The Comm Guild Maelstrom's Edge

- by Iain Wilson

Last week, I went through some options for building a few different types of scatter terrain from components on the Maelstrom's Edge terrain sprue (if you missed it, you can find the article here). There is one other essential piece of scatter terrain that wasn't covered in that article, though: the humble blast crater.

Craters are a ubiquitous component of gaming tables from just about any genre (or at least any that deal with firearms of any kind) and along with those other staples of sci fi gaming - the soup-can storage tank and the spikey-polystyrene-ball cactus - you'll never be gifted the location of the secret lounge of the Terrain Builder's Guild if you don't have at least two or three in your terrain collection.



To get started, you'll want something round and flat to use as a base. Old CDs are perfect, as they're a good size without being too thick, and it saves them from going into landfill.



If you don't have any old CDs or DVDs kicking around, craftboard, cardboard or foamcore will also do the job, although cardboard or foamcore may bow slightly.

Take some air-drying clay (I'm using Jovi Air Dry Modeling Clay) and make a ring that's a little smaller in diameter than the base.



Smooth the clay down onto the base by pressing or rubbing it with your fingers, working around the ring on both the inside and outside and leaving a raised ridge. Don't make it too neat - you want a certain amount of irregularity to avoid the crater looking like a neatly-dug hole. There should be a steeper slope on the outside of the ridge than inside.



While the clay is still soft, add some chunky features. I'm using some leftover scraps from other terrain projects, from the Maelstrom's Edge terrain sprue. Just push them into the clay wherever seems appropriate. Longer pieces should be angled towards the outer edge, as if they've been pushed there by the explosion.



Air-drying clays aren't generally particularly adhesive, so the parts won't be held in there very firmly. The next step with stick them in place fairly comprehensively, but if you're concerned about them getting knocked around while you're working, you can add a little superglue on the part before pushing it into place.

When the clay dries, it may contract a little and lift up around the edges. You can avoid that by pressing it back down periodically as it dries, but it's not really a big problem - Once the clay has set, you can just chip off any bits that are sticking up more than a couple of millimetres and ignore the rest. The edge will be obscured by the texturing that happens next.

Take some coarse sand/fine gravel mix. I have a pot that has a mix of silversand, sandpit sand, small chips of slate, fine gravel and a little model railway ballast for good measure. You want a bit if a mix of textures for best effect, but if you don't have access to all of that just some regular sand with a little railway ballast or fine gravel mixed in will do just fine.

Into this, mix a generous dollop of PVA glue (also known as Elmer's glue or wood glue) and a little water. You want the mix to be thoroughly wet through, but not runny.



Using a large paintbrush that you're not emotionally attached to (because it's probably not coming back from this) spread a coat of the sand mix over the crater, starting from the middle and working up and over the ridge. That will naturally give you some radial detail running outwards from the blast area. You can accentuate that a little if you want by dragging a toothpick or wooden skewer gently outwards through the sand mix layer.



(If you haven't covered over the hole in the middle of the CD with clay, sticking on a small piece of masking tape before you apply the sand will take care of that.)

Don't worry if the detail looks a little soft at this point. As the glue dries, it will sink in and leave some nice, gritty texture.



Once the sand layer has completely dried, paint up in some suitable colours to match your table. Here, I've used a grey spray undercoat, a coat of Army Painter Strong Tone, and then a drybrush of Vallejo Basalt Grey, Light Grey and white, to match my urban terrain. A little brown drybrushed around in patches helps dirty things up a little, and the terrain sprue parts are painted with Vallejo Beasty Brown, drybrushed with Citadel Boltgun and then washed with Army Painter Strong Tone.



For some variety, use a mix of different base sizes to create different craters.



You can easily customise this basic design through using different sized bases, linking multiple craters together, or using larger or smaller rubble and terrain parts for detail.

And that's all there is to it! If you're feeling inspired, you can check out a bunch of other terrain-building articles by clicking here, or you can pick up the Maelstrom's Edge terrain sprue (in a handy 2-pack!) from the Maelstrom's Edge webstore here.

And as always, feel free to share your creations on the Comm Guild Facebook page!

- by Iain Wilson

The Maelstrom's Edge terrain sprue is a fantastic resource for detailing scifi buildings made from all sorts of things - You can find a bunch of different ideas and tutorials here. The terrain sprue components are also handy though for making smaller detail pieces to scatter around your gaming tables for a little extra cover. I have previously shared a tutorial for building small shipping containers from a couple of doors, some ladders and a little foamcore (you can find that tutorial here), and this week I thought I would run through a few more small scatter terrain ideas.





First up: Barricades



For this, you'll need one garage door, and two trapezoid windows.



Start by removing the door from the door frame. You can do this with a jeweller's saw or razor saw, or by running around the inside of the frame with a sharp hobby knife from both sides until the door pops out.



This gives you an open door frame that you can use on a building or ruin, and a handy detailed panel that can be cut up as below:



Throw the off-cuts into your bits box (they'll come in handy for a ruin or scrapheap down the track, and the strip of small windows is a nifty bit of detail for a building or other wall feature) and glue the trapezoid windows to the back of the lower section of the door.



Once the glue has set, you have some barriers just perfect for huddling behind and feeling all suppressed.



I've painted these up fairly plain, so that they will fit with whatever sort of table I throw them on. You can easily paint them to match your buildings, or paint on mis-matched panels for more of a ramshackle look.

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Next: The Orb!



I picture this device as a 3d map tank, so the ball on top would represent either a hologram or a glass ball with a projection inside.

You will need a square hatch, a large pipe fitting, and a suitable-size marble (the one I've used is around 25mm (1") diameter).



No cutting required on this one - Simply glue the pipe fitting to the top of the square hatch, and put the marble on top. If you hold off on gluing the marble in place until you have painted the base unit, you won't need to worry about cleaning stray paint splatters off the glass.



You could also paint the marble, or use a ball bearing or small plastic ball, to make it into a planetary globe sculpture or some other artistic installation.

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Next: Public Comm Unit



The little computer screen on the terrain sprue shows up all over the place on my terrain pieces. I picture it as a generic, multi-purpose unit that can be configured to display whatever information or controls are required for any given application. In this case, as a public access comm unit or data terminal.

To build this, you need the small pipe fitting, two corner braces, a computer screen, and a 5mm-long piece of 6mm (1/4") plastic tube. You also need a piece of sprue from the terrain sprue - The sprue has a thicker half and a thinner half. From the thinner sprue, cut a piece around 25mm (1") from a corner, with the corner cut off flush with the length of the sprue piece. The end result is a length of plastic rod with a rounded end that has one flat face, as pictured below.



Take the screen and cut off the wedge-shaped protuberances running along the top. Then glue the corner braces together and the screen into the middle, inside the corners and butting up against the top, so that the corner braces form a shade around the screen.



Then glue the plastic tube into the pipe fitting, and the sprue piece inside that, with the rounded end at the top. Make sure the flat face is parallel to one of the edge of the pipe fitting. Then glue the back of the screen to the flat face of the sprue piece.



Once painted up, these can be glued onto your terrain pieces for a little extra detail. They also stand quite well on their own, or you could glue them to a base for a little extra stability, and then they can be scattered around as needed - they would make handy objective markers.

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And finally: Thermal Vents



No self-respecting, quasi-military terraforming base is complete without some sort of underground installation. The problem with underground installations, though, is that they need some sort of ventilation shaft, otherwise nobody has any way to sneak in!

To build some suitable clandestine access, (or just some nice, blocky, solid cover for your solo models, depending on your point of view and the specific game objectives at hand) you will need a shutter window, four corner braces and some thin plasticard - I've used .5mm sheet here.



Take the shutter window and on the rear frame, cut or file down the top edge at around a 45-degree angle, as below, leaving the raised frame at the front intact.



Cut sections of plastcard to run around the window frame. The measurements I've used are below:
Rear section - 21mm wide x 20mm tall
Front section - 21mm wide x 9mm tall
Sides - 23mm wide x 20mm/9mm, to match the front and rear sections.

