6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
This is the book to inject a military theme into your campaign, November 10, 2009
This review is from: Galaxy at War: A Star Wars Roleplaying Game Supplement (Hardcover)
The books is designed to inject a military atmosphere into your campaign. This can take the form of being an all military campaign or to flesh-out military characters and organizations in your current campaign. Much of the history of Star Wars (all time periods) is based on warfare, so this book is a natural fit. The book begins with 7 new PC species (the Trianii are my favorite). The next section has the obligatory new talents, feats, and prestige class feats. They all seem to be useful in large battles. The martial arts feats are quite useful and can make unarmed fighting much more interesting. The obligatory weapons section is excellent - new melee, ranged, and incendiary devices are added. Casualties will mount. Speaking of mounts, droids and animal mounts are the next section. Following this vehicles and starships are next. This section is kind of weak in that it doesn;t add many vehicles, but it does add vehicle fire effects, which have proven to be useful (assuming that you have the vehicles on hand). The remainder of the book,naturally, focuses on the military. The book provides a glimpse into military life including ranks, discipline, purpose, and jargon. These principles are applied to Imperial military forces and used as an example of how to set up other forces. The next chapter introduces us to other military forces in the Star Wars Universe. Many of these forces have been mentioned in the expanded universe and now we have the stats to play them. We are given layouts of bases and battlestations-great places to fight in. Chapter VI -Military Encounters is the most useful part of the book for me. It has a number of mini-adventures that represent typical types and locations of battles. These adventures can be customized to fit any campaign. The book's last chapter is a full-scale mission from beginning to end set during the Clone Wars. Overall, I really like this book and it will add much carnage to the game. The artwork is on par with other Saga Edition books and provides a nice touch. Some people that are not interested in a heavy military presence in their campaigns may not find this book as useful as others. I say buy it and let the blasting begin!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not necesarily for the military minded, March 6, 2010
This review is from: Galaxy at War: A Star Wars Roleplaying Game Supplement (Hardcover)
I have found this book extremely handy in my campaign. Even if you aren't running a military heavy campaign, this book has plenty of other gems that add some much needed elements.
Foremost among these is the new martial artist options. Those wishing to pursue unarmed combat now have a slew of new feats, as well as a prestige class, to delve into, which I would have to say is on par with the monk from DnD. An interesting addition is that the feats can work in conjunction with talents you can get in that class, similar to the lightsaber force powers from the jedi academy training manual.
Also impressive is the new selection of equipment. In addition to new weapons and armour (the interchangable weapon system and katarn aror are a favorite, a la republic commandos), there is a new requisitioning system, as well as additions to the rank and privledge system, allowing characters of certain ranks to call in airstrikes, gather intel, or call for extraction.
Military organizations are another feature of the book. While it is interesting to hear each group's history, I wish they had styled this section like the force traditions for force-users.
The rules on building battlestations is mechanically useful, though it really just amounts to a dungeon building advice guide. Not anything too complicated, other than explaining different sections of a station, and how sensors and security can be designed.
The ready-made adventures and campaign are a good way to see some of the tools in this book in action, but are pretty straight forward, and I haven't found them intriguing enough to drop into my campaign yet.
Overall, I'd say this is a good buy if just for the martial artist rules and new equipment (and ways of getting it). But if you're looking for rules on building the next deathstar, this may help, but it falls a tad short.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
3.0 out of 5 stars
Be more useful in battles, May 31, 2010
This review is from: Galaxy at War: A Star Wars Roleplaying Game Supplement (Hardcover)
This guide is perhaps less useful for a player than a GM, but does have some ways to make your less combat oriented character more useful in a battle, often by using skills or feats you may already have selected. For those of you who like such things, it also helps make better martial artist PC's.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
