22Dec11
Spartan Games announced a number of significant updates to their steam punk miniature rules Dystopian Wars. They are changing the model assigned rules (MAR) and stats for a number of models. You can get all the details from their State of Nations post. They also announced some rules changes and released updated pdfs of the new Stat Cards in their Fate of Nations post.
Spartan also released related updates to the master rulebook.
[Updated: 28DEC11]
15Nov11
ADB and Mongoose Publishing have partnered on a new sci-fi spaceship combat game, A Call to Arms: Star Fleet. The new game is based on the A Call to Arms rule system, of ACTA: Babylon 5 fame, and set in the Star Trek universe of the ADB license (essentially the original series). In addition to the new rule set, ADB’s Starline 2400 minis have all been redone in a new 2500 line and are now resin instead of pewter and are slightly larger.
We are still annoyed over the death of ACTA: Babylon 5 but ACTA: Star Fleet is probably worth a look at least. ADB has a good track record with partnerships and owns its Star Trek license. The miniatures are certainly a big question. Neither ADB nor Mongoose have been known for high quality minis but Mongoose has certainly gotten better recently. The initial previews have looked good and the one picture of the unfinished resin looks pretty good as well (but not as good as Spartan). But how this translates to production pieces remains to be seen. It appears that perhaps they have beefed up and slightly shortened the Federation nacelle towers and they are going to be in resin not metal.
This month is the release of Call to Arms: Star Fleet and the first of the 2500-series miniatures near the end of this month.
Starline 2500 and A Call to Arms: Star Fleet are approaching!
The joint venture between Mongoose Publishing and ADB, Inc. is moving along quite well. ACTASF should be available in stores before Christmas. This will be a beautiful hardbound rulebook with spectacular color photos of many ships.The Starline 2500 ships are designed for use with SFB, FC, Starmada, and ACTASF, so the ship types that appear in the Squadron boxes won’t change from the 2400 line (and the price for 2500s will actually go down to $29.95). What will change is that the 2500-series ships will be cast in hard resin, not pewter, and they will be about 20% larger so that all the details that you asked us to add will be there!
Our European customers will have the option of ordering from Mongoose-UK so their shipping will be perhaps more “local.” Both ADB, Inc. and Mongoose-US will stock the minis as will many game stores, so you should have easy access to these new, highly detailed ships.
New 2500-series Border Boxes priced at $124.95 will contain 24 ships.
New 2500-Series Fleet Boxes will be priced at $99.95 and will contain 16 ships and a quick start rulebook.The 2400-series border boxes will also be available (at least by mail order) in 2500-series for a somewhat higher price. The 2400s are pewter; the new 2500s will be resin.
Remember that all of the current Starline 2400 blister packs, squadron boxes, fleet boxes, and border boxes will remain on sale at their current prices indefinitely.
[Updated: 15NOV11]
09Sep11
We recently picked up some Old Crow 6mm Hammer’s Slammers vehicles and Plasmablast 6mm vehicles. Both lines are very nice and a great addition to any 6mm sci-fi force.
6mm Slammers - Packaged
The Old Crow Slammers’ models are cast resin bodies with metal turrets and bits. The resin casting quality is simply the best we have ever seen. The casting is even better than Spartan Games’ models but the vehicles do not have nearly the level of detail of Spartan or ForgeWorld miniatures. But there is almost zero clean up needed for the resin and only a tiny bit needed on the metal bits.
Top Comparison
As you can see from the photos the models scale well with other 6mm vehicles. The design of the hover models does make them appear a bit large because the hover skirt (plenum chamber) sticks out all around the vehicle but if you look at just the actual body of the vehicle you will see it fits right in with the others. In general a lot of the GZG stuff is a tad small and the GW Epic stuff is a tad large.
6mm Strike Hovercraft and Landing Craft Hover
We also couldn’t help ourselves from grabbing a few of the Old Crow naval minis. These are also extremely well done resin casts and are quite large. As you can see the Hover Landing Craft can easily carry one or more 6mm vehicles. Now we just need to think up a good scenario for them.
The Plasmablast models are all metal castings and are also extremely well cast. Only the smallest amount of cleanup is needed. Plasmablast has the Progenitor tracked line and the Orbital Combine grav line of models. Both are nice looking, unique, and quite complete lines of units.
As you can see in the photos the Orbital Combine medium grav tank fits in well with the other figures and the heavy grav tank fits even better.
6mm Landing Craft Hover with Hammer's Slammers Blower Tank and Strike Hovercraft
Both companies responded quickly to our order and everything was well packed. Note, Old Crow is very busy and a bit behind on orders but they keep you well informed of progress.
If you are looking for some good rules for 6mm sci-fi look no further than Strike Legion and Gruntz. Both are outstanding sets of rules.
10Aug11
Well GenCon 2011 is over. We were not there but from all of the various coverage it looked like a good show and had record attendance. Below is a list of all the new goodies we are looking forward to based on the show announcements. Thanks to Russ at the D6 Generation podcast and the Beasts of War for their excellent show coverage.
FFG got a Star Wars license and will be doing a bunch of products with it. One of the first is X-Wing a tactical space combat game. Many are calling it Wings of War in space but it is really no more similar to it than any other air-to-air combat game. It comes with pre-painted plastic minis (surely with tons of expansions due along soon thereafter) and focuses on fighter-to-fighter combat in the Star Wars universe. Demo game reports were favorable overall and there is certainly more depth to the game not really explored yet by quick demos. But it is meant to be a simple, fast game not any sort of ‘simulation.’ It should be good for some quick fun. We just hope they produce the B-Wing fighter!Oddly, even though Steve Jackson Games was at the show, we didn’t hear a peep about the new Ogre 6th edition. We hope this is not a bad sign. [Update: Steve posted an update on the Ogre site, "The status is: Still planned, still the super-fancy as per the prototypes you can see on that page. . . And definitely still not on track for 2011. I warned everyone in May that it might not happen in 2011, and now I can say it definitely won't. I knew that at the end of June, before I took July off, and I should have shared."]
