Has anyone ever read this series of books? Perry Rhodan is a huge series of pulp Sci-fi stories from Germany that has been running since the 1960s and has over 2500 issues in it.

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Dagster

I think I read some in the 60's or very early 70's David Webber is much better to me.

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"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"

Well, I'm struggling through my first at the moment. Finding these books is difficult as they've been out of print for decades so I'm starting off with book #3.

It's awful. At first I thought it was the fault of the translator, but the storyline is deadful too. Perhaps when our hero gets off earth and starts exploring the universe the story will get better, but I doubt it.

Ho hum, I was hoping for a decent bit of space opera that I could use as a game setting, but apparently not.

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Dagster

If you are looking for some good space opera, I can't recommend Alistair Reynolds enough. He written an excellent series of books, and they're all just so thrilling and unusual. The series is only five books long, and they are not all directly related to each other, although they occupy the same universe. They are all available in paperback, so you should be able to pick them up inexpensively.

The titles of the novels are:

• Revelation Space
• Chasm City
• Redemption Ark
• Absolution Gap
• The Prefect

There are also some collections of short stories that are pretty neat as well.

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Respectfully,
Jonathan

Do what is right, love mercy, and walk humbly

Battle Companies

Thanks Jon, I was actually looking at Perry Rhodan with a view to getting a licence from them to produce a range of hokey 1960s-style sci-fi minis and a wargame, but since it's almost unheard-of in the English speaking world (and it's just awful) I think I'll look elsewhere.

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Dagster

Oh, no biggie.

Still great reads though, so you may want to check them out!

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Respectfully,
Jonathan

Do what is right, love mercy, and walk humbly

Battle Companies

Alfred Bester
Original title Tiger! Tiger! The stars my Destination might appeal to the cyber punk crowd.
The Man-Kzin Wars is a series of military science fiction short story collections They are set in Larry Niven's Known Space universe
The Honor Harrington series by David Webber
The Burning Eye (Warworld, Book 1) by Jerry Pournelle. I think you might get a kick out of this one

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"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"

I think David Webber may be more approachable than you thing for game rules.
Have you considered TV? What about Rocky Jones Space Ranger? 1954 There were at least two seasons and it survived because it is on film.

I don't think you need a license for Space. For example; The Tempest or Forbidden Planet, Beowulf or Outlander, Dancers with Blue people or Avatar, Oedipus Rex or Warworld I, The Enemy Below or Star Trek The Balance of Terror or 1980 Battlestar Galactica who did they not rip off? Tiger Tiger is The Count of Monte Cristo. Don't forget, Jessie James and the Space Pirates or Gun Smoke in Space aka Firefly. Wagon Train to The Stars was Star Trek. WWII in the Pacific was Space Above and Beyond.
Space Pulp I would like to see Captain Blood in Space
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BDiNhe_YNQ

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"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"

The Known Space stuff by Niven is the best of these I feel - it's a well considered setting with some classic aliens and plenty of scope for battles. The Man-Kzin wars are interesting enough, but then there is the Fleet of Worlds series that covers other wars between races such as the Puppeteers and the Pak that have a lot of potential for minis.

Food for thought,

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Dagster

Cool idea for the wargame Would you use pre-existing minis or get someone to sculpt new ones?
You could start a blog/WiP thread on here for the game development, and maybe commision Dave/UKFB, or Gael Goumon to do the sculpting.
If you did I would be a definite player

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Backlog reduction Oath Participant