Let's Talk BATTLESTATIONS

Is it an RPG? Is it a board game? I don't know but I want to know more about it. It's a game I've always wanted to play but never bothered to track down. Now there's a second edition on Kickstarter , and I want some opinions.

How are the missions? Is there a decent campaign mode? Are they fun and replayable?

What kind of player count do you recommend?

The concept of the game is incredibly appealing to me, but I don't know anyone firsthand who has ever had much to say about it. So I'm still wondering if it's worth getting into.

Also, from a few years ago:

Trash Talk Topic
F:AT Review

I liked it quite a bit. In my opinion it's more of an RPG than a board game as your characters gain XP, level up, and there were tons of abilities. It requires a DM type but the missions are included and don't need to be created like a traditional RPG.

It's a cool game. The demand for a campaign as well as the sometimes slow gameplay is what caused me to sell it. I'd be up for playing it again, especially with this more serious direction.

I spent some time learning the rules and we attempted to play this at the Lair of the True Believers.

It was years ago now so this is from memory. Like you I thought the concept was great and really REALLY wanted to like this. However it requires a DM and the game was as involved as any RPG combat system you care to name. And yet it isn't an RPG. It was some sort of in-between a board game and an RPG and was inferior on both counts.

For it to be a good board game it needed to be more streamlined and frankly, though this was not the case when it came out, there are plenty dungeon crawl/adventure games on the market nowadays that are just that.

As it was, we figured considering the work...we might as well be playing an RPG of which there are many that are more fun and interesting than Battlestations.

I really didn't like it. Yeah, it's more an RPG than a board game, but for one, it's a pretty crappy RPG, and two, here's a novel idea, PLAY AN RPG.

Even as an RPG, it's far too old fashioned and the setting is pretty bland and generic. Can't think of a single reason to play it.

I have the first edition of this and have never been able to get it played, mainly because of the GM issue. As far as this reprint goes though, fuck any game where the goddamn rules are a $35 add on. This kickstarter bullshit has really gotten out of control.

It's not so much a DM as a referee. I even think the game calls it a ref.

It's an RPG-light in the vein of Strange Aeons or WreckAge, but only inasmuch as your characters gain talents.

It's REALLY a space battle game like Star Fleet Battles (really a lot like Space Cadets), but a one-on-one, and when you're boarded, the action zooms down from the full battle board and the game is then played like Queens Gambit where the main battle is going on between the ships but then the boarding action is done on the ship map.

Ships are really configurable and flexible, and there's a SHITLOAD of archetypes and races for crew.

It's a really fun game but it's like Civilization in that you can play one battle for half a day.

If you've played the computer game FTL, you've pretty much played Battlestations.

Wadenels this has been collecting dust on my game self for years and I've only played it twice, I'd like to give it another go, aren't you also in MN. Maybe we could make an effort to meet and give it a try?

edulis wrote: If you've played the computer game FTL, you've pretty much played Battlestations.

Wadenels this has been collecting dust on my game self for years and I've only played it twice, I'd like to give it another go, aren't you also in MN. Maybe we could make an effort to meet and give it a try?

Yeah I'm in west Twin Cities. We should do this.

jay718 wrote: I have the first edition of this and have never been able to get it played, mainly because of the GM issue. As far as this reprint goes though, fuck any game where the goddamn rules are a $35 add on. This kickstarter bullshit has really gotten out of control.

Well to be fair, this is a 300 page hardback for the advanced rules beyond the first intro campaign in the basic ruleset. That's the going rate for these kinds of RPG books.

Battlestations is a multi-map board game that simultaneously features ship-action in space AND the events on board the ships involved in the conflicts. Several video games like FTL have emulated this concept, but Battlestations is still the true original, and still the only board game that puts you on board a starship with ongoing adventures for your characters learn from and grow.

The game rules are very simple but they allow for complex RPG-like imaginative choices like teleporting to an enemy ship, hacking their helm controls and steering their ship towards a black hole before ejecting yourself out the air lock.

I love Starfleet Battles for the space combat but it doesn't depict what is actually happening on board the ships. Space Hulk and several other games allow for movement around a ship, but the ships themselves don't move. So in 1999 my brother Jason Siadek and I planned to develop a video game, which proved too expensive, and so Battlestations the board game was born.

Kickstarter

Columbob wrote: Well to be fair, this is a 300 page hardback for the advanced rules beyond the first intro campaign in the basic ruleset. That's the going rate for these kinds of RPG books.

Quite a bit cheaper,actually. RPG books like that typically go for $60ish.

I've never really been able to get the first edition to the table, but I'm in love with the concept. I'm in a $1 for the updates at the moment, but I'll probably end up backing.

Columbob wrote:

jay718 wrote: I have the first edition of this and have never been able to get it played, mainly because of the GM issue. As far as this reprint goes though, fuck any game where the goddamn rules are a $35 add on. This kickstarter bullshit has really gotten out of control.

Well to be fair, this is a 300 page hardback for the advanced rules beyond the first intro campaign in the basic ruleset. That's the going rate for these kinds of RPG books.

The $90 edition comes with 'quick start rules.' If you want the entire rule set, it's another $35 on top of the 90. That's nuts. I don't care how much RPG sourcebooks go for, $90 is too damn much for a game with an incomplete rule set.

jay718 wrote:

Columbob wrote:

jay718 wrote: I have the first edition of this and have never been able to get it played, mainly because of the GM issue. As far as this reprint goes though, fuck any game where the goddamn rules are a $35 add on. This kickstarter bullshit has really gotten out of control.

Well to be fair, this is a 300 page hardback for the advanced rules beyond the first intro campaign in the basic ruleset. That's the going rate for these kinds of RPG books.

The $90 edition comes with 'quick start rules.' If you want the entire rule set, it's another $35 on top of the 90. That's nuts. I don't care how much RPG sourcebooks go for, $90 is too damn much for a game with an incomplete rule set.

That's kind of where I'm at as well; for nearly 3 figures if I get into this I want the complete package without having to buy the full experience at extra cost.

It is going to take them a year to deliver this, if they stay on schedule. I wonder if it will show up in retail channels, and if so, how much it will cost for the game + advanced rules.



One of the pledges is $200 for four copies of the game, but for verified retail stores only.