"Space ships - best way to get started?" Topic

Who makes a good set of spaceships to get started in spaceship gaming.
This is completely new to me and I need advice. THis should include a good set of rules and the possibly be available in boxed sets or fleet packs. Pictures and links would be nice if possible .

Thanks J.

Well, now, what do you want to do?

Dogfights? Just go out and grab the core boxed set for Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game by Fantasy Flight Games. However, the price of building a little fleet adds up quickly, since the game runs about $30 USD-$40 and the single ship packs run about $10 USD-$15 each.

For more generic, more detail level, dogfights, consider Silent Death. They do have a line of minis, as well.

Capital Ship-on-Ship Duels: Federation Commander (basically Starfleet Battles Lite). Ships available from Amarillo Design Bureau (SFB ships), or there are lots of not-Trek makers out there.

Small Capital Fleets: Star Trek: Attack Wing core set by WizKids is popular; it's basically the X-Wing game in a Star Trek setting.
More generically is the popular (and free) Full Thrust from Ground Zero Games. They also sell a terrific line of miniatures for the fleets in the game.
(This game is basically intended for about a dozen or so ships per "fleet").

Also popular are Starmada and Starmada X, again for the small-to-medium sized fleet games.

Oh, and Spartan Games' Firestorm Armada is also a popular system with its own line of ships. A bit pricey, IMHO, but nice stuff.

For larger fleets (up to around two-dozen or so), consider A Sky Full of Ships. The starter rules are free. No dedicated ships, though.

For really large fleets (several dozen per side), consider Generic Outlandishly Big Spacefleets!, or GOBS. It's meant to be an admiral's level game, with ships blowing up left and right (or port and starboard). Rules are free: thegobspage.com
No specific ships, but it's meant to be used with whatever is out there.

Ship sources:

Ground Zero Games
Brigade Games
Studio Bergstrom
Ravenstar Miniatures
Zandris Miniatures
Amarillo Design Bureau
Ninja Magic/Rattlehead games
Spartan Games
Ad Astra Games (specializes in hard-sf, Honor Harrington, and Traveller-based lines, and very detailed, realistic game systems.)

And I know I'm leaving a lot out.

Another good place to look is the Spaceship Combat News: star-ranger.com
Even though the news page is basically moribund right now, most of the lists of games and manufacturers are still essentially current, and the forum is very active and knowledgeable.

Hope that helps!

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

Here are some options:

Ground Zero Games – Full Thrust, Free Rules (downloadable), Ship deal to get 2 different factions (your choice). Large selection. Good prices.

Brigade Models – Ship deals. Good prices. Large selection.

Spartan Games – Firestorm Armada, Free rules (downloadable), Ships and Ship deals are a bit pricey, but you can look for deals on the internet. Large selection.

Studio Bergstrom – Large selection. Good prices. Includes "not" ships from known TV and movies. Also an outlet for Shapeways 3D developed miniatures.

Hope that helps. I have purchased from GZG, Brigade Models, and Spartan Games. I had good dealing with all that I have dealt with. I plan to purchase from Studio Bergstrom in the near future.

-ZG

Looks like Parzival posted while I was writing…

Really hard to say "go with this" until you think this out a bit more. What "feel" are you looking for?

- Buck Rogers pulpish rocket ships?
link

TMP link

- Gnarly near future looking ships?
TMP link

link

- Big fleets of big ships with big turrets?
link

- Smooth and sleek?
link

- Space Gothic?
link

- Star Trek?

- Star Wars?

- Babylon 5?

- Whatever?
link

We all, so far, have only scratched the surface.

Also for X-Wing, some Target stores still have the core set left on the shelves at clearance prices of $12 USD-$20.

Works well for small dogfights right out of a single box:

And still plays great with full squadrons of fighters for full cinematic grandeur:

Full Thrust rules, available for free, from GZG's website, for ship to ship, and fleet battles.

