Space Fleet Wargames

[Poseidal]

I think there were rumblings of a Full Thrust update coming, but I don't know how reliable or soon.

I found someone talking about 3rd Edition in 2009 :') while looking up some info on the system and how to start. I don't think it's really a thing that's coming soon.

@ Lampyridae
I found a Remixed FT version in the link I posted up there ^^^^

Although this sounds like "best friend's cousin" type of Chinese whispers, it was mentioned to me by someone who spoke to GZG in person this year who hinted it. I should have asked them myself as well as I was there then, but didn't get round to it.

Maybe looking at 2016 as the 25th anniversary though.

[Scorch]

Although this sounds like "best friend's cousin" type of Chinese whispers, it was mentioned to me by someone who spoke to GZG in person this year who hinted it. I should have asked them myself as well as I was there then, but didn't get round to it.

Maybe looking at 2016 as the 25th anniversary though.

That does sound more like it Didn't know they had a anniversary coming up, might be a good moment to update the system.

[Maxvon_d]

Just noticed that Brigade Models have a Christmas sale on (15% off most things). I like a few of their ship designs such as the British and Indonesian. Also looks like they are loosely associated with Starmada.

Shipping to the US appears to be £3.50 + 14% of order value.

[MARC C]

Star*Fire : No takers?

I'll look into it! It sounds promising, although it lacks the minis! haha! Might be a great and surprisingly easy step up though, as some of the other systems look really crunchy.

I sure have gotten a lot of good stuff from this thread! Starmada for example was a system I've never heard of!

Found some official S*F minis! :
http://www.shapeways.com/shops/starfire

Btw dig around the web site. Its full of other nice looking ships...

Reread the quick start rules today. Have to find someone to try it out. I'll use the minis and map from Battleship Galaxies. They're okay and pre-painted. No investment $$$ !

[Lone_Pathfinder]

I'll buy into any star fleet system that has a strong mechanic for handling 3D combat. Until then it's just another Naval battle.

[Scorch]

I'll buy into any star fleet system that has a strong mechanic for handling 3D combat. Until then it's just another Naval battle.

Get your hands on Attack Vector. Section9 said it is even full Newtonian.

[M2Cat]

@LonePathfinder
AFAK Starmada has a module for full 3D, and Full Thrust has perfect inertial movement system.

[Errhile]

Inertial movement in FT seems fine, but they have long decided that 3d is more trouble than it's worth.

[Harlekin]

Inertial movement in FT seems fine, but they have long decided that 3d is more trouble than it's worth.

Same here. 2D layers are ok to handle, but everything else only really works in computer games.

[MARC C]

Actually, 3D is easy to do. Just put all the ships on 6 inch poles. Color them in two alternating colours every half inch (12 levels). You can keep track of level of the ship with a piece of blue gum. The height of each level is up to you. 100 feet for WWII airplanes, 1000 feet for modern day aircrafts or 1 mile for spaceships. If two ships end up in the same space just use two temporary markers until they separate.

Played a few really fun games with that systems.

[Section9]

The only complex part of 3d movement in Squadron Strike or Attack Vector Tactical is vector simplification. Ken Burnside (author of those games) made a conscious decision to make the player do as little math as possible. Makes things like ship design more complex (don't worry, there's an excel spreadsheet to handle that in Squadron Strike, but it is known to make many computers ... r ... u ... n ... ... a ... ... b ... i ... t ... ... s ... l ... o ... w ... l ... y. )

And Attack Vector Tactical doesn't have a design-your-own-ships option, as I mentioned before it actually requires calculus to grind through some of the construction formulas and Ken doesn't want to try to hand-hold people through the design process, he has enough work dealing with the folks playing Squadron Strike.

3d motions does take a good bit of effort to wrap your head around, but once you know the rules for either SqnStr or AVT, you can run a similar-sized fleet of ships as you could in Full Thrust. But in full 3d. Personally, I'd recommend Squadron Strike.

[Splod]

I understand that some players seek the perfect set of Space Fleet rules that allow for complete 3d mapping and combat, but that sounds far too much like math to me

I play Spaceship games for the 'feel' of giant battleships duking it out in space. I don't want realism, I want fun.

I get that that doesn't align with some other players' view of a good time, but each to their own.

