Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Future Wars => Sci-Fi Small Skirmish Games => Topic started by: 3 fingers on November 07, 2015, 08:49:49 PM
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Seen the cover for these when googling ,they are due out in 2016,anyone else heard of them?
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Is that the 6mm one that got mentioned?
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(https://ospreypublishing.com/media/wysiwyg/9781472810779.jpg)
Damn, that looks HOT! :-*
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Is that the 6mm one that got mentioned?
That doesn't look like a 6mm game (which to me means micro armour). Sci Fi underworld says something cyberpunk to me.
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Is that the 6mm one that got mentioned?
I don't know I was assuming it was 28 mm , :?
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(https://ospreypublishing.com/media/wysiwyg/9781472810779.jpg)
Damn, that looks HOT! :-*
Yes. ;D And exactly like the kind of minis I have been making and painting for the past years. That plus Andrea Sfiligoi and the fact I liked most the games Osprey released, I will buy it in a heartbeat.
Edit: Damn, oct 2016. That's going to be loooong. :'(
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Yes. ;D And exactly like the kind of minis I have been making and painting for the past years. That plus Andrea Sfiligoi and the fact I liked most the games Osprey released, I will buy it in a heartbeat.
Edit: Damn, oct 2016. That's going to be loooong. :'(
Yes but I need (more of) your minis in 15mm!
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We've said we'd like to make the minis for this one......
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We've said we'd like to make the minis for this one......
Now, that would be good. :D
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We've said we'd like to make the minis for this one......
Damn, you kept that quiet! ;)
Really, really, really hope it's a good set of street level cyberpunk rules....
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Really, really, really hope it's a good set of street level cyberpunk rules....
Yes, Amen.
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The cover artwork and the subtitle give me the impression that it may be trying to pull in a lot of directions at once (anime/manga-style cyberpunk, gritty mega-city gang wars, AE Bounty-style alien shenanigans). But hey, it's all good! :)
I'd be very, VERY interested in seeing what figures North Star might make for this. I may have to adjust my own "science fiction underworld skirmish" project accordingly.
I was just saying in the ongoing thread about Heresy (where we got to talking about the sci-fi gang figures Heresy sells) that there needs to be a game that is to Necromunda what Frostgrave is to Mordheim. Could this be it?
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Yes. ;D And exactly like the kind of minis I have been making and painting for the past years. That plus Andrea Sfiligoi and the fact I liked most the games Osprey released, I will buy it in a heartbeat.
I just hope it's not SoBH in yet another regurgitated form. But the aesthetic from the front cover is perfect.
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What is SoBH? o_o
Kinda reminds me of Frostgrave but sci-fi, too.
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What is SoBH? o_o
Song of Blades and Heroes. The ruleset that made Andrea Sfiligoi one of the (relatively) "big names" in rules design.
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We've not started to move on the design side yet, but the initial discussion was that we'd make figures based on the artwork, like we did with the Wizards in Frostgrave. I don't know anything about the game right now.
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I think a lot of PF's work would fit the aesthetic too.
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Incidentally, I'm now wondering if "Skirmish Gaming in a Science Fiction Underworld" might possibly extend as far as accommodating space pirates. I've had an itch to do some sort of vaguely Captain Harlock-inspired pirate crew for a while :)
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We've not started to move on the design side yet, but the initial discussion was that we'd make figures based on the artwork, like we did with the Wizards in Frostgrave. I don't know anything about the game right now.
Here's hoping you use different sculptors. More modern miniatures, especially if you are planning plastics, would be awesome.
Looking forward to seeing the rulebook.
~Eric
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Beautiful cover. This looks pretty damn amazing (and I'm saying that from the cover art). Reminds me I need to actually play Frostgrave too. Bought the book months ago. lol
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Here's hoping you use different sculptors
I really like the Copplestone Frostgrave figures and would be more than happy to see scifi equivalents. Their look has been part of the appeal of Frostgrave in my view, but I realise everyone has different tastes :)
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Just marking this now so that by release date it hasn't dropped off my radar! I'm already using frostgrave to play 40k narrative games, but this could be even more perfect!
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I think I've just found my 40th birthday gift (which is in october) , now to convince the wife! lol
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Here's hoping you use different sculptors. More modern miniatures, especially if you are planning plastics, would be awesome.
Looking forward to seeing the rulebook.
~Eric
I have to echo this, unfortunately. The plastics look brilliant, but not one of the Frostgrave sculpts wow'ed me. The wizards/apprentices were pretty cool, but the rest of the range was tremendously underwhelming.
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Cool. Maybe for my next project I'll do some Firefly type gaming.
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I don't mind the SoBH mechanics and would certainly look at 28mm fig sets similar to those released for Fistful of Kung Fu.
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I just hope it's not SoBH in yet another regurgitated form.
It has "Andrea Sfiligoi" on the cover. Has he made anything other than SoBH variants?
Based on the tagline, I'd assume it's just "Fistful of Kung Fu Laser Guns".
- H8
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The 6mm game looks to be Horizon Wars according to Amazon, and like Frostgrave departs from the OWG printing style.
I quite like SoBH, so I'd be fine if Rogue Star was a good variant thereof, but I'd also be curious to see something alse from Andrea too.
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The 6mm game looks to be Horizon Wars according to Amazon, and like Frostgrave departs from the OWG printing style.
I quite like SoBH, so I'd be fine if Rogue Star was a good variant thereof, but I'd also be curious to see something alse from Andrea too.
I love a bit of micro armour Sci-Fi, but I am not fond of stomps robots as a feature of it. Still, I have not yet found a rule set that gets it right for me. I will certainly give it a try, minus the mechs.
Don't know about Rogue Star, I may have to wait for some reviews. I am gearing up for Fireflyish games with Pulp Alley.
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Osprey are doing a 6mm sci fi game aswell!? Jesus, they're planning ahead, i was looking into 6mm just last night and wishing osprey had a ruleset i could rely on other people playing. lol
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I am really looking forward to this! I really love both contributions of Andrea Sfiligoi to OWG series! I'm planning to use my Infinity Nomads in this and some HF minis to add to the gang feeling.
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It has "Andrea Sfiligoi" on the cover. Has he made anything other than SoBH variants?
Most of the variants are actually very clever, like the napoleonic, kung fu or modern combat ones, but even if I love SBH I don't understand why should I play the same game again and again in different settings. I'm not looking forward to this one, but any miniatures in the style of the artwork will be welcome.
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If it's a Song of Blades and Heroes variant that works for sci-fi better than the other variants I've tried...then I'm in, but I'll wait until I get independent confirmation. I love SoBH, but it just didn't work with my sci-fi guys.
That said, my guess is that Andrea has a few new tricks up his sleeves for this one. My idle speculation is that it will expand upon the mechanics used in Black Ops. (I have no basis for that other than trying to tease more information out of Osprey by spreading wild rumors for them to discredit.)
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I think the market for Cyberpunk miniatures has moved on from soft blobby sculpts like the Northstar Frostgrave models. The Corvus Infinity and upcoming Nakamura Tower (HINT) figures have set a new standard for the genre.
As for rules, not sure, I think the SoBH series lacks any period/genre feel. You just seem to play the same mechanics with different models, would be a real wasted opportunity if these turn out to be another SoBH clone with a different cover..
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I think the market for Cyberpunk miniatures has moved on from soft blobby sculpts like the Northstar Frostgrave models. The Corvus Infinity and upcoming Nakamura Tower (HINT) figures have set a new standard for the genre.
Personally, I feel the Human Interface Nakamura Tower figures have a 3D-sculpted "soullessness" about them. I don't always dislike 3D sculpts, but something about the posing, faces and detailing of most of the Nakamura Tower figures just fails to grab me, even if the character concepts are nice enough. Infinity is better, though.
I'm not sure how the Frostgrave sculpts are "soft and blobby", but I think they do have a "warm and full" style which works well for a comfy fantasy setting but admittedly not for a sci-fi one. However, North Star has some of the best sculptors in the industry (IMO) and I'm confident that when they sculpt for Frostgrave, they're deliberately going for that style and when they sculpt for other projects, they can switch over to other styles.
It's also early days to be saying that Rogue Stars will decidedly be a cyberpunk game. Some elements of the cover artwork have a cyberpunk feel, others don't. The two aliens hardly scream "cyberpunk" to me. My personal overall impression is that the game will aim for a glorious blend of several different genres and aesthetics of sci-fi. I could be wrong, of course. Early days.
I'd be really interested in seeing the North Star sculptors make a bunch of roguish aliens that draw from a lot of sources of inspiration. That would be more interesting to me than having them directly mimic the style of Infinity, Nakamura Tower and other games/ranges in that vein.
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Yeah, the only figures I bought from Nakamura Tower were the drones. Not a fan of the others at all, which was a shame as the concept work was lovely.
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From the cover this looks like i'm going to be running guardians fo the galaxy campaigns for the rest of my life.
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I really like my Infinity figures, but I'm not sure if we necessarily need more of those. Mercs/Megacon minis are pretty cool too and seem... well, they're not cyberpunk-y (though the FCC houses have a bit of the punk) but they're a nice clean medium-sci-fi look, and I think that could work.
As to SoBH, I was pretty impressed with how OGAM changed up the formula just a bit, and I bought Drums and Shakos when it first came out and thought it worked well for the sort of "hungry stragglers find a farm with some chickens, but a deserter from the other side brought his mates home to the family plot and his mates are trying to woo his sisters, but his dad's not happy about it, and so everyone's kind of mad and frightened and it's a bit of a mess" type gaming that I really get a kick out of. Writing up a scenario allows for various figures to be able to perform this or that special task that requires X successes.
So in that sense I could see it work for shenanigans-heavy gaming in sci-fi, where it's less about organised militaries having command and control, but more about individuals often bumping heads with egos being thrown around while trying to do eight different things.
If it's more straight up gangs having a go at each other, but they have to make sure it doesn't get out of hand because Sheppard will come in to bust heads amongst Blue Suns and Blood Pack, I'd be happy enough with it too.
Really, I like Andrea's stuff, and I've been pretty chuffed with all the OWG books I've bought. I haven't played most of them, but they're nice for the games library, and good idea fodder, both for themes and mechanics. Can't argue with the price either - I can pass up a couple-three lattes here and there.
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If it's a Song of Blades and Heroes variant that works for sci-fi better than the other variants I've tried...then I'm in, but I'll wait until I get independent confirmation. I love SoBH, but it just didn't work with my sci-fi guys.
That said, my guess is that Andrea has a few new tricks up his sleeves for this one. My idle speculation is that it will expand upon the mechanics used in Black Ops. (I have no basis for that other than trying to tease more information out of Osprey by spreading wild rumors for them to discredit.)
DISCREDITED!
Rogue Stars is a new system from Andrea - it has elements in common with SoBH, but with significant changes. For starters, it's a d20 system, target number-based, combat is more detailed (22 melee weapons, 31 ranged weapons, 5 grenades), there are rules for environmental conditions (including high and low gravity)... and more, but it's a long road to October 2016, so I should save some things for later.
Creating a squad is fun. Characters are built individually, with all kinds of traits, skills and equipment, and alien races can be built on the fly by combining traits in different ways. The squad as a whole is then given a theme (Pirates, Bounty Hunters etc.) that determines some of the traits and equipment to which it has access, and a tactical discipline (20 in the rules, from Sharpshooters to Gestalt) that gives it an edge when sticking to familiar tactics.
And, yes, Psionic powers and a Force Sword can be combined in the obvious manner.
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From the cover this looks like i'm going to be running guardians fo the galaxy campaigns for the rest of my life.
I didn't even think about that. Yeah, now you say it, there's a Guardians of the Galaxy vibe to it on top of the other things. That works, as well.
Oh, and how about Cowboy Bebop? Got to have some of that, too!
I'm probably jumping the gun here, but the more I think about it, the more enthused I am over the idea of a game that aims for a melange of numerous different sci-fi sub-genres, united by a common theme of "underworld adventures", without committing exclusively to any one sub-genre at the expense of all the others. Simply, a game about aliens and crime syndicates and robots and lasers and hackers and space cowboys and street gangs and pirates and cyborgs and bounty hunters and cyber-ninjas and underhive mutants and interplanetary scoundrel-playboys and... (you get the drift) :)
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Like the look of Rogue Stars, give something to do with the deluge of random sci fi figures to choose from.
As for the 6mm sci fi ruleset, I like 6mm very much so, but I'm not one for a ruleset where mechs become key. Options to include mechs = cool, I like options, but them being the "core" of a force? Mhmmmmm no.
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Creating a squad is fun. Characters are built individually, with all kinds of traits, skills and equipment, and alien races can be built on the fly by combining traits in different ways. The squad as a whole is then given a theme (Pirates, Bounty Hunters etc.) that determines some of the traits and equipment to which it has access, and a tactical discipline (20 in the rules, from Sharpshooters to Gestalt) that gives it an edge when sticking to familiar tactics.
Sounds cool.
Simply, a game about aliens and crime syndicates and robots and lasers and hackers and space cowboys and street gangs and pirates and cyborgs and bounty hunters and cyber-ninjas and underhive mutants and interplanetary scoundrel-playboys and...
That please! And babes...
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Sounds cool. Looking forward to hearing more.
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Damn, you kept that quiet! ;)
Really, really, really hope it's a good set of street level cyberpunk rules....
and as an extra wish I hope for good cyberpunk miniastures. Maybay another nickstarter? ;)
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and as an extra wish I hope for good cyberpunk miniastures. Maybay another nickstarter? ;)
We can hope, but looking at the cover, I don't expect it to be specially cyberpunk. I'm just hoping it will be capable of running that style of game.
