Babylon 5 Wars player thining about switching

[Nilus]

A few years back a buddy of mine got me into Babylon 5 Wars. I thought the game was fun but the rules tended to make games go on forever. I heard A Call to Arms was a lot less crunchy and had a few questions about it.

1) How do the movement rules work. Is there a set amount a ship moves a turn or does it use an inerta style system like wars. Can ships do things like move one direction but shoot in the opposite direction.

2) How well does it model the B5 universe

3) How balanced are the different fleets. I remember in B5 Wars even though everything was balanced using points, some fleets were naturally overpowering. Ancients were especially more powerful then everyone else, even at equal point battles. Honestly I am not sure if I like or dislike this. On one hand I would like a minature game to take measures to keep all the factions equal, but on the other hand thematically it makes sense that an ancient ship would out class everything else.

4) Are White Stars still awesome?

 

[Karhedron]

1) Ships have a movement score in inches. Each turn they must move between 50% and 100% of their movement score. This can be modified by damage or special actions but is generally pretty simple. They can also make a number of 45 or 90 degree turns as specified on their profile.

2) Pretty well. Some players quibble over certain details but overall all the major ships are preset and fairly well resemble their behaviour onscreen.

3) Game balance has improved with the 2nd edition although certain ships still tend to be slightly better or worse than others of the same level. In general I would say the game is pretty well balanced with just a few ships that cause problems.

 

[Triggy]

On your balance questions - the better ships are all generally higher Priority Levels (pseudo points) but are also much better at killing things/surviving. For example, a Sharlin costs the same as four Hyperions/Novas and within reason should provide a fairly good match for them (if you take a balanced fleet to support the Sharlin). The Priority Level system acts in a similar way to a points system so if you wanted to play a "fair" battle you can take an equal number of "points" but if you want to recreate a battle from the show then taking a number of Vorlon, Shadow or Minbari ships will almost always beat a Narn, EA or League fleet with a similar number of ships.

Oh yes, the White Star is a little better than other equivalent choices (not deliberately so) but for the most part, ships are fairly well balanced in terms of Priority Level costs.

 

[Ostmann]

Babylon 5 Wars

They were the days, where a game would last for hours and no ships destroyed, it was so long winded, and took so long for a turn.

Having to sort out power, shields for defence power for guns etc, all that paper work

ACTA is nothing like it, still have uniqness of ships, but plays much quicker and easier, all on D6 as well.

ACTA v2 is even more streamlined and rules are clearer

I recomend it

Al

 

[Lone Gunman]

Is there any possibility to get the old B5W rules as a pdf (eg drivethroughrpg or something)? I only want it to compare the systems and for collection.

 

[Taran]

A few years back a buddy of mine got me into Babylon 5 Wars. I thought the game was fun but the rules tended to make games go on forever. I heard A Call to Arms was a lot less crunchy and had a few questions about it.

(30 pages of rules for ACTA vs how many for B5W? It's a lot easier to learn)

1) How do the movement rules work. Is there a set amount a ship moves a turn or does it use an inerta style system like wars. Can ships do things like move one direction but shoot in the opposite direction.

It has a sort of abbreviated inertia system, but no, you can't move in one direction and point your nose another for firing. You must move directly forward a minimum of half your speed (the "inertia" from getting going in that direction last turn) and somewhere in there you can take your turns. No turning before completing a move of a minimum of half your speed.

2) How well does it model the B5 universe

Works pretty well for me.

3) How balanced are the different fleets. I remember in B5 Wars even though everything was balanced using points, some fleets were naturally overpowering. Ancients were especially more powerful then everyone else, even at equal point battles. Honestly I am not sure if I like or dislike this. On one hand I would like a minature game to take measures to keep all the factions equal, but on the other hand thematically it makes sense that an ancient ship would out class everything else.

Things are reasonably well balanced. A couple ships are outright broken with one fleet being the worst (even on paper it looks bad), but the rest work out pretty well together. Each fleet has its own playstyle and strengths and weaknesses. ACTA is not designed for one-offs, though. It's centered around the campaign.

4) Are White Stars still awesome?

YES

 

[Locutus9956]

1) How do the movement rules work. Is there a set amount a ship moves a turn or does it use an inerta style system like wars. Can ships do things like move one direction but shoot in the opposite direction?

As others have explained it basically uses the same sort of abstract movement system as Battlefleet Gothic in that ships move a certain speed forward and can turn at certain points in the movement and can perform special orders to hold position, or turn on the spot or turn faster etc etc. Alas no though you cant move one way and fire another (in the sense you mean it anyway, some ships have turreted weapons...). Overall, B5 Wars movement system was much more realistic and close to the show but it was so very, VERY time consuming that I simply have to prefer ACTA in this regard.

2) How well does it model the B5 universe?

All in all pretty well, theres a few issues here and there but mostly they tend to be for reasons of game balance than outright mistakes. Personally I think B5 Wars was better in this regard but it's still pretty good for the most part and it still feels like your playing in the B5 universe

3) How balanced are the different fleets. I remember in B5 Wars even though everything was balanced using points, some fleets were naturally overpowering. Ancients were especially more powerful then everyone else, even at equal point battles. Honestly I am not sure if I like or dislike this. On one hand I would like a minature game to take measures to keep all the factions equal, but on the other hand thematically it makes sense that an ancient ship would out class everything else.

Pretty well overall. Theres a few sticking points out there but for the most part any fleet can give any other fleet a run for its money if played well. Theres a few ships in a few fleets that tend to raise some eybrows but overall the game in general is quite well balanced now. (And really when you get right down to it is there ANY game anyone can show me that doesn thave people complaining about one or two units they view as unbalanced or broken? )

4) Are White Stars still awesome?

Yes. Yes they are. (if used correctly, theyre incredibly agile and deceptively tough for their size but not hugely heavily armed and, as surviveable as they ARE theyre simply not made to charge headlong into enemy guns )

 

[MongooseMatt]

Oh yes, the White Star is a little better than other equivalent choices (not deliberately so) but for the most part, ships are fairly well balanced in terms of Priority Level costs.

Still smarting from that attack run on the Hunters

 

[Triggy]

Oh yes, the White Star is a little better than other equivalent choices (not deliberately so) but for the most part, ships are fairly well balanced in terms of Priority Level costs.

Still smarting from that attack run on the Hunters

LOL, would I do that?

In all seriousness I find them one of the better Raid PL ships but there's a difference between this and "broken"

 

[Ripple]

Agree, they are too tough, but not so much that they make playing against them no fun (a primary qualification for broken in my book).

Still would have loved to see them with three weapon lines... two forward weapons (two different colored pulse weapons) and a single die boresighted beam.

Ripple

 

[Ripple]

Agree, they are too tough, but not so much that they make playing against them no fun (a primary qualification for broken in my book).

Still would have loved to see them with three weapon lines... two forward weapons (two different colored pulse weapons) and a single die boresighted beam.

Ripple