Firestorm Armada

Firestorm Armada
Wargame published by Spartan Games
No. of Players	At least six
First Publication	2009
Essential Books	One, the Main Rulebook!

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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.

The Factions

Like their other main title Dystopian Wars, the Firestorm setting has two main alliances comprised of several factions and an ostensibly neutral set of factions that have individual alignment matrices.

The Kurak Alliance

Ostensibly the good guys, but in reality only a lighter shade of grey than the Zenian League. Formed by the Terran Alliance and the two most powerful alien races to combat the threat of the Zenian League. They eventually brought six smaller factions into the fold who had suffered at the hands of Zenian League aggression during it's push into the Fathoms Reach and Storm Zone.

• Major Races
  • Aquan Prime - A collective of aquatic species, basically space dolphins and lobsters. Very Eldar-ish in that they are graceful, maneuverable, and deadly when used right, but die horribly when they make a mistake. Make heavy use of omni-directional lasers. They have been a long-standing ally of Terra, having been strong supporters of the Terquai for centuries before formal contact with the main human forces.
  • The Sorylian Collective - Ancient race of logical, pragmatic space lizards. Generally they are a very up-close force, using powerful broadside guns and lethal boarding parties. They are slow to act and very thoughtful, presumably developing out of their relatively long lifespans. Their territory extends into the Storm Zone, which was the catalyst for joining the Kurak Alliance, but have since become one of their staunchest defenders.
  • The Terran Alliance - Used to be the dominant human power until the Directorate turned traitor and the Dindrenzi rebelled. Now they're fighting to hold onto what they have left. Their ships look bad on paper, then you realize they're shielded out the ass and can absorb retarded amounts of punishment. Makes heavy use of nuclear weapons, as the Dindrenzi eventually found out when their homeworld of Dramos was reduced to a smoldering, lifeless rock in space.

• Minor Races
  • The Hawker Consortium - Old-school, honorable corporation that helps design and build Terran ships and weapons. Have badass-looking ships known for durability and nuclear armament. Basically Elite Terrans. With the defection of the Directorate and Works Raptor, they've become the primary developer of new weaponry for the Terran Alliance.
  • Ryushi - Nomads who wander the stars after the loss of their homeworld to the Dindrenzi and Illosians. Use lots of drones to preserve their own lives, as they are not very numerous. They are bitter enemies of the Kedorians, being the only race outside of the Zenian League to know their secret origins.
  • Tarakians - Mysterious, advanced aliens that use big lumbering ships with troll-tastic gravitic weaponry. Enjoy watching them throw your ships into asteroid fields or planets. They inhabit an area of space along the edge of the galaxy called the Harrison Belt. They seem to be keeping watch for some force outside the Milky Way and much of their society seems structured around keeping watch at the galaxy's edge.
  • Terquai - Human citizens of the Aquans. Their ships are a mixture of Aquan and Terran tech and design sensibilities. Their ancestors were among the first human space colonists, having settled far from Terra before being cut off from humanity during the Wars of First Contact. They soon found their colony worlds were already occupied by the Aquans. This worked out for both, however, as the Aquans lived in the oceans and they on the land. Centuries later when they reestablished ties with the Terran Alliance, it was discovered they had become a client state of the Aquans. These ties helped form the Kurak Alliance when the Zenian League launched their invasion into the Storm Zone.
  • Veydryth - Savage, spacefaring raider tribes with fast ships. They are described as "star dragons" by Terrans due to their physical appearance. They used to raid Terran Alliance colonies, but with the push into the Storm Zone by the Zenian League they have been hired by the Hawker Consortium to raid Zenian races instead.
  • Xelocians - The other nomadic race living in giant worldships. They were drifting through the area when war broke out and joined the Kurak Alliance out of need for protection and due to their business ties to Hawker. They have a strong business acumen, but also seek enlightenment as a race among the stars. They currently believe their race has begun it's final journey as war breaks out across the galaxy.

The Zenian League

Technically the bad guys, but only because they tend to be more self-serving than the Kurak races. Most of their races are motivated by revenge for wrongs committed against them in the past at the hands of the races now comprising the Kurak Alliance.

