Space/star-ship miniature wargame?

[Ichneumon]

So, a few weeks ago I saw a group of strangers, at a cafe, playing a miniature wargame. Because I was with friends and social awkwardness and such, I didn't stop and watched them at the time, but now I can't get my mind off it. What game was it? I didn't see much, only that they were moving space ships around a battlefield. Anyway, it got me interested, so: Are there any good spaceship miniature battle wargames?

[Cristo Meyers]

There are two I can think of right off the top of my head:

Battlefleet Gothic (Games Workshop)
Full Thrust (Ground Zero Games)

Battlefleet Gothic has the advantage of being supported (well, kinda) by Games Workshop, so it's the easiest one to find players for (but that's not saying much)

Full Thrust is arguably a better game, but less easy to find players. However, the rules are totally free and you can use pretty much any minis you wish. There's also a good ship-building ruleset.

If you can find it, the Babylon 5: A Call to Arms game was also really good. However, Mongoose Publishing discontinued it, last I knew.

[Storm Bringer]

what he said.

BFG and full Thrust are the two space warfare games i know, and i;ve played them both, and like them both.

[Erloas]

Without having a few details its hard to say what game you were seeing.

Battlefleet Gothic is/was GW's ship based sub-game for 40k. Same races and setting as 40k, but a completely different game. Its still around but not officially supported and you can pretty much only find the rules and models used.


Battletech also has the aero-tech portion of the game. Which hasn't really been updated much recently, not sure if it really in the works or not. They cover some of it in the core and advanced rulebooks, but I haven't had a chance to read those portions of the books to see how complete the newest incarnation of the game is (I'm still focusing entirely on 'Mechs and vehicles, theres too much to the game to learn and do everything from the start). They have everything from small scale air/space fighters to large battleships and drop ships.

Those are the ones I know. I'm pretty sure there is also a Star Wars and Star Trek set of games, but I don't know anything about them. And I'm sure there are others I don't know about.

[Cristo Meyers]

The Star Wars fleet mini game is, as I understand it, passable. But it suffers from the problem of being collectible, so randomized minis.

The Star Trek one is old, but still playable. It can also be horrendously complicated if you get too deep into it.

[Mando Knight]

The Star Wars fleet mini game is, as I understand it, passable. But it suffers from the problem of being collectible, so randomized minis.

It also suffers from the problem of being dead. Only one booster set and one starter set was ever released for it, and they're out of print now.

[Cristo Meyers]

It also suffers from the problem of being dead. Only one booster set and one starter set was ever released for it, and they're out of print now.

Shows how well I keep track of these things...

Good riddance to bad medicine.

[Tren]

Though not a space ship miniature game, there's also Aeronautica Imperialis, which is Gamesworkshop air combat game. I know next to nothing about it other than it's supported throughForge World.

[Thrawn183]

There's one that I can't remember the name of. Really, really, really complex, but the easiest way to tell is that the board itself was made of a bunch of hexagonal pieces.

Each player also has a sheet that they have to keep track of. If that sounds like what you saw, I can track down the name of it.

[warty goblin]

For the hardcorier than thou, Attack Vector: Tactical. (http://www.adastragames.com/products/adastra/av.html)

The Star Wars miniature combat game suffered from the tragic fault of being really, really boring. I'm all for accessible rules, but this was too damn accessible, by which I mean simple. Subsystems weren't specifically damageable, there was not even the barest concession made to momentum, and insofar as I know there wasn't even any sort of active defenses modeled.

[Iskandar]

to be accurate (if not pedantic) there are two Star Trek wargames. Star Fleet Battles is perhaps the most well known, and horribly complex. I've played it about a decade ago and had much fun. Got away from my usual group of gaming friends and have not played since, can't find anyone else who plays. I believe SFB is still in-print. Great game, but the learning curve can be more of a learning WALL. The game is very complex and detailed, although, as I said, fun.

The other was FASA's Starship Tactical Combat Simulator from the 80s. I've played this one too, but I remember little about it, outside the fact that is was less complex than SFB, and more fun. Unfortunately, this game is long out of print, having died shortly after ST:TNG came around.

