Jovian Chronicles Fleet Scale Review - Jovians

Today I bring you a review of the first wave of the new Jovian models for the fleet scale version of Jovian Chronicles and/or Lightning Strike! I have the first wave of CEGA models as well, just waiting to be assembled, but I thought it would be better to split the review into two parts.

These models have been long in the making, with a teaser picture of the fleet scale fighters appearing ten years ago! Just check out this picture from Starship Combat News. I suppose someone should update that page now that we have new stuff! Also, why is the Uller missile cruiser on the Jovian side in this picture?! 

As Robert Dubois mentioned, in the interview I conducted with him last month, the fleet scale fighters were lost and not rediscovered until last year when DP9 decided to do a production run to gauge interest in future fleet scale models for Jovian Chronicles. Luckily for us mecha enthusiasts the response was a good one and now we have four sets of exo armors on sale already and four more on pre-order ready for release in April. Good times! 

Now let's take a look at the actual models shall we? We've seen the renders and although they looked good a render is not a model. Full disclosure: Dream Pod 9 provided me with the fighters and exo armors for review with my purchase of the missing ships for my JAF fleet (well, I'm still missing the Godsfire!). Please excuse the slightly wonky and badly lit pictures - I'm working with what I've got here... :)

Age before beauty, or something -first out let's take a look at the Lancer squadron. Above you can see what the pieces looked like right out of the pack, with no cleaning or anything. Minimal mould lines quickly taken care of with a file and some small pieces of flash at the front, but that was it. Very easy to clean! Mounted they look like this:

They're quite dainty, about as long as one of the exo armors is tall but much smaller. The entire fuel tank is about he size of one of the thrusters on the Hector. Which is as it should be of course! While the new models are all designed digitally these, and the Wraiths, were hand sculpted which you might be able to tell if you stare at them long enough. Doesn't really matter in the end though as they look very close to the original drawings by Ghislain Barbe. The two side fins are missing, but that is understandable considering how small they'd be.

Next up we have the Hector exo armor which is a slight improvement to the Pathfinder with the legs replaced by a thruster assembly. It's zippier, has slighly better armour and is equipped with a missile defense system. As you can see there's barely any flash on these guys - just a little at the end of the thrusters. The only mould lines I could find where at the side of the thrusters so, again, very quick to clean! There's the leader with the plasma lance and two regular Hectors. Unfortunately the rear thruster had to be removed, as otherwise it would be impossible to cast it in one piece, but when properly mounted it's not really noticeable. If you really wanted to you could probably put something together as a replacement though. Here they are mounted:

I really like the extra detail on the shield as the Spartan looking helmet made it through casting just fine. My only nitpick is the lack of detail on the thrusters. At this scale options are of course limited, but some simple lines mimicking what can be seen in the artwork would have been nice. Also the smaller thrusters on the back are filled in to facilitate proper casting, but I'll probably drill them out for extra effect. I really like space based mechas like this! While the Syreen is probably my favourite the Hector is pretty cool to. Hehe!

Finally, the pièce de résistance and the cover model of Jovian Chronicles - the Pathfinder! Again, barely and mould lines or flash. Just a little bit underneath the feet and the string going from the sword hand to the thigh. At some places you can see very slight print lines from the original rapid prototyping process, but they won't be visible after getting some paint on the model so no point in loosing sleep over. Here they are mounted:

The Javelins and the Hectors look good, but of these three releases the Pathfinder takes the price for best looking model! The characteristic shape of the torso and legs are there, the head unit with the visor, the comm dish, the 792A Particle Cannon carried by the leader... it's all there. I want to paint these guys so bad but it'll have to wait until I'm back home in May. I think they'd take to quick and easy techniques exceedingly well and look really nice on the tabletop! Compared to the Thunderbolt cruiser they are of course still out of scale, but the gap has shrunk quite a bit and it's now at the level where it's very easy for your brain to just fudge it for you. Yes, the exos and fighters are a bit too large, but it still looks perfectly fine on the table - in fact I think having smaller models would make it look worse as all the detail would be lost and it would simply become different coloured humanoid shapes.