If you're using thicker or thinner plasticard, you will need to tweak the width of the front and rear sections by a matching amount. You can also change the angle of the window frame by making the side pieces longer or shorter.



Check your plasticard sections for fit, and then glue them in place around the window frame.



The corner braces are then glued around the base.



As with the barricades back at the start, you can paint these up to match whatever buildings you have, or put them in more generic colours to scatter around multiple tables.

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That's the lot for this week - although it's just scratching the surface of what you can do with the terrain sprue components. If you like what you have seen here and want to try building some scatter pieces of your own, you can pick up the terrain sprue in a pack of two from the Maelstrom's Edge webstore here.

We love seeing what people create with the sprues, so as always, please feel free to share your work on the Comm Guild Facebook page!

- by Iain Wilson

The frontier world listed in the Epirian Foundation directory as PG-4215 [designation pending] is a barely-habitable planet on the outer fringe of populated space. At the time the Maelstrom approached the system, PG-4215 possessed a single official settlement, known as 'Research & Terraforming Implementation Facility Alpha' by the Foundation and as 'Hamilton' by those unfortunate enough to have been posted there.

With PG-4215's few small, equatorial landmasses being hot, dry, and generally unpleasant, Hamilton's small population very early on had committed themselves to paving over and urbanising as much of it as possible.


Oblivious to impending conflict, an Epirian cargo drone shunts shipping containers for unloading.

Hamilton is the first table setup that I've finished off so far for my own Maelstrom's Edge games. I've used it somewhat as a test-bed for trying out different ideas, with the end result being a bit of a hodge-podge of styles.


Taking up position on the roof of the refectory, the squad watches an automated uplink relay trundle down the laneway.

Buildings have been constructed from a range of different materials, with the components from the Maelstrom's Edge terrain sprue helping to tie it all together into a more-or-less coherent whole. The building above is made from a cardboard giftbox with the lid flipped upside down.


In the distance, past the plantation dome, a squad of heavy armoured Karists approaches, weapons at the ready.

The plantation dome was constructed from a plastic salad bowl, with foamcore used for the enclosed area at the front. You can see how this was put together in the walkthrough here.


A Warden conducts a routine maintenance check on the exterior of the planation dome.

Trimmed-down and repainted aquarium plants were used for the plantation beds inside the dome. In the background is one of my first foamcore constructions.


A Hunter warmech on patrol.

Cover is extremely important in Maelstrom's Edge, so wherever possible I have tried to include protruding elements for models to potentially hide behind, as can be seen in the buttressing on the building behind the Hunter.


A Scorpion drone lurks in the courtyard, awaiting instructions from its Handler.

Of course, some details aren't particularly useful for cover, and are just there to look pretty.


On the other side of town, a Hunter on loan from the Swamp Research Team surveys the laneway.

Painting has mostly been kept fairly simple, with the buildings all painted white with some salt weathering to make them look like they've been exposed to the elements on an unfriendly world. I wanted a unified colour scheme to help tie the disparate buildings together, so they would look like the town was cobbled together from various sources, but would still look like it was purpose built for a single organisation.


Lieutenant Bob takes up position on the balcony.

Variations on a basic design can help create a 'kit-home' look, with some different buildings that all clearly belong together. The above building was constructed using a similar template to the first foamcore structure, but with the courtyard removed and a balcony added. You can see the construction of this building in a short video here.


The Karists advance.

If you're aiming for an urban-themed board, it's a good idea to add in some area terrain elements rather than just having a table filled with solid buildings, as this mixes things up a bit for movement and cover. The same template used for Lieutenant Bob's balcony building was used to create a ruin, just by cutting off the roof, bashing things up a bit and adding some rubble on the base.


A lone Karist trooper lurks between the buildings.

In the background above you can see another building made from a plastic storage tray. Check out the build video here.


Scarecrows move to intercept the intruders.

Playing on a themed table is a great way to bring your games to life, as it helps to create the illusion of an actual battlefield, rather than just having a random assortment of different terrain.


Despite imminent conflict, Bob can't resist trying out his new camera drone...

Still to do: I have several more buildings still on the workbench for this board, including a bot storage building and some more small multi-purpose buildings. I'd also like to add some sort of water-treatment pond. This will help to expand out from 4'x4' to a more rounded 4'x6', which is better for standard games. It would also benefit from the addition of more scatter terrain to break up the firelanes a little, which will be my next terrain project:




All of the decorative elements on the buildings shown here are from the Maelstrom's Edge terrain sprue. You can find this in a handy two-pack in the Maelstrom's Edge online store here. You can share your terrain creations on the Comm Guild Facebook page!

- by Iain Wilson

On many frontier worlds, terraforming is still underway when colonists move in and start trying to install some sort of civilisation on everything. Where conditions are less favourable, this can require mean that non-native vegetation can need a little help getting established.

One of my very early ideas when the Maelstrom's Edge Terrain Sprue was first released into my eager little hands was for a small bio-dome-style structure where food or other useful plants would be grown during the process of making the planet fully habitable. It's taken a while to get back to it, but this is what I eventually came up with:

The foundation for this building was a plastic salad bowl, found at a local discount store.



I built a 'gateway' building, to be installed into the side of the dome. This would form a sort of airlock, to allow for environment control inside the dome, and also function as a storeroom for whatever tools or drones were used to maintain the plantlife inside.



To install the airlock, I carefully cut a square hole into the side of the bowl. Apparently I wasn't quite careful enough, as the fairly brittle plastic cracked just as I was almost finished cutting. (Note for next time - use a razor saw rather than trying to get clever with an exacto knife!) I decided to go with it anyway, as a little damage on battlefield terrain obviously isn't the end of the world.



The gateway building was prettied up with doors, control panels and some reinforcing from the terrain sprue.



The hole in the side of the bowl is 5mm too short for the gateway. That allows me to add a foamcore rim around the base of the dome, with another ring of foamcore running on top, sealing in the edge of the bowl.



I wanted some detail for the top of the dome, to disguise the bowl's flat bottom. So I took some shutter windows and used a razor saw to cut the backs of the frames so that the windows sit on an angle.



These were then glued to a circle of plasticard cut slightly smaller than the base of the bowl. A square hatch in the middle forms a hub, where I imagine the machinery that controls the shutters would be located.



On the inside of the bowl, I added some large pipe fittings, positioned to sit directly underneath each of the shutter windows. This forms a venting system, to allow the atmosphere inside the dome to be vented in an emergency, or to allow controlled amounts of the outside air into the dome.



A bunch of reinforcing strips from the terrain sprue were hacked up and glued into planter boxes to go inside the dome.



To these, I added a control unit using a control panel and two trapezoid windows glued together with a small piece of foamcore sandwiched between them. This would control the environment inside the dome, administer fertilisers or other chemicals to the plants, or activate the dome's resident drones.



After marking out the inside circumference of the dome on a sheet of masonite, the planters and control unit were glued in place.



For the plants themselves, I cut appropriately-sized pieces from a few different aquarium plants. These were lightly sprayed with a matt green paint to dull them down a little and make them look slightly less plastic. These would be glued into the planter boxes and the boxes then half-filled with clear craft glue (water effects would be better, but I was in a hurry and craft glue was what I had to hand).



To add a little extra detail to the overall terrain piece, I built a water tank from some foamcore and a beverage mix tin. The ends of the tin are nested into circles cut into the inner sheets of foamcore, for extra strength.



A pipe made from a piece of sprue cut from the terrain sprue and some plastic tube joins the water tank to the dome. I built a support for the pipe from a trapezoid window and another piece of tube, and added small pipe fittings from the terrain sprue to the inside and outside of the dome. The drone tasked with watering the plants would connect to the interior fitting and syphon off as much water as required.



The last thing to do then before painting and assembling everything was to paint any exposed edges of the foamcore with some PVA glue, to protect it from the spraypaint.



My original batch of buildings for Maelstrom's Edge were painted white with green detailing, and since the gateway building for this one was constructed in a similar style, I went with a matching colour scheme.



