Saginaw | 06 Feb 2017 3:28 p.m. PST |
I'm curious to know if there is still any level of interest in Babylon 5 Wars from either a gamers' or a manufacturers' perspective. After Agents of Gaming and Mongoose Publishing, I'm going to guess that currently no one has the license to produce the miniatures nor publish the literature. Thank you. |
Tgerritsen | 06 Feb 2017 3:34 p.m. PST |
Overall, Babylon 5 is in a weird state. There's no good way to buy it currently unless you want to spend a fair bit of coin (and then it's only on DVD). It's not being streamed on any services currently, which this frankly seems like the IP holders are really dropping the ball. I love Babylon 5, and would love to see something done with it. I like the ACTA game (I play Star Fleet), and it's Battefleet Gothic roots are quite applicable to a number of sci fi series. I never played the earlier Agents of Gaming version, so cannot comment on it. I don't know what the details are for why Mongoose lost the license, but I think overall whoever owns the Babylon 5 rights needs to let their franchise live again. Sure the effects are a little dated, but the writing was fantastic and the series well beloved by fans. |
DisasterWargamer | 06 Feb 2017 4:05 p.m. PST |
I'm a fan of the universe and would be interested from a gaming perspective |
Pythagoras | 06 Feb 2017 4:13 p.m. PST |
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Mutant Q | 06 Feb 2017 4:21 p.m. PST |
"I don't know what the details are for why Mongoose lost the license…" For the same reason that Agents of Gaming had to give up the license: It got too expensive. Even though Warner Brothers doesn't seem at all interested in the franchise to effectively market Babylon 5, they seem willing to charge huge amounts to license affiliated products. |
Saber6 | 06 Feb 2017 4:27 p.m. PST |
NetFlix has the DVDs (I picked up all seasons on sale @ a year ago) |
Gear Pilot | 06 Feb 2017 4:49 p.m. PST |
I would be interested if the same scale miniatures became available again. |
Shagnasty | 06 Feb 2017 6:52 p.m. PST |
I loved the show, collected and painted the big minis, ditto for the Fleet Action, played some games and I want more! Warner's could have had a ST like franchise if they had half tried. |
Allen57 | 06 Feb 2017 6:58 p.m. PST |
Always liked the TV series. Babylon 5 fleet action were my first starship miniatures. I have all the fleets of the smaller fleet action miniatures. Was not fond of the Agents of Gaming rules sets and have never played the Mongoose rules. Still use the fleet action ones for gaming with homebrew rules. I also have around 60 of the larger miniatures which I plan to liquidate. Somewhere along the line I decided to go with the Fleet Action ships. |
Darkrazor | 06 Feb 2017 7:45 p.m. PST |
Go to agents of gaming website they still have ships, Jupiter IV decals has detailed decals for them to. |
Ironwolf | 06 Feb 2017 10:31 p.m. PST |
Really enjoyed playing the Agents of Gaming version B5 Wars. Bought several of the large scale miniatures. Still have my different races of fleet scale fleets. If there were any players in my area, I'd still be playing it. |
KTravlos | 07 Feb 2017 2:53 a.m. PST |
It is a big pity to see what has happened to this show. I have no idea what the devil the people managing the rights are thinking. Star Trek and Star Wars are still relevant, because, yes the holding companies were even ok with people stealing from them, as long as it kept the fan bases going, and the shows in the news. From the little I read the B5 people were Games Workshop levels of protective with the IP, and never let a fan base develop the way it did with ST or SW. I am not saying they were wrong to do so. Legally they had to. But still marketing wise, it seems like they killed the potential. You can always bet on a reboot to make it relevant again (Battlestar Galactica comes to mind), but it helps if there is a active fanbase. |
John Treadaway | 07 Feb 2017 4:17 a.m. PST |
