The Comm Guild Maelstrom's Edge

Entries tagged [rules]

Maelstrom's Edge V2 - Updated Epirian Warden rules sheet


Posted on Tuesday Nov 15, 2022 at 05:00pm in The Epirian Foundation


- 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.

Maelstrom's Edge V2 - Updated Thunderbolt Sentry Drone


Posted on Friday Oct 21, 2022 at 05:00pm in The Epirian Foundation


- 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.

Maelstrom's Edge V2 - Line of Sight


Posted on Tuesday Apr 05, 2022 at 05:00pm in Gaming


Over the last little while, we've been running through a series of articles looking at different aspects of the V2 rules for Maelstrom's Edge. This week, we're casting our eyes towards the Line of Sight rules!

In order to shoot at an enemy, a unit generally needs to be able to see it. Maelstrom's Edge uses simple rules to establish whether or not an enemy is a valid target. Read on for details!



CHECKING LINE OF SIGHT

Maelstrom's Edge uses a model's eye view for determining line of sight. This means checking from behind and just above the model to check if they could see their target. If you can see any part of the enemy unit, then you have line of sight to them. For units of more than one model, line of sight is only checked from the squad leader, as they direct the shooting of the rest of the unit. This helps to speed up gameplay - having to check from each individual model in the unit can get a little tedious. If the squad leader can see the enemy, then the whole unit has line of sight.


A Broken Sniper draws a bead on a squad of Epirian SecDef troops.


WIDE OPEN SHOTS

Generally on a battlefield, troops aren't actually just standing around in funky action poses waiting for their turn to move. With this in mind, Maelstrom's Edge assumes that models are making use of whatever cover is around them, and this is factored in to the Skill and Evasion stats that are used to resolve shooting attacks. (Check out the Sample Unit Activation article for more details on how that works!)

Sometimes, though, a unit will be caught completely in the open, and this can give an attacking enemy a boost to their shooting. Attacking units gain a +2 bonus to their Skill for that round of shooting if their target is completely visible, without being even partially obscured by intervening terrain or other models. This Wide Open Shot bonus can be negated by certain unit actions, however - units that are On The Move or Taking Cover will not confer the bonus. (See the Unit Actions article for details on what those actions do for your units!)


A Karist Alessi Novitiate gets a little caught up in the moment and breaks cover.


TAKING COVER

As mentioned above, units are generally assumed to be making use of whatever cover is available as they move. They also have the option of using the Taking Cover status action to maximise this protection by huddling up against obstacles or going prone in more open ground. This doesn't affect line of sight or attack resolution, but does give them a bonus to their defense before rolling for armor. We'll go into this in more detail in a future article.


A Remnant Longshot takes cover on the roof, waiting patiently for a target to present itself.




Check out the Beta version of the V2 rules, which you can download 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!

Maelstrom's Edge V2 - Updated Imperial Marine rules!


Posted on Tuesday Mar 22, 2022 at 05:00pm in Gaming


- by Iain Wilson

With the V2 rules (which you can grab for free right now in their Beta format!) updating all of the existing factions, it seemed like a good time to revisit my homebrew 'Imperial Marine' faction list, to give those old marines some new tricks to bring to tables on the Edge.




I have fleshed the original units out a little by adding in some extra options here and there, and reworked some rules and equipment to work better within the new rules system. It doesn't include rules for every available model option out there, but should give more than enough variety to put together some reasonably varied forces comprised of whichever suitable power armored panhuman models you may have sitting around.



You can find the new unit sheets as a PDF document in the V2 Trial Rules section of the Maelstrom's Edge website here. Note that these rules are intended as just a fun way to use some of your non-Maelstrom's Edge models in your games. The Imperial Marine faction is not a 'canon' part of the Maelstrom's Edge background, nor are the rules an official part of the game, so you should only use them with your opponent's consent. These rules also aren't as thoroughly tested yet as the other faction rules, so feel free to kick the tyres and get back to me if you find any oddities, or find anything that you think isn't working quite right!



While you're there, get started with the V2 rules by downloading the Beta rulebook 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 Beta 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!

Imperial Marine models shown in this article are from Games Workshop, Anvil Industry and Bluebird Toys.

Maelstrom's Edge V2 - A Sample Unit Activation


Posted on Tuesday Mar 15, 2022 at 05:00pm in Gaming


A little while back, we shared a run-down of the different actions available to units in the second edition of the Maelstrom's Edge rules. (If you missed it, you can find it here!)

