Ever wonder about all those aliens in the background of Jabba the Hutt's palace? Well they're all here in AE: Bounty, the game with enough Aliens to make Will Smith cry in a corner!

AE: Bounty (Alien Encounters: Bounty) from Darkson Designs, the same people behind AE: WWII (I know, who'd have guessed they'd be connected) is a sci-fi skirmish game involving around 2 - 15 models set in a galaxy torn apart by greed.

Players build up a crew of daring aliens, scoundrels and other such dregs of space society and duke it out against other disreputatable crews, in a battle for supremacy.

There are three factions to choose from, Bounty Hunters, Pirates and Mercenaries. There are currently 14 alien races, and 13 hero types, so already its shaping up to be a very flexible gaming experience and one to watch out for in the near future.

For the game play itself Darkson Designs seem to have adopted a "don't fix what ain't broken" approach, adopting the core rule basis from AE: WWII. Crews are generated not via point allocation, but rather using a preset limit on the skills and resources that can be selected, depending on the level of game.

For example -- in a standard crew template one model can be upgraded to a hero. Who may then choose a single "dirty trick". There are similar limitations when choosing other crew members, with only a certain number of guys at each experience level being allowed, e.g. 1 Veteran, 3 Regular and 1 Green unit, in a standard crew template.

However, the game also maintains a number of aspects of "traditional" skirmish game, such as interaction with terrain and campaign options, which should be popular with fans of such systems as Mordheim and Necromunda.

Other than the game itself Darkson Desings are bringing out a range of miniatures to whet our appetites for wholesale alien slaughter. The miniatures themselves display a great level of imagination and weirdness that's refreshingly different from the typical "gothic sci-fi" we're so used to... they might not look out of place in a game such as Infinity... or perhaps a Starwars RPG!

For the moment the starter set is only available to pre-order, leaving us beleaguered gamers to buy the figures one by one.  However, the rules themselves allow for a certain amount of leeway and customisation, which means you  will probablyend up using some models from other companies, just to bulk out your forces for those big games.

All in all, this game looks highly promising ... but what are your own personal opinions of the game?

If you haven't played it would you like to? Or if you have does the lack of a point system enhance or detract from the game?

Let us know your thoughts.

BoW Sam