New from Ebay

I just scored the FIRST expansion set for BATTLESTATIONS (can you tell I'm rather taken with this semi-rpg, semi-skirmish miniatures game system?). This is Galactic Civil War (GCW). The GCW module introduces a new alien race, the WHISTLER, which looks suspiciously like a giant singing tumbleweed. The designer of this game clearly likes multi-armed non-humanoid aliens, and I have to applaud him for that-- humanoid aliens (such as the endless parade of Klingons, Vulcans, Romulans, Cardassians, and blah blah blah) would, at best, be a fluke in reality. The Whistler has a jet-pack like ability to PUFF themselves from one square to another in Line of Sight. Pretty handy on those shipboard fights.



There's a few new character actions: Coup de Grace (now that's grim!), Quickswitch, and Quicksnatch. All very Hollywood. The new ship actions are Sideslip and Evasive Maneuvers, and those are VERY interesting... considering how many LUCK ROLLS I've blown on dodging missles.

There's a whole passle of military hardware in this thing... but my absolute favorites are the new FIGHTER BAY and MINELAYER tiles. The fighter capability allows you to extend your ship's range and take the fight to the enemy. The minelayer allows you to leave a nasty surprise or two.




There's a ton of scenarios, characters and stuff, all of which I've only given a cursory glance at.


In summary, a very nifty addition to BATTLESTATIONS. I like the new stuff.. actually, I don't own the original rules yet, but I plan to buy it as soon as I can score a copy. I've just played the game with other people's rules so far, but I like the rules and I like the universe this game is set in. GALACTIC CIVIL WAR goes a long way towards expanding the universe and giving it legs.


Turns out the Gorilla people are working on miniatures for this game, which are very welcome indeed. I've already ordered some in scale GZG minis for use in this game... they are not an exact match but they'll do, for humans at least. The new Gorilla Games minis definitely match the multi-arm alien races in the main game, and they would be hard to match with anything out there today.



I'm not crazy about their human figures, which are quite spindly looking. But I like their silicoids, tenacs and other weird and ropey looking critters.

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