The gateway was sprayed with a grey undercoat, and then a spray of matt white, with salt weathering to give it a nicely aged appearance.



The water tank was painted brown, drybrushed with Citadel Boltgun Metal and washed with Army Painter Strong Tone before being sprayed with a coat of green.



Again, salt weathering adds some age and experience. The end pieces, along with the base board and the dome rim, were painted with Vallejo Basalt Grey and then drybrushed with Vallejo Light Grey.



A few touches of Vallejo Beasty Brown add some dirt around the place, and some signs created in Gimp, printed out and glued in place add some character touches.



The interior needed to be all painted and the plants glued in place before the dome could be glued down.





I considered leaving the gateway unglued, so that it could be pulled out to put models inside the dome, but figured that as cool as that might look, there was little actual point in being able to do so in-game, so for a gaming terrain piece that was an unnecessary bit of fiddliness.



A yellow guideline adds a little extra detail to the broad expance of base. The base was deliberately large - the dome and water tank make for a fairly hefty line of sight blocker, so I wanted to leave plenty of free space around it. Where a little more cover is required, scatter terrain (barriers, crates, industrial bins, and the like) can easily be added to the open front corner.



And that's it - another terrain piece just waiting for a battle to spring up around it.

To build your own plantation dome, or a transport hub, or whatever other round thing strikes your fancy, you can pick up the Maelstrom's Edge terrain sprue from the online store (in a handy 2-pack!) here.

As always, please feel free to share your creations on the Comm Guild Facebook page!

- by Iain Wilson

Terraforming planets is hard work, particularly on those worlds where conditions are less than favourable to begin with. Equipment has to contend with a huge range of different environments and, particularly once the Maelstrom come close, maintenance schedules can be somewhat less rigorously clung to than they might be on more 'civilised' worlds. This gives a bit of scope for painting terrain and models with a less polished finish, so this week, I thought I'd share an easy little method that I use to paint weathered metal. My guinea pig here is an Epirian Hunter Warmech.

This all starts with a red undercoat - Here I've used Army Painter Pure Red. Just a light coat, as it doesn't have to be super-bright. Going straight over the grey plastic dulls the red down a little as well.



Over the red, paint a coat of a medium brown colour. I've used Vallejo Beasty Brown. This doesn't need to be perfectly even - If a bit of the red tint shows through, all the better. It will look a little odd to begin with, but it all pulls together at the end.



Next, paint a light coat of a medium metal tone. I've used P3 Pig Iron, which is roughly equivalent to the old Boltgun Metal/Leadbelcher. Again, you don't want to completely cover the brown. For a more rusted, dirty look, just lightly drybrush the metal on. For a more lightly weathered look, use a heavier coat of metal while leaving the brown in the creases. And as with the red, if a little brown tint shows through the coat of metal, that's excellent for our purposes here.



Now the magic step: Give the model a liberal coat of brown ink. The below is done with Army Painter Strong Tone, which is more or less identical to the old Citadel Devlan Mud. (Agrax Nightshade replaced this in the Citadel range. It's probably close enough for these purposes, but I haven't tried it.)



Once the ink is dry, it's time for final detailing. You can highlight with a little silver to pick out raised edges, just to brighten things up a little bit. I also like to go over weapons and working parts with a coat or two of black ink, to make them stand out a little more. You can also paint over the top with a patchy layer of colour to show worn paint with the metal showing through.



Here's the same technique on a different model, this time a slightly converted Epirian Scarecrow.



This is also a great way to pick out metal detail on buildings or ruins. Below is an example with a more dirty effect, achieved by just lightly drybrushing the metal over the brown before washing, as described above.



You can also add extra weathering by drybrushing brown or rusty red over the top, wherever looks like an appropriate place for rust or dirt to gather, or experiment with different coloured washes to create different metal effects.

You can pick up the models shown in this article from the Maelstrom's Edge webstore here. As always, we'd love to see what you're working on, so feel free to swing by the Comm Guild Facebook page!

- by Iain Wilson

In my continuing quest to turn every interesting thing I encounter into wargaming terrain, I often find myself wandering up and down the plumbing aisle of the local hardware store. The result of the latest meanderings, once combined with some foamcore and an assortment of parts from the Maelstrom's Edge Terrain Sprue, looks like this:

This started out life as a section of plastic drainage channel, that looks like this:



There are a whole bunch of variations on these, in different sizes and with different detailing on the undersides, which become the buildings' roofs. I chose this particular one through the arcane process of just buying the cheapest one (which was around AU$15).

Clearly having designed this product with wargamers in mind, the manufacturer has quite helpfully broken the length of channel into 5 sections.



Taking to those dividing lines with a hacksaw results in 5 equal lengths, just the perfect size for a building.



Rough edges on the cut ends can be sanded or trimmed with a sharp knife.

To fill in the ends, I used foamcore. You could also use plasticard, cardboard or corrugated plastic signboard, but I like foamcore for its ease of use.

To get the shape right, sit the building shell end-wise on the foamcore, and trace around the inside with a pencil.



Cut out the resultant shape with a sharp knife.



Once your end piece is cut out, check the fit against the shell, and trim wherever necessary to get a neat fit. Then add details from the terrain sprue components. I'm starting with a garage door - these are designed to be inset, so cut out a hole for it by tracing around the frame and then cutting out. Check for fit, and then glue the door in place.



The end panel can then be glued in place in the end of the building shell. Recessing the wall a little, rather than having it flush with the end of the shell, will provide a nice little nook for models to take cover in.



A note on glue - Skip this part if you've read any of my previous articles on gluing things to random assorted plastic objects: Plastics used for plumbing fittings are not generally designed with gamers in mind, but you can usually get away with a good quality superglue. For gluing plastic to plastic, you can buy specialised 'all plastic' glues, some of which are a two-part system (a tube of superglue, and a 'primer' that helps the glue stick better) and some that are just really sticky glue. For foamcore, you can use superglue if you're just gluing onto the cardboard outer shell, but superglue will melt the interior foam, so for gluing to the edges of the foamcore you'll need a good PVA glue or a specialist Foam glue, which you should be able to get from any craft store.

Repeat for the other end, using whatever detail components seem appropriate.



Each section of this channel has a raised, rectangular detail midway down each side, which I believe is to help keep it in place in the ground, for those rare situations where you might feel inclined to buy these for their actual, intended purpose. These are turned into windows by adding a panel of foamcore with a shutter window inset into the middle. On this section, there is also a small hole below the window where the grating clipped in. This is also covered over with a little foamcore.



The back on some of the sections also needs filling in with a little more foamcore.



A couple of reinforcing struts from the terrain sprue add a little extra detail down the sides of the building shell.



On the roof, errant text or (in this case) batch symbols can be covered over with hatches or extra reinforcing.



With detailing complete, the building winds up looking something like this:



There are some differences between the separate sections of this channel. The above was from the middle section. The next section along is almost the same, but with a raised ridge down the middle.



The sections on either end have a circular detail in the middle, for attaching downpipes.



This turned out to be a perfect spot to place an old PC fan.



Over this, I added a section of mosquito barrier, intended for insertion into guttering downpipes. This had some text around the outside, which I removed with a bit of sanding.



Once clipped in place over the fan and with a section of ladder glued onto the outside for access, this creates a nice visual detail, and a functional watch platform.



So the resultant building looks like this:





Construction complete, the end result is three different buildings that all look similar enough to represent mass-produced structures with slight variations for specific roles.



Astute readers may realise that this leaves two sections of the original channel. The only logical thing to do with them was, of course, to combine them and make a two-story version:



On the upper story, I recessed the end walls even further in and added a floor from foamcore, to create a good-sized balcony on either end of the building. The railing was made from two ladders.



From there, all that's left is to paint them!