• Major Races
  • The Dindrenzi Federation - Tough, don't tread on me type frontier colonists who rebelled against the Terrans after being politically marginalized and taxed into oblivion. The initial rebellion ended with their homeworld obliterated in Terran nuclear fire, but this only pissed them off more. Distrustful of aliens and most other humans, for good reason, they are an alliance of various frontier systems. Most of their ships are built around gigantic railguns, but they pay for it by being relatively slow and unmaneuverable. They basically play like Tau, preferring to sit back and snipe with their superior forward guns.
  • The Directorate - The true villains of the setting. Basically a bunch of greedy, amoral corporations who broke away and created their own empire. Fond of playing both sides off against each other in order to keep the wars going as long as possible so they can profit from weapons sales. Their homeworld is an Ayn Rand paradise where the wealthy live in excess, but if their net worth drops too low they are forced to leave their homes and move off world. Their ships are mostly giant flying saucer types with omni-directional turrets in the center. They make heavy use of nuclear, biological, and chemical warheads on their torpedoes, as well as cyberwarfare weaponry.
  • The Relthoza Empire - Giant spider people with a raging hard-on for nanotech. Surprisingly they are not a monolithic hive mind, and are actually a caste-based society of fully sentient individuals. Currently undergoing a swarming urge in which they attempt to conquer more territory. Generally they rely on stealth technology to get into optimal firing range, and back it up with nasty boarding parties made up of giant power armored spider marines. In the Wars of First Contact they were humiliated at the hands of the Terran Alliance, losing territory and suffering their first major defeat at the hands of an alien race.

• Minor Races
  • Ba'Kash - Bootstrapper space pirates who love war and plunder. Joined the Zenian League after being promised the chance to have both of those things in large amounts. They prefer simple, direct weapons and technology, as well as boarding actions. They seem to be roughly analogous to the Klingon of Star Trek.
  • Illosian Protectorates - Crab people created by the Aquans to be able to live on land. Turned out hyper-aggressive and warlike and quickly rebelled against the Aquans. The Aquans responded by attempting genocide upon their entire race. After being defeated, they lurked out in deep space and annoyed the colonists who later became the Dindrenzi. Recently they came back to wreak revenge on the Aquans, having been brought into the Zenian League by the Kedorians.
  • Kedorians - Highly intelligent aliens with many client races who supported the Dindrenzi rebellion, thus earning political favors from the new Dindrenzi state. Make use of giant circular floating fortress-ships that double as space-based cities with tons of omnidirectional weaponry. Disdain getting their hands dirty and thus use their more aggressive servitor races as assault troops. Most races think they're a race composed of several sub species, but in reality they are parasites who implant themselves in other sentient races and seize control of their bodies like the Gou'ald of Stargate. Strangely in contrast to their generally cowardly attitude of using their client races to do their dirty work, they believe fighter to fighter combat to be honourable and only pure/noble members of their race may use their interceptor craft.
  • Rense Systems Navy - The Dindrenzi state security and intelligence force based out of their most powerful star system; basically the KGB to their Soviet Union. Created to police the various Dindrenzi worlds and keep their allies of convenience in line. Use very well designed, advanced ships with elite crews. They have the trademark Dindrenzi railguns, but with none of the trademark Dindrenzi weakness to close-range combat. Are shown to be fanatical in their devotion to the Dindrenzi race and the Church of Dramos, a cult that has sprung up following the nuclear seeing to given to Dramos by the Terrans. The RSN are employed in a number of different scouting and deep reconnaissance missions, while also acting as the enforcers for the leagues best interest (read as killing/punishing lesser members of the league who act out of line)

• • Saurian Conclave - The first sentient race encountered by humanity in space. Rogue Sorylians who were exiled for enhancing their bodies with cybernetics and reckless genetic engineering, confusion about their exact relation to humanity led to the initial stages of the Wars of First Contact between the Terran Alliance and Sorylian Collective. With Terra now formally aligned with their more cautious cousins, the Saurians have found common cause with the Dindrenzi against their common foes.
  • Works Raptor - Basically what you would get if the Dark Eldar were businessmen. Expelled from the Terran Alliance, they have become the most infamous member corporation of the Directorate, they use monstrous bio-engineered assault troops, nuclear, biological, and chemical weaponry, and stealth technology. Don't let them take you alive or you'll end your days as a test subject for some new horrific weapon.

Marauders and Mercenaries

Unaligned factions who can be added to Zenian or Kurak fleets as mercenaries, or in some cases played on their own. Each has it's own matrix in the fleet guide for who they can and cannot align with. They were more fleshed out in the first edition supplement Marauders of the Rift with numerous sub factions (some with only one ship each), but were consolidated and given temporary new rules in second edition as a stop gap while the main factions were further fleshed out. Unfortunately this makes them not terribly competitive at the moment and lacking models for several ships until the Kurak Alliance and Zenian League factions all get their main battle groups finished.

