08 June 2011

Off the beaten path: RAFM drones

Yesterday's post has inspired me to write a complete series: offbeat miniatures that would work great in 15mm sci-fi gaming.

RAFM has been selling the old Citadel 15mm Traveller figures for quite some time now, so they are pretty familiar to the 15mm crowd.  But just for fun I decided to poke around the rest of their site... and I found some pretty cool drones.  None of them seem to have any specific indications of scale or size, so on the right bases they should work well in 15mm armies.  These are all in the USX range, but you might have to browse around the three pages to find them.  They also are available as box sets.


There are two types of walkers and three aerial drones in their collection.  The first walker is the CSD Mk 1 (pictured above).  This one has the most potential to me since it seems like a good match to Khurasan's Mekanoid Dictator, which I plan to own someday.  The CDS Mk 2 is pictured to the right.  I could see it serving as some time of urban police/patrol robot, but that might just be because of the paint scheme.  A few of these would serve well as a 15mm army in their own right... possibly as Alien Squad Leader tripods.


Then they have their three Aerial Drones: the Surveillance model, and two armed variants with miniguns (pictured) and misise launchers (similar to the one on the CSD mk 2).  These have the most potential in my mind.  I could see these in any type of automated army (anything from Skynet to Blue Moon's Robot Legion), or as UAVs in any "flesh and blood" force.  Their size and apparent technology could put them anywhere from 20 years to 2000 years in mankind's future, or they could be used by any number of alien military forces.  The propulsion turbines also make them pretty similar to Ground Zero Games' "FanVan" transports, along with their infantry-sized hover drones.  With the right paint scheme it is pretty easy to mix and match items from different manufacturers, and even different scales.


I've been bouncing around a few different ideas for a robotic army... there's a good chance some of these will end up in my collection someday.  I will post comparison pics once I get them painted up.


I have a few more items in mind for this Off The Beaten Path series - but what has everyone else been using alongside their 15mm miniatures?


Chris
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2 comments:

  1. comstarJune 8, 2011 at 6:21 PM

    Hi Chris

    I am going to be using these soon have two built got two more to go:-)

    http://www.waylandgames.co.uk/images/uploads/infinity/280303-0010.jpg

    These are Yu Jing remotes from Infinity range, the base is 40mm so scale nicely with 15mm:-)

    I really like the CDS Mk 2 as it would make a great recon drone, but the Aerial Drone with mini gun is just Brilliant find :-) Thanks

    Cheers Matt

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  2. Will ScarvieJune 8, 2011 at 7:40 PM

    Hi Chris,

    I was going to recommend the drone comstar pointed out. I also have plans to covert a trio of the hover limousines from the Tron 2 toy line into sleek far-future grav tanks by adding grav plates somehow...maybe from Bakugan bits.

    When it comes to robots, I rolled my own. I sliced and diced a couple dozen MechWarrior clix figures, harvesting good shapes and weapons, added some parts from MircoMachines Star Wars droids, and a bunch of other bits from my bits box, and made about thirty five 15mm armed robots for skimish games and, when based on 50mm sabots, Alien Squad Leader.

    Have a look: http://distractedwargamer.blogspot.com

    Finally, Matchbox makes a line called Battle Kings. These sets typically comes with a pair of vehicles, some accessories and 2-3 20mm figures. Among the vehicles are a couple of nice light tanks and an armored car that I use with 15mm figures.

    Hope this helps. Will

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