Dog Fight: Starship Edition Promo Video

Here is a nicely done Promo Video for a Starship game I really enjoy:

Dog Fight Starship Promo Video

A delightful game; easy to learn but hard to master! Here is the main link:

Dog Fight: Starship Edition Tactical Card Game

Raid in the Rittermark - Part 2

As mentioned earlier, I designed a scenario to introduce Games Workshops' Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game to my friend Michael Fox, creator of the great Dog Fight: Starship Tactical Card Game. The outcome of the play test was decidedly in favor of the Forces of Evil (BWAH HA HA!). After looking at the force composition and the rules I determined that that the Good side was undermanned - big time. So it was time to tweak the forces.

For the Forces of Evil (BWAH HA HA!) I took away the 6 Uruk-hai archers and replaced them with an Orc Captain, Orc banner bearer, 2 Orc archers, 2 Orcs with spears and 2 Orcs with hand weapons. That would reduce the quality of the overall force (the Uruk-hai are tough) but still keep the numbers about the same. By adding the Orc Captain that gives another "hero" for the minions of the Dark Lord and the extra banner increases the Orc's chances of winning individual battles - plus I like flags. Which figure wins an individual fight is a simple process in this game: you roll an amount of dice based on the number of attacks you have and the high roll wins. If your figure is within 3 inches of your banner, you can re-roll one of your die. Whichever figure wins the fight can now attempt to wound the loser.

Heroes in this game can also spend predetermined "might" points to influence the dice. A hero in the game can avoid being wounded by spending "fate", tend to have more attacks (better chance to win the fight) and can alter the order of the game by declaring heroic movements, shooting or fights. I like how heroes are treated in this game. Let's face it, what would a Lord of the Ring game be without heroes?

To beef up the good guys, I decided on adding a "what if" to the background of the scenario. What if some good ole Dwarves had a mine or workshop in or near the Rittermark? What if I had some Dwarves in my figure cabinet that haven't seen the light of a gaming table in years? Enter the tough short guys. How tough? Ever try to work in a mine with a Balrog around? These guys aren't like those sissy Dwarves from Snow White. Ever try to work in a mine with a Balrog around? To help out the Riders of Rohan I added a Dwarf captain, a Dwarf banner and 10 Dwarf Khazad Guard (the best of the best with honors!)

The Dwarf starting lineup.

The game objectives will be the same as the previous game. The Forces of Evil (BWAH HA HA!) need to get 1/3 of their forces off the northeast corner of the table near the farmhouse. For infantry to cross the river, there is still one ford and of course the bridge. Cavalry and Tom the Troll can cross the river anywhere counting as rough terrain. The Forces of Evil (BWAH HA HA!) start in the southwest corner and the good guys set-up on the eastern side of the board. I decided to put the Citadel guard force of archers behind the stonewalls, the Dwarves to the south of the bridge amongst the ruins and the Riders of Rohan on their left flank ready to ride down the enemy.


I forgot to mention in the previous posting that the game mat is from Hotz Artworks and is their 6' x 4' European Fields pattern.

Michael getting ready to deploy his evil minions.

The game started with the bad guys moving quickly to secure the ford. I responded cleverly by sounding the trumpets, advancing the Riders - and forgetting for 2 turns to move the Citadel Guard forward to cover the ford with arrows. Yep, very clever of me.

The evil horde moves out. . .

. . . while the pride of Rohan advances.

Michael was able to get his orcs across the ford followed by Tom the Troll. As I looked at the situation I realized I was in trouble with Michael's orcs already on the northern side of the river with the Uruk's soon to follow. In addition, the Dwarves move 5" while the Uruks, Orcs and men on foot can move 6".

"Where are the rest of the Dwarves? That's right, cavalry moves 10" and a Dwarf moves 5".

Instead of all of my cavalry charging the Uruk-hai, I decided to detach 3 of the Riders to cross the river as a forlorn hope to engage the orcs and Tom the Troll in a attempt to slow them down.

You can just see the 3 Riders in the background that were detached in an attempt to slow down the Orcs.

At the same time, I would send 1/2 of the Dwarves back to the bridge and cross it to reinforce the Citadel Guard. Fortunately for me, while I was worrying about the Orcs north of the river, Michael was worried about the sight of mass cavalry bearing down on him and he decided to keep the Uruk-hai in place to protect the ford.

The Dwarf force that is moving over the bridge to help strengthen the right flank.

