Starship Troopers: The Miniatures Game
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- This article is about the the miniatures game. For the film adaptation, see Starship Troopers (film). For the novel by Robert A. Heinlein, see Starship Troopers
In 2005, Mongoose Publishing, a gaming company based in the United Kingdom, released Starship Troopers: The Miniatures Game, drawing upon the novel, films and TV series as inspiration through a license from Sony. The modern Starship Troopers legacy began with the release of the Starship Troopers movie in 1997, spawning a whole line of toys and other assorted merchandise. The film received a mixed response, but is generally seen as a summer hit. It is famous for combining ground-breaking special effects with a tongue-in-cheek study of politics and the role of the individual.
Shortly after the film came an award-winning CGI series titled Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles. The wargame was originally based mainly upon the CGI series, but later included more material from both book and film.
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[edit] Armies
The playable races of Starship Troopers include the United Citizens Federation (UCF), the Arachnid Empire ('The Bugs') and the Skinnie Hegemony (or just 'Skinnies').
Each of these races, besides the Arachnids, is further divided into different playable armies:
Mobile Infantry commanders, for example, can choose from a wide variety of different platoons. These include Light Armoured Mobile Infantry (as seen in the film adaptation), Maruaders (large bipedal vehicles), Power Armour platoons (as seen in the Roughnecks cartoon), Pathfinders (elite commandos loosely based on the PC game) and Exosuits (based on the original book by Robert Heinlein).
Skinnies are based on a tribal society, and so the abilities and choices available to a Skinnie army depend greatly on the choice of tribe leader. Arachnid armies are extremely versatile; all Arachnid units are useable and are limited only by the hive's ability to breed them. In this way, the player develops their own personalised colony.
Several future armies are also planned. The Mobile Infantry will receive engineering platoons, cadets and rebel colonists. Skinnies will receive new tribe leaders such as the Skinnie Skymaster who will grant access to rare aerial weaponry. The Arachnids, an almost entirely unified race, simply evolve new breeds and incorporate them into their existing forces.
A new race is due for release very soon: the 'Forth' are a group of highly advanced, dimunitive aliens. Because each Forth is the size of a small human infant, they require the use of large fighting vehicles to battle the other races. The concept of the Forth appears to be that of a completely customisable race. Each Forth warrior pilots a machine as an individual, and tailors their weaponry and gear to suit their personal habits and mission. Each warrior is given a machine from the Forth army list, then they are equipped with items chosen from a very large list of weaponry and gadgets. Forth warriors also appear to customise the aesthetics of their machines, possibly including writing initials, names and/or giving the machines a customised paint scheme.
Interestingly, the original conceptual art for the one of the many Forth machines appears to have been based on ED-209 from the Robocop movies, a film by Paul Verhoven (the director of the Starship Troopers movie). The actual Forth models however, do not bear any resemblance to ED-209. Some people have also pointed out the similarity of the Forth's physical appearance with that of the Droopa, an alien race from Chinese urban myth.
[edit] Miniatures
Mongoose produces a large line of 30mm plastic and pewter miniatures for the Starship Troopers minitatures game, by sculptors including Shayne Hoyle, Bobby Jackson, Bob Naismith, Ben Saunders and Steve Saunders amongst others.
[edit] List of miniatures
The models released as of December 2006:
- SICON Forces
- Cap Troopers
- M9 Marauder 'Chickenhawk'
- M8 Marauder 'Ape'
- Heroes of the Mobile Infantry
- CHAS
- Female Cap Troopers
- MI WASP Troopers
- Reliant Gun Platforms
- Support Missiles
- Pathfinder Trooper Squad
- The Pathfinders Army Book
- Pathfinder K9 Squad
- Veteran Cap Troopers
- The Klendathu Invasion
- The Roughnecks
- Mobile Infantry Light Armour Troopers
- The Roughnecks Army Book
- TAC UAV
- M8C Marauder 'Bigfoot'
- Stalwart Bug Field Generators
- Mobile Infantry Army Book
- M9 Marauder 'Nighthawk'
- Micro Support Platforms
- Mk II K9 Squad
- Grizzly Exosuits
- Cougar Exosuits
- Marauder Platoon
- Mobile Infantry Light Armour Specials
- Grizzly Exosuit Officer
- Cougar Exosuit Officer
- Mobile Infantry Power Suit Specials
- Arachnids
- Warrior Bugs
- Hopper Bugs
- Tanker Bug
- Brain Bug
- Firefries
- Plasma Bug
- Blister and Blaster Bugs
- Mantis Assassin/Hunter Bug
- Arachnid Army Book
- Burrower Bugs
- Guard Bugs
- Control Bugs
- Infiltrator Bugs
- King Tanker
- Spider Bugs
- Cliff Mites
- Warrior Bug Mega-Swarm
- Overseer Bug
- Rippler Bug Mega-Swarm
- Thorny Tanker
- Arachnid Invasion Force
- Skinnies
- Warchief
- Raiders
- Skinnies Army Book
- Tyrant
- Militia
- Soldiers
- Lord
- Venerables
- General
- Guard
- Leader of Slaves
- Slaves
- Cabal
- Speeders
- Heavy Speeder
- Soldier Heavy Weapons
- Guard Heavy Weapons
[edit] Success
Starship Troopers was received favorably at Origins where it won Best New Game. It has grown quickly from a model range of around five boxed sets, to a huge array of miniatures for all three armies. However, many players report a less favorable response. Many report gaming stores dropping the range as well as limited critiscism of the model quality and the game's background story. Starship Troopers still maintains a loyal fan base through the Mongoose Publishing forums.
[edit] Starship Troopers Evolution
The game is currently undergoing a renewal, with an updated rule system and new miniatures to be released in April 2007. At a recent event, some of the new rules were showcased. They included some modified statistics for certain models, limiting models to a single reaction, and two rules known as "suppression" (assumed to simulate suppressive fire pinning troops) and "shattering" (a modification of the current mission objective format). The new miniatures will be made of "wargaming" quality plastic and be pre-painted, as opposed to the current metal unpainted figures. The initial box sets will be:
- SICON Forces
- Mobile Infantry Light Armour Squad
- Mobile Infantry Grizzly Exosuit Squad
- Arachnids
- Arachnid Warrior Bug Swarm (12 Warrior Bugs)
- Tanker Bug
- Skinnies
- Skinnie Raiders
- Skinnies Soldiers
- Forth
- Forth Fenos Fighting Machines
- Forth Fenirs Command Fighting Machines
An expanded rule book will be released 2-3 months after the initial release, one new box set will be released each month per army with new armies (such as the dreaded Coven) appearing towards the end of 2007. The SICON TAC Fighter and the Skinnies' Starlight Speeder are confirmed for release.
