Pirates on the Starboard Bow!

A maelstrom of war and villainy, invasion and expansion. And within this we have the Marauders, the space age equivalent of pirates of old. The Syndicate have moved to completely control the former Rift Traders League, bringing it closer to the Terran Alliance. This has been aided by the presumptive loss of the singular Supermax-89 whilst on Syndicate enforcement duties in the Rift. Nevertheless, their new-found bonds with the Terrans have given them access to several old Reformer-class stations…

A little Firestorm Armada treat to kick off the weekend, courtesy of Spartan Games. They recently finished a redesign of the Syndicate models as part of a whole bunch of design modernization they are doing to the Marauder Fleets.

I really love these redesigned ships for the Syndicate.  Take a look!

Spartan Games: Firestorm Taskforce

Spartan Games has just announced three new Two Player Box sets, encompassing all of the core six races:

• Terran Alliance vs Dindrenzi Federation
• Aquan Prime vs The Directorate
• Sorylian Collective vs The Relthoza

Inside each Two Player Box come the components to play a 30-minutes plus game:

• Two Starter fleets (7 models in each)
• Firestorm Taskforce Rulebook
• D6 Dice
• Punch-Out Token Sheets
• Acrylic Movement Templates

The contents will allow anybody to quickly and easily start playing, whether they are an experienced gamer or a new player looking to start playing space combat. These new models are also the first to embrace a modular build design, and this is something gamers will see become pervasive across the future Firestorm model ranges. For existing Firestorm Armada 2.0 players, individual Reinforcement Sets, sold by race, are also available, containing Cruisers and upgrade components, Light Frigates and the necessary Flight stands.

Sitting at the entry point of Spartan Games’ space game family, Firestorm Taskforce is aimed at both existing and new players. As a set of rules, it is intended to service a need for quicker game-play and smaller gaming space, whilst providing a fantastic addition to the rich universe of Firestorm Armada. As game designer Derek Sinclair explains, “Taskforce isn’t a replacement for Firestorm Armada 2.0, rather an easy and very affordable introduction to exciting space battles, whilst providing a smooth upgrade route for when they want more from the Firestorm Galaxy.”

Space is not void...

Battle areas are rarely completely empty. Over their long careers Commanders have learned how to deal with the many obstacles that may fill entire sectors where their ships conduct operations. Today, we are going to look at some of the obstacles a ship commander will have to overcome in the vast empty void of space.

The most common obstacles are asteroid fields. In such sectors, the multitude of objects flying around could completely disable targeting systems and may now allow the use of any weapon. The advantage is that enemies cannot use their own targeting system as well. This may be a refuge, but not without significant risk. The presence of so many flying objects pushes pilots and anti-collision systems to their limits and damage may be caused.

So what happens during a battle? Ships get blown to bits and pieces. It’s a fact. In the heat of battle there will be ships blown apart and left to litter whole sectors of space.  Space debris caused by battles has the same affect on ships as asteroid fields.  In addition to the aforementioned issues  Commanders will have to deal with unexploded ordinance randomly going off from a misplace shot in ship to ship combat that did not hit its intended target.

Some sectors of space are subject to very strong gravitational fields generated by different forces arising from the disruption of matter or combined effects of stars. It is not possible to stay in such gravity fields for long, because these forces may accelerate warships to another close sector without the need of using engine. As these fields are unstable, it is not always possible to control the movement, and sometimes cause damage to Commanders ships.

The particles constituting Gas Clouds have an impact on the targeting system of ships as well, but not as much as asteroid fields. Ships inside a gas cloud could launch attacks, but cannot support attacks launched from another sector. If they are attacked, it is possible that one of the sectors attacking them would not be able to target them. Basically shooting in one direction. Hopefully you are on the right side.

Dark Anomalies are the most frightening forces to deal with in space. When active, they pull all ships around them towards them, and if too close, crush the ships in their immense gravitational forces. Fortunately, Dark Anomalies activations are slow and can be predicted.

