Battlestar Galactica: Starship Battles Core Set

[Odanan 5,439]

Wow! Amazing quality!

Shame it's not the same scale as XMTMG...

[CaptainJaguarShark 2,050]

I picked up a copy. It looks fairly fun. There's some oddities to it that I'm not sure I like but I haven't gotten a chance to actually play it yet.

[JJH_BATMAN 308]

The miniatures look really nice, almost better than X-Wing's (at least some 1.0 ships)

[That Blasted Samophlange 6,923]

Just waiting on it here in Canada..  sorry x-wing..

[That Blasted Samophlange 6,923]

Seems December 10th is the US release date.

[Animewarsdude 3,639]

18 hours ago, CaptainIxidor said:

I picked up a copy. It looks fairly fun. There's some oddities to it that I'm not sure I like but I haven't gotten a chance to actually play it yet.

Out of curiosity, what oddities? 

1 hour ago, That Blasted Samophlange said:

Seems December 10th is the US release date.

Have they said when standalone expansions will be available? Not sure if I'll buy into the game but would be interested to see the paint schemes on the other ships they do. 

[That Blasted Samophlange 6,923]

52 minutes ago, Animewarsdude said:

Out of curiosity, what oddities? 

Have they said when standalone expansions will be available? Not sure if I'll buy into the game but would be interested to see the paint schemes on the other ships they do. 

Initially, just the base starter box.  I don't think till the new year sometime for expansions.  First two should be Starbuck’s viper mk II and Scar’s raider I believe, but no official word that I recall.  

They have shown off Raptors (gunned up and standard) as well as heavy Raiders, so I suspect those are next.   

However, a point of contention; the expansions don't come with the dashboard piece, which will be sold seperately, but no different than FFG’s dice and range rulers I suppose. 

[CaptainJaguarShark 2,050]

1 hour ago, Animewarsdude said:

Out of curiosity, what oddities? 

Have they said when standalone expansions will be available? Not sure if I'll buy into the game but would be interested to see the paint schemes on the other ships they do. 

For anyone wondering, I picked my copy up at a board game convention where they had advanced copies (BGGCON). I actually didn't realize it was a prerelease.

I recall in another thread they stated next year at the earliest. I know I've seen models from the first show unpainted out there already, forget where. Maybe on the Ares FB page. They also have stated interest in doing large ships, like capital ships. I wonder how capital they mean. I don't expect battlestars or basestars, but the president's ship and similar sized ships could definitely be in scale without being dramatically expensive.

The oddities that I was unsure of were some of the "optional rules." There's a number of talents which rely on the optional rules and that seems odd to me, but really it sort of implies that these variants are maybe intended to be used in the long-run. The only thing in the main rules that I recall right now is the drifting. It's really neat and so very thematic but also feels a little fiddly. If you're going fast enough, you basically get to boost (in XWTMG terms) and you can even turn your sihp on the spot while doing this. It is exactly like scenes from the show so I love that about it but I need to actually play it before I'm sure I like that bit. Our place is in a bit of a mess with new games from the con and holiday directions taking up space on l our tables or I would have done a mock game already. Since the game doesn't have actions like XWTMG, this doesn't seem like it would be that bad. The pilot building stuff is also interesting but I almost wish it was more straightforward. It's good to have options that aren't just "generic pilot" etc.

[Marinealver 8,073]

I think I can use them as E-wing models

[TasteTheRainbow 8,726]

47 minutes ago, Marinealver said:

I think I can use them as E-wing models

They’re substantially bigger. 

 

The maneuver system is so deep I’m playing games and adding the full rules one at a time. Being able to turn your ship sideways while being carried along your original flight path is really, really cool. I miss most of these drift passes(firing arcs are half the width of X-wing arcs), but they really change the whole idea of a joust. You can break all of your ships left or right and turn them in as they fly away at 45° angles. And if both sides do this you often just miss each other completely. Then cylons take you out because they accelerate faster.

[TasteTheRainbow 8,726]

https://imgur.com/gallery/KsvjQPf

Edited December 20, 2018 by TasteTheRainbow

[Forgottenlore 9,838]

On 12/18/2018 at 10:29 PM, TasteTheRainbow said:

They’re substantially bigger. 

 

53 minutes ago, TasteTheRainbow said:

https://imgur.com/gallery/KsvjQPf

 

Huh, they actually aren’t as unreasonably big as I was thinking. 

[CaptainJaguarShark 2,050]

16 hours ago, Forgottenlore said:

 

 

Huh, they actually aren’t as unreasonably big as I was thinking. 

Based on the cockpit, the scale is definitely different but it's close enough that I wouldn't be upset about them on the table together.

[That Blasted Samophlange 6,923]

I wonder how long it will take for someone to make conversion pegs to use x-wing ships on the battlestar pegs.   Also, some maneuver decks for starwars ships.   

[FortyInRed 382]

I'm really curious how the kinetic energy and altitude mechanics work out.

I'm not clear on how you reduce your kinetic energy short of a flip and burn (which I haven't seen a card for) or a series of reverse moves. I do like the ability to strafe, and also appreciate the attention to detail on the maneuver cards.

Most table top games ignore the third dimension because the math ruins the fun, so interested to see how this works out. 

[That Blasted Samophlange 6,923]

9 hours ago, FortyInRed said:

I'm really curious how the kinetic energy and altitude mechanics work out.

I'm not clear on how you reduce your kinetic energy short of a flip and burn (which I haven't seen a card for) or a series of reverse moves. I do like the ability to strafe, and also appreciate the attention to detail on the maneuver cards.