The next couple moves is what this game is all about. Heroic charges and fights. In the melees to follow, I was able to keep my cavalry charging and initiating the combats which gives cavalry an extra attack die.



I was also able to use my hero Eomer and perform heroic movements; not only did it allow him to move first but also all Riders within 3" of him to move when he bellowed, "Follow Me!"


My forlorn hope arrived in time but I did not have faith that they would survive long. Tom the Troll was delayed a little when he decided to stop, pick up a rock and through it at one of the riders. Fortunately he missed this time.

The Forlon Hope engages the Orcs.

To make a long story short, the Citadel Guard got in range just in time and their archery skills took Tom the Troll out of the game - while the 3 riders killed a few Orcs.

A few less Orcs and Tom the Troll is killed by mass archery fire.

Meanwhile south of the river in a ferocious fight the combat went back and forth with casualties on both sides. In a subsequent turn Eomer declared a heroic combat allowing him to fight the 3 Uruk-hai he charged. Eomer decided to put the "H" in Hero and slew all 3 Uruks-hai dramatically changing the situation. As the Uruk-hai started to take more casualties, the Dwarves caught up and also engaged the foe.

Eomer (on the white horse) about to show the Uruk-hai that he is the stuff of legends.

As the Uruk-hai started to take more casualties, the Dwarves caught up and also engaged the foe. Slowly but inevitably, the Uruks and Orcs were thinned out and it became obvious that the evil side would not have enough forces left to win.


What a fun game that was actually a lot closer than I made it sound (hey - it's my blog!) Seriously, this game could have gone either way; both forces were evenly matched and both of us played a good game. The turning point in the game was the loss of the 3 Uruks killed by Eomer and the death of Tom the Troll. I'm looking forward to the rematch!

Beregund and Gumdrop the Dwarf celebrate the victory.

The Stylish Blogger Award

I've been informed that I've been nominated for the "The Stylish Blogger Award".

The rules for the nomination are:

Rule Number 1: Thank those who nominated you:

Thanks to Fabrizio Davi' whose blog is The Torgau Project about the Battle of Torgau during the Seven Years war using the great rules Volley and Bayonet. Fabrizio lives across the pond in Italy and I have some fond memories of Vicenza and Venice from my time in the U. S. Army. There are no bad restaurants in Italy, some are better than others, but there are no bad ones!

Rule Number 2: Say 7 things about yourself:

1. I've been married to the love of my life for almost 25 years.

2. I have 5 fantastic sons and one future daughter-in-law (wedding is on July 2!)

3. My first wargame (5th grade) was Avalon Hill's Panzer Blitz.

4. I still have my first wargame which is Avalon Hill's Panzer Blitz.

5. I served 22 years as an infantry officer in the U. S. Army

6. My favorite childhood fictional hero is John Carter of Mars.

7. I play with toy soldiers.

Finally nominate 10 to 15 great blogs:

1. Dogfight Starship Edition. (Best card game out there)

2. Iron Mitten. (One of the greats!)

3. BigLee's Miniature Adventures.

4. Lead Gardens.

5. Wargaming for Grownups.

6. The Grand Duchy of Stollen. (If you haven't checked this blog out, you are in for a real treat)

7. Lonely Gamers.

8. A Miniature History of the American Revolution.

9. WAB Corner (I wished I knew this guy when I was stationed at Fort Lewis, WA.)

10. Frank Chadwick's Space: 1889 (Frank is one of the great game designers and founder of GDW. He is responsible for Volley and Bayonet, Command Decision and others.)

Dog Fight: Starship Edition: New Artwork for Obstructed Card

New Artwork

Occasionally new artwork is acquired for cards which would obviously benefit from it. The MOVE card "Obstructed" allows a player to remove their ship from the board entirely for a brief time. This has the benefit of making your ship immune to any act which occurs on the map.

"Obstructed" is available in Booster Pack 9: Advanced Tactics 1, which is also the only release including the very rare EQUIP card Reactive Armor: Electromagnetic.

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visit the official website for Dog Fight: Starship Edition

New Exclusive Cards for Dog Fight Starship Edition

Some great new cards from Michael Fox and Fox Games for Dog Fight Starship Edition:

Two new legendary cards have been added to the exclusive mail-in list. These are Shine Spark and Partial Charge.

"Shine Spark" is the second Legendary card released exclusively for the U.S.P.V. Inferno. The Inferno has a low attack power in comparison to other capital ships it is likely to encounter. It was one of the first vessels humans made specifically for off-world combat.

