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Made in us
Grim Dark Angels Interrogator-Chaplain






A Protoss colony world

Does anyone else on Dakka play the old-school board game Star Fleet Battles?

For those of you who don't, it is a game of tactical starship combat set in a Star Trek universe that diverges from the established universe after TOS. For example, there are no Cardassians or Borg, but there are many new races never seen in any of the shows or movies. The game is played with counters on a hex map marking the locations of the ships (and other things), and players have a limited amount of energy (exactly how much is determined by ship class, damage, etc.) to move, fire weapons, and other things. One thing that turns many players off is the sheer amount of rules and bookkeeping (if you think a game like Warhammer 40k is bad for this, Star Fleet Battles is not for you!), but the game is actually quite fun. The game system is modular (you start with a basic set, imaginatively called Basic Set, and add on to it from there), meaning that you can make the game as complex or as simple as you like. The expansions add new races, ships (in total there are probably almost 2000 different ships from over 50 races!), rules (new weapons, ship systems, etc.) and scenarios to the game system.

I really like the game, it has a lot of tactical depth to it, and I was wondering what everyone else's thoughts were about it or if indeed anyone else on these forums has even heard of it before (since board games with maps and counters have taken somewhat of a back seat to miniatures games).

My armies (re-counted and updated on 11/1/23, including modeled wargear options):
Dark Angels: ~15000 Astra Militarum: ~1200 | Adeptus Custodes: ~1900 | Imperial Knights: ~2000 | Sisters of Battle: ~3500 | Leagues of Votann: ~1200 | Tyranids: ~2600 | Stormcast Eternals: ~5000
Check out my P&M Blogs: ZergSmasher's P&M Blog | Imperial Knights blog | Board Games blog | Total models painted in 2023: 40 | Total models painted in 2024: 7 | Current main painting project: Dark Angels
 Mr_Rose wrote:
Who doesn’t love crazy mutant squawk-puppies? Eh? Nobody, that’s who.
 
   
Made in gb
Yu Jing Martial Arts Ninja




North Wales

I used to play it years ago, still have a copy of the rules on my bookshelf.

There was a guy, Smileylich, if I recall, who did hundreds of new SSDs that were really cool. Think that the powers that be eventually told him to knock it off after a while, which was a shame.

From what I recall, the game involved a huge amount of micromanagement! Any more than two ships per side and there was trouble.
   
Made in us
Decrepit Dakkanaut






New Orleans, LA

I played it for a while.

It was interesting, but it made Battle Tech look like Candyland.

DA:70S+G+M+B++I++Pw40k08+D++A++/fWD-R+T(M)DM+
 
   
Made in us
Sniping Reverend Moira





Cincinnati, Ohio

 kronk wrote:
I played it for a while.

It was interesting, but it made Battle Tech look like Candyland.


I've watched people play it at Origins, and it really looks super neat.

But like Kronk said....there's a loooooooooot going on.

 
   
Made in us
Speedy Swiftclaw Biker





I think this image sums up star fleet battles quite well.
Spoiler:

On a serious not though does anyone know of any site where the rules or sheets for ships are posted me and my friend would like to get in to it using our attack wing models.

"The Provisional Government is going to fall, and when governments fall people like me are the first ones shot." -- Quark (Emissary)
Quark: It’s good to want things.
Odo: Even things you can’t have?
Quark: Especially things you can’t have.
-Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, “The Passenger” 
   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York

I played it a lot back in the day. That being the late 80's, early 90’s. Due to the complexity, the game bogged down really bad at anything larger then a cruiser duel. We mostly stuck to the tournament cruisers. I think the largest we ever did was a small carrier group vs. a battlecruiser squadron. Even with just the “basic” rules the learning curve is very steep. It does have the advantage of the best cross indexed rules ever So even though the rule binder is thicker then the yellow pages, any rules argument can be tracked down and solved in minutes.

Great game, many fond memories, but frankly I don’t have the time to devote to re-mastering the rules, and the full day it would take to play a game.

   
Made in us
Hangin' with Gork & Mork






Didn't get to play it but owned and read through the rules some moons ago.

Amidst the mists and coldest frosts he thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.
 
   
Made in gb
Yu Jing Martial Arts Ninja




North Wales

 ds9lord wrote:
I think this image sums up star fleet battles quite well.
Spoiler:

On a serious not though does anyone know of any site where the rules or sheets for ships are posted me and my friend would like to get in to it using our attack wing models.



What makes that SSD even more scary is that because it is a 4x tech level ship, it's using Smileylich's super boxes. Each of those boxes is the equivalent of 10 normal boxes...
   
Made in us
Hangin' with Gork & Mork






Yeah the Next Generation+ ships did not tend to be all that friendly in the game. The ones created to bridge the gap also were fairly unbalanced as well iirc.

