Babylon 5 Wars 3rd Edition

Benwick

Mongoose
Hi!

In the past I was(and still am) an absolute fan of the Babylon5Wars Tabletop.
After "Agents of Gaming" had to close their gates and Mongoose got the B5 license and released B5:ACTA there was little hope to see that great realistic tactical tabletop system ever again.
ACTA is a nice and fast system and I also play it, but I (and many other gamers) really miss the realistic system of B5Wars.

What about re-releasing the B5W system? You also re-produced the original B5Wars miniatures and releasing the original B5Wars game(maybe as revised 3rd Edition)would also push the miniature sells.
You also could include some conversion rules to combine both systems(B5Wars for smaller and more detailed skirmishes and ACTA for larger scale battles).
Also it might be a nice idea to use the B5W rules as an open gaming system with rules included to create the ships of every universe you might desire(Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate,...). The specific rules for the B5 Universe could be included in an optional supplement.

The guys of Mongoose own(at least at the moment) the license to use the B5 background. Is there anyone who owns any license/rights on the B5W system??

B5Wars was a great and very detailed system(even a lot better and much more realistic as the good old Starfleet Battles).

Also there was another space combat system (turning point), also dreated by AoG. Any information about that? I never had the chance to play it or read the rules, but when it is as nice as B5W it might be worth a closer look.

So, what about re-releasing of B5W? There was a lot of work that already had been done by AoG to create that great game, why don't use this work?
 
Benwick said:
Is there anyone who owns any license/rights on the B5W system??

The rights to the B5W reverted with the B5 license. That's why they released a "Fleet Action" generic background, but not a regular scale one: AoG retained the rights to the Fleet Action game system, but not the other.

I generally like crunchier scales than ACtA, so I might be interested. Of course, I have most of the B5W stuff already, and can always play with that.
 
I also own the most of the B5Wars stuff(the books not the minis!), but I also would buy a "3rd Edition". There are a couple of new ships(Drakh, Armageddon Ships,....)that are worth a conversion. As long as there will be no "official" conversions for B5W, I will use my Adobe Illustrator and convert them by myself and transmit them to Tyrel Lohr so he can publish them in his "Great Machine" fanzine.
B5Wars is such a brilliant, detailed and complex kind of space combat system, and there is no other system that can be compared to it. The realistic movement of the ships, the sensor rules, the fighter combat, the really cool weapons, the boarding actions......it's just amazing.
ACTA is a nice and fast system but it lacks the B5 battle feeling(at least in my case)..*sigh*
:cry:
I really hope, Mongoose will re-release it. Perhaps with some new statistics/rules(such as the "crew-amount" of ACTA)

So, GREAT GOD OF MONGOOOOOOOOSE, REALEASE THIS HOLY GAME FOR YOUR FOLLOWERS! :wink:
 
Well, I'd buy it.
Never really liked the CtA rules - I always prefered more detailed small battles over quick-and-dirty big fleet engagements.
And it would use the current mini line...

Mongoose could also make a "Dogfight" kind of game, with the old AoG "B5W full scale" fighter minis. I'd buy that too.

As for the new minis... well, once I have more time again I never had any problems with translating minis into B5W SCS. (And Omelos & Mankhat are already done...)
 
I know several players who would buy it.
We even played really huge battles using the B5W system. Well...it took nearly a complete weekend...but we just loved it! :D

@shadowscout

By the way, didn't you create the Drakh SCS which became published in the babcom online fanzine(issue 14 I think)!?
 
Does anyone here knows about the "Turning Point" Space Battles tabletop, which AoG created shortly before they gone outta business? What happened to the license?
 
Benwick said:
Does anyone here knows about the "Turning Point" Space Battles tabletop, which AoG created shortly before they gone outta business? What happened to the license?

I believe the rights to the game and background rest with Rob Glass (who was last seen working for Mongoose in Ohio...).

It might be something that Mongoose could pick up, but it would muddy the waters somewhat.
 
Hi guys,

This is certainly something we have been talking about, and a 3rd edition set of rules is in the long-term development works. As to whether we would release it. . . well, we bandied the idea around on the B5 Wars forums and met with a muted response, so it is currently unlikely.
 
msprange said:
As to whether we would release it. . . well, we bandied the idea around on the B5 Wars forums and met with a muted response, so it is currently unlikely.

Nah, you don't want to listen to Reid, krieg and the other naysayers who don't actually ever buy anything anyway but always shout the loadest. ;)

There's a healthy cross ection of the B5wars forums' users here and I suspect they are the audience (and LBH who'll buy anything with a B5 logo on it :) ) you want. There's also been a few souls from here who have subsequently found the B5wars forums because of comments here, so there's a lot of potential interest our there.

