"The popular space fleet combat miniatures game, A Call to Arms is back, in a brand new guise – drawn from the detailed background of the Fading Suns RPG, A Call to Arms: Noble Armada is a fast to learn, hard to master space combat game involving fleets drawn from the Royal Houses.

Players must learn how to knock down or bypass the shields protecting enemy vessels, and then launch assaults on ships with an all new boarding mechanic. With full campaign rules and support for tournaments, A Call to Arms is back as you have never seen it before."

A Call to Arms was originally created for the Babylon 5 universe and was initially called Sky Full of Stars.

A Call to Arms: Star Fleet uses the ACTA game system but with ships and setting from the Star Fleet Universe of the classic game Star Fleet Battles.

8/26/2012 - Mongoose is releasing 2 new ship miniatures for Noble Armada that will be shipping within 10 days, the Hawkwood Heracles Armoured Cruiser and the Decados Rapael Heavy Cruiser.  After that they will be presenting the Church fleet and soon after the alien Vau. Recent Star Fleet miniatures releases include the Kzinti Squadron box, the Romulan Reinforcements and the Federation Command Cruiser.

FHawkwood Heracles Armoured Cruiser

FDecados Rapael Heavy Cruiser

6/28/2012 - Fleets of the Fading Suns for ACTA: Noble Armada is now available as a pdf download from Wargames Vault.  A printed version will be availabe in the future.

Also available is A Call to Arms Journal issue 1 which can also be found as a pdf download at Wargames Vault.  This e-journal is designed to support all versions of A Call to Arms, giving access to new material, articles and rules for Star Fleet and Noble Armada.

The first issue features a Noble Armada battle report, introduces a new campaign system for both games, starts a ship comparison series, and includes first official rules addition for A Call to Arms: Star Fleet - scout ships.

In stores now are two new boxed sets of Star Fleet miniatures:

Squadron Box #5: Klingon vs. Orion
As well as the latest Klingon warships, including the D5, D5W and E4, this set also includes an Orion pirate raiding party of two Light Raiders and a Salvage Cruiser.

Squadron Box #9: Federation Reinforcements
This set contains the latest warships for the Federation, including the War Destroyer, New Light Cruiser, Dreadnought, New Heavy Cruiser, and Battlecruiser.

2/25/2012 - Mongoose moves production of Star Fleet miniatures from resin to metal.  Due to production delays and quality issues, they are moving all but the largest of ships and stations to metal.  Existing order who want resin minis and not metal need to contact them directly.  Prices should not change with the material change.  Cloaked ships will still be in clear resin when released.  If there is enough demand, resin versions of all ships may be available via special order.  For the full details you can go to the announcement.

2/5/2012 - A Call to Arms: Star Fleet has been released along with miniatures some Federation, Klingon, and Romulan minis.  Additional minis for those fleets along with the Kzinti and Gorn ships will be available in the next few months.  These are new computer sculpted minis of a slightly larger scale in resin.  Production took longer than planned so supplies are still low and hard to find though they are catching up.

For ACTA: Noble Armada, new miniatures for the Vuldrok Star Nation and The Church have been released.  Due out in March is the Fleets of the Fading Suns supplement;

"Players using fleets from the Royal Houses will be treated to new vessels specific to their Houses, variant troop types and rules for psychics and theurgics. In addition, four completely new fleets are detailed, complete with background material that places them firmly in the Fading Suns universe. From the Known Worlds, the Church fleets are dominant forces, though the barbaric Kurgan and Vuldrok continue to push from beyond. Then there are the alien Vau, a force of exquisitely powerful ships and awesome technologies."

6/18/2011 - ADB has signed a new joint-venture deal with Mongoose Publishing to create A Call to Arms: Star Fleet.  The new joint-venture deal provides for the production of a series of  hardback rulebooks that will bring together the ships of the Star Fleet Universe and the game system of A Call to Arms. There is an even chance that the first book will appear before the end of 2011.

Existing Star Fleet Universe ship miniatures will be replaced with a new computer-generated design.  The first ships will appear in late 2011, and ships will then follow every month or two. This will include some entirely new ships as we move forward. Ships will have a lot more detail and many known problems with existing designs will be solved.

These new production ships will be fancier and a little bigger (in 1:3125 scale) and made from resin by Mongoose.  The new A Call to Arms: Star Fleet books will be keyed to use the same Squadron Boxes that Federation Commander and Star Fleet Starmada already use. This will be good for retailers, who can stock one line of miniatures for three different game systems.

For Noble Armada, the the first of the new fleets not covered in the basic rule book, the Kurgan fleet, will have miniatures released in July so a Kurgan Fleet List pdf is now available.  Playtest rules for psychics and theurgists are in Signs & Portents 92.

Full fleets of minis for Hawkwood, Decados, Hazat, al Malik and Li Halan fleets are now available.

2/6/2011 - Coming later this month is A Call to Arms: Noble Armada, the core rulebook which includes full fleet lists for the five main Royal Houses, new rules for boarding actions, fighters, scenarios, and a complete campaign that can be played with any fleet.   Also available are fleet boxes of miniatures for the Hawkwook, Decados, al Malik, Hazat, and Li Halen House fleets.  More information an pictures of some of the new minis are available in Signs and Portents 89

In March, the miniatures of the Hawkwook Maestekulos Dreadnought and the Decados Anikrunta Dreadnought will be available.  April should bring us Decados and Hazat fighter miniatures along with game datacards.  Then in May, quite a few ship miniatures are scheduled for release. 

11/7/2010 - Mongoose has announced in their latest issue of Signs & Portents that a new 3rd edition of ACTA will be released in February of 2011 and will be based on the Fading Suns RPG universe and basically be a version of the game Noble Armada using the ACTA rules with modifications. Existing Noble Armada miniatures have been reworked and will be available again all in metal this time.  Fleets will be released for the main 5 houses and all fleets will get new ships, especially those originally released with only 3 ships.  Take a look at Signs & Portents 86 for a full preview of A Call To Arms: Noble Armada with images of some new miniatures and information on rules updates.  Additional previews will be coming in futures issues of S&P.

6/11/2009 - The Babylon 5 license ends June 30th so if you want any of the A Call to Arms rulebooks or miniatures, be sure to act soon for the best selection as Mongoose has low stocks of some titles.

If you want an electronic pdf version of the rulebooks, they are now on sale for 25% off the regular price at RPGnow, but they will only be available through June 30th so it if you wait too long you will be out of luck.

