Firestorm Armada 2-Player boxed set - What should we have got?

Someone (Daniel Jones) asked on Facebook what ships people think we should have got for the core race expansions, so I thought I would share my own opinion (together with stats) of what TheoryMachine think we should have had as a 2-Player boxed set. Now the obvious bit is - it has to be the two Core Races that haven't yet had a boxed set, right? The Sorylians and the Relthoza. Now, with Spartan's ability to create more complex, multi-part models, it should be possible to create a boxed set that actually give you Large and Medium models that can be built in one of two different ways. This would both extend flexibility and appeal to players, and give people a reason to either buy multiple boxed sets, or to buy the boxed set and still buy the separate models on individual release.

So given that, what do the Sorylians need?

The Sorylians - Tier 1

Well, first off, another Battleship would be a good start. From how the Falx fares in battle, the Sorylians would undoubtedly have been working to cover some of its shortcomings. Now, the Falx isn't a bad ship, it just isn't an equal counter to other Large ships (it's no dueller) - so enter the Cuirass:

The Cuirass class battleship is one of a new breed of designs that Sorylian Engineers started working on at the beginning of the Seccession Wars, based on predictions of how the conflict would escalate. These designs have been developed by the Sorylians over the past decades and are now finally ready to start field trials in the Outer Spheres – the standard method of deployment the Collective uses when producing new starships.

The Cuirass bears many similarities to the Falx and Swordbreaker that preceded it, but with several enhancements and design shifts. Firstly, the Cuirass has a much greater offensive bent that the Falx – it is built as a ship ready to duel with other battleships in open space one-to-one, and take them down. To further this point, the ship has an extensive number of defensive enhancements, notably a reinforced, strengthened fore, and shrouded scatter weapons - making the ship extremely tough on the approach into battle. Shield generators may also be fitted with Terran-derived sectoring technology, something unknown on Sorylian ships of the past, but garnered out of close cooperation with their Kurak allies.

Let's have a look at some stats:

Sector shielding gives the Cuirass a possible 7/12 DR/CR profile from the frontal arc with 2 Shields on it’s approach into battle, making it one of the best protected battleships in the Firestorm Galaxy. It retains the ability to use its Kinetic and Torpedo weapons even with this profile, so it is not a passive approach, meaning that when it arrives in optimum firing position it is likely to be doing so at full or close to full HP, making it a very potent early-game ship the enemy cannot afford to ignore, especially if also accompanied by Flechettes to further enhance its firepower. This would also make it ideal to pair with a reserved Falx entering by foldspace for a heavy-hitting one-two punch in the early or mid-point of the game.

Another more unique innovation on this second generation battleship is the ability to deploy Seeker-Class Drones. These do not form part of the Cuirass’ squadron, nor even have their own activation, but instead work as a force multiplier for the Sorylian Collective. These are developments of the Sorylians long-established wormhole network, re-imagined with Terran expertise of fold-space beacons from their Satellite Charter, to act as specific beacons for Sorylian ships – free from the Ba’kash infiltration and piracy that their wormhole network has been plagued by. Deployed by Hidden Setup or by the Cuirass, these drones allow pinpoint foldspace entry by Sorylian ships within their area of effect – making that 1-2 double Battleship setup even more deadly.

The Cuirass is no slouch either – with a native 8” move, it has the legs to get into that optimum firing position quickly, and at the cost of some manoeuvrability it can even become faster than many cruisers. With AP, movement and Assault Blitz upgrades, the Cuirass becomes a very credible boarding threat in addition to its native direct AD potential, especially paired with a Katar Assault Cruiser.

With a fast, hard-hitting battleship, what other class could a multi-part model make that would fit with Sorylian lore, and fill a role in their fleets? Well, the Sorylians are not SRS heavy, but they do board well - how about an Assault Cruiser? Let's take a look at the Serapis:

Utilising the same basic hull arrangement of the Cuirass, the Serapis dispenses with shrouded weapons for overall hull strengthening and the provision of extensive launch bays for its assault shuttles to carry the vast numbers of its boarding marines to the enemy. This results in a reduced broadside capability, and so Sorylian Engineers have focussed on providing a hard-hitting fore mounted scatter array to soften targets up on approach before launching their coup de grace hand-to-hand. The Serapis also retains some of the innovation and options that the Cuirass introduces, such as a reinforced fore and sector shielding:

Accompanied by a Katar Assault cruiser, the boarding potential of the Serapis becomes overwhelming - something the Sorylians have found necessary when combatting their martial galactic neighbours, the Relthoza. It is also possible to take a pair of Pauldron Escort Cruiser to further expand and add flexibility to its SRS complement.

Tier 2

We heard mention above of the Pauldron Escort Cruiser above, so let's start there. The Sorylians are not natural fliers, and they tend to field SRS principally in dedicated carrier vessels. The Grand Council have recognised that the tactics of other races, especially the Relthoza (who are capable of fielding large quantities of SRS at any engagement level) have exposed a potential weakness in the Collecxtive's Sphere defences, below where fleet carriers such as the Xiphos are deployed.

As such, the Pauldron has been devloped using the same manufacturing lines as produce the Skyhammer and Falcata Cruisers, adapting the hull to provide flexible launch bays for an array of different SRS. This enables SRS cover for smaller task forces, and boosts the abilities of larger vessels such as the Serapis - the latter is not configured for bomber operations, but coupled with 2 Pauldrons, it can field both bombers and assault shuttles, or provide interceptor cover etc. With typical Sorylian practicality, the Pauldron also retains offensive armaments to ensure it remains viable even on losing its complement of on-board craft.

