We had a break from the VBCW and went into space specifcally using GZG’s Full Thrust rules, which are avialable for free here:
First Jim’s been modelling and came up with these beauties made up from household bric-a-brac not enough for a battle yet (so used counters for the scenario) but it;s a started
briac-Brac navy with Klingon D-7 for comparision
Another angle
As to the fight we used the introductory scenario the ‘Battle of Grendal 2137’ using the basic rules and the counters provided in the PDF. Due to building work we were fighting in a bit of space that looked a lot like Jim’s nor
The Fleets close - Jim attempts a flanking manouvre with his light cruisers
mal dining room table…the scenario is 2 NAC (British-American) light Cruisers and 3 Frigates fighting a equivalent force of Eurasian Solar Union (Russian-Chinese) ships.
Clarky's NAC accelerate and engage the outnumbered ESU figates - Boom! ones down and others damaged.
ESU cruisers engage but one takes the majority of the NAC fire and is destroyed.
The next turn saw the loss of the NAC cruiser Eagle but the remaining NAC force pursued and destroyed the last crippled survivor of the ESU fleet. VICTORY!
The entire battle took less than an hour & that’s with rules we’re not familar with. The rules for manourvering are subtle – you plan moves in advance in secret and then move simulateously which produces surprises. Dmaage inflicted at threshodl poitns can knock out systems like shields, weapons and fire control – you can feel the junior officers being blown around the bridge 😉
Feel free to let me know how it turns out either by email @dissectignworlds@yahoo.co.uk or twitter @clarkythecruel.
I’d strongly recommend these rules and suggest that you give ’em a go for free even if it’s only to scrap the intial scenario and see who it turns out for you 😉
Kehaar's Blog 
I haven’t played Full Thrust since law school and my memory is faulty … how is it for crunch? I mean, do different weapon systems work in measurably different ways (eg beam as opposed to missile) or is it essentially just a 4d6 attack with a range of 12 with all flavour left to the players?
I likes my crunch, I likes my differentiation – provided it doesn’t slow down gameplay too much.