Date sent: Tue, 1 Dec 1998 13:51:18 -0600 (CST) From: Wraith To: babylon5-wars@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU Subject: [B5W] No Surrender, No Retreat 2.0 Send reply to: babylon5-wars@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU Hey everybody, Thanks for all the comments and suggestions on this scenario. I've taken a lot of the points brought up and incorporated them, so I now have No Surrender, No Retreat 2.0 for you viewing pleasure. The Whole Scenario is below, but the main differences are: Smaller Alliance Fleet Pulse Omegas with 4 Pulse Cannons (not heavies) in the rear, but that keeps its lasers in front No more special rules for each ship. Attitude adjustment is based off of a random roll on the Attitude Chart (to big to go into, see below). I kept 24 thunds/omega, but noted that if this is disturbing to use the 18 thunds 6 aurora official ruling from AoG and TWK. Keep the comments coming. I'd like to get this one just right. Wraith * * * * * * * * * * No Surrender, No Retreat (The Battle of Proxima): A Scenario for B5 Wars Based on the Television Battle as seen in the fourth season episode of Babylon 5, "No Surrender, No Retreat." For 2 to a whole lot of players BACKGROUND: September 2, 2261. The First Ones have left for the rim. The Narn, Centauri and League of Non-Aligned Worlds know peace for the first time in 2 long years. President Clark is continuing to constrict his strange hold on the Earth Alliance by ordering civilian ships to be targeted and destroyed, and unfortunately he has enough friends in place that these orders are being carried out. No More! The recent attacks on civilian ships attempting to escape the blockaded world of Proxima 3, nearly 10,000 killed in the most recent attack, has pushed beyond the line. As of this day Babylon 5 declares war on President Clark and his illegal and unethical designs. The first strike Proxima-3. PLAYER #1 (Alliance) - 18 White Star Medium Warships, 18 Aurora Starfury Heavy Fighters (Zeta and 1/2Delta Squadrons), 18 Thunderbolt Starfury Heavy Fighters (Alpha and 1/2Delta Squadrons.) Note: One White Star is commanded by Sheridan and gains 2 levels of Expert Helmsman and 1 Level of Expert Engineer. Another White Star is commanded by Marcus and receives 1 level of Expert Helmsman. PLAYER #2 (Earth) - 6 Omega Class Destroyers (Heracles, Pollux, Juno, Nemesis, Vesta, Furies) w/ 144 Thunderbolt Starfury Heavy Fighters (24/Omega) No Missiles!!! Note: The Heracles , Pollux, Juno and Vesta all receive 1 level of Advanced Defensive Targeting on all interceptors (bringing them to -5's) The Heracles and Nemesis are Pulse Variant Omegas with no Heavy Lasers in the aft but 4 Pulse Cannons with the reverse arcs of Heavy Lasers and Heavy Pulse Cannons on the front. The Heracles also has a level 1 Expert Helmsman.. The Furies has 1 level of Hardened Armor on the Port, Starboard and Aft structure blocks, and Gunsights on the Forward Heavy Lasers and Heavy Pulse Cannons. The Nemesis has 2 level of Improved Engine for 10 thrust. The Juno has 2 levels of Improved Sensors for a total of 10 and 1 level of Advanced Targeting on all Heavy Lasers. Further Note: These Optional Enhancements add character to the ships but you may not wish to use them, which is fine (especially for new players.) Use them as you see fit. Further Further Note: Okay so there are 24 Thunderbolts/Omega. This is contradictory to what AoG has said and apparently they got it from TWK. However its not contradictory to the show. If you really feel that you need to play Omegas with only 18 Thunderbolt and 6 Auroras go right ahead. SET UP: Map: (A1)(B1)(C1)[A2][B2][C2] (D1)(E1)(F1)[D2][E2][F2] [A3][B3][C3](A4)(B4)(C4) [D3][E3][F3](D4)(E4)(F4) Note: This is a BIG map 4 times as big as the standard map from the box set. Proxima-3 takes up a large portion of (F1)[D2][C3](A4) You may choose to let this whole region be the planet, or make it circular by placing a pizza pan, or circular cooler lid, or garbage can lid on the board. There is a Jump Gate located at [D3]0525 Earth Forces begin at: Heracles: (E1)1820, facing 4, speed 3 Pollux (D4)1030, facing 2, speed 3 Nemesis [F3]3525, facing 2, speed 3 Vesta [B3]1810, facing 4, speed 3 Furies (B1)2910, facing 5, speed 3 Juno [A2]1515, facing 6, speed 3 All fighters are in the barn. Pollux and Nemesis may launch fighters at the end of turn 2, all others at the end of turn 5. Game begins with an alliance jump point open in F4 (chosen ahead of time) from which 3 White Stars begin moving. Pollux and Nemesis are sent to investigate and thus may launch fighters at the end of turn 2. On turn 4 an Alliance jump point opens in A1 (chosen ahead of time) and 6 White Stars depart. Heracles, Vesta, Juno and Furies move to investigate and thus may launch fighters at the end of turn 5. On turn 8 an Alliance jump point opens in F3 (chosen ahead of time) and 9 White Stars, 18 Aurora Starfuries and 18 Thunderbolt Starfuries depart. SPECIAL RULES: Fighter Flight Rules are in use. Called shots are in use (a necessity for the EA Thunderbolts, at least according to old playtest info.) Ramming not allowed (special) Alliance will not fire first.. They may target the enemy and fire in the same round that the enemy first opens fire, but it is Earth that decides when the battle begins. Earth Ships and Their Feelings about Sheridan Fleet: Some of these EA ships do have sympathetic feelings towards what Sheridan is doing, even though they might not believe in his method. This is represented by random rolls on the Attitude Chart. Every ship must roll a d6 after the last of Sheridan'' fleet jumps in at the end of round 8. The result of this roll is the number of rounds before the first Attitude roll is made. When the appropriate time comes roll a d20 + modifiers and look on the Attitude Chart. If the chart does not inticate that you should roll again next round, roll another d6 and this is the number of rounds before the next Attitude check. Each additional Attitude check gets a +1. The second is a +1, the third at +2 etc. At no point is the EA player required to announce the result of his check (in fact he shouldn't) unless the result shows Non-Combative declared. A player may never fake this declaration (exception as below). Attitude roll modifiers are as follows: Heracles: -8 Hostile Pollux -6 Hostile Nemesis 0 Neutral Vesta +3 Sympathetic Furies +3 Sympathetic Juno 0 Neutral ATTITUDE CHART: Number Rolled Result 1-15 No effect. Still combative 16-19 Considering. Still combative. Roll again next round 20-23 Internal dispute. Still combative. Next roll add+3 24-28 Standing down for now. Will not fire this round unless fired upon. If not fired on this round, roll at +3 next round +3. If fired upon make a roll next round a -5. 