[COMMERCIAL] Horizon Wars: Infinite Dark, Precinct Omega's new space combat game

[precinctomega]

I am thrilled to let the LAF community know that the newest Horizon Wars game, Horizon Wars: Infinite Dark is now available to purchase in PDF or hardback print-on-demand editions.

The glorious, unstoppable expansion of humanity into the stars has ended. The benevolent guidance of the mighty Artilects saw the full range of humans — natural, synthetic and uplifted partners — mature into a species of curiosity and innovation. But now the Artilects have gone, and the stars are the playground of their ruthless inheritors.

But the framework of jump-gates that made a galactic civilisation possible is falling apart.

Take command of your own fleet of vessels, recruit heroes to take their helms, and take to the spaceways to build your own legend in the newest game in the critically-acclaimed Horizon Wars series.

Horizon Wars: Infinite Dark is the new starship combat miniatures game from Precinct Omega Publishing. Use your favourite spaceship miniatures to play games in any of three command levels, from deep space dogfighting up to capital ship encounters, in Solo, Co-op or Versus play modes.

Here are some links to the blog posts I've written about the game and its development:

The Elevator Pitch
Command Levels
Vessels
Stats
Pilots
Missions
Campaigns

R.

[Chief Lackey Rich]

This going to be distributed to stores the way the original HW game was?  Might grab a copy if the FLGS gets it in, although the elevator pitch and the other posts honestly don't appeal much.  Outside of dogfighting games (your CL1, slopping into CL2 - which sounds like "adventurer class" ships in RPG parlance) I'm not a big fan of crew skills significantly affecting starship combat, probably owing to bad experiences with ACTA and BFG.  The range of Mass/Power options for ship designs also sounds too narrow for my tastes. 

Still likely to be some ideas to mine from the missions, solo, and campaign rules - there almost always are - even when the combat mechanics of a game don't draw me in.  For ex, Flagship's old Starship! rules still has a pretty great campaign engine, although I wouldn't play the tactical game if you held a gun to my head.

Best of luck regardless.  Hope sales go well for you. 

[precinctomega]

Hi, Rich.

HW was published by Osprey with access to Bloomsbury' distribution network. I'm now publishing independently, with just me, and I'm currently publishing via Wargame Vault/OneBookShelf Inc. However, I'm hoping to get my books onto the shelves of independent retailers in the UK from around September onwards, by the simple measure of turning up in person with a pile of books. Already had an enthusiastic "yes" from one shop. We'll see how it goes.

"Adventurer class"!  Damnit! Why did no one tell me there was a good term for it already... I've been struggling to explain CL2 from the outset. Yes! Adventurer class!

There's a bunch of mission and a moderately dense amount of setting in the book, so you might well find something in there to mine. Only challenge is for me to get it onto those shelves. What's your FLGS? I might have to give them a call.

[Chief Lackey Rich]

"Adventurer class"!  Damnit! Why did no one tell me there was a good term for it already... I've been struggling to explain CL2 from the outset. Yes! Adventurer class!

It's a pretty old term in Traveller circles.  IIRC FASA used it for some of their earliest products (which were deck plans) although I don't think they originated it.  I kind of miss the days when they were still the Freedonian Aeronautics and Space Administration.

There's a bunch of mission and a moderately dense amount of setting in the book, so you might well find something in there to mine. Only challenge is for me to get it onto those shelves. What's your FLGS? I might have to give them a call.

Afraid it's in the US.  Odds of them stocking the book directly are low, especially with international shipping rates being what they've become.  If you still want to try, their site is here:

 https://www.zombie-planet.com/

Still, best of luck, as I said.

[precinctomega]

Afraid it's in the US.

Dagnabbit! Well, I'm trying to work out how I can afford to do a UK tour, so I suspect a US tour is going to be a non-starter for at least a little while...

