How Much for Planetfall!
When I heard about Spartan Games‘ new Firestorm Planetfall game I was very excited. I like 10mm games and I’ve been interesting in trying some of Spartan Games’ offerings for a while. Since I’ve finished my Mantic Deadzone project and haven’t officially started a new one1 the temptation to jump into Planetfall is high.
When I approached Spartan Games about using images on my website they added me to their press list. On Tuesday I received their press release for the initial Planetfall releases and I eagerly read through the material.
The Starter Set
The starter set, titled The Battle for Proteus Prime, is a good start as it’s a hefty set of miniatures for two players. I like starter sets that are closer to games in a box than simply “rules introductions.” Deadzone is a great example of this. Not only is there enough in the box to play, not only is it enough to field a standard point army, but there’s more miniatures than are required for a standard army, meaning that players can change their force composition with only the box set.
Here’s what comes in The Battle for Proteus Prime:
Planetfall Starter Set Contents. Image copyright Spartan Games, used with permission.
Aquan Core Helix
- 1x ‘Sedna‘ Heavy Skimmer Tank
- 3x ‘Lamana‘ Medium Skimmer Tanks
- 4x ‘Imzani‘ Light Recon Skimmer Tanks
- 1x ‘Sirsir‘ Medium Skimmer Designator Tank
- 2x ‘Votari‘ Crystal Nodes
- 2x ‘Votari‘ Crystal Nodes with Anti-Air Batteries
- 5x Bases of Aquan ‘Khitari‘ Infantry (mix of scenic bases with 3-4 minis on each)
Directorate Core Helix
- 1x ‘Desolator‘ Heavy Battle Crawler Tank
- 3x ‘Retaliator‘ Medium Battle Crawlers Tanks
- 5x ‘Informer‘ Light Recon Buggies
- 2x ‘Trojan‘ Cyber Warfare Tanks
- 1x ‘Intruder‘ Combat Personnel Carrier
- 5x Bases of Directorate ‘Patriot‘ Shock Infantry (mix of scenic bases with 3-4 minis on each)
Without knowing the points costs and standard army sizes of a Planetfall game I can’t say what level of forces you get in the box. On one hand, I just said I like getting full armies in starter sets, and on the other, looking at the miniatures included in the box I hope this represents a small force. The press release states that this represents half the maximum you can field in a Core Helix.
The game models listed … are enough to field a game-legal Core Helix (with some additional options added) for each faction. However, the rules have been created to allow a player to double the number of models shown here and still put down a Core Helix (taken to its maximum allowance of options).
It also says that “up to TWO Allied Helixes can be added to each Core Helix” which should up the model count even if the “each Core Helix” part doesn’t indicate that players can take multiple Core Helices. I interpret that as you could take multiple Core Helices.
Terrain
In addition to all those miniatures there is pre-printed terrain. Although the press release doesn’t explicitly say this I believe this is the same terrain that will be included in the Terrain Box that Spartan Games will be offering.
Included in the main game are:
- 2x Medium Bunkers
- 3x Small Buildings
The Terrain Box describes the terrain as a mix of clear acrylic supports and pre-printed card. This is a step above the foldable pre-printed terrain in either the Dropzone Commander or Infinity starter set. I really like the idea that the set comes with terrain.
I also noticed this line in the Terrain Box description:
Many of our Helix Boxes come with buildings already included…
Contents of the Planetfall Terrain Box. Image copyright Spartan Games, used with permission.
The miniatures in the boxed set are described as half of a completely maxed Core Helix. I don’t know how big a Helix Box would be and how many you would expect to buy as part of an army, but the idea that each one also increases your terrain is a cool one, especially if Spartan Games customizes the pre-printed card to match the army.
The Rest
Also included in the boxed set is:
- 1x Full Colour Rulebook
- 2x Planetfall TAC Decks
- 1x 64-page ‘Battle of Proteus Prime‘ A5 Campaign Book (including Statistics for all Aquan and Directorate Models in the boxed set)
- 1x A5 Pre-printed Crashed Shuttle Sheet
- A5 Toker and Template Sheets
- Dice
Nothing terribly exciting. I’m curious whether the Full Colour Rulebook is a small introductory book or the same as the full rules. The campaign book also raised questions for me. Does it contain only statistics for what came in the boxed set or for all Aquan and Directorate forces?
Looking at the description for the separately available Planetfall Rulebook I’m going to speculate that the book in the game isn’t the full book or the Campaign Book re-publishes the stats for the miniatures for ease of reference? Or perhaps each miniature will come with its own stats like Deadzone or Warmahordes. I say this because the full book is described as including “Flexible Army Lists”
Price
When Spartan Games sent me the press release it included a number of attachments. I read the first which describes the starter set, allied helixes and terrain expansion. Only later did I look at the other attachments, one of which was the MSRP for the upcoming releases. So, how much is the Battle for Proteus Prime two player Planetfall starter set going to set you back?
$140 US.
