TCGplayer Staff

Mongoose Publishing, after recently becoming a sister company to Rebellion Games, has posted a list of expectations fans can have for 2009. Among these expectations was a posted plan to “return to miniatures gaming” in the latter half of 2009. Mongoose's new relationship with Rebellion has opened up possibilities via access to new properties, and improved printing capability and quality control. These new options have caused a boom in Mongoose game development, and have sparked an inspiration that will lead Mongoose deeper into the Miniatures gaming business.

Mongoose is generally more famous for its RPG and book products than for its miniatures, and recently most of their publishing efforts have been focused on the RPG market. However, Matthew Sprange, co-founder of Mongoose Publishing said that 2008 was a year for “re-examining the way [they] approach miniatures, in terms of quality of casting, sculpting and presentation.” Results of this new examination include new quality control procedures and an influx of “new talent to manage sculpts and pre-production.” Sprange went on to say that these were the areas that caused Mongoose the most problems in the past.

As a result, Mongoose Publishing has decided to, in Sprange's own words “start small”. Mongoose Miniatures Games will be released mostly in the tail end of 2009, as more of a buildup to 2010. The plans also stated that no “grand battle game” will be released until 2010. Sprange stated that final details of Mongooses 2009 return to miniatures gaming are still being worked out and thus he couldn't reveal much.

However, there were some details that could be revealed, the most major being the development of a new Judge Dredd miniatures game. The game will be based on “Gangs of Mega-City One” however will be vastly expanded in scope. Sprange elaborated by saying “You can play simple gang-on-gang action in Mega-City One if you wish. However, the new game will allow you to instead run a Sector House of judges, battle throughout the Cursed Earth, or deep within the Undercity, fight entire block wars, roar down the Megways, fight alien attacks, or stage desperate last stands against the Dark Judges. All tied into a complete campaign system, your characters will develop and grow with every battle fought and every story told.”

Sprange also went on to talk about some other Miniatures products Mongoose will be releasing. They will be releasing a new version of “A Call To Arms” (a game based on Babylon 5) released. The update will effect setting, units, and core mechanics, including what Sprange calls a “solid points based system” something that fans have apparently asking for for a while.

Other products include: an update to Victory at Sea called Victory at Sea: Age of Dreadnoughts which alters the game to simulate World War I naval conflicts, a Spec Ops version of Battlefield Evolution: Modern Combat, Pacific War and Warbirds supplements for Battlefield Evolution: World War II which will expand your choice of aircraft in the game, and some completely new games that are now in development. One will apparently be a new Battlefield Evolution title covering Vietnam. Sprange also stated that Mongoose will be developing games that examine both conflict in Africa and the war in the desert.

Mongoose's last project is a prototype for a new Miniatures game based on racing. The system called “V-Max Racing” will cover “racing… of a sort” according to Sprange. It is yet to be seen whether or not the game will feature actual combat or will in fact be a system solely concerned with racing. Mongoose plans to preview the game in 2009, and put it into production if fan response is strong enough.

Between its new deals with Rebellion, its expansion of its RPG department, and its new efforts in the realm of Miniatures Gaming, Mongoose is attempting a massive expansion into the gaming world. It's games, both collectible and non-collectible are largely considered indy games, and are published mostly based on fan-response. However, its new deal with Rebellion, a UK based digital game developer has given it a host of new options that will allow it to push forward in the mainstream gaming world.

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