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Hmmm ... it might be a good time to place an order for your ADB desires. I've done that for a couple of folks visiting from overseas.

By David Cheng (Davec) on Sunday, September 03, 2023 - 08:45 am: Edit

SFB at Council Gaming Con - Three Weeks and Counting


Hello SFB Community,

The world-renowned SFB Patrol tournament at the Council Gaming Convention starts in about three weeks.

September 22-24, 2023

https://tabletop.events/conventions/council-2023/


Here are the current RSVP counts:
Committed: 16
Probable: 2
Maybe: 4

If you have not yet RSVPd, please either reply to this email or contact me directly at SFB@swa-gaming.org with your RSVP status.

If you are already on one of these lists, but your status is changing (like, say to bump yourself up to *Committed*), please let me know that too.


WELCOME BANQUET - Thursday, September 21

We are continuing the tradition of the Welcome Banquet for travelers arriving on Thursday (and locals who want to join us). Please let me know if you would like to attend. We will factor in your food preferences and pick a nice place.


START TIME ON COUNCIL FRIDAY - 10:00 AM

Please ignore the 2pm Friday start time you see listed when you register for Council and the tournament via tabletop.events (link above). The SFB action will start on Friday at 10:00 AM, as is our tradition. We are upstairs in the Guild Room, the same place as the last Council back in 2019. The Guild Room is upstairs from the long “Arcade” hallway that runs from the main Proctor’s entrance on State Street to the back entrance by the outdoor parking lot, and the NYS Lottery building.


PATROL and FINALS SCHEDULE

The Patrol phase runs from 10:00 AM on Friday until 6:00 PM Saturday. Play as many games as you want and can squeeze in. You must play a minimum of two games in your current ship to qualify for the finals.

Top 4 begins at 7:00 PM on Saturday. Final Two play either later Saturday night, or 9:00 AM Sunday morning. The finals will be played on-site; no SFBOL option this year. Players who are not able to stay through Sunday afternoon are not eligible to advance.

Some of us will be playing Star Trek: Ascendancy while others play in the Finals. Three seats have been claimed so far by players not expecting to advance. Let me know if you are interested.


SHIPS
* Federation TCC can have a G-Rack, at the player’s option.
* LDR Red Jaguar TCC - Phaser-1s # 1 & 2 have FX firing arcs, not FA.


Always room for more! New players welcome!


Dave Cheng
Schenectady Wargamers Association, Inc.
SFB Tournament Judge
SFB@swa-gaming.org

By David Cheng (Davec) on Sunday, September 03, 2023 - 09:51 am: Edit

Hello SFB and SFU Community,

We have made several mentions here about the last SFB event that the Schenectady Wargamers Association will sponsor, in 2024.

We are happy to announce that we have reached a major milestone.
We recently signed a contract with an Albany, NY hotel and have locked-in a date.

July 17-21, 2024

Five days of SFB / SFU gaming goodness!

Please save this date on your calendar, put in for the time off work, and start saving for your travel costs. Our goal is to give you a generationally-great Star Fleet gaming experience.

We are focusing right now on SFB at Council in three weeks (Sept 22-24 if you’d like to join us). But watch this space for future announcements.

Convention Registration & Costs
Call for Game Masters & Volunteers - get free entry
Discounted Early Registration
Call for Star Fleet Battles Scenarios
Federation & Empire
One tournament or two? Patrol and/or Captains
Expedition to the Star Trek set recreation in Ticonderoga, NY
Other good stuff

We hope to see you in three weeks at Council, and we really hope to see you next July at the Big Bang SFB Blowout!

By David Cheng (Davec) on Tuesday, September 19, 2023 - 12:49 am: Edit

Hello SFB Community,

The world-renowned SFB Patrol tournament at the Council Gaming Convention starts in just four days!

