Sorry, folks.
Seems that my last post, a supposed review, didn't actually review anything.
Full Thrust is flat out the best space combat game I have ever played.
There are several reasons for this (in no particular order);
1. Free - 'nuff said
2. Build your own ships! - the point build method seems fairly balanced with every option having a counter of some sort.
3. Cinematic movement with a nod towards inertia - movement is life or death
4. Range and facing matters.
5. Dead simple basic mechanic - gets you playing within a few minutes.
6. The options, oh God, the sheer amount of options that you can use to add to the basic game. Objects, bases, minefields, stealth, sensors, repair parties, towing, and even more!
7. Scaleless - You are not locked into a given scale and you can even use markers or chits instead of miniatures.
8. Hexless - no special board required to play - you are not constrained for instance you could turn the living room floor into a huge battle space.
9. Equipment light - dice, ships, movement record sheet, ship status record (you can fit 12 on a regular page), measuring tape, turning template (made from and old CD), and a pencil. I already owned all of this stuff for other games, except for the turning/vector template which I made from an old AOL CD and a sharpie
10. Tons of resources. Even a Facebook fan page.
11. Alternating activations/integrated turns
The system lends itself best to each side having less than 10 ships per side. I got my gaming buddies to play and we were knocking out games within a few minutes. No game lasted more than 20 minutes and that was with 3-5 ships per side. We played six games before calling it a day.
We did not play with fighters and I have heard that "paper" carriers can break the system at some level. I don't have enough experience to say one way or another.
In the end I cannot recommend Full Thrust enough. Hell, its free, you're not risking anything to try it out.
