Here are my thoughts on the Strategic Battleforce (SBF), in short, I like it. If you like Alpha Strike and big epic battles, I think you can get into it as well. In terms of battles, it was huge. The Kurita forces (my friend Alexander) brought two battalions of mechs plus a regiment of vehicles. The Steiner forces (me) brought a full regiment of mechs reinforced by two battalions of vehicles. We played on a double-sided map, so it was a brutal fight.
Here are some things I liked about SBF. I liked how you can build it up from Alpha Strike. I like how you can create any force you want and scale it up to SBF or even Abstract Combat System levels. I understand why the Skills, TMM, and Movement are averaged for each Formation. It is easy to roll attacks and apply them to the target. Although a little finicky, I like the Engagement Control rules too. It creates the feel of two units jockeying for control and can recreate the combat with up to four companies of troops in a single mapsheet with only three dice rolls.
I created the units from the sample units from Campaign Operations. I liked how each House’s units had their own flavor. The Combine units tended to be more mobile (more JUMP) while the Lyran units had slightly more firepower. The Combine player used that to his advantage to slip his units around my flanks. We were playing a Breakthrough scenario, and he won 23 VP over my 18 VP. I liked how you can use Engagement Control rolls for blocking and pinning maneuvers.
A lot of the rules are a bit wordy, and I had to read it a few times over to get the gist of them. But I think we were able to play in the spirit of the game. There was a lot to try to get a hold of like Engagement Rolls and Morale. I believe the Interstellar Operations books could do for a revision.
In the end I hope that SBF and even the Abstract Combat System could do for a little more love.
