Sci-Fi
Ogre 6th Edition
Well here is some great news. Steve Jackson Games has announced it will be re-releasing its tactical sci-fi, board wargame, Ogre (including G.E.V.) in a new large boxed format! Ogre and G.E.V., in the old Pocket Box, were some of the first wargames we ever played. Both games were simple, challenging, and a lot of fun. But they always suffered from inferior components. The counters were just black and white cardstock that you had to cutout yourself and the maps, while very attractive, were small and on thin glossy paper. Finally having a ‘real’ version of the game is very exciting. If you have never played either game you will want to be sure the check it out when it is finally released.
Now the good news, news that personally delights me. We now have to fill a hole in our schedule. When we looked at everything that might fit into that hole, a spiffy big-box version of Ogre – big board, heavy counters, and so on – had the best combination of “needs no further rules development” and “is in demand.” So we get to have Ogre back. I have been really unhappy that it was out of print, but other things had to come first. Now that the other priorities have temporarily fallen down . . . Ogre gets its chance!
What will the new 6th Edition include? Basically, the same game that we have been selling as Ogre/G.E.V., but with massively upgraded components. Further details will have to wait a few days, and when we unveil them, you’ll also get to see the redesigned Ogre webpage.
Considering this open letter to distributors it looks like we might really see Ogre 6th Edition in 2011. It will be a large boxed game with cardboard board/counters. Looks like there are ‘pop out‘ Ogres, towers and perhaps some other units. Counter designs are a bit odd especially considering there is no facing in the game.
[Updated: 14MAR11]
AT-43 — Easy AT-43: Company Manager
An avid AT-43 player has written an army building application for Rackham’s AT-43 sci-fi miniatures game. You can find more details in the AT-43 forum along with a user’s guide.
Latest Easy AT-43 release: http://rcommunity.nazgulworld.com/
[Updated: 21FEB09]
AT-43 — U.N.A. Bunker Units
Rackham released new stats for AT-43 from their upcoming Operation Frostbite campaign book. Cry Havoc Online #77 provides stats for U.N.A. Bunker Units:
THE U.N.A.
STAR TROOPER BUNKER
Type: 1.
Numbers: 2 to 6.
Standard equipment: None
Special weapons: Flamer, missile launcher, volcano MG.
Optional equipment: None
Specialist: Combat engineer, Medic. Read the rest of this entry »
AT-43 — Bunker Beta Rules
Rackham released a picture showing the Karman K-shooter (infantry), an Easy Trike (class 1 vehicle) and the future King Mammoth (class 3). They also released some new test rules in Cry Havoc Online #7:
“The game designers at the Rackham studio are offering you the exclusivity to test new units for AT-43. Fortified support units, more commonly known as bunker units, are troops attached to bunkers. In position inside the fortifications, their support is precious to their company. Bunker units are partly or entirely composed from the content of an Attachment Box. The final bunker unit rules will be published in Operation Frostbite, a next supplement of the collection. Read the rest of this entry »
Forge World — New IA6 Releases
Forge World released some details on their upcoming Imperial Armour Volume 6: The Siege of Vraks Part 2. In support of the new book they have released some new miniature upgrade sets: Death Guard Chaos Space Marine Legion Plague Marines set, Death Guard Terminator conversion set, and finally three equipment upgrade sets for the Death Korps of Krieg range.
The Battle for Vraks Continues
Imperial Armour Volume 6: The Siege of Vraks Part 2 will see a massive escalation in the brutal war between the loyalist Imperial forces and the renegades led by the treacherous Cardinal Xaphan. Of course, this means we will be producing an expanding range of new Chaos and Imperial releases to help you fight your own battles for Vraks or simply add some cool new models to your own collection.
Tactica Aeronautica — Review
Tactica Aeronautica is the first expansion to Forge World’s Aeronautica Imperialis sci-fi, air combat, miniatures game. It is a hardback book similar to the original AI rulebook. Tactica Aeronautica is 127 pages with integrated color.
Tactica Aeronautica’s first section covers new aircraft and includes the background and game stats in the same format as the original AI book. The new aircraft included are: Marauder variants (Colossus bomber and Vigilant surveillance ship); Ork Bommers (Bomma and Blasta-Bomma); Tau Remora Drone Fighter, Tiger Shark AX-2-2 mothership, and DX-13 aerial mine; and the Chaos Harbinger bomber. There are also a couple pages of aircraft upgrades for each race and a complete squadron list that includes point values for all of the aircraft from both products including the available upgrade options. Datasheets are provided for the new aircraft as well as some variants of older aircraft (for example the Vulture gets 11 new weapon loads). Read the rest of this entry »
AT-43 — New Combat Drills
Rackham released some new beta rules to try out in your next game.
“The game designers at the Rackham studio are offering you the exclusive opportunity to test the new combat drills for AT-43. These drills will be presented in the final version of Operation Frostbite, a future supplement for the range! Rendezvous on the official AT-43 forum to discuss these new rules and to share your battle reports.”
Combat Drill: “Eject!”
Heroes can spend 1 LP to activate the ejector seat of their armored fighting vehicle whenever it is destroyed. The hero is then placed wherever the player controlling him wants on the battlefield. The player places the dispersion template over the hero, rolls one die and moves the miniature 10 cm in the direction corresponding to the die. The hero is eliminated if this movement takes him outside of the boundaries of the battlefield or if he lands on an impassable obstacle.
