The most dangerous of the three classes of Virai drones, the Defenders come in several forms. Strong, well-armed and heavily armoured with the Virai cerametallic shells, their role is dual purpose, acting as heavy lifters or demolition drones as well as in combat. Despite their strengths, they depend on planning and coordination from their architector leaders, typically Secondary Instances, so they lack initiative. Defender drones are occasionally specialised into Assault drones whose combat heuristics and actuators have been deliberately enhanced. Equipped with heavier armour than the Defenders, the upgraded algorithms on the Assault drones all but guarantee they will charge into combat to rip invaders apart. Both the Virai Dronescourge Defender Squad, and the Assault drones variants, are armed with deadly rip claws that can tear away the stone from a mine face, rip apart walls and obstacles, and make short work of even the heaviest armoured door. If that isn’t enough, they also carry a longer-ranged fusion flamer that can as easily drill into a rock as it can fuse and melt away their opponent’s armour. Set contains: 5 metal Defenders with Hive and assault drone head variants. Models supplied unassembled and unpainted
