Starship Troopers Evolution

[dwarvesarethebest]

Overall, I'd say this is positive. For one thing, I have exactly 0 opponents. My best friend plays LOTR, but not SST. Pre-painted minis means it'll be easier to get people to play the game.

The average GW gamer is something like, 11 years old, has no clue what's going one but wants his "super awesome minis" to blast something. He'll show up with a 90% unpainted army, get thrashed by some other rookie who just got lucky, then decide the game is not worth the effort and stop playing after a year. I realize this ia a huge generalization, but pre-painted minis means that kids and adults alike who have no time for painting will stay hooked on the game and that is good news all around. More opponents for everyone!

Another plus point is that it means that I won't have to paint 20 bugs for every MI model just so I can play a game!

This is the way I see it: For players who really like to get nitty-gritty with their army, this is going to suck. It seems like the pre-paints will have less variety and be less customisable than the existing range. However, the fact that the existing range will still continue is great! I can buy the old models, build them the way I WANT TO, paint them THE WAY I WANT TO, and yet buy the new models for my opposing bugs so I don't have to go through the tedium of assembling and painting 38+ warrior bugs. This seems to me to be the best of both worlds.

On the other side of that coin, no matter how many colour schemes are released, I'm betting we will be seeing a lot less variety. The fact that the game takes precedence over the other hobby aspects of collecting and painting isn't so appealing to me. If I wanted a fast game, I'd play a computer game. I play minis games because more work, imagination and skill goes into it. Still, overall I believe this is a positive step.

Guess I'll have to get all ym exos before April then! I generally prefer metals over plastics and I object to that green paint-scheme for the Grizzlies!

Oh, one more question:
Can the new models be "stripped" of paint (and by what method)? If possible I'd rather start from scratch...

 

[emperorpenguin]

pre-painted makes sense for historical wargaming so suits Battlefield Evo

US army in bright red wouldn't look right after all!

maybe Mongoose could do other historical periods and go down this route.....

 

[tneva82]

Hum. I rather like this

Pre-painted models: Not my cup of tea(I like painting models myself) but as long as you can repaint over them who cares. Should help attracting new players into the game which is just big +.

New cleaner rules sounds like good as well as long as it doesn't take out my favourite aspects. From what Matthew has said doesn't sound like that. Good.

Only bad side is obviously the loooong wait until anything gets released. I had been looking forward to building Forth army while in England. Guess that goes down to drain. With GW not releasing epic chaos this autumn as was the plan(gee no suprises) seems like neither of my army building plans works. Guess I have to take my MI platoon alongside(by posting it there by the least) and improve from there(it's not like there's not stuff I would like. Marauders, exo-suits...List goes on ).

As far as I'm concerned Matt delivered what he promised. 2007 sounds like good year for SST

 

[zlatan]

yes it does a very good year but surely they could of released something before christmas couldent they

 

[knuckles]

OK now I have broken my promise not to post after my last questions but now have read most of your posts. A lot in support but many are hmmmm,,, run for lives prepainted minis again. Give the guy a break. This looks well researched, well thought out and we are promised never before seen quality in prepainted gaming pieces on best quality modelling plastics. My dad always said only fools and women critisize before a jobs half done, (pre political correctness days of course) but basically what it means is the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Mongoose so far has delivered new rules, concepts and gaming that has pushed the boundries. Look at this in the right light and it has the potential to push the boundries till they burst and deliver something that has not yet been seen on dimensions we have dreamed about. wait and see, I reackon this is big, so hang on for the ride and enjoy.

Bring it on Matt.

 

[MongooseMatt]

yes it does a very good year but surely they could of released something before christmas couldent they

You'll never know how had we tried It was just not possible. . .

 

[zlatan]

yes but the problem was everyones expectations were so high that when they read the announcement and realised it wasent what they were thinking they start complaining like me i wanted the aircraft out this year and i thought thats what they were going to announce but they dident now i want mongoose to relese the aircraft this year please matt do me a big favour release the aircraft plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

[Mac V]

Don't know how I missed this for as long as I did. I was watching. Anyway, I say this is all impossible. It just answers too many wants of the gaming community and covers all the problems of miniature gaming. Non- Collectable, pre-painted (and well!) and reasonably priced? I can' t wrap my head around it. I can warp some dollars around it if it does appear as promised though! I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[Mac V]

OK, now how about the last piece of the puzzle, terrain! I'd love tp be able to buy a few boxes and have a ready made battlefield. THAT would truly make it complete for me. You'd probably end up owning my house. :lol:

 

[shakespear]

Its 2-14 am I got home at 1-30 am... after a day of answering phone calls helping people with insurance, and often as not hurting people without, thats my job for 4 more days... what do i do in the off time? I paint and construct some custom buggies...

I get home and I go down stairs and spray my buggies, then I just finished and i come here and read 8 pages....

and I think Im the first to say:

I am Fucking Pissed.

