RE: I got Excalibur! (B5 miniature)

> > Mongoose Publishing is going to make a Babylon 5 space ship combat
> game. They've made a miniature of the Victory class "destroyer"
> available only at the major conventions; Excalibur was the ship in the
> short series Crusade. My store partner came back from Origins with
one,
> and I got it [...] <
>
> I hate you. And I hate them... and, above all, I hate bloody "con
> exclusives!"

<snip>

> I _hope_ that they will make the sensible decision (as, for instance,
> Jon has in the past) and release the mini generally once the game is
> published. If not, they should be ashamed of themselves for pandering
> to speculators rather than their customers. Anyone want to guess how
> long it will be before these things go up on eBay at grossly inflated
> prices?

There was one on ebay the next day:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2537&item=5906695
914&
rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW
$25 miniature currently bid to $31.

I've been following this one for a while on a few different forums and
there
are actually a few different ways to get the Excalibur mini.  The basic
way
is go to Origins or GenCon, but there are people on B5wars.net who have
said
they will buy minis for them at GenCon for anyone who sends them money
before the con.  If you get a 2 year subscription to Mongoose Games
magazine, Signs & Portents, you can get an Excalibur free.  Bruce Graw,
formerly of AOG who is doing some writing and miniatures for Mongoose
has
said anyone who was registered with B5Wars.net will get a mini if they
want
one some way some how, even if he has to deliver it himself but
specifics
haven't been finalized yet.

And finally, I'm pretty sure it will be released as a general sale item
eventually (there have been some hints on the Mongoose forums). 
Mongoose's
new B5 space game, 'A Call To Arms', will be released at GenCon in
mid/late
August and then they will start releasing miniatures (full B5 Wars
scale)
though there are no details on what minis and when they will be released
yet.

Without a game and other ship minis, releasing the Excalibur in a
limited
way has created buzz and has some logic.  If the mini is part of an
existing
line and then is a con exclusive for part of a non-collectable game,
that is
another story.	I'll be at GenCon so I will get my mini, but I do
suspect
that once their line of ship minis is up and running, the Excalibur will
be
available to everyone through mail-order.

On the con exclusive items, the Dune RPG from Last Unicorn was the one I
should have gotten.  It was a whole licensing issue etc, and that one
was
really getting some good prices on ebay.  I should have picked it up.

Another con exclusive at Origins were some cards from Wizkids new
collectable constructible card game 'Pirates of the Spanish Main'.  You
punch out the parts and make ships, up to 5-masted ones and then there
is
simple combat and movement as you try and control islands and treasure. 
A
sample ship was included in the goody bag (The Revenge with modified
con-promo only stats) and they were selling boosters limited to 3 per
person
as it will actually be released in July.
This game looks interesting and there are a bunch of ebay auctions up
already for these ships and cards.

Dean Gundberg

Starship Combat News
The latest information on Space Games and Miniatures
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dean@star-ranger.com