Federation Commander, anyone?

Right now I don't have any tactical naval/starship games, and i'd really like to have one (plus this game seems Rad).

I really dig the theme of this (It's trek, i'm a sucker i know...) and everything i've read says it's great.

Anyone have any experience with this? I'd just like some opinions really. How long does a typical battle take, and how complex is it? I have a feeling it might scare some of my more squeamish friends off, but it is Trek so then again they might tough it out.

I'd like to pick up Klingon Border and then if I like the game enough I can get Romulan Space.

I've read the rules mostly and they seem solid, but i don't have access to a good printer to print the free demo version of the game

FEDCOM is really cool. I've played a couple of times with my erstwhile wargaming partner BILLY MOTION and we've really enjoyed it.

It is to STARFLEET BATTLES what the ASL Starter Kits are to ASL. Sort of. FEDCOM has quite a bit of redesign and streamlining so it's really a different game.

If you like Trek, then get in there. The thing is, it's not "really" Trek, but it is. All that licensing, you know. But it feels like Trek, looks like Trek, and tastes like Trek, so it must be Trek.

Battles are anywhere from 60 minutes to three hours (or more) depending on what you're doing. It's possible to run out a couple of ships and do it in 45 if you know what you're doing.

Squeamish friends might very well be scared off by it- it's still pretty complex and all this talk of impulses and power management might terrify those used to simpler games. Once you get a hang of how it works it's not so bad, but at first it can be kind of confusing. It's one of those things where turn structure is intended to model real time.

One sort-of complaint I have is that it really feels more like a naval battle than a spaceship battle (which is very Trek, I guess)...part of that is because there's no vector movement or Z-axis, but when you put those things into a design you're opening up a whole different area of complexity. I'm not a huge fan of how torpedos work, but that's just nitpicking. I guess that's very Trek too though.

It's a fun game and I recommend it if you're not scared by its complexity. The combat results are cool and the mechanics really give you a sense of participating in a Trek-style space battle and there's usually some really exciting things that go down.

Go for KLINGON BORDER first- you get plenty to keep you busy for a long time and you get some high profile ship types you'll be satisfied with.

"He is intelligent, but not experienced. His pattern indicates two-dimensional thinking."

I picked this one up (Klingon Border) a while back, when I was looking for a good tactical starfighting game. I actually got it because of a quick review Barnes did on a different tactical star fighting game that referenced Federation Commander...went in with a few friends and got it.

The game is real good. I'm not a huge Star Trek junkie and you don't have to enjoy Star Trek to love this game. The rules are complex and daunting at first, but if you solo through a couple times or play through slowly with a patient friend a few times, they will click for you. It comes with an excellent player's aid that makes the rules almost intuitive once you understand what's happening. The plus side to all this is that once YOU have the rules down, the game is extremely easy to teach to others. I have played it with non gamers who played fast and had a great time.

Game time and complexity are really customizable. The game has 2 scales, one has more complex ship damage charts the other one less complex. If you know how to play, and are only playing with one ship per player, and playing the less complex scale, you can easily finish the game in under an hour, probably even under 45 minutes. Upping the scale adds a little time, adding players adds time, adding ships adds time. A four player game with everyone playing a few ships will take hours and hours, but everyone will have a blast doing it and not notice the time floating by.

The best part of this game are the little things that you can do to mess with your opponent. Besides the regular tactical maneuvering for combat, the following other things can and probably will happen:

High speed turns: Basically your ship can do one instant u-turn per game for free, after that you have to take a chance on "pushing the ship too far" and roll for some possibly massive damage.

Marines: Marines can teleport in and out of ships, to either try and take control or simply beam in, smash up the engine room, and beam out. Gives a great feeling of "I'm in your base, killing your doodz..."

Suicide Shuttles: Besides drones and missiles constantly flying around...suicide shuttles are launched packed with nukes. They are slow as hell, and you forget about them sometimes...they're kind of like a zombie in a way. They're slow, but they never stop...and if you're not careful you'll get cornered...

Tractor beams: Ships will be pulling and pushing each other around, to feed enemies into missiles, shuttles, etc.

Almost all these require a die roll to determine success. There is often a feeling of shaking the dice, saying "Hope this works..." to try and get a crippling blow against a foe that will lead you wide open.

My last game was 5 player, a friend and I as Klingon against 3 smaller Federation ships. 1 federation ship held back as the rest of us went 2 on 2 in an initial volley...then I managed to slip in behind on a Fed starship and unload my entire arsenal, doing massive damage to his ship and destroying his rear shields. The other Fed ship had slipped behind me but my partner was keeping him busy. I dropped my front shields and sent marines over to the ship I wounded, tearing up his weapons systems and engine room. There was no way he could shake me, in a few turns I was sure he would be destroyed. But then, the Fed ship behind me tractor beamed me! I had no energy left to combat it since I had unloaded my arsenal. He slowly started steering me towards the 3rd federation ship, while my ally frantically tried to fire on his tractor beams so I could disengage from him, but to no avail. The 3rd federation ship opened fire point blank with all its phasers and photons on the front of my ship. I had dropped my front shields earlier, and was decimated. The other 3 feds then easily mopped up the final Klingon ship.

