Wargame Design: Understanding the Genre

A new year and a renewed commitment to making sure I talk about wargame design on this blog!  Sometimes, it can get lost in the painting, the game reports, the reviews, and all the RPG stuff I have been drawn to lately.  Hopefully, I can get wargame design on the blog at least once a month or every other month.  I have to admit that sometimes I am unsure what folks still want to see in this space.  I have covered so many of the basic topics from the 4Ms, to Chrome, to the process, and some pretty esoteric areas of wargame design.  Therefore, if there is something you want me to talk about drop me a comment!  It helps get my brain moving.  

Genre?  Is That Even a Word?

Let's start by setting some ground rules.  There is nothing new under the sun.  Innovation is Overrated.  Most games we go and see some bright spark is putting a label on it and creating some definitions around what it means.  Sometimes these labels become buzz words in and of themselves.  We have all heard them:  

• Grimdark
• Steampunk
• Cozy 
• Eurotrash
• Noblebright
• Spy-fi
• High Fantasy
• Kitchen Table
• Hard Sci-Fi

Honestly, the list of genres grows so long that half the time when I run across the I have no idea what they mean anymore.  I guess I am getting too old to keep up with the industry and its genre buzzword.  Some of these terms are more common than others, and some stick better than others.    

However, a Genre is essential a category or class of games that all share certain distinct features that align them with games of a similar category.  These features maybe based on mechanics about how the game plays.  It might be based on aesthetics such as how the game looks.  It could also be featured around the narrative built into the game such as the setting or story beats.  

The key thing for you to know as a designer is that when your game gets one of these nice Genre labels, that means players start to have a certain expectation about what that means about the game.  They start to expect it to meet certain conventions and norms.  

These Genre terms are not unique to Wargaming.  In fact, many of these terms come from media like books, TV, and movies before they get applied to a wargaming setting.  That means they come with even more cultural baggage if it is a cross-media genre. 

The Mecha Genre

In wargaming, a common Genre was created by the game Battletech.  I am sure we are all familiar with it.  Giant robots that are piloted by humans that have big guns and big armor.  They stride across the battlefield and lay waste to lesser foes.  Only other big, giant, stompy robots can oppose them.  

This genre is not unique to wargaming.  It also exists within a larger media world.  Super Robots and and other big, stompy robots are a staple of Japanese (and other) media.  Think about Transformers, Robotech, Voltron, Gundam, and countless other examples of the big, stompy robot genre.  They are rather ubiquitous in popular culture and along with that notoriety, the average person has certain assumption about what it means to be part of the Mecha genre.  

Battletech was "first to market" in the wargaming space and hence has set many of the conventions people associate with big, stompy robot games.  They have come to expect the following: 

• Resource management such as Heat or Energy
• The ability to take a lot of damage in attritional combat and limb loss
• Walking and jumping, but mostly terrestrial combat
• The Big, Stompy Robots are kings of the battlefield
• Pilot skills are important to combat results

There are others, but those are the key ones I can think of off the top of my head.  These first-to-market features have helped define what the genre of Mecha Games should mean.  Some of these ideas also appear in other media, but not all.    

Now, since Battletech has come out the number of games related to Mecha have expanded.  There are a number of big, stompy robot games on the market.  You will also find that many of them still harken back to those same key points in their designs and features.  People who buy Big, Stompy Robot games expect them. 

Why The Genre Matter

Now that you understand how the idea of Genre works, it is obvious that those Genre labels create certain expectations.  As a designer these expectations can be your friend or your foe.  However, as the designer it is important that you have an understanding of the Genre rules and conventions.  

The great thing about Genres is that they help you establish the guidelines and design goals for your game.  You know what players are expecting, and you know that you will want to deliver those basic assumptions about the genre.  So, if you are designing a Mecha game you want some resource management, attritional combat elements, land combat, with pilot skill built into the mechanics.  Therefore, your design goals can quickly and easily hit the key Genre requirements early.  

The downside about Genre is that they also establish certain expectations from the player, and if you did not hit them; the players may reject your game without giving it much time, space, or effort.  When the expectations of the Genre are not met, it may lead to dissatisfaction with the whole product.  Player expectation is a powerful motivator.  These expectations can serve to "hem in" your design space.

