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06 April 2013

2013: A New Dawn for VSF?

   I am sitting here, having just finished a paper for my professor about the failure of the Mau Mau revolt in 1950s Kenya, and the thought that comes to my mind is this:

"Man, 2013 looks like a great year for Victorian Science Fiction gaming."

Hear me out on this: 
  1. Empire of the Dead, which though marketed more as Gothic Horror is arguably still VSF, as it is certainly Victorian and has many science fiction elements in it, is doing well. The Requiem expansion's Kickstarter success shows that. I bought 54 (or so) minis and the rules.
  2. Dystopian Wars/Dystopian Legions seems to be going strong still. I bought some Dystopian Wars minis and the rules, plus a fleet for a friend. I would buy Legions minis if they were in 28mm scale. May still get those Prussian armoured infantry.
  3. In Her Majesty's Name is being released, and seems to be successfully racking up the Nickstarter pre-orders. I have not yet put in my $140-ish, but I plan to in the next week or so. That's another thirty odd 28mm figures and a set of rules. Hurry! April 18 is coming soon!
  4. Victoria Miniatures in Australia is producing some fantastic new minis that are very suitable for VSF gaming, though designed for proxy Imperial Guard in 40K. I need to order some more from her, and one of those cool t-shirts.
  5. Curious Constructs in England is also producing some new stuff, and I am supporting the Kickstarter for a trio of heavy weapons that are very steampunk/VSF, although again, intended originally for proxy IG.
  6. The Aethergraph. I hope to have a new issue of "the best free VSF gaming e-zine ever published" ready to read by mid-May. School, work and family permitting. I have some great stuff that has been sent to me. I would still like information on any VSF setting you are using. The theme is "Many Worlds of VSF."
  7. One downer: When the Navy Walked is no more. You can still purchase PDFs, I believe, but no additional supplements are planned at this point, and Rob (great guy, by the way) has announced the company is ceasing active operations. I enjoyed working with Rob on these projects, and I am rather proud of some of the mechanics for fleet and sailing that I wrote.

What do you think? Have I missed anything so far this year?

3 comments:

Varangian said...

I would add that Wyrd miniatures has continued to have a strong showing in Malifaux, and will likely have a new book ready at GenCon of this year.

It's definitely been a great time for steampunk and VSF.

Paul O'G said...

I too forsee a great year in VSF, and have definitely got my old itch back! Indeed, I just pimped my laptop with a Steampunk theme :-0

Looking forward, as always, to another edition of the Aethergraph.

PMMDJ said...

As I noted on my blog just today, after years of resisting, I finally caved in with the IHMN nickstarter. Maybe Steampunk is finally mainstream enough to get things over?