The Comm Guild Maelstrom's Edge

With work underway for a revised 'Version 2' of the Maelstrom's Edge rules, the current rulebook is now being offered for free download in PDF form! You can download it from here.

The Maelstrom's Edge Digital Rulebook is a 144 page PDF document containing the background lore of the Maelstrom's Edge universe and the rules for the game, with scores of photographs and diagrams. The document has a complete bookmark structure and clickable links in both the index and in-text references, so you can quickly navigate your way through the rules. The contents of the digital rulebook are identical to those in the printed rulebook found in the box set.

The Maelstrom's Edge Rulebook features the following content:

• The Universe of Maelstrom's Edge
• The Factions
• Game Overview
• Core Game Concepts
• Characteristics, Versus Rolls & Suppression
• Movement & Terrain
• Shooting & Cover
• Unit Activation & Actions
• Charge Action
• Model Type
• Large Models
• Weapon & Unit Abilities
• Buildings
• Playing a Game
• Mission Objectives
• Selecting Your Force
• Narrative Missions
• Forces of the Epirian Foundation
• Forces of the Karist Enclave
• Appendices
• Rules Finder

Download it here.

When the Battle For Zycanthus boxed set was released, we published some sample force rosters for the Karist and Epirian factions based on the models in the set, to help give new players an idea of what a Maelstrom's Edge force could look like. Since then, we have released a stack of new models and introduced a third faction, the Broken, to the game, so it seemed like a good idea to add some new force rosters to the sample collection. Below, you'll find three different sample force rosters for the Broken, and a breakdown of which models you would need to put them together.

LIST #1 - ALL-PLASTIC 120 POINTS

(a standard 'small' game, using just the plastic Broken Infantry Pack models)


Detachment #1 (of 2)

TYPE	UNIT	UPGRADE	POINTS
[Command]	Forsaken Chieftain (8)	x2 Beam Pistols (+0)	8 pts
[Core]	Broken Rabble (5)	x1 extra Broken Rabble (+1)
		x1 Chem Launcher (+1)
		x1 EMP Harpoon (+1)	8 pts
[Core]	Broken Rabble (5)	x2 extra Broken Rabble (+2)
		x1 Chem Launcher (+1)
		x1 Glue Rifle (+1)	9 pts
[Core]	Broken Rabble (5)	x2 extra Broken Rabble (+1)
		x1 Auto Slugger (+1)
		x1 Longbeam Rifle (+1)	9 pts
[Hammer]	Rabble Assault (8)	x2 extra Broken Rabble (+4)
		x3 EMP Harpoon (+0)	12 pts
[Hammer]	Rabble Assault (8)	x2 extra Broken Rabble (+4)
		x3 Massive Torch (+3)
		x2 replace Beam Blastgun with Chem Pistol & Slug Pistol (-2)
		Boss replaces Beam Blastgun with Chem Pistol & Grenade Harness (-1)	12 pts
[Anvil]	Rabble Fire Support (5)	x2 extra Broken Rabble (+2)
		x3 Longbeam Rifle (+6)	13 pts
[Anvil]	Rabble Fire Support (5)	x2 extra Broken Rabble (+2)
		x3 Longbeam Rifle (+6)	13 pts
		DETACHMENT #1 TOTAL	84 pts

Detachment #2 (of 2)

TYPE	UNIT	UPGRADE	POINTS
[Command]	Forsaken Chieftain (8)	replace Slug Rifle with Beam Blastgun (+1)	9 pts
[Core]	Broken Rabble (5)	x1 extra Broken Rabble (+1)
		x1 Chem Launcher (+1)
		x1 EMP Harpoon (+1)
		Boss replaces Slug Rifle with Chem Pistol & Grenade Harness (+0)	8 pts
[Core]	Broken Rabble (5)	x2 extra Broken Rabble (+2)
		x1 Emp Harpoon (+1)
		x1 Glue Rifle (+1)
		Boss replaces Slug Rifle with Grenade Harness & Slug Pistol (+0)	9 pts
[Anvil]	Rabble Fire Support (5)	x2 extra Broken Rabble (+2)
		x3 Auto Slugger (+3)	10 pts
		DETACHMENT #2 TOTAL	36 pts
		GRAND TOTAL	120 pts

Models needed:

• Broken Infantry Pack x10.

The two Chieftains for this list are built from the plastic set, which is why there are two Rabble units that only have 5 in the unit.

