JUMP: into the unknown

After reading a couple of glowing reviews on the web, I just picked up the
premiere title from "Evil Polish Brothers" called JUMP: into the unknown (its
almost worth buying just for the sake of the designer's name). On the game's
website www.jumpgame.com the game bills itself as the "ideal" campaign system
for starship miniatures battle games. After opening the box, I have a few
comments.

COMPONENTS The map sections are quite nice similar to the card maps provided
in
B5W.  There are clear plastic sheets with terrain/planets on them.  I
was a bit concerned with the warning tag stating that the pastic sheets must
be stored between the thin paper sheets they came with in order to avoid
damage. This seems a bit much to expect from a bunch of tired gamers after a
long session. The fleet and system ownership counters are constructed of black
card stock. The fleet cards are provided with plasic feet that allow
them to stand upright. The foil-stamped method results in nice, bright
looking counters but the design is all but undiscernable on the fleet
stands-- the differing colors prevent this from being a major problem.
The political status markers are tiny(card disks about twice the size of a
pencil eraser)!  They're just too small for my taste-- finding them on
the carpet can be quite a challenge, especially if you have vision like mine.

RULES I plan to play my first game this weekend. After reading through the
rule book 3 times, the rules seem fairly straightforward. Basically, fog of
war is achieved throught the use of fleet counters. The contents of a
particular fleet are secretly tracked on well-organized record sheets
maintained by the players. Combat is rather similar to Twilight Imperium with
a few twists (I really bought the game to be a basis for my miniatures games
anyhow). One novel element I liked was the diplomacy system. All

planets are assumed to be inhabited before game start. Players choose a

racial "alignment" at game start and whenever a new system is explored, a die
roll is made to determine how that race reacts to the "new neigbors"

this ranges from alliance to xenophobia.

FULL THRUST USE I imagine that the fleet sizes suggested by the rule book (20
ships

max) may be a bit high unless larger ships are assigned size numbers greater
than 1 (although fighters are counted as ships in the rules). Also, provision
must be made for standardised surface unit size for transporting etc.. I don't
see either of these being any great impediment to using the mechanics for
campaign games.

I will post a few notes on gameplay after getting a few under my belt. I
strongly suspect sooner or later, the mechanics from this game will end up
being transplanted onto my Twilight Imperium games and some cross-breed
being used for my group's long-envisioned grand campaign game.

Kindest Personal Regards,