Pre-painted. Expert-level pre-painted miniatures. That will be the new wave of 2007, much to the chagrin of Old Guard modellers!
However, being Old Guard modellers ourselves, we firmly believe this is an aspect of the hobby to be embraced rather than reviled. With the final barrier to miniatures games (that of spending days, weeks, even months preparing a new army) finally removed, we should be able to encourage a new wave of players into the hobby. More players = more games for you = more investment into the games you love = better games, better miniatures! So, it really is a win-win situation for everyone concerned.
Leading this charge for Mongoose will be our new range of ‘Evolution’ games. All these games will use a common rules system, allowing for easy transference between one to another, and are characterised by box sets that include the core rules, one fully painted unit and the unit’s specs in the game.
Battlefield Evolution
Set 10-15 years in the future, Battlefield Evolution is the game of modern warfare, featuring the latest generation of military hardware. Released in January, there will be four armies to choose from – the United States Marines Corps, a combined European Federation Task Force, the Middle Eastern Alliance and the Chinese PLA.
Each of these armies is supported by a range of pre-painted units, ready to play straight out of the box, from squads of infantry, to tanks and attack helicopters. We have been playing this game a great deal in the office and, I have to say, we have had an immense amount of fun with it. There is just something cool about sneaking your squads through a devastated city, supported by a tank behind, just waiting for the snipers to start launching their ambush as the enemy rushes anti-armour weaponry round your flank to hit your tank in the rear.
There will be a lot of downloads and sneak peeks of new miniatures coming over the next few weeks, so stay tuned!
Starship Troopers Evolution
As Battlefield Evolution does for modern warfare, Starship Troopers Evolution will do for science fiction. Building on our existing range of models, this game uses the same rules as Battlefield Evolution (though the weaponry is a bit more powerful!), and will be arriving April as a set of pre-painted box sets which include a single unit, core rules, and unit specs.
Once again, there will be four armies to choose from - the Mobile Infantry, Arachnids, Skinnies and the Forth. Fans of the older game will also be pleased to hear that flying vehicles have been put front and centre in this game and that all four armies will receive them in the first six months, from the super fast Skinnie Starlight Skimmers, to the rock solid Slingshot and TAC Fighter of the humans.
We’ll be posting previews of this game as Battlefield Evolution takes off, so look out for super-detailed pre-painted Exosuits, Tanker Bugs and Forth fighting machines! Fans of the original Starship Troopers miniatures game will find all their models compatible with the new rules and (looks around to see who is listening) I hear tell that some retailers are doing some very nice deals on SST models right now. It is a good time to pick up reinforcements. . .
Babylon 5: A Call to Arms
What was only ever intended as a sideline to the Babylon 5 RPG is still, to this day, our most successful miniatures game – the popularity of the system has taken us fairly by surprise, and we have courted the opinion of many gamers as to the direction to take over the next few years.
Several new things will be popping up in 2007. The first will be a new wave of ships – you will have already seen the Tiger Starfury, which is merely the first. The Technomage Pinnace is nearly complete, the T’Rakk has been remodelled and is almost ready to go, and we have oodles more on the way!
This will be building up to a new second edition of the game, tidying up all the separate rules books and supplements over the past two years. We will be releasing this as a (small) hardback rulebook, and a (rather larger) fleet book, with an expanded range of counter sheets for those who are still reluctant to pick up a paint brush. Nothing too radical will be happening to the game system itself (no, we are not moving to a D10 system. . .), but there will be all sorts of interesting bits and pieces added and tweaked, including three new fleets – the Gaim, the pak’ma’ra, and the Psi Corps (the latter of which also includes Earth’s covert divisions). A section has also been set aside for ‘other ships’, those that very much fit within Babylon 5 but are not tied to any fleet, such as the Hurr Gunship, the Lumati Transport and the Ipsha War Globe.
We have already started playing with this rules set, and it is noticeably smoother. We are just ironing out the last inconsistencies, ready for its release in summer. However, we will be previewing a lot of the new rules and tweaks in Signs & Portents, giving you the chance to comment on them, before they are made official. A Call to Arms has always been the most organic of our games, with a great deal of input from the players’ community itself – we have absolutely no intention of changing that.
Victory at Sea
Our first foray into World War II, Victory at Sea is a game of naval conflict. The thing is, I have a funny feeling about this game. Based loosely on the same rules set as A Call to Arms, we only intended it as a small sideline, a set of easy to grasp rules for ships in World War II. However, we have noted a strong reaction in almost everyone who plays it. Clubs start pre-ordering multiple copies. People start building up their Navwar collection. Even our playtesters created enough additional material between them to, well, fill a supplement.
Expect a great deal of support for this game in Signs & Portents. The core rulebook contains everything you need to conduct battles between the main fleets of the war, and as well as a long list of scenarios (historical and otherwise) , there is also a complete campaign system thrown in as well.
