The Neutral Zone - a Star Trek Space Battle

 

The engines cann'a tak it! Our Constitution Class Star Ship come under attack. 

This week we challenged Simon Elliott's Star Trek collection to a game of Space Battles - A Spacefarers Guide. We also christened Simon's new hex-gridded starfield mat to answer a question which many have asked - can you play Space Battles using a hex grid rather than a square grid? Well, let's give it a go! 

First off - the mat itself is a Deep Cuts Studio one and like all their mats a very nicely produced and attractive game mat. This one is six feet by four and approximately 30 hexes long and 20 wide. So, first thing note: we are using hexes rather than squares for the first time. Second thing to note: the size of the playing area is roughly three to four times the area in terms of  'spaces' compared to the standard version (13 x 13 spaces). How is that all going to affect the gameplay? We shall soon find out! 

The Neutral Zone - the scene of conflict

The Neutral Zone awaits! The Klingons have been up to their usual shenanigans, violating Federation space and laying waste to several outposts. We learn that a substantial battle group is heading towards the Neutral Zone, and a Federation fleet is sent to intercept the invaders. 

The Neutral Zone is divided by the barrier indicated here by a line remarked by four large spheres - each occupying a whole space. These spaces are treated as impassable to all ships, whilst debris moving into these spaces will be destroyed. 

Both sides will move on from their respective table edges either side of the Neutral Zone. The fastest ships arrive in turn one and the slower ships turn two. 

The objective is to occupy the opposing Neutral Zone, with the player with the most ships in the opposing half of the table at the end of the game the winner. We agreed to play six turns or until either side reduced to below half strength in the larger ship types. 

The models are from the Star Trek Attack Wing game, which have been rebased onto mdf hexagons. We started off by allocating the ships into standard types in terms of the game - the smallest shown in flights of three - are 'interceptors', the next in size become 'destroyers' and the larger ships 'cruisers'. Were we to introduce more ships (the Borg await on the sidelines) it would be worth running out some specific stats, including for the larger ships. For a first try out we stuck to the standard stats for the ships. 

I assumed command of the Federation fleet whilst Simon took on the Klingons with a startling cry of  'tlhlgan maH taHjaj'.

The Federation ships arrive first and head towards the nearside of the Neutral Zone. The Klingon ships mass in the opposing region close to their own side of the Neutral Zone. A single rogue flight stationed towards my flank. A distraction! 

I decided to hold the Federation ships behind the Neutral Zone until such time as my unprincipled opponent crosses over, thereby gaining the moral advantage. Needless to say, I didn't have to wait long. 

The Klingon interceptors hurl themsleves upon the two ships on my right flank - Consitution and Constellation class Star Ships (I believe). We give them a few accurate phaser blasts, taking advantage of the rule that allows shots to be divided between close targets. The result is to leave a couple of the opposing flights crippled or stripped of their weapons. We gallanty decide to press forward, leaving the interceptors for the larger, slower ship following in our wake. 

Meanwhile, my main force sweeps onto the flank of the approaching Klingon battlegroup. What can possibly go wrong! 

The Klingon ships keep a tight formation as they sweep through my first wave, sowing destruction in their wake. Shields and weapons are reduced to fifty percent strength and engines to half speed. 

My slower ships find themselves strung out attempting to turn into the enemy, leaving some out of range and others dangerously exposed. How did that happen? 

Meanwhile the Klingon interceptor flights use their superior movement to harass my trailing Star Ship. 

I'm suffering a bit from my sweeping manoeuvre leaving my fleet lined up at right-angles ot the enemy. Conversely, by keeping a tight formation the Klingons are able to bring their weaponry to bear on my leading ships. 

With both sides actively engaged both sides look for advantage, pushing attacks against weakened ships and trying to pull back damaged craft to make repairs. 

Two Klingon and one Federation ship quickly go down to massed phaser fire. Drifting debris starts to make close manoeuvre difficult not to mention dangerous. The red 'blast' markers have been used to represent wreckage.

