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Has anyone tried to adapt the rules of X-wing and use the minis of BFG? (And if not would anyone be willing to collaborate on the project with me?)

i know that the models are MUCH smaller, and you would need to assign stats/rules to the bfg units... but i really would like to incorporate shipbased combat and now that X-wing is moving towards capital ships i feel that at least a skeleton game could be feasible.

(Edit: not sure if this belongs in proposed rules or not, at this point its all hypothetical.)

I would go with Firestorm Armada rules instead. They're a free download and already set up for the many classes of ships form BFG.

If you want to do this, you should look at Star Trek Attack Wing instead. It's the same rules skeleton as X-Wing, but it's designed around capital engagements.

 SlaveToDorkness wrote:
I would go with Firestorm Armada rules instead. They're a free download and already set up for the many classes of ships form BFG.

This. The X-wing rules are really suited for smaller scale than BFG ships are intended to represent.

Although the best solution I found was to use BFG ships in the "A Call to Arms" ruleset (first for Bablyon 5, later for Star Trek), as the base mechanics were nearly identical; ACTA just added more options.

That said, if you want your Dauntless cruisers to be whipping around through hairpin turns, go right ahead - it's a good ruleset, and a spaceship counter is a spaceship counter.

The problem is that X-Wing is a 2d dogfighting game. BFG is trussed up Napoleonic naval warfare. Definitely recommend Fieestorm over trying to shoehorn it into Attack Wing.

 SlaveToDorkness wrote:
I would go with Firestorm Armada rules instead. They're a free download and already set up for the many classes of ships form BFG.

This, I can't emphasize this enough.

Though, the new 2.0 rules are not yet free, though for $32 you can pick them up, or for just over $100 you can pick up the Battle for Valhala set which includes the rules.

Amazing game.

What is so amazing about Firestorm Armada? What makes it so special? Can you make your own ships, or you stuck with what they design?

Just curious because when I saw it at the store, I wasn't impressed with it. Mind you I didn't get to read the rules so I don't know how it plays.

Full Thrust is free and you can design your own ships.

FT is a spiritual predecessor to FSA.

Never got the firestorm sci fi or fantasy game. both just never seemed as much fun as Man O War and BFG. (I have literally a 1000+ ships for BFG including oddly 7 blackstones thanks to the sale at GW bluewater where they basically gave me the stock - though of course no Dark Eldar, AdMech or Tau, the latter being a real shame as I liked the SG Tau models. No MoW though having foolishy sold them all ages back.)

MoW was just nutty fun, while BFG was surprisingly tactical for a GW game. It was rare we would lose more than a single cap ship in a battle - to get to that point one side tended to be outmanoeuvred and it was relatively easy to disengage ships and not concede so many points. I went to the BFG eye of terror pre campaign tourney at warhammer world and was rightly slammed for my skirmish fleet of 3 dauntless and 1 Emperor.

excellent dialogue fellas... clearly i am not too familiar with any of these systems (but i have enjoyed the few x-wing games that people have demoed for me).

So where do we stand?

1. X-wing: out. Just not quite to the scale of BFG when compared to other systems
2. Firestorm Armada: I fall in this boat as well:

Davor wrote:
What is so amazing about Firestorm Armada? What makes it so special? Mind you I didn't get to read the rules so I don't know how it plays.

3. Full Thrust: successor to firestorm? what would you say the improvements are?
4. "A Call to Arms" ruleset (first for Bablyon 5, later for Star Trek), as the base mechanics were nearly identical; ACTA just added more options.
5. Star Trek Attack Wing: It's the same rules skeleton as X-Wing, but it's designed around capital engagements.

so it seems that there are 4 different systems that could be used for a foundation, and i am not familiar with any of them!

Do any of you guys play multiple systems, and if so could you compare and contrast them knowing what my intentions are?
In your opinion what are the strengths and weaknesses of each system?
I will have to convert the BFG ships into the system, which do you guys think would be most compatible?

The best thing about FA is exploding dice.
Most everything needs a 4+ to succeed and every 6 counts as two successes and grants another roll. Which is also exploding. So no matter how out-diced you are, if you roll enough 6s you can beat them!

That exploding dice stuff is the thing that keeps me away from Firestorm Armada. It gives me the shudders.

I understand the idea, but I don't see what's wrong with the standard BFG ruleset that makes is seem aged?

To me BFG is just Dreadoughts in Space (You can almost see a scenarion for the planet Jutland). The rules are straightforwad and standard GW fare - I am not saying this is a bad thing.

FT are a good set of rules, we have used for a long time and they give a better "space" battle, at least in my opinion.

However, of late we have been using Starmade more and more. THe rules are tight and easily adapted for whatever you need.

I would say these would be a better starting point if you wanted to update BFG

I played quite a bit of BFG, Babylon 5, and am now playing Firestorm Armada. Actually, after NOVA I'll be playing very little 40k and most of my gaming efforts will be directed towards FasA for the foreseeable future.