[Updated: 10OCT11]
27Jul11
As we have noted in our annual Best Games Not Yet Published, Critical Mass Games, Ground Zero Games, Rebel Minis and Khurasan Miniatures have all been producing some outstanding 15mm sci-fi miniatures over the past few years. With the new release of the Galactic War 1 15mm sci-fi miniature rules by Blue Moon Manufacturing we became aware of yet another 15mm manufacturer. We decided to take a look at the new rules as well as some of the miniatures.
We have only given the Galactic War 1 rules an initial read through. The rules are not bad by any means but if you are looking for innovation or comprehensive options you will need to go elsewhere. On the positive side what you get is a solid set of company level rules with some background fluff on the seven races of the game’s universe. The game scale is 100 yards per inch and each infantry stand is a fireteam and vehicles are based individually. The rules offer plenty of basics such as initiative based movement as well as spotting and command. Galactic War 1 covers infantry and vehicle combat and even handles things such as psychic combat, jump troops and more. (more…)
29May11
Grindhouse Games’ first expansion for its weird-war WW2 board/miniatures game is now available. SNAFU is a 64-page softcover book that includes new units, new missions, painting guides and an official FAQ. The book follows the Incursion rulebook style and continues the high design and pulp feel of the original game.
Released separately are a host of new miniatures that cover the new units in the book. But as always if you do not want to play the game with miniatures standups are also included (this time as a download only). The Allies get the official release of the MI-13 rules along with new rules and miniatures for Bazooka APE, Zip Kelly and Gracie. The Germans get some new Sturmzombies, the evil Drohne, and the massive Panzeraffe. Rules are provided for all of the new units and their weapons. The stat cards are a separate download and are not included with the book.
The Panzeraffe is a huge model and even makes the Gracie walker look a tad small. The Panzeraffe can be kitted out for shooting or close combat and Gracie can stomp over units as easily as it can gun them down. Both Zip Kelly and the Drohne represent the lighter but more nimble choices. Overall the new units are a welcome addition to the game and will add to a player’s tactical choices.
The meat of the expansion is certainly the new missions. SNAFU includes nineteen new missions in all including six solitaire missions as well as three two map missions. You will need the map expansion or an extra copy of the game to play the larger missions. The Cinematic missions include a couple pages of the needed rules for solitaire play. This is a nice addition to the game and allows for some unique forces. The mission selection overall is a nice mix and, especially when combined with the new forces, increases re-playability considerably.
Rounding it all off are a few pages of painting guides including color recommendations and also a complete FAQ for the rules to date. All-in-all if you have any interest in Incursion this is a must get expansion. If you thought the re-playability of the original was a bit limited this also solves that problem. New meat for the Grinder!
18Mar11
Spartan Games announced a slew of new Firestorm Armada ships and released 3D rendered previews. These are the first we have seen since Neil’s announcement that Spartan will be releasing 40 new FA ships in 2011 along with a new book. The ships are from new ‘Alliance’ fleets. The new book will cover these new races. We are not certain but we believe these will be races that can be played as allies alongside any of the other major races in the game. But whether there are set alliances with particular races we do not know yet.
Many of the new designs are quite radical and certainly push the sci-fi ship miniature hobby a step forward in detail and complexity. It will be interesting to see how some of the designs do as actual production models. The Ba’Kash Varnak Class Heavy Cruiser is certainly one of the most complex models we have seen and the slightly smaller Sharnak Class Cruiser has both an ‘open’ and ‘closed’ version. The Xelocian ships feature an ‘orange power rod’. We imagine this may be similar to the clear colored plastic rods that come with Game Workshop’s Necron Warriors. Our favorites of the batch are the Rense System Navy (RSN) ships. The Banshee Class Dreadnought and smaller Phoenix Class DD and Siren Class Escort are a very nice trio of ships.
Spartan now has preview rules for the ships and races.
Also the previously announced Kurak ships should be hitting the stores soon.
[Updated: 22MAR11]
14Feb11
James Tubbs has released a nice little app for Android devices. The Firestorm Armada Stat Viewer presents the stat cards for all the ships currently available for Firestorm Armada. It is a simple straightforward app but very handy with a nice presentation. Best of all, it is free. If you play FA and have an Android device check it out.
10Feb11
Spartan Games has posted some very nice previews of upcoming Dystopian Wars miniatures. There is the first robot we have seen for the game, the John Henry Class flying robot — sort of a giant Iron Man — for the FSA. Then we have the land and ocean going Metzger Class Robot for the Prussian Empire (also see a color render). The Kingdom of Britannia get the Vanguard Submarine. Lastly, the Empire of the Blazing Sun receive the Mechanical Ika squid submarine. All the minis have the great detail we have come to expect from Spartan Games and fit into their respective nations well.
[Updated: 28FEB11]
12Jan11
Another new year and new games and miniatures to lust after! Once again we present our annual look at the games and miniatures we are most anxiously awaiting in 2011. Our 2010 prognostications did well. As always, there is no guarantee any of these titles will be published in 2011, nor that they will be any good if they are, but we are always optimistic.
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