10,000 AN

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10,000 AN
Manufacturer Tactical Depot
Years 1651 AN–present
Players 2+
Setup time 5–20+ minutes
Play time 30–180+ minutes
Random chance Medium (dice rolling)
Skills Strategic thinking, arithmetic, miniature painting
Website @@co/tacticaldepot/games/10k

10,000 AN, sometimes referred to colloquially as 10k, is a miniature wargame produced by Tactical Depot. It is the most popular miniature wargame on Micras, especially in the Shirithian successor states. The first edition of the rulebook was published in 1651 AN, and the current tenth edition was released in 1722 AN.

As in other miniature wargames, players enact battles using miniature models of warriors and fighting vehicles. The playing area is a tabletop model of a battlefield, comprising models of buildings, hills, trees, and other terrain features. Each player takes turns to move their model warriors around the battlefield and fighting their opponent's warriors. These fights are resolved using dice and simple arithmetic.

10,000 AN is set in the distant future, where a stagnant human civilization is beset by hostile aliens and supernatural creatures. The models in the game are a mixture of humans, aliens, and supernatural monsters, wielding futuristic weaponry and supernatural powers. The fictional setting of the game has been developed through a large body of novels, published by Tactical Depot's publishing subsidiary, Dispatch Books. 10,000 AN took its name from 0 AN, which is a medieval fantasy wargame also produced by Tactical Depot. 10,000 AN was initially conceived as a science fiction counterpart to 0 AN, and while they are not connected to each other in a shared universe, their settings share similar themes.

10,000 AN has spawned a number of spin-off tabletop games. These include Footfall, which is about combat within the narrow corridors of derelict spacecraft, and Danger Close, which simulates spaceship combat. Video game spin-offs have also been released.

Overview

Setting

Currently playable factions

Throughout its history, 10,000 AN has published rules for several factions, and mentioned countless others in its lore; these are the major playable factions in the current tenth edition of the game.

The Republic

The primary human polity in the fictional universe of 10,000 AN is the Republic, a corrupt oligarchic dictatorship that jealously guards its primacy among the nations of humankind.

GIs

The primary military arm of the Republic, consisting mainly of cloned, genetically-modified super-soldiers in distinctive power armor.

Grand Army of the Republic

The secondary military arm of the Republic, consisting of a standing army of regular humans.

Eosian Guard

An elite all-female military unit tasked with guarding the President and other VIPs.

Rogue Troopers

Pirates, whether exiled from human militaries or less often otherwise, that prey on human and xen (alien) shipping.

Judges

Those few humans with psychic potential, taken by the Republic and genetically modified to act as its hanging judiciary, laying bare the guilt in criminals' minds.

Arbiters

The Republic's secret police.

Ministry of Labor

The Republic's research and development arm.

Other human factions

Not all humans are part of the Republic. The playable outliers include:

Colonials

A catch-all term for the passengers (or descendants thereof) of generation ships dispatched from Micron in the days before the discovery of faster-than-light travel.

Daughters of Momiji

An all-female faction of warrior-shamanesses from the eponymous moon, known for their unique martial arts and their ability to summon spectral beings known as kamui.

Xeani

The word xeani (singular xen) is the Republic's term for non-human sapients, such as:

Aontú

An elf-like race known for their immortality, haughty demeanor, and psychic prowess. Until recently with the construction of the Arthách Tír (“nation-ships”) that now ply distant stars, they rarely ventured beyond their allegedly-paradisical homeworlds, considering the other races sinfully unclean.

Sláine

An underground-dwelling offshoot of the Aontú that focus on physical strength over psychic powers, to the point of ongoing speciation.

Casuals

A race of brutish ogre-like aliens formally known as the Gergasi, recovering from a war of extinction against their sworn enemies, the Ultras.

Kappa

A race of communally-minded, turtle-like aliens who only recently advanced from their industrial revolution to a tech level commensurate with other races'. Their most notable feature is that their shells repel psychic powers.

Suseka

A race of ravenously expansionistic, naga-like aliens.

Roveli

A lost colony of backwards, dinosaur-riding Suseka.

Kkaqaŗ

A hive-minded race of omnicidal insectoid berserkers awoken from a trillion-year slumber during the events of the game's first edition.

3.19A~52

A collective of multiple species of songbird-folk ritualist-psion-bards.

BBA974331

A race of raptor birdfolk huntresses who prey mainly on 3.19A~52.

Inari Flamekeepers

A species of foxlike channelers and pyromancers at war with the Daughters of Momiji.

Formerly playable factions

The presence or absence of a faction in the rules of a given edition of 10,000 AN does not guarantee that such a situation will persist, and the game's history is littered with factions that have dropped in and out of playability. Some of the more popular ones include:

Name Description Editions present
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th
Star League A nation in civil war with the Republic, and their army.
Sigma Force The elites of the Grand Army of the Republic.
Marines Former GIs that sided with the Star League.
Chainers Bounty hunters and slavers that roamed the border worlds.
Bureau of Psionics The Star League's psychic secret police.
Black Navy A ragtag multispecies band of space pirates.
Yassa Khanate Non-Republican human cavalry.
Sisterhood of Emrakul Non-Republican human eldritch cultists.
Ardians Sláine space navy.
Solitaires An Aontú mage-jester rebellion.
Leatherbacks Kappa space pirates.
QBJX Nonsapient whale-like mages.
Brides of Amaterasu A breakaway subgroup of the Daughters of Momiji, extinguished by the Inari Flamekeepers in the events of the game's sixth edition.
Ultras A faction of the Gergasi, a race of brutish ogre-like aliens, and sworn enemies of the Casuals.
Nakhevari League A race of stout, dwarf-like human offshoots.
Inquisition A caste of political officers attached to units of GIs and other human militaries to ensure strict adherence to Republican doctrine and propaganda.

History

Supplements and expansions

Spin-off games and other media