As part of their largest Firestorm Galaxy expansion to date, Spartan Games have announced a brand new Fighter Combat board game called Firestorm: Strike Force.

When Spartan Games set out to design this, their first out of the box board game, they set out a list of guidelines which included having; fast and furious game play, a modular game zone, a deck building element and a ready to play from the box setup.

The 2-player starter set will include Training Missions alongside downloadable content including an option for mass space battles for up to 16 players!

Spartan games have focused on providing Basic Decks to get started immediately and let new players have a "beer and pretzels" experience.

They have also allowed for the building of custom decks and the introduction of Advanced, Mission and Factions cards to allow for more tactical and competitive gameplay.

All six of the core Firestorm factions, plus two additional factions for Saurian Enclave and Pathogen, are represented via detailed models which feature Fighters, Bombers and Boarding Craft.

The game also supports plans for Frigates, Freighters and larger ships in the future.

One element of the game I really like the look of is the double-sided hex tile "Game Zone" which can form a wide variety of battlefields for 24"x24" play or, with future released tiles or sets, a 48"x24" play area.

If you're feeling spicy you can also build your own free-form maps for exciting missions as the set comes with wonderful "double hex" sized planets, terrain and space features.

The game is available for pre-order from Spartan Games Store now.

What do you think of this pickup and play, fast paced, space fighter?