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Review of The Brotherhood of Steel Core Box
Blurb from the publisher: 'The Brotherhood of Steel see themselves as the true future of humanity, and seek to learn from the mistakes of the past to forge a brighter future. Though they are few in number, the Brotherhood are walking tank; steel within and without. They go into battle with powerful long ranged attacks, armored against everything the wastes can throw at them. Suit up and stride forward - Ad Victoriam!
This Fallout: Wasteland Warfare set contains 32mm scale high-quality multi-part resin miniatures with scenic bases. Requires some assembly. Supplied unpainted.
Miniatures:
• 2 Lancers
• 2 Field Scribes
• 2 Knight Patrol
• 1 T60 Paladin with Gatling Laser
• 7 Scenic bases.
Cards:
• 9 large cards: 4 Unit, 4 AI, one Reference.
• 34 small cards: 12 Items (Weapon, Equipment, Mod, Chem, Power Armor), 2 Boost, one Heroic, 6 Quest, 2 Perk, one Leader, 2 Explore, 2 Event, 6 Wasteland (Danger, Creature, Stranger).'
What you get: Your EUR 47,03 or equivalent will buy you The Brotherhood of Steel Core Box, one of the core boxes of the Fallout: Wasteland Warfare game line.
I will not repeat the blurb when it comes to what the product contains. It is worth repeating however that in contrast to the Raiders Core Box which did not include any of the cards that went with the miniatures and needed the Raiders Wave Expansion Card Pack in order to function within the game, the present box includes all the necessary cards.
The present Core Box can be bought separately, or it can be bought as part of The Brotherhood of Steel Starter Bundle (EUR 146,96). The Bundle includes the present box, the Fallout: Wasteland Warfare - Two Player Starter Set, Knight-Captain Cade and Paladin Danse, and Frontline Knights. Both latter boxes carry members of the same faction.
Contents: The miniatures come on their sprues, yet they only need partial assembly. At their easiest they consist of only four pieces (base included), while at their most complex they consist of six different pieces (mini without arms and head, each arm separately, gun comes separately, head, and base).
The minis are distinct. Each is caught in a different pose, be it semi-relaxed or action oriented. In contrast to the Raiders this is very clearly a military outfit. The minis do not wear the exact same uniforms, they are however one level above everybody else when it comes to slickness and battle-readiness. There is nothing haphazard about these dude's appearance; there's all kinds of armour and plating for the heaviest hitters, uniforms and standard military equipment for the lighter troops, etc.
Their in-game stats are impressive. The Paladin is one of the most powerful minis in the game. Not only his numbers are high, he has many options as well. Next to him Scribes, Lancers, and the Knight Patrol look underpowered, in reality however every time would have enjoyed to count minis with these stats amongst its members.
The strong points: The Brotherhood of Steel goes against almost every single concept I have associated this game with, and that's a strong positive. It is a very different thing to encounter them as a third party in the PC game than to actually play them as the protagonists, which is the case here. They can be as rugged or as shiny as you want them to be, yet they will never be random. They exude discipline, not mischief, determination and cause, not nihilism. This does not mean however that they are less deadly than their opponents. I literally cringed when I saw what the Paladin can do, this does not however mean that the guy is broken. Game-wise, the minis work well as a group. They cover one another while having obvious niches for optimal performance and tactical variety. You might be tempted to send the Paladin everywhere, yet no tactics centered around that concept will ever work.
The set's aesthetics are once again top notch. There are all kinds of details for people to invest in, and even more so for the better painters amongst us. The 6-part Paladin is an impressive piece, for those however into porting minis to different system from left and right, the lighter-armed Field Scribes and Lancers might prove more useful. All minis still hold retro-futuristic big ass guns, mind you.
I enjoyed the new content in the small cards. There are a lot of weapons here, some obvious and some not (a machete with the Brotherhood?). There is also a sea captain's hat, yao guai meat (brrrr), and anything from pleasant boosts to events like a breath of fresh air, or to dangers like a fire trap. The more variety these decks have the more replayable the game becomes.
The weak points: Nothing, really. Unless you buy the box for the miniatures only, you do realize that you must own the Two Player Starter Set first. Right?
Conclusion: If you want to field The Brotherhood of Steel in your Fallout game or RPG, this is where you start from. I am not surprised by how effective they are, I am however impressed by how cool it feels to finally command them.
For more info on the Brotherhood of Steel Core Box and the Fallout: Wasteland Warfare game line overall, visit the Modiphius Entertainment website at http://www.modiphius.com.
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