Snap Ships – Build to Battle Wave 3 Review
In September 2020 our family was introduced to Snap Ships, a modular building toy system from PlayMonster, a toy and game company based out of Wisconsin, USA.
Our first impressions of Snap Ships were very positive. We like the building, imagination, and replayability aspects of the toy as well as the quality of the components. It was definitely one of our favorite toys from 2020. You can see our original Snap Ships review here.
Snap Ships since our last review
When we first wrote our review, there were 11 different Snap Ships models available. There are now over 20 with the introduction of Wave III!
We had 3 of the models and are now up to 10!
Available Models:
- Sawfly K.L.A.W. Minelayer
- Scarab K.L.A.W. Interceptor
- Scorpion K.L.A.W. Troop Dropper
- Gladius AC-75 Drop Ship
- Lance SV-51 Scout
- Locust K.L.A.W. Stealth Craft
- Scythe AV-19 Tank
- Sabre XF-23 Interceptor
- Wasp K.L.A.W. Heavy Fighter / Falx SC-41 Escort Battle Set
- RL-55 Assault Drone
- BP-48 Biped Mech
- DA-63 Turbine Drone
- K-Swarm Strike Drone
- K-Crawler Suppression Mech
- K-Dive Ambush Drone
- Trident ST-33 Gunship
- Tunnelweb K.L.A.W. Spider Mech
- Forge Javelin M-02 Attack Speeder
- Hammerjaw K.L.A.W. Carrier Gunship
- Spitter K.L.A.W. Missile Cruiser
- Maul FT-12 Assault Mech
- Forge Claymore CR-76 Combat Transport
The Saber XF-23 Interceptor was one of the 2021 “Toy of the Year” finalists.
The Youtube series, Dawn of Battle, petered out after the first season, ending in November 2020.
The Snap Ships App is still supported and includes animations for your builds along with old and new building instructions.
The boys and I still play with them often and they’re constantly asking for more.
The Here and Now
Recently PlayMonster sent us 2 new models from their Wave 3, the Tunnelweb K.L.A.W. Spider Mech and the Forge Javelin M-02 Attack Speeder. Both models are excellent models and come with instructions for 2 different builds each.
We really like these ships and they go great with our growing fleets. And, as with all Snap Ships, the components of these models are fully compatible with parts from others–allowing kids’ imaginations to go wild.
One thing that bothered me with this latest wave is the color variations from the first wave.
The Forge uses grey and green as their main colors, but the greens are different from one wave to the next. Also the KLAW ships used black and maroon in the first wave and are now black and red. My boys tell me this isn’t a big deal but it still bothers me a little especially when combining builds.
The other thing that bothers me is UJU tech in these 2 models are rubber instead of plastic. I’m not sure if this is a big deal, but it seemed a little cheap to me.
What the boys have to say about Snap Ships
Derek, age 12, likes being able to make whatever he wants out of the parts and that each build doesn’t take much time to complete. The sets are also small so you can take them anywhere without having to haul bins and bins of parts.
Mario, age 9, thinks Snap Ships have really cool spaceship themed pieces and he loves that you can build anything you want out of them. He also said that sometimes the parts are hard to get apart, but there’s a really cool tool to help with that.
Theo, age 7, loves the colors, the UJU tech and pilots. He enjoys going on adventures once the ships are built and having battles with his brothers. He also likes discovering all the pieces with each new ship.
More of their builds.
Are Snap Ships still high on our list of favorite toys?
As I mentioned above we still love Snap Ships.
The price point on these are great. Typically you can find them under $20 with the high being around $40 for the Claymore, the biggest ship available. Amazon also frequently has good deals on them, under $10.
In addition to the low prices, I mentioned in my previous review that you can make so many different builds out of just one ship model. Times that by 10 models and there are an infinite number of builds that can be created. This is one of the big reasons they still get played with so much.
We also love the fact that if one of those many builds is a particularly cool ship, you can display it on your shelf with the included stand.
About the Author
Dane is an Advertising and Layout Manager for a national magazine by day and a husband, father of four, and board gamer by night (and mornings). He has a passion for board games and believes board games help bring families closer together while providing kids a unique way to learn many diverse skills. And he thinks they’re downright fun!!!
The Board Game Family would like to thankPlayMonster for the review copies of Snap Ships.