Iron Wind Metals will also stop production of Babylon 5 miniatures at the end of June so get your order in before then to make sure you get the minis you want.  They will honor all orders placed before July 1st but any order after that date they will continue to take orders until their remaining stock is depleted or until the end of the year, whichever comes first.

4/24/2009 - The Powers and Principalities supplement is now available:

Powers & Principalities expands all fleets and races in the game. With new ship variants, admirals, scenarios and fleet lists, this book also includes the much discussed Fleet Command chapter, granting each race truly unique capabilities, such as the Drazi Attack Run, Shadow Merging and Abbai Minelaying!

As an additional bonus, Powers & Principalities also includes never-before-published background notes on the Earth-Minbari War and the mighty Narn war machines, along with optional rules suggested on our forums.

4/4/2009 - Iron Wind Metals announced today that they will be producing the smaller Fleet Action scale B5 miniatures:

Iron Wind Metals is pleased to announce the addition of Fleet Scale Babylon 5 Miniatures to its web store.
The Fleet Scale miniatures are smaller and designed for large scale space battles.
The line will debut with 97 miniatures representing the major races in the Babylon 5 universe.
Miniatures will be available for order starting Monday April 13th.

3/30/2009 - Mongoose has released a preview of the Powers & Principalities supplement for ACTA due out soon. http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/pdf/b5ctapppre.pdf

12/17/2008 - Iron Wind Metals Babylon 5 license to expire at the end of June 2009 per their website:

Earlier this year, Iron Wind Metals licensed the Babylon 5 miniatures line from Mongoose Games. After several months of prep, we began re-releasing this fantastic line of classic Sci-Fi space ships. Eventually, we planned to over-haul most of the existing designs. We began officially “re-releasing” these re-mastered ships in October. We have invested a good bit of time and effort into the line to date, hoping that the Babylon 5 miniatures license would be a long-time deal...

Unfortunately, a few days ago we were informed that, for various reasons, Mongoose Games has opted not to renew their Babylon 5 contract with Warner Brothers. As our license is tied in with Mongoose, when their license expires, ours does as well.

This is a possibility that we had known existed, as Mongoose was very up-front about things from the start, however we had hoped that circumstances would allow them to renew. Unfortunately, this does not seem to be the case. We discussed picking up the license ourselves, but for many reasons this will most likely not be possible either.

Therefore, as it stands we will be forced to cease production of the Babylon 5 miniatures at the end of June 2009.

If this situation changes we will let everyone know - however, at this point that seems unlikely.

During the 6 ½ months that we have left, however, we intend to continue to re-master and re-issue as many designs as we can, and to try and get as many designs as possible available to the players, including the Fleet Action scale ships.

Michael Noe
President IWM

12/2/2008 - Lots of news about A Call To Arms....

Iron Wind Metals now has the B5 minis available for sale, including remastered minis:

Iron Wind Metals is pleased to announce that the 1st re-mastered Babylon 5 ships are available on our website now.

For these exciting re-releases, we have re-molded and, when warrented, re-mastered the models from the original molds to return this great line to the quality it so richly deserves.

 Any Babylon 5 items appearing on our site with a 66- code number are re-mastered models. These will appear as they are done.

Meanwhile, in order to give fans access to as large a variety of ship models as possible, we will also be making available pieces from all of the old molds where we feel we can get decent quality castings. These will appear with the old 336 code numbers, and will be replaced with the 66- code as soon as we can re-master and/or re-mold them.

The Powers & Principalities supplement for ACTA is available for pre-order from Mongoose with a February 2009 release date.

Finally in the State of Mongoose 2008 post on their forums, Matt Sprange states:

"From our point of view, interest in Babylon 5 has visibly declined in the past two years and, regretfully, we will not be renewing the licence in 2009."

And later:

"There will also be a new version of A Call to Arms. The space combat game set in the universe of Babylon 5 has too many fans for us to let it fall by the way side. So, expect a new universe, new ships, and a lot of the core mechanics you have been asking for – including a solid points-based system!"

Thus Powers & Principalities will be the last B5 supplement for ACTA and exactly what is next is now known and there is no word yet on how this will effect IWM selling the B5 miniatures.

10/14/2008 - The following announcement was posted on Iron Wind Metals website (link)

IRON WIND METALS PROUDLY ANNOUNCES THE RETURN OF BABYLON 5 MINIATURES

Earlier this year, Iron Wind Metals licensed the Babylon 5 miniatures line from Mongoose Games. After several months of prep, we are ready to begin re-releasing this fantastic line of classic Sci-Fi space ships...

The Babylon 5 line of space craft is a wide-ranging and detailed line, and we at IWM feel that we can bring to the table our years of miniatures experience to allow us to raise the quality level of the miniatures to a higher plane than they have previously seen.

Eventually, we plan to over-haul most of the existing designs. However, we are aware of the existing demand for these miniatures, and so want to offer as many ships as we can as quickly as possible, while maintaining the highest quality level possible. Therefore, our re-release plan for the line will go in several stages...

Step 1: We have returned to the roots of the Babylon 5 miniature line, contacting the original sculptor for the line, Behrle Hubbuch, who is re-mastering and re-working the ships from his original master molds, to return this great line to the level of quality it deserves.

We plan to begin officially “re-releasing” a number of these re-mastered designs about every two weeks, starting the week of October 20th.

Step 2: We have thoroughly examined the existing molds, re-cutting and re-venting where necessary, in order to pull the highest possible quality that we can from the molds that we were given. A few of those molds were in very good shape, and we will offer them for ordering ASAP. That list will follow soon, posting to our website and e-mailed out, probably next week...

Step 3: There are many molds in the line that were simply too worn to allow us to get the quality we demand and the players deserve.

Those SKU’s will be unfortunately be unavailable until such time as we can re-master and re-mold them.

A fairly large number of ships, however, are in good enough shape, after our mold makers worked on them, that we can offer them now, as is. These ships will be cast to the highest standard that we can manage, given the molds that we have. As soon as we can re-master them, they will be officially “re-released”, but offering them “as is” now will get product out to customers that really want it in a hurry.  

Look to the website for further updates...

Michael Noe

President IWM

8/6/2008 - Matt Sprange has posted a message on the Mongoose Forums (link) announcing that playtest files are available for A Call To Arms players to read, play and then comment on.

7/5/2008 - Matt Sprange has confirmed on the Mongoose Forums (link) that Iron Wind Metals (link) will be producing miniatures for A Call To Arms, and that they may also bring back the Fleet Scale minis too:

"Yes, it is all true. We signed a deal with Iron Wind some time ago, after our discussions at GAMA, and everything is now about to swing into action.