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Looks like that's the game I'm after! I checked out Black Ops this weekend at Crisis, and whilst a very cool game in itself, it's not as Scifi as I originally understood it to be.
Now, obviously there's Necromunda, Infinity, and Mercs, but a generic set of scifi rules would be great. Especially if said game would (as mentioned before) be to Necromunda what Frostgrave is to Mordheim.
But with so many, many choices in the given segment for troopers these days, I'd rather see Northstar focus their attention on more individual characters such as hackers, assassins, detectives, netrunners, augmented types, lowlifes and thugs, civilians and lawmen. All as generic as possible, for us to be able to mix and match between lines, obviously.
At any rate; there's going to be a lot of speculation and wishful thinking the next 11 months methinks... :D
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DISCREDITED!
Rogue Stars is a new system from Andrea - it has elements in common with SoBH, but with significant changes. For starters, it's a d20 system, target number-based, combat is more detailed (22 melee weapons, 31 ranged weapons, 5 grenades), there are rules for environmental conditions (including high and low gravity)... and more, but it's a long road to October 2016, so I should save some things for later.
Creating a squad is fun. Characters are built individually, with all kinds of traits, skills and equipment, and alien races can be built on the fly by combining traits in different ways. The squad as a whole is then given a theme (Pirates, Bounty Hunters etc.) that determines some of the traits and equipment to which it has access, and a tactical discipline (20 in the rules, from Sharpshooters to Gestalt) that gives it an edge when sticking to familiar tactics.
And, yes, Psionic powers and a Force Sword can be combined in the obvious manner.
Nice! Thanks for that. Now I'm looking forward to it even more.
And I agree with the request for character/specialist figs.
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DISCREDITED!
Rogue Stars is a new system from Andrea - it has elements in common with SoBH, but with significant changes. For starters, it's a d20 system, target number-based, combat is more detailed (22 melee weapons, 31 ranged weapons, 5 grenades), there are rules for environmental conditions (including high and low gravity)... and more, but it's a long road to October 2016, so I should save some things...
And the rest of the quote...
That sounds almost perfect and count me now very enthused and eagerly waiting!
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EDIT: I made a mistake.
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Well nick at northstar DID say they were thinking of making a guns/sci f sprue to add on to the cultists and henchmen for frostgrave. If this does hit that necromunda sweetspot, you could do far worse than kitbashing frostgrave.
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Ohhh sounds awesome!
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DISCREDITED!
Rogue Stars is a new system from Andrea - it has elements in common with SoBH, but with significant changes. For starters, it's a d20 system, target number-based, combat is more detailed (22 melee weapons, 31 ranged weapons, 5 grenades), there are rules for environmental conditions (including high and low gravity)... and more, but it's a long road to October 2016, so I should save some things for later.
Welp, I'm sold. Sounds like it should hit that sweet spot between RPG and skirmish wargame that has proven so elusive, so I'll at least give it a shot.
But with so many, many choices in the given segment for troopers these days, I'd rather see Northstar focus their attention on more individual characters such as hackers, assassins, detectives, netrunners, augmented types, lowlifes and thugs, civilians and lawmen. All as generic as possible, for us to be able to mix and match between lines, obviously.
This may be a time where 15mm has the edge. There are so many options for non-generic suited troopers out there on the market, it's hard to keep up. Even the line troops are showing so much variation it really is an embarrassment of riches for those of us slowly compiling a Guardians of the Galaxy style anything-goes sci-fi collection. Heck, the non-combatants alone could fill a drawer or two, and the choices for female adventurer types, don't get me started.
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So - like combat in D20 Future, without all the pesky roleplaying?
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Any more info on this? I hope the planned northstar minis are more plastic kits backed up with metal like they did with Frostgrave.
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This sounds really interesting, I may just pick them up to have a read through.
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Any more info on this? I hope the planned northstar minis are more plastic kits backed up with metal like they did with Frostgrave.
Northstar have already said that with such a small number of figures needed (3-6 aside) that plastic would be prohibitive.
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Hmm, strange since Frostgrave is also a small game, maxing out at ten models per side I believe. Oh well just another reason to start looking around for conversion bits... :)
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Perhaps I missed something, but is there a release date for this yet? I've been chomping at the bit to get these ever since it was announced.
As for figs, I couldn't care less what Northstar is doing. Whatever they make will likely be wonderful, but I see this as the perfect use for all the great random sci-fi figs I've picked up over the years.
Has the 3-6 figs per side been confirmed? I was really hoping for more like 6-10, but I'm still very interested.
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Perhaps I missed something, but is there a release date for this yet? I've been chomping at the bit to get these ever since it was announced.
As for figs, I couldn't care less what Northstar is doing. Whatever they make will likely be wonderful, but I see this as the perfect use for all the great random sci-fi figs I've picked up over the years.
Has the 3-6 figs per side been confirmed? I was really hoping for more like 6-10, but I'm still very interested.
Late October for release.
Andrea had mentioned force sizes on Northstars Facebook post about the upcoming rules. :)
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;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Late October for release.
Andrea had mentioned force sizes on Northstars Facebook post about the upcoming rules. :)
Thanks for the confirmation. 5 months seems like a long time, but I'm sure it'll be here soon.
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Couldn't see Andrea's response - what sort of force sizes was he mentioning? I'm excited for this.
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Apparently 3-6 models per side.
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Wow - is be interested to see a ruleset that isn't boringly crunch but handles that few models well. That's ideal for me!
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Apparently 3-6 models per side.
For me this sound like a system for 40mm Figures. This is very small amount of figures. Maybe Inquisitor was in his mind...
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For me this sound like a system for 40mm Figures. This is very small amount of figures. Maybe Inquisitor was in his mind...
Is it possible that he wasn't thinking of any other ruleset and just wanting to write a set of really small scale fun rules for sci fi?!!
To be honest, and this isn't aimed at you NurgleHH, but I keep seeing people saying that games are going to be new versions of "X,Y or Z" which is unfair to the chaps writing the rules and the people who read that and think someone knows more about the system than them.
I have seen so many people ask questions of Frostgrave because they expected it to be Mordheim for example.
Andrea is a well established rules writer now, in the main his rule systems cater for small skirmish level games, so no more than say 15-20 when you push it. There are some which are more expandable but I would say the majority are aimed at around 10 models a side if that.
I did state earlier in this thread and elsewhere that it most likely wouldn't be like Necromunda going on his previous rules. But they will be great, because all of his previous rule sets have been solid.
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4-6 models per side suits me perfectly! Excited to find out more.
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First sculpts previewed on Facebook:
(https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13239395_1276873752341524_7872475999353415729_n.jpg?oh=ef8b6982e8ad843196aad705e620550a&oe=57998AEB)
(https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13232931_1276873745674858_753731470427513193_n.jpg?oh=2d4e421235da1a93bb24735afd187454&oe=57E5AF1D)
We're making these figures to go with the book, but like Frostgrave, they are not THE figures you have to use to play. In fact the world of Rogue Stars is too big for one little range to cover.
:D
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Hmm ,imagine fielding a gang consisting of a kroot,necron ,space marine ,ork and a eldar o_o lol
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Hmm ,imagine fielding a gang consisting of a kroot,necron ,space marine ,ork and a eldar o_o lol
Walking into a bar? lol
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Walking into a bar? lol
lol
Do necrons drink ???
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Interesting variety of sculpts there. Reminds me of the "alien federation" stuff from CP Models.
http://www.cpmodelsminiatures.co.uk/28mm%20Alien%20Federation.htm
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That is some cool stuff??
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Those are keen. I'll have to add those to my
misfit eclectic collection of random sci fi figures.
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I'm looking forward to this release. I have so many figures for this sort of thing it's sickening.
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Liking the figures. They can be used for so many different games.
Wonder when we'll start to see how the test playing of Rogue Star is going?
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I'm looking forward to this release. I have so many figures for this sort of thing it's sickening.
Wrong attitude. You are adequately prepared. ;)
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I was going to say "adequately equipped" but it looked... Inappropriate... When typed.
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Wrong attitude. You are adequately prepared. ;)
Are any of us ever truly adequately prepared, or do we always need "just a couple more"?
I'm intrigued by the prospect of these rules. The opportunity to throw whatever figures take my fancy into a suitably open ruleset appeals. Not least, it would let me use a handful of some of the lovely ForgeWorld AdMech figures that would be too OP in Inquisitor28, but otherwise lack a suitable skirmish game.
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I was going to say "adequately equipped" but it looked... Inappropriate... When typed.
lol
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if this ends up being as solid as Frostgrave I will dig out my Space Marines and Orks...build some demo forces and then go play this in a 40k heavy store :)
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Oh this sounds cool. I'll have to keep following. Small groups of models should never be reason for overly complex/cumbersome mechanics.
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I will most defintely buy this and deceive myself with the notion that I already have all the figures for it :D
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I will most defintely buy this and deceive myself with the notion that I already have all the figures for it :D
lol
QFT...
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Those are some nice looking miniatures.
I wonder how this system would work for skirmish gaming in the world of Judge Dredd?
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FYI...new FB group for the game
https://www.facebook.com/groups/500415916823025/
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A new Copplestone character…
(http://i.imgur.com/aiXVNfz.jpg)
:-*
The official FB page: https://www.facebook.com/ospreysroguestars/ (https://www.facebook.com/ospreysroguestars/)
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I'm looking forward to this. I hope there's a faction boxed set of Star Cops.
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Pretty nice sculpt that. Says a lot about the implied setting, robot in a cloak and mast brandishing a pair of revolver. lol
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Pretty nice sculpt that. Says a lot about the implied setting, robot in a cloak and mast brandishing a pair of revolver. lol
Hah, yeap. I am absolutely in love with everything Ive seen so far.
Osprey also posted this teaser image, for those who haven't seen it yet:
(https://scontent-arn2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13339475_1600730120257793_4865699023358498693_n.jpg?oh=586be66d9e31db562b116202367ab0d6&oe=57D811E1)
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Oh yes, very guardians of the galaxy.
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Ah! The cat-people of Felinicus IV.
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I am thinking I will have an excuse to use my Beyond the Gates of Antares figs with these rules.
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yeah, I need those.
looking forward to this even more now.
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Oh yes, very guardians of the galaxy.
With a hint of Farscape. Looking forward to it!
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Well I'm sold! More money going to Northstar in the near future!
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I know this has already been posted, but just to let you know what it's about.
This is my Facebook page for Rogue Stars:
https://www.facebook.com/ospreysroguestars/
I'll be adding news and photos of the miniatures here as we go along, but apologies, there won't be much on there till we get the Gnickstarter for Into The Breeding Pits out of the way.
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Really excited about this Nick! :)
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This looks brilliant, I've preordered my copy.
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Turns out there finally may be a nickstarter running, and new miniatures by Mark Copplestone are teased on the FB page ;)
(https://scontent-cdg2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13920619_1635669520097186_4565535063046293918_n.jpg?oh=c958c6273da921bb48f1e9a2a12a60de&oe=5839D51D)
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Very reminiscent of the Cobalt-1 minis, I think, and that's a good thing. :)
Quietly excited by this game and very much looking forward to it now.
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(https://scontent-cdg2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13920619_1635669520097186_4565535063046293918_n.jpg?oh=c958c6273da921bb48f1e9a2a12a60de&oe=5839D51D)
That mini alone would be worth it :-*
It must be mine! lol
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Nick from northstar is really a good guy. He brought Marc Copplestone back with this brilliant figures. Thanks you, Nick. Looking forward to the 1st of November and the Nickstarter...
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28mm SF Copplestone? Sign me up.
Edit. Reworking of the transfer to Northstar Post Apoc guy. Sill great.
http://www.copplestonecastings.co.uk/prod.php?prod=373
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Tried to pre-order the rules on the Osprey site but it would not let me.
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Release date is the 15th of December, maybe it is a little bit too early
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I preordered from the book depository (http://www.bookdepository.com/)
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Amazon's Clark Kent?
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This is really sounding more and more like what I have been looking for. I'm getting excited to be able to get it.
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The Osprey game books are always a treat. even if they aren't quite what you're looking for they have lots of useful little ideas that can move your game table/board along to where it needs to go.
Between Ospey's books and giant discounted box-o-plastic stile tile/board games I'm quite happy lately.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cq4yvYsUIAE2dop.jpg)
aaaaaaannnnd of COURSE I misspelled that.
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With Mark Copplestone on board, Rogue Star will be another must-have for me ... :-*
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With Mark Copplestone on board, Rogue Star will be another must-have for me ... :-*
You are right, thanks Nick for the comeback of Mr. Copplestone. I'm very excited about his stuff. I loved his old Future Wars Range.
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I'm definitely interested but I wasn't blown away by most of the sculpts for Frostgrave so I may pass on the official minis.
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You are right, thanks Nick for the comeback of Mr. Copplestone. I'm very excited about his stuff. I loved his old Future Wars Range.
To be fair to Mr. Copplestone, I'm not sure he was ever "gone" from which he would come "back". He's been churning out goodies for Copplestone castings (and other companies I would assume) for years now.
I like Copplestone's style, but the accompanying semi-official figure lines (or lack thereof) have had exactly zero impact on my interest in any of the Osprey rules.
I am glad they exist though. Alot of folks like official figs, and for those who don't already have large figure collections to draw from, it's great to have the option of acquiring figs specifically for a given game.
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The more I see, the more I like it! 8)
And after reading that Mark and Mike Owen are in, I am exited...
