The Star Fleet Times vohm T he Official N ewsuetter of the Star Fleet umvbise i« m #ie

DDB HAS ARRIVED! The poor turnout last ye ar (compared to Origins which held steady As you may recall from last month, is now for several ye ars) does not justify the expense of a major under the direction of Dayton Design Bureau, hereafter DDB. What tournament or the effort of a major product release. Several non- exactly is DDB? It’s the te am of Bruce Graw and Steve Petrick, ADB judges will run one-round SFB scenarios. now dedicated to bringing new life to Star Fleet Battles! O ur first FLE E T C O N ‘96 (August 18, Albuquerque, NM): This con will official product is this very issue of S t a r F l e e t T im e s . With the feature a 4-round single elimination sanctioned SFB tournament. transfer of power, there is no longer any reason for Agents of The convention will be held at the Pinnacle 4 Seasons Hotel in G aming (which is a separate company run by Bruce Graw) to Albuquerque. For information call G amesQ uest at 1-800-943- handle SF T under the AoG heading. Agents of G aming will, G AME or email Alec Reber at areber@ unm.edu. however, continue to offer AoG-packs as before, and maybe even TA C TIC O N (September 13-15, Denver, C O): This convention some exciting new material as well in the near future! will hold a sanctioned patrol-style rated ace tournament run by Ted W e’ve had many questions in the past few weeks about the Fay. The con will be held at the Sheraton Hotel West in Denver. nature of the New Order in the Universe. Here’s the scoop: For information send Email to smoell@ ch1.univnorthco.edu. D a yton D e sign B ure au (Graw & Petrick) will produce all N E C RON OMIC ON ‘96 (October 11-13, Tampa, FL): This con future printed products for the , including SFT, wants to support an SFB tournament but doesn’t have a judge. You C aptain’s Log, various modules, and so on. The upcoming don’t need any special rank or anything to run a tournament, just a C ampaign Designer’s Handbook is a DDB product and represents good knowledge of SFB and the ability to record results and the first full-scale release from the DDB team. make fair and impartial judgments. If you want to support SF B in A m arillo D esign Bureau (the now-retired Steve Cole) retains the Florida area, contact Con G ames, 2 Water Track Radial, Ocala all copyrights to the SFB game system and has final say whether a FL 34472 or call (352) 687-8901. Then tell AO G so we can update product can be produced, although ADB will not edit products or this listing! make changes. Naturally, the DDB team will consider ADB its most C H A RL E S T O N C ON (O ctober 19-20, C harleston, S C): highest advisor (at least until SVC is sick of us). Michael G astright will be running a Star Fleet Battles tournament at T ask F orce G ames (John and Tim Olsen) is the company this con, which will be held at the College of Charleston G aming which actually prints and publishes Star Fleet Universe products. Guild, 66 G eorge St, Charleston S C 29424. For information write to Their status has not changed. that location or send electronic mail to michaelg @ awod.com. Many of you might be wondering just who you should contact P ENTA C O N XII (15-17 November, Ft Wayne, IN): This con with rules questions, suggestions, and submissions now that this will hold its 5th Annual Patrol Tournament in the Grand Wayne transfer of power has occurred. For now, keep sending these to the C enter in Ft Wayne. For info write to: NIG A/Pentacon, PO Box same place you did before. The Star Fleet Universe is still in a 11174, Ft Wayne IN 46856. state of transition between ADB and DDB (and will remain in this G A R D E N S T A T E G AM E S F AIR (N ovember 22-24, state for several months) and any mail or electronic mail you send Jamesberg, NJ): Ted Mantuano will GM an SFB tournament at this to ADB will reach DDB as well. Submissions for S t a r F l e e t T m e s convention at the Holiday Inn of Jamesberg. For convention info should be sent to the Agents of G aming address for now, although call Ron Meichker at (609) 443-5088. this may change in the future. JO N E S C O N IV (January 17-19, G ainesville, FL): Doug O osting will GM a sanctioned rated ace tournament at this convention. For information write to: Peter Taylor, 1020 SW 3rd A NOTE ON THE JINDARIAN TC Ave, G ainesville FL 32601 or check out the web page at Last issue we published a preliminary Jindarian tournament http://www.infocomp.com/jonescon. ship. This is NOT a sanctioned ship (although it may be one day, LO N G EST-RUNNIN G S F B PBM C AMPAIG N: A new game is when all the playtesting is done). We need you to playtest this ship under way and in Y152! Positions are available. For info send in tournament battles, but not in sanctioned tournaments. Take a SASE to: John Berg, 609 Apollo Dr., Joliet IL 60435. copy along to your tournament and try it out during a break or if you STAR FLE E T W ARLO R D: Agents of G aming operates this get eliminated early. Then let us know what you think! play-by-mail strategic SF B campaign in the Greater Magellanic Cloud. Buy ships to search for (or conquer, or defend) resources CONVENTION ANNOUNCEMENTS needed to buy even more (and bigger) ships. For a rulebook (with The S t a r F l e e t T im e s will list any convention in this space which no obligation to play), send $5 to Agents of G aming at the address holds at least