Therefore, once you have a Concept for a game, it is a good idea to go do your homework.  You will want to know what Genre it fits into.  From there, you will want to understand the core expectations of players and see if you have a different or skewed Point-of-View (POV) on the topic.  Unless you bring a new POV, mechanical beat, narrative beats, or even a visual Hook you will want to ask yourself what new thing are you bringing to the design space.  No one needs another Warhammer (Insert any other popular Genre game here).   

Deconstructing the Genre

You have done your homework and seen how everyone else has done it.  You have an understanding of what the Customers expect from the Genre.  You know the key points of what makes the Genre the Genre.  Now you know the rules and tropes of the Genre.  Now, you have what you need to break the rules!  You can not break the rules unless you know what you are breaking!  

No one needs another Battletech, it exists and can be played now.  Steve Jobs famously said, "If I built what customers wanted, they would just have gotten another CD player.  Instead, I built what they did not know they needed!  I built the I-pod" .... or something like that.  You do not need to try to build a better Battletech, heck even the makers of Battletech have struggled doing that.  Instead, you have to build something that the players may not even know they needed!  

However, doing this is a delicate balance.  People want innovation, but can only handle it in small doses.  They want the familiar.  In the I-pods case it was still a portable music player that used head phones, essentially a CD Player without having to change CDs.  It still met their needs of playing music portably and personally, but better because you had access to more music!  

You need to do the same thing with your Genre.  You need to deliver the familiar, but more.  The easiest way to do this is with a strong Hook .  A great way to develop a strong Hook is to take the "rules" of the Genre and decide to subvert or break one of them.  Still deliver on the core Genre premises and tropes, but completely subvert one.  

If we continue the Battletech example, I looked at the Mecha Game Genre and thought, "What if we set it in space?"  Now, there is plenty of source material from other media in the Genre that places mecha combat in space.  Battletech just isn't one of them, and most of the Genre doesn't either.  One of the tropes of the Mecha Game is that it is on land.  Immediately, you have given yourself a differentiator from all the other games in the Genre, you have subverted the Genre without destroying the underlying aspects of the Genre.  Hostile Space was born.  

Another example is Castles in the Sky.  Most Aeronef games were basically WWII naval, but supposedly flying.  They used 2D battlefield mechanics for ease of play.  I simply asked, "What if we added flying mechanics common to other aircraft games and made it 3D?"  Boom, I subverted the genre just enough to make something different.  

Conclusion

Genre is an amazing thing for a wargame.  It is important for designers to know and understand the genre they are trying to achieve and build for.  This involves doing the homework on what the "rules" of the genre are to start with.  Once you  know that, you will know what rules you can break.  It is important to break enough to create something new, but if you break too many; customers will reject it as "not part of the genre".  You have to keep your design space narrow enough to meet the needs of the Genre but break the right rule to make it something new and worth buying.  Therefore, knowing and understanding Genre is a blessing and a curse.      

Until next time! 

 

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RPG Design: Glittering Void: A Role-Playing Game of Space Mecha Theatre

 

I first wrote this game at the same time I wrote Hostile Space.  In fact, as I was working on the wargame, I decided that it would be a fun setting to role-play in.  I originally wrote Hostile Space after watching tons of clips from various Mecha shows.  For some reason, they were just coming one after the other on my feed.  I enjoyed watching the Mecha buzz around and fight each other.  Therefore, it seemed like it could make a really fun dogfighting game. 

However, the heart of all good Mecha/Real-Robot stories was not about the dogfighting, it was about the characters and their stories.  Many of them had very spiritual plotlines and focused on romantic love triangles.  They were all about relationships.  The big robot battles were often just metaphors for the spiritual and emotional conflicts that characters were engaging in.  Hostile Space was not going to capture that aspect of Space Mecha.  Wargames were not a good venue for the melodrama and theatre, but it would be perfect fodder in a Role-playing game.

Hence, Glittering Void: A Role-Playing Game of Space Mecha Theatre was born.  

Space Mecha Theatre

What is Space Mecha Theatre?  Despite the trappings of Sci-fi, big robots, and warfare; the genre is not about the flying robots.  Those are just the genre tropes and setting.  The setting tropes should not be confused with what Space Mecha Theatre is about.  Space Mecha Theatre is ultimately about people and their stories.  Most of the drama, melodrama, and tragedy occurs outside of the Mecha.  

