Thursday 28 February 2013

Tactics Documents for the new Dystopian Legions Releases


Spartan Games have recently posted some downloadable Tactic Documents for the latest Dystopian Legions releases in their blog.
You can find the original post >HERE< and I have reposted the article below.

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Know Your Tactics: February

Written by Spartan Games | Tags:
Now available for download are a selection of tactical articles, each detailing how to make the most out of our recently released models for Dystopian Legions.
These describe the strengths and potential weaknesses of each model, along with the battlefield role they are best suited to, and how they can compliment your existing force.
They also give a guide on how to make successful use of the a model’s special abilities, unusual weapons and unique Game Cards.

Empire of the Blazing Sun HMG
Empire of the Blazing Sun HMG
Note: If you are using Google Chrome, you will need to Right Click > Save Link As to save the file locally for viewing.

Kingdom of Britannia Sky Hussar Section [PDF, 2MB]
  Kingdom of Britannia HMG [PDF, 2MB]
  Prussian Empire Teutonic Knight Section [PDF, 2MB]
  Prussian Empire HMG [PDF, 2MB]
  Federated States of America Wilderness Section [PDF, 2MB]
  Federated States of America HMG Section [PDF, 2MB]
  Empire of the Blazing Sun Shinobi Section [PDF, 2MB]
  Empire of the Blazing Sun HMG [PDF, 2MB]

Enjoy the articles! The next ‘Know Your Tactics’ blog will be coming in March and will detail the mighty Armoured Personnel Carriers.

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Some awesome stuff in there.
What do you think of them?

Hendybadger awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

Wednesday 27 February 2013

Dystopian Legions Battlefield Objectives


Whilst some battles may be fought simply to inflict as many casualties as possible, many more are struggles over vital Objectives. Each of these Objectives are stunningly detailed markers, adding great feel and flavour to a battle. With these markers, a narrative theme to a game will naturally emerge. Now your Britannian Line Infantry can clash with Blazing Sun Ashigaru over Sturginium Cannisters and Ammo Crates, or your Teutonic Knights can defend Fuel Caches and Fallen Flags from fast moving Treadbikes.

The final release in this wave of Dystopian Legions goodies from Spartan Game is something a bit different.
Not tied to any Nation, but usable by all.

Battlefield Objectives

Even though this isn't a Nation release, the packaging is just as good. The from has a lovely colour render of one of the Objectives and lets you know what is in the box. The back has high quality renders direct from the models that show off all the little details and even tells you a little more about them.

Inside the box you will find EIGHT extremely highly details resin Objectives and a DL Collectors card.
I will split them into two sets, the larger and smaller ones, for a closer look but first there is something that really surprised me when I opened the box.


They are HUGE! When I first spotted the official picture of them I thought they were on 30mm bases. But no. All of them are 50MM bases!
Behind is 30mm, 40mm and bike bases to show how big the Objectives really are.

Back - Element 270 canisters and Fuel dump
Front - Electric generators and 'crazy' steampunk contraption?

The detail on these marker is fantastic. The cogs on the generators have several layers of detail inside them and every single thing is very sharp and crisp. They are a painters dream that will bring any game or battlefield to life. Around the edges of the items on them is a sort of blasted ground good that could tie into and gameboard quite easily
The edges of the bases might need a quick file to clean them up but the bottoms are perfectly flat.

Back - Ammo dump and Underground access
Front - Fallen flag and Officers briefcase

These four might be smaller but that doesn't mean they aren't as good as the first four. The detail is still very good and sharp and the sculpting and design is wonderful.
The one that really stood out for me in the whole box was the Officers Briefcase. On the top is an unfolded map but tucked away under that is a revolver and a small compass that even has tiny direction markings on it.

Price - These are in the Spartan Games store and several local and online stores like Troll Trader and Wayland Games (links on the right>)
At TT the box will set you back £16.20. That works out to just over £2 a base. I think its a reasonable price.
Not a 'good' price and not a 'bad' price. Reasonable. 

Overall - I do like these Objectives. The sculpts and details are very impressive and they are something you will use in almost every game. Not only Dystopian Legions either, they would fit well in several games.

8 out of 10 Badger Points!

Do you like them?

Well, that's everything from this wave of Dystopian Legions. Which are your favourites of the lot?
Keep an eye on here and the Spartan Games site for more on Dystopian Legions including the soon to be release APCS!

