"PSC Red Alert Spaceship Miniatures - a short review" Topic

I've been thinking about acquiring some spaceship miniatures for ages, but never really could justify the spend or spent the budget on something else! Then the Red Alert board game miniatures turned up in the PSC store in very reasonably priced grab bags. Clearly popular enough to be out of stock pretty much as soon as they arrived I've only just got my hands on a couple of bags.

First I knew they were quite big just judging from the photos but reality still surprised me. I assumed board game pieces would tend to be smaller. The only other spaceship mini's I have, aside from a few SW micromachines, are Halo one's, which are somewhat dwarfed. The Red Alert ships look to be generally bigger than Full Thrust ships, but no idea how they would scale against stuff like Dropfleet miniatures.

They come in three flavours red, green and grey cargo vessels (I know next to nothing about the game and any background it may have). The red vessels have a bit of a retro vibe while the green that I prefer are a bit more brutal and contemporary looking. The mix in my bags tended towards the larger vessels. I'm not sure if this qualifies as a complaint.

As for quality, they are board game pieces, and I had heard that some pieces exhibit warping. They do but not universally and it tends to be worse in the longer thinner red ships. The detail is pretty good though some are sharper than others (not a universal or consistent issue). So far my only major gripe is a lack of suitably flat surfaces for water slide transfers. My usual base coat, wash and dry brush seems to work nicely. At some point I may experiment with adding Brigade turrets.

One 'bad' is that you have to source your own bases for grab bag vessels. However I found that the pre-existing holes are the same gauge as cocktail sticks. So I just fabbed some stands from my grab bag of 'seconds' MDF bases (a really useful pre-lockdown purchase). The bigger vessels may well require a double stand as used in the game. The smaller ships don't need it IMO.

In short well worth a punt IMO.

They look pretty cool.

Nice looking ships.

I got the boardgame Red Alert and a whole load of the extra bits when PSC did a half price offer earlier this year.

The board game is actually great fun and well worth it.

And it's great getting a bucket load of spaceships .

The hex map cloth space mat is also very reusable in other games.

Any relation to the old computer game Red Alert?

Don't think so; never played, but thought that was all gropos.

Red Alert the boardgame is actually 'Command and Colors goes to Space.'

Doug

Thanks

Plastic Soldier Company are having a Sale:

Red Alert – The Plastic Soldier Company
link

I've been painting up the two fleets that come with the game. Nice models and they paint up well.

Got my two fleets painted up and played my first game with them. I like the minis and I like the game.

Those are some really nice paint jobs!

Thanks! I use a fine-point black pen to bring out the panel details.

A technique that I'm aware of, but never really tried in anger, at least not since the late 80's / early 90's. I'm not sure I'd have the patience. It works well on those ships. Definitely a lot cleaner and neater than me and a bottle of ink wash!

Though every time I look at the engines on the green ships I find myself thinking 'why do they look like they've got air intakes its space!'

I just got this game and I'm really looking forward to playing it, whenever we can all get back together.

Those look really good.

Something that's worth mentioning is the space fighters, some of which you can see in the photos above. For some strange reason, you get fifteen of each type with the game, but if you keep an eye on the website, you'll see deals appear every so often. Sometimes these include flight stands, sometimes not. I am now the proud owner of two squadrons of each type, twelve to a squadron. Like the ships, they are generic enough to work with most other space games.

"I've added some special modifications".

Finally got around to tinkering with some Brigade turrets on a cargo vessel. Looks okay.

Holy Shite! :D Your painted fleets are marvelous! You can be proud of those for sure. :D I'd be thrilled to play games with those, but my opponent would have to tell me to stop staring at them and pay attention to the game, repeatedly. LOL

If you need more turrets for mods, I've got quite a few in multiple different sizes from the OOP Babylon 5 game by AoG. :) They are very nice, crisp castings.

Thx, but I have a lot of Brigade turrets probably more than I will ever use.

BTW not my painted fleets – wish they were!