Miniatures Review: Tachyon Mercenary Corps

Tachyon Mercenary Corps
Manufacturer: Mad Robot Miniatures
Scale: 15mm
Material: Metal
Price: $7 for 10 mercenaries


Mad Robot became an early friend to my efforts to launch miniatures coverage on Diehard GameFAN. The interview I had with Steve Stodden of Mad Robot was one of the first I did and is one I am very proud of. When Mad Robot sent me their very first miniatures, the Tachyon Mercenary Corps, I was already familiar with the design aesthetic they were shooting for and the philosophy behind Mad Robot Miniatures.

The Tachyon Mercenary Corps are described as being “Ëœone of the galaxy’s elite fighting units.’ The TMC are jump troops, with jet packs, helmets with half-face visors, and light armor. Each merc has a rifle and they are all sculpted in very dynamic, but believable, action poses.

Immediately upon opening the Ziploc they were packaged in, I was struck by the build quality. The models are very clean, with little flash and few mold lines. I was able to clean a unit of 10 in about 5 minutes with my trusty X-Acto knife and a little bit of elbow grease. Half of the minis are sculpted bases and have their feet on the ground. The bases are a bit large and oblong for those who base their 15mm minis on #10 steel washers, like I do, but they fit perfectly on pennies. The other five are in a hovering pose and will require a bit more effort to mount. The Mad Robot website has them mounted on wire to their bases, but there are plenty of other options. Since their feet are pointed downward, they could be mounted on rubble strewn bases with a pin. For the adventurous hobbyist, the TMC provide an interesting challenge.

The Tachyon Mercenary Corps have three types of surfaces to paint: hard points (armor, jetpack, guns), soft points (uniforms), and a small amount of flesh. There is plenty of detail for a 15mm miniature, but nothing too daunting. A simple 3-5 hue color scheme would really make the TMC pop. Painted in greens and browns, the TMC would fit in with a near-future army. A bold, primary scheme, perhaps featuring red uniforms, would make the TMC perfect henchmen for a super-villain or pulp mastermind.

The in-game uses for the TMC are pretty wide open. As described by the Mad Robot site, the TMC can be honorable enemies, stalwart allies, or fiscally motivated rogues. They could just as easily fill in for bounty hunters. A black, blue, and grey color scheme would make them perfect cops or corporate security guards. Since the only distinctly sci-fi aspect of them is their jet packs, they would fit well in a cyberpunk game as well as a deep future setting. The TMC have jet packs, so they can be used straight up, without a transport, or they can be used in concert with a dropship.

Mad Robot sells the Tachyon Mercenary Corps in a 10-man unit, available directly from their website. Each unit is $7, which averages out to $.70 a dude. The flexibility of the TMC, being mercenaries and all, means that one unit is usable, but an army of 50-60 would be usable as well.


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