"Rackham's New sci fi game: AT-43" Topic

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Pics at the link. From what I had heard before it is supposed to be a prepainted game with plastic minis. Though the original pic when I heard that looked totally different in style
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These newly unveiled ones look a LOT like MAK designs to me. Very ugly but kinda likeable with a fairly believable looking tech to them, and the infantry looks kinda WW2ish.

A LOT like the Machinen Kreiger stuff… a lot like that concept picture they had up years ago.

Looks cool…

I'm guessing now that MAK= Machinen Kreiger…

hhhmm wile it looks "real" it dosnt have the style that i ascoate with rackham from the 1st link, the power suit looks ok but the figs look "generic" they remind me rather of the battletech 25mm figs that i saw, looks like a wait and see job for me.

That second suit looks ALOT like a Northern Army Heavy Gear. The only thing it's lacking are the V-engines normally seen on all of them. I've always been a fan of those designs, so that looks really great to me!

Is that huge machine gun that the grunt is carrying made of balsa wood? And why does nobody give sci fi troops bullpup type rifles? Other than that I like the walkers very much, but not the one in the second photo – too derivitive (is that spelt right?) of too many other manufacturers.

The infantry weapons are very WH40K – again …

I'd love to see an SF trooper that doesn't look like he's lugging yet another 105mm 4-shot full-auto boltgun variant.

Starship troopers looking walkers.

Doesn't do anything for me either. I like the Infinity figures better.

I remember, or at least think I do, reading somewhere that the figs were going to be pre-painted plastic. Anyone know differently?

Mark

And why does nobody give sci fi troops bullpup type rifles?

GZG's Stargrunt.

Urban War – Viridian Special Forces (the first set and the Sgt, not the second set).

Forge World's Elysian Drop Troopers.

As for a 'real world' reason, so far they're not turning out to be as good as expected (with one sort-of exception). Reloading while prone is difficult, the action is right next to the firer's ear, and barring the new FN2000, they're impossible to shoot from your off-shoulder. Try leaning left around a wall corner, and imagine you can only put in on your right shoulder.

That said, they *are* cool designs, and I'd like to see more.

All that said, I love those walkers – even the HG ripoff.

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It's got a leeetle tiny head.

That's so cute!

Allen

Is that a regular car battery sticking out of it's chest?

Has anybody actually got an idea what's going on with this game?

I saw the 'original' mech picture (that's the second link in the first post)way back in the middle of last year, if memory serves, and I liked it a lot. It seemed that someone had finally gotten anime-style mecha right, which is a big switch: after laughing myself sick at what the Battletech and Mechwarrior designers keep coming up with, and suffering continual disappointment at the 'almost but not quite' efforts of Heavy Gear, I had my heart set on actually getting hold of some decent, Armoured Core-style mecha without having to mail off to Japan to get them.

Now we've got this new batch of photos, and the design philosophy has changed totally. Gone is the brutal mecha design of the first photo – now we've got Kinder eggs on legs so short they make a GW dreadnought look lithe and agile. What's written on the controls of these things? Stop, Waddle and Fall-Over? Damn, I'd love to ride into battle in a machine that can be taken out by a guy getting behind you with a hammer…

Please, please someone tell me that these are two different games, and the Armoured Core-alikes are still going to be made? I've had enough disappointement in my life.

I was hoping for a plastic-kit based Anime-Inspired Mecha game , myself.

As odd as that sounds.

Looks real similar to the stuff they were going to do with the Dust before the deal fell through. The new Mak look is cool though. If they go through with this Ill definantly pick them up.

What I find interesting are the bases!

They seem to be 1" in diameter, but leaning towrds the 3cm bases you get with games like Warmachine!

Anyone know where one could get those?

Cheers,

Burkhard

Was rather under the impression that AT-43 had been shelved entirely… Apparently not.

That said, the "MAK eggs" and the "pinhead mecha" seem to be so different in style they would appear to be for different games. Purely speculating here, but maybe the "pinhead" is for the collectible pre-painted mecha game and the "eggs" are just regular minis stuff?

