06 February 2013

What's in the box? ACP Games Valkries

On 13JAN I ordered from ACP Games, 1 pack of each of the 4 variants of their Valkries. I got them in the mail on 01FEB.

So, what's in the box? Or rather the padded envelope? 
The Colonial Valkries pack: 3 pairs of arms (top and middle left), 3 torsos (top centre), 1 missile launcher (in between the arms and torsos, 3 pairs of legs (bottom left), 3 guns (middle) and 3 bases (right); cm² grid.
  • 4 little plastic bags, each containing the parts for 3 models of one given variant.
  • The hip and legs part is common to all models and comes in three versions: at ease, running with left leg forward and running with right leg forward; they look distributed randomly...
  • The torso and head part is again common to all models and also comes in three (honestly nearly identical) versions: head facing forward, left and right (about 45°); all three are moulded as one piece so you should always get one of each.
  • The same arms are used for the Colonial (i.e. base) and Anti-Tank variants: they come as a pair of one hand holding a grip and one hand half-open to rest a handguard; some are right-handed (right hand holding the grip) and other left-handed, again random distribution.
The arms and weapons from all 4 packs: one anti-material rifle from the Anti-Tank variant (top left), the arms common to the Colonial and Anti-Tank variants (top centre), the "shotguns" from the Colonial variant (top right), the flamer and pistol of the Assault variant (bottom left) and the pair of miniguns from the Fire Support variant; cm² grid.
  • The Colonial ones come with some sort of oversized (for a human sized miniatures, not for the Valkrie) drum-fed shotgun.
  • The Anti-Tank ones come with a long anti-material rifle.
  • The Fire Support one as an underslung (à la 40K Tau Battlesuit) Gatling-type gun held in each hand; the gun and arm form a single part.
  • The Assault version as a big pistol (think 40K bolt pistol) in one hand and an underslung flamer (very 40K-looking again) in the other; random lefties and righties.
  • Finaly, each pack as one over the shoulder missile/rocket launcher...
  • And, I almost forgot, each miniature comes with a square slotted 25mm plastic bases.
 So what do I think?

(Brilliantly) painted Assault, Colonial (note the optional missile launcher) and Anti Tank (left to right) valkries, picture from Tiny Solitary Soldiers.
  • Nice miniatures looking just like what I expected (more thanks to the pictures at Tiny Solitary Soldiers than to the ones at the ACP Games).
  • At 28mm from the top of the base to the top of the miniatures (which is not the head but the sort of anti-rolling bar behind the head; the face is 26mm from the ground) and with a really small head in relation to the body, they can't pass as a manned walker in a 28mm game (but could perfectly do as robots). But they're bang on for 15mm (and smaller, I'm sure they'd do fine along 6mm infantry).
  • I'm not too found of the underslung way of carrying a weapon (but then again they're machine and immune to sour muscles).
  • Each package gives you the parts for 3 minis, nothing more, nothing less. The only option you have (beyond positioning) is to mount, or not, the missile launcher (I guess you also have the choice between left and right shoulder). 
  • Speaking of the launcher and given the size of the part, I wouldn't have minded getting several of them without having to spare them from several packs... Think Anti-Tank platoon entirely equipped with riffles and missiles, or "character" equipped with a launcher on each shoulder...
  • I'd love to see a (big) knife wearing arm or something for a pistol and knife boarding team/commando look...
  • Some sort of C2/C3/C4ISTAR/C5ISREW (whatever the buzz word of the day is in your military) equipment (say just an over the shoulder aerial, dish or sensor in the same fashion as the missile launcher) would be great for some more customisation of a leader/"character" models!
  • I don't want to tell ACP Games how to do business, but as a customer the format I'd love would be 3 missile pods and 1 "C2 pod" in each pack... And I wouldn't mind paying half a buck or a buck extra for the added options! 
And a couple of clarifications offered by Crimelord, owner of ACP Games, in reaction to this post:
  • "Not robots, guys in suits"
  • "We never designed them for 28" (mm)
  • "Those aren't missiles, those are power cells (batteries) for the comms unit for the squad leader"
He also hinted at more Valkrie goodness to come:
  • "We have a missile support Valk in the works"
  • "We also have an "AA" Valk not on the site yet"

1 comment:

  1. Great review, thanks! I like this fresh look at them.

    ReplyDelete