It was loads of fun.

The ONLY downside to this game is its price. At ~$60, you really only get a map and some counters. But after playing several times, I feel I have gotten more than my money's worth and consider the "extra" money as having gone towards a great design.

Thanks guys.

I have one friend who said he'd play it with me for sure if I bought the game.

I really actually like how it's Trek, but not...the sort of alternate universe trek based on the old cartoons and books? I'm not a big enough fan of OG Trek to know about all that.

I'd heard the game was more like naval combat, which is perfectly fine by me.

I didn't know about tractors beams and marines though. Sounds awesome.

I'm not put off by any real or percieved complexity. If Federation Commander really is Starfleet Battles what ASL SK#1 is to ASL then my friends will be fine. If they complain i'll just tell them to man up or my Federation Cruisers will blow their Warbirds straight to Kahless.

My only worry is that if I buy this game then i'll have to start buying those damned starline miniatures...they're just so cool. I probably wont paint them though, because I think they look damned cool silver/pewter.

Lagduf wrote:

My only worry is that if I buy this game then i'll have to start buying those damned starline miniatures...they're just so cool. I probably wont paint them though, because I think they look damned cool silver/pewter.

The game has many expansions to soak up your money as well. The miniatures would be awesome to play with, but its best to just forget about that as they are pricey.

Get your friends hooked and then make them buy expansions and miniatures.

Kriz wrote:

Get your friends hooked and then make them buy expansions and miniatures.

That could very well work and wouldn't be unprecedented in my group. One of my friends loved Descent so much that he bought me the first expansion, another friend bought his own set of the custom dice in the game as well. Of course i've since bought Altar of Despair, more dice, and preorded RtL, but it was nice to save a little bit of cash and have my friends actually buy some gaming stuff for once.

Im surprised how much Federation Commander falls under the radar. I think its a great game. Theres a small circle of people on BGG who are there perusing its game forum, ready to answer questions. Which is great. But I would have thought a game as good as FedCom, that also has a popular license, would generate some activity over there and have a higher profile.

Kriz wrote:

Im surprised how much Federation Commander falls under the radar. I think its a great game. Theres a small circle of people on BGG who are there perusing its game forum, ready to answer questions. Which is great. But I would have thought a game as good as FedCom, that also has a popular license, would generate some activity over there and have a higher profile.

Klingon Border is ranked pretty well (for what that's worth) but yeah, I actually am not sure how I first learned of the series.

It is a bit under the radar.

It gets reccomended every now and again when people are looking for Naval Games.

Well I ran in to some spare cash (thanks IRS!) and purchased this.

Should arrive at my house late this week or early next.

I'll be sure to post some thoughts in this thread, I only hope that the version I get is the newest version that is of a higher quality and has the latest rule book.

If I like i'll get Romulan Space later this year.

Of course, the question remains, will I even have any time to play this once Road to Legend comes out?

I'm waiting to hear your take on the game. Keep us posted.

I used to play in a weekly group of FedCom, so I'm pretty familiar with the system and the game if anyone has any questions.

I have every expansion (but not every ship booster pack) up until Tholian Attack which I still haven't gotten around to buying.

It's a great game, but the guys I used to play it with were old time Star Fleet Battles players, and holy damn, they could really kick my ass. Watch your weak shields!

It should get more press than it does, but it is just too niche to gain widespread appeal, I'm afraid.

Ok, So I have Federation Commander: Klingon Border.

I see that I have multiple counters for certain ship types, yet I only have ONE of each Ship reference card.

If I buy Boosters #1, #2, and #3 will I then have enough ship reference cards to actually play with all of the coutners for each ship that are included in Klingon Border?

This is what i've concluded by poking around the FedCom website.

I just want a couple more Federation Heavy Cruisers and Klingon D6s.

The pics on BGG of FedCom don't do the components justice. The counters are actually pretty nice (well the 1" ones anyway), and the art on the maps is pretty nice (if generic).

Now to read the rules.

Hmm, not sure exactly which boosters you need, but it is true that there are certain boosters that will give you the ship cards for the extra counters they supply you with.

I wouldn't worry about this right now though, most of my games have involved one person operating one ship. Handling multiple ships would be something that would slow the game way down unless everyone had a good familiarity with the rules.

Congrats on getting the game, I hope you enjoy it. Looking forward to hearing about your first game...

Kriz wrote:

Hmm, not sure exactly which boosters you need, but it is true that there are certain boosters that will give you the ship cards for the extra counters they supply you with.

I wouldn't worry about this right now though, most of my games have involved one person operating one ship. Handling multiple ships would be something that would slow the game way down unless everyone had a good familiarity with the rules.

Congrats on getting the game, I hope you enjoy it. Looking forward to hearing about your first game...

Yeah, 1 person per ships seems pretty good, especially if you were doing the Squadron scale. This seems like a game that would scale well with more players, as each would have control over their own ship and it wouldn't necassarily denigrate in to a game where one person is telling the team what to do. I like the idea of being a captain of my own ship