HMAS Sydney in League Kit

[TheFoeHammer]

The Sydney is in the current AAM League Kit. Here are her stats. I will try and get some pics or links to pics up shortly.

HMAS Sydney - 14 Points
Australia - Ship - Cruiser 1939
Speed 2
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ATTACKS
Main Gun - 7 at 0, 7 at 1, 6 at 2, 5 at 3
Anti - Air - 6 at 0
Torpedo - 2 at 0, 2 at 1, 1 at 2
----
Armor 4
Vital Armor 9
Hull Points 3
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Raider Hunter - This unit rolls one extra attack die when making Gunnery attacks against Cruisers and Auxiliary Units.
---
Collector Info - 2/64 - Uncommon

The back side of the card has the class information and some historical info on the Sydney - The Sydney is a Leander - Class Light Cruiser.

[Lynx7725]

The special ability is a bit odd. Raiders -- assuming convoy raiders -- typically aren't cruisers or auxillary units. They are typically subs or PT boats (unless they count both as auxiliary units.. PT boats are reasonable but subs?).

Alternatively, they are really big units like Bismark or battlecruisers. At least, you don't hear of cruisers (even light cruisers) doing raiding. This SA seems to catch a lot of units, which makes it a little weak fluff-wise IMO.

[MarcusAurelius]

The special ability is a bit odd. Raiders -- assuming convoy raiders -- typically aren't cruisers or auxillary units. They are typically subs or PT boats (unless they count both as auxiliary units.. PT boats are reasonable but subs?).

Alternatively, they are really big units like Bismark or battlecruisers. At least, you don't hear of cruisers (even light cruisers) doing raiding. This SA seems to catch a lot of units, which makes it a little weak fluff-wise IMO.

I think this SA fits the historical performance of the Sydney. At the Battle of Cape Spada in 1940, she engaged the Italian light cruisers Bartolomeo Colleoni and Giovanni dalle Bande Nere. Later that year, she was involved in the sinking of an Italian tanker (presumably an auxiliary unit in War at Sea) and an attack on an Italian merchant convoy.

On November 19, 1941, the Sydney encountered the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran off the coast of Australia. The ensuing battle resulted in the loss of both ships.

[Stealth]

The special ability is a bit odd. Raiders -- assuming convoy raiders -- typically aren't cruisers or auxillary units. They are typically subs or PT boats (unless they count both as auxiliary units.. PT boats are reasonable but subs?).

Alternatively, they are really big units like Bismark or battlecruisers. At least, you don't hear of cruisers (even light cruisers) doing raiding. This SA seems to catch a lot of units, which makes it a little weak fluff-wise IMO.

Germany had a fair number of Armed Merchant Cruisers for hunting merchants during the war. These were special merchantmen with a recon plane, usually 6-8 6" guns,, light weapons, and a slew of disguises. One of the most famous was the Atlantis.

For AANM, if these AMCs have the subtype cruiser, then the SA makes more sense.

[Lynx7725]

Ah of course. I forgot about those armed/ disguised merchantmen the Germans had. True, makes more sense now.

[TheFoeHammer]

Here is a link to the pictures I took this morning of my two Sydneys with my digital camera. I am not a photo expert so the pictures certainly do not do the figures justice. Someone mentioned a desire to blackwash the other figures they saw pics of. These minis seem to have very good blackwash detail in the portholes, stacks and to delineate the details between guns on the turrets. The pictures however do not show that well.

http://home.comcast.net/~basden4/WASPictures.html

[TheFoeHammer]

Also I really liked how the figure was packaged. It was inside your standard plastic mini bag, but it was also encased in a hardened plastic wrapper that form fit the ship on 3 sides. This would prevent the ship and the stacks/antennae from getting bent in the package. They are still plastic minis, so they may bend after I use them, but I like the fact that when I open them they will be held in place.

This may be something that is only happening for the league kits, but I am hoping all the ships that would benefit from this will be similarly packaged. I plan to keep my little plastic packing for transport and storage purposes.

