Planetfall Aquan Recon Helix & Infantry upgrade Unboxing

As we know, the recon Helixes and Infantry upgrade boxes were released a little while ago, and as Oscar's birthday was just a couple of weeks ago it seemed Aquans were the right place to start with these.

Nothing unusual about the format - standard boxes, on the flip side showing the contents as painted studio models;

Opening these up we see the also standard bubble wrap bags;

...and there's a lot in there! Especially the infantry upgrade box, which has a surprisingly large amount of stuff!

So looking at these individually to get a better idea of the contents, let's take the recon helix.

This contains two of the new Aquan transports (no more having to hoof around the battlefield on webbed claws or stow away in the back of a heavy tank), four new light class tanks and a bunch of infantry - 12 bases worth. So let's take a look at these in detail.

The transport is a great model, very detailed and a great aesthetic - it gels with the rest of the Aquan army perfectly.

I actually love the underside - I really like the fact that Spartan model all these areas you will mostly never see! Next up is the new light tank, sporting Stingray missiles;

This is another nice little model, and it's quite a bit bigger than the existing Imzani;

It also comes with a new base, which has a slightly angled "plinth" so the tank sits slightly angled forward, which is another nice little touch

I won't cover the infantry here, we've done that before! However, then we come back to the Infantry upgrade box. Unpacking the small box actually yields a ton of stuff, and a lot of it in metal.

Let's start with the commander;

He (I suppose it could also be a she!) stands about 3mm taller than the regular infantry, but almost 2mm of that is crest! Anyway, he's a nice little dude, and will paint up well. Next is the gun platform;

This is a single piece casting, which is quite impressive, and comes in 2 flavours - the one above plus one with a prone Aquan. You could also use any spare metal infantry to vary this further if you wanted. Finally, it's the fish riders;

I really like these guys - and the detail is great - you get scaly fish skin on the flanks, lots of fins, bulgy eyes and a little lure on its head...what more could you want? - oh yeah, a dude on its back with a big ass gun. Love 'em!

So the verdict? Another great set of models to further support the rapidly expanding portfolio of Planetfall - a game not yet a year old, and yet with a vast array of models available for it already, with no sign the releases are slowing! If the quality of the Aquan set is anything to goo by, I'd heartily recommend it to anyone wondering if they'd take the plunge, regardless of your faction!

Next time...Dindrenzi!

Salute 2015

Well rather belatedly, here is some of my report from Salute. Oscar and I went as part of the Spartan Games crew, and unsurprisingly were running the Firestorm Armada table. We had the studio RotO ships, and it was packed all day, and we had a lot of people who were interested in FA or had v1 fleets but hadn't played for a long time etc - all of whom were looking at revisiting it. Oscar was an absolute star and many people commented on how engaged and enthusiastic he was - made me proud! :-)

We were next to the Planetfall table, and I got some nice "model view" shots (despite not having my proper camera with me, so apologies if image quality isn't quite up to normal standards!).

An Eris Squadron spots an Odin-class Leviathan through the cityscape of an alien world..

The Eris are not so easy to spot from the Leviathan's pov! The Terrans have also found the Dindrenzi leviathan...

Not a view I'd cherish from the driving seat of a heavy tank!

Also being shown were Dystopian Legions...

...and Dystopian Wars

But of course the star of Salute was Halo;

Spartan devoted two large tables to the game, and they were very busy all day (these taken before the main doors opened).

I didn't get a lot of time to look around the rest of the show, though I did a couple of circuits not that much caught my eye. One thing that was unavoidable and quite impressive was Hawk Wargames' large 10mm scale spaceship - this featured last year but it was wip at the time, now it was finished;

Was a very eye-catching centrepiece, although hearing interviews after Salute I don't think their "Orbital combat" game will be seeing the shelves until the end of this year or maybe 2016.

For me, though, the best model I saw at the show was on the Spartan Games stand, Halo table - the Covenant Assault Carrier. Of course I've seen this back at Spartan HQ but couldn't say anything about it then, but this is an almost 30cm long piece of beauty;

For me it stole the show, it's a simply gorgeous model and one that I'm sure Halo fans will buy whether they're into miniature games or not - it's the sort of thing you can have on your desk and look at all day long!

So that's just a quickie on Salute, see you again soon!

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!