Legions of Steel Forum

Legions of Steel => General Discussion => Topic started by: Dave Chase on February 08, 2011, 10:09:24 AM

Title: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Dave Chase on February 08, 2011, 10:09:24 AM
(Wish there was poll ability here.)

This is a hard one for me.

I like UNE of course, they are the Earth Dogs.
But I also like Infranites; wild, crazy, cool figures and neat weapons.

And last, I do like the Machines, the Legions. For an enemy, they are kind of cool, and in most scenarios, you keep getting more and more and more.  ;D

That is one of the reasons that I liked LOS, it was fun to play all sides of the war. It also allowed you to pick up new players because one of the army/races would appeal to them.

Dave Chase
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Kindred on February 08, 2011, 07:04:41 PM
Hmmm... you should be able to create a new poll post and even add polls to your posts....
Title: Which Race/Army do you like and why - The Poll
Post by: bobloblah on February 08, 2011, 08:48:55 PM
Let us know which race you prefer (to play, to paint, etc.) and why...

A custom race would be something other than the default game factions, such as something built with Tony Lin's point-value hack, or eye-balled from another game like 40k.
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: bobloblah on February 08, 2011, 08:49:31 PM
There's a poll set up now.
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: smokingwreckage on February 09, 2011, 06:04:06 AM
I pretty much like 'em all. If they were in print I'd collect a Black Empire and a Fantasian army; I already have UNE, Machines, and Infranites.
Title: Re: Who's number one?
Post by: Dave Chase on February 09, 2011, 09:33:47 AM
I can't vote. ;)

You don't have an all of the above button.

 ::)

Dave Chase
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Dave Chase on February 09, 2011, 09:49:18 AM
Wow, I guess I missed the New Poll button.  ::)

hehe

Dave Chase
Title: Re: Who's number one?
Post by: Kindred on February 09, 2011, 06:59:45 PM
:P Added...    :o
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Clark on February 12, 2011, 05:32:37 AM
While I did the basic write up for all 5 races, Dereck ran with Black Empire while the Infranites were always Marco's baby's .  Additionally, Dave MacKay  rather than Tom Frank was the lead artist who gave the look to the Infranites.  Tom also took on more writing duties for Planetstorm for the UNE background material, inter alia. Wes Johnson designed a number of figs that were light and fast.  If you have met the man (and Tom) this all makes sense.

The basic concepts of the races follow.  You tell me if that is how you read them, play them and such.

UNE: The forces of the free world. They are the sci-fi equivalents of North America, Western Europe, and the ANZACs.

Fantasians: Modelled after Soviet Era forces with facism added in.  While opinions vary, they are like lawful evil space-orks rather than the chaotic-stupid variety.  I wish I never mentioned "walrus" in their description. However we went against type with the idea of Privateers and Kezyrists.

Infranites: Our version of space-elves.  Earthy, high psyche factor, and arguably chaotic good.  Pound for pound probably the most deadly (and I had to keep correcting errors in the weapon stats that made them particularly so). The Oth, Paache and Krayl variations were Marco's ideas.

The Black Empire: What can I say? They have "empire" in their name.  Feudalistic, with  strange penchant for hand-to-hand combat, and with generally the biggest point disparity between their line and elite troops (an Angel Flight is HOW many points?) they have a more fantastic feel to them.

The Machines: Goofy-tech to the 11 (Nega-spheres, disruptor weapons, HTH, early EMP weapons and such).Hive mind combatants, reversed with the advent of Omega Fiends. The Overlord Classes found in Planetstorm were my doing to represent various manifestations of "the other".

The funny thing about art is that the audience doesn't necessarily buy into what the author was trying to do.  But that is my take on it, which is no more valid that those who actually buy, paint, and play the various races.
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Dave Chase on February 12, 2011, 12:10:01 PM
While I did the basic write up for all 5 races, Dereck ran with Black Empire while the Infranites were always Marco's baby's .  Additionally, Dave MacKay  rather than Tom Frank was the lead artist who gave the look to the Infranites.  Tom also took on more writing duties for Planetstorm for the UNE background material, inter alia. Wes Johnson designed a number of figs that were light and fast.  If you have met the man (and Tom) this all makes sense.
Thanks, I always like hearing some of the back history about how things came to be. To me it adds a bit of personality to a product that I already like.