LIST #2 - 120 POINTS

(a standard 'small' game, using a mix of plastic and resin Broken models)


Detachment #1 (of 2)

TYPE	UNIT	UPGRADE	POINTS
[Command]	Forsaken Chieftain (8)	x1 Beam Pistol (+0)
		x1 Trophy Melee Weapon (+1)
		Xeno Spotter (+1)
		Customized Weapons (+2)	12 pts
[Core]	Broken Rabble (5)	x2 extra Broken Rabble (+2)
		x1 Chem Launcher (+1)
		x1 Glue Rifle (+1)	9 pts
[Core]	Broken Rabble (5)	x2 extra Broken Rabble (+2)
		x1 Auto Slugger (+1)
		x1 Longbeam Rifle (+1)	9 pts
[Hammer]	Rabble Assault (8)	x1 Marsayan Hypnotist (+2)
		x3 Massive Torch (+3)	13 pts
[Hammer]	Rabble Assault (8)	x1 extra Broken Rabble (+2)
		x1 Hakoyu Grand Master (+4)
		x3 EMP Harpoon (+0)	14 pts
[Vanguard]	x2 Sig Jammer (12)		12 pts
[Anvil]	Gnolti (10)		10 pts
[Anvil]	Rabble Fire Support (5)	x1 extra Broken Rabble (+1)
		x3 Longbeam Rifle (+6)	12 pts
		DETACHMENT #1 TOTAL	91 pts

Detachment #2 (of 2)

TYPE	UNIT	UPGRADE	POINTS
[Command]	Forsaken Chieftain (8)	Customized Weapons (+2)
		Extensive Cybernetics (+2)	12 pts
[Core]	Broken Rabble (5)	x2 extra Broken Rabble (+2)
		x1 Chem Launcher (+1)
		x1 EMP Harpoon (+1)
		Boss replaces Slug Rifle with Chem Pistol & Grenade Harness (+0)	9 pts
[Anvil]	Rabble Fire Support (5)	x3 Auto Slugger (+3)	8 pts
		DETACHMENT #2 TOTAL	29 pts
		GRAND TOTAL	120 pts

Models needed:

• Broken Infantry Pack x6
• Forsaken Chieftain x1
• Forsaken Tech Chieftain x1
• Sig Jammer x2
• Marsayan Hypnotist x1
• Hakoyu Grand Master x1
• Gnolti x1

LIST #3 - 120 POINTS, SINGLE DETACHMENT

(a mix of plastic and resin models, optimized to fit into a single detachment)

TYPE	UNIT	UPGRADE	POINTS
[Command]	Forsaken Chieftain (8)	x1 Trophy Melee Weapon (+1)
		Xeno Spotter (+1)
		Customized Weapons (+2)
		Extensive Cybernetics (+2)	15 pts
[Core]	Broken Rabble (5)	x2 extra Broken Rabble (+2)
		x1 Auto Slugger (+1)
		x1 Longbeam Rifle (+1)	9 pts
[Core]	Broken Rabble (5)	x2 extra Broken Rabble (+2)
		x1 Chem Launcher (+1)
		x1 EMP Harpoon (+1)	9 pts
[Hammer]	Rabble Assault (8)	x2 Hakoyu Grand Master (+8)
		x3 Torch (+0)	16 pts
[Hammer]	Rabble Assault (8)	x2 Hakoyu Grand Master (+8)
		x3 Massive Torch (+3)	19 pts
[Vanguard]	x2 Sig Jammer (12)		12 pts
[Anvil]	x2 Gnolti (10)		20 pts
[Anvil]	Rabble Fire Support (5)	x2 extra Broken Rabble (+2)
		x3 Longbeam Rifle (+6)	13 pts
		TOTAL	112 pts

Models needed:

• Broken Infantry Pack x5 (you'll have a couple of models spare)
• Forsaken Chieftain x1
• Sig Jammer x2
• Hakoyu Grand Master x4
• Gnolti x2

Note that for the above list, you could get to 119 points by dropping the Rabble Fire Support and including another two Gnolti instead!

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Hopefully the above force rosters will give you some idea of how to plan your force. If you're looking for the force rosters for the Karist and Epirian factions, you can find them on the Maelstrom's Edge website here.



To assemble your own force, you can pick up the above models, and the rest of the Maelstrom's Edge model range, from the webstore here.


Happy Gaming!

Although the existence of the xenos species called Angels was not completely unknown to the inhabitants of the spiral arm, only a handful of academics and long-standing spacefarers truly knew of them before the Karists began using Angels for their military and propaganda purposes. To everyone else, they were always simply a myth or legend bragged about by starship captains who had spent too many years traversing the void.

Karists tout that these creatures are emissaries of of the Maelstrom, with their priests having helped coined the name 'Angels' to describe them. When Karist priests attempt to sway the populace of a world to their cause, they often mention Angels, or even utilize a live Angel as a demonstration. For how can creatures so powerful and strange, they argue, serve the will of the Karists if their cause were not just and true?

