Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Future Wars => Topic started by: Agis on February 18, 2018, 08:47:12 AM
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OK, time for another blast from the past.
Back in 1997/ 1998 and years later I was a big Aeon Trinity and Trinity Battleground fan.
Some info:
Trinity is the first published game in the Trinity Universe trilogy, and the final entry in the trilogy chronologically. Trinity is a science fiction game set in the early 22nd century, a time referred to as both the Trinity Era and the Unity Age. Psions are the protagonists and player characters of the game.
Trinity (and the larger Trinity Universe) was created on a very short timeline, conceived and created a mere 10 months before publication. It was designed as a replacement for the Exile game spearheaded by Mark Rein•Hagen, who took the game with him when he left active involvement at White Wolf in 1996. Trinity was the first Trinity Universe game published, and originally was called ÆON (so all the Trinity Universe games began with an A). It was renamed Trinity to avoid legal problems with MTV's Aeon Flux. Early editions of Trinity with the ÆON title are rarities.
In 2012, Onyx Path Publishing purchased the full rights to the Trinity Universe, and are planning their own new edition, to be titled the Trinity Continuum: Æon.
The game gets a BIG relaunch at the moment, a Kickstarter is running to revive the game line! As long time fan I immediately jumped at the opportunity and backed the game.
See: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200664283/trinity-continuum-aeon-rpg?ref=user_menu
While the Kickstarter is purely about the RPG, Trinity was more, back in 1997/ 1998 it was also a miniature game - Trinity: Battleground. It's notable for being White Wolf's first — and to date, only — foray into miniatures gaming. The rules were straightforward, and based of the Storyteller System. Converting characters between systems wasn't very difficult.
(http://adpublishing.de/Psion_Team_1.jpg)
Strike Team Psion from the boxed game - Somers, Jameson, Dr. Sager (Blister packed metal mini), Bayta, Williams
(http://adpublishing.de/Psion_Team_2.jpg)
Strike Team from blisters packed metal minis - Sage, Lu Chen, Jon Holt, Juanos Palmero, Montrose
Unfortunately, Trinity suffered from lower sales than its World of Darkness counterparts.
IMO the release date timing was not well chosen, the game was release more or less at the same time as GWs 40K 3rd edition and Warzone 2nd edition.
So despite its ease of playability, detailed setting and and how fun it was, a miniatures game based on Trinity turned out to be a financial failure. A mere six months after its initial 1998 release, it went out of print.
A real shame as far as I am concerned since the game was in many aspects ahead of it's time, alternate unit activation opposed dice rolls etc.
Battleground's default setting presented characters as members of the Legions or as Aberrants fighting for control of Khantze Lu Ge. While very similar to Trinity, the settings were not identical. For example, Trinity's Strike Team Psion was a popular animated series distributed on the OpNet. In Battleground, it's an actual Strike Team.
(http://adpublishing.de/assets/images/Aberrant-_Caul_Fein_and_Fhata_Khan.jpg)
Aberrants - Krikquill , Caul Fein and Fhata Khan- from the core box
Some Background information
Assuming Battleground would have continued, several supplements were planned. The first was to be called Trinity: Battleground - LoneStar, and would further open up character options. Characters would be either members of Orgotek or from the Federated States Military, fighting in the Tex-Mex District.
The next supplement was to have been called Trinity: Battleground - ChromePrime, featuring the invasion of Chrome Prime as seen in Alien Encounter 1: Invasion. It would open up character options to include members of the Æsculapian Order, the Ministry and ISRA, as well as Chromatics.
The final supplement mentioned was one involving the Norça and the Qin. The name and setting are unknown. It's possible that two more supplements would have followed, the first involving the Upeo wa Macho and the Coalition, and the second involving the Chitra Bhanu and the Doyen.
All miniatures well sculpted by veteran Bob Naismith. 20 years ago the miniatures were on par with contemporary releases, for today’s standards (2018), they suffer from the usual, Big feet, hands and head syndrome.
I am very tempted to pick up my old minis again and get some dice rolling.
More pics on my site as always: http://www.adpublishing.de/html/aeon_trinity.html
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I enjoyed this minis game, too. There were some rules that had to be fixed, but overall a good system. I was excited to see Trinity return until I realized it was RPG only. Maybe some day...
FYI -- there was an unpublished Player's Guide after game release that could have been the first supplement. It revised some rules and added new troop types and abilities...along with a lot of new background story and history. It may still be out there somewhere.
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Never heard of the game before. Great work on the models.
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Excellent! I had a copy of this as well, before it disappeared due to my own stupidity.
The mechanic that I loved, that I later enjoyed seeing in SuperSystem, was how they handled the henchmen units, with each model representing a wound. Allowed for great representation of mooks with superhumans.
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Thanks folks!
FYI -- there was an unpublished Player's Guide after game release that could have been the first supplement. It revised some rules and added new troop types and abilities...along with a lot of new background story and history. It may still be out there somewhere.