The Sorylians have a pretty effective Tier 2 selection, with extremely effective Cruisers and Gunships - what more could they have that would be a viable selection? Well one area the Sorylians do lack is in the area of mines - they simply do not use them. Rather than give them a ship that did the same as other races, they would deal with this by countering this threat. As such, we have the Flagellant:

This is a tough cruiser, built on the same lines as the Kopis, shielded as standard and with the capability to increase that shield strength. It needs to be a tough ship too, since it's assigned duty is minesweeping, using the new Minsweeper MAR:

Once again, a single-purpose ship in this class is something Sorylian Engineers would wish to avoid, just minesweeping is not going to satisfy most Sorylian Commander's thirst for combat. As such, the Flagellant retains a decent - if short ranged - set of scatter weaponry, and coupled with its toughness it is often seen plunging ahead into enemy lines ahead of the rest of the fleet, weathering the fire of the enemy to unleash short-ranged hell into their foes. This type of assault often disrupts the carefully made plans of their opponents, allowing the Sorylians rapidly-closing fleet elements to mop up the scattered remnants. Flagellants have thus rapidly gained a reputation as line-breakers, and it is seen as one of the most honourable positions to hold in the Collective's Sphere Defence fleets.

As the Tier 3 would be a resin rework of an existing ship, no need to talk about that here, so let's move on.

The Relthoza - Tier 1

The Relthoza spiders were my first entry point into the FSA universe, so I'm used to them and I've never had a problem with how they play in terms of seeing them as "difficult". I've never really had too much of a problem with the Brood Battleship, it's a solid ship. The Relthoza have a good selection of options, and I love the feel of the faction. That being said, the Relthoza have some obvious gaps in their repertoire given their fluff - they're an SRS and boarding-heavy fleet, so why they don't have a Battlecarrier and Assault carrier seems odd - these are both obvious development directions for them. So let's have a look at some rationale:

The Relthoza Incursions into Sorylian territory have time and again been repulsed by the sphere defences the Sorylians have entrenched around their territory. Although the recent conflict in the Storm Zone has drained Sorylian forces and allowed the Relthoza to make gains, these are relatively minor and have not allowed for the large scale footholds the Twenty had hoped for. Without this bridgehead into Sorylian territory, the reformer fleets cannot operate with sufficient impunity to start thoroughly terraforming worlds - which is what the end-game is for the Relthoza: More inhabitable worlds to colonize.

This has led the Relthoza to technological solutions – the introduction of the new nanospatial lance weapon system in the Virulence gunship has proved successful and has been expanded to new ship types. Advanced shunt matrices and new cloaking systems are also being deployed, together with expanded suites of support ship types to disrupt the highly structured Sorylian defences. The Sorylians, like the Relthoza, are excellent martial opponents, so the need for more means of delivering more warriors into the field is highly desirable, hence the development of the Atrax:

The Atrax is a ship designed to prize other vessels through martial combat. Commonly fielding assault shuttles and packed with warriors, these ships are relatively cheap and fast to construct, relying on stealth and cloaks to get to their prey and seize them. Alternatively they can be outfitted with the next generation of Shunt drives, enabling them to leap forward and deliver a crippling blow where the enemy would never suspect it. As with much emergent Relthozan technology, it is meant to be highly disruptive to any enemies plans. It does pay for this rather single-purposed mentality somewhat - it can be vulnerable to short-ranged torpedo weapons, and should it's cloak be damaged its hull is not meant for front-line combat confrontations with similarly-sized vessels. The Twenty deem this a price worth paying for its potential rewards - after all, fresh young warriors are an easily replaced resource.

Now making a multi-piece model representing two ships here is easy, since all you need for an Assault Carrier is a bit more armour and some more weapons - the launch bays and general configuration can be much the same. Here we have the Dysdera:

The Dysdera employs the same nanospatial lance technology that was first implemented on the Virulence Gunship, in an up-armoured version of the same hull as the Atrax. The Broadsides are extensively expanded, and the aft weapons systems removed to accommodate the power generation requirements of the fore lances. This results in a slightly more delicate internal structure, simply because of the fine balance required for the new technology. It also reduces the range of any installed battle shunt drive generator - the power requirements for more would simply be impractical to accommodate without a major hull redesign and expansion.

Tier 2

Now Relthoza mediums are also an interesting design space, and there is plenty of scope here. One of the things the Relthoza lack is a stand-off destroyer (the Venom is very much an ambush predator), and surprisingly for a race which is quite torpedo-heavy, they have no dedicated Torpedo Cruiser. So, here they are:

The Bolas is a stand-off torpedo cruiser designed to provide long-range support to advancing fleets. It remains in the rear of the engagement, cloaked and often running silent to avoid detection as it unleashes nanotech-laced death from the depths of space. Should it be engaged, it has a moderate short-ranged broadside array to defend itself, and can either be rigged with non-detection systems or an advanced Shunt matrix to help it get out of trouble quickly should it be flanked. It's weapon systems make it a deadly late-game opponent, but even from the opening salvoes this is not a squadron that can be ignored, meaning the enemy needs to divert valuable resources to deal with them as the main Relthozan force closes.

Next we have the Cryptos Destroyer, one of the most daring and advanced ships Relthozan technology has produced to date. Employing an experimental advanced cloaking field, the Cryptos is almost impossible to target when cloaked, and chooses when to engage its prey using the same nanospatial lance system used in the Dysdera. Such is the power drain from this new cloak, however, that it cannot use weaponry whilst it is engaged (and even if it could, to do so would reveal it's location to targeting sensors).

It has, however, an advanced shunt matrix to allow itself to reposition whilst cloaked, meaning the enemy can never predict where the ship will suddenly appear, it's alien weaponry tearing ships apart from inside before fading away into blackness. It also maintains a standard broadside weaponry to protect itself from flanking attacks should its cloak or shunt matrix be damaged, though most Cryptos crews pray that these are never to be used, as it is not a ship designed for an honest, even fight.

