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The Kickstarter is now live: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1990654819/vanguard-boarding-actions-in-the-fifth-frontier-wa

A miniatures game derived from the Traveller RPG is on its way - Vanguard: Boarding Actions in the Fifth Frontier War.

Vanguard pits the Imperial Marines against the psionic troopers of the Zhodani Consulate in a vicious race to gain control of a warship. Players build forces and play through a campaign of missions that start at the initial breach and culminate in a desperate strike against a critical location on the ship. Resources must be managed throughout the battles as boarders and defenders fight for every room and corridor to reach their objectives. Each marine and trooper must contend with not only the enemy, but explosive decompression, alterations to the artificial gravity of the ship, and damage to the hull from the battle raging outside in the void.

The starter set comes complete with gameboards to create multiple configurations of the ship's interior, 16 Imperial Marines, 14 Zhodani troopers, and 2 Zhodani Warbots.

You can find an extended preview of Vanguard right here: http://blog.mongoosepublishing.co.uk/?p=869



The Kickstarter for Vanguard: Boarding Actions in the Fifth Frontier War has been set for 4pm (GMT) on Wednesday November 14th.

A miniatures game from Mongoose? I mean at least watching watching how the game soars, stalls then plummets to the ground in a firey ball of death will be fascinating in a morbid way. Plus kudos for them trying again I guess.

Just... fifty times bitten, time to get shy.

Zond wrote:
A miniatures game from Mongoose? I mean at least watching watching how the game soars, stalls then plummets to the ground in a firey ball of death will be fascinating in a morbid way. Plus kudos for them trying again I guess.

We are not looking to create an extended line - the entire game will be in the box set, plus a couple of miniatures expansion sets if stretch goals kick in. Think of it in the same way as (say) Execution Force or Silver Tower.

Lessons have been learned...

Maybe it's the lack of morning coffee, but I didn't see a scale. What scale will these miniatures be?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh and bring on the Vargr.

 Insurgency Walker wrote:
Maybe it's the lack of morning coffee, but I didn't see a scale. What scale will these miniatures be?

Heroic 28mm. We will have painted examples for you to see next week.

 Insurgency Walker wrote:

Oh and bring on the Vargr.

Always

So like a sexed-up version of the Azhanti High Lightning game from back in the day?

Ancient Otter wrote:
So like a sexed-up version of the Azhanti High Lightning game from back in the day?

With a touch of Snapshot and a dash of Advanced Space Crusade. I think that about covers the childhood memories I was trying to invoke with this game

Been intending to mod Advance Space Crusade into a generic rule set (rather than one specifically against tyranids) but seems to convey the theme I was after perfectly. Will follow with interest.

Starship Troopers was excellent game. So I will check this one when the KS starts.

I like the idea of boarding action campaign inside a ship.

I couldn't find the place where you say what medium the miniatures will be cast in.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I couldn't find the place where you say what medium the miniatures will be cast in.

Sorry, we will have a full preview of the miniatures for the Kickstarter - they will be injected plastic.

I love all the MgT2 stuff. My players are now Marooned on Marduk, despite only really playing D&D since v1 (advanced). It's been thrilling playing D&D just about every week since around 1980.
Now... those same players won't entertain me in any mini Wargame. Even those small skirmish games with rpg aspects like Frostgrave.

Will Vanguard have any aspects of rpg, or links to MgT2 to crossover?

As you can tell, I'm looking forward to more info next week already.

MongooseMatt wrote:

 Insurgency Walker wrote:
Maybe it's the lack of morning coffee, but I didn't see a scale. What scale will these miniatures be?

Heroic 28mm. We will have painted examples for you to see next week.

 Insurgency Walker wrote:

Oh and bring on the Vargr.

Always

Brilliant!

You have my attention. I like boarding actions, and traveller has a little nostalgia for me. Especially if we get that quadruped herbivore race, whatever they were. Liked those.

 kestral wrote:
You have my attention. I like boarding actions, and traveller has a little nostalgia for me. Especially if we get that quadruped herbivore race, whatever they were. Liked those.

The K'kree. Nazi herbivores.Yeah, they need a look at

I remember Traveller the new era. I never had people to play RPGs with, but that was a meaty book to read through and get the flavour and feel over the worlds I could have created.

