AEGIS Dev Blog #1 – Starter Sets

The past few months have seen incredible progress on A.E.G.I.S., taking us from our prototype at FIG to near production. As we open up the game for Preorder, we’d like to share with you the A.E.G.I.S. Starter Sets!

Wondering what those mystery blue silhouettes are? We’ll be revealing more robots over the next few weeks! Curious? We thought you might be. (Stay Tuned!)

When designing these sets, we spent a lot of time debating the advantages and disadvantages of various different options, including Single-faction sets, and 2-faction sets, but due to both gameplay and production reasons, we realized that the best model for our “Starter Sets” was 3-faction sets that came with everything necessary to sit down and play with a friend. After that, we split the sets into the younger nations (Arc Buster Starter Set) and the older nations (Sky Guard Starter Set), and added robots until each set was full.

Now these aren’t the only products that will be available on release (or the only way to start playing on release), but we didn’t want to overwhelm people with a large number of products for Preorder. Also, fulfilling the preorders is going to get a little hectic, and we wanted to make sure we could keep a strong eye on quality control, both for our sake and for the sake of our retailers! Details on what other products will be available will come in a future dev blog!

So what comes in an A.E.G.I.S. Starter Set?

• Three Commander Unit Pieces and Cards
• Eighteen additional Level 1 Unit Pieces and Cards
• Six Level 2 Combined Unit Pieces and Cards
• Three Level 3 Combined Unit Pieces and Cards
• 12 Dice
• A.E.G.I.S. Printed Rulebook
• Hex grid Play Mat

So let’s break that down:

Three Commanders

Each set will come with Three commanders (Arc Buster: Ainer, Gamound, Stell) (Sky Guard: Etwal, Ixa, Diane), powerful units that change how your squad will play on the table. Commander Abilities do various things, from granting re-rolls, to redirecting fire, to even powering incredible commander attacks! Each squad can use one commander, and commanders almost always belong to a faction, meaning there are some units that only certain commanders can use.

Eighteen Level 1 Units

While Commanders are important Units, it’s your average Level 1 Unit that makes up the backbone of your Squad. Each Starter set contains a preset set of Eighteen Level 1 Units to accompany the Commanders in the set, so you know you’ll be getting units that work well together. Since a squad is made up of five units (including a Commander), that gives you lots of options for building a team, and can even give you and a friend dozens of ways to play!

Six Level 2 Units

Combining is the best part of A.E.G.I.S., so we made sure you have plenty of options right out of the box for combining. From so-called “Missile Antelopes” to hefty AG-Class walking tanks, Level 2 Units are often the most important pieces on the field, as they are not only more powerful than Level 1 Units, but are the first stepping-stone to larger units. Want more combines? Our first expansion is full of them (All the way up to Level 5!) and will be available in the months following release.

Three Level 3 Units

Currently the strongest Units in the game, a single Level 3, if handled well, can take on an entire enemy Squad. Where Level 2’s offer the combination of two classes, Level 3’s become powerful units incredibly capable of operating on their own.

The Arc Buster set comes with ENDR-SNO, GET-SSM, and ATZ-6000. ENDR-SNO is a fast-moving AES-class with powerful Laser capabilities and impressive energy output, making it a powerhouse offensive Unit able to threaten any opponent. The AGS-class GET-SSM pulls units in with it’s Heavy Winch Hook to smash them with a deadly Rocket Fist Attack! ATZ-6000, an AIS-class, carries a potent Laser Bow, allowing it to activate various unique Laser attacks to damage and disrupt an enemy from afar.

The Sky Guard set comes with EXL-GAN, ESPR-4000, and ESHA-5000. The AEG-class EXL-GAN is the only Level 3 unit that uses a Commander, making Etwal an intimidating presence on the battlefield. It uses an Empyrean Sky Saber in conjunction with a GAN Shield to duel other Level 3 Units. ESPR-4000 is a deadly EGI-class grim reaper that is nigh impossible to hit, slowly draining enemies while cleverly avoiding danger. The ESHA-5000 is an EGS-class Unit that carries a massive cannon capable of devastating Units with a withering barrage.

A.E.G.I.S. Printed Rulebook

While the Rulebook will be available for free online, it’s always more fun to have a hard copy in your hands! The Rulebook will include both Standard and Advanced formats of play, and a reference to all the abilities, attributes, and modifiers in the game (And some that are still to come!)

Hex grid play mat

Now that A.E.G.I.S. has moved from Inches to Hexes as our standard mode of game-play, we’ve naturally decided to package one in with each starter set. After some rigorous playtesting, we’ve come to this 25×21 hex grid as the standard. On it, there is playtested, pre-printed terrain (white hexes), but players can also ignore it and supply their own to play with in the form of household objects.
The mat itself is on high-quality semi-gloss poster paper and it has a built a built in EP counter for tracking your energy usage each turn with ease! Among several other labels and generally looking pretty.