![]() ![]() HYPERBOWL WHATEVER HOW TOIt’s a great system, but it has its quirks – and while “easy to play, hard to master”, the gap between those first games and learning how to master the system is precipitous – as Andy said: Once those thousands of starter sets had hit the tables and the hype had started to die down, it turned out the game wasn’t quite as perfect as first thought. Of all the many answers to what killed Starship Troopers, the most prosaic answer of all is that maybe, just maybe, it didn’t have long to live anyway. ![]() Lots of people have lots of theories – Mongoose staff included. What emerged in researching this article, talking to current and ex Mongoose staff, fans, members of the Mobile Infantry and random people on the internet with vague memories of the game, is that there’s conflicting stories around exactly what happened during this time. September 2006 – Starship Troopers Evolution demo day scheduledĪpril 2007 – Starship Troopers Evolution release scheduledįebruary 2008 – Official announcement on Mongoose Forums that Starship Troopers has ceased productionĮarly 2008 – remaining Mongoose stock is cleared from stores and websiteĪt some point between 20, Starship Troopers died. The following dates are taken from the Mongoose forums, based on announcements made by Mongoose staff.Įarly-Mid 2006 – Initial release waves begin to dry upĪugust 2006 – Mongoose announce a pause in Starship Troopers releases, with a proposed future schedule… Fifteen years after release, after the loss of so much information – much of which wasn’t that clear to begin with – the steps that led to the end of the game aren’t as clear as we might like. But the first and most important thing to establish is when. When talking about Starship Troopers, there’s a lot of reasons that might answer why – after that fantastic launch – the game disappeared entirely in that critical third year. ![]() Starship Troopers ended up as the latter. Year one, buzz, year two, growth, year three either a self-sustaining community, new players cycling in and out of the game, or death. Miniatures games seem to have a release pattern. If the explanation you’re looking for isn’t here, that might be why. Occasionally, finding the relevant reasons in a tide of speculation and personal attacks has been difficult. The reasons it died are business, legal and professional. In the end, Starship Troopers was a game – a good game, but still a game. There’s layer upon layer of ancient history here to dig through rumour, speculation, information (and misinformation), and some grudges and petty hatreds that have cropped up in surprising places. While producing the “Rise” article was a matter of talking and writing and asking questions, the Fall has required some internet archaeology. Part two will cover the decline and eventual death of a promising game – and the enduring impact and independent afterlife of Starship Troopers. In part one of What Happened to Starship Troopers, we looked at the beginning – the innovative design of Starship Troopers, the background and aims of Mongoose’s ambitious play for a slice of a burgeoning miniatures market, and the massive splash of the release. The rules still worked, the models still physically existed, but something changed. You could have still been playing, of course. How many games have you bought into that died? The official support dried up, the community drifted away, the models went into shoeboxes until one day you either chucked them or realised the hassle of eBay might be well worth it. ![]()
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