Hi guys,
I thought I would take the time to update you on the new B5 Space Combat game (A Call to Arms), let you know where things are headed at the moment and give you a chance to make a few comments of your own.
First off, a big thank you to everyone who sent in a word of support for a range of B5 ship miniatures. My inbox did indeed break under the strain (well, nearly. . .) and we were glad to see support for such games was still strong. We have had a word to the powers that be (Warner Brothers) and so, come October, you will start seeing Fleet box sets in your local stores.
Now for the bad news - at least, for a lot of you. And, please, let me explain the reasons why this is so
A Call to Arms functions as a stand alone game, allowing you to fight B5 battles in space to your heart's content. It will also have links to the RPG, so if your players have moved into positions of great responsibility, they will be able to lead entire fleets to war. That is the first point - A Call to Arms is a fleet game, concentrating on the manoeuvring of ships across thousands of miles of space. With these rules you can (we certainly have!) re-enact the Battle of Corianna VI, Babylon 5's secession, even the Battle of the Line. Hex grids are gone, leaving free-form movement over a 4x4' or, better a 6x4' board.
Right from the box, you can use large scale or Fleet Action scale miniatures - it makes no difference to the rules and you could even (in theory) have one fleet made of one scale and your opponent's of the other. Though, granted, that will look a bit weird when things get up close and personal! The scale of the counters included in the box (which will include all ships covered in the game - nearly 100 of them) will likely be of the large scale. The reason for this? You can see it coming. . .
The miniatures we produce in support of this game will be large scale. We looked long and hard at both sets of ships but having played many games of Battlefleet Gothic in the past, we could just not get past the sheer dominance and presence of the large scale models - these things look _good_. Also, freed from the constraints of a hex gridded sheet, there is no need for one ship to be the size of a hex (or nearasdamnit). In short, we are going for large scale because this is a miniatures game and miniatures should be impressive.
The two main arguments against this (and many of you did put it to me in your mails!) are a) you already have large FA fleets and b) larger models cost more. The second point is easier for us to deal with - we will be chopping the price of almost the entire large scale range by at least $1 a piece, and likely more. In addition, the fleet box sets we bring out will not only feature a rulebook with lots of variant ships, but with the miniatures alone are likely to represent a 30-40% Dollar saving over the original prices.
The fleet box sets may well be the only thing we send to retail stores (we are already asking retailers to accept quite a few comprehensive blister ranges on several other lines). Everything else will be done via mail order on our web site. This means you will be able to order individual ships (or even individual parts of individual ships) and maybe, just maybe, we will release a range of Fleet Action scale miniatures as well, thus taking care of argument A above. We'll have to see how everything pans out, but this is the intention right now.
So, about the game itself. . . Well, it doesn't matter whether you use large scale, FA scale or counters - no conversion between them is necessary. About 95% of all large scale ships AoG did miniatures for are playable right out of the box. Plus the Excalibur/Victory-class (if you want this ship, BTW, make sure you are at the Mongoose stand at Origins and Gen Con this year - it will go on general release, but not until much, much later). Play is fast and the core rules are relatively simple (you will pick the game up in 10 minutes or so from playing), but everything is focussed on the Babylon 5 atmosphere. For example, the tactics used by Sheridan to liberate Proxima 3 by multiple Jump Point entries can be used in this game (though you better have Minbari or better Jump Engines, or you may miss your target by a fair margin!). If you are the Captain of the Churchill, or any other ship that is crippled, on fire and in desperate straits, then you may be able to convince your crew to make the ultimate sacrifice. Alternatively, if you pound an enemy ship repeatedly, you may well be able to force it to surrender, regardless of what its player wishes! There are quite a few of these 'Special Actions' that players can attempt that owe everything to the TV show and hammer home that you are not playing just another space combat game but one that is intrinsically Babylon 5 in origin. No matter what fleets you are using.
The main box set is likely to be priced at $49.95, but for that you get a 64 page rulebook, a 128 page ship recognition guide, a bundle full of colour counters to get your fleets underway, and one or two other bits and pieces we have not finalised speccing yet.
So, that is what we are doing with the game and why. I acknowledge now that we are not going to pleased everyone with this take, but there are two things you can take comfort in.
1. Even if you are one of the people who took the time and trouble (thanks for that!) to write and tell me that if it were not FA scale, you would go nowhere near it, remember that the game itself supports FA and the chances are that you will still be able to buy the miniatures you want.
2. A Call to Arms need not be the last word in B5 space combat games. Not by a long shot. If all goes well, I for one would like to see a more complex ship-scale game (this would work very well for an RPG supplement we have planned next year) and then perhaps a fighter-scale game.
You never know!
Anyway, thank you for reading this far. If you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to shout out here or drop me a line. Even FA scale hate mail is welcomed
Incidentally, we have two playtesting slots open for A Call to Arms. Now, I am expecting to be flooded by requests to join, so make sure any mail to me on this subject is better than anyone else's! You will have to sign an NDA and you will have to keep your trap shut about what you see - but you will get a fair crack at the whip of making this game what _you_ want it to be.
Be seeing you. . .
