Franz Joseph expansion

[Finarvyn]

Pardon if I get this wrong, becasue I'm more of a SFB guy but have been thinking of upgrading to FC.

I was in a game store the other day and saw something which was called the "Franz Joseph expansion" or some such, and I understand it to be SSDs based on the old Star Fleet Technical manual from the 1970's. I'm a big fan of that book, and it nearly made the sale for me on the spot, but I got to wondering about Klingon and Romulan ships of that style.

If I wanted to try a "Franz Joseph" only game, what Klingon and Romulan SSDs would I have to acquire as well?

[Finarvyn]

To springboard off of my own post, I would be looking mostly for ships that are "canon" TOS -- in other words the Romulan Bird of Prey, along with Klingon D6, D7, C8, and C9 (I think).

Is there a single product that has SSDs for just these ships or does one have to pick up several supplements in order to get them?

Also, as far as miniatures goes I'd be looking for ships just from the TOS and probably not a lot otherwise. Is there a single product that has all of the "basic" ships or do I have to buy several?

[djdood]

You kind of have your sub-sets mixed in your request.

The "Ships of Franz Joesph" Booster for Federation Commander has ship cards for the various SFU incarnations of the original ships presented in FJS' Star Fleet Technical Manual book (the book that was part of the foundation for the whole SFU). The ships in the book (CA, DD, Sc, DN, Tug) are presented in the Booster as DDM, DD (FJ), DDG, DDL, Sc, Tug, DN (FJ), and CAR.

The DD, DN (FJ), and Tug (FJ) had previously been published in Communique.

There are no Klingon or Romulan ships in the Booster, as there were none in FJS' book. FJS never did anything covering the "bad guys". He did his Tech Manual book and the "Booklet of General Plans" blueprints for the Enterprise and that was it.

Lots of folks' memory tells them otherwise, but they are confusing later blueprint sets by Micheal McMaster, etc. with the Technical Manual (which has never changed, since its original publication). Those later drawings all tend to be inspired by FJS' work and very much follow his style. Easily confused.

The "Original Series" "tv ships" you are looking for would be obtainable two ways -

The "Middle Years" (tv-series era) versions of all empires ships are presented in FC Briefing #2.

The "General War era" versions of the Klingons ships (the versions most SFB players are used to using) are in the original FC box-set Klingon Border, along with more in the Klingon Attack expansion.

The GW-era Romulans are likewise presented in the second box-set (either box-set is a complete game), Romulan Border, along with more in the Romulan Attack expansion.

[OGOPTIMUS]

What you saw was Boster #91--The Ships of Franz Joseph. This has the ships found in the Technical Manual (with a few variations).

There is also Squadron Box #91, which has the 5 ships (DN, CA, DD, SC, Tug) cast in plastic. Just those 5.

In terms of Klingons and Romulans, I'm not 100% sure, but I don't recall anything appeared in TOS except the D6/7, Warbird/War Eagle, and the KR/K7R (Romulan D7).

Those are sprinkled in Klingon Border and Romulan Border.

The D6 and D7 are also in Booster #2.

The War Eagle is in Booster #9

The Romulan KR is in Booster #8.

The Romulan K7R is available in Communique--which is free here: http://www.starfleetgames.com/federatio ... hips.shtml

These are all the fully refitted General War Era ships. The earlier ones, that would have been around during The Original Series are in Briefing #2 ( http://store.starfleetstore.com/merchan ... ry_Code=02 ).

In terms of miniatures for these, the D6/7/KR/K7R (all are essentially externally identical) is available as a separate mini ( http://store.starfleetstore.com/merchan ... ry_Code=KM ), and the War Eagle is available here ( http://store.starfleetstore.com/merchan ... ry_Code=RM ). Note, the War Eagle only comes in a combo pack with a Snipe in stores.

[Predator06]

I always thought of the Basic SFU CA as the enterprise we first saw kirk take command of. According to trek cannon, the conny underwent a major refit either during or after season one. which I have always thought of as the SFU CA+. The TOS enterprise underwent several big refits. Which to me were always represented in SFU by the additional Upgraded versions.