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I'm definitely interested but I wasn't blown away by most of the sculpts for Frostgrave so I may pass on the official minis.
They are hit or miss but Hipster barbarian is what sparkled my interest in fantasy again after 20 years really :)
But official minis is least thing that made people do all those strange bands for FG
So probably there will be some hit or miss sculpts but we should remember that Sci-fi market is much worse served in non-military minis
Apart from that all Ive seen was very interesting
(https://scontent-arn2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13339475_1600730120257793_4865699023358498693_n.jpg?oh=586be66d9e31db562b116202367ab0d6&oe=57D811E1)
Its a little like my personal dream of Khurasan Alien Foreign Legion in 28mm :)
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Wonderful figs! Good to see my favorite sculptor, Mark Copplestone, back in action as his output has been down to a mere trickle for years now. Hope to see more soon.
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I'll be buying this book for sure, they are relatively cheap. Bought the Black Ops book, but never got around to playing the game. Bought it to fill a void waiting for Deadzone 2nd edition.
The bits and pieces of information on this has already sold it. Buying able to make small gangs from whatever old 40k, necromunda, random miniatures and deadzone is amazing.
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This is probably why Osprey has been pretty successful. There is definitely a place for $12-17 books (normally with free shipping on Amazon etc.). That's around the cost of some PDF rule sets. I think it was a solid decision to put most of their games in their normal 68-page format etc. So many rulebooks etc. are $30-40-50 now it's an easy way to put off a possible customer. $15? I might pick it up just for fun...and who knows, maybe it'll win me over.
I would be curious to see their sales numbers though. They've released so any rule sets lately, I'd really like to know which ones are doing well. I know Frostgrave is huge, Dragon/Lion Rampant are exceptionally well received --- curious how the rest are faring.
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No numbers, but anecdotally In Her Majesty's Name seems to have done quite well (Osprey went as far as to publish 2 follow up books).
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Do we know if there will be any vehicle rules included?
I'm not talking for armoured actions (I realise it's not that kind of rules) but for lighter vehicles - perhaps buggies or jeeps with a machine gun on top?
If so, then this could be spot on for me.
Now I want speeder bikes!
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I'm much excited about those rules. They are promising what other rules in the past promised but in one way or the other failed to deliver. As much excited I'm about this release as much do I fear it's yet another spin of the "Song of..." rules. So I'm waiting for the first in-depth reviews coming...
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I thought both Gods and Mortals and Fistful of Kung-Fu turned out very nicely.
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I'm much excited about those rules. They are promising what other rules in the past promised but in one way or the other failed to deliver. As much excited I'm about this release as much do I fear it's yet another spin of the "Song of..." rules. So I'm waiting for the first in-depth reviews coming...
It was claimed it was a completely new system. Andrea Sfiligoi can do more than the "song of..." engine. His Battlesworn game is actually very cool and deserves some more attention.
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Its a little like my personal dream of Khurasan Alien Foreign Legion in 28mm :)
CP Models has done that trope already, and done it well.
http://www.cpmodelsminiatures.co.uk/28mm%20Alien%20Federation.htm
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Some new previews:
https://www.facebook.com/ospreysroguestars/
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Not too happy with some of those figures, but the rulebook sounds really well. A detailed level skirmish game is what I am looking for!
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It was claimed it was a completely new system. Andrea Sfiligoi can do more than the "song of..." engine. His Battlesworn game is actually very cool and deserves some more attention.
From reading some the the previews it seems to be a little based on the 'Song of...' engine with rolls for activations and interrupts with failed rolls etc. That's not a problem as that system works ok IMO. Also looks like some of the infinity style of multiple activations with a single fig vs. move everything once - but wth penalties to do so and hopefully without the complexity and bad issues in infinity.
I hold out hope that this is a simplified and playable 'generic' sci-fi game. Only time will tell...
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From reading some the the previews it seems to be a little based on the 'Song of...' engine with rolls for activations and interrupts with failed rolls etc. That's not a problem as that system works ok IMO. Also looks like some of the infinity style of multiple activations with a single fig vs. move everything once - but wth penalties to do so and hopefully without the complexity and bad issues in infinity.
I hold out hope that this is a simplified and playable 'generic' sci-fi game. Only time will tell...
There are other options on the market already - this, for example:
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=94509.15
as well as its ancestor, Blasters & Bulkheads.
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<cough>
Yes picked that up already plus I have various other rules sets as well. Have not tried it yet though...
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From reading some the the previews it seems to be a little based on the 'Song of...' engine with rolls for activations and interrupts with failed rolls etc. That's not a problem as that system works ok IMO. Also looks like some of the infinity style of multiple activations with a single fig vs. move everything once - but wth penalties to do so and hopefully without the complexity and bad issues in infinity.
I hold out hope that this is a simplified and playable 'generic' sci-fi game. Only time will tell...
Any chance of a link to these previews you've seen?
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After reading Scotts Void Pirates I canceled my Rogue Star order...
;)
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After reading Scotts Void Pirates I canceled my Rogue Star order...
;)
I'm pretty happy with VP, but I'll probably still break down and get RS as well. Cross-pollination of ideas and all that.
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After reading Scotts Void Pirates I canceled my Rogue Star order...
;)
Thanks for the recommendation, Agis. Bought it yesterday as well and what I've read already has been quite impressive. After getting Rogue Stars I can compare and will decide what I like most ...
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I´m going to compare both of them too, with the new figures from Lead Adventure, I expect...
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I´m going to compare both of them too, with the new figures from Lead Adventure, I expect...
At least we can reasonably expect both game systems to support pretty much any miniature you want to use, which is always a big plus.
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Any chance of a link to these previews you've seen?
The one I read was in Wargames Illustrated. It's a fairly small write up but provides a few details about the system.
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Good news. Im pretty excited and tihink about buying both. Void Pirates sounds great, but we'll see if Rogue Stars will take off as Frostgrave did.
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I see this starts nickstarting on Nov 1. Right after Frostgrave nickstarter ends. oh my wallet. I hope there is a no book option though as I have already preordered the book elsewhere.
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You can get a shuftie at some of the rules in this video: http://wargamesillustrated.net/rogue-stars/ (http://wargamesillustrated.net/rogue-stars/).
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There isn't a 'no book' option, sorry.
But we're not like Kickstarters, you'll only have to wait 20 days before general release on the figures.
'course not getting the book from me means you miss out on 'The Rogue'. Comes free with each copy, and there's a 10% discount first week.
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/14632838_1677828805881257_2424912758481184258_n.jpg?oh=288bf7398495ada967c645f7d7a8f01d&oe=58D38B16)
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Might see if I can get a refund from the others then, or just wait.
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Think I'll go in for the rules, but probably not all the minis. Got a lot of odds and ends of 28mm SF that I can use with it instead.
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Think I'll go in for the rules, but probably not all the minis. Got a lot of odds and ends of 28mm SF that I can use with it instead.
Precisely what I was thinking.
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I may go in for a few of the minis, the droids look nice, especially the Gunslinger.
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The preorder is live: http://nstarmagazine.com/ROGUE_STARS.htm
Is it possible to get a pdf of the rules through the Nickstarter? I know that ordering the books through the Osprey website often offers a bundle discount to get both a printed and digital copy of the book together... but you have to pay full price if you buy them individually. Would be nice to have both.
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We don't sell Osprey's pdf's, let me chat to them and see if there's something we can do.
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Went for the whole shebang. Not keen on the postage to USA but I'll deal with it for such nice figs.
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You can get a shuftie at some of the rules in this video: http://wargamesillustrated.net/rogue-stars/ (http://wargamesillustrated.net/rogue-stars/).
See I wanted to watch to get an idea before I lay down any cash.....and I'm paywalled.
Anyone know where else I can see the video ?
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See I wanted to watch to get an idea before I lay down any cash.....and I'm paywalled.
Anyone know where else I can see the video ?
Here you go https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1-8YCy-NXk
-A
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Here you go https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1-8YCy-NXk
-A
Super - thank you!
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As enthusiastic as I was about it when I heard about.......it's a pass for me now. I''ll get some of the figs though.....eventualy.
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These minis really remind me of AE: Bounty. My son loves that game.
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As enthusiastic as I was about it when I heard about.......it's a pass for me now. I''ll get some of the figs though.....eventualy.
I don't know, I'm feeling much better about now.
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Here you go https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1-8YCy-NXk
-A
Thanks for that. So it sounds like each character gets a number of attributes that personalizes them. Is there any published playtests out there?
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Already getting an upturn in sales of Cobalt-1 figures which I think is in anticipation of these coming out
Mike
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Already getting an upturn in sales of Cobalt-1 figures which I think is in anticipation of these coming out
Mike
I bet. Good call - IIRC, the Cobalt range had solid sculpts and great character.
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I bet. Good call - IIRC, the Cobalt range had solid sculpts and great character.
I have a few of them in my painting queue and can vouch for that. There's also some neat civilian-likes (trader, slaver..) in the character range.
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I have a few of them in my painting queue and can vouch for that. There's also some neat civilian-likes (trader, slaver..) in the character range.
Civilians... noted!
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Already getting an upturn in sales of Cobalt-1 figures which I think is in anticipation of these coming out
Nice one. It's an excellent range.
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See I wanted to watch to get an idea before I lay down any cash.....and I'm paywalled.
Anyone know where else I can see the video ?
How queer... Clearly all sorted now with Audrey posting the YouTube link, but the video wasn't behind a paywall when posted it.
Separately, there's an enlightening discussion on the Facebook Rogue Stars Fan Page. Not sure if this link will work for those not in the group, but give it a try: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154253973898992&set=gm.565049367026346&type=3 (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154253973898992&set=gm.565049367026346&type=3) (If the link doesn't work properly, it's in the comments on a picture of some green Cobalt power armoured chaps - or chapesses, it's hard to tell under that much armour plate.)
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Separately, there's an enlightening discussion on the Facebook Rogue Stars Fan Page. Not sure if this link will work for those not in the group, but give it a try: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154253973898992&set=gm.565049367026346&type=3 (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154253973898992&set=gm.565049367026346&type=3) (If the link doesn't work properly, it's in the comments on a picture of some green Cobalt power armoured chaps - or chapesses, it's hard to tell under that much armour plate.)
I was just on my way here to post that exact link :D
I've been really looking forward to these rules for quite a while now, so I've of course jumped on the nickstarter moments after it went up. Im a huge fan of Andrea Sfiligois game design (going so far as working on a mod for SoBH, detailed over in the fantasy section), and from what I've seen and read about Rogue Stars the game is looking pretty good. In particular I like the way activations and initiative works on the paper. Looking forward to seeing how it actually flows in game.
With miniature's sculpted by Mark Copplestone its a double whammy as he's also one of my favourite sculptors.
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I just saw this today and bought it. So that's my early Xmas present. I already have tons of minis that were just looking for a game like this- old Cobalt 1, some old Warzone, the Chiltern space pirates...
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These minis really remind me of AE: Bounty. My son loves that game.
I was thinking the same thing. Really a shame AE:Bounty didn't get more support during its lifetime, really thought it had some promise.
I can see where Cobalt-1 also springs to mind, especially in the figure aesthetics. No surprise there.
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Chiltern space pirates...
I don't know these figures, and Chiltern don't seem to be around any more. Are there any pics? Did anyone pick up the range?
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Chiltern... I went looking for them as well. Apparently they're no longer trading. I remember the figs as having loads of character. I'd love to pick some up for kicks.
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Okay, thinking about this one.
Do they do 'Stretch Goals' on these Nickstarters (asked the neophyte) or is it just a rather fun way to run preorders?
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The impression I got from the Northstar press releases was this is more a gussied up pre-order. Free fig with the book but no Stretch Goals.
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Hmmm I'm thinking I'll just get the book from where I am currently purchasing it. Get some of the minis I like then get other stuff from elsewhere. I have a bunch of black hat cobalt range that should fit the bill (although they have loads of flash on them)
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I think I shall get this with my next Osprey order (but not until my current order actually shows up...)
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I have been following this discussion for a while and am looking forward to the rules. There's a pre-review blog post over at Must Contain Minis (http://mustcontainminis.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/rogue-stars.html). I'd been a bit worried that the rules were going to be tilted toward Necromunda type games, but it looks like they'll be more generic.
I watched the BattleSystems videos on their latest SF kickstarter last night. The still shots had me concerned that things were going to be crowded, but the videos show things much more clearly.
Between the NickStarter (although only for the book, as I have plenty of figures) and BattleSystems, I expect this could be an expensive weekend o_o
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I have been following this discussion for a while and am looking forward to the rules. There's a pre-review blog post over at Must Contain Minis (http://mustcontainminis.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/rogue-stars.html). I'd been a bit worried that the rules were going to be tilted toward Necromunda type games, but it looks like they'll be more generic.
I watched the BattleSystems videos on their latest SF kickstarter last night. The still shots had me concerned that things were going to be crowded, but the videos show things much more clearly.
Between the NickStarter (although only for the book, as I have plenty of figures) and BattleSystems, I expect this could be an expensive weekend o_o
Thanks for the link to Must Contain Minis. Sounds like Rogue Stars will be flexible enough to allow me create an enterprising Captain, grouchy Doctor/Medic, intrepid Science officer and expendable grunts. ;)
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Well I'm in!
Normally I buy osprey books from Amazon or a FLGS out in the suburbs, but with the discount at Northstar, the low pound and the free fig, I'm in my first Nicksarter.
For those in the states who might be interested, currently with the early discount, the rulebook and figure pledge is only a bit over $18USD and that includes shipping!