I have to say, firestorm is my favorite by far. I love the rule set, it feels much more "right" than either BFG or Babylon 5 did, and I did enjoy both if those games. It's an easy to learn easy to play rule set that is difficult to master. There is much more depth of play than either B5 or BFG.

Plus, FSA is still alive and well, it's 2.0 Edition is fantastic, has an updated and living digital fleet guides. The game is balanced and quite fun.

As to Exploding Dice, it actually plays very well, it adds a greater variety to outcomes, but as most dice mechanics holds well enough to expected results with few crazy and spectacular outcomes. On average 10 dice gives you 8 Hits instead of 5.5. It's a good mechanic and is used for counter rolls such as shields and Point Defense as well.

I found B5 to have terrible balance, Minbari were just nasty to a broken degree.

It wouldn't be difficult to port BFG's models over to Firestorm really. The biggest impediments would be finding a diverse enough group of testers to properly point the ships and keeping the BFG fleets' feel.

Damage Rating / Critical Rating = armor (for the most part)
Movement = inch instead of cm but the different size ships are mostly close enoigh this can be directly ported over
Hits = quite a bit different here but easily modified
Crew = no comparable, likely just take an average to FA approach.
Assault Points = roughly translated from the boarding modifiers
Point Defense = turrets
Mine = no direct comparable really but if there is a reason for a race to have these available then im sure something could be accommodated.
Shields = same
Wings = launch bays, this functions differently but its a huge improvement ove BFG's mechanic so no loss there.
Turn Limit = same

There are of course many different weapon types in Firestorm and... Well mostly just 3 in BFG and a few oddballs (guns, lances, torpedoes). I would rougly place these as guns/ primary weapons, lances/ beam weapons, torps/ same.

So a Cobra class escort in FA would look something like:

Designation: Escort
Class: Cobra
Size: Small
Squadron Size: 1-3*

DR/3 CR/4 MV/11" HP/2** CP/2 AP/0 PD/1 MN/0
Points:25-30? Shields: 1 Wings: 0 Turn Limit: 0"

MARs: Difficult Target

Torpedo Weapons (Fore) 1/2/0/0***
Primary Weapons (Turret) 1/1/0/0****

Hardpoints Select up to ONE from the following:

0-1 Remove the Primary weapon system. Increase the Torpedo weapon systems AD to: 2/3/0/0 (Viper type) free
0-1 Remove the Primary weapon system. Add the Target Resolution MAR +5 points (Widow Makers)*****

*escorts in Firestorm are attached to a large model's squadron
**smalls have 2 hits in FA
***torpedoes leave no marker and work similar to a direct fire weapon in FA, most RB1 vales are smaller then RB2 (typically the best range band) due to widespread electronic countermeasures.
****there is no L/F/R weapon in FA so a turret (360) is closest.
*****elite crew is closer in function to the Widow Maker, but that doesnt work if the attached large doesnt have the same MAR so I went with TR which offers a bonus to hit on the weapons and the +1 ld has usually just been used to reload anyway so...

An Emperor might look something like:

Designation: Battlecarrier
Class: Emperor
Size: Large
Squadron Size: 1

DR/6 CR/11 MV/6" HP/9 CP/8 AP/4 PD/6 MN/0
Points:200+? Shields: 2 Wings: 8 Turn Limit: 3"

Primary weapons:
(Broadside) 6/8/7/3
(Turret) 9/12/10/5

MARs: Deck Crews, Split Fire (Primary Turrets), Elite Crew

Hardpoints Select up to TWO from the following:
0-2 +1 Shield +15 points
0-1 +2" Command Distance +5 points
0-1 +2 PD +5 points
0-1 -1" Turn Limit +10 points
0-1 gain the Ops center MAR +5 points

Upgrades:
Add Mine (7) +10 points
Give the Primary weapons the Decimator Warheads MAR +15 points

Dont take these to heart mind you I just threw down some ideas on how these might look, not how they should look .

Why not just play BFG as BFG? Just because a rule set is "modern" or current doesn't mean it's automatically an improvement over a previous game.

In V1, FA did have a rule set for creating stats for your own ships. I'm not sure if they have one for V2 or how well it would port over from V1 to V2.

There is also a new Star Wars Armada game slated to come out soon, which focuses on capital ship combat so they rules may have potential.

Honestly, the BFG rules aren't as bad as some. Some home ruling and like most of the Specialist games it'd likely be pretty much as good as any other "modern" set. If anything I wish Bergstrom or somewhere would get on making "not" minis for it before I have to go look at shapeways > >

I'd sooner play BFG rules with Firestorm models than the other way around.

Converting X-wing is right out, it's downright silly to even try.

If you want capital ship combat, BFG itself is a better representation than trying to fudge it into X-wing.

If you want a game that has support from the parent company, go Firestorm with BFG models.

X-wing is fighter combat. The only capital ship in that game is the Correllian Corvette, and that model is a HUGE(its the better part of 2 ft)