Space Mecha Theatre is about how individual people deal with the complexities around them like war, political scheming, and advanced technology while maintaining what quintessentially makes us human.  The common humanity of all the protagonists is the key focus of the story.  There is always "Big Things" going on around the characters like war, economics, and politics but it always comes down to how the individual deals with them and carries on.  The focus is on what makes us humans, and the commonality of emotions and experiences of the human condition.  That is the Theatre.   

Big Robots, spaceships, colonies, and political powers are all just setting conventions for the human theatre to take place in.  Space Mecha Theatre means that this is going to be set in a world where such machines are common.  The focus is human vs. human conflicts in a relatively "real" sci-fi universe within the Solar System.  Travel times are slow, communications are limited, and space is a hostile environment.        

This is not Space Opera.  This is not Hard Sci-Fi.  This is not Space Fantasy.  This is Space Mecha Theatre!               

Game Design Goals

This game took me about 5 years to complete.  It is the crunchiest Role-Playing Game that I have put together.  However, it had many of the same design goals as my other, simpler RPG-Lite games.  The key difference was how I wanted the game to be able to capture the varied and wonderful action that I had found in Space Mecha Theatre content.  

This game had the following design goals: 

• Give players interesting and meaningful choices
• Make character creation simple and easy
• Simple, abstracted, attritional combat, NO HIT POINTS!
• Hard to outright "fail"
• Reward Role-play

The Core Unifying Mechanic

This game uses three basic concepts that layer together to create a relatively deep unifying mechanic to the rules.  

1. The Rule of 4 
2. Dice Shifting
3. Level of Success

The Rule of 4 simply means that on any given dice, you want to score a 4 or more for a success.  

Dice-shifting means that all Modifiers are to the size of dice that you roll.  The dice used in this game are standard RPG dice so D4, D6, D8, D10, D12 and D20.    Difficulty changes the dice you roll, not the target number.  The target number is always 4+ per the Rule of 4. 

Level of Success simply means that the higher you roll above 4 on a test, the greater your potential level of success.  These levels of success are compared in opposed rolls to determine outcomes.  To determine a level of success, you simple roll a dice, and subtract 4.  You can then compare the level of success between opponents. 

That's it.  This simple unifying mechanic is the basis of all tests and rolls within Glittering Void.  These rules apply for characters negotiating a Peace Treaty between Great Powers, fights between Combat Suits, and Characters trying to bluff their way past guards.  

The New Age

Man has expanded into the Solar System with the help of the Fold Drives.  They have established themselves across the Solar System.  These colonies fragmented into new alignments and political blocs.  Now, there are four Great Powers that maintain a stable balance of power between themselves using an umbrella organization called the Concert of the Solar System.  Scattered between these Great Powers is a variety of Freeholds; independent colonies that shift their allegiances between Great Powers via proxy contracts and alliances.  The Great Game is the various Great Powers of the Solar System jockeying for spheres of influence with these independently minded Freeholds.  

Characters in Glittering Void can take on a wide variety of roles within the world of the New Age of Mankind.  The default setting is agents of the Concert of the Solar System as Peace Representatives, where their job is to act as roving troubleshooters to maintain the stability and integrity of the Solar System order and avoid an all-out war.  However, there is room for a variety of campaign styles and 1-off adventures such as Scouts, Couriers, Pirates, Businesspeople, and more.  The New Age is full of political intrigue, espionage, and off-book operations that are perfect for various types of games.   

The game has a brief and high-level background that is entirely optional for you to use.  It includes tools about common technologies such as Combat Suits, generators for quickly developing your own Freeholds and colonies, and even a starting adventure to give you a feel for the world of Glittering Void. 

What is in the Book?

The game book has what you need to get started to play right away including blank character sheets, index, table of contents, Quick Refence Guides, and Appendices with all the common technologies, skills, backgrounds, and gear for the game.  It has a core concepts section to get you started, followed by easy character creation.  There is also a section about how to run the game for the aspiring Comptroller (GM).  There is even a sample scenario to give you a good place to start off in the Glittering Void!  This rulebook is 165 pages long!    

Final Thoughts

I have played this game with people who have never played Role-Playing Games before, as well as veterans to RPGs.  It delivered a satisfying game experience for both groups of players.  The Character creation was easy enough for newbies to wrap their heads around and make strong characters.  The gameplay was crunchy enough for harden veterans to enjoy making tough tactical decisions.  The mechanics are simple but allow for a wide variety of in-game depth and complications.  This game was 5 years in the making!  

