BIG Games

[Greg Smith]

I seem to recall there was an initial draft of something like this for B5 playtesters to look at. It did away with a lot of the stats of ship and reduced them to just two or three stats.

Biggish games of ACTA (15+ ships) are possible. Huge game (50 ships) would require a toned down and different game engine. It would be the difference between playing Warmmer 40K and Apocalypse.

 

[LimeyDragon]

In the past our group used to play ACTA: B5. We would often do Armageddon level fleets per person and 3 people per side. In ACTA: SF terms that's roughly 1,500-2,000 points per player and/or 4,500 - 6,000 points per side. We all agreed on a scenario, turn limit and set a good 8 hours aside to play (including food breaks).

We used the full rules set, the only caveats we added are listed below..

Squadron Rules
*Squadron size 2-5 ships
*One ship must be designated as the lead ship.
*When the lead ship fires all ships can fire.
*If the lead ship uses a special action the all ships in the squad must use the same one.
*Ships are free to shoot at any target they wish, but at least one other ship must shoot at the same a target as the lead ship.


The rules may see unfair or unbalanced, but they did work rather well. In the case of 2 ships as a squad, it made the 2 ships act like a fighter unit, one primary and and a wingman. I saw some nasty stuff happen when two warlocks acted as a unit.. As for a squadron of 5 ships, it was great for running a blockade or trying to break through there lines. Nothing says i love you more than 5 nova's clearing a hole down the middle of your fleet.

I think the basic's would work well in SF, but it may need a bit of tweeking. I'm not sure hos the SFU verse does there squadrons in the fluff. But once i get my stuff fully paints, i think i'll give these old squad rules a try with box fleet vs box fleet.

 

[Ricepa]

I like the idea. I love BIG F***ing Games. As Limey has stated, we have played some massive games.

Ricepa

 

[Celisasu]

I wouldn't mind a year down the road or so seeing a megagame suppliment that is designed for mass battles in Starfleet or Noble Armada.

This would almost certainly be simplified. Escorts would probably only be able to take two hits(one wound, one shield) and even dreadnaughts would probably only be in the 10 to 12 hits range. Obviously the number of dice being thrown around per ship would have to be reduced. But for those of us who want to play a massive 50+ ships per side battle quickly this would be a dream and I could easily see it working out. After all Mongoose doesn't have to make any new models. Just a rulebook. I'm sort of sad B5 never got this treatment as I have a large Narn fleet. Still need to get a Ka'Bin'Tak damnit!

 

[jolt]

IMO, mega-games are only good when they feel like mega-games. High level strategic decisions are different than squad level tactical decisions but too few games reflect this. When a base representing 46 ships uses virtually the same rules as a game where a base represents one ship it isn't really a mega-game; you've only changed the look. And I'm going to take a gander that most gamers don't have the table space to plunk down a thousand models per side.

 

[Da Boss]

I wouldn't mind a year down the road or so seeing a megagame suppliment that is designed for mass battles in Starfleet or Noble Armada.

This would almost certainly be simplified. Escorts would probably only be able to take two hits(one wound, one shield) and even dreadnaughts would probably only be in the 10 to 12 hits range. Obviously the number of dice being thrown around per ship would have to be reduced. But for those of us who want to play a massive 50+ ships per side battle quickly this would be a dream and I could easily see it working out. After all Mongoose doesn't have to make any new models. Just a rulebook. I'm sort of sad B5 never got this treatment as I have a large Narn fleet. Still need to get a Ka'Bin'Tak damnit!

Pretty much playing with BFG rules - escorts with a couple of hits including shields, 4-6 or so for Cruisers and 10+ for big ships.

However I still want to roll lots of dice - its just the complicated Star Fleet firing arcs that would need simplificaiton IMO as well as defensive fire.

However if they did get really good big scale rules - I'd convert for b5 would be great for some of the Dilgar War battles which are just too big for ACTA to handle