Well, this town’s gone to Hell.
Get your planetary invasion rules in order with the Firestorm: Planetfall rules summary and reference sheet.
The other day I got the urge to play a 10mm scale tabletop miniatures game. My old copy of Epic 40,000 is in storage, and I wasn’t impressed by the figures (and the prices) of Dropzone Commander, so eventually I decided on Battle for Proteus Prime, the starter set for Firestorm: Planetfall by Spartan Games. And when you open the box, you’ll find it chock-full of gorgeous figures: a couple of Aquan Prime and Directorate armies. They’re all solid resin (with a few metal infantry thrown in), and they’re beautifully detailed and look fantastic when painted. It’s also great to see such detailed stands of infantry, each a group of soldiers huddling, standing or sprawled out on modelled bases complete with cover.
The enthusiasm wanes somewhat, however, when confronted with the rulebook. Unfortunately Spartan Games—this is the first of their games I’ve purchased—have a bit of a poor reputation when it comes to rules, and now I know why. The rules bear all the hallmarks of being rushed, with such unforgiveable errors as inconsistent terminology and needlessly complex writing.
Still, that’s what the EOG is for! After considerable effort and head scratching I’ve created this rules summary, which fixes problems like calling the same points three different things (what?!). I still haven’t got Planetfall to the table, but I do hope it lives up to the promise of those gorgeous figures and satisfies the 10mm wargaming urge.
I really want to try nearly all of the games from Spartan Games since I had hopes that Uncharted Seas would be a new “Man´O´War”…and Firestorm the most of them atm….but have only heard bad things about the rules. Worst off all that they even get worse with newer editions. So I have not mustered the guts to dive into it because it would be me doing all the investing to get others to game with me. So I am really exited over your summary and hope to hear from you when you played it if all the work is worth the effort!
Unfortunately, I’ve got the impression from a few interactions in the forums (and my experiences with these rules) that Spartan give a lot of attention to their miniatures, but not so much to the quality of their rules . Which is a silly thing to do, in my opinion, and as obviously it can put people off your games, and so not buy your miniatures!
I think I’ve worked out the rules discrepancies in this summary, but I have yet to discover if it all comes together well on the tabletop. I’ll let you know!
As much as I like the minis…as a company they strike me as quite odd regarding their decisions. I read that they even refuse to let others translate their rules to widen the player base. That is something quite importent around here. But their respons so far is “that translations would not do their games justice” or some such nonsense. Hoped that would change with the Halo license…but it does not look that way. But the minis are really nice….so looking forward to your oppinion on the overall playability!
@UH: so Dropzone Commander has pricey but bleh minis… but how are the rules compared to Firestorm Planetfall?
Nothing that stuck with me – I can’t remember now! But the models just aren’t in the same ballpark.
Thanks! So looks like Firestorm Planetfall is still the better of the two, eh.
(The problem with me being a regular visitor to EoG is I get tempted by all the reports of all the great games available… and I want to go out and buy one for myself! 😀 )
It’s great to have you here mate, I do appreciate your regular visits. I had another look at the DZC rules, and there was another thing I didn’t like, and that was that the damage roll is a table. To me, cross-indexed tables have no role in modern game design! F:P does have an ‘allocate hit dice’ mechanic that seems a bit clunky at first glance, but actually worked well in practice, especially combined with shield saves. And I found the rules flowed smoothly after a few turns.
But it was mainly the wimpy feels of the DZC starter set models, especially the infantry, that put me off. That and the price of more figures. The F:P models have heft and design flair. I’m currently working up the courage to slap down a couple of hundred bucks on a couple of leviathan helixes to expand my armies, because those big models are so cool. 🙂
Well… it’s a good thing you’re taking a break and not putting out any more game play videos… I reckon if I saw one from you, I’d go out and buy a starter set of F:P myself! 😀
Same here CK Lai. After the WoK videos I had more than once a bucket load of minis in the cart of my favorite shop…loved the Rackham models…most of them the wolves…who would have guessed ;-)…inspite of having no one else interested in the game. Now I am hovering around the Spartan Easter sale for the starter boxes…and they announced Halo Ground Battles…I sooooo need to win the lottery 🙂
If you buy stuff because of the EOG guys, feel free to tell the publishers! 🙂
Haha. Will do 😀