Amarillo Design Bureau (ADB) has published Federation Commander since 2005, beginning with the Klingon Border box set, and supported it with regular releases since then. It is a game of star ship combat, set in an alternate universe based on the original Star Trek series. It is a newer and streamlined system descended from Star Fleet Battles, the venerable Star Fleet wargame. Much of Federation Commander is a translation of the original into a new rule set. The ships, history, and aliens are the same. However, it is quite a different game in terms of both playability and tactics, which lets this game stand on its own.
Many players of Star Fleet Battles seem to think Federation Commander is a “simplified” game, like a junior version of the original. This has led many of them to either not try the new game or, if they try, to sit and compare it to SFB and miss what makes Federation Commander a good game. This review will discuss this aspect further down.
This review is of the overall system. It has sections for people new to the game, a section for players of Star Fleet Battles contrasting the two games, and includes a short buying guide.
THE UNIVERSE
The Star Fleet Universe is a product with an odd, but interesting license. They negotiated the license in the late 70s, in the days before the films turned Trek into a mega-property (though it was a major hit on syndicated TV). It is official with Paramount, though the detail of how they ended up with such a cool license escapes me. The upshot is that their license is non-revocable. In the time Task Force Games, and then Amarillo Design Bureau, have been publishing Star Fleet games, other companies have published official Trek games, including FASA, Last Unicorn, and Decipher, only to lose the license after a time. This cannot happen to ADB. They have enhanced their product line to include role-play games, bringing the Star Fleet Universe to d20, d20 Modern, GURPS, and soon to Savage Worlds. It also includes strategy and card games in the same universe, and crossovers with other companies that will add cool new products: a Star Fleet Universe version of Gorilla Games Battlestations.
The downside is that they are limited in what they can use. They cannot use anything from the movies or later Trek TV shows, only partial material from the Original Series and the Animated Series, plus information in books like Franz Joseph’s perennial classic tome, The Star Fleet Technical Manual. They cannot use names like Spock and Kirk, but what they can use is the essence of Trek.
There is an upside to the downside as well. This limitation has led to a separate history for the Star Fleet Universe (SFU), including a volume of ship designs, scenarios and history. The SFU is a bit more like the way my friends and I envisioned Trek when we played it as a kid, with my grandma’s ironing board the helm and navigator’s station, and my grandpa’s old electric shaver in hand as a phaser-1. We used to see the Trek universe as more dangerous, more like a frontier (or as Gene Roddenberry put it, a “Wagon Train to the Stars”). We imagined we were infiltrating a Gorn base, or on the bridge, firing photon torpedoes at Klingons who dared to come too close to our edge of the Neutral Zone. Later Trek tamed the frontier, making it into a different beast, which while I still love it for what it became, that kid in me still loves a good phaser shoot out. J.J. Abrams got that right with the Star Trek movie.
I tend to think of the SFU as its own parallel universe, along side of the “Prime” Universe, the “Mirror” Universe, the “Antimatter” Universe, and the alternate timeline of the new Star Trek (2009) movie. All have their similarities and their differences. Much of the SFU action takes place around the events of the General War, a multi-Empire conflict avoided in the Prime Universe. Best yet: It has Gorns, a fan-favorite alien last seen in the Animated series and ignored by Trek writers until thirty years later when it appeared on Star Trek: Enterprise.
The background of the SFU is complex (though no where as much as Traveller), but having a casual knowledge of TOS is really all you need for Federation Commander, which has taken care to minimize the need to learn a complex history in favor of playing the game.
OVERVIEW OF THE GAME
Federation Commander is a game for one or more players. Each player commands one or more star ships in a scenario pitting them against other players, or against the occasional solitaire scenario.
For each ship you control, you must navigate them across a hex grid (there is an option to use turn gages for play without a grid as well, great for minis). Each turn your ship generates an amount of energy when you spend to maneuver, fire weapons, and repair and reinforce shields. The game gets interesting as damage robs your ship of power, forcing you to make life and death decisions on how power is used. Federation Commander has an elegant system to handle power that is very quick, and lets you decide how to use it as needs arise.
