AE-Bounty Update

Well, I have not gotten to play any games this week, but the rules are definitely exactly what I want in a sci-fi skirmish game. I will be playing a lot of this game.

In the meantime, I did paint up one of Zombiesmith's excellent sci-fi aliens last night, a colorful fellow named Ba'urti'oosin. These guys are stylistically very similar to Darkson's own minis for the game.











And here he is in direct comparison to some of Darkson's official minis:







As you can see, a perfect match of scale and style! I've got the whole set of these to mix in with my Darkson aliens, and I also plan to add to that collection as well.

Can't wait to roll up my sleeves and make some characters!

--Scott

AE-Bounty News!

Just yesterday I received an exciting offer from Darkson Design's Robert Kingery, lead designer of the AE-Bounty sci-fi game (covered extensively on the FCF blog last year).

The most exciting aspect of Robert's e-mail was the fact that the game is done, and set to be released soon! This is great, because I pre-ordered a while back, and like many other fans, have been waiting for this day to come. The second-most exciting thing was Robert's offer of a PDF preview of the game, which I accepted in a nano-second! All this week I will be reading and reporting on the game via this blog. Hopefully, this weekend, I will actually run a few games, take some pics, and report on that as well.

I can tell you that what I have seen and read so far is really exciting. If you're a story-telling, skirmish gamer who digs sci-fi, AE-Bounty will be for you!

--Scott

AE-Bounty in 15mm?

With Critical Mass Games' impending release of their Alien Mercs figures, it could be possible to play some wonderful looking games of AE-Bounty in 15mm. Two great tastes that taste great together?





These awesome minis are for sale beginning 12/21/09. Now if Darkson would just get AE-Bounty released (nudge-nudge), we can get the action started!

--Scott

Another Sci-Fi Crewman

If you're anything like me, you have a mighty backlog of unpainted metal and plastic miniatures crying out for attention. When an RPG like Starblazer Adventures (still reading, pg. 313 of 630) and a miniature game like AE Bounty come along, it can inspire you to dig into the backlog and find hidden gems that cry out for painting.

Here's one of those little seen gems, all the way from the old ShockForce universe, he's a diminutive little rat-guy with some serious attitude. I've long since lost the packaging on these guys, but they are part of a faction of ratmen that include large, more human-sized versions as well. I like this little guy and figure he's part of the Captain's crew of procurers, sent into a starport city to gather intelligence as well as supplies. He may be small, but he looks to be able to handle himself in a fight.












I'll talk about the Gnome to the right of the rat later this week. Hat tip to Leutenant Brittan from LAF for giving me the idea to use my extra Chainmail gnome for sci-fi!

Scott

AE Bounty Interview

I sent some questions about the upcoming sci-fi skirmish game into the folks at Darkson, and Lead Game Designer Matthew Hope was kind enough to respond. Here they are:

Q: AE Bounty seems like a "true" skirmish game, featuring only 2-10 figures per side. Will it have some of the other trappings of skirmish games like campaign rules, interacting with terrain, and rules for non-combatants?

A: AE-Bounty is, indeed, a true skirmish game and players can create crews of Bounty Hunters, Pirates or Mercenaries ranging in size from two to about fifteen models. The AE-Bounty rulebook will contain rules for campaigns, which includes tracking casualties, experience points and equipment. Some scenarios do have models interacting with terrain and/or non-combatants. One of my favorite scenarios in the game is the ‘Hostage Situation’ scenario where one side tries to shield their escape with hostages.


Q: Can AE Bounty be played on a 2' x 2' board or area? What is the "ideal" sized playing surface for the game?

A: The ideal playing area for AE-Bounty is a 3’x3’ table, though tables from 2’x2’ to 4’x4’ can also be used.


Q: Darkson has previewed a great line-up of 12 or so new figures for the game, will there be more miniatures coming once the book is released?

A: We hope to be trickling out the sculpts at the rate of one a month. The AE-Bounty line already has a few dozen sculpts, so there will be a lot of variety for players to choose from.


Q: I understand there are rules for customizing models from any manufacturer, so are the equipment rules specific enough to cover stuff like powered armor, anti-gravity devices, and personal force fields?

A: The AE-Bounty rules allow for a very customized force. With the unit, equipment, heroes, aliens and other options available, players can easily create just about any kind of unit they choose, allowing them to very easily use models from other manufacturers. We will be encouraging players to post new equipment, alien and other homemade creations on our forums that will help others use any model they choose.


Q: Is the turn sequence "I go-You go", or does it employ alternating unit activation?

A: AE-Bounty sticks to the alternating activation method from our AE-WWII rules set. We’ve found this to be a great way of keeping both players involved in the game at all times and to keep the game moving quickly.


Q: Will the book be available on PDF as well as hard copy?

A: Eventually, I’m sure we’ll have it available at WarGames Vault.


Q: When can we get our hands on this game?

A: We’re putting the final touches on the book; it will definitely be out by the end of the year.


Thanks so much to Matthew Hope and Robert Kingery of Darkson Designs for their great kindness and accessibility!

Scott

More AE Bounty Sci-Fi

I am prepping more figures for the AE Bounty sci-fi skirmish game from Darkson Designs. One thing I've noticed about the official figures is that scale-wise they fall into the "slimmer 28mm" category. Now I am not a total stickler for scale, but I like to match up where I can. Digging through my bin of unpainted minis (yes, I have a considerable collection of unpainted lead, pewter, and plastic), I came across a Shadowrun miniature named Slash & Burn. That's one dude. You'll see why in a moment.

What struck me about him was how nicely he scaled with the AE Bounty guys once his cast-on base was ground down and he was mounted on a plastic, wide-lipped base. Once that was done I set to painting him, and I am quite happy with my results. He'll make an excellent grizzled merc or bounty hunter for the game.









I definitely wanted to give his equipment a warn-down look, so I stippled some white paint on his fuel tank. I imagine the weapon will either be a flamer of some kind, or perhaps a chemical laser.

Here's a couple of comp shots with some official AE Bounty minis:






This last shot is the merc next to his trusty lander, the vehicle that gets him from orbit planet-side:



That's a Mel Ebbles Utility Shuttle paper model. Quite nice, and you get it in at least half-a-dozen different color options.

Scott

New SuperFigs Delayed

It pains me to report that we'll have to delay the release of the new SuperFig codes until sometime next year. The harsh realities of the bad economy are limiting our ability to get the final master and production molds made in a timely fashion. If anything changes on this front, I'll let folks know via the blog.

At the risk of sounding desperate, I will say that one of the best ways to insure that we make the new figures a reality is to buy from the existing line. So if you've got some money budgeted for miniature purchases, do consider investing in some SuperFigs. In the meantime, I am working on SuperSystem 3rd ed., and that will hopefully see the light of day by the end of this year.

On a cheerier note, I picked up some of the new AE-Bounty miniatures from Darkson Designs, and they are great! I hope to get them painted soon and show them off here. The game looks to be pretty solid as well, as a friend of mine demoed it at Gen Con.

As always, thanks for reading and following along!

Scott