Federation Commander

So, a few weeks back I managed to find an original Star Fleet Battles set at a used book store (In pretty good condition, too!)

And I'm really glad to have a set of some of the original SSD's I now have some ships I was missing from MY sets (FRD, Federation DD (The Franz Joseph one), etc)

But I'm noticing they are only half a page, which considering that Fed Com SSD's are half a page and more crowded than these, I'm thinking there is some missing data (There are FOUR Andromedan Cobras on the same half-page...)

I am a Fed Com player these days, and I've forgotten most of my SFB rules, I was thinking about taking these guys and dividing by 2 for Fed Com and trying to use them (It's a temporary thing: Until I can purchase the sets in Fed Com: I've been buying a lot of Fed Com stuff these days -including some 2500's-, and so I'm sort of on a "Shopping Hold" with my wife for a month or two ).

What is missing from these early SSD's?

Thanks!

-Guy

On some of them, nothing, on others, the ships changed over time.

Obviously, modern Block 4 SSDs have weapons charts and ammo/crew check-off boxes, which those old ones don't have.

Which version did you get: Designer, Commanders --

Designers (Pocket version) had several ships on a foldout page (up to 8 ships IIRC), with no movement, weapons or data chart ---

Commanders Vol I/II, same but in booklet form (2 ships per page on each side)--
Commanders Vol III, added the Movement Cost Chart, weapons charts for the ships, Turn mode chart and Ship Data Table -- 1 Ship per page

Afterwards, Commander's SSD Books were released in the format introduced in Vol III ---

You need to convince your opponents to let you use those four Andromedan Cobras ...

The big thing that you will likely find missing are the refits. So, that Fed DD will not show the four lab that change to power, and that Fed CA might not show its extra power, phasers, drone, and shields.

Quite frankly, most old SSDs are only really useful for completists, collectors, and SFB grognards. I don't think they are terribly useful for anyone else, nor are they actually worth a whole lot.

I've become a Grognard!

As far as the edition: It was used and loved and 30+ years old, I think it had the original boxed set (It's in a large, 8.5"x11" box with a federation CA fighting two D7s and says simply "Star Fleet Battles" numbered 5001). But it does have the Supplement #1 rulebook in it.

The SSD's are 8.5x5.5" and clearly cut in half (I can see a dotted line on one side... they were hand-cut so the cut weaves back and forth).

Anyway, I guess I could get the point values from the Master Ship Chart, and I don't really use the movement charts (FedCom).

Is there a pdf with just the original SFB SSD's for FedCom? I figured I'd get them someday after buying all of the sets, but figured it would be a some ships here, some ships there sort of thing... That is sort of my drive to convert these SSD's over: That way when I get one set of SSD's that only replaces 4 or 5 of them, then I could still use the others until I can afford the rest of the sets.

By "grognard", I mean one who strongly prefers an older version of a game to the exclusion of the newest version. I.e. someone who loves the Designer's Edition of SFB, but despises the Captain's Edition. Or someone who loves D20 3.5 or 2.0, but considers 4.0 (or the forthcoming 5.0) as inferior. (I guess a true "grognard" would substitute "tool of Satan" or "an abomination" instead of "inferior".) It is up to the reader to determine if "grognard" is a negative appellation.

Your phrase "a pdf with just the original SFB SSDs for FedCom" doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, so I can't figure out what you are asking for. Do note that all of the ship cards from Klingon Border and Romulan Border can be found in Commanders' Circle. (And lots more besides, of course.)

Ah... I bought Klingon Border to begin with, then I got a few squadrons (Multiple fleets). But (And this is where I get geeky, I'm sorry), I draw a fan comic about a FJ DD and I kinda always wanted to have my DD (Tamerlane, NCC-510) in a game somewhere. But I seem to have no real luck figuring out how to get that specific ship card. I have, like, 5 Zocchi DD's just waiting for Tennshington to get to the point they can make special decals for her

Anyway, I'll look into the Commander's Circle. That may be EXACTLY what I'm looking for.

The FJ DD, along with all of the other FJ ships, is in Federation Commander Booster #91.

An earlier playtest Federation Commander version of the FJ DD is in the Federation Commander Commander's Circle on the ADB website.

Hey, fellow grognard--

Starting from the SFU home page, if you click "Star Fleet Battles," then "Player Resources," then "Federation Commander Downloads," you can find a couple of articles that give some guidelines for converting SFB SSDs for use in FC (sorry for all the abreviations).

If you look on the index for COMMANDER'S CIRCLE and go there you'll easily find a Fed DD shipcard you can download.

We just don't sell individual cards because the hand labor to get them costs more than the cards cost. I suppose we might do it and not lose money for $5 per card but that would seem to be gouging people.

I completely understand. It's not a problem, someday I'll be able to buy all of the cards. For right now it's a good compromise!

I downloaded the card from the Commanders' Circle as well as the FBB (Which I had been using my FF card for...). I'm really grateful you guys do that for us!

have lots off SSDs old 1/2 sheets and v1,v11,v111

[Please don't put our SSDs online. They are copyright protected so even if they are free, don't post them. Since they will no doubt be removed soon, the link to them is deleted. -- Jean]

[Official link to SFB tournament SSDs: http://www.starfleetgames.com/sfb/tourn ... down.shtml ]

dltraichal wrote:have lots off SSDs old 1/2 sheets and v1,v11,v111

...link deleted...

Probably not a good idea to post that link here.
Even though the tournament SSDs are free to download off the ADB website, they are constantly under review and subject to revision.

Someone who downloaded these versions and then went to an official tournament might be shocked to find that hte ship they'd been playing for months was not actually valid.