Sorylian Leviathan Planetfall Unboxing

Final instalment, here are the three Leviathans, each following the familiar format of box with glossy sleeve;

Now let's take our final look at the Sorylian Helix - as usual the reverse features a picture of the studio painted model, plus the usual small intro fluff piece. These are the weakest parts of this Helix from my perspective - the paint job, while nice, is not as good as the others (I don't really like the green used). Also, I don't like the fluff piece, it doesn't fit with the existing canon built up for the Sorylians in Firestorm, and I always find things like this a bit "jarring". Now, the idea of a massive dinosaur-lizard I can accept no problem, but making it some clever ancient that's never been mentioned before, strapping a howdah on its back and sending into a battlefield with weapons designed to destroy leviathan robots seems...a bit daft. So, in my particular corner of the FA universe, they'll be giant lizards from the jungles and plains of Kerender that the Sorylians have used as pack animals for centuries.

Anyway, that is just my personal view on things, and has pretty much nothing to do with the model itself, so let's get on with the unboxing;

Now I had a bit of trouble getting the sleeve off the box, because this one is jammed full of resin - its apparent when you pick it up, it weighs a lot more than the other leviathan helix boxes. That's clear when you lay out all the resin;

The body of the beast itself is a nine piece model, the size of which is quite amazing (and apparent to anyone who has already seen the Sorylian lights (as you can compare them here). Here is the main body;

As you can see its a big block of resin, countered on tp to take the skiff platform, and with a large join for the head piece (good for surface area for glueing. Underneath the piece is similarly countered for the legs;

A nice piece here are the moulded numbers embossed both into the body and the appropriate leg, making constructing simple and error free;

As far as the tail goes, a male/female join will make this easier to join and stronger in use;

The tail itself, nicely posed and detailed;

The head is a great piece of sculpting - I particularly like the whale-like throat folds. Again, it is cast with positive junctions for construction with a mind to strength - nice to see a games company thinking about how the models will be used on the tabletop.

That completes the organic part of the leviathan, but then you have the large skiff strapped to it;

This is a nice model in its own right, and comes complete with a massive cannon (with gunner);

Also in resin are the mounted rocket launchers....

...plus a small crew/rider contingent (which are the standard white metal infantry). Also in white metal are the beasts teeth;

If this wasn't enough, you also get a bunch of the fantastic little grab-bikes, which are one of my favourite lights (along with the Relthoza);

In summary, this is an amazingly good value set, and whether you like the background or not its a fantastic set of models and well worth buying. I'm sure it'll find a place on many tabletops and it does look pretty epic when its together. So, minor niggle aside, it's a great addition to Planetfall - well done Spartan on all three of the latest Leviathan releases!

Aquan Leviathan Planetfall Unboxing

Once again, in the second instalment, here are the three Leviathans, each following the familiar format of box with glossy sleeve;

Now let's look at the Aquan in detail as promised - the reverse features a picture of the lovely studio painted model, plus the usual small intro fluff piece;

Opening the box;

And getting it all out;

The Aquan base is unique (the others being generic), as it has the "feet" moulded directly onto it - a good idea, since I can't imagine assembly would be easy it they were not fixed!

The leviathan itself comes as four main pieces (plus the base and accessories) - the single-piece body and three legs. The single piece body is finely detailed, and I'm continually impressed with hoe Spartan have continually improved their mould-making to create crisp detail, sharp edges and undercuts for these single-piece castings.

The legs are long and substantial, but still convey a feeling of grace to the model - very appropriate for the Aquans;

The remaining resin pieces for this model are the two lasers and two gribble tentacle bits. I like the overall feeling of the organic/cybernetic nature of this model, it feels very alien.

Once again you get a bunch of lights with the leviathan (I think the only exception is the Directorate flying death ring of doom!);

For those who are unfamiliar with these, they are lovely little models, supplied with bases to give them the impression of hovering over the terrain.

This is a really nice model - it makes me envious that Oscar has it and I don't - I look forward to seeing it built up and then trying to take it down on the battlefield (which I don't think will be easy!).

Next up, the Sorylian Dinosaur!

Relthoza Leviathan Planetfall Unboxing

Ta-da-da-dah!

Yes, it's been a long wait - having completely failed in my intention of writing shorter more frequent blogs, I found I've had so much on I've actually achieved zero. Ho hum...still, at least it's a good one now - the second half of the Leviathan helixes for Planetfall, starting with the Relthoza. I won't mess around, here they are;

So, three Leviathans, each following the familiar format of box with glossy sleeve;

Now let's look at the Relthoza in detail first (of course!)

Sorry about the fuzzy picture, my camera set itself to something weird on the flash...anyway, opening this box up;

Resin Goodies!

Taking all this out of the box, I noticed something stuck to the cardboard....

This is a nice little touch for tracking their QC and making sure customers can get replacements for mispacks etc - typical of how Spartan Games thinks of its customers, its a small thing but much appreciated by anyone unlucky enough to not get everything they expected to with a casting issue.

Anyway, back to the resin;

With everything out (I forgot the main base here), its quite a haul - that scorpion machine is BIG! It comes in two main parts, body and tail, plus eight legs, four cannon and two mounts, plus the sting in the tail. Here's the main tail section;

...and the body...

Looking at the last picture, you can see how the body has a female recess for the positive one of the tail, which should result in a strong bond when glueing. Next up is the tail mounted toxin projector, which fits with a ball-and socket joint like the legs, allowing you some freedom in posing.

Legs are next, and these appear to be the same as used in the other Relthoza heavy units.

Last parts for the leviathan itself are the weapons, quad cannons which mount on two holder units which are ball-and socket jointed, again allowing some flexibility of posing.

Finally filling out the helix are the ubiquitous smalls, the Relthoza one is a nice little model - one of my favourites in Planetfall, though not the easiest to paint due to its legs and detail - that's a good thing though, right?

So there we have it, the Relthoza Leviathan - an awesome looking model and one I'm really looking forward to building and painting (its already having its detergent wash before priming!).

See you soon (I promise, this time!) with the next Leviathan - the Aquan!