I'm very happy with these Jovian releases! And as it turns out the Thunderbolt also look a lot better once you have it in hand than on pictures I have seen. Bonus! 

Finally I would like to talk a little bit about the new flight stand DP9 has designed. It's basically three bendable wires with a ball on top that you can glue to the ball joint on the model. This works very well and allows you to position your squads in different dynamic positions. How to mount fighters in space games have been something of a pet peeve of mine way back since I first played Battlefleet Gothic. 

I have seen many different solutions but the results have almost always been quite static looking. In the end I had decided that the best would be to construct something just like this, using wire and a lump of modelling putty. Except, now DP9 has done it for me! Granted there are only three prongs, so if you want to mount more fighters (five is a common number in other games) then you are out of luck. I'm also a little bit concerned about the longevity. Since they're modeled after piano wire they bend well even though they're made of pewter, but depending on how well protected the stands are when packed into figure cases I can imagine them getting weakened. The best solution would probably be a magnetized base on a metal tray. It's really nice to be able to position the models on the stand pretty much freely. You can go for different kinds of formations, creating more variety and so on. Good stuff!

And I think that is about it! This is the first of the new Jovian releases and we have the Vindicator and Retaliator up for pre-order already. It'll be interesting to see what other exos we might see - I wouldn't be surprised to see the Stormrider. Perhaps there will also be some of the newer mecha that were never released for the original Lightning Strike. Keeping my fingers crossed!

I'll leave you with a picture of them all lined up with the Thunderbolt cruiser and a common reference onigiri. Next week I'll take a look at the wave 1 CEGA stuff - the Wraith, the Syreen and the Wyvern!

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Infinity Release Highlights

"Whats this now?! I thought you'd stopped reporting Infinity releases!" I hear you say. And yes, I've retired those particular posts at this point in time, but that doesn't mean I get all excited at the end of the month or whenever we get a new sneak peak. It has now been 9 months since I wrote about the last releases and there's been some spectacular stuff added to the range since then. I thought it would be fun to have a look back and just pick a few of my favourites.

August (there were no July releases) was all about USAriadna, which I didn't feel were all that interesting. We got the Tiger Soldier with Spitfire which I'll definitely get, but from a minis perspective I think this Alguaciles hacker wins out! An odd release, seeing as there's a different version in the Corregidor Starter (that I also like) but a welcome one. I quite like the pose and the intense focus he seems to have. Nice model! Would have to consider replacing the starter set hacker with this one and use the other as HVT if I ever start that Corregidor force I've been thinking about.

What's that you say? Corregidor? Yes... I'm in love with almost all Corregidor models and the Mobile Brigada is in the top two (guess top one!) so I was happy to see this nice box of four more deadly looking beetles! I still find it silly that the female minis are so thin compared to the very bulky males - you'd think they'd look pretty much the same after putting on power armour - but at least it's not as bad as the female Hsien or Hac Tao! They look good though I wouldn't mind some less static poses. Hmm... aren't heavy infantry releases generally fairly static? Anyway, love the reloading of ths shotgun and the dainty looking gun in the hand of the hacker!

October brought us the updated Guija TAG for Yu Jing and what an update it proved to be! While I still really like the original version this does look better. The only things I would have changed from a design perspective is to make the thighs bigger again (to keep the landmate feel) and make the head... weirder. I much prefer the Briareos look of the original to this very humanoid head. Finally, the pose with the sword is what makes me really sad. Yes, it's kind of cool, but I much prefer my TAGs to look like they're do ingwhat they do best - shooting people! When I get this I'm seriously going to consider converting it to actually holding and firing that Multi-HMG it's got stuck on it's back. Still, it's a lovely looking TAG!