Didn't pledge for more figs because I'm already drowning in sci-fi figures, but I'm really stoked about the rules. The new video describes it as bridging RPG and skrirmish and that sounds great to me. At first I was looking for a new Necromunda, but the NCE version of Necromunda is too much fun to really be looking for a replacement and after trying Tales of Blades and Heroes as a small RPG/Skirmish system I'm even more jazzed about small-crew group Sci-Fi game.
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Okay, thinking about this one.
Do they do 'Stretch Goals' on these Nickstarters (asked the neophyte) or is it just a rather fun way to run preorders?
There have been on the bigger ones like Frostgrave but this doesn't seem to have the numbers of minis for it to justify that.
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Not really a kickstarter. He has his own dedicated webpage for it (calls it a Nickstarter so definately a spin on the kickstarter idea). And judging from the amount of work he has to do with these, I wouldn't really call it lazy. yes, a preorder it is, but things ship superquick after the pre-order.
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I like the look of these rules. A couple of different things come to mind. One is the crew of the Serenity, the other is, sniper robot! Any one else thinking Joe Pineapples?
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I'm going to get the Gunslinger robot and a few other droids etc and make up a Robolution ! Viva la mechanico !!!
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I wish more people would start doing these space pirate/rabble sci fi figures rather than themed squad units.
Here's one deal you might like. It's packed with a variety of figures that would fit well with Rogue Stars.
http://johnnyborgcastings.blogspot.com/2015/06
It's a mix of figures formerly sold by Alpha Forge and Demonblade Games.
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Here's one deal you might like. It's packed with a variety of figures that would fit well with Rogue Stars.
It's a mix of figures formerly sold by Alpha Forge and Demonblade Games.
I backed the Kickstarter for those. Ended up with mostly good figures but some with dreadful mould misalignment problems.
Also the metal Johnny used was extremely brittle, the figures will not stand even the smallest amount of bending without snapping (or in the case of one of mine shattering). Was brittle enough that head swaps can be done by pressing with your thumb on the side of the figures head and it snaps off cleanly at the neck!
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I have those also. Some of the scales are funny too. Fine if you use them as aliens though and perfect for this.
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I caved and bought the book along with some of the figures... no real price incentive for the whole lot, so I just picked the ones I liked most 8)
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I preordered the book from Northstar.
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I've already got Starport Scum and Void Pirates, both of which I'm very happy with. I've decided to order Rogue Stars too as it can't do any harm to compare.
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I just ordered some Loor scouts from CPmodels. They should fit nicely as some grunts for a space pirate type gang.
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I backed the Kickstarter for those. Ended up with mostly good figures but some with dreadful mould misalignment problems.
Also the metal Johnny used was extremely brittle, the figures will not stand even the smallest amount of bending without snapping (or in the case of one of mine shattering). Was brittle enough that head swaps can be done by pressing with your thumb on the side of the figures head and it snaps off cleanly at the neck!
Interesting.
I hadn't noticed misalighment or brittleness, but I can't say it wasn't at all the case either. I also pledged for the KS and was pretty happy with what I got. I painted and modded a couple a buddy painted a few for me and about half were traded away as I already had purchased them from Megaminis.
I was pretty pleased with the quality of the figs but there were a few rough spots, mostly places where the figures had been modified from their earlier sculpts. The Dominatrix figure in particular had some odd chunky figs where old weapons had been removed. I replaced her forearms with a set from a heroclix Electra and a necromunda pistol and she works great in my Escher gang. http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=82218.0
(http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/8/30/740178.JPG)
A few that I modded and my buddy painted ended up in my Orlock gang.
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=70480.msg1158292#msg1158292
Can you find the 3 in this pic?
(http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2016/9/17/827594_md-Alpha%20Forge%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Dip%2C%20Necromunda%2C%20Orlock.JPG)
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Well I caved and went in for the Pre-order with free figure, since it was discounted...
Bloody silly idea since I'll never play it and I have next to no time to paint these days, but it really is ticking all my boxes so far and I'm looking forward to it. :D
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I'm in the same boat as JollyBob (the jolly boat?). But I like a good skirmish game.
I only added a couple of miniatures - a couple of bots - but if I'm a very good cultist and get them painted, I'll let myself buy more.
Anyone know if it will come out early or late in December? I set it to deliver to my work address, as the post office often seems to consider that my home is invisible. But I'm off work from before Christmas to new year so I might need to make arrangements if it looks like late in the month.
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Osprey has the publication date as 15 December, so mid month if it comes out on schedule.
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Cheers. That would be cutting it a bit fine, but ought to be okay. Fingers crossed. :)
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From previous Osprey releases the Book Depository always seems to ship first, they post early for it to be with the buyer on release day. Osprey themselves send the book out on release day (or a few days after)
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Northstar tend to send out the books and miniatures pretty much as soon as the Nickstarter ends so it though 4 December is a bit ahead.
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I ordered the deal, the book wth all the figs, together with a couple of other figs I'd been after.
Then I saw the second release of 5 figs, which I thought I might as well add.
Turns out that to add the second batch of 5 figs to my original order, I'd have to pay another £5 postage for Europe on top of the £12.96 I've already paid.
Now I thought £12.96 was kinda expensive, but that's a total of £17.96 in postage from England to Spain, I'm guessing standard delivery, for 27 minis and what I guess is the standard Osprey sized paper back rulebook?
In comparison, someone like Element games will ship a similar package standard first class post for £4.95, tracked for £10.95.
I emailed Northstar to see if there was a way to combine the postage charges and was told 'The packs are currently discounted to take into consideration the extra postage.'
So the 5 new figs are discounted from £15 to £12, a saving of £3, to compensate for an additional shipping charge of £5 ?
Is it just me? Am I just being tight or is this not such a great deal for a pre-order?
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I had the same doubts when I was ready to order the five new figures, because there was no way to combine both P&P in a reasonable one, so no new order.
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I didn't add the extra figs either - No way to combine them with my original order. Have to add I felt played when the extra figs showed up during the Nickstarter campaign but after the early bird discount period with no apparent way to add them to an existing pre-order.
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From the bottom of the Nickstarter page (small print):
Also, if you make a small order, then choose to add more later, we’ll make sure you are only charged the right amount including postage
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From the bottom of the Nickstarter page (small print):
That wasn't quite my experience...
I ordered the deal, the book wth all the figs, together with a couple of other figs I'd been after.
Then I saw the second release of 5 figs, which I thought I might as well add.
Turns out that to add the second batch of 5 figs to my original order, I'd have to pay another £5 postage for Europe on top of the £12.96 I've already paid.
Now I thought £12.96 was kinda expensive, but that's a total of £17.96 in postage from England to Spain, I'm guessing standard delivery, for 27 minis and what I guess is the standard Osprey sized paper back rulebook?
In comparison, someone like Element games will ship a similar package standard first class post for £4.95, tracked for £10.95.
I emailed Northstar to see if there was a way to combine the postage charges and was told 'The packs are currently discounted to take into consideration the extra postage.'
So the 5 new figs are discounted from £15 to £12, a saving of £3, to compensate for an additional shipping charge of £5 ?
Is it just me? Am I just being tight or is this not such a great deal for a pre-order?
It's not just you. I'm in a similar boat and I'd say it went from a good-deal to a just-ok-deal, and I'm definitely feeling ambivalent now. Here's why:
1)2 weeks ago I bought the 10.99gbp (one buck off at the time) book and fig deal. Shipping was 5 GBP.
2)Then last week I saw the 5-fig deal. I also inquired about combining shipping. They confirmed that they had received my first order but I received the same "Figs are discounted to compensate for additional shipping" message.
3)I ordered them anyway and was charged and additional 5 pounds shipping
4) Then, just as an experiment, today I tossed the book-and figure-deal and the 5-figure deal into a cart and figured total shipping. It wasn't 10 gbp, it was 6 gbp!
Ordering the way I did, cost me 32.99 gbp. If I'd waited until today to order it would have been 29.99gbp!
Seems a bit shady if ordering earlier in a "nick-starter" means you pay more.
All this to say, basically by getting in early I receive the privilege of paying 3 gbp more for shipping?!? Not cool and certainly not something I've experienced in other crowd-funding or pre-orders. Still looking forward to the game and the figs, but this kind of nickel-and-dime-ing of customers definitely leaves a sour taste in my mouth.
I got sucked in by the lion and turtle men. Unless there's some really compelling figures on order, next time I'll go back to picking it up at a FLGS that carries Osprey or Amazon. At least then there's a clear choice between saving money and supporting a semi-local (about 40 miles away) game store.
EDIT: According to Earther:
This question was just asked on the Rogue Stars Facebook page, where Nick states they WILL refund excess postage (as the small print alludes to). I assume it will be done at the end of the pre-order period and before items are shipped.
I'm going to leave my post above for now, but I'm sincerely hoping this ends up being the case and I'll give Northstar the appropriate praise if it is.
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I ordered the deal, the book wth all the figs, together with a couple of other figs I'd been after.
Then I saw the second release of 5 figs, which I thought I might as well add.
Turns out that to add the second batch of 5 figs to my original order, I'd have to pay another £5 postage for Europe on top of the £12.96 I've already paid.
Now I thought £12.96 was kinda expensive, but that's a total of £17.96 in postage from England to Spain, I'm guessing standard delivery, for 27 minis and what I guess is the standard Osprey sized paper back rulebook?
In comparison, someone like Element games will ship a similar package standard first class post for £4.95, tracked for £10.95.
I emailed Northstar to see if there was a way to combine the postage charges and was told 'The packs are currently discounted to take into consideration the extra postage.'
So the 5 new figs are discounted from £15 to £12, a saving of £3, to compensate for an additional shipping charge of £5 ?
Is it just me? Am I just being tight or is this not such a great deal for a pre-order?
That sounds pretty expensive. Ive had parcels of that size travelling between the UK, Germany, Spain, France and even Russia and as a rule of thumb its normally around €10. Dont know what was their idea behind that.
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That wasn't quite my experience...
This question was just asked on the Rogue Stars Facebook page, where Nick states they WILL refund excess postage (as the small print alludes to). I assume it will be done at the end of the pre-order period and before items are shipped.
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That's good to know. I'll edit my post and keep my fingers crossed....
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Great news.
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"Refund excess postage after the Nickstarter has ended..."
Hrm...
Would have been simpler to make it possible to combine orders/postage, I think. Or perhaps offer everything at once.
If there's a next time, I'll buy from Brigade Games here in the US.
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Just seems a daft way to do things to me.
Firstly, why didn't they tell me they'd refund excess postage when I emailed them, instead of 'the figure discount to make up for postage' spiel.
Secondly, what about the bank charges? So I get stung by my bank twice unnecessarily, and then I suppose Northstar gets charged when they refund.
And finally, doesn't that create loads more admin for Northstar, going through all the orders and seeing who's owed what, then actually transferring the money back. Wouldn't it be easier just to use a shipping calculater and let people update their current order?
Another thing I was told in their email reply was that they didn't have my payment details in order to combine shipping, how they going to send me a refund then.
I don't know, maybe they didn't expect to have the second batch ready in time and they're making it up as they go along to be able to offer them with the initial release, but it seems pretty badly thought out, and has definately killed any enthusiasm I had about the project. :-[
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I ?
Is it just me? Am I just being tight or is this not such a great deal for a pre-order?
nope you are right paying extra postage for the extra figs takes away some of the luster.
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I've got a small box with the resin conversion bits in and a "Something for you" from the postie for a larger packet so it looks as if these may be on the way.
Conversion bits are nicely cast but I've no cultists to compare them against. :(
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Guys, need you help. I've just bought the deal for the book and paid. How can I now add the figures? Did I needed to do it in one go? I just want to pick some of the figures :'(
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Just order and pay additional postage - Northstar have said they will refund excess postage, so keep track of it and if they don't refund you automatically, contact them at the end of the Nickstarter to get it sorted.
I reckon they could have made things a bit easier / more transparent, but I've never had a problem ordering from North Star games before - they're the sort of company where if you have a miscast and they need to replace a figure or two, they throw in a bunch of free extras to make up for the inconvenience. Definitely one of my favoured companies to get gaming stuff from, so when they say they won't charge too much postage I take em at their word.
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I agree with you, JayOBedlam; I have had no problem with any of my many orders from Northstar. It could have been a bit easier, with all the relevant information in one place, but I´m sure they are going to charge a fair postage so I have ordered the second group of figures.
Hope Mr. Copplestone have more of them on his working table!
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Thanks, I've done another order - didn't saw that part about using the Rogue1 pass to access the figures!
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There are a couple of figures in that new set that I actually would like (have been rather un-impressed by the selection so far). Shame there is no way of buying the individual figures without the book.
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Just wait for general release in December?
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Just wait for general release in December?
Figures will be in packs then I believe.
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What is everybody doing for terrain and tables for RS?
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I'm using the opportunity to make an "Ancient Xeno-archeology Dig Site" with a several pieces from TTCombat, two of those old melted VOR walls, a Systema building for the Dig Office, and 2" insulation foam whittled into strange rock formations. Should be enough to fill a 3' x 3' area.
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What is everybody doing for terrain and tables for RS?
Not even sure how I'll use the rules. That said, as well as of course using my industrial necromunda terrain do really like the idea of doing a small RPG'ish game in my Sci-fi city terrain. Usually it gets used in my big mech-battles, which are huge and abstract and the infantry are squad based.
(http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2015/3/13/694807.JPG)
However, I think pushing them closer together for a nice dense (and much smaller) urban layout could really make use of all the nooks and crannies and interior spaces that I built into them.