Quote
The basic concepts of the races follow.  You tell me if that is how you read them, play them and such.

UNE: The forces of the free world. They are the sci-fi equivalents of North America, Western Europe, and the ANZACs.
Add to the fact that in all the background fluff, you made them the underdogs, also appealed to me.

Quote
Fantasians: Modelled after Soviet Era forces with facism added in.  While opinions vary, they are like lawful evil space-orks rather than the chaotic-stupid variety.  I wish I never mentioned "walrus" in their description. However we went against type with the idea of Privateers and Kezyrists.
I like the different contrast with Fantasian ruled space. Kind of a big family that would disagree and fight among themselves, until some outsider stepped in, then they would as one turn against that outsider.
Plus, I always felt that were would be some more surprises in the future from this race that we would not always expect.


Quote
Infranites: Our version of space-elves.  Earthy, high psyche factor, and arguably chaotic good.  Pound for pound probably the most deadly (and I had to keep correcting errors in the weapon stats that made them particularly so). The Oth, Paache and Krayl variations were Marco's ideas.
Space Elves, oh. Well even knowing that, I still like them. I thought of them more as modern day Northern and Central American Indian tribes. With a bit more racial organization to them.

Quote
The Black Empire: What can I say? They have "empire" in their name.  Feudalistic, with  strange penchant for hand-to-hand combat, and with generally the biggest point disparity between their line and elite troops (an Angel Flight is HOW many points?) they have a more fantastic feel to them.
Also a more eltist, regal, nobility feel to them. I liked how it gave you two completely different human groups to play in the game.
Quote


The Machines: Goofy-tech to the 11 (Nega-spheres, disruptor weapons, HTH, early EMP weapons and such).Hive mind combatants, reversed with the advent of Omega Fiends. The Overlord Classes found in Planetstorm were my doing to represent various manifestations of "the other".
The race (?) that could become anything, yet never threw away anything. To me the LOS had the most potential to create anything or any type of figure. Who truly knows what is horror to the other alien races. And that the machines evolved(?) over time was fun too. You (designers) did not make it required that the machines evolved but you gave us reasons and stayed with in the realm of LOS believibility of why the LOS changed and grew.

Quote
The funny thing about art is that the audience doesn't necessarily buy into what the author was trying to do.  But that is my take on it, which is no more valid that those who actually buy, paint, and play the various races.
Yes, but unlike some game companies that get bent out of shape over it, you rolled with it and worked with the fans. That is one of the reasons that you kept such a following over the years.

Dave Chase
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Clark on February 13, 2011, 11:01:51 AM
I only mention elves and orks to provide a contextual comparison to that "other game" that launched them into space.  The idea was that IF you liked space elves, you would like the Infranites.  Maybe I missed the mark on that. I love elves.  I played a pick up game of D&D recently and got my elf-on.  But space elves? After seeing Dave's and Marco's work I thought the Infranites were far more interesting.  But yes, there is obviously the Amerindian angle which sets them up in opposition to the rapacious, and probably none-too-environmentally friendly Fantasians.

The Machines "evolve" through the use of their Mind Vaults filled with captive sentients.  There could well be more Overlord varieties but I came up with some basics: Papa "straight" machines, Charlie military styles, Hattin Napoleonic, and the Blood Lord for undead and monsters.

It never made sense to me that Humans would be the masters of the galaxy, certainly not in the near term.  The game is completely non-representative of the universe that I created.  That is, Human vs Machine battles in Planetstorm are like comparing the invasion of Grenada to the entirety of WWII.  Without the Galactics policiing the situation, our little, blue planet would have been taken over by the Fantasians or Azaramians long ago.
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Kindred on February 13, 2011, 03:02:55 PM
Actually, I tend to play elves, space elves, etc... and I always thought that the Black Empire had a "corrupted Elvish" feel to it. BE has always been my favorite race (I love the ornateness of the models), second only to the USE/humans.
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: SgtHulka on February 14, 2011, 03:18:55 PM
Fantasians were always my army of choice. They looked cool and were evil Stalinist commies, with their armor named after world war 2 tanks, what more could you ask for? Unfortunately, it ended up being a costly army because you needed tons of them for planetstorm.

