A
Anonymous
Guest
A question re call to arms.
Are the ships in scale with the AOG stuff (either B5Wars or Fleet) ?
Many thanks.
Are the ships in scale with the AOG stuff (either B5Wars or Fleet) ?
Many thanks.
They will indeed be in scale with the B5 Wars ships.
ShadowScout
Mongoose
Actually, Star Ranger writes:
If these minis look familiar, it is because they are. It was confirmed by Bruce Graw (formerly of Agents of Gaming, now working for Mongoose) that these are the B5Wars ship and Fleet Action fighter miniatures.
I suppose that's good news - it means Mongoose won't have to spend all the money for sculpting etc., which means they need less of a return to keep the line alive, which also means they'll have more of a profit margain to re-invest in the whole thing.
I just hope they'll ID the minis AoG didn't do quite as well as they could have (out of size compared to others -too big: EA Olympus; Markab Shafab = Gaim Moas; Brakiri Halik, Civilian Freighter, Civilian Tanker, Raider Strike Carrier; too small: Sho'Kar, Lordship, Thoughtforce-, having a "hole" in their bottom because someone thought they could save on a bottom plate -Avenger, Neshatan, Troligan, Morshin, Shafab-, and some that just look bad -FA Thorun fighter, FA Tishat fighter, - etc.).
BtW, for those who wonder... Agent-1 also confirmed that these minis will be using the latest AoG masters, meaning one-part Primus and G'Quan hulls.
And finally... for all those who kept faith with B5, miniature wise... if Mongoose range succeeds, it means that we will finally be able to finish all those half-completed fleets. I am still missing a few ships in just about all of mine that AoG didn't get around to do...
If these minis look familiar, it is because they are. It was confirmed by Bruce Graw (formerly of Agents of Gaming, now working for Mongoose) that these are the B5Wars ship and Fleet Action fighter miniatures.
I suppose that's good news - it means Mongoose won't have to spend all the money for sculpting etc., which means they need less of a return to keep the line alive, which also means they'll have more of a profit margain to re-invest in the whole thing.
I just hope they'll ID the minis AoG didn't do quite as well as they could have (out of size compared to others -too big: EA Olympus; Markab Shafab = Gaim Moas; Brakiri Halik, Civilian Freighter, Civilian Tanker, Raider Strike Carrier; too small: Sho'Kar, Lordship, Thoughtforce-, having a "hole" in their bottom because someone thought they could save on a bottom plate -Avenger, Neshatan, Troligan, Morshin, Shafab-, and some that just look bad -FA Thorun fighter, FA Tishat fighter, - etc.).
BtW, for those who wonder... Agent-1 also confirmed that these minis will be using the latest AoG masters, meaning one-part Primus and G'Quan hulls.
And finally... for all those who kept faith with B5, miniature wise... if Mongoose range succeeds, it means that we will finally be able to finish all those half-completed fleets. I am still missing a few ships in just about all of mine that AoG didn't get around to do...
A
Anonymous
Guest
Always with the complaints about the scale and the bottom plate! Sheesh, you've been emailing and posting about that since what, AOG's second year in business? Seriously, give it a rest! 
Anyway, I've explained it before and here, I'll do it again, just for the benefit of those who may not understand:
Before there was FA, B5W used three ship scales: capital ships (Omega, Sharlin, etc.), heavy combat vessels (Olympus, Warbird, et.al.), and medium ships (White Star, Tethys, and so on). The aim of the original minis line was to make ships in scale with each other within those categories, so that you didn't have teeny little White Stars that were impossible to see on the board next to an Omega or something bigger. (Remember, a WS is about the size of an Omega's front end.) Also remember that we were catering to collectors as well who wanted something impressive and cool-looking. A White Star that was less than an inch long simply didn't look as sweet as a beautifully painted WS in the scale we used.
As for the plates/holes/hollow areas in the bottom of the ships, keep in mind that metal costs money. Making a Tashkat or Moas or Troligan with a completely solid body would've forced us to raise the price of those ships to $19.95 or more when similar other vessels in the same power category were only $13.95. Would the average player prefer to pay $19.95 just for a solid ship when a hollow one was $6 less? As a gamer, I know what MY answer would be. Economically, then, hollowing the thicker miniatures was the only thing that made sense. I shudder to think what the weight (and production cost) of a Poseidon would've been if it had a solid body.