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In the short term it is likely to look remarkably like Frostgrave as I have plenty of that on my workbench to do before I start anything else.
After that I'll start trying to do a more SF styled set of buildings.
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Well, I've 'backed' it, and picked up a couple of extra figures. Now to work on some SF terrain!
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What is everybody doing for terrain and tables for RS?
Later next year, I'll be using my Battle Systems Sci-fi II card terrain, once the KS delivers. In the meantime, an assorted amalgam of my VSF and old 40K scatter terrain should suffice.
Eilif: that's a pretty ace looking table going on there. One thing you might want to consider if using a condensed version for Rogue Stars is adding some scatter terrain to give a bit more clutter (cover) on the otherwise open streets that I think this level of game will need. (Unless you're deliberately making the streets a killing zone.)
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Eilif: that's a pretty ace looking table going on there. One thing you might want to consider if using a condensed version for Rogue Stars is adding some scatter terrain to give a bit more clutter (cover) on the otherwise open streets that I think this level of game will need. (Unless you're deliberately making the streets a killing zone.)
No doubt. That pic is from the Mech Attack game where everything is spread out to allow the mechs space to maneuver. As it happens I've got a pretty big stock of scatter terrain...
http://chicagoskirmishwargames.com/blog/2014/09/10/scatter-terrain-for-sci-fi-and-pos/
(http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/9/5/644874_md-.JPG)
...and my Sci-Fi skirmish boards are usually much more dense. I like to advise folks when playing a game like Necromunda that a 3x3 necromunda table might have as much terrain as a 6x4 standard wargame.
This is two side-by-side necromunda games. I'm working on a few more walkways.
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_zGIXzf6twM/VZqdybVK0GI/AAAAAAAAQ0g/0bmy0oUTjAw/s1600/necro.JPG)
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...As it happens I've got a pretty big stock of scatter terrain...
Well, that's me back in my box. ;) Your already pretty ace terrain just got even acerer.
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Well, that's me back in my box. ;) Your already pretty ace terrain just got even acerer.
Thanks!
I do appreciate the opportunity to show it off now and then...
;)
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I ordered the rules and they come with a figure from Northstar and with shipping it costs about the same as just buying it from Amazon with no free figure.
Hopefully it works out.
Should be here in the next couple of weeks I guess?
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Have they posted a table size yet?
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I think it was either on here or over at TMP, but I heard a 3 x3 table size.
Given that we're a couple of weeks from release, have any playtests been published?
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Yes the recommended table is 3x3, with as much terrain/cover as possible. The book has a random scenario generation system (basically one d20 roll for mission, one for location, and one for complications) so you should be pretty elastic. All in all, I'd say if you have away to represent an open alien landscape, city terrain, and possibly some interiors that could double as spaceship corridors as well (I use Battlesystem sci-fi terrain for that) you have the terrain covered.
The random missions are an integral part of the rules so I do not recommend you play straight "shoot'em up" battles. Characters have plenty of actions they can perform besides shooting.
If you are on Facebook, there is an official group set up by Northstar and also a fan group where I frequently reply to rules questions
I think it was either on here or over at TMP, but I heard a 3 x3 table size.
Given that we're a couple of weeks from release, have any playtests been published?
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Have they posted a table size yet?
3x3 I think.
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If you are on Facebook, there is an official group set up by Northstar and also a fan group where I frequently reply to rules questions
Ah Facebook :(
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Just received a notification from Bookdepository saying that my Rogue Stars rulebook has been shipped. Let's see what arrives first - that one or the order from North Star (yeah, I bought 2 rulebooks).
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Just received a notification from Bookdepository saying that my Rogue Stars rulebook has been shipped. Let's see what arrives first - that one or the order from North Star (yeah, I bought 2 rulebooks).
I also got my book depository note
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Picked up my copy from Caliver Books today, currently sorting through the lead pile for suitable models to use
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Picked up my copy from Caliver Books today, currently sorting through the lead pile for suitable models to use
Read! Digest! Report!
I'm looking forward to seeing reviews on this.
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Some of us are going to wait a bit longer...
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Have North Star said anything about shipping yet?
I know Osprey's official release date is the 15th but I see that it is obviously in the channels now if the Book Depository and Caliver are shipping it.
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I have read in Facebook that the van with the books is lost.
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There was a Facebook post about the books' status by Northstar (currently somewhere between Osprey and Northstar if I'm not mistaken).
My copy (ordered via amazon) was in the mail today. I am pretty excited about it. My first impression: the book looks great.
Cheers,
Tim
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Not impressed at all with that Facebook update. I would have rather have real information in plain English about the status of my preorder than some cutesy gibberish.
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After a first quick read through I can report the book looks lovely, and the rules seem comprehensive and good fun.
I'm going to try to get a test game in this weekend, but if anyone wants to know any specifics, feel free to fire away and I'll try to answer as best I can
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Hi,
According to the latest Facebook update from North Star, their books have turned up. This was posted on their Facebook page an hour ago:
"The Rogue Stars books have arrived!! The Nickstarters are being packed up as we speak."
All the best,
George.
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Cool!
Given shipping from the UK, I should probably have my stuff in a week or so. Looking forward to getting this.
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Glad to hear that we should have it soon.
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Having had a first read of the rules, I really think they would benefit from character sheets and stats.
The rules enable you to build pretty much every character you like, but the way I understand them so far, you keep track of a character by noting down its traits (+ the trait's level) instead of having a basic stat for something. For me, it feels like, for example, the list of shooting modifiers is pretty long and a part of those could be included in stats to reduce the amount of necessary calculations.
Example: A successful shooting attack requires you to roll a 10 on a d20. There is a skill that makes you better at shooting (giving you, for example, a bonus of +1). As far as I can see, you always get the bonus. Why not have a shooting stat of '+1' instead of "name of the skill (level of the skill)" and so on.
To me, the "requires minimal bookkeeping"-promise is kind of invalid until I can come up with a character sheet of some sorts (looking for one at the end of the book was the first thing I did after reading the first pages).
That being said, I think that besides vehicles (my poor knight-size battlewalker has to stay at home^^), I don't think that I have a mini I couldn't use in the game as the mechanics cover the construction of pretty much every character you can think of (intelligent plants for the win!).
But as I said: it's just my first thoughts after reading the rules on my way to work.
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Thanks for the update!
Here's to hoping that they put a charachter sheet online. It would be great if there were an online charachter builder and stat-sheet creator like Andrea has made for his other games, but as this is an Osprey production, I'm not sure if that will happen.
The Warband creators are one of the best things about SBH and it's sister games. They make it ridiculously easy to put together a warband and stat sheet.
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Here's to hoping that they put a charachter sheet online. It would be great if there were an online charachter builder and stat-sheet creator like Andrea has made for his other games, but as this is an Osprey production, I'm not sure if that will happen.
I'm not going to hold my breathe. Osprey's typographical skills seem to be limited to 2 column tables drawn in MS Word - we can do much better.
When we do up any QRS or rosters we should post them here or BBG.
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I got my package this morning. Minis look great, rulebook I will look at when I go to bed.
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Got my book yesterday and been reading the rules. Quick question on the Activation Modifier's table. Are the + & - the wrong way around? The example given is Green character with 1 stress needs an 11 or better to activate. The target for activation is 8, with a -2 for Green and -1 for stress (from the table). I make that 5 not 11. The only way I get 11 is to add them.
Have I got this wrong?
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Minus to your dice roll?
There are a lot of modifiers in this game. ;D
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Got my book yesterday and been reading the rules. Quick question on the Activation Modifier's table. Are the + & - the wrong way around? The example given is Green character with 1 stress needs an 11 or better to activate. The target for activation is 8, with a -2 for Green and -1 for stress (from the table). I make that 5 not 11. The only way I get 11 is to add them.
Have I got this wrong?
I guess it depends on the logic you apply. The target number (TN) for activation is always 8. When the figure is green (-2) and has a stress marker (-1) you need to roll an 11 to reach the TN...
...nice rules, subpar wording.
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Minus to your dice roll?
There are a lot of modifiers in this game. ;D
Must admit I'm losing count of all the modifiers. This set of rules is crying out for a QRS!
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Seems to be the current trend for skirmish games. IHMN/Blood Eagle has a lot, and my impression is that Broken Legions has no shortage, either.
I am very eager to see AARs and read the thoughts of you gentlemen after playing a few games - I find myself wanting in the department of light sci-fi entertainment, and am curious about Rogue Star. I just have too many rulesets sitting on the shelf after only one or two read-throughs,, and often not a single game...
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Ok, another question. Is a medikit free? It's mentioned on Page 14 under First Aid, however I cannot find it in any of the equipment lists.
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Ok, another question. Is a medikit free? It's mentioned on Page 14 under First Aid, however I cannot find it in any of the equipment lists.
In the "Rogue Stars Fan Page", in Facebook, the author has put an entry about some erratas in the rulebook. This one is about the medikit:
The Miscellaneous equipment list is missing an entry for a medi kit (8xp, gives +2 to any first aid rolls). Yes getting the bonus from a medikit works for any character but getting it from a skilled medic is cheaper. But the medikit has the advantage you can pick it up from the body of a knocked out friend.
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In the "Rogue Stars Fan Page", in Facebook, the author has put an entry about some erratas in the rulebook. This one is about the medikit:
How many erratas are there allready?
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In the "Rogue Stars Fan Page", in Facebook, the author has put an entry about some erratas in the rulebook. This one is about the medikit:
The Miscellaneous equipment list is missing an entry for a medi kit (8xp, gives +2 to any first aid rolls). Yes getting the bonus from a medikit works for any character but getting it from a skilled medic is cheaper. But the medikit has the advantage you can pick it up from the body of a knocked out friend.
I'm not on Facebook, so thanks for that. Makes me wonder what other useful tidbits I'm missing.
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I'm not on Facebook, so thanks for that. Makes me wonder what other useful tidbits I'm missing.
Here's whats on the facebook page so far:
From Andrea Sfiligoi
So some people are receiving the book and there have been a few spoofs spotted already :-( nothing major, but it seems it is impossible to publish a detailed ruleset without some last minute mistake creeping in. If possible I am asking the admin to make this a sticky note so we can keep here all typos etc. in some time I will publish an official errata and clarification sheet.
Rogue Stars errata spotted so far P.25 machine gun entry should have the Automatic and Infinite Rounds rules. The Miscellaneous equipment list is missing an entry for a medi kit (8xp, gives +2 to any first aid rolls). Yes getting the bonus from a medikit works for any character but getting it from a skilled medic is cheaper, point-wise. But the medikit has the advantage you can pick it up from the body of a knocked out friend and it gives a +2. The cost for Huge may seem wrong when compared with Big but it is correct. Huge has many minor advantages hidden in the scenarios. We just didn't have the space in the book to repeat all the minor rules.
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Here's to hoping that they put a charachter sheet online.
This set of rules is crying out for a QRS!
Both are coming - I will post an update here ASAP!
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Both are coming - I will post an update here ASAP!
Glad to hear it.
Hope to be able to look at mine soon as it should come in the post any day now.
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Both are coming - I will post an update here ASAP!
Great thank you!
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With the delay that came with the publishing of these rules those, quite fundamental to the game, pieces of errata aren't encouraging.
How the flipping 'eck did they slip by!?
I could understand the odd typo.
Ho hum.
I'd like to think that the errors will be addressed in future printings, but I doubt wargames rules get second printings.
An errata sheet slipped into future copies shouldn't be too much to ask though.
Oh well.
I am still looking forward to getting my hands on a copy.
But, please, Osprey - sort your proofreading out!
Don't give any excuses, no promises, no apologies, just sort it out.
Well, I'm in agreement on the 'no excuses' part, and in actions speaking louder than promises, but I do take issue with 'no apologies'! The simple fact is that I should have spotted those errors, and so I apologize for letting them slip through.
Wargames rules DO get reprinted, though, and should Rogue Stars go to a reprint, those errors (and any others found between now and then) will be updated. In the meantime, as Andrea stated, there will be an errata sheet in due course.
On a related note, if anyone is interested in a spot of freelance game proofreading, I'm always glad to have more games-savvy proofreaders on hand, so please feel free to PM or email me.
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I guess it depends on the logic you apply. The target number (TN) for activation is always 8. When the figure is green (-2) and has a stress marker (-1) you need to roll an 11 to reach the TN...
...nice rules, subpar wording.
Yep you're right.
Reread it this morning, 11 is the minimum you need to activate. So yes the modifiers come off the dice roll. Makes perfect sense now.
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Very few books - and even fewer sets of game rules - are published without some errors. The problem with proofing and editing rules is that you have to work at two levels: "text" and "system". So it's inherently more challenging than proofing a normal book.
And even when people are looking for "system" errors or omissions, there's the additional difficulty that knowledge of the game system can prevent you from seeing things that might be unclear or ambiguous to a first-time reader - or that are even flat-out wrong. There's a good example of that kind of thing in a Dragon Rampant erratum, in the section describing the Venomous trait. I'd played a fair bit of Lion Rampant and a few games of Dragon Rampant before I used the Venomous rule. When I did read the description, I understood it and used it "correctly", even though the text as written is wrong: knowledge of the system carried me through. I suspect that many other players did the same (I've only seen one person point out the error).
If corrections are easily available, there's no real problem. Given the excellent quality of Osprey's games and their low cost, I wouldn't be put off by a few errata (and there just seem to be two so far).
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Whatever the case, it's very nice of Smith to take the time and interest to pop in and give it to us from the horses mouth as it were.
