>HELLFIRE< is a wargame about space battles in the far future. It is a game that allows commanders to handle huge warships in newtonian space, with a variety of interlocking weapon systems.  It is 'near future' technology - so no force shields, transporters, tractor beams or artifical gravity.  It has a very 'military' feel to it.
The game is built around teams of players, most of whom are single ship commanders.
The fleet has a hierarchy, with admirals, squadron commanders etc. This is scenario specific, in that the exact rank structure will be determined for each game. Most players will be a captain or senior officer of a big ship.
Players move their own models on the hex grid, under the supervision of Game Control, who has the final say in rule interpretation and operations.
In some scenarios, certain players may be separated from the grid to represent non-combatants or high command roles, and they will communicate with the other ships by intercom or the equivalent.

The rules are closely linked with the low level dogfighting game, Cruel Void, and the background and concepts developed in the Starship Marine rules, known collectively as The Universe.
The idea of the game is to look at the outcomes of big ship actions in The Universe either in the context of a campaign or as one-off battles. For Fleet Actions - see the Big Burn rules.

The rules themselves are still evolving.  - Download the currentpdf version (about 1.5M) from here 2002 Version
Also, we're working on some campaign rules (though still mainly in note form) - these will be updated as we go along - here is the draft pdf version of these. (0.5M)
Any comments or suggestions or reports of playtests you may have done are very welcome - email Jim Wallman

Other Downloads

Ship Weapon Effect Arcs (Zipped WMF files - just import them into your word documents as needed)

Control Panels - these are zipped word documents, paste them onto cork or artboard and use map pins to allocate power.  They could be used with plastic wallets and washable map pens, but the pins are the best method, we've found.

Fantastic space-based hex tiles by Captain Strobe, Free to download for personal use, and ideal for >HELLFIRE< games. Go try.