Force Notes for Captain's Log #52 is closed.

Force Notes submitted after this point will be considered for Captain's Log #53.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Saturday, May 04, 2019 - 05:40 pm: Edit

Force Notes posted after this date will be considered for Captain's Log #54.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Wednesday, August 12, 2020 - 02:32 pm: Edit

Force Notes for Captain's Log #54 is closed.

Force Notes submitted after this point will be considered for Captain's Log #55.

By Ginger McMurray (Gingermcmurray) on Sunday, July 31, 2022 - 01:56 pm: Edit

This isn't really a tactics discussion but there's no "general topic for SFBF so I'll post here and briefly mention tactics to keep it on topic.

My granddaughter (11) and I played several games yesterday. She loved it. Game one we played by the suggested rules for first timers: 5 ships and limited cards. We also left out carriers. The second game we played the Basic game and used all of the cards but left out carriers, web, and cloak so we were slowly introducing things.

My son (20) and daughter (18) joined us for the third game so we didn't add any extra rules. We then added in carriers and the PF squadron but still left out cloak, web, and the formation zones.

For all games except th last we allowed people to totally discard everything they couldn't use and replace them at the start of their turn. It definitely sped things up because everyone had lots of usable weapons. The last game we stuck to the rules.

Tactics: I did very well by firing everything I could every turn so my hand was constantly refilling. I was also able to snipe a couple of dreadnaughts when people underestimated how much damage they needed to throw in.

Destroying someone's capability to fire a weapon type was brutal.

Observations: reinforcements and the kilngon mutiny are really powerful, especially if the same person draws them multiple times. We may leave them out in future games.

Fighters seemed OK. 2d6 minus damage dealt isn't very much. The PF flotilla and ground bases fighters were much better thanks to adding their strength to the damage.

The games were really fun. We would have played another game with full advanced rules but she's leaving today and we have tickets to Frozen, the Musical. It's more important. :-)

By Joseph Jackson (Bonneville) on Sunday, November 26, 2023 - 02:01 am: Edit

Well heck, I could just ditto GM's post on this subject.
Played SFBF for the first time after turkey dinner. It was me and 2 of the grandkids. We all enjoyed it a great deal.
Basic rules, one game, played about 90 minutes including opening wrap and set up.
Read rules earlier so play went smooth. Easy game to pick up.
Tactically, keeping and holding weapon cards your opponent needs was a favorite tactic by eldest grandchild.
Ultimately, the younger child with a reinforcement card and an enveloping plasma-S turned the tide and won the day.
IMHO SFBF beats the heck out of watching the kids play Mario Cart for the umpteenth time.

By Ginger McMurray (Gingermcmurray) on Sunday, November 26, 2023 - 10:13 am: Edit

Have you played Mario Cart yourself? Joining is much more fun than watching, though expect to lose a lot. I always do.

By Joseph Jackson (Bonneville) on Sunday, November 26, 2023 - 01:13 pm: Edit

I'm considered the 'designated loser' in most video game sessions I participate in.
Although, I was pretty good at Centipede back in the day. Probably because it wasn't multi-player.

By Joseph Jackson (Bonneville) on Sunday, December 03, 2023 - 01:19 am: Edit

I took SFBF to my brother's house today, he lives a couple of hours south of me.
With grilled cheese sandwiches at the ready, we introduced 4 of his 6 kids to 3 hours of relative mayhem in space.
What was neat was that 6 could play, ranging in ages separated by decades, and all could be engaged.
Everyone took to the rules rapidly, the youngest struggled a bit, and one child took to the rules quickly, but struggled a little with tactics. He still took 3rd place overall.
Now to pretend to stay on topic, my bro and I struggled (as old SFB hands) to not play empire against empire.
But my eldest nephew, securing a reinforcements card and a Klingon mutiny card, dominated the kill count with Romulan, Klingon, and Orion ships.
So next time, we're going with a more random approach to ship selection and see how it goes.
Hopefully, with some more experience, we can delve a little deeper into the tactical nuances of SFBF!

By Joseph Jackson (Bonneville) on Sunday, December 03, 2023 - 04:31 pm: Edit

Having slept on it, here's a thought or two:
If separation of empires is used in SFBF, the Federation is at a slight disadvantage. Everyone can horde photon cards but the feds can't horde disruptor or plasme cards and still Mount any kind of offense.
Naturally, the simplest solutions are to not horde ships by empire, ally up, dump cards like a bad stock option and try to scoop up a photon card in volume, use you carrier and phasers like crazy, etc.
Once again I find myself thinking that I should play a lot more before offering my bad advice.

By Jeff Guthridge (Jeff_Guthridge) on Sunday, December 03, 2023 - 06:33 pm: Edit

Ages ago, like when SFBF first came out retail, my group decided on a house rule that stated at the end of a players turn, any cards in their hand that corresponded to a weapon system none of their ships could possibly use must be discarded. It prevented the horde of photons quite nicely.

It could probably be refined to something Steve Level Good, but it worked for us.

Once, and I do mean ONCE, we tried a variation that allowed players to fire one of their ship's heavy weapons every turn without the need for a card, but if a card is used, it's damage was added to the base attack. That game was brutal, nasty, and short. We gave up on the notion after that. It made the feddies about twiece as potent.

By Joseph Jackson (Bonneville) on Friday, December 08, 2023 - 09:48 pm: Edit

Sat down again with my Bro and his kids. This game we added some Captains Log additions download from SFG.com.
We added the Juggernaut monster, the B10, and Fed battleship, Hydrans, and BATS.
as the Hydran employ PHOTON cards the ability and potential to put the squeeze on the Feds was diminished.
Also, the Juggernaut threat left little room for hoarding cards you can't use.
My Bro tells me the kids played the game all week without us. So we just might have them hooked.
Looking forward trying CL23 SFBF version of the Suprize Reversed, and some other play test downloads.
My other Bro, the Klingon, should be available next week to resume our SFB Game.

By Joseph Jackson (Bonneville) on Saturday, December 16, 2023 - 11:28 am: Edit

The SFBF saga continues. My Bro is recovering from a medical procedure and long story short, I spent the day at his place.
He wasn't up to playing but his oldest son and I set up a base assault game. It played out like the General War in microcosm. I attacked with Klingon/Romulan forces and scored some early kills. The cards were against him until he summoned up a massive 5 card alpha strike against my Romulan Dreadnought. Then it was a lot of back and forth as the tides of war rolled in and out.
After he drew reinforcements followed by klingon mutiny things we looking grim for my invasion force. I was building an alpha strike of vengence when he played the organian peace treaty.
That was his undoing. After the reshuffle the card gods utterly abandoned him and I rapidly swept the board, claming victory.
Later a gaggle of us played a free for all, 15 round limit game. A trophy was up for grabs to the winner: a king sized package of reeses peanut butter cups.
Only trouble we had was some play test Lyran ESGs.
Couldn't find rules so kids made some up. I made the tactical choice (as this is a tactics topic) to target and obliterate the Lyran ships to eliminate the problem. I got the ships but it cost me the win.
Editorially speaking, SFBF is the perfect size for stocking stuffers and a fine travel companion, and a great tool of introduction to the Star Fleet Universe. All in all a great game. This year, my Bro's family gets a copy, my Daughter's family gets a copy, and I'm gonna drop a copy off at a toys for tots bin. Come January, I'll have to buy another copy for me!