"Starship Wargaming: Which rules set?" Topic

After a long hiatus(20+ years)from starship/spacecraft wargaming, I want to get back into it, but am unsure as to what rules set(s) to try. I have played Star Fleet Battles, Bright Lances, Silent Death, and FASA's Star Trek Starship Combat Simulator in the past. I would like some ideas as to what are good current rules sets for one to start with.

Thanks,
Spartan 117

Look here. star-ranger.com

There is info on a lot of rules, and many active people on the message boards.

andy

I like Full Thrust. The rules and supplements are all free to download from the publisher. There is also plenty of support online. One can use the publisher's models or models of their choice. The construction rules are pretty robust and there are plenty of options available.

Full thrust but use hexes. I adapted a version in an issue of Battlegames which includes SSDs (courtesy Star Ranger).

I like Battlefleet Gothic, but then I like naval games a lot too and the idea of ships battering each other to pieces appeals to me.

In Space, there are no hexes…..

Full Thrust.

Yep, gotta be Full Thrust

There are lots to choose from, and Starship Combat News is a great nexus site to browse for them. Many (including the extremely popular Full Thrust, and the rather nautical Battlefleet Gothic) are free online, so you can sample at your leisure. Myself, I use Full Thrust and Starmada most often, in large part because of their extreme versatility.

Full thrust is very cool for the big ships . Fighters hard Vacuum

starmada, fullthrust, colonial battlefleet.
cw

Combat Wombat said it right!

Thanks,

John

starmada, fullthrust, colonial battlefleet.

Those are the top 3 rules set I've been considering, just needed to know if I was headed in the right direction. Thanks everyone.

Spartan 117

Full Thrust

federation commander isn't too bad after years of starfleet battles bookkeeping 101 FC was a welcome change

What Combat Wombat said!

I've tried quite a few. Full Thrust is, IMHO, the best of the bunch.

Full Thrust for me too…
though Silent Death and BFG are great fun as well.

Never cared much for Full Thrust. 'A Sky Full of Ships' did the same thing better, and a lot faster. You might try Firestorm Armada. It's fairly new and has some beautiful models to back it up. We've also used the boardgame Federation Commander and converted it to a minis game that works very well.

I'd take FT over Starmada (though Starmada does now have an official Starfleet Universe version for any old minis you may have laying about); haven't yet seen Colonial Battlefleet. As I don't do much in the way of starship combat these days, but when I do, we usually play Federation Commander (SFB-lite).

Warcosm

Starship!

link

Uses 3-D and has fleet construction rules so you can design your own…

For sale here:

scalecreep.com

i own them all and like them all. I like to design my own fleets so I prefer Starmada and CBF for the speed in doing so.
CW

Full Thrust, the most popular, fun to play, and a classic. Battlefleet Gothic is kinda fun for what it does…40kay in spaaaace

Starmada is a great set of rules; they also have official SFB ships.

Their ship making system is the most customizable.

They are also making a Fleet Action variant.

No rules system is perfect for everybody, I would download Full Thrust (its free) buy Starmada or Klingon armada if you are into Star Trek, Maybe buy Colonial Battle Feet and its supplement Man Vs Machine if you are into Battle Star Galactica gaming. \

All three of these systems are good for 4-6 ships per player.

If you want more detailed game go for Federation Commander 2-3 ships per player, it's a streamlined Star Fleet Battles.

If you want a game with VERY steep learning curve one-ship vs. one-ship AV Tactical is your game.

For large fleets, 'A Sky Full of Ships' is pretty cool, and the upcoming (next month) Starmada Fleet Operations.

Welcome back to starship gaming.

I forgot to say that IF you want to do large games then like Calico Bill said 'A Sky Full of Ships' is THE way to go. It has fan created lists for Bab5, Star Trek, Star Wars, Gzg Fullthrust, Starblazers, Battlefleet Gothic and several more. Very nice set of rules.

Thanks,

John

I give a vote to the StarBlazers Fleet Battle System rules.

It's a good set of rules but the part that drags is the Missile/Torpedo phases,but overall it's a decent set of rules.

My friends and I have played games where over 50 ships are involved,and it works but it takes times.

Captain Gideon

no votes for War Rocket?

Starmada is my favorite set, definitely.

Doug

Played Full Thrust and Starmada. Both are fine games.

Full Thrust is a bit more stylized and not as flexible as Starmada. You hit the target and cause damage. If the target hits a damage threshold, you roll for each system/weapon on the ship to see if it is hit. When the last threshold is reached the ship blows up.

Starmada has a hit/save mechanism. Each point of damage is randomly allocated and can hit hull or a system. When the last hull is checked off, the ship is destroyed. Flexible system allows you to duplicate most SF universes. Designed to be played on hexes. We have played on Nnon-gridded board and it worked fine.

I have not played Warcosm yet but it is similar to Star Fire (which I have played). It would work well for fleet actions or quick games. It is simpler than the other two games.

I won't comment on Colonial Battlefleet since I've only skimmed the rules! I think the author said that it is slightly more complex than Starmada.

Given your history of SF gaming, I'd bet you would like Starmada pretty well.

John

---What's Hip----

War Rocket is more a space FIGHTER game – a faster, groovier version of Silent Death with awesome retro minis.

(They also actually send you the product too – its now 6 months since I ordered my SD deluxe box set…) :-(

Firestorm Armada is kinda a BFG ripoff using Uncharted Seas bucket of dice mechanics. It has better fighter rules but its card orders < BFG order system. Humunguous models for decent price. Seems to be growing fast in popularity.

The noisy neighbour – Colonial Battlefleet – seems to have vociferous support/promotion on TMP but seems to offer little that Full Thrust and Starmada don't. Seems slanted towards BSG.

-----Old Skool----

Full Thrust – still seems to be the most popular. It's also free and has a devoted following. GZG ships are still the benchmark.

Starmada – another popular pick. Versatile. Recommended for build-your-own fleets. Brigade models has some link with these rules.

BFG – it's on life support as, like all good GW games (like Bloodbowl, Epic and Space Hulk), it has been abandoned for the cash cows of 40k/WFB. Not a bad game though, but tied to it's IP. Good Warmaster order system, terrible abstract fighter rules. Models are pricey compared to similar Firestorm ships.

---My Weird Suggestion----

Lightning Strike from DP9. It's also more a fighter game a la Silent Death with 6-12 fighters and 2-3 ships per side. Fighters and mechs are handled really well but ships are a bit complicated.

I have to put in a vote for Galactic Knights. It has a neat vector movement system and plays quickly, with straightforward to-hit and damage mechanics. However, it seems like I'm the only one that ever plays it.

I'll also throw in for Colonial Battlefleet. It's supplanted Full Thrust as my go-to starship battle game.

Depends on how big a fleet want to use. There are lots of games that handle things in different ways.

If you want small to medium sized fleets (a dozen vessels per side or less), that's where most games these days tend to sit. Full Thrust, Starmada, etc.

If you want larger fleets (about 20 or so per side, possibly up to 30), then A Sky Full of Ships seems to be a popular choice.

If you want even bigger fleets (say 50 or more ships per side), I'll toot my own little horn for Generic Outlandishly Big Spacefleets! (aka G.O.B.S.!) Load the table with ships, order them around like an admiral, and watch 'em blow up left and right. Will work with or without a grid, and an entire fleet's records can fit on a page or two of paper. Requires dice, ships and a sense of humor. Hop over to thegobspage.com for the free download.

--- Howard Shirley, creator of Generic Outlandishly Big Spacefleets!

Colonial Battlefleet has replaced Full Thrust for me also, despite my swearing off hexes after Renegade Legion: Interceptor.

As for what it does better;
Roles for starships, your screening cruisers really do just that.

Missiles are a viable tactic instead of a semi random effect and you can make your magazines deep enough, in FT a couple of bad lock on rolls could leave you hamstrung.

Fighters are effective but not overpowering.

Generic, there is a BSG suplement with others in the pipeline but the basic rules allow such crossovers as a Battlestar (heavy armour, kinetic weapons & missiles, no shields) vs an Imperial Star Destroyer (moderate armour, beam weapons and shields) and it gives a balanced result.

Just my 2 cents worth of course (noting that my country phased out 2 cent coins over 15 years ago of course)

Robert

Squadron Strike! is the only one I have any hands-on experience of so I'll recommend it (-;)

As the name implies, it really only works for squadron-on-squadron scale encounters, not full fleet combat.

Full Thrust … Free and great!

Download the starter rules for a flavour of how it works.

Bright Lances? Did you mean Brilliant Lances, from Traveller TNE? I've not looked at my copy for a long damn…

Wasn't it sort of like Mayday on steroids?

Except for the fiddly cards, looked solid.