You can find it on my Blood and Spectacles website.  I am eager to hear what you think of it in comments, on my Messageboard, my Socials, or directly through the Contact Me page on the website.  

Art by _SpacePossum_

    

     

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Battle Report: Hostile Space - Attack on New Arcadia

 

The following is a battle report for my latest game, Hostile Space: 

The New Olympians were putting all the pieces together and closing the noose on the Red Knight operation to de-stabilize New Arcadia.  The trading contract of the New Arcadia Freehold was coming up for negotiation.  Their current patrons were the New Olympians, and the Red Knights had been contracted to disrupt trade and prospecting efforts to highlight that the New Olympians could not guarantee the Freehold's security and prosperity.  Once a new contract had been met, the Red Knight contract would also come to an end.  

However, the New Olympians were not so wiling to just let the Red Knight Mercenaries disrupt things around New Arcadia.  They had dispatched their own Patrol Ship with a squadron of Combat Suits to find the source of the disruptions and put a stop to them.  The New Olympians were not going to let the Freehold slide from their sphere of influence without a fight.  

The New Olympians had managed to disrupt the Red Knight attacks and drive them into hiding.  However, the New Olympians managed to track them down and eliminate the Red Knights main base of operations in New Arcadia.  In order to fulfill their contract, the Red Knights had a small window of opportunity.  Their last chance was a desperate attack on New Arcadia itself to force a regime change.  It was a huge and overt gamble, but their was a small window of opportunity before the New Olympian Patrol Craft could return to the Freehold.  

In desperation, Red Knight agents managed to disable the long-range defense guns of the New Arcadia main docking array.  That would be the infiltration point for the Red Knights, they just had to battle their way to the landing site and make the attack stick!  

Forces:

New Olympians

3 Hecate Fighters

1 Hecate Fighter - Missile Pods

3 Hera Defense Satellites

Red Knights

4 Bulldogs

1 Bulldog- Rocket Tube

1 Shephard - Swarm Missiles

1 Shephard - Swarm Missiles, Combat Axe, Shield

3 Watchdog Landers

We are using Mission 11- Assault the Base.  The New Olympians are trying to stop the Red Knights from landing their transports at the base.  The New Olympians gain bonus VPs for killing Transports, and the Red Knights score for landing them.   

Set-up:

This time, we are playing on a 72 x 48 MU board.  That means 1 MU is 1 inch in today's battle. I have placed large "shadows" on the board that represent other freighters, cargo containers, and other craft.  They all cover a single altitude that was randomly determined.  Each has a dice next to them for Height.  If a Suit or transport enters the area of a shadow and is at the same altitude, it is considered destroyed. 

In addition, we have set-up a short board edge to be the Freehold with a landing platform.  The platform is at altitude 3 and can be landed on.  The rest of the Freehold covers all altitudes and any craft that comes in contact will be destroyed.   

The Red Knights were coming in on the opposite board edge and spoiling for a fight.  

Maneuver Phase:

The Hecate fighters use their considerable speed to blast through the oncoming suit swarm and target the Transports.  However, that gave the Red Knight Suits a clear path to the Hangar, with only the defense guns to protect them.  The quick attack leaves one Transport badly damaged!  

However, the Mastiff escort does get a very close range hit on Hecate 2, and takes it out of the fight.  A Zero G-capsule breaks free, indicating that the pilot of the Hecate managed to bail-out before his craft went out of control.  First Blood to the Red Knights!  

Battle Phase

The Red Knight Combat Suits can not outmaneuver the interceptors, so they try to focus on getting to the Hangar and dealing with the defense satellites.  The heavily damaged Red Knight Transport tries to break away to avoid destruction.  The others, continue on the attack.  

As the Mercs close in on New Arcadia, the Hecates take their toll on the Transports and blow one up, killing the marines on-board.  However, it doesn't go all the New Olympians way as a Defense satellite is smoked by a Rocket Tube. 

 

End Game

The last remaining but heavily damaged Transports set-up for their landing runs.  The Hecates easily closed in on them, and used the last of their ammo to open fire.  One of the Transports was smoked, while the second was heavily damaged, but its armor held!  

With the Hecates and Hera's all out of ammo, we decided to play the Disengagement round and see what happened!  Would the Transport make it to land?  

Ultimtaely, the Hecates were able to use their speed and maneuver to easily escape, despite a parting shot from a Mastiff suit.  The Transports and Mastiff suit going to land ended up being a bit too far, but in the end we decided that they would have been able to land unopposed before the defense cannons came back online.  

