Wave One Zentraedi, Battle Cry Level, Assembled.

Well I have a plan for what I still need to get.....

For Zentraedi

I want two more pod boxes and a command box. I want the command box so i can kitbash the Glaug to be a Zaria Glaug from teh odl 1st ed RPG Strike Force Book.


For Earth

2 VF-1 boxes to make a VF-1A and 1J for Max. A VF-1J for Myria. A VF-1A for Ben. I am getting a Rick and Roy in Wave Two. That way I can field Vermillion or I can field my two squads and replce the standard 1J with a Max, Rick, or Myria as needed. I am making one of the ones I have now a custom character (RPG) and makingit a 1R

1 box of each destroid type....maybe two boxes of each cuz I like the idea of kit bashing to make the strike force mecha.

I may have to do that as the cheaper alternative yeah

well i didn't do it all at once....the last 9 regults took mo about 2.5 hours (about 45 minutes or so per sprue) today. Earlier work on pods took a bit longer per sprue. Glaug and recons took maybe a bit longer than that....artillery pods wer a bit more than regults too as I kitbashed to make some mounts for missile launchers to convert regular regults to artillery.

Simple answer...long enough.

Yeah I will likely wait until spring when i have money to do so. Who knows maybe I can get it cheap from my local shop as so far they;ve had no real interest in the game. That may change once I start doing demo's. I'm debating as to whether i shoudl wait until everything is painted or not before doing demos....

Difficulty is not that high....it is a major pain in the ass though with the choices they made in parts breakdown and sprue layout/attachment...

mike1975 aka Mike Morpheus and aka Michael Arnold is also in Texas IIRC....

I assempled my first Recon Pod last night. I've been super pleased with every one of these models that I've assembled to this point with the exception of this one. The recon pob is one of the worst designed minis I've ever seen simply based on componenents. Once it's done it looks great, but all of the little fiddly bits are super frustrating.

No, but I have 3 more to work with, so maybe I'll do a better job on the last one. haha.

Nope.

Overall, the models are very nice. When you open the box, and see the sprues, it's really pretty overwhelming. There are a lot of parts and they're very small.

On the whole, not a big deal, as I've been doing this for a long time. That said, and setting aside some truly bewildering sprue design choices (I'm looking at you, teeny tiny battloid nose cone piece), I do wish they had come up with a simpler design for the models, because models this complex can really turn off people new to wargames and new to modeling.

GW, for all their faults, are very good at this. With the exception of 3rd edition, which included the full-on multi-piece Space Marines and Dark Eldar, all of their starter boxes have included simple to assemble (usually without glue) models. The poses have not always been that great, but they have allowed for any novice gamer to open the box, snap some guys together and get playing within a very short time frame. You could be on the table, rolling dice, within an hour. They continue to do this even when it's meant redesigning existing models for this purpose, such as the 4th edition dreadnought, or the hellbrute (chaos dreadnought) and marine bikes in the newest versions. With the new technology, the poses have become quite complex, but the assembly has remained simple and snap on.

For as nice as these models are, and as much as I enjoy the modeling possibilities available to an experienced modeler, and I understand that the scale of them presents a challenge to figure design, I think they did themselves a disservice in not releasing a more "newb-friendly" starter box. The fact that you will be several days assembling models (forget about painting) before you can get on the table is very off-putting for a lot of people - even experienced gamers.

FFG's Star Wars game is probably the best example. Awesome models, already assembled and painted. Take them out of the box and play. VERY accessible to anyone at any level. Understandably, the force size for that game is much smaller than RRT, usually 3 to 4 models, and RRT has the added issue of transformable mecha, but I think that Palladium should consider that model in some form, releasing a smaller starter box, with easier to build figures or pre-assembled/painted figures. It could be a half dozen pods, and a glaug vs 4 destroids. 11 models. Some of those destroids could be 1-3 pieces, and very basic paint schemes (tan with a wash, and some stripes). The could even include some cardstock punch-out buildings. Basically, a small set that anyone can pick up, open up, and get on the table rolling dice very quickly.

Something like that, while maybe not what a lot of the KS backers are looking for, or what the big collector/modelers/verteran gamers are looking for, IS something novice gamers NEED to get them in the door. And WE need those novice gamers to get this game off the ground. I personally love the amount of models in my box, and can handle the modeling tasks, but right now this box set is very off-putting to new people.