This week, we thought it might be helpful to expand on this a little by walking through a couple of unit activations, showing how these actions actually work on the table. For this example, we have an Epirian SecDef Field Commander facing off against an Artarian Remnant Nimbus Pathfinder. In the midst of battle, they have just caught site of each other through the ...err ... trees? and shenanigans ensue.



The Remnant player has Priority (meaning they activate a unit first) and chooses to use a Move action to advance through the trees to bring the Field Commander into short range (6") for the Nimbus' arc splitter. They then use their Status action to Aim, applying a +2 bonus to the Nimbus' SKL stat.



The arc splitter has SHO 3, which means it rolls three dice to shoot, and it receives an additional shot for being at short range. Rolling four dice, the Remnant player needs to equal or beat the Field Commander's EVS of 4. They roll a 1, two 2s and a 4.

The Nimbus has SKL 4 with the bonus from aiming increasing this to 6. This allows them to adjust the rolls by up to 6 points. They flip the 2s up to 4s, but don't have enough points remaining to get the final roll up to a 4, so this one remains a miss.



The Epirian player now needs to roll to see if their armor blocks the three successful hits. They need to equal or beat the PEN of the arc splitter, which is 3. Rolling three dice, they roll a 2, a 3 and a 4. The Field Commander's AV of 4 allows them to flip the failing 2 up to a successful roll, which means all three shots are blocked.

While the Field Commander doesn't take any damage, being hit by enemy fire raises his Suppression Level, putting him on Level 1 (Marked in the pick below with the orange die.



It's now the Epirian player's turn to activate a unit. They use a Move action to shuffle the Field Commander over behind the shipping crate, and uses a Takes Cover action, which will give him some extra defense against any further enemy shooting until he activates next.



Normally, regular models can only fire a single weapon per activation, but the Field Commander's Advanced Machine Assistance allows him to cut loose with all of his weapons at once. His two LM14 machine guns each have SHO 3, while his cluster missile launcher is an area of effect weapon, granting him SHO 2 against the single model Nimbus unit. Grabbing two black dice for the missiles and six white dice for the machine guns, the Epirian player rolls five 2s, two 5s and a 6. Needing to equal or exceed the Pathfinder's EVS of 4, they use the Field Commander's SKL of 4 to flip two of the 2s up to 4s.



Both Epirian weapons have the same PEN 4, but the 6 is a Critical Hit, requiring a roll of 6 to block. Rolling the dice from the successful hits, the Remnant player gets a 2, a 3, a 4 and a 5, and a 2 on the Critical hit. They use the Pathfinder's AV 4 to flip the regular 2 and the 3 up to 4s, but don't have enough points left to block the Critical Hit.

This means the Pathfinder suffers a single injury, which would be enough to kill a lesser warrior. Remnant Champions, boosted by their Lorican Combat Armor, are capable of shrugging off significant damage, and even the comparatively light armored Pathfinder has FOR 5, meaning it needs to suffer 5 injuries to be removed as a casualty. It does however raise its Suppression Level by 2 - 1 for the successful hits, and another because it suffered an injury.



Play would then continue on to the next unit, or the next turn if all units on both sides have now activated.



Check out the Beta version of the V2 rules, which you can download 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!

Maelstrom's Edge Battlescribe Data File Update


Posted on Wednesday Oct 13, 2021 at 06:00pm in Gaming


It's been a long time coming, but the Battlescribe data files for Maelstrom's Edge have just had a massive update!



If you're not familiar with Battlescribe, it's an application for building army lists, used for a wide range of different miniatures games. You download the data files for the games you play, and then use those files to create rosters which can be saved and printed. Battlescribe validates your lists and provides profiles and rules summaries for the units you have selected. You can download the Battlescribe app at https://battlescribe.net, and once installed use the 'Manage Data' button to select the Maelstrom's Edge data repository.



This new update for the Maelstrom's Edge data repository (v.5.0.0) adds the Artarian Remnant faction, and brings the other factions all up to date with all currently available units.



If you're just getting started with Maelstrom's Edge, you can pick up the rulebook in PDF form for free from the Maelstrom's Edge website here, or pick up the print version in the Battle for Zycanthus starter set, available along with the rest of the Maelstrom's Edge range from the webstore here! Free shipping applies to qualifying orders - check your cart for details.

If you have any questions on Maelstrom's Edge gameplay or anything else about the game, background or miniatures range, feel free to pop in to the Comm Guild Facebook group here.

Remnant Faction Summary now online!