In Karist military actions, Angel units are typically embedded into their existing forces, giving Karist commanders access to the many unique talents the Angels can provide. However, an entire force comprised of Angels is a powerfully intimidating site, doubly so to enemy troops who have never actually seen an Angel before. Therefore on occasion, full Angel detachments, led by an Angel Keeper are deployed. They are usually utilized as a terror-force, early in a planetary engagement before the enemy has any experience fighting against them. Angel detachments are particularly effective against fortifications, where the sheer terror caused by the Angels can cause enemy troops to flee without firing a shot, allowing the Karists to take an enemy strongpoint where it would have cost them hundreds of lives otherwise.

The First Contact faction objective represents a number of new avenues for our game. It is the first of several planned new faction objectives tied to particular models, helping to create different types of themed forces you can choose to utilize within the overarching umbrella of the existing forces. To this end, your force must include an Angel Keeper for you to be able to use the First Contact faction objetive.

First Contact

This objective may only be utilized if your force contains an Angel Keeper. If an objective type requires you to choose a force commander, it must be an Angel Keeper.

This objective can generate a maximum of 3 VPs per game, after which your units no longer benefit from the IrratIonal Fear ability.

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Partial: (conditional) Each time a non-fearless enemy unit fails any type of discipline check (even an automatic failure) while affected by the Fearsome ability of your Angel units, gain 1 VP.
Full: N/A

Irrational Fear: Friendly models with the angel designator gain the Fearsome (1) ability, or add +1 to their existing Fearsome ability.

You can download a printable version of this card here.

The existing basic faction objectives ('Secret Cache' for the Karists, 'Now You See Me' for the Broken and 'Automated Uplink Relay' for the Epirians) all work roughly the same way: they provide your forces an optional bonus, which you can choose to forgo each turn to instead gain +1 victory point. First Contact, on the other hand, provides your force with an automatic bonus: namely improving your Angel's 'Fearsome' ability, and successfully utilizing that bonus is what scores you the objective's victory points. Even better, this is the first faction objective where it is possible to earn the maximum 3 victory points in a single turn, even theoretically in the first turn of the game, which would definitely put your opponent on their back foot right out of the gate!

But that raises the obvious question: how can First Contact possibly be balanced compared to the existing two faction objectives? The answer is that the other two objectives provide you with better situational control. When you need a victory point, you can generate one, but when you need the bonus provided by the objective, you can utilize that instead. With First Contact, once you've generated your 3 victory points from it, the bonus provided by it ends and you're stuck the rest of the game without it, even if you would have preferred to keep the bonus around longer in lieu of gaining all 3 victory points.



In addition, generating victory points for First Contact ultimately relies upon your opponent failing discipline checks while within range of your Angels. Depending on how the game plays out and how crafty your opponent is, it is entirely possible for you to finish the game without earning some or even all of these victory points. Or in other words, this is the first faction objective where you have to rely upon your opponent doing something (failing discipline checks) in order to generate your victory points, which is inherently more risky.

We would love for you to try out some games with both the Angel Keeper and First Contact rules and let us know what you think about them. If you've got any feedback (with or without playing any games with the rules), please feel free to provide it either by replying to this article directly, or on our Comm-Guild Facebook group or in the Maelstrom's Edge forum on Dakka Dakka.


You can flesh out your shape-shifting alien force by picking up an Angel Keeper and any of the different types of angels from the Maelstrom's Edge webstore here!

With the release of our second Broken Chieftain model, we've also updated its unit card in our online Force Builder rules here, finally unveiling the full suite of equipment options that Broken Chieftains have available to them. This article will look to update your Chieftain knowledge, focusing on their two new upgrade options: Customized Weapons and Enhanced Cybernetics.

CUSTOMIZED WEAPONS

Though Broken Weaponsmiths work tirelessly to keep the weapons of their fighting force repaired and functioning properly, they are also constantly prodded by their Chieftain to find new avenues for how Broken weaponry can be made ever more deadly. In other words, Weaponsmiths, and Broken society in general, are obsessed with making their guns as powerful as possible, regardless of how dangerous this makes them to the wielder. While Broken weapons can never match the accuracy or reliability of the more sophisticated enemy factions they face, the Broken instead rely on a near endless supply of desperate bodies clamoring to get their hands on a customized weapon, even when it is prone to lethal malfunctions.

Anytime Broken forces manage to steal, capture or purchase weapons off the black market, a portion of these are tithed to their Chieftain, who turns them over to their Weaponsmith in the name of 'weapons development'. The disassembling, tinkering, and soldering in a Weaponsmith's shop often continues days at a time. No method used to improve a weapon is off the table: overcharged powerpacks, larger caliber ammunition, oversized magazines, fusing multiple weapons together, etc. If it can be dreamed of, a Weaponsmith has attempted it. The more powerful the conversion, the more rare and coveted the weapon is amongst the Broken, and the more likely it will find its way into the hands of a high-ranking individual like a Chieftain, who views it both as a potent weapon and also as a way of reinforcing their status over those they command.

