The Comm Guild Maelstrom's Edge

Entries tagged [karist]

Friday Photo - Blue Karist Tempests


Posted on Friday Sep 16, 2016 at 05:00pm in General


These dark blue-grey Karists are one of our studio army colourschemes, so we'll have a fair few units to show in this scheme over time. The muted colour palette along with the great spot colours on the weapons and contrasting red on the faceplate immediately made this one of our favourites. The only points against it are that the dark scheme requires a lot of light to photograph well, so in full scale battle shots it can be quite challenging to capture! We usually have these guys with us at Salute if you ever want to see them in the flesh though!

Community Spotlight: SexierThanYou13's Blog


Posted on Wednesday Sep 14, 2016 at 05:00pm in General


For our third week of converted Angel images in a row, here's a great lunging Angel from Dakka user SexierThanYou13

There's also a great Kaddar Nova that has massive presence when mounted on some cork

Along with some nicely posed Scarecrows

The Comm Guild's community spotlight focuses on sharing something from the Maelstrom's Edge community each week, if you have anything you'd like to get in to the queue, please get in touch with us via the Maelstrom's Edge website

Friday Photo - Yellow Karist Trooper


Posted on Friday Sep 09, 2016 at 05:00pm in Models


We really love how this Karist Trooper turned out in yellow, with a complementary blue cybel glow. Using the indents on the face plate as a stripe marker was something we'd considered doing to mark out sergeants in the squad, but it never looked half as good as it does here as a natural part of the colour scheme.

Community Spotlight: Keltikhoa's Blog


Posted on Wednesday Sep 07, 2016 at 05:00pm in General


In today's community spotlight, we wanted to share the lovely work that Keltikhoa did on their project blog. From metallic Karists to this awesome Angel conversion:

and in keeping with Monday's Minnow spotlight, here's their Angel Minnow colourscheme:

The Comm Guild's community spotlight focuses on sharing something from the Maelstrom's Edge community each week, if you have anything you'd like to get in to the queue, please get in touch with us via the Maelstrom's Edge website

Spotlight: Karist Angel Minnows


Posted on Monday Sep 05, 2016 at 05:00pm in The Karist Enclave


The Karist forces take heavy visual and technological inspiration from the Angels that they alone have managed to contain and manipulate both on and off the battlefield. Minnows are the immature form of Angels, and are captured by Karists in deep space and then trained and raised into mature Angels.

Design

As with mature Angels, the core of a minnow is immutable, with void gel extruding from the body and being manipulated by the Angel. Minnows have very limited control over this void gel, so unlike the mature Angel cannot form claws, talons and similar on demand, but instead have wings and small claws which they can manipulate for speed and mobility, making them useful battlefield tools for the Karists. Angels are great conversion fodder for this reason, as you can take the immutable core as a starting point and then go nuts with greenstuff on the void gel sections.

Plastics

The Angel Minnow sprue is worth a mention for the technical complexity involved in its production. Normally, a plastic sprue is produced with a two part tool, which means detail has to flow to each side of the tool. The Angel Minnow plastic sprue was built with Sliding Core technology, which means instead of having a two or three part body, we were able to make the core of the model a single piece by using a 4 part tool instead of a 2 part tool. This allows the mouth of the minnow to sink back into the body instead of being flush or a separate face part with a nasty join line. As a result of this, the sprue has no frame around the outer edge and the Angel Minnows are probably the easiest models in the entire Maelstrom's Edge range to assemble.

Weapons

Armed with a deadly Cybel Pulse attack, Angel Minnows have both ranged and close quarters capability, and coupled with their speed can quickly outflank and decimate an opposing squad.

If you'd like to hear more about Angel Minnows, the audiobook A Keeper's Duty follows the Karist capture of larger/end-stage minnows on a decaying space station.

