As this blog goes live the Firestorm: Taskforce 2-player Starter Sets are being boxed to ship out around the world. This exciting moment makes this an ideal time to discuss the game, models, rules and the coming year for the Firestorm Galaxy.

As we have already explained, the key thing to remember about Firestorm: Taskforce that it is not designed to be a replacement for the Firestorm Armada 2.0 rules. It is a companion product that is intended to fit the needs of a gamer’s budget and available free gaming time. If players are looking for lots of flexibility, and the ability to customise their ships and fleets, then the Firestorm Armada 2.0 core rules are still an ideal choice for them.

New players looking to enter the Firestorm Galaxy, or those looking to play a fast and simple 30 minute plus game can do so with Firestorm: Taskforce. Based around a common set of highly detailed spaceship models, gamers can switch between both games without the need for any reinvestment in models.

Additional game support will be provided directly from the Spartan Games website, where examples of play can be easily found and downloaded. The Firestorm: Taskforce section of our website is currently being finalised, so keep checking back to see what is new.

Organised Play
Akey driver behind the game engine at the heart of Firestorm: Taskforce is speed: speed to choose a Fleet, speed to move your models, speed to shoot and kill models, speed to have lots of fun. The engine is also optimised for organised play, with fluid mechanics making it easy for new players to easily get to grips with playing the game in a matter of minutes.

The game style will therefore also make it very easy for stores to organise events and mini-Tournaments. To support this organised play, we have created two downloadable Tournament Guides: one for Firestorm Armada and one for Firestorm: Taskforce. These are being entered into their respective design templates and will be made available shortly for download.

We are also creating Tournament Kits that stores, players and organisers can buy at a low cost to support events and which includes such thing as winners’ plaques, dice bags, posters, artwork and other prizes – some for winning and some for just for participating. So tell all of your stores about the Kits and get organising those Tournaments. Spartan Beth will also be creating a new area of our web site that keeps track of your Tournaments and their winners – such victories need sharing!

The Game Engine
Anyone familiar with Spartan games will see that Firestorm: Taskforce uses some common statistics: Movement, Damage Rating (DR), Hull Points (HP). Crew Points (CP), Point Defence (PD), Shields (SH) and so on. One of the biggest changes you will see in combat is that we do not use a Critical Rating, instead we use a Damage Table and the number of times that the DR of a model is matched escalates the damage or disorder that models gain during combat. Movement has been simplified right down to the basics, using a 45-degree pivot mechanic, which caters for fast play and also caters for games with plenty of models on the table.

Another fundamental change is in the use of dice within the game. We have not used dice linking mechanics, rather you simply compile your Attack Dice and roll them – put simply, we do that part of the maths for you, freeing you up to blast away!

The Firestorm: Taskforce game engine is fast and furious and trimmed down to its basic fundamentals: move, shoot, fire and board.

Our New Modular Models
A huge part of the Firestorm: Taskforce announcement is the models, which is a big part of what we do and a fairly fundamental part of your gaming needs! Our design team has gone to great lengths with the new aesthetics of the models to create as exciting an array of spaceships as possible. Not all of you will care about the modularity, with some choosing to just glue their models together. For others, who fancy a bit more hobby work, we have created magnet guides for you, recesses you can use to help locate tiny rare earth magnets. We don’t sell these magnets, that will be your choice to source and use if you choose to.

Modular models are something we started a while ago with our FA models, with such things as Cruisers and Heavy Cruisers, but our latest sculpts take things to a whole new level. We feel these are some of our finest designs ever and set a new standard in quality spaceship models. Moving forward you will see many more models like this join the ranks of the Firestorm Galaxy.

One of the key strengths of this work is that both Firestorm Armada and Firestorm: Taskforce use the same model set, and thus no matter what style of game you want to play (gritty or quick) your investment in our models is protected. Beyond the first set of models, we will be creating large models that embrace the modularity idea. I talked on our Forum recently about a Terran Battleship design we have that allows a gamer to build a Battleship or a Battle Carrier. This is just one of many models being designed, but much more information, and perhaps more importantly pictures, to follow on this subject.

Model Availability
We currently sell three 2-player Starter Sets for Firestorm: Taskforce, and these are a fantastic way for players to get 16 fabulous models, rules, tokens, dice, acrylic rulers and scenery sheets out of a box at a low price. Expanding these boxed sets is easy, and to make this even simpler we will be making Firestorm: Taskforce statistics for our FA models available for download. Additionally, we will be making ship models like Dreadnoughts, Battleships and Carriers available in their own individual packaging, making building fleets easy for folk.

The reverse is also true for the new models we have just created. The Firestorm Focus Group is currently generating the statistics for the 18 new ships that are compliant with the FA 2.0 Core Ruleset. These will be made available to you as soon as possible from our Downloads page.

Looking Forward
Our goal for future boxed set releases for Firestorm Armada is to ensure that statistics for both rulesets are made available at the same time. For example, when our Xelocian and Syndicate Patrol Fleets ship we will have statistics available for both Firestorm Armada 2.0 and Firestorm: Taskforce at the same time.

We are hugely excited by our latest edition to the Firestorm Galaxy, and we are sure you will be too as we’ve made it easier and cheaper to game spaceship battles. New players can be rapidly brought into the hobby, Tournaments have never been easier, our models have never been better and, the best thing of all, this is just the beginning.

The Firestorm Galaxy has always been a cool place… so come on, make it even cooler by playing Firestorm: Taskforce.