Iron Wind has taken our masters and moulds, and will be producing the CTA line of miniatures just as soon as they can get everything on line. They have even taken the Fleet Action moulds and have at least the intention to bring those models back. Not everything will happen at once, and various fleets and ranges will likely be phased in over the next few weeks (there are rather a lot of models to handle all at once!).

We have spoken about new designs, and they are on the cards, but will be some time in coming - the first step is bringing out all the existing ships. This means there will not be any new hulls for Powers & Principalities - but considering what _is_ going into that book, I don't think anyone will be disappointed!

This is basically part of our strategy to allow us to concentrate on what Mongoose is good at, while still maintaining a presence in the markets we very much want to be a part of - the passing of the Wargaming Online torch to OneBookShelf/Drivethru is another example."

 

2/19/2008 - Mongoose has released new minis of the Earthforce Hyperion Heavy cruiser (a new sculpt that is supposed to be easier to base) plus variants (Command, Assault, and Missile versions) plus they are selling ball jointed flying bases (both large and small versions). Mongoose has also mentioned that they are working on another space game they hope to release in 2009 but they don't mention any more details.			Small flying base - ball jointed
Earth Alliance Hyperion Cruiser (new sculpt)	Earth Alliance Hyperion Command Cruiser	Earth Alliance Hyperion Assault Cruiser	Earth Alliance Hyperion Missile Cruiser

2/12/2008 - A big announcement from Mongoose (link):

"After a very successful number of years producing miniatures for our Origins award-winning game A Call to Arms, Mongoose Publishing is announcing today that we will cease production of this range of models with effect from March 31st 2008.

The increasing costs associated with this range combined with its sheer breadth means that production of miniatures is no longer commercially viable at this time. As a result we have reduced our prices on the miniatures by 20%, which will continue until March 31st 2008, when they will be removed from our catalogue. So, if you have been thinking about that new Shadow fleet or want to bolster the defences of the ISA, now is the time!

We will still continue to support A Call to Arms through Signs & Portents and book releases."

Additional information on the background is in the Mongoose Blog (link)

"The reality of A Call to Arms, despite its popularity, is that a miniatures production facility cannot be run on B5 alone these days. We had hoped to bolster the capacity of the facility with Starship Troopers (it needs 2, maybe 3 miniatures games to run for the long term), but rising production costs mean we simply cannot continue to subsidise it. That is the hard nature of business - something can sell well, and still not be selling enough. If the hole is not plugged in good order, we risk losing the whole ship."

"I want to emphasise that we have not dropped the game itself. We'll continue to support it in S&P, sure, but if there is sufficient demand, we will continue with book releases as well, covering different campaigns, variants and scenarios. We will also keep running events for as long as there is interest. In addition, we will be using the rules for future games."

11/26/2007 - Mongoose has posted a State of Mongoose 2007 essay on their forum outlining what they have gone through in 2007 and their plans for 2008 and beyond.  Highlights for ACTA and space games and miniatures include:

"We will be releasing just one rules book for B5: A Call to Arms every year, usually around summer, with the first being Powers & Principalities. We are still working out the contents of this tome, but you can expect to see new ships (such as the Omicron light cruiser for EA Crusade fleets and the Vorlon Frigate), new fleets (we already have draft lists for the Hyach and Ipsha), as well as a wealth of new rules such as fighting in hyperspace, maybe a new rules sub-system for fielding massive fleets, and a few other bits and pieces we have had in the works for a while. . .

You can expect to see new models from Powers & Principalities begin appearing in Signs & Portents throughout the first half of the year.

Other books will be added to the range but, in keeping with our promise, none will be required to keep up with the latest rules. The first is the B5: A Call to Arms Painting Guide, written by Adrian and featuring some of his superb models. This will be an absolutely stunning book filled with gorgeous models, and lots of handy tips – whether you want to paint like Adrian or put together an entire fleet on Saturday morning so you can play in the afternoon. This treat will be appearing in March."

Plus a bit of interesting news on the future of the ACTA game engine:

"The next phase for this game is to ‘deprovincialise’ it, by introducing two new, different settings. We have already proved that the basic game system works in other genres (such as Victory at Sea), and there is plenty more we can do with space combat outside of Babylon 5. The first, provisionally entitled Emergence, charts Mankind’s first manned explorations into the Solar System, where the supernations of the Earth compete for territory and resources. It is a great deal lower tech than Babylon 5, and we are working hard to give each nation a distinctive ‘look’ with some really nice miniatures. We are aiming to make the fleet lists compatible with those in Babylon 5, allowing you to switch between the two settings at will.

We have also just started negotiations on another licensed setting for A Call to Arms, one that will feature some awesome space battles, spread across several different fleets. Even though it uses the same rules as the current CTA, this game will play very, very differently. The technology in this setting is. . . different to that in B5!

Emergence has no solid release date planned, though we are currently looking at the end of 2008 – that said, it could easily be leapfrogged by the ‘other’ setting, which I think some gamers will be prepared to kill for. . ."

In addition, since the last update, the 2nd edition rulebooks have been released and had a number of problems with their bindings and pages falling out.  Mongoose will replace any books with these problems.  More miniatures have been released (pics at Mongoose's ACTA page) including the asymmetrical Gaim fleet, Psi Corps Mothership, Drazi Claweagle Direct Assault Frigate, Vree Xonn Dreadnought, Brakiri Cidikar Heavy Carrier, Lumati Transport, and the Ipsha War Globe.

8/9/2007 - Mongoose has released a bunch of new minis and fleet boxes.  A full list will be posted with pics after GenCon.  You can see pics and full listings at Mongoose's ACTA Page.  The 2nd Edition of ACTA is scheduled for release on August 27th.

Highlights are new fleet boxes for pretty much every race, Psi Corps ships (Hunter Experimental Warship, Shadowcloak Escort, Nemisis Advanced Destroyer, Fighter Carrier), ISA Liandra Battle Frigate (correct size), EA Olympus Corvette (corrected size), Drazi Fireraptor Battleship, Narn Ka'Bin'Tak Super Dreadnought and G'Vrahn Fast Cruiser, Drakh Patrol Cruiser and Carrier (resculpt), Vree Xeel War Carrier, EA Firebolt Fighter, and a Jumpgate miniature.

Mongoose also sold some very interesting asymmetrical Gaim minis at their recent Open Day but they are not on their release schedule yet.