Not satisfied with a huge TAG CB also gave us a new Azra'il in October. This is quite an update! We had of course seen the Feuerbach variant earlier but I like this one even better. The new Haqq HMG looks great and the box magazines on the back are big and chunky which i like. Tht final touch is the shield on the right arm, reminiscent of Kerberos Panzer Cops. Hmm... can you tell I like big burly robot-y stuff yet?

Oh, you couldn't tell? Alright, let me spell it out for you with even more power armour goodness!! The Domaru Butai box was delayed a couple of months until November, but well worth waiting for! This is an excellent update of the old design that incorporates parts from Neko Oyama (the haidate - thigh armour) and also retains the dynamic poses that very much fit the Domaru. Getting a Spitfire also unlocks a bunch of new options for army building. I've always been a great fan of the Domaru and if I ever expand my Yu Jing enough to run JSA I think I'll have to try a Domaru link.

Ok, so it's not only about the power armour... I like this guy more than Achilles v2! Spektrs are generally just cool and this guy has the coolest looking gun and is about to put down a mine which is something I love to do with my skirmishers! The pose is a little bit odd when you think about it, but at first glance it looks good enough so no reason to dwell I suppose.

Back to the power armour again! January brought us another new Hac Tao. This time we finally got the hacker that had been mentioned earlier and it's weird and great looking at the same time. Weird because... why does he have his sword out? Great because (among other things) he has his Multi-rifle actually slung! This is something you rarely see on Infinity minis which makes me appreciate this Hac Tao all the more for it. Also, the general update to the Hac Tao is superb and it brings much needed detail to the earlier fairly plain armour. Now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that the next Hac Tao will be female! January also contained the Desperados and Govads which almost made the cut into this highlight list.

 '
February brought us another lovely Nomads release - the new and exciting Bandit! Boarding shotgun for the win again, and a neat hood/mask combo that I really like. The running pose works great as well, the only thing that looks a bit odd is the silly way he holds the sword. I understand what the sculptor had in mind but fighting like that simply doesn't make much sense. I'll most likely adjust it by cutting the sword off and turning it around so the blade goes up under his left arm. Whenever I get this guy that is!

Yes, more power armour! Hector came as a bit of a surprise to me and I think I've found the leader that I want to try and build my Steel Phalanx around. Achilles is cool and all but he's a bit headstrong. Hector seems like a much more tactical thinker. The model is nice and big with a very character tinbot and huge revolver! While the gun looks cool I at the same time feel it's a missed opportunity not to model an ALEPH plasma rifle. We've never seen anything like that before! Still, this way it's easy to use the model for whichever profile. If you're wondering why the Su Jian didn't make it it's simply because I prefer the old model - more weird and robotic looking.

Which brings us to the current releases this March. This felt a bit like one of those months where CB goes thin on releases to get the schedule back on track. Sure the HVTs are pretty cool and I'll pick up the Dragon Lady for sure, but it feels like secondary releases in a way. Still, we got the cool looking Kanren for Yu Jing! This guy is some kind of counter-insurgent, working hard to root out threats against the StateEmpire. Seemingly a very interesting toolbox model that I'm looking forward to try out.


And here's where we are now! I got to say it's been a nice past few months for us Yu Jing players with releases in six of the nine months! I have kind of reached a point now where I hesitate to paint any of my older Yu Jing models as I suspect we'll see updated versions of most of them soon enough. The quality keeps on rising steadily and although I picked mostly the big impressive power armour guys in this highlight there are so many spectacular looking lighters troops as well.

Really looking forward to seeing what else 2016 has in store. I certainly wouldn't mind resculpts of the Zhanshi line troops (and maybe Keisotsu butai) as well as the Shang Ji and Hsien. The latter two have awesome looking sculpts already but they are very much on the small side, so just a lighter update to get them into the same size as the rest of the power armour infantry might be enough.

Anyway, those are some Inifnity thoughts! See you later!

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Jovian Chronicles Odyssey Seed - Part 1

I only snapped one picture while we played but it really captures the session perfectly!

