Harook
Manufacturer: Mad Robot Miniatures
Scale: 15mm
Material: Metal
Price: $7 for a squad of 10
When I found out the second Mad Robot Miniatures release would be an alien race, I had high hopes. Even as a nascent 15mm science fiction war gamer, I was very aware there was a shortage of interesting aliens in that scale. The early greens showed the Harook to be avian aliens and I knew I had to have them.
When I received the Harook in the mail, I was enamored with them before I was even in the house. There are 10 birdmen in the customary Mad Robot baggie. When I plucked one out of the bag and looked at him under the winter sun, the details became apparent. The Harook are avian bipeds wearing armor, large carapaces covering their torsos. Protruding from the turtle-like armored shell is a thin bird neck and a large wrinkled head. Each Harook is wielding a rifle and an enormous beak.
While it takes 3 occurrences to establish a pattern, Mad Robot is well on their way to being consistently awesome. The Harook, like the Tachyon Mercenary Corps before them, were very clean right out of the package. I only needed to make a cursory inspection and hardly used my knife, as flash was largely non-existent. The Harook are single piece models, so there is not much assembly aside from basing. They fit snugly on my preferred #10 steel washers and fit nicely on American pennies.
The painting options for the Harook are almost intimidating. Because their faces have three distinctly different parts to the head (beak, skin, and a crest on top), the Harook almost beg for a bright scheme. Painted with primary colors, the Harook could look as alien as parrots or as heroic as Falco. Well, Falco from StarFox, at least. I am unsure how heroic “ËœDas Kommissar’ Falco was. Black, white, and a red crest would transform the Harook into vulture warriors. Since this is science fiction, the carapace armor can be painted in metallic or non-metallic colors to accentuate the scheme used on the head. Between the beak, the crest, and the carapace, there are plenty of interesting surfaces to paint on the Harook.
On the table, the Harook can serve a couple of different purposes. The description on the Mad Robot site paints them as heartless grunts being driven by a greater intelligence. Sending wave after wave of Harook against well-trained elites makes for a fun game and means that a great number of modern style scenarios can be borrowed for use in a science fiction setting. The Harook would also serve well as mercenaries or conscripts. For the daring, the Harook would be a perfect third-party in a battle between regulars, acting as spoilers.
The Harook are available from Mad Robot Miniatures for $7 a squad. With 10 avian warriors in a squad, that makes each Harook cheaper than three quarters. For a Tomorrow’s War player, I cannot recommend the Harook more. They are well-sculpted, evocative, and have myriad in-game uses.
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