Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Dystopian Wars - FSA Valley Class Airship review

Spartan Games releases continue with new units for Dystopian Wars. Today we are looking at the Federated States of America Valley class large flier.

As usual we will take a look at the model and then the game stats. Painted example will be previewed in a future post.


FSA Valley class Airship (Click for larger image)

The Model itself comes as a single piece made out of resin. this is a nice big hefty ship and looks great. It also comes with a two peg flight stand and stat card.

The model, as is Spartan norm, is beautiful. a giant three dirigible monstrosity that just screams steampunk.

Detail is great with tiny doors, windows, ladders all cast in crisp detail

Top side detail


 Like many ships in Spartan's gaming range the bottom of this beauty is just as detailed as the topside.
On the top you have a bridge and detailed turrets.

On the bottom you can make out rows of turrets and an inventive rotary bomb rack! Also the flight stand peg holes are well cast and hold the ship well without additional drilling.


 
Bottom side detail (Click for larger pic)

One additional note that deserves mention is the fine lattice structure that covers the airship. this detail is very fine and captured without issue.

This couldn't be said for the Lee Scoutships, which have the same feature. Those ships had several casting issues where this detail wasn't formed. The Valley does not have this issue and looks great.




Model Conclusion: Another hit out of the park for Spartan. The ship looks lovely and is well cast with excellent detail. Model-wise there is nothing not to like about this piece.


Rockets fore!!!
Stats:

Classified as a "large Flier" this ship is, in essence a battleship in the sky.

Stats wise this ship is nothing spectacular.  In game it costs 130 points, making it significantly cheaper then the FSA Battleship.

This ship appears to be a brawler. It doesn't have the turrets or long range firepower that the FSA Battleship is rightly feared for. Instead it has broadsides that, at Range Band 1, can put out 9 AD each.

Two banks of fixed fore rockets give the Valley a long range punch, but at 7 AD per rack it's not a dominating weapon. Max linked fire can give you 10 AD of rockets in it's preferred Range Band of 3.

Rounding out the armament is the bomb rack. This puppy can drop 9 AD worth of attack dice.

Overall there is no attack this ship can put out that is greater than 10AD. not your typical battleship firepower at all.
Compare this to the Blazing Sun's Tsukuyomi Class War Gyro which can link two main turrets for a whopping 19 AD! almost double the AD of the Valley.
The KoB Eagle War Rotor at short range can pump out a respectable 13 AD attack by linking it's two main turrets.

With the FSA customary high DR rating and average CR rating (7/8) and 8 hit points the Valley class will be able to take some serious damage to bring down. High compliments of AP mean that this ship can fend off most boarding attempts and be able to capture targets of opportunity.

Now, how are FSA players going to use this ship? To me it seems to be up close and in the middle of enemy formations. The only way to counter the higher total linked AD of competing Large Fliers is to make sure that BOTH broadsides can be used on the same turn.

Unlike the FSA battleship the Valley is not at the top of the heap in it's weight class. As a result brute force will not be enough to win. FSA players will need to aggressively maneuver these ships to get the most out of them. Getting them in position to throw more AD means more damage to the enemy and this increases the value of these ships.

The FSA Valley class is a departure from normal FSA tactics and follows the model of the smaller Lee class Scout ships. Rather than large, heavy turret fire these airships are broadside oriented.  This means they need tactics that are entirely different from their water bound companions.

Bridge in detail... excellent casting and stand out detail
I find it interesting that the FSA airship fleet, and once we get a FSA small flier can can field an all air army, will  play entirely different from the FSA on water. In essence this a stealth faction that will present FSA players with a lot of new options and choices.

Game Stat Conclusion:
This is not a replacement for the FSA battleship and Stats wise it is not a stand out among the other large fliers. FSA players will have to work hard to earn their points with this ship. That said it's not hopeless at all and smart play will reward the player.


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