It finally happened! Before jetting off to Japan we managed to squeeze in our first session of Jovian Chronicles - a game that has sat on my shelf, unplayed but not unread, since 1997!

As you can see we're playing with the first edition rules, although I might steal a few things from Core Command when it feels like a better fit. I've said before that I quite like the basics of the Silhouette system and planning for the session, where we would be making characters, my only worry was the abundance of different skills. As a game from the nineties Jovian Chronicles do suffer from maybe too much granularity when it comes to skills and equipment. While I love that in one way, it's great for world building and getting into the setting, it can certainly put some stumbling blocks before actual play. Still, I didn't want to charge in swinging the axe of Houserulius before running for a bit with the original system.

So the first couple of hours went to an explanation of the setting and character generation. I have put together a shared Google Drive folder where I collect all kinds of stuff that can work well as inspiration for the game, mostly tv series like The Expanse and Mobile Suit Gundam, so that my players could get some groundwork done before the game. Naturally I've filled it with much more than I expected or even hoped anyone to consume, based on the idea that a smorgasbord where you can pick your fancy is better than a set menu. Or something. In the end people were more or less familiar with Gundam (mostly less) and while that is certainly a big part of JC there's just so much more to the setting! I think I ended up just talking about the history of the solar system, the Jovian colonies, CEGA and briefly the other solar nations for almost an hour.

A flight of Syreens screaming past a group of Uller missile cruisers.

Usually just "explaining" a setting like that ends up with your players asleep or with their eyes glued to their phones, but thanks to both the well written and real feeling history of the game and the wealth of details that perfectly captures your imagination ("the relatively cramped living conditions on Jovian colonies has lead to Jovian musicians often straining to create as rich music as possible while its still low key and personal") it actually got the players interested! Of course it wasn't just me talking either, but the players asking all kinds of questions about past events, every day life in space or their current situation as Jovian citizens.

Then it was time to get into actual character creation and although it looks like a quick process at first glance, what draws it out is the completely open choice in choosing attributes and skills, and players looking all of them up to see what they do. As I mentioned earlier the skill chapter really shows from what era the game is from and when you have Zero-G Maneuvering and Zero-G Combat it starts to feel a little redundant (yes, those are technically different skills, but why not shoot for brevity?). Still, we're starting out playing it rules as written.

For the start of the campaign each character is an exo pilot in the Jovian Armed Forces, but secondary/parallel characters will most likely be introduced once this particular episode is over. We ended up with Pierre Dutronc (left), a francofile smooth talker who ended up as the squad leader as well, Harrison B. Sturmer, famed for his sharpshooting rather than his sharp flying and Leif "Swede" Ericsen, the veteran who always seem to have the best tactical grasp of the situation at hand. The characters will need more fleshing out but as we start in media res and the players are still not all that familiar with the setting they are fairly blank slates personality wise at the moment.

The table decides that they should belong to the Black Cats squadron, meaning they have a very informal attitude and a penchant for hijinks, and the three pilots make up Angels 1-3 of Angel Flight (Dutronc claims that a girl once called him Angelface and decided, in a moment of self-aggrandizing, that this was something to name his flight after).

A Pathfinder CT and a standard Pathfinder.

What we will actually be playing is the Odyssey campaign from the first Green Book, or rather the updated version from 2004 called Odyssey Seed, that is a bit more fleshed out. In the first edition of the game the Odyssey is already history and incorporated into the background setting so we're actually turning the clock back two years when playing - meaning the Wyvern is a new exo-armor and the Valiant is still under construction.

Potential SPOILERS for Odyssey Seed below!

We open with the three pilots in their respective exo-armors - Dutronc in a Pathfinder CT, Swede in a standard Pathfinder Alpha and Sturmer in a Retaliator - patrolling a certain sector in close proximity to Jupiter. Oddly they've had this same assignment for the past few days now. We hear the usual chatter between the colleagues while Dutronc is piping some classic Edith Piaf through the comms (he owns three original vinyls, carefully sourced from Earth at great expense!).

