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As BFG seems a long way off (if ever coming back) and we've been watching the odd HD version of B5, I'm breaking this out this week to teach the eldest how to play. (Its been sat on a shelf for years alas)



Anyone else play this? I liked the game, definitely quicker than Wars (although B5 Wars was still a great game) and although I don't have any mini's the box comes with a full contingent of cardboard ship and fighter tokens.


Going to teach him the basics and see if he likes it, which as he loves the gaming aspect of wargaming seems likely, and I'll share some battle shots from the game.

I remember it fondly but can't say I've played it in at least a decade, probably closer to 15 years.

Yeah, its at least that for me. I think the last time I played it was with my mate down in Cornwall before the family and I moved to Suffolk (we were big B5 fans, he had Wars) so thats was at best 2003/04.

Still play it loads and was keeping a running thread here until life got in the way (https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/749665.page).
Though we play second edition.

 ingtaer wrote:
Still play it loads and was keeping a running thread here until life got in the way (https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/749665.page).
Though we play second edition.

Oh nice, I'll have a little read through, having a quick flick I see you got a load of the ships, nice. We had some when we played Wars, but I never really had much myself (Just a chunk of Narn ships and a few Centauri) and I let it all go on ebay about 2005-6 ish after it was apparent it would be on the shelf for a long time.

Luckily I decided to keep the rules set.

I hope you enjoy it! Unfortunately my camera work is dire...
Aimed to have 6 fleets at 12pts Battle level with out spamming the hell out of little stuff, managed to get 5 finished I think before moving.

Fond memories of this game. Even went to some of the Mongoose events in Swindon. I was one of the skinflints who used the Fleet Battles scale ships to play the game... noone seemed to mind, thankfully.

Honestly I think B5: ACTA might be the best space naval game to ever grace our tabletops

Is ACTA generally regarded as better than the B5 rules based on Full Thrust? I was looking at both for use with the miniatures I am printing a while back but life sorta got in the way. I hope to get back to it though and run some games (either ACTA or FT) for friends....

Huh? You mean B5 Wars/Fleet Action? Or do you mean the fanmade B5 Full Thrust adaptation?

I was referencing; "The Babylon Project ship combat system, designed by Jon Tuffley based upon his Full Thrust ship combat system, with additional design by Zeke Sparkes."

This was in a publication "The Earthforce Sourcebook." There is a fan-made unofficial addition to this to add more ships and such.

I had seen recommendations for it as a good system awhile ago, not sure where, maybe was on Dakka but been some time so don't recall....

In that case I'm not really familiar. I know it exists but I don't know not much else abut it.

Personally, and I might be in the minority opinion on this, I think people only really play Full Thrust because its generic, adaptable, flexible, and serviceable, not because its necessarily "good" or "better"/"best", etc.

Personally I just really like the ACTA ruleset, its fairly streamlined while still packing a decent level of detail into the game. The factions have fairly distinct playstyles, the weapons (mostly) have meaningful distinctions between them as do the ships, etc.

Yep - a vote for ACTA here too. Full Thrust has it fans (many of who seem to be hung up on vector movement) but I found the A Call to Arms game much more enjoyable.

Ah, I remember playing the smaller scale game?

The_Real_Chris wrote:
Ah, I remember playing the smaller scale game?

Probably Mongoose's Fleet Action. The made the original Wars game and then the follow-up smaller scale Fleet Action. Both predated ACTA iirc.

Played Vree in ACTA. Now want to convert the rules over to Silent Death since it's my favorite space based combat system.

Wars and Fleet Action were Agents of Gaming, not Mongoose

Not played it for a few years - but used to be heavily into the game - wrote fan packs at the like and messed about with a 3rd edition set for a bit- but sadly eveyone else moved on after the game was ended by MGP.

Let me know if you want any resources - rules, sheets, etc

I think its a very good game for games of about 5-15 ships aside plus fighter squadrons - some balance issues with the fleets but thats gaming.

I tried Full Thrust a few times but not a fan. Really enjoy BFG but not found a Sci-fi fleet game i like since - they seem to implode quite quickly.

 Morathi's Darkest Sin wrote:


Anyone else play this? I liked the game, definitely quicker than Wars (although B5 Wars was still a great game) and although I don't have any mini's the box comes with a full contingent of cardboard ship and fighter tokens.

Heads up: Agents of Gaming sells the full lines of all the B5 miniatures games. Sadly, their ability to keep the books in stock is lacking.

I thought they were just selling off old stock, not manufacturing new. Looking at the website now, the existing online sails site has been dead for years, and while there's a link to an alleged new site, that link is also dead.

I thought A Call To Arms was the best set of B5 space combat rules; B5Wars looked at Battletech and decided that being even more clunky and slow was the way to go, and the Babylon Project rules were decent enough, but didn't cover a lot of ships. If we'd ever got a proper Full Thrust 3rd edition, a lot of the stuff from that BP ruleset would likely have ended up in it - quite a lot of the playtest FT rules are very similar.

I never really saw "vector movement" as a selling point for a B5 game; only fighter combat in the show made any real nods toward "realism", and even that was minimal.

As far as A Call To Arms goes, it's also been used by Mongoose for Star Trek (well, Star Fleet Battles, which isn't quite the same thing, but it'll do for TOS), Fading Suns and Traveller, as well as for WW1 and WW2 naval combat. IIRC it was a decent set of core rules with not too much fiddly bookkeeping. I've got a box of B5 ships at the bottom of a pile somewhere, that I keep finding and thinking "one day ..." Maybe I'll rebuild the Omegas so the central hull rotates.

Officially they are selling old stock, but... they've been selling "old stock" for almost 20 years now, so I have my doubts as to how old any of it is.

They’re down to “email me if you want anything”, so I think I’ll pass.

At one point I’d thought of ordering some GroPos Centauri, and trying to convert the missing artillery vehicle, but not much point nowadays.

Uhhh, guys, are we talking about the same site?

https://agents-of-gaming.myshopify.com/