Finally, regarding Mongoose redoing well over half the line (probably more like 75%) simply to match up with a uniform scale is ludicrous. First off it would cost an insane amount of money and time. Would you rather Mongoose spend money rescaling the Olympus, or putting out something new like a Drakh mothership? Second, who's to say what the scale really is? I mean, come on, ships on the show changed sizes from episode to episode. White Stars suddenly became big enough to house multiple fighters, and Sharlins hanging behind B5 looked like they were miles long. If you change scale to match one person's view (yours) you will only have a dozen more popping up to whine that the scale's still wrong.
So, in other words, just be glad the ships are coming back out and quit pressing for changes that will never happen.
Disclaimer: The above remarks are the opinions of me, Agent One, and may not reflect the official views of Mongoose Publishing. So...don't quote me!
Anyway, I've explained it before and here, I'll do it again, just for the benefit of those who may not understand:Before there was FA, B5W used three ship scales: capital ships (Omega, Sharlin, etc.), heavy combat vessels (Olympus, Warbird, et.al.), and medium ships (White Star, Tethys, and so on). The aim of the original minis line was to make ships in scale with each other within those categories, so that you didn't have teeny little White Stars that were impossible to see on the board next to an Omega or something bigger. (Remember, a WS is about the size of an Omega's front end.) Also remember that we were catering to collectors as well who wanted something impressive and cool-looking. A White Star that was less than an inch long simply didn't look as sweet as a beautifully painted WS in the scale we used.
As for the plates/holes/hollow areas in the bottom of the ships, keep in mind that metal costs money. Making a Tashkat or Moas or Troligan with a completely solid body would've forced us to raise the price of those ships to $19.95 or more when similar other vessels in the same power category were only $13.95. Would the average player prefer to pay $19.95 just for a solid ship when a hollow one was $6 less? As a gamer, I know what MY answer would be. Economically, then, hollowing the thicker miniatures was the only thing that made sense. I shudder to think what the weight (and production cost) of a Poseidon would've been if it had a solid body.
Finally, regarding Mongoose redoing well over half the line (probably more like 75%) simply to match up with a uniform scale is ludicrous. First off it would cost an insane amount of money and time. Would you rather Mongoose spend money rescaling the Olympus, or putting out something new like a Drakh mothership? Second, who's to say what the scale really is? I mean, come on, ships on the show changed sizes from episode to episode. White Stars suddenly became big enough to house multiple fighters, and Sharlins hanging behind B5 looked like they were miles long. If you change scale to match one person's view (yours) you will only have a dozen more popping up to whine that the scale's still wrong.
So, in other words, just be glad the ships are coming back out and quit pressing for changes that will never happen.
Disclaimer: The above remarks are the opinions of me, Agent One, and may not reflect the official views of Mongoose Publishing. So...don't quote me!
Easy cowboy. Everyone has their own ideas on what the minis should look, taste, or smell like. And if there's a message board, people will be sure to make their opinions known. It's not a shot at you or some major impediment to playing the game or owning the models, Mongoose goes to considerable lengths to address concerns of their customers and to some things like scaling are important. So there's some that will post thier concerns. Sure some others just like to bitch, but that's the nature of message boards I guess.
Not that big a deal, the scale issues didn't stop me from buying huge quantities of the ships when your company produced them (or every book in the line as well). Too bad I don't still have them. And I didn't know about the AOG ship scales until now. Never posted on the AOG boards either, bottom plates aren't an issue for me.
So I hope you're not really upset, I kind of admire you for creating the B5W game, it was hundreds of hours of fun for me.
Not that big a deal, the scale issues didn't stop me from buying huge quantities of the ships when your company produced them (or every book in the line as well). Too bad I don't still have them. And I didn't know about the AOG ship scales until now. Never posted on the AOG boards either, bottom plates aren't an issue for me.
So I hope you're not really upset, I kind of admire you for creating the B5W game, it was hundreds of hours of fun for me.
