Scum and Villainy (Part 2): Asteroid Miners

Asteroid mining is a dangerous profession, but one where the rewards can be immense. More than one intergalactic tycoon served their time strapped to the sides of a frozen chunk of rock, hurtling through space. Small wonder then that humans are constantly drawn to the dangerous profession, given their in built, gene-driven desire for self-improvement.

Dirk Sallee is just one such prospector, risking everything to work his claim. Although Dirk has yet to strike it rich, he has a good claim and has made enough money to make a living. He knows he must defend his claim against the bandits, pirates and claim jumpers who would seek to take from him what he has risked his life for.

Dirk is wearing a Mars-pattern environment suit, a protective garment favoured by the asteroid miners. Although the Mars-pattern is considered obsolete by most nowadays, it is still the suit of choice for most miners, who admire its ruggedness and the simplicity of its self repair systems.

Dirk is assisted in his endeavoured by Rustbucket, and EVA robot Dirk picked up at auction on Gallead IV. Rustbucket is practically an antique, having seen service on numerous mining colonies and asteroid mines, and its experience is invaluable to Dirk. As is it's tough polarised titanium shell.

Dirk is a Necomunda figure from Games Workshop. I am not sure when or where I got it, but I found it kicking around in a box of bits and thought it would fit the bill as a miner. Most of my other SciFi figures are lightly armed, as I wanted a sort of Serenity/Firefly look, but the rules for AE Bounty kind of dictate that most crewmen models need a rifle of some sort, so Dirk might well see service in my pirate crew too.

Rustbucket is one of a collection of robots made by Black Cat Bases. Its obvious (and purely coincidental, I am sure) similarity to a certain robot in a certain SciFi film about a Black Hole did it for me. Just too cute!