Sunday, January 13, 2013

Bye-Bye Jovian Chronicles.....

 © Dream Pod 9, used without permission
Dreap Pod 9 has announced that it's discontinuing its Jovian Chronicles line and retiring (read, "breaking") the molds. (read all about it here). This is kinda sad, because Dream Pod 9 really, really, really wanted to make a Gundam game (just like they really, really really wanted an Armored Trooper Votoms game with Heavy Gear.) The market really, really needs a mecha game, too. 

Their problem, however was threefold in that 1) they're competing with Battletech, which had easy pick-up game rules and 2) they changed their designs .....


BEFORE ©Dream Pod 9
 Dear god it's sexy. Wait... no... what are you doing? What's a "Ghislain"?
AFTER ©  Dream Pod 9 
Oh. Shit. 

Third, the scale of the above model is ultra-teensy-weensy (smaller than a Space Marine)  which allows for next to no customization, an reply barely any detail at all. I am not kidding.  Really, they were also doomed by the fact that giant robots never really caught on past Battletech (which also went under for a time) as far as gaming was concerned. Their Heavy Gear line seems to be going the same way, which makes me sad, since I wrote some copy for their RPG books. 

Anyway, the demise of Jovian Chronicles has left us with some AMAZING artifacts; the entire first line of models, which I happen to own a set of, because I absolutely bloody love giant robots, and had a ready source of cash during the 1990's. In addition, I purchased a few extras for conversions. You'll recall this fellow: 


But I neglected to introduce you to his friends, namely this chap:


I neglected to blacken his base, and I should have. Originally, I had planned to have all of the Jovian models in flight, partly due to the fact that they were all too wide to fit on hex bases. Oh well. 


Yes, that's a large rifle stowed between those two propellant tanks, yes, those are Assault Marine jump packs on his legs as extra thrusters. Peer closely at the rear shot of the right arm and you'll see that weapon is mounted to on the side of his forearm instead of replacing it. I'd like to add I'd never have done this nowadays, as the joint is tremendously flimsy. Whatever he doesn't demolish with the bazooka or saw in half with the underslung vulcan, he can slash in half with the beam saber hidden cunningly inside the shield, or blast apart with his stowed rifle. His mate, on the underhand, is comparatively under-armed:


Although she is carrying a rather large beam rifle, she's not meant to get into great big battles with lots of nasty suits that are larger than her, anyway. Like her brother unit, the legs were cut and extended, compared to the stubby originals (see the B&W art, above). What? The pink is an abomination? Yes, well, you know, we all do stupid things in our youth. Plus, it was the 90's. Pink was in for femme-bots. 


These models both received a bit of airbrush weathering because I was doing that sort of thing to everything back then, although by the time I did these the poor contraption was at the end of its life cycle. 

Next time, the villains of the Jovian Chronicles universe....

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Well, if Dream Pod 9 can keep the Pathfinder, I guess I can keep the ones that will be delivered once I decide to jump on the Jovian Wars.

Quite frankly, I might be old-school in my Gundam tastes, but I FAR prefer the Jovian Chronicles molds they have on sale now.

But that's me.

Mark said...

That's cool, man, to each his own taste. In general, her4e seem to be far too few mechs combat games out there.