by Brian Rempel

Hydra Miniatures is a relatively new company founded by Matt Beauchamp. Part of their initial offerings are the Robot Legion figures, targeted for 30 mm Retro Sci-Fi fans (Pulp Sci-Fi). The Robot Legion figures are a throwback to 1950’s style Sci-Fi robots, with their boxy torsos and corrugated tube arms. Hydra was kind enough to send one of the Warbots, one each of the Standing and Advancing Robot Legionaries and one of the Hoverbots along for review.

Each figure arrived in an individual resealable plastic bag with a very clearly printed label on the outside to assist in identification of the figure. The price and the sculptor are included on the outside of the bag along with the identity.

Warbot

The first thing to mention is that this is a big miniature, measuring 64 mm from the bottom of the base to the tip of the head once fully assembled. One question that often seems to be asked is “Does XX figure fit with YY?” For judging the size of their miniatures, Hydra has come up with a unique solution to this perennial question with the catalogue, available from their downloads page that shows the Warbot, and all the other miniatures, at actual scale. This allows a potential customer to print out the PDF, cut out the figure, and compare it to their current figures, which is a very clever and handy feature.

The Warbot retails from the Hydra online store for $13.50 US, or in a pack of three for $36.00 US which seems reasonable for a solid model of this size. A very thin integral base is cast onto the feet of the figure, but it appears to be thin enough that it could be trimmed with some effort should you desire that. The miniature comes in four pieces: the torso, two arms and the head (the latter three components come attached to a sprue). The Warbot I received for review contained only the very slightest mould lines that were a trivial matter to clean off. The figure had no flash whatsoever and was a very crisp and clean cast.

The two arms appear to be completely interchangeable left and right. The arms fit into the torso through a ball and socket joint, which allows for them to be posed in a wide variety of directions. The head fits into a cylinder and socket joint. The torso part is very well balanced, so despite the weight of the miniature, it does not tip overly easily. The armour plates on the torso are large, smooth and open areas with some individual rivets picked out as cast-on detail, while the arms appear to be of the corrugated hose style mentioned above. The two hands end in pincers. The head is a dome with a single electronic eye on it.

The miniature was easily cleaned up, and the head was easily slipped into its socket with just a dab of superglue. The arms did not stay in their sockets only with superglue, I found it necessary to make a greenstuff and glue joint before the arms would stick well enough that they didn’t fall to the ground the minute I moved my fingers. This process added some time to the assembly process as I smoothed out the greenstuff that oozed out of the side of the joint. Those more adept with greenstuff may find this to be an unnecessary step, but as I am all thumbs, it took me a fair while until I was happy with the smoothness of the joint. So while the ball and socket joints for the arms allow them to be posed in almost any way imaginable, it made the assembly slightly more difficult (and curse-filled in my case). However, this is still a very minor issue when considered against many other miniatures on the market. On the whole, this was a very simple miniature to assemble, with minimal effort required on my part. Editor’s note: pinning the arms may have been a simpler solution to this issue so if you are familiar with pinning figures you may not have as many issues with assembly that the reviewer did.

Once fully assembled, the Warbot is certainly an imposing miniature. It will tower over most models intended for the same scale, which seems appropriate. The minute I saw this model, I was imaging a giant killer robot under the control of a mad scientist of some sort. It looks like a very easy miniature to paint, as the large open armour plates permit one to either blend or drybrush on metallic paints with ease. The joins between armour plates look like they will take ink washes well, so I anticipate this model will be painted pretty quickly, but look good once finished.

Robot Legionaries (Standing and Advancing)

These two models are grouped together because they so closely resemble each other. The difference between the two is very subtle, and lies in the positioning of the legs. The advancing robot is not leaping forward with large strides, but rather appears to be taking more studied, mechanical steps. These robots are not featured on the PDF on the Hydra downloads page.

The Robot Legionaries retail from Hydra for $5.25 US each, or in a pack of five for $25.00 US. The price for these seems to be on the high side to my mind, but some of this must be due to the fact that this is a miniature you are going to want to use in multiples, which could turn out to be an expensive prospect.

