GIANT ROBOT RULES:
Starsiege: Rebellion

Having played the demo of this game at Origins back in July, I have been eagerly awaiting this game. My local game shop got their copy this week and I purchased it on Saturday. After a couple of read-throughs and spending some time assembling the minis, here are my initial thoughts:

Good Things [tm]

Background flavor very interesting and in about the right portions, 15 pages out of 90. If you are a fan of the computer game this is probably old news, but to a newbie like myself it did a good job of setting the table.

Rules seem to be pretty clear and clean. Artillery looks to be the wild card in the combat mix - your field commander or spotter calls it in, then you have the choice of when to bring it down. If you are targetting a unit that has already done its action you can wait, but if you do you are subject to counterbattery fire which can run the risk of losing your artillery unit. Add to this a "reposition" command which can be given to your arty unit which then wastes the counterbattery fire, and you can get into some serious mind games with your opponent.

Leadership values are all important. The more experienced your leaders, the more likely they will hit their targets, do more damage, recover morale, etc. The real kicker I see is in their ability to reorder activation commands. Each squad is given a marker indicating in what order they will be activated. Your field commander can use his turn to reorder this sequence based on what your opponent has done. The more experienced the commander, the more markers he can shift around. Where I see this being real fun is when you are playing with multiple players on a side with a commander. "Sorry Tom, I know you want to waste that bad guy at point-blank range who will blast you to slag if you don't shoot first, but if I shift you from first to last our team will be in a much better position."

The minis are a nice blend of Battletech-ish, WH40K Eldar-ish, Ogre-ish tanks, hovercraft and hercs (mechs) They do suffer from a major drawback (see Bad Things, below).

Other production values are great, colored markers, templates, etc. and a well-organized rulebook a beginning player can easily grasp.

Bad Things [tm]

While the basic rules are easy to grasp, there is a lack of other warm-fuzzies, which a brand-new wargamer might find unsettling. More examples of play would have been appreciated at certain points.

The organizational material for the three major powers is woefully sketchy - e.g., a squad consists of 4 vehicles but not necessarily armed in the same way. A few examples here would have been helpful.

Scenarios are non-existent despite the presence of one page entitled Meeting Engagement Scenario. I quote: "Points: Equal points for both side" Duh! Nothing in this scenario ties into the background material, or even gives an idea of what units to take. I haven't done the math yet but I assume the minis which come in the box are equal in size? [Actually, no - Editor] A few scenarios based on the background would have been much appreciated, especially when learning the rules.

Too many references to what I can only assume to be future releases. Infantry rules to be released later, Imperial Knights do not have the same organization as other imperial units, but it doesn't say what that TOE is, etc.

The minis are my main gripe. The hovercraft went together with a minimal of fuss, as did the larger of the hercs. The Talons and the Seekers both suffer from what I have called The Republicans Disorder - they lean way too far to the right. The Talons come with a slottabase and you have to bend them like crazy to stand upright. The Seekers don't have the slot, so you glue them directly to the base. The first one I did I thought I misaligned the legs, it leaned so much. After assembling the other three, the only conclusion is that the right leg is too short. The only one that stands semi-erect is one with only one foot on the ground (a pose which is not good for transporting minis around). The Seeker is a nightmare to assemble. Eight (!) individual pieces to assemble a mini approx. 35mm high. The wings are about the size of a quarter-inch photo-etched detail part in a fancy model, which has to be glued into a tiny slot. Even with tweezers, superglue and superglue accelerator I was cussing the artist who designed these.

Bottom Line

On a scale of 1 to 10, I give Starsiege: Rebellion a 7. I think the rules will appeal to those who are interested in the Sci-Fi mech type of games, but who don't want or can't figure out which MechWar books and rules to buy. At US$60 for the basic set, I hope any future expansions are in the US$20-25 range. If the Seeker model is indicative of the complexity of other models, I will be very disappointed. The rules seem fine and I will probably use minis from other companies - especially my Ogre minis - to make larger scenarios. Hmmm... how would a Ogre MkV fare against a Cybrid Executioner...?

We play lots of other miniature games - Clan Wars, B5 Wars, DBA, DBM. Are all giant robot miniature games the same? Seems like maybe Starsiege learned the lesson from their predecessors.

By the way - miniatures are great... Cybrids are kind of hard to put together but look great once you get them glued up.