"Castles in the Sky?" Topic

Has anyone tried the new Castles in the Sky rules from Osprey? Looks very interesting, but I'd like to hear reviews from those who have played it, not just more "I flipped through the rulebook!" YouTube videos.

Not sure that it qualifies as Victorian SF, since it seems to be set post-1900, but this is the closest that I could figure.

Do we really need a few years of "Edwardian SF?" I think Her Majesty should given all SF between the death of George IV and the outbreak of WWI. SF prior to that would be lacepunk, and post-1914 we have either dieselpunk, alternate history or weird war.

This does raise the question of a start date for lacepunk, though. Clearly after "Leonardo Plus" and no later than when Ben Franklin starts making war machines for the AWI, but where's the cut-off? Or is there another period between?

I was just worried that someone might feel that the question was out of bounds--I'm not interested in proliferating boards

Anyhow, I guess no one has even bought Castles in the Sky yet.

I'm intrigued by this because I've long wanted to play John Carter of Mars flying dreadnoughts battles.

I've read through Castles in the Sky and have been sourcing manufactures to build my fleets since.

Since it is miniature agnostic, we have the freedom to bend and break the rules as we please. Take note that not all is set in stone.

The rules themselves play like a few naval wargames I've read with the maneuvering, turning, firing of torpedoes, etc. However what makes it pretty cool is the Command Roll where you get to pool your dice and use it for special orders to tilt the battle (hopefully) in your favor.

Also, there is an altitude factor where a d10 should cover the different levels of elevation. I like d10s :)

Pretty cool artwork of pre-dreadnoughts sailing and dueling and exploding in the sky. Has that watercolour-pastel feel to it. Kind of like looking at a Turner, only flying.

I've been considering Old Glory 1/600 Pre-Dreadnoughts for my capital ships. Although the scales would be off from a Leviathan ship, perhaps a Leviathan "battleship" could be a "cruiser" instead.

Not sure how to make the Old Glory ships fly yet… maybe one could look around for a 3-d artist to freelance a supporting dirigible of sorts.

Hope you guys enjoy it also.

The rules are strongly influenced by Battlefleet Gothic, to the point that folks who have played that will immediately recognize many elements. The altitude system is borrowed almost directly from Aeronautica Imperialis and I believe that the combat system is inspired by A Billion Suns--less the actual mechanics than the relationships among gun types and ship types. Battleship guns are great for tearing straight through cruiser armor, but bad at hitting teeny destoyers.