Month: February 2007
A Trio of Naval Miniature Rules
Three new WW2 naval miniature rules, General Quarters III, Battle Stations!, and Victory at Sea, were all released within just a few months of each other. What is surprising is that it turns out the three rule sets are more complementary than competing. All three rules are designed for use with 1/6000-1/1200 scale miniatures.
All three games provide ample ship and aircraft statistics covering the major nations and equipment. VaS probably has the least and is missing, most notably to us, the U.S. Casablanca class ‘Jeep’ carrier. Thus you need to make up your own stats to fight the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Both GQIII and VaS provide additional craft data on their respective Web sites. Read the rest of this entry »
Aeronautica Imperialis — Review
Aeronautica Imperialis is Forge World’s first complete game. It is a game of air-to-air combat in the world of Game Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 for two or more players. Like their Imperial Armor books, AI is a large, 176 page, hardcover book lushly illustrated with lots of full color plates. If you have other FW publications many of the images will be familiar. The game rules themselves only take up 18 pages with an additional seven pages devoted to aircraft data and charts. The rest of the book is devoted to Warhammer 40K background data on the various aircraft (i.e. fluff). Also included are two sheets of color maneuver cards on cardstock that need to be cut apart. Our only complaint is that FW did not include a separate booklet with the rules as the vast majority of the book is not actually needed to play the game and thus having a more portable set of rules would be handy. Read the rest of this entry »
AT-43 — Advanced Rules Available for Download
The free PDF of the AT-43 Advanced Rules is now available for download.
The file is 37 pages long. The French version is 42 pages long but the disparity only seems to be from a difference in language and not content. The file only has the core rules of the game but includes the table of contents of the full rulebook. The full rules will be over 126 pages long and the free PDF includes pages 46-77 of those. So missing from the free PDF are: The histories of the UNA, Therians, Red Blok, and Karmans; Recruiting and Training; Let’s Play; Using the Terrain; and various appendices.
I have only had a chance to look quickly through the rules so far. But from what I have seen they look very interesting and only reinforce my regard for the game. Hopefully I can get some games in soon to put them to the real test.
This download was a very nice gesture by Rackham. Players will now be able to decide for themselves if they wish to purchase the printed rulebook or even if the game is worth pursuing at all. It would be nice if more game companies did this sort of thing.
[See our AT-43 Rules review.]
AT-43 – The First Expansions
The first three expansions for AT-43, the Steel Troopers Unit Box, the Storm Golems Unit Box, and the Accessory Expansion Set 2, are now available. The latest Cry Havoc!, issue 12, is also out.
The Steel Troopers come six to a box along with the appropriate unit cards. With the ST set you get four troopers, a sergeant, a missile launcher, and six option heads with triple-lens helmet. The painting quality is higher than that of the Operation Damocles set and does indeed match the comparison pictures provided on the AT-43 site except that most of the figures suffer from an overly heavy, white dry brushing (and a white over spray) that obscures a lot of the underling color. This is not horrible and could be easily touched up. The paint quality does vary from box to box and figure to figure so if you buy them in a store be sure to look through all the boxes and choose which ones you like best. Read the rest of this entry »
The View from the Turret 