one SFB event. All cons MUST have SFB to be listed on the last page of this newsletter. (after all, this is an SF B newsletter). However, cons on this list will KN O W O F A C O N V E N TIO N? We get most of our con not necessarily have a sanctioned tournament (and some events announcements from flyers. If you pick up a con flyer and that may cancel without notice). You should write to the address shown convention has one or more SFB events, send it to us! We can’t for a pre-registration booklet, which will tell you just what kind of print it here if we don’t know about it! SFB events you can expect. (If nothing else, this will help you W A N T T O K N O W A B O U T MO R E C O N S? Convention decide what game materials to take!) C ontact is a quarterly newsletter dedicated to keeping readers If you are having a convention, or know of one in your area, informed about conventions in their area. It is not limited to SFB submit the information for it as soon as possible (preferably a flyer and is not affiliated with ADB, DDB, TF G or AO G. For informaton from the con itself). If the convention is holding a sanctioned SFB write to PO Box 1281, Homewood IL 60430 or email tournament, please let us know. Deadline for publication in any mgca @ aol.com. issue of the T im e s is the 15th of the month in which that issue is to be published. Note that the T im e s is not published in June or ALSO IN THIS ISSUE... December of each year, so conventions in those months will have The Tournament Line: ORIGINS ‘96 R E P O R T...... 2 to be announced well in advance. The Answer P a g e ...... 3 G EN C ON 1996 (August 8-11, Milwaukee, Wl): Gen Con will Fiction Feature: Hidden Agenda...... 4-7 once again be held at the ME C C A convention center in downtown Schedule & Products...... 8 Milwaukee. TF G and ADB have confirmed that they will not Playtest Scenario: The O rb ...... 9-10 sponsor/run a major multi-round SFB event at Gen Con this year. VudarP F Flotilla SSD ...... 11 AGENTTS OF GAMING 20 PO BOX 31571 DAYTON OH 45437-0571

PUBLISHER’S INFORMATION SFB CLEARINGHOUSE Star Fleet T ime s is written by Dayton Design Bureau under Agents of Gaming is authorized to act as a clearinghouse for special license with ADB and Task Force . The T imes is some out of print TFG material. Chief among these are back issues copyright© 1996 . of Starletter, Star Fleet Times and Subspace News, all of which are Subscriptions to Star FleetTimes cost $15 for ten issues (one available for $2 each; $3 each for overseas customers. year) in the USA, including APO and FPO boxes. Canadian Starletters: subscriptions $16; overseas $22 (Air Mail). All payments must be in Back issues available: 80, 82, 86-92. Others sold out. US funds. All checks must be drawn on a US bank and have Subspace News: magnetic code numbers (make checks payable to Agents of #1: Early Years Hydrans; rules for Nova Cannon. Gaming). International Postal Money Orders are also acceptable, #4: Alliance conjectural maulers (Thol, Kzi, Hyd, ). as are credit card orders ( /Visa only; minimum order $10). Send Star Fleet Times: subscriptions to Agents of Gaming, PO Box 31571, Dayton OH #1: Gorn, Rom fast cruisers; Custom Ship Design System. 45437-0571, or call (513) 233-6886 for credit card orders. Do not #2: Thol, ISC maulers; D5 squadron SSD; MON scenario. send subscription requests to ADB or TFG. Subscriptions can be #3: Romulan Saberhawk SSD; CDS expansion rules. purchased for only one year at a time. #4: Humor issue with 4 weird ships. #5: Tournament issue (tactics for new tournament ships). NETWORKS & ELECTRONIC MAIL #6: Origins report; Quality Campaign Design article; Canadi’en GEnie: On this network, SFB is category 10 of page 805 non-mauler heavy cruiser SSD. (menu item #1). For information on GEnie call Client Services at 1 - #7: SFB campaign rules, Deltan war destroyer SSD. 800-638-9636 (voice only). SFB services include questions & #8: Legendary officers, Fed carrier hybrid SSDs. answers, playtest material, ongoing discussions, weekly real-time #9: Scary Ships I: Andromedan Shiva, Rom Megahawk, Lyran conferences, and overnight access to the staff. On GEnie contact SSCS, Fed CVN (72 fighters!). Amarillo Design Bureau by sending electronic mail to ADB$, Task #10: More legendary officers, two Barbarian SSDs. Force Games by sending to TFG and Agents of Gaming by #11: Naval Construction Dock and Warp Gate SSDs. Emailing B.GRAW1. #12: Fiction, F&E Production Wheel, Flivver carrier group. CompuServe: SFB has established an active presence on this #13: 4 more humorous ships including Fed police mauler. network. Call 1-800-848-8990 for information on CompuServe. To #14: Bombers and fighter-bombers (really big fighters). contact ADB, send Email to 71333,2123. TFG can be reached at #15: Steve Cole retires; TC reference chart; F-111 primer; 76443,3031. Nicozian first look; Jindarian playtest TC; Fed scout carrier. Internet Email Addresses: ADB; [email protected] or #16: Origins report; Orb scenario; Hidden Agenda fiction. [email protected]. TFG: [email protected]. Agents of #17: Term papers; crossword; Klingon D5VP. Gaming: B.Grawl ©genie.com or Agentl @gnn.com. #18: The Josers (a humorous new race). Web: ADB: http://www.task-force-games.com/sfu/sfu.htm. #19: Scary Ships II: Paravian DN, Kzinti Super , Lyran AOG: http://members.gnn.com/agent1 /aog.htm. Triple-Tooth Tiger (3 maulers!), Hydran Assault DN (8 HBs!).