Brog Infantry, Grav Armor, and Exoplanets

Rebel Minis has released another of PF's alien races - the Brog Empire. Just the basic infantry pack is available so far, but it has a great variety of poses and weapons (including a casualty figure). Command and Heavy Weapon packs will follow in the near future. 

The Brog are carrying the same weapons as the Pangalactic Legion. Lots of force development opportunity with that... you could use the Pangalactics as a "foreign legion" to augment a Brog force... use the Brog as a separate subject race, or even develop a campaign based around a double-dealing weapons merchant. These are definitely worth a look!

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And if you're looking to add some high-tech support vehicles to a new alien army, Ravenstar Studios has added a handful of items to the Land Core 15mm range. First we have the Mazer/Archer family of combat vehicles. The Mazer Tank has a cool split-design turret - reminds me of what we see on some spaceship miniatures. For that matter, wouldn't be hard to imagine that it is the same gun found on that faction's warships. The same hull is utilized on the Archer - available with missile or artillery cannon turrets. 

The Passser grav APC is a good complement to the new tanks. It definitely screams "we're not from around here!" to me. The steps leading down from the troop hatch makes it a pretty convincing assault vehicle.

And finally we have the Stinger flier - which looks like a very heavily armed and armored gunship.

If you want to pick these up (or any of Chris' other great vehicles and mecha), Ravenstar Studios is having a 10% off sale through Friday. 

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Our universe looks bigger and bigger every day.

There have been more than more than 800 exoplanets discovered since 1995. Since they are generally detected by measuring the "wobble" of a star and extrapolating mass, most of these planets have been lifeless gas giants. Ultimately, it seemed like we wouldn't find any Earth-sized planets with our current technology.

That all changed this week, with the confirmed discovery of a planet just slightly larger than our own world. And was it found halfway across the galaxy like many of these discoveries? Nope, it's in orbit of Alpha Centauri B - our closest neighbor has an Earth-like planet. 

Okay, so there are a few differences. The planet is Mercury-close to the star and has an orbit of only 3.2 days. So unless it's inhabited by Balrogs with 5-point seat harnesses, we probably won't find any signs of intelligent life. Or maybe that extreme environment is why nobody ever checks out the local Galactic Planning Office to view hyperspace bypass routes... 

Either way, it's very inspiring to learn more about other star systems, and how many planets our galaxy really holds. I fully expect to read confirmed discoveries of Earth-size planets or moons in the "Goldilocks zone" within the next decade. 

So here's the real question. How long will it be until we find out what is on those planets?

Cheers,

Chris