Federation Commander

I had the pleasure of recently introducing my brother to Federation Commander. He was slightly familiar with its older sibling Starfleet Battles so the learning curve was practically painless.

We played the Doomsday Weapon scenario using two fleet sized ships against the squadron sized Doomsday Weapon. I know from experience that this match-up can be won by the ships, but it isn't easy. I gave Joe the ships so he could experience a variety of the game's mechanics in play.

Joe made a major tactical error and immediately put his ships in front of the weapon, a very Star Trek Original Show thing to do, but in the game, suicidal. His weapons barely scratched the weapon and then he felt the wrath of the return volley. One of his two ships was destroyed by a single volley from the Doomsday Weapon.

We had a lot of fun working our way through the Damage Allocation Chart marking off system after system until all of the frame boxes were marked off and the ship completely destroyed.

Since this was a familiarization exercise it served to help teach him the basics of the game and refresh my knowledge. I'm now looking forward to teaching others and getting into some good tactical matches.

If you are a fan of table top tactical games, and a fan of Star Trek, I highly recommend getting Federation Commander and getting your gaming group to play.