I've always loved Silent Death. Ever since it first arrived in the 80's. And after its resurrection - the Next Millennium - I loved it even more. From time to time I pick my ships, hundred of them... and I play a game or two. This time I was looking for extra ships to trade or sell to a gentleman who got the Silent Death longing again.
And then I picked up once again my old campaign papers. The "Take no ground but hold position" Campaign. After Warhounds was released, this gigantic campaign was played all around Lisbon. Hundreds of battles were played during weekends and Friday nights.
I played with the Tokugawa faction against 14 other players.
It went for three years, and, currently, when some of us meet - a few of us with children already by the hand - we still recount our tales and exploitations during that epic campaign. Infecting our children with space debris. Giving them dreams of lead and dice. Creating the next generation of geeks.
In this campaign, each of us had a Fleet that was sent to take hold of a massive asteroid field, rich beyond compare. We had to protect our mining ships, attack the other players, and eventually gain complete control over the asteroid field (never happened). In order to do so, we were allowed to make some changes and create new ships. I created the Iridia Light Carrier. Capable of putting in space 18 fighters and massing 20.000 tons. I scrap built it, had it painted and used the construction rules for its stats - the only binding rules that we had for new ships.
The Iridia was composed by a WizKids mechwarrior vehicle and GW old 40K rhino parts. It packed only defensive weaponry and a Hyper cannon just to give a statement that it wasn't completely helpless. But it could send out four 700 tons fighters... The "Iridia", the first of its class, was destroyed in an apocalyptic battle where House Colos forces were completely wiped out. I have a friend who will never forgive me for that battle. But it had to be done.
Wosh!
I also used some extra plastic Noble Armada frigates and some plastic SD missiles that I never use in play to create some new Tokugawa fighters. I used the WW2 Japanese Navy colours for my ships. These were the Soryu fighters. They were pretty nice and worked very well in the game. (Some years later ICE would copy me, using Noble Armada ships in a PDF Silent Death expansion).
Then the campaign slowly died. Other games, home changings, wifes, new girlfriends, new boyfriends, (yes, we had two girls playing in the campaign), children and life in general took away the time we had for this. Nobody ever got the asteroid field and some of us left the game with more ships than other. But all in all, we agree in something - Silent Death is still one of our Sci fi favorite games ever. There are more realistic rules out there, best branded games, better connected universes. But sheer pleasure in playing a dogfight in space? With dozens of ships? I doubt it.
So, why has it died again? What are the reasons? I really don't know. A good, unique system. Beautiful miniatures (with some exceptions) and the will of the players to buy them. A good and expanding universe. Excellent playability. Why did ICE let it fall? To my understanding its like killing the chicken with the golden eggs. But I might be wrong...
In this campaign, each of us had a Fleet that was sent to take hold of a massive asteroid field, rich beyond compare. We had to protect our mining ships, attack the other players, and eventually gain complete control over the asteroid field (never happened). In order to do so, we were allowed to make some changes and create new ships. I created the Iridia Light Carrier. Capable of putting in space 18 fighters and massing 20.000 tons. I scrap built it, had it painted and used the construction rules for its stats - the only binding rules that we had for new ships.
The Iridia was composed by a WizKids mechwarrior vehicle and GW old 40K rhino parts. It packed only defensive weaponry and a Hyper cannon just to give a statement that it wasn't completely helpless. But it could send out four 700 tons fighters... The "Iridia", the first of its class, was destroyed in an apocalyptic battle where House Colos forces were completely wiped out. I have a friend who will never forgive me for that battle. But it had to be done.
Wosh!
I also used some extra plastic Noble Armada frigates and some plastic SD missiles that I never use in play to create some new Tokugawa fighters. I used the WW2 Japanese Navy colours for my ships. These were the Soryu fighters. They were pretty nice and worked very well in the game. (Some years later ICE would copy me, using Noble Armada ships in a PDF Silent Death expansion).
Then the campaign slowly died. Other games, home changings, wifes, new girlfriends, new boyfriends, (yes, we had two girls playing in the campaign), children and life in general took away the time we had for this. Nobody ever got the asteroid field and some of us left the game with more ships than other. But all in all, we agree in something - Silent Death is still one of our Sci fi favorite games ever. There are more realistic rules out there, best branded games, better connected universes. But sheer pleasure in playing a dogfight in space? With dozens of ships? I doubt it.
So, why has it died again? What are the reasons? I really don't know. A good, unique system. Beautiful miniatures (with some exceptions) and the will of the players to buy them. A good and expanding universe. Excellent playability. Why did ICE let it fall? To my understanding its like killing the chicken with the golden eggs. But I might be wrong...
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