Konflikt 47 - US Starter Unboxing

Well guess what I got in the post today?

I’ve been quite excited about Konflikt 47 by Warlord Games and Clockwork Goblin, and liked Secrets of the Third Reich (SOTR) and some of the other Weird War stuff done 10 years ago.

However going back and looking at the sculpts now SOTR minis look a bit rough. 10 years of advances in sculpting (including the move to digital sculpting by a lot of companies), means the West Wind figures are showing their age.

In the last year I’ve got into Bolt Action (BA) and Beyond the Gates of Antares (GoA) in a big way, and sci fi WWII where I can use the existing figures I have appeals to me.

I bought the £70 American starter, as I don’t have an American force (though I do have 3 Shermans knocking around because I picked them up on sale). My Bolt Action forces are British Paras and a Last Levy based late war German force. They are of course as yet unpainted, though at least based and cleaned up, and in the case of some of the German units, undercoated. 

So what’s in the box? I’ve actually got my phone out and taken pictures of the stuff so you guys can see it. I hate reviews where you don't see the goods because if I'm thinking of buying the Warlord 'Rangers Lead the Way' set I want to know what the extra bits actually look like rather than having a description of them as 'additional metal pieces'.

The starter contains everything you need to start your army. Which starters should, but we can all name some companies that give you starters full of stuff you wouldn't take in an army if you wanted to stand a chance of winning. 

Dice and Pin Markers (the GoA plastic pins look like being a staple for GoA and BA going forward) and Warlord have got a supply of small dice from somewhere to go in my increasingly cramped dice tin. I have the Pretty Princess bag (£1 from Poundland) so I have an order dice bag (though Warlord sell faction specific bags for BA and GoA).

There is a 208 page rulebook. This contains army lists for the big 4 (USA, Germany, Russia and Great Britain and the Commonwealth), the background for Konflikt 47 and an amended version of the BA 1^st edition rules.

When Konflikt 47 was written there was no set date for the publication of Bolt Action 2^nd edition. 

BA2 has been brought forward (I’m guessing because of the same rumblings from GW about the future of 40k that mean Mantic are trying to get their sci-fi skirmish offerings finished and in stores) to September, so there will be a gap of a month. 

Clockwork Goblin will be producing an FAQ when it comes out, and the changes between the editions are largely small (LMGs in squads getting a fix for example) so a 1-2 page long FAQ to cover those changes seems likely. When the new and much more flexible way of organising forces comes out we'll see the effect on Konflikt, as suddenly squadrons of walkers start taking to the table. 

It's a shame they weren't more bold in the main Konflikt rulebook and switched to a system where you could take a lot more tanks and walkers.

Don’t let edition shenanigans put you off. Konflikt 47 is also compatible with the force and theatre books that currently exist for Bolt Action. You can add walkers to the defense of Berlin, or Operation Market Garden, or D-Day.

Certainly to have walker heavy forces you can just swap them for similar category vehicles in the Tank War supplement organisation structure. 

Then to the meat, the miniatures.

There are 20 US troopers (4 of the US infantry sprue) in the box, with 2 gun sprues. Each sprue has 3 LMGs (2 Thompsons, 1 Grease gun), a BAR, a bazooka, a sniper rifle, 9 rifles (2 with fixed bayonet), 1 pistol hand and 2 pistols, and two M1s.

This means from the box I can create 2 infantry squads, a command team, a bazooka team and a sniper team.

But what about the weird stuff? Well here we go…

US heavy infantry.

Nice clean metal models coming in 4 pieces plus base. They are armed with assault rifles, meaning a squad throws out reasonable firepower. I will delve into the rules significantly more in a separate post.

I like them, they are nicely sculpted, imposing next to standard BA infantry, but they aren’t crazy sci fi. They don’t have colossal shoulder pads and look like something that could actually exist.

The M4A9 Sherman T tank. This is the Warlord plastic Sherman with a resin turret and metal piece  to add to the rear of the turret. I’ll be adding some stowage when I make it as well. The turret is cleanly cast and quite detailed, but isn’t ‘busy’ and again looks like something that could actually exist.

As it is the standard Sherman sprue, you can build the normal turret and switch them, meaning you can use the normal historical Sherman as well. 

Finally the M5A2 Coyote Light Walker. In the rules this replaces a recce unit, and with a HMG and MMG (though it can only fire one in a turn due to having a single crew member) it can do a recce role the same as a light armoured car, with a similar level of threat. However two fists mean it rolls three dice in assaulting another vehicle and can tear apart soft skins or armoured cars quite easily. 

Walkers can also assault infantry, which will certainly be interesting.

The kit itself is a resin body with metal limbs. The resin is cleanly cast, and again the model isn’t too ‘busy’ (covered in unnecessary crap is what I mean). Look at the nice clear front for adding a big allied star or nose art.

I like the set and I would say it is a good buy for anyone looking to get into WWII. In terms of value it’s £20 of plastic US infantry, a £20 tank, and likely £15-20 for the Heavy Infantry and Light Walker, so the dice, pin markers and rulebook are free.

The models are nice, and if you are thinking of getting into Bolt Action or Weird War II then it’s a very good starter set.

As the first question I know I’m going to be asked is about points, I’ll give a breakdown of how I’ll make up the set.

1^st Lieutenant + 1 man (veteran with SMGs) – 103 points

Heavy Infantry Squad (veteran) – 105 points

Infantry squad (Regular, 1 SMG, 1 BAR, +2 men) – 78 points

Infantry squad (Regular, 1 SMG, 1 BAR, +2 men) – 78 points

Bazooka Team (Regular) – 60 points

Sniper Team (Veteran) – 67 points

Sherman M4A9 (Regular) – 210 points

Coyote Light Walker (Regular) – 90 points

Total 791 points. I could add anti-tank grenades, I’ve got two spare SMGs, I could upgrade regular to Veteran squads, etc to get to 1000, but this is 8 units at 800 points.

A firefly squad and a heavy anti tank gun would put that at 1000 points with 10 order dice and give 3 units enemy armour has to worry about (Sherman T, anti-tank gun and the walker getting into combat).

Doubtless I’ll end up with a bunch of extra options anyway, and the prospect of the next theatre book being Pacific and being able to throw Walkers and Marines at Japanese Terror troops is appealing.

400 points of weird stuff and 400 points of normal WWII stuff. By switching the turret on the Sherman you have 600 points of normal stuff. Can you see what Warlord are doing?

The beauty of the range is that:

• 1     It’s a sci fi point of entry into the Bolt Action system, which while BA isn’t particularly groggy makes it easy for players used to having dreadnought style stuff and centre piece units in their army.
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• 2      It’s an easy buy for BA players to yet again expand their forces and give them another way to play. Bolt Action is fully compatible with Konflikt 47, which means you can throw your Italians or Vichy French or Polish against them and you don’t have to buy a new army. It gives a built in player base that games need to be successful. 
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• 3      The starter sets are an excellent buy. I got mine at £10 off because of the Warlord July offer, but full price it still gives you everything you need to play the game.

 Would I recommend this? Yes I would. I'll also actually be painting the set up in the next few weeks.