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Post by afilter on Oct 26, 2010 13:09:35 GMT -5
I am curious about CB, but I am a visual sort of guy who does mostly historical gaming. Anyone have pics to share? Attended RockCON this past weekend and saw a vendor had some beautiful Battlestar gallactica minis. As I lurk around this side of the board am I correct that CB can be played with these or any ships? Can someone give me the sales pitch as to why I would want to try this over NT or other games. Checked out the wargame vault and the description is not very detailed. I do have 3 children ages 11-14 and always looking for non video game type gaming opportunities with them. TIA,
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Post by toaster on Oct 26, 2010 13:44:21 GMT -5
CB works with any ship models, the excel ship design tool is very straightforward and allows you to stat up just about anything you've seen or read about. BSG style ships should have there own fleet book very soon if thats what your particularly after but if you check the after action reports you'll find BSG vs SW battles to show how flexible the system is.
CB's main advantages over FT is greater tactical depth and everything in one rulebook. I run the game with 13 to 17 year olds regularly without any trouble and I would happily go down to eight years old ( the youngest I've run FT with) so it fits the bill there. I was big on open table over hexes for years but CB makes great use of them to enhance the game and remove some of the ambiguities that can bother younger players with measured movement (ever had a pair of brothers arguing over whether one of them made a legal move or not, definitely a game stopper).
If you haven't already check out some of the what game should I play threads over on the Starship Combat News message board. Ad Astra in particular does a very good job of comparing salient points between a wide range of games.
I was a Full Thrust player for 16 years and I'm very happy with the change I've made to CB.
Robert
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Post by afilter on Oct 26, 2010 13:56:43 GMT -5
(ever had a pair of brothers arguing over whether one of them made a legal move or not, definitely a game stopper). LOL...I have two boys(13 and 14) we implemented mandatory dice towers some time ago so everyone were "rolling" the dice. If you haven't already check out some of the what game should I play threads over on the Starship Combat News message board. Ad Astra in particular does a very good job of comparing salient points between a wide range of games. I was a Full Thrust player for 16 years and I'm very happy with the change I've made to CB. Links would be much appreciated as I mentioned I am not much of a fantasy/sci-fi player, so kind of unfamiliar with some of the termanology. Continue to sell me..... If anyone has an AAR with pics that would be great.
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Post by kenh01 on Oct 26, 2010 15:29:30 GMT -5
Hi Aaron
I'm the one who made all the spreadsheets for Harry, so i might be a little bit biased! Basicly, if you liked the way NT worked and you like spaceships and ship to ship (or fleet to fleet) combat, then CB is for you, and the price is right!
Ken
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Post by toaster on Oct 26, 2010 15:55:14 GMT -5
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Post by afilter on Oct 26, 2010 16:41:23 GMT -5
OK, now you have my attention (told you I was visual). So any theme will do? Star Trek, Battle Star Galactica, Star Wars and others? So the Star wars space ship minis from WoTC could be recycled with this system?
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Post by jchen101 on Oct 26, 2010 17:11:15 GMT -5
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Post by robertthedamned on Oct 26, 2010 17:55:39 GMT -5
So any theme will do? Star Trek, Battle Star Galactica, Star Wars and others? Yup you can do pretty much anything, there are a few things missing from the rules still but there are expansions on there way already plus there's plenty of room for house rules (and as a historical player I'm sure you're used to those!). Come to think of it I have minis in the works for all of the above, cross-over games should also work with CB. The ship design rules are some of the most flexible I've ever seen and with the Ken did you can make a design in few minutes.
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Post by afilter on Oct 26, 2010 18:07:18 GMT -5
Thanks for all the responses so far. Hi Aaron I'm the one who made all the spreadsheets for Harry, so i might be a little bit biased! Basicly, if you liked the way NT worked and you like spaceships and ship to ship (or fleet to fleet) combat, then CB is for you, and the price is right! Ken Yes, like NT the rules do not see very expensive, but I have been a gamer long enough to know the rules are only a small part of it. So what kind of harware is required? I see hex maps, so I assume some sort of map investment, ships, dice...anything else(special stands, tools etc)? With NT I already had an assortment of ships, so I just needed d10s and tape measures. Just wondering what kind of min investment for someone who has no background in space combat games to have a decent playing experience. Are there preferred ships/products for this game?
