Here are some updates on the "star fleet battles lite" project mentioned in the March 2004 issue.
First, this has been scheduled for Nov 2004 and will be titled FEDERATION COMMANDER: KLINGON BORDER. (The overall game system will be "federation commander" while each installment will have a secondary title. The second will certainly be Romulan Border, and others might be Tholian Border or Deep Space or Piracy Patrol or something else.)
We will use much of the data from the memo, including a larger map with 1.25" hexes, 1" full color counters, eight impulses, movement by impulse power, energy allocation by a "fistful of tokens", damage allocation by a simple chart (one die roll defines ten damage points). Rules will be radically streamlined to keep playing time down to under an hour, and the game system can be used to resolve fleet battles as well. Damage records will probably be done by checking boxes off of an SSD, although there is raging debate on whether to use something with the same number of boxes as an SFB SSD or a CADET SSD.
I'll keep you posted as we move forward.
For what it's worth, here is an approximate schedule of new releases:
April: Captain's Log #28 Wings of Terror (Stellar Shadow issue), Lyran Miniatures
May: GURPS Module Prime Beta, G1 Gunboat Deck plans. Late May: Captain's Log #29
June: SFB Module R8 System Defense Command, Orion miniatures, master SFB rulebook July: SFB Module R9 Ships That Never Were, Andromedan Miniatures August: GURPS Romulans (the first G4 expansion book) Vaguely "later this year": Two SFB modules yet to be selected (possibly Omega 5 and Magellanics), expansions for Star Fleet Battle Force card game (Star Fleet Carrier Force, Star Fleet Strike Force, Star Fleet Invasion Force), and Captain's Log #30, a few "swordfight books" that match Lost Worlds, and the first Star Fleet Aces (ace of aces in space) books. Ok, stop laughing, if we get half of that actually printed it will be a spectacular year.
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© Copyright 2004 by George Phillies.
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