Spartan Games is publishing a new fast-paced board game of science fiction space fighter combat called Firestorm:  Strike Force, which will begin shipping in September.

Firestorm:  Strike Force is designed to be a complete stand-alone game, with everything needed to play included in the box.  The game offers tactical battles between squadrons of fighters in the futuristic science fiction world of the "Firestorm Galaxy," the same setting as Spartan’s Firestorm Armada and Firestorm Planetfall miniatures games.  In the first boxed set in the line, fighters from the oppressive Terran Alliance face off against the freedom fighters of the Dindrenzi Federation in high-speed battles in outer space.

The game system features elements of deck building games to drive a mechanic through which players develop their own deck to support their style of play and tactics.  The card-driven combat is then resolved on the two-foot by two-foot game board using pre-colored fighter models that require neither assembly nor painting.

Firestorm:  Strike Force comes with 12 fighter models with flight stands, 9 double-sided game board tiles, 2 decks of combat cards, 2 decks of faction cards, stat cards, activation and fog of war tokens, and a cloth bag.  MSRP is 50.00 British Pounds (about $65.00 U.S.).

The new game will be the cornerstone of a new line for Spartan, which plans to release a series of expansions in the coming months that will add additional races to the game, new scenery, and capital ships.

Last year, Spartan made a big push behind its licensed Halo miniatures games, releasing a series of vehicle models based on the computer game late last year (see "Tanks Roll in for 'Halo: Ground Command'").