Dystopian Wars - RoF Alma Frigates + Next Wave of Releases

OK, I know this isn't Legions but these came out at the same time.
Why cover these in the middle of the Legions reviews? Because Im a French player and they are flying ships!

Republique of France - Alma Skimming Frigates

 The sophisticated Alma Class Frigate is designed to provide fast moving fire support and scouting capability to the Republique of France’s aerial navy. The Frigate is swift and agile enough to even take the fight to true aircraft. When operating alone, squadrons of Almas also make superb commerce raiders, as well as mounting lightning strikes on enemy ports through their ability to bypass conventional military defences.

Packaging

The Almas come in a very simple blister pack. Clear front shows the minis with a name label. The back has a little info about Spartan Games themselves.

  In the blister you get 4 Almas, 4 small flight stands and a rules card.

Did I cover up the rules? Whoops! Sorry. What about some hints>

The blister does come as a full squadron. Each has 1 gun that can fire in any direction, they are a band and a half fast and skimmers. You could fit 40 in a 1400pt game without % or minimum limits.

They do NOT have Small Target and Pack Hunter like several people thought.

The thing that surprised me with these Frigates was the fact they were metal. Especially seeing the pic at the top says they are resin.

All the other Naval small ships are resin. As are the medium and large skimmers.

Not sure why Spartan decided to choose metal for this model but I will try and find out.

Each frigate is a single piece. The mold lines run along the fin on one side of the ship but just above on the other side. This was a little difficult to remove without taking off any rivets. I think I saved most of them though.

There was a small tab on the nose and a small vent on the rear. Simple to remove an on flat areas so a file sorted that out without loss of detail.

Is seems easier to see detail on the resin ships than it is on the metal ones. I think it will be easier to tell if the Almas are the same standard once undercoated.

For the flight bases I glued the rob into the base and when dry, cut it down so the skimming  frigates were lower than the flyers.

Time for a size comparison.

Here is an Alma next to the large MkI Magents Pocket Battleship and a medium Marsielles Cruiser.

The size fits with the other 2 very well. I am a little unsure on the overall look but then that again could be the fact its metal and the resin details are easier to see.

We will take a look again when there is some paint on them.

But hey, they are French Skimmers that can be used at sea or over land! (which is great as I don't really like the look of the RoF land units)

My Skimmer fleet now has 2 Magentas, 6 Marseilles and 8 Almas. Time for a skimming Carrier Spartan?

Price

You can pick up a squadron of 4 Almas on Pre-Order from The Troll Trader for £12.15

I know this is more expensive than other small ships but instead of a water lined half-ship you get a whole ship (top and bottom half) and a flight stand each.

With that in mind I think that just over £12 is very reasonable

Overall

I like the Almas. They fit the Rebulique of France theme really well and the models are very nice.

I do prefer the medium and large skimmers though but how can you say no to an entire skimming fleet?

I'm sure I will like them even more when painted as the metal looks less impressive to me.

8 out of 10 Badger Points

I think it would be a 9 if they were resin as shown on the official picture.

What do you think of them?

Tomorrow we go back to Dystopian Legions with a look at some Tankettes

 This weekend, Spartan posted the next wave of Dystopian Wars releases. Due out Jan 30th.

Check out the pics below.

Hendybadger awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!