Once again, Tier 3s would be reworked all-resin Nidus frigates, giving us a nice up-to-date offering for the Relthoza, with plenty of new dirty tricks up their sleeves.

Extras

Most Spartan 2-player sets come with extras, like the Valhalla station and the Overseers gate and probe. What I'd have loved to see from Spartan here would be an add-ons pack of Pathogen pieces for the included ships, to replace some of the ships parts. What do I mean? Take the Aquan Cruiser from the Taskforce Reinforcement boxes - you have a top and a bottom, plus another add-on for the Carrier version. In a similar manner with the construction of the ships in this set, you could have a pathogen bottom that would fit the Aquan top, giving you yet another iteration of the ships. This would have been super-cool and added more reasons to buy multiple boxed sets, and also another play element to the game - an AI deck.

This has been done elsewhere (like Deadzone) - you include a set of cards that allow you to play against an AI-Pathogen fleet. This way it doesn't even matter if you don't have someone to play the game against, you can still buy and play the set - how cool would that be?

I think a set like this would have far greater appeal than the Saurian/Pathogen set that SG have proposed with their Kickstarter - what do you think?

Firestorm Armada Core Race Expansion Sets

So now we have the blog Spartan should have put up before they started their Kickstarter, we can see some details of the planned Core Race Expansions, and it doesn't make for pretty reading for me. Why? Read on (Spoiler - contains jaded opinions about Spartan Games' current behaviour - do not ingest if sensitive to honest but scathing opinion).

Core Race Expansions - A Good Thing, right?

Well, possibly....

Expansions should be added for a reason, other than "the company needs to sell more models". Ultimately, this goes down to why a company exists, it's heart and soul. For me, a gaming company needs to be about gaming - it needs to have that at its core...if it doesn't, it comes through in everything they do, and what they do doesn't ring true. Of course companies exist to make money to continue doing what they do, but that shouldn't be an end point - it should be a means to it's end (which is growing its games). 

Take GW as a case in point. They used to be a games company - founded by gamers who didn't want to grow up. It was successful- enormously so, and grew to behemoth proportions. Still, in the late 90's-early noughties, it was still a games company - lots of hobby tips (for free) on its website, GW stores were places people went to congregate, paint and play. People inside and out were passionate about games.

Then it started being run by executives.

Sometimes, this can be a good thing - execs bring focus and timelines, spreadsheets and analysis that can really help companies improve, cut out waste, do more god stuff. Sometimes they end up controlling things and the bottom line becomes the important thing, and the rest is a mantle upon which it rests. Prices go up, free stuff starts being removed and replaced with chargeable extras, things are pushed out because they're low volume sellers, and the execs start directing company direction. People leave because "it just isn't the company it used to be". These things are picked up by the community, because things start to feel different in the game.

This behaviour really hurt GW for the past decade. Now they've a new CEO who seems to understand that the "Games" in GW means something to its customers, and is getting back towards the company it used to be. Hell, they even released a pack of skulls, which if isn't taking the piss out of themselves (in a profitable way" then I don't know what is. Not to say they still aren't having some crazy pricing decisions (that Primaris Captain and Librarian, for example), but it's early days.

So I'll come back to this point at the end of the blog when I've run through the Tiers and factions;

Tier 3 - Destroyers

"Wait a minute Alex, you said Tier 3, but you're talking about Destroyers..."

Yes, I know. Most factions get "Light Destroyers" (I'll come back to naming conventions later too), a couple get Torpedo Destroyers. So this is one of those "Oh god I hate them" general faction-wide releases that makes no background sense whatsoever. That's the first thing. The main issue I have with this release, however, is that where do these fit in the design space of Firestorm?

What do I mean by this?

Well, as a designer (and I did this for Firestorm for a long time, so I do know what I'm talking about here) there should be a reason for the ship you're designing. That's number one. So you have a role the ship should fit, and then you look at what already exists, and stat the ship according to its role and what has gone before. In general, it should fit with the existing theme of the fleet, with maybe a few differences based on its new role (otherwise why would the race design it?). Stats should be in-line with existing ships and the role, unless it's some ground-breaking new technology. So, in the FSA world, a Destroyer is generally a hard-hitting, but often difficult to spot/hit type of ship (more like a wet-navy submarine). Firepower wise they hit above their weight, especially at longer engagement ranges (with exceptions for those "Ambush" type iterations like the Venom).

Now the Firestorm design space is fairly "tight". DR ranges from 3 to 7, CR from 4 to 13. The lower end of the spectrum is more crowded, because the difference between 3/4 in game is not much and you can't really go above that for a small (as Cruisers start at DR4). So that means a "Light" Tier 3 Destroyer could be "Light" just by the virtue of having a Small hull, rather than difference in weapons, so you have a (for example) 3/5 hull with standard Destroyer weapons.

The problem then is why would you not take these awesome new Smalls over standard Frigates? That kind of Firepower is pretty good on a small ship. Well, you could price them higher, but now you're encroaching into standard destroyer territory - it's only 150 points for a pair of Venoms, whilst its usually around 100 points for a bunch of Frigates. Do you see what I mean by a crowded design space now?

This is why the FFG worked so well at designing ships, because we had twenty-odd players of the game each with a different meta putting in their opinion in the design stage, so we didn't end up with glaring oddities that ended up massively OP or vastly useless. What you really want is a ship design that half of the players think is OK, one-quarter think are OP and one-quarter think is useless. You've usually got it right then.

