Ok, now for the rest of the review!
Here are some pics of what comes in the starter box, along with the FSA equivalent for purposes of scale.
The battleship can come equipped with rockets:
Or you can place a little bunker-looking thing in that space (which is not any sort of weapon or generator that I know of):
I think if I'm not running the battleship with rockets, I'll leave that space open. There is good detail, and I like to think that is where the crew does their morning meditations:
In the above pic, you can also see the forward-facing Dragon's Breath cannons (more on those later).
3
Dao-class cruisers:
The cruisers run in squadrons of 2-3. Also included are gun turrets to convert the cruisers into
Wodao-class gunships, which run in squadrons of 2:
9
Nu-class frigates, which run in squadrons of 2-4 ships:
2
Liuxing-class air bombards, which run in squadrons of 2-3:
And finally, 10 tiny flyer tokens, which can be used as fighters, dive bombers, or recon planes:
I have not yet been able to use these ships on the table, but my initial impression is that they are close-range havoc machines. Most ships in the Chinese fleet carry sonic weapons; ALL Chinese sonic weapons carry the Concussive Barrage MAR, meaning that the target ship loses 1 AP if the sonic weapon breaks the target's DR (also, any mines within 8" of the target model automatically detonate).
All Chinese rockets carry the Incendiary Rounds MAR.
All Chinese land, sea, and air vessels carry both the Conscripted Crew and Rugged Construction MARs.
The larger ships carry the Jade Armor or Ancient Jade Armor MARs, which can get the model out of the effects of a critical hit on a 5+ or 4+ roll on a 1D6 (respectively), although they still take the HP damage.
The only ships that can reach out to RB4 are the
Zhanmadao-class dreadnaught (rockets only) (not in this fleet box), the battleship (sonic broadsides and rockets), and the
Dun-class floating bastion (rockets only). Everything else is RB3 or below. The battleship carries an optional internal sonic generator: when activated, this generator affects ALL ships within 8" by reducing all ordnance, auxiliary weapons, and AP attack dice by 2 until the end of the phase. Combined with its extra inch of movement over other battleships, it seems designed to get into the midst of the enemy and start wreaking havoc.
Additionally, the battleship carries the Dragon Breath forward cannons. They're only effective in RB1, but they carry the Corrosive MAR: if the attack with this weapon breaks the target's DR, in addition to losing 1 HP, the target also gets a corrosive marker. If the target's CR is broken, it gets 2 corrosive markers. In the end phase, on a 1D6 roll of 4+, the model loses an additional HP and keeps the corrosive marker (until the end of the next turn, when you can roll to try to get rid of the corrosive marker). But it gets better: these are flamethrower weapons, which means that breaking the DR also means the target gets a raging fire marker; breaking the CR means the target gets 1D3+1 raging fire markers. However, these weapons CANNOT cause normal critical hit effects. Several other models carry this weapon, but they are not in this box set.
Most Chinese ships have the majority of their weapons tied up in broadsides, meaning maneuver will be very important.
Finally, the floating bastions, which are in the Fleet Support box set (which I have on order) carry the
Jiu Long Bi generator. The bastions run in squadrons of 1-3; when they stay within 8" of each other, the generators create a shield between them that limits direct attacks from surface-level models to hitting only on a 5+. As I understand it, this also affects outgoing fire from ships behind the screen.
So I think these ships are designed to be a real menace up-close, but I believe they will require finesse to use accurately--unlike my FSA, which are a point-and-shoot fleet. Keeping the various MARs in mind when playing the Chinese will be a lot to keep up with, but I believe these MARs will be integral to fielding this fleet successfully.
Sorry this ended up being so long, but I wanted to share my thoughts. Hope you enjoyed the write-up!