Posted on Monday Mar 16, 2020 at 08:14pm in The Remnant


The Faction Summary for the Artarian Remnant is now online!



This summary lists all of the special rules, equipment and weapon profiiles used by the Remnant units released so far, and will be updated as future options are released. You can download the PDF here!

Trial Transport Rules - Downloadable PDF


Posted on Monday Oct 28, 2019 at 05:00pm in Gaming


From time to time, we'll be offering a chance to test out new ideas in development. These trial rules will potentially change during development, but will give you an idea of where they're going, and let you try out something new.



You can now download some trial rules for fielding vehicles that can transport infantry units around the battlefield. A version of these rules will be included in the next edition of the Maelstrom's Edge rules, but this version, tailored to fit into the V1 ruleset, lets you kick some tyres a little earlier.



Also included in the download are some unofficial rules cards for Epirian, Karist and Broken transport vehicles, to give you something to test these rules with. Conversions to build some of these have been featured in previous Comm Guild modeling articles, and you can use these as inspiration for your own vehicles, or feel free to use whichever other appropriate vehicles you like.

You can download the trial transport rules from the Maelstrom's Edge website here.

We would love feedback on the rules, or to see your transport vehicle builds. Pop on in to the Comm Guild Facebook Group!

Rules for the Artarian Remnant are now online!


Posted on Tuesday Jul 30, 2019 at 05:00pm in Gaming




This month, the forces of the Artarian Remnant assemble to storm the battlefields of the Edge, with the release of rules cards for the Militus battlesuit!

With a wide array of different gear and weapons available to them, the Militus is the most widespread of the suit types in use by Remnant champions. The suit classes that can be built straight from the plastic Militus kit are represented on five rules cards - two different command options, and three different troop options, which you can now find in the Remnant section of the online Force List.



Faction Abilities

All Militus suit types have the 'Aerial Insertion' rule, to represent the fire team deploying from orbit. What makes them truly special compared to other armies, though, is the 'Crowd Favorites' rule. Combat is an extreme sport for Lorican Champions, and fire teams broadcast their exploits back to adoring fans on the vast ships of the Remnant Fleets, who in turn convey their support to their chosen Champions in the form of Favor.

While Remnant forces receive Command Points each turn for any Command models in play, they also gain an additional point for every 3 Lorican Champions currently on the table. This represents the Champions being boosted by the support of the watching crowds back in the fleet. These Command Points can then be used by the Champions to Overcharge their suits, allowing them to move faster, buff their weapons, or improve their defensive abilities, at the expense of generating heat. Heat is represented by additional Suppression, and can be dispersed through the use of Venting systems.





Militus Warrior

The most common Militus class is the Warrior. A Core choice in a Remnant detachment, the Militus Warrior wields powerful ranged or melee weapons on its arms. It can be equipped with a field generator backpack, and also has access to a third, shoulder-mounted weapon or an assortment of support equipment.

Note: We will be releasing a resin upgrade pack which will include all of the support equipment options, but we have included these options on the cards for now to let you try them out!



Militus Warrior Prime

Experienced Lorican champions may eventually wind up commanding fire teams in combat, and bear the rank of 'Prime' to show their status. The Warrior Prime's 'Counterattack' ability gives his units a boost when retaliating against enemy fire.



Militus Skyrunner

The Skyrunner eschews the protection of a field generator, or the extra firepower of a shoulder mounted weapon in favour of the mobility boost provided by a Lorican Boostpack. While more limited in options than other Militus classes, the Skyrunner serves as a handy Vanguard option for capturing territory and getting the drop on slower enemy units.

A Skyrunner Prime retains the mobility of their class, and can use their enhanced view of the battlefield to better co-ordinate the movement of their units with the 'Mobile Strike' ability.



Militus Dominator

A more specialised class like the Skyrunner, the Dominator trades in support options in favour of overwhelming firepower. While they lack the ability to take the heavier weaponry available to larger Brutus class suits, Dominators opt for twin ranged weapons on their shoulders to maximise their ability to rain punishing fire on their opponents.

So, What's Next?

Well, as we mentioned, there will be a resin upgrade pack coming, with an array of different support options and some special parts to customise your Primes.



Of course, the Militus isn't the only weapon in the Remnant arsenal, and many Lorican Champions take to the field in the heavier Brutus or super-light Nimbus suits. Both of these will be added to the force with resin models later this year.

In the meantime, though, the multiple variants of Militus suit give you plenty of options for building different forces and taking on the less-well-equipped and considerably squishier factions opposing them on the Maelstrom's Edge!