5/16/2007 - Mongoose is releasing several new minis in May with one more on the way in June plus A Call To Arms Second Edition Rulebook and A Call to Arms Second Edition Fleet Lists are scheduled for an August release.  Due out May 21st are minis of the Earth Alliance Myrmidon LCV, ISA Blue Star, and the Brakiri Kabrokta Assault Cruiser.  Then due out on May 28th are the Brakiri Courami Dreadnought, Hurr Gunship, and the Drazi Firehawk Advanced Cruiser.  Due in June is the mini for the Abbai Juyaca Dreadnought.

Earth Alliance Myrmidon LCV	ISA Blue Star	Brakiri Kabrokta Assault Cruiser	Brakiri Courami Dreadnought
Hurr Gunship	Drazi Firehawk Advanced Cruiser	Abbai Juyaca Dreadnought	A Call To Arms Second Edition Rulebook

4/4/2007 - 3 more minis are now available, the Brakiri Shakara Scout Cruiser, the ISA Nolo'Tar Ranger Frigate and the Minbari Troligan Armoured Cruiser.  Rules for these ships and many of the other recently released minis are available in Signs & Portents Wargamer - 43 which is now available free for download here.  Also in S&P-W43 are rules for Hyperspace and an A Call to Arms 2.0 preview.

Brakiri Shakara Scout Cruiser

ISA Nolo'Tar Ranger Frigate

Minbari Troligan Armoured Cruiser

Signs & Portents Wargamer - 43

 

3/19/2007 - 2 more miniatures have been released, the Raiders Delta-V2 fighters and the Technomage Pinnace (full rules for this ship will be in Signs & Portents 43 Wargamer)

Raiders Delta-V2 Fighters

Technomage Pinnace

12/3/2006 - Mongoose has posted the following information on the State of Mongoose 2006 for miniatures and plans for ACTA on their message boards:

What was only ever intended as a sideline to the Babylon 5 RPG is still, to this day, our most successful miniatures game – the popularity of the system has taken us fairly by surprise, and we have courted the opinion of many gamers as to the direction to take over the next few years.

Several new things will be popping up in 2007. The first will be a new wave of ships – you will have already seen the Tiger Starfury, which is merely the first. The Technomage Pinnace is nearly complete, the T’Rakk has been remodelled and is almost ready to go, and we have oodles more on the way!

This will be building up to a new second edition of the game, tidying up all the separate rules books and supplements over the past two years. We will be releasing this as a (small) hardback rulebook, and a (rather larger) fleet book, with an expanded range of counter sheets for those who are still reluctant to pick up a paint brush. Nothing too radical will be happening to the game system itself (no, we are not moving to a D10 system. . .), but there will be all sorts of interesting bits and pieces added and tweaked, including three new fleets – the Gaim, the pak’ma’ra, and the Psi Corps (the latter of which also includes Earth’s covert divisions). A section has also been set aside for ‘other ships’, those that very much fit within Babylon 5 but are not tied to any fleet, such as the Hurr Gunship, the Lumati Transport and the Ipsha War Globe.

We have already started playing with this rules set, and it is noticeably smoother. We are just ironing out the last inconsistencies, ready for its release in summer. However, we will be previewing a lot of the new rules and tweaks in Signs & Portents, giving you the chance to comment on them, before they are made official. A Call to Arms has always been the most organic of our games, with a great deal of input from the players’ community itself – we have absolutely no intention of changing that.

Now available are the Narn T'Rakk Frigate, Earth Alliance Command Omega Destroyer, and the EA Tiger Starfurries.

10/6/2006 - After printing problems and other delays, the Armageddon supplement has finally been released and is in stores now.  This supplement has 4 parts:

Part One – New Rules
This supplement brings a new Priority Level to your games – Armageddon, allowing you to field the most powerful ships yet seen in the galaxy. There are also new rules for Stealth, Energy Mines and Auxiliary Craft.

Part Two – The Earth Alliance
The Earth Alliance is blessed with an abundance of ship designs. In order to get the fleet list down to more manageable levels, we have split the Earth Alliance into three time periods spread across the Babylon 5 timeline, replacing that found in Sky Full of Stars – the Early Years, the Third Age and the Crusade Era. Each is a viable fleet list with its own selection of ships.

Part Three - Armageddon
The other fleets of the game have not been forgotten either. The Crusade Era brought a rush of technologies for all races who joined the Interstellar Alliance, though not the co-operation Sheridan had hoped for. From the powerful Narn Ka’Bin’Tak to a re-jigged Victory, you will find a host of new ships to take advantage of the new Armageddon Priority Level. As a special treat, we have also included new lists for the Shadows and Vorlons that also use the new Priority Level, and full rules for using the ships of the Ancients.

Part Four – Scenarios and FAQ
Finally, we have included a selection of new scenarios for you to test your tactical mettle, in addition to the entire A Call to Arms FAQ. Garnered from questions raised by fans on our web site forums, this chapter examines various aspects of the game system and gives definitive answers!

The first waves of related miniatures are also available, the Centauri Adira-class Royal Battleship, Earth Alliance Marathon-class advanced cruiser, Earth Alliance Nemesis-class advanced destroyer, ISA White Star Gunship, ISA White Star Fighters, The Ancients Box Set, and the ISA White Star Carrier.  More minis will be released soon.

Nov 2006 Centauri Liati Advanced Cruiser  Earth Alliance Fleet Box Set - The Early Years	Dec 2006 Earth Alliance Fleet Box Set - The Crusade Era Earth Alliance Fleet Box Set - The Third Age Earth Alliance Tiger Starfuries	Centauri Adira-class Royal Battleship	Earth Alliance Marathon-class advanced cruiser
ISA White Star Gunship	ISA White Star Carrier	Centauri Liati Advanced Cruiser	Earth Alliance Tiger Starfuries

6/12/2006 - The July releases have been pushed back to August, and now listed for a September release is the Minbari Neroon Heavy Assault Ship.  A picture of the Nemesis has bee released along with previews of new miniatures during a presentation at Kublacon.

EA Nemesis Destroyer		Adira
Vree ship	Drazi Cruiser	Whitestar Gunship

5/18/2006 - Images of the rest of the June released Drakh miniatures are now available plus the schedule of releases through August was posted.

4/5/2006 - Signs & Portents 32- Wargamer is now available from Wargames Online and it includes articles first in a new series describing the Dilgar War, this month focusing on the Abbai, a sneak peek at the Drakh, basic tactics for Earth Alliance fleets, and hints on making a space-based battleboard.

The April releases listed below will be available around the 17th.  The May releases are scheduled for May 15th. 