Forward Guidance - The Karist Angel Keeper


Posted on Sunday Aug 28, 2016 at 05:00pm in The Karist Enclave


Developing models in plastic is a very slow process with a lot of complicated factors involved. We start developing models about 24 months before they come out, and thought it might be interesting if we provide some early previews of stuff instead of sitting on it until the last minute! These previews are things we are actively working on, but you should assume a conservative time scale when we talk about them here!

One that is a pretty obvious model is the Karist Angel Keeper. It is no secret that we'd love to be able to field a force entirely made up of Angels, and the key to such a force would be a powerful HQ unit. A number of places in the fluff describe the Angel Keeper, including the audiobook "A Keeper's Duty" which is entirely about a trainee Keeper and their charges. This means that the model is fairly well defined, and currently undergoing artistic design.

Unusually, we've got the rules in a fairly good place even though it will still be quite a while until the model is out. This means you can try one out today by building your own, or proxying one with another model from your collection.

The awesome Insaniak on Dakka made his own Keeper conversion with a bunch of spare parts and bits box parts and it looks like this:

Here are the current target stats for the Angel Keeper from our master Rules overseer - yakface:


  • Command unit. His detachment can include 1-4 Angel core units, 0-2 Angel hammer units (none of these exist yet), 0-2 Angel vanguard units (none of these exist yet) & 0-2 Angel anvil units.
  • He would be somewhere in the realm of 8-9 points.
  • His stats would be: MV7, EVS3, SKL3, AV3, MAS2, FOR2, WP4. Model type: Infantry (human, character).
  • He'd be armed with some kind of CQ weapon (that you could imagine him using to punish the Angels when they're not behaving properly) and a Ripper Grenade Launcher that would fire Swarmer Grenade rounds. Might have to tone down the Swarmer Grenade rounds to only being 'psych 2D3' (instead of the normal 'psych 3D3')...although this could easily be justified by saying that the fired grenades are not quite as big and therefore don't carry as much na-cybel as the thrown version. He'd probably have the option to take traditional 'Ripper' rounds in the grenade launcher (to give him an actual gun that can deal damage if you want to pay the points for it).
  • He'd have the 'Angel Handler' & 'Command (1)' abilities. His big other ability would be to remove the 'Kill Mission' ability from Minnow units within a certain range of him (probably the normal command range of 18"), thereby allowing those units to capture mission objectives (while they're close enough to him).

Finally, if you have one or more Angel Keeper in your force, you'd be able to swap out your standard faction objective for the 'First Contact' faction objective.

This faction objective would give all Angel units (units with at least 50% angel models) the 'Fearsome (1)' ability, or +1 to their Fearsome ability if they already have one. Any time a non-fearless enemy unit fails its activation discipline check while affected by the Fearsome ability of an Angel unit, you gain +1 VP. You can gain a maximum of 3 VPs this way, and once you have, the 'fearsome' ability bonus immediately ends.

If you have a go at using an Angel Keeper in your force, please let us know how you get on with it!

Friday Photo - Karist Troopers in a Red and White Colourscheme


Posted on Friday Aug 26, 2016 at 05:00pm in The Karist Enclave


Our friday posts here at the comm guild are photos of a model in a colour scheme that we might not have shared before (or much at least), an interesting conversion or whatever takes our fancy!

Today's inaugural post are these Karist troopers in a striking red and white colourscheme.

These troopers were painted by lil'legend studios, and are a colour scheme of their own invention. Red works so well on Karists, but changing the cybel glow on the weapon to that greenish-blue colour really makes them pop nicely. We actually have a full force of Karists painted up in these colours and will be sharing more photos of them over the coming months.

The Expansion Sprue in more Detail


Posted on Saturday Aug 20, 2016 at 05:00pm in Models


Wrapping up this week's expansion sprue content, we thought we'd list the sprues you need to make each unit.