My experience with planetstorm was that indirect fire ruled the battlefield, and so the Infranites were almost unbeatable with those BAPs. It's just as likely that the guy in our group who played Infranites was just a superior player. Because I always got my butt whipped, I've never liked Infranites. It's the one army I don't have any of.

I collected a ton of machines because you kind of had to. They were everyone's enemy. I liked the Charlie overlord, but I painted my machines in the Bloodlord overlord schemes.

I wasn't a huge fan of the UNE sculpts. But I collected and painted them, anyway. I loved the original LoS boxed set scenarios so I couldn't help but want to play a lot of UNE. RAM Lasers and shoulder-mounted TOWs made them somewhat Planetstorm competitive, but the calliope was a poor man's indirect fire weapon. The Katyusha and BAP batteries could really devestate them.

Black Empire was sort of my fourth, red-headed stepchild army. I never had enough to field a proper Planetstorm force, but I had enough to fight the underground scenarios. I found them to be a bit of a house of cards. They look powerful on paper but can go down fast. Also, I might be misremembering, but I don't think they had any inderect fire weapons at all. Maybe they had individual grenade launchers, but that's it.
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Kindred on February 14, 2011, 06:17:05 PM
but, the BE had the speed to make up for lacking indirect fire...

3 recce angels could get nearly anywhere on the board and could usually survive a few rounds of being shot at.
The Storm angels provided a nasty followup punch... and the foot soldiers just pulverized the enemy.
The main drawback was that the were so expensive, I rarely had as many models as anyone else, and so made up for it with hit and run tactics.

Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Clark on February 15, 2011, 12:53:18 PM
The indirect fire rules and weapons will have to be looked at to either tone down some of them or else add some defensive ability, especially to the Fantasians and their basic "clay pigeon" stormtroopers.

As a general note, there was a pretty consistent pattern of sales of 3:2:1:1:1, that is for every three Machine and two UNE blisters we sold we also sold one of each of the aliens.  It makes sense if you think about it.  The only time that got disrupted was at GenCon '95 when we sold an inordinate number of Black Empire figs.  It turned out that my girlfriend at the time would show players all the races and then comment that the BE were her personal favourites.  If you saw my girlfriend and know what gamers are like, then you will understand what happened.
Title: Re: Who's number one?
Post by: bobloblah on February 15, 2011, 01:02:40 PM
Wellll...so much for this poll. Looks like the original thread that engendered it has picked up the discussion portion, so that's good. I'd hope that people would still vote here, if only so we could more easily see a numeric breakdown.
Title: Re: Who's number one?
Post by: Dave Chase on February 15, 2011, 04:53:44 PM
Maybe change the title to reflect that this is the Poll for the other thread.

(Oh, and I voted. ;) )

Dave Chase
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why - The Poll
Post by: HardRock on February 15, 2011, 05:26:18 PM
I voted for UNE, but I also like LoS and have the start on a Fantassian force. I could only vote for one.
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Kindred on February 15, 2011, 08:58:18 PM
admin powers - activate

threads merged
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: smokingwreckage on February 16, 2011, 09:49:59 PM
H'm, I more or less followed the writers, they were very clear on the UNE WW2 references, but I never picked Infranites for Elves. Back in the day I played Infranites and Eldar, though, so that's SPOOKY.

I loved and still love the Infranite sculpts. The BAP lacks some refinement (underbelly!) but IMO looks better than most competitors even today. The Lightning makes Eldar jetbikes embarrassing to have ever bought. The Infranite scouts are still one of the most dynamic power-armoured miniatures in existence. In game, ironically, I haven't played the Infranites much, I tend to end up playing UNE. That's probably because I'm paying Defiance in lieu of Planetstorm, it's even more figure-hungry and UNE are easier to get! I need more Infranite models, BTW.

I love the UNE concepts but the sculpts are a bit variable (the NCO with his enormous arm, the Carl-G gunner with his even more enormous arm). The concepts though were still kicking other company's tails ten years later, particularly the Heavy Assault Troopers and Assault Support Platform. The ASP might be the only power-armour in any game to come close to Starship Troopers levels of firepower. I still need more UNE models.