That being said, i will remain rational- its your company, its your money, you do what you want, ill do what I want - but here is why im pissed, and I think it will be more than me who feel this way, and probablly very few who post here notably


1. Prepainted- the quality seems very nice, im dubious but it is nifty and will get you a great big customer base hopefully.... of couse who will those customers be? the ones of all prepainted mini games- Younger and younger children, which naturally tend to require slightly simpler rules, which what I expect, over a serious ammount of time, it happens to every game system ive ever seen that has begun to market to simplification

2. Waiting months for new releases.... wow Way to Kill this Game.

YOu know why people are slowly drifting from GW? .

Let me answer this for you.

1. Painting, everyone HATES it, that actually plays the game. The ones that love it, rarely play. MY suggestion: buy a set of paints and sketch pad, MUCH cheaper.

2. Shitty rules. They are dumbed down and vauge. Plus you cant get an "official" answer to your rules questions. They also ignore common abuses and change rules for units to make them sell better. (Terminators, Land speeders)

Notice GW is the only company that calls it a "hobby" they also sell hobby supplies and over priced bits......

All of that being said, this is a very smart decision. I think about all the guys in my shop that started playing 40k this year. What if there was a better, cheaper rule system with prepainted figs? They would be playing it.

 

[Lieutenant Rasczak]

I've read all the posts, and looked at the pictures. I've been reading the posts on the Yahoo group too.

Trying to look objectively, a couple of things come to my mind.

If the ACTUALLY ARE that standard (sorry Matt, its the doubting thomas in me) thats excellent. For new Gamers a painless intro to the hobby, for experienced hobbyists - all your models come basecoated, ready for you to finish off!

Rules/Unit Lists in the Boxes - excellent, that has been THE strongest Marketing tool for games such as Warmachine & Rezolution. There is an added 'edge' for SSTE too - ALL the boxes are effectively starter sets, no restrictions = more sales I would have thought.

As for tempting newer Gamers, assuming the 'lure' of the local GW Store isn't calling. What would you rather buy, a Unit - Fully painted and based - that comes with all the rules and reference you need to play a basic game with OR a box of models that you have to glue together, undercoat, paint, base, and buy the Army Book for - BEFORE you get to 'play' with it.

Let me see, 5 unpainted Plastic Termiators for $50 or 4 fully (and nicely) painted & based Grizzlies for around $30 . . . . . . . . .

I know what my choice would be!

 

[pa11ad1n]

Wow.

Um.

Wow...that is allot to take in.

I can see one big bright side to this...those Aracnid Warriors have a simmilar scheme to mine so it will be easy to paint the extra detail on...the black will look alot pailer on those new ones and I'm concerend about getting a clear yellow on certain areas that I'll have to repaint to make them fit exactly...but I can stop experimenting with shortcuts now...

I'll still have to repaint most of the range to make them fit my color schemes. Wouldn't want my army to look like everyone elses.

 

[Lieutenant Rasczak]

Wow.

Um.

Wow...that is allot to take in.

I can see one big bright side to this...those Aracnid Warriors have a simmilar scheme to mine so it will be easy to paint the extra detail on...the black will look alot pailer on those new ones and I'm concerend about getting a clear yellow on certain areas that I'll have to repaint to make them fit exactly...but I can stop experimenting with shortcuts now...

I'll still have to repaint most of the range to make them fit my color schemes. Wouldn't want my army to look like everyone elses.

The only thing I was stressing about was adding more Warrior Bugs (so boring to paint) - NOT ANYMORE!

 

[tneva82]

1. Painting, everyone HATES it, that actually plays the game. The ones that love it, rarely play. MY suggestion: buy a set of paints and sketch pad, MUCH cheaper.

Don't you think this is "bit" exaggerating?

Where do I fit then? I love painting/modelling and I love playing :lol:

But I don't see this as death-blow to SST painting either. If you can paint over them(as Matt has said) then no worries. I'll be payint my graveyard earth/scorched brown MI's all the way.

 

[Alexb83]

I think the release schedule will have to be carefully arranged, but I'm all for it (providing that there will be individual models available for separate purchases - officers, NCOs, special weapons, extra neodogs... the list goes on).

What needs to be watched out for is that some of the models (Exos) aren't changing, which means that you have established users with no reason to trade up. Same with the LAMI, CAP troopers, Warrior bugs... focus on models which have been radically redesigned, or are completely new and have been long anticipated (air assets, skinnies, forth so on) and get them out first alongside the 'core' sets of the basic CAP and bugs. Otherwise you'll have your established players waiting months on top of the existing 8 months until the models they don't have finally come out.

Thankfully this seems to be what's already happening from what Matt has said. Still no word on the individual models/customisable weapons front, though. What can we expect in a given boxed set of Grizzlies? 4 suits with all the weapon options, or 2 with firestorms and 2 with six guns? Same goes for CAP troopers or LAMI... will we get full 12 man squad with sarge, corporal, medic, compack, fednet, sniper and javelin, or will we need to buy separately from the older metals to fill these out?