Suddenly a blip appears on the scopes of the Pathfinder CT and after checking for scheduled ships in this sector at this time the squad moves to intercept. It turns out that the blip is an Ebiiru cargo hauler (see right) called Nighthawk and it claims to have some mechanical troubles. The captain seems evasive and while the transport complies with orders there are some strange power readings going on and Swede spots someone in a vacsuit actually welding on one of the containers attached to the hull. As Sturmer is trying to lock down where the odd power sources are emanating from the entire squad find their communications jammed. Something is afoot! While Dutronc can use the superior ECCM equipment of his Pathfinder CT to break through the jamming locally he's not able to contact command for advice.

Fearing the worst Sturmer moves in closer to the Nighthawk, and the welder specifically, while Swede hangs back to cover him. He has locked down the power readings as coming from inside two of the attached containers and he realizes that the signatures look awfully similar to the newest exo-armors from CEGA! Just a couple of klicks away the container that is being welded upon suddenly swings open and a large green shape can be seen moving inside. A second later another container is pierced from the inside by what looks like a hummer knife and a second Wyvern blasts out into space!


Aaaaand cliffhanger!!

Yepp, although we were all eager to at least play out the current scene, the prepp had taken a little longer than anticipated and real life made itself known as one of us had an early-ish deadline. Actually though, it was a perfect point for us to end the session at it allows me to read up a little extra on the combat rules and make sure the combat flows as smoothly as it should. Three against two seems like it should be an easy fight, but the Wyverns are tough and our three pilots aren't that skilled - Dutranc is better at seduction than firing a gun and Swede would rather meet his opponent on the judo mat than in space!

The date for the next session hasn't been set yet, but hopefully we'll be able to try out a game over roll20 or Skype and then continue when I'm back in Sweden. Oh, and I think we'll simply integrate our missing player in the next session and retcon that he was there or along. It's not that all that much has happened anyway. Hehe!

Well, that's about it for the first session. The adventure continues in part two!

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MERCS: Recon - First Impressions

It finally happened, a large box was delivered and it contained the two core MERCS: Recon boxes - Counter Threat, containing EU and CCC, and Assassination Protocol, containing KemVar and Keizai Waza. There are of course a lots of stuff still missing as MegaCon elected to send out the core games as soon as they were ready to get people playing. The second wave, containing everything else, is on its way from China as we speak and if the European distributor is not as slow delivering it as it was with the first wave and the MYTH 2.0 stuff (more than a month in their warehouse!!) then it should be with backers during April at least.

This is how it starts, nice and quiet with just a couple of SecFor I and some scared workers cowering in the corner. It's deceivingly calm.

While I have yet to play a complete game with other actual humans I have played it a few times solo, something it is exceedingly suitable for. It's not that it simply works solo, but it is actually loads of fun solo! I played my first couple of games as KemVar and actually managed to win the very first one as my team went in, secured the objective through a breach and clear and proceeded to exit to a waiting hovercraft. The Shock Trooper bit the dust in the final to last turn (although I had forgotten all about the KemVar active camo) but I guess that's simply the price of success.

Then you find yourself being chased down a corridor by EVERY GUY WITH A GUN!!

The second mission ended horribly in an ill planned B&C where I needed to destroy the objective. I could probably have done it if I had managed my resources better, by trying to interrogate more special workers and interacting with some of the useful non-objective items. Instead I went in way too early and got my butt kicked.

Here's that catastrophic B&C I mentioned above. 

Game number three we actually had to abort early due to time constraints, but both Nicke and Jacob enjoyed it and would like to play a full game. Even though they both had a bad experience with MYTH and Jacob thinks it's basically the spawn of the devil (yes, he's obviously both mistaken and delusional, but there's a kernel of truth there as they tried playing MYTH 1.0 and I wasn't there to help with the rules). The game itself went quite well for us by the time we packed it in though.

