EasyStar 2002

Game Scenario: there are two space empires that don't like each other, and their starships fight whenever they meet. Okay, so it's not very profound; whaddya want from a free game?

EasyStar is a 2-to-4-player tactical starship combat game that allows you great flexibility in designing your spaceships, without having to print out or erase worksheets for your ships every time you play. It does this with a system of track charts and counters. All you need to provide is one or two six-sided dice. The emphasis is on fast play and blowing things up, not on long, drawn-out slug fests. I created this game because I wanted unlimited variety in ship design and tactics, without getting bogged down in range measurements, turning angles, power factors, or checking off gazillions of ship-damage boxes. Game features include:

Reusable track sheets for ship design and keeping score Up to 18 ships for each player Five different sizes of starship, from very small to excessively big Speed and weapons capacity for each ship type can be altered All weapons can be custom-fitted for range and power Beams, missiles, torpedoes, and point-defense weapons Auxiliary devices including ECM, enhanced targeting, and deflector shields Carriers with two kinds of fighters Special advantages for each player's flagship Movement rules including simplified inertia & momentum Quick combat resolution - usually 1 die roll per weapon Critical hits Ramming attacks and accidental collisions Optional rules for three-player and four-player games and campaign games