Battlestations: Lightspeed

For 25 years, my game Battlestations has been the genre-defining tabletop starship board game/RPG hybrid, allowing crews of brave heroes to embark on space adventures. Now, I'm back on Kickstarter to present... Battlestations: Lightspeed, a streamlined standalone board game that condenses the majesty of the Battlestations experience into a breezy and fast game for 1-4 players. Lightspeed plays without a moderator/GM.

I've learned a lot in the years since making the first edition of the awesome, deep, immersive sandbox RPG/Board Game experience that is Battlestations. Now, I'm here to present a sleeker, faster-playing, standalone game based on all I've learned creating this great galaxy of Battlestations products. Check out the FAQs (it's usually visible on the left side of the screen), and reach out with any constructive comments or any other questions!

Battlestations is big RPG/board game hybrid. Lightspeed is a sleeker, standalone board game. The number one challenge of Battlestationshas been that it includes so much detail that it can be daunting to keep track of everything. A universe with 75+ planets, 30+ playable species, 100+ special abilities and 100+ published missions expanding over 25 years is daunting. There are special rules in Battlestations for fire, poison, special weapons, varied ship sizes and layouts and just a whole lot of nifty stuff.

Battlestations: Lightspeed is for those of us who want a simple, strategic, and fun gaming experience. It is literally lighter and faster. Each mission takes about 5 minutes to set up and half an hour to play. 

The second challenge for Battlestations has been the cost barrier to entry. Plunking $100 down for the base game (not even counting the hardcover second edition advanced rulebook) is a lot to ask to find out if you want to wade into that much depth. 

We needed to lower the barrier to entry, so we did. We needed to lower the lift for new players, so we did. Welcome to Lightspeed!

Stretched!  - the list below includes stretch goals you didn't know we had!

• 1 double-sided mounted mapboard
• 4 double-sided playable characters (Marine, Pilot, Engineer, and Scientist) 
• 4 ship layouts - Make it 6!
• 4 random plastic character miniatures
• 8 snap-on bases for the characters
• 3 plastic starship miniatures - Make it 6!
• 1 planetoid miniature
• 12 replayable missions
• 1 deck of 50 special abilities
• 1 full color double-sided countersheet
• Glass beads and wooden cubes for tracking damage and power levels.
• 2 six sided dice (and that's all the dice you need!)
• See the FAQs for more details about the contents of the box.
• 5 and 6 player rules!

"One of the best gaming experiences I've had all year... Anything I say can't compare to actually playing the game. Some games in my life...translate into stories that bring back great memories. These games I'll never get rid of them and always be glad to own them. Battlestations is one such game." - TOM VASEL (reviewing first edition)

"We played a very long campaign off and on over the course of several of the expansions. It really fit a niche no other game went after, especially sci-fi." - JAY LITTLE, Co-Designer of X-Wing Miniatures game

"Battlestations is the living manifestation of every spaceship I drew in my middle school notebook instead of listening to my teachers. Its modular design is tremendously influential among game designers, and it's great to see it roar back onto the scene." - MIKE SELINKER, Designer of Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, Co-Designer, Betrayal at House on the Hill

On their turn, each player gets to move (up to two spaces) and take an action. Everybody can attempt any action. You are better at tasks in your profession because the target number is 5 and you get a reroll.

When you attempt an action, you'll roll two dice and try to get your target number for that action or higher. You get 6 luck points you can spend during the mission to reroll your skill check dice or damage you are taking. The goal is for you (and your crew) to complete the mission objective. The campaign has 12 exciting and fun missions.

Unfortunately, we haven't ACTUALLY invented teleporting....yet. Which means that for those of you who purchase, Lightspeed, I'll need to ship you your games. Even more unfortunately, there are costs associated with those shipments. We'll handle this via the pledge manager, BackerKit in a couple of months.

I don't want to charge a dime more than necessary for this process, so this helps me make sure that happens. We'll post estimates about shipping once we have an idea of how many units we'll be producing. We have a broker in Canada, EU, and the UK, so we will try to offer "Friendly" shipping to those regions.

The Battlestations line consists of the original edition and seven supplements (2004-2012), Second Edition (2017), epic-size crossover/standalone game Dirtside (2024), plus three novels: Deep Black, Galactic Revolution, and My World. Expansions for Second Edition include The Starships (2019) and Sevens (2027). Expansion packs for Dirtside include Heavy Weapons (2024) and the Vraktian Behemoth mini. There's rumors that a massive Third Edition is being envisioned. If you want to support my vision to bring Battlestations to a wider audience, please back and share this current project. Thank you!  -Jeff Siadek