At your command are a series of weapons and systems, with each empire having a different set of tools they use. The Federation ships brandish powerful Phaser-1’s, smaller Phaser-3’s, and one or more racks of drones (a space missile that tracks enemy units). The Federation signature weapon is the Photon Torpedo, which take a long time to prepare to fire, and is shorter range than the beam weapons, but packs a hell of a punch. Klingons have disruptors, a beam weapon that unlike a phaser can overloaded to cause more damage, and their ships tend to be more maneuverable than other ships of the same type. Kzintis, the feline race from the Animated series, have tons of drone racks to keep drones flying, while Romulans have a cloaking device to protect themselves until they can maximize their striking distance. There are other empires as well, each with their own set of toys, introduced in later expansions.
Movement is the heart of this game. The movement system is easy and elegant, yet allows players to have fun jockeying for position. The movement system is proportional. Each turn is split into 8 impulses, which is made up of four sub pulses of movement. Depending on ship speed, each ship may move 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4 times in an impulse. Unlike most games, the units do not move all at once, but can respond to each other over the course of the impulse.
To illustrate, one player is commanding a Federation Heavy Cruiser (of which the Enterprise is one), the other a Klingon D7 (the Klingon ship from the series). At the beginning of the turn, each player declares how fast his ships are moving (revealed simultaneously). The Federation ship is set to move twice per impulse (on sub pulse 2 and 4), the Klingon three times (on sub pulse 2, 3 and 4). A faster ship has “priority” over slower ships, so it will make its move after the slower ship.
On the first sub pulse neither move, then on the second sub pulse the Federation ship moves forward, followed by the Klingon moving forward in response. On the third impulse the Klingon closes in one more hex (the Federation ship does not move this sub pulse), and on the fourth sub pulse the Federation turns, and then the Klingon follows suit.
You may also spend additional power to accelerate in a impulse (gaining an extra movement), or pay to cancel a movement, so you do not overshoot your enemy.
You move one hex at a time. Movement is either forward, or a turn to the left or right (there are other facets to maneuvering, but these are the basics). Because of inertia, a ship must move forward a number of hexes after turning before it may turn again. The faster your speed, the more hexes you must move forward before turning.
At the end of each impulse, ships may fire on each other, launch drones and shuttle, and if possible, even beam marines over to the other ship to destroy systems or capture the enemy.
While this may sound hard on paper, it is very easy, and once you do it, movement tends to go by fast. In a turn without weapons fire (which you need to stop and roll for), I’ve done a turn of two ships moving in minute or so.
One learning curve is the variety of weapons available. Most empires have a weapon specific to them, like the Photon Torpedoes of the Federation, or the Lyran’s Expanding Sphere Generator. Some empires also have special systems you will need to learn, like the Romulan Cloaking Device, the Hydran Hellbores, or the ability of Orion Pirate ships to double their engine power. It is important to know how these weapons work, both to use them, or to battle against them. Federation Commander is broken into sections, so when you start with either basic set, Klingon Border or Romulan Border, you get a good place to start to learn, with other empires added in later expansions.
The basic weapons are very easy to learn: Just allocate phasers or disruptors power and roll for damage. Other weapons have more steps and are a little more complicated. Photon Torpedoes are loaded with energy over two rounds and have an overloading option, while plasma torpedoes take three rounds to prepare for firing, or you can fire variants of them, such as a “cannonades.” While a little more complex, it is actually easy to learn, especially with an experienced player. The rules, especially the new 5th edition, have many examples to explain how they work.
Damage rolls are usually a single die roll, with damage at a range indicated on a table. There are no “to hit” rolls, or defense rolls. Rolls can have modifiers added or subtracted to them, representing situations where it is easier or harder to hit an opponent, such as when the opponent is using evasive maneuvers, or an environmental situation affecting the combat.
Shields take damage first, and when they are down, to the internal systems of a ship on a point for point bases. Seven points of damage knocks off seven shield points or seven “internals.” One system may be a weapon, disabling it until it is fixed, or a box that supplies energy, making your total power less next turn, or it may represent other systems, such as the tractor beams, transporters, or even the bridge of the ship. One roll and a simple table can allocate 10 points of damage to these internal systems, making recording damage quick. You mark damage on a laminated ship card, with either wet or dry erase markers that wipe off.
