Any love for Jovian Chronicles?

[Galadrin]

Just picked up Jovian Chronicles: Lightning Strike 2ed because DP9 is currently promoting it and I am shocked at how good these rules are. I have experience with half a dozen space combat games and none has the perfect mix of Das Boot/Top Gun/Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) that Jovian Chronicles does. Has anyone else come across this little ruleset? What are your experiences with it?

Also, what do you find is a good battle size? I have read 750 TV, but this seems like an awful lot considering most Exo's cost 10-15 points and the biggest capital ships only cost around 100 TV. Is 250 TV a good size for an hour long game (maybe one capital ship, a couple frigates and a handful of exo-armours and fighters?

[YPU]

Never given the rules a look since I never really heard anybody about them, until now. Do they have any construction or customization rules or are you stuck with the standard ship designs?

[Rhoderic]

It's been a long time since I last played JCLS and I've forgotten too much of the ins and outs to be able to answer the Threat Value question, but my overall impression of the rules design continues to be very positive, as it was back when I discovered the game.

I especially love the different movement rules for different types of spacecraft, particularly the unique rules for exo-armour (mech) movement which allow exos to move anywhere, by any route they want, within a radius centered on their position at the beginning of movement, and to shoot or perform other actions at any point during that movement. I'm aware of course that it is extremely illogical (you may move a distance of X in one direction, and then a distance of 2X in the opposite direction if you want to, but you may not simply move 3X in the first direction), and it turned me off when I first read that section of the rules, but damn me if it didn't feel right once I actually got a game in. Because of those rules, mechs behave like they're supposed to - the way they do in Gundam (unrealistic, but delightfully cinematic). They flit about in a manner similar to the flying patterns of insects, in stark contrast to the movement of fighters (very fast in a straight vector, but slow at turning and accelerating/decelerating) and ships (more of a slow, graceful dance). This makes for a rather tactical game which nevertheless retains the impetuous, high-speed fun of "space mecha" anime like Gundam and Nadesico.

I also love the JC setting as described in the RPG sourcebooks. Too bad DP9 have completely given up on JCLS as a "living" miniatures game.

Do they have any construction or customization rules or are you stuck with the standard ship designs?

No construction rules whatsoever - it's an entirely setting-specific ruleset. Not much customisation either, IIRC.

[Lysander]

Great rules set.  Been a while since I played it.

I have a lot of painted ships and mecha from the DP9 sculpts.  I also have a lot of the old Rafm Jovian Chronicles mecha painted as well (even an unpainted and rare Prometheus).  I actually ran several minis games using the RPG rules years ago at Origins at both the mecha level and at 25/28 mm mini level....as well as the JC minis rules.

I always liked the Jovian Chronicles universe better than the Heavy Gear universe (which is excellent).  

Great system and support material if someone wanted to run the Expanse universe...just toss out the mecha.

[Jakar Nilson]

There is some small movement going on when it comes to JC miniatures:

http://dp9forum.com/index.php?showtopic=17256&p=299273

[Rhoderic]

There is some small movement going on when it comes to JC miniatures:

http://dp9forum.com/index.php?showtopic=17256&p=299273

Oh, wow. I've been waiting for very nearly 10 years for something like this. I might get back into JCLS or a prospective JC Blitz in light of this development, although I won't make any commitments just now.

[Momotaro]

Big fan back in the day - mostly the RPG rather than the minis game (which we played with home-made counters), although like Heavy Gear the mechanics are largely interchangeable.  JC and HG were both fantastic games and they still lie on my bookshelf.  The settings for the games are really set the standard - vibrant and detailed but so much room for your own adventures.

Even looking at the ships on the DP9 site gives me waves of nostalgia.

[Galadrin]

There is some small movement going on when it comes to JC miniatures:

http://dp9forum.com/index.php?showtopic=17256&p=299273

Those are interesting, but the scale difference with the original models actually doesn't bother me at all and I think I prefer the bigger Exo-armours. It's good that DP9 is still supporting JC, though!

[Rhelyk]

I've been watching Sci-fi channel's new show The Expanse and it's lead to thinking a lot about JC lately, such a good game. I recommend watching the show, very similar setting and story to JC. No mechs, unfortunately, but very similar themes with the relatively hard sci-fi setting and all the planetary factions vying for control over the outer colonies (in this case the asteroid belt, vs the Jovian moons in JC) and cold war tensions boiling over into full out military attacks. I've dreamt of a JC TV show for a long time and this is probably the closest you'll get outside of Gundam (which is of course the inspiration for JC)