Rules-wise, customized weapons are an upgrade for a Chieftain that cost 2 points, and gives them the following benefits:

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Customized Weapons
All weapons this model is equipped with permanently gain +1 PEN, +1 DAM and the Unstable ability (if they don’t already have it). Grenades & CQ Explosives are excluded.

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As this upgrade affects any weapon a Chieftain takes (excluding grenades & CQ Explosives, of course), it gives you tremendous versatility towards deciding how you want to improve your Chieftain's shooting. For example, with weapons that provide a lot of shots but are only DAM 1, like a Slug Rifle or Chem Pistol, the Customized Weapon upgrade suddenly turns them into DAM 2 weapons. This means that every successful penetration is going to kill a standard MAS 2 infantry model outright, making these weapons now capable of mowing down enemy rank and file models. On the other hand, weapons that are already DAM 2, like a Beam Pistol or Beam Blastgun, now become DAM 3, allowing the Chieftain to become a big game hunter and seriously wound large models like Hunter Warmechs or Mature Angels. This upgrade also benefits any melee weapons the Chieftain may take, such as a Trophy Melee Weapon, Poisoned Blade and even the melee profile of the Beam Blastgun, turning the Chieftain into a formidable foe at close quarters.

Of course, the negative aspect of using customized weapons is that the weapon also gains the Unstable ability, which means that any '1's the Chieftain rolls to hit end up putting suppression tokens onto his unit equal to the DAM of the attack. While this can certainly be annoying when it happens, it is generally a small price to pay to seriously upgrade the offensive capabilities of your Chieftain.



EXTENSIVE CYBERNETICS

While many Broken soldiers eventually have some part of their anatomy replaced with cyerbnetics (usually due to injuries they've suffered on the battlefield), some Chieftains choose to go a step beyond and command their Weaponsmith to give them extensive cybernetic limb and/or organ replacements as a means to improve their strength and durability. This is represented by the Extensive Cybernetics upgrade, which cost 2 points:

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Extensive Cybernetics
This model permanently improves its MAS characteristic by +1.

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Boosting a model's MAS by +1 provides both defensive and offensive benefits. The most obvious improvement is that a MAS 3 model requires doesn't suffer an injury until at least 3 points of damage are allocated to it. For example, when a Chieftain leads a Broken Rabble squad, whenever there are only two DAM 1 penetrations remaining to be allocated (a frequent occurrence), you can now elect to put them onto the MAS 3 Chieftain, which means instead of losing a Rabble model, the unit will suffer no permanent damage! In other words, having a MAS 3 Chieftain not only means that model is more durable, but any unit the Chieftain joins effectively becomes more durable as well.

On the offensive side, a model's MAS characteristic is utilized in close quarters fighting with a melee weapon, both to determine how many shots the melee weapon makes, but also to figure out the PEN characteristic of that weapon. A MAS 3 Chieftain gets to make 5 attacks with a melee weapon (instead of the 4 it makes when it is MAS 2) and all those attacks are made with +1 PEN. For example, a Chieftain with Extensive Cybernetics and a Trophy Melee Weapon gets to attack 5 times in close quarters fighting, with each of those shots being a quite powerful PEN 5 and DAM 2. Even crazier, if the model also has taken the Customized Weapons upgrade, they combo together and those five shots are instead PEN 6 & DAM 3! That's enough potential damage to make any foe quake at the thought of facing a Chieftain in CQ fighting.

With these new upgrade options available, a Chieftain is easily the most customizable command model currently in the game. You can go with a super-cheap 7 point Chieftain that just has a couple of pistols, which allows you to fit more Broken units into your force, or alternatively you can take every upgrade and have a 13 point beast that has all kinds of tactical capabilities...the choice is ultimately yours!

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Ready to try out your own cybernetic Chieftain? You can pick up the new resin Chieftain models along with the rest of the Maelstrom's Edge model range, from the webstore here.

If you have any rules queries, tactics suggestions, or modeling progress to share, you can join in on the Comm Guild Facebook Group page here.

EQUIPPING A MASTER BOT HANDLER

A Master Bot Handler is one of the most powerful figures in the Foundation, able to command legions of robotic minions and carry a vast array of weaponry that common soldiers can only dream of. However, this dizzying amount of options can also make deciding exactly how to equip your own Master Handler a bit daunting. Have no fear though! Once you finish with this article, you’ll have all the insider information of what Master Handlers are capable of and know how you’ll want to equip yours.

TACTICAL ROLES OF A MASTER HANDLER

There are three main roles you can equip your Master Handler to fulfill:

1. Bot Commander.
2. Gun Heavy.
3. Support/Melee.

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BOT COMMANDER

No matter how you choose to equip your Master Handler, you’ll want to be aware that, above all else, they are a force multiplier for Foundation robotic units. So if you’re looking to field a force that has a preponderance of Contractor or SecDef (coming soon!) units, then you might want to instead just stick with taking regular Journeyman Bot Handlers as the Command Model for your detachments.