In terms of concepts, I liked that the Black Empire was quite alien, but still dignified. The Storm Angel is a great idea! Amazons in Power Armour with Laser Swords riding CYBER RAPTORS! How did you guys not get rich with that? I don't own any BE miniatures, but if they were back in production I would.

Machines. I like 'em. Their specialised, unbreakable troops are awesome. Lots of variety and a complete line including vehicles! I statted up the Dreadbot for Defiance and it's a MONSTER of limited-ammo rocket-powered destruction.

Fantasians I have no experience of but their big support armour looked retro-soviet awesome IMO.
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: SgtHulka on February 17, 2011, 09:17:20 AM
The Storm Angel is a great idea! Amazons in Power Armour with Laser Swords riding CYBER RAPTORS! How did you guys not get rich with that? I don't own any BE miniatures, but if they were back in production I would.

I've gotta re-purpose these guys as alien invaders in a superhero game. They're Kirby-esque in coolness.

I agree with you pretty much spot on on the aesthetics of the various figures.

I always thought the Infranites would also make great Predator stand-ins.

The big Battlefortress UNE Walker would make a great Weird World War II walker, and the Fantasians would make great Weird World War II Soviet Powered armor.

There's a VOID walker that could probably stand-in for the Fantasian Warbear (that's the one model I was really bummed to have never seen).
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: bobloblah on February 18, 2011, 02:10:27 PM
There's a VOID walker that could probably stand-in for the Fantasian Warbear (that's the one model I was really bummed to have never seen).

I actually picked one up recently with the intention of converting it to a Warbear...cool model!
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: grendeljd on February 24, 2011, 11:07:57 AM
The Machine were the first and foremost reason I got into the game. I have always had a thing for robots in any form within sci-fi. The very first hint of LoS I saw was an External Security Horde - the painted nightmares in the photo on the case immediately pulled me in, and I probably have about 150+ machine figures alone. I love the idea that they tried to create an image of themselves to terrify those they invaded & destroyed... and that they appear to re-create that image based on what part of the universe they were in [I used to imagine how cool it would be for the LoA to have discovered some remnant Machines from some previous unknown conquered space, what they might look like].

I thought of my Overlord as a Bloodlord variant - All my figures are painted either Blue or Red [a nod towards the infamous Bloodlord 6X5R cited in the LoS background] instead of in flesh tones, depending on how advanced or specialized the unit is [ie, nightmares & gremlins are blue, predators & sniperbots are red]. Command figures tend to have a mix of both with copper highlights as well. I liked the idea of the psychological warfare it engaged in, and to emulate that I used to play a lot of music by Frontline Assembly during games [a line in one of their songs is "humans/humans/humans... killed by machines" - I kid you not!]

I also thought that the Infranites were vaguely predator-ish, in appearance rather than personality. I didn't play them often, but I have a few good units.

And I really like the UNE too - an old friend of mine was in the Canadian Military and I loved hearing about how much detail in the game came from our own forces.
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Clark on February 25, 2011, 12:52:19 AM
The Machines always get compared to Terminator, probably because T2 was only released in 1991. But really, the only similarity is that the Nightmares are robot skeletons, but otherwise look totally different: armoured greaves, spikes here and there, more pronounced eye sockets, hard point elbows, narrower chest and no trapezius actuators (these aren't Arnold skeletons).

But there were a lot of mixed metaphors. If I recall correctly, the initial review by Dragon Magazine said "It looks like Terminator, plays like 40k and feels like a cross between Aliens and Full Metal Jacket." If only we had a gamer movie exec handy to pitch that to!
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Dave Chase on February 25, 2011, 10:08:16 AM
...

But there were a lot of mixed metaphors. If I recall correctly, the initial review by Dragon Magazine said "It looks like Terminator, plays like 40k and feels like a cross between Aliens and Full Metal Jacket." If only we had a gamer movie exec handy to pitch that to!

Ah, (sigh), I did back in 2003 but since I am no longer involved with the Entertainment industry nor licensing and the contact I had moved on to Disney plus the other major contact I had, are more into gameshows and reality TV (Like the producers of American Idol).

