Wednesday 27 January 2010

There's A Swarm Coming!

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Khurasan Miniatures 15mm Sci Fi Vespulid Swarm

From Jon at Khurasan,

Mike Broadbent is back from Cancon and he's finished up the Vespulid Swarm for me. They will be sold in packs of nine, eight warriors and a drone.

The basic warriors have ion shotguns and can fight with their mandibles and stingers for close combat if necessary. Like all Vespulids of the warrior caste, they have had their wings removed and rocketpacks installed in their place.

15mm Sci Fi Khurasan Miniatures
Vespulid Warrior and Corporate Marine dollies

The warriors are based on the German wasp. One warrior in each flight has a mechcontroller -- if the warrior can place it on a tank or other piece of machinery, the warrior can take over the equipment's functioning. This is reminiscent of those wasps that burrow into the brain of much larger bugs and take them over, leading them peacefully to their nests so
that the eggs can be laid on them.

Each flight is led by a drone, a huge powerhouse of a creature with two ion shotguns and, mounted on its backpack, an ion howitzer that fires a single huge ion blast. The drone does not have a sting, but it has enormous mandibles that are capable of biting a human's head or arm clean off. The drone is based on the asian giant hornet.

Because your swarms will have eight different warriors and one drone, a very large number of squads can be built without duplicate models.

The Vespulids don't have vehicles, they only have an ion mortar which fires at the pheromonic direction of the drone. It's not made yet but it will be honeycomb like. They do take over enemy vehicles though, which would be a fun accomplishment! Until the bug is shot off the vehicle, that is.

I think they are neat, what do you think? It took someone of Mike's experience and caliber to make the basic warriors one piece castings despite the fact that they have six legs!!!

Regards
Jon


Thanks to both Mike and Jon, from what I've seen, I think they're bloody marvellous!

Cheers
Mark
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9 comments:

  1. Mark,

    I can't quite guage the scale of these. Are the warriors at the 15mm height or the drones? Any chance of a true height 15mm scale figure in the photo for comparson.

    Paddy

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  2. Finally - I'll be able to build a Yar army! :-)

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  3. Paddy, the warriors are the size of a human. Mike sent me a picture, I'll see if I can dig it up.

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  4. Richard, you mean like this?

    Http://tinyurl.com/mw8wmy

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  5. These are excellent. They might make for interesting minions for a Superfigs bug-themed villain too.

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  6. "I'ts chitin in there. That is the softie's zone sir, we lauch a few troopers in there every now and again."

    "Softies don't Sleech!"

    Once again this company takes the slitchpurp and wargles it. Still like a wing option, though!

    Now, how to convince wife, bank manager that these, in multiples, are fundemental to my existance?

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  7. I wonder if one of Litco's fire or blast markers would make a cool exhaust for the rocket?

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  8. Somebody out there deos resin cast special effects like fire blasts and muzzle flash and the like. I wonder if they do rocket thrust?

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  9. Richard, you mean like this?

    Http://tinyurl.com/mw8wmy

    Hee hee! :-) No, I meant: http://www.answers.com/topic/yars-revenge

    Looking forward to getting these figs!

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