"Battlestars vs Basestars board game (updated thread)..." Topic

Summary of Game Play
 
Battlestars vs. Basestars is a fast paced game of space combat depicting epic battles between a ragtag fleet of human survivors desperately fleeing into uncharted space in search of Earth and the Cylons who are in relentless pursuit.  The game can be played by up to five players.  Each player controls one or more battleships and its complement of fighters on one of two sides in the conflict between the Cylons and humans.
 
In a two player game one player controls all of the ships, fighters and other units on one side of the conflict (Cylon or human) while the other player controls all of the ships, fighters and other units on the opposing side.  If there are more than two players then each player controls one or more ships on one side of the conflict (Cylon or human).
 
Battlestars vs. Basestars is played in rounds.  During a game round, each player takes a turn.  Cylon players take their turns first followed by the human players.  During their turn players draw cards, decide whether or not to play cards in their hand, move their units on the game board and conduct combats by rolling dice.  After the current player finishes moving units and resolving combats that player discards any cards in hand in excess of the player's maximum hand size.  Play then progresses to the next player.
 
How to Win
 
The game ends when one team completes their scenario objectives and wins the game.  Additionally, if a human player is unable to draw a card because there are no cards remaining in the human card deck, or if all of the battlestars on the human team are destroyed, the game ends and the Cylon team wins the game.

Learn more about the game at the Battlestars vs Basestars website:

link

Download the Print and Play game files for free:

Everything link

Just the rules in PDF link

Just the scenarios in PDF link

Just the map in PDF link

Just the cards in PDF link

Just the cards in PNG link

I created a new thread for the Battlestars vs Basestars board game since all of the links in the old thread became broken when Microsoft made changes to One Drive.

Thank you. I look forward to trying it.

I will be running the Gather the Fleet scenario as an event at the Origins Game Fair in Columbus, Ohio this summer.

The event is scheduled for June 16th from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Sign up or stop by to see the game in action or just to say hello if you're attending Origins this summer.

Nope. Not me. I don't have time to do computer development. I started on a vassal module for BVB, but don't have time to finish it.

Is LOGH good? Should I check it out?

Sure. That's what the links above are for, There's an older thread for BVB that has a bunch of suggestions for printing services for the cards and map. The file links in that thread are broken, but there is some good info and discussion there.

TMP link

My friends and I played a great game of Battlestars vs Basestars: Battle at New Caprica. It was a real nail biter. The scenario begins at the moment Galactica makes its daring jump into New Caprica's atmosphere.

The three Cylon basestars in close orbit above the planet responded quickly to the sudden threat by launching 15 Cylon raiders and a lobbing a nuke at Pegasus as she charged toward the planet. The Cylons Disoriented Pegasus causing her to lose her movement and take no actions on her first turn.

Galactica launched a Mk VII, two Mk IIs, and three Raptors to defend the civilian ships on the planet while they fired up their engines and clawed their way up out of New Caprica's gravity well.

Two groups of civilian ships and another lone civilian ship made the grueling climb into close orbit on the human team's first turn leaving four more groups on the planet's surface, one of which was led by Colonial One.

Galactica then jumped into orbit joining Pegasus' assault on the blue basestar hoping to establish local superiority and clear an escape path for the fleeing civilian ships.

Pegasus unleashed a Flak Barrage on the incoming nuke, but it remained unscathed forcing an early deployment of Pegasus' Hidden Reseves, which also failed to shoot down the incoming nuke. However they did divert the missile onto a less direct route buying the battlestar a little more time to deal with the threat.

On the Cylon's second turn they opted to ignore the colonial ships on the planet and instead focused their efforts on destroying the ships already off planet and setting up a blockade in close orbit around the planet to trap Colonial One and the other civilian ships remaining on the planet's surface. Two groups of civilian ships in space each lost a ship to Cylon missiles while the lone civilian ship evaded the incoming fire.