It’s hard to tell the quality of the miniatures as only digitally sculpted 3D renders have been shown. Aquan Heavy Skimmer. Image Copyright Spartan Games, used with permission.
It seems like a lot, at first glance. There is definitely some sticker-shock. However it isn’t much more than Deadzone and assuming the miniatures are better should be a fair price. When designing starter sets manufacturers have to choose a balance between inexpensive introductory sets, or expensive “game in a box” sets. Deadzone is a “game in a box” set where the new D&D Start Set is an example of an inexpensive introductory set. If you like it you still have to buy the full rules before you can play the full game.
Planetfall is released in October. Should I pick up a review copy? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Google+ or Twitter. Also, if you are interested subscribe so that if I do buy myself a copy you won’t miss my review.
1) Infinity is planned as my next project but not “officially” started and Dungeon Saga doesn’t ship until August 2015.
Planetfall and the associated images are ©Spartan Games and are used with permission.
Out of curiosity, do you find this more interesting than Dropzone Commander? I’ve followed Planetfall with great interest and although there are some nice looking minis (the infantry especially) DZC seems like a more fun game. It’s still early days of course, but Spartan Games’ rulesets have always left me a bit cold. The latest editon of Firestorm: Armada was a great leap from the earlier editons, but still, I’m cautiously… cautious.
I also wondered if DZC was a better choice. It seems to have about the same contents plus is 100 dollars so like 1/3 off this price.
I’m not sure why but DZC didn’t peak my interest. Maybe I should re-watch some Dropzone Commander videos to try to figure out why. I don’t think the boxes are equivalent. The terrain in Planetfall sounds nicer and I think that the miniatures are larger. I’m not sure how to-scale their renders are but I think the light vehicles are about the size of the DZC tanks and the rest just get bigger from there. This is speculation, of course, and having bigger models doesn’t automatically make the game better, just perhaps explain the pricing.
Finally, I’m thinking $140 US for the set is not correct, despite that being the official price. I would be surprised if that’s what it actually sells for with most retailers. Then again, the “$100” DZC set sells for $76 at The Warstore so we need to make sure we are comparing the same things.
I have to admit that part of my interest is having wanted to check out Spartan Games’ games for a long time and they’re releasing one that falls within my favorite genre, 10mm sci-fi.
When DZC was first announced I marveled at the beautiful minis and the amazing resin terrain, then I saw the price for a starter and shelved the idea. I also half expected the heavy use of dropships to be something of a gimmick that wouldn’t really add to the gameplay. However, now a couple of years later we have the new starter box and the individual starters in plastic for a fraction of the cost of the original. I’ve been reading the rules and watched videos and come to the conclusion that it’s not gimmicky at all but rather adds an extra dimension to the battle as ways of transporting your ground forces around become critical. I also find the paper terrain, while rudimentary from a construction standpoint, really makes for a evocatove looking battlefield with dropships and attack skimmers swerving around the buildings while tanks wage war below and infantry perform claustrophobic room-to-room sweep and clears! 😀
From a gameplay standpoint the value of the sets look roughly equal to my eyes. They same number of models (counting infantry as one) which seems to be a roughly half or a third of a regular sized army with the Spartan models definitely being larger as that’s “their thing”. There is a bit more terrain in the DZC box (10 vs 5) and it also comes with a play poster to provide a nice urban playing field. I do like that Planetfall comes with a campaign book. No idea what’s in it but at 64 pages I’m hoping a linked campaign and a number of scenarios at the very least!
Of course, at the end of the day it’s simply a matter of personal taste. While I usually like Spartan models well enough they have a very specific, chunky quality that I feel sometimes limit their appeal. The chunkyness puts them squarely in the realm of fantasy, which is cool, but in my sci-fi I often prefer the more realistic portrayals and in this regard the scale of the DZC minis simply looks better to me.
As for the rules, well… the Spartan rules I’ve read so far have been adequate but not exceptionell. The latest edition of Firestorm: Armada both looks and reads much, much better than earlier, and the rules have been polished but it’s still not at the point where I get all excited reading them. While DZC isn’t quite there either, I definitely had that feeling of “cool, this makes me want to try an x or y army!” while reading.
So this is a long-winded way of saying that I will be getting Dropzone Commander but of course also keeping a close eye on Planetfall. I like Spartan as a company and really want to like their games as well. 🙂
Any idea what the rules are like, yet? The minis look okay, from what I can see in the wee tiny pics (the sedna skimmer looks pretty good) but to be honest I’m getting a bit wary of ‘big-box’ games and the clunky rules gimmicks some of them have, these days.
Haven’t seen the rules yet.
I did re-watch a demo game of DZC and remembered why I didn’t like it. They used one tank in a three tank squad to block LOS to the other two tanks. This struck me as incredibly gamey.
I also don’t think I like the entire dropship concept either. I know we have combat insertions but the way it is handled bugs me.
Of course I could be wrong and the demo could have been a bad example.