time around, with the most obvious one being the tracks. I built the track unit from the gun carriage as normal, although I trimmed off the lugs on the front that hold the dozer blade.



As with the original version, I used the body of an Epirian Hunter war mech, cutting apart at the waist with a razor saw.



I gave the waist a rotating cuff by gluing on the round grill piece from the gun carriage, and added vanes on the head trimmed from a piece of thin plasticard.



For the arms, I used the shoulders from the Hunter, with the upper arms trimmed off. I needed to glue a new piece for the weapon assembly onto the outer surface of the shoulder, so I sanded this down flat.



To make rotating cylinders for the tri-barreled Flakk Defense Battery, I used a couple of turbines leftover from the Epirian Spider/Firefly Drone kit. Because the kit makes either drone variant, if you have built any spiders, you'll have some of these laying around. I trimmed off the attachment peg and the wing.



I used the Hunter's weapon casing forearms for the bulk of the flakk weapon casing, drilling out the attachment hole a little larger to accommodate the central hub on the drone turbine.



From there, I glued the weapon casings onto the outside of the shoulders, and the turbines onto the front of the casings. The barrells of the flakk weapon came from the drone kit, with the rear surface trimmed down flat and glued to the front of the turbine.



The last thing the Uplink Relay needed was the communications array. I used the 'spare' piece from the drone kit as a fixed arial, glued onto the top of the weapon casing on the left arm. I also assembled a signal dish using a trimmed Hunter foot and the back chassis piece from the drone kit. For the dish itself, I used the leg piece from the drone kit, with the legs themselves removed at the 'hip' pivot.



The assembled Automated Uplink Relay, ready for paint:



And the finished Relay, ready for the table:





Put together your own Automated Relay of Uplinky doom by picking up the plastic Hunter, Drone and Gun Carriage kits, along with the rest of the Maelstrom's Edge range from the webstore here.

Then pop on over to the Comm Guild Facebook group to show us what you're working on!

For a host of building ideas, modeling tutorials, army spotlights and conversion walkthroughs, check out the Hobby section of the Maelstrom's Edge website here.

- by Iain Wilson

I'm continuing my stroll through the Wargames Atlantic model range. So far, I've made some short, alien scouts using Einherjar and heads from the Broken infantry sprue, and greatcoat-wearing Karist Troopers by combining Les Grognards and Karist parts. This week, I gave some Epirian Contractors the cold weather treatment, using the Raumjager Infantry box.




As with all of Wargames Atlantics' kits, the Raumjager are multipart, plastic models. To build my greatcoat Contractors, I used Raumjager bodies, and heads and weapons from the Epirian Contractor kit. The Contractors have rolled up sleeves, which didn't seem ideal with long coats, so I used the sleeved versions from the Faction Expansion Sprue instead.



As with the previous kitbashes, the one difficulty is with the Wargames Atlantic models having shorter neck attachments than the Maelstrom's Edge models. This is easily fixed by drilling out the neck slightly with a 2mm drill bit.



The Raumjager torsos are slightly wider than the Epirians but are close enough that everything still fits in place once arms and weapons are glued on.



I painted these using Army Painter paints, starting out with a base coat of Wolf Gray spray. I picked out the face and hands with Barbarian Flesh and metal parts with Plate Mail Metal. I added a layer of Dark Tone over the weapons, pants and armour, and Blue Tone over the coats and hats. I also went over the skin and leather parts with Mid Brown but, while this worked ok over the skin, didn't tint the leather parts as well as I wanted. So after this dried, I went back over it with Leather Brown. Finally, I highlighted the leather and skin with Skeleton Bone, and picked out the Epirian badge on the hats with white and yellow.



With basing done, the unit was ready for the table.





To lead them into battle, I also threw together a Bot Handler, using another Raumjager body and arms, head and uplink bar from the Epirian Handler kit.





Put together your own Epirian force of fashionably warm doom by picking up the plastic Contractor kit, along with the rest of the Maelstrom's Edge range from the webstore here.

Then pop on over to the Comm Guild Facebook group to show us what you're working on!

For other building ideas, modeling tutorials, army spotlights and conversion walkthroughs, check out the Hobby section of the Maelstrom's Edge website here.

- by Iain Wilson

Not everyone has the time to spend paintstakingly blending, shading and detailing their models. Sometimes, you just want to get them on the table quickly, so I thought it might be useful to explore some options for fast and painless army painting.

My guinea pigs for this article are some Epirian Suppression Team models, painted exclusively with washes! This is a really easy technique to get to grips with, and while it won't get you an award-winning work of art, it does give you perfectly serviceable-looking models that look great on the table.




For those unfamiliar with them, washes are thin paints designed to sink into the model's crevices whilst leaving less colour on the raised detail (Also sometimes called 'inks' - Not to be confused with 'glazes' which are translucent paints that tint the surface they're painted onto evenly). So while it's a little less precise than blended highlighting or 'juicing' (applying super-thin coats of increasingly dark colour to build up shadow or colour transition), we can use washes over a pale base colour to highlight and shade a model all in one fell swoop. There are a wide range of different washes or inks available, but for this article I'm using Army Painter Quickshades.

I start by giving the model a base coat of white.



Now I'm going to start applying washes to build up the colours I want, leaving the model to fully dry between each. On this model, I've started with a coat of Soft Tone over everything except for the weapons. This is pale enough that other colours will go ok over the top - if you're using darker tones, it's best to try to keep them strictly on the areas where you want them, otherwise you'll need to touch up your basecoat to cover up the overspill before painting each part of the model. Apply a generous coat of wash and leave it to thoroughly dry before moving on to the next step.



Next, I've gone over the armour and chaps with Green Tone, and picked out the boots, belt, kneepads and weapons with Dark Tone. If the colour is lighter than you would like, you can let it dry and then add another coat, as I did with the Dark Tone - this isn't a particularly strong wash, so several coats were needed to get the weapons as dark as I wanted them. You can speed this process up by painting parts that you want to be really 'black' with a medium grey colour before using the wash, but for this article I just stuck with the wash by itself.



I left the tip and front facing of the Shock Baton free of the black wash, as once the black wash dried I applied a coat of Blue Tone to those, which gives a nice energy-glow effect over the white. I also went over the exposed skin areas with Flesh Tone. At this point, I also stuck some sand to the base with PVA glue, washing it with a coat of Strong Tone once the glue dried. Then, to finish up, a quick coat of black around the base edge - you could skip this step by masking off the base edge with tape before painting and then just peeling the tape off at the end.



You can vary the look of the washes by using different base coats. The model below was painted using the exact same process as above, but over a bone basecoat instead of the white.



If you prefer a little more detail, you can go over the washed model with regular paint, picking out features like eyes, belt buckles and the like, and of course you can use different wash colours to suit your preferred colour scheme.





Why not give it a go? As always, feel free to share efforts, or ask any Maelstrom's Edge- or hobby-related questions on the Comm Guild Facebook page!

You can pick up the Epirian Suppression Team, along with the rest of the Maelstrom's Edge model range from the webstore here.

For other Maelstrom's Edge modeling articles, including tutorials and walkthroughs of a wide range of different building and miniature projects, check out the Hobby section of the Maelstrom's Edge website here.