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Whatever the case, it's very nice of Smith to take the time and interest to pop in and give it to us from the horses mouth as it were.
Hear, hear!
And Andrea's "community engagement" is always top-notch.
My book has just arrived, I hear. I've given the children permission to open it over the phone, so I hope it's still in one piece by the time I get home ...
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Have to admit I'm not overly sold on this one. But then again, I'm not one for games that apply a whopping 28(!) modifiers just to resolve a ranged attack.
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Have to admit I'm not overly sold on this one. But then again, I'm not one for games that apply a whopping 28(!) modifiers just to resolve a ranged attack.
I don't think ALL modifiers will be applied to every attack....
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I don't think ALL modifiers will be applied to every attack....
Of course not, but I still think it's too much to have to look over every 28 of them to check which one's applies. But like I said, I'm just not in the target audience, and that's fine :)
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With so few characters per side, I should think the modifiers would be manageable. Perhaps character sheets should provide rows for common actions where all of the modifiers can be aggregated. I know that's what I'd do.
Nice looking books on first flip through, having played Songs of... before.
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To those who have the book allready:
How much "Songs of..." is actually inside "Rogue Stars"?
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I got my parcel yesterday :D
The figures look very nice. If NorthStar would use paypal, rather than forcing me to use my credit card, I'd probably put a lot more business their way. I'm sure they have their reasons, but I try to keep card numbers off the internet as much as possible, so it pretty much removes their site from impluse buying sprees :'(
That said, the book looks nice, from a first quick skim.
To those who have the book allready:
How much "Songs of..." is actually inside "Rogue Stars"?
I can't answer that yet, but I'm hoping it's quite different to the original "Songs of..." rules. I tried them a couple of times and didn't get on with them. I believe they have been modified, which is one of the reasons I thought I'd take a chance on the book. Fingers are crossed :D
Mistakes in books and rules are one of my pet gripes, so I'm considering offering up my mark I eyeballs for some proofreading duties ;D
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Slowly, perhaps, jumping on the Rogue Star bandwagon, just waiting for the in-depth reviews by you folk :)
How many minis/characters per side in Rogue Stars, approximately? I have no clue of the game itself, so even the basics are yet unknown to me.
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It's 4 to 6 per side if memory serves. Not sure how/if it'll scale to larger groups.
I posted this link a few pages back (can't believe we're up to 19 pages o_o) - http://mustcontainminis.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/rogue-stars.html
More in-depth reviews will be appearing shortly, no doubt, but it'll give you an idea of the flavour of the rules
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Many thanks zemjw, very useful (p)review, will be great to read more about how the game flows. I have a sci-fi project brewing, Rogue Stars sounds pretty good so far.
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If NorthStar would use paypal, rather than forcing me to use my credit card, I'd probably put a lot more business their way. I'm sure they have their reasons, but I try to keep card numbers off the internet as much as possible, so it pretty much removes their site from impluse buying sprees :'(
Very much agreed. Northstar need to hit the 21st Century. I often look at their site, can't be bothered to put in a credit card number and go elsewhere.
Figures are great. More 28mm Copplestone SF was a no brainer for me and I'd have bought irrespective of the rules. Production values on the rules are good, nice illustrations and photographs. Haven't sat down to read through properly yet so can't comment on the mechanics.
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Got my copy yesterday. :)
On first read, it looks like a lot of book keeping with all the modifiers, but I'm not sure that in practice that would be the case as a decent roster sheet should tidy everything up (and to be honest should have been included).
I think there is scope to expand the size of the group by introducing a "pawns" rule like in Rogue Planet to include groups of faceless minions that all share the same statline - haven't put a lot of thought into this yet but think it could be an option.
To be fair, I only but rules to inspire me to make groups of and paint some of the miniatures I already have kicking about. Its not like I'm ever going to roll a dice or anything, I just like fiddling with lists and making "game appropriate" bands up...
I accept that this is even sadder than actually playing wargames... lol
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In answer to Comsquare's question, there are a few similarities with SBOH, but it's a very different game. The big point of similarity is the one-to-three-dice activation - though it's done with D20s in Rogue Stars. But the turn sequence is completely different - you can activate the same character repeatedly during the one turn, for example.
On a first read-through, the initiative system struck me as really interesting - it looks a great way to simulate Star Wars-style heroics. In SoBH, the risk-reward balance lies mainly in choosing the number of activations. In Rogue Stars, this is extended through the use of stress points and repeated activations - so you can keep trying to push your characters to their limits.
The book says that it's theoretically possible for one player to have the initiative throughout the game. Although this is unlikely, you can see situations where a well-deployed player might want to force the other to take all the actions, just relying on reactions to pick off opponents as (for example) they try to cross open ground to achieve a scenario goal. Because of the stress-point system, reactions will generally come thicker and faster the more one player has the initiative. I think this is quite a neat, clever bit of design.
The modifiers on die rolls will be familiar to SoBH players - as well as to players of HoTT or DBA. I don't think the number of them is likely to be overwhelming: both SoBH and HoTT have loads of similar modifiers too, and both are widely regarded as simple, fast-playing games. Many of the modifiers can't apply to the same character (from memory - and logically - you can't have a green veteran, for example), so the actual number in play at any time is likely to be far fewer.
This is a much more detailed game than SoBH (or Mutants and Death Ray Guns). Time is split down into much smaller elements: a standard model can use an action to walk just 2", for example - or run 4", or sprint 6". Or an action could be used to draw a weapon - it's that level of detail. SoBH players will note that it resolves one of that game's few glaring anomalies: when a model with a loaded crossbow engages in melee and emerges - miraculously - with a loaded crossbow!
Above all, it looks like it's going to be a very fast, interactive game, with actions, reactions and initiative-switching all conspiring to keep both players heavily involved throughout. It won't be a game where you can step away from the table while your opponent takes his or her turn. The scenario generator looks a lot of fun - much like first-edition 40K, but with more practical mechanics to help you play these scenarios. It is necessarily a two-player game, I think, and pretty much restricted to 4-6 models a side. I do wonder, though, whether an SoBH "rabble"-type trait (no damage, just death) could reduce the bookkeeping to allow (for example) a huge horde of primitives on one side.
There is, however, one GRAVE misstep. The game's inclusion of hit locations is an excellent idea. But when I read the description of armour coverage, I realised that a trick has been missed. There should - nay, there MUST and SHALL - be an amendment to allow the inclusion of all those ridiculous figures in full power armour except for the helmet. Imagine how satisfying it would be to roll a headshot against an opponent who fielded one ...
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Its an invisible helmet to allow troops full vision with mark I eyeball ..... honest! lol o_o ;)
There is, however, one GRAVE misstep. The game's inclusion of hit locations is an excellent idea. But when I read the description of armour coverage, I realised that a trick has been missed. There should - nay, there MUST and SHALL - be an amendment to allow the inclusion of all those ridiculous figures in full power armour except for the helmet. Imagine how satisfying it would be to roll a headshot against an opponent who fielded one ...
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There is, however, one GRAVE misstep. The game's inclusion of hit locations is an excellent idea. But when I read the description of armour coverage, I realised that a trick has been missed. There should - nay, there MUST and SHALL - be an amendment to allow the inclusion of all those ridiculous figures in full power armour except for the helmet. Imagine how satisfying it would be to roll a headshot against an opponent who fielded one ...
But, in the grim darkness of the far future, how can you identify the officers unless they're the only ones not wearing a helmet...? :D
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We'll definitely house-rule on power armour. I stopped 40k when it became ridiculous so don't intend to see it in my skirmish games!!
What confuses me is how this is defined - the illustration on p29 is supposed to depict someone in power armour but the illustration does not appear to be sealed and airtight! Likewise, p19 is wearing light power amour which is again sealed but the figure displays large areas of open flesh.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not disparaging the rules because I think they're great. I'm just suggesting that there should be less armour defined as sealed.
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In WFRP terms, characters shouldn't be able to spend fate points while wearing a helmet. The gods do no smile upon cowards!
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Thanks a lot, Hobgoblin :)
That was exactly the kind of information I was looking for, thanks.
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But, in the grim darkness of the far future, how can you identify the officers unless they're the only ones not wearing a helmet...? :D
Just look for the pile of headless corpses?
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There is a lot of detail in these rules, but I really like how all the moving parts mesh - everything has a purpose somewhere. It has an elegance and core simplicity that AE: Bounty, for example, was somewhat lacking. The way that "different" damage types such as electrical, scorching and sonic effects are handled is much better. The game covers a lot of ground, but a couple of plays through will help.
That said, what does the weapon Energy trait do? As far as I can tell, it only has a single effect on the Noxious Environment table on P37. Is there any other functional difference between Energy damage and normal (kinetic) damage?
If I had one complaint, it's that the rulebook could be laid out a little more clearly, better explained. A description of Stress, Wounds and Pins right at the start to summarise how they are gained and lost - is there a mechanism for removing pins in the game or have I just missed it? I feel a couple more pages of text would have helped a lot, nice though the illustrations are. A QRS will really help here.
I'd probably have made several of the Levelled Traits into Stats, as they're going to be used a lot (Marksmanship, Medic, Tech, etc), along with experience level (Civilian, Green etc), Size and Move, but again that would disrupt the relative simplicity of the game - everything is a Trait. A well laid-out character sheet will perform the same function though ;)
I was quite critical after my first read-through last night; today I see more of the structure and intention of the game, and how it all fits together. Grand job chaps!
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The figures look very nice. If NorthStar would use paypal, rather than forcing me to use my credit card, I'd probably put a lot more business their way. I'm sure they have their reasons, but I try to keep card numbers off the internet as much as possible, so it pretty much removes their site from impluse buying sprees :'(
I didn't know that, thanks - there's lots of stuff I've been looking at getting from them, but I'll wait now until they accept paypal. >:(
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I didn't know that, thanks - there's lots of stuff I've been looking at getting from them, but I'll wait now until they accept paypal. >:(
Or you could do what I do- I went to talk to my bank and opened a separate account I named my "Hobby Account" (it actually says that on the card). That is the only account I use for online or over-the-telephone purchases, including amazon, and my paypal account also gets filled from it.
I transfer money into it manually only when I want to buy something, so that if someone did ever hack it, they would only get a limited amount and would not be able to access my main bank account.
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If I had one complaint, it's that the rulebook could be laid out a little more clearly, better explained. A description of Stress, Wounds and Pins right at the start to summarise how they are gained and lost - is there a mechanism for removing pins in the game or have I just missed it?
It's on page 12 - a Rally action/reaction removes 1 Pin, or 2 if there's no active enemy in LOS. There's also a boxed summary of Stresses, Wounds and Pins at the top of page 6 (I missed it first time too!).
I played a brief skirmish tonight after dinner, until the kids demanded a bedtime story. I agree with what you said above: it is a very well-thought-out system, from what I can see. The damage roll being done by the target gives combat almost an opposed-roll feel, and that really speeds things up.
The little clash that I ran through had some interesting developments - one pirate was shot in the arm, rendering his laser rifle unusable; meanwhile, across the board, his crewmate's rifle malfunctioned, which left the latter with a high-stakes dash through enemy fire to get to the other gun. It felt very tense and Star Wars-sy. And it was quick.
One point that occurred to me is that the use of the D20 doesn't add to randomness. I found Frostgrave combat less fun than SBH's system, because it was so swingy with the D20 (combat's not the main focus of Frostgrave, of course, so it's not a major criticism). In Rogue Stars, the gradations of the D20 are exploited to the full - worked into the damage system and combined effectively with all those modifiers. A skilled marksman with an accurate weapon will be much more deadly than a green character with a normal one - not least because the marksman can use his higher chance of activation to average more aimed shots.
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Thanks Hobgoblin - it usually is me missing something ;D
Your game sounds like it had a lot going on, with some desperate decisions and bold actions! Sounds great!
Good points you make too - that the game is one where those little +1 modifiers and add up, and that a character can do more than the simplest plusses would initially suggest.
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is there a mechanism for removing pins in the game or have I just missed it?
A QRS will really help her!
I missed on my first reading as well, there is an action "Rally" that can remove pins.
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Thanks, Hobgoblin!
That all reads very tasty and I might just jump onto this one to make use of my very extensive 15mm SF collection.
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And how does the game compare to the recent Void Pirates? Both seem to deliver the same kind of game...any comparisons?
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Or you could do what I do- I went to talk to my bank and opened a separate account I named my "Hobby Account" (it actually says that on the card). That is the only account I use for online or over-the-telephone purchases, including amazon, and my paypal account also gets filled from it.
I transfer money into it manually only when I want to buy something, so that if someone did ever hack it, they would only get a limited amount and would not be able to access my main bank account.
I do the same thing, and still try to limit its use to the absolute minimum (paranoid, me ???). Someone did manage to put through a test transaction for about £10 one time. When I phoned the bank they told me that it had been followed by an attempt to buy about £300 of mobile phones. As there was only about £30 in the account at the time the crooks failed. However, I then had to get a new card issued etc.
Upping the paranoia, even though it's not my main account, it still links me back to the bank where I do have my main account. I have thought about getting a pre-paid credit card from another provider, but have never followed through.
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I do the same thing, and still try to limit its use to the absolute minimum (paranoid, me ???). Someone did manage to put through a test transaction for about £10 one time. When I phoned the bank they told me that it had been followed by an attempt to buy about £300 of mobile phones. As there was only about £30 in the account at the time the crooks failed. However, I then had to get a new card issued etc.
Upping the paranoia, even though it's not my main account, it still links me back to the bank where I do have my main account. I have thought about getting a pre-paid credit card from another provider, but have never followed through.
