Bolt Action British Airborne
One of the latest kits and the youngest of the paratrooper plastic kits, are the British Airborne. A must for this week's series of reviews around the Operation Market Garden along with yesterday's US Airborne kit.
The British airborne is one of the many special combat divisions of the commonwealth's armed forces. They were founded in 1941, roughly a year earlier than their US American counterpart, and the 1st Airborne Division was send to North Africa for Operation Torch. But this kit covers the Red Devils in their North Western European gear, making them the best fit for the mid to late war operations of Pegasus Bridge, Operation Market Garden and the late fights crossing the Rhine / Operation Varsity, the largest airborne operation in history. In cinema the British paratroopers are mostly known from A bridge too far.
Bolt Action US Airborne
After we started the themed week with the supplement Campaign Market Garden, it is time to introduce and cover the matching Airborne units in a review - starting with the US Airborne. They were the second paratrooper unit released in plastic after the German Fallschirmjäger.
The US Airborne was founded more or less in 1942, when the 82nd Infantry Division was renamed 82nd Airborne Division, regrouped and assigned a new task, Operation Husky, the airborne landing in Sicily, Italy. The 82nd Airborne are along with the 101st Airborne Division the only airborne division of the American forces, and both took part in Operation Overlord (D-Day / Landing in the Normandy) and Operation Market Garden. US Airborne soldiers were heroically represented in movies like Band of Brothers or Saving Private Ryan.
Bolt Action Campaign Market Garden
After covering the battles in the Pacific, the Eastern front and the Ardennes, the next Bolt Action supplement moves to North Western Europe with Campaign Market Garden. An instead of whole years of war, this battle has its eye on very intense 9 days in late September '44.
This campaign supplement covers the story of Operation Market Garden, the unsuccessful allied military attempt to take 9 bridges along the Dutch-German border. The military operations between September 17th and 25th are covered on 116 pages. Warlord Games charges the usual 19.99 GBP or 30 USD for the book, which is roughly 25 EUR. I've covered both the final cover (left) and the early cover (right) in the first row of pictures. We've often seen changes in the artwork between the first announcement and later publication; it was similar with The Road to Berlin and Campaign New Guinea.
Warhammer 40.000 Killzone: Sector Mechanicus
As supplements for the Kill Team Starter kit Games Workshop released a series of specific Killzone Environments. These kits are bundles of already available terrain kits with added content for the Kill Team rule set at greatly reduced price.
In this unboxing and build review, I continue with the terrain kits after the Sector Imperialis Basilicanum and move forward to the Killzone: Sector Mechanicus.
For 65 EUR we receive a huge and heavy box, with a lot (and I mean it, a lot!) of sprues. I had to add the comparison with the Primaris Space Marine so you get a feeling for that huge stack of frames you get for that money. But that is not all, as mentioned above, this is not simply a discounted terrain bundle, this is a Kill Team Killzone supplement, covering a double sided thick card board gaming mat and additional gaming material, like an environment chart for the Sector Mechanicus, 4 new scenarios using the terrain from this kit and 12 new tactic cards.
Warlord Games – Pike & Shotte Landsknecht with Zweihänders
There is a third plastic kit for the Landsknechts available, or at least hybrid kit - the Landsknecht with Zweihänders. Along with the Pikemen and the Missile Troops, there are now plastic Doppelsöldner and soldiers with metal halberds around.
Same as in the Missile Troop review - I've covered the background of this range and the change from Pro Gloria to Warlord Games, along with the Indiegogo campaign in the Landsknecht Pikemen review, I won't bring that up again, but will give a brief introduction on the Landsknechts themselves.
Warlord Games – Pike & Shotte Landsknecht Missile Troops
In addition to the Landsknecht Pikemen, that were released last year, Warlord Games added two further kits based the puffy-sleeved soldiers to the Pike & Shotte range. I'll cover both boxed sets on here this week, beginning with the review of the Landsknecht Missile Troops.