Burke's Law is very much in effect. When you have three guys covering a corner to nail that nasty SecFor IV don't be surprised if two mooks with shotguns just walks up behind you and unload all they've got! Should have had my heavy covering the other direciton.

In the fourth game I switched to Keizai Waza for another objective destruction mission. This game was more tense generally as the Waza simply aren't as sneaky as KemVar and not as good at handling civilians, so the security level kept moving up and I had uncontrolled workers running about. At one point I simply had to make a cold blooded decision and simply executed a bunch of civilians to free up my movement. The future is a bleak and horrible place. In the end the B&C was a failure as one point was missing to destroy the objective, but I decided to keep playing anyway since it would be my last game until I'm back in Sweden in May (currently in Japan by the way). The retreat to the extraction point was a really close affair with SecFor crashing in through the windows to get at my, at this point in time, rather battered MERCS. All of them did make it, but this was of course purely a tangent as I had actually already lost in the B&C.

So the game is lots of fun, make no mistake. It might perhaps become a bit samey if you play it often enough, even with all the built in modularity. But I'm not really worried about that as I have lots of expansions incoming which not only expands on the core game but adds another game on top of it, called Lockdown, where you switch side and try to pour your security forces at some invading MERCS! And even if these two core boxes were all I had it would be a great addition to the collection as I really don't have anything quite like it. You might compare it to Space Hulk or Level 7 or some other sci fi game with dudes on a board, but as far as I'm concerned the experience of trying to keep a low profile during a slowly growing tornado is unique enough to have it sit comfortably next to any of those games.

This is what my first office complex looked like. Different every time.

As for the quality of the physical game - I've read a lot of comments on the KS page and the MegaCon forums to know that there have been many issues with the printing of the tiles and MegaCon are taking measures to correct this. It seems like I've been one of the lucky ones as I really haven't had any trouble besides some small scuff marks, that I can live with. I am a little worried about how durable the tiles are and if they might split further down the line, as you can clearly see the different cardboard layers making up the tile, but so far so good. It's something to keep an eye on though.

I have also seen people complain about the minis and this I actually have a hard time understanding. Yes, they are not as good as "proper" wargame miniatures from the likes of GW or Corvus Belli but they certainly hold up if you compare them to many other wargame miniatures. If I recall correctly MegaCon said that the minis would be of MYTH quality or better and that is pretty much what we have - same quality level as MYTH. They look good put together and some paint will make them look even better. What I think might be a problem for many who buy this game in retail is the fact that the minis come unassembled and in need of some (quick) cleanup. For a modeler it's a breeze but pure boardgamers are in for a surprise as theres nothing on the back of the box saying it requires assembly! Slap on the fingers there for sure. Oh, and sorry for no pictures of the minis, I simply forgot to take any good ones before leaving so use your google powers!

The rulebook in the box is also in dire need of tightening up with many things poorly explained, explained wrongly or simply not explained at all. It's certainly not as bad as the first MYTH rulebook and the game is playable but will leave you with some questions. However, MegaCon Games have been on the ball with this issue and have answered questions on their forum and made tutorial videos. Just the other day they released an extensive updated FAQ and an improved rulebook in PDF form which takes care of all the questions I've run across so far. So my advice is simply to print the new rulebook and FAQ and you'll be all set.

Bottom line: this is a very neat game with lots of different ways approach the mission and lots of freedom on how you set it up. The minis and board look great and the gameplay usually goes from tense to straight out stressful! Oh, and it's bloody hard as well! You might have noticed that I lost two of my three completed games, and this is just how I like my co-ops - if you manage to win more then 50% of the time the game is probably too easy and simply not as fun. So far so good on MERCS: Recon.

Now I'm eagerly looking forward to all the extra stuff! Like new MERCS teams, special OpFor characters, new missions, Lockdown mode, zombies(!), drones and piles and piles of figures!

What I have to look forward to. Plus the MERCS 2.0 tabletop game and some other stuff!

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