"New to Starship Wargaming" Topic

I've been trying to take the step into spaceship gaming and have tested the waters of a few games. I've owned a sizable fleet of x wing ships but didn't really like the simple dogfighting mechanics. I'm wanting something larger….. I bought a two player starter for FSA Lite or whatever but it still wasn't what I was looking for.
Anyway, to the point… I was looking at the Bandai Mecha collection ships for Yamato and I like the look of the ships. I've ordered a three deck carrier but have to be patient as it makes it way here from Japan. Do the ships scale well with, say, GZG fleets? I like the looks of the NSL and Crustie ships

The Bandai models will end up being monster ships, really huge compared to most anything other than the biggest Spartan's.

I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but you need to be aware.

Doug

Yeah it's hard to find pictures of the Mecha Collection stuff next to any other manufacturers ships. I'm Looking for large scale fleet actions with lots of fighters zipping around while capital ships slug it out at range….

May I recommend "Sky Full of Ships"? You could give them a quick read through since the Basic Rules are free at -

PDF link

Thanks Dan I will certainly have a look!

May I suggest your check out Starship Combat News, it's a popular place for all things space combat.

There is a list of all rules here with details: link

The forum is very active as well. There is (or was) also a page showing the size of pretty much every miniatures line out there. For example the Firestorm Armada ships are pretty large. I think if you check out the forums you'll get the answers you need.

Steve

Thank you Steve, I will head that way!

Dan is being modest. A Sky Full of Ships is an excellent set of rules! Perfect for mid to large-scale actions as you described.

The smaller ships from Bandai should work ok. If I get a chance I'll pull my ships out to see which ones.

I am also a Starmada fan. Small to medium sized actions are a good fit. We still use Starmada X. I own the newer versions. Just never saw a need to switch. Also check out Starship Combat News. Great space combat forum. Been around forever!

Merry Christmas!

*harumph* If everybody is going to show their fanboy colors, make mine Full Thrust… ;->=

Like GOBS, which someone else will popup and suggest, completely free.

Have all of the above, FT's still my favorite at the '2.5' level, but I won't say a bad word about the others mentioned.

Doug

What about Star Wars Armada, you get to fight it out between Star Destroyers, Rebel capital ships and squadrons of fighters!

Mark, have but not tried Armada, and must say it appears a hoot.

I will say it's a large price to swallow, but Doggnew's shown his mettle at a Spartan box that's about half as much, without thrill of the background, so he might well give it a go.

However, I hope he's got a shop like mine nearby where he can watch and chat with others, first. ;->=

Doug

I agree, ship for ship, Armada are some of the more costly miniatures, but IMHO among some of the best compared to any out there.

*DoggNewTrix
Once youve found the rules you want, IF your a SW's fan, I suggest you check out "CoolStuffInc", "MiniatureMarket" and "Warstore" for the ships. IIRC 'CS' and 'MM' have a 'flat rate shipping' per order.

I mention this beacuse you did said you were..

Looking for large scale fleet actions with lots of fighters zipping around while capital ships slug it out at range….

That sounds like the 'classic' Star Wars battle IMO.
Good Luck

I've looked at Armada, I had a large X-wing force, but I'm truly looking at price points and having a little more fun building fleets. I have an entire future history for a fleet or two in my head and I would like to build a fleet based on that and not any standing canon. Don't get me wrong AT-AT's on a drive in theater screen will be the highlight of my life until my lights go out, I'm a giddy school boy for anything in a galaxy far far away, but I want/have my own story for my war ships.
Oh and I live driving distance from Miniature Market and spend way to much time there! At five bucks a ship or so I will just have to buy some Mecha Colle ships and see what fits and what's silly. I'm starting with the carrier and building an air group that would work in WW2 thinking, just in SPACE LOL. Oh and Studio Bergstrom should fix his site!!! Pleeeeeaaasssee cause I really dig the not freespace fighters and will build my air groups around them!!!

Sorry, the old one died on the old server, but I am reentering all of the products (over 550 of them!) as fast as I can on the new website (which will be much better!)

You can still email me your wants and I'll still handle sales as usual, and you can also look up most of the catalog on my new Studio Bergstrom Facebook page. If you don't see it, just ask and I can try to upload it with prices there.

Thanks for your patience!

Sorry, the old one died on the old server,…

Drew! I hadn't heard. Deepest condolences.

Dogg, anyone who can handle the Bandai builds, some of which are bears to these untalented hands, should be thinking of do your own.

Take a look at the bodies of cheap packs of small water pistols (some Brit's go ape if you call them squirt guns ;->= ) Thin fiddy plastic that cracks easily, but some very evocative. Hint: wrap with masking tape before sawing.

Also VERY jealous of proximity to MM; have done plenty of business, but even on visits to the daughter in Columbia, MO, just not quite made it there.

Doug

There is some great gaming to be had in the ST Louis metro area and I am lucky to be so near MM, the store itself is amazing. I'm just failing at getting anyone away from G Dubya as the end all be all in my circle. Though I think Infinity has a sizable group abouts.
Stumer thank you for the response, I'm just pouting, I'll get over it. Pleasure to hear from you though! I love the models and will be making another order in the near future. Any suggestions for a fleet scale ecm craft? Carrier borne. I've been looking at the "rapture" and heavy thinking they would fit the bill. Oh and some of those Last starfighter ships to boot. Amazing stuff!!!!

Dogg, have you looked at Shadowweaver's Gryphon minis? They have an ECM style ship, and that set of ships allows for customization with all of the parts so that you can create everything your heart desires! I only wish I had some of the pics online right now so you could see everything, but I'm still entering all of the data in between all of the holiday rushing around…

Here's some pics I googled from a blog post:
link

Actually what I was hunting for was something like the Euro Fed swacs style ship. I'm trying to judge it on the base size and it seems pretty small. Any info on that would be much appreciated. What I'm hunting for isn't a large support ship so much as a carrier borne "whisker" that can deploy around the fleet to provide early warning to the fleet at large. Growlers or hawkeyes I guess, just in SPACE LOL

I'm not really building this fleet for a set of rules so much as building rules around a fleet. I just started with the core Air wing.

Huh, I live two hours southwest of STL and had no idea MM was located there. I may need to stop in the next time I'm in the area. Which suburb is the store in?

It's in Affton off of I-55 (Reavis Barracks exit)