Firestorm Armada

Firestorm Armada
Wargame published by Spartan Games
No. of Players	At least six
First Publication	2009
Essential Books	Three so Far

Prepare to enter a galaxy gripped by a war of cataclysmic proportions. Where fleets of colossal warships clash in brutal conflict among the stars. Systems are besieged, alliances crumble and whole worlds burn as the bitter struggle for control rages on. Yet amidst this fire and fury there is hope. Heroic commanders and admirals of renown stand firm against their foes, rallying their fleets and inspiring their crews to acts of great valour in the name of victory. The fate of a galaxy hangs in the balance.

Enter the Firestorm!

-Spartan Games Promotional Tagline

The game Battlefleet Gothic wanted to be!

-Every BFG player who starts playing it.

Some Background

Firestorm Armada, or more collquially, simply "Firestorm", is a sci-fi naval battle game dreamed up by Spartan Games. It was released as their second game, after Uncharted Seas, a fantasy naval game. Firestorm, much like other naval fleet games, eschews complex gameplay, such as systems management and 3d newtonian movement, in favour of a simple yet deep game mechanic. Like all Spartan games, Firestorm has a nearly complete library of models for every unit in the game (and with 11+ factions, each with at least a DN, BB, CA, DD and FF, that's a lot of ships). Made from resin, the models are fairly priced, and investment in a fleet doesn't burn up your funds like some other games. The models, especially dreadnaughts, are quite large (10~15 cm is not uncommon), and this can lead to games feeling quite claustrophobic. On the other hand, the detailing is nice and the large models allow for creative paint schemes.

Races, Alliances, and why they want to blow each other up.

Major Races

There are six major races in the Game:

• Aquan Prime - Dolphins in Space, their Fish Taco ships have very few weaknesses
• Soryllian Collective - Lizards in space, well known for being jack of all trades
• Terran Alliance - Cast as heroes in the fluff, but reading between the lines probably the bad guys.
• Dindrenzi Federation - Space Nazis, or Space Americans depending on your point of view. The Terran Alliance nuked their homeworld Dramos into oblivion. Favour long range railguns.
• The Directorate - Ultra Capitalist evil companies with a space navy to defend their interests. Like Games Workshop in space.
• The Relthoza - Big ugly arachnids that love to cloak their ships and ambush their prey.

Minor Races - This is kind of a misnomer now, since you can field an entire fleet for each "minor" race since Firestorm 2.0

Minor Races are split up into two factions:

• Kurak Alliance - Ostensibly the good guys, in reality only a lighter shade of grey then the Zenian League
  • Hawker Industries - Honorable Businessmen with Firepower
  • Veydryth - Barely restrained Raiders, they love fast ships
  • Ryushi - Nomads cast from their ancestral homeworlds, rely on drones to swamp the enemy
  • Xelocian
  • Tarakians - Mysterious alien species, very little is know, their gravitic weaponry is quite formidable
  • Terquai
  • The Aquans, Terrans, and Soryllians are all members of the Kurak Alliance

• Zenian League - Ostensibly the bad guys, most of the members are just more self-serving then the Kurak Alliance members. Of course most of the Kurak Alliance didn't have their homeworld destroyed in Nuclear Fire by the Terrans...
  • Works Raptor - Super Secret Starship building company. Think Lockheed Martin but slightly less evil.
  • Rense System Navy - If the Dindrenzi are Space Nazis, the RSN is the Space SS, or Gestapo. Super fanatical, with good ships and great crews, the RSN tends to be a fan favourite. It helps that they have some of the best looking ships in the game.
  • Illosian - Created by the Aquans as a genetically engineered race able to live on land, the Illosians revolted and fought a long war with their creators. Driven into a deep sector of space, they bided their time before returning with brutally effective ships with some surprisingly refined technology.
  • Kedorians - A bunch of lazy douchebags who fly around in floating cities (think Atlantis from Stargate) while making servitor races do all the heavy lifting.
  • Ba'Kaash - The bootstrapper pirates of the universe, the Ba'Kaash love simple technology, and boarding actions.
  • The Dindrenzi, Directorate, and Relthoza are all members of the Zenian League

Aquan Prime

Fish Tacos in Space

The Aquan Sebrutan – or ‘Union’ – is one of the oldest spacefaring powers. Its great ships have been sailing the void of space since long before humanity had even mapped the surface of Terra, let alone launched itself into the stars. The Sebrutan’s people are composed of many different sentient lifeforms, most aquatic, and some the products of genetic engineering.