Most table top games ignore the third dimension because the math ruins the fun, so interested to see how this works out. 

Kinetic energy is reduced by playing a card or cards with a lower kinetic energy.   You can only play cards with a total kinetic energy plus or minus the ships acceleration rating.   So if a ship has a current kinetic energy of 3, they can play cards that equals a maximum kinetic energy of 6 to a minimum of 0, or anything inbetween.  

[n815e 106]

Think of kinetic energy as the limit of your ship’s speed.  At the start of your turn, you can adjust it plus/minus your acceleration.  Then your maneuvers must equal your new kinetic energy.

Changing altitudes is making a speed three maneuver.

You can shoot at ships within one altitude band of you, and you use a shorter range ruler to determine shooting range band (there is no short range on that ruler, only medium and long). 

The movement system makes the game.

[TasteTheRainbow 8,726]

On 12/24/2018 at 12:52 PM, n815e said:

 

The movement system makes the game.

It really does. Which is why it frustrates me how flimsy and inexact this card movement system is.

Edited December 26, 2018 by TasteTheRainbow

[Marinealver 8,073]

On ‎12‎/‎24‎/‎2018 at 12:23 PM, TasteTheRainbow said:

It really does. Which is why it frustrates me how flimsy and inexact this cars movement system is.

It has been difficult to make a 3d movement system in what is otherwise a 2d plane. That is why many table top games simply ignore height. Those that do the height is on the board itself which is good for ground games but not games involving flying units. 

The one thing I am wondering is how will it work as a table top skirmish game since there is about 2 maybe 3 ships across the two different factions. Unless they plan on bringing the classic BSG into he game there isn't much material. It would be like making a flight path game out of Babylon 5. All factions had their version of a Starfighter but only one of them. It was 1 capital ship and 1 fighter per race. But not enough to make a skirmish game out of it.

Edited December 26, 2018 by Marinealver

[TasteTheRainbow 8,726]

Yea, but you could do what they did with movement templates of some kind that allows for SOLID movement with actual correct and achievable end locations.

[That Blasted Samophlange 6,923]

24 minutes ago, Marinealver said:

It has been difficult to make a 3d movement system in what is otherwise a 2d plane. That is why many table top games simply ignore height. Those that do the height is on the board itself which is good for ground games but not games involving flying units. 

The one thing I am wondering is how will it work as a table top skirmish game since there is about 2 maybe 3 ships across the two different factions. Unless they plan on bringing the classic BSG into he game there isn't much material. It would be like making a flight path game out of Babylon 5. All factions had their version of a Starfighter but only one of them. It was 1 capital ship and 1 fighter per race. But not enough to make a skirmish game out of it.

They ARE plannig on dipping into the original series.  

The thing is Ares’ has a different mentality to game design and distribution than FFG.  I'm not saying one is better, than the other, only different.   

In terms of number of ships; the colonials have the mk I viper (prewar or ‘classic’ bsg), mk II viper, Mk III viper, mk VII viper, Raptor (basic and upgunned versions), Stealthstar, Blackbird.   This is all I remember from the reboot BSG.  So there are at least 8 ships before going into any video game or ‘EU’ sources.   

Now, yes, if we look at the rebel faction in x-wing, they have more than twice as many ships, but you have to buy multiple copies of the same ship usually.   BSG is going to be selling these multiples, seperatly, each having different paint detailing, albeit minor variations, but it is there.  

The way BSG is releasing ships, is like if FFG was selling each x-wing pilot in Red squad as a seperate sku.  There is less variance in each BSG pilot, unlike x-wing where each pilot has a game rule breaking/bending ability.   

X-wing is, to me, a deck building game first and foremost with a minirure movement component added in.   BSG is a miniature movement game, with some card based abilities adding a +1 or -1 here and there to a die roll.

At the end if the day, BSG is a more simulationist and casual game wheras x-wing is a very competetive and head to head tournament focused game.   Each game is VERY different, and for different types of players.   

 

[TasteTheRainbow 8,726]

I’m going to go broke keeping up with both games. Got a few games in on Christmas Day and man I really like this game. The depth of maneuvers is so good. It’s like if x wing somehow added another 20 templates.

[clanofwolves 4,215]

If they had the correct Raider, I would be all-in, but they kept the Viper looking right and ditched the Raider for some stupid Geiger rip-off nonsense. Keep your crap!

This was far better:

[LTuser 339]

On 12/21/2018 at 12:26 PM, That Blasted Samophlange said:

I wonder how long it will take for someone to make conversion pegs to use x-wing ships on the battlestar pegs.   Also, some maneuver decks for starwars ships.   

OR rules for doing a "Crossover game"!!

2 hours ago, clanofwolves said:

If they had the correct Raider, I would be all-in, but they kept the Viper looking right and ditched the Raider for some stupid Geiger rip-off nonsense. Keep your crap!

This was far better:

I like the new vipers more than i did the old, HOWEVER i did much more like the older vipers use of lasers vs bullets.

That said, i like you, MUCH prefer the older Cylon raider look to the new ones..  Though the new Base stars i liked more than the older ones.

[Forgottenlore 9,838]

7 hours ago, clanofwolves said:

If they had the correct Raider, I would be all-in, but they kept the Viper looking right and ditched the Raider for some stupid Geiger rip-off nonsense. Keep your crap!

This was far better:

They’re getting there. Ares has explicitly said they are doing ships from both the new and the real shows.