X-Wing: I'm Finally Going To Pull The Trigger

Long, long ago in a city far, far away...

I was really thinking about getting into the game X-Wing from Fantasy Flight Games.  The miniatures are gorgeous, the rules seem solid enough, and it definitely seemed like FFG was looking to support it for quite a while.  Now if only I could find someone to play against...

Being a two player game in a household with three gamers, one of whom is younger and not that into Star Wars, really makes this a hard game to get into.  My wife enjoyed the movies well enough but miniature space combat wasn't really up her alley so ultimately I decided it would be best to pass on this game in spite of its gorgeous miniatures.

Fast forward to the present day in a town far away from there...

FFG announced that they would be releasing a new space miniature game that would be focusing on the capital ships which got me really excited.  As I've been plowing through episodes of the Clone Wars in my spare time (admittedly during the free time that I would normally be blogging...) the thought of recreating some of their fleet engagements had already been brewing in my head.  With FFG hard at work on a game like this it meant that I could just sit back and buy in when it came out instead of scrounging for old minis and trying to figure out what rules to use.  Sounds great, right?

And then I saw the price.

FFG is not known for inexpensive products because they are also not known for cheap products either.  If it's got their name on it more than likely it will amazing but in the case of Armada (the SW capital ship game in question) the $100 price tag seems just a little steep.  Yes, there are a lot of components crammed into that box along with three really nice looking ships but there are only three of them.  If this game is anything like X Wing then you'd need to have two starter boxes giving this one a $200 entry fee and that's without really having much to field on the Rebellion side of things.  So much for getting into that game but it did lead me to the page for the next wave of ships coming in X Wing as the game expands into a third faction with the galaxy's Scum and Villany moving into the spotlight.

Unsurprisingly these minis look amazing but the thing that really makes me what to get into the game is the extra depth this will add.  Rather than just being limited to the Rebel or Imperial ships, this looks like it opens up lots of new scenarios and even campaign ideas for the game and it proves that FFG is willing to dig deeper into the extended universe of Star Wars to continue to develop this game.  Can't wait to see these hit the shelves later this year but it does give me time to set aside some cash so I get jump in with both feet when they are released.  Until next time...

Workbench: VSF Is Dead! Long Live VSF!

After the disaster of attempting to use Sharpe Practice for VSF/Colonial gaming the beginning of last year, I was largely turned off of miniature gaming for the rest of 2013.  I had a few ideas that I kicked around for either alternate rules to try or other rules to try to hack to fit my purpose but nothing really got me inspired enough to do more with it.

Since our move I've gotten back into Warmachine and even tried out some WWII historical miniatures but I still really enjoy the whole VSF setting and I'd love to do more with it.  As it stands I still have a full company of Colonial Brits plus some extra support in the way of my airship and some special power armor troops I'd started bashing together so I don't see this as a project that I'm going to drop just yet.  Luckily I happened to stumble across In Her Majesty's Name by Ospery Wargames and it looks like Sir Reginald Smythe might make it back to the table again in the future.

I haven't had a chance to play these rules yet but I've given it a quick read through and they look really promising.  A huge plus for it is the ability to quickly stat up your own miniatures in addition to playing one of the pregenerated companies included in the book.  This is also a growing ruleset as there are two more official expansions that have been released by Ospery and rules for adding in a Gothic twist are available on their website.  All in all, this looks too be a lot of fun to try out, not to mention pulling together some interesting companies of my own.  Definitely time to start digging through the miniature pile to see what I can come up with.  Until next time...

TV Review: Star Wars The Clone Wars

When I first saw this series I thought it might be worth checking out though I was a little hesitant.  I had seen the Clone Wars animated movie and regretted it but after much deliberation I decided to give the series a try.

At first I wasn't that impressed.  It wasn't horrible but it really seemed to fall flat.  Not much depth to the stories and just no real connection to the characters.  I was actually going to just write the whole thing off when I talked to someone at work who was also watching the series.  He agreed that the first episodes weren't that good but told me to stick with it because it gets better.  As it happens, he was right.

Not only does this series flesh out the missing years between the second and third abominations (aka Episode two and three) it also adds some depth to the character backgrounds as well.  Palpatine's manipulations of the Republic, Anakin's inevitable fall to the dark side, even Obi Wan's background is fleshed out, not to mention a number of other Jedi who are put into the spotlight along with some of the clone troopers themselves (just because the are genetically the same definitely doesn't make them identical).  Personally I recommend giving this series a try even if you weren't a fan of the prequel trilogy though be warned; the series doesn't start to get some good momentum until about a third of the way through the first season.  Until next time...