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Wargame Vault Deal of the Day: Engage: Spaceship Combat


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boy wundyr x writes:

Red Wyvern was on here briefly, e.g. TMP link

They'll be my ST rules of choice, once I get some bloody ships painted.


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Wargame Vault announces the availability of:


DotD logo

Publisher Red Wyvern Games

Engage: Spaceship Combat

MSRP: $10.00 USD
Deal price: $4.00 USD (60% off)

Engage: Spaceship Combat is a strategic miniatures game that pits players against each other in exciting fleet-versus-fleet battles set in the far future.

With a new, quick-and-easy take on the innovative systems of 'power allocation', Engage allows players to divert energy into specific systems of a ship such as shields or weapons in order to boost their effectiveness. The game resolution system takes into account both the objectives achieved and the toll inflicted on the enemy fleet. You will also find a comprehensive 'Space Dock' to allow you to build your own fleets, plus fleet lists for five races. Will you defend the galaxy or see it burn?

Some more detail on the mechanics and what you can find in the rulebook:

Engage: Spaceship Combat is designed as a miniatures game for space battles that can be played with any scale of spaceship

In this 92-page rulebook, you will find;

  • All the necessary rules to allow you to play Engage
  • Fleet lists and army-specific rules for five different races
  • An extensive 'space dock' to enable you to build your own ships and fleets
  • six separate missions
  • Photocopy sheets of the necessary place cards and quick reference pages

Some Information on the Core Mechanics

Engage is an alternating-actions game that uses a 'there and then' movement system, as opposed to the pre-planned movement found in many other spaceship games.

Each ship's details (weapons, sensors, shields, etc.) are found on a small 'ship card' which is also used to track changes and any damage that the ship suffers. The ship card is also vital for keeping track of the 'power transfer' system used in Engage.

Ships in Engage have an amount of 'auxiliary' power tokens depending on their size and build; these can be moved around in-game to add power to various other ship systems such as shields or weapons. In the first instance power can be moved around freely, but as the ships suffer damage, moving power around becomes more hazardous and could result in that power being lost and that system going offline, so players are always having to calculate risks!

The main method of combat is via shooting. Though weapon dependent, range has a massive impact on the likelihood of striking a hit against an enemy. Certain weapons excel at different ranges, so players must assess which ship and which weapon is best suited to the task at any one time.

Shooting is carried out by adding up a few variables. The active player must then roll equal to or greater than that score on 2D6 plus sensor power. If successful, the attacker rolls for damage. Weapon type has a big impact here too, as the number of dice and modifiers you have to try and beat the opponent's shield is dependent on the weapons stats and type.

Successful rolls against the opponent's ship can result in shields going down, damage to the hull, and even other systems taking damage and going offline. One good hit really can cause a damaging chain reaction!

Also found within Engage are Advanced Actions – these are specialist actions that enable your ship to do more than just move and shoot. They enable you to perform actions such as boarding, splitting fire, and creating holographic ship doubles. There are also more cinematic-style Actions, with rules such as 'All she's got!' and the 'P'Kard Manouvre' which enables you to enter warp, drop out near an enemy, and fire a weapon straight away.

Game resolution comes with a system that balances achievement of objectives as well as damage done to the enemy ship to find the final winner.

Within This Book, You Will Find Rules for:

  • 7 types of beam and solid round weaponry
  • 6 types of missile/torpedo weaponry
  • Nearly 25 different 'Advanced Actions'
  • 12 different auxiliary systems such as Stealth Systems, Armor Types, and Point Defense
  • 8 different terrain items

For more information

Text edited by Editor Hebber
Graphics edited by Editor Hebber
Scheduled by Personal logo Editor in Chief Bill The Editor of TMP Fezian