I gave SST a try last Thursday with the TNGG crowd. Nigel owes me better pictures, but since he is a notoriously lazy fellow I'll go ahead with the muddy palm pilot pictures I snapped on the fly.

The game is Star Ship Troopers from Mongoose Publishing.

Miniatures by Bob Eveland, Terrain supplied by Harry Morris.

It plays fast and furious enough, and is a very, very bloody game. I played one of three human commands, and everyone else played small bug or skinny commands.

I'd have to say I lost.. we hit turn 6 of a six turn scenario and i was down to 3 guys. Later I was told that casualties were expected and I actually got off light.

The rocky outcropping on the other side was Harry's wild west terrain originally done by Howard Whitehouse. It reminded me of the horrible Paul Verhooeven movie.

Skinnies attack on their left and center flanks. Don't be bunching up over there, you WILL regret it.

Jack Mosquera gamely defends the left flank with a big walking robot.

Skinnies measure for atomic rifle fire. Those guns were NAS-TAY!

Harry's flying hopper bugs give Nigel Clarke's right flank command a real headache.

Bugs start emerging from tunnels...

Hey fellas! Told you not to bunch up like that! How's the tac.nuke grab ya?

My sturdy little command bolts for the rocky outcrop and cover...

Ouch! Where did THEY come from?

Holes in the ground, that's where!

We're SAFE!!! Yah, right...

Going hand to hand with bugs is a bad idea from the start...

We get chopped to pieces!

I think SST is a fun little game, and it is reasonably close to the source material. Just complicated enough to hold my interest without being Squad Leader in space.

OTOH, SST is clearly a game for 2-4 players maximu. I think we stretched the design paradigms a bit by playing with 6.