That said, US retailers can still stock the book pretty easily if they contact me. I can give them a discount code for retail stock of the hardback edition that they can order from WGV. They are printed and shipped in the US, so the price isn't going to be too bad. But you don't get the benefit of me turning up to explain how to play the game (yet).

I will start contacting indy US retailers eventually but my focus will be on UK retailers for the time being for obvious reasons.

[Chief Lackey Rich]

That said, US retailers can still stock the book pretty easily if they contact me. I can give them a discount code for retail stock of the hardback edition that they can order from WGV. They are printed and shipped in the US, so the price isn't going to be too bad. But you don't get the benefit of me turning up to explain how to play the game (yet).

I'll mention it to the owner but he's been remarkably negative about stocking direct from manufacturers in the past.  Being made in the US might help, I think the sticking point in some of the past cases has been international shipping costs. 

[precinctomega]

I hear that.

I've recently been trading reviews and painting guides with manufacturers in return for free shipping!

[Easy E]

Glad to see another game up and out there Robey! 

Let us all know how the "Book Tour" goes. 

[Robosmith]

Hope you don't mind some feedback in the thread, but I've been hearing about this around my circles and I've heard the same thing from several different playgroups which is worth considering. I'm not looking to engage in any sort of debate on this, only mention the only feedback I've seen is. "The cover looks woke, not even going to check it out". People who buy a lot of indie games and love digging up old rule sets which should make up your core audience were turned off by the cover and walked away. It didn't tell them anything about the game and what they did see implied things to them you may not have intended. Assuming the elevator pitch image is correct it looks to be a space battles game, so why isn't the cover a bridge crew looking out over a space battle or ships engaging in combat?

I read the elevator pitch and still wasn't sure what the game was supposed to be about. It's about putting people in space ships? Doesn't X-wing already do that? The cover doesn't tell me anything about the game, the elevator is more commentary on the genre than it's own functionality. In terms of browsing a game store shelves for what to pick up, doesn't really stand out on either front.

Maybe the games great, but the presentation has turned some people off. Might be worth considering changing that if it gets another version. If it's a space ship battle game where pilots matter show that off with them piloting space ships instead of generic sci fi guys on a black background.

[Chief Lackey Rich]

Y'know, I'm not super interested in this game myself - but anyone who'd literally judge a book by its cover based on it somehow being "woke" isn't worth listening to.  Stupidest thing I've heard all week, which is really saying something.  Usually it's some dolt in congress who wins that prize.

[Easy E]

We demand battle reports!

Show us how the game plays please?  I want to know more. 

[Robosmith]

Y'know, I'm not super interested in this game myself - but anyone who'd literally judge a book by its cover based on it somehow being "woke" isn't worth listening to.  Stupidest thing I've heard all week, which is really saying something.  Usually it's some dolt in congress who wins that prize.

If covers weren't important then movie posters wouldn't exist and everything would have a simple white background with black arial font to tell you it exists. Covers are how you decide which of the options you have in front of you are the ones you want to check out. DrivethruRPG currently has 31,915 science fiction downloads on offer. If I'm not using the covers and elevator pitch next to them how am I supposed to ever explore the catalog and find what I want? I doubt many people read that many books in their life time.

You can call it stupid all you want but the cover was judged the way it was by completely separate groups for the same reason. It didn't say anything about the game, it just presented random people on the cover.

[Chief Lackey Rich]

You can call it stupid all you want but the cover was judged the way it was by completely separate groups for the same reason.

Now now, you claimed you didn't want to engage in debate about this, remember?

Why don't you link to these groups so Robey can address the criticisms directly, anyway?

[AxolotlQuestions]

I have to agree: "looks woke" is an absolutely idiotic criticism.

[pixelgeek]

Y'know, I'm not super interested in this game myself - but anyone who'd literally judge a book by its cover based on it somehow being "woke" isn't worth listening to.  Stupidest thing I've heard all week, which is really saying something.  Usually it's some dolt in congress who wins that prize.

Agreed. People who use the term should just be ignored