As I've covered the background of this range and the change from Pro Gloria to Warlord Games, along with the Indiegogo campaign in the Landsknecht Pikemen review, I won't bring that up again, but will give a brief introduction on the Landsknechts themselves.
The Landsknecht were dominantly German mercenaries, instigated by the Holy Roman Empire under Maximillian I, but fought for other European rulers as well. They were involved in battles in the 15th and 16th century, in wars like the Italian Wars. The idea of the landsknecht was to have an armed service similar to the Swiss mercenary pikemen. As they were a mercenary force and the orders by Maximillian were to give the troops the freedom to wear what they wanted, it resulted in very colourful bright colours, with slashed sleeves and plumes. The fancier, the better.
Warhammer 40.000 Sector Imperialis Basilicanum
In this really long and big review - we're talking 118 pictures (usually only event coverage reaches those numbers) - I want to share with you my building of the Sector Imperialis Basilicanum that was released along the Warhammer 40.000 Kill Team release in July 2018.
Usually Games Workshop releases the terrain novelties around Christmas, as they speak to a broad audience of players, not only those who play specific armies. But this extensive range accompanies the entry level skirmish set up of Kill Team in the World of Warhammer 40.000. There are different sizes of Sector Imperialis Ruins available, the small Ruins set for 30 EUR, the Sector Administratum for 40 EUR, the larger Sanctum for 60 EUR and the biggest kit of the range, the Sector Imperialis Basilicanum for 80 EUR that we're going to unbox and build today.
The Legend of Dead Man’s Hand
The original version of The Dead Man's Hand was written by Great Escape Games (2013) and was later expanded by the french Studio Tomahawk with additional, optional rules. The present review is the German version of the Dead Man's Hand rules, which is distributed in Germany by Stronghold Terrain. Previous rule enhancements are included in the 94-page book and once again arranged to complement rules and characters.
What is it about?
Dead Man's Hand puts great importance in capturing the atmosphere of the 1960s and '70s spaghetti western movies. In several mini-campaigns or in free scenarios, ten different gangs compete in skirmish struggles.
The story of the fictional Wild West town of Dead Man's Hand begins in 1853 Arizona and continues sporadic chunks of story until about 1870. How the city got its name remains uncertain over the path of the book, although there are some legends about it. Hence the name of the game.
Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire – Spiteclaw’s Swarm
The matching counterparts to the Duardins of The Chosen Axes are the Skaven of Spiteclaw's Swarm. The Skaven, almost human sized rat-men, are one of the few (if not the only) faction that kept their name during The End Times and the introduction of Age of Sigmar. As the "existence" of these giant rats is still argued about in the lore (in the records of the human realms the sights of Skaven is continouisly dismissed and the people who saw them simply labelled as insane), they live in the ground, in dens and caves, and sometimes these large underground settlements cross the cities, deep in the mountains of the dwarfs / Duardin, making the two a fitting bundle for this release of Shadespire.
The warband expansion of Spiteclaw's Swarm consists of 4 Skaven clan rats and Skritch Spiteclaw himself. It is set at a price tag of 22.50 EUR and contains two pre-coloured sprues in brown, a card deck and brief instructions on the assembly.
The card deck covers 65 cards, 5 cards for the warband itself, 29 are unique cards for the Orruk warband and 31 universal cards (split across objectives, upgrades and ploys) to be used with any Warhammer Underworlds warband.
Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire – The Chosen Axes
The next double of the Shadespire warband extensions, after the Sepulchral Guard and Ironskulls's Boyz, will be The Chosen Axes and Spikeclaw's Swarm, beginning with the Fyreslayers.
The Fyreslayers are part of the Duardin race and are searching for the Ur-Gold, the remains of their god Grimnir. Grimnir fell when he fought Vulcatrix, the mother of Salamanders, and burst into the metallic shards of Ur-Gold. The Ur-Gold is accepted by the Fyreslayers as payment for their mercenary duty (they will fight against and alongside anyone as long as the payment fits) and can be forged by the Runemasters into mighty runes. As such even the rumours of Ur-Gold in the mirrored city is motivation enough for any Fyreslayer to go on this journey.
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