[TheFoeHammer]

Germany had a fair number of Armed Merchant Cruisers for hunting merchants during the war. These were special merchantmen with a recon plane, usually 6-8 6" guns,, light weapons, and a slew of disguises. One of the most famous was the Atlantis.

For AANM, if these AMCs have the subtype cruiser, then the SA makes more sense.

The historical flavor text on the back may reflect this somewhat.

"On 19 November 1941, the Sydney clashed with the German raider Kormoran, which was disguised as a Dutch merchant vessel. The Sydney mortally damaged the Kormoran, but the raider's surprise attack left the cruiser on fire and adrift. She and her crew were never seen again, and her wreck has yet to be found."

Data on Kormoran from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_auxiliary_cruiser_Kormoran

[dracos42]

Okay, I should already know the answer to this, but how does one go about getting a League Kit?

Mike L.
have lab coat, will travel

[Lynx7725]

Well, you got to open a retail store first.... :D

[TheFoeHammer]

Okay, I should already know the answer to this, but how does one go about getting a League Kit?

Mike L.
have lab coat, will travel

League kits are ordered by a retail store. I believe they were $10 but that could be a mistake. They contain essentially enough promos to support a reasonable sized event or two depending on how the league organizer decides to run things.

[Muenchausen]

Well, you got to open a retail store first.... :D

Or talk real nice to your FLGS owner and maybe they'll order it for you.

[Lynx7725]

Or talk real nice to your FLGS owner and maybe they'll order it for you.
Not mine; not that they won't try, but AAM in generally doesn't do anything in the FLGS.

And to be honest, what really does league kits offer me, that I won't get a few weeks later?

[shadowhooch]

I, for one, am encouraged to see that so far, each ship has a unique SA to differentiate it from others.

"Improper Costing" is less of an issue if each unit has a distinct ability to utilize.

[Lettische_Scooterist]

While I understand the marketing idea behind putting a AANM mini into the league kits, I would have prefered to have another AAM mini to go with the snow maps and factory tiles. I don't think the Sydney will be of much use in factory hexes. :D

[TheFoeHammer]

And to be honest, what really does league kits offer me, that I won't get a few weeks later?

Very true in this case. It's amazing though how people clamor to get their hands on a figure before anyone else does.

I think I paid close to $11 to get my hands on a Ringwraith from the LOTR TMG a couple of months before release. Now I probably own 8 or more copies of that one figure. But at the time I was excited about seeing the mechanics first hand and close-up.

However, league kits also have the potential of containing special maps or map hexes, re-paints of figures, scenario cards, etc... I think for an active league they are worth it. But for a store to order them just to get the ships is probably a waste.

[Muenchausen]

I think it's that "I wanna be first mentality". When I was overseas one of the guys belonged to a tape club and was able to get the latest movie before it hit the overseas (AAFES) movie circuit. The only problem was he paid $80.00 a movie and two months later the BX would sell the same movie for $15.00. But he got to be first.

[hornet69]

yes very nice ship.we scanned and printed the atlanta and tone cards on the new opening salvo.we used them in place of the sydney.fun time .come in close to do real damage remember that

[dracos42]

I think this SA fits the historical performance of the Sydney. At the Battle of Cape Spada in 1940, she engaged the Italian light cruisers Bartolomeo Colleoni and Giovanni dalle Bande Nere. Later that year, she was involved in the sinking of an Italian tanker (presumably an auxiliary unit in War at Sea) and an attack on an Italian merchant convoy.

On November 19, 1941, the Sydney encountered the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran off the coast of Australia. The ensuing battle resulted in the loss of both ships.


There is also the WW-I HMAS Syndey. On 9 November 1914, the Syndey sank the German CL Emden, perhaps the most successful of WW-I German raiders.

Maybe there is something in the name Syndey when it comes to bashing merchant raiders.

Mike L.

[Walgers]

Got me 4 syndeys already. Okay, I can use only three, but still, its nice to get.

[Rokossovsky]

I have designed a cardstock model of HMAS Perth/Hobart/Sydney. There are photos on my webpage.

GOOD to see our brave Australian allies so well represented already.

I wonder if (the Dutch) DeRuyter and Java are in the pipeline too.