And now for something completely different...

Or, I have a battleship and I'm not afraid to use it

I like fantasy skirmish. However, having two space fleets blasting at each other is a joy I can't resist. In the past, I have had a game or two of Full Thrust with quite unsatisfying ships taken from the Galactic Emperor, but when I was browsing an e-shop this summer, I noticed Fleet Commander 1: Ignition. I looked at the photos ("hmmm, a game with plastic spaceships, cool") and description ("Spaceship battle in 60 minutes?") - and those got me so interested I had to download and read the rules.

The plastic ships are nice - each side gets 4 frigates (class 1), 2 destroyers (class2) and 1 battleship (class 4), with the two sets having a different design. They are claimed to be pre-painted, but it is rather a bold claim to make. Either way, they are ready to use straight out of the box.

The game pits two equal forces (depending on scenario) against each other on a 5x5 grid, which puts it in the camp of abstracting the whole theme rather than simulating it. It is dice driven - each turn you pick three dice (move, shoot, shield) in any available combination, roll them and use the results or keep them for later use.

The results can be "diagonal", "orthogonal", "any direction" or "special". Direction results are used to move/attack/defend in a direction, while the specials can be used to charge the Weapon of Doom mounted on your battleship, or to react in your opponent's turn in the advanced game.

There is no randomness in combat: you just nominate the attackers (based on the dice and circumstances), total their attack stats(1 for frigate, 2 for destroyer, 4 for battleship), and nominate a single target that gets all the love, unless the opponent has a shield or special result to use. You eliminate 8 classes of the opponent, or fulfill another victory condition, you win the game. Simple as that.

Games: The first game we played was a basic game, without additional rules, and it was fun nonetheless. Rules explanation, setup and game - it all took only 50 minutes, although my brilliant tactics (along with a proton cannon and opponent's blunders) probably contributed considerably. Despite having lost, my friend insisted on another game.

Just ate electric death!

The second game was a full one, with frigates becoming nasty hit-and-run buggers instead of strategically valuable speedbump, destroyers being a long ranged threat and special results being much more than special weapon fuel. We both picked the same special weapons: Proton Cannon for me (basically a battleship killer, dealing damage equal to 2x target's class) and those annoying Drones/Fighters for him (they stick to a target ship and deal 2 damage on opponent's turn until it succumbs or shoos them away). Some lessons were apparently learned, because the asteroid fields blocked shooting lines, and opponent's battleship hid behind them.

Yes, the half-painted fleet is going to win. Again.

Enemy frigates became quite a nuisance, jumping close to my destroyers, hitting both for 25% of their hull points and jumping away again.

The battleship launched figthers at my frigate, which went down in three turns.

However, when launching the fighters the enemy battleship got too close, and I was able to get her in me sights, scorch her with my proton cannon and giving her all the goodness from one battlegroup. The opponent then tried to hide his capital ship behind a screen of lesser vessels, but these merely delayed the hungry predator of my battleship. 

After that I only mopped the remnants of opponent's scattered forces and claimed another victory, only to hear promises of revenge next time.

Sound effects not included. Add your own.

Summary: So, did we like it? Hell yes. Although the game can't deny its abstract side, it still feels like a space battle directed from a command centre (rather than from the bridge of a ship). The rules are easy to learn, but the game is far from easy to master - there are meaningfull choices every turn, and the placement of one's fleet and terrain is extremely important. I believe this game is going to see a lot of plays, and I'm sure I'll get the expansion with cruisers. 

And should it become stale one day, I can still play Full Thrust with those beautiful ships.

P.S.: As I'm not using this blog to log my boardgame plays, don't expect much posts in the next month or two - yes, it is that good ;-)

[FiFu] It's a kind of Magic...

Long time no play - so when there was an opportunity, we had to use it well: As a premiere for my goblins and for a larger mayhem in general. Also, I was looking forward to see FiFu magic in action.

Gorm's Ironclads

Objective: Kill goblin shaman. (Secondary objective: Rout the goblin warband)

• Gorm: Q3+ C3, Leader, Group Fighter, Heavily Armored, Block, Short Move @ 78pts
• Goth'Rack: Q3+ C3, Boiling Blood, Fearless, Unruly, Stubborn, Block, Short Move @ 48pts
• Ragnar: Q4+ C3, Hammering Blow*, Heavily Armored, Short Move, Steadfast @ 42pts
• 3 Warriors: Q4+ C3, Heavily Armored, Block, Short Move, Steadfast @ 36pts
• Lorm: Q4+ C3, Crossbow, Heavily Armored, Short Move, Steadfast @ 42pts
• Skadi: Q4+ C2, Crossbow, Good Shot, Heavily Armored, Short Move, Steadfast @39pts

Notes: 8 characters, 357pts
*: scratched the AND WINS condition. 7pts should be worth spending.