29-32 Non-Combative declared. Roll d3 for number of rounds before Captain is removed from command and ship becomes combative again for d10 rounds before crew restores captain to command 33-34 Non-combative declared. 35+ Retreat, Jump to Hyperspace. Alliance Attitiude Manuvers: Sheridan's Speech: The Alliance Player may opt to use this manuver any time after turn 10. The entire Alliance Fleet must go non-combative for one turn and take whatever damage is dealt to them. During this turn Sheridan makes his big speech to the EA fleet. When each EA ship makes its next Altitude roll they are affected as such. Sympathetic ships get a +8, Neutral ships get a +5, and Hostiles a +3 Fly Bye: The Alliance Player may opt to Fly Bye an EA vessel that is possibly Standing Down. To do this the Player must take a White Star with in 5 hexes of the ship possibly Standing Down and place itself in the arc of this ships heavy weapons. If the ship is standing down it gets a +5 to its next Attitude roll (in addition to the +3 it gets if no one fires on it that turn.) If the ship is not Standing Down, oops! Fighters and Non-Combatant Ships: When a ship becomes non-combatant it orders its fighters to do so as well. However the Heracles is in charge of this mission and will give a contradictory order. For each flight of fighters that go along with a non-combatant ship, roll a d6 when the ship goes non-combatant. On a 1 or 2 the fighters go non-combatant. This roll is made at the end of the round. Any flight that has been damage in that round will only go non-combatant on a 1. Shooting Down Sheridan: Sheridan's White Star is quite visible (sword and shield painting on wings) and should the EA player ask this ship should be pointed out. The destruction of Sheridan's White Star will place the entire Alliance force at a -8 initiative penalty for the next 2 rounds and a -2 sensors for the first round due to shock and an inability to concentrate on the work. The next round will have a -4 initiative penalty, and all following rounds will have a +1. Crippled White Stars: Any White Star rendered combat in-effective through destruction of the reactor, engine, loss of thrusters or C&C, etc. must continue its present course on the map until it flies off the map or into Proxima-3. If its path crosses the path of an Earth ship in the same round, they colide with the WS effectively ramming the EA ship. This only happens to the first WS to meet these criteria. OPTIONS: Depending on the White Stars BPV in 2nd ed. this battle will probably be point valued in the Alliance's favor. For a slightly more even battle there is mention of a number of early detection satellites around Proxima-3. I think these are represented by the blue line on the map that Marcus brings up of the system after his recognizance mission. Essentially these might be able to offer ENLINT support to the Earthforce vessels. Say there are 4 of them, each with a sensors rating of 6, with all other ENLINT abilities. Allow the Alliance to choose different jump point location. SUGGESTIONS: Okay so this isn't your every day, "Hey let's sit down for a couple hours and play," scenario. It's more of a convention/game shop special day/demo sort of scenario. But damn it looks exciting to me. If I were to run this I'd say 16 people: 4 w/ 3 White Stars each 1 w/ 2 White Stars and 12 Auroras 1 w/ 2 White Stars and 12 Thunderbolts 1 w/ 2 White Stars 6 Auroras and 6 Thunderbolts 6 w/ 1 Omega and 12 Thunderbolts 3 w/ 24 Thunderbolt s I'd probably place all the ship sheets (with names and numbers and enhancements and special rules) in sealed enveloped, and randomly pass these envelopes out. Place EA on one side of the map and the Alliance on the other. I'd also designate two movers on each side who'd be in charge of moving the mini's/counters for their side. (I.e. each player would choose there own movement but only these four player touch the mini's/counters.) I'd be sure to nominate 1 judge (probably the one organizing the whole thing) or 2 if you feel that is necessary. I'd run movement as fast as possible by figuring out how many Alliance ships move before the next Earth ship and letting them all move at the same time. Visa versa for the Earth ships. In damage resolution I leave the rolling to the players but keep an eye out for munchkins who are constantly hitting under incredible odds, and then start looking over their shoulders. I'd have the Alliance ships resolve damage first and the Earthers second as Earth is probably have less targets per round than the Alliance and this would give some of the Alliance players a small breather. However I would encourage the players to all be a part of the whole game. Encourage the Alliance players to all get upset when a White Star is lost and the same for the Earth. Encourage players (especially the non-combatant Earth ships) to role-play their commanding officers. I'd probably allow a quick 3-5 minute meeting after rolling initiative between each side to make a group plan. Most importantly is to keep the game moving, because its number will chop into that speed like nothing else. COMMENTS: Oh do I have a lot of them, but my knowledge of the White Star right now is under NDA. Once 2nd ed. comes out I'll probably repost this with comments on combating White Stars.