Voidfighter.

[Rick]

Just seen these new rules from Osprey, not sure when they came out but they look interesting and slightly familiar. From the blurb it almost seems like a hexless re-imagining of the Silent Death game with the same different dice mechanic - could be quite good and might well pick up a copy.
Has anyone got this already? Thoughts, a review perhaps? A bit more info than is just on the Osprey site?

[Mr. White]

I've not read or seen much about it, but as a big fan of Silent Death back in the day, you've got me curious.
Do we know any more than what is posted on the Osprey page for the book?

[Rick]

I've not read or seen much about it, but as a big fan of Silent Death back in the day, you've got me curious.
Do we know any more than what is posted on the Osprey page for the book?

I'm a big Silent Death fan as well and in a similar position to you. I haven't seen any reviews or additional information anywhere else, except to note that the author also wrote the 'Space Weirdos' rules, which seem to be quite good, so maybe a positive thing.

[Mr. White]

For anyone looking for Silent Death ships, I recall there was a third party that sold a box of them, but I can't remember what they were called for the life of me. They weren't labelled "Silent Death" at all. It's like a third party had the molds or something and they had a generic name. I wish I could find them again...

[ithoriel]

eM4 have them. £5.99 per dozen or £22.50 for 60.

[Rick]

Aha. I did a search for 'Void Fighter' rather than Voidfighter and Wargamer.com has more information - and it's a bit as I thought but also a little bit surprising at the same time.
A little while after 'Silent Death: the Next Millenium' came out an article appeared, possibly in Dragon magazine (or another games mag), entitled "What's the use of Snub Fighters" which was a selection of Star Wars fighters converted to the Silent Death game and a very brief set of the Silent Death rules. Casey Garske has taken these basic rules and created a set of not Star Wars-ish space fighter rules (absolutely not, in no shape or form, a way to use X-wing ships, nuh-uh, honest guv!), stripping out the hex board but (possibly) keeping in an idea of the manouevres from X-wing. It's got a fairly generic background and seems simple enough (it uses some of the Space Weirdos mechanics as well) to use a dozen or so fighters on each side so should appeal to both Silent Death players and ex X-wing players alike.
And it's on pre-order, not due out until August 28th - I may have jumped the gun a wee bit! 

[Rick]

Also - why not use Star Wars Armada fighters on individual bases rather than the larger fighters? I previously bought some individual Armada fighters and have based some of them on individual bases, planning on doing a simple squadron game at some point - now, as luck and Casey Garske would have it, I don't have to make up my own rules, whew! 

[Mr. White]

eM4 have them. £5.99 per dozen or £22.50 for 60.

Those are definitely the Silent Death ship. Awesome.
I’m not sure if it’s the box I was thinking of, but no problem. These are indeed the ships I’d use for VoidFighters.

[Rick]

Those are definitely the Silent Death ship. Awesome.
I’m not sure if it’s the box I was thinking of, but no problem. These are indeed the ships I’d use for VoidFighters.

I think there was an earlier thread on here about these ships (which are repackaged but essentially the same as the ones in the Silent Death box) and some others which were bigger and coloured softer plastic, released in the US.
They are very popular (someone suggested them for another of Osprey's rules a while ago, prompting a mad rush to buy them!) and EM4 tend to run out of stock from time to time, however they do re-stock in a few months if you're patient.

[BlackWidowPilot]

Most interesting development indeed... and just to bring everyone up to date, (1) after 50 years of operation RAFM Miniatures closed down, leaving Metal Express without a metal caster for our metal Silent Death ships. (2) The plastic ships sold by Em4 are indeed the original 2nd ed. Core Ships for Silent Death. (3) We've been exploring 3D printing as a viable alternative, however that is taking time given our frustratingly small budget made even smaller by the loss of our contract caster.

The books are still available as PDFs via our online store.

[Rick]

Most interesting development indeed... and just to bring everyone up to date, (1) after 50 years of operation RAFM Miniatures closed down, leaving Metal Express without a metal caster for our metal Silent Death ships. (2) The plastic ships sold by Em4 are indeed the original 2nd ed. Core Ships for Silent Death. (3) We've been exploring 3D printing as a viable alternative, however that is taking time given our frustratingly small budget made even smaller by the loss of our contract caster.

The books are still available as PDFs via our online store.

That is a blow, I hadn't realised that RAFM had still produced your mini's. Given what's been happening 3d printing does seem like it's the way forward, for many companies, although it's a huge investment in time and money given the size of your back catalogue.
As to these rules; it's certainly an interesting idea, given the provenance, and we'll have to see if they can be as broadly generic as possible or if they are geared more towards just the not-X wing ships.

[Daeothar]

A bit of a tangent, but 3D scanning has come a huge way and is now a serious, financially viable option, even for hobbyists. So perhaps scanning the back catalogue (plus the inevitable minor 3D cleanup) would be a huge time (and effort) saver?

Just a thought.

Also; I'm very interested int he rules too 

[YPU]

I spotted the tittle as upcoming a while back and was struck but the absolute lack of promotion on any front at all.

A bit of a tangent, but 3D scanning has come a huge way and is now a serious, financially viable option, even for hobbyists. So perhaps scanning the back catalogue (plus the inevitable minor 3D cleanup) would be a huge time (and effort) saver?

To give a bit of push back here, the scans have gotten way better, but making a scan isn't quick, and the cleanup needed is a couple of steps beyond minor, especially on "hard surface" designs like vehicles, and small scale stuff especially. Minor irregularities of say 0.25mm height, bit like a orange fruit skin, are frequent. On say a 28mm figure or creature that can easily blend in with cloth, flesh and hair. but in a 1/300 sleek space fighter, its going to stand out as a blemish on what should be smooth and mechanically perfect plating. cleaning it up and keeping good symmetry etc can be a tedious job, and quite its own skillset similar to different from 3d sculpting itself as well.
That said, those 3d scans do make great reference for a digital re-sculpt, starting from scratch with a fully 3d reference to go from can be much faster than trying to perfectly clean the scan itself. Grain of salt, I personally mainly work in software that delivers "meshes" at the end, but doesn't really work well with them in the actual process, so I have a ingrained distaste for meshes like the ones scanners produce, other opinions may be available.

[Rick]

Yes, so far very little advance promotion to be seen, but it isn't out until the 26th of August (I think) and Osprey don't over-promote a lot of their books so we'll have to see.

[The_Beast]

Hi, BWP! *waves furiously*

Small FYI, after the injection moulds left ICE, I think they went to an Italian manufacturer. XXX Century? At least I see boxes for sale, now and then.

With the unlicensed use of the IP out of Asia, all murky...

....A little while after 'Silent Death: the Next Millenium' came out an article appeared, possibly in Dragon magazine (or another games mag), entitled "What's the use of Snub Fighters" which was a selection of Star Wars fighters converted to the Silent Death game and a very brief set of the Silent Death rules.

There was a magazine, Star Wars Informer(?), that one occasionally sees up for sale, and I have seen PDF's of the article from time to time.

/rambling mode off/

Doug