Despite some initial conflicts years before, the Aquans have enjoyed cordial relations with the Terrans and Sorylians. Like most alien species, they maintained neutrality during the secession wars that sundered human space, though they remained supportive of the Terrans.

Now however, the Storm Zone invasion has placed the Aquans directly in the firing line of Zenian League aggression, especially from the Directorate. Faced with such danger, the Aquans formally joined the Alliance of Kurak, and have mobilised their great Prime fleets to defend both the Storm Zone and their ancient empire.

Despite their peaceable temperament, the Aquans maintain a large fleet of well-armed warships. The aquatic nature of the Sebrutan’s peoples makes them highly accomplished spacefarers, accustomed to thinking in three dimensions of motion.

Aquan ships are nothing less than colossal cybernetic organisms, products of the Sebrutan’s expertise in biomechanical engineering. Vast living cores, protected by dense carapaces provide tremendous natural electrical power to mechanical systems spliced into them, including drives and weapons.

Aquan weaponry consists of powerful electro-chemical lasers, manipulated by prismatic ‘irises’ to fire in any direction, and massed torpedo tubes supplied with corrosive ordnance manufactured by the ships themselves. Vessels are mostly filled with water, presenting severe difficulties to enemy boarders. Special chemical additives prevent ‘flash-freezing’ of damaged compartments.

The Battle Shoals of the Sebrutan are deadly in combat. Whole fleets move in graceful cohesion, apparently without vulnerable quarters, shattering opponents with blistering firepower. Now roused to anger, the Aquans are lethal foes for any Zenian foolish enough to cross them.

The Directorate

Evil ENTREPRENEURIAL Corporate Scientists with a lax ethical code GREAT OPPORTUNITIES FOR ADVANCEMENT

Deep in the Outer Reach, beyond the territory of the Dindrenzi state, lies the most advanced – and certainly the most sinister – human stellar dominion. This is the Directorate. The Directorate was created at the end of the first Outer Reach secession war by a consortium of immensely powerful corporations. They bought their political freedom from Terra in return for promising technological and economic support for the Terran government.

But the treacherous corporate overlords quickly betrayed the Terrans when the second secession war broke out, backing the Dindrenzi separatists. The Directorate has enjoyed a highly profitable relationship with the Dindrenzi Federation ever since.

For the Directorate however, this is just another alliance of convenience. The corporations have worked hard behind the scenes to create and inflame the new Dindrenzi war against the Terrans. The Directorate helped found the Zenian League, and even organised covert attacks on their own ‘allies’ to push them into the conflict. Their motives for all this are simple – war is good business, and to the victor go the spoils.

Despite being few in number, the Directorate’s Security Fleets operate some of the most formidable warships in service. Heavily automated for maximum efficiency, Directorate ships incorporate highly advanced technology, such as cloaking fields.

Directorate vessels are festooned with deadly plasma projector batteries to burn huge holes in enemy warships. But their plasma bombardments alone are only one part of the horror. The same projectors are used to ‘inject’ capsules containing lethal pathogens and chemical weaponry into shattered enemy ships to complete the devastation.

Directorate Captains consider every engagement to be a live firing test for their latest weaponry. Chemical and biological torpedoes and terrifying cybernetic and gene-modified assault troops are among the many destructive tools in their arsenals.

Hated and feared in equal measure, the Directorate’s fleets have acquired the darkest of reputations within the Alliance of Kurak. They come not only to destroy, but to abduct and pillage. Wherever the Directorate’s sinister, crablike ships are sighted, terror and chaos soon follow.