 

[shakespear]

1. Painting, everyone HATES it, that actually plays the game. The ones that love it, rarely play. MY suggestion: buy a set of paints and sketch pad, MUCH cheaper.

Don't you think this is "bit" exaggerating?.

Not at all, the guys in my shop would settle for collectable minis quality...if it meant they didnt have to paint.

I bought a Tau army box the day it came out, it didnt see the field till a year and a half later.

 

[Lorcan Nagle]

I don't wanna have unpainted parts I just wanna have the whole sprue.
No one should take his fingers on that sprue - it has worked till now, why shouldn't it work in the future?
Don't assemble the thing, don't cut the parts out, just give me the damn sprue - is that so hard?

With offer solely pre-painted minis you'll kill the about 50% of what the Tabletop stands for.
It's both (converting,) painting and playing. Only in this mutual you can call it tabletop.
Otherwise it's just a board game, like BM Dark Age or HeroClix.

What I have seen in other (non-SST-) Forums was primary "Look how nice I have painted my Bugs, I'm so proud of them" or "how should I paint my MI, do you have any suggestions to me".
Taking out painting will reduce SST to just playing, and also reduce the amount it is talked about in other forums by about 95%.


And at least (and most important) it's a philosophical thing to me. Once you have painted a damn fat 3000p Bug Army you are BOUND to like it as you have invested such time in making it the precious jem it is by now.

When you just pack it out and play with this per-painted stuff your army is not really 'yours', it doesn't really BELONG to you, there is not that strong emotional link as between you and all those little critters you spend hours of work to make them look oh so sweet.

THAT is why I want the dang sprues.

Don't forget that everything that's availible now will still be availible. There's still plenty of models for you to assemble and paint.

This isn't going to be too big a deal for bug and MI players given that 90-100% of those armies are already out. People who want paintied minis can get the new starter sets, people who want unpainted can order the old ones from their LGS or Mongoose direct.

But for Skinnie players, and anyone looking forward to assembling and painting a Forth/Coven army, it's a bit of a mixed bag really. But hopefully we can get unpainted new minis as a special order.

 

[Lorcan Nagle]

1. Painting, everyone HATES it, that actually plays the game. The ones that love it, rarely play. MY suggestion: buy a set of paints and sketch pad, MUCH cheaper.

Don't you think this is "bit" exaggerating?.

Not at all, the guys in my shop would settle for collectable minis quality...if it meant they didnt have to paint.

I bought a Tau army box the day it came out, it didnt see the field till a year and a half later.

The vast majority of gamers in the club I play in would differ from you there. most of them love to paint and play, though there are a few who prefer not to (I usually paint their stuff for them)

 

[Lieutenant Rasczak]

I don't wanna have unpainted parts I just wanna have the whole sprue. No one should take his fingers on that sprue - it has worked till now, why shouldn't it work in the future? Don't assemble the thing, don't cut the parts out, just give me the damn sprue - is that so hard?

Chill, trends change - live in the now!

With offer solely pre-painted minis you'll kill the about 50% of what the Tabletop stands for. It's both (converting,) painting and playing. Only in this mutual you can call it tabletop. Otherwise it's just a board game, like BM Dark Age or HeroClix.

I think thats an emotional response, a lot of people will still over paint/convert. People still have to build terrain to play on.

TECHNICALLY - CMG's aren't board games, as the play area setup changes before each game - whereas on a Board things start the same and are changed by playing the game.

What I have seen in other (non-SST-) Forums was primary "Look how nice I have painted my Bugs, I'm so proud of them" or "how should I paint my MI, do you have any suggestions to me".
Taking out painting will reduce SST to just playing, and also reduce the amount it is talked about in other forums by about 95%.

Or increase, with tips and techniques to IMPROVE models. How to overpaint, re-paint, strip, what paint stripper to use, what undercoat to use, how do I re-base, converting pre-painted models. If you think about it, it ADDS an whole new range of topics to the already existing ones.

And at least (and most important) it's a philosophical thing to me. Once you have painted a damn fat 3000p Bug Army you are BOUND to like it as you have invested such time in making it the precious jem it is by now.

I think everyone can understand that, and even though the philosophical ideal comes over as a bit sweet tbh. They are model soldiers not the answer to world famine.

When you just pack it out and play with this per-painted stuff your army is not really 'yours', it doesn't really BELONG to you, there is not that strong emotional link as between you and all those little critters you spend hours of work to make them look oh so sweet.

The thing is Mongoose have to think whats good for the company long term, and at the end of the day this is a very smart move. Like it or lump it its going to entice more people into the Hobby.

THAT is why I want the dang sprues.

Well, you can't have them (at the moment)!

 

[shub niggoroth]

Has any thought been given to doing any sort of special SST miniatures? Something on the order of that click game which must never be mentioned (Mechwar) which periodically sells unique Mechs.

Also, just a general comment--I am looking forward to this--I am another long time gamer (WAB, 40K, Napoleoinics, WWII, SST, etc) who does not have enough time for painting. I hope this works well.