Hendybadger awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

Tuesday 26 February 2013

Dystopian Legions FSA Wilderness + HMG Sections


The final Nation I will be looking at this week is the Federated States of America (FSA).
The new release wave for Dystopian Legions from Spartan Games gives them a tactical Wilderness Section and a dangerous looking Heavy Machine Gun

Wilderness Veteran Section
Dangerous and versatile, the Scouts and Buffalo Hunters are masters of battlefield control. Each of these stunning models is entirely unique and loaded with personality. The cautious tracker, the wild warrior and the two experienced hunters are almost character pieces in their own right. Not forgetting of course the brand new Hunting Wolves, complete with ammo drums and snarling fangs and the intricately detail Bear Trap Markers


The packaging for the FSA Wilderness Section keeps to Spartans high standards. Appealing looking boxes that show you and tell you everything you need to know.
The front tells you exactly what you get and shows full colour renders of a Buffalo Hunter and a Timber Wolf. The back has some detail about the section and renders taken directly from all of the models so you can see every little bit of detail.
The Wilderness Section consists of 2 sniper Buffalo Hunters, 2 trapper Scouts and 2 dangerous Timber Wolves. It also includes 4 Bear Trap markers.
They are fairly fast and mobile with the ability to adapt to many different roles on the battlefield.
The full rules can be found in the Downloads area of the Spartan Games site


In the box you will find 6 metal minis with bases (2 of each type), 4 resin trap markers, 2 blank Activation Cards, 1 Game Card and a DL Collectors card.
Lets take a look at the 4 different types of model separately.


First up are the Bear Traps. These are single piece resin bases with a HUGE amount of detail on.
You can see in the pictures above that every single part of the workings have sharp and clean detailing.
The edges of the bases do have a little extra resin in places which can be removed easily with a file or hobby knife.


The Buffalo Hunters come with 2 very different sculpts. Both are single piece models that stand out from your basic Sections but still keep the same feel.
Loads of detail on them. The clothes, weapons and fur give you lots of different textures to play about with when painting. The casts are quite clean as well. There are some small vents where the air escapes the mould that need to be clipped off but the edges of the models barely have any mould lines at all.
A nice couple of minis in my opinion.


The Timber Wolves are the new additions to the Section they were not in the FSA Starter.
I will admit I got the legs the wrong way around in these pictures, didn't notice until I went to glue them together.
The fur and the ammo canisters together give a very individual look to these models compared to others on the market while tying them into the Section at the same time.
The poses are nice but the casts on these 2 were not the best. The legs have tabs over a bit of the fur that need removing very carefully or it leaves a flat area and the wolf on the left has a thick mould line all the way around that looks like the mould was out of line ever so slightly. I hope this was just bad luck on my part though and others are much cleaner.


The 2 Scouts are the same as the models in the Starter. Very impressive minis though. The poses are dynamic and the sense of movement in the left Scout is just wonderful while the right Scout looks like he is doing exactly that, scouting. I think these are my favourite model in the box.
They have separate arms and a gun that need a little cleaning up with vents and tabs but the main bodies are very clean casts packed full of detail.

Lets put these together.....


The Buffalo Hunters and Traps were simple being single pieces. The Wolves legs fit nicely (when you have them on the correct models) giving them good poses that are easy to base. The front leg on one has a small gap around the edge that will need filling before you paint them.
Although the Scouts look nice, they were not easy to build. The poses mean they really need pinning to the bases and the arms attach at very small points. Pin them or they WILL get knocked off. I am already speaking from experience.

Price - The Wilderness Section can be bought from the Spartan Games store or local and online retailers like Wayland Games and Troll Trader (links to the right>)
From TT the box costs £17.10. I would work that out to around £2.50 a model plus the resin markers. Good price in my opinion.

Overall - The Wilderness Section looks nice, very nice in fact. The building issues have put me off of them a little bit though. Pinning arms that small is not easy and having to sculpt fur is something many people cant do.
Taking everything into account I will give this box

6 out of 10 Badger Points


The Infantry get some very shooty support in this wave in the form of the
Heavy Machine Gun Team
In a military filled with crank drive machine guns of all shapes and sizes, perhaps the most widespread,  and widely feared are the .50 Gatling Guns used by the Federal Infantry's Heavy Machine Gun Teams. This impressively elaborate model perfectly suits the look and feel of the Federal Infantry. On the battlefield these .50 Gatling Guns are a deadly supplement to a force. Able to provide punishing covering fire whilst the F.I.s bring their carbines to bear, FSA commanders will find this support invaluable


Just because this is a small box does not mean Spartan drop the packaging standards at all.
The front tells you what is inside without having to guess and has a colour render of the HMG while the back tells you a little about the weapon with renders directly from the models to show all of the detail.
The box does say Section AND Section Upgrade. This is because the HMG team can be used in 2 different way.
The first way gives you the option of adding 1 team to an Infantry Section by upgrading 2 troops instead of having a Light Machine Gun. Perfect for a Section that wants to hang back in a defensive position.
If you want your troops storming ahead I would suggest going for option 2.
You can instead take 1-3 HMG teams as a Battalion Support Section and have them on their own. With a good range and lots of attack dice vs Infantry they can cover the rest of your army and thin out the enemy.
The full rules can be found in the Downloads area of the Spartan Games site


In the box you get 2 crew members and a multi part HMG all in metal. You also have 2 bases, a blank Activation Card and a nice resin ammo box.
I will cover the models for the crew and the weapon separately before building.


