Train Tuesday Part 115: Silent Shot

Greetings, fellow paranoid citizens. The Forgotten Rails (and Omin Dran) say they want your opinions on Waterdeep’s revolutionary mass transit system…but only if you have good things to say. Otherwise, you might want to watch your back. 😉

Right now, our Hovertrain setting needs more miniatures (and even scatter terrain) to truly make upcoming encounters and mission goals make a little more sense. This is the golden age of Constructs afterall.

Nearly all of our Constructs are loud, heavy hitters when it comes to their “defensive” and “peacekeeping” weaponry. So, DM Ben wanted a few mech options with more traditional firepower. This allows him to create sneakier encounters and wilder plotlines. This specialized unit of Constructs will be dubbed “Silencers.”

Thankfully, good ol’ mz4250 shares our same love for gnome tinkerers and mechanized miniatures. Even better, he’s gracious enough to offer a sizable portion of his insanely large STL library for free. Now, he does offer a very reasonable $5 monthly Patreon (for full file access), so there’s always a way to give back for all his hard work.

Our first featured miniature is his take on a cool Warforged Ranger. We especially like this sculpt because he put the bow on this Ranger’s knee, so the overall model is more sturdy and the bow isn’t “floating,” which can lead to some super sad breakage. Three cheers for that thoughtful design detail.

This always-on hunter is going to be the leader of our elite security squad, and since the face only needs to be our default “Blue” to represent its on-state, DM Ben didn’t mind painting this one. He was a little nervous, though, because this is one of the smallest, most detailed miniatures he’s tried to paint.

• Prime Flat Black | Slapchop Base.
• Primary Armor: FAN Dark Emerald
• Arrow: GSW Skeleton Brown.
• Arrow Feathers: Citadel Contrast Militarum Green.
• Quiver: Citadel Contrast Snakebite Leather.
• Hands/Feet/Armor Pads: FAN Gun Metal.
• Face: Warpaint Elven Armour.
• Bow: ASP Dark Wood.
• Cape: ASP Occultist Cloak.
• Wash: FAN Soft Tone.
• Base 1: Combination of ASP Desolate Brown layered with ASP Forest Sprite.

He added some flock to the base to give this hunter miniature that stealthy vibe, since these hunters like to lie low until they get the perfect shot.

Our second miniature also comes from mz4250’s magic mouse hands. This one is officially dubbed an Astral Elf and meant for use in the Spelljammer setting (which mz4250 is really into). This one caught our eye because we see that squad leader above having a few Padawan-esque soldiers to back it up and be used for more complex assignments.

DM Ben utilized the same paint scheme as above, so no surprises here, as he loves uniformity in his TTRPG monster units. He chose that FAN Dark Emerald Metallic because it just looks so polished. The green fits because it has a military-ish feel. We’ve utilized that look with our Construct Hunters, Arcane Cloakers, motorized Walkabouts, and even our Lifter units.

Naturally, not everyone in the realm is onboard with The Forgotten Rails. This booming new mechanized industry is going to take money out of some very wealthy entrepreneurs’ pockets, who certainly won’t go quietly. Alas, Omin Dran and 3M will have none of that nonsense, and if a few of those noisemakers need to suddenly cease to exist, welp, that’s business for ya.

For these Sharpshooter mech 5e stats, DM Ben is thinking something like:

• Sergeant: AC 17, HP 97, Bow Multi-Att +8/1d10+5, Short sword Multi-att +8, 1d6+4.
• Soldiers: AC 17, HP 50, Bow Multi-Att +5/1d8+3, Short sword Multi-att +5, 1d6+3.

The soldiers are modeled after a Warforged Scout Ranger (CR 2-3). This assassin squad utilizes a 30 speed, and all arrows are poison (DC 15 Con or take 7d6 poison damage/save for half). Range is 100/400 ft. Can take a -5 penalty to the roll for +10 more damage. Stealth is +11. Sharpshooters ignore cover.

Until next time!