I thought I would take the time to update you on the new B5 Space Combat game (A Call to Arms), let you know where things are headed at the moment and give you a chance to make a few comments of your own.
First off, a big thank you to everyone who sent in a word of support for a range of B5 ship miniatures. My inbox did indeed break under the strain (well, nearly. . .) and we were glad to see support for such games was still strong. We have had a word to the powers that be (Warner Brothers) and so, come October, you will start seeing Fleet box sets in your local stores.
Now for the bad news - at least, for a lot of you. And, please, let me explain the reasons why this is so
A Call to Arms functions as a stand alone game, allowing you to fight B5 battles in space to your heart's content. It will also have links to the RPG, so if your players have moved into positions of great responsibility, they will be able to lead entire fleets to war. That is the first point - A Call to Arms is a fleet game, concentrating on the manoeuvring of ships across thousands of miles of space. With these rules you can (we certainly have!) re-enact the Battle of Corianna VI, Babylon 5's secession, even the Battle of the Line. Hex grids are gone, leaving free-form movement over a 4x4' or, better a 6x4' board.
Right from the box, you can use large scale or Fleet Action scale miniatures - it makes no difference to the rules and you could even (in theory) have one fleet made of one scale and your opponent's of the other. Though, granted, that will look a bit weird when things get up close and personal! The scale of the counters included in the box (which will include all ships covered in the game - nearly 100 of them) will likely be of the large scale. The reason for this? You can see it coming. . .
The miniatures we produce in support of this game will be large scale. We looked long and hard at both sets of ships but having played many games of Battlefleet Gothic in the past, we could just not get past the sheer dominance and presence of the large scale models - these things look _good_. Also, freed from the constraints of a hex gridded sheet, there is no need for one ship to be the size of a hex (or nearasdamnit). In short, we are going for large scale because this is a miniatures game and miniatures should be impressive.
The two main arguments against this (and many of you did put it to me in your mails!) are a) you already have large FA fleets and b) larger models cost more. The second point is easier for us to deal with - we will be chopping the price of almost the entire large scale range by at least $1 a piece, and likely more. In addition, the fleet box sets we bring out will not only feature a rulebook with lots of variant ships, but with the miniatures alone are likely to represent a 30-40% Dollar saving over the original prices.
The fleet box sets may well be the only thing we send to retail stores (we are already asking retailers to accept quite a few comprehensive blister ranges on several other lines). Everything else will be done via mail order on our web site. This means you will be able to order individual ships (or even individual parts of individual ships) and maybe, just maybe, we will release a range of Fleet Action scale miniatures as well, thus taking care of argument A above. We'll have to see how everything pans out, but this is the intention right now.
So, about the game itself. . . Well, it doesn't matter whether you use large scale, FA scale or counters - no conversion between them is necessary. About 95% of all large scale ships AoG did miniatures for are playable right out of the box. Plus the Excalibur/Victory-class (if you want this ship, BTW, make sure you are at the Mongoose stand at Origins and Gen Con this year - it will go on general release, but not until much, much later). Play is fast and the core rules are relatively simple (you will pick the game up in 10 minutes or so from playing), but everything is focussed on the Babylon 5 atmosphere. For example, the tactics used by Sheridan to liberate Proxima 3 by multiple Jump Point entries can be used in this game (though you better have Minbari or better Jump Engines, or you may miss your target by a fair margin!). If you are the Captain of the Churchill, or any other ship that is crippled, on fire and in desperate straits, then you may be able to convince your crew to make the ultimate sacrifice. Alternatively, if you pound an enemy ship repeatedly, you may well be able to force it to surrender, regardless of what its player wishes! There are quite a few of these 'Special Actions' that players can attempt that owe everything to the TV show and hammer home that you are not playing just another space combat game but one that is intrinsically Babylon 5 in origin. No matter what fleets you are using.
The main box set is likely to be priced at $49.95, but for that you get a 64 page rulebook, a 128 page ship recognition guide, a bundle full of colour counters to get your fleets underway, and one or two other bits and pieces we have not finalised speccing yet.
So, that is what we are doing with the game and why. I acknowledge now that we are not going to pleased everyone with this take, but there are two things you can take comfort in.
1. Even if you are one of the people who took the time and trouble (thanks for that!) to write and tell me that if it were not FA scale, you would go nowhere near it, remember that the game itself supports FA and the chances are that you will still be able to buy the miniatures you want.
2. A Call to Arms need not be the last word in B5 space combat games. Not by a long shot. If all goes well, I for one would like to see a more complex ship-scale game (this would work very well for an RPG supplement we have planned next year) and then perhaps a fighter-scale game.
You never know!
Anyway, thank you for reading this far. If you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to shout out here or drop me a line. Even FA scale hate mail is welcomed
Incidentally, we have two playtesting slots open for A Call to Arms. Now, I am expecting to be flooded by requests to join, so make sure any mail to me on this subject is better than anyone else's! You will have to sign an NDA and you will have to keep your trap shut about what you see - but you will get a fair crack at the whip of making this game what _you_ want it to be.
Be seeing you. . .
Thats for the update. To bad I dont live in the UK or I would try to be a playtester. 
