We interrupt our regularly scheduled halfling review to bring you the new Elf fleet for Armada. There are actually a lot of reviews on the new halfling plastics, but I haven't seen any yet on the new Elf ships, so you get those first :-)
Of course we begin with the elf starter fleet. It includes three ships, the fleet rules, the unique elf magic cards (spellbook and the new elf spell) and MDF markers if you like to put your upgrades on your ship cards (though I wonder how many people actually do this?) It also includes cards for each of the ships.
So we begin with the small support ship. Why? Because when you look at the numbers on the spruelettes, these are the first ones.
Most of the elf ships are multi-hulled - meaning they have more than a single hull. Think of the classic catamaran. These give more stability, more maneuverability (Masters of the Winds) and are basically pretty cool looking. So the small Storm Chaser is two hulls
These are connected by a single bridge piece
and have a single sail (# R4801003) (which is slightly smaller than the other 'standard' sails. All the sails on the elf ships are 'leaf' shaped.
The sail spruelettes are numbered slightly differently than the ships, and different ships reuse the same sails. The sails are numbered R48010xx, while the ships are numbered R48011xx
Of course I will be painting them separately from the ships, and it is easier to paint these while still on the sprues, so I don't have pictures of the fully assembled ships.
The medium main ship is the Drakon's Fury. This is also a split hull ship, but it is three hulls, not just two.
The bridge connects both of the side hulls to the main hull
It has two sails, one R4801002 and one R4801004
The cannon fits in the front, and the bridge fits with the 'wings' facing the bow.
Then there is the large ship - the Leafblade. The unique ship for the elf fleet is a variant on the Leafblade (Pride of Adar[1]), so the starter contains both the card and the alternate parts for this ship.
The large and extra-large ships are both single hulled - they are simply too large for a multi-hulled ship.
Unfortunately the numbering doesn't make sense - the standard Leafblade used R4801109 and R4801112) (you can tell because the Leafblade has a single combat canon in the fore and aft, and these parts each have a single canon, while the Pride of Adar has two combat canons in the fore and none in the aft)
Parts R4801110 and R4801111 are for the Pride of Adar. You should be able to magnetize these if you want to switch the ships out, or make the variant you want.
It uses two of the 02 sail, and one of the 04
Then we have the booster fleet, a Drakon's Fury, as well as the Wave Dancer and two Argus Squadrons.
The Wave Dancer is medium, multi-hull support ship. The hulls here are not the same size however, with a bridge between them.
Be very careful cutting the bridge (R4801203) from the spruelette, as there are two tiny tabs (on the smaller vents that fit into the larger hull. I (of course - I make the mistakes so you don't have to) cut these off flush to what I thought was the piece, until I went to glue it on, and found the tiny tabs were missing. The vent placement on these is very unfortunate - and I expect that many people will cut off the tabs accidentally the first time they assemble this ship.
Like the Drakon's Fury, it uses one of each of the sails 02 and 04
The tiny squadron ships are simple, single hulled ships. There is no assembly here other than attaching the single sail to each (R4801005)
Of course, you want a serious fleet, you want an XL ship to lead it. The XL ship for the elves is the Valandor, a triple hulled monster of a ship.
The side hulls are opposite, but otherwise the same.
The main hull comes in two pieces
There is a small spruelette of towers
and the bridge
The aft hull
The aft hull on mine didn't fit perfectly (attempting to line up the lines on either side, however the two outboard side hulls hid this joint so you will never notice.
When taking this picture of the bow to show the split hulls, I thought the the two side towers (with the ballista on top) made it look like the ship is flipping you the bird with both hands (you are welcome for never being able to unsee that image now!)
Then of course there are the flyers, with the 'standard flyer' ugly blister pack packaging.
Of course it comes with the cards for the fliers and their special rules, and two of the standard 30mm armada flying stands.
The cloudrunner is the simplest ship released to date - simply because it is all one piece. There is some minor cleanup required, but no actual assembly other than gluing it to the flying base.
The other flyer is a squadron of Drakon Riders. It has a spruelette of two wings, and another that is the tail, head and body.
When assembling this, remember that the head goes on the smaller end of the body (yes, I did it wrong initially just so I could warn you)
I believe the gap in the tail was due to my initial mis-assembly - but should be easy enough to fix with a tiny bit of green stuff.
I can't help but think it looks similar to the Orc Assault slasher, and they may have been based on the same original model, but the elf drakon has more ribs on its wings, a different head, and isn't carrying a big case of morax!
So that is the new elf fleet for Armada. Fast, maneuverable, and the best sailing fleet in the entire world of Panithor. And then they met the Salamanders who may be even better sailors!
Because it is all fun and games . . .
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