I'll keep an eye on this too!

Vanguard: Boarding Actions in the Fifth Frontier War has come to Kickstarter!

Based on the Traveller RPG, Vanguard is a complete miniatures game that pits the forces of the Imperial Marines against those of the psychic Zhodani in desperate shipboard actions against the backdrop of a mighty interstellar war.

You can pledge your loyalty to the Imperium or Zhodani Consulate right here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1990654819/vanguard-boarding-actions-in-the-fifth-frontier-wa



Vanguard provides a complete campaign in which players build their forces and then play through a series of missions to enact the taking of a warship – from the initial breach to the final assault on the bridge or engineering section.

The box set contains 32 Imperial and Zhodani miniatures, gameboards, iris valves, strategy cards and everything else you need to conduct a boarding action upon a ship. The Kickstarter page already has previews and you can download portions of the rulebook – we will also be previewing a complete battle report during the campaign, as well as never-before-seen fiction written in the Traveller universe, showing you just how terrifying a boarding action can be from the point of view of those conducting it.

The Kickstarter is running until December 14th – we hope to see you there!

I'll keep my eyes on this. Will the miniatures ever be sold on their own for RPG purposes?

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I'll keep my eyes on this. Will the miniatures ever be sold on their own for RPG purposes?

That has yet to be decided - we need to get them made first

The Kickstarter is up, £10,000 pledged in the first day: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1990654819/vanguard-boarding-actions-in-the-fifth-frontier-wa/posts/2345054

Indeed, nearly a quarter of the way there - we have just posted a full preview of the miniatures included in the set, along with their weapons options:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1990654819/vanguard-boarding-actions-in-the-fifth-frontier-wa/posts/2345054

The details on those miniatures will not show up at scale. They need to be much much deeper and chunkier.

How many figures will die during set up of the game? (Long time traveller RPG player wants to know)

 porkuslime wrote:
How many figures will die during set up of the game? (Long time traveller RPG player wants to know)

I loved that part, personally. You should have to take some risks before deployment. Like how deepstrike used to involve risk vs reward. Nowadays its all wish fulfillment stupidity in most games.

 kestral wrote:


I loved that part, personally. You should have to take some risks before deployment. Like how deepstrike used to involve risk vs reward. Nowadays its all wish fulfillment stupidity in most games.

We have made the initial Breach mission nasty and quite easy to get wrong - it is possible for the defender to throw the attacker off the ship before things really get going if too many mistakes are made!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
We have just posted a new preview for Vanguard - showcasing the force lists for both the Imperial Marines and Zhodani, including their weapons, equipment and psionic talents.

You can dive into them right here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1990654819/vanguard-boarding-actions-in-the-fifth-frontier-wa/posts/2346056

MongooseMatt wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I couldn't find the place where you say what medium the miniatures will be cast in.

Sorry, we will have a full preview of the miniatures for the Kickstarter - they will be injected plastic.

That's a non-answer. All of the plastics used for this particular niche hobby are "injected plastic".

The customer base has matured and most likely will understand the difference in actual plastic types. So, which are you using? HIPS? ABS? PVC?

This reeks of obfuscation...

I doubt he was trying to be evasive. More likely he isn't sure himself or doesn't know how precise his answers should be.

Anyway, from the renders and the numbers/types of troopers, they look like they are planned to be boardgame plastic or PVC.

Were the Starship Troopers plastics ABS? They came on sprues, yet they seemed to defy the standard plastic glue.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I doubt he was trying to be evasive. More likely he isn't sure himself or doesn't know how precise his answers should be.

Anyway, from the renders and the numbers/types of troopers, they look like they are planned to be boardgame plastic or PVC.

Were the Starship Troopers plastics ABS? They came on sprues, yet they seemed to defy the standard plastic glue.

The only reason to answer that way is to be evasive. It says in the KS Risks section that they are working with a vendor that they have used before (for Starship Troopers) so I don't believe they don't know what material they are working with. ABS could work well with the renders shown, maybe; PVC less so in my opinion.

ST was ABS as I recall. Good detail and good figures overall. Lots of folks were turned off by not being able to use standard Polystyrene Cement with them for some reason. Super glue worked just fine.