Battlefront gets license for Star Wars miniature games? Don't think April Fool just yet

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**Kanluwen**

...No REALLY?
There were TWO games with "Star Wars" and "Battlefront" in the title?
My God, you've stumbled across the Rosetta Stone of April Fool's!

We know it's a joke, Chaos. We're just speculating on how cool and how it would be done if it were true.

**Jack of all games**

chaos0xomega wrote:And in case you guys didn't get it in my previous post, there is a video game known as Star War Battlefront (and a sequel, Star Wars Battlefront 2). Hence the reason why I think #2 is unlikely... its just a very clever pun (more or less)

Just because the company is called Battlefront, does not mean that the game would be called Star Wars Battlefront. If this is one of the April Fools' falsehoods, I don't think it had anything to do with the name of the video game.

**Anung Un Rama**

Kanluwen wrote:Now, what I'd love to see though in tabletop form?
"Legacy" era.

Really

I read the thirst 3 TPBs and I didn't get the feeling it would work well as a setting for a large war game.

**Kanluwen**

Anung Un Rama wrote:
Kanluwen wrote:Now, what I'd love to see though in tabletop form?
"Legacy" era.

Really I read the thirst 3 TPBs and I didn't get the feeling it would work well as a setting for a large war game.

Try reading the Cade Skywalker comics. There's plenty of material that is hinted at that'd be neat to see.

**BrookM**

I wonder which Osprey book they'll include with that mag.

**Anung Un Rama**

Kanluwen wrote:
Anung Un Rama wrote:
Kanluwen wrote:Now, what I'd love to see though in tabletop form?"Legacy" era.
Really I read the thirst 3 TPBs and I didn't get the feeling it would work well as a setting for a large war game.
Try reading the Cade Skywalker comics. There's plenty of material that is hinted at that'd be neat to see.

Yeah, I read a bunch from that, but imo it would work much better as a skirmish system like, well, Star Wars miniatures than a large battle game like on in 15mm scale would be.

**Kanluwen**

True enough.

Either one would be awesome in my view.

**Ratbarf**

If it was in 28 mm like GW it would probably work best, as you could run it like a Skirmish game and then if you wanted big battles simplly Apocalypse it. An AT AT wouldn't be waaaaay much bigger than a Mumakil from LotR, so I think it could definately work on that scale. On 15 mm you're looking at large scale battles almost all the time, so really the only ones that most fans would know about would be Hoth, maybe a few from the Battlefront series, the less stupid ones like Rhen Var etc.

**JohnHwangDD**

15mm for Star Wars means you can do *all* of the stuff in *both* of the movies:
- Stormtroopers clearing a Blockade Runner (small)
- Mos Eisly & Death Star hunts
- Hoth (large)

As an intro fight, you have Jedi vs Rancor.

I mean, c'mon, Star Wars is only two movies...

**Darth Badguy**

Kroothawk wrote:And with two kinds of gravel you can proxy the epic fight Javas against Ewoks (led by Master Joda)

There's actually an issue of the old Marvel Star Wars comic that's kinda like that. Topless Robot makes fun of it here: http://www.toplessrobot.com/2009/09/the_11_least_necessary_star_wars_comic_book_storie.php

**insaniak**

Ratbarf wrote:If it was in 28 mm like GW it would probably work best, as you could run it like a Skirmish game and then if you wanted big battles simplly Apocalypse it. An AT AT wouldn't be waaaaay much bigger than a Mumakil from LotR, so I think it could definately work on that scale.

The current AT-AT is about 12" tall, although it's possibly a fraction under-scaled.

On 15 mm you're looking at large scale battles almost all the time, so really the only ones that most fans would know about would be Hoth, maybe a few from the Battlefront series, the less stupid ones like Rhen Var etc.

... and large chunks of the Clone Wars.

Thinking about it, for a traditional wargame, rather than the current collectible one, it would make the most sense to focus on an era at a time. Given the current hype over the Clone Wars, that would make the most sense as a starting point.

**Anung Un Rama**

JohnHwangDD wrote:15mm for Star Wars means you can do *all* of the stuff in *both* of the movies:
- Stormtroopers clearing a Blockade Runner (small)
- Mos Eisly & Death Star hunts
- Hoth (large)

As an intro fight, you have Jedi vs Rancor.

I mean, c'mon, Star Wars is only two movies...

I disagree with you there. If I play a scenario as small as a Stormtroopers on board a Blockade Runner I want it to be 28mm scale or at least larger than 15. I just can't imagine games like in small.

**Balance**

Depends on how big of a blockade runner you want, I guess.

**AT-43.CO.UK**

There are plenty of ground based vehicles and weapon platforms that would be easy enough to make in 28mm.

If there ever is a Star Wars miniature game that isn't played on a board with grids then I really want it to be 28mm. Multie-part Storm Troopers would be five types of awesome.

