Captain's Log (magazine)

"Captain's Log" is a biannual magazine produced by Amarillo Design Bureau Inc., designed to feature gaming and background material relating to the various game systems of the Star Fleet Universe. While originally focussed on "Star Fleet Battles", as the number of games produced by ADB has grown, the magazine has increased the range of games it supports (including the recent "Federation Commander" game system.)

It was started in the early 1980s by Task Force Games, at that time the publisher of "Star Fleet Battles" as a vehicle to publish scenarios for SFB. As time passed, it became larger, with more diverse content (in both type "and" games covered). However, all content is still focused the SFU.

Layout

Each issue is generally divided into a number of sections:

History

This section contains at least one fiction story set in the universe, a number of smaller (one-page) articles featuring specific data on certain aspects of the universe (such as medals used by a specific race's military, for example).

Communications

This section presents news on upcoming products, after-action reports on previous releases, as well as question-and-answer articles.

cenarios

Mostly featuring new scenarios for SFB - usually including a scenario tied to the fiction pieces included in the issue - recent issues have also included similar scenarios for FC.

hipyard

Each issue includes new ship SSDs for SFB (and recently, including preview Ship Cards for FC), as well as background data relating to each new ship introduced.

Database

Including supplementary background information, as well as new articles for Star Fleet Battle Force and Prime Directive.

Venues

Covering the play-by-mail, play-by-email and online gaming aspects of the universe, as well as occasional articles covering the Star Fleet Command PC games.

Tactics

This section goes from detailing victories in tournament play (such as at Origins), racial 'primers' (overviews of new factions, to aid players in understanding what they have to offer), as well as Term Papers (advice for using specific tactics in play for certain ship types and weapons etc).

The Department of Strategic Studies

This is the section for "Federation and Empire", and mirrors on a lesser scale the SFB content of the rest of the magazine - with news of upcoming products, tactical notes, experimental rules and scenarios, and F&E-style information on the new ships presented in the Shipyard section.

External links

* [http://www.federationcommander.com/ ADB's new FC-themed web site]
* [http://www.starfleetgames.com/fc ADB's legacy web site]
* [http://www.starfleetgames.com/discus/messages/12099/12099.html?1171334028 ADB's Discussion Board threads for discussing Captain's Log]