The Gunner on the left comes with separate hands. One holding a handle and the other holding a crank.
The Loader on the right is a single piece model ready to insert more ammo clips. Both are carrying more ammo clips on their backs. Nice models with a lot of detail and good poses.The casts are very clean with hardly any vents or mould lines.


The HMG comes in a lot of bits! 2 parts for the tripod, 2 tubes, a generator?, the main gun and 2 ammo clips.
These parts do have a few vents and tabs on them and a couple of little mould lines but they are easy and quick to remove. The details are really nice and the sculpt is impressive. Not easy to see until it is all together though.

Glue time......


The Loader was fairly easy to base. Needed to lean on something while it dried though. The HMG was a different matter.
Sorry Spartan but this thing was an absolute pain in the *** to build! The tripod needed to be bent a little ad the feet didn't all sit flat. The ammo feeds are as straight as I could get them after several tries but have a quite small contact point. If I built another one I would pin them.
The gunner had to be moved a little so his hands lined up straight with the gun. Then there was the tubes! Grr!
I spent ages trying to bend the tubes in the right way to meet the angled joined under the gun barrels and still line up with the 2 holes on the generator piece. In the end they got extra glue and just lined up 'roughly' where they should be instead of in all the correct holes like it is on the back of the box.
I did notice something interesting afterwards though. In the official Spartan picture, they didn't have the tubes in the right places either! They just stick out to the side!

Price - You can get the HMG team from the Spartan Games store or from local and online retailers like Troll Trader and Wayland Games.
From TT the team costs £8.10. Not a bad price for a big metal weapon and 2 models.

Overall - The HMG team looks nice but was so much trouble to put together I ended up getting annoyed and not liking it at all.
Sorry again Spartan but this model gets a total of 
4 out of 10 Badger Points!

What are your thoughts on the FSA releases?

Tomorrow we leave the Nations and take a look at the Battlefield Objectives

Hendybadger awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!


Monday 25 February 2013

Dystopian Legions EBS Shinobi + HMG Sections


The Empire of the Blazing Sun (EBS) are not forgotten in the new Dystopian Legions release from Spartan Games.
The have a devastating Heavy Machine Gun and deadly Shinobi Ninjas! Both capable of taking on any and all foes.

Shinobi Veteran Section
The deadly Shinobi bring stealth, misdirection and an arsenal of keen blades to the Blazing Sun forces. Their masks and shaded goggles emphasis their role as infiltration experts, while their assorted weapons look almost too sharp to touch! Now the team is joined by the lethal Shinobi Kyudoka, armed with an enhanced 'Yumi' or bow. Able to aid her comrades across impenetrable Terrain with her grapple, or pick off an exposed enemy with a well placed arrow, the assassins are more dangerous than ever.


As with the other Dystopian Legions (DL) releases the Shinobi packaging is very nice. The front tells you exactly what you need to know and shows a full colour render of the Kyudoka leader.
The back has renders of all 4 models taken directly from the models themselves so you can see all of the fine detail without being distracted by professional paint jobs. There is also a little bit of background on the Section. One main item is not shown though!
In the game these Shinobi are full a Veteran Section that you don not want to cross in close combat. Massive Melee Dice, stealth and smoke pellets mean they are the masters of combat. Shuriken also give them a ranged attack. The Kyudoka is a new model compared to the starter box and is armed with a bow. This gives her a much better ranged attack and gives the Section the chance to use the Grapple MAR (special rule). This means they can pass over almost any terrain in the way.
The full rules can be found in the Downloads area of the Spartan Games website


Inside the box you get 4 metal models with 40mm bases, 2 blank Activation Cards, 1 Game Card, a smoke template and a DL Collectors card.
Below I will take a look at the models a little closer.


I item not shown on the box is a HUGE Smoke template on a stand. The model in front is a 35mm mini on a 40mm base so you can see how big it really is.
In the official picture (top of page) it looks like it is semi transparent plastic but the cloud is actually clear plastic with a white backing. This means they when you insert it into the base you need to be careful not to pull the backing off. I think this is a nice addition though as they all have Smoke Pellets.
Now for the reason you are reading this post. Steampunk Ninjas!


