Robot Wreckage

I held out for a long time but finally purchased the Battle for Zycanthus starter set for Maelstrom's Edge. While I don't have any plans to play MEdge itself, many of the Spiral Arms Studios models really caught my imagination. I'm especially fond of the fishbats ... er, Karist Minnows, which will stand in for alien/demonic/mutated wildlife in Rogue Stars, Frostgrave, TNT, etc. But that is a story for another day. Today is all about dem bots!

The ME starter box comes with three kinds of robots: two Hunter-class Warmechs, two Scarecrows, and eight (!) drones, the last of which can be assembled in crawler or flyer mode. Fair warning - the Hunters and Scarecrows are pretty fiddly models; each Scarecrow leg is in three pieces, for example. Spiral Arms explains:

We've broken our models up into lots of parts and given a fair few spare parts so that you can push yourself out of your comfort zone, learn new skills and create some really unique models.

This actually came in handy for my purposes as I decided to use the Hunter-class mechs and Scarecrows to make objective markers. I wanted these bots to look like they had collapsed decades if not centuries before, laying exposed to wind, grit, and sun. Much of that is down to weathering techniques, of course, but starting with a good pose is fundamental. That said, I did not really take full advantage of the various options on the sprue, especially for the Hunter-class bots. These guys have lots of cool parts!

Oh man, look at those bots ... not going ...

As usual, I used a Vallejo basing paste, Dark Earth in this case. I also used a bit of cork on the first Scarecrow's base, to subtly mix up the texture/color ... and provide an armrest.

... it won't be a stylish marriage ...

I primed all the markers reddish brown and transitioned to gray-blues via Russian Uniform Green. The Hunter-class wrecks are a bit darker than the Scarecrow wrecks.

... I can't afford a carriage ...

I washed the models using Vallejo Sepia wash - the 200ml jar, which is the thicker "dipping formula" rather than the stuff in the smaller bottles. After some drybrushing, I settled on picking out a single detail: the red lens of its eye.

goodnight sweet prince

I used TAP Red Tone wash to give the other Scarecrow's flamer tank some color, this time before the drybrushing. Note also the cool double-antennae backpack option.

I've fallen and I can't get up

I wanted the other Hunter-class to look a bit more in-tact, to really show off more of the model's details. If I had a third, I would do one that was buried more deeply. There are also many more weapons configurations for the Hunter-class; I just wanted a more uniform look for this project.

damned lazy robots!

Stay tuned for more raids on the cool sprue from Battle for Zycanthus! We'll get to those fishbats pretty soon ...