September 22-24, 2023


REGISTRATION

You have until 11:59 PM, EDT, to pre-register at the tabletop.events site (link below) to get the lower pre-reg entry fee. If you miss this, you can always register on-site. We will not run out of seats for the SFB Tournament.

https://tabletop.events/conventions/council-2023/


HOTELS
There are still rooms available at local hotels. Please see the tabletop.events site for suggested hotels.


EXPECTED ATTENDANCE
Here are the current RSVP counts:
Committed: 16
Probable: 3
Maybe: 3

If you have not yet RSVPd, please either reply to this email or contact me directly at SFB@swa-gaming.org with your RSVP status.


WELCOME BANQUET - Thursday, September 21

We are in the final stages of planning for our traditional SFB Welcome Banquet on Thursday night, probably at 7:30 PM. I just sent a separate email to the known attendees. If you are arriving early and would like to join us, please reply by 7pm Wednesday.


START TIME ON COUNCIL FRIDAY - 10:00 AM

Please ignore the 2pm Friday start time you see listed when you register for Council and the tournament via
tabletop.events (link above). The SFB action will start on Friday at 10:00 AM, as is our tradition. We are upstairs in the Guild Room, the same place as the last Council back in 2019. The Guild Room is upstairs from the long “Arcade” hallway that runs from the main Proctor’s entrance on State Street to the back entrance by the outdoor parking lot, and the NYS Lottery building.


PATROL and FINALS SCHEDULE

The Patrol phase runs from 10:00 AM on Friday until 6:00 PM Saturday. Play as many games as you want and can squeeze in. You must play a minimum of two games in your current ship to qualify for the finals.

Top 4 begins at 7:00 PM on Saturday. Final Two play either later Saturday night, or 9:00 AM Sunday morning. The finals will be played on-site; no SFBOL option this year. Players who are not able to stay through Sunday afternoon are not eligible to advance.

Some of us will be playing Star Trek: Ascendancy while others play in the Finals. Three seats have been
claimed so far by players not expecting to advance. Let me know if you are interested.


SHIPS
* Federation TCC can have a G-Rack, at the player’s option.
* LDR Red Jaguar TCC - Phaser-1s # 1 & 2 have FX firing arcs, not FA.


COUNCIL WEATHER FORECAST
Things look pleasant and seasonally mild for Council weekend.
Thursday Sept 21: Sunny, Hi 72, Lo 49
Friday Sept 22: Partly Cloudy, Hi 74, Lo 52
Saturday Sept 23: Mostly Cloudy, Hi 70, Lo 54, 25% chance of rain
Sunday, Sept 24: Showers Likely, Hi 72, Lo 59.


Always room for more! New players welcome!

Dave Cheng
Schenectady Wargamers Association, Inc.
SFB Tournament Judge
SFB@swa-gaming.org

By David Cheng (Davec) on Friday, September 22, 2023 - 10:50 am: Edit

The first set of matches at the Council 42 SFB tournament has begun.

Fred Werenich- Hydran
Vs
Bill Schoeller -Klingon

Tim Linden - Orion HHGbb
Vs
John Rigley - WYN Aux HHbb

Kosta Michalopoulos- Kzinti
Vs
Ed Slusarek - Fed-G

Sam Palozzi - Fed-G
Vs
Seth Shimanski - Romulan KR

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, September 22, 2023 - 03:49 pm: Edit

May the best captain win!

By MarkSHoyle (Bolo) on Friday, September 22, 2023 - 05:57 pm: Edit

May the dice favor the BOLD

By David Cheng (Davec) on Saturday, September 23, 2023 - 01:06 pm: Edit

Saturday Update:

We got to 16 players. This morning’s games so far, some still in progress.

Kosta - Kzinti
Vs
Brett -LDR

Fred - Hydran
Vs
Seth - Romulan KR

Dana - Orion
Vs
Brook- Fed-G

Marcus - WYN Aux
Vs
Ben- WYN Shark

Tim -Orion
Vs
Bill - Klingon

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Saturday, September 23, 2023 - 08:44 pm: Edit

That is a great turnout! Sorry I can't be there!

