If you are a TLDR person the take home is I struggle to describe just how impressed I am with this game.

The space games I like in case it helps you judge my review are Full thrust, Silent death and Colonial battlefleet. I think this game has excellent elements from all of these.

[b]Scope of the game[/b] Small fighters with a limited number of freighters, corvettes and destroyers though i think you could possibly play it as a destroyer/corvette heavy or only game if that's your thing.

[b]Ships[/b] Lots of ship designs are provided. Ships are defined by stats for things such as agility, thrust and superstructure on a ten point scale including categories such as poor. average, above average, good etc. These define how much damage the ship can take and which manoeuvres it can do. They also have weapons that may be turreted or in fixed arcs. Each ship is represented by very nice full colour printable counters and a ship data sheet with hull boxes and ammo to be ticked of when used. Each of the ships from the five factions is accompanied by and in universe description of use and development including some having various marks to show design progression. As a younger gamer i was totally indifferent to the fluff but now I like it especially when it is done as it is here so well.

[b]Gameplay[/b] The start of each turn players secretly define each ships current speed by placement of a face down chit which is limited by how much it stats let it change speed by and its speed last turn. Ships have a maximum speed which is not good physics but I am OK with it for a playable game. Next players role for initiative rerolling ties. The player with initiative moves each of their ships 1 inch per movement point competing manoeuvres such as barrel roles etc which both cost movement points and have a minimum agility to perform so not all moves are available to all ships. An optional rule allows ship pilots to be designated ace which gives a +1 modifier to agility and accuracy which could enable some ships to make moves with a skilled pilot that they cant with a regular. Similarly rookies have -1 agility making some ships that can just perform a manoeuvre not able to do so. Before during or after moving a ship can fire at other ships or missiles and torpedoes. Successes are determined by comparing skill levels of the two ships and looking on a table to generate a number required to roll on a D10. Everything else works in the same way e.g. missiles and ECM, shields and damage, etc. Once ships cross of all their hull boxes they are destroyed.

[b]Scenarios[/b] There are a number of interesting scenarios each with suggested and alternate forces so there is plenty of repeat game play and non of then dull lets kill each other unless you want to set that up.

[b]What's Good?[/b] The system of determining success roles via opposed skills is intuitive, simple and effective. Designing you own ships or creating designs for example TIE fighters and X Wings could not be simpler. Just give a value on a ten point scale with guide words for each level e.g. above average then pick the most appropriate weapons. For some ships there are even obvious in universe stand ins so you can for example use the gnat fighter stats for your TIE fighters. A really good use for the X Wing miniatures I bought before becoming disenchanted with the rules. Also the perfect excuse to finally buy some studio Bergstrom vipers and raiders I have been looking at for years.

[b]What you may not like[/b] Max speed for ships in space with zero friction. No point system for ship design. No designer thoughts on ship design even though it ought to be clear lots of players will make their own. To be fair the system is so simple whilst giving excellent results that its not really a problem. Ships can pass through each other but not end on another ship. I can foresee a possibility were a ship is in a busy area of the board has been given only a small amount of movement and has no legitimate moves to not end on top of another ship yet there is no mention of this in the rules. The game can be played on a hex map with reduction in play time due to no measuring of distance and angles for turning and fire arcs. The game uses 1 move point is 1 inch but I find that whatever you hex scale you just use 1 move point is one hex. I think it an omission that this possibility is not mentioned in the rules.

What I like: No rebasing required base size not important. Models can be individually based allowing for model removal to track casualties or one can make a vignette. The game will give what my limited understanding of the period suggests is a reasonably accurate simulation. The game is super simple so I will have my eleven year olds playing in five mins. I am now too old to remember a new complex set of rules so this is great. I also play Lion Rampant because of this feature. The core rules can easily be modified for a particular period flavour or personal interpretation. The game gives a level of command and control I am pretty happy with. The General can not be targeted. He can irreversibly join a unit but is killed or captured if a unit he is attached to is destroyed. He gives the attached unit a combat bonus and courage bonus. He can also remove 3 hits to an attached unit (all units have 6) once a game. This gives some interesting decisions on what unit to join and when. The author has a Facebook page for the game and is very responsive very quickly answering questions. He is also adding free content to the game e.g. there are additional rules for handguns, pike, cannon and crossbow AND the crosbow can be downgraded by the removal of pavise for a lower save. It will be super inexpensive. If I go with 10mm and put twenty figs per base I can buy 2 armies and bases from pendraken for under £30 or I can just buy sabbot basses for my individually based Perry miniatures (or even just play them as is). The book is also so inexpensive you almost have to give it a go.