I loved the original TV series (own it on disk). I like all of the TV movies (and will even tolerate the Crusade crossover TV film, though it's pretty boring). Crusade was a train wreck and let us never speak of Legends of tje Rangers). Lost tales was ok but a bit too little and really too late. Games? I've played a full thrust version which worked well using the smaller scale ships and, were I to revisit, that's what I'd do again. I never tried the Agents of Gaming rules and… tend not to invest in Mongoose rules products. John T |
wminsing | 07 Feb 2017 6:50 a.m. PST |
LOVE Babylon 5, have a soft spot for B5Wars, didn't really like ACTA. I'd play a new B5 game if there was one though. -Will |
thedrake | 07 Feb 2017 9:14 a.m. PST |
Agents of Gaming is still selling B5 minis,both large and FA ones. He also has the old Ninja Magic molds as well--just ordered some space mines,escape pods,and satellite minis from him and arrived yesterday. I tried both original B5W and ACTA and both were ok,but prefer the Full Thrust versions from Star ranger's Crossover games and the Babylon Project book. |
Landorl | 07 Feb 2017 10:24 a.m. PST |
There is a fan adaptation of the B5Wars rules. b5warsvault.wikidot.com It is a much more detailed set of rules than the original, but is still based off of those rules. |
nvdoyle | 07 Feb 2017 11:26 a.m. PST |
AoG has Ninja Magic's stuff? Missed that… link All of AoG's collections – they've got Starship Troopers, as well. |
vtmobius | 07 Feb 2017 12:11 p.m. PST |
wish B3 Designs would come back he had some awesome b5 stuff as well. |
John Leahy | 07 Feb 2017 3:09 p.m. PST |
We use Starmada for our Fleet Action ships. Great rules and work very well for B5. |
Stogie | 07 Feb 2017 5:13 p.m. PST |
I have the game, but ironically never played it. I think I got it on clearance and only got it because of the show. It's a shame that so many of the original cast has died, but a reboot or spinoff would be great. That said, JMS wrote 5 seasons. Everything else has been after the fact add ons. BTW, we lost Jerry Doyle (Garibaldi) last year if you missed the news. Decent actor and great radio host. |
Mutant Q | 07 Feb 2017 6:24 p.m. PST |
As I recall, Fleet Action got a lot more play than "standard" B5 Wars at my FLGS. More people were attracted to playing the large fleet actions they saw on TV than the detailed one-on-one duels. |
Lion in the Stars | 07 Feb 2017 11:13 p.m. PST |
Heck, somewhere I have the first edition B5Wars, which was high-detail fighter actions. Then I bought 2e which was the ship duels and squadron battles. Never did play ACTA, but can understand the desire to play the big fleet battles we saw in seasons 3-5. I'm sure we could ask JMS if he has any more story ideas set in the B5 universe if they wanted to do a reboot or additional stories. The problem is convincing Warner Brothers to lower the price on the IP for a license. |
daoloth | 08 Feb 2017 6:27 a.m. PST |
Yep I would love to see something again. Still have all my B5Wars and Fleet action ships. Then there's the GROPOS ground combat. JMS is on record as wanting to get the B5 rights back from Warner if I remember correctly. But has had no success so far. |
wminsing | 09 Feb 2017 1:42 p.m. PST |
I actually think the rights are split now; JMS has the rights feature films, Warner holds the TV rights and anything relating to merchandising for the original show. -Will |
thedrake | 09 Feb 2017 9:55 p.m. PST |
What happened to B3 Designs???? Wanted to get some Trek Dominion and Romulan fighters from him. |
demiurgex | 10 Feb 2017 6:03 a.m. PST |
Tons of good stuff over at b5warsvault.wikidot.com, as Landorl said. The Advent of the Galactic Wars (AOG Wars) rule set is a generic set of rules that doesn't include the fluff, but has all the rules from the supplements. I loved the game due to the damage mechanics and scope of possible ship designs. It wasn't a setting where you just had phasers, torpedos and shields on every ship. Because of that you got a lot of fun interactions. It's hard to teach to new players IMO though, largley because of the movement rules and complexity of the SSDs. Anyway, always loved the game, and would be happy to see any new content! |
Lion in the Stars | 10 Feb 2017 7:34 p.m. PST |
I actually think the rights are split now; JMS has the rights feature films, Warner holds the TV rights and anything relating to merchandising for the original show. Ewwwwwwww… No chance of ever bringing the game back, then. |