Conclusion: 

Per the rules of the scenario, the Attacker and Defender roll off on a d6, the Attacker gets a +1 for each Assault unit that landed.  We had said that a Transport and a Combat Suit would have been able to land, giving the Red Knights a +2 to the roll.

The New Olympian defenders rolled and got a 3.  Not great.  The Red Knights would need to roll a 1 to fumble the assault.  The dice were rolled and..... 5 +2 = 7.  An easy victory (even without the +2) for the Red Knights as they manage to storm the Free Hold!  

As the New Olympian Patrol Ship returns from Liberty Pointe, they are shocked when they come under fire from New Arcadia's defenses!  They were supposed to be allies!  Quick thinking and skilled navigation manages to get the New Olympian vessel far enough away to avoid serious damage.  

Communication from New Arcadia makes things clearer.  While the ship was away, chasing mercenaries, the Free Hold had a change of governance.  The treaty with New Olympia had been ripped up!  They were now negotiating with the Earth Alliance instead.  

Handed such a Fait Accompli, the Patrol Ship could do little else.  This was now a political problem more than a military problem.  The New Olympians could not simple storm the Free Hold and re-take it. If they did so, they would face serious condemnation from the Concert of the Great Powers.  

The New Olympian Patrol Ship was soon order to return to their Carrier and await re-assignment.  In the Concert of the Solar System chambers, the New Olympians were able to bring strong evidence that the piratical activities in the region had been at the behest of the Earth Alliance via the Red Knight Mercenaries.  However, the New Arcadia government insisted that it no longer wanted to be in the New Olympian orbit.  The Concert and the New Olympians hands were tied.... at least here in New Arcadia. 

That pretty much wraps up our slow burn, Hostile Space campaign.  I hope you enjoyed getting a glimpse at how to play the game, and some nuances of the setting. 

Until next time! 

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Battle Report: Hostile Space - Raid on the Red Knight Base.

 

The following is a battle report for my latest game, Hostile Space: 

The trading contract for the Freehold of New Arcadia will expire and come up for re-negotiation in the next rotations.  Traditionally, these contracts have been held by corporate interests aligned with the New Olympians, and New Arcadia was considered within the New Olympians sphere of interests.  However, the free hold is located in the Asteroid Belt, which the Earth Alliance views at its territory.   

With the contract set to expire, elements of the Earth Alliance have begun aggressively courting New Arcadia.  They have offered lucrative incentives, and coupled them with veiled threats.  In fact, some smaller trading and prospecting vessels from New Arcadia have gone missing in the region.  The Earth Alliance has cited this as a prime reason to change contracts, as the New Olympians have failed to properly protect and enforce the expiring contract.

The powers that be on NeOlympus have deemed it necessary to reinforce their alliance on New Arcadia.  To this end, they have deployed a patrol ship and a compliment of suits to New Arcadia space.  A Carrier arrived and dropped off just such a ship before continuing on its route.  The New Olympian commander on the scene has pledged to find the cause of the missing prospecting vessels.    

After chasing down leads to the Outsider Confederacy aligned Liberty Pointe, New Olympian agents were able to uncover that the Red Knights Mercenary Company was involved in the attacks in New Arcadia space.  The Red Knights are closely aligned with the Earth Alliance.  

New Olympian agents using a combination of espionage, human intelligence work, and predicative analytics believe they have located a possible location for the Red King base in New Arcadian space.  Therefore, the New Olympian patrol ship quickly deployed to neutralize this enemy base.  To avoid detection, they deployed their Combat Suit and Marine Landers at great distance.  These forces slowly closed the gap on their own power.  

However, the New Olympian attackers were detected inbound, and Red Knight forces scrambled to intercept them.  They needed to buy their comrades time to destroy any potential intelligence to their employers, evacuate the base, and attempt to evade capture.   

Forces:

New Olympians

3 Ares Space Combat Suits

- 1 Upgraded with #1 - Heavy beam Cannon

3 Hephaestus Lander

Red Knights

1 Shepherd Suit

- Upgrade- Combat Shield

4 Bulldog Suits

- 1 Upgrade- Rocket Tube   

3 Mongrel Defense Platforms

3 Beagle Defense Satelites

Mission

We will be using Mission 11- Assault the Base found in the main rule book.  In this scenario, the Attacking New Olympians are trying to land troops to take the enemy base.  Meanwhile, the New Olympians will gain extra VP if the Transport manages to land troops. 

