This review will not include any in depth game play details as I've yet to play a game. I have read the rule book though and from that, I can say I am excited to try out the rules set and see how it plays in practice.
This game has been created by Mike McVey's "Studio McVey" and publicised and fabricated by Coolminiornot. Apparently it's been Mike's baby for a long time and only this year has he been ready to turn his dream creation into a reality. Kickstarter donations made it the highest earning board game project on the website until that date, beating the prior leader, Zombiecide by quite a bit. (This total has since been eclipsed by the Kingdom Death: Monster board game campaign.)
The Sedition Wars setting so far has introduced three factions - the Corporation backed "Vanguard", an elite fighting force with all the gizmo's and tech that corporate money can supply - the "Firebrand", a revolutionary organisation opposed to the current form of government and enemies of the Vanguard - and the "Strain", not necessarily a "faction" per the definition of the word, but counts as one anyway. The Strain is a nano-virus that can infect both organic material and technological devices and change them into space zombies or worse!
Battle for Alabaster includes rules and miniatures for just the Vanguard forces and the Strain; the Firebrand are reported to be included in their first expansion to this game, Arms of Sorrow along with some sort of Mercenary faction. So space troopers versus space zombie-monsters!
So first off, for pledging at the Biohazard level, you not only got a copy of the game, but also a limited edition resin figure of the Vanguard team commander, Captain Kara Black, a bad arse blond warrior woman,
A lithograph of the box art personally signed by Mike McVey himself and small patch of the vanguard emblem,
And a set of their Kickstarter custom dice. (I bought an extra set.) I really like the fonts used for the numbers on these.
Each miniature comes with it's own full colour two-sided stat-card which are about normal playing card size and will need some sort of clear protector as health points are kept track of directly on them.
Each Miniature also comes with a setting designed custom base. The large bases only come in one design, but the small come in 6 and I like them all. Crisp sculpts and varied enough to keep the look fresh.
The bases have pegs for both the infection and shield markers and are a nice snug fit so shouldn't fall apart during the game. Red for Infected - you can be infected multiple times - and blue for shield.
On to the models though! Forgive the fact that I've got no pics of assembled examples, I haven't had time to get on to that just yet.
Here's the basic level Strain zombies and Vanguard troopers.
Nice amount of variation in sculpts and the detail is crisp and well done considering these are board game miniatures.
The Vanguard have hero models too and they are pretty cool - heavy weapons expert, captain, sniper and medic. I love the sculpts. There's also a floating Tank Drone that is pretty cool looking too.
Whereas the Strain get more advanced versions that the lower level zombies can morph into during game.
The Strain also have personalities to use, though I think they are mission specific until you decide to play outside of the pre-written campaign. These things are large and include my favourite sculpt in the box, the Grendlr.
Lastly, for pledging during the Kickstarter campaign at the level I did, I got a bunch of extra figs included in a separate box so I can run bigger games. All with bases and their own stat cards.
And that's it. I think it's going to be a good game. I've tried not to read much about the game play online so I can go into it with an objective attitude and I'll maybe post up later what I think of the game play then. I am really excited for March to come around so all the Kickstarter exclusive miniatures can arrive as there's some REALLY cool stuff to come. Cheers.
This looks ace.
ReplyDeleteI was tempted to stump up some hard-earned for this, but for some reason decided against it. Fool that I am.
This does look fun. I'm hoping someone in my gaming group picked this up and I can sneak a game.
ReplyDeleteLook forward to see how you paint this stuff up too.
@ Tony - Well, it should be on the shelves at a local games store after March I think, so you could still be able to play. Or, if yer ever in the area, yer welcome to hit me up and I'll host a game or two! ;)
ReplyDelete@ Levitas - I hope so too. Would like to hear your take on the game. As for painting.... Not so sure I'll paint up much more than one each of the sculpts, just to have painted versions. Far too many figs int he box and far too many other projects to paint them all!