JUMP: into the unknown

     After reading a couple of glowing reviews on the web, I just picked
up 
the premiere title from "Evil Polish Brothers" called JUMP: into the
unknown 
(its almost worth buying just for the sake of the designer's name).  On
the 
game's website www.jumpgame.com the game bills itself as the "ideal" 
campaign system for starship miniatures battle games. After opening the
box, 
I have a few comments.

COMPONENTS
     The map sections are quite nice similar to the card maps provided
in 
B5W.  There are clear plastic sheets with terrain/planets on them.  I
was a 
bit concerned with the warning tag stating that the pastic sheets must
be 
stored between the thin paper sheets they came with in order to avoid 
damage.  This seems a bit much to expect from a bunch of tired gamers
after 
a long session.  The fleet and system ownership counters are constructed
of 
black card stock.  The fleet cards are provided with plasic feet that
allow 
them to stand upright. The foil-stamped method results in nice, bright 
looking counters but the design is all but undiscernable on the fleet 
stands-- the differing colors prevent this from being a major problem. 
The 
political status markers are tiny(card disks about twice the size of a 
pencil eraser)!  They're just too small for my taste-- finding them on
the 
carpet can be quite a challenge, especially if you have vision like
mine.

RULES
     I plan to play my first game this weekend.  After reading through
the 
rule book 3 times, the rules seem fairly straightforward.  Basically,
fog of 
war is achieved throught the use of fleet counters.  The contents of a 
particular fleet are secretly tracked on well-organized record sheets 
maintained by the players.  Combat is rather similar to Twilight
Imperium 
with a few twists (I really bought the game to be a basis for my
miniatures 
games anyhow).	One novel element I liked was the diplomacy system.  All

planets are assumed to be inhabited before game start.	Players choose a

racial "alignment" at game start and whenever a new system is explored,
a 
die roll is made to determine how that race reacts to the "new neigbors"
 
this ranges from alliance to xenophobia.

FULL THRUST USE
     I imagine that the fleet sizes suggested by the rule book (20 ships

max) may be a bit high unless larger ships are assigned size numbers
greater 
than 1 (although fighters are counted as ships in the rules).  Also, 
provision must be made for standardised surface unit size for
transporting 
etc.. I don't see either of these being any great impediment to using
the 
mechanics for campaign games.

     I will post a few notes on gameplay after getting a few under my
belt.  
I strongly suspect sooner or later, the mechanics from this game will
end up 
being transplanted onto my Twilight Imperium games and some cross-breed 
being used for my group's long-envisioned grand campaign game.

Kindest Personal Regards,
Galen
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