Set-up   

We will be playing on a 72 x 48 MU board the long way.  1 MU is equal to 1 inch.  

The Red Knight side of the board is a large asteroid.  This is 6x6 MU and covers altitudes 2-4.  The base in the center of the asteroid and at altitude 4.  This large asteroid is 12 MU in from the deployment zone, and 12 MU in from one of the board edges.  Attempting to fly through the asteroid at height 2-3 will result in a collision and the unit being destroyed.  4 can land on the asteroid.  5 Smaller asteroids are set-up in the battlespace at various heights.  They only apply to that height.  

The Red Knights are deployed anywhere within 12 MU of the base.  The Mongrels are on the base as a last line of defense.  The Combat Suits and Defense Satellites are trying to make a perimeter to stop the attack.  The Suits are going full-speed to intercept.  

The New Olympians are coming in from the opposite side.  They are approaching with a Suit escorting each Transport. They are spread out to try and get past the defenders.

As usual, I won't be detailing every move or shot fired.  I will try to focus on the highlights.  I have broken the game down in the Maneuver Phase where both side close, the Battle Phase where most of the shooting takes place, and the Disengagement Phase as the battle winds down.    

Maneuver Phase

The New Olympian forces shift to their right to close in on the Red Knight base.  The central transports stay high to try to avoid defenses, while the right tries to duck under the Mongrel on the asteroid.  The Red Knight commander and 1 escort try to hang back to catch stragglers.  

Battle Phase

The battle heats up fast as the two sides quickly close and engage across the front.  The Red Knights take the worst of it, with two damaged Suits, but 1 Ares is also damaged badly in the initial exchange. 

The Red Knight Mastiff slipped in behind a transport, but a dead-eyed shot from the Ares with the Heavy Beam Cannon vaporized the Merc.  First kill to the New Olympians!  However, it doesn't all go the New Olympians way as a Mongrel platform blasts a Ares from space. A Defense satellites damages another Ares as well.  A Bulldog manages to rotate and hit a Transport too.  

The Heavy Beam Cannon strikes again and takes out the Rocket Tube armed Bulldog before it can fire!  A Mongrel ground platform manages to snag the damaged and trailing final transport, but not enough to kill it. A Transport uses its Beam cannon to destroy the Mongrel defending the target asteroid.  

It looks inevitable that the New Olympians are going to land and storm the base.  The Mongrel Defense Platform has been destroyed, and an Ares Combat Suit has landed to support the attack.  However, a Bulldog scoots across and uses the last of its ammo in a burst to destroy one of the New Olympian Landers!   

Disengagement Turn

Two New Olympian transports land on the Asteroid, supported by a landed Combat Suit.  The marines make quick work of the outside defenses and quickly breach the base.  The remaining Red Knights quickly signal their surrender.  The Red Knight base has been secured, so the Patrol Ship begins the slow approach towards the asteroid cluster.  

. 

Conclusion

The New Olympians easily win by taking the base.  However, it was a close run thing, with the Red Knights managing to take out 1 Combat Suit, damage two others, and destroy a transport.  The Red Knights lost their Mastiff, 1 Bulldog (with Rocket tube), a Mongrel, and two damaged suits.  Landing two transports made it easy to overrun the base and score the +50 VP to seal the game.  

I think the big question of the game was, how did the non-Combat Suits do?  The answer is.... pretty well!  The Mongrels managed to take-out 1 Ares, and a Defense Satellite survived and attack and damaged another.  The Transports also managed to take out a Mongrel.  Of course, the Hephaestus Landers actually won the game by managing to land on target.  The Mongrels managed to consistently get shots up, the Beagles were a bit less successful, but as a threat in being it forces the New Olympians to maneuver around them.  Better placement may have seen them play a bigger part in the game.  

As the breaching charges blasted through the airlock to the Mercenaries' base, a general surrender chirped through the open channels.  This aligned with the Concert of the Solar Systems Conventions on Mercenary and Military Activity.  From there, it was a simple matter for the Marines to secure the prisoners.  

The big question was, would the New Olympians find what they needed to link the Red Knights back to the Earth Alliance.  With the base secured, the New Olympian Patrol Ship was able to come in closer, and shuttle technical and investigative staff to the base.  The Red Knights were professionals so it was not easy to dig out the details, but the New Olympian investigators were also very good at their jobs.  The attack had been enough of a surprise and swift enough for them to discover a treasure trove of data.  

