Federation Commander

I realize that 'by definition' anyone who plays SFB is a wargamer, but I'm going to find it interesting to introduce a friend of mine to the game next month or so. We've played dozens of wargames over the past 10 years, almost all historical, and many take months to play from start to finish (with one night a week set aside).

Because of that precedent, I can easily see us playing larger scenarios and leaving it set up from week to week over a month or two. Obviously this isn't a 'new' concept, and SFB Online permits that kind of large battle over multiple sittings way of playing quite easily. But it will still be interesting to see his take on it.

Myself, having played wargames, I've already brought two things to the game that I never did when I played SFB exclusively...

1. Playing solitaire: I don't mean playing the solitaire scenarios, I mean 'playing both sides'. I've solitaired a couple of home grown scenarios to get a good handle on if they may be balanced, or at least if they could be fun with the other players in my area.

2. Clipping counters... Dog eared counters are horrible in wargames with large stacks so I clip the corners. Even though SFB doesn't have this problem, I can no longer play my games with unclipped counters.

Anyhow, I'll post some reports of games we end up playing.

gambler1650 wrote:I realize that 'by definition' anyone who plays SFB is a wargamer, but I'm going to find it interesting to introduce a friend of mine to the game next month or so. We've played dozens of wargames over the past 10 years, almost all historical, and many take months to play from start to finish (with one night a week set aside).

Our group also started out as a "wargaming" grpoup - and we still play many wargames in addition to SFB and FC. We have played The Longest Day, Rise and Decline of the Third Reich, The Russian Cam

gambler1650 wrote:as well as some of the newer style EuroGames.
That being said, Welcome to the fold.

gambler1650 wrote:Because of that precedent, I can easily see us playing larger scenarios and leaving it set up from week to week over a month or two. Obviously this isn't a 'new' concept, and SFB Online permits that kind of large battle over multiple sittings way of playing quite easily. But it will still be interesting to see his take on it.

We have set-up many of the larger sceanrios and left them set-up until completed... or sometimes recorded all the positions, and then reset them at a later date.
Until we got old enough to purchase houses... this is the way we played F&E. Start at my apartment on a Saturday... play until late Sturday night... record the positions as we picked up the game... 2 or 3 weeks later, set-up on a Saturdya at someone elses place... play until late... record locations as we picked up the game... lather, rinse, repeat.
Now, we just set it up at a friends house in the gaming attic... and leave it set up for the year to year 1/2 it takes to play...

gambler1650 wrote:1. Playing solitaire: I don't mean playing the solitaire scenarios, I mean 'playing both sides'. I've solitaired a couple of home grown scenarios to get a good handle on if they may be balanced, or at least if they could be fun with the other players in my area.

I still do this when designing new FC scenarios or when converting SFB scenarios over. They don't get emailed to ADB until I've played them through a few times on each side.

gambler1650 wrote:2. Clipping counters... Dog eared counters are horrible in wargames with large stacks so I clip the corners. Even though SFB doesn't have this problem, I can no longer play my games with unclipped counters.

Yep. All of my SFB counters are clipped.
And so are all 30,000 or so of my F&E counters.

gambler1650 wrote:Anyhow, I'll post some reports of games we end up playing.

Please do. I look forward to seeing other persons takes on my life-style addiction of choice!

gambler1650 wrote: 2. Clipping counters... Dog eared counters are horrible in wargames with large stacks so I clip the corners. Even though SFB doesn't have this problem, I can no longer play my games with unclipped counters.

I clip mine too with a fingernail clipper. What happens is the little piece of threading is still on the corner after you punch it out of the card and doesn't help much for hexagonal placement and stacks of plasmas/drones/shuttles/fighters. This is for those who have not gotten to the miniatures yet. It makes the counters neat and clean.

I learned this from boardgamegeek.com, and I also use nail-clippers. You'd be surprised how many you can do with a box on your lap in front of the TV.

BTW LOVE your avatar Mike. I have a soft spot for the old Fed DD. ^.^

Thanks, I found that on a net search. I have a softspot for all 4 of those ships.