I was pitching that 'The Rock' or Mark Walenberg would make a good Sgt Patterson. But I didn't have the IP so, it never got very far than table talk over lunch.
(They were not to interested in researching for it either because the Spy Hunter movie did not go over very well.)

Dave Chase
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Clark on February 25, 2011, 05:19:25 PM
Once the character took shape I pictured Patterson being played by Liam Nesson: an old Irishman kicking ass. And that was well before Taken.
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Arfiel on March 06, 2011, 04:58:23 PM
I was an Infranight player. Every figure is special forces. Between good fire power and their battle blades there was no foe they could not face down.

Once they move to the open spaces they had their bikes and FROG units for speed and punch.

Although I never did get a rock lobster for my army!!
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: sergeant_hastp on March 06, 2011, 05:45:09 PM
I wrote house rules for an Infranite assasin/sniper...with cloaking device...just so we could field a 'Predator'.  A friend who was all about the Infranites...grende l knows who I mean...used him a couple times.

Geo-politically, I drew the allegory of the Infranites as Israel, as it relates to UNE as 'the west' and the Fantasians as 'USSR',
Israel being an ally to the west, and sharing of technology (Though I am aware that in our world the tech sharing generally went the OTHER way).

This set up showed especially when the fluff in Planetstorm mentioned the Tenskin; that race that was a lower tech arch enemy of the Infranites, and supported technologically by the Fantasians.  In that regard I pictured the Tenskin as the arab world.

As for me, I was UNE all the way....but I did have to dabble.  I ended up with a medium-sized force of Machines...so I could let others play them against my UNE and thus get them into the game.  I got a few Fantasians...for much the same reason...and another friend I introduced became a major Fantasian lover.

After that I figured I needed some Black Empire...mainly because they were there...and no one else I knew was taking advantage of them.

Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Scoutzout on March 06, 2011, 08:34:38 PM
Infranites and hardly ever used BAP (Although I have like 6 of them) I loved the tribes..and the flavor of their race. They were only missing Shamans  :)

Black Empire in Planetstorm because of the Angels They just rock although I could never figure out just how they were mounted :-)

UNE Commando
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Masherking on March 11, 2011, 10:58:14 AM
Damn thats a tough question.
I got collected all the races, each has a models I love.
gonna have to go with all. :)
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Katharsis on March 24, 2011, 01:36:16 PM
Time for 'the artist' to weigh in! lol
What drew me to GG in the first place was a cool look machine and the UNE soldiers. Nothing like it was being produced at the time out of Canada, and these 'boyz' were just down the road from me (like i needed another excuse to travel to Toronto).
Marco is very persuasive and charasmatic and he and i (i think) worked well together to develop the Infranites and i still have an incredibly soft spot in my heart for them. To settle the matter here: we really did base them on advanced tribal groups - Amerindians etc. An incredible sense of honour and tough warrior spirits. @Clark: "space elves?! really?" lol
Tom Frank designed some amazing 'outside of the box' ideas and i've always been impressed with how quick he could change hats from designer to artist to storyteller and rules monger!
Clark and i had some opportunities to work together as well, but i'm just the lowly artist and he was one of the bosses... good times that i sorely miss. :(
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Arfiel on March 25, 2011, 10:11:51 AM
I agree Katharsis. I always though of the Infranites as great hunters much bigger and stronger than the image of a "space elf". As SGT_HASTP posted he even made rules for a  "predator" like special forces figure.
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Kindred on March 25, 2011, 10:54:43 AM
Actually, the Black Empire always seemed more "elvish" (as well as Roman) to me.

An ancient empire in decline trying to hold onto their old glory
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Clark on March 25, 2011, 07:39:43 PM
I started a new thread about Space Elves (?!) and discuss the various archrtypes including "High Men" who are sort of 'more human than human' but not as mystical as "Fairies".  You have to read the whole post and follow the link for it to make more sense.