With a journey back to New Arcadia, the New Olympians had plenty of time to go over the evidence and prepare their case.      

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Battle Report: Hostile Space- Escort to Liberty Pointe

 

The following is a battle report for my latest game, Hostile Space: 

The trading contract for the Freehold of New Arcadia will expire and come up for re-negotiation in the next rotations.  Traditionally, these contracts have been held by corporate interests aligned with the New Olympians, and New Arcadia was considered within the New Olympians sphere of interests.  However, the free hold is located in the Asteroid Belt, which the Earth Alliance views at its territory.   

With the contract set to expire, elements of the Earth Alliance have begun aggressively courting New Arcadia.  They have offered lucrative incentives, and coupled them with veiled threats.  In fact, some smaller trading and prospecting vessels from New Arcadia have gone missing in the region.  The Earth Alliance has cited this as a prime reason to change contracts, as the New Olympians have failed to properly protect and enforce the expiring contract.

The powers that be on NeOlympus have deemed it necessary to reinforce their alliance on New Arcadia.  To this end, they have deployed a patrol ship and a compliment of suits to New Arcadia space.  A Carrier arrived and dropped off just such a ship before continuing on its route.  The New Olympian commander on the scene has pledged to find the cause of the missing prospecting vessels.    

 Investigating the last know location of one of these New Arcadian Prospecting ships, the New Olympians had unusual activity on their scopes. The New Olympians engaged the hostiles and drove them off.  Post-battle analysis allowed the New Olympians to identify that the suits engaged were of Earth Alliance design.  However, the Earth Alliance is well known for selling their tech to anyone with the currency to buy it.  Identifying their suits would not be enough to link them to the loss of the Prospecting Ships from New Arcadia.  

Therefore, the Patrol Craft tracked their potential telemetry to a nearby Asteroid that could house a forward operating base.  En route, unknown suits were identified attempting to transit from the area.  Again, a vicious dogfight ensued, but the apparent lead suit escaped while the new Olympians lost one of their heavier suits in the fighting.   

With their leads running dry, the Captain set course for Liberty Pointe.  The Pointe was a well known haven for freebooters, criminals and smugglers, just the type of place where pirates would try to off load their ill-gotten gains.  The New Olympians hoped to pick up the trail there.  

After travelling through open space for several weeks, the Patrol Ship finally was able to contact Liberty Pointe.  Technically, Liberty Pointe was under the protection and aligned with the Outsider Confederation.  However, they graciously allowed a single New Olympian transport escorted by a few suits to enter dock at their Free Hold and pursue the investigation.  

Members of the New OIympian Diplomatic Corp as well as a criminal investigation team boarded the shuttle with their honor guard of marines.  The transport left the dock, and her escort of Ares suits soon joined her on the transit to the Pointe.  

As they approached, the traffic from other ships in Docking Orbit and their transports also increased.  When they were outside of the protection of the Patrol Ships guns, but before they were in close orbit to the Pointe calamity struck.  A Cold-Void Storage Container en route to the Pointe burst open and unknown Suits swarmed out of it and towards the Transport.  Someone didn't want this investigation to continue!  The New Olympian Escorts scrambled to engage the enemy suits. 

Forces:

New Olympians

3 Ares Space Combat Suits

- 1 Upgraded with #1 - Heavy beam Cannon

1 Hephaestus Lander

Red Knights

1 Shepherd Suit

- Upgrade- Combat Shield

4 Bulldog Suits

- 1 Upgrade- Rocket Tube   

We will be using Mission 5- Escorts found in the main rule book.  In this scenario, the Attacking Unknowns earn extra VP for destroying the transport.  Meanwhile, the New Olympians will gain extra VP if the Transport escapes the opposite board edge, or avoids getting destroyed. 

Set-up

This time, we are playing on a 72 x 48 MU board.  That means 1 MU is 1 inch in today's battle. I have placed large "shadows" on the board that represent other freighters, cargo containers, and other craft.  They all cover a single altitude that was randomly determined.  Each has a dice next to them for Height.  The large frieghters cover all the altitudes for this battle.  If a Suit or transport enters the area of a shadow and is at the same altitude, it is considered destroyed. 

The New Olympians deploy on a short board edge with the transport in the middle at Beta and speed 4 about 4 MU in.  The rest of the suits form a triangle around the Transport at various altitudes all at speed 4. 

