I stumbled on to SFB quite by accident. I was with some friends doing some panzerbleader (hybrid panzerblitz/panzerleader + arty rules from Arab-Israeli wars and some other "house rules". I was introduced to a friend who first introduced me to the concept and I was somewhat intrigued. But never got a chance to play a game w/ him. By a strange twist of fate, one of my RPG players met someone local who played and had a large group of players. He played several games, got the bug and bought the baggie.
A couple of weeks later, two of the players in our RPG group called at the last minute and couldn't play. My friend decided to introduce us to SFB...I got my butt handed to me the first CA vs D7 battle, but I was instantly hooked. The next day, went down to hobby store and picked up the baggie, and have never looked back. I eventually was able to defeat my friend and as the expansion baggies were released, we saved our lunch money and stuff because it was the #1 thing we wanted to spend our hard earned disposable income on in the whole wide world.
Eventually I found myself gravitating toward a preference for the Romulans. Call synergy, fate, whatever, It has been that way since. Perhaps it was because few in the group could play Romulan with the finesse required to be successful. Time passed, commanders edition, SSD books, Federation Space Released, Federation and Empire released (bought it the day it was on the shelf, got there before the store had opened and waited) and there was a gaming con in town, complete with sanctioned tourney.
What was a Romulan to do....
I entered, won w/ the Firehawk. I didn't really feel challenged in any of the 3 rounds I fought. The Wyn was the toughest fight though. He had good dice... What really irked me, was the prize. A F#$@(^| Federation CVA Starline figure...I was insulted. I told the judge that. He just gave me a blank look, didn't understand.
I have had the opportunity as a member of the armed forces, to introduce SFB to many gamers and non-gamers alike (though the non-gamers the rules are "abbreviated") If I had more time now, and SFC was not in existence, I probably would play it more than once every year or so. Though about a year or so ago, I did get it out to work on some manner of tweak for the plasma when the matter was being discussed for play balance in SFC. While it was out of the box, I had some fun though with an old friend. Won a couple, lost a couple. As for play balance work for SFC, IIRC I had worked out a sliding scale of adjusting Plasma Torpedo Range Brackets as compensation for the Real Time nature of SFC, doubled internals, and other factors that vary from Canon SFB. The idea was quickly dropped due to inherent unbalancing such a solution would be against static targets such as bases and planets. It did look good on paper, and the dozen or so hours spent moving cardboard was time well spent at least.
I still refer to my F&E ruleset (still at arms length as I type) from time to time. It is a shame somewhat. I have some manner of Automated SFB on my computer, while the real thing sits in boxes downstairs in the dungeon, gathering dust, with only the occasional house spider for company. If my buddies were not pressuring me into Rolemaster, I might be motivated, at least by this post, to dust it off and start calling some old friends over. Maybe next year.
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Topic: Who has played or continues to play Star Fleet Battles (Board Game) (Read 21251 times)