The two remaining Klingon ships have swept in a circle and are joined by interceptors to pour fire into my lighter Star Ships. At the back, away from immediate dange, my badly damaged ship is attempting to make repairs. 

The Klingons destroy one Consellation Class Star Ship and wreak havoc upon another. The interceptors continue to peck away at my larger Star Ships, but take hits in return. Using the fast-moving interceptors to attack the ships that I'm trying to repair is a good tactic that effectively takes them out of the battle. Curses! 

But things are starting to bleak for the Klingon ship in the centre here,with hits to its engines, weapons and shields. With weakened shields opposing long-ranged shots are harder to deflect, and this ship is already down to half effectiveness with its engines and weapons.

Not that things are all going the Federation's way. The successful hit to the nearest ship's shields (the heart marker) means it won't be able to activate without passing a test to do so. The more damage a ship takes the harder it is to pass that test.

It's all over for the Klingons as my ships recross the Neutral Zone and deal a killing blow to the damaged enemy ship. With end of the game we cleared away the debris before I remembered to take the 'final turn' shot - so you'll just have to imagine the swaithes of crushed and mangled Klingon ships comprising a hazard to navigation through the Neutral Zone. 

With a final cry of 'tlhlgan maH taHjaj' my gallant opponent conceded the battle... but not the war! Needless to say Star Fleet shall not rest in its duty to protect the peace-loving peoples of the Fedration from those heinous Warmongering Klingons (Next Generation not withstanding). 

Overall impression using the new fleets and mat. The ship models are just the right size for any space-based game and the action fleet right using standard stats. We discussed extra or special rules that might be employed to represent things like photon torpedoes and cloaking devices within the Star Trek universe. Maybe next time we'll try some of those out. 

The hexes worked just fine, and to be honest I didn't notice any significant change in game play resulting from the use of hexes. We made one adjustment to the rules - namely for establishing the direction of moving debris. This is normally done with a card draw, which slightly favours debris to swirl clockwise. We decided to replace this with a D6 dice roll, considering a hex is six sided. This worked fine and is quicker to work out than a card draw, so we'll stick to that when using hexes in future. We would have also used a D6 for drifting ships, but never got the chance. Ships drift if engines are knocked out, and once again this is normally done with a card draw.

The size of the mat, with getting on for four time the standard area, worked very well for a fleet action. The larger area gave us plenty of room for manoeuvre to play a significant role in the battle. This worked out even better than I'd expected, considering his was the largest effective area I've used to date. This suggests the core system works for games over even larger areas as well as over hexes, and using far larger fleets should that opportunity arise. 

My thanks to the ever-generous Simon Elliott for hosting the game, permitting me to paw his wonderful collection of Star Trek models, and for introducing me to rudimentary Klingon. 

Making bases

 

Integral metal base on the Kallistra fighter group on the left - homemade mdf and cocktail stick bases middle and right (40mm round).

Space Battles: A Spacefarers Guide can be used with any spaceship models you happen to have. Models don't need to be based, although many ranges come complete with display bases of one kind or other. When it came to putting the game together, I decided to re-base the models I already had in order to make them more stable and give them a consistent appearance for photography. As you can see from the header photo, I opted for 40mm bases and either one or three models per stand. The three-model stands are used for flights of interceptors, purely for the look of the thing, as there is no strict requirement to have more than one model per 'piece'. Very large models, such as stace stations and some of the bigger, and heavier, battleships are mounted onto 60mm bases for extra stability, but the bases are all made the same way regardles of size. 

In this post I'm going to run through how I make these bases, using a batch of interceptor models as an example. 

These are the models I'm going to base up. I made these as part of a range of spaceships for Citadel Miniatures in the early 1980s, but as far as I know none of the 'interceptor' sizes ships were ever released. I had a few spins off the moulds at the time, so these castings have waited more than forty years to be painted. There is nothing as patient as old lead. 

