Battlestar Galactica: Starship Battles feels like the perfect space combat game for physics nerds. Based on the TV series – the starter set includes four ships from the noughties reboot/remake, but vessels from the original ‘70s show are also planned – Starship Battles does an admirable job of implementing the kind of scientific quirks to dogfighting in space that other miniature games like X-Wing casually sweep under the bantha-skin rug.
You’ll have to take into account the G-force of your manoeuvres, for instance, as you plan one or two of a deck of movement cards to wiggle your ship around asteroids and rival fighters. Also playing a part is acceleration, which stops you suddenly throwing your craft into reverse to dodge incoming fire and Newton from spinning in his grave. With the optional rules for 3D space, vertical position becomes another consideration. In a nice nod to the unpredictability of faster-than-light travel in the show, some ships can jump into FTL during tight situations – but with little idea of which direction they’ll go or how far they’ll travel, with potentially devastating results.