Finally, human structures can be found in the middle of the battle areas. Colonies are places lost in the void where humans are living. They are most of the time miners, merchants, industrials that work in the "neighborhood". These structures always have some docking facilities where warships can receive some quick repair during a battle.

Battle stations are huge manufactured structures dedicated to military operations (logistic, intelligence, supply, and battle support…). Their conventional weapon systems are sometimes elaborate and can sometime play a key role in a warships battle or defending a strategic point in you sectors of space.

KickStarter: Fleet Commander

Capsicum Games announce that on 11th. January they will launch Fleet Commander – Genesis on Kickstarter. This game builds on their original release of Fleet Commander 1 – Ignition, designed by Elwin Charpentier and Henri Redici which was released in 2014 as a two player space battle game, by increasing the player count to 2 to 4. The Genesis version will contain the equivalent of 2 copies of Ignition together with the Beyond the Gate expansion released late last year.


Two new expansions will be available as part of the Kickstarter:

“Salvation is an expansion that introduces technical support ships, new terrains, scenarios and a campaign builder. 

Avatar is an expansion that will allow players to add to their fleet heavy battleships and commanders giving bonuses during the battle. It also contains new terrains and special weapons.”



There are three pledge levels: Explorer, Officer and Admiral with increasing Kickstarter.

Fleet Commander brings epic space battles down to size with a runtime of about an hour and the new Genesis version will contain 32 miniatures, 36 dice and 50 tiles. The tiles are used to create an area of space for the battles to take place adding in asteroid fields etc. Unlike some expansive space games these tiles allow for the total playing area to fit easily on a standard living room table. The modular board, special weapons and different scenarios ensure that the game has plenty of re-playability and the Genesis version will allow more players to enjoy this fast space battle game.

Robot Peanut Studios Bankruptcy Announcement

Just received this news from an All Quiet on the Martian Front Kickstarter pledger about the filed bankruptcy of Robot Peanut Studios with brands Alien Dungeon and Architects of War. Read below for the full announcement.

We regret to announce that effective January 27th, 2016, Robot Peanut Studios, LLC, and its associated brands, Architects of War and Alien Dungeon have permanently closed their doors.

Our sales plummeted precipitously in the 3rd and 4th quarter of 2015 and never recovered across our online retail operations as well as hobby shop and distributor sales. We could not maintain our business under these conditions and despite a continuing series of sales and marketing efforts, we have been forced to file for bankruptcy. The case has been filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania at case number 16-20247. Please contact an attorney if you have any questions.



We set out six years ago to start a company providing exciting and entertaining intellectual property primarily in the analog gaming market. RPS began with miniature games with the intention of expanding to board and digital games. While the All Quiet Kickstarter project brought in significant sales for us, the cost of development, manufacturing, and shipping exceeded the sales numbers and we were relying on sales beyond the Kickstarter in the broader market to carry the costs and expand the game. These sales never materialized in sufficient quantities. It is just that simple – we sold stuff through the Kickstarter that essentially ended up just above cost and then paid for the shipping. All Quiet just didn’t generate enough money for its scale. In addition, our original cost estimates based on quotes and time frame from various vendors Pre-Kickstarter were exceeded, making the business model untenable without retail sales that never materialized.

We are very sorry that it has come to this. Certainly not the outcome we dreamed of when we started the company. To our investors, the Kickstarter supporters and our loyal customers, we’d like to thank you for your support. It has been difficult not communicating during this legal process, but we have had to go through a process and that has been well outside any of our previous experiences.

This will be our last communication. Customer service inquiries will not be answered and there will be no additional communication on Kickstarter. We do not know what the final disposition of All Quiet and or other product brands will be at this time. We have to forfeit our participation in such matters to the court.

Barb and I must move on and find employment and start putting our lives back together. To our friends, investors, vendors, and loyal customers, thank you for helping us try to fulfill our dream and we wish you the best possible future. Yours Sincerely, Barb and Ernie