Unboxing Red Alert from PSC Games UK

Ok, I don't have fancy tech to do one of those video unboxings that are all rage on You Tube so if you can bear with me the following pics show the contents of the new game from PSC Games UK - Red Alert.

As the front of the box discloses this is a game designed by Richard Borg, the man behind the Commands & Colors (to give it it's American spelling) series of games and this is his latest creation with Space Ships. Yippee!!

This is a big heavy box!

As can be seen from the bottom of the box there is a fair amount of kit in it.

Off with the box lid and what's inside?

A 44 page rule book.

The rule book is in full colour, fully illustrated with 32 pages of rules and the remaining pages being some fluff and 10 scenarios to play through. Not had a complete read through it yet but it seems well laid out, full explanation of the various tokens used in the game, terrain effects,  unit organisation etc.

2 double sided unit summary sheets

These summary sheets set out the points values of the ship type, number of models in a squadron, movement details, range, combat dice to roll and so on.

2 Victory Point stands

The Victory Point stand is simply an area for a player to place the unit markers of the foes that he has destroyed during the game. Collect enough enemy unit markers will win you the scenario.

There are 8 punchboards with terrain hex counters, unit markers, tokens and other game markers.

The punchboards are made of heavy card stock so should be quite durable and stand up to a lot of play. 

Baggies of stands and pegs for the models

Custom Dice!!!!

If you have played Commands and Colors before then you will know how these work.

The Space Ships!!

Two different fleets are included in the game, 46 models for each fleet, consisting of Capital ships (Flagship and Battleships), Strike Ships (Cruisers and Destroyers) and Fighters. 

When the game was first launched on Kickstarter PSC had originally planned to use the same ship design for each fleet on the basis that the game would be based around a civil war in a Space Empire. However, after getting feedback from the Kickstarter backers, PSC changed their plans and have included 2 different fleet designs.

The Ships are moulded in hard plastic so should take paint reasonable well.

Two sealed decks of cards, containing the Command Cards, Combat Cards and the Task Force cards.

The Command Cards will be familiar to C & C players, these are the cards that you use to order your units during the game. The Combat Cards play a similar function to the tactic cards that have been used in The Great War game that PSC also produce, given tactical advantages in any combat they are played in. The Task Force cards are effectively pre-constructed fleet lists that the players can use rather than designing their own forces. Some of the scenarios tell the players to pick a task force card at random thus giving a bit of variety to replaying that scenario.

The Command Cards ( 60 cards in total)

The Combat Cards (50 cards in total)

The Task Force Cards (12 in total)

The cards are reasonable cards stock - on a par with Magic The Gathering Cards if you are familiar with them. I intend to sleeve them though as they will get shuffled quite a lot.

Cards fit in a standard CCG protective sleeve.

The Star Mat!!

This is a big mat! 53" x 40" (that's 134cm x 101cm for the metric users out there). The hexes are 4" (10cm) wide. The mat is made of, I think, a polyester material? A bit creased when it came out of the box. I've tweeted PSC to ask if it is safe to iron it as I would want to get rid of those creases.

The 2 Flagship models (There are 1 each of these).

The 2 Cruisers Models (There are 12 each of these)

The 2 Destroyer Models (there are 12 each of these)

The 2 Battleship models (there 6 each of these)

The 2 Fighter Models (there are 15 each of these)

Size comparison between a fighter model and a battleship

Of the 2 styles of ships I definitely prefer the green models. Their design is a bit more angular and the detail a bit crisper. As mentioned above they should take paint pretty well. Whether I will paint them - time will tell!! Although I can foresee taking a spray can to them and then applying a dry brush to bring out the details.

  

Fighter on it's stand

Battleship on it's stand

Cruiser on it's stand

The stands are a push fit into the model. Once in they seem fairly secure so I don't think they would need to be glued in place.

Once everything out of the box you are left with a 3 compartment cardboard insert. I will need to see if it all fits back into this once the models are all built up.

So there you have it. A lot of stuff in the box. I like most of what I have seen although hopefully it will be possible to get the creases out of the Star Mat and I'm not 100% sold on the models in the Red Fleet.

Depending on availability of Roo I would be hoping to get this to the table soon and try out the introductory scenarios so hopefully will let you know how we get on.