Overall, you will find yourself spending less time learning how to play, and more time playing, than you might expect. It takes about an hour to teach the basics and run a simple duel, with another half hour to go over the more advanced rules.
When you first play, inevitably you will duel with an opponent, one ship versus one ship. While this is a good way to learn the game, the game gets better when you tackle more complex scenarios, with goals are other than simply destroying your opponent. ADB is converting 30 years of scenarios to Federation Commander, and publishing a whole bunch newly written for the game. Most scenarios require two players, but many require three or more. A few are solo missions you can play by yourself.
In addition to star ships, there are other units to employ, including bases, defense satellites, planets, and space monsters to keep you busy. Add in fights in strange environments, such as around a black hole or pulsar, weaving around asteroids, or playing cat and mouse in a gaseous nebula and the fun factor rises.
There is an online version of the game called Federation Commander Online (FCOL). It handles the game well, but in these days of whiz-bang iPhone apps, Android apps, and cool flash games, its no-frills look is a turn off for some. It is also a simple client with little automated. In any app I would expect the client to do most of the work itself. Instead, you will find yourself rolling dice, clicking on boxes, and having to police rules yourself because the client does none of this (though the damage allocation works great, and it does a decent job of keeping track of energy, but if you make a mistake, it will not catch it). It costs five dollars a month. I subscribed for three months but found almost no one to play with. While I would have maintained my membership if the players were there, I quit because of a lack of opponents.
If you are into miniatures, this is a good game. There is a large line of minis meant for 1.25-inch hex use. They are available individually, or as sets matching various print products. Most are pewter, some plastic, and are of very good quality. Decals are available from third party companies, and you can even order them with custom names. (Can I justify spending the money for my wife’s anniversary gift on these minis if I make a ship with her name on it?)
FEDERATION COMMANDER VERSUS STAR FLEET BATTLES
Federation Commander is descended from Star Fleet Battles, but it is not a junior version. Federation Commander is a complete game that stands on its own merits. While derived from the other game, the creator, Stephen V. Cole, rethought the whole design, and if you approach Federation Commander and expecting it to play like Star Fleet Battles, you are sure way to be disappointed. What you will find is that most Star Fleet Battles tactics do not translate, but there are a slew of new tactics to try.
One way to think about this is the difference between 2nd and 3rd edition Dungeons and Dragons. Both were fun, and both allowed you to build a character, go into a dungeon, and battles orcs and bug bears. However, 3rd edition redesigned the rules to make them more consistent and easier to use. They are both D&D, but they play quite different.
GAME “STOPS”
In Star Fleet Battles an impulse is 1/32 of a turn, while in Federation Commander it is 1/8 of a turn. In Star Fleet Battles, there is a stop of play for firing, docking, dog fighting and more after each of the 32 impulses. That is 32 discreet stops each turn while people decide what to do. With Federation Commander, you have 4 times less stops per turn. This speeds up play overall and the difference it makes tactically is negligible, especially with on the fly speed changes in Federation Commander.
ENERGY AND MOVEMENT
The biggest redesign is the power and movement systems. In Star Fleet Battles, it takes a while to begin each turn, as you must allocate energy to your systems before the turn begins. Except for a little bit of energy called reserve power, which is stored in batteries for “on the fly” use, if you did not give a system power at the start of a turn, you will not be using it. Not only does this system of energy allocation take a lot of time to do, it strands you in the middle of a turn realizing that the way you allocated your energy is now moot because your opponent did something unexpected.
In Federation Commander, energy allocation is fast. Essentially all energy in Federation Commander is reserve power. Except for paying for your baseline speed and pre-loading or loading special weapons like plasma torpedoes and photon torpedoes, you have a pile of energy to use the moment you need to use it. This simplifies energy allocation and makes the game more flexible, allowing players to adjust for surprises during a turn.
