Galactic Kampaigns - Part 3: Mission Creep

This post will cover the various Mission assignments, tailored for the Galactic Knights rules from Monday Knight productions. Once again, this is largely stolen, err, borrowed from Star Navy 5150, by Two Hour Wargames, which is itself highly recommended!  First is some general background common to all scenarios.

Map

The Campaign map from Star Navy 5150 is used, minimally modified, as shown below. The Coordinates correspond to die rolls, 2 D6 of different colors (I have used red and blue for my example).

	6	5	4	3	2	1
6
5
4
3
2
1						@

Thus the 1,1 coordinate is the planet itself, and the other 3 grey shaded boxes represent close orbits around the planet, and the next 5 boxes adjacent to those represent high or distant orbits around the planet. Movement on this map is from box (coordinate) to box, including on the diagonal. The minimum number of ships  for a player force moving on the campaign map is three; if you have fewer than 3 ships remaining then they must all operate together.

PEFs

Star Navy uses Possible Enemy Forces (PEFs) to represent potential but unverified/unknown enemy contacts; some of these may turn out to be false alarms, and others will be determined to be actual enemy ships of varying types and numbers. We will do the same, using their system.

PEFs are generated at the start of each mission, and are placed randomly on the map according to the individual Mission guidelines. There may be more than one PEF in any given box.  PEF's may also be generated when doubles are rolled for the activation/movement of forces on the Campaign Map.

If doubles are rolled for Activation, AND the D6 roll is less than or equal to the current enemy Campaign Morale, an addition PEF is placed. Roll 2 D6 of different colors to determine the box for placement of this new PEF.

Each PEF is assigned an initial (surrogate) Crew quality by rolling 2 D6 and taking the higher score; rolls of 6 are treated as a "5". If/when the PEF is resolved to be actual ships, this temporary value is no longer used, but rather the Crew Quality of the force's Flagship is used instead (see below).

Activation

Both player and non player forces will move on the map; non player forces may be PEF's  or confirmed actual ships. Choose two dice of different colors, one each for the Player and Non player forces - say, white for the Player and black for the Enemy. At the start of a Mission and for each turn thereafter, roll the two dice together. Doubles are re-rolled, BUT they may result in the generation of new Enemy PEF's!. The side with the higher die roll determines who will Activate first. Only PEF's or ships with a Crew Quality higher than the die foll for their side can be activated (and thus move) - Raw = 2, Green = 3, Veteran = 4, Elite = 5. Once one side has moved all eligible forces/PEF's, the other side does so.

Moving PEF's

PEF's move when activated (see above). They do so by rolling 2 D6 against the current enemy Campaign Morale. Zero, one or two of the dice may score equal to or below the current enemy Campaign Morale. Consult the PEF Movement table for the Mission in question, and then move the PEF as directed.

Moving Enemy Ships

This is done in the same fashion as for PEF's, but by rolling against the Crew Quality of the Flagship of that force. 

Moving Player Ships

Activated player forces may move 1 box in the direction of their choice each turn they are active; this movement is optional. 

Contact!

Whenever a PEF enters a box on the Campaign Map containing Players ships (or vice versa), then the PEF must be resolved to determine if it represents actual ships, or was just a sensor bogey, and if actual ships, exactly how many and of what type and Crew Quality. The PEF is the removed and replaced with a marker for the actual ships, if any. Whenever player and non player ships (including those of previously resolved PEF's) are in the same box, then all Campaign Movement ceases and a tabletop battle is generated and fought using Galactic Knights. Play on the Campaign Map then resumes. 

The Missions:

PATROL

This is always the first Mission of a campaign, and is performed with a single squadron. Subsequent missions will be determined based upon the table already presented in Part 2 of this series. In the tables, "Scores": refers to the number of D6 that rolled less than or equal to the current enemy Campaign Morale.

