The Shattered Void

While cruising around on the internet looking at the latest Kickstarters I found this nifty game idea by White Dragon Miniatures called The Shattered Void (Kickstarter). It is a different take on the fighter to fighter combat games such as the popular X-Wing. Shattered Void is a tabletop wargame for two or more players set in the cold vastness of space with engagements between several warring races.

Battles typically consist of between 5 to 15 vessels per side and last for roughly one and a half to two hours. This is a little bit more than what I like personally, I like these types of engagements to last no more than 30-45 minutes. This is to ensure that you could play two or three games in one gaming night. It would be terrible to be knocked out of the game in the first 20 minutes due to a lucky dice roll.

There are 3 core races that have been introduced in the Kickstarter. The Earth Exploration Fleets, Vitruvian Sovereignty, and the Astivar Collective. However there is a lot of room to expand and grow the universe. Remember space is vast!

The models that have been produced from the company are very good and have a lot of production value. The scale is on par with other games allowing you to mix and match your own ships into the game if you wanted.

After reading through the entire game I can say the gameplay is a little unique and interesting. I think it will require some additional playtesting with my friends before I can commit to recommending this to my gaming club. However it has the potential. Since I am not one to fawn after the other mainstream large company games *cough* Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast *cough* this game is intriguing to play instead. I am always a fan of the little guy.

I can safely say that I am seriously considering being a late backer of this project. So have look.

Hawk Wargames: DropFleet Commander

My kickstarter pledge for DropFleet Commander finally arrived in the mail. It was a very anticipated delivery. I was watching email for the shipment conformation everyday. I chose to pledge at the Commodore level. For this pledge, I receive one Dropfleet Commander 2 Player Starter Set, which contains Scourge and UCM starter Fleets, terrain and accessories needed to play a starter set game. 2 Faction Starter Fleets, PHR. The Kickstarter exclusive UCMF Atlantis model, plus 3 Kickstarter Exclusive Battlecruisers.

When the box arrived I was like a kid in a candy store. This box was larger and heavier than expected.

I was happy to see that when I opened the box it was filled full of goodies. My attention was drawn to this awesome T-Shirt that Hawk WarGames produced.

After unpacking the entire box there was a ton of ships, stands, dice, cards, and markers.  I am happy to report this was one of the best Kickstarters I have pledge to date. Ships, Ships, and more Ships.

After looking throw all of the packages I found this cool Hawk Wargames pin.

The two player starter sets include the decks of cards for battle groups and these awesome custom dice were included.

With my pledge I ordered the modular space station and there are a lot of pieces and parts. This thing is a work of art.

Here is a close up view of the detailed injection molded plastic ships, specifically a UCMF ship. These ships are very detailed. Some of the best I have seen, I am surprised at how far we have come in space gaming.

The DropFleet Commander core rule book is a work of art in itself, 224 pages of glory and awe.  This is one heavy duty book. I am glad they took their time to make sure it was at this quality.

Well I hope to get these ships on the painting table soon. I am getting my second wind of gaming after some personal hardships. Only time will tell.

KickStarter: Fleet Commander

Capsicum Games announce that on 11th. January they will launch Fleet Commander – Genesis on Kickstarter. This game builds on their original release of Fleet Commander 1 – Ignition, designed by Elwin Charpentier and Henri Redici which was released in 2014 as a two player space battle game, by increasing the player count to 2 to 4. The Genesis version will contain the equivalent of 2 copies of Ignition together with the Beyond the Gate expansion released late last year.


Two new expansions will be available as part of the Kickstarter:

“Salvation is an expansion that introduces technical support ships, new terrains, scenarios and a campaign builder. 

Avatar is an expansion that will allow players to add to their fleet heavy battleships and commanders giving bonuses during the battle. It also contains new terrains and special weapons.”



There are three pledge levels: Explorer, Officer and Admiral with increasing Kickstarter.

Fleet Commander brings epic space battles down to size with a runtime of about an hour and the new Genesis version will contain 32 miniatures, 36 dice and 50 tiles. The tiles are used to create an area of space for the battles to take place adding in asteroid fields etc. Unlike some expansive space games these tiles allow for the total playing area to fit easily on a standard living room table. The modular board, special weapons and different scenarios ensure that the game has plenty of re-playability and the Genesis version will allow more players to enjoy this fast space battle game.

Hawk Wargames: Dropfleet

Recently Hawk Wargames just announced they are working on a new space combat game called DropFleet.  Their latest newsletter gave us a sneak peek at the UCM Fleet.  Check it out!

The newsletter revealed...

Dropfleet will be an Orbital Combat game in which the vast majority of your games will take place in orbit above a planet’s surface. The game has been designed for this from the ground up by Andy Chambers and is an entirely new and unique ruleset. A typical gaming table is 4′x4′ and will show the surface of a planet rather than the more typical ‘starfield’ style space combat table. The area covered will be around the size of a large European country/US State. Delivering your troops to targets on the surface will be crucial for victory and most missions will be tactical and objective focused. Space stations, static defences, ground troops, cities and other scenery play an integral part in the game.
Three altitude layers (High Orbit, Low Orbit and Atmosphere) are present in games and have various effects. Only certain ships (such as Strike Carriers) can go atmospheric and each layer has advantages and disadvantages in different tactical situations. Weapons range is neither absolute nor fixed. It can change based on the power of your ship’s scanners, the enemy ship’s signature and the enemy’s actions (firing several weapons greatly increases a ships signature for example). Stealth is frequently crucial! A framework for linking games of Dropfleet and Dropzone will be present in the rulebook, opening up many exciting possibilities for campaigns and narrative settings.