The Militus kit is available now, along with the rest of the Maelstrom's Edge model range in the webstore here.

You can see the unit cards in the online Force Listing section here, and you can also find a downloadable, printable version in the 'Rules' section of the website here!

Happy Gaming!

Maelstrom's Edge V2 Rules - Getting up close and personal!


Posted on Thursday May 16, 2019 at 01:11am in Gaming


We're hard at work on a second edition rulebook for Maelstrom's Edge, and over the coming months will be showcasing changes and refinements, and asking for feedback on different directions for the rules. One of the bigger changes we're implementing involves the number of dice rolled by models in Close Quarters attacks.

In the current Maelstrom's Edge rules, unless you have a melee weapon with a specified SHO value, the number of dice you roll for Close Quarters attacks is determined by a neat little formula that uses the model's EVS, MAS and FOR stats. While this provides some nice granularity, and allows for a large model's CQ ability to be reduced as it takes damage, it's also a little awkward to calculate on the fly. As a result, it's the one thing in the V1 rules that, going by player feedback, is almost universally disliked by players. We've taken that feedback on board for V2, and will be changing model statlines to include a shiny, new Close Quarters Attacks (CQA) characteristic!





This entirely replaces the current formula - No more algebra in the middle of the game, you just look at the CQA stat, and roll that many dice! This does mean that large models no longer lose shots as they are wounded, but this will be accounted for elsewhere, with their ability to use multiple weapons being affected instead.

You can join in on the discussion of the new rules, and download a copy of the current draft rules for V2, in the development thread on the DakkaDakka forums here. You can also post any feedback in the Comm Guild Facebook group here.

If you haven't tried Maelstrom's Edge yet, and don't want to wait for V2, you can download the PDF version of the current Maelstrom's Edge rulebook from the website here!

Website Update - Printable Unit Cards!


Posted on Thursday Nov 15, 2018 at 07:08pm in Gaming


The Maelstrom's Edge website has an online unit card viewer (which you can find here), allowing you to see the stats, options and special rules for each uit in the game.

As part of our ongoing upgrade to the website, we have now also added printable PDF card compilations for each faction. You can find these in the Rules section, along with the summary sheets, samples force rosters and gameplay tutorials!

rulespage.jpg

Sample Force Rosters for the Broken


Posted on Wednesday Oct 10, 2018 at 06:00pm in Gaming


When the Battle For Zycanthus boxed set was released, we published some sample force rosters for the Karist and Epirian factions based on the models in the set, to help give new players an idea of what a Maelstrom's Edge force could look like. Since then, we have released a stack of new models and introduced a third faction, the Broken, to the game, so it seemed like a good idea to add some new force rosters to the sample collection. Below, you'll find three different sample force rosters for the Broken, and a breakdown of which models you would need to put them together.



LIST #1 - ALL-PLASTIC 120 POINTS


(a standard 'small' game, using just the plastic Broken Infantry Pack models)


Detachment #1 (of 2)
TYPEUNITUPGRADEPOINTS
[Command]Forsaken Chieftain (8)x2 Beam Pistols (+0)8 pts
[Core]Broken Rabble (5)x1 extra Broken Rabble (+1)
x1 Chem Launcher (+1)
x1 EMP Harpoon (+1)8 pts
[Core]Broken Rabble (5)x2 extra Broken Rabble (+2)
x1 Chem Launcher (+1)
x1 Glue Rifle (+1)9 pts
[Core]Broken Rabble (5)x2 extra Broken Rabble (+1)
x1 Auto Slugger (+1)
x1 Longbeam Rifle (+1)9 pts
[Hammer]Rabble Assault (8)x2 extra Broken Rabble (+4)
x3 EMP Harpoon (+0)12 pts
[Hammer]Rabble Assault (8)x2 extra Broken Rabble (+4)
x3 Massive Torch (+3)
x2 replace Beam Blastgun with Chem Pistol & Slug Pistol (-2)
Boss replaces Beam Blastgun with Chem Pistol & Grenade Harness (-1)12 pts
[Anvil]Rabble Fire Support (5)x2 extra Broken Rabble (+2)
x3 Longbeam Rifle (+6)13 pts
[Anvil]Rabble Fire Support (5)x2 extra Broken Rabble (+2)
x3 Longbeam Rifle (+6)13 pts
DETACHMENT #1 TOTAL84 pts



