I can't even figure out which thread to post this in...

I played Battlestations (Official site here) for the first time yesterday.  I was one of two new guys added to the crew.  Consequently, the ref ran a very short, combat-focused mission that gave me a pretty narrow view of the entire game experience.  Since my profession was Scientist, that meant I healed and operated a sick bay since I didn't need to consult a computer, hack a battlestation, jam any incoming missiles, etc.  The other guys were more experienced and tricked out with abilities from all the splatbooks available from the game to date, but we new guys still had things to do (and gear to borrow).  Despite that narrow experience, I had a really great time.

So what is this game?  In a nutshell, I'd say it was a lot of parts Traveller (esp. where task resolution is concerned), a lot of parts dungeoncrawl board game, but all dressed up and flavored in campy early-Star Trek and Futurama flavor and theme.  The two things I think you absolutely must know about the game are this: It uses two kinds of boards and it has simple mechanics for very "cinematic" spaceship activities.

Yeah, two boards: One representing your ship as separate module pieces and the other board representing your spot in space and the other stuff around you like other vessels and incoming missiles.

I didn't really get to do much with interacting with the ship's abilities, but I did have a cheat sheet that let me glimpse what the various professions are good at.  Engineers can rush around the ship "pumping" engines for speed or repairing damage.  Scientists scan enemy vessels, jam missiles, hack and download data, warp people to and from other ships, patch up their friends.  Marines might be experts at fights on board or launching missiles through space.  Pilots, well, I guess that speaks for itself.  In all, my cheat sheet listed about 8-12 common activities for each attribute which pretty well represented what I'd expect to see in any campy sci-fi show.  There are, of course, actions not on the sheet and in the various splats (like when I attempted to bat a grenade back at the enemy as it sailed over my head).

A lot of these activities have to take place in the titular "Battlestations," and you can only use a given station so much.  So I get the sense that the full experience is a very, very tactical balancing act of moving through your own ship, getting from station to station as needed to assist your friends on enemy vessels while keeping the shit from outer space from wrecking you.  I'm told and read that missions are usually played in a few hours and most scenarios are designed with a bit of a time crunch.

So you might see why there is a bit of confusion over what category of game this falls into.  The guys I was with weren't roleplaying at a group level per se, but they kind of were at an individual level if they wanted to.  It's hard to know what their normal procedure is with two new guys in the room.  Anyway, whatever the game is, I call it fun.  I'm not convinced I want to own it yet until I've had the full experience, but it was a refreshingly quirky, fun game.

For me, a fantasy guy, this might be just the sort of thing I might want to "streamline" the things I sometimes find overwhelming about sci-fi games.  For a veteran sci-fi gamer, I suspect you know about this game.  But if you don't - this is kind of like your HeroQuest/Descent (until you run out and buy all the accessories and realize you have new giant game).

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/12350/battlestations

My buddy loved the game so much that I haven't seen my copy in five years!

I've wanted to try this game since I first saw it... but chances are slim and none I'm gonna get a chance unless I buy it and lock some people in a room with me and my gun.