Fanstorm Aramada - The Privateer Gunship

Hello people!

Well, Adepticon came and went and proved to be a bit of a damp squib as far as SG and Firestorm goes - they showed some stuff, but not everything that was planned or promised (nothing for you poor Planetfall gamers out there, for instance). The FA tournament had 17 players from a planned cap of 32, which also seems low, and one of our intrepid Brit gamers was pretty disappointed in the experience - which doesn't bode well after travelling thousands of miles for the event.

One of the highlights were the STL (which look great) but also the Corsairs, Pathogen and the first Leviathan. This should have been a bit of a coup for SG, but somehow it felt lacklustre and poorly executed. From all the ships that already have stats and no models, we also got a new ship - something SG often do - in this case a Gunship for the Corsairs. Now apart from the fact that the Corsairs don't really need a Gunship (the cruisers are flexible enough to take that kind of role if needed), myself and the TheoryMachine group (our independent name for members of the old FFG) thought it would be fun to stat this for v2.0 as we would have done previously.

So here's what we did;

Corsairs Privateer Gunship

Now this is the ship we would have created having been landed with the model shown - which is what happened with some ships, but in general we came up with ships factions needed, and then they'd be sculpted. So in the case of the Marauders, if we were looking for any gap to fill, it would probably have come in the form of a destroyer - something sneaky and able to infiltrate, allowing ambushes and traps to be set. We may well stat one up in the near future - who knows?

Anyway, the Privateer is limited in having a squadron size of 1-2. We generally tried to stay away from this, since the power fall-off and general vulnerability of such a squadron is higher than 3-4 ship squadrons. Needs must sometimes, however, and it was the case that production costs forced the hand or we were just presented with that as a non-negotiable. As such, we're used to working that way too.

So the Privateer is a beefed-up cruiser, trading some flexibility for greater weapon potency and longer-ranged strikes. Torpedoes take a hit but have the option for Torpedo Spook to make then more effective - either late game or against smalls (especially in reduced squadron sizes). You can build quite a bruiser of a ship - up to DR6/CR9 on the approach - but it gets slow and turns like a shopping cart. Still, seems appropriate for its designation and the other ships in the Corsairs arsenal - you can imagine this as the slow meat-shield bruiser at the back of the thug pack!

Anyway, enjoy the ship and we'll be in touch again soon :-)

Veydreth Unboxing

Well this is long overdue, but with work, moving, putting together the Podcast and general gaming, I have neglected these somewhat. I'll try to address this over the next couple of weeks.

So the first of these will be the Veydreth, and we'll start with the Patrol fleet

No surprises here - the usual sleeved box with full colour photography plus schematics and fluff

Inside we get the usual Spartan bubble bags protecting the resin, counters, bases and TACs

The most obvious ship in the box is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the Predator battleship - mostly because the thing is mammoth! It's a huge slab of resin that could almost be used as a physical weapon to beat someone with! That doesn't stop it from carrying the usual level of detail that Spartan consistently put into their models.

The model does require some minimal assembly as the engines are separate pieces, plus it requires the flight stand peg adaptor fitting into the base.

The other capital ships in the Patrol fleet box are a bit of a break from the norm, but similar to the Ba'kash box, in that they are the Destroyers. These are probably the biggest departure from their first metal iterations, and have a much larger, beefed up but also slightly generic look to them - they could easily be Terran ships. Now, fluff-wise, the Veydreth have been getting tech from Hawker Industries for a while, but I'd still have preferred to see something a little different here.

Last in the box are the Corvettes, which are both really nice stat-wise, and really nice models - being sufficiently unique and interesting to really set them apart. The downside is that they sort of highlight the blandness of the Destroyers somewhat.

Next up is the Cruiser box

As always, we have the overhead view, fluff and contents on the reverse of the glossy sleeve

Whilst not as full as the Patrol Fleet box, the one thing that stands out when you open the box here are the number of components you are getting!

The cruisers each have 9 parts - a central hull, flight peg adaptor, nose, three engine and three "spikes". Four of these pieces per cruiser have alternatives - the three engine and nose pieces. This allows you to build both regular and assault versions of the ships.

Here's the common hull section, showing the detail and triangular cross-section geometry.

The last of the Veydreth boxes today are the Gunships

Each ship has almost as many components as the cruisers - eight in all this time, but there are no options and the hull section is dominant - the add-ons being very much just that.