Detachment #2 (of 2)
TYPEUNITUPGRADEPOINTS
[Command]Forsaken Chieftain (8)replace Slug Rifle with Beam Blastgun (+1)9 pts
[Core]Broken Rabble (5)x1 extra Broken Rabble (+1)
x1 Chem Launcher (+1)
x1 EMP Harpoon (+1)
Boss replaces Slug Rifle with Chem Pistol & Grenade Harness (+0)8 pts
[Core]Broken Rabble (5)x2 extra Broken Rabble (+2)
x1 Emp Harpoon (+1)
x1 Glue Rifle (+1)
Boss replaces Slug Rifle with Grenade Harness & Slug Pistol (+0)9 pts
[Anvil]Rabble Fire Support (5)x2 extra Broken Rabble (+2)
x3 Auto Slugger (+3)10 pts
DETACHMENT #2 TOTAL36 pts
GRAND TOTAL120 pts



Models needed:
  • Broken Infantry Pack x10.

The two Chieftains for this list are built from the plastic set, which is why there are two Rabble units that only have 5 in the unit.





LIST #2 - 120 POINTS


(a standard 'small' game, using a mix of plastic and resin Broken models)


Detachment #1 (of 2)
TYPEUNITUPGRADEPOINTS
[Command]Forsaken Chieftain (8)x1 Beam Pistol (+0)
x1 Trophy Melee Weapon (+1)
Xeno Spotter (+1)
Customized Weapons (+2)12 pts
[Core]Broken Rabble (5)x2 extra Broken Rabble (+2)
x1 Chem Launcher (+1)
x1 Glue Rifle (+1)9 pts
[Core]Broken Rabble (5)x2 extra Broken Rabble (+2)
x1 Auto Slugger (+1)
x1 Longbeam Rifle (+1)9 pts
[Hammer]Rabble Assault (8)x1 Marsayan Hypnotist (+2)
x3 Massive Torch (+3)13 pts
[Hammer]Rabble Assault (8)x1 extra Broken Rabble (+2)
x1 Hakoyu Grand Master (+4)
x3 EMP Harpoon (+0)14 pts
[Vanguard]x2 Sig Jammer (12)12 pts
[Anvil]Gnolti (10)10 pts
[Anvil]Rabble Fire Support (5)x1 extra Broken Rabble (+1)
x3 Longbeam Rifle (+6)12 pts
DETACHMENT #1 TOTAL91 pts



Detachment #2 (of 2)
TYPEUNITUPGRADEPOINTS
[Command]Forsaken Chieftain (8)Customized Weapons (+2)
Extensive Cybernetics (+2)12 pts
[Core]Broken Rabble (5)x2 extra Broken Rabble (+2)
x1 Chem Launcher (+1)
x1 EMP Harpoon (+1)
Boss replaces Slug Rifle with Chem Pistol & Grenade Harness (+0)9 pts
[Anvil]Rabble Fire Support (5)x3 Auto Slugger (+3)8 pts
DETACHMENT #2 TOTAL29 pts
GRAND TOTAL120 pts



Models needed:
  • Broken Infantry Pack x6
  • Forsaken Chieftain x1
  • Forsaken Tech Chieftain x1
  • Sig Jammer x2
  • Marsayan Hypnotist x1
  • Hakoyu Grand Master x1
  • Gnolti x1






LIST #3 - 120 POINTS, SINGLE DETACHMENT


(a mix of plastic and resin models, optimized to fit into a single detachment)


TYPEUNITUPGRADEPOINTS
[Command]Forsaken Chieftain (8)x1 Trophy Melee Weapon (+1)
Xeno Spotter (+1)
Customized Weapons (+2)
Extensive Cybernetics (+2)15 pts
[Core]Broken Rabble (5)x2 extra Broken Rabble (+2)
x1 Auto Slugger (+1)
x1 Longbeam Rifle (+1)9 pts
[Core]Broken Rabble (5)x2 extra Broken Rabble (+2)
x1 Chem Launcher (+1)
x1 EMP Harpoon (+1)9 pts
[Hammer]Rabble Assault (8)x2 Hakoyu Grand Master (+8)
x3 Torch (+0)16 pts
[Hammer]Rabble Assault (8)x2 Hakoyu Grand Master (+8)
x3 Massive Torch (+3)19 pts
[Vanguard]x2 Sig Jammer (12)12 pts
[Anvil]x2 Gnolti (10)20 pts
[Anvil]Rabble Fire Support (5)x2 extra Broken Rabble (+2)
x3 Longbeam Rifle (+6)13 pts
TOTAL112 pts



Models needed:
  • Broken Infantry Pack x5 (you'll have a couple of models spare)
  • Forsaken Chieftain x1
  • Sig Jammer x2
  • Hakoyu Grand Master x4
  • Gnolti x2



Note that for the above list, you could get to 119 points by dropping the Rabble Fire Support and including another two Gnolti instead!