That link is interesting, but I have no faith in DP9, they've been leading JC fans on for well over a decade with promises of bringing it back and promises of bringing it back and "gauging interest", all with zero actual movement. Those awesome tiny fighters in the linked forum post are the exact same ones they had on display at the GAMA trade show in Las Vegas back in 2005 or 2006, they canned the fleet scale game with only those prototypes made and never came out with anything else for the game and have been promising JC:Blitz since the same timeframe. I've always been more than a little bitter that Heavy Gear gets ALL the love, JC is a more interesting setting and has cooler mecha, but the system has been completely dead for many years and despite their claims, DP9 have repeatedly shown absolutely no intention of reviving it or they would have released SOMETHING since the Lightning Strike rules came out in 2001/2002. The last time i asked why they had so many new editions of HG but literally nothing for JC is that they could never really decide if they wanted it to be super Hard Sci-fi or if they wanted to go full-on anime mecha in space, so they instead chose to do neither. There's been what, 4 different HG games in the interim and 3 complete resculpts of the HG minis line if you count the actual resculpts, the fleet scale and now the plastics.

It's a completely dead and incomplete figure line, the last release was a super limited resin kit back in 2005ish (done as a fan project by the sculptor, not even official), and while the Earth and Jovian forces are pretty complete there's entire factions that have rules but only a single mech and a single fighter. They're also very expensive models. I picked up dozens and dozens of mechs, fighters and ships when Alliance Distribution had their closeout sale for $2 a piece, but paying retail is quite a lot for a playable force.

So sad, because it's SO GOOD! I think I'm just gonna go read my old books off the shelf and softly cry myself to sleep now

[Rhelyk]

And as for size, this is a fleet game, so you'll want ships and they add up in points fast. For a real game figure on a dozen or so mecha,  a few ships and a couple squadrons of fighters per side. It's very much designed around combined arms

[Momotaro]

That link is interesting, but I have no faith in DP9, they've been leading JC fans on for well over a decade with promises of bringing it back and promises of bringing it back and "gauging interest", all with zero actual movement.

Sadly true - "buy some minis and we'll think about making some more".  A shame, as they have a fantastic game on their hands - great world, cracking ruleset, amazing designs.  I'd be all over a JC Kickstarter 

I know Agis sells Gear Krieg books for his Victory Decision rules, but I think he licenses from DP9, so maybe there's a glimmer there.

[Rhelyk]

Doubly a shame because I've always really liked the idea of a fleet scale JC, ever since I saw them at the trade show. The mecha and fighters are done in 1/500 but the ships are 1/5000,  specifically 1/10 the size they should be compared to the fighters and mechs. It would be neat to have them more in scale with each other. Can't be totally to scale of course, the mecha would only be 2.5mm tall in that case, but closer would be nice. Many years ago I made a plasticard mock-up of an Athena in 1/500, it was cool but would have been impractible to play with as it was something like 12" long, and Athenas are just medium size cruisers, the carriers would be even bigger.

15mm.co.uk makes some fleet scale mecha that are roughly 6mm tall. I've always wanted to pick up for some space game or another, would be much closer in scale and also much cheaper than buying official JC mecha. Just pick up the actual JC ships, some generic fleet scale fighters and print out the unit cards from the books and you should be able to play a full game with real figures without spending too much money

[The_Beast]

My fondness of anime never stretched into love-of-mecha. However, I was attracted to LC in spite of them. Some of the ships are stunning.

Alas, I also failed to warm to the prices, and buying direct has some nasty postage to the US involved.

Much as I would have liked some of the fighters, I backed off. Not the first time I've suffered non-buyers remorse.

Doug

[Galadrin]

I especially love the different movement rules for different types of spacecraft, particularly the unique rules for exo-armour (mech) movement which allow exos to move anywhere, by any route they want, within a radius centered on their position at the beginning of movement, and to shoot or perform other actions at any point during that movement.

It's hard to say what my favorite part of the rules are. They just feel so clean and consistent...

• I really like the campaign system which gives little insights into the different motivations for each faction (the Martian Republic is trying to hold a summit on Mercury to resolve its territorial disputes, the Jovian Confederacy is trying to invade Earth, the Nomads have to develop the technology to survive in the Belt).

• The capital ship system is also very cool and feels like it is well tuned to the genre... Especially how ships can be shot up and have critical systems failures without necessarily blowing up into shrapnel. It seems more appropriate to have them drift through the void like a big, lifeless chunk of metal and wiring.

• The custom designed ace pilots are also really neat and add a lot of MS Gundam flavour to any scenario.

• The turn order is also nice and reminds me a lot of early block and hex wargames. Groups are powerful because they can coordinate fire, but they are slow and do not react well in comparison to individual units. On that note, the differentiation between squadron organization and morale is really characterful and interesting. CEGA have bulky formations but they are stoically brave to the very end (perfect mooks!), while Confed units are much smaller and more dynamic and flexible (but that focus on individualism comes at a hit to overall morale and cohesion). The designers found a really clever way to make each faction play very differently.

[YPU]

This all sounds very interesting, darn, might need to buy the rules at least to get a taste.