Hi all,

I am very interested in getting started playing SFB. I have a friend who has a giant box full of material, but he hasn't had anyone to play with in years. The pictures on the cover, if I recall correctly, looked like the pictures of the older stuff I've seen (TFG). I want to buy my own books, but I don't know what to look for. Can I buy just any Star Fleet Battles Basic Set, or should I look for a particular version?

Thanks,
John

By William T Wilson (Sheap) on Tuesday, July 19, 2005 - 01:03 pm: Edit

Commander's edition stuff is obsolete and should not be used. If you must, you can use the SSDs from commander's edition (except Andromedans) as they have not changed much, but really you want all-captain's stuff.

Just because it says TFG doesn't mean it is out of date. TFG published the early editions of Captain's edition. Check the copyright line on the bottom of every page. If it's captain's edition, the bottom of every page will say "Captain's Basic Set (C)1990" or something similar. If it doesn't say Captain's, it's out of date. If it does, you can still use it, as long as you download the on-line errata.

Basic Set hasn't been updated since 1999. You shouldn't find any older revisions on store shelves. In general, most of what you find on the shelf should be current, but some stores do have some ancient stuff.

If you want to buy your own stuff, you have a choice. You can either use the existing SSDs and buy just the Master Rulebook (which is an almost, but not quite, complete set of the rules), or you can buy the products individually (which is a better choice, but will cost more). The Master Rulebook is missing the ship descriptions (and of course the ships), the rules for scenario contruction and campaigns, and the scenarios, but it has all the actual game rules. If you want to buy the actual products, start with Basic Set, then get Advanced Missions. You really need both to properly enjoy the game.

Beyond that, most of the other stuff depends on where you want to go with the game. C1 and C2 should be your first purchases since they add the rest of the "core races." R2, R3, R4 and, to a lesser extent, R5 and the other R-modules are pretty important as they fill out the universe with more ships. C3 adds the LDR, Seltorians and improvements for the Andromedans. If you want to use fighters and/or PFs, then you need modules J and K and possibly J2. Even if you don't care about fighters, module J contains the rules for MRS shuttles which are pretty handy things. It all depends on what sort of scenarios you want to play.

If you need more opponents, there's always SFB Online.

By John Halsey (Sovem) on Tuesday, July 19, 2005 - 01:19 pm: Edit

Thank you, that was very helpful.
However, I don't have the kind of money to buy the products "off the shelves." I've been watching ebay closely, though, and that's when I noticed the differences between covers. Any tips on buying used (or just cheaply)?

By William T Wilson (Sheap) on Tuesday, July 19, 2005 - 07:09 pm: Edit

ahh. If you are buying on ebay then you may only be able to look at the covers of the products. The covers of Captain's edition stuff is pretty clear as well. Basic Set and Advanced Missions clearly say Captain's on the covers. Everything else is labeled "Module something-or-other" whereas Commander's edition products are labeled as "Volumes" and "Supplements." So you can still be sure you do not get the wrong stuff.

The stuff most likely to be missing from used SFB stuff is counters. Next most likely is pages missing from people who have cut the rulebooks/SSD books apart for binding and/or copying. However, you can buy the countersheets from ADB via the online store cheaply. You can also buy the SSD books as loose items if you need to.

By John Kasper (Jvontr) on Tuesday, July 19, 2005 - 11:25 pm: Edit

Realistically, the older stuff is certainly playable - you'll just run into more undefined situations. If you are playing with a fairly laid-back group and don't plan to enter tournements, this wouldn't be a problem. Remember though, it would not be SFB as it is currently played.

By James Lowry (Rindis) on Thursday, July 21, 2005 - 11:42 am: Edit

There's certainly little wrong with playing with Commander's Edition, if that's what your friend has.

Captain's Edition materials can be identified by a circular red logo showing the front view of a Fed CA on the cover. Commander's had a similar top-view logo, but I don't think it ever was printed in red.

Once you've determined that what you're looking at on Ebay is Captain's Edition, you can find out the revision history of the product here:
http://www.starfleetgames.com/prod_update.htm

The Basic and Advanced sets can be classed by cover, the older (pre-99) version has painted covers, and the new versions has CG covers like this:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/75315

Also note, that if your friend has a good collection of counters and SSDs, you *could* just buy the Basic Set rulebook for $15. This could leave you at the mercy of a possibly ideosyncratic ship collection, but it is something you could do.