Hopefully the above force rosters will give you some idea of how to plan your force. If you're looking for the force rosters for the Karist and Epirian factions, you can find them on the Maelstrom's Edge website here.



To assemble your own force, you can pick up the above models, and the rest of the Maelstrom's Edge model range, from the webstore here.


Happy Gaming!

New Karist Faction Objective Card: First Contact


Posted on Wednesday Oct 03, 2018 at 06:00pm in Gaming


Although the existence of the xenos species called Angels was not completely unknown to the inhabitants of the spiral arm, only a handful of academics and long-standing spacefarers truly knew of them before the Karists began using Angels for their military and propaganda purposes. To everyone else, they were always simply a myth or legend bragged about by starship captains who had spent too many years traversing the void.

Karists tout that these creatures are emissaries of of the Maelstrom, with their priests having helped coined the name 'Angels' to describe them. When Karist priests attempt to sway the populace of a world to their cause, they often mention Angels, or even utilize a live Angel as a demonstration. For how can creatures so powerful and strange, they argue, serve the will of the Karists if their cause were not just and true?



In Karist military actions, Angel units are typically embedded into their existing forces, giving Karist commanders access to the many unique talents the Angels can provide. However, an entire force comprised of Angels is a powerfully intimidating site, doubly so to enemy troops who have never actually seen an Angel before. Therefore on occasion, full Angel detachments, led by an Angel Keeper are deployed. They are usually utilized as a terror-force, early in a planetary engagement before the enemy has any experience fighting against them. Angel detachments are particularly effective against fortifications, where the sheer terror caused by the Angels can cause enemy troops to flee without firing a shot, allowing the Karists to take an enemy strongpoint where it would have cost them hundreds of lives otherwise.

The First Contact faction objective represents a number of new avenues for our game. It is the first of several planned new faction objectives tied to particular models, helping to create different types of themed forces you can choose to utilize within the overarching umbrella of the existing forces. To this end, your force must include an Angel Keeper for you to be able to use the First Contact faction objetive.

First Contact


This objective may only be utilized if your force contains an Angel Keeper. If an objective type requires you to choose a force commander, it must be an Angel Keeper.

This objective can generate a maximum of 3 VPs per game, after which your units no longer benefit from the IrratIonal Fear ability.




Partial: (conditional) Each time a non-fearless enemy unit fails any type of discipline check (even an automatic failure) while affected by the Fearsome ability of your Angel units, gain 1 VP.
Full: N/A

Irrational Fear: Friendly models with the angel designator gain the Fearsome (1) ability, or add +1 to their existing Fearsome ability.

You can download a printable version of this card here.

The existing basic faction objectives ('Secret Cache' for the Karists, 'Now You See Me' for the Broken and 'Automated Uplink Relay' for the Epirians) all work roughly the same way: they provide your forces an optional bonus, which you can choose to forgo each turn to instead gain +1 victory point. First Contact, on the other hand, provides your force with an automatic bonus: namely improving your Angel's 'Fearsome' ability, and successfully utilizing that bonus is what scores you the objective's victory points. Even better, this is the first faction objective where it is possible to earn the maximum 3 victory points in a single turn, even theoretically in the first turn of the game, which would definitely put your opponent on their back foot right out of the gate!

But that raises the obvious question: how can First Contact possibly be balanced compared to the existing two faction objectives? The answer is that the other two objectives provide you with better situational control. When you need a victory point, you can generate one, but when you need the bonus provided by the objective, you can utilize that instead. With First Contact, once you've generated your 3 victory points from it, the bonus provided by it ends and you're stuck the rest of the game without it, even if you would have preferred to keep the bonus around longer in lieu of gaining all 3 victory points.



In addition, generating victory points for First Contact ultimately relies upon your opponent failing discipline checks while within range of your Angels. Depending on how the game plays out and how crafty your opponent is, it is entirely possible for you to finish the game without earning some or even all of these victory points. Or in other words, this is the first faction objective where you have to rely upon your opponent doing something (failing discipline checks) in order to generate your victory points, which is inherently more risky.

We would love for you to try out some games with both the Angel Keeper and First Contact rules and let us know what you think about them. If you've got any feedback (with or without playing any games with the rules), please feel free to provide it either by replying to this article directly, or on our Comm-Guild Facebook group or in the Maelstrom's Edge forum on Dakka Dakka.


