I am pleased to share the results of opening 3.6 cases of Task Force with all of you.  I am only missing 4 ships.

Knowing my intention to blog about the contents I was prepared before I cracked any cases.  With pen and notebook at the ready I opened case #1 followed by case #2, then case #3 and I wrote down what I got (the list below is in order from #1-#60).  The .6 case was a handful of boosters I individually purchased.  They were part of another case the store owner opened for me.

Overall I’m happy with what I pulled but I’m sad that I didn’t get the Graf Zeppelin.  It is the ship I most wanted.  My first case had a great diversity with virtually 1 of every item.  The second case gave more multiples.  The .6 case (i.e. 8 boosters) helped give more of the Commonwealth vessels and padded Japan too.  Unfortunately I have a plethora of multiple rares from the same cases that has me quite upset.  Some of the rares weren’t seen in 1 case and then showed up 2 (or in some cases 3) times in another.  I’m very angry about that and think the distribution needed to be handled much better.

5 HMAS Arunta C

5 HMCS Haida C

6 Casabianca C

3 Dunkerque R

3 Jean Bart R

4 Hr. Ms. De Ruyter UC

5 Hr. Ms. Van Galen C

6 Hr. Ms. Zvaardvisch C

6 Barracuda Mk. II C

4 Halifax GR Mk. V UC

4 HMS Fencer UC

0 HMS Illustrious R

4 HMS Jamaica UC

3 HMS Kent R

2 HMS King George V R

0 HMS Warsprite R

4 Beaufighter TF Mk. X UC

4 B-25H Mitchell UC

5 F6F-3 Hellcat C

7 TBF Avenger C

8 USS Archerfish (SS 311) C

3 USS California (BB 44) R

4 USS Cleveland (CL 55) UC

5 USS Hoel (DD 533) C

7 USS John C. Butler (DE 339) C

5 USS Laffey (DD 724) C

4 USS Massachusetts (BB 59) R

1 USS Missouri (BB 63) R

2 USS San Francisco (CA 38) R

1 USS Yorktown (CV 5) R

2 USS Saratoga (CV 3) R

2 Admiral Hipper R

3 Admiral Scheer R

5 Bf 109 C

0 Graf Zepplin R

4 Karlsruhe UC

4 S-Boat C

1 Tirpitz R

8 U-66 C

6 Z18 Hans Ludemann C

5 C.202 Folgore C

3 Eugenio Di Savoia UC

4 Giulio Cesare R

6 Ju-87 R2 Picchiatelli C

2 Littorio R

4 SM.79 Sparviero UC

5 Ugolino Vivaldi C

3 Zara R

6 A6M2 Zero Kamikaze C

6 Akitsuki C

6 D4YI “Judy” C

4 H8KI Type 2 “Emily” UC

2 Haruna R

5 I-26 C

8 Isokaze C

3 Musashi R

1 Nachi R

4 Yahagi UC

1 Yamashiro R

0 Zuikaku R

In some cases I’m more surprised by what I pulled than what I didn’t.  I’m only missing 4 ships including the HMS Illustrious, HMS Warspite, Graf Zeppelin, and Zuikaku.  However I am quite surprised to pull 4 USS Massachusetts, 3 Jean Barts, 3 Musashis, 4 Yahagis, 3 Zaras, 4 Giulio Cesares, 3 Admiral Scheers, and 7 USS Archerfish.

Analyzing the contents by case I believe case #1 to have a better variation of contents.  I pulled almost every model in case #1 but only pulled 1 of each item.  Case #2 provided duplicates of many items but fewer pulls.  Case #3 increased my irritation with a plethora of duplicates.

Now that the initial flurry is completed questions remain.  Word from WoTC has long been that Task Force would include night fighting and kamikaze rules.  I, perhaps erroneously, expected those rules to be offered in the individual boosters on the back side of the checklist.  WoTC has done this for Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures and that led me to believe they’d follow suit.  However, they failed to include checklists in any of the 32 boosters I opened and also failed to include any of those rules.  It is uncertain if those rules will still be released and in what manner.

Nightfighting is an existing rule from the core rulebook and the text of stat cards.  I expected altered or advanced rules to cover that situation.  Additionally, kamikaze rules are brand new.  The only mention to them in the set is on the individual Zero Kamikaze plane’s stat card.

Simply listing a special ability titled Suicide Attack with the text of “This unit is destroyed at the end of the Air Attack phase if it isn’t at the land airbase” is insufficient as a means of marketing the new set to say that kamikaze rules are included.  Perhaps both sets of rules will be released in an online FAQ/Rules Clarification.  WoTC has done this before for War at Sea and I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.  No matter the reason I was greatly disappointed to not see checklists and the new rules.

Please be sure to check out the other WAS Task Force articles we have. They cover sneak peaks, pictures, and information about the new set. Remember that Task Force officially goes on sale this Friday. If you haven’t pre-ordered boosters it may not be too late to pick some up at your local gaming store.