What should NOT happen is someone decides "you know what, all races need a new small, what should it be - I know, destroyers!" and then this is implemented. That fundamentally breaches Rule Number One - the ship should be derived from a need (perceived or real), not an arbitrary assignment. It's a bit like some god-like entity suddenly saying to all the nations of the world "and you must have Battleships in your navies". We don't need them - they're obsolete, and obsolete for a reason. Shoe-horning them in would be moronic.

Tier 2 - Medical & Repair Ships

Hmmmm. My gut feeling on this is....why? From a fluff point of view, this is madness - you don't repair ships or send in ambulances in the midst of a pitched battle. We already have SRS to cover these functions in v2, what do these add except for sucking out more points and making you buy more resin? If the repair function effectively acts as an add-on Self Repair MAR, then I foresee a lot of issues - it will tend to drag the game out, rather than make it smoother and faster.

This goes back to rationale as I mentioned above for the Tier 3s - what is the reason for introducing a ship type? Did anyone call for any of these ships in their games before (and by that I mean the function rather  than the name)? In other words, is there a gap to be filled? For me, the answer is no.

Tier 2 - The Terran Heavy Gunship

Wait, the Terrans - one of the CP-heaviest factions and one of the fleets most likely to see use of Medical Shuttles - does NOT get Medical ships? Nope, they get a Heavy Gunship. Not a gunship, which of course they don't have, but a Heavy Gunship.

Now a gunship for the Terrans is not a terrible idea, but its also not a great one. Sorting out the role of the Heavy Cruiser (which is essentially a gunship in all but name) would have achieved the same thing, but of course wouldn't have required you to buy more models.

Tier 1

Now here we start to see some apparent variety, so I'll go through them individually:

The Aquan Repair Battleship

Now there's an oxymoron for you - repair battleship. It's like a War Domain cleric....does it fire sticky glue that covers impact blasts? Does it have multiple cranes that attach to other ships and fix them? What? You think I'm being silly? Well it's because it's a fucking STUPID idea, thats why.

The associated fluff basically says its a Battleship which carries Repair Shuttles - or in other words, an Aquan Battleship. All this really indicates is that the normal battleship is restricted in the SRS it can carry (if any) and that this is a Battleship with limited usage. I'll come back to my stock question here - Why? If you're having to create new ship types because of changes you're making to the mechanics, then please, stop.

The Dindrenzi Battle Carrier

So here's a ship type that you can actually see the race developing. The Dindrenzi actually have a decent carrier option, but you can definitely imagine them creating a Battle Carrier, so this is actually one that seems quite rational.

The Sorylian Fleet Carrier

OK, so the fluff makes no sense whatsoever here - "The Sorylians do not make much use of SRS, but when they do it is normally ‘heavy’ in nature." - in fact I'm not sure that's even a proper sentence. Still, the idea of a Fleet carrier for the Sorylians is...meh. They already have a fleet carrier in the Morning Star/Xiphos - again a decent carrier. Surely the Sorylians would be best supported (both in game and in fluff) with an Assault Carrier? Or how about another Battleship to use, since their existing Battleship and Dreadnought are much maligned? No, we get another carrier. :-(

The Terran Battle Carrier

Well I suppose this one was inevitable, despite never being intended as a production model, when you show a render/artwork people are inevitably going to say "Ooh, shiny, when can I buy it?". That's not necessarily a good rationale to base a ship class on, and so we have the Terran battle Carrier, despite the Terrans having one of the two best Fleet Carriers in the game (the other going to the RSN Argus), and good battleships.

So why is a Battle Carrier a bad idea for Terrans? Well, it's either going to have sub-par weapons, in which case if you want SRS the carrier is probably a better idea, or it's going to compete with the battleships (why have a plain battleship when you can have a battleship+?). It also adds a third ship to the Battleship space for the Terrans, when they could really do with choices elsewhere. So whilst not a terrible decision, it is a ship in a crowded spot in a tight design space for the Terrans. It's not very interesting, and it's not very Terran.

The Relthoza Heavy Battleship

So a ship between the Brood and the Apex? Hmmm...I mean, it's possible, but as for the Sorylians, why not an Assault Carrier or Battle Carrier for the Relthoza? Ships that fit with their background and fluff? Why call it a Heavy Battleship? Is the Terran Tyrant a Heavy battleship? Did people have issues distinguishing the Apollo and the Tyrant? No, so what's the point? It's the Why? question again.

The Directorate Fleet Carrier

Oh dear. Not only do the Directorate nor care about their vat-buddies that they're prepared to spend vast amounts of capital to make specific ships that will help them out in the midst of battle, but they're so intent on SRS operations all of a sudden that they make a Fleet carrier, which sounds like a Battle Carrier if you believe the short fluff. It's quoted to be as tough as a Dreadnought, armed to the teeth with beams and cyberweapons (which are due to be bland AOE weapons in v3), and carry loads of bombers and stuff. 

The problem is once again that the Directorate already have a pretty bitching Battleship that does a lot of this in the Anarchist, and they also have the Overseer - a carrier that never needs to decloak. I've seen double-Overseer lists run by Directorate players, and they can be pretty savage. So this ship promises to do all of the Anarchist and Overseer jobs in one, which makes it either too powerful, overcosted or one of the two sides at least partially redundant.

The main issue I have with it though, is it just seems unimaginative. Maybe it'll be ok, but I already have big issues with how the Directorate flavour is being massively diluted with v3 rules. Why would I add another shade of grey to those already available?