You can flesh out your shape-shifting alien force by picking up an Angel Keeper and any of the different types of angels from the Maelstrom's Edge webstore here!

Conversion Spotlight and Rules: Broken Skyboarders


Posted on Monday Sep 03, 2018 at 06:00pm in The Broken


- by Iain Wilson

Back when the plastic Broken Infantry kit was released, I cobbled together a conversion of a broken warrior riding a hovering skateboard-type affair, which featured in my 'Easy Broken Rabble Conversions' article. At the time, it was just something made for a little fun, but I found myself thinking that this would make for a cool unit option for the Broken, and so decided to sit down and write up some rules for them. Below you''ll find some ideas for building your own skyboarders using asorted components and some plasticard, and a link to the (unofficial) rules card to use them in your own Maelstrom's Edge games!



The primary consideration when putting together any sort of vehicles for the Broken is that they rely on scavenging and trading for whatever they can get, for the most part. As a result, there is very little uniformity in clothing and equipment, and I really wanted to carry this across to the skyboard unit. This meant coming up with three different designs for the three models in the unit, although you could just as easily stick with a single design and custimise them with additional bits and pieces stuck on, or simply with individualised paint schemes on the boards.



The first board is the one I build for the original article. I didn't take any in-progress pics of this at the time, but it's a fairly basic constructions - I glued two rectangles of textured plasticard together for the board itself, and then took four turbines (two left and two right) from Epirian Firefly drones, cut away the mounting pins and glued them onto the sides of the board. The rider was assembled from standard broken parts, posed to look like he is balancing on the board, which didn't actually require any converting.



My second board was also based on Firefly turbines, but this time I used two of them with the mounting pegs and trailing wings removed with a sharp hobby knife, as below:



I measured out the board on a piece of 2mm plasticard, allowing space for the turbines at either end with room for the rider to stand in between them. Then I drilled out holes the size of the turbines using a spade bit - a 10mm bit was very slightly too small, but was all I had. A little sanding after drilling the hole pushed it out to the right size.



I cut the board shape out, sanded down the edges, and glued the turbines in place in the holes. I also added a 'motor' piece using the heat shield cut from a torch (flamethrower) and a trimmed down overcharged powercell, but found on the Broken Infantry sprue.



For the final board, I made use of a part of a pipe fitting piece I had left over from the Maelstrom's Edge terrain sprue, from a building project a while back. I had cut through the pipe fitting to make it shorter, which left a nice circular piece that looked just perfect for a turbine surround. I cut a matching hole in a piece of 2mm plasticard using a 12mm spade bit, and then cut the plasticard to the shape I wanted.



I made the turbine fan itself out of a circle of 1mm plasticard, and added a circle of mesh to go over the top side of the hole, and a strut to hold the fan, using an injection point cut from an old model sprue. With all of this glued in place, I finished up with another overcharged powercell added for some sort of nod towards functionality.



After building riders for the two new boards, again just using components from the Broken Infantry sprue with minimal modification, I drilled holes in the bottoms of the boards to attach flight stems at suitably jaunty angles. With some paint thrown on, the skyboarder unit wound up looking like this:



Obviously, this is only a starting point - you can let your imagination out for a run and come up with different skyboard designs using whatever components you have on hand. The sky's the limit! (Sorry...)

As promised back at the start, I write up a rules card to include these guys as a Vanguard option in your Broken force. You can find this in the Force Builder section of the Maelstrom's Edge website here.








To build your own Skyboarders, you can pick up the Broken Infantry kit along with the rest of the Maelstrom's Edge model range from the webstore here.

As always, feel free to pop along and share your work, or ask any Maelstrom's Edge- or hobby-related questions on the Comm Guild Facebook page!

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

New Epirian Resin Release: Contractor Drones!


Posted on Sunday Sep 02, 2018 at 11:19am in The Epirian Foundation


A reinforcement for the Epirian Foundation crawls into the online store this month, with the release of the Epirian Contractor Drone. Providing a more stable and reliable platform than human troops, Contractor Drones are used in Epirian forces to add heavy firepower or specialised tactical options to Contractor units.



The Contractor Drone changes the way Contractor units are structured. Instead of having a single Contractor Unit, we're introducing 4 different types of Contractor squads which are differentiated by the type of drone that accompanies them. This current Drone has parts to use it with the new Contractor Defender unit and Contractor Scout unit, with more drone variants and associated Contractor unit types to follow later on.



