I won’t say that the most recent painting drought has broken, but I spent a fair amount of time at the bench the past couple of weekends, getting my recent BLKOUT purchases into usable shape. The photos aren’t my best – I would swear iOS 26 lost some camera control capability. The paint isn’t my best either, but I think it’s good enough for use on the table.
For my initial force, I’ve chosen to go with Harlow Kinetic Solutions. In-universe, they’re a PMC of South African origin. On the colony world of Abol, they’re largely under contract to the Authority, a somewhat mustache-twirlingly evil offshoot of the remnant United Nations that is ostensibly the planetary governing body.
Mechanically, Harlow’s things are mobility and some of the better combat drills (limited-use maneuvers) in the game. In theory, this design supports aggressively going after objective points on the board over getting bogged down in fights.
First up, the assault team. Two riflemen, a machine gunner (right), and a team leader (rear). The TL can, as his action, give a Ready token (effectively overwatch) to another model in the unit that has already acted:
Control team. One rifleman, a grenadier (right), and an offensive EW specialist (center). The EW specialist’s data spike enables a data attack which, if successful, denies the targeted unit their movement for a turn:
Springboks. AI-driven combat bots. Fast, well-armored, with innate jump movement and a limited-use chaff discharger that prevents overwatch attacks:
Veterans. More CQB-focused, with carbines and machetes, as well as EMP grenades that do armor-bypassing damage to AI and drone models. Innate jump mobility. They also have the Low Tech trait, which makes them immune to data attacks:
Engineers and Crikets (sic). The engineers have an antitank rocket launcher. The Crikets are self-propelled claymore mines. In my headcanon, they run repurposed Japanese hugbot AI with a targeting filter module – hence the war crime paint schemes. My engineers have wired speakers onto the chassis so they blare J-pop with randomized interjections of “KAWAII!” as they scuttle in:
