| evilleMonkeigh | 16 Jan 2013 7:04 p.m. PST |
Four frigates attack a space station
link The rules are house rules, using a Infinity/Tomorrow's War style reaction system, Triplanetary-style movement and simple damage system that does away with ship data sheets. A bit about the design and mechanics here:
link |
Rodrick Campbell  | 16 Jan 2013 7:40 p.m. PST |
I really like the direction your rules are taking in development. Look forward to reading more and the reports that go with them. |
| Jamesonsafari | 17 Jan 2013 4:41 a.m. PST |
the last pic of the SFB SSD is pretty scarey…. |
 MrHarold  | 17 Jan 2013 6:47 a.m. PST |
Very nice! are you planning on releasing these rules at some point? |
| kallman | 17 Jan 2013 8:02 a.m. PST |
Loved the picture of the SFB SSD de-Motivator poster and the reason I stopped playing that particular game. When you have to have a doctoral degree to play, things have gotten out of hand. Nice battle report and would love to see the rules. |
| wminsing | 17 Jan 2013 8:39 a.m. PST |
Just to be fair, that is not a REAL Star Fleet Battles SSD in the last picture; it's a fan creation for the super-Warbird in one of the later TNG films. The actual game SSD's, even the biggest ones, have like 10% that number of boxes…. Cool report though and I'm reading the rules now; very interesting! -Will |
| kallman | 17 Jan 2013 1:56 p.m. PST |
Oh I know the SSD is not an official one from the game. However, there are some SSDs that did have a ton of boxes so I think 10 % is low unless you are talking a Klingon Frigate. The original Star Fleet Battles was one of my first war games and I was an avid player until it got to the point that there was over a thousand pages of rules, and that I do not think is an exaggeration when you consider every official supplement and star faring race added to the game. In essence the game designers broke their game. War games for outer space battles that have come along since have done a much better job of keeping things reasonable. Still, it was kind of a first love of war gaming so has a special place in my heart. |
| evilleMonkeigh | 17 Jan 2013 5:49 p.m. PST |
Re: SSD = My experiences were like yours – SFB was one of my first games, and when I realised I spent more time ticking boxes and photocopying SSDS than I did moving miniatures it almost drove me out of gaming altogether. Pretty much every space game since has gone for lots of hitboxes, criticals and an elaborate damage chart; or copied heavily from "wet" naval games. That's a key reason I decided to experiment by using rules from other genres which have less "downtime" I'll stick a draft copy up on the blog some time, perhaps when I've balanced damage between ship sizes and the key 3 weapon types (laser, missile, railgun). |
| nvdoyle | 17 Jan 2013 8:39 p.m. PST |
I was an avid player until it got to the point that there was over a thousand pages of rules As the joke ran, '…but you only use three or four hundred at a time.' Been there.  I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with. |
| sharkbait | 18 Jan 2013 8:05 p.m. PST |
I haven't played SFB in a long time. However, I'm interested in space battles and these rules sound very cool. |
