First Space Tigers Playtest

Space Tigers is a light, tactical dogfighting-in-space game that I have been thinking about for a few years now. Despite having written the rules twice (not to mention a couple started and halted drafts in between), I had never actually playtested it. My design goals were clear, and I have a ton of ideas for expanding it, but I never knew if the basic game system was sound. So it was with great relief (and not a small amount of trepidation) that I finally tested it with three other players last night. There were a few glitches, which were expected, but the central mechanic of the game seemed to hold up pretty well. I now know for certain that I am onto something here and can continue testing and tweaking with confidence. I received some very good feedback and now have to update the rules from the notes I took.

My biggest fear was that it would flop, that the game was boring. I am happy to report that it was pretty fun. The first game was a bit of a blow-out due to bad luck (that's my team's story and we're sticking to it). The second game was called due to length, but was pretty exciting right up to the point when it got boring (or rather, when it transitioned into a lengthy endgame which would have been too plodding to play to completion). I am anxious to play more.

To do list:

Update playtest rules

Test a few more of the optional rules we did not use last night

Start making some preset missions, finding out which scenarios work best