Oh Horus am I speaking heresy?
I was convinced by a gaming mate to have a look at “Kill team”. Unfortunately I find it tainted by the same old Games workshop crap of needing to buy multiple Codices, cross referencing rules across all of these, and needing to spend large amounts to be able to play.
Despite this I was determined to watch a few games at the “Axes and Ales” club. It is not difficult to pick up the mechanics of the game as this has not changed, what I found extremely difficult was the amount of detailed information that was required about your own and your opponents army to feel competent.
I was pleased when today I received an email from Wiley Games about a new “work in progress” Codex Galactica
Why would they do this? Well in their words:
“We have found that many fans of grim dark future have beloved miniatures they want to play with, but no longer want to keep up with tournaments or invest in the latest edition of the rules. Codex Galactica: Grim Dark Edition is the perfect bridge between grim dark future and Fistful of Lead.
Fistful of Lead fans have been waiting for the FFOL treatment of this beloved genre. Grim dark fans will find an easy-to-learn system that is completely customizable.
Wiley Games Workshop is aware that grim dark is a huge genre. Therefore, this title will be a living rule book for the 6-12 months while we see what suggestions come back from those who purchase the book. Any person who makes a contribution we use will be given credit in the printed book“.
Codex Galactica is downloadable for a few bucks and will continue to be revised over the next 6-12 months when they publish a printed version. In the past Wiley Games have provided free pdf updates for those who have purchased the original when changes have been made. (They are up to Version 2 of Fist Full of Lead after only 20 years!)
This is just a Supplement of the “Grim Dark Future Where There Is Only……… Galactic Heroes” which you will need to play.
Blatant rip off? Make up your own mind! Timely? You betcha!
Guru looks into his warped psyche, peers through the mist and into the future and sees a team of lawyers in Nottingham pouring over the Wiley Games site!
For those amongst us who are jaded about a certain company these are worth a look at.
Then again I like the Fist Full of Lead game mechanisms and concepts and am completely biased. Oops did I say that out loud? Good! You never know who is listening ……………….. sorry Comrade Xi.
Interesting to see another company releasing a set of rules to cover this area. For the most part GW use generic creatures, after all an Orc is an Orc, no matter how you spell the name ! LOL Shall be interesting to see how this progresses
I will be following closely as well and will keep you all informed!
Colour me very interested. I don’t mind some GW games but a lot have gotten very competitive focused as of late, to the detriment of more “casual” hobbyists who like to play more narrative games with lots of options.
The fear of “noob traps” or bad options being eliminated sounds good, but it often leads to mono builds and netlisting, with little room for creativity. Good games can manage balance with options, and GW has been axing options aggressively.
That being said, I love their models, and some of their other games are great.
Will follow with interest.
Thanks ToT. I like their system. Simple but with lots of tactical options.
An interesting find- I’ll certainly look into it.
Cheers,
Pete.
Worth the look but too simple for some.
I may need to pick this up. I share your feelings on GW, and honestly, I like a simpler game to follow. My little crew plays a slimmed-down set of 40K rules that draws a bit from the HeroQuest and Dragon Strike games we played as kids. Really narrative and imagination-driven, but I could stand to upscale into more complex rules more often.
I will do a play through post in the near future so may pay to wait and see.
Will definitely stand by then.
I was under the impression that rule mechanisms cannot be copyrighted (could be wrong here) but that intellectual property such as TMs can be, hence all the “not” Aliens (TM) look-alikes. Did someone say “Tyranids?
Regards, Chris
Looks interesting and I enjoyed out pulp game, but I can’t swallow Wiley’s prices for PDFs to try out, unfortunately. Picking this up as well as the Sci-Fi rules would cost more than the hardcover of Xenos Rampant(!)
Shame he doesn’t have physical books/booklets available from somewhere like Amazon, as I’d likely pick them up that way.
I did some comparisons before writing. Kill team rule book will cost you about AU$84.00. Most Warlord Games Bolt Action supplements are US$35/US$ 25 (hardcopy/pdf), Osprey’s Zona Alpha is GB 12.99/GB10.39, and the Wiley Games Galactic Heroes is US$37/US$18 but they have a 25% sale on now. The Wiley Games pdf of both Galactic Heroes and Codex Galactica is US25.00 for both. The Xenos Rampant comparison is GB25/GB 17.50.
Pdf versions are never a really cheap options by comparison. The thing I see at most club days and competitions is that are larger percentage of players are using pdf versions of rules and Codices on their phones rather than hardcopies. Although I don’t like it expensive pdf versions are going to be the way of the future.
Sad as I just love the smell of “musty book” in the morning!
I’m also a book guy as well. PDFs are fine as a supplement to look at stuff on the PC, but I’m not really excited to pay a similar price to books for them or pay for them and then print them myself. I like nice books and I’m ok with paying for them if they’re readily available without jumping through too many awkward hoops, but much less so for PDFs. 🙂
Xenos Rampant pre-order 25% off the AURRP at Amazon right now if you’re interested – $29.99
https://www.amazon.com.au/Xenos-Rampant-Science-Fiction-Wargame/dp/1472852362/
Thanks. I have one on order.
Oooh that looks interesting.
Will check it out.
Number One Son and I have been playing a version of “One Hour Skirmish” and having a blast. Allegedly there is now a scifi version out.