May have to haunt the Rackham board a bit, methinks…

The mech in the second link reminds me more of the Front Mission minis I can get over here than Heavy Gear but there is some similarities between both HG and FM.

The mechs in the first link look somewhat MAK, yes.

@ PeteUK,

Talk to me, I have some Armored Core minis I want to get rid of. They are headed to ebay in the near future.

Could not find any further info on the "pinhead" at a glance, but my quick plunge did verify (at least I assume I found the official word on the subject) that whatever minis there will be for AT-43 will come prepainted and ready to play. Also, the mechs will have opening cockpits and separable pilot figs @ IMEX Robogear.

Anyway, remember to check this if you want more info:
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"It seemed that someone had finally gotten anime-style mecha right, which is a big switch: after laughing myself sick at what the Battletech and Mechwarrior designers keep coming up with, and suffering continual disappointment at the 'almost but not quite' efforts of Heavy Gear, I had my heart set on actually getting hold of some decent, Armoured Core-style mecha without having to mail off to Japan to get them."

This was a puzzling statement until I hit the "Armored Core" part. HG is very strongly anime-derived, but not from the "Gundam-but-shorter" design school that seems to have spawned Armored Core.

I'm not convinced. Once I see figures for sale, then I will beleive this line is a reality.

Perhaps the two design philosophies are different factions?

SMc.

Farstar-

Is it just me or does HG remind you of Armored Troopers VOTOMS?

Also, these MAK looking models are really psyching me up for this game. I love MAK and have dozens of the little action figures and models. A game to go along with them would be great!

"Is it just me or does HG remind you of Armored Troopers VOTOMS?"

Got it in one.

If I thought I could find players locally, I'd have a squad of Red Shoulders…

HG sorta like VOTOMS, hmmmmm, kinda see it but I still think HG is more like the Front Mission stuff or vice versa.

Heavy Gear has almost certainly pulled from more than one source (whether DP9 will ever admit that or not), but it's core inspiration is clearly VOTOMS, which dates to 1982. Heavy Gear predates the original Front Mission by about a year (1994 vs 1995), and the old FM1 art looks more like Reaper's CAV.

Plus, the DP9 folks have said on multiple occasions that VOTOMS was the primary inspiration for HG.

My only question is "when?"

yea when?

HG screams 'VOTOMS' or 'Zaku.'

a couple of the pics remind me of an old game called SF-3D

If they're pre-painted (and everything I've seen so far says yes) and they're 28mm, I'll be priming them and painting them up. Otherwise, they look alright apart from that poor bastard hauling that huge MG around on nothing but a leather shoulder strap.

Encountered this promotional artwork on another forum, it actually gives an idea of what the alien faction is going to look like .

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We've got some faction names-
U.N.A. White Stars, the Red Block and Therians

Its aslso just about confirmed on the Rackham forums that the models are pre-painted :(

OMFG, i need a towel…..

Those first links didn't work for me (no idea why). I did finally see the pinhead mech – thought it looked, er . . . silly, rather than menacing.

However, that publicity artwork for AT-43 looked pretty cool. Liked the look of the humans AND the aliens.

Prepainted you say? What scale might these be (assuming that it does see release that is)? Thanks.

Steve

Is that a Vulture 'mech in the background of that poster?

The scale is going to be 30mm. Or the "large" 30's that Confrontation is done in.

Hmm. Judging solely by the poster, this looks like a "malevolent AI assailing divided humanity" scenario. Nothing wrong with that obviously, only a similar set-up's been done lately by Infinity. Shall have to see how it pans out, of course.

I'm not 100% sure on the scale myself, but it has been confirmed that the figs are prepainted. Furthermore, the mecha models will be plastic and have exchangeable weapons. The infantry models should be metal.

Oh, and I also (belatedly) noticed there's been a message from a Rackham rep (seems like at least) stating that you WILL also be able to get the figs unpainted. The message didn't specify where from. My bet would be the Rackham webshop.