June 2006 Drakh Carrier Drakh Cruiser Drakh Fleet Box Set Drakh Light Cruiser Drakh Mothership Drakh Scouts	Drakh Light Raider	Drakh Heavy Raider
Drakh Scout	Drakh Fast Destroyer	Drakh Light Cruiser

3/25/2006 - Matt Sprange of Mongoose mentions the following things on the Mongoose Publishing forum:

As is the way of things, the new supplement for CTA, Armageddon, has blossomed during development. Originally intended as an update to provide ships that appear during the Crusade era (as well as bumping up the power of existing ships, such as Shadows), it has started to sprawl into a 'general update' book.

Matt then asks for input on what the players would like to see updated which results in quite a bit of discussion.

2/13/2006 - The Dilgar Fleet Book is now in stores and pictures are available of 4 new totally new Dilgar miniatures set for release in March.  Also Mongoose has posted the ACTA Official Tournament Pack on their website as a 692k pdf file

Here is their current schedule for upcoming releases:

1/2/2006 - The A Call To Arms Starter Set is now in stores and includes information on the War of Retribution, the Narn/Centauri conflict.  

The Drakh Fleet Book and Box Set are new scheduled for an April Release. 

Gale Force Nine has also released an arc template and special action tokens officially licensed for ACTA.

Wargames Online now has issues 28 and 29 of Signs & Portents available for free download which include the articles 'Argent’s Crusaders: Raiders with a Cause' – alternative rules for Raiders, including new ship variants, a new personality and, a new ship - the lethal Endgame Dreadnought.  Plus 'Storm Across the Void' a scenario where players to face chaotic solar storms and gravity fluctuations.

11/30/2005 - The Earth/Minbari War supplement for ACTA is now in stores, 64 pages softcover.  The Civilian ships boxed set of minis is also available.

Due now in December is the A Call To Arms Starter Set.  Instead of covering the Dilgar War as originally planned, this set will now focus on the War of Retribution, the Narn/Centauri conflict.

The Dilgar War will now be covered in the Dilgar Fleet Book due in January with miniatures of the Dilgar ships to follow soon after.  Here is the current schedule of ACTA releases:

11/8/2005 - Mongoose's in house magazine, Signs & Portents now has both a Miniatures and RPG editions and both are available for free from Wargaming Online.   Of interest to ACTA players is in the new issue 27 just released, there are articles on fighting the Minbari and naming Earth Alliance ships.

10/1/2005 - A Call To Arms products are now available for download from Wargaming Online (wargamingonline.com) in the electronic PDF format.  Wargaming Online is a new service provided by Mongoose Publishing to introduce miniatures and board gamers to the delights of electronic rulebooks via the PDF format.

9/27/2005 - Lots to update on ACTA.  Sky Full Of Stars is back from the printer and is on the way to distributors and should be in stores next week.  A limited number of SFOS were available at GenCon Indianapolis in August and they quickly sold out.  

A Call To Arms Revised Edition is also on the way and it updates and replaces the original boxed set.  To play the game all you need is the ACTA Revised Edition boxed set and SFOS as an option to expand the fleets and additional rules.

The Earth/Minbari War supplement is now scheduled for November.  Also for release in November is the A Call to Arms Starter Set:

The Starter Set focuses on the Dilgar Invasion, a bloody era from the Babylon 5 universe’s history and covers the basic rules of the game in an easy-to-learn format. A number of scenarios are also included, each of which recreates a battle from the Dilgar Invasion – an ideal setting for your first few games of A Call to Arms. The book includes full rules for the ships which took part in this conflict, along with counters to represent them on the tabletop so you can begin playing immediately.

Still due in September are the Abbai Matriarchy Fleet Box Set, Earth Alliance Chronos Frigate box set, and the Raiders Double-V Fighters.

8/4/2005 - The latest updates from Mongoose:

A Sky Full of Stars, the new hardback supplement for A Call to Arms, has just gone off to print and to celebrate we have posted the page containing rules for the Shadow Omega, probably the most powerful vessel within the Earth Alliance fleet.

A Sky Full of Stars is due for release at the end of August, though pre-release copies will be available at GenCon.

The Shadow Omega model will be available in two weeks time.

The pdf of the Shadow Omega stats is at http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/pdf/ctashadowomega.pdf 

Due in September is the Earth/Minbari War supplement which is a 128 page softcover book twenty scenarios to play through the chronology of the War, older Fleet Lists for both the Earth Alliance and the Minbari Federation matching the vessels of that time period and over a dozen new (or failed prototype) ship variants. There are several famous commanders, unique personalities and even some unique ships—like the fearsome Black Star—to test your skill with or against in the War Campaign or in friendly games.

6/29/2005 - Another update from Matt Sprange about the future of A Call To Arms:

"We are currently on stand by for some very good news for A Call to Arms but while we wait, I think it is time for me to let you in on what is happening after Sky Full of Stars.

First off, the now near-legendary Sky Full of Stars will be released this August. Joining it will be an all new counter pack with _every_ ship featured (and, yes, they will be numbered this time!) and a Revised CTA box set that will contain updated rules making the basic set compatible with Sky Full of Stars.

YOU WILL ONLY NEED ONE OR THE OTHER! If you have the basic set already, Sky Full of Stars will give you all the updates you need. If you haven't got the game at all yet, the revised box set will let you play the game on an even level with those who have Sky Full of Stars - all you'll be lacking are a few 'cool' bits and the extended fleet lists.

After that, A Call to Arms will be going into overdrive.

Between now and the end of the year you will see;
The rest of the Fleet Box Sets
Orion Starbase
Chronos Frigates
Earth/Minbari War supplement
Delphi Scout
Double-V Fighters
Dilgar Fleet Book
The complete Dilgar Fleet
Shadow Hunter
An introductory booklet featuring counters and scenarios set during the Dilgar War
Apollo Cruiser

And, knowing us, we will likely slip a few more bits and pieces in. One change we are making is that all the new releases will be produced as box sets available via retailers. However, if you are after single ships, you will still be able to get them from our site.

As we move into 2006, look out for the Drakh, Gaim, Pak'ma'ra and more, each with new models and a complete fleet book. 

Upcoming releases listed on Mongoose's website are:

6/4/2005 - Mongoose has posted the following information about the future of A Call To Arms and the supplement, Sky Full of Stars:

"A Call to Arms has built up a large fan-base of very dedicated gamers and we have been pondering over the past few months just how to best serve you chaps. There are plenty of things we can do, some things we shouldn't and some things that are an absolute must.

