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Getting into silent death - Printable Version

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Getting into silent death - Shakespear - 03-10-2018

I have been interested in this game since I think the 90s? I think I finally decided to pull the trigger and buy some stuff.

Where can I read about the background? Are any of the old books available in PDF form?

 How does this game play? It’s hex based right? About how many figures per side? 

I think I will get further in if and when the new rulebook materializes later in the year


RE: Getting into silent death - Karelian Suomi - 03-12-2018

(03-10-2018, 02:17 AM)Shakespear Wrote: I have been interested in this game since I think the 90s? I think I finally decided to pull the trigger and buy some stuff.

Where can I read about the background? Are any of the old books available in PDF form?

 How does this game play? It’s Alex created right? About how many figures per side? 

I think I will get further in if and when the new rulebook materializes later in the year


Welcome to the Interstellar Flying Circus! The basic introductory background materials for the Terran Space universe that Silent Death hails from is available in the Core Rulebook. House books drill down into the details of a specific House, building on the short bios provided in the Core Rulebook.

The Night Brood supplement, More Than Valor, the Fighter Tactics Manual, and Warhounds also provide additional pieces of the Terran Space background puzzle. 

Regarding the original 1st edition books, alas, we did not inherit the original files that would enable us to issue reprints. I personally have copies of the original 1st edition rulebook, plus the Black Guard and Overkill supplements. If time and resources permit, we may at some point down the road issue reprints, but that is at this juncture understandably a low priority. 

Regarding how this game plays, the short answer is that the Basic Rules are about as difficult to understand as a typical family boardgame, and this holds true even for someone who has never played a space combat game before. The Metal Express Dice Engine that is the core mechanics of both Silent Death and Bladestorm! (and is serving as the same core mechanic for no less than three additional game systems under development) is simplicity in and of itself. The long and short of it is that one (1) dice roll determines (A) whether or not a hit has been scored, (B) how much damage has been done if the hit connects. The secret is in how the three dice rolled for each attack are read. This is explained fully in the Silent Death Core rulebook and in Bladestorm! fully including examples of play. 

The number of miniatures per side is dependent upon how experienced the players involved are with the game, and how many players are present. There is a point value system built into the rules, so each ship has a point value based upon its systems, weapons, performance, etc. Pilot and Gunnery Skills also cost a number of points equal to their respective levels of competency. 

For beginners, I personally recommend one ship of the same type of single seat light fighter for each player for the first outing, a pair of the same for the second game, and thereafter expand the repertoire accordingly by building up experience with larger, more complex craft as you go along. The nice thing here is that because everything runs off the same core mechanics and uses the same weapons, etc., the learning curve with the game isn't a steep one by any measure. 

I've run games for non-gamers at sci-fi/fantasy fan conventions and had newcomers playing with little to no intervention from my end as game master after as little as 15 minutes of play. I have run games for up to a dozen people at a time personally, and know of others who as part of a club effort have staged games involving literally hundreds of ships with many dozens of players. That is another part of why Silent Death is such a fantastic, classic game; it is easily one of the very best systems for multi-player participation games that can accommodate players of even the most bare minimum experience playing games of any sort, even family games. 

Now I'm not sure what you meant by "Alex created," however the game was originally the brain child of a small cadre of folk at the original Iron Crown Enterprises and derived from their previous experience with Bladestorm! (which is the first system to use what later became known officially as the Metal Express Dice Engine), and it morphed from there to its present iteration as others have come and gone making their contributions to Silent Death's evolution. The fundamentals though remain refreshingly the same, as the Metal Express Dice Engine remains a solid system by anyone's definition of the term. 

We are planning a YouTube video series in the future covering various and sundry, including an example of play and a primer on how to paint space fighter miniatures quickly and easily. We've already had some excellent contributions in the realm of miniature painting techniques and how to create everything from missile and torpedo markers to asteroids from Callsign: Karpav:

Karpav's Painting Blog


Our Gallery also holds assorted photos of painted miniatures, and we'll keep adding to that as we move along further into the year. 

So. Welcome aboard! And remember, always check your six, and always expect the Colosians to dive on you out of the sun! Cool


RE: Getting into silent death - Shakespear - 03-12-2018

Voice to text error I missed

Alex created = hex based


RE: Getting into silent death - Karelian Suomi - 03-12-2018

(03-12-2018, 03:34 AM)Shakespear Wrote: Voice to text error I missed

Alex created = hex based

No worries; autocorrect plays Hell with me every time I try and have a discussion on FaceBook with fellow military history enthusiasts and professionals; you should see what it does to "panzers," "coup d'oeil," "chasseur..."

So yes, SD:TNM is a hex based system. That said, we've been tinkering with a way to use it without a hex mat, but that remains an ongoing issue of finding enough spare time to investigate and experiment in earnest...