Before gaming last night Rick and I stopped in at Games & Gizmos in Redmond. He wanted to pick up the rulebook and first army book for AT-43, the latest miniatures game from Rackham. Rick is a sucker for good art and graphic design and French game companies tend to excel in those areas. I flipped through the books and indeed they are very pretty. And yet I still hesitate to give AT-43 a try. I chalk this up to two things. First, Rackham’s history of English-language products is spotty at best. A couple of years ago I made a point of going to their GenCon booth to buy Confrontation, 3rd edition. At last, I thought, all the Confrontation rules in one beautiful hardback. I put it in my carryon so I could read it on the flight back to Seattle. I got about 30 pages in before the terrible translation made me put the book down. It was clear that the translator was not a native English speaker and it showed. Last GenCon I passed on buying the even more beautiful Cadwallon game after that experience. I figured I’d wait for reviews to come in and sure enough when they did a similar problem was identified.

The other thing makes me hesitate is the miniatures themselves. They look nice enough and are much better than many pre-painted minis. Non-collectibility is also a huge plus in my book. I have yet to see the army that is so cool looking that I have to have it though. Most of the figs are very similar to 40K ranges like the Imperial Guard and Necrons. The AT-43 walkers are nice because plastic construction means they can be nice and big. The apes in power armor are also intriguing but there don’t seem to be many released yet. I suppose it must also be said that I need another miniatures game like I need another D&D; book full of feats and prestige classes. So until I hear more about the translation and see an army that really appeals to me, I’ll be holding back on investing in AT-43. And hell, I still have Panzer IVHs and Nebelwerfers to assemble and I’ve been meaning to do that for months.