The Official Newsletter of Triskele Game Design Studios

This month’s Æthergate expands the gameplay possibilities of Ætherverse even farther. Æthergate Newsletter
Four new attributes are provided (immediately available for “official” play), as well as a Volume 1, Issue 6
new scenario for play. The scenario is one of the 5 that will be provided with the Empires:
Rome supplement, which should see release in late summer of this year.
April 2005
Edited by Jason
Down below on this page you will also find a new type of vehicle class. This class was
Lauborough
created to help provide extremely low-technology armies with another vehicle option,
Published by Triskele Game
and to let those designing low-tech campaign settings an alternative to light and heavy
Design Studios
vehicles which can often be overpowering in such an environment.
Contents
In other Triskele-related news, this month marked the launch of the AVDesign license.
This license is intended to allow individuals and companies to produce and publish 1: New Vehicle Class
products including army lists created using the Ætherverse army design system. This is 2-3: Rome Scenario Preview:
“Evacuation Mission”
great news for miniature companies wanting lists for their minis, for gaming companies
wanting to expand into miniature gaming, and for players, who will see an increase in the 4: New Rules
content available for use with the game. www.triskelegames.com
Anyone interested in taking part in the AVDesign program is encouraged to visit the
Triskele website.
Next month, Triskele will be attending KublaCon at the San Francisco Airport Hyatt.
This is one of the premier west coast conventions, and we’ll be there. Demo games will be
going on almost the entire weekend, and we also have a mega-battle planned in addition
to the first ever official Ætherverse tournament!
Hope to see you there!
-Jason Lauborough, Designer: Ætherverse

Early Technology Vehicle Many societies’ first attempts at military

Vehicle Class - Support Choice vehicles are more laughable than
threatening. Clanking contraptions of
Requires TEK 2. Limit one per army. taped-together steam engines, spewing
The starting price for this vehicle class is equal to 25 points plus the cost of smoke from every orifice, these large
the army’s basic profile. piles of wood and metal plow across a
battlefield, often more of a menace to
•AV Range: 8-14 their pilots than the enemy.
•Base Movement: 8” Occasionally these vehicles will function
•The vehicle’s MOV is reduced by 1” for every point its armor exceeds 8. properly, though, giving the world a
glimpse at the future’s possibilities.
•Armor costs only 2 points for each point of armor rather than 4.
•The vehicle may take a single heavy weapon and no light weapons (though the heavy weapon may be replaced
with a single light weapon as normal). This weapon must be mounted in the forward arc.
•The transport ability for this vehicle costs 10 points for each 6 models (up to 12) instead of 20.
•This vehicle may not turn and move in the same turn.
•The vehicle may not take the Siege Engine ability.
•This vehicle uses a highly simplified damage table to represent the often ad-hoc manner in which it is built:
If the damage from an attack exceeds the vehicle’s AV by:
0 points (equals the AV): The vehicle may not move or shoot for the remainder of this turn.
1 point: The vehicle’s weapon is destroyed. If there is no weapon present, reduce the vehicle’s MOV by 2”.
2 points: The vehicle is immobilized. If the vehicle is already immobilized, reduce its AV by 1 point.
3 points or more: The vehicle is destroyed. The model remains on-table as impassible terrain.
 EVACUATION M ISSION
A M -8T
This mission is set to appear in the
first expansion product for Ætherverse,
Empires: Rome, due out later this year.
We’re happy to present it to you now, as a
preview of what else you should expect to
see in Rome.
Rome will include 5 new standalone battle
scenarios for Ætherverse play, and will also
introduce a scripted 5-6 battle campaign
with a series of dynamic battles. The
campaign will follow a Roman invasion
force as it lands and attempts to secure a
portion of a low-technology world.
The campaign will include suggestions for
including your own armies in the story; you
won’t just be locked in to playing it with
Roman armies.
As mentioned in last month’s Æthergate,
Rome has been delayed until later in
the year, probably late summer. This
delay was decided upon because
we’ve decided to increase the
size of the book from 64 pages
to 128 pages. This should
make the expansion book
a much better value for
your money and will
provide players with
even more content.
EmpireS
Vol. 1: Roma Galactica
SSAULT ISSION URNS
Mission Description:
A city has come under attack by enemy forces.
Much of the population managed to leave town
ahead of the besieging armies, but some of the
people remained behind due to important work,
remaining family, or sheer stubbornness. Now
the defending army must evacuate stragglers
and fend off the forward end of the attackers.
To play this battle, the defender will need three
“civilian” models. Civilians are normal sized (or
large if every basic unit in the defending army is
large). Civilians have 3’s in every stat, no weap-
ons or armor, and a 6” move. Civilians move as
personalities and are not required to remain co-
herent with each other.
If the battle is larger than 3000 points, the de-
fender should field one additional civilian for
every 500 points in the battle.
Table Setup:
Set up your table using your normal method of
choice. This battle takes place in a city, so should
have somewhat more terrain and cover than
normal.
Deployment:
Each player rolls a d10. The highest roller may
choose which long table edge the defender will
deploy along. The defender then deploys all his
units within 12” of the center of that table edge.
The attacker may then deploy any units with
the Scouts or Fieldcraft unit attribute anywhere
within 6” of the opposite long table edge. All of
the attacker’s other units begin the game off-
table, deploying during the game as if they had
the Reserve: Normal ability. Units with other re-
serve abilities and infiltrators deploy using their
own rules. Reserve units may come on via either
short table edge.
tm
Late Summer
a.d. MMV
 EVACUATION MISSION
P 2 AGE