On the Human team's second turn the civilian ships in space failed to get their FTL drives spooled up and continued burning their engines hard in an effort to put more distance between themselves and the planet to increase their chances of a successful jump to safety. Another group of civilian ships and another lone civilian ship slipped through gaps in the Cylon blockade and made the difficult climb into orbit.

Pegasus overcame her disorientation and went to Action Stations to make up for her first turn inaction. Pegasus launched three Mk VIIs and a Raptor then fired her main guns at the incoming nuke narrowly missing it again.

Unfortunately, Pegasus' newly launched Vipers strayed into Galactica's firing solution preventing her from launching a Flak Barrage at the Cylon nuke.

After a quick Scouting Mission, Galactica called in Hidden Reserves of her own and the reserve Mk IIs quickly dispatched the nuke. Galactica's Vipers on planet burned hard to make orbit and join the attack on the blue basestar leaving the Raptors behind to support Colonial One and the other civilians planet side.

Galactica closed out the turn by firing a strong side broadside at one of the Raiders bearing down on a group of civilian ships destroying it.

On the Cylon's third turn a Heavy Raider closed in on a group of Pegasus' Mk VIIs and launched a Cylon Jamming attack wiping them out as they drifted helplessly. A second Cylon Jamming attack on a group of Galactica's Mk IIs was ineffectual.

Cavil's Influence countered Pegasus' Action Stations advantage. A salvo of Cylon missiles and withering fire from the Raiders demolished two groups of civilian ships and one of the lone ships. Things are starting to look grim for the Colonials.

On the Human team's third turn the space bound civilian ships all failed again to get their FTL drives spooled up and continued fleeing as best they could manage on conventional engine power.

Galactica seized the initiative with Action Stations unleashing a double broadside from her main guns on the blue basestar leaving it crippled. The Vipers from the planet broke free of the atmosphere and unleashed a salvo of missiles and gunfire blowing it to smithereens.

Pegasus turned her attention to the yellow basestar, closing the distance on it as her Mk VIIs mopped up the blue raiders in their vicinity.

TO BE CONTINUED

On Cylon turn 4 a wave of raiders from the yellow basestar swarmed Pegasus and slammed a nuke into her from close range followed by a hailstorm of gunfire from the raiders. The old beast weathered the storm but her launch bays were damaged by the nuke it didn't look like she would be able to take much more punishment.

The Cylons began tightening their noose as a contingent of the red basestar's orbiting Raiders shifted to planetary operations threatening to overwhelm the small complement of defending Raptors and destroy Colonial One and the remaining group of civilian ships before they could escape the planet while the rest of her blockading Raiders took down two ships in another civilian group.

The red basestar sent another wave of Raiders toward the planet and maneuvered into position to finish off the group of civilian ships damaged by the raiders with her main guns.

The yellow basestar maneuvered its Raiders to close off any gaps in the Cylon blockade and turned her guns on the last lone civilian ship to make it off the planet and destroyed it.

At this point, all of the Colonials' remaining civilian ships appeared to be stuck on the planet and the stiff Cylon resistance left the attacking Colonial forces suffering from the effects of an Ammo Shortage and Fuel Shortage.

The humans simply wouldn't be able to survive if they lost any more of the resources on the ships trapped down on the planet with Colonial One. In order to avoid extinction, they would have to find a way to save those ships and destroy another basestar to leave the Cylons licking their wounds and deter them from pursuing the ragtag human fleet for a time.

TO BE CONTINUED

On human turn 4, after hastily conferring with each other over a secure comms channel, the commanders of the Galactica and Pegasus concocted a desperate all or nothing plan to rescue Colonial One and the surviving civilians trapped on New Caprica then swiftly put the plan into motion.

Pegasus ended the ship to ship call with a fleetwide broadcast wishing the Colonials Good Hunting and broke out the last remaining supplies from Ragnar Anchorage to alleviate the Ammo Shortage and Fuel Shortage.

