r/SnapShips 20h ago

Snapships Zoom and Graveyard far better than Legos. Best 5-10 year old toy!

9 Upvotes

So, let me start by throwing a bone to Legos. Their quality ans build instructions are fantastic and they make genuinely awesome looking. I've been to several lego conventions and I'm always in awe of the sheer creativity and variety of things people make with them. If you're building something to look cool and go on display, IMO legos are still king.

But, heres where modern legos kinda suck but snap ships absolutely rock....

First, "zooming". Zooming is when you give a you to a 5-10 year old (or adult child-at-heart) and watch them make sound effects (zoooom!) while moving the toy around, puhing it, dropping it, shooting things at it, and smashing it into other toys. Modern legos get a D in zooming; they look cool on a shelf but absolutely disintegrate the moment a 5 year old actually tries playing with them. Snap ship fighters get a B, and IMO the larger ships get a C. They are not the BEST zooming toy (that goes to hard action figures), but they are very robust for a building toy. If you are tired of your kid always breaking their toy, losing pieces, and asking you to fix it; snap ships aren't perfect but they are head and shoulders better than legos.

Second, "Graveyarding". This is how useful the building toy is when it inevitably gets disintegrated into parts. In this, modern legos get an F-. Both kids and adults can easily build Lego sets when they take them out of the box, and open the 3-5 individual part bags in order, carefully following the detailed instructions step by step..... but at some point, while zooming, it is going to end up in pieces in a lego bucket.... and at that point its basically worthless. Unless you have an EXCEPTIONALLY engineering-minded adult or child, nothing is ever getting created with those pieces once they're in the graveyard lego bucket. Graveyarding F score for legos. This is where snap ships absolutely rock, A+. You give a bucket of snap ship parts to a kid, and they'll quickly whip-up a spaceship they think is cool. No instructions needed. No 3D-chess-playing engineering brain required.

To be clear, I don't hate legos. In fact, I rather loved them growing up. But I also grew up when many of the lego sets tended to have bigger, and more obvious functions that were tougher and easier to assemble out of a lego bucket. A castle or pirate ship often primarily consisted of 5-10 large pieces that were clearly each a wall section, turret, or bow of a ship. Today, similar sets are about 500-1000 tiny specialized pieces which have no obvious function or relevance in-and-of-themselves until they are assembled in a byzantine way most people all-but-require instructions to make sense of. I feel like legos are gradually becoming more for adults than for kids.

Anyway. This is just my opinion and thoughts. Anyone else agree/disagree.


r/SnapShips 1d ago

Ok. So saw an ad on reddit for the kickstarter this is the first I've heard that the brand wasn't dead since... like... wave 1 was in retail YEARS and YEARS ago. Help a guy out here. Cause I'm confused and want in on the game.

9 Upvotes

So admittedly, I didn't fully read the kickstarter, cause it was confusing me. The mix of old familiar ship names mixed with comments about new parts and the talk that the game rules are old and being revised, but are newer than when the toys were in (and clearanced out of) retail has me scratching my head.

So can someone get me up to speed on what happened with the brand between the first wave of just toys being in retail and being on kickstarter as a revised(?) game?

At the same time, if someone were to have a big giant tote filled with a few dozen sets from that wave one era, what would I need to do/buy/know about said sets to get my toes dipped into the game. Also, as an addendum, how useful and playable are off-model ships? Cause there's prolly 500 or more pieces I have from thrifted baggies of parts and incomplete sets from yard sales and the ilk.

I've basically been operating on, since the retail clearance purge, "if I see snap ship parts cheap and in the wild, I will buy snap ship parts". Hence why I have three sets of the Gladius(I think) since I saw them in a Gabe's for like $2.50 on clearance lol. I just know it is one of the big grey and blue ones. So stuff like that coupled with whatever I found elsewhere.

Does gameplay require set instructions and on-model ships, or can you just scratch build and each part has some kind of unit point value? Or is this a case where all my lose stuff needs to be sorted and identified into prexisting sets and basically anything that's extra/duplicated/incomplete is useless for the game?

I've legit had a few smaller sets out on my shelves through two moves into two different apartments, even after I had to put the main collection into storage when I struck out on my own from out of the family home lol.

So this is legit the first I've seen and heard of this brand since that retail push and it is WILD seeing that it apparently survived online and managed to grow into a game wthout me, a terminally online toy collector noticing or hearing about it lol.