Due to its low offensive capabilities, the "Raging Inferno Blast" (available only in Deluxe Set 2) was devised by USP design engineers to take advantage of the ship's numerous armaments posted around the forward hull section. This, although helpful, was unfortunately still not enough to deal with other tactics utilized by enemy heavy ships.

But the Inferno has one feature its contenders lack: a massive power core capable of powering two heavy combat vessels of its size. Thus, the "Shine Spark" was developed to fully utilize the ship's energy flow to totally overwhelm any opponent.

A team of two F.A.S. capital ships experienced the first combat demonstration of the Shine Spark's full capability in 2094. After witnessing the obliteration of an Intrepid class, the captain of the second ship coined the notable warning of the Inferno: "Old, yes. Weak, no." That ship's communications went silent soon after the first. There is rumored to be video of the Shine Spark in its final testing phases, but none has been recovered of its action in combat.

The next legendary card released was created for the F.A.S. Intrepid. The first legendary card created for the Intrepid class was "Colossus Cannon" (available only in Deluxe Set 1). The Colossus Cannon is a fierce weapon but takes an unusual amount of time to fully charge. This delay proved catastrophic in combat since it signalled to enemy vessels to move in quickly before the cannon can release its deadly discharge.

Recently, after his captain was killed in combat, the first officer of one of the Intrepids attempted to fire the ship's main cannon before it was fully charged. The enemy ship was closing in before the imminet blast but was caught by surprise when a less powerful, but still devastating blow was launched by the cannon long before expected. It is now called the Amadi maneuver, after the nickname given to the innovative young captain by his greatful crew. If you learn the Intrepid approaching is captained by Amadi, know that death approaches with him.

see the full exclusive main-in list here

Dog Fight: Starship Edition

Games are supposed to be fun; that's why we call them games. I have found a fun game. Well, actually, the game found me. Dog Fight: Starship Edition (http://www.dogfighttcg.com/) is a collectable card game with a table top/miniature component.

I have recently joined a new small group at church and to my surprise, there is a game designer in the group! Michael Fox is the designer of Dog Fight: Starship Edition and he offered to come on over to my house and demonstrate the game. Involved in the play test was myself, Michael, Honorable Son #5 and new acquaintance Jim Abernathy. I loved the game.

The game is played on a hexagonal star map which is available for free as a downloadable PDF file from http://www.dogfighttcg.com/. And did I mention that the rules are also free? Each player controls a star ship (I commanded the mighty, but slow, FAS Intrepid) and has a card for the ship that provides the movement, attack, hull strength and the amount of "energy" the ship starts with.

The Mighty FAS Intrepid

Players have cards that can customize their ship; e.g., special weapons, more armor, engineering crews to repair damage, etc. and a deck of cards that drives the actions and events in the game.


Players can have up to 10 cards in their hand that they "deploy" during "tiers" that allows the ships to attack, move or allows them to draw more cards or energy.

The USPV Inferno, commanded by Honorable Son #5

I downloaded the rules ahead of time and it took Michael about 10 minutes to review the basic game outline. Honorable Son #5, who is 9, was able to grasp the rules and concepts immediately and came close to winning the first game. The game is easy to learn but hard to master! With the combination of cards and the ability to customize your deck, each ship has tactics and techniques it can employ to defeat it's opponents.


Though the game is easy to learn, it is challenging and engaging for adults (do I move in close now and use my torpodoes doubling the damage against that enemy ship . . . or should I hide behind that planet, repair my ship and launch the less powerful) missiles? Since the first game on 11/13/10, my son and I have played a 5 games. With two players, each game takes about 30 minutes. The game also has advanced rules (fighters, space stations) and optional rules that increase the difficulty of the game.


There is a great video review of the game here: http://dogfightccg.blogspot.com/2010/09/video-review.html. Currently there are 6 one ship starter decks that are $8.00 US Dollars, 2 ship packs for $12.00 US Dollars and various other combinations available through the website. One aspect I like is the ability to build your own booster pack. Who wants to keeping on buying booster packs trying to get the one card you want?

The graphics are excellent, the game mechanics smooth, and it neatly combines with miniature gaming. What more could you ask for?


We played the game using miniatures from Games Workshop. The game can work with any miniatures set.

Captain Honorable Son#5 smiles after Dad's ship explodes.