With a Master Handler, while you pay a premium in points to take them, you get a heck of a lot of value by way of improving all the robotic units in your force. With his Neural Interface, a Master Handler effectively has the Command (3) ability, which means he’s able to issue orders to up to 3 friendly units within 18” per turn. Anytime a Bot Handler (of any level) issues an order to a Bot unit, that unit gets to enable its Bot Protocols for the turn, which makes them perform much better: Hunter Warmechs get to move and shoot more effectively, Scarecrows get to fire more shots, Firefly Drones dodge incoming fire better and Spider Drones make better use of cover they’re hiding in. If you’re looking to make the absolute most out of this ability to buff nearby robotic units in this way, then there are a few options for the Master Handler that are pretty much mandatory:

Neural Nodes - Master Handlers are able to take up to 2 Neural Nodes. Each one allows them to issue an order to 1 more unit then they normally would be able to. A Master Handler has a WP of 5, which means, especially later in the game when you have a lot of Command Points available, you can put 5 Command Points onto the Master Handler and with the help of a couple Neural Nodes, be able to issue orders to 5 nearby robotic units (thereby enabling Bot Protocols on all of them).



Command Booster Micro Drone - Being able to issue orders to 5 nearby bot units is great, but with a command range of only 18”, you’ll have to keep all those units pretty well clustered around your Master Handler, which is less than ideal. However, Master Handlers are able to take a Command Booster Micro Drone, which increases their command range up to 24”. If you’re looking to make your Master Handler into a true bot commander, then taking a Command Booster allows you to keep your Master Handler back out of harms way while still issuing orders to your bot units that need them.

Firefly Defender Drones - In order to get the most out of your Master Handler as a bot commander you’ll want to keep them roughly in the center of your force, within command range of as many of your bot units as possible. Unfortunately, a Master Handler's prickly superior attitude prevents them from joining friendly units, so to keep your Master Handler safe, a great tactic can be to keep him hidden behind a big obstacle or piece of area terrain so that the enemy can't even spot him. However, a canny opponent might try to counter this by outflanking that terrain in order to get some wide open shots on your Handler. While the Master Handler’s impressive MAS 3 can protect him from a small amount of enemy fire, if the opponent does get a decent-sized unit with open shots on your Master Handler, you're probably going to lose the linchpin of your entire force, and along with it, the game. Therefore taking 1-2 Firefly Defender Drones can be a solid idea to help protect your Handler. As long as you enable their Bot Protocols, Firefly Defender Drones grant their unit (including the Master Handler) the Dodge ability equal to the number of Defender Drones in the unit (so 2 Defender Drones means the unit gets the Dodge (2) ability).

Cheap Weapons - As your goal will be to keep your bot commander Master Handler hidden from the enemy behind terrain, it doesn't make sense to spend extra points on weapons that will probably never be used. As such, sticking with the 0 point weapons (like a Flakk Gun and/or Repair Claw) is the smart choice for a Master Handler acting as a bot commander.

Master of Machines faction objective - Finally, if you want to get the absolute most out of your Master Handler as a bot commander, then taking the Master of Machines as your faction objective is pretty much a must, as it potentially allows you to enable Bot Protocols on a 6th friendly bot unit, and better yet, one that’s beyond your Master Handler’s command range:

MASTER OF MACHINES This objective may only be utilized if your force contains a Master Bot Handler. If utilized, a Master Bot Handler is automatically your force commander for any objective type that requires one. This objective type can generate a maximum of 3 VPs per game, after which you may no longer utilize the Bot Mastery ability. ----- Partial: (each end phase) If at least one of your Master Bot Handlers is on the table and the Bot Mastery ability was not utilized that turn, gain 1 VP. Full: (end of game) If at least one of your Master Bot Handlers is still on the table, gain all of this objective’s remaining VPs. Bot Mastery: Once per turn, you may automatically enable one of your unit’s bot protocols when that unit is activated (regardless of whether its activation discipline check is successfully passed). You must have at least one Master Bot Handler on the table to utilize this ability.

SAMPLE ‘BOT COMMANDER’ MASTER HANDLER

• Master Bot Handler - 16 pts.
• 1 Firefly Defender Drone - 3 pts.
• 2 Neural Nodes - 2 pts.
• 2 Flakk Guns - 0 pts.
• Command Booster Micro Drone - 3 pts.
• TOTAL - 24 pts.

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GUN HEAVY

The next major role a Master Handler can fill is one of straight-up shooty death to the enemy. The Master Handler’s powerful exo-skeleton allows them to carry more and heavier guns than any other Foundation infantry model released to date. That means when equipped properly, a Master Handler’s unit can be one the most devastating shooting units in your arsenal. But be warned, this is also the most expensive configuration for a Master Handler.