Movement in Star Fleet Battles has always been a problem. While it is easy to set your speed, if you want to change the speed you need to plot that out in energy allocation, do the math, and hope that what you plotted even works out (never play Star Fleet Battles with anyone with precognition, you are screwed). Most of the time, I did not use the speed change rules at all, forcing everyone to move at one speed the whole turn.
As mentioned above, the overhauled movement system is genius. After setting your baseline speed, you can use extra energy to accelerate or decelerate as needed. While acceleration is limited to one extra movement in an impulse, in play the effect can be dramatic.
LENGTH
Games in Federation Commander are much faster. Duels take less than half as long in Federation Commander, and larger fleet action moves much faster in Federation Commander (incredibly faster if comparing to a Star Fleet Battles drone and fighter intense battle). There is an option to play a shorter game. Each ship card has a backside with a “Fleet Scale” version of the ship. These are the same ships, but with everything halved weapons, shields, etc. With large fleets, this can make the game move faster. In practice, I rarely play fleet scale, finding the overall changes enough to speed up even larger battles so they are still fun.
OTHER CHANGES
There are fewer exceptions to rules in Federation Commander. The “less exceptions” policy is game wide, eliminating rules that clutter Star Fleet Battles for situations that rarely come up in play. Some exceptions, rules intended for occasional use, became de rigueur and overused in the game. The scatter-pack is a good example of this. Almost every game they would come out. It should have been a spice, not the flavor of the game.
Much of Star Fleet Battles was bookkeeping chores that had little effect on play. Eliminated in Federation Commander is the need to spend money on life support (I would think life support is important enough that ship builders would make it autonomous; who in their right mind is going to not give energy to it?), or the need to keep track of ammunition. While they could sometimes come into effect in a long battle of attrition, most of the time, it was just something that slowed down play. The new, slick repair rules handle reloads well. ECM/ECCM is out as well, as is tactical levels of knowledge. Both of them, while interesting, slow down play a lot.
Star Fleet Battles is very flexible in allowing you to outfit your ship before a scenario, but doing so involved a lot of table lookups and math. Getting two fleets ready to battle took forever as you recalculated your ships BPV, and then decided to swap out a drone rack and custom build a reload of drones for each rack. In Federation Commander, swap outs are almost non-existent. While this seems limiting, it comes down to choosing another ship with the capabilities you are looking for and using it. Again, it is all about getting to play instead of calculate.
Another big change was the desire to clean up the play area of the clutter of small units. Since the introduction of Fast Ships and fighter into Star Fleet Battles, plus suicide shuttles, scatter packs and wild weasels, the game can slow down to a crawl just to get movement done. Even with the faster play of Federation Commander, I always thought of these games more as a naval capital ship battle, and fighters seemed out of place (leave that to Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica). Note: There are fighters in Federation Commander, belonging to the Hydrans. The rules for them are simplified, and only certain ships have them, so you can choose to have them in a scenario or not. However, not every fleet will have a dozen or more fighters on the board at one time, so it is not overwhelming.
NEGATIVES
I do think some things left out should have made the cut into Federation Commander, and some things should not, but that is personal opinion, and I was not part of play testing. I would have included proximity fuses to beef up Photon Torpedoes, kept the overload feedback on the photons, kept in wild weasels, and eliminated firing the probe as a weapon (too rare and too complex). I also feel there should be different kinds of drones. Not to the extent of Star Fleet Battles where you have a complex drone building system, but a simple method where other drone types are prebuilt to be point equivalent to the drones in the game, and you simply say “this rack will have X kind of drone in it.” For the entire scenario, even with reloads, it can only fire that kind of drone. I would defiantly include Spearfish and Swordfish drones.
In addition, I miss things blowing up, and would love to have ship explosions back in as I like the effect of the collateral damage it can wreck. I would also have made a rule that you cannot spend more points of energy on movement that you have warp boxes at the beginning of the turn. As it is, you could lose your entire warp engines but still move with reactor and impulse power at tactical warp speed. I know this is rare (not forgetting I argued for dumping rarely used rules) that this would make a difference, but it helps my sense of disbelief.
Most of these things I missed have been reintroduced into my private games. If you have the Star Fleet Battles books it is not hard as long as you keep your rules simple and in line with Federation Commander! Also a product that has been announced but no date is set for yet, Borders of Madness, should bring in more of Star Fleet Battles concepts left out.