Ignore things like AT-ATs. Biggest things should be AT-ST.

God I can't believe I'm actually thinking about this.
If they got the license it will just be the current Star Wars miniature game

**insaniak**

AT-43.CO.UK wrote:If they got the license it will just be the current Star Wars miniature game

Not necessarily. There are two likely (IMO) ways for it to go: Either someone picks up the licence and buys the current CMG off WotC, or someone picks up the licence and produces a regular miniatures game in a completely different scale.

Less likely would be someone picking up the licence and producing a different CMG (I see that as less likely because the CMG customer base has too much invested in the current game, and mostly isn't likely to look favourably on a completely different collectible system that forces them to start over) or producing a regular miniature game in anywhere near 28mm (which would be close enough for people to use the widely available and cheaper collectible minis instead of buying new minis... and so would be commercial suicide).

If it's picked up as a regular miniatures game, I would see it as being in 15mm and concentrating on large scale battles (or simply centring on vehicles), or 45-54mm and concentrating on infantry skirmish, with perhaps a scattering of smaller vehicles and gribblies.

**Kanluwen**

Or it could go completely against everything we're discussing and be fleet battles!

**JohnHwangDD**

Kanluwen wrote:Or it could go completely against everything we're discussing and be fleet battles!

Star Wars Fleet Battles? Great idea.

Perhaps they could call it "SFB" for short?

**Kanluwen**

Heh.

All I know is that if they released a BFG scaled fleet battle game, where I can deploy B-Wing bomber squadrons in an asteroid field to ambush the Executor in the Hoth asteroid belt.

I would buy so much of that game, I can't put it into exact words.

**JohnHwangDD**

I don't know why BF couldn't do something akin to B5 Wars in the FA scale.

Fighter wings would be multi-based, like FoW infantry, and Capitol ships would be mono-based like FoW tanks...

**insaniak**

The problem with doing Star Wars naval battles is that the scale is awkward. There is so huge a difference in size between the average starfighter and a Star Destroyer that it's pretty much impossible to have them both on the same table and have them in any sort of reasonable scale.

(And yes, I realise that it's possible to make a game that simply ignores scale. WotC already did that with their space battle expansion, and I personally hate it. Grr.)

As I see it, to keep everything to scale, it would need to be either
- a starfighter game, with capital ships just showing up as rules boosts (barrages, refueling/rearming areas, etc) rather than as models.
or
- a capital ship battles game, with starfighters just showing up as counters or as attack and/or defence bonuses for the capital ships. Although even then scale is tricky when you have things like the Corellian Corvette going up against the kilometre-long Imperial Star Destroyer and the 17(?)km-long Super Star Destroyer.

Although it did occur to me the other day that you could sort of combine the two by having two boards. On the main board, you would manoeuvre capital ships. When those ships get close enough to deploy fighters, you switch to the starfighter board and fight out the dogfight...

Not perfect, but a possible solution.

**warboss**

yeah, the scales were WAY too off in the wotc game. i'd be fine with some scale difference but i don't want shuttlecraft larger than republic cruisers like in the wotc game. the fighters would have to be epic 40k/ B5 fleet action scale so that you get a whole squadron on a single base and to scale with one another. the capital ships could then be in scale with each other and on bigger bases. that would work for me.

**Voronesh**

Well if you look at the great AOG B5 ships, they werent in size comparison either.

Cause we all have the show for that.

Star Wars has the same advantage. We all kno the correct size from the movies. so we could have ISDs etc. mono base and TIEs multibase.

If you wanna go actualy size, theyre just papercuts. Drek on the battlefield. Which they sometmes are in the movies ^^.

**Ratbarf**

If you wanted a to scale naval game on a 6 by 4 board the ships would be the size of pennies and the fighters would be just little dots on a base. The movies show the ships getting ridiculously close to each other for a space battle, even for a modern naval engagement they are waaaay to close together for the kind of combat you see in the films. They generally fight in knife fight range, or much more like 18th century warships than the massive space battleships/carriers that they are. The best this was ever represented in a game of any type for star wars was the X-Wing vs Tie Fighter in which you could ocassionaly wait up to half an hour to reach the incoming fighters after you wiped out the initial wave that always seemed to start right on your doorstep. But even then, the ships were way to close, as the fighters in that game didn't actually go all that fast.

**Kanluwen**

Ratbarf wrote:If you wanted a to scale naval game on a 6 by 4 board the ships would be the size of pennies and the fighters would be just little dots on a base. The movies show the ships getting ridiculously close to each other for a space battle, even for a modern naval engagement they are waaaay to close together for the kind of combat you see in the films. They generally fight in knife fight range, or much more like 18th century warships than the massive space battleships/carriers that they are. The best this was ever represented in a game of any type for star wars was the X-Wing vs Tie Fighter in which you could ocassionaly wait up to half an hour to reach the incoming fighters after you wiped out the initial wave that always seemed to start right on your doorstep. But even then, the ships were way to close, as the fighters in that game didn't actually go all that fast.

