I'd buy a Vorlon Planet Killer from Mongoose!

[Voronesh]

Yer but that is more of a grammatical question. Isnt it?

And since such a line is not part of a wargame rules section where evrything has to be 100% precise, down to the point or people will bitch/make it go broke/play the game wrongly. I dont think it would get much better than that.

Unless you want to ask JMS directly if its canon or not ^^.

 

[Locutus9956]

As Vor says your unlikely to get better than that unless you happen to have JMS's telephone number to hand?

As for it being biased, thats hardly relevant. Biased or not JMS still wrote that and its his show afterall.

Plust its hardly biased anyway its not even as though B5Wars was competing with another B5 game (except I suppose, fleet action, which AoG made as well in any case and it all used the same fluff)

But regardless of any of that, simply put the AoG fluff was more thoughrough, detailed and simply made more sense when put up against the show. ACTA may be a better game (though in my oppinion it isnt, its simply alot quicker and easier to play) Mongoose still have a long way to go imho before I'd take anything said in any ACTA book over the B5Wars stuff as fact...

To be honest, making a different game is all well and good but why they felt it necessary to completley change the fluff for various ships is really beyond me (especially as theyre even using the same miniatures).

But I digress, back to the Vorlon planet killer question: I would LOVE a full scale one with funky rules etc (it would have to be in the same league as the ancients tbh though (as should the shadow 'death cloud' really imho)) Id also love to see rules for more sizes of shadow ships.

 

[captainsmirk]

Maybe he's just to busy to give the "proper" data and sends them there for non-canon-but-quite-good answers?

And maybe he didn't have an answer because he never bothered thinking about that level detail (he was, after all, trying to tell a story not create a massively detailed universe for wargaming in) and left that to people like AoG to do...

Nick

 

[Locutus9956]

In fact Im certain that is EXACTLY what happened Cptnsmirk, but nonetheless AoG were the ones that he got behind and said: 'yes thats correct' to. Which in my book makes them canon

 

[ShadowScout]

According to JMS as Ive said numerous times, the B5Wars rulebooks WERE Canon, and thats all I need to hear tbh as far as 'canonity' goes

Can you provide a reference to back that up?

From the B5Wars 2nd Ed Rules compendium

Getting it Right
Making a television series like BABYLON 5 requires that you think like an Irish border collie: you have to be detail oriented, maniacally obsessive, tightly focused and utterly relentless. The massive and intertwined plots and stories aside, there are a million tiny details that you have to get right. How does the centrifugal force inside B5 create gravity? How can a Starfury fly backwards while firing forward? What's the gravity on Mars?
You know why you have to get them right? Because if you don't, you get letters. ("No, no, it should be centripedal, not centrifugal you idiot. And by the way, can I have an autographed picture so I can hang it in the basement of my Mom's house where I'm living while finishing up my third PhD in quantum mechanics?")
Sometimes it's difficult to make licensees understand the importance of getting the details right. For a show like B5, this is massively important. As Michelangelo said, "Trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle."
So you will understand how wonderful the experience of working with Agents of Gaming has been throughout the history of B5. They were not only among the first to come aboard and license B5, they instantly understood our desire to Get Things Right in the smallest detail, and even took it a step further, becoming even more rigorous than we were.
How rigorous you ask?
When other licensees needed information on ship configurations or weapon capabilities, we referred them to the Agents of Gaming books (such as the one you are nor holding in your hands). When we were in production and engaged in the writing of episodes or the mapping out of sets, if I was not available to answer a specific question on a technical area covered by AoG... the people involved were directed to go to the AoG books. Whenever AoG's miniatures showed up on the set, there was always a feeding frenzy of the sort usually associated with an unlucky cow falling into a river filled with piranha.
What I'm saying, in this roundabout way, is that if you want the Real Deal, if you want accuracy, canonical authority, and the best of the best when it comes to BABYLON 5 licensing and gaming... you've come to the right place.
Enjoy.
J. Michael Straczynski
Creator/Writer/Executive Producer
BABYLON 5

It's not from any AoG writer, but from JMS himself. I'd consider that of more weight then some "independent" source.

Of course... he had all reason to. After all, B5 is his "baby", and AoG was one of those who at least tried their very best to follow his outline instead of making things up without consideration to what JMS did (that's what may have vexed JMS in regard to the CEE "The babylon Project" RPG and the "B5 Security Manual" - they both made things up without checking back with Babylonian Productions or WB if it was OK, resulting in the first human/minbari contact mady by the "Amundson" instead of the "Prometheus", or mention of Vorlon food and similar goofs)

And of course... that was then and this is now. AoG lost the license, Mongoose has it. So they're now going to do B5 stuff. (of course, makes one wonder why they haven't yet managed to get JMS say something nice about them...)
Anyway, it pains me when Mongoose chooses to ingore good AoG stuff (as they did when they reworked the Dilgar - badly IMHO). But all anyone of us can do is hope they'll pick up more of AoG's work... and continue it. I for one would really want a Shadow DN mini for my fleet (Well, I am corrently building a completely new design of a "Shadow Command Ship" that looks a bit like the Regeneration Oupost... but that's another story). And a Patrol Cruiser. And maybe a Battlecruiser too (though I intend to use my "Command Ship" in that slot and with those stats... B5W of course). Still, Mongoose has to watch the bottom line. They will only make minis they think will sell well. Want a mini made? Find people who'd buy one (note me doen for any Shadow or Vorlon mini that reaches AoG standards... Mongoose really needs better sculptors, from what I saw of their Drakh and Nemesis or Marathon...)

 

[Burger]

canonical authority

Hmm, there's the magic phrase... thanks
Well I guess that proves it, I'll cut B5W a bit more slack now, in terms of fact/stats...

 

[Locutus9956]

I hate to say I told you so but.....

well ok thats a flat lie:

I told you so