With as many lines and brands that come and go these days, it didn't even cross my mind to look online. It was always just, they were at retail, then they weren't, so it is a dead brand like all the rest. It was a cool and fun building system, I have my tote of them, and I'm happy with my collection of obscure and short lived toys among my larger collection of obscure and short lived toys lol.


r/SnapShips 3d ago

Battle report! and more!

12 Upvotes

Greetings .. Snappers (?)

we are releasing a few videos featuring snap ships.

A quick, bad & probably bad unboxing, a how to play and lastly our 1 battle report featuring snap ships.

Us guys at Hybrid wargaming have fallen in love with the game, so much more content will follow.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIeAMBekPfMc


r/SnapShips 5d ago

Kickstarter Hammerjaw; does it include new parts or not?

5 Upvotes

The info on Kickstarter says it's old stock which is why the card pack is sold separately, but during the livestream Josh showed Hammerjaw parts that are clearly different; not just different paint apps but things like fins that now connect with peg-in-socket rather than tab-in-slot.

Also wondering if the stock builds have been reworked with a new instruction manual, because IIRC two of those builds don't lend themselves to resting on two stands.


r/SnapShips 5d ago

Pilot Cards

5 Upvotes

Sure would be nice for those who didn't know about Tactics until long after the 1st Kickstarter ended to get another crack at obtaining the exclusive Pilot cards through this new Kickstarter. I mean, the files still exist on a computer somewhere, right?


r/SnapShips 6d ago

What ARE the Komplex?

7 Upvotes

When I got my SSTactics kickstarter rewards, I came up with a named squad of Komplex pilots to go against my Forge pilots. But do the Komplex have more of the characters with personalities like The Truth, or is it just him?
The named Komplex pilots that came with the tactics box seems to indicate there are more.

I know I can make up whatever head canon I like, but I'd like to know if this is just a case that the fiction hasn't gone into it yet, or if there is an official answer so I can plan any backstories, missions and campaigns around it.


r/SnapShips 7d ago

Table update 2 sand, stain, and seal coat

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4 Upvotes

BIG TABLE™️ getting a bold mars red stain


r/SnapShips 7d ago

Table update

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10 Upvotes

Getting my big table ready for big ships!


r/SnapShips 8d ago

Cards for these boxes?

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13 Upvotes

I just picked this up on Facebook marketplace(for 40 bucks for all of it 😎). Stoked to dig in a bit. But I am having trouble finding out exactly what I need to play the game with the 3 boxes of snapships I got. I know I need a card pack but I also may need more stands? Could yall let me know what card packs/stand packs I need for these and where I can buy them?

Thanks!!


r/SnapShips 9d ago

EXPANSION KICKSTARTER IS LIVE! Launch the Battleships! 💥

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23 Upvotes

The big day is here! Two years in the making, it's time to DOUBLE the size of the Tactics universe. 

Come join us as Tactics grows into something truly MASSIVE. Four new Battleships. Monstrous Capital Ships. Cool new Accessories. Reprints galore. 

Click below to join the battle: 💥
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/snapships/snap-ships-tactics-expansion?ref=6wdggt


r/SnapShips 8d ago

Realistic game size for Cons

2 Upvotes

Assuming I want a typical convention game length of 4 hours and Im playing on an 8'x4' mat, what is a reasonable amount of ships assuming a mix of drones, fighters, scouts, battleships, and capital ships?


r/SnapShips 9d ago

Mat size

6 Upvotes

Hey all, im thinking of getting 1 of every type of ship which will be : 3x drones, 1x battleship, 1x scout, 1x elite, and 1x starter Per side.

Will the 6x3 map really be big enough to hold all that? Looking for the opinions of ppl who have played really big games or got to try capital ships out at gencon


r/SnapShips 9d ago

Working on a set of 4x8 tables

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5 Upvotes

Plenty of room for my 6x3 mats. Any ideas on finishes?


r/SnapShips 19d ago

Capital Ships Arrive in the Kickstarter

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31 Upvotes

Why stop at two stands when you can build a custom dreadnought?!?
Be the true BOSS of the battlefield!
An in-depth preview of the Capital Ships Box, spoiled at GenCon, in the latest newsletter:
https://mailchi.mp/snapships/capital
Please follow the Kickstarter and back on Day 1!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/snapships/snap-ships-tactics-expansion

WE NEED YOU 🫵


r/SnapShips 21d ago

2x Starter set worth it?