I used a Killrust Satin Black spray as a basecoat - a decent quality spray is a good idea, as cheaper sprays may not stick as well to the plastic used for these channels. This was followed up with a coat of Rustoleum 'Oil Rubbed Bronze', which I thought would make a nice, dark, weathered metal layer to show through for the weathering. A coat of sealer and a sprinkle of salt (there's a tutorial on salt-weathering coming in the very near future), and then a top coat with Army Painter 'Army Green', before scrubbing off the salt. Then some final detailing, and the buildings are ready for the table.













If you're feeling the urge to head on out to the hardware store to recreate these yourself, you can pick up a two-pack of the Maelstrom's Edge terrain sprues from the online store here. As always, feel free to share your creations on the Comm Guild Facebook page!

Originally posted on DakkaDakka by Sgt. Oddball.

Fluff bits are in italics, game bits in plain text.

Introduction

Bacaro wasn’t quite sure if his last outing had been success or failure, really. Two things were now becoming clear to him though. First of all that this conflict would not be won or lost by military supremacy. The Karist Enclave, though they had struck a severe blow with their surprise offensive, were severely outnumbered by the Epirian forces on Asper and could not hope to hold out for all that long. This conflict would be decided by the people. The Karists clearly counted on both gaining enough support from the people themselves and also, perhaps more importantly, on the Broken causing major havoc. The Broken had already become more then an annoyance before the Karist assault, but they had taken this opportunity to increase their efforts to claim what they thought was theirs. The shock of the early Karist successes and the fear of being abandoned by the Foundation had already caused many to flock to the Broken cause. If order could not be restored quickly, Asper would be lost. Bacaro’s second epiphany concerned his own person. He’d always thought himself a Handler of status. The jobs he was assigned and the meagre forces supplied to him now showed that the head honchos did not in fact think of Bacaro very highly, or, indeed, at all. Take his current mission. He was to take and hold some backwater energy station that never did matter and never would, and he was to do it with a frankly depressing ‘ force’. “Well”, thought Bacaro, “this might be as good a time as any to start making my own plans” as he hopped out of his prowler.

Mission and objectives

I’m trying to develop a sort of ‘introductory mission’, using small forces and a smaller play area. This mission uses the Territories and Decimation objectives (and the faction objectives).

Terrain

Backwater energy station.

The board is 3’ by 5’. All terrain was assigned cover value 2. The woods are area terrain, the buildings, crates & barrels and the walls are obstacles. We didn’t use the actual building rules, so units couldn’t enter.

Kaddar Nova Myro strongly felt the absence of Elyssa, the Shadow Walker. She’d always made sure there were no surprises, no open ends. Now, Myro felt he was going in blind-folded. The Enclave needed more Cybel energy though, desperately so, there was no holding back.

Deployment

Pitched deployment was rolled for. The Karists bid 3STs to be attackers. Deployment is as shown.

Epirian Deployment left, Karists right. The Territories objectives are three energy terminal markers spread in a line across the board. All Karists are deployed on the move, all Epirians are deployed pinned.

Karist force (49 pts)

• Kaddar Nova Myro;
• 4 Troopers with a Ripper Grenade Launcher;
• 2 Tempest Elites with Ravager Vulcan Pulse Cannons (with 3 deployment STs);
• 4 Angel Minnows.

Epirian force (90 pts)

• Journeyman Bot Handler Bacaro;
• 4 Contractors with 1 grenade launcher;
• 5 Firefly Drones;
• 4 Spider Drones with Cutter light machine guns and an apprentice handler;
• Scarecrow with Maglock Railrifle and Clingfire sprayer.

Turn 1

Note that I’ll be ignoring the Epirian Automated Uplink Relay activations: it contributed its victory point the first couple of turns and added some command points later on. Also, my flash trigger battery was empty so the pics are a bit sub par, and also I didn't take any notes so the report as a whole is a bit iffy.

Myro wasn’t going to waste any time. “Fly, my pretties” he thought as he watched his flock of Minnows descend upon the Epirian unbelievers.



1st activation: The Minnows charge into the lone Scarecrow. After defensive fire, CQ fighting and reactive CQ fighting, the Minnows are 1 down and have gained a pile of STs, whilst the Scarecrow has suffered an injury and has also taken some STs.

Always putting faith in his bots first, Bacaro had sent his Scarecrow ahead to oversee the field. Immediately he was flocked by aliens, but Bacaro linked his mind with the bot and doused them in clingfire.



2nd activation: The Scarecrow gets his bot protocols activated and moves away from the Minnows to get a clear shot with the clingfire sprayer. All but one Minnow go down.

Having taken care of this first threat, Bacaro immediately had his Contractors take up position in the woods. Previous experiences had taught him to put these guys where they felt most secure, or else they’d probably run off at the first whiff of pink smoke.



3rd activation: The Contractors take the objective near the woods and loose some shots at the Nova’s shielded unit.

Myro observed coolly how the robot’s flamethrower engulfed his Minnows. Without the need to order them, he saw his Elites advance and utterly destroy the machine with Vulcan Pulse fire.



4th activation: The Tempests advance and fire at the Scarecrow, destroying it.

A Scarecrow against a flock of aliens, that’s a fair exchange, thought Bacaro. Meanwhile, his ever eager subordinate Kasero had advanced his Spider Drones up the center and was laying down a veritable rain of fire on the enemy position. Good.



5th activation: The Spider Drones Advance & Fire at the Nova unit. The dice are on fire, generating a bunch of extra hits through the Cutter machine gun’s burst ability. A Trooper snuffs it and the unit gets a pile of STs.

Bacaro figured he could end this here and now and called in the one favour Epirian Command still granted him: an aerial drone strike. Moments later the hated foe was peppered from above.



6th activation: The Journeyman launches his air strike at the Nova’s unit, to some but not too great effect: the Nova takes an injury. Myro cringed at the stabbing pain in his shoulder. He was surprised at the intensity of fire coming his way. If only Elyssa were here, he’d surely have had a better idea of what to expect from the opposition. His reactor shield kept his brothers mostly safe though, only Mai-Lo seemed like she’d better return to base. The rest of his squad he led up to the central building housing the refinery controls. The Cybel must flow.



7th activation: The Nova has enough willpower not to be too impressed by the pile of STs on his unit. He advances to the secret cache objective, switches his reactor to gauntlet overload and returns fire at the Contractors, taking one down. He then shakes off some of his suppression, whilst overload suppress sprinkles STs on the nearby Epirian units.

Turn 1 ends with 2 points for the Epirians, claiming one objective and utilising the uplink relay, and zero for the Karists. Note that this is the first time we used the Territories objective and we forgot that you keep getting points even after you move away from an objective. Not sure if this impacted the game much, but we’ll need to get it right next time . The Karist player destroyed the depleted Minnow unit.

Turn 2

The Epirians get priority and generate 4 command points, whilst the Karists generate 3 CPs. Both bring back a unit: the Minnows and the Scarecrow.

Bacaro cursed the shimmering field protecting the enemy commander and ordered his men to keep pouring their fire into it. It wouldn’t hold forever.



1st activation: The depleted contractors lob a grenade shell at the Nova and fire their assault rifles, trying to render the unit ineffective through suppression.

The Tempest Elites, recognising the greatest threat, walked up to the corner of the central building and unleashed their Ravagers at the location of the Spider Drones and the Epirian commander, only to see them hide effectively behind the remains of a thick wall.





2nd activation: the Tempests advance and fire at the Journeyman, who is lucky to escape without a scratch.

Sensing an opportunity to swing the battle as his Tempests were keeping down the soulless drones, Myro directed another flock of Minnows at the enemy’s position in the forest, hoping to drive them away from the refinery controls.



3rd activation: the Minnows Dash back in to contest the objective.

Bacaro immediately recognised that the enemy murder machines on the left flank had to be subdued if he was to take the field. Another Scarecrow bot was sent up the left flank to target the foe’s heavy armour.



4th activation: The new Scarecrow came on the board and fired at the Tempests to very little effect. Which is as well, because we forgot the Scarecrow had to fire wild due to the Railrifle’s ‘heavy’ ability.

