Rumors of the Return of Babylon 5: A Call to Arms?

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**RockoRobotics**

Has anyone heard rumors of the return of Babylon 5: A Call to Arms?

I was in a local game store and one of people their who used to play the game seemed pretty certain he had heard information about the game's return. This was around two months ago and I have not been able to find any other source for these rumors since then. Has anyone else heard anything like this?

**CyberShadow**

Yes. The designs and everything else has passed to Iron Wind. The various ships are in different states, from 'ready to sell' to 'needs reworking' (and IW have contacted the original sculpters to make these changes so the style works).

The entire range should be back with us shortly. Horray for IW!

Link:
http://ironwindmetals.com/d/node/57

**99MDeery**

Indeed Hooray the Nerd in me just jumped for joy at reading that

**Balance**

Mongoose released a 'State of the Company' forum post that, among other things, stated they're giving up the B5 license when it expires later this year... So IWM may be making ships, but rules may be wonky.

Mongoose really seems to know how to annoy people. BTW they still say they plan on getting back into miniatures in 2009.

**Ghaz**

But wouldn't they need the license in order to make the ships?

**Balance**

I have no clue how IWM's license works. As I don't think there's any real interest in the property, IWM may have their own deal with WB. I know back when I was following ACTA that Mongoose claimed they couldn't just transfer licensing to a sublicense, so IWM may have had to make a deal with WB themselves.

I kind of fell out of my interest in ACTA due to the poor designs of the Armageddon vessels (including making bigger and bigger miniatures for a game where the scale is secondary) and two game balance flaws that never sat well with me: first, the fighters oscillated between overpowered and underpowered, and second the canon show ships* were often not at all worth taking.

* note that most races, even the big names like Minbari and Narn, had maybe 2-3 capital ships and a fighter chassis or two in canon. Most of the designs in the army lists were made by AoG, Mongoose, or other licensees.

**Ghaz**

Iron Wind's deal is with Mongoose, not Warner Brothers. That's why they got the molds from Mongoose.

**Balance**

It could've been a multiple-party deal. I certainly don't know the specifics.

**Ghaz**

I don't see it being a 'multi-party deal'. I see no reason for Iron Wind Metal to get a separate license to produce the miniatures Mongoose was producing in the first place. Nor do Iron Wind Metals trying to get the license from Mongoose if they're letting it go back because it's not selling. It doesn't make sense.

**Balance**

Only reason I thought it might have been a multiple-party deal was that Mongoose claimed they couldn't sub-license the minis when they canceled production last year.

**Ghaz**

However there's no proof that the game and the miniatures had separate licenses. I also don't see Iron Wind Metals pursuing a license for miniatures to somebody else's game without their blessing an cooperation, nor do I see them pursuing a license that they knew Mongoose was going to give up for lack of sales.

**Balance**

So, basically, neither of us really knows anything?

**Ghaz**

Actually from what I've read on the Mongoose and IWM forums it's more likely that once Mongoose loses the license the miniatures go bye-bye as well.

**Ghaz**

From Iron Wind Metals:

Iron Wind Metals Babylon 5 license to expire at the end of June 2009
Submitted by Mike Noe on Mon, 12/08/2008 - 2:31pm
.
Earlier this year, Iron Wind Metals licensed the Babylon 5 miniatures line from Mongoose Games. After several months of prep, we began re-releasing this fantastic line of classic Sci-Fi space ships. Eventually, we planned to over-haul most of the existing designs. We began officially “re-releasing” these re-mastered ships in October. We have invested a good bit of time and effort into the line to date, hoping that the Babylon 5 miniatures license would be a long-time deal...

Unfortunately, a few days ago we were informed that, for various reasons, Mongoose Games has opted not to renew their Babylon 5 contract with Warner Brothers. As our license is tied in with Mongoose, when their license expires, ours does as well.

This is a possibility that we had known existed, as Mongoose was very up-front about things from the start, however we had hoped that circumstances would allow them to renew. Unfortunately, this does not seem to be the case. We discussed picking up the license ourselves, but for many reasons this will most likely not be possible either.

Therefore, as it stands we will be forced to cease production of the Babylon 5 miniatures at the end of June 2009.

If this situation changes we will let everyone know - however, at this point that seems unlikely.

During the 6 ½ months that we have left, however, we intend to continue to re-master and re-issue as many designs as we can, and to try and get as many designs as possible available to the players, including the Fleet Action scale ships.

Michael Noe
President
IWM

**Balance**

Huh. I admit I'm surprised IWM is willing to put time into remastering the minis if they're only getting 6.5 months out of it.