Firestorm Armada - Relthoza Review Part 1

The Relthoza

It's a good time to be a fan of Spartan Games space combat game, Firestorm Armada. Over the last few month we have seen the release of  the Directorate and now the Relthoza fleets.

Many players have been looking forward to the release of these two races since  they were first revealed, in form of CGI renders, in  the Firestorm Armada Rulebook.  The Relthoza are a race of Spider-like beings and their ships are primarily oriented in a vertically. They also have one of the most fluffy and unique main weapons systems, cannons that fire ice chunks with metal eating spiders inside. They are also the primary race to use a cloaking device in game.

Part One of my review will mainly be an open box review of the models themselves, Part 2 will cover the assembly of these bad boys (Spiders) and Part 3 will cover the Relthoza fleet in game.

The Box Set:  

The Relthoza Starter Box set is a great value. For $60 US you get a playable fleet. This would, if you are lucky get you a single Tank Platoon in Flames of War or Elite Squad in 40K.

In the box (just like the Starter box for every race) you get...

1 Brood class Battleship

3 Swarm class Cruisers

6 Drone class Frigates

The box also contains 10 clear flight stands (And I do love the Firestorm Armada flight stands)

Each Starter box also contains a laminated Ship Stats card, a card of game Counters and a card of smaller units like Fighters, bombers, etc.  Spartan didn't have to do this but it's a class act and it really makes you feel like you are getting your money's worth when opening up the box.

Counter Sheets

All the miniatures and stands are safely packed in Bubble-wrap envelopes and none of mine had any damage. The resin is crisp and well cast with some (very)  minor flashing but nothing that is not expected when working with resin. It also seems  that Spartan has revised their casting methods as these were much easier to put together then the Dindrenzi or Sorylians. Let's just say I LOVE single piece hulls.

I'll go into a little detail on each of the sculpts in the box. 

First up, the big boy of the fleet, the Relthoza Battleship.

Battleship port side detail

Relthoza Battleship starboard side

The Battleship is made of a single piece main hull and several wings(Gun decks) and a separate bridge. The detail on the battleship is great. The detail is fine and appropriate to the scale of the ship.   There there is one thing I might complain concerns the gun deck. These wings contain the majority of the ships gun and they are pretty flat on the wings themselves. The gun turrets on the Cruisers and carrier look a lot better.

I briefly considered replacing the guns with brass rod but quickly realized that it wouldn't work well for a gaming miniature.

Wings and bridges for the Battleship and Cruisers

All  told the Battleship is a great model and, in my opinion, only second  to the Sorylian Battleship in looks and design.


Relthoza Cruiser

The cruiser is a sweet little design that carries over a lot of design elements of the battleship. A very vertical main hull with a pair of gun festooned wings.

The miniature itself is made up of 4 components, the Hull, 2 wings and a bridge. Just like the battleship there are some great details that subtly suggest the alien nature of the Relthoza. The Cruisers needed a little more clean up then the battleship, primarily where the resin entered the mold.however nothing that a brush with the sand paper didn't fix.

Cruiser hull detail

The only other issue was that there seemed to be some very minor shrinkage of the smaller pieces. They fit the Cruiser hull well but there are a few gaps that will need to be filled with green-stuff... however it's nothing like some of the troubles with the initial Dindrenzi releases.

Cleaning up the Cruiser

Last in the Starter set are the Relthoza Frigates


These are the only metal miniatures in the set and are simple two piece ships that glue together quickly and with a minimum of flash.

Two Frigates

These ships are essentially flying wings that sit on the flight stand upright. They look very cool and have lots of detail that hearken back to the other ships in the range. You can tell, even though the shapes may be different that these ships belong to the same fleet.

Primed Frigate to show orientation on the flight stand.

Overall opinion:


I won't hide that I am a fan of Spartan Games and I really have been enjoying Firestorm Armada. The Relthoza Starter box set is a great value. The Relthoza ships are great designs and the quality of the castings are excellent.

Pros:  Easy to assemble, great looking ships, and great value

Cons: Some minor flashing but nothing excessive or unusual for those used to working with resin and metal miniatures.

Enjoy and stay tuned for Part 2 of the Relthoza review!