I've cleaned the models up ready, drilled suitable-sized holes on their undersides, and divided them into flights of three. The dark colour of the castings is superficial oxidation and won't matter once painted.

These are the 40mm mdf rounds I'm going to use for the bases. The example at the front is a base I've already made into a template by drilling holes in the necessary positions for both a single or triple stand.

The uprights are made from ordinary cocktail sticks, which will be pushed through the drilled holes and fixed with superglue. 

Using the template as a guide I drill through the bases using a pin vice and a small bit. Needless to say, you can use an electric or small hand drill if you prefer, I just happen to have a pin vice handy, so thta's what I use. 

The holes need to be just big enough to provide a tight fit for the cocktail sticks. 

Everything ready to make up the base. 

The first thing to do is trim the cocktail sticks down to size. About half a stick usually does the job, which means I can get six uprights out of three cocktail sticks. 

I repoint the ends that will fit into the holes on the models' undesides. This makes them a reasonable push fit, although I will, of course, superglue them into place. 

A dab of superglue secures the cocktail sticks into the models. Because the wood is quite soft it's quite easy to push fit the pieces together, ensuring a nice snug fit. These models were cast with small holes to take a 'wire' type stand. I enlarged the holes and made then deeper using a drill bit slightly smaller than the cocktail stick. Metal spaceship models like these usually come pre-drilled, but if there's enough metal to go at it's worth making the holes deeper for extra stability. 

Pushed through and glued.

Now with the cocktail stick ends cut back with a pair of side cutters. 

Repeat as necessary. 

Getting there. 

And undercoated, ready to take paint. I find with these small ships it's easier to prepare the bases and then paint the piece as a whole. For one thing, it makes the models easier to handle and saves time. 

Bigger ships are all done pretty much the same way, mounting the models into the centre of the base. For very large or heavy models where the cocktail stick is not quite sturdy enough, I use a wooden meat skewer instead, and a correspondingly larger drill. For the largest models, such as a space station, I also use a large base size, for the sake of stability. However, the same basic idea works equally well for any base size, and it's generally a much more stable solution for gaming purposes than plastic 'flying' bases for example. 

A look at the core mechanics

 

The core elements of the game in play. Ordinary playing cards are used for the game's mechanics and tokens employed to record damage. Debris and hazards are represented with suitable markers. 

Space Battles: A Spacefarers Guide is a set of rules for playing space battles using model spaceships, written by me, published by Wombat Wargames and  available from Amazon. The book includes the basic rules of play, advanced rules for expanding the game further, ships stats for spacecraft, scenarios, a set of campaign rules for playing sequential games, and special abilities which can be incorporated into campaigns or used independently. There is also a background section describing the author's 'known space' game setting, for which a range of spaceships is available from Ral Partha Europe (R.P.E.). The game can, however, be played with any models, and within any setting. 

The core mechanics of the game are driven by ordinary playing cards, two packs are required, one pack for each side. No dice are needed to play the game. Movement and range determination is calculated using a gridded mat thirteen by thirteen spaces - although the game can also be played using a larger area if players so wish.

The game is played in alternating turns, each player taking a turn with each of their ships one after the other. Ships may activate automatically, by the turn of a card, or not at all, depending upon their damage status. Damage is inflicted to four separate ship functions: propulsion, armaments, shields and systems corresponding to the four card suits. Attacks are made by drawing cards and assembling an attacking hand, whilst any hits scored can be deflected with cards drawn from a shield hand. Any damage suffered is recorded using a token marked with the relevant suit. 

Game play is pacey and the core mechanics easy to learn, with much of the subtlety of the game coming from the puzzle-like nature of the scenarios and the relationship between the different ship types. Aside from placing tokens to indicate damage suffered, there is no need to record the status of the ships. In most cases, ships are destroyed once they take three damage markers to any individual ship function. In the case of the largest 'massive' ships - battleships for instance - the first marker to each function is always ignored, which means they can sustain a certain amount of damage without any ill effects, and it takes four damage to a function to destroy them. Conversely, 'light' spacecraft - interceptors for example - are destroyed if they suffer two damage markers to any function. 