Objective: To patrol the map and then return to your planet (If you are contesting the system, consider the planet in this scenario to be your local base of operations). When no PEF's are left on the map, the Mission is over.
Forces: You will patrol with a Squadron.
Deployment: Your forces will start in one of the Grey sections of the map. Generate 3 enemy PEF's and place them randomly on the grid by rolling 2 D6 of different colors; re-roll any Grey section results.
Special instructions: Play continues until all PEF's have been resolved, the player has been defeated, or any PEF enters the Planet box.

Scores	PEF Movement - PATROL Roll vs. Enemy Morale
2	Move 1 box towards the planet
1	Move 1 box towards the nearest player force
0	PEF does not move

Scores	PEF Resolution - PATROL
2	Contact Table: Roll 1 D6 and add Enemy Morale
1	Contact Table: Roll 1/2 D6 (round up), add Enemy Morale
0	Nothing found - remove PEF

Total	PATROL   Contact
4 or less	3 ships less than your total
5 or 6	2 ships less than your total
7	1 ship less than your total
8	Ships equal to your total
9	1 ship more than your total
10 or 11	2 ships more than your total
12 or more	3 ships more than your total

ATTACK

Objective: To destroy the space station defending the planet.
Forces: 1 Task Force, or more if desired.
Deployment: Your forces start in section 6-6; after the Mission starts, it may be divided as desired. Generate 3 PEF's and place them randomly, re-rolling any results in the grey areas. Also place an enemy Space Station (see below)  in the Planet box (1-1).
Special Instructions: Play continues until the Space Station has been destroyed, or the player has been defeated, or has insufficient force left to be able to destroy the station.

Scores	PEF Movement - ATTACK Roll vs. Enemey Morale
2	Move 1 box towards nearest enemy force
1	Move 1 box towards nearest player force or  the nearest PEF, whichever is closer
0	PEF does not move

Scores	PEF Resolution - ATTACK
2	Contact Table: Roll 2 D6 and add Enemy Morale
1	Contact Table: Roll 1 D6 and ad Enemy Morale
0	Nothing found - remove PEF

Total	ATTACK   Contact
4 or less	50% less ships than your total
5 or 6	25% less ships than your total
7	2 ship less than your total
8	1 ship less than yor total
9	Ships equal to your tota
10 or 11	2 ships more than your total
12 or more	3 ships more than your total

DEFEND

Objective: Prevent the enemy from destroying the space station defending the planet.
Forces: 1 Task Force, or more if desired.
Deployment: Your forces start in any one of the grey boxes; after the Mission starts, it may be divided as desired.  Also place a friendly Space Station (see below) in the Planet box (1-1). Generate 3 PEF's and place them randomly, re-rolling any results in the grey areas.
Special Instructions: Play continues until the Space Station has been destroyed, or all enemy forces have been destroyed.

Scores	PEF Movement - DEFEND
2	Move 1 box towards the planet
1	Move 1 box towards the planet or the nearest PEF, whichever is closer
0	PEF does not move

Scores	PEF Resolution - DEFEND Roll vs Enemy Morale
2	Contact Table: Roll 2 D6 and add Enemy Morale
1	Contact Table: Roll 1 D6 and ad Enemy Morale
0	Nothing found - remove PEF

Total	DEFEND   Contact
4 or less	2 ships less than your total
5 or 6	1 ship less than your total
7	Ships equal to your total
8	2 ships more than your total
9	3 ships more than your total
10 or 11	50% more ships than your total
12 or more	Twice your number of ships

HUNT

Objective: Hunt down and Destroy any Raiders/Pirates in the area. To be a success, all PEF's must be resolved, and all opposing ships destroyed or driven off the map.
Forces: 1 Task Force. Enemy forces will be generated as usual, BUT Crew Quality will be one LESS than otherwise determined.
Deployment: Your forces start in any one of the grey boxes; after the Mission starts, it may be divided as desired. Generate 3 PEF's and place them randomly, re-rolling any results in the grey areas.
Special Instructions: Play continues until all Raider/Pirate ships have been destroyed or driven off the map, or the player has been defeated.