Again putting faith in his Drones over his people, Bacaro shouted to Kasero to advance into the woods and fix the alien situation before they scared off his Contractors.



5th activation: The Spider Drones take an order and dig in in the woods, shooting the Minnows as they go, piling on STs.

Bacaro then sought the security of the big wall. He was no coward, but there were limits to how much he was willing to risk for this dump.



6th activation: The Journeyman executes a tactical retreat to get into order range of the Scarecrow.

Somewhere in this turn the Nova unit probably shot some Epirians, I think the Drones?

At the end of turn 2 the Epirians take a point for their uplink relay and the Karists a point for their secret cache.

Turn 3

Epirians get priority.

Again acting to get rid of the Tempest threat, Bacaro linked his mind with the next Scarecrow bot and found a kink in the enemy armour with the powerful Railrifle. Good, but was it too little, too late?



1st activation: the Scarecrow gets an order and with hold and fire manages to put an injury on one of the Tempests.

As his Tempests were now having issues, it was time to roll the Epirian flank. Myro again directed his fire at the forest, targeting the little Drones.



2nd activation: The Nova unit spreads out a bit and attacks the drones, piling on the STs. One Drone turns into scrap.

With the Minnows ahead and the enemy commander firing at his flank, apprentice Kasero thought it wise to reconsider his next move.



3rd activation: With a bunch of STs and the Minnows near, the Spiders are forced to retreat to the board edge.

As Myro forced the Drones to retreat, the Minnows went with their instincts and charged the Contractors in their now very uncomfortable position in the woods. Sure enough, they perished.



4th activation: The Minnows fail their discipline check, but due to ‘bloodthirsty’ they get to charge the Contractors, who die.

The Tempests and Journeyman obviously did something as well this turn which I can’t quite recall, probably fire into the Drones or Contractors and Minnows respectively.

At the end of turn 3 the Epirians take a point for their uplink relay and the Karists a point for their secret cache (the Minnows cannot score objectives due to their ‘kill mission’).

Turn 4

The Epirians bring back the Contractor unit as a reinforcement.

Sensing victory, Kaddar Nova Myro orders his elites to advance and secure their flank, containing the last energy terminal in danger of being disabled by the Epirians.



1st activation: (this shot was taken later): Tempests dash to the objective and probably fired wild at the scarecrow. This was just as he expected, damn Contractors couldn’t even hold off a flock of angry baby angels and Kasero once again overstretched himself and then chickened out. No more of this, Bacaro thought. An angry shout to Kasero brought them back to the woods at least, pouring more fire into the stubborn Minnows.



2nd activation: The Spider Drones are given an order and their protocols are enabled, after which they dig in in the woods, firing wild at the minnows.

A second group of useless Contractors then finally arrived at the left flank, asking for orders. Resisting his urge to tell them to just take a hike, Bacaro ordered them to support his precious Scarecrow and keep the Tempests occupied.



3rd activation: Contractor reinforcements Dash ahead and put some STs on the Tempests.

Myro saw the bots return to the fray and wasted no time in jumping across the low wall, reaching the central terminal with a few strides. Lead from the front had always been his motto, that’s where you get the best view.



4th activation: The Kaddar Nova leaves his unit to claim an objective.

Once again linking with the Scarecrow, Bacaro put the heat on the Tempests at the terminal. With his Railrifle and the Contractors In support, he’d take this flank and then circle round. It was all or nothing now.



5th activation: The Scarecrow is ordered and puts more pressure on the Tempests.

A warning cry then pulled Bacaro’s attention away to the right. The Minnows were threatening Kasero. Bacaro loosed a few shots with his Dominator pistol, but the Minnows didn’t seem to care. He could then only watch…



6th activation: The Journeyman puts more STs on the minnows.

The Minnows’ rage ever increasing, they now descended on the little drones that had returned to the woods. They never had a chance.

7th activation: (same image) The Minnows get another charge in and destroy the remaining bots and Handler.

Myro became ever more confident. The more his little angels came under fire, the bigger a threat they became. He motioned to his unit to go and help out the Tempests on the other flank. The threat on this side was gone.



8th activation: The Troopers take position in order to fire at the Contractors. They are well dispersed and hidden beyond the crates, so the damage is limited.

At the end of turn 4 the Epirians score 0, whilst the Karists get three: two terminals and the secret cache.

Turn 5

The Epirians bid 6 command tokens to bring back the Spider Drones, but the Karists counter with 7. The Epirians are now really outnumbered.

Bacaro weighed his options as he loosed another shot at the Tempests with his Scarecrow. This campaign had brought nothing but misery, and why? It was all pointless…



1st activation: The Scarecrow keeps shooting the Tempests, who are now properly suppressed. With the constant sniper fire from the distant bot and a full squad of Contractors advancing on their position, the Tempest Tetrarch decided to retreat and form a new front with the Troopers coming up on their rear. They’d retake the objective together.



2nd activation: The amount of STs and proximity of the Contractors now forces the Tempests to retreat.

The minnows are unstoppable. Myro watches as they move on from the broken bots and fly behind the wall, where he knows the Epirian commander is located. This battle would end now.



3rd activation: The minnows keep taking advantage of their bloodthirsty ability to attack new targets. This time, the Journeyman falls to their Cybel maws.

Team Leader Fiennes got nothing but static on his earpiece. He’d advanced up to the terminal as ordered and was awaiting new orders, but he got no response from commander Bacaro and had no line of sight to his position. Was he dead? Gone? A glance over his shoulder told him the Scarecrow was still around. Bacaro never showed any love for his human troops, but his bots… was he just too taken by guiding the bots? The Scarecrow didn’t move…



4th activation: The Contractors take an objective.

Myro surveyed the field. He felt the Minnows had done their job, what remained of the Epirians would soon be gone. A few quick orders put the Tempests on defense whilst his Troopers could start to enter the refinery building and gather what energy there was left to get here.



5th activation: The Troopers move to claim the center objective.

Myro switched his reactor to boost mode and ran off towards the far terminal himself to coordinate with his Troopers. He half expected to come under fire still, but nothing happened. Another sweet victory for the cause.



6th activation: The Nova Dashes to the objective. Final image.

The Karists get more points for having over half the territories at the end of the game and for having taken out one third of the Epirian forces, making them the clear winner. “What happened to Bacaro?!” barked command over the holo-link. “I’m not sure sir, our uplink was right near his position when we… moved out, it must have imagery of what happened.” Without another word, the holo shut down, leaving Fiennes in confusion. At the other end sat a pensive Epirian commander. They had seen the data from the uplink, but the last of it was weirdly scrambled and the thing itself was nowhere to be found. Destroyed by the Karists no doubt, but what had happened to that data…? Was Bacaro dead?

With a few modifications to the points given out by the objectives and a little more terrain I think this will do nicely for an intro mission. The forces are only small, but with the reinforcements mechanic the players need never be out of stuff to work with, and the game should about fit on a normal sized table.

I recall when I first read the rules how I worried Maelstrom’s Edge would give a limited gaming experience, given the max of 5 turns and smaller forces. I could not have been more wrong. Every game you immediately get into the thick of it and every activation is interesting. 5 turns is plenty. A handful of models is plenty. Just make sure you have enough terrain on the table.

Having played a couple games now and seen a few more, the rules are starting to click nicely. The big thing with this type of game is always the special unit and weapon abilities. To get a good idea in your head of what units can do just reading the rules is never enough, you need to see them work to really get that feel. In this game the Minnows’ bloodthirsty ability was a bit of an eye-opener. I never thought of it as a big thing, but it means they are a threat even when utterly suppressed because they keep coming at you and have a big charge range. Cool stuff.

Originally posted on DakkaDakka by Sgt. Oddball.

Fluff bits are in italics, game bits in plain text.

