Friday, February 28, 2014

Galactic Kampaigns - Part 1: Battle Set Up

I have previously written about our Science Fiction Naval games using Star Navy 5150, by Mack Harrison and Ed Teixteira. My particular interest in these rules was their simplified but effective campaign system. This series of posts will discuss adapting this system for use with the Galactic Knights, published by Monday Knight Productions.  The Star Navy system could of course be easily adapted for use with other tactical rules, the adaptations needed being somewhat dependent upon the individual rules themselves. If you don't already own a copy of Star Navy 5150, I'd highly recommend purchasing one, either as a pdf or hard copy; $17 or $20 respectively. Some of what I say in this and future posts may not be fully comprehensible without a copy.

Galactic Knights was written by Dan Davidson, and first published by Monday Knight Productions in 2005. The initial rule book covered the Terran and Avarian fleets, using the excellent Galactic Knights miniature ships (formerly Superior Starfleet Wars). Entomolians (I prefer the original Superior spelling, Entomalian)  were added in Fleet Book 1, Entomolian Invasion, also by Dan Davidson (2006), Carnivorans in Fleet Book 2, Carnivoran Republic Star Forces (2008) by William Thompson, and most recently Fleet Book 3, Aquarian Alliance Stellar Forces by William Thompson (2013). I have previously described games with the GK rules, which are quite tactically interesting without being overly complex. Those rules lack much guidance for setting up battles, something which Star Navy 5150 handles well. This first post concerns adapting that system for use for use with Galactic knights, whether campaign related or just one off battles.



Galactic Knight Battle Set Up - Long Range Scan

Star Navy 5150 uses the long range scanning capability of the various factions, plus whether the faction is controlling or contesting the system in question to determine the orientation and initial distance separating the forces. This clever idea helps ad some spice to the actions, and this will be even more the case  using Galactic Knights for tactical combat, due to the more varied weapons systems, the influence of shield and weapon  orientations,  and ship designs. As Galactic Knights already uses the number Sensor systems for Initiative, it makes sense to adapt the Star Navy system to use the comparative number of Sensor systems in each Fleet in much the same fashion.

Procedure:
1)  Add up the number of Sensor systems in each fleet (including the sensors on any Controlling Space Station(s), if present). This is the done in the same way as for determining Initiative under the original GK rules. (The first supplement revised it to using 2 D6 modified in the same fashion but without a limit on the degree of sensor advantage - this wouldn't work as well for our purposes here).
2) Add 1 to the total of the fleet that controls the Planet
3) Add 1 to the total  if the Fleet in question is Aquarian, Subtract 1 if the Fleet is Entomalian.
4) Find the difference between the final results for each fleet.
5) Each fleet rolls a D10; the side with the higher total adds the difference to its roll up to a maximum of +4. Write down the die rolls of each side and the difference between the final (modified) scores, and consult the table below:


DIfference
in Score
Winner
Controls the Planet
Winner is
Contesting the Planet
5+
Controlling ships are the attackers.
Controlling ships contact the contesting ships at 90 degrees to the front of the contesting ships. Controlling ships count as automatically winning the Initiative for the first turn!
Contesting ships are the attackers.
Contesting ships contact the controlling ships at 180 degrees to the rear of the controlling ships!

3-4
Contesting ships are the attackers.
Controlling ships contact the contesting ships head on.
Place an asteroid field on the table!
Contesting ships are the attackers.
Contesting ships contact the controlling ships at 90  to the front of the controlling ships.
1-2
Contesting ships are the attackers.
Contesting ships contact the controlling ships head on.

Contesting ships are the attackers.
Contesting ships contact the controlling ships at 45 degrees to the front of the controlling ships.
0
Contesting ships are the attackers.
Contesting ships contact the controlling ships head on
Contesting ships are the attackers.
Contesting ships contact the controlling ships head on.


Asteroids:

If an asteroid field is called for, it will have a number of asteroids equal to the raw Long Range Scan die score of the Fleet contesting the planet. Each side will then roll a D10, using the scores on the grid below to determine the center of the field. The Controlling Fleet's score determines the right to left axis, and the Contesting Fleet's score determines the up and down axis, with "10" being farthest from the planet. The defending Fleet places one asteroid at that location, with the remainder of the asteroids placed 6" from the central one in a symmetrical fashion; in the event of dispute that can't be resolved by the players, the controlling players choice stands.


10










9










8










7










6










5










4










3










2










1










P
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
                        Asteroid placement grid

In the example, the controlling player rolled "7" and the contesting player rolled "5". The central asteroid is placed on the grid at (7,5) - the dark orange square. In this case, the earlier Long Range Scan die score by the Contesting player was also a "5", so there are 4 more asteroids to place. A possible placement pattern is indicated by the four light orange squares. 


Deploying for Battle:
1) The Defending ships (usually, but not always, those of the fleet Controlling the planet) will be set up no more than 12" from one short edge of the table. One might choose to place a Planet marker or an arc of a planet's surface along part of this edge as a visual reminder. The first ship placed by the Defender determines the maximum distance from the Defender's edge that their ships may be placed.
2) Use the *modified* score of the Defending Fleet from the Long Range Scan above, and use the table below to determine the distance the Attacking ships will set up from the first defending ship placed:


Defender’s Modified Scan Score
Attacker’s Distance from Defender
1
24"
2,3
36”
4, 5,  6, 7
48”
8, 9
60”
10+
66”

3)  The Defender then places a number of ships on the table equal to the modified Long Range Scan score of the Attacker (this includes the first ship placed).
4) The Attacker then places a number of ships on the table equal to the modified Long Range Scan score of the Defender.
5) Alternate steps 3) and 4) until one Fleet has placed all of its ships on the table; the other side then places all of its remaining ships on the table, and play begins.


Entry Speed:
1) The attacker places drift markers directly  behind each of his ships; the minimum is 1 hex, the maximum is 1/2 the maneuver points of the ship with the highest Maneuver points in the Fleet.
2) The Defender then paces drift markers for all of his ships. The minimum is zero (same hex as the ship), and the maximum is up to 1/4 of the Maneuver points of the highest ship in their Fleet.

"Sir, sensors are detecting multiple Jump Field signatures at 30 clicks, bearing 135, azimuth  -45!"
"Battle Stations!  Power up shields to maximum...   "

4 comments:

  1. Cool. Glad to see parts of Star Navy being adopted to Galactic Knights, which was the first space combat game I really got into. What's your conversion rate for hexes to inches?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have a 2" grid 4 x 6 foot cloth- probably need second one. so 1 hex = 2"

      Delete
  2. And be sure to post a batrep of your next game!

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