Indeed, you can get it free here:
http://www.wargamevault.com/product/122127/Trinity-Battleground-Players-Guide
And yes, Battleground had many rules included that were later picked up by other games!
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Awesome blast from the past man. Terrific paintjobs on these.
I remember getting this game on eBay back in 1999 for $20 including shipping lol. It was the time I actually sent all the money as cash in an envelope to the seller in the US. Ah, golden times.
We played the game once and loved it. It was really good! The scenery was also very good. Still bummed I binned all the cardboard scenery.
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Fantastic work there, Agis, and a great retrospective of the game's history - which is pretty obscure if you didn't happen to play it during its brief window of availability. I've always regretted that WW didn't get more into minis games - they had a Werewolf the Apocalypse skirmish game on the planning board as well but nothing ever came of it that I know of.
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Lovely figures. I had a few of the Aberrants back in the day, which made good utility monsters. Nice figures but quite delicate! I may even still have a few somewhere in my Cthulhu models case. Your paint jobs really make them stand out.
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(http://adpublishing.de/Psion_Team_2.jpg)
Strike Team from blisters packed metal minis - Sage, Lu Chen, Jon Holt, Juanos Palmero, Montrose
Those Naismith sculpts have a real Rogue Trader vibe. I think I only ever saw the boxed set in a UK shop. Had no idea that anything else ever appeared.
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There was more:
http://www.miniatures-workshop.com/lostminiswiki/index.php?title=Trinity:_Battleground
Most is now of course gone for good!
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Have the old Battleground box in the basement, though never played. Did you ever do any of the terrain features?
Actually, I've been seeking some of the old books if I can find at not great price, as I picked up some artwork from a fellow that did a bit for Star Wars D10, but said one was actually Aeon.
Stuff is fun, but huge bonus if actually original game art. I'm a sucker for that... ;D
Doug
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I should still have a box somewhere that I got mainly for the terrain (at the time I mostly played Necromunda with included terrain). Minis should be untouched.
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Did you ever do any of the terrain features?
Honestly - NO! Even back in the days I found the paper buildings too flimsy and the hills too ugly...
;)
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Wow, now that‘s news from the past! We played the RPG back then, and my friends gave me battleground as a birthday present. With no tabletop experience whatsoever we utterly failed, but the seed was sown and it got. me into 40k which led to warmaster which led to WHFB and finally historics...
I still have the box and some extra Minis somewhere in case you‘re interested.
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Thanks warboss!
What do you got? I am interested!
BTW - The new - slightly modified - background revealed during the KS is just great!
Last KS days...
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Wow, now that‘s news from the past! We played the RPG back then, and my friends gave me battleground as a birthday present. With no tabletop experience whatsoever we utterly failed, but the seed was sown and it got. me into 40k which led to warmaster which led to WHFB and finally historics...
I still have the box and some extra Minis somewhere in case you‘re interested.
You ever try the other games in the RPG series? I did very little Trinity (or Aeon, if you prefer the original name) but played the blazes out of the Aberrant prequel. Barely touched Adventurer - loved the concept, but the font in the rulebook made my skull ache.
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Our main RPG back i the 90s was Werewolf the Apocalypse.
From that we branched into Vampire, Mage and even Changeling.
At one time we had a mixed Werewolf Mage group.
From the Trinity Story we played thru the Huang Marr story arc.
Then a bit of Aberrant.
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Nineties roleplaying nostalgia. I played in a huge (16 players some nights) group that started with Vampire and gradually folded in all the other World of Darkness rules as they came out, although weirdly we never had many werewolves despite it being the second Storyteller game. Not very well balanced in terms of power (oh, those Mages) but fun none the less. I still have fond memories of my morbidly obese Toreador accountant. :)
The Trinity and Aberrant games were later for me, end of the decade stuff. Much more reasonable group size though, maxed out at four players. Good stuff.
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Thanks warboss!
What do you got? I am interested!
BTW - The new - slightly modified - background revealed during the KS is just great!
Last KS days...
I‘ve got the Boxed Set (just have to Look for the Spider harness, otherwise it should be complete) plus Lucifer (with Unit card). My first miniatures, mind, but as they‘d go to a good Home I‘m sure we‘d work something out.
We played mainly Vampire (including Most of the transylvania chronicles) and Aeon (pretty far into the story line) plus a bit of mage and werewolf. Always had a blast!
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If you can't find your spider harness, let me know. I think I've still got that fig (in plastic) in a box somewhere, although I can't swear to it.
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Oh danm, Agis! I loved that setting, too...not so difficult to deduce from my nick, I guess!
I actually bought all the minis available for the Tabletop and still regard them as some of the best ever produced. On par with Mark Copplestone's Killzone and still standing up to modern 28s.
Aeon and Trinity were my great love in the White Wolf universe and I ran several RPG campaigns and also played the Tabletop a lot. I was pretty excellent as far as I remember, it only suffered severely from the uselessnes of grunts ( which actually worked only like a single model with several hitpoints) and the lack of playable factions. So I couldnt persuade anyone to play Qin or Doyen because they never produced models for anything apart from strike Team Psion and a few Aberrants.