I thought there was even a Pre Kirk era version. Sort of a Pre basic conny that has never been represented in SFU. But according to a reply I got on another thread that may not be the case.

I guess the best opposites for the first versions of the ships would be the un refitted F5/D6/D7 and both the C8/9. But I think the FC versions are the refitted ships.

If I remember correctly the C8 and C9 were both produced at the same time. One being specialized for the western border with the hydrans, and the other for the eastern border with the flat heads. I think the C8 was the fed DNs counterpart. not sure, its been a while seance I even looked at my old SFB stuff.

[terryoc]

The pre-Kirk era federation heavy cruiser would have been the R-class, with ships like Republic and Reshadije. They were pretty much identical to the Constitution class however.

[Jack Bohn]

Don't forget the Tholian Patrol Corvette, or better, the Destroyer.

With the caveat that they were shown on TV passing over the Enterprise saucer showing a length of about 20 meters, while the SFB ships and the miniatures used for them scale out more on the order of 90 meters.

--
-Jack

[Steve Cole]

What is and isn't canon varies from time to time and fan to fan.

The C8 and C9 are ADB inventions, extrapolated from the D7.

The D6 comes from the old Klingon deck plans (which are also the source for the security stations, drones, and such things). Many think that the D6 is the Romulan version, but the original source material said that the D7 was an improved D6 and that the Klingons sold the old D6s to the Romulans as they replaced them with D7s.

The D6, D7, C8, F5 and C7 are in Klingon Border. The D5 and D5W and E4 are in Klingon Attack.

If you go to the commander's circle and look at the master ship chart, it lists all of the ships and what product they are in.

[RIS_Mace]

Although it isn't FJ, I always took the small, fast, phaser-armed Orion ship from "Journey to Babel" to be the Orion Light Raider, armed with ph-1 in the option mounts.

[Finarvyn]

Thanks for all of the replies. Clearly my question was more complex than I thought.

Sounds like I need to focus on Booster 91 and Squadron Box 91 for the Federation ships and then pick some basic Klingon and Romulan ships from there.

At least this gives me a bit more of a plan...

[Steve Cole]

Far be it from me to say anything other than "oh, just buy everything" but if you want to "go cheap" you could download the free first missions book and buy booster 91 and download some ships from the Commander's Circle and play for a while.

Then you might want to buy the Reference Rulebook (so you'd have cloak, plasma, and drone rules) and use more ships from commander's circle.

[Nerroth]

Of the ships in Booster #91, the ones which reflect the Technical Manual are perhaps best suited to serve in the Middle Years era - as covered in Briefing #2.

B2 gives you the Star Fleet ships needed to round things out, as well as the kind of Middle Years Klingon and Romulan (and Gorn and Kzinti and Orion and other) ships to pit them against.


As noted in another thread, you could get B2 and the aforementioned Reference Rulebook, and be good to go!

[Finarvyn]

Far be it from me to say anything other than "oh, just buy everything" but if you want to "go cheap" you could download the free first missions book and buy booster 91 and download some ships from the Commander's Circle and play for a while.

I appreciate the information. I figure if I start off simple, I can accomplish a couple of goals.
1. I can play with a more canon-TOS era, which is my favorite.
2. I can get a good introduction to the game, so I can expand later on.

Everything I've heard about Federation Commander is quite positive, so I'll probably end up buying a bunch of stuff soon anyway! Ultimately, I'll probably want the "real thing" instead of "on the cheap" shortcuts.

[Jeffr0]

Ultimately, I'll probably want the "real thing" instead of "on the cheap" shortcuts.

Any temptation on my part to "go cheap" is countered by the really nice components in the Border products. I really want those map panels and extra-large counters for playing SFB or Klingon Armada. The descriptions of the FedCom fleet battles makes me want to buy it even more....

Will power... breaking down...

Must... buy... Federation... Commander...

[JimDauphinais]

Do the CAR, Original DN and 4-photon DD make it to the General War era?

They seem out place with neither Phaser 3s nor Drones.