By David Cheng (Davec) on Sunday, September 24, 2023 - 07:26 am: Edit

Sunday morning update.

Top 4 Semi-finals results from last night.

1. Seth Shimansky - Romulan TKR
defeats
4. Brook Villa - Fed-G

2. Bill Schoeller - Klingon
defeats
3. Tim Linden - Orion


Battle of the K-hulls for top honors begins at 9:00 AM EDT.

Many thanks to Ben Ossenfort for donating the prizes for the Council SFB tournament.

All of the top 4 received a Star Trek collector's glass.

Today's winner will not only be memorialized on the Council Cup trophy, but will receive a copy of the
Star Trek: Fleet Captains
game from Wizkids.

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Sunday, September 24, 2023 - 12:57 pm: Edit

Anyone played the game Star trek:fleet captains?

Any good?

By David Cheng (Davec) on Sunday, September 24, 2023 - 04:45 pm: Edit

Council Gaming Convention 42

Sponsored the the Schenectady Wargamers Association, Inc.

September 22-24, 2023

Star Fleet Battles Tournament Winner

Seth Shimansky - Romulan TKR
defeats
Big Bad Bill Schoeller - Klingon

We hope both Seth and Bill will post an AAR here on the ADB BBS.


Reminder. This is (almost certainly) the very last SFB tournament that will be held at the Council gaming con. Our last SFB/SFU Big Bang Blowout standalone event will happen next summer, July 17-21, in Albany NY. Watch this space for more news over the next several weeks and months.

p.s.
Star Trek: Fleet Captains
Never played, never even knew this game existed before Ben brought it in for donation. I have no idea how the rules play.

I opened the box. Lots of nice plastic minis inside. Some are very close to the 3788-scale 2200s and 2400s produced by ADB. Some are clearly not (i.e. Klingon Bird of Prey is way too big).

By Seth Shimansky (Kingzila) on Tuesday, September 26, 2023 - 05:52 pm: Edit

1 Seth Shimansky - Romulan TKR vs 4 Brook Villa - Fed-G

RKR did Enveloper turn 1 and Fed ran it out for a bit and crashed it for 5 points on each shield. Early in Turn 2 RKR launched 50 points of plasma at FED. Fed gets range 6 shot before hitting plasma. 2 Photons hit with 4 or 5 phasers ones doing a nice hit on RKR. Next impulse FED lets plasma hit a rear shield doing 20 internals (S was real). RKR HET back at FED to chase him down with last F torp. Fed HET away while speed change to 17 and the RKR speed changed to 27. Fed launched 3 manned shuttles to scare off the RKR then ED’ed to WW the F. RKR gets 2 phaser 1 shots on down shield under ww protection. Turn 3 RKR runs and rearms and Fed rebuild speed and rearms. Turn 4 RKR goes speed zero and launches enveloper that the FED eats. Fed fires 3 ol not full power and 4 phaser 1 at range 8 before enveloper hits him. Fed does 41 damage to RKR but no internals. Fed makes to range 1 then is trac by RKR and gets another shield smacked down with about another 20 internals. Fed gives in at this point.