Introduction

Dionne pressed a slip of paper in front of Bacaro. “Here, this is good as you’ll get. The centre lies here in the woods. The scientific crew is packing up their stuff as quick as they can, it’s up to you to get them out safely. The Karists have been spotted in the woods, so I hope you’re on time. Good luck!” With that, Dionne hopped back into the prowler that had just arrived and now blew up a cloud of dust as it tore away into the distance. The whole city was in chaos since the Karists had started their offensive on yesterday morning. Utilising the element of surprise, they had established a more or less coherent front, concentrating on key positions on the outskirts of town. The Director had issued orders for the evacuation of all northern districts and the securing of anything of importance, amongst them VIPs and technical equipment. Having been driven off from the Tusculi Compound at first contact with the Karist forces, Bacaro happened to come across this remote research centre en route to his rallying point. Apparently, the scientific crew here were taking their sweet time getting their stuff together and now risked becoming Karist hostages. Snatching up the bit of paper with the layout of the centre, Bacaro gave the order to advance, still not really sure what to expect. The idea was to help evacuate the entire centre, but priority was to be given to four apparently hot shot Cybel energy scientists, of whom he’d never heard. His only clue was: “look for people with garish outfits, they’re bound to be important scientists”. This would be another crappy day.

Mission and objectives

Here’s for our second game, still learning the rules and general flow of the game. The mission was Split Research, which means players got points for keeping an artifact safe, and also for capturing 4 VIPs running around the board.

Terrain

Dionne's doodle

All terrain was assigned cover value 2. The woods and craters are area terrain, the rocky outcrops, buildings, crates & barrels and the walls are obstacles. We didn’t use the actual building rules, so units couldn’t enter.

After his successful defence of the Tusculi Compound, Kaddar Nova Myro was tasked with grabbing whatever valuables the surrounding area had to offer. Elyssa, the enigmatic Shadow Walker, had pressed him to venture into this woods and capture some scientists. Myro didn’t see the point of taking home some people who probably did have valuable knowledge, but would just as probably not see the rightness of their cause and just be a general pain in the behind. He did, however, figure that a research centre such as this would harbour some useful supplies. It was with this dual purpose that he now peeked out from behind the treeline and ordered his troops to make a pincer move around the centre and allow no means of escape. They were just in time, from behind the further wall he could see activity of what was doubtless Epirian security forces attempting to beat them to the prize.



Big flank deployment was rolled for. The Karists bid to be attackers, deploying as shown after the Epirian defenders had turtled around the big rear wall.









The four VIPs deployed, waiting to be taken.



Epirian Deployment. The rusty generator is the Epirian Artifact.



Minnows and Shadow Walker.



Troopers and assault troopers.



The Karist Artifact is the set of blue storage tubes.



Half board overview.



Tempests with deployment STs.



Epirian commander has 3 CPs assigned, the Spiders are deployed pinned.



The Karist commander has two CPs, is on the move and has his reactor in kinetic boost mode (which would normally not be the best idea, but it doesn’t matter in this case as he’ll be the first activation).

Karist force (90 pts)

• Kaddar Nova Myro;
• 4 Troopers with a Radwave Emitter, deployed On the move;
• 5 Assault Troopers with 2 Ripper grenade launchers, deployed On the move;
• 3 Tempest Elites with Ravager Vulcan Pulse Cannons (with 3 deployment STs);
• 6 Angel Minnows, deployed On the move;
• Shadow Walker Elyssa.

Epirian force (90 pts)

• Journeyman Bot Handler Bacaro with a command micro drone and a grenade launcher;
• 5 Contractors with 2 grenade launchers;
• 5 Firefly Drones;
• 3 Spider Drones with Cutter light machine guns and an apprentice handler;
• 5 Contractors with 2 grenade launchers;
• Scarecrow with Maglock Railrifle and Clingfire sprayer.

Turn 1

The Epirians had just swarmed into the centre. Time for action. Myro engaged his reactor and dashed ahead to the nearest building, where one of the scientists had just ran out. He stopped dead in his tracks as Myro fixed a piercing stare at him, but he had no time to waste on these people now, a squad of Drones across the centre had just sprang into action and started peppering his troops…





1st activation: Kaddar Nova Dashes ahead into cover near one of the objectives.

Storms! The Karists had beat him to it and were swarming out of the woods just as he entered the compound. Bacaro linked his mind with his trusty Scarecrow and aimed to snipe the first Karist to show his face. The powerful railrifle gave off a deadly burst and a Karist Trooper dropped dead just as he emerged from the treeline.







2nd activation: The Scarecrow gets his bot protocols activated and shoots at the Assault Troopers just visible behind the woods, resulting in a kill and 4 STs.

Again eager to follow his mentor’s lead, Apprentice Bot Handler Kasero quickly typed commands on his bot interface, ordering his Drones to advance, but stay low and follow the Scarecrow’s lead. The small but powerful machine guns let loose at the treeline where the first Karist had fallen.





3rd activation: The Spider Drones Dig-In after having their bot protocols activated and shoot wild at the Assault Troopers. They all miss, but the Troopers suffer another ST.

First blood for the Epirians. Myro bit his lip. He couldn’t let the Epirians pick off his followers as they tried to herd the scientists their way. He shouted to his Tempest Tetrarch to secure the hidden supply cache planted here weeks ago by Elyssa and lay down covering fire. The lumbering armoured forms sprung into motion and unleashed their Vulcan cannons at the advancing Epirian Drones.





4th activation: The Tempests Dash to their faction objective and fire at the Spider Drones. The Epirian player avoids losing a Drone by taking the one penetrating hit on the Apprentice Handler whose MAS2 can take the DAM1 hit.

Bacaro watched with satisfaction as the enemy’s dreaded artillery was unable to harm the carefully dug-in Spider Drones, but was then distracted by a report of alien forms appearing on the left flank. Remembering the impact these aliens had at Tusculi, Bacaro wasted no time in calling down an aerial drone strike on the reported area. A cloud of smoke appearing from behind the centre wall and cheers heard across the comm link told Bacaro the strike was a success.



5th activation: The Journeyman Advance & Fires an aerial drone strike at the Minnows. Despite their high Evasion and on the move bonuses, 1 Minnow perishes and the unit takes 7 STs.

Meanwhile his Contractors were taking the enemy artillery under fire. He only hoped the untested engineers would keep their cool this time. The enemy was seen to duck into cover, so he’d chalk that up as a success anyway.



6th activation: One of the Contractor squads advances up to the building wall and fires at the Tempests, who take one damage despite their cover, resulting in 4 STs. The Contractors, however, are now dangerously bunched together. Quintarch Samuel was pained to have lost a brother to one of the enemy’s soulless machines, but rallied his team and ordered them to advance for the cause and avenge themselves upon the machines. The thumps of the Ripper Grenade launchers were followed shortly by an explosion and the sound of metal bits flying.





7th activation: The Assault Troopers fail their activation check and must perform a Shaken action. Firing wild at the Spider Drones, the small blast templates from the grenade launchers generate a lot of shots and, ignoring cover, manage to destroy a Drone and add 5 to the suppression total.

Elyssa, leading the advance on the flank, could only just duck into cover in time as a savage aerial barrage hit the area where she and the Angel Minnows were, she thought, advancing unnoticed around the centre. The remaining Minnows who emerged from the cloud of smoke had understandably lost their nerve and were flapping around in confusion, but then seemed to regain their resolve, luckily. Moments later they were in trouble again as Epirian Drones were appearing on the flank and shooting their lasers at the little angels.



8th activation: The Minnows fail their activation check and must take a Shaken action, but don’t need to retreat and fire wild at the Epirian artifact, but do no damage. They then shake off most of their suppression.

Following up the aerial drone strike on the approaching aliens, the Firefly Drones engaged their engines and took the Minnows under fire as they emerged from the smoke, two more of the horrible creatures dropped to the ground.





9th activation: The Fireflies Dash over to the Epirian artifact and fire their low power lasers at the Minnows, killing two and adding 3 STs.