How it plays (and I will be playing this game) Unless scenario dictates each player rolls an initiative at the start of the game then its I go You go for the rest of the game. First player moves then second player moves. First player shoots then second player shoots. Everyone in melee fights. Each unit rolls a single die with possible modifiers for hits. Losers (least unsaved hits) are pushed back and winners follow up gaining +1 in next combat (infantry can not follow up against cav who can make a full move but can not fight or move next round). When a unit has taken 6 hits they take a courage test (7 or less on 2d6) and are destroyed if it fails. If passed all subsequent hits requires a courage test. If an army loses half its units it takes a test on 8 or less with 2d6 and if failed. Both armies can withdraw at the same time for a draw. The rules do not state what happen for a success but presumably each further loss causes a courage test though it is possible armies are intended to then fight to the death.

I absolutely love these rules and will be playing as soon as possible. Looking forward to some more troop types from the author and am thankful for the excuse to buy some medieval troops in a new scale

About me. At time of writing I have yet to play a game but have read the rules a number of times. I have played a number of spaceship games, my favourites being full thrust and colonial battlefleet. For space battles in books i like C J Cherryh and for films itis Star Wars. I mention this just so you know my preferances so you will be aware of bias.

Layout. The style and layout is excellent. Clear well writen rules with easy to understand diagrams and no clutter on the pages such as an annoying water mark. The art is i think computer generated. This has produced spaceship scenes that I personaly find very pleasing even though they are not in the gritty, smell the oil style that i usually prefer. I feel that the background races have fared less well from this style. I did find the positioning of the ship descriptions in the middle of the book odd as they are between two parts of the actual gameplay rules.

Rules The rules themselves (not scenarios, ship stats etc) take up only about 5 pages. This is a huge for me as I find it increasingly difficult to remmember lots of rules across different games. I also believe that good rules should be almost invisible during a game so one can concentrate on the tactics/moves etc.

Gameplay The designe is clearly stated as trying to create a fast moving game allowing many ships to be used. It succeeds very well at this aim in my opinion. Style is cinematic so ships have a max speed, again I like this in a spaceship game as it makes things playable on my table.

Each turn players secretly give each of their ships and missiles a speed which can be faster or slower than previous speed by as much as the acceleration. This is done with chits. Next players dice for initiative. Initiative player picks one ship or missile at a time and the owning player resolves its attacks and movement before the next ship is chosen. This looks like it will speed up play compared to order writing systems such as full thrust or star fleet battles so i would be prepared to try bigger battles than i usually do.

There is a good number of weapon systems and each faction has two types of fighter. Weapons use ammo tracking and flights of four fighters separately tack ammo for each fighter but the cards for each ship are very clear so this looks like it won't take up to much time and I like the added tactical consideration of when to fire (though there are no range modifiers and ships do not block line of sight do you want to waste that ammo on the destroyer?). Whilst on the topic of fighters, the imperial carrier has 6 flights and the battleships type have 4 so they probably won't be dominant if that is your thing. I could easily be wrong but the fighter stats dont look that powerfull either. All weapon systems can target fighters. I am not keen on this but ought to prevent the fighter spam that ruins Full thrust.

All characteristics have a value (good poor etc) when ships shoot at each other, try to get missle lock, weapon hit try to penetrate armour etc. these stats are compared on a table to find the result required. This is an elegant system that i like but I feel that the writer has been too wedded to this system so it has been utilised everywhere even when it is slightly unsuitable. Weapon damage and armour are effectivly a number but this is hidden by the assigning of a rating. I now have to remmember the rating and idealy also the number. This also aplies to ship speed. A small quible I admit.

Weapons cause damge that destroy hull points. All hull points gone = dead ship. Critical hits (1 on a d10) move damage up one grade.

The ships. There are no ship generation rules or point or tonnage costs. This is coupled with each faction having a single class of heavy cruiser, light cruiser, carrier etc. I would definatly buy an expansion with more ship classes but wish they had been included. I would like a CL to be an ECM ship, a small ship killer or the flagship of a destroyer squadren. This is not currently possible here but as a limited game it would be possible to become skilled (know the ships) with a small time investment. This is an advantage to some.

Counters/cards. The counters for the ships are great and possibly worth the cost of the game. For miniature enthusiasts it would be very simple to just replace them with ships with only one extra rule (were to measure arcs from). The game provides a number of individualy named ship counters for each ship class for each faction which is excellent.Each named ship has an acompanying card showing its weapons, ammo and hull points, all very well done and should make game play very fast.

Scenarious. There are a whopping 10 scenarios!

Summary. I am wanting the ship design variety I can get from Colonial Battle fleet or Full Thrust but am loving the play speed and the number of ships it can handle. I think the writer has missed the opportunity to make this game realy appeal to the wide audience it deserves because he focused very much on making it appropriate to his background. This could be addressed by making your own ships. I am very happy with my purchase and think this has a definate place for my gaming, primarily with my friends who like a lighter game and will be using my ships at my house.

I would love the writer to add in a ship point, designe system buy you should buy it now anyway as the price is great.