Seth Shimansky - Romulan TKR vs Big Bad Bill Schoeller – Klingon

RKR launches enveloper at Klingon and Klingon fires 4 standard disruptor bolts and turns off. RKR kills all scatter pack drones on impulse 31. Turn 2 Klingon runs from PPT and RKR is on the hunt. The third of the turn Klingon turns around speed 15 after PPT does no damage. Around impulse 15 we are range 8 close to the bottom left corner and no fire and no launch. As we get closer no fire no launch until range 6 when Klingon launches 2 fast drones and has 2 speed 20 drones on me from a lunch on impulse 32 last turn. Klingon fires 2 ol 2 standard disruptors and 5 phaser ones on the RKR front shield doing about 13 internals. Klingon turns off towards the wall next impulse and RKR follows at speed 28. As we get closer the Klingon speed changes to 26 and gets 2 phaser 2 and a phaser 3 on the down # 1 shield. Later in the turn the RKR trac’s Klingon range 1 with just 1 power. A impulse later RKR turns so all plasma can launch giving the Klingon the open shield. At this point the RKR has used all phasers except 1 phaser 1 & 3 to kill off drones and fake SS shuttles. Klingon takes 39 internals from the plasma and RKR fires the phaser 1 & 3 at Klingons down shield. At this point the Klingon has 22 power but has all disruptor bolts and lost very few phasers but has no shuttles, while the RKR is down 3 power and a few phasers. Next impulse the RKR releases Klingon from trac and we end the turn range 11ish. Bill calls it.

By Bill Schoeller (Bills) on Wednesday, September 27, 2023 - 03:39 pm: Edit

When Seth says PPT, he means EPT

By David Cheng (Davec) on Sunday, November 12, 2023 - 12:07 am: Edit

Hello SFB and SFU Community,

Status Report on the Star Fleet Gaming Big Bang Blowout, coming

July 17-21, 2024
Albany, New York

Eight months and counting.

I will keep this short, and try not to ramble as I am prone to do…

I am working on a web site to as a central spot info and registration. I am learning WordPress from scratch, but things are coming along.

Whole event ticket price is $80, for five days of SFU gaming goodness!

We will have early-bird discounted registration of $50. Details on that coming soon.

I will soon be asking for volunteers to run games. GMs get in free.

Looking for…
SFB / Fed Com / ACTA:SF scenarios or mini-campaigns
Federation & Empire
SFU Role-Play Games
Any and all games you think would appeal to fans of ADB’s Star Fleet Universe games.
And we might even allow for some non-SFU games as well…
We will have five days to play, so lots of time for lots of good gaming & socializing.

I will also need some volunteers to help with admin and registration stuff. Another way to get free admission to the event.

There will be a group expedition to the Star Trek recreation set in Ticonderoga, NY, probably on Tuesday, July 16.

Hotel room rate is a very modest $ 89 per night. We are not ready to open up reservations, but hopefully soon.

Watch here for more updates,
and,
please save some of your vacation time next year for the Star Fleet Gaming Big Bang Blowout on July 16-21.

Thank you.

By David Cheng (Davec) on Monday, February 05, 2024 - 05:14 pm: Edit

CALL FOR GAME MASTERS!

OK, we've been talking about this for awhile. Time to get going with real action! The web site is finally ready for Prime Time, so there is a lot of information available for you all about the Star Fleet Gaming Big Bang Blowout, coming July 17-21, 2024.

The first big initiative is for Game Masters to start registering their events. The Event Registration form is now live on the web site (link below).

Please note that GMs get free entry to the con. Details available on the site. That's an $80 savings!

Please get your event registrations in by March 15, 2024. There will be reminders and status updates.

Next Up: Early bird registrations. Those of you not running events will have the opportunity to get into the con for the discounted rate of $50. That's 38% off! I need to get the PayPal payment buttons working first, so watch for more announcements over the next few days.

Hope to see many of you at the Star Fleet Gaming Big Bang Blowout this July!

Link:
GM Event Registration Page

By David Cheng (Davec) on Monday, February 26, 2024 - 05:12 pm: Edit

Early Bird Registration is now open!

Status report on the Star Fleet Gaming Big Bang Blowout convention, coming July 17-21, 2024.

Early Bird registration is now open. You can save $30, or 38%, off the convention registration fee. The Early Bird discount goes through April 15, 2024. After this, con entry goes up to $80.