• Mercenary Forces
  • OmniDyne Special Operations - A Terran Alliance company with ties to the Directorate. Bitter enemies of Works Raptor, OmniDyne also secretly employs numerous corsair crews and Oroshan mercenaries. They combine the old corsair and corporate vessels into a single fleet. The System Wars supplement allows you to take them and Works Raptor together in certain Directorate fleets.
  • Oroshan Imperium - Yet another nomadic race. The Oroshan usually work as mercenaries for the Directorate and OmniDyne, but being true capitalists at heart they will fight for anyone who pays them, including the Kurak Alliance. Currently the most fleshed out mercenary faction, they focus on utilizing the Pack Hunter rule to gain extra attacks by combining multiple ship's attacks together.
  • Syndicated Traders League - The legitimate front organization for the Vylia’sal Syndicate. Their fleet is composed of both space trader ships and illegal raiding vessels, representing both the legitimate traders and criminal raiders of controlled by Tauris Vylia’sal.

• Standalone Forces
  • Overseers - An ancient race from outside the Milky Way that nothing of note is known about. They currently only have a single probe model that comes with the Return of the Overseers two player set. This probe is not playable in regular games, but is an incredibly powerful model that will "attack" both players in the final scenario of the campaign book included in the set.
  • Pathogen X-9V - Nightmare fuel. Ships that have been infected by a bizarre techo-organic plague that may have been created as the byproduct of an OmniDyne technovirus run amok. May or may not be controlled by an unshackled AI hivemind. Basically a combination of SHODAN and The Flood, they have terrible shooting but once they get close they can infect and take over enemy ships by boarding them. It's best not to think about the horrific fate suffered by the crew of a ship infected in this way. They are the only faction in the game that cannot take allies nor be taken as allies by anyone else.

Aquan Prime

Fish Tacos in Space. Commanded by Admiral Tartar.

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 PEACE LOVING AND SELFLESS – 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 CARING BUSINESSES. They bought their political freedom from Terra in return for promising technological and economic support for the Terran government.

But the treacherous INCREDIBLY LOYAL corporate overlords FRIENDLY CUSTOMER SERVICE AGENTS quickly betrayed NEGOTIATED A BETTER DEAL WITH the Terrans when the second secession war broke out, backing the Dindrenzi separatists EXPANDING THEIR CONSUMER BASE AND CUSTOMER SERVICE. The Directorate has enjoyed a highly profitable relationship with the Dindrenzi Federation ANONYMOUS CUSTOMERS ever since.

For the Directorate however, this is just another alliance of convenience SELFLESSNESS. The corporations have worked hard behind the scenes to create and inflame the new Dindrenzi war against the Terrans NEGOTIATE AND FOSTER PEACE AMONGST ALL STAR NATIONS. The Directorate helped found the Zenian League, and even organised covert attacks READINESS TESTING AND COMMAND EXERCISES on their own ‘allies’ to push them into the conflict ENSURE CONTINUED PRODUCT RELIABILITY. Their motives for all this are simple – war PEACE is good business, and to the victor THE CUSTOMERS go the spoils LOW LOW PRICES AND PREFERRED CUSTOMER DISCOUNTS!

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

Directorate vessels are festooned with deadly plasma projector batteries WORKPLACE SAFETY WARNING SIGNS to burn huge holes in enemy warships ENSURE PEOPLE DON'T GET HURT. But their plasma bombardments SAFETY CONSCIOUS CULTURE alone are only one part of the horror COMMITMENT TO CONSUMER SAFETY. The same projectors WARNING SIGNS are used to ‘inject’ capsules containing lethal pathogens and chemical weaponry LIFE SAVING MEDICINES AND DRUGS into shattered MILDLY BROKEN enemy NEW CUSTOMER ships to complete the devastation HELP SAVE LIVES.

Directorate Captains consider every engagement to be a live firing PRODUCT DEMONSTRATION test for their latest weaponry PRODUCTS AND SERVICES. Chemical and biological torpedoes DOOR TO DOOR DELIVERY and terrifying ADORABLE cybernetic and gene-modified assault troops RESCUE PERSONNEL are among the many destructive HELPFUL tools in their arsenals CATALOGUE OF LIFE ENHANCING SERVICES.

Hated and feared LOVED AND ADMIRED in equal measure, the Directorate’s fleets have acquired the darkest BESTEST of reputations within the Alliance of Kurak. They come not only to destroy, but to abduct and pillage LIBERATE, BUT ALSO TO GIVE FREE CANDY! Wherever the Directorate’s sinister CUTE AND CUDDLY, crablike ships are sighted, terror and chaos HAPPINESS AND PROMOTIONS soon follow.