Star Fleet Battles – Early Years

Courtesy Starfleetgames.com

Star Fleet Battles is one of those games that I have played since, well, since I started gaming!  I first started with the Task Force Games “Pocket Edition” and have been going ever since.  In more recent days, the game has all-but-been replaced by Federation Commander.  Although I have FC, and it is a quicker playing version, I cannot just drop SFB.

So the other day I picked up Module Y2: The Early Years II.  For those who don’t follow the Star Fleet Universe, it differs from Star Trek in that the original basis is Star Trek: The Original Series, the Animated Series, and most importantly the Franz Josepf Star Trek Technical Manual.  The Early Years covers the time from the first “practical-tactical” warp drives to an era just before the Original Series.  This roughly corresponds to the Star Trek: Enterprise era but there is no real crossover.  Most importantly, this is the era of the First Romulan-Earth War.

Unlike later ships, the Early Years ships are woefully underpowered…and in SFB power is the name of the game!  This makes flying these ships much more challenging.  One never has enough power to do what needs to be done.  Manuever or fire?  Load those heavy weapons now?  Remember to power those tractors and transporters…if you can spare the shield reinforcement!