We are therefore planning to have a 're-release' of the game this August, starting with the following;

RULES UPDATE
This is a sticky one we have been puzzling over. For a start, the Sky Full of Stars does represent a quantum shift for CTA, making it a much more fully rounded game. On the other hand, however, we don't want to leave people high and dry when they have invested in the core rules. Thus, we have elected to do the following;

If you have CTA already, the Sky Full of Stars supplement is all you need to get all the new juicy stuff that expands the system.

If you have not yet bought into the game, the main box set is about to be reprinted. We are going to take this opportunity to update the rules to Sky Full of Stars standard. Basically, this means that any rules (or ships!) modified in SFoS will be so modified in the reprint of the core rules. You will still be missing the expanded fleets, additional rules, etc, from SFoS but you will be playing to the same core rules and standards as the SFoS players - you will even be able to take basic CTA fleets and fight against SFoS players with no disadvantage! You will be able to tell the revised box set apart from the original by new cover art (and a big Revised legend). Expect to see this sometime in early August.

The aim, as I said, is to get everyone playing the same game with the same set of rules.

A NOTE ON SKY FULL OF STARS
Development on this one has accelerated and we have been gathering all your comments both here and via email. The layout is looking fantastic. It is gonna be a good 'un. . .

There will be a separate counter pack released in August to cover all the new ships in SFoS.

WORLDWIDE INTERNET CAMPAIGN
Come August, we are going to be running a web-based Internet campaign for A Call to Arms. Basically, you will have the chance to pick your favourite fleet, play games down your local store or club and have the results recorded across the world on the web site. You will be battling for a recently discovered system far out on the Rim, whose implications could be shattering for the entire galaxy. There will be lots of special events and scenarios for this campaign, the Mongoose Infantry will be getting involved and there will be a tournament here at Mongoose Towers!

NEW MODELS
We have a stack load of these coming out this year - space stations (the Orion is first!), Double-V Fighters, Apollo Cruisers, Delphi Scouts and many others. And yes, the Dilgar will be following.

PLASTICS
These are very much on the cards now but will not likely surface until much later this year. First up will be EA ships, but more will follow if they prove popular with you chaps.

NEW SUPPLEMENTS
A range of short supplements will be following the Internet campaign, starting with one detailing the Earth/Minbari War. We are going to be concentrating on specific engagements and fleets with these books, while adding a great deal of 'source' material (something I feel CTA has always lacked when compared to the RPG). However, these really will be optional and none will be necessary to keep 'up to date' with the core rules.

In short, the future is looking very rosey for fans of A Call to Arms and we are determined to expand this game up to the next level, giving you new options, new models and (hopefully) new players as we increase the game's visibility."

It is later mentioned that Sky Full of Stars will be a 200 page hardcover book retailing for $35 US/ £25 

5/7/2005 - Listed in Mongoose's release schedule for August is the Orion Starbase miniature.  When questioned about it on their forums, Matt Sprague said:

"From the Orion Station onwards, we have news minis for B5 coming out every month (sometimes a batch!). Expect to see the Delphi, Cronos, Apollo, Double-V and, oh, oodles more!

We are also investigating a box set of EA plastics. If all goes well here, expect to see them for all the five major fleets. . ."

3/15/2005 - Supplement 3 is now back from the printers and is shipping to distributors.  It should be in stores within the next couple weeks.  In this 48 page supplement, you get articles on topics such as advanced refits and other duties, allowing you to gain rewards in campaign games that are specific to your fleet, plus advanced fleet lists for the Drazi and Vree fleets.

2/15/2005 - Mongoose Publishing has now made all the products in the A Call to Arms line available as a PDF download from DriveThruRPG.com.  The basic ACtA rules on PDF go for $34.97 and that 6.76MB file includes all the rules, ship information, and ship counters from the boxed set.  Also available are the ship counters as a separate product, Supplement 1 and Supplement 2.

Please note that these PDF files from DriveThruRPG.com are Watermarked PDF files to signify that you are the owner. A small message is added to the bottom of each page of the document containing your name and the order number of your purchase which will be used to identify the perpetrator in the event that they are found to be illegally distributed. 

2/7/2005 - Supplement 2 is back from the printers and it shipping to distributors so it should be in stores in a week or two.  It contains:

Fleet Carriers - New rules for using Fleet Carriers in the game, making ships such as the Poseidon _really_ shine.

Narn Gorith Fighter - Surprise the Republic fleet with the Narn's own space superiority fighter. . .

Severed Dreams - This scenario allows you to play out the battle for Babylon 5 when Clark sent his forces to take over the station.

A Second Look at the Nova - A small change to the Nova and why we did it.

Shaking the Stars - Continuing a Narn theme, new loadouts for Energy Mine weapons.

EarthForce Explorer Division - A background piece on those who truly extend the frontier.

Shadows and Vorlons Fleet Lists - This is what many people have been waiting for - all new and advanced fleet lists for the Shadows and Vorlons. The Younger Races once again have something to fear. . .

Captain John J. Sheridan - Fancy using the Man himself in your games? Full rules provided.

Beacon Locks - If you enjoyed the rules for fighting in hyperspace in the last Rules Supplement, you might want to try these out.

Earth Alliance Variant Missiles - Giving some punch to Earth shipping.

Skin Dancing - A new tactic for Minbari fighters and White Stars to try. . .

And a sneak peek at Rules Supplement 3 (the last before the renowned Sky Full of Stars is released this Summer) - Drazi and Vree fleet lists, along with Into the Fire, another scenario based on the TV series.

1/22/2005 - Supplement 1 is now shipping to distributors and Supplement 2 is now at the printers.

Mongoose has also announced plans for a major supplement called Sky Full of Stars due out in July:

Part One - This will only be 2-3 pages in length and will collate all the little rules tweaks to the basic box set 

Part Two - Advanced rules - some of these you have seen previewed, some will appear early in the Rules Supplements and others will be all new stuff. This will include things like Space Stations, Boarding Actions, Planetary Bombardments, Fleet Carriers, Scouts and more.

Part Three - Revised fleet lists, they will iron out some niggles and every fleet will a) have some minor changes to many ships and b) get several new variants. The new Shadow and Vorlon lists will be there, every race will get Space Stations and the League will be broken apart into individual races, though there will still be rules to ally them. 

Part Four - Scenarios, lots of them, both historical and otherwise.

Part Five - A more detailed campaign system, plus some variants.

Other Stuff - Scattered throughout the book will be painting guides, tactics and background pieces. 