[Pierzasty]

Actually, 3D is easy to do. Just put all the ships on 6 inch poles. Color them in two alternating colours every half inch (12 levels). You can keep track of level of the ship with a piece of blue gum. The height of each level is up to you. 100 feet for WWII airplanes, 1000 feet for modern day aircrafts or 1 mile for spaceships. If two ships end up in the same space just use two temporary markers until they separate.

If you can get heavy bases then telescopic stands are a thing.

[Section9]

I understand that some players seek the perfect set of Space Fleet rules that allow for complete 3d mapping and combat, but that sounds far too much like math to me

Totally understand that feeling, it took me far too long to remember how to manipulate some numbers to give an answer on a thread about space combat. Means I need to do more math more often, or sit down and write the damn excel spreadsheet to do the crunching for me.

I play Spaceship games for the 'feel' of giant battleships duking it out in space. I don't want realism, I want fun.

I get that that doesn't align with some other players' view of a good time, but each to their own.

If I want to deal with realistic, complex maneuvers (like I will need to for the book I have in my head), then I will break out AV:T or Squadron Strike. Jovian Chronicles if I want a slightly simpler mechanic, but I like the player aids in the Ad Astra products (AV:T or Squadron Strike) better.

If I want to blow things up, drink some beers and otherwise talk trash with my friends, I will pull out Full Thrust or Lightning Strike.

[Splod]

If I want to blow things up, drink some beers and otherwise talk trash with my friends, I will pull out Full Thrust or Lightning Strike.

And you've pretty much hit exactly why I play wargames

[Scorch]

If I want to blow things up, drink some beers and otherwise talk trash with my friends, I will pull out Full Thrust or Lightning Strike.

And you've pretty much hit exactly why I play wargames

QFT. If you don't play for fun, I cannot imagine why you'd bother.

[Splod]

QFT. If you don't play for fun, I cannot imagine why you'd bother.

One man's fun is another man's chore.

I've played through some high level historical wargames with one of the guys in my club using his own ruleset. It was so complex that it took into account quality and quantity of supplies based on what was historically available at the time for each unit. There were at least four different charts to consult for each enemy contact, and depending on the morale of the brigade the chits could be pulled from one of five different bags. I enjoyed the game play (although I found the charts and chits excessive), but there is no way I could put the effort into that level of research. When I voiced my concerns as he was trying to get it published, he seemed shocked that I didn't enjoy the detail and complexity in the same way as he did.

In a similar vein, I play lots of board games. I have friends who absolutely love Munchkin. I would rather shove my fist into a barrel of broken glass drowned in lemon juice, than play that game once more. I find it simple, repetitive, and hellishly dull. But I understand that some of my friends enjoy it.

[Pierzasty]

QFT. If you don't play for fun, I cannot imagine why you'd bother.

Tactical simulation.

[M2Cat]

If I got payed for each play, I'd play more.

[Scorch]

Haha, getting filthy rich from wargaming. That would surely make us popular with the ladies!

[Curundil]

I used to play a lot of Wormhole from Worldworksgames a couple of years ago. The game was neat, fast and entertaining, but nothing outstanding or brilliant. It used beautiful papercraft cardboard ships, and your army list and bookkeeping were done via a papercraft control tray/panel with lots of inserts, working switches, buttons and other gimmicks that represented your ships' controls. If you print all the stuff at half size, it's not that bulky. I attached a picture of my early two Sathrican fleets plus control panels, Wormhole portals and templates.

Sadly, all of my fleets got crushed under a heavier box in our basement back in 2011, and I had no chance to build new ones recently. I recommend a look. The PdFs are comparably cheap for what you get, and it's a lot of fun. There are five factions (Sathrican Royalists, Sathrican Rebels, Verus Republic, Verus Separatists, Pirate Scum - the sixth faction, the Calormen, didn't get released), but the game gets no further support since WWG closed down.

I still like to play BFG, but all the local players either moved away, sold their stuff or are busy playing Infinity, which basically is a good thing. ^^

[Shivon]

Good to see thread like this, I'm planning to play Full Thrust and BattleSpace (BattleTech space branch with WarShips).
I like both of them for steep learning curves and complicated rules.

For now, I'm planning to buy some models outside GZG (mostly Brigade Models, but other shops / game systems are also taken into account)...