Rackham AT-43 Starter

[Erion]

Yup, crazy Tracy.

 

AT-43 is on clearence in one of the last two LGS that stock it. Buy one box get one free.

 

Confrontation hit the bargan bin as well, but there were local factors involved that doomed that one from the start. Pity about At-43 though.

 

That's just crazy talk. People here are still getting the new releases with abandon. I don't know how many new players are buying in, but it still comes up in conversation even amongst non-players.

 

Want me to pick up anythign for you?

 

This is such a strange market here. Infinity has taken a tumble as well, even though it was on fire for a couple months. PP's lines suffered last year, but are now resurgent.

 

I don't get AT-43's slump at all, maybe it's the lack of new therians? Samey sculpts?

 

I appreciate the offer, but putting a new transaxle on the van while 600 miles from home has gutted the gaming budget for a while...

[Nanite]

Someone over at Tactical Command made an Epic army with Therians. It looks fantastic:

 

http://www.tacticalwargames.net/forums/ind...=ST;f=7;t=12896

[smokingwreckage]

I get an error trying to follow that link.

[CyberShadow]

It seems to work for me... Let me know what error message you get.

[Nanite]

Still working for me as well. Odd.

[smokingwreckage]

Huh. Seems fine now.

[Erion]

Rackham has emerged from it's bankruptcy protection as Rackham Entertainment. They're going to broaden their horizons for thier IP (beyond just games), have taken U.S. distrubution back from FFG (which wasn't able to keep their website or releases up-to-date), and will have two new waves of new releases for both Confrontation: Age of the Ragnarok and AT-43 by the middle of December.

 

In addition, they're launching a new demo-store-promotions team, support for organized play, and have committed to keep their prices level thorugh at least the coming year.

[Nanite]

Yay for half of that, but "we're broadening our IP" so seldom goes down as planned.

[Erion]

Well, those december releases finally showed up. At last I can get my Succubus Golgoths!

[Nanite]

Rackham is reported to be releasing army starters at a seemingly excellent price:

 

http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/2009/04/09/25643

 

$70 for a heavy vehicle, a medium vehicle, a hero unit, a nice choice of troops, terrain, and the Operation Domaclese starter bits.

 

Nice!

 

Also, I see a lot of Tau conversions coming from the Cogs.

[Erion]

That's a REALLY good deal for that much stuff.

 

Might be able to get some more people playing.

[papabees]

I would consider it at those prices. I've always thought the figs looked neat but were overpriced.

[Erion]

If nothing else, It'll be a great way to get my mitts on a Bunch of Cogs cheap-like.

 

I've recently been inspired to built an Operation: Frostbite table with some glacial formations big enough to hide Type III striders. It's time this game started getting some of the special treatment that 40k seems to elicit just for being huge. And an ice table is generic enough that the owner won't complain about it not being useful for other games.

[papabees]

So if I wanted to get into this where is a good place to start? Can one of you give me a sketch of the armies and how they act on the table?

[Erion]

So if I wanted to get into this where is a good place to start? Can one of you give me a sketch of the armies and how they act on the table?

 

It's important to note that each of the Armies has at least three (four with Operation:Frostbite) sub-factions that can impact what you field and how you play dramatically. Therians (robotic guys), the guys I play most often, have Platoon structures That allows lots of lighter infantry, lots of AFV's, or a good mix of both.

 

UNA

These are the Typical high-tech humans. They like their toys and bring lots of them. The most popular Build around here seems to be AFV heavy with lots of weapons that hit enemy AFV's on a fixed die roll rather than being based on accuracy vs. range. However, as mentioned above, you can also go with lots of troops and special weapons, and their TAC-Arms battlesuits are a very popular unit as well, particularly the Death Dealer variant which are designed to mow down enemy infantry like so much wheat.

 

Red Blok

These have a very 'Stalin in Space' feel. Lower tech level, but heavier armor on their vehicles than any other faction. They can field the largest infantry unit (in terms of numbers) currently available in the game, and their army book hints at Genetic Engineering and Psychic Research coming down the line. They also have the coolest-looking battlesuits ever in the decidedly low-tech looking Kolossus. They really need to get in the enemy's face to be most effective.

 

Therians

Creepy-robots that are really run by the network-inhabiting neural-net descendants of our own culture at least 112,000 years in the future. Their ultimate goal is to keep the universe from collapsing in on itself so they can live forever. They are generally fearless (most of the units are nanotech generated constructs that can simply be re-built when needed). That said, they are just as petty and conniving as we are. You can play a long-range standoff force or a close-in slash and burn forces. They don't have much in the way of cheap options, points-wise, so you'll see fewer of them on the table in most games.

 

Karmans

Terran Gorillas uplifted by the Therians to be intelligent and aid in their Universe-engineering. They are generally few in number on the battlefield, and have the only flying vehicles currently in the game. Their heavy-weapons units come in teams of two. That said, their cool-factor is off the charts. Cigar-chomping intelligent spiritually-aware Gorilla's wearing power armor? Yes please.

 

The Boxed game is a great deal in terms of figure count, but they're not really playable forces. It also doesn't include the full version of the rules. I'd recommend getting the main rulebook and the Army Books you want, and figuring out a starter force from there. There's free software available for building armies on the AT-43 Forums.

 

Also, The Warstore has a lot of this stuff at 60% off (or better) right now, because they bought a lot of stock from Fantasy Flight when Rackham switched up distribution late last year. The main rulebook is $9, army books are $6,and a bunch of the older unit and attachment boxes are in the $10-20 range. None of the brand-new stuff since FFG didn't distribute it, though. You could build a pretty solid army for any of the factions for around $100 right now ($20 per unit or so). I'm resisting buying a 2nd Baal Golgoth because it's only $22. I doubt I would ever actually field it, but it's so pretty.