10th activation: The automated relay does nothing (generating a victory point)

Elyssa decides there is no time to waste. She came here to capture some Epirian scientists known for their work on Cybel energy. If they could be made to see the truth about the Maelstrom, their knowledge would be of great value to the cause. The scientists, still in the midst of their evacuation preparations, were now caught in the crossfire and running around the centre in confusion. Elyssa spotted the research team leader taking cover behind the big silos in the middle of the centre and ran over to bind him.



11th activation: The Shadow Walker Dashes, making a dynamic move to the middle of the board to claim one of the objectives.

The Troopers under Elyssa’s charge saw her run over to one of the scientists, and followed her example. Loosing some shots for cover, they jumped across the concrete to where another one of the science crew was frantically trying to avoid getting shot and grabbed him.



12th activation: The Troopers Dash over to a second objective, with shooting adding 2 STs on one of the Contractor units.

Tromp, the Contractor Team leader on the left flank took a last glance at the photos he’d had pressed into his hands after his boss was tasked with evacuating this centre. He had a specific job: make sure certain storage containers did not fall into enemy hands. Securing them would be nice, but he needn’t waste an opportunity to destroy them instead. Nobody had told him what was in these containers, but he was now sure he saw them stacked at the other end of the centre. Their team had secured one of the scientists who was somehow acting quite hysterically, and now ordered his engineers to lob some grenades the way of the containers. Unfortunately, the range was too great for accurate fire and the pesky containers remained sitting there defiantly.



13th activation: The second team of Contractors Digs in, taking positions around the building, and try to damage the Karist artifact, but fail. (Image was taken after VIPs got moved.)

This ends turn 1. The Karists scored 13 VPs: 8 for their artifact being entirely undamaged, four for holding 2 VIPs and another for controlling their faction objective. The Epirians score 11, having one fewer VIP.







The VIPS were then moved 6” and turn 2 commenced.



Turn 1 end map: orange is movement, white is shooting. VIPs haven’t yet been moved.

Turn 2

The Epirians get priority and generate 4 command points, whilst the Karists generate 3 CPs.

Focusing all his attention on eliminating the aliens, Bacaro links his mind to the Firefly Drones, powers up their lasers and cuts down another alien, whilst the rest turn their tails under the fusillade of laser fire. With this threat taken care of, Bacaro can now focus on the silly scientists.



1st activation: The Fireflies get their evasive maneuvers protocols activated and Dash ahead, once more shooting at the Minnows, now with high power lasers, killing one and adding 3 more STs.

Myro was quite displeased with his Elites’ cowardly hiding amongst the trees. Frantic shouting saw them advance one more and rain fire on the opposite Epirians, who were horribly slaughtered. This was more like it. Much as he valued every life, Myro had his priorities right and didn’t hesitate to brutally propagate the Karist cause if need be.





2nd activation: The Tempests advance and fire at the Contractors opposite. Utilising the re-roll granted by their faction objective, 7 hits remain after applying cover, resulting in four penetrating hits of which two are explosive. Three Contractors fall and 6 STs are added.

Elyssa, distracted by the advancing Epirians on her flank, temporarily lost sight of her captive, who suddenly jumped and ran out into the crossfire. Moron. Elyssa figured a dead scientist was useless anyway and decided to fall upon the Contractors who were getting mauled by the Tempests’ Ravager cannons. As soon as she perceived the guns going silent, she ran out, drawing her Cybel blade and slipping it into the throat of one of the surprised engineers, then gutting the remaining Contractor before he had time to react.



3rd activation: The Shadow Walker charges the Contractor team and kills the remaining two, then shaking off the STs gained in the process.

Kasero was starting to regret his rash action, he’d already lost a Drone and was in the middle of a hail of fire, whilst to his left a whole team of Contractors was brutally slaughtered by combined fire from the enemy artillery and an assassin appearing out of nowhere. This was no place to stick around. Tapping new orders, he and his remaining drones hoofed it to the cover of a ruined wall behind them.



4th activation: The Spider Drones receive an order and have their protocols activated, but still fail their activation and must retreat. Pinned behind a wall, they shake off 8 STs, but are still left with 3.

This could not be happening again. Why was he again sent against the Karist offensive with inadequate forces on ridiculous missions? Fired up by his anger, he decided to go after the sinister figure that had come up and killed his engineers, only to then hide behind the low wall. Drawing his Dominator pistol, Bacaro fired at the assassin, but his nimble foe darted out of the way just in time.



5th activation: The Journeyman advances and fires at the Shadow Walker who isn’t harmed but does get suppressed. (Image taken after Nova’s next activation.)

Myro was eager to press his advantage. Elyssa and his Tempests had neatly cleared this flank. Now it was time to go after the supplies the Epirians were so eager to guard. Engaging his reactor, he dashed into the nearby crater with superhuman speed and fired his gauntlet at the Drones attempting to hide from his troops behind a ruined wall. Being attacked from two sides, they had nowhere left to hide.



6th activation: The Kaddar Nova advance and fires, piling more suppression on the Spider drones but failing to destroy any despite denying their cover from this angle.

Samuel and his Troopers dragged their hostage along, pressing up further into the science centre and loosing some shots at the enemy individual who was threatening to corner Elyssa.



7th activation: The troopers Dash forward to keep contact with their objective and fire wild at the Journeyman, missing him, but adding 1 ST.

Bacaro had to think fast. He had to deal with this assassin, but was now himself taken under fire by an enemy squad, and also witnessed his Spider Drones being cornered by what appeared to be the enemy leader, judging by the amount of shouting he was doing. Quickly prioritising, Bacaro linked with his Scarecrow and aimed at the enemy leader. He must not have been his normal calm self, however, as he failed to hit with his Scarecrow’s railrifle.



8th activation: The Scarecrow gets an order to activate his protocols and selects the Hold & Fire action. The robot gets a sniper hit on the Kaddar Nova, but then rolls a 1 to pen.

Team leader Tromp couldn’t believe his eyes. Here was one of the scientists awkwardly running out from the cover of the silos into open ground, risking his life for apparently no good reason. Then he saw the reason for the scientist’s silly walk, he was bound at the wrists. A quick shout saw his team emerge from cover to secure this brave man who had seemingly escaped from Karist custody. Cornering their building, Tromp saw the figure of the brutish assassin facing off against his commander. Taking aim, he shot his maglock rifle and grinned triumphantly as the enemy dropped to the ground.



9th activation: The Contractors Dash to claim the yellow VIP. We realised just after this shot that they can’t actually control both VIPs. Wild fire at the Shadow Walker does enough damage to drop her to FOR1.

The Assault Troopers, watching as an enemy team breaks cover and secures one of the scientists, run out themselves and fire their grenade launchers straight at them. Better to lose the scientists than to have their enemy keep them.



10th activation: The Assault Troopers Dash out, electing to be on the move, and fire wild at the Contractors. Again the blast templates cover many guys, resulting in 2 dead Contractors and 4 STs.

Meanwhile, the little angels, having taken so much fire, fly off to the cover of a stack of crates to recover their nerves.



11th activation: The Minnows have to retreat, but do shake off all their STs.

12th activation: The Relay does nothing.

This ends the second turn. The Karists score 10 points against the Epirians’ 11, making the score 23 for the Karists against 22 for the Epirians. Both sides have acquired the minimum number of points to win, so the first to lead his opponent by 3 will win the game. Points really add up fast in this mission as long as the artifacts remain unharmed.



This is after the VIPs have been moved.

Turn 3

The Karists claim priority, the Epirians spend 5 CPs to bring back the unit of Contractors.

Seeing their protectors diminished to just three engineers, the nearby scientists disperse and run for cover. The Karist Assault Troopers waste no time in advancing further into the centre, ready to capture their prizes. On their advance they again fire their Rippers and Pulse Carbines into the Contractor team, none survive.



1st activation: The Contractors are not in cover and not on the move (so as to be able to capture an objective) and do no survive the round of fire from the Assault Troopers, who capture an objective on the way.

Still determined to destroy the enemy leader, Bacaro again guides his Scarecrow’s fire. His increased focus pays off: the Karist priest drops behind the crater rim. Is he finished?