Amidst the mists and coldest frosts he thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.
 
   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York

As with most games, it starts well, added some neat new things, starts to get cumbersome, and then you get odd things from left field that are interesting, but end up being added bloat.

Some of the races they added were a little odd. The ISC(?) with the splash damage weapons. There was another one I think that just just put in to simulate wet-navy ships (frex?) And chunks of rules, like X-ships and the PT boat things I don’t think we ever used. Same with battleships.

I don’t remember the next gen stuff. I must have stopped playing by that point

   
Made in us
[MOD]
Solahma






RVA

Why not play Federation Commander instead?

   
Made in us
Speedy Swiftclaw Biker





What is it and how is it different from star fleet battles.

"The Provisional Government is going to fall, and when governments fall people like me are the first ones shot." -- Quark (Emissary)
Quark: It’s good to want things.
Odo: Even things you can’t have?
Quark: Especially things you can’t have.
-Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, “The Passenger” 
   
Made in us
[MOD]
Solahma






RVA

Basically, it is a streamlined version of SFB.

   
Made in ca
Ancient Venerable Black Templar Dreadnought





Canada

Manchu beat me to it mentioning the game, but I do own it and expansions.

Federation Commander is a Starfleet Battles "Lite", it would be more like a Battletech in comparison.
Even more so since the game had a lower detail version of each ship on the other side of the card for larger battles like Btech - Alphastrike.
http://www.starfleetgames.com/federation/fed_command.shtml

Nice description from RPG net:
"FEDERATION COMMANDER VERSUS STAR FLEET BATTLES
Federation Commander is descended from Star Fleet Battles, but it is not a junior version. Federation Commander is a complete game that stands on its own merits. While derived from the other game, the creator, Stephen V. Cole, rethought the whole design, and if you approach Federation Commander and expecting it to play like Star Fleet Battles, you are sure way to be disappointed. What you will find is that most Star Fleet Battles tactics do not translate, but there are a slew of new tactics to try.

One way to think about this is the difference between 2nd and 3rd edition Dungeons and Dragons. Both were fun, and both allowed you to build a character, go into a dungeon, and battles orcs and bug bears. However, 3rd edition redesigned the rules to make them more consistent and easier to use. They are both D&D, but they play quite different."


Intro rules are here:
http://www.starfleetgames.com/federation/FCFirstMissions.pdf

Reviews here:
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/19854/federation-commander-klingon-border

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/14/14785.phtml

Starfleet Battles Stuff:

http://www.starfleetgames.com/starfleetbattles.shtml

Rules here (Intro):
http://starfleetgames.com/sfb/sfin/CadetHandbook.pdf

To buy:
http://store.starfleetstore.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=S&Product_Code=5501&Category_Code=

It is a lot of fun either games, they work and I had some die-hard Starfleet battle players like Federation Commander, they were excited to be able to play larger fleets.

Have fun!

A revolution is an idea which has found its bayonets.
Napoleon Bonaparte 
   
Made in us
Fresh-Faced New User





Star Fleet Battles is my second favorite game of all time behind Advanced Squad Leader and I have another gaming buddy that I play it with. I also used to play Federation Commander but went back to playing SFB; once you've played SFB you realize that Federation Commander is a dumbed down version of it.

If you know the rules for SFB the games can go pretty quickly and yes, it's best played ship versus ship though in the day(over 30 years ago) my friends and I would sometimes play 1000 point fleet battles....ay caramba! If you have to run more than one ship that entails having to go through another energy allocation form and having to determine what you're going to be doing with each additional ship and that will end up taking a lot of time.

When you see the rules for the first time it can be pretty intimidating but you only play with the rules that you want to play with. If you don't want to play with fighters, electronic warfare, legendary crew quality, Andromedans or anything else, then don't play with them.

Star Fleet Battles, in my opinion, is one of the best games ever made and I'm still playing it today.
   
Made in us
[DCM]
-






-

I want to play it BECAUSE YOU CAN BE A GORN!!!

A GORN!!!

But I have a hard enough time finding opponents for 'regular tabletop wargames', never mind this one!

   
Made in us
Jovial Plaguebearer of Nurgle




Brighton, MO

Alpharius, you can play the Gorn in Attack wing now too, lol. They have two ships, The S'Gorn, and the Gornarus.

 
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka







I would never, ever, ever play Starfleet Battles on tabletop.

However... The game was reinterpreted as a computer game series, that you might very well have heard of, Starfleet Command.

While Starfleet Command 3 (Set as a prequel to Star Trek: Nemesis), was notably simplified from the original tabletop game. I believe Stafleet Command 2 was much closer to it and was based around the Starfleet Battles 'alternative reality' races.
   