The hull is a great casting, complex and detailed but still holding a general design feel very similar to that of the original hybrid resin and metal castings (which looked like one of these after a starvation diet!)

While I said there was no option in the gunships, as the engine drop-ons are hexagonal in outline you can actually put these on in different orientations, which gives a nod back to the V1 designs where the engines could be put in different positions as though they were vectoring in flight.

Overall the Veydreth releases are really good - in particular the Battleship and Cruisers stand out, and the little Corvettes are gorgeous. They are a brutal force to face, and they look appropriately imposing when on the table.

Return of the Overseers Unboxing

Hot off the press - here it is!

Oh Yes, the Return of the Overseers is here! Huzzah! As you can see, the box is exactly as would be expected from Spartan, a lovely full-colour card sleeve wrap around a sturdy corrugated card box to protect all the resin goodness...as you've probably all already seen, this one has some great artwork of the battle above Proteus Prime on the front, and a shot of those gorgeous studio models and contents on the back. So, without further ado, let's open up the box;

Yes, it is suitable stuffed with resin, as we also expect from Spartan these days - you can certainly see where your money is going with these sets.

On the left we've a lock-bag with rulebook, scenario book, token sheets, TACs and the acrylic for the "Dimensional Gate". Then we have the models, and on the lower right another smaller lock-bag with the SRS tokens, small pieces and micro dice (I haven't bothered with the bag with the bases in - no one get's excited about acrylic bases!). Now let's get that resin (all protected in the usual bubble-wrapped bags that have become standard) out and on the table.

OK, that's a lot of resin! Those of you familiar with the Aquans and Directorate will be able to judge sizes from the frigates in the centre here. Let's just say the Oannes and Anarchist are HUGE! What's also surprisingly large are the parts for the Dimensional Gate.

The two other new things for us are the scenario book and the soft-backed "man bag" sized rulebook. I must say this is a very welcome addition, and complements the full-size hardback extremely well. Lugging the hardback around to games is a bit of a chore, so this is great (but I wouldn't want to part with my hardback either).

Now, back to the models, and as I'm a Fenian man, I'm going to start with the loveliness that is the Anarchist class battleship:

Now that's a sexy piece of resin. instantly recognisable as a Directorate ship, but also noticeably different - it looks more advanced, and the large circular depression on top is covered in detail for the cyberwarfare focussing array to cover. What really surprised me is...

It's RESIN! In fact, EVERYTHING in this set is resin, there's not a spot of pewter to be found. I was quite dumbfounded, I'd expected this piece to be metal.

Looks good when its in place too. Cyberwarfare turret...oh yes, come to me my little fishes....

Underneath the Anarchist has the distinctive Directorate turrets, laid out in distinct broadsides. The front underside armour makes her look sleek and deadly, and the fore fixed weapons of the Eliminator are replaced by vertical wing bays...she's a truly multi-purpose ship.

Moving onto the mediums, these are very clever models, utilising common side pieces around a dedicated central section for the Annihilation gunship and Turmoil R&D Cruiser. Each of these has positive and negative locking areas for a positive fit (although there is a little play here, so be careful when you're making them or you might get a model that looks a little "off").

Anyway, the pieces are very well cast and carry some eye-waveringly precise and subtle detailing as can be seen (especially if you've good eyes!).

Next up is the Turmoil R&D cruiser, one of my personal favourites of this set. Here is the central core of the Compressor Beam weapon that the Directorate black project works have been working so hard on:

Again you can see the negative depressions for the positive key sections on the side parts to go into. As the core here is triangular, they give the Turmoil a very distinctive v-shaped profile despite using the same side parts - as I said, very clever.

Here's the underside of the section, showing the area for the underslung gunrack:

And here is the detail on the emitter end of the Compressor Beam - stunning detail level, which is really going to benefit from good painting:

The set uses the existing frigates, which are probably my favourite frigate design, but as they're not new I'm not going to spend any time on them here (lovely though they are). Same goes for the Aquans, so I'll move straight to the new Heavy Carrier, the Oannes:

The Oannes is HUGE - or at least that's the impression she gives. Actually, she weighs 67g to the Anarchists 86g, so she is substantially smaller in displacement, but she doesn't seem that way! In fact, she's scalloped underneath, so she doesn't have that clamshell bulk of the Directorate.