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Post by toaster on Oct 26, 2010 18:23:21 GMT -5
Hex map, ships, d6 and d10 thats all. you could use cardboard counters for the ships if you wanted to try it out for a lower price. My star map is home made, I printed out a sheet of hexes, blew it up on the photocopier (thanks work) untill they were a suitable size then laminated it and punched holes in all the verticies to make a template. Similarly the ships are scratch built for around 50c NZ (about 35c US) each so if you want to put the time into it you can play for just the price of the rules.
Or get your boys to make the ships out of Lego, just give them max lengths for destroyers, cruisers and battleships to keep things clear and designing and stating up ships can become a whole subgame of its own.
Robert
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Post by kenh01 on Oct 26, 2010 18:30:05 GMT -5
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Post by admiralgrafspee on Oct 26, 2010 18:34:20 GMT -5
Hex map, ships, d6 and d10 thats all. you could use cardboard counters for the ships if you wanted to try it out for a lower price. My star map is home made, I printed out a sheet of hexes, blew it up on the photocopier (thanks work) untill they were a suitable size then laminated it and punched holes in all the verticies to make a template. Similarly the ships are scratch built for around 50c NZ (about 35c US) each so if you want to put the time into it you can play for just the price of the rules. Or get your boys to make the ships out of Lego, just give them max lengths for destroyers, cruisers and battleships to keep things clear and designing and stating up ships can become a whole subgame of its own. Robert That's awesome Toaster. Seems you could write a book on how to game on a limited budget. Myself and some other locals have both Gothic (GW) ships and star wars ships (Wizards). But, neither of these are going to satisfy me in the long run because of the limited selection. I found that Ground Zero Games has a great selection of ships and the price is very reasonable. Way cheaper than getting more Gothic ships.
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Post by TheDreadnought on Oct 26, 2010 19:21:09 GMT -5
If you want cheap but good bsg or sw stuff i'd suggest studio bergstrom.
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Post by warchariot on Oct 27, 2010 17:45:37 GMT -5
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Post by warchariot on Oct 27, 2010 18:05:42 GMT -5
And a picture: Attachments:
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Post by toaster on Oct 28, 2010 3:57:07 GMT -5
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Post by afilter on Oct 28, 2010 8:50:34 GMT -5
Thanks for the feedback, love the pics. I have checked the after actions, but only a couple seem to have pics. Like I said I am a visual guy. So if I have this right the combat system is simialr to NT in ease and flow. Uses any generic space hex map. Any ships can be used from generic classes (cool looking space ships) to specific genere(Star wars, Battlestar galactica etc) they just fit into certain generic classes or is the specifc ship data for say a battlestar vs. a Imperial Star destroyer or a X-wng vs. a viper or klingon ship? Sorry for all the questions just trying to wrap my head around this as I have never played any space combat games(watched some of the movies/TV serries) so some of the acronyms which I am sure make sense to many of you are falling on deaf ears.
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Post by TheDreadnought on Oct 28, 2010 11:59:12 GMT -5
You can use any miniatures, you can use any hex mat.
The game comes with its own setting and several fleets from that setting, that you can get started with right away.
However, starship gaming, unlike historical naval is heavily focused around the idea of "design your own". There is a comprehensive set of easy to use ship design tools that will allow you to create your own designs in whatever style you choose - whether it be star wars style, star trek style, bsg style, or something altogether different.
We are releasing fleet books with additional custom rules for a particular setting or style of combat, but you can do just about anything with the core rules.
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Post by afilter on Oct 28, 2010 12:45:54 GMT -5
You can use any miniatures, you can use any hex mat. The game comes with its own setting and several fleets from that setting, that you can get started with right away. However, starship gaming, unlike historical naval is heavily focused around the idea of "design your own". There is a comprehensive set of easy to use ship design tools that will allow you to create your own designs in whatever style you choose - whether it be star wars style, star trek style, bsg style, or something altogether different. We are releasing fleet books with additional custom rules for a particular setting or style of combat, but you can do just about anything with the core rules. OK, that makes sense. So are there models/vendor for the "setting" that is represented in the basic rules or is it just use whatever you want to represent those ships? I guess I am asking is there a product line associated with the bacl story if that makes sense?
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kashre
Lieutenant Commander
Posts: 110
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Post by kashre on Oct 28, 2010 13:08:24 GMT -5
The main book has suggestions to use from Brigade Models (http://www.brigademodels.co.uk/) for the ships in the default setting, although Brigade Models has their own fluff for those particular models seperate from what you find in the book.
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