Alpha Strike: The TableTop Miniatures Rulebook
As noted in recent BattleChats and the BattleBlog, the upcoming
Alpha Strike supplemental rulebook is starting to take shape.
- It will be a full-colour supplemental rulebook, in a similar vein as A Time of War Companion (in terms of its relation to the Total Warfare through whatever Interstellar Operations will end up being axis) but as a stand-alone introduction to the Quick-Strike game engine.
- It will have support for both hex-based and hexless play.
- It will most likely be initially presented as a Clan Invasion product.
- The first batch of pdf expansions are in the works.
- Certain unit types, such as LAMs (and whatever "new" toys we may get in 3145), are not covered in the first book, but are options for later expansions.
- There is a somewhat limited WarShip presence in the core book, but they are more likely to show up in force in a later expansion.
- More in-depth support for other eras (such as the Dark Age) might also be fodder for later expansions.
- The core rules are done, and "crash" playtesting is afoot. Work on other written material for the project is in progress.
- It should be released (fingers crossed) before the end of the year.
- In the longer run, the existence of AS as "its own thing" may have an effect on future sourcebooks and TROs, in terms of how the unit cards for new toys might be presented.
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EDIT: This opening post has been adjusted to make it easier to keep all of the relevant data in one place. Below is the information originally posted here.
Alpha Strike
[17:45] <Pa_Weasley> Can you give any nuggets of information about the Alpha Strike book/product you mentioned in previous chats? (Sorry if that's already been asked.)
[17:48] <@Habeas2> At present, the book is well into writing, and is planned to release as a hardcover, full-color supplemental rulebook. The core writing is largely done or well underway, and we have ample material for a series of PDF-exclusive support products that simply wouldn't have fit in there without breaking the bank. Fans of miniature wargaming, in particular, should find it a great resource.
[17:55] <garydee> Is Alpha Strike Quick Strike renamed?
[17:58] <@Habeas2> Garydee - Mmmmmmmmmmaybe?
[18:06] <@Habeas2> Pa_Weasley - You're not the only one.
Alpha Strike:
[01:05] <Jo_Jo_Monkey> Is the Alpha Strike book considered a “core” rulebook?
[01:06] <@Habeas2> Jo_Jo_Monkey - It is core in the same way the A Time of War Companion is considered core, but it is not an actual part of the Total Warfare-Interstellar Ops thing.
[01:38] <Nerroth> Is there a particular era in which Alpha Strike will be set, or will it come with enough rules to allow it to cover all six currently-listed eras?
[01:39] <@Habeas2> Nerroth – Yes
[01:40] <Nerroth> So, if a new player were handed a copy of AS, along with a copy of a 3145 pdf (as and when such a file becomes available), he ir she would have all they need to get started with Quick Stike-level play in the Dark Age era?
[01:41] <Nerroth> I mean, a pdf QS set based on the units in TRO: 3145, akin to the sets already available for the likes of TRO: 3050.
[01:41] <@Habeas2> Nerroth - It is possible, yes.
While we wait for more news to surface regarding exactly what kind of material the new book will have in store, are there any particular options or ideas which you hope may be incorporated into it?
And of the little we do know about it (in the public realm, at least), is there enough to warrant your attention?
Personally, I would be interested to see if the book will only support ground-based action, or if it might also offer a means of handling WarShip combat in a more abstracted manner. But even if that wasn't to be, I think this book has the makings of what would essentially be the spiritual successor of
MechWarrior: Dark Age; not in rule terms, but in the sense of allowing new players wary of diving head-on into
Total Warfare a means of enjoying the setting (and, hopefully, in enough numbers to constitute a viable set of players in their own right).
I'm particularly keen on the idea that various eras would be supported right off the bat. As and when we see a PDF-based set of cards supporting
TRO:3145, I like the concept of then being able to use them alongside the
AS rulebook to jump right in to the Dark Age, with the minimum of fuss. (Or into any other era, with the right card sets; from the RetroTech of the Age of War through to the experimental systems of the Jihad and the Wars of Reaving.)
EDIT 2:
Pre-final cover added.
EDIT 3: Thread title adjusted to account for the new tagline, and
final cover added.
