Review: Dystopian Legions Kingdom of Britannia Starter Set

Hi everybody and welcome to the first of my Dystopian Legions reviews. Over the next few weeks I plan to cover each set available.

First up is the-
Kingdom of Britannia Starter Set
(click any pictures to view larger)

Packaging
The KoB (Kingdom of Britannia) starter set comes in a quite nice box.
On the front you have all the contents info and artwork for the KoB Sergeant.
The back of the box gives you a little bit of background on the KoB force and shows renders of all the miniatures inside.

 I like the fact they have used renders instead of painted miniatures. It means you can see the exact detail instead of anything 'pro-painted' on them.

Contents
- 14 high detail pewter and resin miniatures. Leader, Character, basic unit and Specialist unit
I will cover these in detail further down the post. They are a full and legal force of 100 points. The size of a Legions Skirmish battle.

- 14 plastic bases

- Token sheet
Thick card glossy tokens to cut out and use

- Acrylic ruler
8" / 1 range band clear ruler with laser cut Legions logo and 1" marks. Awesome addition!

- Quickplay Rulebook
80 page full colour book. It says 'Quick Play' but has everything you need to know to play a full game. It is a printed version of the download on the Spartan Games Website. I wont go into to much detail on this one here as I am going to post a full look over the rules on here soon.

- 5 activation Cards
These are the small one in the bottom right of the picture. KoB logo on one side and blank on the other. Used to write which units you are going to activate on. I will cover these more in the rules post.

- 28 Game Cards
A force specific deck used as special rules in the game. Each card has the KoB logo on the back and some very 'British' named rules. 2 of the cards are special rules cards for Captain Smethington and the Sky Hussars that can be swapped for others onto the game deck. I will cover these in the rules post as well.

- Stat Sheet
Very useful sheet of stats for all models included. It also has any special rules the models have on the back.

- 24 Dice
8 Black, 8 Blue and 8 Red. The colour of dice effect the rolls in the game. I will cover these in the rules as well.

That is a LOT of stuff in one box! Unlike other games starters you don't need anything else to play, well apart from a table and an opponent.

Time to look at the most interesting bits. The models!

Notice the reg of the plane on the tail. WOOF!

Captain Smethington II and KoB Lieutenant
These 2 models are you force leader and special character. 'Flash', I mean the Captain, is as British as they come. As is the Lieutenant for that matter. They capture the 'stiff upper lip' look really well.
Although 'Flash' , sorry I mean Smethington, doesn't have any weapons shown he does have a revolver tucked away called 'Berties Blazer' and is an inspiring leader to the troops.
The Lieutenant is armed with a commanders sword and a steampunk style pistol called a Windshear Ray Projector. Good against infantry and Ironclads.

As noted on the box these are very high detail models. There are a couple of vent lines coming off of the model but they are in places easy to remove with no lost of detail. As far as I can tell there is almost no 'Flash' either. (sorry)
I need to note the size of these models. They are a LARGE 32mm scale. They fit in well with other 30-32mm ranges without looking out of place though.

With a close up you can see that mould lines are almost non existent.
I am very impressed with both of these minis. Don't have a bad thing to say about them.

Sky Hussars
The Sky Hussars are the Aeronaut jump troops of the KoB force. Fast assault troops that can drop in behind enemy lines or fly at low altitudes over the battlefield. The Corporal and basic troops are armed with short ranged Mk II Flambelchers and the Specialist has a larger Mk III Flamethrower with a blast and the ability to hurt Ironclads. The unit are also dressed in a more formal way than the basic units.

 

Left to right - Corporal, Specialist, Troops

These models have abit more 'Flash' and some more vents but then they are made to be in mid air, not on a base. But still nothing is in a place that will cause loss of detail. Mould lines are minimal again.

The most impressive things about this unit though are the jetpack smoke plumes. Solid resin pieces that attach to the bottom of the jetpacks, leaving the pilot suspended in front.

The Sky Hussars have to be my favourite models in the set. So different to most models on the market, they stand out a lot. The plumes also give you a chance to play around with smoke and flame effects when painting.

Line Infantry

The Line Infantry are the core of the KoB force. Highly trained  marksmen armed with long ranged, top of the line Martini-Melford rifles. Backed up by Specialists wielding Mk III Flamethrowers. It is rare for any enemies to make it into close quarters.

Line Infantry Specialist and Sergeant

Left - Specialist, Right - Sergeant

The Specialist comes with pipes to bend into shape and place between the backpack and the weapon. These are quite thin pieces so I suggest taking it slow and doing it a small bend at a time.

The pose of the Sergeant is a very commanding pose. Giving a feel of him shouting orders to the rest of the unit.

Line Infantry Basic troops

You get 6 basic troops in the box set. Each one is a different pose. This is a big draw for me as I don't like using multiples of models and it gives each one its own characterful feel.

Again, almost no flash and only a couple of vents in non detailed places.

A couple of the models have some more mould lines than that characters but nothing over the top that cant be removed during a quick once over with a file.

Even though these are the basic troops the detail on them is still as good as the character models in the set. Not something you see that often.

I really like the unit. In fact I like them that much I will be adding a second unit so I can have Red Coats and some green 'Essex Rifles'

Price

Several people have said 'Ouch!' when I mentioned the price of this box to them. But take a look again at whats included. That has changed peoples minds right away.

You can pick the set up at The Troll Trader for a reasonable £37.80 with their discount off the RRP

I know it seems like a lot but there are several starter sets out there for around £30 that don't come with 14 minis, a full rulebook, deck of cards and all the play aids you need!

Final Thoughts

 I am VERY impressed with this set. The models are stunning, all the extras are wonderful and the price is very reasonable.

The only tiny problem I have is that fact there are 4 Sky Hussars and you can take a max unit of 5. At the moment it isn't possible to pick up a single trooper. But hey, we have only seen the first 2 months of releases so far and single minis could be coming soon.

As an overall score I would give this set 9 out of 10 Badger Points

A 5th Hussars would have made it a 10!

I would love to here what other people think of the set.

Hendybadger awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

(The Hendybadger really needs a red coat)