Naming Conventions

OK, so this is a personal bugbear. and I know it doesn't bother some people at all, but I hate these arbitrary namings of "Heavy" and "Light". It smacks of a small child trying to win a war of words;

"I've got a gunship"

"Yeah? well I've got a HEAVY gunship"

"That's nothing, I got a Battleship"

"So? I got a HEAVY battleship"

And so on. It smacks of Trump's lack of vocabulary ("It's gonna be really, really great - really"), a lack (once again) of IMAGINATION. Why does that matter? Well, this is meant to be an immersive universe. Why would all factions suddenly create "Light Destroyers"? What's the rationale behind calling a Battleship "Heavy"? The answer to this is - there is no reason - and that (for me) makes the whole announcement sound hollow, a clanging tin bell. I don't think "Cool, a Heavy Battleship", because I'm not 6. I want some meat to my sci-fi, even in a game with plastic spaceships. I may behave like a 12 year old when I'm playing games, but I don't expect to be treated as one mentally.

Verdict - Hit or Miss?

Once again, I don't need to tell you my verdict on this. It only adds to the Kickstarter cash grab feel that SG is developing lately. These announcements in the right environment with the right thought process and rationale behind them would be exciting, and investment and expansion to the universe. What they do instead is highlight the poor planning and lack of creativity that seems to be beleaguering the FA universe (and maybe the whole of SGs portfolio) at the moment.

If I were a potential Kickstarter backer reading this blog, it would not sway me to part with money. Most Kickstarters offering this as part of the campaign or as stretch goals will actually show you what they're doing or planning - here you just have to hope. Even if you think all of these are fantastic ideas, you have no idea what the stats are or what the ships look like - you have to take it on faith. Unfortunately (or rather, Fortunately, for me), I'm an evidence-based guy, and without a shred of it ,being asked to rely on Spartan's word (which is increasingly worth nothing, if it ever were) is purely ludicrous.

I mentioned earlier I'd come back to the point of a company's heart and soul. It seems Spartan is increasingly a model company, rather than a games company. The other pieces - it's rules, it's fluff, it's community support (such as it is) - seem to be "stuck on", after-thoughts  to sell more models, rather than being part of it's DNA. They laughably tout the Kickstarter as being "what you told us you wanted" but they should KNOW what people want, they should be able to sense it intuitively. If they were really customer-focussed gamers at heart, they would (or should, at least). That's a change no-one can force on SG, and it's the reason I've not bought into their products for some time now - why I have a Halo Ground Command box which is still unopened in my gaming room. It's the same reason I got out of 40k and decried GW for what they did to themselves, because no-one wants to feel like a bred-for-its-milk cash cow.

The Hub Systems Podcast Episode 24 - Firestorm Armada Tactica: Sorylians

This time we invite Fred Graves of the FFG to bring us his Sorylian knowledge and expertise and educate us on the ways of the reptile....

We also look into GWs new 2-player set, Death Masque, plus some basing kits for Age of Sigmar. FFG brings us the wave 10 announcements for X-Wing, and we have a first peek at the Dark Souls Kickstarter too.

Listen & Enjoy!

The Hub Systems Podcast Episode 10 - System Wars Part 1

We tackle the summer System Wars releases in two parts - firstly the MARs, ship models and stats...plus we introduce a new feature for Episode 10!

Aerial Helix Unboxings - Alliance of Kurak Core Races

For the second part of the Planetfall Aerial Helix unboxings we have the ships of the Kurak Alliance Core races. You may have seen a sneak peak of the Terrans already in the last painting update, but we'll cover those again anyway. Given that, we may as well tackle them first...

Opening the box and getting to the resin we have four interceptors and one heavy interceptor, the first requiring only their jet exhaust adding, the heavy requiring two of these plus having a rear-mounted pod as well.

The models are nicely moulded with a minimum of casting flash, the heavy just needing the pouring lugs cutting off, which are nicely located where the exhausts will be glued - always nice to see a manufacturer thinking about this sort of thing in its production methods - kudos to you, Martin and your team! 

Taking a closer look at the interceptor, I rather like the "just in the future" look of these vehicles, they're very sleek and compact, and are a nice contrast to the Hawker planes, which i also really like. I also like how they are essentially the same as the SRS tokens from Firestorm...a nice little tie-in.

Underneath the models lose nothing in the way of detail, having six detailed missiles sculpted on, and with an integral flight stand holder.

Moving onto the heavy, again I really like the look of this, though I'm not sure it really screams "interceptor" to me...it looks like a ground attack and transport craft, but that's just my interpretation. 

 Detail on this model is superb, there's even a hatch sculpted into the underside to where the pod fits - very cool.

The pod itself is a bit of a mystery to me, it makes the whole thing feel a little like Thunderbird 2 - which while being no bad thing, again it doesn't personally chime with the interceptor theme. It's very nice though - I half expect it to launch out a couple of jetbikes or something!

OK, onto the aliens, specifically the Aquans

The Aquans are getting some very cool stuff in Planetfall (as they have in Armada), and the aerial helix is no exception

The five ships you get are all one-piece, the simplest in any of the helix boxes, but don't let that fool you in any way...these are not simplistic or basic in any way. The designs are beautiful, elegant and menacing at the same time.

The interceptors are sweet models, instantly recognisable as Aquan and they tie in extremely well with the existing Planetfall releases.

The Heavy interceptor is one of my favourite models from this release, it's like the interceptors but looks faster and meaner. It has lovely flowing lines and the sculpting is fantastic...10/10 for the Aquans I think!

Last (and for me, the least) for the Kurak Alliance are the Sorylians.

Now, I don't hate this box, it just puzzles me slightly...especially given the models that SG have just announced for the ground attack helix for the Sorylians. First, let's have a look at what you get in the box...