Following Sky Full of Stars, we will concentrate less on hardcore rules and focus more on background and areas of conflicts, as well as exploring different things to actually _do_ in your games. So, we will have a supplement concentrating on the Earth/Minbari War, for example. We will be having a Dilgar season later this year, backed up by miniatures and a supplement . There may be the odd 'technical' based supplement with specific rules, variant ships or scenarios, but they will become the minority rather than the totality.

1/9/2005 - More information on Supplement 2 which is now available for pre-order:

Rules Supplement 2 presents more ways to expand your games with articles on using Fleet Carriers, the Earth Alliance Explorer Division, Beacon Locks and Skin Dancing. You will be able to play the scenario featuring the moment when Babylon 5 broke away from the Earth Alliance in Severed Dreams and we present the advanced fleet lists for the Vorlons and Shadows, making this one Rules Supplement you will not want to miss!  All this and much more packed into 48 pages!

Previews of many of these rules plus previews of the Bakriri, Drazi and Vree fleet lists have been posted on the Mongoose Publishing Forums.

Also mentioned on the forums, they have enough material for the next six rules supplements, including the following topics:

12/1/2004 - The Victory class Destroyer can now be ordered directly from Mongoose plus it is available as part of the ISA Fleet Box (2 Victory's, 9 White Stars, and enough Nial and Starfury Fighters to fill the hangers).

A Call to Arms Supplement 2 has been listed for a March 2005 release, just after Mongoose hosts an "Into the Fire" Tournament on February 26th.  See their website for more details on the tourney including a downloadable set of Tourney Rules.

11/15/2004 - Mongoose has posted a pdf of replacement pages for Book One - Rules from the ACtA boxed set.    This 734kb pdf file of 12 pages can be downloaded from Mongoose's ACtA page.

11/6/2004 - A Call to Arms Supplement 1 is now listed on Mongoose's website for preorders.  It is scheduled for a February 2005 release with a price of $5.95.

10/6/2004 - From Matthew Sprange on the Mongoose Publishing Forums:

Come this January/February, we are going to start releasing the Call to Arms Rules Supplement. This will be a small 32 page booklet, packed full of new ships, new variants, tactics, revisions, scenarios, background pieces - the whole nine yards! On top of that, if it proves popular, we may even make it a monthly release. . .

However, we are going to need some help on this, specifically with the articles. So if you have been toying around with some new rules in CTA, or have a wizzy scenario you want to unleash upon the world, or even just want to give others the benefit of your tactical experience, drop me a line at msprange@mongoosepublishing.com and we'll see what we can do!

9/15/2004 - Mongoose Games website now lists A Call To Arms as available and people who have pre-orders have gotten confirmation it has shipped.

Also, Mongoose is selling the full Counter Set from ACTA separately for $9.95, but you can only get it directly from Mongoose and stocks are limited.

8/30/2004 - A Call to Arms was available at GenCon Indy and sold out early on the second day of the convention.  It still shows up as a pre-order item on their website and is now listed as a September release.  Fleet Boxes were also available at GenCon and sold better than expected even with their relatively high price.  The Victory class Destroyer was again available as a convention exclusive but word is it will be available to everyone at some point in the future.

Mongoose has posted a some pdf file downloads for A Call to Arms on their website:

Advanced Fighter Combat - New playtest rules to try for A Call to Arms (174 Kb)

EA Missile Variants - New Missiles for the Earth Alliance (713 Kb)
The 2nd Battle for Quadrant 14 - A new historical scenario for A Call to Arms (155 Kb)

7/13/2004 - More news from Mongoose's A Call To Arms page:

The first of the miniatures for A Call To Arms are now listed on their website and due for release in September and October after the boxed game is released in August.  They will be available in Fleet Boxes (list price is $99.95) from your local stores.  Individual ships will be available directly from Mongoose but the Fleet Boxes give the best deal and they also include a booklet containing new rules and variant ships for that fleet.  

If these minis look familiar, it is because they are.  It was confirmed by Bruce Graw (formerly of Agents of Gaming, now working for Mongoose) on B5wars.net that the masters for the B5Wars ships and Fleet Action fighters were used for these miniatures.

Also sales of the Victory class Destroyer mini went well at Origins.  Only a couple have shown up on ebay so far but one sold for many times the $25 retail price.  This mini will be available at GenCon in August and is available as a free gift if you subscribe to Mongoose's in house gaming magazine Signs & Portents for 24 months.

6/19/2004 - A preview battle report between 2 Hyperion cruisers was posted by Mongoose to give some idea of how the game will work.  It does not include lots of details but some highlights are, special orders are used similar to how they work in Battlefleet Gothic, winning the initiative roll lets you move and shoot before the other player can do anything, and that battle supposedly took only 10 minutes so much larger fleet battles can be handled.

A Call To Arms is now available for pre-ordering from Mongoose's website.

5/30/2004 - Matthew Sprange of Mongoose Publishing has posted a large update on the status of this new game on the Mongoose Forums.  

Highlights are, the name has changed to "A Call To Arms", it will be a hexless fleet based game, miniatures will be back, full scale but FA scale minis can be used with the game,  fleet packs of minis will be sold in stores and individual minis direct from Mongoose, and additional more detailed games may come out in the future.

Hi guys,

I thought I would take the time to update you on the new B5 Space Combat game (A Call to Arms), let you know where things are headed at the moment and give you a chance to make a few comments of your own.

First off, a big thank you to everyone who sent in a word of support for a range of B5 ship miniatures. My inbox did indeed break under the strain (well, nearly. . .) and we were glad to see support for such games was still strong. We have had a word to the powers that be (Warner Brothers) and so, come October, you will start seeing Fleet box sets in your local stores.

Now for the bad news - at least, for a lot of you. And, please, let me explain the reasons why this is so 

A Call to Arms functions as a stand alone game, allowing you to fight B5 battles in space to your heart's content. It will also have links to the RPG, so if your players have moved into positions of great responsibility, they will be able to lead entire fleets to war. That is the first point - A Call to Arms is a fleet game, concentrating on the manoeuvring of ships across thousands of miles of space. With these rules you can (we certainly have!) re-enact the Battle of Corianna VI, Babylon 5's secession, even the Battle of the Line. Hex grids are gone, leaving free-form movement over a 4x4' or, better a 6x4' board.

Right from the box, you can use large scale or Fleet Action scale miniatures - it makes no difference to the rules and you could even (in theory) have one fleet made of one scale and your opponent's of the other. Though, granted, that will look a bit weird when things get up close and personal! The scale of the counters included in the box (which will include all ships covered in the game - nearly 100 of them) will likely be of the large scale. The reason for this? You can see it coming. . .