Combat drill: “Fire at will!”
Once per round each hero can spend 1 LP to give, ,the “Fire at will!” combat drill to an infantry unit he leads and which will not move this round. The rate of attack of the unit´s ranged weapons is doubled until the end of the unit´s activation.
Addition to the cover rules: “Advancing behind an armored fighting vehicle”
Infantry can use the cover provided by armored fighting vehicles when the latter spearhead the offensive. In order to get a cover roll when behind an armored fighting vehicle, the unit must be given the “Take cover!” combat drill and be in contact with an armored fighting vehicle.
Also see the Bunker Beta Rules.
Mongoose Publishing Dropping Babylon 5: A Call to Arms’ Miniatures
Mongoose Publishing announced today they will be ceasing all miniatures production. Considering that there are no other sources for Babylon 5 miniatures this cannot be a good sign for the game (Note: The new Hyperion models will be available until March 31st). Players who do not mind proxies may wish to check out Ground Zero Games’ Full Thrust line of miniatures (their free rules are good as well). There are also Games Workshops’ Battlefleet Gothic ships but that line is also almost dead. Lastly are ADB’s Starline 2400 Star Trek ships but that line has no fighters.
Babylon 5: A Call to Arms has been a truly successful game over the years, especially for a space combat game (which never enjoy the same limelight as 28mm skirmish-based games). There are thousands of players all over the world, and if you gathered all the ships sold into one place and laid them out flat, they would cover an area the size of Belgium to a depth of four inches (maybe).
We started with roleplaying games but, having a passion for miniatures games, we soon branched out. This is why we do the games we do. However, we also have to run a business – otherwise, there will be no more games, ever.
The reality of A Call to Arms, despite its popularity, is that a miniatures production facility cannot be run on B5 alone these days. We had hoped to bolster the capacity of the facility with Starship Troopers (it needs 2, maybe 3 miniatures games to run for the long term), but rising production costs mean we simply cannot continue to subsidise it. That is the hard nature of business – something can sell well, and still not be selling enough. If the hole is not plugged in good order, we risk losing the whole ship.
To be brutally fair about things, the A Call to Arms miniatures range has had a good run. There are thirteen different fleets, and few games can boast that many forces. There are around 200 different ships, not including variants. There is a good community for the game.
I want to emphasise that we have not dropped the game itself. We’ll continue to support it in S&P, sure, but if there is sufficient demand, we will continue with book releases as well, covering different campaigns, variants and scenarios. We will also keep running events for as long as there is interest. In addition, we will be using the rules for future games.
Note: IronWind Metals now has the Babylon 5 miniature line back in production.
[Updated: 22NOV08]
Federation Commander: Line of Battle — Review
Amarillo Design Bureau just released Line of Battle a new expansion for Federation Commander. It is a follow-up to their Battleships Attack product and contains nine extra 8 1/2″ x 11″ battleship cards for all the races, an additional map panel (open space), three new scenarios that feature battleships, and lastly, a short bit on tactics. The included cards are for the: Federation Battleship, Klingon B10 Battleship, Romulan King Condor Battleship, Kzinti Battleship, Gorn ‘Godzilla’ Battleship, Neo-Tholian Battleship, Seltorian Battlewagon, Hydran Monarch Battleship, and the Lyran Cave Lion Battleship.
This is a nice expansion for anyone interested in using battleships in Federation Commander. The scenarios are also interesting but we wish they had come up with something a bit more novel to include than just another map panel.
A related product is their Border Box #6 that contains nine battleship miniatures and one starbase miniature. Of course the miniatures are all available individually as well.
AT-43 — News
Rackham has been busy. They have announced a number of new items for AT-43. First off the Karmans get fleshed out pretty quickly this year with a large number of new units including the King Buggy and King Mammoth. The UNA get Shock Troopers and previously unseen Shock TacArms and hero Lieutenant G Epstone in open Death Dealer TacArm armor. Rackham is also releasing a new Firetoad unit. What makes this one unique is not only its new ‘winter’ camouflage paint scheme but it will now come with all weapon options in the box (but no cargo container).
Perhaps the most interesting news of all comes from Rackham’s version of Forgeworld, Fire Industries. They announced the new UNA Fire Wasp buggy. As with all FI products, the Fire Wasp will be an unpainted resin model. Interestingly, the previously announced Therian Golems are now absent from the FI pages.
Rackham released an image of a prototype model of the ‘Steel Giant‘ type three strider. Also seen are army dice in tins similar to what Battlefront has done for Flames of War. On the forums, Jean Bay announced a new campaign box set for AT-43 to be released in the next few months. “This Campaign will be a product boxed set, including scenery, few special miniatures, new gaming tiles, additional rulesbook which cover new tactics options, rules for playing these new miniatures in AT-43, rules for scenery, an optimization for using the existing attachment boxes in the game, rules campaign system, huge set of scenarios and lots more. ”
2008 is looking to be a good year for AT-43! Considering the release schedule for the Karmans, we will almost certainly see a new faction for AT-43 before year’s end.
[Updated: 14FEB08]
[Update 7MAY08: Fire Industries has closed.]
The View from the Turret 
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