...it's a lot of stuff! Each of the interceptors is a six-piece model;

So there's the central pod, the two engines, two "winglets" and the flight stand holder insert. That gives us pod racers. Hmmmm. Now, it's an ok concept I guess, but again I'm looking at this with my suspension of disbelief eye...the rider is exposed, and even in a future with shields and power armour, this just seems unnecessary for such a practical and pragmatic race as the Sorylians. One possible answer would be that the lack of a physical cockpit gives the pilot an unprecedented field of view...but that argument is really shot down (excuse the pun) by the TERRIBLE field of view this guy is going to have whilst hunched over the controls - his forward vision is a measly 20 degrees between those pods, his forward down FOV is about the same. Again, you could argue that in the far future instruments will provide all this data, but in that case why have him exposed at all? Simply put, I'd prefer this model if the pods were under the line of the fuselage and in line with the pod. Having seen renders opf the ground attack ships, that's kinda what I'd expect of the interceptors. In fact, in all probability we'll simply swap with these models - these simply look and feel more like ground attack craft than interceptors.

Now that's not to say that these are not bad sculpts, by the way - as always, the execution of the designs and moulding is second-to-none - the pods in particular have some fabulous detail, and will really benefit from some nice painting.

The Heavy Interceptor, in stark contrast, is GREAT. It has a solid, purposeful design, looks Sorylian and has some great engineering features - like separated engine nacelles and the FOD guards on the intakes.There's also no discernable canopy, which further highlights the oddity of the pod racer design of the interceptor. 

casting on this model is also fabulous, again Spartan blow me away with how they cast items like this in a single piece and retain the complexity and detail of the designs - masterful!

Overall, the aerial helixes are again a somewhat mixed bag, though with 5/6 designs being absolutely top-notch that's not a bad win rate. The Sorylian pod racers are another "quirky" design that will be another marmite design choice that may put people off, though I think it's modular design and overall quality mean that it'll be easy to assemble into another, non-pod racer configuration. Spartan get it right more often than not, and their high standard of output has led us to expect an awful lot from them...we're lucky people really!

System Wars Part 4 - Commanders

In this final instalment of the System Wars review, I will cover the subject of the new Commanders for Firestorm Armada, both their rules, reasoning and the individuals themselves.

To start with, why have commanders in FA at all? Well, the FA universe has been developing in several ways over the past year or so, and with the development of Halo, Commanders became the subject of discussion for Firestorm too...Obviously they have a role to play in Halo, but that is a game designed with them in mind - could they be added to Firestorm in a way that was compatible with the existing mechanics of the game without feeling simply "bolted on" or unbalancing?

Well, the answers to these questions are of course, yes they can, and having them introduces another layer of tactical options for players, in a similar way to Hardpoints and Upgrades on ships. Now, Halo uses Command Dice in order to unlock special abilities, but an additional random element within the Firestorm universe was not viewed as either necessary nor desirable. Firestorm Commanders were thus developed completely separately from Halo commanders, as was the rest of the Halo ruleset, so whilst Halo was an initiator for the discussion, that's where the input ended.

One thing that was strongly desired was that these should be an optional add-on, and they should NOT be dominating in the game...I think everyone has seen the likes of Typhus or Marneus Calgar in 40k, strutting up and down almost every small skirmish force on both sides because they're so good (or at least they were when I played!). For me, special characters should bring something both positive and negative, so they remain a choice, rather than an auto-take. They should be interesting, rather than amazing!

So let's look at the mechanics of the Commanders and see how they work.

Firstly, there are some rules about adding a commander to your force - they take up a TAC slot, and can only be fielded for a force of the same race (no Sorylian commanders in Aquan forces, for example). As they represent your Fleet Admiral's commanding structure (i.e. their boss - they're not on the board), they grant effects usually without the Fleet Admiral being present (although that's not always the case). The effects they have are given in four broad areas - Expertise, Alliances, Fleet Build and Upgrades - these latter being optional (the first three are all compulsory changes). So right off the bat these guys are costing you something in terms of in-game flexibility.

Ok, given these generalities, let's look into individual commanders to see the implementation;

Guardian Shoal Assembler Ssirrin Tsalas

So Ssirrin sets the scene for us on the Commanders, with a nice piece of artwork of a new Aquan species (which I really like) and some accompanying background. After this are his (its?) adjustments to the standard rules.

Expertise: So this chap is a Planetfall specialist, so you get the option to add more Planetfall ships to your fleet using your existing fleet point allocation. This is pretty much self-balancing, since you're degrading your combat capability to potentially net battle log from Planetfall MAR ships landing on the objective, so it's potentially risky.

Alliances: This one is easy, since he has no special effects here

Fleet Build: Here you can exchange one frigate in a maxed out squadron with a standard cruiser. It has to take the Difficult Target MAR, which means its a more expensive squadron by some points, but adds quite a bit in terms of offensive power (plus some torpedoes and a few mines of course). It does yield an extra Battle Log when destroyed, however, so again you get extra utility at extra cost and risk - is it worth it? Well, every commander can choose if it is or not!

Upgrades: Here this card sets a trick that several of the commanders do, and that is to allow some utility at the cost of extra TAC slots. In this case you are able to reduce the retrieval cost of the +2 initiative TAC to 0...BUT that costs you 2 TAC slots....and given that the commander himself takes one it means you have to buy the Intel gathered card with battle log, and you are limited to only one other TAC (which you will also have to buy). Now, its a powerful ability, but thats a lot of tactical flexibility you're giving up for the chance to win initiative every turn...

So this is the general pattern of all the commanders - they can give you some powerful buffs in certain situations, but there is always a downside or a tactical impact to consider. Overall Ssirrin is a solid commander- he allows Aquand's to get the edge in activation dominance with his Upgrade, though that then restricts the fleets general TAC breadth pretty dramatically. Increasing the power of Tier 3 frigate squadrons is nice, but it makes fleets more expensive, and the Aquans have a lot of really solid choices already, so again this will be very dependent on individual player's styles - which is exactly as it should be, of course!

