The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Blowing up ships in the Babylon 5 universe just got a whole lot better - and no, I'm not talking about Crusade. Babylon 5 Wars 2nd edition is cleaner, easier to understand, quicker to find rules in, and more.

Like full beautiful color.

For those who don't know, Babylon 5 Wars is the spaceship combat game set in the tumultuous world of Babylon 5 - where the future has been won only through pain and bloodshed. The four main races from the show - humans, Minbari, Centauri and Narn- are all represented in this boxed set, which gives all of the rules and details needed to let each of them blow the heck out of each other.

B5Wars is a hex based game that works with either counters (which are provided and quite lovely) or miniatures (loosely - as many of the ships take up more than one hex, but only count as being in a single hex). The rules are entirely D20 based and get picked up very quickly. They take up about half of the book, with numerous examples and illustrations to explain some of the trickier rules. In the 2nd Edition, most of the grayer areas of the rules have been either reworked (such as the previously devastating Minbari jammers) or reworded to be more easily grasped (such as fighters).

A quick overview of the rules: first comes power allocation. Not nearly as complicated as Star Fleet Battles - ships start with enough energy to do pretty much everything, but once their power plant begins to take damage, they have to choose their options carefully. Next, ships roll for initiative - modified by their size and, in some cases, race. Then, ships assign EW, Electronic Warfare. Each ship generates a number of EW points, which can be used either defensively, making them harder to be hit, or offensively, making their targets easier to hit. Next is movement, based on initiative, lowest to highest. Then the good part - combat. Finally is the end of the turn phase, where things like critical hits and repairs get worked out. There is a good deal of action that squeezes in there, but that's the general idea.

The rest of the book is made up on details of some of the weapons and ships of the four main races of B5. There is the Earth Alliance, with their famous Omega Destroyer, and the Starfury fighter - two of the most recognized ships of the show. Then of course there is the Minbari with their Sharlin Warcrusier - the horrific "fish ship" that destroyed hundreds of EA ships in the Minbari-Human war, as well as the White Star - the small but devastating ship that helped win the Shadow War. Next comes the Centauri, with their Primus Battlecrusier and much better known Vorchan Warship - each despised by much of the galaxy. Finally comes the Narn with their G'Quan Heavy Cruiser and Frazi Heavy Fighter. (That isn't all of the ships in the book - can't tell you EVERYTHING, can I?)

The look of the book is fantastic - filled with full-color cells from the series and a very nice layout. The information is easy to find, thanks to a very good Table of Contents that almost replaces the need for an Index. The book alone is almost worth the price of admission.

So, what else is in the box? There is a black and white booklet filled with the datasheets for all of the ships, as well as a Master Weapon Chart, Critical Hit Summary Chart, and playsheet. Putting this in a separate book is a good idea- this way; I can remove the staples and photocopy this stuff without disturbing the lovely main rulebook. The only thing better than this would be a diskette with PDF's of all of the control sheets. (hint, hint, AOG….)

You also get two sheets of full color counters to play the game with - including six of every ship and a slew of counters for the fighters. Personally, I'm too much of a miniatures nut to play with these, but they are very attractive. (And I just might find use for the opening warp gates, since I don't expect to see a miniature of these any time soon.) Interestingly enough, there are counters for a ship called the T'Khar - not included in the rules, presumably a Narn ship based on the name. There is also a smaller black and white sheet with counters to aid with gameplay - ship directional markers, counters to mark a ships turning point, escape pods and the like.

Next, we have 12 fighters - 6 Narn Frazis, 6 Centauri Sentris. This actually seems to me to be an afterthought. The first edition came with 3 of each type of fighter in the game. If you aren't a Narn or Centauri player, these don't do you much good - unless, of course, you trade them to someone who is.

Finally comes the hex sheets for gameplay. In the first edition included four smallish ones that did not fit well together - the 2nd edition includes two larger ones that work just fine. They are also numbered, to make PbeM games easy.

Overall, I think that the Babylon 5 Wars 2nd Edition is a good thing - the first edition rules were pretty rough and oftentimes got in the way of gameplay. The look of things has improved dramatically as well - this rulebook is one of the best looking on the market. The only real disappointment is the inclusion of fighters that aren't very handy to all players. Still, this is a relatively minor gripe that should not stop interested players from getting into Babylon 5 Wars and blowing up ships.