Fire Assist - One very important limitation to be aware of is that, while Master Handlers have the Fire Assist (+1) ability, this only allows them to fire a maximum of 2 weapons during each round of shooting. That means the only reason you’d want to equip your Master Handler with more than 2 weapons is to give you the tactical flexibility to choose the best 2 weapons to fire in any given situation.

Cluster Missile Pods - If you’re looking to get maximum firepower out of your Master Handler, then taking 2 linked Cluster Missile Pods is definitely the way to go. Linked weapons add +1 to the number of shots the weapon normally is able to fire (and also only count as a single weapon being fired). So if you can manage to find a target where you're able to cover 3 models with the Cluster Missile Pod's AoE template, then you’re looking at getting to fire 5 shots, plus any 6’s you manage to roll count as 2 hits instead of 1!

Arm-mounted Weapons- For a gun heavy Master Handler, you really can’t go wrong with any of the arm-mounted ranged weapon options. However, you do want to pick weapons whose range and weapon profile are a good match to be fired alongside the linked Cluster Missile Pods. The Cutter Light Machine Gun is the obvious choice. A Flakk Gun can be a great choice for your second arm-mounted weapon because it is 0 points and is useful to fire instead of the Cutter when your Master Handler happens to find themselves in an up close and personal situation with the enemy. The Drone Class Laser System (DCLS) is a fine choice to take instead of a Cutter if you desire, providing your Handler with the absolute maximum number of shots possible (albeit with a PEN of only 1), that pair nicely with the shooting of the Firefly Defender Drones that are part of the unit.



Firefly Defender Drones - While Defender Drones are great at keeping the Master Handler protected from enemy fire, they are also all equipped with a DCLS as well, which means when you take a full squad of 4 of them and combine their firepower with that of the Master Handler, you can obliterate almost any enemy light infantry unit right off the table, regardless of whether they’re in cover or not!

Aerial Drone Strike - One thing that should never be forgotten is that the Master Handler also has an Aerial Drone Strike: a one-time use, incredibly powerful area effect weapon. Best of all, using an Aerial Drone Strike just counts as firing a single weapon, which means the Master Handler can fire the Aerial Drone Strike and also fire another weapon at the same time (including his linked Cluster Missile Pods, for example), and all of this gets combined with the shooting of his Defender Drones as well!

Aerial Uplink & Targeting Micro Drones - There are two great Micro Drone options for your gun heavy Master Handler. The Aerial Uplink Drone allows the Master Handler to fire his Aerial Drone Strike two times during the game, instead of just once, which is great for obvious reasons. An even better fit is the Targeting Drone. This gives the Master Handler and all of his Defender Drones +3 SKL when shooting (except during close quarters fighting), which unsurprisingly ups the deadliness of their combined firepower to near obscene levels.

SAMPLE ‘GUN HEAVY’ MASTER HANDLER

• Master Bot Handler - 16 pts.
• 4 Firefly Defender Drones - 12 pts.
• 2 linked Cluster Missile Pods - 4 pts.
• 1 Cutter Light Machine Gun & 1 Flakk Gun - 1 pt.
• Targeting Micro Drone - 2 pts.
• TOTAL - 35 pts.

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SUPPORT/MELEE

While the bot commander and gun heavy roles for the Master Handler are fairly straightforward and easy to define, you can also mix and match different aspects of these roles a bit to create something unique for your Master Handler. In addition, the inclusion of a Repair Claw allows a Master Handler to perform yet another role: that of helping to remove suppression from nearby bot units.

Repair Claw - Giving your Master Handler a Repair Claw can be a great choice, not only because it is 0 points, but also because it gives the Handler the Bot Repairs (2D3) ability. This means that whenever the Handler finishes an Advance & Fire or Dash action within 6” of another friendly bot unit, he can remove 2D3 suppression tokens (STs) from them, turning him into an excellent support unit (Note that you cannot use this ability on the Bot Handler’s own unit though). Considering that you'll be keeping your Handler near your bot units to help enable their Bot Protocols, you will often find him within range to perform these types of repairs. You can also consider giving your Handler 2 Repair Claws. While this doesn’t allow him to remove any additional STs from friendly units, it does turn him into quite the close quarters (CQ) powerhouse. Since the Handler is able to fire 2 weapons per round of shooting (which includes CQ fighting), this allows him to use both of his Repair Claws to their full effect. That’s a total of 8, PEN 4 shots during CQ fighting (on top of any shots generated by his Defender Drones) which ain’t too shabby! Be warned that the Master Handler is a pretty slow mover so it can be a bit tough to get him into CQ fighting, but once there, he’ll certainly be able to cause some significant damage.