2nd activation: I have no image here, but the Scarecrow Holds and fires with activated protocols, but in the end only does enough damage to drop the Nova down 1 FOR.

Having braved the chaos around him long enough to shoot down the enemy leader, Bacaro now hunkers down and takes another quick shot at the enemy assassin, but again he misses.





3rd activation: The Journeyman fails its activation check and digs in, his shots put 2 STs on the Shadow Walker.

Elyssa and Myro exchange a quick look, which for these experienced friends is enough to understand each other’s plans and position. Although they are both wounded, they know they must now press on to finish the job. Elyssa turns to capture the scientist who just fled from her failing Epirian protectors. As she turns, she returns fire against the Epirian commander, but her aim suffers from the wound she took and her shots go wild.



4th activation: The Shadow Walker gets an order, removes 4 STs and advances towards an objective whilst firing at the bot handler for 2 STs.

The Tempest Elites, now well in control of their part of the field, loose another salvo at the drones hiding behind the wall, making sure they do not interfere with their wounded commanders’ efforts to seize their prizes.



5th activation: The Tempests Advance & Fire at the Spider Drones, who are not only pinned but make good use of their protocols and discard most hits. They do take 6 STs.

Freshly dropped off at the outskirts of the centre, only half understanding what’s going on, another team of Contractor Engineers arrives to assist Bacaro. They waste no time in laying fire on the Karist Priest hiding amongst the craters, but cannot confirm a definite kill.





6th activation: One unit of Contractors returns as reinforcements, Dashing on to the field and firing wild at the Kaddar Nova, only causing 2 STs due to the priest being in cover.

The Firefly Drones’ automated protocols instruct them to secure their flank, having driven off the small aliens. The little machines swoop over the wall and lock on their target: the Shadow Walker assassin. Engaging their high power laser, they bring down their foe and secure this position.



7th activation: The Fireflies Dash over here, in position to contest the objective, but manage to kill the Shadow Walker after taking 2STs from defensive fire.

Meanwhile, the Karist Trooper squad continues to advance into the centre, pinning down the Drone squad with their shooting.



8th activation: Karist Troopers advance and fire, keeping in touch with their objective.

Although the little Minnows were driven back and thought defeated by their foe, it is not in the nature of Angels to turn tail and run. The two surviving beasts, having licked their wounds behind the crates and barrels, again took to the air and made a run at a piece of machinery emitting a faint pink light strangely attractive to these angels…



9th activation: The remaining Minnows Dash and shoot at the Epirian artifact, managing to take it down 1 FOR.

Following the flow of the battle through the Epirian Automated Uplink Relay, sector command is weighing options. On the one hand, Bacaro seems to be able to secure at least some of the Epirian scientists, amongst whom Dasha Kryklyvy, the one command is really concerned about. Do they gamble and hope Bacaro can claim the others as well, or are they content with Dasha and give up both the valued machinery and containers and the other scientists, so that Bacaro’s force may retreat relatively intact and be sent to support the beleaguered forces of Shotan at Asperia? Decisions, decisions…



10th activation: The relay does nothing.

Kasero is relieved to see reinforcements enter the field. Choosing tact over valor, he retreats his Spiders to hook up with the reinforcements and take on the enemy together.

11th activation (no image): Spider Drones have to retreat, and shake off 7 STs.

Kaddar Nova Myro watched in horror as the pack of Fireflies suddenly raced across the wall and doused Elyssa in bright laser fire. She went down, and didn’t rise again. In his heart Myro knew she was done for. Feeling suddenly very weak, Myro clambered out of the crater and sought protection near his Tempests at the edge of the forest.



12th activation: Putting his reactor in Shield mode, the Kaddar Nova is forced to retreat and moves into the woods.

Suddenly, all Epirian forces appear to retreat from the area. What’s going on here? The Epirians were certainly not overpowering his brothers, but neither were they defeated. Well, reflected Myro, this gave them the perfect opportunity to seize whatever resources and scientists were left and, most urgently, see if anything was still to be done for Elyssa…

At the end of turn 3, the Karists score 13 points: an undamaged artifact for 8, two VIPs and the faction objective. The Epirians only score 4: a damaged but undestroyed artifact and the faction objective. This means the Karists take a decisive lead and win the game!

There were some interesting swings in this game, but in the end the Epirian’s failure to damage the Karist artifact and sometimes brutal consequences of forgetting to sufficiently disperse his troops brought defeat. It’s really cool to come to understand the importance of the various rules elements in MEdge that you can’t really get a feel for without playing some games. So far the Epirian player has a little more difficulty making the most of his forces. They lack some of the rock hard firepower of the Tempests and seem to need a little more finesse than we can display in these first two teaching games. As for this mission, the wandering VIPs really keep everyone moving which is neat, and the artifacts really need to be taken care of starting turn 1, considering the amount of points they give out each turn if left undamaged.

- by Iain Wilson

It felt like far too long since I had built any terrain, and so this week I decided to throw something together out of some leftover scraps and odds and ends from some Maelstrom's Edge terrain sprues. And so, a watch tower was born!





I started with just a vague idea of how this was going to turn out, and gathered up a bunch of useful materials: foam core, some thin cardboard, an offcut from an old postage tube, and of course the terrain sprues.



I also made use of a door assembly that I put together for a tutorial a little while ago and hadn't got around to sticking onto anything yet. This was build from one of the small doors off the terrain sprue, with boxing added around the back from a couple of the reinforcing detail strips.



To fit the door to the curve of the tube, I rubed some chalk on the bottom of the tube, pressed the door against the tube with the top panel overhanging the chalked edge, and then rubbed it back and forth a couple of times to transfer the chalk to the inside of the panel. The it's just a matter of cutting away the chalked part of the panel with a sharp knife.



I wanted some buttresses spaced around the bottom of the tube. It's always a good idea when making gaming terrain to consider how the terrain piece will fit into the game. If you want your buildings to be more than just line of sight-blocking cubes, having some small protrusions around them that can be used for partial cover (buttresses, pipes, small balconies, etc) that models can lurk behind on their way across the battlefield is great for making them more useful on the table.

The buttresses were made from some 5mm and 3mm foamcore glued together, with reinforcing strips running up the angled outside edge.



These were then glued in place at 90 degree spacings around the bottom of the tube.



Then it was time to build the watch chamber to go on top.

Taking some 5mm foamcore, I marked out the first wall.



Using a sharp hobby knife, I carefully cut this out, and then used it as a template to make three more.



Trapezoid windows from the terrain sprue were glued into the window cavities, and then I chamfered off the back edges of the walls slightly to help them fit together for gluing. This wasn't particularly exact - that would have required far too much maths for a sunday afternoon, due to the angle of the walls. They'll be held together quite firmly by the glue and some cardboard reinforcing on the corners, so it doesn't matter too much if they don't meet up perfectly flush.



Speaking of cardboard reinforcing - these are just some 2cm-wide strips of thin card, cut with a bit of an angle at the top so that the outside corners don't stick up past the tops of the walls. Once superglued to the outsides of the corners, these add a bit of strength to the wall joints.



A square of foamcore with chamfered edges drops in to form the floor.



A similar but slightly larger square went in just above the windows, to create a roof with a nice little balcony. This comes back to the functionality aspect again - I like to have lots of buildings with game-friendly space on top. A hatch from the terrain sprue adds an access point from within the building.

(Note - if you care about having functional-looking and/or painted interiors in your buildings when they can be seen through the windows, remember to sort out the inside before gluing the roof on! Alternatively, painting the interior black before adding the roof makes it much less visible once everything is sealed up, or you could just glue small pieces of card over the insides of the windows so you can't see through them, and paint them up as opaque glass.)



Then all that remains is to glue the watch chamber to the top of the tube.



Once all of the glue is set, the watch tower is ready for painting and basing!



If you want to try your hand at building a watch tower of your own, or are feeling inspired to try something different, you can pick up the terrain sprue from the Maelstrom's Edge website here.

Be sure to share your creations on the Comm Guild Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/MaelstromsEdge)!