Unboxing Kelly's Heros

What makes Tour of Duty and now Brown Water Navy games different to the World War Two games is the strategies the Free World and PAVN must use defeat their opponents. The PAVN and especially the Viet Cong Company found in Brown Water Navy rely on numbers and hit and fade tactics to weaken the Free World companies where as Free World Forces rely on well trained, disciplined units and  backed up by medics that get their troops back into action.

All these pictures were taken at work as soon as I got the box open. The large boat bits come wrapped in bubble rap and each set of small metal bits comes in its own plastic box or bag.

Here's the Monitor: The two largest pieces are identical to the ATC and it comes with all the bits for all three variants of Monitor and all possible gun turret upgrades. Each boat also comes with its own transfer sheet!

The ATC(H): The two largest boats have clever designs so that they fit together really well, really easily. I didn't have to clip, file or sand off any large chunks of resin like I have had to for resin  models of this size I have built from other companies.

The ASPB minesweeper comes in one resin piece with resin and metal turrets. It's sleek and looks great alongside the chunky ATC and Monitor.

Last but not least, a full US Infantry Platoon to go in your ATC(H). These were clean, crisp and had almost no flash.

Whilst this theatre is (so far) far more limited than World War Two, the tactics options and verity of units are still huge. Brown Water Navy adds a whole new dimension to this style of game through the Viet Cong which have even more hit and fade options than their regular army counterparts in Tour of Duty but the boats in the US and ARVN companies really enhance the Free World capabilities.

Now made by lunchtime that same day, the M16 Rifle Platoon comes with all the options, support weapons and a medic team that'll go with your eventual hospital boat and the recoilless rifle that aren't shown on any of the Brown Water Navy Pictures.

Two Kelly's Heros boxes may be on the cards as then I'd have a second platoon and ATC(H) to represent the hospital boat and its recon platoon.

The boats themselves are floating gun platforms that are repaired by their own crews who keep them in the fight for as long as they can. Actually killing one is incredibly tough from test practices I've done with unpainted models and exposes significant platoons to Free World fire power and the ATC(H) and Hospital Ship combined with medics and Medevac  Dust Off choppers will keep your infantry fighting. Combined with the guns on the boats, artillery, and air support the Free World your core of infantry can keep fighting on in the face of repeated ambushes.

They're big... huge... vast. The pics we've been looking at don't quite highlight exactly how huge the boats are. Each one is a solid hunk of resin three to four times the size of a King Tiger. (Small base team placed next to it for scale) Now I want a Slick to put on that helipad!

And the Monitor is even longer with its prow adding an extra inch and a half onto the length to the hull!

Kelly's Heros box set gives you a solid core of boats and an infantry platoon to mount in the ATC(H). For those looking at the pictures online it's worth noting that you get every option in US rifle platoon in Kelly's Heros and every option for the Monitor Boat, including Zippo flame throwers and the command tent. By not gluing down anything in the mortar pit you can change your Monitor to any one of the three options.

Here's the Monitor from the Company Command that counts as its own platoon.

And the Zippo, ready to move in and burn the river banks over and over again! 

The ASBP, Tokens and decals. This boat is quick and easy to put together,

Now that's a gun... who else wants a .50cal with a grenade launcher strapped to mortar!

There was a little damage to the ATC(H) when I unboxed it but I was able to fix that nice and easily as shown in the pic below, after spraying you can hardly notice there was damage at all.

Once these bits were glued back on and sprayed the cracks were filled in and you can hardly notice there was any damage.

All in all i'm happy with paying the £75 for this box, the infantry, boats and tokens are worth it and as I already have the PAVN force to face them I can get a fun game against anyone. For those of you keen on getting on of these in Bournemouth... yes I'll come and play you with my PAVN too! I'm looking forward to putting a table together for this too.

Yes it is a niche area of a less played Flames of War theatre... but so far it's awesome and for those of you who love the models and want a shake up in the Flames of War games you're playing this may be the expansion for you!