Firefly Defender Drones - Whether you’re running your Master Handler next to your bot units to remove STs from them, or trying to charge into CQ fighting, either way you’ll definitely need to protect your Handler with at least 2, it not the max of 4 Defender Drones to dissuade the enemy from picking him off and to soak up the inevitable defensive fire he takes from the enemy.

Flakk Gun - If you’re taking 1 repair claw on your support Handler, then the obvious weapon to pair with that is the Flakk Gun, which excels at short range shooting. Since a support/melee Handler will often find himself near the enemy (when removing STs from your bot units and/or running around trying to get into CQ fighting) having a powerful short ranged weapon is a great choice.

Aerial Uplink & Defense Micro Drones - While there isn’t one Micro Drone choice that really excels for a Master Handler in a support role, the Aerial Uplink Drone is a solid pick. Because you likely won’t have the great firepower of a gun heavy build, being able to unleash an Aerial Drone Strike twice during the game can be quite useful. On the other hand, the Defense Drone is perfect for the Handler that is trying to get into CQ fighting. Sure it's a one-use item, but it’s 0 points, and for the turn it's used the Handler gets the Field (2) ability (great for when his Defender Drones have been destroyed) and makes him an absolute melee monster. Plus, because the Handler can fire 2 weapons, he’s able to use the Defender Drones melee profile as well as one Repair Claw in CQ fighting!

SAMPLE ‘SUPPORT’ MASTER HANDLER

• Master Bot Handler - 16 pts.
• 2 Firefly Defender Drones - 6 pts.
• 1 Cluster Missile Pod & 1 Neural Node - 4 pts.
• 1 Flakk Gun & 1 Repair Claw - 0 pts.
• Aerial Uplink Micro Drone - 2 pts.
• TOTAL - 28 pts.

SAMPLE ‘MELEE’ MASTER HANDLER

• Master Bot Handler - 16 pts.
• 4 Firefly Defender Drones - 12 pts.
• 2 Neural Nodes - 2 pts.
• 2 Repair Claws - 0 pts.
• Defense Micro Drone - 0 pts.
• TOTAL - 30 pts.

* * *

How will you use your Master Handlers? To share your tactics or modeling ideas, or to discuss the loadouts described above or any other aspect of the Maelstrom's Edge game, visit the Comm Guild Facebook page.

You can find the Epirian Master Bot Handler, along with the rest of the Maelstrom's Edge model range, in the webstore here!

- by Iain Wilson

Victory. The elusive mistress that haunts our gaming hours. How do we capture her? Well, in Maelstrom's Edge, we do it by counting up Victory Points, and hopefully winding up with more of them than our opponents. The Battle for Zycanthus box includes Victory Point trackers along with the plethora of tokens and markers found within, but I decided that I wanted something with a little more spectacle, and so I built myself a VP tracker for my Epirian force.



This all started with a rough concept sketch, to get an idea of how things should fit together.



I then made a quick mockup in cardboard, as a sort of proof of concept, and to get a better feel for the size it needed to be.



The main body of the tracker is made from layers of 2mm thick plasticard. Each layer was marked out in pencil and then cut out and the edges smoothed down.









To show the current VP total, there are two dials with the numbers 0-9 marked around the edge. These are cut from thinner plasticard, with a spacer added on the top surface so that the face with the numbers on it doesn't rub against the inside of the tracker's front.



The windows for the VP display are made from a couple of trapezoid windows from the Maelstrom's Edge terrain sprue. I used a razor saw to slice through the windows just behind the interior bracing, to make them a little thinner and so that the bracing would sit flush against the front plate of the tracker.



From there, I cut a couple of trapezoid holes in the front plate to match up to the large openings in the windows, and then added a bunch of detail with various pieces of plasticard.



In the bottom corner, I added a rotary switch for tracking how many times the special faction objective has been tapped.



With detailing complete, it was time to paint!



I basecoated the tracker with Army Painter Army Green spray, and used some flat black spray on the VP dials and the rotary switch.



I wanted some metal detail on the tracker to break up the colour a little, so re-basecoated some appropriate spots with some black. I also added a little black inside the side openings for the dials, just to avoid having the white plastic showing through when it was assembled.



The metal parts then received a drybrush of P3 Pig Iron, and some weathering added with Vallejo Heavy Charcoal applied lightly with a sponge.





The numbers for the VP dials were drawn up on black circles in Gimp and then printed out, cut to shape and glued onto the plastic dials.





Finally, the front plate was glued in place, and the screen painted with some Ultramarine Blue and shaded with Army Painter Blue Tone.



My plan is to make up some smaller versions of the mission cards to sit in the screen cavity.

And then, of course, the next step will be to make some similarly themed trackers for my Karists and Broken!

Have you built anything unusual for your Maelstrom's Edge games? We would love to see your creations on the Comm Guild Facebook page!