On the left (above) is the Shinobi Kyudoka. A Shinobi armed with a large bow.
She is a great model. Tons of detail and the sculpt really captures the 'steampunk' look while still being recognisable as a ninja.
On the right is the other one piece Shinobi in the Section. Armed with a katana (?) and shuriken. Again, brilliant detail and styling.
These models do have a few small vents where metal escapes the mould but they are in flat areas so no detail is damaged when clipped off. They have very slight mould lines around the edges but they are barely noticeable.


The other two Shinobi in the Section are multi part models with VERY dynamic sculpts.
Both are in 'ready to strike' poses with blades drawn. The high level of detail is just as good on these two and even the katanas have a textured blade along one edge.
A couple of small vents and mould lines but very quick and easy to clean up.
One thing to watch out for is the thickness of the blades. If they were any thicker I think they would look wrong but they are easy to bend, and I imagine, easy to break. Make sure you are gentle with them and you should be fine.


The building was a mixed experience. The first 2 Shinobi and the Smoke just slot into the bases without ANY problem at all. The second two were a different matter.
The awesome poses mean the blades stick out quite far from the body of the model. The joints had a tab on the forearm but a flat area at the elbow so the tabs had to be cut off. This left a very small flat joint.
I would suggest getting a small drill and pinning the four arms to make sure they don't fall off.
I didn't pin them and knocked off two blades after taking these pictures!
They do look fantastic when together though.

Price - You can pick up this box set from the Spartan Games Store or local and online retailers like Troll Trader and Wayland Games (In the side bar>)
From TT the box is £16.20. This works out to about £4 a model and that's not including the smoke template. For large, detailed, metal models like these I think that is a brilliant price!

Overall - The Shinobi Section is very impressive. Even though 2 need a bit of support while building, they look awesome on the table and are a force to be scared of in a game. Even if you have the EBS Starter box I would recommend picking these up as well as you can never have enough 'steampunk' ninjas!

8 out of 10 Badger Points!

With the Shinobi stalking towards the enemy, the Infantry will need some support in the form of the-

Heavy Machine Gun Team
The tripod mounted, Kawachi-Kanpon Type 9 is a double-barrelled, fully automatic heavy shotgun. Loaded with the Alchemical Institute's trademark incendiary shells, the Type 9 has earned the nickname 'Fireball'. As essentially an enlarged version of the infantry weapon, the 'Fireball' shows off the stunning fantastical detail on the weapon's barrel and housing, capturing the ornate, oriental influence that sets the Blazing Sun apart. Any enemy caught in the open or even behind light cover will have a choice: either dive for cover or perish!


The box for the Heavy Machine Gun (HMG) team is the usual Spartan high standard.
The front shows the HMG in a full colour render and tells you what is in the box.
The back shows renders taken directly from the models to show every little detail.
The box says the HMG team are a Section AND a Section Upgrade. This is because they can be used in 2 different ways.
First up you could chose to upgrade 2 of your basic Infantry to a HMG team instead of taking the rocket specialists. Seeing the HMG has a similar range but much higher attack dice, this could be a great option.
If you want to keep rockets in your Infantry you could instead take a Battalion Support Section of up to 3 HMG teams. With the ability to move and fire from the Quick Setup MAR, this Section can easily reposition and keep attacking at the same time.
The full rules are in the Downloads area on the Spartan Games site


In the box you get 2 metal crew models, a metal HMG, 2 bases and a blank Activation Card.
I will take a look at the crew and gun separately.


The HMG crew are stunning models. Both wearing gas masks and back banners they are packed full of detail. The Loader on the right is knelt ready to attach one of the several ammo barrels he carries while the Gunner on the left comes with 2 separate hands that are holding the HMG triggers to rain down fiery death!
These model had a couple of little vents on them and a small mould line but otherwise they are very good casts that are clean and ready to go in minutes.


The HMG itself is the simplest in the release model wise but also the most highly detailed. With only 3 parts and a couple of little vents is took no time at all to get prepared.
The detail on the ammo barrels and the dragon head barrels look really nice and also tie it in perfectly with the weapons of the basic Infantry.
All in all, a lovely piece.


Building the HMG team took no time at all. The Loader just sits on the base and both of the banners slot straight into the backpacks. 
For the HMG I would suggest sticking the stand to the base first and the Gunners hands to the back of the main gun. Then you can line up the HMG and Gunner and glue them at the same time

Price - As with the other releases, you can get this team from the Spartan Games store or local and online stores like Troll Trader and Wayland Games (links to the right>)
From TT the price for a box is just £8.10 For 2 metal models and a good sized metal war machine I think this is a great price.

Overall- Wonderful detail, easy to clean up, simple to build and really good in game. I honestly cant fault the Empire of the Blazing Sun HMG team at all.

10 out of 10 Badger Points!!!!!

What do you think of these new EBS releases?

Tomorrow we head to the other side of the map to see what Spartan has in store for the Federated States of America!

Hendybadger awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

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