Night Goblins

Objective: Let the intruders come... and destroy them! (Rout the dwarves)

• Leader: Q3+ C2, Huge Weapon, Leader, Low Kick (personal squig) @ 70pts
• Shaman: Q3+ C2, Stubborn, Unruly, Spellcaster: Blast, Courage, Noxious Cloud, Protection From Arrows @ 60pts
• 3 Skinkslayers: Q4+ C2, Block, Dashing, Gang @ 29pts
• 2 Bowmen: Q4+ C2, Poison, Short Bow @ 27pts
• 5 Warriors: Q4+ C2 Melee Block @ 18pts

Notes: 12 characters, 361 pts - Yes, they have a 4 point advantage (I want the dwarves to drown in the green sea, after all :) but the leader is rather pathetic and the spellcaster has a rather limited quality - and is the enemy's main objective.

The Game

Joining two D&D maps gave us a nice playing area with underground mushroom garden/forest on one side and an abandoned dungeon on the other. Nice playing area... not. We declared the bigger mushrooms / groups of bigger mushrooms linear obstacles - they didn't block LoS, but gave -1 to shooting and to continue through them one had to pass the Q test. This made moving in a coherent group a little challenging.

The dwarves arrived and goblins rush to meet them.

I was both feeling confident and afraid of the dreaded crossbows, so my goblins advanced to an area with less mushrooms and more LoS blocking cover.

The plan was simple: Leader with common warriors and a single archer went to block (and perhaps charge through) a great pass on my right. The Skinkslayers went through the middle, along with the remaining archer, and the shaman was sent to the left to both distract and harass the enemy.

The plan worked - for some time. Dwarves feared goblin magic, and all goblins (except the shaman) feared dwarven crossbows. The shaman even got to cast the Noxious/Spore Cloud, but sadly, something went wrong in the incantation and a nameless dwarven warrior managed to react in time, running away from the shrinked area of effect. Had it worked, one warrior and one crossbowman would be neutralized.

Spore cloud in action - see them run, ah hahaha!

With a well cast Protection from Arrows the shaman got very confident, even willing to act as a living shield for the Skinkslayers. The elite goblin warrior gang was well known for using up every advatage given, and this was the same case. The bowman assigned to shaman's wing spotted some dwarves massing on the far right, and hurried to take an advantageous position.

Impervious shaman as a living cover

The shaman sensed an opportunity to impress these simpletons even more, and got even more cocky: He joined the bowman, hoping to envelop thegroup of dwarves in a spore cloud - but his pride proved to be his undoing.

Tactical blunder thoroughly exploited

Ragnar (the dwarf with a huge hammer) seized the initiative, and with a nameless warrior charged across the battlefield. While his comrade slipped on the mushroom and was subsequently shot, Ragnar engaged the proud shaman. The bowman, probably hoping to earn favour of their new shaman, because "selflessness" is just a strange, meaningless sound among his kin, tried to exploit the mild advantage in numbers - but he was struck down, barely conscious.

Ragnar's about to make a Mushroom Puree

[And here the reactions came into play: Anything I'd try to do would most likely have one or more failed activation dice, enabling Ragnar to attack the hapless shaman.] Just as the spellcaster was going to throw his pot in defense, the dwarf was faster, and his hammer squashed the greenskin all across the floor. And walls. And perhaps even ceiling.

After the inevitable moral check

Thus the dwarves succeeded in their mission, and the best I could hope for was a revenge. The last goblin  bowman to snipe at dwarven leader, but Gorm's shield stopped the poisoned arrow. That poor sod got another chance, but under all the stress broke his shortbow. While the Skinkslayers regrouped, the goblin chieftain sent all the warriors forward, advancing behind them. But it was too little, too late.

Among goblins, "Elite" and "Boss" means you know when to run...

In a short moment, the last bowman and two warriors were dead. Being really experienced combatants, the Skinkslayer gang decided to get lost, quite simultaneously with goblin leader. The dwarves had only a single wounded, and surely they did bathe in glory, money and beer upon their return.

Summary: OH MORK WHAT A DISASTER! And I have noone to blame for it but me myself! I got too cocky with the shaman, sending him forward without any meatshields... 

Otherwise, the game was great. We played with unrestricted reactions, and saw it was good - I had been afraid they would only strengthen the warband with better quality, but in the end I was able to use them for risky moves and the whole game was more lively. I had only few opportunities to use magic, but even now I like the sheer amount of spells. And the new special rules: Weapons, armour, all kinds of stuff... just excellent, I can't recommend it enough! And if you don't like the funghi theme and explicitly don't want to buy that book, just wait for the next Kickstarter. It should contain dwarves, hobgoblins and even a vanilla ASoBH.