ShadowScout
Mongoose
Yeah, just about it. And I won't stop until someone does something about it! :wink:Agent1 said:
(Apologies if you already have recieved an overdose of exactly those complaints - but I will keep calling for changes in the hope that enough others speak up for Mongoose to try it - and I for one am willing to put my money where my keyboard is, and re-purchase any mini they recast! At least I'm no longer bombarding you with mails mentioning exactly these things every few months or so :wink: )Yup. But even there it just didn't quite work out... anyone ever looked closely at the Raider Strike Carrier? OK, I realize the CGI guys fucked that one up for AoG, mainly because it had these external fighters which allowed rough guesses at it's size, and then increasing the "ship size needed for jump capability" during the show, so that actually a ship the size of the SC was more then unlikely to have a JE... forcing AoG to declare a 300-meter long CGI ship "Capital ship" in their game and making a mini that's about half the length of a 1500 meter Nova... oh, well. More problematic, the fighters on the FS StrikeCarrier are about the same size as FA fighters, and if it was the same scale as the other FS CapShips, they could never fit any fighters into their bays...
Secondly, I wouldn't have minded if the mini scales were something along the lines of "Medium ship 2-4 cm, HCV 5-7 cm, CapShip 8+cm", then at least even the biggest HCV wouldn't be bigger then even a small capship while still keeping the stated points in mind. OK, so they didn't go that way - pity. But still, a few ships are faar to much out of scale - it just doesn't look right if you have an Olympus that's bigger then a Hyperion. So, if the Olympus was rescaled, to something the length of an Artemis for example, I'd be happy. Same for the other outsized ones.
Some (those which are AoG-invented and not from the show) could of course also be "fixed" with chanding the "assumed size" of the ship to match the mini (boost the Halik from MediumShip-sized-equivalent to HCV-sized-equivalent in the new game and the mini fits; one could also cut the Narn Sho'Kar down to a medium-sized scout if one wanted to... or increase the Shafab to dreadnought size...)
Yup. But you didn't have a problem with ships like the Poseidon, Mishakur, Athraskala, Vorlon Cruiser, Raider Battlewagon, etc. They all are hollow too, but have No holes in their hull. And most of them didn't burst the price bubble (and those of the mentioned ones which did have another excuse - noone sane would expect a mini the size of a Poseidon to go at the same price as a G'Quan...)
And that's what I want - hulls without holes. Nothing more. Hollow or not, doesn't matter as long as they have their full surface on the outside. And it'd be easy to fix most of the current ones - I know, because I did it in hours of converting (filled the Avenger's bottom from my bits box, the Troligan's with a cut-down FA Troligan and the Neshatan's with parts cut from Vorlon ship petals. Still searching for a good way to do the Morshin, FA-VPK and Shafab...). Just cast bottom plates that fit those holes exactly and I'll shut up...
Agreement. That'd cost enough to kill their efforts to bring it back real quick. But I do hope they'll find the cash to redo the worst sinners (who cares about a slightly too big WhiteStar when at least it's still looking "smaller" compared to a HCV Vorchan, and you have a Olympus that out-sized several CapShips...)
And for the handful of really bad ships - I would prefer to have them redone along with new releases to have lots of new minis - like in "instead of three completely new minis per quartal, let's have two new and one recast..."
Of course, that's me - maybe I'm alone in this - but I already saw that at least I'm not completely alone.
And I don't even hope for all the "worst cases" I mentioned above (while I'd like to have the ancioents redone, I fear those minis would find too few people willing to buy them to make the effort worth it). But those minis that IMO really, really, really mess things up size-wise (like the Raider Strike Carrier or the Olympus), And are likely to find places in the new game (wargame and RPG encounters) those I hope they will be able to recast one day. And bottom plates added for the few that are with holes. And all future minis made without holes, and at roughly the same size as their fellow class ship minis.
And of course, I alos hopw that the guys at mongoose will go where AoG didn't - especially concerning shuttle and civilian minis - those are soo great for roleplaying... :wink:
More then enough wishes to over-work any santa... :roll: :twisted: :wink:
