The better half got me some spaceships a while back for my Birthday, it was a box of the TTCombat Dropfleet Commander Resistances Fleet.
These ships look brilliant in all the adverts and on the website, and after reading the blurb on the box ( which is impressive if you believe it )
4x Resistance Frigates “Each can be made in millions of different ways” there is only 36 pieces on the one sprue and that is split between the four Frigates.
The main body of the Frigates is in one piece, and there are four pieces of what look like armour that fits on top, then there are four engine sections and four front sections, that leaves twenty more bits to make the ships “different” these bits are mainly guns and missile type things.
There are eight strange weapon blobs which I may use as Fighters or Fighter Bombers, much better use than as weapons.
So not sure where the millions of different ways comes from, certainly not from the few bits left on the sprue once you take off the bits that you can’t mix or swap around.
Then there are three more sprues for the three bigger ships “3x Resistance Cruisers: These multi-part hard plastic miniatures can be assembled in over a billion combinations!” I am not convinced of this, again like the Frigates, lots of the pieces on the sprues can only go on specific sections of the ships, armour on top or underneath, and the weapons, they say that there are forty parts per cruiser… I used eight on each one that I built the most I could have done was add a few weapons maybe some armour sections, but not much else, so not sure about the slightly iffy math’s but you do have a good few choices in how you put the ships together.
Also, what I found was that the Cruisers seemed really really thin, so thin in fact I actually hated the models… which was causing me problems as this was a Birthday present which I said that I wanted.
So, after hours of staring at them over the last couple of months and looking at pictures online to see what they looked like when put together I suddenly thought that I would try something different.
I flipped the cruisers onto their sides!!!
And that was it, for me they looked right, they instantly looked wide enough to represent a bigger ship, and when I started putting some bits on the sides and the top, they started to look great.
Note: a little tip for anyone that hasn’t put theirs together yet, use tiny pieces of blue-tac to hold the bits in place before you glue them, this allows you to see what the ship will look like before you use any glue. I did this a few times until I had what I thought was three good ships.
I started to get a look that I liked and found that using two identical front parts together on each ship helped give them a sort of symmetrical look and gave me three slightly different ships, then using two identical wing bits on each added to the look.
Then I just added a small section of armour underneath all three ships, and the identical front sections on the top to maybe show the bridge section and the weird aerial type section behind that ties all three ships together.
And that was it, all stuck together and ready to paint, and looking, in my eyes anyway, great.
So, after a quick coat of Red paint that’s it, they are almost finished just waiting for a little bit of detail another night.
I will sort out some more EM4 Miniatures plastic spaceships that I use for my Corvettes in Stars & Lasers, and then some Fighters and I will give them a quick coat of red to match these and that will be another fleet sorted.
I am not convinced that the price tag on these is right for what you get, and even though I wasn’t overly impressed by these ships when I first got them, I am happy now they are done, and look forward to getting them on the table for a battle.
Oh and I am not 100% sure why my camera decided to show these models as a strange brown colour, they are a nice deep red, I will try and work out what is happening, and maybe dig out my light box and take some better pictures of them in that.
Update…..
Well I managed to get a few minutes to get the light-box out to see if I could get some better photos of the Resistance Fleet, and well they look better, you can see that they are red now rather than strange brown colour
This red is only the base coat, they are now ready for me to put some sort of design on them… I just don’t what yet!
Hi Mac,
I’d seen these from TT too, and I did wonder if they were any good. I wasn’t too sure how big they’d be, and I’m not sure the combinations are quite as huge as they say.
But if they’re plastic, splicing and glugging of glue can work miracles. I do like the look of the Scourge ships, but I’ve already got a ton of lead to sort so for now it’s no!
It might be worth taking a look at Studio Bergstrom – Andy’s got some problems just now and sure could do with a helping hand (via spaceship orders!) just now – I’m debating if I can get some more from him – the Hive Infestation ships are awesome (the big motherships are HUGE and well worth the $11.50 for them).
Vic
Hi Vic,
A lot of the ships from the now TTCombat / Dropfleet range are very nice, I have some bits from the Scourge fleet, enough probably to make a few ships of my own!
They are hard plastic so can be “adjusted” if needed.
There was nothing really wrong with these models except to me they looked really thin which for the bigger ships ( obviously only my opinion ) looked wrong.
I just had a look at the Studio Bergstrom site, and he does have some nice ships on there… and I do like the big alien ships! I can see some good games involving a very large lone alien ship being attacked by loads of smaller human ships, or a big alien ship plus loads of his smaller friends attacking a Human fleet… Oh I must resist…. for now.
Talking about very large ships, I have been putting some ideas down on paper for a couple of very big ships to add to Stars & Lasers at some point, who knows one of those maybe a huge old alien ship…
Mac
Hi Mac,
I’m a real fan of the Studio Bergstrom ranges – he does a lot of real good stuff – but he’s experiencing some employment difficulties just now and really could use a few orders to help tide him over, otherwise it could all be lost when his store is forced to close. However, like you I’ve got to wait – payday beckons and I might yet find a way to help the man out by buying some of his stuff – I really fancy some Hiver stuff, those Hive Infestation motherships are huge – the Queen of Millenia is something like 4-5″ across!
Vic
Hi Vic,
I was looking at the Hive stuff, rather like the Queen it would make an interesting lone alien super ship…. mmm I am not sure that I can find the cash at the moment, I am ebaying some bits next week so might be able to put an order in then.
I had a look through and the J’Guairre have a nice look about them, obviously a lot of recognisable ships on the site, I also liked the Galactics.
Yeah, I might have to see what I can get.
Mac
Hi Mac,
Gotcha!
Although I do have a big order planned for GZG this month (some Japanese ships and 15mm) but if I can wangle it I want some of the Hive Infestation ships … or perhaps some Sing-Ons or Woomera shipyard ships …
Sigh! Too much desired, too little money & storage space
=(
Hi Vic,
I just found two small intro fleets from the full Thrust range that I had forgotten about, a Kra’vak one ( I also have a large battleship for these as well ) and a United Nations ( UNSC ) one, so they have just made it onto my painting table.
…it’s not that I actually need more spaceships, it’s just those big alien ships look so good and even if I only get one, it will be perfect because I really want something that is very big and scary on the table to go with some of the new rules I have been working on.
I blame you Vic… ;O)
Mac
Oh sure, blame me … =D
The Hive Infestation ships are really nice (the Queen of Millenia takes some beating – if you do order one you’ll see what I mean) and the Hiver cruisers are both a decent price and a good size – the Ravager is my favourite.
However, now I’ve finally managed to get in contact with Andy I’m planning a big Sing-On order for the end of September … & I might get some Hivers too!
You might like taking a look at Monday Knight Productions site and take a gander at their Galactic Knights range of spaceships. The rules are meant to be pretty good too, but I rather fancy some of the Galactic Dreadnought miniatures – the Terran one is very nice!
Vic
Hi Vic,
Sorry mate but I have to blame someone ;O)
hhmmm I just looked at the Monday Knight Production site and they do have some interesting stuff, and not just spaceships!
But you are right the Terran ones are nice.
My wallet may be hurting soon…
Mac
Ha! Gotcha! =D