GI Joe Sgt.Slaughter pack

GI Joe Sgt.Slaughter pack, from Renegade Game studios.

This is a big boy box, good lord. I thought this was going to be a small box with two handbooks and a plastic mini, but this is a FULL SIZED box, with storage for the cardboard standees (33 of them!) included along with a Sergeant Slaughter miniature in what I can only say is better plastic than the regular GI Joe minis from the other packages I got.

Limited edition so get it now

First thing I need to say is if you want this, get it NOW. When they say limited edition on this box, it is real. The rights to Sergeant Slaughter as a character are confusing, a mixture of Hasbro, Robert Rudolph Remus and WWF/WWE, and Renegade Games only have them for a limited time before they have to renegotiate with everyone involved. While I don’t know the terms of the deal, if you are a fan of Slaughter’s Marauder, Robert Remus or just the GI Joe RPG, you do need to act fast before those become really hard to find.

Content of the box

For the price, the main attraction is oddly that Sergeant Slaughter miniature, which is not that big (28mm scale), in a good quality brown plastic. I would have gone pre-painted, like with all GI Joe minis, but that is a personal preference. The scrulpt is pretty good.

You get 33 cardboard standees as well, a couple of Joes associated with the Sergeant (sadly, some of them are duplicate from the first mini box), a big bunch of generic Cobra soldiers and BATS and named villains. You get a few vehicle flatpack as well, which are good.

You also get a map pack for the included adventure (Marauders versus the Slaughter Monster).

The two included books are the adventure handbook mentioned above, along with a Sergeant Slaughter sourcebook.

Is it essential? How are the rules?

Well, you get a premade adventure which is great for new players, so I would say that is a good reason to get this package on top of the miniatures. You get stat blocks for the threats, along with stats for some of the Joes affiliated with Slaughter’s Marauders (including one of my favorite, Spirit).

To fully enjoy the rulebook, however, you do need to have the Factions in Action book for the contacts rules. This is an issue with some of these types of RPGs: they design a cool mechanic, but as they set it up AFTER the main book was written, future releases are not future-proofed as well as they should.

The art in the books is great, and they are good reads for a GM and gives you additional options as a player. It is not an ESSENTIAL purchase to play GI Joe (unlike let’s say the Cobra manual), but I would recommend getting it as a fan.

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