So I’m stuck with this one:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rrpgt/robotech-rpg-tacticstm
Over the years, I’ve taken a fairly dim view of the things Harmony Gold has done (or not done) with the Macross license. Part of that extends to Palladium Books, which is pushing this particular Kickstarter along with their partners, Ninja Division (IIRC). Unfortunately, in the near future these look to be the only real source of Macross mecha. So I’m sort of stuck supporting them. Bleh.
This is what I wrote yesterday in a FB group, trying to figure out which way the Kickstarter will go:
“Bear in mind that this is also supposed to supplement the RPG, so it’ll likely follow what’s in the RPG book. Description is up to Battle of Saturn, so it’s unlikely we’ll get any Male/ Female power armour. Frankly, I don’t think their sculpts are ready.
We’ll get Battlepods, probably Light and Heavy Artillery Pods as further stretch targets, Officer Pods, Recon Pods and Fighter Pods for now, so Zentraedi stretch targets are going to be rare IMO. No, don’t think a Cyclops is likely when it’ll be a foot long in scale!
On the UN Spacy side, well.. Valkyries, Destriods; No Supers, Armoured likely. MAC II is a possibility, but UEDF mecha is limited at this point in the war. We might get some conventional vehicles, personally I think only the Cat’s Eye is likely.”
Of course right the next day they smack me with a MAC II pledge target. Not only that, they threw up a triple MAC + 8 Tomahawk offer. Bleh. Too good to pass up.
End of day, Macross is a bit odd in that it tries to keep things “real”.. military has a limited selection of mecha, and the enemy (Zentraedi) doesn’t exactly have a “Mecha of the Week” issue. In miniature terms, that means there’s only so many that Ninja Division can churn out.
In UN Spacey, in the main there are:
- Valkyries
- Super Valkyries
- Armoured Valkyries
- Tomahawk
- Defender
- Phalanx
- Spartan
- MAC II
In terms of mecha, that’s about it. And all of it is on the deck already. They can still go with non-mecha, like Ghosts and Lancer IIs, but.. who’s going to buy them?
There’s a few more things they can put out. The Sterlings are still not in sight, but then again they are pretty much repaints of either 1As or 1Js, so not much to it — just the stat cards, which I might not be interested in since I have no idea what the system is like. Then there’s the two seaters, including both the 1D and the Elintseeker (which is a Movie exclusive, not really a TV series thing). But other than that, we’re about dry for the entire Macross Saga.
In terms of Zentraedi, we have:
- Battlepod
- Light Artillery Battlepod
- Heavy Artillery Battlepod
- Recon Battlepod
- Officer’s Pod
- Fighter Pod
- Male Power Armour
- Female Power Armour
- Basic Zentraedi in normal/ Heavy Combat Armour
So out of the whole list, we have maybe half of what is available. Now that I’ve been proven wrong about the MAC II, I’d say the power armours are likely to be lined up after the MAC II target. I’d be very surprised if we don’t get light and heavy artillery pods, since those can be as simple as a add-on bit, depending on how the mini is cut on the final sprue.
And come on, a Battle Pod unit needs that firepower a Light Artillery Pod brings in. Giving us only the option to bum-rush Valk teams with Battlepods is poor game design.
And I really do hope to see unmechanized Zentraedi in basic armour and weapons. That’ll be great for Reconstruction Era fights.
I do have a problem with the MAC II package since it comes with so many Destroids, it makes any additional purchases kind of moot. If I get the lowest pledge level that gives me additional rewards, that means I end up with 3 MAC IIs, 10 Tomahawks/ Defenders, 10 Valkyries, 21 Battlepods, 3 Recon pods and 2 Officer’s Pods. That pretty wipes out my wishlist, especially if no power armour comes out… which means no additional pledges for them.
Well not quite true, I’ll probably round out with a few Spartan/ Phalanx combis, plus extra Valks to make a squadron (12). No more Battlepods, but definitely a pair of Officer’s Pods and some Fighter Pods. But much reduced.
In the mid term, there’s only so much they can milk out the Macross portion of things. So it’s very likely they will go into the other two portions.. that’ll be great really. Always felt Southern Cross is under-represented, and who won’t want a whole army of Invid Shocktroopers?