Oh, and there is one more space wagame I've been following. The Saganami Island Tactical Simulator, which uses the Attack Vector: Tactical rules modified to fit the Honorverse series of books by David Weber. Pretty much brand new, only a couple of years old. Haven't got a chance to try this, but I'd like to, being a fan of the book series that it is based on.

[Ashtar]

A Hex board and lots of sheets?

2 Possibilities (or More)! (And both out of print - but oh so cool)
Battlespace (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/7470)
http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic527797_md.jpg

Or my favorite, extremely hard to get (But I got it)
Star Wars: Star Warriors (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3593)
http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic38450_md.jpg

Otherwise it could also be...
Lightning strike (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3890) if it used minis?
http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic165822_md.jpg

[Thrawn183]

No, when I say it had a board made of hexagonal pieces, I mean it literally was made out of probably 50 different completely separate and independent hexagonal pieces. You had to basically set up the entire galaxy before you could even start playing.

My old landlord had it.... I could just ask him the name of it, but we didn't part on the best of terms. What kind of person tells someone it's alright to move in at 2:30 AM?

[warty goblin]

No, when I say it had a board made of hexagonal pieces, I mean it literally was made out of probably 50 different completely separate and independent hexagonal pieces. You had to basically set up the entire galaxy before you could even start playing.

Twilight Imperium?

[Thrawn183]

Twilight Imperium?

That's it exactly! Not a game to play with the immature.

[Breltar]

That's it exactly! Not a game to play with the immature.

Twilight Imperium is like Risk gone space, very fun.


By the by, Full Thrust has rules for both Star Trek and Star Wars universes out there if anyone is interested. I love that the rules for Full Thrust are free .pdf downloads. Lots of folks use it to play BSG games with the BSG models that are sold.

[warty goblin]

Twilight Imperium is like Risk gone space, very fun.

I've never played TI since of the people I live with, only my Dad would be interested in a game that cutthroat, and I'm pretty sure he'd bulk as the pile of rules. I have however read those rules several times, and honestly it looks closer to a cross between Settlers of Catan and Axis and Allies than Risk.

[kkortekaas]

Twilight Imperium takes an arse-ton of time to play. I've owned it for 2 years now and I've only ever managed to get one full game in.

[SolkaTruesilver]

If you want paincrucially complicated, go for Diplomacy..

If you don't value the friendship of your co-players...

[Martok]

Twilight Imperium takes an arse-ton of time to play. I've owned it for 2 years now and I've only ever managed to get one full game in.
A fantastic game, but yeah it takes forever to play. The longest part in my experience is just getting the board (and the players) set up.... :smalltongue:

[warty goblin]

Twilight Imperium takes an arse-ton of time to play. I've owned it for 2 years now and I've only ever managed to get one full game in.

The best way to do this sort of game is to just have a room in the garage/wherever that has a large enough table, so you can just leave it set up. Dad and I play Axis and Allies like this, usually a couple of games over the course of a summer, a turn or two at a time.

[Thrawn183]

Part of it also depends on how long it takes a person to make a move. There are a lot of people who take FOREVER, I find that TI is kind of like the D&D version of Risk now that I think about it.

[dsmiles]

Reaper also does one, called C.A.V., but it is mostly mecha-type walkers and ground based units. Some air support, but not much, IIRC.

[Breltar]

The best way to do this sort of game is to just have a room in the garage/wherever that has a large enough table, so you can just leave it set up. Dad and I play Axis and Allies like this, usually a couple of games over the course of a summer, a turn or two at a time.

Yeah I played it at a friends house and we left it in his basement on the pool table that they never used.

[Corvus]

For the hardcorier than thou, Attack Vector: Tactical. (http://www.adastragames.com/products/adastra/av.html)


I can second this - its a system that uses 3D newtonian mechanics and despite this is not quite as hard as you would think (though I guess you can say I am a bit biased seeing as how I was involved with the design of the background setting).

There is also a stripped down version of it which is the official Honorverse starship miniature system.