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I have a soft spot for dead and dying games and the Noble Armada thread caused SST to click with me, so off to eBay to buy a few things. I've heard nothing but good things about the game and have seen a few threads on Dakka crop up periodically, but there's not much information about the game in general on the inter-webs. I just want to rope some friends in and play some games. Not sure what the sweet spot as far as game size really goes, so need help figuring out how much stuff to acquire/proxy.

I have a starter set, plasma bug, blister/blaster bugs and hoppers coming in to start playing with as well as a Chickenhawk. I figure I can proxy the MI with AT-43 or Sedition Wars units (maybe Tannhauser for a SICOM Advisor) and perhaps throw the odd Judwan in for Skinnys.

I have no idea how many or what bugs I should get ahold of and Proxy's I would assume are a bit tougher here. Anything in particular to stock up on? I was thinking of getting a second starter set as I assume 20 warrior bugs is just not enough. Brain bugs appear to be worth their weight in gold and Tankers also appear to be rather on the pricey side (when they come up). Any general consensus on a good force mix at the different priority levels?

Honestly you can play a lot with warrior bugs, a tanker and maybe one or two more bug species (some flyers and/or brain bug) versus standard cap troopers with maybe one big suit for the MI.

The underground tunneling mechanic was always lots of fun both to face off against and to use. Hope you and your buddies have a blast.

Thanks for the response. Hopefully a tanker will end up on eBay for not an exorbitant price. A quick search on eBay for closed auctions showed them going for about 60 or so, which is what a starter set is going for.

Probably use something silly for the brain bug like one of my daughters Yo Gabba Gabba dolls.

If you can find a starter for $60 or $75 I'd pick it up.
Ones I've seen are going for over $100.

I like the game but personally wouldn't drop more than $75 for a starter box. It's good but it's not worth someone slicing you.

The 16 mobile infantry included with the starter set is nearly a full army. I'd recommend splitting into three units of 5 and one as the LT.

I also recommend not worrying about the army books - the included army lists in the rulebook are nearly perfectly balanced.

Have fun! It is the best ruleset ever written. The game is all about tactical movement and positioning. Make sure your MI are constantly on the bounce, always ending the turn with a Ready token so they can react with a special move-Jump/Fire and staying at least 6" away from bugs so they will get that precious reaction. As the bugs, it's all about herding the MI into inescapable situations so that if they do jump away, you'll have surrounded them and during their turn your reactions will engage them in close combat.

So do the MI power suits that resemble the meh digital cartoon play like the ones in the novel then? Sounds like it from the jump mechanics you mentioned.

Sort of. The M8 (I think) Marauder walker suit thing was more weaponized like the book. They released cougar and grizzly models that were supposed to also look like concepts from the novel.

The Marauder suits were very expensive and a ton of weaponry so you only had, maybe, half dozen of them for an entire army.

Good info from everyone. On the subject of the MI, which played better in the game, the M8 Marauder or M9 Chickenhawk? (quality of sculpts aside) Also, did the walkers play better than the Chas units?

Never fielded the CHAS.
On the suits, as I recall the M9 was more of a firepower base.
The M8 was more all rounder. Seems like the M9 had all manner of shootiness options comparatively but (maybe?) wasn't as survivable if hit. It's been awhile.

Just checked the stats:
Chicken hawk is easier to kill and has 2 weapons mounts. It's more mobile/faster than Marauder and less survivalbe (ex. 3 hits versus a marauder's 4 hits and the To Kill stat is lower (easier to wipe it out with good rolls).

 warboss wrote:
So do the MI power suits that resemble the meh digital cartoon play like the ones in the novel then? Sounds like it from the jump mechanics you mentioned.

Hey now, I didn't just read you talking bad about Roughneck Chronicles did I?

I used to see the models for this game on the wall of mt FLGS back in the day. I always assumed it was a really bad movie tie in so I avoided them. Kind of a shame I didn't pick it up apparently.

A really cheap way to buy into the game is to:
1. Buy the rulebook ($10 or less)
2. Buy some 15mm sci-fi human troops ($30 or so for a platoon and some vehicles)
3. Buy a bag of plastic spiders from the party store. They scale as good warrior bugs against the 15mm troops.

Play the game without changing any movement or shooting scales.

Triple9 wrote:
Good info from everyone. On the subject of the MI, which played better in the game, the M8 Marauder or M9 Chickenhawk? (quality of sculpts aside) Also, did the walkers play better than the Chas units?

It depended. I personally wasn't a huge fan of Marauders as they were less maneouverable and tended to get swarmed. The CHAS is phenomenal however. The M8 was a good brawler unit, the M9 a firebase.

Nice to know about the CHAS. I have a few old Battetech minis that would probably fit the bill for Proxy's.

Getting very excited to try this out. Rules should hopefully come tomorrow in the mail, but Plasma Bug and some other units came today. The Plasma Bug is a whole lotta plastic. Time to break out the spray primer. Everything looks like it will paint up quickly though.

I'm rather surprised how available a lot of the basic units still are for this. Starter set are pushing up in price, but you can find a fair amount of the units on Amazon. Chickenhawks even available with Prime.

Rebel Minis has the old CHAS sculpt
http://www.rebelminis.com/tcn2000tincan.html

I'd start small for your first game, two units of five M1A4 MI, one with a flamer and one with a Javelin, versus two bug holes and fill the rest with Warriors. that'll help you get the idea of the movement (underground, surface, aerial) and the Reaction mechanic.