 Fleet Marshall, Gamma - Savar G. Bilitas

Expertise: This can add 2" to a ships move if they don't turn, which is useful for getting Planetfall ships down early or gaining some range from an enemy towards the end of the game. Not that useful in general for the Dindrenzi who typically want to maintain distance as long as possible, but it may have situational application

Alliances: Savar doesn't like the RSN (they are restricted and cost more in his fleet builds), which means his fleets get to take lots of other allies if they want, making him open up a host of fleet-building possibilities. The downside to this is that you lose access to the most powerful TAC available to the Dindrenzi, the Eye of Rense - not a problem anyway if you were going down the Alliance route, but it does hurt you in pure builds. Overall this means Alliances are the favoured choice here, meaning you can mitigate some of the Dindrenzis typical weak points with other races fleet ships, which is pretty nice - especially if you want a change from typical Dindrenzi/RSN builds

Fleet Build: Savar allows you to take the Legion at 800 points, and as we've already covered, the Legion is a brutal ship. You can also field multiple Assault Carriers at higher points, which with his Alliance abilities makes for some very interesting possibilities...Legion and Ootheca anyone? Unfortunately you get reduced access to Battleships, which are some of the Dindrenzi's strongest vessels, and this feels like a fair trade.

Upgrades: Savar's only upgrade is a pretty nice one - you get to use TACs when your Fleet Admiral is off the board. This has use both at lower point builds where you're putting your Admiral on a carrier or battlecruisers, for instance (useful as you can't take a Battleship) - meaning you can shunt them in and not worry about being able to play TACs when you need them. Another use is late game when your Admiral's ship has taken damage and you want to shunt them out - you still get access to your TACs afterwards. The Yang to this Ying is that you have to pay Battle Log points to play them when your admiral isn't on the board, and you don't get to retrieve them unless he's present - again, a pretty evenly balanced ability.

I really like "The Silent Savage", he looks like a thug but he's a quiet and clever tactician who plays it straight...very Dindrenzi! He's some nice tricks, which although apprently straightforward give him a great deal of flexibility...the devil, as they say, is in the detail.

Acquisition Director Olga Anasenko

With one of my favourite pieces of artwork for the commanders, next up is the cyber-granny from the Directorate!

Expertise: Directorate fleets already get a lot of tricks, and Olga's expertise is very situational, but basically makes it harder for Ambush fleets to surprise her fleets. Revealing Hidden set-up markers within 12"is a 50% boost to normal range, and means if a squadron is revealed involutarily, it is then going to get hammered by RB2 weapons - Directorate ships having turrets makes this almost certain. This means that players who know you are going to be using Olga are going to be more reluctant to use Ambush - meaning you're having an influence on fleet building even before the game starts, and making her very useful against Sorylian/Veydreth fleet builds.

Alliances: This is where I feel most people will see the utility in taking Olga for a spin - the ability to take the arch-rivals OSO & Works Raptor together in a fleet. They cost more if you want them to work together, but you can do it. Together these two have some really nasty combos.

Fleet Build: More Assault Cruisers! What's not to like? Well, loss of R&D ships, which some will not care about and others will hate. The Directorate is (as I mentioned before) a real "jack of all trades" fleet, with lots of tools available...restricting these will be unpopular with those who see utility in those tools. Facing Terrans, for instance, it's nice to have Turmoils which ignore their multiple layered shields...unfortunately Olga doesn't allow that option.

Upgrades: Here we have the first of the commanders with multiple Upgrades. First, she can reduce the effectiveness of deployed mines - useful against Aquan mine-heavy fleets and in Invasion mission 9 - Reinforcement. It costs Battle log to do this, but again its psychological effect on pre-game fleet building is valuable in itself. Secondly, Integration assault carriers can be configured as cyberwarfare vessels - giving you access to cyberware capacity that you no longer have in your R&D Cruisers. Not for everyone, but that's why it's an optional upgrade.

Amirah Vvivirrin Ith’ik’iss K’ssirr

The Relthoza are the next race to feature, with Vvivirrin K'ssirr.

Expertise: K'ssirr's expertise provides a cut-price corrosive element to Relthozan fleets, which will be welcomed by many...but of course this also limits choice, so it's something of a double edged sword.

Alliances: Like the Aquan commander, K'ssirr provides no special abilities here.

Fleet Build: Once more, as we see highlighted with several of the commanders, Planetfall ships are favoured in fleet building. Although the ability to field extra Planetfall ships might seem to make her an auto-take for invasion fleets, as these come at expense of your tier slots AND they lose Systems Network. So you might hesitate and have to think long and hard about exactly how you build your fleet before taking the plunge.

Upgrades: Once again we see two upgrades here - firstly Drone or Widow class frigates can choose Biohazard ammo, which most players will be very pleased with...even more so since as she forces Corrosive choices on other ships, they will be one of the main sources of getting Biohazard into your list.

Her second upgrade lowers the buyback cost of Repair Drones, which is very useful as the Relthoza have more wings available than any other fleet bar the Aquans, who they are on about equal footing on. This is tempered by both the reduction of available TACs, and also the fleet builds she favours, which tend to be lighter on wings than others.

Under-Tertiary Ganash Kragg

Ganash is probably my favourite piece of artwork from the commanders, just edging ahead of Olga.

Expertise: Ganash's attention to detail and planning make for a very interesting expertise, which shouldn't be underestimated - battles can swing on ships appearing exactly when you need them, and paying a single battlelog to ensure that squadron's arrival when you need it is pure gold.

Alliances: This is where Kragg shows some similarities to the Directorate....he doesn't like fish! Kragg is generally a friendly chap who can boost non-natural allies to 30% of your MFV, so long as they're not Aquan....he just doesn't DO Aquan (we hear you there, Kragg old buddy!)

