Someone posted this on a 40K forum I frequent and thought I would share.

www.frontlinegaming.org/2012/02/10/star-wars-war-game/

Hopefully it makes it to reality.

Insane amount of spelling errors in that article, but the rumour is exciting!

He calls it "Star Wars 40K". I know zero about this 40K game, so could you hip me to the facts, as in how 40K is different/similar to SWM?

I. J. Thompson said:

He doesn't call it Star Wars 40K but a 40K killer which suggests it will compete in the tabletop battle/gaming arena.

40K in a nutshell is more complex that SWminis. Things like weapon range, various saves, cohesion, morale, leadership, reserves, special weapons/equip, different types of movement, terrain effects, vehicles as standard, artillery and many other things seperate it from SWminis. In reality after a few games just like SWminis you pick it up. There are plenty of factions to choose between and a multitude of models/characters. Each army also normally has it's own seperate book of guidelines called a Codex. The miniatures come in 3 forms. Old style metal (phasing out and not many left), a resin type material called finecast (replacing metal) and multi part plastic kits. I love the plastic kits as they allow you to create numerous models in different poses and with various equip, to your spec. 40k isn't a cheap game but if you are in to the fluff that won't matter & there is plenty of fluff with numerous novels/books out there released by the Black Library. Indeed Fanatsy Flight under license from GW provide RPG sourcebooks and card games. There is also various model/vehicle upgrade/variation kits supplied from forgeworld. 40K is a bit similar to SWminis as you set a points total for the game and using the Codex for the army you are fielding to work out cost. Normally you would get four squads of 10 men, a couple of support units a hero and some transports or you could lose some of the infantry and go for flyers, tanks or artillery. It all depends on the points maximum you set for the battle. Lastly all the different troop/vehicle types have their own stat line. For example infantry have ballistic and weapon skills, strength and toughness ratings, wounds, leadership, initiative and save stats. Unique characters also come with some special abilities and what SWminis would call commander effects.

It's 40K's 25th year this year so there are plenty of new kits rumoured and a new 6th edition rules & starter set to be released. I really hope FFG produce multi part plastic kits like the GW ones. I much prefer choice and I find most times I would prefer to pose my own than what the manufacturers churn out. Anyway I hope this gives you a heads up. If you want to visit some 40k forums for more info try heresyonline, warseer or dakka dakka. Be aware that if you visit any of these forums they have 10's of thousands of members and if you want to post make sure you read the guidlines first or you may find you get a cold reception. Heresy is probably the easiest going if you want to sign up to one.

Hmmmmmmm.....Not quite sure how I feel about this. BUT, I am glad to see Chimaera posting again!

Heh! Pretty much exactly how I felt about the thread, DV.

Side note: as reported on Starship Modeler, did you all know Hasbro has obtained a Star TREK license? Will start releasing stuff early 2013 to coincide with Prequel-sequel II. First product supposedly their version of Lego, from what I could determine. But the potential here boggles the mind....

Hey! And maybe we'll be getting X-Wing about that time, too!

Never far away guys and I am also glad to see you are both still in the mix.

I just cannot get excited about a Starships/X-Wing battle thing the same way I would with a land based skirmish game. I really am crossing my fingers this rumour isn't fake and FFG manage to pull it off. The expectation will always be so high that they are never going to please everyone & I accept that. I would say it needs to be slightly better than DUST to create enough interest for people to move over from their current systems and the models need to be no less than Dust quality. SW will always be a draw but I would like to see a great game system also with enough complexity to give it longevity

I am also wondering if FFG think the X-Wing game will not have as much commercial appeal as a land based SW game and they are pausing for a rethink. Who knows but it does seem a bit weird how long they are taking with X-Wing considering how long ago it was announced.

Chimaera said:

That would be a serious shame. With the flop of Star Wars: Starship Battles, a dog-fighting based Star Wars table-top game is needed badly. I can understand your concern, but I hope they go through with X-wing.

Well... Lucas does not look fondly upon Failure, so better for ALL concerned if FFG gets their head out and delivers.

IG-58 said:

I've never seen any evidence of Lucas even recognizing failure.

Thanks for the in depth explanation of 40K Chim. Sounds cool.

R5Don4 said:

LOL, almost true... but there WAS the Christmas Special debacle!

Land Based Skirmish game is teh old Star Wars Minis game from WOTC. I've got everything from that game, so I'm good. It's also pretty easy to get stuff from that game as well..

it's a fun game that keeps going and going.

They need to get IG-58 on the horn and talk to him about his 'army scale' game idea.

Chimaera said:

Also, I don't think the silence really tells us much. FFG have often announced something and then are completely silent about it for months, only to announce that it is going to be released very soon. It's not even like they have even got to their release date. If they had decided to push that back, or go for a totally different game I would expect an announcement (like they have done with the card game), while if they have made no announcements I would presume that things are going ahead as planned.

If you want land combat... try the Wizards of the coast Star Wars Minis game. it's good, even though they are not making it anymore. and there are thousands of minis for it. ATATs included!

Yeah, but the AT-AT requires special rules to play. I think the idea above is to have the vehicles be the focus rather than the people, but the people could be in squads. It's kinda like the mass combat system from Star Wars: Clone Wars Campaign Guide for the Saga Edition RPG line. I think the WotC minis were great for tactical soldier-level combat, but the vehicles never seemed to fit in well to me.

That's correct. The intent is a Star Wars combat game that is the equivalent of Axis & Allies. Not the same RULES, mind you, as they didn't go over too fabulously well, but the same concept... and probably about the same size. A single figure mini generally represents a 'fire team' of 3-4 personnel, while a crew-served weapon like an E-Web represents weapon & crew... but a commander, sniper or missile-launcher figure represents a single person.

15mm would work well for such a game (not surprisingly; it's been a standard war game scale for many decades). The figure minis are still identifiable, but even monsters like the AT-AT and Juggernaut are doable. Regular-size AFVs like the AAT, Jedi tank or AT-ST would be easily manageable sizes. Such a game would allow for the conduct of massed ground combat - which is also a notable part of Star Wars. Attack on Hoth, Battle of Geonosis, Assault on Kashyyykk and all manner of Clone Wars episodes. I think it'd be great fun!

If they could do that, and tie it in to the RPG they're currently working on, I might just lose my fargin' mind.

IG-58 said:

+1 for this! I enjoyed the minis game, but thought the vehicles were out of place and/or lacking. A land-based minis game using vehicles would be great!