These miniatures had the tiniest amounts of flash on them, but still less than many other commercially available models in my experience. The flash could be simply twirled or pulled off with fingers, then the area smoothed with a couple of strokes of a file. Very faint mould lines were also present, but even more subdued than on the Warbot. The mould maker has done a good job of both minimizing mould lines and disguising the ones that are inevitable.

Similar to the Warbot, the Legionaries have a very thin integral base attached to the feet, but this could also be removed if desired without much effort. Both stand approximately 46 mm from the bottom of the base to the tip of their heads. They come in four pieces, with a torso, a cylinder and socket joint head and two ball and socket joint arms. The right arm is holding a raygun of some sort, and the left hand is posed so that it can cradle the barrel of the raygun. The legs on the torso are well rounded and not very oval. Despite looking quite spindly, the legs are surprisingly strong and didn’t readily bend (one of the first things I tried was to see whether I could break it easily). The torso is also well balanced, so while it is quite slender in appearance, it will still make an excellent gaming piece as it is both strong and well centered.

Assembly of these Robots encountered a similar issue surrounding the ball and socket joints of the arms requiring a blob of greenstuff to properly get them to bond. They also have the added challenge of trying to simultaneously glue both arms on so that the gun can be posed into the open palm of the left hand correctly. This is a common issue in miniatures carrying their gun; the pose is too useful and fun not to love, but it can make the assembly slightly more challenging. However, this is still at worst a minor issue, and the ball and socket joints of the arms mean that posing them together is considerably easier given their higher flexibility. As with the Warbot, these are still considerably easier to assemble than many other models out there, which is a major positive factor in my mind.

Once assembled, the Robots both look quite good. The sculptor seems to have done a very good job of capturing the stiff-legged shambling advance of a mechanical minion. They are still taller than what I would think of as a normal man-sized model in this scale, but most of this height advantage comes from their spindly looking legs. Similar to the Warbot, they look like they will paint up very quickly and well, and I only wish that more than two had been sent for review as I currently don’t have enough to get my mechanical horde up and running (yet).

Hoverbot

The final miniature in the Robot Legion sent for review was a Hoverbot along with a clear cylindrical “flying stand” with a metal base. It is also featured (along with the Warbot) in the PDF download available for size comparison. A pack of five Hoverbots retails from Hydra for $12.50 US which includes the flying stands and bases for them. This seems like a very reasonable price for five models, despite the fact that they are relatively small.

Aside from the metal base and the plastic rod, the Hoverbot also has two interchangeable arms and a body section. The mould lines along the Hoverbot were basically invisible, so I gave the model a once-over with the file more to make myself feel better than because I could see any true lines. The plastic rod included is a true cylinder, rather than the tapered cylinder common to Games Workshop flying stands. The arms are quite spindly and delicate looking, although they are indeed stronger than they look. They also end in a mean-looking (for the size of the robot) pincer. The disc-like body has two electronic eyes set near the front along with some armour plates on the shoulders and some vents down the middle of its back.

Assembly of the Hoverbot was the easiest of the four miniatures, just a quick dab of superglue was sufficient to attach both arms firmly into the small sockets designed for them. The flying stand was left loose, so that the undercoat didn’t obscure the clear plastic.

Overall Impressions

This is a very impressive first offering from Hydra miniatures. These seem like ideal miniatures for anybody playing in a smaller, role-playing type setting where fewer miniatures suffice. Hydra has obviously targeted these at the increasing Pulp gaming market, and in particular these seem designed to work with other recent Retro Sci-Fi offerings (for example, from Rattrap Productions, Killer-B Games or Wargames Supply Dump).

Click to enlarge

These don’t appear as suitable for a more “mass battle” type of setting, as the price for a single unit of 5-10 miniatures may get quite steep, and there is not enough variety in the pose to accommodate a larger unit.

Pros

• Very clean and crisp castings, virtually no mould lines present
• Highly detailed miniatures very evocative of the subject matter
• PDF download allows easy scale comparisons without having to buy the miniatures
• Quick to paint

Cons

• Price is high enough that getting multiples is an expensive prospect
• Integral base may not appeal to some players
• Limited number of poses