Star Force Terra was supposed to be the flagship for a series of games and expansions that never came about. To encapsulate this review very quickly, I'm not terribly upset that the anticipated expansions never came to be, but I'm also not particularly happy about that. This is a light but solid game that I think many people would enjoy, but I don't think it's so great as to have warranted many expansions.

This review is based off a number of games with 2 through 5 players. Unfortunately, finding a copy may not be easy as it's long out of print. I happenned to come across a copy in a dusty corner of a local game shop. If you can similarly find a copy on the cheap, I would say it's worth picking up, but probably not worth spending a fortune.

First, a description of the game as there are none on the geek yet. Each player represents the commander of a fleet of starships from one of six races. Presumably (it's never explained), several such fleets have spontaneously come together in one sector of space and decided to blow each other to bits. Fleets are made up of several basic kinds of ships---transports, frigates, destroyers, battleships, and so on. However, the fleet of each race has a particular makeup---the Terran fleet includes a carrier that can launch figthers, the Thak have many small ships which can join together to make large attacks, the Cyber Race has a massive super-dreadnought, and the Knights of Conquest many transports for assaulting planets. Each race also has a particular ability, for example the Terrans can hold an extra card in hand while the Shameer can cloak their vessels.

Basic gameplay is pretty abstract and simple. At all points your fleet is organized into three rows. There's no movement or anything like that, the game consisting almost entirely of firing one barrage after another of lasers and missiles at the other players. This is all done through cards that let you do things like attack and defend. For example, a laser attack lets a ship in your first row attack a ship in another fleet's first row. A missile lets a ship in your first or second row attack a ship in the first or second row of another player. Shields and damage control deflect or negate damage, while reinforcements let you bring a new ship into the battle. Hits are resolved by comparing the strength of the attack card to a die roll based on the current damage level of the ship. For example, a battleship might begin the game by rolling a D12 against attacks, but after taking a shot or two start rolling a D6 and then a D4, all but guaranteeing that it will be hit.

Each ship is associated with some number of points, the final score being the value of all the ships you've killed plus that of your remaining ships. In addition to the ships, there are planets that can be put into play and then assaulted with troops, in a similarly abstract manner as the lasers and missiles. The game revolves around moving your ships around in the rows and choosing your targets. Very simple, but fairly entertaining.

So, what do I think of the game?

Art: I've put scans on the geek of all the cards and ships. The artwork is very simple, but I like it a lot. That retro look, bright colors, and fairly neat designs just appeal to me.

Theme: If you're into starship combat as WW1/WW2 battleships & frigates launched into space and hurling giant volleys of fire at each other, than this is for you. Overall, the theme is good, keeping in mind that it's a very simple game. The races are all interesting and have markedly different traits. Plus, there are several good cards such as "Flaming Retaliation," which lets you nosedive a destroyed ship into another.

Mechanics: The mechanic of rolling different dice based on current damage level to determine if a card hits is pretty cool. All of the relevant charts are on the cards, however, stupidly, the colors of the dice printed on the cards are not the same colors as the actual dice. Aaaarghh!!! This is actually hideously annoying but once you swap out the dice or get used to it the game moves very fast.

Thinking: It's a very simple game, but there are definite decision-making points, unlike in many card games (I feel). You have to properly arrange and rearrange your fleet if you want your big ships to survive yet be effective; you have to use your abilites well and take into account the other races; and you have to choose the proper targets to minimize the other players' chances to fight back. The one big complaint I have about the strategic aspect of the game is that there's no real decision point between attacking and defending. Each has distinct cards only good for that one task. On each turn you attack with all the aggressive cards you've got, because none of those cards can be used to defend. I suppose there might be reasons to hoard them for later turns or something like that, but it still would have been more interesting if you had to make a choice between going all-out on the attack or conserving some energy to use in defense.

All in all, this is a fast-playing, light game of huge starships blowing each other to oblivion, with some interesting mechanics and theme. Probably not something you'll play all the time, but a good breather from or filler for the much more complicated starship combat games that are out there.