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Federation And Empire




The main focus of the game is the General War , and each player takes control of the resources and armed forces of a respective stellar empire, or allied group of empires, such as the Coalition or the Alliance , playing on a map of the region of space where the General War was fought.

The map used also includes the provinces, starbases, battle stations and planets of other races in the region, such as the neutral Lyran Democratic Republic and the WYN Star Cluster , as well as the Interstellar Concordium , which in the main rulebook are considered neutral powers but the inclusion of these races on the map allows for their use in game expansions, such as the impending ''ISC War'' expansion pack.

The game also allows for non-historical free campaigns to be played, with historical orders of battle for each of the stellar empires.


EDITIONS AND SUPPLEMENTS

''Federation and Empire'' was originally published in 1986 by Task Force Games (TFG). The rulebook has been revised four times since then, one of them coinciding with a change in the overall components. All editions come with 'fleet charts' (sheets off-map holding areas for excess counters) as well as 'capital charts' (to detail the contents of the capital systems of the various races), and the main map.

''Federtation and Empire Deluxe Edition'' was published in 1993 by TFG with the massively updated and expanded Rev-3 rulebook, a nicer-looking map and a new set of counters. The original set included 10 numbered sheets of double-sided counters for ships as well as two sheets of single-sided counters for markers and the like. Deluxe Edition retained the two single-sided sheets, but had three identical sets of four double sided counters (referred to as A, B, C, and D), providing two extra sheets at the cost of a couple unique units.

After ADB took over the publishing of all SFU material from TFG, they continued selling the Deluxe Edition, but soon released another large rewrite of the rules in 2000. The Rev-4 rulebook is usually called 'F&E2K'.

In 2004, the countersheets were again changed, from ABCD to One and Two. (Current sheets are twice the size of old ones.) In total, the number of counters are the same, but the counters that players may want extras of have been segregated onto Two, so that they can be bought separately. Once the counters are punched out, there are no differences between 'F&E2K4' and the previous version.

  • ''Carrier War'' was the first module, or supplement offered for F&E in 1993. Oringinally, it was to be 'Total War', but the project quickly grew too big, and this product mostly concentrated on the carriers and escorts of the General War. In 2004, this was replaced by an updated and expanded product, ''Fighter Operations''.


  • ''Special Operations'' was a smaller module published in 1993 that brought in several new rules, such as Klingon Stasis Field Generators.


  • ''Marine Assault'' was published in 1995 and featured extensive rules detailing the use of ground troops and marines in strategic operations.


  • ''Combined Operations'' was published in 2003 as a revised replacement for both ''Special Ops'' and ''Marine Assualt''. It included all the counters and rules of those products as well as some new content, such as police ships.


  • ''Advanced Operations'', published in 2003, focuses on the later years of the General War.


  • ''Planetary Operations'' is the most recent module for F&E, published in 2004.



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