The 25-page booklet has a glossy cardstock cover and back, decorated with art from the B5 series. The rear cover's interior may be cut out to provide 20 spaceship counters used to play the starter game and its four included scenarios. Each ship counter has four fire arcs (used for determining what weapon(s) can be brought to bear. Other than the counters, all you need is a surface on which to play, some d6 dice and a measuring tape/ruler to figure distances. Pre-measuring is allowed in this game, meaning that any player can measure a distance from, say, one ship to any other at any point in the game.
Ship stats reflect various combat factors. Speed reflects movement rating while Turns tells how many turns a ship can make during movement and how large an angle turn can be made. Hull reflects the required roll on Attack Dice (see below) to score a hit and to cause possible damage. Damage notes how much damage a ship can take before its abilities are critically degraded or before the ship is destroyed altogether; a ship rated as 15/5, for example has 15 points of damage before it's destroyed. Once the ship has 5 or fewer remaining points of damage left, it's "Crippled", affecting its speed, turning and ability to fire weapons. B5 also considers Crew as a rating similar to Damage. Lose enough crew (e.g., 10/3) and your ship will be limited in its ability to fire and to repair damage.
Ship's weapons are rated in four categories. Range obviously indicates how far out a ship can fire with a certain weapon type. Arc indicates which of the four arcs the weapon can fire from (e.g., some ships have weapons that can only be fired straight ahead in the forward firing arc). Special rules are also noted to reflect things like weaker weaponry, slower loading times, etc. and help vary ship armaments to make the game more interesting. Attack Dice (AD) indicate how many d6 are rolled for a weapon type---the more dice, the higher the chance of damaging an enemy ship.
Once players have selected a scenario or have otherwise set up just to shoot at each other, they enter a four phase turn. Initiative is the first phase. Whoever wins this phase (roll 2d6 and high roll wins), chooses whether to go first or to force his opponent to go first. Players then enter the Movement phase. Movement of each ship alternates until both players have moved all of their ships. Ship movement is mandatory and ships must move at least 1/2 their movement rating.
The Attack phase is next, again taken in alternating order based on who won the Initiative. Unlike some starship games where combat is taken to be simultaneous, B5ACTASS allows the player who shoots first to have an advantage. Effects of shooting a target are resolved BEFORE play passes to the next player. If you're lucky or strategically brilliant enough to knock out your opponent's guns or to blow him up first, then your ship can avoid any attacks your enemy's ship might have launched.
Here's an example of an attack: A weapon with AD (3) versus a ship with Hull (5) would roll 3d6. Each roll of 5 or higher would be a 'hit' that would be followed by a roll on the Damage chart to determine no damage; partial damage to crew/ship; possible critical hit and additional systems damage. When rolling AD, rolling a '1' is a failure in all cases and rolling a '6' always indicates a potentially damaging hit.
Once hits are determined, players consult charts to determine the effects of their attacks. Depending on the dice roll, damage can be negated completely or can affect various systems in the target ship, depending on the outcomes of these rolls. Damage and any special effects are applied immediately. Once all attacks are resolved, the turn enters the End phase. During End phase, ships can attempt damage repairs by making Damage Control rolls. Some damage, once sustained, can never be repaired during a battle. Assuming the scenario has not been completed at this point, it's time for a new turn and process continues until the game ends.
While the book is pretty nicely set out, I was a little disappointed in the presentation. About a quarter of the booklet seems like wasted space. Six pages, inclusive, are devoted to a catalog of miniatures, game play in progress photos and a single quote taking up a single page each. I also didn’t like having to sacrifice the back cover in order to use the counters. Those are just my own personal takes but they did impact my rating on editing/organization.
Overall, B5ACTASS is a workable game. It's simple enough to cover small to medium-sized fleet actions but complex enough to provide individualized outcomes for smaller engagements. The booklet provides a healthy number of varied ship and weapon types and scenarios for learning the game. If you like B5 and/or spaceship minis games, this starter might just be enough to play the occasional game without having to pay for the more expensive full boxed set.