Scores	PEF Movement - HUNT
2	Move 1 Box away from from the nearest player force; if on the edge of the map AND there is a player force in an adjacent box, leave the map (remove PEF).
1	Move 1 box towards the planet
0	PEF does not move

Scores	PEF Resolution - HUNT Roll vs. Enemy Morale
2	Contact Table: Roll 1 D6 and add Enemy Morale
1	Contact Table: Roll 1/2 D6 (round up), add Enemy Morale
0	Nothing found - remove PEF

Total	HUNT   Contact
4 or less	50% less shuips than your total
5 or 6	25% less shipsthan your total
7	3 ships less than your total
8	2 ships less than your total
9	1 ships less than your total
10 or 11	Ships equal to your total
12 or more	3 ships more than your total

CONVOY

Objective: Escort a Convoy of six Merchant/Transport ships*  To be a success, you must escort the ships from the planet to box 6-6 and back
Forces: 1 Task Force, PLUS the convoy (see below).
Deployment: Your forces start in any one of the grey boxes; after the Mission starts, it may be divided as desired. Generate 3 PEF's and place them randomly, re-rolling any results in the grey areas.
Special Instructions: Play continues until the Merchant ships have completed their journey. Major Victory = 5 or 6 ships complete the journey safely, Minor Victory = 3 or 4 ships complete the journey safely, Failure = 2 or less ships complete the journey safely.

Scores	PEF Movement - CONVOY
2	Move 1 box towards the convoy
1	Move 1 box towards the convoy or the nearest PEF, whichever is closer
0	PEF does not move

Scores	PEF Resolution - CONVOY Roll vs. Enemy Morale
2	Contact Table: Roll 2 D6 and add Enemy Morale
1	Contact Table: Roll 1 D6 and ad Enemy Morale
0	Nothing found - remove PEF

Total	CONVOY   Contact
4 or less	3 ships less than your total
5 or 6	2 ships less than your total
7	1 ship less than your total
8	Ships equal to your total
9	1 ship more than your total
10 or 11	2 ships more than your total
12 or more	3 ships more than your total

The above is adapted from Star Navy 5150 from Two Hour Wargames. Once again, I strongly suggest purchasing a copy or PDF  if you are interested in this campaign system (or the space combat rules themselves, which have been reviewed previously on this blog).

*The next post will cover Post Mission events, and hopefully some rules for Space Stations and Merchant Ships for Galactic Knights.

As a teaser, here are some pictures of the elusive Entomalian "Web" Space station.

Back when I bought my original ships as part of the the Superior "Starfleet Wars" line, this was one of the last releases. 

The line went out of production before I was ever able to get one, or, for that matter the Modular Space Station.

I happened to come across one available for sale on the Panzer Depot website a few years ago, and snapped it up. It no longer appears there. 

This what it looks like unpainted and unprimed, dry fit together (see below).

Top down view.

The box the Web came in, with the Monday Knight Productions - Galactic Knights label on it; I have never seen it on their website, however.

It comes as 2 separate rings as above. The cut in the left hand one had to be spread apart a bit wider in order to assemble it. 

Reverse sides of the two rings, which I think are identical. 

Portuguese Colonial Infantry , circa 1890

    My long time freind, Joe, has had a loosely organized "Darkest Afrika" type project going fora long time, involving a number of Connecticut wargamers. A number of years ago, I decided to raise a small force so as to be able to participate if and when the occasion might arise. I wanted something a little different than standard fare, and NO KHAKI under any circumstances. Family legend from my father  has it that one of our ancestors on his mother's side was a Spanish explorer by the name of Francisco Leandra. My dad was absolutely terrible with foreign languages, so the name is probably all wrong, and I've never been able to find anything about the existence of such a person. On the other hand, another family legend turned out to be all too true when my sister investigated the mysterious disappearance of my mother's father, back when she was in her early teens. In the process, she discovered that after enlisting in the army in World War 1, my maternal grandfather served in Europe, and while there taught himself to speak French fluent. After being discharged from the Army as a Sergeant, he then went to Senegal, where he spent several years as a French interpreter at the American Embassy there. This time he spent in Africa at last explained how we came to have both a pair Rhinoceros tusks and a circa 1880's rifle in the study of my parent's home!

