Off The Beaten Path: Hydra Miniatures

Awhile back I discovered another manufacturer of 28mm minis that work great in 15mm games. I'd forgotten about them for awhile, but now seems like a great time to feature them. Hydra Miniatures, best known for the popular War Rocket minis, has a few hidden gems in their other lines.

First off we have yet another line of automatons. It is in Hydra's Retro

Raygun range - their Warbots. These are a bit pricey for 15mm usage, but look like great minis. I first noticed their Minibots - very pulp-retro-B-movie science fiction. But lately it's the Hoverbots that have

caught my eye. I could see these Hoverbots in a maintenance or medical bot role, sent out from a command vehicle to support troops and equipment on the battlefield. Or their arms could be replaced with any ranged weapon you might have lying around, and you'd have a good UAV or drone attack bot. The larger Warbots in this range, particularly the Destroyer, would make good battle mech-size walkers in an automaton force.

Okay... my last three posts in this series have been very robo-centric. So let's find a greener option. For this we look at Hydra's Primal Dawn prehistoric fantasy range. The Kithix are a pretty cool group of giant bugs... these would make great Tyranid-style large creaturs in 15mm. Again, they are a bit pricey, but very good sculpts. But in this range it is the Vardu Sprouts that caught my eye. I've been a Mutants & Death Ray Guns fan for quite some time. Until Khurasan's recent Vornid release, there were very few good "walking plants" in 15mm. The Vardu are great plant warriors, and could easily be used alongside the Vornids.

If nothing else, I hope these Off The Beaten Path posts have helped to stimulate some imaginations. 15mm sci-fi is great because you aren't restricted to any single set of rules, background, or one manufacturer's products. Keep your eyes open for anything that will fit the games you want to play!

Cheers,

Chris