Monday, February 25, 2008

Upcoming releases: finally the part that the rest of us have been waiting for!

Well, I had planned on posting the last of the upcoming releases a few days ago, but thanks to a nasty little bug I have been sicker than a dog that is really, really sick. Colds suck. But with that aside, let's take a look at the brand new campaign for AT-43 due out in June; Operation: Frostbite.


Not too much is known about this set at this time, but I have found the following snipet in the forums that make it sound even more interesting (like that's possible!)...

"AT-43 Campaign: Frostbite This book introduces new campaign scenarios, with new rules and additional rules covering attachment boxes and bunkers.This also contains gaming tiles, crystal base, large crystal base, miniatures engineers, and gaming cards. $59.99"

What does it all mean? Well, I am guessing that the rules for attachment boxes means that Rackham will finally be releasing the rules for support units. These are mentioned in the Rule Book (see the insert at the top left of page 80 for all the details) but nothing official has ever been done with them. As for the bunkers, I am thinking that the rules will follow along the lines of the information that they have already released. Still it will be good to have the official rules laid out for them.

The next bits are the really interesting parts. "...gaming tiles, crystal base, large crystal base, miniatures engineers, and gaming cards." The first is pretty easy. They are probably going to release the map for this campaign as the 30cm by 30cm boards like you can currently buy for Damocles. Makes sense really as they should be more sturdy than the paper map plus they will be very adaptable since they are seperate tiles. The crystal base and large crystal base are somewhat more of a mystery. People are suggesting that maybe these will be 3d terrain elements like the pieces included in the new Confrontation. Then there are the "miniatures engineers". If you dig past the bad translation, I am guessing that these will be some kind of specialists though I have no idea which faction they will be for. Probably Red Blok and Karmans since those are shown on the cover, but that is pure speculation on my part.

Personally, I really like the sound of the last bit as well. "$59.99" If it comes with all of this stuff it will definitely be worth it, though to be honest I'll be buying it regardless. : )


Next up are the first new releases for the Therians in a while and man is it a dozzy! This is a hero pack containing Nina-Zero and Babylon-Zero. I am not positive about which is which, but I am guessing that Nina-Zero is the Bane Goliath and Babylon-Zero is the Incubus Golgoth. Either way I expect that this will be a pretty potent addition to the Therian army. The regular Incubus Golgoth is nasty enough, but to throw a hero inside it?!?! Can't wait to field that one! Plus, the Bane Goliath is a nasty addition as well; much tougher than a regular Golem (such as Urash), a Bane Goliath as packs a very mean punch with it two nucleus guns. Being a hero also means that it should have at least the same abilities as a regular Overseer which means attach this puppy to a unit of Banes and use the dash routine to get them into position ASAP.



Next up is Lieutenant Dragomira O-3 for the Red Blok. This is an officer in the new type of Kollosus armor. What is it equipped with? Not really sure to be honest, speculation is leaning toward a rocket launcher and a light gauss machine gun. Pretty good combination in my opinion. The rocket launcher is powerful enough to damage light vehicles while the machine gun can make mincemeat out of infantry. There is also a unit featuring this new type of armor (complete with winter camo scheme) that will be released as well.


Last but not least will be another hero/vehicle package like we saw for the Therians, but this time it is for the Karmans. Saint Anuman will final enter the fray and I think that he has some nasty potential. As an individual he is pretty weak but if you put him inside his vehicle Jindo-Un, well then it's a different story! Pictured below, you can see it mounts twin light ZZ-cannons on the front and the back making it a potent anti-armor unit. In addition, Saint Anuman also grants his company the ability to take control of an enemy vehicle as long as the last shot that would have eliminated it was done by a weapon with the jammer ability. A nasty little touch, it also gives the Karman player a reason to field Easy Trikes and K-Fighters. They may be nearly useless against infantry units but being able to take control of an enemy vehicle seems like it could be a worthwhile trade-off.

As an added plus Jindo-Un is also a regular Jungle Buggy. It has a standard paint scheme for the Karmans so if you want to field it as a normal vehicle you should be able to with no problem.

This wraps up the new releases that have been added to their schedule, but there is one more that is listed as being a July release.

This is listed as the MedTec but there is no other information out there right now, not even which of the human factions it is for. Personally I am thinking that maybe it will be a generic unit, but that is just my own guess. Either way it will be a really nice addition to the line, bringing supporting units right into the game instead of just as a card that you can add to your activation sequence.

That's all for now, though speaking of making a supporting element into a really mini, I really should get some more work done on the Therian hyperlink antenna that I started months ago. And yes, you can even turn it on and off. More on that soon.

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