If historical gaming is not quite your thing, I would still urge you to check this one out – it really is quite a good game!
However, being Old Guard modellers ourselves, we firmly believe this is an aspect of the hobby to be embraced rather than reviled. With the final barrier to miniatures games (that of spending days, weeks, even months preparing a new army) finally removed, we should be able to encourage a new wave of players into the hobby. More players = more games for you = more investment into the games you love = better games, better miniatures! So, it really is a win-win situation for everyone concerned.
Leading this charge for Mongoose will be our new range of ‘Evolution’ games. All these games will use a common rules system, allowing for easy transference between one to another, and are characterised by box sets that include the core rules, one fully painted unit and the unit’s specs in the game.
Battlefield Evolution
Set 10-15 years in the future, Battlefield Evolution is the game of modern warfare, featuring the latest generation of military hardware. Released in January, there will be four armies to choose from – the United States Marines Corps, a combined European Federation Task Force, the Middle Eastern Alliance and the Chinese PLA.
Each of these armies is supported by a range of pre-painted units, ready to play straight out of the box, from squads of infantry, to tanks and attack helicopters. We have been playing this game a great deal in the office and, I have to say, we have had an immense amount of fun with it. There is just something cool about sneaking your squads through a devastated city, supported by a tank behind, just waiting for the snipers to start launching their ambush as the enemy rushes anti-armour weaponry round your flank to hit your tank in the rear.
There will be a lot of downloads and sneak peeks of new miniatures coming over the next few weeks, so stay tuned!
Starship Troopers Evolution
As Battlefield Evolution does for modern warfare, Starship Troopers Evolution will do for science fiction. Building on our existing range of models, this game uses the same rules as Battlefield Evolution (though the weaponry is a bit more powerful!), and will be arriving April as a set of pre-painted box sets which include a single unit, core rules, and unit specs.
Once again, there will be four armies to choose from - the Mobile Infantry, Arachnids, Skinnies and the Forth. Fans of the older game will also be pleased to hear that flying vehicles have been put front and centre in this game and that all four armies will receive them in the first six months, from the super fast Skinnie Starlight Skimmers, to the rock solid Slingshot and TAC Fighter of the humans.
We’ll be posting previews of this game as Battlefield Evolution takes off, so look out for super-detailed pre-painted Exosuits, Tanker Bugs and Forth fighting machines! Fans of the original Starship Troopers miniatures game will find all their models compatible with the new rules and (looks around to see who is listening) I hear tell that some retailers are doing some very nice deals on SST models right now. It is a good time to pick up reinforcements. . .
Babylon 5: A Call to Arms
What was only ever intended as a sideline to the Babylon 5 RPG is still, to this day, our most successful miniatures game – the popularity of the system has taken us fairly by surprise, and we have courted the opinion of many gamers as to the direction to take over the next few years.
Several new things will be popping up in 2007. The first will be a new wave of ships – you will have already seen the Tiger Starfury, which is merely the first. The Technomage Pinnace is nearly complete, the T’Rakk has been remodelled and is almost ready to go, and we have oodles more on the way!
This will be building up to a new second edition of the game, tidying up all the separate rules books and supplements over the past two years. We will be releasing this as a (small) hardback rulebook, and a (rather larger) fleet book, with an expanded range of counter sheets for those who are still reluctant to pick up a paint brush. Nothing too radical will be happening to the game system itself (no, we are not moving to a D10 system. . .), but there will be all sorts of interesting bits and pieces added and tweaked, including three new fleets – the Gaim, the pak’ma’ra, and the Psi Corps (the latter of which also includes Earth’s covert divisions). A section has also been set aside for ‘other ships’, those that very much fit within Babylon 5 but are not tied to any fleet, such as the Hurr Gunship, the Lumati Transport and the Ipsha War Globe.
We have already started playing with this rules set, and it is noticeably smoother. We are just ironing out the last inconsistencies, ready for its release in summer. However, we will be previewing a lot of the new rules and tweaks in Signs & Portents, giving you the chance to comment on them, before they are made official. A Call to Arms has always been the most organic of our games, with a great deal of input from the players’ community itself – we have absolutely no intention of changing that.
Victory at Sea
Our first foray into World War II, Victory at Sea is a game of naval conflict. The thing is, I have a funny feeling about this game. Based loosely on the same rules set as A Call to Arms, we only intended it as a small sideline, a set of easy to grasp rules for ships in World War II. However, we have noted a strong reaction in almost everyone who plays it. Clubs start pre-ordering multiple copies. People start building up their Navwar collection. Even our playtesters created enough additional material between them to, well, fill a supplement.
Expect a great deal of support for this game in Signs & Portents. The core rulebook contains everything you need to conduct battles between the main fleets of the war, and as well as a long list of scenarios (historical and otherwise) , there is also a complete campaign system thrown in as well.
If historical gaming is not quite your thing, I would still urge you to check this one out – it really is quite a good game!
