Just wondered if anyone here might be able to offer some informed opinions on spaceship rule sets. It's all new to me, was out of the hobby before BFG landed but one of my playgroup is a die hard spaceships fan (and ex navy) and is putting us through our paces over the next few weeks to try a few options out. We've all played xwing, which is fun, but we are all looking for a bit more of a "navies" in space feel.

Minis are not really the issue - he has a number of options available and Im happy to proxy ( I suspect the firestorm models are likely to be the easiest to get hold of these days anyway) but we have 3 options we are weighing up for rules:

Full Thrust - this is my mate's favourite from the 90s. I've down loaded the rules and they look good in a old school way and seem to offer the most flexibility. Is it showing its age?

Battle Fleet Gothic - He has a copy of this but never got to have many games before he also had a wargaming hiatus. I've heard very good things and the main rules look good, but without all the mags and expansion rules is it a little limited in scope? Can these be obtained these days? How does it compare to the others? More detailed?

Firestorm Armada - new kid on the block, and it would be a change to play a game that's actually in print for a change! :-) none of us have played it and obviously there is a cost involved. I've seen a bit of the dystopian wars game and it doesn't seem too dissimilar. I heard 1st ed was very limited but 2nd has raised the bar? Not over keen on the exploding die thing but I can live with it as long as the game has some solid (and varied) tactical options and isn't too random...

Thoughts???

I've got everything you'd ever want BFG related and is fun and not too wonky. It's good at giving the battle of Jutland / Pacific War IN SPAAAAACE feel. There's a pretty vibrant community for it out there.

I've not personally played FSA but I hear good things from multiple sources and I hear the 2.0 version is the bees knees

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BFG is a great game. Fairly simple rules but lots of fun. All you really need is the core rules, armada, and the 2010 FAQ/Compendium to play. There are a few other fleet rules floating around but I believe all of them are here:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id= ... sp=sharing

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I can +1 on FSA. I loved BFG, would love to play that again but nearby support for it culled my interest.

Firestorm's a solid ruleset, the games are well balanced (mostly) and always fun. The only drawback I have is that some of the 'official' ships are too big and cumbersome for knife fighting. If you use your own ships, I can't really think of a major flaw that it suffers from, plus it's in print which does indeed make a nice change.

BFG is much like epic in being community driven now, with alternative model ranges available or being developed. Great game. I have 3 old games workshop specialist games fleets, and 3 fleets made from non-GW ranges.

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I did not paly Gothic but I did play some full thrust. It is also a community driven project with all of the core rule books available as free downloads. The rules are very simple and if you use the vector movement (not the default cinemmaic one) you can really feal that the ships are floating in space (2d but still space

It also has a lot of mods that allow yoy to play in different universes : star wars for example

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Thats three massively different types of game.

BFG is a great game and I am a massive fan. Its simple, cinematic, interesting... and dead. If you can get the minis, and you generally like GW rules philosophy, its certainly worth looking into. For me, it hits a nice balance between a fun relaxing game, and tactical play.

Full Thrust is a little more complex and a little more 'realistic' (whatever that means). It deal with inertia better and is more in depth. It takes a few games to get into, and I guarantee that the first game you play both fleets with power right past each and have to apply a handbrake turn quickly.

Firestorm is a more abstract game than the other two, dealing with range bands, fistfuls of dice and 'exploding dice' on 6's. I havent played this one, but its essentially Uncharted Seas in space as far as I can tell (not that this is a bad thing, since BFG is basically Napoleonics in space).

Other potential games are:
- X-Wing (the Miniatures Game, which has a good following, or the Star Trek port of it)
- Starfleet Captain
- Hostile Stars (sneaking that one in there)
- Dropfleet Commander (when it hits release is you can wait)
- SITS (Saganami Island Tactical Simulator.... if you like your games with a slide rule)
- Starmada (does anyone play this any more?)

EDIT - BFG additional material is here:
- http://www.specialist-arms.com/bfg/warprift/
- http://www.specialist-arms.com/fanatic/

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Oh now I think of it, isn't FFG going to be doing a fleet scale game next based on Star wars?

Edit: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_ ... :%20Armada

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Hi guys, thanks for the input and links (good time for my PC to die!) We got our first BFG a experience last night - much fun was had by all! Dammit ! Another game to play and collect ! :-)

Seemed a bit fiddly in places - particularly ordinance - but we seemed to get used to it quickly. Having now done a bit more reading FT seems a little more streamlined in the options (?) but tricker to get the hang of ? Think we are trying it next anyway. Though to be honest I think the gw universe would probably pull us to Bfg and link ups with our 6and28mm armies.

As for FSA, looks to be even more arcade style with less off table record keeping (?) and more emphasis on squadrons and big battles - with simpler rules to allow that That said it sounds like there is only really personal preference to choose between them.

I had heard about the SW Armada - which I suspect will get play at our club as xwing is really popular. I think us hardcore Wargamers take against the prepainted minis a little, and it's a little "boardgamey" for some. We'll see, though one guy did suggest the micro-machine star destroyers might be right for Bfg...

I'd forgotten all about the DZC fleet game - Andy chambers to boot ! Worth keeping an eye out, though sounds a little way off (?)

We plan to try out a few systems so I'll most likely get a generic set of minis in the meantime and go from there - probably Spartan (though avoiding the monster sized ones) however thanks to CS on the hostile stars tip ;-) like the kratorian fleet a lot (esp what markconz has done with the) and I'll skim the rules while I'm there...

Any other tips on proxies? I've seen Vaaish's stunning new design - unfortunately not a full fleet available yet but it's still an option... Any news when there might be more? Brigade and gZg seem a bit old school 1960s for me. Any more I should know about?

You might want to peep https://www.shapeways.com/shops/Armand for good not-Gothic, not-Voss, and not-Kar Duniash pattern ships.

Also wander over to Resin Addict and give Zac an email. He likes friends

As to the Star Wars Armada pre-painted minis, it's not uncommon (nor difficult) for people to give some extra ummph to the vehicles and make them really pop. Here's an example of what I mean from Hugo at Ichiban touching up his X-Wing minis
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avOC-P_rugY&list=UUdu8ZvFzRlCGSq1OU6FFmpw[/youtube]

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Just a quick note on XWing, although it is pre-painted, its a decent wargame and certainly not a boardgame approach. You can download the rules for it free here - https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_ ... lowres.pdf - but it shares some features with Aeronautica Imperialis. Also, many people do repaint the minis, but I find them expensive as you are paying for the prepainted nature, but you get order tokens and everything you need in a single box for a single ship.

For a full rundown of minis, you cannot do any better than Starship Combat News - http://www.star-ranger.com/Home.htm

For example, miniatures - http://www.star-ranger.com/Minis.htm

BFG does seem a little fiddly initially, but make sure that you are playing the ordnance rules correctly, and after a couple of games it really flows smoothly and gives a great game experience, in my opinion.

If you decide that you prefer FT, I am sure that there are port rules to use BFG ships in it, if you look around a bit... although most people are going the other way and using different ships with BFG rules, since you cant buy BFG ships any more.

As for HS, honestly the rules are still very much WiP, and while I would appreciate any input, are probably not there for the kind of game that you are looking for.

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