Fleet Build: Now this is where things get really interesting - Kragg can enable you to take a full squadron of Battlecruisers at Patrol fleet level, or an extra squadron at other levels. Now, you lose a Battleship allocation, but as most Sorylian players consider the Falx a relatively weak battleship, that's not too much pain to bear. now, before you get too excited, at least one of those squadrons has to have had access to the Planetfall MAR - or in other words, currently they have to be Amentums. I don't think that's going to upset too many people, however, as that actually works in the Sorylians favour in invasion missions, and the Amentum is not at all a bad ship outside of them

Upgrades: The final cookie the Sorylians have in their already quite full basket is the ability to recycle the Thermal Controls TAC for free...it severely restricts other TAC access, but if your considering an assault build, this makes it better

Rear Admiral Tobias Armstrong

The Terrans round out the commanders in the System Wars supplement with Tobias Armstrong.

Expertise: This slot actually gives a big boost to Terran invasion fleets, since it allows them to fulfil a Tier slot requirement...something they can't normally do. That means in all probability that the Tier 2 requirement will have some assault cruisers in, allowing you to bulk up the Tier 1s and 3s....

Alliances: So Armstrong is a lizard lover - he allows his fleet commanders to field half of their MFV in Sorylian models, though they do lose access to the Terran TACs. You pay for this with access to Hawker, which is treated like any other ally with a 25% allocation, though you still get Terran TACs as normal.

Fleet Build: Did I mention you'd be taking Assault Cruisers? Why not Destroyers? Here's why...Tobias' fleets can take one less Destroyer squadron and one extra Assault cruiser squadron. As they're hard as nails, I don't think we'll hear too many complaints.

Upgrades: A slightly different TAC modification here, allowing you to extend the use of Cyclic Shielding to another squadron just like Drives to Maximum. It's slightly expensive in TAC restriction and its situational, but negating coherence effects can be crippling against some opponents.

For his second upgrade, did I talk about Assault Cruisers before? Well, now they can get Special Forces for an extra 15 points per squadron. Being an upgrade makes it optional if you don't have the points or want to spend them elsewhere, but it's a great option.

Altogether, you can build a fleet under Tobias which is very true to his fluff, aggressive and brutal, which I think is great.

Overall the Commanders open up another set of decisions to be made by the player, and a level of unpredictability in your opponent. They have simple mechanics and its great to see the background expanding with their introduction too.

System Wars Review Part 1 - Sorylian Ships

Back to the Alliance of Kurak now, and the Sorylians. The lizards differ from the other fleets in using Battelcruisers as their primary invasion ships, which ties in with their expertise in making excellent cruiser-sized and down ships, but not being quite so hot on the Large side of things. Splitting their forces into fast Battlecruisers seems like a logical and pragmatic step for them, so they lead their assaults with the Amentum.

The Amentum is very comparable to the Hasta, it has one less HP, an extra AP and PD, but otherwise it's the same. In second-line stats it has no WC like the Hasta does, but it packs an extra Shield - the highest baseline shield stat of ANY Sorylian ship - they're serious about protection on the Amentum! It's weapon is a standard Sorylian Fore-fixed scatter gun similar to the power of a heavy cruiser, but more of a gunship type profile. It also has the Reinforced (Port/Starboard) MAR, which is very Sorylian and helps longevity.

So far, the Amentum is looking OK, but then you see the big sell of this unit - the price. The Amentum starts at 85 points. Then you look at the Hardpoints and Upgrades, and things get nice very quickly! First, it gets to choose up to TWO Hardpoints, and it has a lot of options - it can get faster, turn better, get that 6th HP, more Planetfall or more AP - that's a lot of variation, making it a very flexible ship. The non-Planetfall version exchanges the MAR for a decent set of Fore Torpedoes.

As for Upgrades, this again makes the ship builds even more interesting - you can change those scatter weapons for Kinetics, which changes their threat profile a lot. You can also buy them Weapon Shielding, and add Bigger Batteries - a nice thing when they start with a base 6PD.

You also get accompaniment options for both Planetfall and non-Planetfall builds at lower points. Firstly, you can take a Katar, which both boosts the potential planetfall value, increases the offensive and defensive power of the squadron and thus makes it harder for the enemy to kill the squadron and swing Battlelog. The Falcata does a similar thing for a non-Planetfall build, especially with some weaving to join its broadsides and torpedoes with the Amentum. A non-Planetfall Katar also makes quite a boarding threat for either form too (remember non-Planetfall accompaniments don't come out of your extra Planetfall ship points...).

Anyway, I don't see Sorylian players complaining about the Amentum, it's a solid ship in many ways and for Heavy-Cruiser cost, it feels like a bargain. For a non-Planetfall force you could even take a base Amentum and reserve it for Shunt-deployment, and maximise your Tier2 and 3 build options. I get the feeling, however, that we'll be seeing quite a lot of the Amentum in fleets going forward!

The Katar is a pretty straightforward vessel - it's a Heavy Cruiser without the HP, CP and weapons. It has the same fixed fore as a Falcata, giving a squadron decent RB2 AD. Hardpoints are simple - make it a bit tougher, a bit faster, or a dedicated assault ship for non-Planetfall. With 5AP stock, it can provide an impressive 15AP assault, which with Thermal controls will hurt a lot - It feels very Sorylian!

The Corvus is another incredibly tough small, with cruiser-like stats and a shield. As it's Sorylian, it has a high movement and large squadron size, which makes it good for a swarm approach to invasion missions. As a non-Planetfall build it gains PD Barrage. Not particularly useful by itself, but with an extra PD, it becomes both an excellent SRS sweeper (something the Sorylians don't really have), but also an additional anti-small potential