Really depends on what you want? Many makers of excellent miniatures out there.

My own starts were Games Workshop Battle-fleet Gothic, and Ad-Astras Saganami Tactical Simulator.

Nowdays I play Klingon Armada using Amarillo Design Buraeu Miniatures and Klingon Armada rules.

I also dabbled in Firestorm Armada (but I am getting out and selling)

Star Trek Attack Wing and X-Wing can give you a good fast start and you will find players

For more generic, more detail level, dogfights, consider Silent Death. They do have a line of minis, as well.

If by that you mean we have over one hundred (100) different fighters, gunboats, and escort vessels to choose from, yeah, you could say we do have a line of minis… ‌‌

And I second the votes for X-Wing, Full Thrust, and the Old School approach of get some rules you think you like, and kit bash your own ships from whatever is handy, then go from there. Full Thrust IIRC is free from Ground Zero Games:

link

So kit bash some heavy cruisers, a pair per side, then have at it. Full Thrust's core rules are like those for Silent Death, in that they're about as hard to learn as Monopoly (but a helluvalot more fun!).

Hope this helps, and remember, always watch yer six!

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

This is the place to start:

star-ranger.com/Home.htm

If you are looking for "fleet action", I suggest you just find two lines of ships whose style you like,and get two basic fleets with about a dozen ships to start.

I personally like GZG, but the soon-to-be-extinct Noble Armada line is on sale:

link

The best thing about fictional settings is that you can just about use any line of models with any set of rules, so just pick the ships you like first and then a set of rules you like (or vice versa) and don't worry about whether they are "official". The rule of cool applies here.

If you haven't got a lot of miniatures yet, you can use counters until you build your fleet. I like these ones from the Cold Navy universe: link

We bought GZG starter fleets. Nicely priced with a variety of packages, and free rules to boot. Easy way to get into starship gaming.

Full thrust is my favorite for fleet games .
Like hard vacuum for fighters ( pulp)
Retro war rocket by Hydra seems cool but have not yet played . Brigade models has nice stuff ( mini's), GZG nice fleet packs , Pick a setting then the void is your limit

Well if you are interested in Fleet Scale offerings, IronWind Metals carries Galactic: Conflict in the Stars

Minis
link

Free rules. record cards and tokens
link

Look around, pick two lines of ships younlike. Maybe 5 or 6 per side in a mix of classes (Chris at Ravenstar has a very wide variety of inexpensive nice ships, as does Stu at Studio Bergstrom) download Full Thrust for free, make some ship designs and play a game or three with a buddy.

To start out inexpensively, to see if you like it, here are the lowest cost options likely available anywhere:

Link 1: 144 ships, at least five different styles, for $5.95 USD + S/H;

Link 2: 10 different models, 12 total, for $6.11 USD + S/H;

Link 3: 72 ships, around 10 different models, for $9.99 USD + S/H.

They can be painted easily, just be sure to wash them with dish soap (degreaser), then seal them with a good varnish, like Pledge Floor Polish with Future Shine, or urethane (matte coat afterwards, if desired). Cheers!

Sgt. Slag,

the second lot of plastic ships are pirated copies of the Core Ships from Silent Death: The Next Millennium.

The third lot are unfortunately soft rubber IIRC, not a useful hard plastic.

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

First lot can be hard to paint, but includes weird stuff like several ships from Message from Space, live action Japanese space opera with Vic Morrow.

To start off REALLY inexpensively, find pieces of junk that sort of remind you of space ships. I see winged wire nuts, and I'm imagining Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon.

Doug

I did that, scratchbuilding a freighter out of a pencil stub, a wirenut, a little brass rod, and two bullets. :)

You can make suitable ships out of various stuff and use them until you are sure that you like the game system, then buy proper minis later. :)

…scratchbuilding a freighter out of a pencil stub, a wirenut, a little brass rod, and two bullets. :)

Which STILL blows my mind…

I still espouse disposable razor handles; none of mine have seen space battles, or completion, but I do have a 'nef ready to see some paint.