Karist Praetorians

Minimum requirements: 1x Karist Trooper Sprue, 1x Faction Expansion Sprue
Maximum requirements: 2x Karist Trooper Sprue, 3x Faction Expansion Sprue (the max 2 cybel glaives are on a single sprue, but for a larger size unit you'll need more loin cloths and, if so desired, 5 cybel blades)

Epirian Contractor Suppression Team

Minimum requirements: 1x Epirian Contractor Sprue, 1x Faction Expansion Sprue
Maximum requirements: 2x Epirian Contractor Sprue, 5x Faction Expansion Sprue (if you want the max 5 shock batons/mauls), 2x Epirian Scarecrow Sprue

Cybel Mine Equipped Shadow Walker

Minimum requirements: 1x Karist Shadow Walker Sprue, 1x Faction Expansion Sprue
Recommended requirements: 1x Karist Shadow Walker Sprue, 2x Faction Expansion Sprue (to also make a mine on a base token to represent mine deployment)

Customised Karist Troopers / Karist Assault Troopers

Recommended: 2x Karist Trooper Sprue, 1x Faction Expansion Sprue (for the variety of extra parts and poses)
Maximum requirements: 2x Karist Trooper Sprue, 3x Faction Expansion Sprue (for the max 5 cybel blades)

Remember, the faction expansion sprue is only discounted for 2 more days, so head over to the Maelstrom's Edge webstore and pick them up now if you have been waiting :)

Updated Unit Cards


Posted on Friday Aug 19, 2016 at 05:00pm in General


The final piece of the puzzle for the expansion sprue release is now available for download.

Simple visit the Unit Lists section of the Maelstrom's Edge website to see all updated unit cards.


If you just want to grab a high resolution copy of all cards, you can also download them directly in one big zip file. We plan to get these cards in to print before Adepticon next Spring, but there are a few more yet to come between now and then if our production stays on track!

You may note that a Subjugator bot is an option for the Epirian Contractor Suppression Team. The Subjagator is a scarecrow that is based around close range crowd control, and can be built from two scarecrow sprues as follows:

It uses one normal scarecrow sprue, and then the Clingfire from a second sprue, so building a Subjugator will still leave enough spare parts for a normal Scarecrow with Chemtek sprayer to be built.

Faction Summary Sheets Updated


Posted on Thursday Aug 18, 2016 at 04:00pm in General


Tuesday and Wednesday's free PDF army books are great for building a force and learning the rules, but when it comes to playing the game, nothing beats having a handy reference sheet nearby.

We've updated our reference sheets to include all the latest units, weapons and rules for both the Karists and Epirians. Now you can download them right here:

Karist Quick Reference Sheets

Epirian Quick Reference Sheets

We look forward to hearing how the Karist Praetorians fare in battle against a fully equipped Epirian Contractor Suppression Team!

Karist Enclave Faction Book - Free to Download


Posted on Tuesday Aug 16, 2016 at 06:00pm in The Karist Enclave


To help you build your forces up using the expansion sprue released yesterday, here is a completely free PDF faction book for The Karist Enclave.

This book contains everything you'd expect from an army book, from the background and origins of the Karist Enclave, to detailed, up-to-date force listings, abilities, equipment and points values and model stats, not to mention lots of lovely artwork.

If you have a Karist army, you need this PDF, so grab it now, stick it on your phone or tablet, or just print a copy out as it is just 22 pages in all at time of writing, so fairly reasonable!

Enjoy :)

New Karist and Epirian Models!


Posted on Monday Aug 15, 2016 at 10:26pm in Models


It is with great pleasure that we can now offer the Faction Expansion Sprue for sale at the Maelstrom's Edge webstore.

The faction expansion sprue is needed to build the following new units:

Epirian Contractor Suppression Teams

Karist Praetorians

and it adds new options for:

Karist Shadow Walkers (cybel mine)

Epirian Contractors (shock battons, as well as helmet and covered arm options)

Karist Troopers (cybel blades, new head)

as well as Karist Trooper Assault Squads (cybel blades and extra weapons).

