NEW SEQUENCE OF PLAY, and ERRATA

268kb - Download New SEQUENCE OF PLAY and ERRATA 2010-10-18 (PDF)

• Some changes here!PRELIMINARY COMPONENT LIST - in the 8.75x11.75 glossy black box with clear plastic lid you will find:
  • 23x35 full-color poster-quality map
  • 70+ Terran ships, 70+ Procyonese ships. Double-sided playing pieces, representing 12 classes of ships, admirals, planets, moons, asteroid fields, ion clouds and orbital installations, star forts, etc.
  • I have reduced the number of markers considerably by moving the status for Point Defense Batteries Fully Engaged, Light Attack Squadrons Scattered, and Escort Groups Scattered to the individual ship logs. The statuses are needed right there on the log in any case, so its all good. Leader Cadre Ratings are on the new Command Log. Sensor Ghost markers will be limited to eight (unless adding together two sets of the game of course), one for each possible squadron on the map, and will be the same size as the ships. All ships below the Sensor Ghost marker are "Ghosted" as we have made the noun into a verb for playtesting and it has stuck. Altitude markers are still an issue as poker chips actually work best for this. Stacking the ships on top of the altitude chips indicates the squadron is quite literally above the plane of the game map; stacking the chips beside squadron has become a way to indicate they are below the plane of the map. Still working out a cost effective way of doing this that is still visual. Yes I could (and may) put it on the Command Log but I truly want to avoid that.
  • Rules book
  • All the scenarios in Firepower Pass Miniatures Rules™ will be in FPtBG™. As usual,scenario cards and pre-printed ship logs for each scenario, which may be reproduced as needed to play
  • CD with PDFs of ship logs for design-your-own scenarios
  • Master Ship log sheet detailing how to fill out the logs each of the for 12 ship classes and 3 Fort Classes
  • 2 (probably more, its good to have 5) 10-sided dice
  • An Attack Chart detailing attack prerequisites and modifiers for range, electronic warfare and relative weapon-to-target scale
  • The Squadron Engagement Level and Command Point Tracks, have been replaced by a COmmand Log where players can track these items using pencil. Each log can still can handle up to 4 squadron leaders and an overall commander's command point resources and engagement level. BTW Command Points are used for non-Attack related functions like Repair, Rally and Lock-On/Breaklocks (technically Target Solutions, but play testers preferred "Lock-Ons" for the drama...)
  • An Attack Track to keep track of Incoming Attack Dice; Interdiction Dice (which intercept Attack dice); and Critical Hull Damage percentages for any given attack

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• ACTION SUMMARY UPDATE

  A Summary chart of the non-combat actions that can be performed using COmmand Points. OK, the Planetary Bombardment and Planetary Assault Actions listed here in and of themselves are technically "Combat" but the actions below represent the committment of command resources to do that in a specific turn:

  

• COMMAND LOG UPDATE

  The Command Log tracks many things (too many to name right now) but I have endeavored to make it easy to use. Essential charts and tables for Command are right on the log:

  

• ATTACK POOLS UPDATE

  This where the pool of attack and/or interdiction dice, as well as the special (and dangerous) Hull Failure percentages for a particular attack are tracked:

  

• INTERDICTION/ATTACK CHART UPDATE

  This is the only combat reference in FPtBG™ you will need other than the ship logs themselves, oh yes and the results of your die rolls of course. THIS IS NOT A COMBAT RESULTS TABLE SYSTEM! Combat itself uses a d10 resolution system with d100 crew results, and d100 damage location, You only need the 2d10 provided in the game to play, though more can make things go faster when many-die missile salvoes and point defense erupt! It shows you how to determine damage and if you need a second roll to determine severity, or if you can simply use the To Hit/Target Hull differential to determine that:

  

  Designers' Note: Incidentally, the Firepower Pass combat system started out as a d10 system a many years ago, and was number-crunched into the current master Firepower Pass Combat Results Table. FPtBG™ goes back to the system's roots, dispensing with the CRT. With new Ship's Logs that will be available for download for free when available, those who prefer the FPtBG™ combat system will easily be able to adapt their Firepower Pass miniatures games to it.

• DAMAGE SUMMARY UPDATE

  A step by step guide to applying damage results in Firepower Pass(tm):

  

• MAP UPDATE

  The latest, and likley final version of the full-color 23x35 map sheet! plenty of space ot maneuver and plenty of space to defend...

  

• SHIP COUNTER UPDATE

  The playing pieces and the SAGA of PAINT: FPtBG™ will include 200+ double-sided resin playing tiles, representing all the ships in Firewpeor PAss™. Alas the experiments with Milk Paint failed. Although it does apply without primer and is environmentally sound to dispose of, it warps new wood when it soaks in and some 10-20% of our wooden pieces did not pass quality control. Even of those that did, wood just did not fit the game. So we will see how the 3D printer will do; if making the resin pieces is cost effective then that is the way I will go.

  

• SHIP LOGS UPDATE

  I added an updated class to the Procyonese which I will be spirnkling throughout the scenarios. It is an up-missiled version of their System Patrol Ship class, Orton. In its first playtest yesterday, it was escorting 4 Claw Fleet Tenders in the same squadron. They surpised a Terran battlegroup and knocked out a Europa Class Carrier! Here are the ship logs for all classes as they stand:

  

• SCENARIO DEVELOPMENT UPDATE

  PLAY BY EMAIL and PLAY BY INTERNET OPTIONS

  I will be offering a Cyberboard gamebox of FPtBG™ (http://cyberboard.brainiac.com/index.html), Also a gamebox for a relatively new live-play-by-internet tool (also free like Cyberboard) called ZunTzu (http://www.ZunTzu.com). The gameboxes will be available for free download on the respective games' FREE Tabs, once the FPtBG™ section of the website here is officially launched.