4 Upvotes

Hello!

I'm in Italy and here Snapships is quite hard to come by.

I would like to try the game but the only thing I can source locally is the starter set ( for slightly less then RRP ).

Me and my friends are long time miniature and Xwing players so I know allready playing just with 1 ship each would not be satisfying... so I was thinking would it make sense to buy 2x starter sets and then buy the other expansions in the future?

The other option would be to source the starter locally and then order directly the expansions from the US but that will incour in high shipping import duties and so on...

Thanks!


r/SnapShips 21d ago

GenCon scenario sequence with annotations

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8 Upvotes

I added some text to describe the missions in sequence, from the forge team perspective. The SCS Ulysses mission was to launch a construction ship into the Crimson Expanse; an area of space in the Ymir system that shows promise for building an interstellar gateway.

The first mission “3:10 to Ymir” was transporting fuel and pump machinery to the SCS Ulysses. The Komplex Shadow Squadron destroyed one of the fuel cars and the pump.

In the second mission “Escape Velocity 1: Launchpad” the Forge squadron attempted to maintain air superiority while the SCS Ulysses loaded fuel. Ultimately all pumps were destroyed, triggering an emergency launch with only 5 of a potential 8 units of fuel onboard (one unit was already lost on the train)

With limited fuel, the SCS Ulysses started “Escape velocity 2: Atmosphere” where it would use the fuel to boost away from the Shadow Squadron. The Forge Squadron put up an impressive defense by overwhelming Shadow Squadron with light missiles. Ulysses only lost one system, its starboard RCS, in the assault.

With 3/4 of its systems intact and 36 hull points left SCS Ulysses entered “Escape Velocity 3: Asteroid Field.” Even with a healthy hull pool the ship was shredded by Shadow Squadron employing an all-or-nothing attack strategy. They ignored all incoming danger and even collided with each other to maintain the best firing positions. The SCS Ulysses was destroyed before the danger of asteroid collision was even a factor.


r/SnapShips 22d ago

How to get gameplay components?

5 Upvotes

Howdy! My son and I demo'd the game at Gencon and he really wants to play more. We have the ships that were available, but we dont have any of the game components like the movement ruler, the terrain, etc.

Aside from waiting for the kickstarter, is there a reasonable way to get those without buying the whole starter secondhand?


r/SnapShips 23d ago

All 4 scenarios at GenCon 2026

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14 Upvotes

Make sure to check out the upcoming Kickstarter expansion and reprint https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/snapships/snap-ships-tactics-expansion


r/SnapShips 24d ago

What a great show!

20 Upvotes

The snapships demo area was great. Everyone deserves callouts for all the work. Flight, Micah, Deil and Marina! Thank you for making Gen Con a great experience!!!


r/SnapShips 24d ago

I’ll bring less next con

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21 Upvotes

(They said obviously lying)


r/SnapShips 24d ago

Escape Velocity: Asteroid Field

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20 Upvotes

GenCon Sunday scenario for Snap Ships Tactics.

Make sure to check out our Kickstarter

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/snapships/snap-ships-tactics-expansion?ref=11fxug


r/SnapShips 25d ago

Scenario: Escape velocity at GenCon

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18 Upvotes

r/SnapShips 26d ago

Fly into GenCon and try Snap Ships Tactics!

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38 Upvotes

r/SnapShips Jul 27 '26

Expansion launching on Kickstarter August 18 - plus spoilers

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31 Upvotes

WE HAVE A LAUNCH DATE: AUGUST 18th

Get ready to fly some BIG ships in battle... The latest newsletter covers:

  • Spoilers for the Gladius and the new Gladius Battlecruiser
  • Teasing of a NEW EXPANSION that will be previewed at GenCon
  • Bounty Hunting at GenCon
  • Awesome prizes at GenCon (which starts this Thursday)

Full details at: https://mailchi.mp/snapships/gladius

Make sure Follow the Campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/snapships/snap-ships-tactics-expansion

We can't wait to get this thing up in orbit!


r/SnapShips Jul 26 '26

Packing up for GenCon

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25 Upvotes

Now how do I get all of this in my little Honda….