New Ship Counters - I vote YES!

[Mister_ELK]

I apologize in advance if this topic has already been discussed.

"Babylon 5: A Call to Arms" is the first wargame I've actually gotten involved in since the good old "Battletech" days.

Aside from being a fan of B5, the thing that really drew me into the game was the simple fact that "ship counters" were completely valid for all play and essentially INCLUDED with the game. ("Sky Full of Stars" (SFOS) counter sheets were sold separately, but I include them in my discussion.)

I'm definitely in favor of releasing the new fleets/ships/etc in the form of additional package(s) of "ship counters."

I have nothing against the models. I grant you that the models look great and I understand the attraction to them on the tabletop. At the same time, I have to assume there are a number of players that have little, if any, interest in collecting a whole bunch of metal. Not only are they costly (and again, I don't fault the company for wanting to make money), but they also take up space (of which I have very little to spare - both in way of basement storage AND trunk of my car for transport.) The benefit of the "Revised Edition" boxed set and "SFOS" counters, was the simple fact that I have all the essential fleets in one 12-inch box.

Within my personal circle of friends, there are a number of "family men" that really want to get into the game on a limited basis - with specific interest in some of the newer "League" races - but there is NO WAY they're going to get involved with potentially spending hundreds of dollars on a single fleet. In addition, what if one turns out not to like like the "League" fleet of interest?? What if next week one wants to play the Gaim, the Vree, etc.??

So, I guess what I'm really trying to say is that having "ship counters" expands the number of people willing to play, in addition to expanding the options with which to experiment.

I'm sure I'll be written off as a "cheapskate" by some and an "I want everything without having to pay for it!" type of crank by others, but so be it! I just wanted to get the topic out there for discussion.

- Mister_ELK

 

[Shadow Queen]

There are going to be counters some B/W in the back of the 2nd edition rulebook, wating on my fleetbook

 

[lastbesthope]

I'd like to see a new 2E counter pack.

LBH

 

[Greg Smith]

Me too, hopefully with double sided counters for Gaim fighters.

 

[lastbesthope]

Me too, hopefully with double sided counters for Gaim fighters.

For switching to torpedo mode?

LBH

 

[katadder]

from speaking with matt today hes talking of a possibility of new counter packs for each race with plenty of ship counters plus ship sheets for the ships.
this was just a possibility mind so dont hold them to that or complain

 

[Greg Smith]

Me too, hopefully with double sided counters for Gaim fighters.

For switching to torpedo mode?

LBH

Yes.

 

[Saxondog]

I'd like counters for a number of reasons.

I don't want to play the same fleet all the time. I can't afford all the fleets, the time to paint them or have the facilities to store them. Yes, I could use miniatures as proxies for other ships but I may as well use counters.

I will paint up one or two fleets but that is all.

 

[locarno24]

Seconded.
Getting the minis is cool, and painting them up is very satisfying, but being able to just randomly 'try a centauri fleet today' is one of the best things about buying the boxed set for first edition. Especially with a shedload of new fleets and everything old being new and shiny again.

I agree with the suggestions above - a fleet counter sheet set (with all the ships - say one point's worth of each....if you want more, it's only a damn counter set, buy more!) would be superb.

The four things that would be good:

1) Ensure counters are roughly right in scale relative to one another.
2) Put a slightly lighter background. Some ships - especially Shadow Ships - are damn near impossible to see on the original version.
3) Number all ship counters - already done for the SFOS version..
4) Double sided counters for those ships with slow-loading weapons would be superb. Especially fighters like porfatis where you can't keep track of them on an individual basis.

If fleet counter sets appear I'll take two. Of each.

For that matter..... is there anything we can do to help with this?

 

[Morgoth]

yeah, I further the call for a decent set of counters, some of us can't afford to get huge amounts of minatures as we play many fleets. The fact that the 1st edition came with a set of counters was excellent and gave immediate access to the game for my friends and I, who consequently bought the game also.

 

[wkehrman]

This discussion surprises me as the (relatively) recently released VaS included counters and suggested a trend.

Thank goodness for kind and patient gamers willing to loan minis and counters...

 

[JayRaider]

An earlier forum topic managed to get an assurance that Counters will be made for 2nd Edition.
This assurance was given by Matt Sprange himself.
I suggest we hold him to it

 

[Nightmares about Minbari]

That e1 came with counters in the box for every ship in the game (at that stage) was a big selling point, enables you to get stuck in. MGP would be more than a little foolish to miss out on the opportunity to do this for e2, and I'm sure they are not that foolish.

One observation, having bought the basic box, and SFOS counters, I have so many of the basic ship counters that half of them have never even been broken out of their sheets. It would be really, really nice if you could get the counters for the new ships without having to get even more counters for ships you've already got.

That said, I'm also a sad geek who has about 90% of the ships in the game in figures anyway, almost all of them painted. Recently dug out the whole collection and it pretty much filled a 4' by 8' table.