Review of VOID: Battles with Miniatures

Hey netizens, I just received my free copy of i-Kore's rulebook for VOID, written all in caps evidently. Now clenched in my grubby fist as I type this, I am prepared to dispense my advice.You should all just get down on your knees right and thank me for giving you the oppurtunity to bring such unfettered joy into your life.

That being said, I mostly enjoy this game. It handles the functions of what it sets out to do very well, and while I think the game is good, I'm not too sure it will be able to handle larger and larger games, a problem with Warzone (before it tanked.)

The rulebook starts off with a decent amount of fluff, in an almost normal font (more on that later) that all makes sense and surprisingly fits together very well. We get the impression of various technological factions waging war across the stars, all well and good. My only beef is with some of the choice of names and their connotations. The use of the work VASA and the title of the game VOID call to mind the company FASA and the VOR (also in caps) which happened every time I looked through the pages. Maybe it's just me, but I'm not even all that familiar with their line of products. It may take a bit of retraining to get that out of my head.

As for rules, yes it flies, and it does so very well. Now you may be a GW-loving fanboy, or you may think that GW is the evil empire. Either way, I don't care. While I'm not even going to venture that GW was the first to introduce wargames to the gaming public, (that honor of course goes to H.G. Wells) but more than a few times I got the impression I was reading something cribbed almost directly from the Warhammer 40,000 second edition rulebook. The rules are extraordinarily similar, VOID uses D10s insteads of D6s, templates are in the back to photocopy and cut out, and units are activated like other games, but certain parts of the book...

Including... counters. Why, God why? It's bad enough Trinity: Battleground took the worst parts of Warzone first edition, but I thought we were through with them now. Sigh... I will say that the use of counters are kept to a minimum and don't intrude much on the game itself.

The layout for this book is abysmally poor, be prepared to bust out mad amount of sticky notes to mark pages or underline text. It seems like the poor folks at i-Kore were trying to sqeeze every last dime out of the budget and the rulebook suffers immensly for it. The font of the book is just tiny, just the thing for looking up that obscure section. And no index and table of contents. Peachy! Even better, none of it is split into chapters or sections, it just runs on contuously. What a great idea, I wonder why no wargames rulebook anywhere ever before has thought of it.

The miniatures: the base gaming pieces, and for most, the soul of the hobby. I was previously under the impression that it wasn't too hard to sculpt up a basic marine with a gun and that anyone with a reasonable amount of talent could crank out a passable or average figure. VOR: the Maelstrom was the game that proved me wrong and my faith is astoundingly restored with VOID. Most of the miniatures are of fairly good quality, and although I have issues with a few of the bases, the figs are an excellent buy.

The impression I recieved that was the vehicle kits are due to be released in resin. I'm really not too optimistic about this, unless you have the cash to invest in good tooling, most models end up requiring a fair amount of work to make them look passable. I still have issues with the two vehicles shown in the rulebook, with mecha-feet. Part of me wonders if they did this just to be different, these scout walkers look pretty far out there. Even APC has feet. If there's some reason for this in the army background I have yet to find it.

One thing that grates on my nerves incessantly was the full-color section. In fact it just kept beating through my skull incessantly. I kept being drawn back to the full color section, unable to believe that the editor of this fine publication (who is not listed in the credits) thought it was a good idea to list catalog numbers in the main rulebook. In truth, I'm totally fine with this. I enjoy looking at models and will happily spend hours going through catalogs, painted minis or not. But putting catalog reference numbers in the full color section of the main rulebook, a company's flagship release, is just blindingly, nauseatingly stupid. It's not like they're small either, they're right at the top of each listing. I'm surprised i-Kore just didn't go all the way and include a little clip-out coupon where I can get eleven minis for just a penny if I promise to buy four more and join the club. News flash, this isn't the only company that makes figures. Putting code numbers next to models doesn't make them easier to find, or buy. It just makes me want to pass this game by completely. I did enjoy seeing a few pieces or Armorcast terrain in the background of some of the pics (they're given a small plug on the first page) and it game me a warm feeling to know I and other people have such a high opinion of the fine people at Armorcast, who crank out such great gaming products. Unlike this rulebook, which is crap.

So what's the bottom line? If you liked the tactical density of Warhammer 40,000 second edition without the uber-characters and don't want to make the switch to third edition or want something different, this might be the game for you. If you want an upscaled version of Combat Zone, this is the game for you. If you want a more streamlined version of Warzone without the castrated squad types, this is definately the game for you. If you like the streamlined third edition Warhammer 40,000, then just pass it by.

And if you play Trinity: Battleground, seek help immediately.

Style: 1 (Unintelligible)
Substance: 3 (Average)