I don't know if the Black Empire are in decline. As a single empire they are one of if not the most powerful, but the Legions of Steel's appearance was a game changer.
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: smokingwreckage on March 27, 2011, 02:36:15 AM
I like the sense that the Black Empire is strong and growing, but to some extent hasn't rediscovered its full, ancient, technological heritage. It's like Europe still under the shadow of the Greeks and Romans, even though it was in most respects much more advanced and powerful, there were still these near-mythical ancients casting a shadow across all Europe's achievements, and some specific things the European kingdoms mostly hadn't surpassed a thousand years later. I'm thinking of innovations in the fields of philosophy, politics, mathematics, and civil engineering. As they were separated from those ancient achievements by the Dark Ages, so the Black Empire is kept from its heritage by the tragic flight along the Path, and whatever lies beyond the Rift.
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Nukelavee on April 05, 2011, 03:22:02 PM
For the record - Tom Frank's Fantasian army, with the K2Shaws?  Dear God -  getting anything across the table to them was a nightmare.

My army?  Machines.  2 dreadbots, 4 or 5 Mark II's, Snipers, 16 Runaways, and a ton of Nighmares.  (painted, not actually fielded at once.

For the Rock Lobster fans?  The easiest way to make one is steal 4 Bap/Jetbike chaincannon, and locate an old Decipticon.

Can't think of the name right now, but it's a "deluxe" Insecticon, brown, and it's main body is a good standin for the ol Lobstrousity.  Cept for the vintage Cadilac fins.
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Kindred on April 05, 2011, 04:03:52 PM
perhaps this one?

http://transformers.wikia.com/wiki/Chop_Shop (http://transformers.wikia.com/wiki/Chop_Shop)
(http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080228153102/transformers/images/thumb/8/83/G1_Chopshop_toy.jpg/200px-G1_Chopshop_toy.jpg)
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: bobloblah on April 05, 2011, 05:24:00 PM
I've been thinking for a while now about trying to do a Rock Lobster conversion with this miniature: http://store.dp9.com/images/dp9-9100parts.jpg (http://store.dp9.com/images/dp9-9100parts.jpg). The only problem is that I'm not entirely certain about it's size realtive to LoS miniatures.
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Nukelavee on April 05, 2011, 05:40:55 PM
Kindred.....yup. 

I'm not saying the rock lobster was directly influenced by it...but it was definately influenced by it.
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Clark on April 05, 2011, 08:24:09 PM
For the record - Tom Frank's Fantasian army, with the K2Shaws?  Dear God -  getting anything across the table to them was a nightmare.

A "nightmare": that is an LOS in-joke.  :P

That is sort of how the Fantasians were supposed to be played, with lots of saturation fire artillery and then their clay pigeons could have a decent fight against whatever survived. 

The Infranites mucked that up with the relative precision of the FROG.  The FROG BAP could nail one section each turn - anywhere on the map - and make mincemeat of them if they were in T-70s.

Quote
My army?  Machines.  2 dreadbots, 4 or 5 Mark II's, Snipers, 16 Runaways, and a ton of Nighmares.  (painted, not actually fielded at once.

Designed the Dreadbot?  Must have one  two
Designed the Mk II?  Must have a maniple
Designed Sniperbot? Must have!
Designed Runaways?  Must have enough to take over the most annoying enemy figure!

I must say that the Mk II/Sniper/Dreadbot mix could be nasty with the Assault Fiend assigning or directing leadership while the others take shots at up to 75" if you can get line of sight.
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Vok Ytalinov on April 13, 2011, 05:26:12 PM
More notes:  As per discussions with Marco and Dave, I always saw the Infranites as a Namarind inspired race: look at the clan names...Also, the alphabet we used was an Omeshkago Cree (Check that spelling) one.  Marco wanted females to be numerically superior and thus make up the bulk of the line troops so they were...Elf never really came into the fluff concepts.  As for marketing, the "Dial a D**k" nature of the Infranite army was directly cited as a reason for the army's equipment aways being the best...So, power gamers might tend to like them better.  Fortunately, Clark had made a decent points system and play balance wasn't as bad as it could've been.  Lastly, for now, at least, good eye on the Tenskin...I didn't specifically see infranites as Israel, but did see the Tenskin as a sort of Arab, Tamil, North Korean or Basque ish (at least as portrayed in western movies of the time) group with Fantasia as the patron state, much as the USSR was seen to be.)  All that from a spot illo by Dave and a paragraph of description by Marco, plus me needing content to mine for colour plates...in this case, Gregor the fantasian sniper...
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: bobloblah on April 13, 2011, 05:36:18 PM
Tenskin are a faction i would've loved to have seen something released for. Were there ever any plans to further expand the number of factions available in Legions of Steel?
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Clark on April 13, 2011, 06:42:28 PM
There were still a lot of possibilities with the existing races to make sub-factions:

UNE: National Armies, SOG, Panzerdyne 9000 series, Outland regiments, JEF, Peacemakers
Infranite: Beda tribes and JEF
Fantasians: Privateers, Kezyrists, Spetznas, subject forces
Black Empire: various Krafs, expanded Massakars, subject forces, "ninjas", Templars
Machines: new Overlords but the sky is the limit on potential new designs, Heretics

Plus non-powered troop variations for all. If a satisfactory psionics system was to be had then there would be at least 4 or 5 more figs to cover that off.

And there was the intention of releasing a series of Galactic Plenipotentiates

Beyond that, I don't know of any discussions about completely new races although the Kodin kept catching my attention.
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Clark on April 13, 2011, 07:00:44 PM
As for marketing, the "Dial a D**k" nature of the Infranite army was directly cited as a reason for the army's equipment aways being the best...So, power gamers might tend to like them better.  Fortunately, Clark had made a decent points system and play balance wasn't as bad as it could've been.

There was the "errata" for the RQP and chain cannon HE that required their firepower to be cut in half.  Marco was not pleased, lol.  Sometimes he was mystified why his cool idea cost so many UPVs.

But stupid us for not going the GW route of planned obsolecence, tech upgrades and arms races.  That is certainly a good way to sell figs.
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: grendeljd on April 14, 2011, 09:37:56 AM
And there was the intention of releasing a series of Galactic Plenipotentiates

Was that the 'Pax Galactica' line, of which we saw a few pics on the blue box?
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Clark on April 14, 2011, 11:16:29 AM
Pax Galactica was intended to be in the LOS universe and use a similar system to run battles among the Galactics.  Tom or Wes probably know more because it was Marco's baby and I had nothing to do with it.
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Nukelavee on April 14, 2011, 02:08:57 PM
Stormfront was the working name.

Yeah, they were the next step up the foodchain.
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Vok Ytalinov on April 14, 2011, 07:54:45 PM
There was a Nerud Bounty hunter sculpted by Dave Summers.  I have a master but don't know if it was ever produced and released.  The rules could be found in  issue zero of  Havok magazine, which was also the last complete GG catalogue.  It was available in the Towers of Bel supplement for Inferno as well as being given out to practically everyone @ shows.  There was some excellent Fantasian fiction and a scenario for LOS, the Nerud Bounty Hunter and  the Fantasian VI-3 MBT for Planetstorm and stuff for Inferno too.
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: smokingwreckage on April 14, 2011, 11:41:10 PM
I have that Havok magazine i think, though missing cover and a couple of catalogue pages. I think the nerud was pictured in the cat., would that mean he'd been mastered and cast?
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Clark on April 14, 2011, 11:57:08 PM
There is a description in Havoc and a listing in the catalogue but there is no photo of the Bounty Hunter figure while there is for the other figures.
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Brother Jim on April 15, 2011, 11:32:40 PM
I've been thinking for a while now about trying to do a Rock Lobster conversion with this miniature: http://store.dp9.com/images/dp9-9100parts.jpg (http://store.dp9.com/images/dp9-9100parts.jpg). The only problem is that I'm not entirely certain about it's size realtive to LoS miniatures.

DP9 minis are approximately 1/144th scale. I don't have that fig, but will ask on their forums for measurements on Sat morning when I get home from work.
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Nukelavee on April 16, 2011, 10:42:36 AM
Do NOT get me started on those damn Podlings!