Hopefully this picture shows that - in fact the ship gives a lovely effect of being swift and elegant despite her seemingly huge size. Here's a straight down shot of her underside:

So she's more like a Turbot than a Tuna! Once again though, Spartan have excelled themselves in making this ship, with amazing detail and undercuts I just wouldn't have thought possible in a two-part mould. Here's the front of the ship and that iris-hanger opening (plus a rather fearsome array of forward-facing laser blisters):

The Aquans don't just get this new monster carrier, however, but a gunship and heavy cruiser too. Both of these utilise the existing hull of the standard Isonade and Namazu cruisers, but with different add-ons. First is the Shiva gunship:

This starts with a funny little resin "beak", onto which you add two panel sections:

These look complex but actually I think they're going to be quite easy to put together. We shall see! Next up is the Sulis, the Heavy Cruiser which gives a very similar ability to Armada Aquans as their crystal formations do in Planetfall:

The Sulis add-on is really a huge cruiser body onto which the normal hull is an add-on, rather than vice-versa! Again, it's an incredible piece of casting - how Spartan consistently turn out models like this from their moulds is beyond me! Here's another shot showing the part that the hull attaches to (and a whole load of undercuts etc that confound my mind in terms of mould-casting!):

Now with the two factions dealt with, we can move onto the Overseer models. The first is the anathema Probe, a simple three-part model with features a central core and two "wing" add-ons. The detail on the little central component, however, is unreal:

It's lovely! The two "wing" add-ons then attach to the central rim bit.

Next up is the Dimensional Gate, which turns out to be enormous! It consists of five pieces -a central core:

Two side stabilisers:

...and two long pieces:

As you can see here, these again have fabulous detail on them, allowing those of us with even basic dry brushing skills to make them look great. There's another great thing about these though - all have been made so they sit on the table unaided;

See that little ring of dots? They act as a base for the central section without taking away from the form of the piece. Likewise the other sections both have "feet";

These are incorporated seamlessly into the designs, and make them sit solidly on the table:

This means the whole gate can be constructed and assembled on the table without the need to glue it together - making it easy to store and transport - that's in stark contrast to the Battle for Valhalla set with the fragile legs of the Valhalla Station. The station looked great, but it was a nightmare to move without the possibility of breaking one or more legs. The Dimensional Gate is entirely different:

It's a really nice thing to see that Spartan have created a (very large!) scenario piece that looks great and is also very practical - well done chaps!

Ok, excitement over the resin done, next I had a look at the new size rulebook, which is exactly the same as the hardback, but smaller and more convenient for club gaming, and also has some really nice maps of the Firestorm Galaxy and Storm Zone in the back, something we've not seen for quite some time. 

Next it's the Scenario book, which features that lovely artwork:

Inside you get contents, a nice piece of fluff to tie into and build on that in the Planetfall Battle for Proteus Prime book, and then 7 missions which demonstrate the rules of Firestorm incrementally for new players. This starts with a simple frigate duel in Scenario 1;

To a full-on boxed set slugfest in Scenarios 6 & 7 (where the overseers also make an appearance);

This is very much in the same vein as the Battle for Valhalla booklet, and I still think its an ideal way to bring players into any new game. Of course existing players don't have to do this, but I'll think they'll find them fun anyway, especially the later missions. After the missions, there's an Epilogue, and then you're into the stats for the different models, starting with the extremely powerful Overseers ("Masters of the Dimensions", as they're quoted as being!).

After this you have stats for the new Directorate and Aquan ships, including descriptions of the new MARs (with an example for the new "Energy Locus" of the Aquans), and then standard descriptions of the other Mars used by ships in the book so you don't have to reference the rulebook if you're in a hurry.

So, there you have it - The Return of the Overseers in all its glory - it's a hell of a starter set, and I think anyone thinking of or who has already taken the plunge and ordered it will not be disappointed. It feels like an extremely well-polished and professionally produced product, the models are stupendous (and well worth the retail price alone), the man-bag size rulebook is really handy, and the scenario book adds depth to the storyline as well as introducing new players into the Firestorm game in an easy and logical fashion.

I know I'm horribly biased in this, but it's a really excellent product, and I can't recommend it highly enough..

Return of the Overseers - 10/10!