Description

This game draws its inspiration from and aims to re-create the large scale space battles of Star Wars and Babylon 5. The premise for SPACE FLEET ALPHA is simple, to be the last man standing in a great big battle royale between a number of opposing starship fleets.

At the start of the game each player elects to represent one of the six available factions, each of which has a unique technological advantage and disadvantage and then is dealt a number of cards face up. Players then take turns using their cards to attack and destroy their opponents' cards until all other players have been eliminated. Depending on players play styles, the gameplay can be brutally fast and efficient with fleets of ships disappearing in the blink of an eye or slow and tense as players nip at each other's heels.

Cards are roughly divided into ship cards, which are the most numerous and the main targets of your opponent's fleet, and bonus cards which perform a variety of special abilities ranging from defensive shields, technological bonuses, reinforcements, espionage cards and thermonuclear warheads. The first thing to realize when playing SPACE FLEET ALPHA is that the playing field is definitely not level and no two games will ever play out the same. The random nature of the deal ensures that one player will always start out on top however, fortunes can quickly change requiring players to adapt their strategy accordingly. In order to deal with this, the game actively encourages the weaker players to ally against stronger opponents as well as use any leverage they might have to blackmail other players into doing their bidding for them.

Of course these temporary situations only last for so long as there can be only one winner and its this aspect of the game that makes it so exciting to play. While SPACE FLEET ALPHA can be played with 2 players, the game really starts to shine with a group of 4 or more players. Independantly designed and published, SPACE FLEET ALPHA can be ordered direct from the website of the publisher The Game Crafter which prints, produces and ships the game on demand. Overall SPACE FLEET ALPHA is definitely worth a look for anyone into space battles and looking for something on the lighter side that can be played by anyone.