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Jink left. Fire torps. Get in close enough to use the awesome power of the quad Splatterguns. Just pray that the enemy fighter's wingman can't get missile lock on you…

Silent Death: The Next Millenium is a fast and exciting game of fighter combat. Within this rulebook, you get all you need to play Silent Death. The rulebook includes all of the rules, optional rules, game background, starcraft design, scenarios, a mini-campaign, fighter wings, and starcraft displays. There is a lot of stuff crammed into this book.

The rules are focused on ease and speed of play. Fighters act like they should, highly maneuverable and agile craft. There are only a few stats required for the crew of the ships - piloting and gunnery. The rest is variable on the ship itself. There are few enough things to worry about, but the rules still provide a lot of challenge and possibilities.

The optional rules allow you to add nearly any level of realism or sci-fi imaginations to your games - experienced pilots and gunners, ramming, variable speed torpedoes, defensive systems, asteroids, wormholes, 3-D play and more. Given the wealth of options, this book provides a photocopyable page for players to "check off" which options they will be using, to eliminate any confusion among players.

The game background has a lot more wealth than the average miniatures game. The history of the game concerns the great galactic Empire, and its decline and eventually its destruction at the hand of the Night Brood - a terribly viscous and effective race of aliens that is attracted to violence. In the current time (The Next Millenium), the galaxy is trapped in a state of low-intensity warfare (because any large-scale actions will awaken the Night Brood and doom everyone) between the remaining 12 human factions, and two aliens.

One of the most flexible starcraft design systems is next in the book. This system will let you build anything up to gunboat-class ships, with a wide array of weaponry available. You can build heavy multi-person attack craft or small, speedy attrition fighters and everything in-between. It allows you to use whatever fighter models you have for Silent Death. Although I have yet to see any conversions for Star Wars or Babylon 5 ships, I have little doubt that it could be reasonably done.

Next come the six including scenarios, which let you try out many of the ships that are detailed in the book. The scenarios range from the usual "engage and destroy" to some intricate missions with special rules. Plenty of challenge available here. The mini-campaign gives you base rules for setting the scenarios into linked battles with the results making a difference.

The fighter wings enclosed can either serve as more background, or actually work as templates for the players to create their own personalized forces. Each one has its own personality and ship listing.

Finally, the starcraft displays. This book includes stats for 26 different fighters, arrayed from the tiny Pit Viper to the gunboat powerhouse of the Betafortress. Most of the famous fighters are housed herein- the Talon, the Salamander, and the Lance Electra.

To wrap things up, the game has all of the charts needed to play, repeated for ease of access, and a nice index. Everything is ease to find in the middle of an intense game.

The presentation works well for this game. Most of the pages have large sidebars, providing game fiction and snippets. The rules are presented in an easy to read style, with good examples when needed. Plenty of black-and-white illustrations break up the text and let you get the "feel" of the game.

Overall, this book is a great deal. You get a strong start on Silent Death, lacking only dice, a star map, and ships to play. The rules are quick to learn, but still provide a ton of possibilities and challenge. It is a strong system that has proven tournament playability. As far as fighter games go, it is the top of the craft.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Silent Death: The Next Millenium
Author: By Matt Forbeck (Original Design by Kevin Barrett) Category: Miniatures Wargame Company/Publisher: ICE Cost: 18.00 Page count: 168 ISBN: 1-55806-235-1 Capsule Review by Robert E. Allen III on 10/04/98. Genre tags: Science_fiction Far_Future Space Post-apocalypse	Jink left. Fire torps. Get in close enough to use the awesome power of the quad Splatterguns. Just pray that the enemy fighter's wingman can't get missile lock on you… Silent Death: The Next Millenium is a fast and exciting game of fighter combat. Within this rulebook, you get all you need to play Silent Death. The rulebook includes all of the rules, optional rules, game background, starcraft design, scenarios, a mini-campaign, fighter wings, and starcraft displays. There is a lot of stuff crammed into this book. The rules are focused on ease and speed of play. Fighters act like they should, highly maneuverable and agile craft. There are only a few stats required for the crew of the ships - piloting and gunnery. The rest is variable on the ship itself. There are few enough things to worry about, but the rules still provide a lot of challenge and possibilities. The optional rules allow you to add nearly any level of realism or sci-fi imaginations to your games - experienced pilots and gunners, ramming, variable speed torpedoes, defensive systems, asteroids, wormholes, 3-D play and more. Given the wealth of options, this book provides a photocopyable page for players to "check off" which options they will be using, to eliminate any confusion among players. The game background has a lot more wealth than the average miniatures game. The history of the game concerns the great galactic Empire, and its decline and eventually its destruction at the hand of the Night Brood - a terribly viscous and effective race of aliens that is attracted to violence. In the current time (The Next Millenium), the galaxy is trapped in a state of low-intensity warfare (because any large-scale actions will awaken the Night Brood and doom everyone) between the remaining 12 human factions, and two aliens. One of the most flexible starcraft design systems is next in the book. This system will let you build anything up to gunboat-class ships, with a wide array of weaponry available. You can build heavy multi-person attack craft or small, speedy attrition fighters and everything in-between. It allows you to use whatever fighter models you have for Silent Death. Although I have yet to see any conversions for Star Wars or Babylon 5 ships, I have little doubt that it could be reasonably done. Next come the six including scenarios, which let you try out many of the ships that are detailed in the book. The scenarios range from the usual "engage and destroy" to some intricate missions with special rules. Plenty of challenge available here. The mini-campaign gives you base rules for setting the scenarios into linked battles with the results making a difference. The fighter wings enclosed can either serve as more background, or actually work as templates for the players to create their own personalized forces. Each one has its own personality and ship listing. Finally, the starcraft displays. This book includes stats for 26 different fighters, arrayed from the tiny Pit Viper to the gunboat powerhouse of the Betafortress. Most of the famous fighters are housed herein- the Talon, the Salamander, and the Lance Electra. To wrap things up, the game has all of the charts needed to play, repeated for ease of access, and a nice index. Everything is ease to find in the middle of an intense game. The presentation works well for this game. Most of the pages have large sidebars, providing game fiction and snippets. The rules are presented in an easy to read style, with good examples when needed. Plenty of black-and-white illustrations break up the text and let you get the "feel" of the game. Overall, this book is a great deal. You get a strong start on Silent Death, lacking only dice, a star map, and ships to play. The rules are quick to learn, but still provide a ton of possibilities and challenge. It is a strong system that has proven tournament playability. As far as fighter games go, it is the top of the craft. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)