Re: Star Blazers Fleet Battle System

> Has anyone picked this up or even actually tried playing it yet?
> 
Yes, see below.

> I just bought mine a couple days ago and have to say I'm 
disapointed.
> 
> Did any thought of layout, design and organization get put into this
> book?  The text is filled with numerous abbreviations that it's
> difficult to follow.	Some terms such as "battlecraft" instead of just
> saying fighters seemed confusing. 
> 
> No index.  The table of contents (with page numbers) is in the middle
of
> the book??!  Oh wait, I've just noticed that there is a table of
> contents toward the the front that is more of a chapter overview with
no
> page numbers. 
> 
> No consistancy in the layout of SSDs.  It's as if ship information was
> randomly scattered on the page
> 
Wait till you play it, more of the same.

> The inside artwork is either scanned from Roman Albums, obviously
> traced, or have a disruptive more' pattern.  There are a few pieces of
> original artwork that I liked, but are ruined by the print job.  Are
> people still using zip-a-tone?  The cover art looks funky because all
> the ships in the "fleet" have there own seperate vanishing points
intead
> of sharing one.  Due to their being traced from different source
> material.
> 
> Yes, I'm nitpicking.	I've been waiting for an official Yamato game
for
> almost twenty years and this is what I get.  Why is it that when I've
> bought Jovian Chronicles, Full Thrust, Babylon Wars, Silent Death, and
> Star Fleet Battles, reading the books made me want to play. Star
> Blazers:FBS certainly doesn't.
> 
> If anyone has played this, please tell me it's worth it.
> 
In a nut-shell, no.  I have been a major fan since I saw the first 
episode on TV.	I was lucky enough to be one of the first to play it 
at GenCon, and was extremely dissapointed after I did.	The combat 
rules (primarely firing missiles and such) is as hodge-podge as the 
rulebook layout.  It took forever to go through a turn.  On top of 
that, the minis are a little on the expensive side and no doubt hard 
to find.  The detail is very good, but hardly what is going to make 
me buy them all.  Now, don't get me wrong, I will get a fleet or two, 
but will use the Full Thrust rules (after some conversions of 
course) instead.  Hope it helps, but I'm sure some of you (meaning 
list readers) will tell me how awesome this game is and I don't know 
what I'm talking about.  Have fun.

-Kevin
SolarisK@aol.com