Throwing all of her remaining resources into the effort, Pegasus moved closer to the planet and sent a narrow beam transmission to Colonial One containing a set of hurriedly calculated jump coordinates.

The FTL drives of the civilian ships weren't powerful enough to overcome the planet's gravitational pull and jump directly to safety from the surface of the planet. However, they were powerful enough to make a Danger Close Jump to the edge of the battlespace, spool the jump drives up again and then try to jump to safety from there. With no margin for error, Colonial One successfully executed the jump.

After a quick Scouting Mission to confirm Colonial One's position, Pegasus transmitted a second set of jump coordinates to the final group of civilian ships and they quickly jumped into formation with Colonial One.

Pegasus continued her aggressive charge toward the Yellow basestar.

Starbuck turned her Mk II into an oncoming group of three Raiders, splashing them all in a Blaze of Glory.

Galactica turned her gun batteries on a few nearby Raiders, destroying one, while her FTL drives spooled up and then closed out the turn by executing a Danger Close Jump to engage the Yellow basestar at knife fight range.

And then the Cylons sprung their carefully prepared trap…

TO BE CONTINUED

On Cylon turn 5 the yellow basestar launched a nuke into Galactica from short range. It punched through the old Gal's armor and knocked her CIC offline at a crucial moment. The yellow basestar followed up with a devastating strike from its main guns crippling Galactica's main guns while a wave of yellow raiders streaked toward Pegasus.

The red basestar and all of its Raiders turned toward Galactica and closed the distance while it called in reinforcements unleashing a Relentless Assault with a third basestar jumping directly into the fray, appearing almost on top of Galactica and between the heavily damaged battlestar and the Yellow basestar. The old Gal was really in the thick of it now and looked to be in serious trouble.

The surviving humans entered Turn 5 backed into a corner with their backs up against a wall. This was it. The make or break moment with the fate of humanity hanging in the balance. The Colonials had nearly exhausted their available resources and wouldn't be able fight another round beyond this one.

Colonial One ordered the civilian ships to start spooling up their Jump drives in preparation to jump to the safety of the designated rendezvous point wondering as she did so if either of the battlestars that had protected them for so long would survive to join them.

With heroic effort Galactica's damage control teams completed Ermegency Repairs on the CIC putting Galactica back in control of the fight. She called up Hidden Reserves one last time and two of her Mk VIIs appeared seemingly out of nowhere right on top of the yellow basestar. A split second later the lead Viper pumped a nuke into the yellow basestar's backside shredding its armor and knocking its main guns out of service. The Vipers' follow-on gunfire tore into the basestar's launch bay rendering it inoperable.

Pegasus' made hasty Emergency Repairs to her damaged launch bay restoring them to service. Finally coming into range of the Yellow basestar, Pegasus pummeled it into oblivion with a salvo from her main gun batteries. The remnants of Pegasus' tattered squadron of Mk VIIs bravely moved into defensive positions around Pegasus.

Realizing there was nothing they could do to prevent Pegasus, Colonial One and the remaining civilian ships from escaping the Cylons saw little point in continuing the fight and so grudgingly conceded the battle.

The human victory was hard fought and would be remembered as a terrible, bloody day in human history, but it wasn't the last day in human history and for that we should thank the Lords of Kobol.

So say we all.

Fedex is having a sale on 3'x5' vinyl banners for $29.99 USD, so I just ordered the board and printed rules from them. Sale runs through 9/19.

Thanks. I may have to order an extra map or two at that price. I'm thinking of running BvB as an event at Origins next year, so an extra map might come in handy.

I hope you enjoy the game. If you have any questions post them here. I'll be happy to answer them. If you have any constructive feedback after you play a few games that is welcome too.

My favorite scenarios are Gather the Fleet and Battle over New Caprica.

The learning curve is a little steeper for the human players. They have to conserve their resources and make moves at the right times to maximize their effect. The Cylons can be more reactive and aggressive. Keep that in mind if the players are different skill levels.