Friday, September 21, 2012

Review - Shadowrun: Mil Spec Tech 2

One of the more recent releases from Catalyst was the primarily PDF Shadowrun: Mil Spec Tech 2 (available on DriveThruRPG and RPGNow.) I say primarily PDF as it will not be released on standalone sale in hardcopy, but will be included in the soon to be released Runners Black Book 2074.

For your $7.95 you get a 31 page full colour PDF featuring the newest releases by Ares into the military market for 2074. This works out to 34 new pieces of hardware to throw at your runners, most of them illustrated and all coming with statistics for the 20th Anniversary ruleset.

The writing is the usual style for this kind of product, corporate sales speak followed by Jackpointers adding their 2c (or more.) There is even some of the humour you've come to expect, apparently Ares warranties do not cover damage related to user enthusiasm (unless you buy an extra support contract.)

The art is a mixed bag, most of it decent, and it gives a good idea of the piece of equipment in question.

What equipment is included I hear you ask? No, that's just the wind. Well I'll tell you anyway. Inside this instalment we have;

  • 4 new drones, including the Tan Dem humanoid security drone
  • 2 new APCs, one a vectored thrust vehicle
  • 1 new infantry fighting vehicle, also vectored thrust
  • A dedicated anti-drone anti-air vehicle with laser and missile
  • A mobile artillery capable of using rockets or cruise missiles
  • Several aircraft 
    • VTOL transport plane
    • stealth bomber
    • 2 fighters
  • Marine assets: Frigate, submarine and destroyer
  • Personal weapons: Assaults rifle, light machine gun and portable laser
  • Point defense laser
  • 14 missiles, missile launchers, torpedo and rockets
So the question is, is it worth buying? If you're planning on sending your runners into one of the many war zones brewing in the Shadowrun world right now then you will definitely find a use for it. On the other hand if you run a straight street level campaign in Seattle, then you're not likely to get use out of most of the contents.  The clue is in the name, if you need military spec cutting edge, then you could do worse than picking this one up.

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