Homeworld has a board game and I wish I could afford it

I’ve been a fan of the Homeworld series from the moment the teaser trailer came out way back in 1998. In fact, the trailer video was included on the Half-Life install CD, tempting you with a rendition of Adagio For Strings, cool space ships, and intriguing game mechanics.

So yes, I am a bit obsessed with the franchise.

And then I spotted Homeworld: Fleet Command, published by Modiphius Entertainment, a maker of tabletop RPGs, wargames, and board games, with licenses for the likes Elder Scrolls, Lord Of The Rings, Blade Runner, to name a few. Modiphius initially launched the game as a Kickstarter, which managed to raise a healthy £550,000 against a £80,000 goal.

This is a pre-order. Shipping is expected to start mid-January 2024, after the Kickstarter backer fulfilment.

Bring your full might and mastery of fleet command to bear with the stunning Grand Admiral Bundle. With everything you need to wage interstellar warfare on a truly astronomical scale, this selection will bring the definitive Homeworld experience to your tabletop in supreme style.

The Homeworld: Fleet Command Grand Admiral Bundle Includes:

Homeworld: Fleet Command Board Game 

• 50 Plastic Taiidan Ships (24 Fighters, 12 Corvettes, 12 Frigates, 1 Destroyer, 1 Carrier)
• 51 Plastic Kushan Ships (24 Interceptors, 12 Corvettes, 12 Frigates, 1 Destroyer, 1 Carrier, 1 Mothership)
• 1 Rulebook
• 1 Double-sided Game board with hex grid
• 225 Tokens
• 42 Unit Cards, 44 Leader Cards, 54 Command Cards, 2 Faction Cards
• 6 Red and 6 Blue Six-sided Dice

Homeworld: Fleet Command Campaign Expansion 

• An expansion rulebook with 8 more missions
• 1 double-sided game board to double your game space
• 69 new cards
• 91 new tokens
• 100 new plastic spaceship miniatures representing Kushan and Taiidan Forces
  • 24 Attack Bombers
  • 24 Bombers
  • 24 Salvage Corvettes
  • 24 Ion Cannon Frigates
  • 4 Heavy Cruisers

Homeworld: Fleet Command Kushan Alternate Fleet Box (GREY)*

• 102 GREY Kushan spaceships
  • 2 Destroyers 
  • 2 Carriers 
  • 12 Assault Frigates
  • 12 Multi-Gun Corvettes
  • 12 Salvage Corvettes
  • 12 Ion Cannon Frigates
  • 2 Heavy Cruisers
  • 24 Interceptors
  • 24 Bombers
• 54 Command cards, 18 Unit Cards, 22 Leader Cards
• 64 tokens

Homeworld: Fleet Command Taiidan Alternate Fleet Box (YELLOW)*

• 102 YELLOW Taiidan spaceships
  • 2 Destroyers 
  • 2 Carriers 
  • 12 Assault Frigates
  • 12 Heavy Corvettes
  • 12 Salvage Corvettes
  • 12 Ion Cannon Frigates
  • 2 Heavy Cruisers
  • 24 Interceptors
  • 24 Bombers
• 54 Command cards, 18 Unit Cards, 22 Leader Cards
• 64 tokens

Homeworld: Fleet Command Scout Box

• 1 Metal Valour Tokens
• 36 plastic spaceship miniatures
  • 24 Cloaked Stealth Fighters
  • 2 Kushan Destroyers
  • 2 Taiidan Destroyers
  • 2 Kushan Heavy Cruisers
  • 2 Taiidan Heavy Cruisers
  • 2 Kushan Carriers
  • 2 Taiidan Carriers
• 32 Fighter Trays
• 2 Flagship Unit Cards (Turanic Raider, Kadesh)
• Kadesh Unit Cards
• Turanic Raiders Unit Cards
• 54 Extra Command Cards
• 6 PDFs (To be delivered via download when they are available)
  • RPG/Board Game Crossover
  • Guest for the Burning Spear Campaign
  • Battle for Hiigara Epic Scenario
  • Raiders Retreat Scenario
  • Garden of Kadesh Scenario
  • Solo Players Guide

Homeworld: Fleet Command Scaffold Box 

• 4 Siocast Resin Flagships
• 6 Extra Double-sided Game Boards
• 2 Homeworld Dice Trays
• Three Extra Dice Sets (2 x Yellow/Grey, 1 x Red/Blue)
• Storage trays

*Box contents image shows the standard ship colour, not the colour included in this Alternate Fleet Box.

https://www.modiphius.net/collections/homeworld-fleet-command/products/homeworld-fleet-command-grand-admiral-bundle

Look at that fleet!

The high quality miniatures are what really catches my eye, obviously. You can’t fault the design aesthetics of the Homeworld series, but it looks like such a complete package, with a clear intention to give you the RTS experience in a turn based board game.

The game is even set up like a RTS single-player campaign to drip feed you all the rules and game mechanics as you work through missions. In the video game series, you start off with basic units and a mothership, and as you progress new units are researched, adding extra depth to the strategy. There’s also loads of expansions and addons to give you more units and new campaign scenarios, as well as alternative colours for the ships.

Video games have a long history with board games

This is a huge subject that probably deserves its own feature, but board games and video games have gone hand-in-hand since both existed. Not only have there been board games based on popular video game franchise (as seen here), but at their very inception, video games have emulated and expanded on popular board games. From the first digital iteration of chess (which, I’m sure, came before Video Chess on the Atari 2600) to Sid Meyer’s Civilization (not to be confused with the 1980 board game of the same name) being influenced by strategy board games like Risk, or the 1989 Peter Molyneux classic Populous, turn-based games have translated well from one medium to the other.

Homeworld Fleet Command is available from Modiphius with the base game starting at £80.00.