Recently Osprey games has been cranking out rulebooks like
crazy, and after the hit that is Frostgrave, why not?. One that recently caught
my attention was Rogue Stars , a small scale Science Fiction themed skirmish
game. Written by Andrea Sfiligoi, who is the man behind Songs of Blades and
Heroes and Ganesha Games. Considering I have ton of Sci Fi figures and Terrain
I rarely use and am familiar with the authors other games , was really all it
took to get me to click "buy" over on Amazon.
Now while Song of Blades and Heroes never became my go to fantasy
skirmish game for many reasons that I will not going into here, Rogue Stars is
a much different game. A skill based game with a freeform turn system, that
uses rotating “on the fly” turns based on one player voluntarily passing
initiative or having stolen from him, via reactions to his failed activations. The game also revolves on accumulated stress
placed on characters through successful actions which push turns to the limit
where you eventually have to pass in order to manage character stress.
If this sounds way complicated, it is at first. Rogue Stars is, in its own way the antithesis
of Frostgrave. While my 10 year old was rolling dice and playing Frostgrave like anyone else within a couple hours ,
Rogue Stars is for someone who is familiar with complexity of different wargames
and likes rules heavy RPG mashed into a Tactical Wargame. Now that may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it is mine, I
rolled enough RPG dice playing Traveller and Alternity back in the day, I immediately get what the author is going
for.
Now that is not to say the book itself is not without its
flaws, Like many of these Osprey Wargame Books, they are all of similar length
regardless of the need for content. I found the RS book at 64 pages at least 46
pages short. So while character creation
is covered in depth and good detail with all kinds of charts for Missions,
Locations and Complications , and well wide selection of Themes for squads ,
equipment and skills, I found the core mechanic sections, jumbled , oddly layed
out and somewhat confusing. To really
get a handle on the rules to where I could play without going crazy took
numerous visits to Authors Facebook Page, The Rogue Stars Fan Page, and the
Lead Adventure Rogue Stars Forum.
There is also a healthy errata sheet and immediate updates available
at those locations. In end I am fine with it being a living document with
currently a lot of interest, however I
think not really being an off shelf , ready to play product without alot of guessing rules intent Is really doing the
game or Osprey any favors.
The book
certainly need its front end reorganized a bit with a lot more play examples
illustrated in detail. I also found it odd there is no section on “Movement” .
Figure movement being so key to many a tactical to having the only mention of
movement in game limited to Walk, Sprint and Run distances, some addition
movement mention in some skills and equipment to be off putting, however after
a test game I think this isn’t really necessary because the game doesn’t need
it, it should just be spelled out early in the rules so you aren’t referencing other games in the back of your
head wondering “how do I move”.
Despite these logistical shortcomings, Once I got a handle
on it , I really enjoyed the game. A much different experience than the
boardgame like feel of say Deadzone,
(which I also like and love the figures for, as I am using them here)
. I definitely think Rogue Stars is a
game I will be returning too often. I’ll
save play mechanics for my After Action Report coming up in part II. Let me close here with a quick recap.
Rogue Stars, Osprey
Publishing
Overall **** 4 Stars
out of 5.
Gameplay ***** 5
Stars
Rulebook *** 3 Stars
Pros- Fantastic skill based Character system, (no
stats) Great mission layout and thematic details. Designed
as a campaign style system. I love the old school RRG vibe the game is going
for. its also D20 which I like, (some
wont as it characterized a too wide a number spread, but I think this is
countered by the option to roll multiple dice)
Cons- Mechanics are
poorly laid out, lack of play examples , no quick reference sheet, relies heavily on charts that need to be referenced, three different live mechanics per character
to be tracked , Stress, Pins and Wounds.
If you like old school Sci Fi Rpgs, like Original Traveller, Gamma World, or Alternity,
and have an itch for narrative sci fi skirmish game and with the time to wrap
your head around it…this is for you.
If you are wondering what the hell I have been up to since
October I’ll be back with more of that after I wrap up the Rogue Stars AAR.
I’ll leave you with a
couple shots from my AAR, which of course takes place on my Hirst Arts Space
Station now augmented with Mantic terrain.