You could run a poll over here to gauge interest levels, and mention you're doing it over on the B5Wars.net..?
 
frobisher said:
There's a healthy cross ection of the B5wars forums' users here and I suspect they are the audience (and LBH who'll buy anything with a B5 logo on it :) )

Oi! I resemble that remark! :lol:

LBH
 
Whilst I feel that it’ll be counterproductive to release Babylon 5 Wars 3rd Edition; I strongly feel that it’ll be even more counterproductive to not release a combat system that involves squadrons and/or task forces (rather than fleets), with the added detail that these types of gaming systems involve (don’t mistake “detail” for “confusion”). I feel that it would be a waste of a beautiful set of miniatures and ships; AOG originals and those that you’ve expanded upon (the Marathon class…it’s too beautiful for my eyes!) to not add detail to their systems, operations and their use when detached and solitary, grouped into small action groups or even task forces if the rules system is well designed.

You have access to the founders of Babylon 5 Wars 2nd Edition, Fleet Action 1 and 2, plus indigenous personal (ACTA); I say, make the best thraking tactical star ship game (that uses the plethora of well designed ships at your disposal) that all of you can muster: and they will come.

Well, I’ll buy it anyway.
 
B5Wars was the best and most realistic space combat system ever created. It is a shame to let it die. There are so many fans out there. Why not publish a 3rd edition? Why should it be counterproductive? Just the Rules are needed(and they still exist). The miniatures are available. Just one Rulebook and a load of pdf sheets of the B5W ships. Hex Maps are not neccessary. Just use inches instead.
I miss my B5W. ACTA is nice but lacks the realism.*sigh*
 
whilst yes diehard B5 fans (and LBH) would probably buy this they have to appeal to the wider audience, hich unfortunately means youngsters who dont want to spend hours fighting with one ship doing all the intricate miniscule things. inever played B5 wars but did play star fleet battles and that could get very complicated, especially when you run a 4 player fleet sized game :D
mongoose have to think what sells today, and whilst this would do ok to start with as all the hardcore B5 people buy it, in the long run its not something many kids get into, just look how many kids play napoleonics, or ww1, these games are generally very complicated and so dont have huge followings besides old timers and their kids possibly, same would apply to B5 wars i guess. (altho i may buy it, have the ships anyway so why not)
 
katadder said:
whilst yes diehard B5 fans (and LBH)

Actually i probably wouldn't, being an anal retentive completionist means you have to limit what you allow yourself to get into, and given my existing investment in ACTA and the fact that I like the system I don't see me spending much on any B5W stuff that gets rereleased.

LBH
 
Just stumbled across this old thread. Don't know if anything has come from this, maybe in the big announcements coming up?

Anyway, I'm a B5W gamer and I've picked up CTA too since I have a lot of FA scale minis anyway, but haven't played yet. I think Mongoose should at the very least consider releasing the B5W 2nd edition Rules Compendium and Ships of the Fleet books as pdf (pretty hard to get these days), which may keep capital outlay and risk to a minimum. This will also give people another game to use minis they already own (this is why I purchased CTA after all :wink: ), and will soon have access to more minis. Then maybe Mongoose could release official SCS's for their new minis (hmm, dual system products?), and potentially expand on the FA scale range as well (had to be said!) :D
 
I think there will be no more B5 Wars stuff. First perhaps there are still any lizence probitions from AOG. Second why publish a game which could be able to replace Acta?

Even if I like B5 Wars, I think that a fusion of Acta and B5 Wars would make a great game.
 
Tolwyn said:
I think there will be no more B5 Wars stuff. First perhaps there are still any lizence probitions from AOG. Second why publish a game which could be able to replace Acta?

Even if I like B5 Wars, I think that a fusion of Acta and B5 Wars would make a great game.

AoG went out of business. I'll play B5W; I won't do ACTA.

Then again, my name is in 1st ed B5W. (They got stupid, however, and put Battlegroup Anchorage in the Foreign Playtester listings, rather than the US. It's utterly amazing how many US citizens don't realize Alaska is a state.
 
Tolwyn said:
Second why publish a game which could be able to replace Acta?

I think they are different enough, to me ACTA is more like a replacement for Fleet Action than B5W. There seems to be people who like one system, but wont play the other, mainly because of the complexity/simplicity issue. I recently introduced a new player to B5W by showing him both ACTA and B5W, and he chose B5W because of the detail involved.

It may take some players away from ACTA, but there will be people who will play both, and there will be people who will just buy/play B5W. I imagine it will lead to more B5 players overall, and an increase in the demand for miniatures (I assume Mongoose will still make some money of them being the licence holders).
 
Back
Top