Doug

PS I've come to think that the rule set is less important than if you've got players to share with. Everybody around my store sees me playing Full Thrust; "Oh, that's a great game, we've got to play it again…'

Never happens. *shrug*

Depends on the complexity you want, and a lot of that will depend on your likely opponents. Also a lot of them are genre specific.

I'd rank them in complexity:
Low – Starmada, Battlefleet Gothic, Firestorm Armada
Mid – Full Thrust, Federation Commander, A Call to Arms, Colonial Battlefleet, Silent Death (fighter combat), Noble Armada
High – Star Fleet Battles, Saganami Island Tactic Simulator (Honorverse), B5 Wars, Starblazers Fleet Battles, Aerotech 2 (Battletech universe)

War Rocket looks cool as heck, but it's specifically geared to pulp Flash Gordon style games, so it might not be what you want.

And of course there's lots of others out there.

My personal favorite was B5 Wars, as it had a massive amount of quality free material for crossover games and had a high level of detail in those games to really sink your teeth into. But it was hard to find other people to play with.

The up and comer seems to be Firestorm Armada, with Full Thrust being the old classic.

Have fun!

I have to put in a vote for Galactic Knights. It has a neat vector movement system and plays quickly, with straightforward to-hit and damage mechanics. However, it seems like I'm the only one that ever plays it.

The vector system is largely lifted (or a case of parallel evolution offset by almost 30 years) from GDW's Mayday. Played a demo a while back and managed to shock the author with how well I already knew the movement system despite never having played the game.

Bright Lances? Did you mean Brilliant Lances, from Traveller TNE? I've not looked at my copy for a long damn…

Wasn't it sort of like Mayday on steroids?

Except for the fiddly cards, looked solid.

You're conflating Brilliant Lances, the small ship dueling system for Traveller TNE, with Battle Rider, the fleet combat game for TNE. Battle Rider had the cards.

Firestorm Armada

I play both Uncharted Seas and Dystopian Wars. Firestorm Armada is more of the same, and has so far failed to produce a fleet I want to own, much less paint.

Bright Lances? Did you mean Brilliant Lances, from Traveller TNE?

Yep, that's the one. Hadn't played it in so long I got the name confused. Also, I didn't play it very much, just enough to know I wanted something better.

Spartan 117

"I play both Uncharted Seas and Dystopian Wars. Firestorm Armada is more of the same, and has so far failed to produce a fleet I want to own, much less paint."

Apart from finding the Sorylians mildly interesting I must agree that most races are appallingly bland. The Terran ships look like LEGO bricks glued together, and the Relthorza (I love the vertical ship idea) have such a hideous camo paintjob on the online shop models I don't know if the models are good or not.

However it IS a game I find that is actually recognised by the locals…

While most of the systems I've grown to love over the years have been mentioned (SFB, Full Thrust, Starmada, etc.) there are a few options that haven't been listed. If you can find the old FASA Star Trek game it can be a fun retro game experience, although the torpedoes seem a bit unbalanced. And here's a second vote for Warcosm for a simple original Starfire-like game. For realism it's Squadron Strike, or the even crunchier Attack Vector: Tactical all the way. And a couple of new releases from our company you might consider are Astral Empires: Nova Command based on the GSC2 rules ( link ) and the just released Astral Empires: Battleshift ( link ) another massive scale fleet combat game similar to GOBS mentioned above. Both of these games are set in the Astral Empires universe ( astralempiresgame.blogspot.com ) but have construction systems that allow you to design your own ships. Both also include ship counters in case you don't have miniatures on hand when you want to play.

Thanks guys,

As a result of this thread I went out and bought a pdf copy of A sky full of ships. Must say I am VERY impressed. Looks quick, fun, and clearly was set up to play in the Babylon 5 universe, amongst others.

I have a ton of the full size B5 models and look forward to playing it.

Anyone out there still play ASFOS? I have a couple of small questions to ask about it.

Andy

Congrats – I hope you enjoy many hours of gaming.

For questions, have you tried the yahoo group?

link

Glad you picked up ASFOS. It really deserves more notice than what it gets. I went and downloaded a PDF the other day since my hardcopy was buried. It REALLY is a good set of rules. I have been a fan for years now.

Thanks,

John

I am playing more Dystopian Wars at the moment as some of my friends never got into B5, but I really like the rules i must say

Well, after all of everyones' suggestions, I made a choice to begin with:

link

Thanks everyone,
Spartan 117