You can find the entire Maelstrom's Edge range in the webstore here.

For other Maelstrom's Edge modeling articles, including tutorials and walkthroughs of a wide range of different building and miniature projects, check out the article roundup here.

If you haven't checked out the rules for our new Broken units yet, you can find them here. There's both unit cards and also a summary PDF that contains all the necessary info regarding the Broken's weapons, abilities and equipment.

The Broken represent a departure from how our previous two factions, the Epirian Foundation and the Karist Enclave, were developed. In the case of those two, upfront we had a solid road map of all of the units that were going to be included in the starter set, so we knew there was enough unit variety right out of the gate for a player to comfortably field an entire force. However, for the Broken, it become apparent that the basic Rabble infantry kit was going to be finished before any other models in the range, so the question then became: Do we sit on this infantry kit for several months in order to build up enough different types of Broken units to have more of a 'full faction' release, or do we instead release the kit as soon as we can, and just fill in the rest of the range as other models are finished being designed/sculpted? Once we saw how amazing the Broken Rabble kit turned out in its final form, the choice was easy. We knew both Maelstrom Edge players and general miniature game hobbyists everywhere were going to love it, so it just didn't make sense to hold its release back. Because of that, the Broken faction will continually evolve bit by bit, as we're able to add more models to the range. The good thing is that we're finally at a point where you'll be seeing much more regular model releases from us (the current target is once per month), which means that if you're a budding Broken player, you won't be waiting forever to get new reinforcements.

The next question we had to answer was: should we release rules for all the Broken units we plan on making in the future (even if there won't be models finished for those units for a while), or should we instead just put out rules piecemeal as we release new models? There are positive and negative aspects with either path, but ultimately the decision came down to the fact that the rules/options for a unit often need to be tweaked based upon how the sculptor turns out the final model(s), including how many optional bits they are able to fit onto the sprue. For example, if we were to put out rules for every Broken unit we plan to make in the future, invariably talented hobbyists would convert some of their existing models to create these 'future' units. But when the final production versions of those models are eventually finished, it might turn out that we needed to change the unit's rules and/or eliminate some equipment choices, thereby leaving those who took the time to make their own versions suddenly out in the cold. We ultimately decided to just release rules for the units that we currently have available, and we're exploring new ways to make publishing these rules both easy and convenient. We've just gotten an online unit card system up and running on our website, and we're pushing to get to a full force creation system integrated into this as well. Once we have a solid collection of Broken units available, we will be looking at avenues to create/publish a full faction book for the Broken, but for the time being, any rules we publish online are considered 'playtest' rules, and we absolutely welcome any feedback you guys might have. You can leave this feedback either in the Maelstrom's Edge forum on Dakka, or you can email us directly at rules-AT-spiralarmstudios-DOT-com.

One of the great things about the Broken is that the faction centres around a core of 'common man' infantry rabble units, that all pull from the same model kit. It's one of the big reasons that we made sure to include so many different options in the Rabble kit, because we knew that every Broken force will have quite a few Rabble units, and we wanted to make sure they all could be made to look quite different from each other. This one kit alone can be used to make 3 different types of Broken Rabble unit:

• The basic Broken Rabble unit - used to fill out the Core unit selections of your force.
• Rabble Assault - the close range specialist units, featuring more deadly short-ranged weaponry.
• Rabble Fire Support - able to take lots of the longer ranged specialized weaponry.

Between just those 3 unit types, there's plenty of room for you to field a force designed to your particular tastes. What's even better, is that the Broken make use of a lot of aliens within their ranks. Yes, the Broken Rabble kit is filled with all kinds of xeno models, but these are all so close to human physiology that they don't have any special abilities associated with them. But coming soon, the Broken will start to get reinforcements in the form of really crazy 'Exotic Xenos', that, in some cases, can be added right into your existing Rabble units to totally change the way the unit is able to fight! Other Exotic Xenos are giant brutes (you might have spotted some of them in some of our artwork) that form a unit all to themselves, adding different tactical options for the way the entire Broken force fights.

For those of you chomping at the bit to give the Broken a test drive right now might be wondering about Command units for the Broken (because you need at least one Command unit to field a legal force). To fill that void, we've released temporary rules for the Forsaken Chieftain, which you can build using any model in the Broken Rabble kit. We have plans to release actual Forsaken Chieftain models in the future that will be equipped with new and different gear/weapon options, but if you take the time to convert a Chieftain out of your Rabble kit right now, you can rest assured that any weapon options you pick will remain part of its final rules.

Thanks for reading, and in the next instalment we'll be looking at how the Broken actually fare on the table!

We'd also like to take a moment to point out the next video in our Video Rulebook series is now up on youtube and we'll be continuing to add these videos until the entire rulebook is covered, making it much easier to learn to play Maelstrom's Edge.