Star Trek Tactical Combat Simulator
Back in the early 1980s, FASA published one of my favorite things ever - the Star Trek Role Playing Game. Included with the first edition was the Star Trek Tactical Combat Simulator. This book provided a quick way to play out starship combat and though it shared more than a few similarities with Star Fleet Battles, the TCS was a distinct game in its own right. The rules were simple and provided a ladder approach with a basic, intermediate, and advanced version of the rules included in the book. It was all you needed to game out your starship encounters in a fast and easy way. My first experience with TCS came about when I was looking for something to replace the mind-numbingly awful rules for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan . Without really getting into it, the game made everything a chore and provided all the flavor as a cardboard box. Maybe some people like it, but it just didn't get the job done for me. What did make Wrath of Khan work for me was its space exploration gam...