SO WHICH IS BETTER?
Star Fleet Battles and Federation Commander are their own games. Both games have their adherents, which is why Federation Commander did not force Star Fleet Battles out of print. Both games play different. Federation Commander is sleek and fast, and emphasizes maneuvering. Star Fleet Battles emphasizes thinking ahead instead of on the fly. Outguessing your opponent’s moves is more important than jockeying for position.
I prefer Federation Commander myself; however, I can play the other game and enjoy it. I wish more of the Star Fleet Battles crowd would give Federation Commander the chance it deserves.
GETTING IN
This review has been about the overall Federation Commander game. When buying into the game, it is spread out over several sets and expansions, each with new ships, new rules, new scenarios and even some new races.
First, to give it a try download the First Missions book.
Another way to get your feet wet is to get Federation Commander: Academy. This is a set made up of part of Klingon Border. It has the rulebook, ½-inch tokens, 4 ships, reference card and a map sheet. If you want to upgrade to the full Klingon Border, then you buy Federation Commander: Graduation. Romulan Space would be your next choice as these two sets make up Klingon Border.
If you want the full base set, you need to get either Klingon Border or Romulan Border. This gets you the base rulebook, some scenarios, several ship cards, map cards, 1-inch tokens, dice and some erasable pens. One of these set is more than enough to get you hours of play. If you want to play with a group that already has product, or online in FCOL, get one of the Border sets, or get the Reference Rulebook. It has all the rules from all the products, without any scenarios, ships, maps or anything else.
If you want to get in deeper, you need the other set. Luckily there is a product called Klingon Space and Romulan Space, which is all the pieces from the other set you did not get, except the parts duplicated between them (such as the map boards, dice, etc). With it you get all of the two sets at a savings. However, you probably will need to order it through a local game store or directly from starfleetgames.com.
After that, you have several choices. Klingon Attack and Romulan Attack expand on the border sets. Orion Attack is all about piracy, plus it comes with some nifty play aides. Tholian Attack expands the game into the Tholian sphere of influence. It adds all the rules for the web capabilities.
If you like big ships, Battleships Attack is full of them. These are the giant vessels of everyone’s fleet, including the legendary Klingon B10. To give you an idea, a ship like the USS Enterprise is about 142 points. These ships can be 300+. It has a sequel, Line of Battle, with more battleships, and a few other sets have battleship card included. Make sure you get Battleships Attack before Line of Battle.
The last two sets give us the other empires of the SFU. Lyrans, Hydrans, Wyn and more are in Distant Kingdoms, followed by Hydran Attack, which builds on Distant Kingdoms (which you should get first). It expands all of the races from Distant Kingdoms, so calling it Hydran Attack is a bit of a misnomer.
There are a few other things to buy. Booster Sets contain additional ship cards. Usually ones from the main sets plus one only available in the pack, like the Federation Command Cruiser is only in Booster 1. This is a good way to get whole fleets of ships together.
Briefing #1 has a bunch of scenarios plus some advice on tactics, and rules reprinted elsewhere. It also has a few black and white ship cards, which are now available in Booster 92. It is worth it for the scenarios.
Briefing #2 is a big book of black and white ship cards. These represent earlier versions of ships from all empires from a time called “the middle years.” These represent the time of the original series. I like this product, but if you get it, buy it from StarFleetGames.com and get it loose leaf. This is because it does not have separate ship cards. To use it you will need to either get the sheet out of the book and put it in a sheet protector to use, or to photocopy it for the same purpose, and not having the binding makes this easier. They can also hole punch it for you so you can put it in a binder.
Finally, there is a quarterly publication called “Captain’s Logs.” This book contains support material for all of ADB’s games. Recently they published Federation Commander: The Early Years in it, with pre-TOS ships. It also has some good fiction in it.
ADB has been very good about keeping the line active with free support on their website, and their monthly newsletter called “Communiqué.” It features a scenario, new and revised ships, and news in your e-mail every month.
THE LAST WORD
Federation Commander: GOOD!