Ships from my collection. These are old Citadel models that I designed in the early 1980s. I like to give models a sturdy base, but this is not necessary to play the game, any bases can be used or none. I also like to arrange the inteceptor types into a flight of three, because it looks good, but this is entirely optional and makes no difference in play. 

Aside from the smallest ships, which may be smashed to atoms without endangering other craft, any destroyed spacecraft are reduced to debris, which is represented by a debris marker. Designs for debris markers, damage tokens, and hazards are included in the book and can be copied. A downloadable version will also be available on the Wombat Wargames website, for which see the link on the side bar. For debris, the author favours the pin markers sold by Warlord Games for the Bolt Action and Beyond the Gates of Antares games - the red 'explosion' markers in the photgraph at the top of this post. Debris drifts over the gaming area and can inflict damage on ships that encounter it. 

The scenarios all have specific objectives, which determine how long the games last and how each side can achieve victory. Of these, the 'fleet action' scenario is a general engagement, which is fought until one side is reduced to half strength. Further scenarios are in preparation, and will be included in the Shadows of Centralis magazine from Wombat Wargames, alongside further articles about the game, the setting, new ship types and whatever news and new material we can squeeze in. 

Citadel Star Cruisers

The Space Battles game can be played with any collection of models, so long as they can be divided into the four categories of small, medium, large and massive. During the development of the game a huge variety of models were used, most of them pieces I've had for decades, some going back to the mid 1970s. During the process of putting the game together, I took plenty of photos, some of which are included in the rulebook, but many of which didn't quite make the cut. I thought I 'd share some of these on the blog, starting with these models from the Citadel Star Cruisers range. 

This model was described at the time as a Bismark class Battle Cruiser - a cruiser sized ship in terms of Space Battles. The paint job is very much a case of pile on the washes for a grubby space-industrial look. Probably inspired by the appearance of the run-down Nostromo in Alien, which was quite a new take on spacecraft at the time. 

This one rejoices under the name of the John F Kennedy class Cruiser. In Space Battles I used these as destroyers. It has the same low-tech design ethos as the Bismark, and it has received the same kind of paint treatment. 

This pair of ships are Stateside class Scout Cruisers. I used these as destroyers in the Space Battles game. I don't remember why I gave these a different paint job to the previous ships. They must have been painted at the same time. I've rebased the models onto round MDF bases, drilled for a cocktail-stick stand. These stands are really sturdy, and even quite large and heavy models can be mounted this way without any danger of falling over. 

These are ships on the stands that I put them on at the time. I don't remember where these came from, but they are something like acrylic bases with wire stands. It doesn't matter at all whether ships have stands or not for the Space Battles game, but it does lend the models a certain dignity! 

That's all I have - or all that has survived intact - of the Star Cruisers range ships. The range itself was fairly extensive, and included a number of  rather interesting organic spaceships, some of which were later re-released as 'Tyrannid' ships to support the Spacefleet game. 

Coming Soon!

Over at the Space Battles Orbital HQ we're just giving the rocket boosters a polish in preparation for the launch of my new game Space Battles - A Spacefarers Guide! 

Space Battles is a fast-paced game of classic space opera in which space dreadnoughts clash around distant stars. Humans and aliens strive for dominance amongst the fiercely contested hyperspace routes. At the boundaries of known space lurk the Devourers... a mysterious existential threat to all life in the galaxy!

The game is a diceless system - all actions are resolved using playing cards and damage recorded using simple tokens. The game is played over a gridded board - no dice, no recording and no measuring!

You can use any spaceship models to play the game, new or old, it does not matter. The book is illustrated with plenty of examples from the author's own collection, including a new range of ships from Wombat Wargames to be marketed via Ral Partha Europe (RPE). 

Space Battles will be published by Wombat Wargames later this year. Watch the skies! 

Space Battles... coming soon!