Milton Hundred Wargames Club

Full Thrust is an excellent set of rules for starship combat by Ground Zero Games. The rules are out of print  but the company have made all of the rule books, updates and fleet books availabe as free PDF downloads from their site, www.groundzerogames.net They also produce some excellent models too but the rules work for any ship models you want.

The rules use a wide range of weapon types for Human forces ranging from beam emiters and pulse torpedoes, to the devestating Nova Cannon and interceptor fighter groups; and plenty more besides. The human race, in the game history, is divided into some not unrealistic groups and alliances. The Americans and British become the New Anglian Confederation, whilst France and a large portion of Europe become the Federal Stats Europa; there is even a fleet for Australians and New Zealanders called the Oceanic Union! Ship plans and weapon fits are provided but the rules encourage you to experiment and design your own ships following some very simple guides. There are also three very different alien races each with their own technology adding a whole new realm to the games. Their weapons are very different indeed and can really shake up your tactics, don't try and fight the Kra'Vac as if they were a human fleet, it could get very messy.

The game is quite straight forward to play, each ship has its own record sheet to keep track of course and speed as well as the weapon fit and damage. The ships are given a number of hull boxes, three or four for small scout ships up to sixty or more for the largest carriers or dreadnaughts. These are drawn in four rows and as damage is taken the player crosses out these boxes. When the first row has been removed the player rolls a dice for every weapon, on a roll of a six that weapon or system is destroyed and unusable. At the end of the next row the die roll needed become five or six and so on. When there are no more boxes at all the ship is destroyed; a basic appraisal but a deceptively simple system.