Unless you want to learn more about the incestuous nature of the Canadian gaming industry.
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Vok Ytalinov on April 21, 2011, 07:23:46 PM
It's not just the Canadian gaming industry.  Does everyone here know that Warhammer was actually invented by Canadians?  And, yes, I know this probably isn't the thread for this, but, it flows.
  So, to get back on topic...Which race do I like and why?  Well, I like some more than others and the Fantasians most of all.  Mostly, it's the historical feel of the figs.  I've always been a historical gamer when possible, and here was a way for me to creep my interest in the bad guys of the C20 (and how could fictional ones be any more villanous, except possibly in scale) into this ostensibly science fiction game.  As for style of play, the Fantasians demand a careful co-ordination of all your very different assets and you have to move...Plus, I've always found it really easy to identify with the poor grunts who just happen to be posted to the Death Star, or manning the border post the day James Bond blows through etc., etc.,...y'know, dudes that just want to make it to the end of their watch in one piece, in spite of the most determined efforts of their superiors.
  Co incidentally, probably, just after Global released the Fantasians, Citadel released the historical flavoured Imperial Guard regiments, including the Fallschirmjager inspired Cadians, and my personal favorites, the Valhallan Ice warriors, true Red Army re-enactors  if I ever saw them.
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Vok Ytalinov on April 21, 2011, 07:33:57 PM
  My least favorite race is the Machines, even though I designed many of them.  It isn't that I don't like them aesthetically, I've just never trusted technology and truly find nothing admirable about them...My most favorite Machine design of my own is the MK 1.  No changes at all from the concept.  I really like Wes'  Runaway design also.  As soon as I saw it I thought "That's the one."  Evil as **** in a spacesuit as well, they are.
  The Succubot is a sweetie too.  Tom Meier really did a beautiful job on her face.
  My least favorite, of mine anyways, is the Stalker.  I liked the drawing, but somehow, the fig didn't come off.  Likewise, the Gremlin.

Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Clark on April 21, 2011, 08:36:47 PM
I relate to a lot of what you are saying, Tom.  The Paladin suit took something like three options and then two additional mods to get where we wanted to be.  The Mark I was simply brilliant right out of the gate, even if some dismiss it as the "cow-headed, chicken-footed" robot.  But the Machines are all about goofy-tech: negaspheres, disruptor grenades, etc etc.  As a player I am more drawn towards the UNE and Fantasians because of their historically analagous equipment (for the the most part) but as a designer I love to come up with stuff for all of them.

That's generally.  I like to improvise and that is certainly required when you have a mish-mash of machines (or if you use the Decimation Rule).  Infranites tend to be as straight forward as a lance.  The Azaramians can be fun if you have a lot of cheap figs; they tend to hang around since all Takkars are -1 GM.  Or you get a flight of recce Angels for 5 billion UPVs: 3 figs that can take out an assault group each.

Tom Meir was really good with female faces.  I think he would do an awesome job of a new Angel head.
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: smokingwreckage on April 22, 2011, 04:12:03 AM
Tom Meier is a freaking god. His actual fine detail (rather than multi=layered encrustations) can be absolutely stunning. http://www.thunderboltmountain.com/ (http://www.thunderboltmountain.com/)

Although my favourite LOS sculpts were Dave, um, Summers? The Infranites, especially the BAP.
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Vok Ytalinov on April 22, 2011, 04:12:58 PM
  All the Infranites were sculpted by Dave Summers, as were most of the other figs.  Tom Meier did the original G1 Nightmare, the Mk 1 Assault Fiend, the Succubot, Predator, the Behemoth, the Paladin Commandos with Blaster and Plasma Projector and the Recce Commando Trooper.  Jeff Wilhelm did the MK 2, Mk 2A1, the Gremlin and the Scorpion Bot (I think).  Geoff Valley did the Recce Trooper with jump pack.  Dave Summers sculpted all the rest.  My favorite Dave Summers figs were the Fantasian T80 suits, the Kommissar and Starshina, Archfiend, Ironsides, Tozai Drakkar and Infranite Jet Bikes.  Sometimes, especially with the variant arms, proportions could go awry, but mostly, Dave ably translated the 2d drawings into 3d sculptures.
Title: Re: Which Race/Army do you like and why.
Post by: Clark on April 22, 2011, 10:57:27 PM
From my short discussions with Tom Meier it seems that LOS was the only line of sci fi figs he worked on. Dave Summers was great but sometimes the proportions were off like with the BE chariot.

The ArchFiend is nothing less than a masterpiece for both Tom and Dave.