Attacker Scout Deployment

6”

Attacker Reserve
Deployment

Defender
12”
Deployment

Attacker Objectives Defender Objectives

The attacker’s force is the forward vanguard of
an incoming siege army. As such, their main
goal is recon and determining enemy strength.
Their secondary objective is to cause havoc
amongst the enemy by capturing or destroying
any remaining civilian presence.
The attacker gains 3 victory points for every ci-
vilian model destroyed during the game. They
lose one victory point for every unit of theirs
reduced below half of their starting model
count.
The attacker also gains 1 victory point for any
civilan model still on the table at the end of the
battle.
The defenders must evacuate the remaining ci-
vilians out of the city to transports waiting on
the edge of town. In order to escape, a civilian
model must end a move within 3” of the edge
of the long table edge opposite the defender’s
deployment zone.
The defender gains 4 victory points for every
civilian model that successfully escapes the
table.
Expanded Abilities
New Attributes for use with Ætherverse
The following abilities are added to the Ætherverse rules. They’re considered official immediately
and can be used in any armies being designed for play (or designed with the AVDesign license).
Keen Weapon
Weapon Attribute
Melee Weapons Only, +10 points. May only be given to a weapon carried by an Elite unit
or a personality. A new feature
Weapon gains +1 DAM, and wielder gains +1 DEX in close combat. at the Triskele
Many armies will reserve the highest quality weapons for those that earn the right website’s discussion
forums is a section
to wield them. Whether made from a special material or put through additional
for “experimental
refinement, these weapons are a “cut above” those given to the rank-and-file members of rules”. In this
the army. section, players can
Battlesuit Shielding help develop new
Unit Attribute ideas for unofficial
+35 points. May only be taken by a unit that has an Armor Attribute that provides Size: play, and these will
Huge. sometimes even
be brought into
The model gains a 6+ save. The unit’s TEK is reduced by 1 for purposes of determining “official” status.
weapon costs, attribute options, damage/range limits and critical failure chance.
Energy shielding devices are often attached to heavy armor suits, especially early during an
army’s technological development. The power supplies on these suits are generally sufficient to
power the shielding, but often at a cost of having less available to power weapons.
Additional Weapon Mounts
Vehicle Attribute This attribute
+20 points. Heavy Vehicles or Walkers only. was originally
This vehicle may carry two additional heavy weapons. Any weapons beyond the vehicle’s suggested by
regular limit have their costs doubled. When firing one of these additional weapons, no other forum user
weapons on the vehicle may be fired “Wolfen”.

Larger vehicles will often have additional weapons mounted on them in an effort to provide
more firepower. This allows a vehicle to be more flexible or threatening, but often undermines
the stability of the vehicle as a weapons platform.
Jump Jets
Vehicle Attribute
Walkers only, +20 points. Requires TEK 6+.
This attribute
Once per game, this vehicle may choose to engage jump jets. Instead of performing a normal
was originally
move, the vehicle gains flying and a 6” MOV until the end of the turn. The vehicle may not turn suggested by
during this move, and it must end the move outside of difficult terrain or else become immo- forum user
bilized. The vehicle may not shoot until the move is complete; only light weapons may be fired “Sliding Shadow”.
in this way.
This move may be used to initiate a Vehicle Charge, and the player must declare that he is do-
ing so when engaging the jump jets. This grants no additional movement, but count the walker’s
MOV as 10 for purposes of the “dodge” roll taken by the victim unit. If the vehicle charge fails to
contact an enemy unit, the vehicle is destroyed rather than immobilized (as if it rolled a “4” on the
vehicle damage table).
Some armies, especially those relying on large walker vehicles, have developed
unique “jump jets”, allowing the walkers to temporarily take to the air. This helps
them avoid obstacles, quickly change elevation, and to suprise enemy troops. The All ÆTHERGATE
sight of a huge, multi-ton walker descending upon you from the sky is also a very content copyright 2005
fightening sight. Triskele Game Design
Studios, Mill Valley, CA.