Deep Space Navigator (Revised Edition)

The heart of this game is the plastic template that comes with it. Other components include paper with asteroids printed on it, pads of space ship and fighter records, and a 12-sided die. Players need to supply their own colored pens, a different color for each player.

The template makes this a nearly unique and very satisfying game. You can play on an empty sheet of paper or on the asteroid fields provided. It's a simple game of space ship combat between either two players or two teams.

You first design your spaceships, assigning shields, armor, weapons, fighter hangars, etc., to spaces in a circle with different levels. The core of the circle represents both the bridge and the power plant of the spaceship - you don't want it hit! The circles are divided into twelve sections, like a clock.

Once you all have ships, you draw a triangle for each base and take turns plotting movement. Movement is handled by the template: line the center of the template over your current position, with your previous position directly to the rear. The template is divided into arcs of distance. If you move eight arc lengths last turn, you will continue to move eight in a straight line - make a slight mark on the paper to note that. If you want to change course, you can either accelerate or decelerate, and/or turn left or right. Find the spot on the map you wish to move to - it has to be within the range shown on the template. For each arc of distance you vary, plus a sideways distance, you must burn fuel - check it off on your ship record.

Combat is also handled by the template, which shows ranges of the various weapons. Missiles are the most fun, as you can only use your hand to measure roughly, and must launch them at an angle and speed fairly close to what you want, but probably not exactly. A missile will travel two turns without change of direction or speed, then explode. It's possible to be hurt by your own missile blast…