STARFLEET ADMIRALS Continued

 

 The Game Board & Movement

In the last blog segment I covered the Admirals and how they influence and control the play of the game. In this segment I'll be covering the nature of the game board - including terrain -  and movement.

The Board

 The board is actually eight 10"x16" heavy card stock mats placed adjacent to one another. This reduces cost significantly. The white lines you see on the board are the seams of these sections. the gaming board has red and blue on opposite edges that represent the starting areas or "controlled" area of the board by either faction. In most scenarios the Empire starts along the red edge while the Federation starts along the blue edge, but there are plenty of scenarios where forces from one of both sides are scattered on the board at start. In terms of supply, communication and reinforcements, the board edges determine where these things come from. The board is divided into three Fronts A, B & C  that stretch from the blue to the red edges. On both edges of each front is a Front Admiral card space where players place assigned Front Admirals. Three for each faction's front.
The board is a star field and a hexagon pattern overlaid upon it. The hex field is to control movement of fleets and troops and for placing space terrain and star systems.
When players move fleets across the game board they count hexes since each fleet has a movement allowance limit.

Movement

Fleets have a 2 to three hex movement limit each game turn. there are two ways for starship fleets to move: via Normalspace (with the 2-3 hex limit) and Higherspace using star gates which allow fleets to move instantly from one stargate to another location with or without a stargate.

A GAS GIANT PLANET

Fleets have a movement range limit that's not arbitrary but based upon fuel consumption. Starships require deuterium gas to operate their engines. In order for starship fleets to move up to 2 or 3 hexes they need to refuel with this deuterium and there are two ways to acquire it. Ships can scoop it up from massive gas giant planets or from Depot Stations. Fleets cannot move if they cannot refuel at their destination. Only gas giants and depots can handle fleet refueling, not star bases or fleet docks. This makes star systems with gas giants and depots critical in moving star fleets and winning the game. Admirals can play certain cards that allow them to buy and build Depots but there aren't that many cards and they are only in hand a few times in a  game, so players need to not be profligate in constructing these stations. Also, they can be easily destroyed by enemy ships. Only gas giant planets cannot be destroyed. So most combat will occur along close star systems with gas giant planets.

STAR DEPOT

The other way fleets move is through star gates. Players have admirals build star gates on star systems. This is where fleets enter and leave Higher space. However, fleets entering a star gate can attempt to leave Higherspace at any space hex but at a potential cost. The fleet can be damaged, destroyed and/or wind up off course and floating in open space and no way to be refueled. Star systems with star gates are valuable because star gates are so incredibly expensive to build. Those that exist must be protected - just as much as Depots.

So that's how movement is planned to be in the game. Next up, we'll describe the space terrain such as star systems, nebulae, etc. and how they affect game play.