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Introduction
Alien Wars is the second Star Hero setting/genre book published by Hero Games. Like the first, Terran Empire, it both describes a genre within science fiction, and a setting with the Heroverse meta-setting. The genre, in this case, is military science fiction, such as that of works like Starship Troopers. The setting, is the time period roughly between 2300 and 2400, the period later known as the Xenovore War.
A Century of Conflict
The first chapter provides a timeline and overview of the era, including the few centuries prior that set up the political and social situation in Terran space. In some ways, this is the true meat of the book, as it fills in a large period of time in the overall Heroverse setting. The events covered are interesting, to say the least, and despite the name of the book, do not focus solely on warfare with the alien menace, the Xenovore. At least as important are internal Terran conflicts. Most of the timeline is reasonably credible, though a few people's actions inspire questions about their sanity.
The overall progression of events, in addition to filling in setting, is also arranged so as to support a wide range of types of military science fiction. Depending on the period, Terran warfare with Xenovores can consist of first encounters with a totally unknown enemy, organized warfare with the front line hampered by incompetent superiors, or a brighter period of warfare wherein Terrans actually start winning. Alternatively, engagement in the Terran Civil War can range from open battle, to Cold War-style covert operations.
Overall, my favorite elements of the timeline are the later periods. While much of the earlier incompetence is explainable within character, it still feels like "fighting stupid." In addition, Admiral Zhukov's despotism actually seems like an improvement over the prior political situations.
Species of Terran Space
The second chapter provides the racial templates available during this period. First, it covers subspecies of humans, like Martians and Selkies. All were already described in Terran Empire. The alien species are all new; however, unlike in Terran Empire, these species are distinctly inferior to humans in power and position. In fact, this is an explicit element of the background; until encountering the Xenovore, humans had yet to meet an intelligent species as advanced as they are ( to the best of their knowledge ). Unlike the species in Terran Empire, however, these aliens lack the same "spark" of interest. They aren't bad, merely not as interesting. The exception, for me, are the Rigellians, probably due to the Deep Mystery element of their homeworld.
United Earth and Beyond
The third chapter provides covers the territory of Terran space, as well as a brief overview of the United Earth government. Important planets and other sites are covered, particularly ones of military importance during the war. There are many interesting details here, but it is brought down somewhat, compared to Terran Empire, by the fact that Alien Wars does not concentrate on one particular timeframe. Thus, the material is somewhat more diluted.
Life in a Time of War
The fourth chapter provides a view of life in Terran space during this timeframe. Or, more accurately, it describes travel, communications, trade, economics, and crime. The material is somewhat sparse, and much of it is taken from Terran Empire. However, this is not much of a disadvantage, since these topics were discussed in fair detail in Star Hero. The general guidelines already exist; mostly, it is a matter of filling in which systems and levels are applicable.
United Earth Military
The fifth chapter provides details on the military organizations throughout the period, primarily the Army and Navy. Alot of this material overlaps in ways with the societal timeline, as each organization changes over the course of timeline, in response to the circumstances. For instance, the Army is extremely small at the beginning of the era, due to a lack of need for one. The Navy, on the other hand, has its tactics transformed by the development of antigravity halfway through the war. The material is fairly detailed, which is a good thing, since the default assumption of the setting is that players will probably be military.
Pilot, Adept, Soldier, Spy
The sixth chapter provides details for character creation within the setting. Primarily, this consists of package deals for various professions. While the packages are helpful for building characters, there is nothing particularly surprising in this section. It is mostly standard templates with a few details to fit the setting ( mostly, the military structure ). Likewise, the brief section on character elements such as skills and talents is nothing special.
The United Earth Armory
The seventh chapter is the longest by a fair margin, since it discusses technology. As it is a military sci-fi setting, the focus is, naturally enough, on military technology: weapons, infantry gear, vehicles, warships. The information is fairly crunchy, since statistics are necessary for anything combat related. A very nice thing about this chapter is that each piece of equipment is not only statted, however. It is also fit into the overall progression of the war. When and how guns were introduced is told, as is the effects of new pieces of technology. Two flaws detract from the chapter somewhat, however.
The first is the retro nature of the military standard equipment. For whatever stylistic reason, the writers decided that an infantryman of the future should look like something out of World War I. While I can understand the desire for a bit of a "gritty" look and feel, given the setting, in my opinion, they took things a bit too far. A better model would have been the Colonial Marines from Aliens. The second flaw is more severe: the Logistics Computer. More than anything else, the thought that allegedly intelligent people could think placing command decisions in the hand of a computer placed on each ship ( filled with all the strategic information, at least nominally ), in order to get around chain of command problems caused by slow communications, stretches credibility. And while I, personally, could swallow the ( explicitly inept ) Admiralty using this idea in peacetime, the fact that it took decades before the logistics computers were abandoned is, itself, terrible.
The Threat From Beyond
In chapter eight, we finally reach some of the best material in the book: that dealing with the Xenovore. This chapter discusses information known about the Xenovore by humanity. Now, overall, the Xenovores are very much your standard "bug alien." However, the way they are handled is, in my opinion, excellent. In the case of this chapter, the information is divided into what is known by humanity at different time periods during the war, with some explanation of how it is learned. Thus, the GM can readily determine what the players know for any given campaign. . . and more importantly, what they don't.
GM's Vault and the Xenovore
Chapter nine is brief, providing the standard "vault" of information explicitly meant for GM's eyes only. Xenovore information is covered in the next chapter, however; this section is mostly behind the scenes political activity in the Terran government. For three pages, there are alot of secrets.
Chapter ten provides the real meat of the secret knowledge: the true history of the Xenovore, including the war timeline from their perspective. Several unusual actions that were not explainable by humanity are explained here, based on unknown elements of Xenovore culture. In addition, racial packages and equipment writeups are located here.
Alien Wars Campaigns
The final chapter provides the expected GM's advice, regarding elements of a military science fiction campaign that can pose problems ( chain of command issues ) or opportunities ( genetic variance among the Xenovore ). It also describes some campaign possibilities, ranging from the expected ( players as High Command ), to the epic ( green grunts when the war starts, and stick around for the whole thing ), to the unusual ( submarine crewmen on an occupied world ). Nothing overly surprising, but still the solid suggestions and ideas one expects.
Conclusion
As the second setting/genre book released for the Star Hero line, Alien Wars invariably draws comparisons with Terran Empire. On the whole, I would say it is not as good, for the reasons described above. However, Alien Wars avoids the biggest potential pitfall for setting books: the tendency to be "just another" setting, as opposed to a different, distinct one. Unlike the Star Wars feel of Terran Empire, Alien Wars is more like Aliens or Starship Troopers. In some ways, the lack of a great degree of detail, while a flaw, is also an advantage, as in a setting where the heroes will be taking actions with potential large scale consequences, premaking details is perhaps of detriment. Thus, while an Alien Wars campaign will probably require more work on the GM's part to run, as compared with a typical Terran Empire game, it is probably for the best. Absent all else, however, Alien Wars is important, in that it tells the tale of the period that would lead to the Terran Empire. Without the War, there would not be the Empire.
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