"ABHUMANS" Topic

wow great preview concept art for upcoming 15mm abhuman/beastmen troops from Mad Robot
link
hopefully will not have to wait too long

I can smell a lawsuit coming from Notthingham, let's hope the Merry Men of Mad Robot will defeat the lackeys of corporate Greed Workshop!

I would gladly include some beastmen platoons in my forces!

Goat-man fusion?

As a concept, it's been around for a few thousand years

-Eli

Very WIP right now, I'll post a proper thread once I get further along so all the TMPers can give some much-appreciated feedback and ideas.

Until that time, feel free to check out the blog. You can follow the progress, make suggestions and learn more about the project.

link

looks great, so far …. love the goat men and 4 armed guys… for the 4 armed guys, any thought to a less than humanoid head? maybe a variant with a central forehead eye cluster… eight small eyes… maybe a snout and predator like mandibles?

If I recall GW poached their version of beastmen from Rune Quest anyhow :)

I think the Broo were the template for GW's Beastmen.
I should also note that there are a ton of goat and beast-headed minis out there from a half dozen manufacturers.

I might avoid using the term Abhuman, but even that is a very broad term.

-Eli

You know what this has inspired me to do?
15mm Rogue Trader. Its been a long time coming, time to actually do it…

15mm.co.uk/Zidhe.htm Eldar Pirates
link Space Marines
15mm.co.uk/Law_Officers.htm Police dudes (adeptus somethings…)
link Rogue Traders/Inquisitors/etc
link Imperial Army
link Tyranids (or should I go with Khurasan space demons?)
link Space Orcs

ETC
this job is easy, and most of the models are usable in other settings too!

Hooray! The one true rule set for 40K!

Imperial Judges in 40K are 'Adeptus Arbites'

Also Blue Moon makes some aliens who could pass for Eldars.

Zidhe of course are the real Eldar 'ANCESTORS' in a sense.

There are also orky miniatures in the ground zero games sets…they're called alien mercenaries or something and they have more than 3 poses.

I think i might end up mixing the orcs to get a nice variety like the original metal box had… The Scene has some similar ones, too, as do Khurasan in its mutant packs.

I think I've settled on Rebel Minis Raptors for Tyranids, too…. but what about zoats? I think I'll have to mix some models for that…
My goal would be to actually have enough of everything to do those weird random games Rogue Trader seemed to suggest… with the cost and variety of 15mm this is actually feasible, though it wasnt back in the day.

They look cool

While I continue with designs on the TMC Auslanders, I figured it time to ask you guys for some input and feedback.

Although I prefer not to, I'll post 2 renders here to illustrate what I'm asking.

I find myself falling into the trap of approaching new alien races as basic humanoids. Now I can explain this away with fluff, saying that the TMC prefers mostly humanoids in order to facilitate a tactical standard. But it limits the exotic nature of the Auslanders, something that made them a good idea to me to begin with.

Now, I know that the "humanoid alien" discussion has been going on here on TMP but I'm thinking about something else for you to answer here.

What would you like to see as the common element that ties different alien races together when they are in a "mixed unit"? Is it something as simple as a standard battle rifle or does there need to be more?

Mad 'Bot,

symmetry in nature is the norm IIRC. Beyond that, IMHO you can look to all sorts of fun critters for inspiration:

link

You got the whole animal kingdom to play with… I say go for it…

Leland R Erickson

Your right on that Leland, there are plenty of inspirations.

But more to my point, take 2 aliens based on the pictures you posted and tell me how you would make the minis look like part of a unit. Is it a helmet? Is it a piece of armor?

For the most part, that requires all the aliens to have some kind of humanoid feature.

I'm not looking for someone to provide a concrete answer here. Just offering up a topic for discussion.

Army and helmets can be adapted to alien anatomy and maintain a common design aesthetic. This is done all the time in the Alien Legion comics.

The key is to have enough "dominant" features betwixt the various designs to create a continuous thread of design continuity.

Guns are a good way to do that.

Note in the pictures above that there are key features shared in most of the aliens to one degree or another. Corrugations, shapes of breastplates, common shapes to visors.

The crustacean that Leland posted might have a broad helmet with the shame shape or venting on it that the bat might wear, but the bat's helmet might be shaped slightly different to allow for the big ears to stick out.

What the Evil Flightless One said, plus I'll add a summary:

1) Common helmet styling and always some sort of detailing including badge, comm gear, helmet cams, etc. that are uniform issue throughout the unit.

2) Common weapons allowing for grip adaptations.

3) Common body armour style whenever possible, again with mods for differences in anatomy.

4) Common storage pouches for ammo, med kits, etc., The web belting may vary in layout, but style and what is on the webbing should be uniform issue as much as possible, including backpacks, utility bags, ammo canisters, etc.

