Tuesday 26 January 2021

Stargrave: Species and Robots!

It’s now three months until the official release date for Stargrave, which means the book is probably printing somewhere. I honestly don’t know where, as Bloomsbury, the parent company for Osprey Games, uses printers all over the world. Normally, I would be expecting to get an advance copy in the next month or so, but due to Covid, I will likely only see the book a month or so before release.

I know a lot of people are excited to get started on their crews, so I thought I would share a little more information to get people thinking about figures. Specifically, I thought I’d discuss species and robots!

The game divides species into two-broad groups: humanoid and non-humanoid. All crew are assumed to be humanoid, but beyond that, the rules don’t care at all what they look like. They can be tall or short, hairy or scaly, have ten eyes or one. So really, 90% of the ‘aliens’ that have appeared in various science-fiction movies and television over the years!

Non-humanoid aliens are usually treated as ‘uncontrolled creatures’ and most often used as neutral monsters in scenarios. That said, creative players shouldn’t let this stop them. If you really want a crewmember that looks like a floating jellyfish or man-sized centipede, then there is nothing wrong with that. As-long-as you can make the figures distinct from one another, and make it clear to your opponent which figures represent your captain, first-mate, or specific soldier type, there shouldn’t be a problem.

Robots, on the other hand, are treated slightly different in the rules. Essentially, whenever you recruit a new soldier into your crew, you can simply declare it is a robot. This comes with a few specific strengths and weaknesses (such as not needing to breath!), and changes their interactions with some of the powers and gear available to crew. You can’t have a robot for a captain or first-mate, although you can have a cyborg who is mostly machine. So, you can include a robot or two in your crew without it changing the structure of your crew much. You could even have all your soldiers be robots, though this is probably only likely if your captain happens to be a robot expert…

Anyway, hope that gives you a bit more idea about the freedom you have when buying figures and building your crew!

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For those wondering, the 'robot' above is a mech from the new Battletech game while the human is from Anvil Industries.

13 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for this Update

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  2. thanks for this - very useful info.

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  3. I’m taking the easy way out and making several of my crew sentient gas beings.

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    1. That puts a new twist on the phrase "brain-fart"

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    2. Cotton wads on bases?

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    3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. Great info thanks! I am really excited about this release, as is my gaming group. It is fantastic to see that the game will be as flexible in terms of miniatures as Frostgrave/Ghost Archipelago/Rangers of Shadow Deep.
    Keep it up please!

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  5. Thanks for this. It is very helpful in pulling together a set of figures for a crew!

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  6. Looking forward to this release. I've got some old-school WH40K Rogue Trader minis I plan on dusting off to use for my crew.

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  7. Using that Battletech Mech as 28mm Robot is a cool idea. I'm looking forward to kitbashing my Northstar and Wargames Atlantic minis together.

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  8. Thanks for all these news.
    And the 4 groups of pirates can be all robots ?

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  9. Personally, I don't see why the captain and/or first-mate can't also be robots. I'm unfamiliar with the lore or mechanics of Stargrave, but SF is full of intelligent and self-aware robots. They might be autonomous machines sent to explore where humans can't tread, runaway androids seeking freedom, the remnants of an alien civilization from the distant past, or machines that destroyed their masters and now have an antipathy towards all organic life.

    Or, you know, they could just be quirky robot freebooters, looking to serve their own inscrutable interests. The stars are the limit. It seems kind of arbitrary to allow humanoid and non-humanoid aliens as captains/first-mates, but not robots.

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    1. This is a balance mechanism, as the traits inherent in 'robot' would have results I don't want when combined with a captain / first mate. That said, you can certainly imagine them that way if you want.

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