Battlefield Evolution: Modern Combat pre-order
Mongoose Publishing is now taking pre-orders for their Battlefield Evolution: Modern Combat rulebook.
From their website:
Battlefield Evolution: Modern Combat is an ultra-modern miniatures game played with the most advanced military equipment currently in the inventories of the world’s nations as well as new systems that are currently being developed.
Full army lists are included for:
- The British Army
- The People’s Liberation Army
- The United States Army
- The United States Marine Corps
- The Middle Eastern Alliance
- The German Heer
- The Russian Army
Battlefi eld Evolution: Modern Combat allows players to fight future wars anywhere in the world, be it rolling plain or humid jungle. From small skirmishes to full scale engagements, the armies of the world clash using the very latest technology and equipment.
It kind of boggles me that hardly anyone produces a wide variety of modern miniatures; most tend to do only army rangers, delta, SAS and insurgents.
We have companies sculpting miniatures for obscure ancient peoples that most folks have never heard of before; and given the amount of reference material for modern stuff, it should be fairly “easy” I would think.
No market I would suspect
I know for me personally, that modern miniatures are WAY too close to my personal line of “too real.” I wonder if there is a smaller market for that reason?
I think modern era militia/armed civlians would be a bad PR move given the current climate politically with people being killed left right and centre by the day. Aside from the actual wars with soldiers dying, the UK seems to have developed a bad teen habit of stabbing each other instead of having a punch-up.
Not good at all.
If one national press reporter got wind of some company making ‘toys’ of armed modern era/civilians then I can only imagine all the ‘completely missing the point’, look how terrible this is type stories you’d see in the press.
I can personally see the difference between game and reality so can see an argument for Afghans vs Nato etc. But saying that, I’m not sure I’d feel that comfortable playing it as I have a cousin going over there soon and it wouldn’t feel right making a game of it.
Interesting ethical/moral question that one - definitely down to the individuals comfort zone I think.
Of course it’s down to the individuals comfort zone, as you so delicately put it. I still need to see the first piece of evidence that for example the UK teens involved in gang violence are keen miniature wargamers. A hobby culture that generally has no problem about gaming with nazi toys shouldn’t go “moral” over other conflicts. It’s just a game anyway, and I’m sure practically everybody realizes this. The one thing I’m worried about with this game is that the quality of the miniatures might disappoint.
a_thousand-hats, I would not worry about PR or bad press regarding modern war “toy” be it video games, action figures, or tabletop games. Call of Duty 4 was and still is a well known “wargame”, and so is the US Army sponsered America’s Army video game. Todd Mcfarlane has been making action figures of modern day U.S. soldiers since 2005 and he always gets media exposure yet no one in the media notices anything wrong. I myself am into collecting 1/6th scale modern military action figures and there are many U.S. military service people who are into that hobby as well and they don’t seem to mind at all being portrayed as “toys” as you would call them.
If you looked around in forums that deal with modern and historical wargaming you will find many kinds of players from different backgrounds including people in the service that reenact current day conflicts. All of these players have a very respectable view of the modern day U.S. soldier. I think if there was an ethical or moral concern here then one should be equally worried about reenacting Nazis in World War 2 games. I don’t think anyone is serious about being a nazi just because he plays them in a tabletop game against an allied army.
gavroche, Mongoose is not going to be making miniatures for Modern Combat in the forseeable future. Instead we are to rely on other companies such as RH Models and Assault Group for miniatures. For vehicles there are plenty of pre-painted 1/72 scale diecasts that work perfectly for 20mm moderns. Check out the US ARMY/MARINES line made by RH Models - http://www.rhmodels.com/12.html
http://www.rhmodels.com/39.html
They make everything from ealy 90s era rangers to present day US ARMY with the latest gear including the MICH Helmets. 20mm may seem small at first, and that’s what I used to think, but once you see these minis you’ll be impressed, especially with the number of prepainted modern vehicles that would fit them.
@gavroche - I’m not suggesting that UK knife-fighting teens are wargamers (or being inspired by games of any sort). I was trying to make the point that the UK national press (tabloids anyway) don’t tend to let that kind of fact get in the way of an ‘angle’ for a story if ever they get the chance.
I have a different theory on social deterioration but that’s a whole different conversation :-)
And I agree I’d not be that concerned about playing Nazis vs Allies - I have no ‘living’ connection with those theaters so have a mental disconnect with the reality of it for gaming purposes. I just get a bit of an uncomfortable feeling when thinking about modern era stuff because of the personal connection.
@TJX I used the term ‘toys’ as a reference to how the press could potentially portray the story. I don’t have a problem with the term but I know several ‘non-gamers’ who would use the term in a semi-serious attempt at a put-down about the gamer-geek culture we’re all into.
And I agree, there are a lot of service people into miniatures wargaming.
As I mentioned in my first post, it’s a personal (as in for me personally) moral question which seems to have highlighted an interesting contradiction in my own mind with regards wargaming. On the one hand I can see the attraction of playing with modern day stuff and on the other it just feels a bit odd.
With regards minis:
Blackscorpion do some cool looking Iraqi militia and US marines.