Adapting War at Sea for Star Trek

A few weeks back, I played War at Sea (CMG) at the club and thought that the rules could be easily adapted for Star trek. I've been looking for a set of rules to play with the tiny Trek ships I bought a few years ago. 

I basically ported the rules across with almost no changes (dropping torpedoes and CAP and increasing the stacking to three) and hauled it all to Bruce's for a couple of play tests.

Other than a couple of extra additions (fighter range of 12 and a cloaking mechanic), it seemed to work well as a fleet-level game. I think it could easily take four players and two or three dozen ships. You are clearly fighting two fleets, not a bunch of individual ships.

The game also plays fast enough that one could play a set of three linked scenarios in a single night. Maybe a small encounter game to learn the rules, a convoy scenario, and then a big battle.

I was happy to get these very small ships out (the hexes are two inches across) and I ordered from Cardassian and Dominion fleets to add some variety.

Jess and I also visited a local gaming cafe and plodded through some kind of dwarf mining game (Cave versus Cave?). I had a good time but the place was packed and so loud we could hardly hear ourselves.

Survivors, or not.

I finished up eight more figures from the Toxic Mall expansion box. There were four new survivors in this zombie game.

The interesting wrinkle in the expansion was that eaten survivors could return as special Zeds, so zombievore figures were also available. I decided to paint them up at the same time to match the clothes.

Up next: Some 15mm WW2 recce units, I think.

Crossfire at the club

We had six guys out at the club this week. Bruce out on a game of Lunar Wars for Richard, Terry and Chen. I'm not sure what point Bruce is making in this photo, but I suspect Chen is learning his lander will be late arriving because it stopped for an iced cappuccino.

Mike brought out a 10mm game of Crossfire. Crossfire was one of the first games we played at the club 15 years ago. But some of Mike's terrain was so new that the glue hadn't dried!

The British had to occupy the crossroads at centre table while the Germans had to maintain LOS on it at the end of the game. Neither side could afford to lose more than 50% of their units and there was a count down clock to game end.

The hidden deployment was fun and forced a cautious advance. Eventually the two sides came to grips. Mortar fire stalled the British armour but the infantry were able to reorient to pin down a German unit.

After deploying some PBI mine detectors, the Brits rolled up the right side of the board and outflanked the Germans for the win.

I had a really good time and would play again now that I have a better sense of the rules and could play a more aggressive defensive strategy.

15mm WW2 Germans softskins for sale

For a change of pace, I painted up sixteen 15mm German soft skins. These are resin Battlefront models I got in a job lot. I have added them to my 15mm WW2 for sale page.

Nice enough models, suitable for France, Russia or the desert. A bit of grass could be added to the bases but don't want to make the too specific until sold.

Up next: Gaming at the club, a building, some 28mm adventurers, and maybe some more 15mm WW2 (German reduce units).

Zeds, Naps and gangsters

A bit of a job lot of figures today. First up are the last of the zombies for awhile, I hope. There were some of the larger guys. Judging by the neck lanyards, I would say civil servants who just got layoff notices?

There were also three regular toxic zeds plus an old heroclix guy who has been lingering on my paint table for awhile.

I also finished of the gangsters from pulp alley. Some very well armed fellows!

Bruce had me over last week to try out some changes to his yet-unnamed Napoleonic game. I got crushed but, in losing so badly, we discovered a few issues to clean up.

Up next: we have the club this week with lunar wars and some WW2 crossfire on offer. I hope to move some more figures, including a building to completion.

Sorry, still more Zeds.

So, still more Zeds from the Toxic Mall box. I know you are likely bored looking at them. Rest assured, I'm tired of painting them. But we're nearly done.

I knocked of a mixed lots of regulars zombies (including some bigger ones) as well as a bunch of toxic zombies.

The toxic Zeds are more interesting to look at. But I'll be happy to see the shambling-ass end of this project.

I also finished a few more gangsters from Pulp Figures. Four gangsters plus a lovely fire hydrant and a police box. I think I have three more that just need the base painted.

Up next: Honestly, I'm not sure. I have a building underway. And I need to think through a holiday-themed game. I'm thinking some kind of Franklin Expedition tie-in. The lesson from my last few pulp games is less complexity and smaller tables. So it might be a straight up fight for control of the Terror? Maybe with the ice breaking up? I dunno. Need to layout what I have.

War at Sea!

We had five guys out at the club this week (bad roads) but Red Claw was packed with painters and gamers. Bruce hosted Chen and Mike in a game of Congo Gulch. At one point Chen was being berated for killing the objective (!) but the game continued.

I played War at Sea with newcomer Derek. Derek trucked a ridiculous number of ships out for us to choose among and gently walked me through a Pacific game.

My allied fleet was up against a nasty bunch of Japanese gunboats. Fortunately, I managed to get lucky with some early airstrikes.

Airstrikes continued to work for me.

And I was up fairly far in points by mid-game.

Unfortunately, I got cocky and ate some torpedoes. And then Derek threw a mitt full of sixes and the HMS Hood exploded and I was down to destroyers and torpedo bombers.

Fortunately, between kills and objective captures, I got enough points to win before the Japanese gunnery ravaged my tin cans.

Overall, this was a hoot to play and Derek was very gracious answering my questions. It is not a simulation but was good fun an d was easy to learn. Since the ships are no longer available, I wonder if the rules could be modified to Star Trek?