Sci-Fi
Incursion Beta Rules Available
Grindhouse Games released beta (test) rules for its upcoming weird WW2, sci-fi board/miniature game Incursion. Also available are test rules for the initial Allied and German units.
The rulebook is a 30 page pdf. The rules themselves comprise ten pages with another three pages of missions, eleven pages of cards, and six full-color map-tile pages. The cards and map tiles are rather uninspired but this of course is just a test pack and certainly not indicative of final art.
The rules are rather straightforward and reminiscent of Space Hulk. Incursion uses action points and command points. The big innovation over similar games is the use of the Battle Cards. Essentially the Battle Cards add extra chrome to the game without the need for a lot of extra rules. The cards cover things such as extra ammo, armor piercing ammo, jammed radio, snafu, and a whole lot more.
Overall it is a solid initial effort and hopefully the gaming community will provide lots of feedback to further develop and improve the game.
Also see our APE Suit miniatures review and the Grindhouse announcement.
Plastic Valkyrie — Confirmed!!
Well it is a rumor no longer! We now have photos of the actual Valkyrie sprues and a whole lot more. It even looks like there is a new flying base design. The Ammo Bunker has a great selection of photos taken at the recent annual GW Design Studio Open Day 2009. Also shown are the new plastic Catachan troops as well as the new plastic Cadian Command Squad. See more photos.
Bell of Lost Souls has a nice post with photos as well. They now have a shot of the Valkyrie interior as well.
Games Workshop now has a step-by-step Valkyrie building guide.
The gents at Battlefoam already have custom foam trays to hold the Valkyrie.
[Updated: 6MAY09]
Incursion — Update
Tabletop Gaming News has some new information about Grindhouse Games’ upcoming Incursion boardgame,
Incursion is a much different beast than Space Hulk. It’s played on squares and has action points but diverges rapidly from there as you’ll see shortly. The two games are however similar enough in “feel” that we expect to be at a, shall we say, competitive disadvantage? :-)
This will certainly affect our plans and I must say that without the marketing and distribution machine of the big guys and the breathing space for the game to take root, there is little sense in ploughing another 40 grand of money I don’t have into this thing just to get a boxed game out especially given the economic woes my architecture firm is suffering.
Tough times people, tough times.
The good news is that we do have a backup plan. You guys will likely get a free game out of this deal and loads more cool art, graphics, fluff, and especially miniatures. This all just means we have to move a little more cautiously and grow the game itself organically. We still have to work out the details of how we’re going to manage this but it will likely begin as free downloadable loveliness. The field is no longer wide open and we are, after all, just a few dedicated folks with a lot of passion, skill, and a need to do good art and design…and not enough money, by a lot, to take on GW. Read the rest…
This is a real shame especially considering that, while Space Hulk will certainly be great, GW is not known for innovative games so it seems to us there would be plenty of room for both games in the market.
Plastic Imperial Guard Valkyrie — Photo?
Plastic Legions has a photo of what they think is the upcoming plastic Warhammer 40,000 Valkyrie kit for the Imperial Guard. If it is the new plastic version it looks just like the Forge World version right down to the ill fitting canopies.
This is all now confirmed.
[Updated: 15FEB09]
Space Hulk Returns?!
Well Bell of Lost Souls dropped a bombshell! They have a rumor that a completely redone Space Hulk game will be released by Games Workshop sometime around September 2009. The game would include new plastic Terminators, probably the same as those in Assault on Black Reach (and maybe the Genestealers from Battle for Macragge?). They do indicate that the rumor is certainly shaky but Space Hulk is one of our all time favorite games so we will take what we can get!
UPDATE: The rumors are true, Space Hulk is back but only in a limited release.
[Updated: 17AUG09]
Incursion Grunt APE Miniatures — Review
Incursion is Grindhouse Games’ upcoming weird war board/miniatures game set in an alternate World War Two universe. They have posted a nice description of the game. Others have described it as a blend of Space Hulk and Wolfenstein 3D or, in other words, a dungeon crawl type game set in the bowls of a Gibraltar-based German research lab. Details on the game itself are still rather slim but some of the miniatures are now available for order. We got the full set of Allied APE suits and a German Sturmzombie. Read the rest of this entry »
Shadowsword Available for Order
Games Workshop’s latest Imperial Guard Baneblade variant, the Shadowsword/Stormlord, is now available for advance order. What is great about this new kit is the number of variants you can make. Bell of Lost Souls has a nice posting that shows all the options. GW even released a video that shows full views of the major variants.
The new Ork Stompa is also available for advanced order.
Starmada: The Admiralty Edition — Review
Starmada is one of the oldest sets of sci-fi spaceship combat rules. Majestic Twelve Games released its latest version, The Admiralty Edition, in January 2008. The Starmada products are all available as full-color PDF publications. The Core Rulebook is 80 pages and contains, well, the core rules for the Starmada game system. This includes an introduction, the main rules, advanced rules, starship construction system, six scenarios, a rules index, and lastly a blank two-ship data card. The book layout is well done with plentiful illustrations and the quality of the editing and writing is high. Read the rest of this entry »
Battlefleet Gothic — Overview
Battlefleet Gothic is Games Workshop’s sci-fi space combat game set in the world of Warhammer 40,000. It is a Specialist Games title and, like Epic Armadgeddon, is often overlooked by gamers. BFG is overall a very well done set of ship combat rules. It is fast playing and mostly well balanced (with the exception of the Eldar that most players feel are over powered). You can easily control up to a dozen ships on a side yet the game is still interesting with just a couple ships in play. The miniatures are generally well done, with the primary Imperial and Chaos ships available in plastic, and easy to paint. If you have an interest in sci-fi ship combat and you have not looked at BFG you should. To make this easy GW now has the rules available as a free download or you can still purchase the printed books (the box set does not seem to be available anymore).
BFG continues to have a lot of online support. There is the official web-zine Warp Rift and the Port Maw forums are good places to start. In addition, the World’s End Radio podcast provided some recent coverage of BFG. Episode #9 – All Ahead FAIL has a nice overview of the game (forward to 52min to get right to the BFG material). The following Episode #10 – Seeing Stars has a look at some of the advanced rules as well as the various fleets available (jump to 34min in to get right to it).
The Best Games Not Yet Published, 2009
With the New Year upon us it is time, once again, for our annual look at the games we are most anxiously awaiting in 2009. Our 2008 prognostications did pretty well so we thought we would keep the tradition going. As always, there is no guarantee any of these titles will be published in 2009, nor that they will be any good if they are, but we are optimistic. Read the rest of this entry »
The View from the Turret 
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