Yeah these people are out there. You can only try to protect yourself as best you can. My Hobbies account is the simplest type of account with no overdraft, and is a debit card. No-one can take out what's not in there. I don't have a credit card as I don't like paying interest.
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And how does the game compare to the recent Void Pirates? Both seem to deliver the same kind of game...any comparisons?
With a not-actually-played-either caveat, they look at be at different ends of the grittiness scale. For example, Rogue Stars has hit locations (neatly integrated into the attack role), drawing and holstering weapons and off-hand shots. I'd image once you're up to speed they'd play equally quick, but Void Pirates might be quicker to learn.
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My copy is still in the mail but I'm dubious hearing these comments. I was hoping for something along the lines of SOBH with a Necromunda-like campaign system. Talk of holstering, hit locations etc. suggests a level of crunchiness that can lead to confusion and/or tedium. Most RPGs don't even both with those details anymore.
Then again, if anybody can present this in a playable manner it's Andrea Sfiligoi. I like to support Andrea and I like the price point of this Osprey series. I don't feel too bad spending $18 even if I don't use the rules much. I do wish the books were better organized, indexed and included better reference sheets and rosters. I suppose it's too much to ask for a booklet that costs under $20.
We will see when it turns up.
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As far as I can tell, from reading - not actually playing - most of it is just for the flavour. The only reason why it might be relevant to note down the model's off-hand would be if its main-hand was wounded during the game.
I'm sure that you can skip most of it (I'm going to at any rate), which leaves me questioning why it was added in the first place...
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The hit locations aren't the impediment they seem. They're a result of a single attack roll (how much you succeed by determines where you hit: you get to choose in some circumstances). I think they'll become intuitive pretty quickly.
I think the small figure count is intrinsically linked to the detail. Having things like drawing and dropping weapons and being "winged" by being shot in the arm adds a lot of cinematic detail that would be pointless with 20 a side but works fine with 4. So, in my try-out last night, a jammed gun and a dropped gun (because of a wounded arm) became major plot points. That makes a shootout game much more interesting.
The low rate of movement - or rather, the small units of time represented by a turn - are also part of this. It's a moment-by-moment game in which every small action matters.
In that regard, you can see why drawing a sword or holstering a gun matters. It's not just for flavour. If your gun gets shot out of your hand, you'll need to spend some actions getting to it and picking it up. And every action creates the potential for a reaction (including your getting shot). If you drop your rifle to draw your force-sword and then, following the melee, have to duck behind a building for cover, your rifle will still be lying there.
And if you get shot in your good arm, you'll have to shoot with your off-hand - which imposes a significant penalty.
Obviously, this is far too much detail for a bigger game. But - on the basis of reading and a quick play-through - it seems to work really well for a full-flavour firefight with fewer figures.
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I think it's been fairly clear all along that it was a far more detailed system than SOBH. Months ago we knew that it was a d20 system and tailored for around 3 minis per player.
I was also originally looking for a necromunda'ish experience, but I like the NCE edition of necromunda plenty and after playing Tales of Blades and Heroes, the idea of a very-low-model-count by Andrea seems really cool even if it's quite a bit different. So I bought into the nickstarter.
My copy is still in the mail but I'm dubious hearing these comments. I was hoping for something along the lines of SOBH with a Necromunda-like campaign system. Talk of holstering, hit locations etc. suggests a level of crunchiness that can lead to confusion and/or tedium. Most RPGs don't even both with those details anymore.
Then again, if anybody can present this in a playable manner it's Andrea Sfiligoi. I like to support Andrea and I like the price point of this Osprey series. I don't feel too bad spending $18 even if I don't use the rules much. I do wish the books were better organized, indexed and included better reference sheets and rosters. I suppose it's too much to ask for a booklet that costs under $20.
We will see when it turns up.
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I can personally enjoy having a game with that level of detail, but there are plenty of other sets of rules if that is not what you are looking for.
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We have been playing this 'level of detail' for years with our Western Gunfight games. They have always been great fun & had that 'Cinematic' feel. If it is your team/gang you soon get to know them e.g. Marks left arm is artificial he won't feel a thing, or Jake is right handed, so if he fires his rifle from that corner of the building he will not be able to claim much cover etc. etc.
I am looking forward to going through my lead mountain, for suitable teams. Even non Sci-Fi will not be safe as a blaster holster or scratch built laser rifle can easily be added to just about any figure. That is my Christmas break sorted.
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I can personally enjoy having a game with that level of detail, but there are plenty of other sets of rules if that is not what you are looking for.
Completely agree. The number of modifiers required is leaving me cold at the moment (until I actually try a game), but (IMHO) the scenario & campaign generation is worth the price of the book.
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Received my copy yesterday and, although it looks fine with all those very nice color plates, I'm a bit disappointed:
No rules summaries pages! Unbelievable for a complex system like that.
No rooster sheets! Do we need to design them ourselves, or would we have to buy them later?
Already an Errata list. :-I
Sorry folks, but I'll check an alternative rules set ...
P.S.: Love the minis! Quality work as usual from Mike Owen and Marc Copplestone!
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I have received my copy today and I like it a lot. A detailed SF skirmish level ruleset with the scums of earth in place of super-marines as fighting force... I need to prepare a game ASAP!
About the erratas, they can be easily fixed, and there are only a pair of them.
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I can personally enjoy having a game with that level of detail, but there are plenty of other sets of rules if that is not what you are looking for.
I kind of feel in comparison to say Two Hour Wargames Chain Reaction which is aimed at a similar number of models on the table Rogue Stars is like comparing Dungeons & Dragons to Runequest, one is more abstract and quicker playing, but loses some of the cinematic qualities that the greater detail of the other gives.
Just having scanned the rules quickly I like them so far, particularly the activation/reaction system and the scenario generator and the accompanying minis are very appealing.
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Received my copy yesterday and, although it looks fine with all those very nice color plates, I'm a bit disappointed:
No rules summaries pages! Unbelievable for a complex system like that.
No rooster sheets! Do we need to design them ourselves, or would we have to buy them later?
Already an Errata list. :-I
Sorry folks, but I'll check an alternative rules set ...
P.S.: Love the minis! Quality work as usual from Mike Owen and Marc Copplestone!
I'm with you. The progress in the quality of osprey wargaming book is horror. They do not get better since the begin. I know fan made Magazins with better quality.
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About the erratas, they can be easily fixed, and there are only a pair of them.
Exactly. Are there really many errata-free first-edition wargames out there?
I think the early presence of an errata list is actually a good sign.
Hummster - yes! I was thinking of Runequest too (indeed Runequest II) the other night when I tried it out.
On that note, one thing that I meant to point out earlier in defence of the detail (holders, drawing, dropping, etc.) is this: Rogue Stars is a game in which you can have a character attempt to shoot the weapon out of another's hands. Why would you do that? Well, it might be the best option against a power-armoured opponent who's more or less impervious to your attacks.
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Received my copy yesterday and, although it looks fine with all those very nice color plates, I'm a bit disappointed:
No rules summaries pages! Unbelievable for a complex system like that.
No rooster sheets! Do we need to design them ourselves, or would we have to buy them later?
Already an Errata list. :-I
Sorry folks, but I'll check an alternative rules set ..
No need to crow about it...
To be honest these days I'd rather have the Quick Reference and Rosters available as pdf to download and print rather than try and copy from or, even worse, take out of the rulebook. Osprey and their authors have been reasonable about providing these sorts of things as free downloads so I suspect they will be available before too long.
I really don't get why people act so surprised that complex documents have some errata - after all I work in IT and remember how much there was back in the old days of printed technical manuals which are really the closest comparison to rulebooks.
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No need to crow about it...
To be honest these days I'd rather have the Quick Reference and Rosters available as pdf to download and print rather than try and copy from or, even worse, take out of the rulebook. Osprey and their authors have been reasonable about providing these sorts of things as free downloads so I suspect they will be available before too long.
I really don't get why people act so surprised that complex documents have some errata - after all I work in IT and remember how much there was back in the old days of printed technical manuals which are really the closest comparison to rulebooks.
Yes, no point in getting your feathers all ruffled, any one can make a cock up afterall ;D
I got mine today, book looks nice enough, though I haven't had a real read yet.
However, I am rather disappointed with the quality of the figures. They are all nice chunky sculpts, but the casting quality ranges from average at best, to poor or sub-par at worst. I'm talking soft or abscent details, excessive mould lines, pitting and in the worst case mould slippage. I'd say that 30% of what I received would have been rejected by other companies I regularly buy from.
There are three that that I consider to be completely unacceptable and will be requesting replacements for.
On another note, anyone get any word on that shipping refund?
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Yes Osprey do provide 'support' (roster sheets etc.) but there are gaps, such as no Q.R.S. for World Aflame. I would like a Q.R.S. printed on the back cover. Handy to use & find, also easy to photocopy.
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There are already errata? Uh ... hope folks realize that is a good thing. Not having errata is not evidence that a ruleset is perfect as-published. Generally speaking, a ruleset without official errata/FAQ is tantamount to an unsupported or undersupported game.
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For anyone who missed my post a couple of pages back, there will be a roster and a quick-reference sheet available to download for free in the near future, and I'll post here when they are. Apologies for the delay.
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Thanks Phil, much appreciated, I know how tricky it is to get this stuff available in a timely fashion, Cheers !
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Yes, no point in getting your feathers all ruffled, any one can make a cock up afterall ;D
I got mine today, book looks nice enough, though I haven't had a real read yet.
However, I am rather disappointed with the quality of the figures. They are all nice chunky sculpts, but the casting quality ranges from average at best, to poor or sub-par at worst. I'm talking soft or abscent details, excessive mould lines, pitting and in the worst case mould slippage. I'd say that 30% of what I received would have been rejected by other companies I regularly buy from.
There are three that that I consider to be completely unacceptable and will be requesting replacements for.
On another note, anyone get any word on that shipping refund?
My minis were all spot on, just a few bits of flash to remove and the odd line to smooth off. You may have got a bad batch, or they just wanted to get stuff out of the door on time.
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Yes, no point in getting your feathers all ruffled, any one can make a cock up afterall ;D
I got mine today, book looks nice enough, though I haven't had a real read yet.
However, I am rather disappointed with the quality of the figures. They are all nice chunky sculpts, but the casting quality ranges from average at best, to poor or sub-par at worst. I'm talking soft or abscent details, excessive mould lines, pitting and in the worst case mould slippage. I'd say that 30% of what I received would have been rejected by other companies I regularly buy from.
There are three that that I consider to be completely unacceptable and will be requesting replacements for.
On another note, anyone get any word on that shipping refund?
Sorry to hear that, please let us know how they handle the replacements. Nothing about shipping refund yet but I haven't got my box yet.
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Received my batch of minis today plus the book (and at the same time I received my other book from Bookdepository lol) and I can't complain about the quality of the minis. Just some flash to clean in some of them.
Now I just need my weekly day-off to read the rules :(
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I enjoy the ruleset, quite different from the game formats i currently play (GuildBall and Infinity). Have to say it took some time to get my head round the book but after first read and flipping back and forth it made sense.
The Stress tokens and Initiatives makes it interesting. Quite good the models don't have Wound Levels but all depends how you manage your effect tokens.
Just need to find someone to play!
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I got my book last Friday!
It looks very promising. However, it also looks like it could benefit from a stat sheet/team sheet. I couldn't find any on the Osprey site, but someone has perhaps made one already. Does anyone know a location?
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Smith from Osprey has posted ITT that one is on the way.
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Waiting on the mass market edition for RS because I'm wearing too many hobby hats as is. I am very interested and have been searching the web for reviews. Once you all have had a chance to digest the rule set I would be very interested in your opinions. I'd love to see if it would work as space horror; ATM I'm dreaming of a Cthulhu/Serenity mash up.
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Well I got mine yesterday (British Royal Mail Re-delivery o_o) and I must say it really reminds me of Rogue Trader whilst being a totally different game.
Looking at it running slightly bigger games it should`t be too much of a problem, make armour a mean value, get rid of hit locations and make squad members have the same limited amount of special rules and it should work, but proof is in the Christmas pudding as they say :o
I wont even have a chance of trying it out with my wonderful CP models aliens yet for quite awhile yet, but I will!
All the best to you all
Glen
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Got mine.
The book looks nice, though I agree with folks that without a QRF this is probably going to be unplayable. I'm in no rush though so rather than making one, I'll wait until one is avaialble before giving it a try. Regardless, I'm gald to have this and I'm always happy to support Andrea's work.
The figures look very nicely detailed and well cast. Lots of neat little details like little critters on shoulders, sci-fi equpment and packs However, note that I only got the add-on 5-pack and the one that comes with the book, so my assessment is limited. I especially like the lion-man and turtleman.
Here's my potential sci-fi animals crew:
-Northstar Krokk (turtle man)
-Northstar Hfrrr, (Lion Man)
-Long OOP Metal Magic "Rambo Rabbit"
-Mousling cowboy (probably with a few mods)
-Reaper Scraw the last Armadillon (Armadillo man)
-Reaper Rhinocerix Super Villain (Rhino man)
Will proably be more figs than I'll need for a crew, but it'll be nice to have some options to choose from. I think Krokk is definitley going to get an upgrade to a heavy weapon.
Also looking at this game as a possible use for my Deadzone Rebs. I really like the idea of species-diverse crews and fighting units.
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This question was just asked on the Rogue Stars Facebook page, where Nick states they WILL refund excess postage (as the small print alludes to). I assume it will be done at the end of the pre-order period and before items are shipped.
Anybody had a postage refund?