Doug

Beast,

That was a fun project. :) I needed a freighter miniature, and "official" ones were not easy to come by at the time, so I winged it. ;)

If your starting and are looking for boxed sets that are readily available, go for Star Wars: X-wing by Fantasy Flight Games or Star Trek: Attack Wing by Wizkids. Those two are generally widely available and come in boxed sets, no cutting, gluing or painting required (prepainted). These aren't cheap though as mentioned previously.

For unassembled/unpainted minis with rulesets, that are still available you might want to take a look at Silent Death by I.C.E. (or whoever currently holds the license) or Firestorm Armada by Spartan Games. ADB does a whole range of Star Fleet (aka. Star Trek) miniatures with a couple of different rule sets.

There are a ton of miniature manufacturers out there that do awesome starships, but there are very few that both support a miniatures line an a ruleset. You can of course pick and choose, but that's not what I think you were looking for.

We're having lots of fun with Firestorm Armada v2 right now. Really nice minis and definitely gets my vote for "most improved" rules between 1st and 2nd edition. New battle cruisers due out at the end of the month too.

I have to go with Cergorach, and that in spite of my being a Full Thrust fanboy.

The 'wings' may be exactly what you seek, but for a not desperately high investment, you have ships you can use elsewhere if not.

Likewise, even if you find you want something else, they are a great fall back when you're limited to time and table space.

Doug

Silent Death by I.C.E. (or whoever currently holds the license)

That would be us chickens via Aurigas Aldebaron LLC…

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

Boy, I didn't realize there were so many to choose from. Are they all metal or are some plastic and resin?
If not to much trouble could some of you rate your top three
choices. EG. 1. choice 1 – reason? (quality, choices, variety)?
2. choice 2
3. Choice 3
Thanks J.

1) Plastic for larger ships,a s it is light weight, and depending upon your approach, can be quite affordable. For example:

link

link

More specifically:

link

link

hlj.com/product/BAN33411/Sci

2) Metal, but then again, I'm old school, and my first starship models were the old Stardate 3000 ships from Valiant Enterprises:

link

3) Resin. Mainly because I'm allergic to most resins used by indy makers and large companies alike.

Hope this helps!

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

Sorry, I didn't mean to rate plastic, metal etc but to rate
which ships / company you would consider 1, 2, and 3. based
on (Quality, choices and variety) again, sorry for the mix up.
J.

No worries! The trouble is, is that there's so many to choose from when it comes to starships, and not everyone's tastes are he same, so I'll just give you a list of series to look up, and you decide from there:

Ground Zero Games. These are the "official" ships for Full Thrust, and there are multiple factions including three alien fleets two of which use biotech for their ship construction.

Firestorm Armada. The ships are mainly resin, are overwhelmingly superbly detailed and rendered. The capital ships are quite large, with the Aquans being among the most aesthetically clean and pleasing.

Space Battleship Yamato 2199. This is the reboot of the classic anime series, and already some fantastic model kits have been released (see links in my previous posts).

Within our own Silent Death range you'll find quite a few ships that are suitable for fleshing out other lines to build your fleets. We also have the alien Night Brood, whose ships are bio technological symbiotes that are quite scale neutral. You really just have to pick and choose…

Reviresco. These are some classic 1970s starship miniatures with a very retro vibe. The price points are excellent, the models generally simple and easy to paint.

Valiant Enterprises. Stardate 3000 line I linked to above have a very retro/Space 1999/2001 A Space Odessey vibe to them. Both human and alien fleets, and they paint up very nicely.

Monday Knight Productis. Another series from the late 1970s, heavily influenced by Star Wars, the ships are still among the most beautifully and richly detailed starship miniatures ever made. Even more amazing is that the models are overwhelmingly one piece castings, so just clean 'em up, prime 'em, and get to painting.

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net