    The Portuguese were of course great explorers, dating back to at least Prince Henry the Navigator  (1415 - 1488). The explored down the west coast of Africa, establishing trading missions and forts. Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa in 1488, and Vasco de Gama further extended Portuguese exploration, discovering a sea route to India in his voyage of 1497 - 1499. In 1500, Pedro Alvares Cabral discovered Brazil on his way to India. The list of further Portuguese discoveries is extensive, to say the least. I decided that I would use family myth as a take off point for my small African project, but use a Portuguese character rather than a Spanish one. With a little tinkering, the lead character would become "Francisco do Leão", with a back story of having been lost in the wilds and raised by a lioness along with her own cubs (sort of a la Romulus and Remus). As a result, Francisco has a special affinity for and can communicate with, and often summon lions. He is usually accompanied by at least one. Some local tribesmen have even spread rumors that Francisco might be "um licanthropo".

    Somewhere in the basement I am pretty sure I have an unpainted  Lioness, but I have yet to acquire a character figure for Francisco and any entourage he might have. However, I did purchase a group of 24 Eureka Portuguese Colonial infantry. I painted them about 40%, and then other projects called. With no immediate need for them, they sat incomplete for at least the past 5 years, along with another 24 unpainted African auxiliaries and 2 pack camels (which I think are Coplestone designs). Then Joe did his post this month about his new IHMN (In Her Majesty's Name) faction, the Landshark Company. Well, as fast as you can chant "Candygram", I was told to finish up my Portuguese, as they were to have... visitors. Hmmm, Portuguese... the Sea... Landshark?  Sounds ominous!

Anyway, here is the first 8 man squad of Portuguese, wearing their European uniforms but with white pants and a broad hat.

No khaki here boss, no sirree!

I did decide to give each squad there own (ahistorical) shoulder strap color to differentiate them. The NCO for each squad also has a hat band in that squad's color.

This first squad has yellow shoulder straps; the NCO's stand also has a clump of flowers on it as well to make it stand out better. 

I further decided to base each squad with a different flocking and paint color. Squad A here has yellow-orange bases and a deserts stand and rock terraining.

The Egyptian Statuary are by  Monolith designs. I picked them up over 10 years ago, at Historicon, and just  now spray painted them. The statues will be painted "lifelike" colors for use as table dressing for my New Kingdom Egyptian army, but while they were still just "sandstone" color, they are being used as part of the backdrop here. 

Squad "B", sen here, has red shoulder straps.

The NCO has a red hatband and a clump of red flowers o his base, as you can see here. 

The bases themselves were painted red brown, and flocked with a green and earth tones mix. 

This top down view shows the hats nicely... somewhat suggestive of Indiana Jones, I think. 

Her is squad C, deployed among some Egyptian ruins. Beware the Mummy, guys!

This squad has light blue shoulder straps

and the NCO has a light blue hat band, and clump of lavender flowers on his base.

C squad's bases are blue green, with "Alpine Meadow" flocking.

A painting of Portuguese colonial soldiers in Angola.

Some limited but hard to find information on the Portuguese Colonial troops of circa 1870-1910 can be found on the King's Carbine site. I have of course taken the least khaki like interpretation!  :-)

A little mood music, maestro!

