Another Point of Singularity

I had opportunity to play a demo copy of ROCKETMEN: AXIS OF EVIL using the Origins demo pack today. Rocketmen is scheduled for an August release from WHIZKIDS (Gencon, natch). There are many similiarities between Rocketmen and PIRATES OF THE SPANISH MAIN (a game I like quite a bit). The game will be collectible, with plastic build'em ships just like Pirates. Like Pirates, you play based on Asteroids (similar to Pirates' islands) and you're trying to collect resources floating around in spaces (similar to Pirates' gold pieces).

Unlike Pirates, you use an Action Point mechanism that allows you to have a more complex moving and fighting sequence. Each ship is rated for ACTION POINTS (AP), COMBAT, and Moves (I think). Each ship has a number of pod points that can be fit for either SHIELD (see the blue thingies hanging off the ship below) or LASERS (see the red thingies hanging off the ships below). You can customize a ship to be either really hard to kill (lots of shields) or a real killer (lots of lasers). The game hints at having more varied weapons to put on the pods in the future. The crew chits are very important in this game, giving you an extra edge for longer shots (which I had when I added a weapons officer) or extra actions (if you add a captain figure). Unlike the boat game, there's a really cool way of adding extra crew chits at the base of the spaceships (you can see some in the picture below). So the game is a hoot, plays very quickly (I scragged the guy I was laying against in about 20 minutes, give or take a few). I think the game will play best with lots of ships and lots of players, so I'm looking forward to the general release. For an early peek at the rules, go HERE.