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Anybody had a postage refund?
Yup.
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How did that happen?
Did they get in touch with you? Did you have to get in touch with them? Did you just recieve a bank transfer?
Please do tell...
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I just tested the system a little. I took my old WotC Star Wars Miniatures and prepared stats for Republic Commando and General Grievous with some Super Battle Droids. I found that the game can be pretty gritty. Most of my Damage rolls went down badly and the characters died really quick.
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How much cover were you using?
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Has anyone in the USA received their Northstar Rogue Star yet? I was hoping to get it this week :)
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How did that happen?
Did they get in touch with you? Did you have to get in touch with them? Did you just recieve a bank transfer?
Please do tell...
[/qruote]
Bank transfer, I had emailed Nick earlier in the campaign to say I had missed a figure off the order, so would send a seperate one. Had the refund for this and for the last five figure release that I added later.
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Has anyone in the USA received their Northstar Rogue Star yet? I was hoping to get it this week :)
Got mine here in Chicago a few days ago.
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How much cover were you using?
Not much to be honest but Cover only gives penalty to the Hit roll.
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How did that happen?
Did they get in touch with you? Did you have to get in touch with them? Did you just recieve a bank transfer?
Please do tell...
[/qruote]
Bank transfer, I had emailed Nick earlier in the campaign to say I had missed a figure off the order, so would send a seperate one. Had the refund for this and for the last five figure release that I added later.
Thanks for the info
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Sorry to hear that, please let us know how they handle the replacements. Nothing about shipping refund yet but I haven't got my box yet.
Got my replacements today. Better casts. Impressed by the turnaround, very fast to send them out.
Still, better qualty control in the first place would have been preferable.
Still no word on the potage refund.
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So could someone with the book tell me, are there vehicle rules? :)
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No, there are no vehicle rules.
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Has anyone in the USA received their Northstar Rogue Star yet? I was hoping to get it this week :)
Yes, actually. Except my Dear Wife wrapped it and hid it under the tree, while telling me daily, "Nope, not today...". Now that I explained the folly of making me wait, I have a rule book! First read-through done.
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Mine arrived today, looks good so far.
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Got our first game in today. The number of modifiers isn't an issue, but the game desperately needs a reference sheet - I will have to finish mine before Monday's game.
The activation system flows well and after the first turn we all had a handle on it. We used the first two sample crews from the back of the book, all in all things went well.
We did find the lack of vehicle rules odd as there are several references in the rules.
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Sorry, I posted in the wrong thread :(
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This may come in handy to anyone who still hasn't played the game:
Let's Play! Ep 28 - Rogue Stars from Osprey Wargames
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P71OHehKktk
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Thanks for posting that, I love Ash's batreps.
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And here's a follow-up on that battle report, from another channel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJztZzDi9hs&feature=youtu.be
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Ordered my hard copy today :) . It should arrive in mid January. I'll get at some painting before the rules arrive and worry about building stats around cool models I rustle up. Thanks for linking the battle report Predatorpt; That looks like fun.
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Waiting for official ones, I've made a couple of reference sheets for the game. Nothing too fancy, just copy/pasted all the tables I felt relevant on two PDF sheets. Probably a lot better could be done both in aesthetics and space efficiency. Anyway, I feel they'll get the job done. Since I don't feel confident in distributing them (it's Osprey material, after all) I'm a bit reluctant about uploading them and making them openly available. But if any LAF user will pm me asking for them, I'll be happy to share :)
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Downloaded it via Amazon. It looks pretty nice, but also quite fiddly.
Yet from my first reading through the rules, I have the impression that a profile (instead of "skills" ranging from 0-+3), and more ideas for standard races/professions could have massively helped to make it better playable plus the already mentioned quick reference sheet.
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I've had to a chance to read it but not play yet. I have to echo the sentiments above. I have two thoughts.
I respect Andrea very much and I can see what he is going for here - I really want to try it out - but (you knew there was a but coming) Osprey's one-size-fits-all template does not serve these rule well. Without charts, counters, QRS and character sheets these rules are more than I can handle.
I do have to wonder about the current trend to define characters as a collection of modifiers rather than offer a definitive stat line. Surely "Bob: Activation 5" is easier than "Bob: Hero, [Lets see activation roll target number start at 8 and Hero means +3 ...is that + to the target number or die roll? ...Die Roll? Ok then I actually subtract from my target number so I really need to roll a 5]"
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Stat lines are great when the units in a game can only do a very limited amount of things: move, melee, shoot. Abandoning the stat line allows for more open-ended play - which in turn is suitable to the zoomed-in RPG scale of Rogue Stars.
Also - Don't worry QRS from Osprey is on the way!
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Stat lines are great when the units in a game can only do a very limited amount of things: move, melee, shoot. Abandoning the stat line allows for more open-ended play - which in turn is suitable to the zoomed-in RPG scale of Rogue Stars.
I wrote something longer, but I think I'm just going to say I disagree Manchu. I'm not sure what "open ended play" is or why it's desirable. Not having a stat line does not necessarily makes a better game. It usually requires an excess of modifiers and special case rules.
I've played most of Andrea's other "Songs of" rules and I understand what he is attempting. I'm just dubious because of the presentation. I'm going to try RS and hopefully enjoy it.
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Sure Kamandi, a ruleset isn't necessarily "better" because it doesn't use - or for that matter, because it does use - a stat line to represent a figure.
Maybe "open-ended" is the wrong phrase? I was just referring to the RPG scale of Rogue Stars, where the rules seem designed to handle whatever comes up as the story unfolds, as opposed to a game where all the options are predetermined by the rules. Anything a Character could want to attempt in Rogue Stars is resolved by rolling TN or higher on a d20, where TN is almost always 10. It's simple but robust.
The price is, there are tons (well, at least "tens") of situational modifiers and the upcoming QRS will be very welcome along those lines. I guess the other thing is, you have to be okay with Traits but if you are a Ganesha Games fan then that shouldn't be a problem.
I came to miniatures gaming from RPGing so Rogue Stars is exactly to my taste. I'm not really surprised that other folks are more skeptical.
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I like it, but I really think it could benefit from standard stats. For example, a crew member could have the following stats:
Shoot
Melee
Tech
First Aid
Sneak
Spot
Move
Leadership
PSI
These would cover the majority of the rolls. They would all start at zero and modified by the traits you have. Does your character have marksman level 2? Well he now has a shoot stat of +2. Doing this would allow the model modifiers to be easily calculated prior to rolls. Then the remaining modifiers wouldn't seem so daunting for most people. This is how I have thought about making my crew cards/sheet.
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I like it, but I really think it could benefit from standard stats. For example, a crew member could have the following stats:
Shoot
Melee
Tech
First Aid
Sneak
Spot
Move
Leadership
PSI
These would cover the majority of the rolls. They would all start at zero and modified by the traits you have. Does your character have marksman level 2? Well he now has a shoot stat of +2. Doing this would allow the model modifiers to be easily calculated prior to rolls. Then the remaining modifiers wouldn't seem so daunting for most people. This is how I have thought about making my crew cards/sheet.
I proposed the same in another thread. I also think this might speed up play and help to cut down the amount of special rules!
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I'm not sure I'm getting your point!
Every character has the equivalent of standard stats - it's an unmodified 8 to activate or an unmodified 10 to react. I think the problem is that it just doesn't happen automatically. You activate & want to move - roll an 8. You want to shoot - roll an 8. You want to spot someone - roll an 8.
Modifiers are a constantly moving adjustment as stress modifies your chances of failing! So your +2 for being marksman 2 becomes -1 if you spent 3 activations moving into position!
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Agree with Plus Four.
Also, I don't see an advantage to writing:Shoot: +2
Melee: 0
Tech:0
First Aid: 0
Sneak: 0
Spot: 0
Move: 0
Leadership: 0
Psi: 0
rather than justMarksman 2
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I like it, but I really think it could benefit from standard stats. For example, a crew member could have the following stats:
Shoot etc.
This is how I have thought about making my crew cards/sheet.
Agree 100%. It's the task of keeping track of all the special case rules that i find off-putting.
I was thinking a character sheet that summarized all the leveled traits and modifier traits would go along way to making this easier to get a handle on.
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Agree with Plus Four.
Also, I don't see an advantage to writing:rather than just
The advantage would come from having the character's base line modifiers already calculated for common roles. Say you have Marksman 2. Then in shoot you would put +2. This would tell you right away that you have plus two to the roll before you start to take in situational modifiers such as stress and cover. The same could be done for things like a character with Medic 3 and a first aid kit. Your first aid would have the character's base modifiers to the roll already calculated. I think it would help keep player's from missing a possible modifier during play because they forgot a trait or piece of equipment that they had.
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Everybody is different but I am better served by a more concise entry for each character rather than an extensive stat line that cannot even cover the (relatively) complicated part. I don't think something like Marksman, or any other roll-modifying trait, is the one I would miss; after all, it's in the model's profile, which I would have written myself. Rather, one of the - as mentioned before - twenty seven circumstantial modifiers that cannot be incorporated into a static profile would be the tricky ones. That's why trying to force a stat line onto this game design isn't going to solve the stated problem. The real issue is the lack of a QRS, which as we know is in the works.
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Everybody is different but I am better served by a more concise entry for each character rather than an extensive stat line that cannot even cover the (relatively) complicated part. I don't think something like Marksman, or any other roll-modifying trait, is the one I would miss; after all, it's in the model's profile, which I would have written myself. Rather, one of the - as mentioned before - twenty seven circumstantial modifiers that cannot be incorporated into a static profile would be the tricky ones. That's why trying to force a stat line onto this game design isn't going to solve the stated problem. The real issue is the lack of a QRS, which as we know is in the works.
I am the opposite. The circumstantial modifiers don't bother me because when you break them down several are grouped and only a few that apply on any given roll. For example look at shooting:
To me it is a progressional series of questions.
What is the range to the target? There are 4 possible modifiers, but you will only ever use one. I think the 4" increment for the modifier is off, but that is another topic.
Do I have any pin markers? Add modifier if I have any.
What are my weapon qualities? Is my weapon accurate or primitive? Does it have the hail of fire ability?
Is it a called shot? There are a possible 4 modifiers, but you will only ever use one.
Am I shooting off hand, one handed, or both?
Did I aim or is there visibility issues? If there are visibility issues then they would normally apply for the entire game so IMHO are easy to remember.
Is it a surprise attack or is my target a sitting duck? I know the table says +1 for sitting duck, but the text says +2. I think +2 makes sense. It would be similar to a surprise attack IMHO.
Does my target have cover? If so, is it light, heavy, or fortified?
Is my target prone?
What size is my target?
Does my target have any traits that would impact my roll? This would be easy for opponent if they had a base defense on their character sheet. It could actually also include the size of your target. Example, my model has the big and difficult target traits so his range defense modifier is 0 for all shooting attacks against him.
It uses the same principle that rpgs tend to use. It puts the constant modifiers of the character all together in a stat line so they do not have to be determined during play. Most character sheets will have a weapon stat line that contains the character's attack modifier, they will have their various defenses, and their modifiers for saving throws. For me, a heavy rpg background, having the static modifiers on the sheet is easier. My wargaming background of 40K, Necromunda, Dust Tactics, and Frostgrave has limited use of modifiers.
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The only problem I see with "Rogue Stars" is the fixed format of Osprey rulebooks: small, compressed, without gaming adds. The rules about the creation of characters are wonderful, because you can pick any figure you have and create a complete character, something I prefer over fixed character stats.
Reading "Rogue Stars" I remember my games with "Inquisitor" in which narrative, imagination and fair play were the most important things.
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Well, I've got my order in through Barnes & Noble (Got some gift cards for Christmas)...now awaiting delivery.
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What am I missing here? I've gone through the book a few times now and I can't find a place for the Elite rule.
None of the themes allow it at start or I'm missing it and with experience you can go from normal to Veteran and from Veteran to Hero, entirely passing Elite level which seems like it should've been somewhere in there.
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That's covered in the errata:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8-5xUv2ZVE-anZmZU42aHhaN1E/view
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That clears it up, thanks. :)
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'course not getting the book from me means you miss out on 'The Rogue'. Comes free with each copy, and there's a 10% discount first week.
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/14632838_1677828805881257_2424912758481184258_n.jpg?oh=288bf7398495ada967c645f7d7a8f01d&oe=58D38B16)
Will this figure be released in the US, I see its available at the Wargames event/ ROBIN UK show?
Are there plans for additional figures?
Any comment on the reported inconsistent quality on some of the figures?
I ask because I just ordered a bunch and will be review them with scale comps for my games..
Thanks in advance
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There is a thread elsewhere about problems with the casting, but all mine were fine...I also bought some of the new figures (not in the kickstarter) today at ROBIN and they were fine too. I am pretty sure I saw The Rogue figure for sale in a blister pack alongside all the others.
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No, there are no vehicle rules.
:o :o :o :o :o
But at least they are now taking PayPal! ;)
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Picked the rules up this past week end and am anxious to give them a try. On my first read of the rules I like them a lot. :)
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Picked the rules up this past week end and am anxious to give them a try. On my first read of the rules I like them a lot. :)
Good luck with Rogue Star warlord frod! My friend and I like them a lot and we intend to continue playing them, we have had a lot of fun.
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Don't be afraid to tweak the rules, to fit any ideas &/or figures you already have, e.g. for the club we have at school I picked up some sci-fi figs at Poundland. They looked the part for Sci-Fi Miners, but were 'diminutive' & that is not a trait listed for Miners..... So what, the pupils now have 6 extra teams & the cost £4.