This battle-damaged Skirmisher, unearthed from the ruins of Tyrhuus, was probably lost in the 7th Federation’s final attempt to hold the last world of the Cygnus sector against the Rigeleans.
 

The foilzine* shows how popular culture got behind the design and performance of the fighting ‘noids’ as battle was joined and conducted across the system by remotely controlled androids. Lives were only lost when control centres were compromised and the headlines in this issue show how the early stage of conflict was largely seen as a strategic ‘game’.

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This 45B/3 was operated by the Two Stars confederacy, camouflaged for the red dust and buildings of Tyrhuus. The design is typical of the period when each side was reluctant to destroy the worlds they fought on and showed restraint. Later, as the Feds became more desperate, they introduced cyborgs and maximised the size and firepower of their machines, but were eventually defeated by the increasing sophistication and numerical superiority of the Rigelean mechanoid army.

* dated by the Adastra system, ie 2120 years after the first colony starflight left Terra.