Made in us
Hangin' with Gork & Mork






AFAIK:

Starfleet Command 2 (and Orion Pirates) is the closest to the tabletop without being a grind. It is easy to pick up but hard to master, and should be cheap and easy to find.

Starfleet Command 3 is a simplification of the system with slightly enhanced graphics and interface that uses the Next Generation vehicles. It is fairly rare and expensive last I saw as I believe it had a somewhat limited printing.

Amidst the mists and coldest frosts he thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.
 
   
Made in us
Grim Dark Angels Interrogator-Chaplain






A Protoss colony world

I've played Starfleet Command 2 and Orion Pirates myself and loved them, seeing the ships from the board game brought to life (even if they looked different from the art in the books) was almost a religious experience when I first played. I may have to check and see if Steam has those games...

My armies (re-counted and updated on 11/1/23, including modeled wargear options):
Dark Angels: ~15000 Astra Militarum: ~1200 | Adeptus Custodes: ~1900 | Imperial Knights: ~2000 | Sisters of Battle: ~3500 | Leagues of Votann: ~1200 | Tyranids: ~2600 | Stormcast Eternals: ~5000
Check out my P&M Blogs: ZergSmasher's P&M Blog | Imperial Knights blog | Board Games blog | Total models painted in 2023: 40 | Total models painted in 2024: 7 | Current main painting project: Dark Angels
 Mr_Rose wrote:
Who doesn’t love crazy mutant squawk-puppies? Eh? Nobody, that’s who.
 
   
Made in us
Grim Rune Priest in the Eye of the Storm





Riverside CA

Yes SFB can be a exercise in mathmatice, but I found smaller games were more fun. 6 Player 3,000 point per player games were common. Then a few of us went to 100 or 150 point games and they went much quicker and were less of a headache.

Space Wolf Player Since 1989
My First Impression Threads:
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/727226.page;jsessionid=3BCA26863DCC17CF82F647B2839DA6E5

I am a Furry that plays with little Toy Soldiers; if you are taking me too seriously I am not the only one with Issues.

IEGA Web Site”: http://www.meetup.com/IEGA-InlandEmpireGamersAssociation/ 
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut





Saratoga Springs, NY

This is one of those games that I always wanted to play but never got around to. I did play the computer game (Orion Pirates) way back in grade school when it first came out. I had no idea what was going on. I remember my favored tactic was "make the forward shields as strong as possible, overload all my weapons, charge, hope they die before I do"

Of course, my favorite race was the Hydrans, so I think I was doing it right by accident the whole time.

Like watching other people play video games (badly) while blathering about nothing in particular? Check out my Youtube channel: joemamaUSA!

BrianDavion wrote:
Between the two of us... I think GW is assuming we the players are not complete idiots.


Rapidly on path to becoming the world's youngest bitter old man. 
   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York

 dementedwombat wrote:
This is one of those games that I always wanted to play but never got around to. I did play the computer game (Orion Pirates) way back in grade school when it first came out. I had no idea what was going on. I remember my favored tactic was "make the forward shields as strong as possible, overload all my weapons, charge, hope they die before I do"

Of course, my favorite race was the Hydrans, so I think I was doing it right by accident the whole time.


I loved the Hydrans, probably my favorite race. That’s the primary strategy for the fusion armed ships. They were knife-fight range, but did a ton of damage. It was always a dance between how long to hold your fire with them.

   
Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

Much like Champions it's one of those games that seems neat till you realize they value 'realism' (or at least plausability) and balance over fun.

So it ends up pretty much being the least fun thing ever.

 
   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Much like Champions it's one of those games that seems neat till you realize they value 'realism' (or at least plausability) and balance over fun.

So it ends up pretty much being the least fun thing ever.


Hey, don’t go knocking on Champions. It’s a great system that lets you build any character you want. As long as you can do the math. And have a solid grasp of all the subtle nuances of the system. And everyone in your gaming group is on the same page. And you don’t mind spending two hours in a fight with a handful of mooks.

OK, you are entirely correct. I like the concept of complexity, but the practicality of quick and smooth play. I do miss the grit sometimes though.

   
Made in gb
Fresh-Faced New User




I just programmed a starFleetBattles PC game , its free and will run on any windows PC, I will post the link when my account allows it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
https://manyone88.itch.io/spacewar-9222

here is the link to the SFB game with A.I. and hotseat

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/06/06 03:24:12


 
   
Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

mainsworthy wrote:
I just programmed a starFleetBattles PC game , its free and will run on any windows PC, I will post the link when my account allows it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
https://manyone88.itch.io/spacewar-9222

here is the link to the SFB game with A.I. and hotseat


Can I recommend you start a new thread, either here on the video game forum?

I think it deserves one.

 
   
Made in gb
Fresh-Faced New User




I started one in video games, thx
   
Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

Thanks!

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/798814.page

 
   
 
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