Star Fleet Battles

Game Basics

Star Fleet Battles is a game that is hard to explain; it's much easier to look at or play. However, here goes:

SFB

Is played on a hex map
Uses 1/4"-square counters to represent bases, ships, fighters, and other units, such as
- drones(missiles)
- plasma torpedoes (a devastating heavy weapon)
- bases
- mines
- monsters
- and a few other things
Uses sheets of paper called Ship Systems Displays(SSDs) to keep track of damage to ships
Uses other sheets of paper called Energy Allocation Forms(EAFs) to keep track of power on a ship
Has literally hundreds of ships available to use, and
Is surprisingly easy to learn!

BASIC SEQUENCE OF PLAY
First, each player fills out an EAF for each of his ships. On this form, he must account for all the energy produced by his ship's engines, and must make decisions such as

how fast to move
what weapons to charge
how much to reinforce his defensive shields, and
how much and what damage to repair.

One common complaint among players is that there is never enough power to do everything that you want to do. Thus, energy allocation, or EA, is the most important part of each turn.

Next, the turn enters into what is known as the "Impulse Procedure Phase." Each turn is broken up into 32 "Impulses," during which the ships move, fire their weapons, and do lots of other neat things(advanced rules).

Entire books have been written on the best way to proceed through a turn, but as someone once said, "No battle plan survives contact with the enemy." No matter how perfectly you have planned, you are really pitting your skills and instincts against another person, and that is where the true challenge of the game emerges.

After each turn's Impulse Procedure Phase is complete, some "houskeeping"--record-keeping activity, is completed, and then the next turn begins.

Star Fleet Battles is(usually) a game of tactical warfare. The paperwork involved in each turn is a little daunting at first, but goes a lot faster once a player becomes experienced with the system. A typical turn takes about 5-15 minutes, depending on the experience of the players involved (15 minutes is a little extreme, usually seen only when a veteran is instructing a green cadet).

Site content is the responsibility of the site owner.
Star Fleet Battles and related material ©1999 Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc.
Star Trek and related material © Paramount Pictures.

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