Every once in a while the folks who publish games come out with something so suited to my idiosyncratic tastes that I can only assume they're making it specifically for me. Case in point: the new book Klingon Armada. Dan Kast takes his excellent Starmada spaceship minis rules and applies them to the alterna-Trek universe of Star Fleet Battles. To me that is so like peanut butter and chocolate that I never thought it would come to pass. Starmada is either the best or second best starship minis game I've ever encountered, Full Thrust being the other competitor for the top spot. The Starmada Compedium is one of my favorite game books ever. I own three copies, for frig's sake! Meanwhile, the Star Fleet Universe takes The Original Series and makes it bigger and more militant, so as to justify more and larger space battles. Kapow!It's not a completely flawless book. I was hoping for a ship silhouette on the spaceship stat cards. And while the mini-campaign in the book is aces, an additional scenario or two (especially a training fight) would be nice. Stats for Tholian ships without web-shooters is just plain weird. And I don't understand why PDFs of the ship cards are six bucks at e23 rather than a free download. For six bucks I would expect to get the whole dang game, the hard copy is only seventeen. Still, as a launching point for seeking out new lifeforms and new civilizations and then blowing them straight to hell, this book totally works.
If you like SFB or the old FASA Trek ship game but want something sleeker and better suited to bigass fleet actions, I heartily suggest checking out Klingon Armada. Get it from your friendly local game store or buy one here. Or before you buy, check out this free download of the basic Starmada rules that Klingon Armada is built upon.
Do you need a copy of Starmada to play this Klingon one?
ReplyDeleteI've been eyeballing this on the Starfleet Universe website, but just started buying Federation Commander. Just what I need, another ruleset to fall into the mix.
ReplyDeleteOh, who am I kidding; I'll probably buy this too! Weird about the ship cards, though. They aren't in the book in any fashion?
@NulSyn - if you click the link it says that owning Starmada is recommended but ultimately not required since the core rules are included.
ReplyDeleteI've been playing SFB since '89 and still like the system, even though it's a little clunky.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds cool too, but I'm not sure that I'll give up SFB for it yet. Hopefully I can check out a demo sometime. I still need to play Federation Commander!
Starmada rocks. And Dan keeps taking it in such interesting directions.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to add this to the ever-growing list of things I need to buy.
ReplyDeleteNulSyn: No. More options in the Starmada corebook, but no need to buy it.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that Starmada didn't really do it for me, and I feel that it would poorly represent the Star Trek setting.
ReplyDeleteOf course the same could be said for SFB, and it would be a welcome change from that overly complex system (where who remembers what rule is more important to determining who wins than tactics).
Even so, some day I hope to find a starship game that does the subject justice.
...And I don't understand why PDFs of the ship cards are six bucks at e23 rather than a free download.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be surprised if it was "priced to fail" to prove a point. To say that ADB has shown resistance toward electronic versions of its products (along with its mid-90s attitude towards customer/fans, the games and the internet) would be an understatement.
Loved SFB for long time. Of course I've never lived near the other dozen or so people willing to play a game so baroque.
ReplyDeleteStarmada sounds intriguing. Also have to go find out about Full Thrust. (I hope you get kickbacks from all this)
I might have to check this out. I like SFB but it's too slow, especially for fleet combat. I became more of an F&E player, but that takes a ton of time for the main game.
ReplyDeleteThis is something I might be able to get people to play.