Nubian Archers

Ancient Egypt and Nubia had a close and varied relationship, sometimes being enemies, sometimes allies. Nubian archers were famed, so much that the Egyptian name for Nubia literally meant "The Land of the Bow". Ancient Nubia was situated along the Nile above the 1st cataract, in present day southern Egypt and Northern Sudan.

Here's the fist of my two units of Nubian Archers - 28mm Old Glory figures. This unit has shades of red for their "facing colors" (Divisional color within the larger Egyptian army). 

I have once again included an Egyptian command figure, in part because I needed 16 figures per unit and there are 30 in a bag of OG! Here I have given an Egyptian style of dress to a figure that clearly has Nubian skin color!

The feathers are finely sculpted, but fragile!

Some depictions of Nubians in Egyptian art suggest white or dull red head caps, but I have chosen to paint my own Nubians with black, plaited hair. 

My 2nd unit of Nubian Archers. 

Note the "panther skin" kilts and bronze/gold armbands and earrings. These Nubians certainly look very "African"; they wouldn't seem out of place in a 20th century Africa movie. I half expect them to address me as "Bwana!", which itself evidently means "Master" or "Boss" in Swahili.  (No racial slur whatsoever intended).

I haven't done much African flesh color before, but I think these came out pretty well - the figures were painted with thinned down Delta Ceramcoat "Walnut", and then dry brushed with CC Spice Brown.

The kilts were painted CC Palomino Tan, then spotted with CC Brown Velvet, using and old, frayed brush. Quivers are CC Bambi Brown. The reds used were CC Bright Red and CC Adobe Red, and the greens are CC Leaf Green and CC Jubilee Green.  Reds and greens predominate in Egyptian depictions of Nubian dress.

Wooden tomb figures of Nubian Archers, from the Cairo Museum.
Were the Pharaohs the first Miniature Wargamers?

A painted limestone relief of Nubian Archers from the temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri. Hatshepsut, who ruled as Pharaoh in her own right. She was the aunt of Thutmose II, the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh who was surely the greatest of the warrior Pharaohs of Egypt. These and many other fascinating images of Nubian Archers and interesting information can be found here. 

Map of Ancient Nubia with modern borders, etc superimposed

Nubian Prince and/or Ambassador.

"Nubian" Pyramids from the later "Kushite" era at Meroe (in modern day Sudan), circa 3rd century BC to 4th century AD.  The last 3 images and many more, plus a history of the region can be found here. 

Surely one of the great things about our hobby is the way it encourages us to explore human history, including some of the much less well known eras and locations!

Peter

Prussian Napoleonic Cuirassiers, 1808 - 1815

    The elite of the Prussian cavalry, the Cuirassiers were cut back drastically like the rest of the army in the aftermath of the Treaty of Tilsit. From thirteen regiments in 1806, the re-organisation called for only four regiments in 1808. The French also made good use of the excellent Prussian horseflesh as mounts for their own Cuirassiers and Carabiniers. Also in common with the rest of the army, the new uniforms were far more somber than the old ones they replaced.

    For full dress, the Cuirassiers wore a white Kollet. The collar, cuffs, piping on the shoulder straps, and braid edging the turnbacks and the front edge of the jacket were all in the regimental color. For campaign dress, a dark blue Litewka was worn, with the collar in the regimental color, as well as the piping on the cuffs; all regiments had white shoulder straps. The Guard du Corps had white litzen on their collars and cuffs. Belts were white, and the usual Prussian grey cavalry overalls were worn. The saddle blankets were rectangular and were in the facing color (Nash says they were all red, probably incorrectly), bordered by a double line in the button color; for the Garde du Corps, the two white lines were divided by a single line of black. As usual, for officers, silver replaced white and gold replaced yellow. The Cuirassiers wore a black leather helmet with a stiff upright horsehair crest.. On the front was a brass plate bearing a Prussian Eagle; for the Guard du Corps this was replaced by a silver metal guard star.

