Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Condition Zebra arrives -- first impressions

My two cases arrived yesterday and I spent the morning in bliss opening them up. Out of two cases and one extra booster I bought at the local game shop I ended up short just two rares, the West Va. and the Italian battleship. Not quite the perfect draw I had with Flank Speed but not bad.

My initial impression is very positive. It seems tome that the scaling for the new sculpts is more accurate and the detail is much crisper. The turrets now move on the uncommon light cruisers that are new sculpts in this set.

Overall there are some surprises as far the models go. The Lexington is not a straight repaint of the Saratoga, the 8-inch guns have been replaced with AA guns. This made a lot of sense historically, as the AA guns were far more useful than the 8-inch guns in actual operations. In game terms it's a much more mixed bag because carriers are much more likely to get involved against surface ships in the game than real life.

The Witte de With and Vasilissa Olga are near sisters, both based on a common British destroyer design, and in an earlier set would have been simply repaints but they are actually different models in this set.

There are some very handsome models. I like the HMS Royal Oak/Arkhangelsk and USS Houston in particular.

Finally, the Vainamoinen is sooooo cute! It's like a "Mini-Me" for the Schleswig-Holstein. It's a pity the class limit is 2.

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