I played a game (my first Starmada game as well as my first KA game) this weekend, doing what amounts to an "Admiral Graf Spee" game.  I took a D7 (who was raiding across the Neutral Zone) up against two Fed Frigates (who were the closest ships that could respond in time).  I admit that I went a little easy on my opponents (my kid and wife) since neither of them had read any of the rules, and I totally forgot about the Range-based RoF (which would have made a BIG difference), but we had a great time.  In the end, I succumbed to a dual Photon Torpedo strike  at close range.  Not a pretty sight.

Anyhow, one of the questions that came up was this:  What about warp drive?  Or are ships assumed to be travelling at warp already?  (I thought I recalled from somewhere that phasers can't be fired while at warp, but I might be mixing that up with something else....)

Nope, that is the FASA trek universe you are thinking of. In the SFU going faster than 32 is Warp IIRC.

And there are several ways to disengage, one is as Dan says by sublight.  That is, dropping your warp engines and becoming signal silent so no one can find you.  Another is disengagement by acceleration by going really fast away from the battle and declaring that next turn you will go really, really faster.  This is the equivalent of warp speed disengagement or hyperdrive.  Never used either, myself, in almost 20 years of SFB playing but I never have played in a campaign, which is where most of those fluff rules likely become important.

ISTR the TOS episode with the combat computer wired into the Enterprise and shot the crap out of Fed vessels in what were supposed to be exercises...every time it started it's attack sequence by accelerating to some Warp Factor. Been too long since I watched the episode though to remember the specifics, so I guess I lose a point of geek street cred for today.  :oops:
Erik

Never underestimate the usefulness of even 1 shield point -- especially if you're playing against me... I have an uncanny ability to roll 1's at the worst possible time.

You can't just throw that out there without more details and/or pictures -- what 1" wooden disk based Feds?

LOL - I found one of those "bags of wooden disks" at a local craft store.  There were some almost 1" disks that (because I'm a colossal nerd) made me think of the saucer section of a Fed ship.  So, a few cut down/sanded wooden dowels, some extra viking shields (for use as the top curve/bridge area) and bits of mat board later, and I had a Constitution class and two little "Saladin" type Frigates.  They're semi-painted at the moment, but still need some lettering.

Here is a quick snapshot from my cellphone (can't find my real camera).  The ships are mounted on 1" fender washers with another wooden disk glued over the hole.  You'll probably recognize the game mat.

Thanks - edited and uploaded.

AIEEE!  it Must be SFB, as there are drone salvos lumbering back and forth. (sigh)

Love these simple models they look good on the map and presumably u can make a shedload without taking out a mortgage.

Sometimes improvised stuff works really well.  `0 years back i made a thunderhawk for my (then 11) nephews 40k marines from a lot of carboard boxes etc.. he loved it to bits (literally)

Another testimonial for the points system...the D-7 won, but was reduced to 1 hull and had just about everything else shot to ribbons. I think some additional damage was done when the Klingon boarding parties were forced to stand-down with the destruction of the Constitution before they could transport 
Now it's my turn to take the Constitution for a spin and see how she handles.
Cheers,
Erik

Sure:

We recently played an 8-player Convention game of "Starmada: Klingon Armada" at this year's Millennium Con XII show in Round Rock Texas.

This was a classic Klingon VS Federation fight with the sides as followed:

United Federation of Planets:
1x DN
2x CA
4x CL
3x FF

Klingon Star Empire
1x C8 DN
1x C7 Heavy Battlecruiser
2x D6 Cruisers
2x F5 Frigates
6x E4 Escorts

The terrain was a large centrally located Planetoid (covering 7 hexes) and a halo of large asteroids surrounding it (13 Asteroids in total.

All players were new to the Starmada system.

Turn 1:
Federation fleet pack in together en-masse and creep forward at low speed, getting used to the orders system.
Klingon Empire, using a much looser definition of "Fleet" scatter into two shoals of ships with E4 Escorts leaping ahead at high speed, eager to engage the enemy. One Klingon D6 fires a Drone Salvo targeting Fed FF.

Turn 2: Fleets close and the larger "East" pack of Klingon ships spreads out as the DN inexplicably noses into orbit around the planetoid. Ships almost in rage of each other at leading edges.

Turn 3: 2x Klingon E4 escorts close to maximum weapon range and are greeted by a hail of Phaser I and Photon Torpedo fire from the mass of Fed ships packed together. They barely survive, crippled and dump their Drones in the end phase after doing a few points of damage to one of the Light cruisers. Drones launched in Turn 1 hit planet.

Turn 4: Lead edge of Klingon Force (4x E4, 2x D6) engage Federation Phalanx. Bad things happen to the damaged E4s and one of the D6s are ripped apart in return to some medium damage spread across several Federation ships. 6 Salvos of Drone launched.

Turn 5: Klingons feed piecemeal into the Federation Grinder. Second D6 lost, F5 Blown away, E4 heavily damaged, Feds lose one FF, more damage spread across the two Fed CAs. C8 Dread fires at long range adding damage to a Fed CA. Feds shoot down virtually all drones. More Drone Launches.

Turn 6: Klingons finally "get the lead out" and arc the C8 in tight orbit around the planet and engage the flank of the Fed fleet and blow away 2x Fed FFs and Damages a Fed CL. The two Klingon remaining E4 Escorts overfly the Fed gun line and pull a fast turn to come in behind the more heavily damaged Fed CA and rip him with Disruptor and Phaser fire, blowing away Shields, Hull, 2xx Photons and some Phasers.

At this point we ran out of time.

A Clear Victory to the Federation.

Notes from the game:

Players easily understood the mechanics of play after the first turn.
The Players who previously played Star Fleet Battles dramatically overestimated the lethality of unmolested drones.
Drone primary use appears to be in soaking up Federation Phaser fire.
EVERYONE forgot to use Tractors and Transporters.
Federation players group up in a gun line because they are Federation, not because it is Star Fleet Battles (lol).
There was a number of great comments like "WOW The Damage Allocation even feels like a Mizia system" and "It sure feels like Star Fleet Battles only...Faster!:

They appeared to really like the pre-plotted movement and everyone indicated that they had a great time.

-Mike Wikan