Review: Uber, Volume 3

Uber, Volume 3 by Kieron Gillen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Rating 3 out of 5| Grade C-; Interlude
Mature content warning. Graphic Violence & Nudity

The book Uber, Volume 2, ended at a highpoint for the Nazis, who, thanks to the solo assault of Battleship Sieglinde, managed to destroy the heartland of London, as well as assassinate Winston Churchill. This action, while holding little value strategically, nevertheless send eaves across the lines, earning a highly anticipated Symbolic victory for the Germans. And we all know how much the Nazis put emphasis on looks.



The Allies, reeling from this humiliating defeat, not to mention the loss of one of the pillars of democracy, throw their entire naval might to try and annihilate the weakened retreating Sieglinde. Only to be thwarted by the sudden arrival of the newly introduced Blitzmensch who can serve as one man long distance artillery units, shooting devastating halo energy from afar, and destroying a good part of the British homefleet. Also allowing Sieglinde to escape.

Elsewhere the Allied Panzermensch research group, with double agent Stephanie, code breaker Alan Turing facing setback after setback, along with the sole defective allied Battleship, now christened HMH Churchill, try to outmaneuver the initial scientific advantage that the allies have in terms of the Ubermensch, by trying to design new variants of Tank-men; Destroyers & Frigates, which lie in power between the tank men and Battleships. All the while the former double agent has to deal with the PTSD of being an evil Nazi scientist for better part of the war.



All the way out in Soviet Russia, Maria Andreevna, having developed as a Battleship & escaped the Gulags, is dictating her own terms. She can afford to, as the powers which she can manifest, far outstrip even the strongest German Battleship. Including being able to manifest and transmute everyday objects into catalyst. Her actions for the future are worthy of attention.

Back to the Western front, the introduction of Blitzkrieg, complemented by Tank men, has allowed the Germans to deploy small groups of human artillery formations, which infiltrate allied lines, and reach within visual distance of high value targets. This visual range allows them to deploy their halo fields on long range, and to essentially destroy entire cities from afar.

Allied armor, airforce and naval defenses were essentially rendered ineffectual due to their presence. Although the allies are able to retaliate using tactical formations of their own, as well as exploiting the weakness of the specific panzer mensch, they have a long way to go.

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Gillen has added another piece to the smorgasbord of allied and axis Ubermensch, each able to counter another variant in a war game version of Rock, Paper, Scissors.

So far, the newly introduced Blitzmensch (human artillery), are ranged units able to take out targets from afar. But are quite weak at close ranges.
They can be countered by deploying your standard force of well rounded tank-men, as the Blitzmensch have only minimal physical enhancements to compensate their overpowered ranged abilities.
Tank men, while strong against the Blitzmensch, find themselves prey to the physically superior Super tankmen, who are often tagged with the Blitzmensch for protection.
The lumbering behemoths that are super tankmen, are in turn vulnerable to the long range devastation delivered by the Blitzmensch.

Rock, paper, Scissors
Panzermensch, Blitzmensch, Heavy tankmen

This volume largely serves as an interlude after the significant events of Volume 2, where most players returned to their corners and are busy preparing for the next move.

The Germans, despite having tactical superiority, are still facing long term disadvantage in front of the considerable allied forces, not to mention their geographical low ground. They are still looking at a situation where the edge they got due to the Ubermensch is being fast closed by the allies.

The Allies, despite having suffered continued losses, hold on; partly due to their superior numbers and resource bases, as well as the inability of the reminder of the German military to capitalize on their advantage.

The Soviets, despite scoring the first significant blow to the German battleships, have yet to follow up on that initiative. They have yet to get fully involved in their renewed rules of engagement.

Imperial Japan to the East, is largely absent from this volume. Here's hoping to see more of the Kamikaze Panzermensch, and possible the first Japanese Battleship.

On other news, at the expense of being called a simp, Sieglinde squarely falls into the Even though I hate everything about her ideology, I'm still smitten by her. I mean, can you really blame a man; she's like a wicked wonder woman! Closer to maybe Queen Maeve.



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