Cool. Interesting, I wonder if Rebel Minis is BigSnowTradingCo on Ebay. They appear to list the CHAS, Grizzly, Cougar, SICOM MI Agent (called Earth Force Marshall) and spider bugs.

Triple9 wrote:
Cool. Interesting, I wonder if Rebel Minis is BigSnowTradingCo on Ebay. They appear to list the CHAS, Grizzly, Cougar, SICOM MI Agent (called Earth Force Marshall) and spider bugs.

Maybe, but they could be recasts, especially as the stuff specifically related to the license (those female MI from the Roughnecks TV series) had to be destroyed. Or he's got a lot of stock, who knows.

Whelp, I went and bought/won the CHAS auction that closed last night and the paypal receipt was for Rebel Minis.

Found some blurbs on their blog that give a little clarity and looks like those auctions are copacetic.

From Dec 2012 (when they released the Valonians/Skinnies).

Some of you keen sci-fi collectors may note a similar look to the OOP Mongoose Starship Troopers Skinnie guard. When we bought the molds from Mongoose we had to make sure we did not use any of the original IP owned by Sony. So... we had Sandra Garrity redo the heads and "Bam!" The Valonian Empire

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and the Mantis Bugs from June 2012

Ok, We have gotten some new bugs molded up from the old Starship Trooper line. We don't have the rights to the Starship Trooper IP, like the Archanid bugs, Plasma, ect... but can release the Space Mantis Alien Bugs(TM Rebel Minis)! These guys are very cool! Here is what we got:

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Rulebook came in over the weekend and I devoured it. I can see why most everyone raves about the ruleset. It looks quite simple yet very deep. Will try giving it a small practice game using some proxies this week. DZ Enforcers getting my painting love for the next couple weeks.

Facinating information about Rebel Miniatures modding/reissuing the SST figs. I hadn't heard about that and I try to keep a pretty good eye on mini reissues.

Even with the mods, its great to see old mini lines get new life with a different company. Especially when it's a company like Rebel that has really hit it's stride these last couple years.

Triple9 wrote:


Rulebook came in over the weekend and I devoured it. I can see why most everyone raves about the ruleset. It looks quite simple yet very deep. Will try giving it a small practice game using some proxies this week. DZ Enforcers getting my painting love for the next couple weeks.

I found that the rules are simple enough that after a few small games you'll have them nearly completely memorized - which is excellent, as it leaves your brain to worry about tactical movement and positioning (the heart of the game) versus being befuddled over application of special rules.

Hey Trip9, there's a store down in NoVA I pass on the way to class that had some SST stuff last time I was down there. Their prices are not so good (apparently they like to update old models with modern indexed prices...) but I can check them out and see if you want any of the stuff they have lying about.

Thanks for the offer Wehrkind. I'd be curious to know what they might have , but like you said, the prices must out of control if they still have floor stock. Definitely would go retail or a bit over if they had Brain or Tanker Bugs.

I'll try and remember to pop by and take a picture or two with some prices. I kind of like swinging by the store as they still have Ral Partha stuff I remember from the early 90's, as well as lots of Rackham blisters.

Any of you west coasters could check out Brookhurst Hobbies in California, I was just there earlier and noticed they still had 4 starter boxes marked at $56 each. I believe they do mail order sales as well, just gotta do it the old fashioned way by calling or emailing them

Ha there's always this one

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Starship-Troopers-Main-Game-Complete-/251447821406?pt=UK_Toys_Wargames_RL&hash=item3a8b75445e

Interesting to see boxed sets going up in price. For quite a while you could hardly give them away.

I picked up 2 of the boxed sets in the last couple weeks for 55 and 60, which seemed reasonable. At this point, if I see more under $50, I'll snap them up as well. I think we're seeing the edge cases out there; the mentality of someone setting an outrageous price and sitting on it for months or years. AT-43 is rife with it. No...I won't pay $50 for a Rare, OOP, collectors storm golem unit box. That there are FLGS's that still have SST stock 7 years after manufacturing ceases means they should just list the things on eBay with a low starting bid, let market forces work its way out and free up the floor space. I just can't wrap my head around people thinking they own gold with some items.

I have ordered from Brookhurst Hobbies before, and they seemed like good folks. No problems at least.

I love some of the starship troopers models! Useful for other things, even if you can't get the original game going in your area. I used some of the cougar exosuits in a marine 40k army (although they're very "truescale"!) and am planning to use their burrower bug model in my current nids counts as army (rebel minis makes a part resin, part metal version of it too, just fyi).

As luck would have it, Rebel Minis had a 20% off sale last week, so I picked up a bunch of bugs and a SICON Advisor. Pretty much everything, except the Firefry's, which I'll get at some point later.

The castings are excellent. Very minimal mould lines on everything. Fit looks pretty good on the pieces I tested, other than the resin pieces of the burrower bug. Those will require a fair bit of green stuff, but to be fair the website points out that they require work. Really hope they find a way of releasing the brain bug at some point in the future.

Kind of a shot in a dark here, but does anybody have a set of instructions for the WASP troopers?

Because I've got a box and have no idea how to get these guys together. They just don't seem to fit right no matter what I try.