The Unknowns are on the opposite side of the boards.  They are at various altitudes and speed 6 and all deployed 6 MU from their edge. 

Maneuver Phase: 

Generally, the first few turns are the Maneuver phase and cover the to sides coming to grips.  I won't detail every action but lump them all together an touch on key points.  

The two sides closed in on each other quickly.  They converged in the center of the board, while the Transport tried to slip around the New Olympian right in the shadow of a large freighter.  By Turn 2 the furball had started.  The initial exchange one Bulldog suit was smoking.  

Battle Phase: 

Now that both sides are stuck in, the bulk of the rest of the game will be fighting.  This is the Battle phase, and I won't detail every move, just the highlights.  

As the Earth Alliance Suits try to close in on the New Olympian transport, an Ares manages to get a solid lock with his Heavy Beam Cannon and obliterates the attacker with a single shot!  Scratch one Earthling!  The New Olympian Transport's move to the right flank has caused a few Earth Alliance suits to be out of position.

The Rocket Tube equipped Bulldog dutifully chased the New Olympian Transport, sending rockets after it, but failing to find the mark.  However, Bulldog #1 managed to scratch-up and damage Ares #4 in a close-up firefight. 

End Phase:

Bulldog #1 managed to get into a Tailing Position on Ares #4 and blow him away with his MAS Rifle.  No escape pod was detected.    

Despite the loss, the New Olympian Transport is very close to the defensive umbrella of New Liberties port guns.  It is now or never for the attacking Combat Suits.  Ares #3 manages to damage the Rocket Tube equipped Bulldog as it stays with the Transport and tries to line up a last shot.  

The Shepherd gets the drop on the Ares with the Heavy Beam Cannon, and blasts it with a Swarm of Missiles.  However, some deft flying and defensive fire manage to keep the Suit alive but in rough shape.  Return fire from the Heavy Beam Cannon cuts through the missile swarm and burns the Shepherd out of space.    

The Earth Alliance lines up its last shot with the Rocket Tube, tries to wait for a solid lock, but time runs out and he fires wildly.  The rocket goes wide of the mark.  The Bulldog's rocket tube is dry.  

Disengagement Turn: 

The Transport manages to get to safety, escorted by the damaged Heavy Beam Ares. After some swirling and shooting, both sides break-off the attack.  

Conclusion: 

Victory for the New Olympians as they blasted their way through the ambush on their transport and managed to land their diplomats and investigators on Liberty Pointe.  The New Olympians had the better of it, by scrubbing two enemy suits and damaging two others, to the loss of 1 of their own and 1 damaged.  A clear Victory.     

It is tough to tell in this report, but this battle had a lot of strafing, rotating, flying backwards, and maneuvering in space that you don't see in most airplane games.  The Erath Alliance were hindered in this mission by their shorter range weapons.  Once the Transport broke past, they were stuck chasing and had a tough time closing the distance on the fast New Olympian shuttle craft.  However, the Rocket Tube kept it interesting!  The Lower Pilot ratings moving first, and better ones shooting first also hampered the Earth Alliance a bit.  However, that didn't stop a Bulldog from getting the drop on a Ares and being able to use Tailing Fire to wax it.  Maneuver was key in this one.       

The mysterious attackers blasted a EMP detonation to cover their escape.  A few days later, the Earth Alliance Combat Suits were discovered by Liberty Pointe authorities magnetized to the side of a cargo container.  Their pilots were no where to be found.  It could only be surmised that they abandoned their suits and were later picked up by confederates at the station.  The suits had been careful scrubbed of identifying markers or data.  It could only be assumed that their Mercenary pilots were still somewhere on the station.  

New Olympian investigators on Liberty Pointe eventually were able to root these Mercenaries and their collaborators out.  However, diplomatic red tape meant that they could not take them into custody.  Liberty Pointe was neutral territory.  However, simply identifying them as part of the Red Knights Mercenary Company was useful.  The Red Knights had known ties to official Earth Alliance personnel.  The case against the Earth Alliance meddling in the negotiations with New Arcadia was stronger than ever before.  

New Olympian intelligence used this new bits of information, along with their other details to piece together the potential staging point of the Red Knights in the New Arcadia region.  The New Olympians priority was to get back and disrupt that base!  New Olympian personnel scrambled back to their Patrol Ship and set course for their new target.   

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