Multi-Shell Breakdown & Unlocked Milestones - May's Heavy Drop Troops (Patreon)

Hello Patrons,

A swift follow-up on this month's Heavy Drop Troopers this time; giving you a detailed look at all the multi-shell elements they've come with!

Multi-Shell Options:

In the images below, you can see that we've highlighted certain elements in bright orange, purple, and green (and you'll see similar images in many of our previous releases too!)

These colours mean that each highlighted element is actually a separate "shell" - a complete 3D object that it is possible to move, scale, interchange, or even remove entirely! Want to know how? We've got a few excellent text and video resources for you to check out;

Our Multi-Shell Beginner's Guide post

Sonic Sledgehammer's Video Tutorial using MeshMixer

And finally, an in-depth Blender Tutorial that covers advanced movement and manipulation of individual shells, as well as a whole lot more if you're interested!

Here are this month's Multi-shell elements:

Starting off with the ranged offensive options this month, we've got an optional scope for the phase lance specialist weapon, as well as a complete stock assembly provided as a Digital Kitbash element. The pistols come in two configurations, with either a hand shell grasping the grip, or as a pistol-grip compatible joint, along with a hand holding a grip with the same joint.

The last of the ranged options is the forearm mounted Gauss blaster, provided as a Digital Kitbash option and designed to be overlaid onto any melee/pistol arms you desire. The blaster itself consists of the weapon itself, the trigger mechanism, and the hand to operate it, allowing you to have fully autonomous versions without a trigger if you so wish!

The Melee options also have some notable shells, including the ability to have a standalone two-handed cleaver, or to have it wielded in only one hand. It also comes with a power cable connector on the hilt's pommel that can be turned off prior to printing, giving you further posing options!

The Punch-Fist is also designed with an optional power cable; but not only that, the gauntlet itself is completely removable too! This means you can overlay it onto any of the melee arms from this month, or any other too for that matter, meaning that you'll always have the right weapon on the right arm for your army!

The specialist energy weapons for the Heavy Drop Troops have been made a removable element this month, allowing you to create a more nimble looking weapon, without the need for a backpack energy port to connect to; which is very useful for certain torsos which might lack such a port. It also means that you have a bunch of heavy-duty cables to play around with when kitbashing other arms to use with the energy weapon stock!

The exoskeleton legs do not feature any shelled elements this month, but the "tactical rock" is an element that can be removed and replaced with a more fitting battlefield height enhancing object. The flying legs shown here are actually not connected to their attendant scenery objects, and are printed completely separately, but it made sense to show them in-situ for our renders. The rubble can be used standalone, to add extra basing bits for any diorama scene you may wish to create!

Bionic eye replacement not really your style? Well, worry not, because they're completely optional elements for your sergeants this month, as are the padded cowls they're wearing! You can even give the male variant a shave, and remove the beard he's sporting too. 

The two open-faced helmets can also be removed, revealing two more cowled heads within, letting you show a bit more personality (and reckless abandonment of protective headgear) for your troopers. Or, if you have a favourite face from a previous month, you can seamlessly integrate it into your Drop Trooper force by putting one of these helmets on to them!

Our torsos this month come in three configurations; with an energy weapons port, without a port but still having a backpack, and plain-backed which allows you to fit our other backpack options to your tastes. However, we've also made the specialist energy port its own separate shell too. This means that you have the option to turn any backpack into a specialist energy weapon backpack!

Lastly, our flight packs come in three pre-posed variants, but each maintains the ability to completely customise its control surfaces and vectored engines! 

We hope that all these options will give you endless ideas for conversion opportunities and variations for each individual trooper! 

An Update on Milestone Unlocks:

With 1138 supporters last month, we've got two extra pairs of legs to release; a set that are Kneeling and, because the Heavy Drop Troops are all utilising our male Regiments Joints, we'll also be choosing another interesting and appropriate pose. 

We'll have more information on those next time!

Unfortunately, we just missed the next supporter threshold for the Squad Support Weapon (1150). However, because we have to work a month in advance, and it looked like we would have made that number initially, we will have a support weapon for the squad to release alongside the expanded leg options!

Milestone Unlocks will be available to download soon, detailed in their own separate post

Going forward, it seems prudent to institute a grace period for each subsequent month's unlocks. Hopefully that will remove the sting from a month, when we don't quite hit the mark, having a knock on effect for the next in line. 

As a bonus, we'll also be including some extra two-handed cleavers with various hand positions holding them, and with the power cable removed. These were made by utilising the existing parts shown above, but are a good example of the flexibility of our Multi-shell options. Below you can see the results we were able to achieve, by making an entire melee-weapon equipped squad with no duplicate poses!

Thank you again for your support

- Team Anvil