Train Tuesday P61: Problematic Prototypes

Like everything in technology, the first couple of iterations usually have quite a few bumps along the way. Today, we’ll show you an early instance with The Forgotten Rails’ Constructs. Buckle up!

Our Train Tuesday series not only showcases the marvelous Hovertrains by Aether Studios but also shares all the Constructs entrusted to keep our arcane trains moving and on time! Looking back, some models were definitely more intelligent…and stable than others.

A quick recap: We started with this Construct Hauler by Aether Studios. This one is from their nifty Onasan Line set. This particular Hovertrain car quickly became a staff favorite at 3DRPG studios in sunny Chandler, AZ. Something was missing, though.

We wanted to be able to create encounters around some of the featured Golems. Then we learned in the fab Aether Studios Discord that the miniature itself was indeed available to print. That particular sculpt was in the Dwarven Promenade set. A shoutout to Bree for helping us find that sneaky STL. 🙂

So, we have a quirky 3D print approach in that we always start by printing a single mini (typically in its default size). Once done, DM Ben decides if it is helpful in either our Office or Home DnD campaigns. Then, we tweak the sizing to ensure it fills most of a single d20 square. Small miniatures just aren’t our jam. They’re not fun to paint, see on the game table, move around, etc.

We also use that first test print for our first test paint job, which is why you see a couple of smaller miniatures here. We also already came up with a paint scheme for the Hovertrain riders, so that saved us a little color time.

DM Ben grabbed a paintbrush as we often have to move quickly to get everything ready to post (and we can’t use Resident Painter Kimmy Utah because we only get her fab work about every three months-ish).

So, he picked a C-3PO-sorta-metal look with some copper accents on a few of the bigger bolts and the top of the heads. We also did an Army Painter Fantatic Soft Tone wash for the mini on the right and skipped it for the one on the left. We prefer the non-wash/shinier version. Once again, we used that blue to denote their “on state.” Clear bases also seemed like the right choice.

The back of the miniature has this nifty, old-school armor plate, which adds to the Prototype Droid vibe we’re going for in this campaign setting. We dropped a little Army Painter Enchanted Steel Speedpaint to that element. Again, the model on the far right got a Soft Tone wash, and we kinda like it on the darker metal (it makes it look worn). So, we might actually circle back and apply that just on the backside.

From a storyline standpoint, DM Ben wants the players to slowly discover hints about the waves of these new Constructs populating their world. The Forgotten Rails Corederite fuel (which also powers its Mechanicals) started with these robots before finally harnessing its raw arcane power for the exponentially larger and heavier Hovertrains.

DM Ben wants to demonstrate the evolution of the Construts in the same way we have new technology in our everyday lives. Let’s use cell phones as an example. The first Motorola cell phone was the size of a cinderblock and had almost no functionality. Then, Nokia introduced smaller and smaller models. Along came Apple and Blackberry with life-changing models. And so on and so on. We love this as a narrative DnD theme.

Our Forgotten Rails’ Constructs are no different in that growth. Many initial prototypes were big, bulky, slow, erratic, and unreliable, with short power cycles, etc. So, today’s robot is only the second production release, and they were really “temperamental” and even dangerous at times. 3M couldn’t wait to sunset this model, but there are still many of these in the wild.

So Waterdeep has plenty of collector enthusiasts who want to get their hands on these early prototype Mechanicals despite their known problems and erratic behavior. On top of that, plenty of gnome tinkerers wish to analyze their circuitry to see why they’re so prone to flipping out.

Lastly, we’ll dub this particular Construct TK-424 with a nickname of “Rivot Rippers” due to their sudden aggressive outburts. So tread carefully around these clunkers. 😉

Until next time!