Prussian Cuirassiers  1808 - 1815

Regt	Name	Facings	Buttons
1	Silesian	Black	Yellow
2	East Prussian	Light Blue	White
3	Garde du Corps	Red	White
4	Brandenburg	Dark Blue #	Yellow
5	Magdeburg*	Yellow	White

*  Regiment raised in 1815
# As the regiment's dark blue collars wouldn't show on the Litewka, red collars were worn instead. The facing color was changed to Cornflower Blue by 1813, but the red collars on the Litewka were retained anyway. Also, this regiment's saddle blanket was definitely red instead of blue.

The Prussian Garde du Corps. Although these figures are sculpted wearing the Litewka, I couldn't bring myself to paint them dark blue - so they are painted in the colors of the Kollet. So shoot me!  :-)

The trumpeter has the usual Prussian distinctions - a red crest on his helmet, and shoulder wings in the facing color,  with white lace.  Although the colors of this GMB standard go well with the regiment's red facings, unfortunately I have somehow managed to give the Gardes du Korps this standard of the 1st (Silesian) Cuirassiers! Dumkopf!

As a Guard regiment, note the white litzen on the cuffs and collars.  I believe these are Foundry figures (with one lone, much smaller Minifigs one!)

The somewhat enigmatic (see above) Brandenburgisches Kurassier-Regiment - I have chosen the later kornblumen blau facing color for them. 

The red saddle blankets of this regiment are an exception to the rule that they should be in the facing color. I can understand using red facings on the dark blue Litewka, but why the exception for the saddle blanket color for this regiment?  To match the red cuffs on the Litewka perhaps.? Except that came later; beats me!

8/21/14 Dal Gavan adds the following:" I think the shabraque colour for the Brandenburgers came from the old 6KR (v. Quitzow), as did the excuse to use red for facings on the litewka. They also carried one of that regiment's standards and the bulk of the trained men (250 or so) that made up the new regiment came from v. Quitzow." Makes sense to me!

Regardless, a fine looking regiment, eh?. These are Foundry figures, equipped with GMB flags.
Trampling Frenchmen under hoof soon on a battlefield near you!

Sherden Mercenaries

The Sherden (also sometimes referred to as Shardanna) were one of a group of the invaders the Egyptians called "The Sea Peoples". They plagued the reigns of both Ramses II and Ramses III, before disappearing from the historical record.  To this day their origin remains uncertain, although theories abound, and little is known about their culture. There is a lot of information about the Sea Peoples, and multiple images of Egyptian bas-reliefs from the Mortuary Temple of Ramses III on this site : LINK

Even more useful is this site with many illustrations, drawings, archaeological findings (bronze/copper swords), etc  (scroll down past the first part listing citations and depictions in Ancient Egyptians sources): LINK 

I made up 2 units  using a bag of 30 Old Glory 25mm Sherdens, with two added Egyptian command figures (to bring the numbers up to my required 16 per unit). They will act as allied contingents for my Egyptian armies, although they could also be used as enemies of Egypt as well.

These Old Glory figures are nicely detailed, which shows up fairly well in this shot.

The background felt here is actually a tan/heather color; the images are unfortunately somewhat dark due to the light background. this unit has 4 stands, one each with the shields and kilt trim in light blue and turquoise. 

Here I've manually re- balanced the color to make the felt background closer to its actual color, and that has improved the whole image quality. The Sherdens are generally depicted as wearing armor - leather and probably even some Bronze, in addition to their characteristic spiked/horned helmets. 

This second unit has 2 stands each with deep and mustard yellow shields/trim.  Quite muscular chaps as sculpted they are, too!

The discs on the helmet seem only to have been worn when allied to the Egyptians; possible a reference to the sun god, Ra. 

They seem like they mean business, don't they? Certainly better equipped for hand to hand fighting than the typical depiction of Egyptian foot soldiers. They wouldn't seem too out of place as "hairy barbarians" well into Roman times!