5) Common heavy weapons, but again, with adaptations. My fave from sci-fi literature was in one of Poul Anderson's Ensign Flandry novels, a heavy weapons team of Imperial Terran Marines that was part of a larger marine landing party that accompanied Dominic Flandry on a spec-ops raid; one Imperial Marine was essentially a very large, very powerful, and quite fast on his feet centauroid vaguely like a hornless rhino who packed plenty of heat in his hands all on his own, while his lower back was wide enough for a platform-mounted light magazine-fed howitzer manned by a human Imperial Marine gunner complete with power-rotating weapon mount and gunner's seat!

Just sayin'…

Leland R. Erickson

From a supply perspective, I wouldn't give the 4 armed fellow two guns. He'll go through ammo twice as fast and I doubt he can even properly aim with the lower set of arms. It would however possibly give him a hand to hand advantage…as you don't always need to see where you're driving the knife into when when attacking someone at that range…Or in terms of a "kneeling pose" he could propped up by the other set while leaning forward in what would end up being a prone position for us. So he could in theory be crawling and still have full use of a main battle rifle while we mere humans would be stuck slinging it over our shoulder in the same position.

I just sorta see this possibility of the model being too cluttered with all the hands full of extra gear.

@Wolfprophet: That makes sense, right now these renders are for determining a concept. The poses can be changed later. I thought about giving him a rangefinder and a comm unit and a motion tracker…all at once ;)

Also, the lower weapon could be made into something that doesn't need aiming, like a flame thrower or a snub-shotgun.

Here's an updated render:

Another option for the four-armed guy would be to make him a heavy weapon trooper, field medic, or tech officer. Make full use of those arms. He could also be good support for another heavy. Feeding ammo with the two arms while providing covering fire and security to the heavy with his eyes on his gun in the primary set of arms.

-Eli

Yeah, I'm inclined to agree that the 2 weapons doesn't look quite right. Tech or med guy might be something to look into. Of course, he could be armed with 4 hand lasers, that might make him a walking turret.

I personally feel the 4 armed guy would be better suited as
comms guy/ medic/ artillery fo
but my fave usage would be as an assault trooper
how cool would he look with a huge combat shotgun and a massive riot shield… ala call of duty fps
or at least 2 different types of weapons…assault rifle and shotgun….sniper rifle, flamer
riot shield, stun baton
i could see the bottom arms grasping a riot shield/ armored carapace while the top arms fire the assault carbine which is being stabilized on the top of the asymetrical riot shield(
the top of the shield having a wedge cut out for the gun to fire through)

I second the call for the four-armed dude to serve as the heavy weapons loader. Cover the position with his own assault rifle in the upper pair of arms, while he loads the heavy weapon with the lower pair…

Nice looking bunch of scum and villainy you've got there, mister!

Leland R. Erickson

The Alien legion as drawn by Frank Cirocco had largely standardised HEL guns as armament, which were distinctive pistol shaped weapons. I thought that made kind of good sense because that would only require a grasping hand but not a particular kind of arm/s.
Aside from that the color scheme was the only true combinig element.

As the series went on and different artists worked on it the guns became completely garbled and you never saw the same design twice, even in one fight sequence.

The four armed guy only has one head and one set of eyes so multiple weapons could just be replaced with one combo weapon since he cant engage multiple targets effectively anyway. Seems like he would fit as a technician or a medic who can do detail work with all those arms.

Also I love the trigger discipline on those renders.

Maybe he's got sonar. He's fictional after all.

I'd love to see the 4 armed guy holding some sort of shield in his lower hands.

I'd love to see the 4 armed guy holding some sort of shield in his lower hands.

I say take that splendid idea to the next level; put a Roman-style ballistic shield in one lower hand, and a monomolecular-edged Gladius in the other, then the upper arms get an assault rifle with an extended magazine…*evilgrin*

Just sayin'…

Leland R. Erickson

P.S. Then all ole' Four-Arms needs is a shorter ET sidekick with an SMG who runs around his feet and snipes at people from behind his buddy's tall shield…

I'm working on a shield right now. I'll post something in a few days.

Oh yeah. Shield would be a great idea. Something like a riot or a boarding shield as an assault tool. Second set of arms would allow him to use the shield while still using another tool AND a longarm, instead of being reduced to a shield bearer for someone else, or having to use a smaller weapon.

Boarding shield, automatic shotgun, spare ammmo clip for shotgun & heavy armour = 1st guy to enter rooms with everyone else hiding behind him, can also be used as an alien S.W.A.T. door opener team member.

I personally hate close combat troops in my sci-fi games.