This resin kit is comprised of a Contractor Drone chassis, and optional parts to equip it with a Maglock Chaingun, linked Cluster Missile Pods or linked Flakk Guns, for inclusion in a Contractor Defender unit, or a Resupply Package to supplement a Contractor Scout unit. You can find it in the Maelstrom's Edge webstore here!



The rules cards for these units will be online very soon, but in the meantime, here's a look at the rules for the new units:

CONTRACTOR DEFENDERS

FACTION:Epirian Foundation
UNIT TYPE:Core Unit
POINTS:6 pts

Full Unit Profile:

Contractor:MV 7, EVS 4, SKL 3, AV 3, MAS 2, FOR 1, WP 2, Type: Infantry (Human)

Contractor Team Leader:MV 7, EVS 4, SKL 3, AV 3, MAS 2, FOR 1, WP 3, Type: Infantry (Human, Squad Leader)

Contractor Drone:MV 7, EVS 4, SKL 3, AV 3, MAS 2, FOR 1, WP 1, Type: Infantry (Robot, Slaved)


UNIT SIZE: 1 Contractor Team Leader & 2 Contractors.
EQUIPMENT: Maglock Assault Rifle & Maglock Guardian Pistol.
Contractor Drone: 2 linked Flakk Guns.


ABILITIES: None.

OPTIONS:
• May add up to 2 more Contractors: +2 pts each.
• May replace up to 2 Contractors with Contractor Drone: +2 pts each.
• Up to 2 models may replace Maglock Assault Rifle with Maglock Assault Rifle & Aux Grenade Launcher (Choke & Emp Rounds): +2 pts each.
• Contractor Team Leader may replace Maglock Assault Rifle with:
- Shock Baton: +0 pts.
- Shock Maul: + 1 pt.

• Contractor Drone may replace 2 linked Flakk Guns:
- 2 linked Cluster Missile Pods: +1 pt.
- 2 linked Strike Missile Pods: +1 pt.
- Maglock Chaingun: +1 pt.


Heavy Defenders: A Contractor Defender unit with 2 Contractor Drones is an [Anvil] selection.

Unique Abilities:
None.

Unique Equipment:
None.



CONTRACTOR SCOUTS

FACTION:Epirian Foundation
UNIT TYPE:Vanguard Unit
POINTS:7 pts

Full Unit Profile:

Contractor:MV 7, EVS 4, SKL 3, AV 3, MAS 2, FOR 1, WP 2, Type: Infantry (Human)

Contractor Team Leader:MV 7, EVS 4, SKL 3, AV 3, MAS 2, FOR 1, WP 3, Type: Infantry (Human, Squad Leader)

Contractor Drone:MV 7, EVS 4, SKL 3, AV 3, MAS 2, FOR 1, WP 1, Type: Infantry (Robot, Slaved)


UNIT SIZE: 1 Contractor Team Leader, 1 Contractor & 1 Contractor Drone.
EQUIPMENT: Maglock Assault Rifle & Maglock Guardian Pistol.
Contractor Drone: None.

ABILITIES: Scout.
Contractor Drone: Resupply Package, Scout.

OPTIONS: • May add up to 2 more Contractors: +2 pts each.
• Up to 2 models may replace Maglock Assault Rifle with Maglock Assault Rifle & Aux Grenade Launcher (Choke & Emp Rounds): +2 pts each.
• Contractor Team Leader may replace Maglock Assault Rifle with:
- Shock Baton: +0 pts.
- Shock Maul: + 1 pt.
• Contractor Drone may replace Resupply Package with Recon Package: +0 pts.

Unique Abilities:

Resupply Package: (squad ability) Friendly units within 6" of this unit (including itself) may re-roll one failed roll to hit during a round of shooting.

Recon Package: (squad ability) All of this unit's attacks have the [b]Paint (4+)[/b] ability, not including CQ attacks.

Unique Equipment:
None.





As you can see, the Contractor Defender unit basically replaces the existing Contractor unit type, with the optional addition of one or two heavy weapon drones. Note that this includes the option to equip the drones with Strike missiles, which aren't included in this release - there will be a conversion article for this option coming very soon!

The Scouts are the first new unit type, adding another Vanguard option to the Epirian line-up. With the new and planned units, you will soon have the ability to field an entire force of Contractors, although you can obviously still mix these new units with the existing bot units as well!


The new Contractor Drone is available now - You can find it in the Maelstrom's Edge webstore here!