Revenge of the Sith's space battles with capital ships?
The Republic fleet jumped as close as it could to ensure that the Confederacy's ships+leadership couldn't get out(Palpatine allowed Grievous to get away, however).
Return of the Jedi's battle around the Death Star?
The Rebels, again, got in as close as they could for a reason. When they were in that close it was an attempt to make the gunners on the Death Star hold their fire for fear of hitting their compatriots.

You seem to think that it would all be sublight, when unlike BFG or any other "space" games, they could easily work FTL into the game mechanics(just make it so it can't be used near Interdictors or planets).
I'd love to see the Thrawn Pincer or Ackbar Slash on a tabletop. I really would.

**Ratbarf**

So basically you want Star Wars themed Homeworld?

**Kanluwen**

Are you referring to the PC game "Homeworld"?

Because maybe I would like that, but I'd far far rather being able to sit and paint some models and play a beer & pretzels game with some friends

**chaos0xomega**

Kanluwen wrote:

We know it's a joke, Chaos. We're just speculating on how cool and how it would be done if it were true.

You sure about that? Apparently not:

Jack of all games wrote:
Just because the company is called Battlefront, does not mean that the game would be called Star Wars Battlefront. If this is one of the April Fools' falsehoods, I don't think it had anything to do with the name of the video game.

**Paladin Blake**

chaos0xomega wrote:
Kanluwen wrote:

We know it's a joke, Chaos. We're just speculating on how cool and how it would be done if it were true.

You sure about that? Apparently not:

Jack of all games wrote:
Just because the company is called Battlefront, does not mean that the game would be called Star Wars Battlefront. If this is one of the April Fools' falsehoods, I don't think it had anything to do with the name of the video game.

Of course this thread is wild speculation. That's a given. But until Battlefront confirms it to be untrue, the rumor has enough plausibility to warrant discussion. Could the connection to the Star Wars: Battlefront series be the joke? Of course. At the same time, it isn't entirely impossible to imagine BF picking up the Star Wars license because, let's face it, some company is going to. So unless you have some knowledge into the subject that has been heretofore unmentioned, your speculation about the truth or falsity of the items on the list is no more or less accurate than ours.

**ProtoClone**

Jack of all games wrote:From their email-

April Fools’

It is traditional on this day to tease and confuse people by having fictitious and spurious stories appear in the guise of having a bit of fun.

The creative team came up with a few ideas that would set tongues wagging but all of them seemed very obvious, so I decided to try something a little different. I am taking the opportunity today to tell you ten things that Battlefront Group has planned of which half are true and half are not. The ensuing discussion and speculation will hopefully be taken for what it is, fun, and at least let you know some things that until today you were not aware of.

1. We are making a 15mm Captain America figure with special rules so he can join US forces in Flames Of War.
2. We have the rights to produce the Star Wars tabletop miniatures game now that the Wizards of the Coast license have expired.
3. A free Osprey book with be given away with every issue of Wargames Illustrated in June.
4. Early War has proved to be much more work than we expected and we have to move its release back by six months.
5. Our next big thing is going to be a Pirate vs. Ninja skirmish game in 30mm.
6. To help improve morale in the Battlefront offices, all staff is being given a uniform consisting of a black shirt with silver skulls on the lapels and pink piping.
7. Having looked at the Pacific theatre, we have decided to make a naval game to go along with the Flames Of War books we are working on.
8. We have a World War Two aircraft game almost finished so you will be able to dogfight your way through the war.
9. As part of a new license deal we will be releasing themed dice and gaming sets for the greatest comic book heroes in the world.
10. German forces will soon be able to add the Ark of the Covenant to their lists as a special occult unit.

Have fun with this and remember five things on this list are 100% true but five are not, so don’t hold me to everything the next time we meet.

~ John-Paul.

My thoughts on these possibilities are here on my blog.

1 - See #9

2 - hmmm, this possibly could be cool.

3 - Meh.

4 - Meh.

5 - hmmm, ok?

6 - "Pansy Division" groupies?

7 - hmmm, always had a bit of interest in FoW.

8 - See #7.

9 - This could be cool if done in limited quantities. Being able to field Hell Boy, Namor, Human Tourch or Capt. America, amongst other appropriate properties, would be sweet and actually make me consider playing.

10 - Get out! That would be awesome...but only, as someone else suggested, there was a meddling archeologist or Hell Boy.

The idea of a Star Wars version of FoW would be sweet and I think it could be easily done. Yes you might have to have factions who existed in separate eras fight but who cares, not I. I personally would love to see an army for the Black Suns or any one of the criminal factions.

**Platuan4th**

Sorry, ProtoClone, I don't see them putting Hellboy or rather, HellBABY at that time period into a WW2 game.