Download - Mega Miniatures

Welcome to another installment of Standing Orders
and our first issue for the year 2003! Hopefully this
gaming year will be brighter than last year which was
characterized by the bad economy and the loss of many
good gaming companies in one form or another. One of
the companies we saw close its doors last year was
Agents of Gaming, the makers of Babylon 5 Wars and
this month’s Standing Orders profile: GROPOS.
I first came across GROPOS two years ago at GENCON.
A guy sitting at a table asked me to play a game and I
was hooked. GROPOS was created to simulate the
ground combat that occurs between the races in the
highly popular sci-fi television serial: Babylon 5. While
Babylon 5 (the game and the show) focused almost
exclusively on intergalactic and stellar combat aboard
futuristic starships, combat in GROPOS occurs on the
battlefields of the future but is fought in very much the
same way as it is fought today with tanks, artillery, air
units and infantry. In addition to being the ground
combat module for its Babylon 5 Wars series, GROPOS
was also intended to be the core rules system for
Agents of Gaming’s “MAXIM Core Rules”.
Unfortunately with the demise of the television
show in 2001, Warner Brothers terminated the Babylon
5 Wars and GROPOS licenses it had sold to Agents of
Gaming.
What You Get -- The GROPOS rulebook is
approximately 128 pages. And as rulebooks go it has
just about everything you could want. In addition to the
basic rules there are advanced rules, army lists,
scenarios and cardstock makers and counters. There is
even an index in the back of the book, which is rare for
miniature gaming rulebooks. About the only things
missing from the rulebook are a modeling, painting or
hobby section which has almost become standard for
most mass market miniature rules now days; and
background fiction. However, neither of these detract
from the rules at all, especially the fiction since the
television series was still airing when it was first
published and that provided all the fiction you would
need.
What You Need -- In order to play GROPOS you will
need a wide assortment of dice from a d4 up to at least
a d12 including a d8 in between. You will also need the
miniatures, which are actually quite nice and can
probably be used in almost any modern or near futuristic
miniature combat game. In addition to the miniatures
and the dice you will also need the Data Cards that
come in each blister of miniatures. This could be
especially problematic for anyone considering purchasing
the rules and using proxies because even though the
most common Data Cards appear in the Army List
section of the rules, you will need to reproduce them in
some manner as they are used to record damage to a
unit and its systems. Finally, you will also need the
markers and counters included at the back of the
rulebook.
What You Are Told -- As I mentioned earlier, GROPOS
was supposed to be the core rulesbook for the Maxim
Core Rules System. However, with the demise of the
Babylon 5 license, Agents of Gaming also appears to
have abandoned the Maxim Core Rules System.
According to AOG, Maxim was supposed to be “a set of
comprehensive ground combat rules designed to fit into
any modern or future era of science fiction battles
involving men, tanks, scouts, aircraft and more. Not only
will these rules cover the ground armies of the Babylon
5 universe, but supplements extending beyond this rich
universe will also be made available.” Unfortunately
none of that ever came to be, however the rules
themselves appear more than adequate for the task.
What You Will Discover -- To play GROPOS is to love
it. Even if you are usually not inclined to play modern or