Rayguns and Rocketships! – A Retro Sci-Fi Game

Rayguns, rockets, zooming combat, boarding actions, a race of lizards and space pirates. WHAT ELSE DO YOU EVEN NEED?

Okay fine. How about design from a renowned designer–Scott Rogers (who you might recognize from Red Faction: Armageddon, God of War, or being an Imagineer)? What about a couple of layers of tactical complexity that encourage you to pilot your ships and deploy your crew creatively to snatch victory away from those lesser captains you call your opponents?

Seriously, this game looks amazing. On the one hand it’s all about flying your rocketship and fighting your enemy–but there’s so much more you can do. The main board game is a star field where the ships are flying around, but, each player has their own rocketship interior board where you deploy your crew. You can send them around the ship, or even jettison them into space–so that they can go swashbuckle their way onto your opponents’ ships and launch daring raids.

Swashbuckling space pirates! I mean I’m sold already. But, here’s a look at their Kickstarter Campaign, which is already funded and drawing ever closer to unlocking a space princess and a fighting retro-robot.

So get in while you can!

via IDW Games

Designed by renowned video game designer and author Scott Rogers, Rayguns & Rocketshipsis a miniatures board game for 2-4 players. Featuring an inventive dual-scale system, players in Rayguns & Rocketships take command of their bulky-but-powerful Rocketship, as well as their agile crew of Planeteers! Players will need to think strategically and plan ahead as their Rocketship’s movements must be pre-programmed. Luckily, any poor decisions on the Rocketship scale can be quickly adjusted on the crew scale. Provided you have enough action points saved up, you can send your crew to repair the ship, man the Rayguns, or push the engines into overdrive!

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You’ll need everything you can muster if you wish to successfully command your crew as you race your opponents to accumulate enough victory points to claim the galaxy for yourself!

The Galactic Astro Rangers are a peacekeeping force dedicated to bringing justice to a lawless, broken galaxy. Their ranks consist of adventurers, star jockeys, idealists, and scoundrels. Astro Rangers are the fastest of the Planeteer factions, whether at the cockpit of their speedy Rocketships, or flying their jetpacks through the inky void of space. All Astro Rangers are armed with deadly neuralizer pistols and circuit-swords—AI-driven weapons that give their wielders a lethal advantage!

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The Grand Zardian Navy is the military force of the proud Zard race from the planet Zardia. Once feared as savages, the Zard have evolved into highly cultured, highly civilized beings, despite their fearsome appearance. The modern Zardian culture is layered with ceremony, tradition, and manners. Instead of outright warfare, the Zard prefer dueling, and have developed superior melee skills. Swordszardship is taught as soon as a Zard hatchling can wield a blade.

The Star Pirates of Samadi were once the mighty military of the galactic empire, but now they have turned to piracy, displaying a fearsome skull to strike fear into the hearts of their victims, and to show that they take no prisoners. The crew don terrifying skull masks that disguise their identities. Emerging from a hidden base in the Samadi asteroid belt, the Star Pirates prey on passing merchant- and pleasure-ships. Their heavily armored Rocketships possess the strongest Raygun weapons of all of the Planeteers.

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The Blaarg Collective are an alien race from another galaxy. They are a hive mind led by a gigantic leader who controls the smaller Blaarglings to carry out his every command. The Blaarglings have no individual identities, and live and die to serve their master as they scurry around their saucer in their mechanical pants. The Blaarg have found the chaos left in the wake of the galactic cataclysm to be the perfect environment to torment any being they encounter, which they dominate with their terrible mind powers. Will the galaxy survive their invasion?

Back Rayguns and Rockets Today

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/idwgames/rayguns-and-rocketships?ref=category_popular

Circuit swords and jetpacks!

Author: J.R. Zambrano

Bell of Lost Souls Staff Writer and DM, J.R. covers RPGs of all stripes and on occasion eats sandwiches. You can ask him about either at [email protected]