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Babylon 5 Wars 2nd Edition
Author: Bruce Graw, Robert Glass Category: game Company/Publisher: Agents of Gaming Line: Babylon 5 Wars Page count: Boxed set/96 page book Capsule Review by Robert E. Allen III on 06/27/99. Genre tags: Science_fiction Space	Blowing up ships in the Babylon 5 universe just got a whole lot better - and no, I'm not talking about Crusade. Babylon 5 Wars 2nd edition is cleaner, easier to understand, quicker to find rules in, and more. Like full beautiful color. For those who don't know, Babylon 5 Wars is the spaceship combat game set in the tumultuous world of Babylon 5 - where the future has been won only through pain and bloodshed. The four main races from the show - humans, Minbari, Centauri and Narn- are all represented in this boxed set, which gives all of the rules and details needed to let each of them blow the heck out of each other. B5Wars is a hex based game that works with either counters (which are provided and quite lovely) or miniatures (loosely - as many of the ships take up more than one hex, but only count as being in a single hex). The rules are entirely D20 based and get picked up very quickly. They take up about half of the book, with numerous examples and illustrations to explain some of the trickier rules. In the 2nd Edition, most of the grayer areas of the rules have been either reworked (such as the previously devastating Minbari jammers) or reworded to be more easily grasped (such as fighters). A quick overview of the rules: first comes power allocation. Not nearly as complicated as Star Fleet Battles - ships start with enough energy to do pretty much everything, but once their power plant begins to take damage, they have to choose their options carefully. Next, ships roll for initiative - modified by their size and, in some cases, race. Then, ships assign EW, Electronic Warfare. Each ship generates a number of EW points, which can be used either defensively, making them harder to be hit, or offensively, making their targets easier to hit. Next is movement, based on initiative, lowest to highest. Then the good part - combat. Finally is the end of the turn phase, where things like critical hits and repairs get worked out. There is a good deal of action that squeezes in there, but that's the general idea. The rest of the book is made up on details of some of the weapons and ships of the four main races of B5. There is the Earth Alliance, with their famous Omega Destroyer, and the Starfury fighter - two of the most recognized ships of the show. Then of course there is the Minbari with their Sharlin Warcrusier - the horrific "fish ship" that destroyed hundreds of EA ships in the Minbari-Human war, as well as the White Star - the small but devastating ship that helped win the Shadow War. Next comes the Centauri, with their Primus Battlecrusier and much better known Vorchan Warship - each despised by much of the galaxy. Finally comes the Narn with their G'Quan Heavy Cruiser and Frazi Heavy Fighter. (That isn't all of the ships in the book - can't tell you EVERYTHING, can I?) The look of the book is fantastic - filled with full-color cells from the series and a very nice layout. The information is easy to find, thanks to a very good Table of Contents that almost replaces the need for an Index. The book alone is almost worth the price of admission. So, what else is in the box? There is a black and white booklet filled with the datasheets for all of the ships, as well as a Master Weapon Chart, Critical Hit Summary Chart, and playsheet. Putting this in a separate book is a good idea- this way; I can remove the staples and photocopy this stuff without disturbing the lovely main rulebook. The only thing better than this would be a diskette with PDF's of all of the control sheets. (hint, hint, AOG….) You also get two sheets of full color counters to play the game with - including six of every ship and a slew of counters for the fighters. Personally, I'm too much of a miniatures nut to play with these, but they are very attractive. (And I just might find use for the opening warp gates, since I don't expect to see a miniature of these any time soon.) Interestingly enough, there are counters for a ship called the T'Khar - not included in the rules, presumably a Narn ship based on the name. There is also a smaller black and white sheet with counters to aid with gameplay - ship directional markers, counters to mark a ships turning point, escape pods and the like. Next, we have 12 fighters - 6 Narn Frazis, 6 Centauri Sentris. This actually seems to me to be an afterthought. The first edition came with 3 of each type of fighter in the game. If you aren't a Narn or Centauri player, these don't do you much good - unless, of course, you trade them to someone who is. Finally comes the hex sheets for gameplay. In the first edition included four smallish ones that did not fit well together - the 2nd edition includes two larger ones that work just fine. They are also numbered, to make PbeM games easy. Overall, I think that the Babylon 5 Wars 2nd Edition is a good thing - the first edition rules were pretty rough and oftentimes got in the way of gameplay. The look of things has improved dramatically as well - this rulebook is one of the best looking on the market. The only real disappointment is the inclusion of fighters that aren't very handy to all players. Still, this is a relatively minor gripe that should not stop interested players from getting into Babylon 5 Wars and blowing up ships. Style: 5 (Excellent!) Substance: 4 (Meaty)