And another damn: I just left Berlin for a new job, otherwise that would have been the perfect opportunity to bring out my stuff, meet with you and convince guys to collect Trinity: Battleground like they do Oldhammer in the UK!!!!
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I‘ve got the Boxed Set (just have to Look for the Spider harness, otherwise it should be complete) plus Lucifer (with Unit card). My first miniatures, mind, but as they‘d go to a good Home I‘m sure we‘d work something out.
Thanks for the offer, but these I got as well! So need to part!
.... So I couldnt persuade anyone to play Qin or Doyen because they never produced models for anything apart from strike Team Psion and a few Aberrants.
And another damn: I just left Berlin for a new job, otherwise that would have been the perfect opportunity to bring out my stuff, meet with you and convince guys to collect Trinity: Battleground like they do Oldhammer in the UK!!!!
LOL, Divis Mal is indeed a small hint...
IMO with all the nice minis around these days, it should be possible to use a lot of other minis as stand ins.
Qin or Doyen - we also had no rules for them, or?
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Thanks for the offer, but these I got as well! So need to part!
LOL, Divis Mal is indeed a small hint...
IMO with all the nice minis around these days, it should be possible to use a lot of other minis as stand ins.
Qin or Doyen - we also had no rules for them, or?
Nay, neither Qin nor Doyen. And at least in my vision, the Aeon universe offered a lot of freedom to include other aliens. I particular liked a Gigeresque not-Borg species featured in the RPG „Zero“ as a greater enemy, when I GMed Aeon.
Necromorphs would fit in very well...and maybe Kajus? ;)
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Hello! As a writer on the Trinity Continuum core rulebook, thank you for the plug for the Kickstarter!
And as a very occasional miniatures painter, it's great to see the Battleground figures with such fantastic paint jobs. It's the main item from the original run which I didn't get, and I always regretted it - even more so after seeing this thread.
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Hello! As a writer on the Trinity Continuum core rulebook, thank you for the plug for the Kickstarter!
And as a very occasional miniatures painter, it's great to see the Battleground figures with such fantastic paint jobs. It's the main item from the original run which I didn't get, and I always regretted it - even more so after seeing this thread.
Maybe new minis (or returning the old ones to production) ought to be a stretch goal? RPGs have changed a lot from the days of the original edition, and almost two decades of d20 influencing the market have done a lot to make players want actual minis for their games.
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Maybe new minis (or returning the old ones to production) ought to be a stretch goal? RPGs have changed a lot from the days of the original edition, and almost two decades of d20 influencing the market have done a lot to make players want actual minis for their games.
I ask more or less the same questions during the KS (which is now fully funded over!), apparently Onyx wanted to concentrate on the book part only.
;)
I would love to see a dedicated small mini run of the classic Aeon Trinity Battleground minis, but most of them could be done with great stand ins from Infinity etc. IMO
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I'm not an RPGer, myself, but had I seen the 'wait and see' attitude, I would have done a word of caution.
I just heard from a person getting into Starfinder, and hearing his disappointment at the lack of usable figs. Yes, some are here/on-the-way, and I would have thought the punchouts sufficient, but NOOOOO.... ;)
Doug
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???
What is the wait and see attitude?
Onyx never promised any minis...
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???
What is the wait and see attitude?
Onyx never promised any minis...
Sorry, Agis.
I just meant that promising it as part of the KS may have garnered more interest. Not the 'wait-and-see' attitude of KS supporters, but the KS organizers. And, yes, I do see trying to do would add a lot of work/angst to the run up.
By the way, 'I just heard from a person...' was the most recent, not only, waiting on Starfinder figs moan I've heard.
Patience. When do we want it? NOW! ;D
Doug
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Ah got it!
I can only agree, some more goodies like special dice, minis etc. would have been cool.
But at least Onyx was very honest from the start.
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The new Storypath system leans more towards narrative than tactical conflict, and personally I tend not to use miniatures for it. That said, I like miniatures as collectibles, and would have liked dice too!
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The new Storypath system leans more towards narrative than tactical conflict. That said, I personally like miniatures as collectibles, and would have liked dice too!
True, but Trinity Battleground was a VERY small scale skirmish rules set, which I think actually hurt it when competing with the Big Boys of its era. Warhammer, 40K, Warzone, all were very popular at that point and called for comparatively huge armies. Even a narrative-heavy RPG combat system can benefit from figures, as generations of D&D players have shown.
Still, hopefully the relaunch goes well and maybe we'll see a future KS produce (or reproduce - Hades only knows who has the original molds and masters) minis, even if we never see an actual minis game.
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(or reproduce - Hades only knows who has the original molds and masters)
And now I'm wondering about this too.
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I would also love to see this happen!
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And now I'm wondering about this too.
While we're at it, I wonder what happened to the masters for the unreleased Werewolf minis game they had in the works? I remember seeing at least one finished green, maybe two - but where'd they end up? At least as "Lost Minis" as the old GWAR range, this stuff. :)