The miniatures we produce in support of this game will be large scale. We looked long and hard at both sets of ships but having played many games of Battlefleet Gothic in the past, we could just not get past the sheer dominance and presence of the large scale models - these things look _good_. Also, freed from the constraints of a hex gridded sheet, there is no need for one ship to be the size of a hex (or nearasdamnit). In short, we are going for large scale because this is a miniatures game and miniatures should be impressive.

The two main arguments against this (and many of you did put it to me in your mails!) are a) you already have large FA fleets and b) larger models cost more. The second point is easier for us to deal with - we will be chopping the price of almost the entire large scale range by at least $1 a piece, and likely more. In addition, the fleet box sets we bring out will not only feature a rulebook with lots of variant ships, but with the miniatures alone are likely to represent a 30-40% Dollar saving over the original prices.

The fleet box sets may well be the only thing we send to retail stores (we are already asking retailers to accept quite a few comprehensive blister ranges on several other lines). Everything else will be done via mail order on our web site. This means you will be able to order individual ships (or even individual parts of individual ships) and maybe, just maybe, we will release a range of Fleet Action scale miniatures as well, thus taking care of argument A above. We'll have to see how everything pans out, but this is the intention right now.

So, about the game itself. . . Well, it doesn't matter whether you use large scale, FA scale or counters - no conversion between them is necessary. About 95% of all large scale ships AoG did miniatures for are playable right out of the box. Plus the Excalibur/Victory-class (if you want this ship, BTW, make sure you are at the Mongoose stand at Origins and Gen Con this year - it will go on general release, but not until much, much later). Play is fast and the core rules are relatively simple (you will pick the game up in 10 minutes or so from playing), but everything is focussed on the Babylon 5 atmosphere. For example, the tactics used by Sheridan to liberate Proxima 3 by multiple Jump Point entries can be used in this game (though you better have Minbari or better Jump Engines, or you may miss your target by a fair margin!). If you are the Captain of the Churchill, or any other ship that is crippled, on fire and in desperate straits, then you may be able to convince your crew to make the ultimate sacrifice. Alternatively, if you pound an enemy ship repeatedly, you may well be able to force it to surrender, regardless of what its player wishes! There are quite a few of these 'Special Actions' that players can attempt that owe everything to the TV show and hammer home that you are not playing just another space combat game but one that is intrinsically Babylon 5 in origin. No matter what fleets you are using.

The main box set is likely to be priced at $49.95, but for that you get a 64 page rulebook, a 128 page ship recognition guide, a bundle full of colour counters to get your fleets underway, and one or two other bits and pieces we have not finalised speccing yet.

So, that is what we are doing with the game and why. I acknowledge now that we are not going to pleased everyone with this take, but there are two things you can take comfort in.

1. Even if you are one of the people who took the time and trouble (thanks for that!) to write and tell me that if it were not FA scale, you would go nowhere near it, remember that the game itself supports FA and the chances are that you will still be able to buy the miniatures you want.

2. A Call to Arms need not be the last word in B5 space combat games. Not by a long shot. If all goes well, I for one would like to see a more complex ship-scale game (this would work very well for an RPG supplement we have planned next year) and then perhaps a fighter-scale game.

You never know!

Anyway, thank you for reading this far. If you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to shout out here or drop me a line. Even FA scale hate mail is welcomed.

5/18/2004 - Matthew Sprange of Mongoose Publishing had the following question posted on a few different forums.  Please do your part and give him the feedback he wants (and let him know you heard about it from Starship Combat News if you can)

Hi guys,

Mongoose Publishing is currently working on a new Babylon 5 space combat game (Codename Sky Full of Stars), to supplement its RPG. However, as these projects are wont to do, it is spiralling ever outwards and we can see some real potential in its design. The original plan was to produce a box set packed full of rules and ships, with counters to represent the actual vessels. The intention was that everything would be included inside for those who wanted to play larger engagements in their RPG, while those with B5 Wars fleets would be able to exchange the counters for their miniatures (regardless of the scale they collected in, incidentally).

However, we believe the new space combat game has a great deal of potential. We have to weigh this against the fact that a great many Babylon 5 fans already own large B5 Wars miniatures. So, we turn the question over to you chaps. The space combat game is coming out anyway (slated for an August release).  Do you want miniatures support for it? Do you want a new range of Babylon 5 ships (in appropriate scale, of course) to collect and add to your existing fleets?

If we go down this route, we can be looking at a whole host of supplements, ships for every fleet imaginable, maybe even plastic ships in the main box set (though we would _seriously_ need to get our skates on for that!!!). If not, then we will release the boxed game as a supplement for the RPG, and then carry on with our original plans for Babylon 5.

If you are in favour of a new Babylon 5 ship miniatures game, drop me a line at msprange@mongoosepublishing.com and let me know. Simply put, if my inbox dies from those wanting to see new miniatures, then you shall have them!

Keep gaming,
Matthew Sprange

Mongoose Publishing
http://www.mongoosepublishing.com 

4/26/2004 - Mongoose Publishing now lists Sky Full of Stars as an August 2004 release.  It is also listed as a Box set (200 pages) for $49.95.  GamingReport.com also lists this game as an August release but with a list price of $34.95.

Also in recent discussion on the Mongoose Publishing forum, Matthew Sprange confirms that the Excalibur miniature will be a promotional item and not for general sale:

"There are currently no plans to sell the Excalibur, nor are there plans to put it into full production. It was designed as a promotional piece only. That said, any B5 fans going to Origins or Gen Con (any of them) this year could be happy bunnies. . ."

4/22/2004 - Posted as news items on the Mongoose website, first off a news item about the new Techno-Mages book just released it says:

"development on Sky Full of Stars, the all new advanced space combat game for B5, is about to commence"

This is the first time I have seen this project given the name, Sky Full of Stars.

Also in another new story it mentions a new and strange shape has been seen and the picture to the right is included.  Familiar?  ;-)  No release date or price is currently available.

4/6/2004 - Posted by Matthew Sprange over on The Miniatures Page under a discussion about their forthcoming ship combat game - Mongoose Bab 5:

Just to quickly add something here. It is true the space combat game will be a box set and feature counters - however those counters will just happen to be in the same scale as your B5 Wars ships, so your fleets will still be useable.

However, we are casting one new ship for the range (again, in B5 Wars scale). Not saying too much right now, but it is a ship that was never done for B5 Wars and one fans have been asking for. Stay tuned to the forthcoming news pages on our site. . .

Any guesses on what ship it is?  My money is on the Excalibur from Crusade.