Warlord Games C3M4 Combat Drone

My friends at Warlord games very kindly sent me a couple of their new C3M4 combat drones to build as part of my ever expanding Beyond the Gates of Antares collection. 

These represent the first of the large vehicles to be released for the game, and a sensible choice they are too, as the C3M4 can be used by both Freeborn and Concord factions, so I have built one of mine for each faction. (I've also very recently completed my Freeborn army, but don't have pics of them yet...). The Green tank is to match my Concord, whilst the dark one drone is part of my Freeborn.

The kit comes on two sprue, and for shots of the parts and unpainted model check out my mate John's blog here.  The kit assembles very easily, taking around 30 minutes at most to get together. 

Options include 3 different types of main armament, which can be assembled loose and swapped between games to tailor for the specific mission being faced. I have a terrible habit of loosing optional parts like this, so fixed mine in place...

Warlords C3M4 can be armed with either a Compression cannon,  which though short range has a great deal of stopping power, a Fractal Cannon, which can be a great way to build pins on a static target. or finally a Plasma cannon, which is a solid all round choice of weapon, and as stated before these can be swapped to taste. 

Colour choice for my Concord drone was easy, and it was painted with a heavily modulated Vallejo 972 light green blue.with a glaze of Vallejo Game Colour green and blue inks applied after these had been mixed with some Pledge Multi Surface Wax, before weapons were picked out in Vallejo Black Grey, and lighting was effects were added. All painting was done using my Sparmax Max 4 airbrush. 

The Freeborn drone was far more experimental, and I used Alclads Prismatic Jade and Sapphire lacquers for the colouration. These require a huge amount of prep work, with the surface of the model needing to be rubbed smooth and given a coat of primer, before an initial layer of gloss black is applied. 

This gloss layer was also Alclad, and it gave a mirror like, glassy smooth finish for the prismatic colours, and depending on the light these make the C3M4 look blue, green or purple, though this does not come across in photos sadly (and inevitably.)

 

 One critical thing when using Alclad is to spray it thin and leave it plenty of time to cure. I left it 2-3 days between applying the black and prismatic stages, then a further 4 days before doing any more work, and the surface was still delicate due to very high humidity levels at the time, so be warned this can't be rushed. 

Overall these are great models, and I've already had a chance to get them on the table in a few mega games in and they really do add a subtle extra depth to a game as well, plus they make a superb centrepiece to a collection. Now... Do I add more Freeborn, Concord or start some Isorians???

You can get your own C3M4 from Warlord Games, and see more of my work at Volley Fire Painting Service.