Earlier tonight, Rhidh, one of the players in my Isle of the Earthshaker game, brightened up my day with a completely unexpected and most welcome surprise:A complete set of original Laserburn 15mm rules by Bryan Ansell, whom many of you will recognise as one of the brains behind WH40K Rogue Trader. Delighted doesn't begin to express how happy I was. Over-enjoyed doesn't come close. I love Laserburn. For years I've had to make do with a tattered print-out of a scan of a much-faded photocopy because I was never able to come across a copy. At least, not an original set (as opposed to yet another photocopy masquerading as an original book).
Flicking through the books, it's easy to see the germ-seeds of 40K. Many of the illustrations feature winged skulls and proto-imperial eagles. The present day heavy bolter is practically a carbon copy of the one in the Laserburn book. Moreover, it's a damn good system in itself, if a little slow and clunky compared to more refined, modern rules-sets.
Even today however, they're a great set of rules and very much a personal favourite. Just last week I was discussing laying on a Laserburn day with my fellow old foggies Kev and Spence. Thanks Rhidh. You've made a cantankerous old git very happy.
3 comments:
Wow - haven't seen Laserburn for years!
It's still a great system -if you ignore most of the stuff written in the supplement by Tony Auckland, who tried to make it into a proper RPG rather than what we would call "Roleplay-lite" wargaming today.
I own and love them all! And I found them only about 2 years ago long after my Rogue Trader days of
the late 80s.
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