Link for Early Bird Registration


GMs have submitted a bunch of good games. But there is room for plenty more! The only type of game that I think we have covered is RPGs. We have two GMs who are each running multiple tables. If any of you wants lots and lots of RPG games, please let us know that in your RSVP form. Prospective GMs, please keep submitting your games. You will get free entry to the con. Deadline = March 15, 2024.

Link to submit a game for the event schedule

Also, we have just updated the Hotel Info page. So you can book your hotel right after submitting your Early Bird Registration! Please click “Hotel Info” in the red menu across the top of each page on the web site (link below). Also, we caught a typo. The nightly rate for the con hotel is $86 per night, not $89, as has been published on the site for a few weeks now. Bonus cash!

Link to Lots of Hotel Information

Watch here, the ADB BBS, the Facebook groups, your SWA SFB email subscription, and other sites for more info.

Hope to see many of you at the Star Fleet Gaming Big Bang Blowout this July!

Location:
The Albany Airport Inn
200 Wolf Road
Albany, NY 12205


Here is a list of links with lots of information about the convention:

Main Convention Info Hub

Attendee Registration

Your RSVP status

Roll Call of known attendees

SFB Tournament Information

The Star Trek Set Tour in Ticonderoga, NY

Travel Information

By David Cheng (Davec) on Tuesday, April 02, 2024 - 12:10 am: Edit

ONLY TWO MORE WEEKS FOR EARLY-BIRD DISCOUNT REGISTRATION


Status report on the Star Fleet Gaming Big Bang Blowout convention, coming to Albany NY on July 17-21, 2024.

Today is April 1. That means Early Bird registration, and the chance to save $30 on your con entry badge, ends in exactly two weeks: Monday, April 15, 2024. After this, con entry goes up to $80.

GMs have submitted a bunch of good games. But there is room for plenty more! Prospective GMs, please keep submitting your games. You will get free entry to the con. Deadline = This Saturday, April 6, 2024.

Watch the FB groups, the ADB BBS, your SWA SFB email subscription, and other sites for more info.

Hope to see many of you at the Star Fleet Gaming Big Bang Blowout this July!

Location:
The Albany Airport Inn
200 Wolf Road
Albany, NY 12205
(More details on the BBB website)

https://www.starfleetbigbangblowout.com/attendee-registration/

By David Cheng (Davec) on Tuesday, April 16, 2024 - 01:23 am: Edit

Call for updated RSVPs, Last call for Events, and Early Bird Discount Extended

We are about three months away from the Star Fleet Big Bang Blowout gaming convention, coming July 17-21, 2024.

Several news items for today, April 15th.

1. Last Call for Events
I’ve been organizing gaming cons for many years, so I know it takes several rounds of nudging to get GMs to submit events. This is hopefully the last round of nudging. My goal is to publish the event schedule the first week of May. If any of you are interested in GMing an ADB game, or any game celebrating the Star Fleet Universe, please use the link below:

GM Event Registration

As a reminder, GMs get free entry to the whole convention.


2. Early Bird Discount Extended
Today, Tax Day, was supposed to be the last day to get the $30 Early Bird discount. But since we’re not yet ready to publish the event schedule, we are extending this as well. Register and pay by April 30 and your con badge will cost only $50. Please use the link below:

Attendee Registration


3. Updated RSVPs
It is super helpful for us to get a sense of how many of you are planning to attend. Some of you have already registered - thank you! Others have told us their Committed/Probably/Maybe status, but some of those RSVPs are many months old. Now that we are about three months from the con, we are hoping you have a better idea if you will attend or not. Please use the link below to let us know:

Your RSVP status

Please get your RSVPs in by Sunday, April 21.


Here are some other useful con info links.

Main Convention Info Hub

SFB Tournament Information

The Star Trek Set Tour in Ticonderoga, NY

Travel Information

Hotel Information


Questions or comments? Please email me at
Feedback@StarFleetBigBangBlowout.com


We hope to see many of you this July.


Thanks,
Dave Cheng
Convention Organizer