The faction expansion sprue contains the following components (in no particular order):

1x small knife (faction independent but generally more appropriate for Karists)
1x EMP grenade
1x Choke grenade
1x Cybel Charge
1x Rad Grenade
1x Swarmer Grenade
3x different Epirian helmeted heads (usable on contractors and contractor suppression teams)
1x Karist pistol without attached hand
2x Karist cybel blades
1x Epirian shock baton
3x Karist new hand poses (grip, hold, clench)
1x Epirian shock mace
2x Karist pulse carbines without attached hands
2x Karist grenade launchers without attached hands
2x Karist radwave emitters without attached hands
5x Epirian clothed left arms
5x Epirian clothed right arms
1x Cybel mine
1x Karist shouting bald head
1x Karist trooper pointing arm
3x Karist praetorian loincloths (keyed to leg poses on the Karist Trooper sprue)
2x Karist cybel glaives

As part of our launch promotion, the sprue is being sold at a discounted rate until the 22nd Aug. Right now it is just £2.33 / $3.33 per sprue for a limited time, and sold in packs of 3. On the 22nd the price will go up to the normal price, increasing by £1/$1 per sprue.

We'll be revealing more of the new unit options over the next few days. For now, here's an early look at the new unit cards for the Praetorians, Assault Squads and Contractor Suppression Teams:

Thanks for reading! For now and the immediate future, the expansion sprues are only available through the Maelstrom's Edge webstore, so feel free to head over and take a look.

What Have Spiral Arm Studios Been Up To?


Posted on Monday Aug 15, 2016 at 12:10am in General


As many of you may have noticed, we've been a little bit quiet in terms of public content since we attended Salute 2016. A good chunk of the core team at Spiral Arm Studios was commissioned to work on some very interesting things in a business to business deal with a third party. While we would normally have refused so that we could keep strong focus on building Maelstrom's Edge, the bribery was simply too convincing, with the compensation enough to fully fund Maelstrom's Edge development at a greater pace through to the end of 2020, so we've suddenly got even more stuff in the pipeline! Gearing up for that extra production took a bit of time, but things are well under way now, and we'll be sharing a bit more of our in development work as time goes on so that everyone can see what they have to look forward to.

In addition to the above, JP, the guy who was working hard to build our community channels, got poached by another games company, and since this happened while our focus was elsewhere on the b2b stuff we did not have the capacity to immediately drop someone else into his place. He was doing a great job and had a lot of smart initiatives in place, and from his work we've now got a wider communication infrastructure in place (centred around this blog) ensuring that we can keep feeding out news and content on a regular basis, bringing in a wide range of content writers to keep things fresh and interesting. As always, we are very happy to share community generated content as well, and we'll be releasing some tools and information to help people dip their toes even further into the Maelstrom's Edge universe over the coming months.

We are celebrating the launch of this blog with the release of our next set of models. This coming week sees the release of the Maelstrom's Edge expansion sprue, as detailed a couple of months ago. This sprue is packed with parts to allow you to build Epirian Contractor Suppression Teams, Karist Praetorians equipped with Cybel Glaives, Cybel Mine equipped Shadow Walkers, Karist Trooper Assault Squads, and loads of new detailing elements like new arm poses, grenades, and more. Here's a sneak preview of the contents of the sprue, broken down by faction (Pink=Karist, Blue=Epirian):

Expansion Sprue image highlighting the Karist and Epirian components

Over this week and next, we'll be releasing loads of new content to support the expansion sprue. Including but not limited to, new unit cards (in digital form), new faction summary sheets, free army books for the Karists and Epirians detailing the new units and weaponry available to each, and plenty of new model photos.

The expansion sprue will go sale tomorrow - Aug 15th in an unspecified timezone, on the Maelstrom's Edge web store. For one week, we'll be offering it at a discounted price as a thank you to all of our loyal supporters, so make sure you grab your discounted sprue before the 22nd Aug! We'll then be bringing out bundles of sprues to allow individual units to be purchased with all necessary parts (The Epirian Contractor Suppression Team for instance needs an Epirian Contractor Sprue, 2-3 expansion sprues and 1-2 Scarecrow sprues!)

Exciting times for sure, and we thank you for being a part of it :)