USH'S ORIGINAL TRILOGY GAME EPISODE I 'LANZAR'- Imperial Thread

Started by Lord Melkor372 pages

It was said that we lost one Stormtrooper unit on the way through the jungle. I assume it took 30 hours instead of planned 12 because we were trying to avoid further losses.

So we have 26 Stormtrooper units, I think.

Sounds about right!

Apologies- I forgot to collect the strategic gumf from my brother yesterday which had all the unit strengths on. Coming ASAP!

No problem, Ush 😄

Ok, one week later and I got the stuff!

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UNITS AND COMBAT

Units have two ability scores, offensive and defensive. When a unit is moving into another defended area, it fights with its attack strength. When it is being attacked, it fights with its defensive strength.

Being attacked yourself forces you to stay put on the defensive- so for example if Unit A tries to attack Unit B, but A is under attack that turn by Unit C, A has to stop and fight Unit C instead; Unit B gets away with it.

However, one man cannot stop an army moving. This interception only occurs if the inercepting attack strength is at least half of the unit it is attacking.

We add together the strengths of all units on one side in an area to get a combined total. We then compare those two totals. I do not give away the specifics of where things roll over, but what we are interested in is the final ration. For example, if the two sides both have a strength of 10, that is evens. If the attacker has 20 and the defender 10, that is a ratio of 1:2. If the attacker has strength 10 and the defender 15, the ratio is 2:3.

The final result is dealt with by a d6 roll; low is good for the defender and high good for the attacker. But the result will depend on the rations above. If you are completely outnumbered, a good die roll won't win you the whole fight on your own.

Units in a fight- even victorious ones- are liable to take hits. Two hits destroy a unit. Hits cannot be repaired during a battle.

There are three generic rules for the scenario:

WALLS- attacking across walls makes your ratio one worse than it is- for example, if the strengths were evens, they would become 2:3 against you instead. Furthermore, Walls allow the defenders to treat attackers from more than one location as separate attacks, rather than allowing the attackers to combine forces for one super-attack. These abilities stop functioning if the walls are breached.

CITY- Due to the actions of civilians and Osokan familiarity, Osokan armies get +1 to their dice rolls if fighting inside the city.

HEROIC ACTION- successful action by tactical player characters shifts the result of the battle one 'ratio' in favour.

Meanwhile, beyond numbers, some units have certain specialities:

ARMOURED- Armour is a decisive factor in all warfare. Other than generally having high combat scores, if one side has armour in a battle and the other side does not, the ratio becomes one better for the armoured side- for example, if the strengths were evens but only one side had armour, the ratio would become 3:2 in that side's favour.

ANTI-ARMOUR- Anti-armour represents unarmoued units that have a notable capacity to destroy armoured vehicles. This does not increase their combat scores, but it does negate the advantage of the 'Armoured' ability. Note this does not give any superiroity itself; it simply counters the 'Armoured' ability.

SPEEDY- some battle scenarios in future may have a 'Speed' rating, but for this scenario we can keep it simple. Most units can only move one space, but a unit with the 'Speedy' ability can move as many spaces as it wishes until making enemy contact.

HEAVY- Some units have heavy firepower. This will be represented by high combat values, but Heavy firepower also allows the unit to breach walls. At the end of every round where walls were attacked, a d6 is rolled; if the numer rolled is equal or less than the number of 'Heavy' attackers, the wall becomes breached.

In this scenario, Heavy units may not enter the city.

SUPER-ARMOURED- Some units are spectacularly devastating. Super-armoured units gain a ratio superiority over enemy armies just as armoured units do, unless there is a Super-armoured unit on the enemy side as well. Furthermore, if the enemy has no armoured units at all, Super-armoured units are immune to being hit. Note that 'anti-armour' has no effect on Super-Armoured units.

LEADERS- Leaders represent particularly talented people on one side. They can be in an area in addition to military units, and give a special ability. Both sides remain in ignorance of the number of leaders the other side has, and what their abilities are.

Sounds...complicated.

I'm sure I'll be able to understand it, though.

Ok, let's get down to cases with the units...

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IMPERIAL UNITS

Stormtroopers

The ever gallant and unquestioning soliders of the Empire. Not much to worry about on a squad-based level, Stormtroopers are desiogned to make a strategic difference on the battlefield, providing reasonably strength in large numbers

Offence: 3
Defence: 2

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Speeder Bikes

Although useful as a fast strike unit strategically, bikes are really designed for patrolling and squad-based actions and are of limited strength on the battlefield

Offence: 2
Defence: 2
SPEEDY

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Artillery

These units are left over from the Clone Wars and are in short supply. Nonetheless, they carry pretty hefty fire power.

Offence: 8
Defence: 2
ANTI-ARMOUR, HEAVY

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AT-STs

These scout walkers are well armoured and reasonably well armed, though the word 'Scout' betrays how they are not designed for heavy assault.

Offence: 5
Defence: 4
ARMOURED

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AT-ATs

The centrepiece of any Imperial assault, modern day Imperial doctrine puts their faith entirely in these four-legged walkers of doom. Heavily armed and armoured, their presence on the battlefield in of themselves often spells doom for opponents.

Offence: 12
Defence: 10
SUPER-ARMOURED, HEAVY

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OSOKAN UNITS

Osokan Militia

Created by the recent influx of arms into the city, these units are basically armed civilians. Osokans are not natural gun users and these units are far from disciplined. Making an assault with them is near impossible but with typical Osokan tenacity they can hold ground quite well.

Offence: 1
Defence: 3

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Osokan Warriors

The days of the killer Osokan Hunting squads are lost, the Guilds mere shadows of their former selves. Still, Osokans are pretty tough people by default, and when wielding their traditional knives they are ferocious foes, especially with their regenerative abilities. But they are still not much good strategically- not well organised or trained in mass battle tactics.

Offence: 2
Defence: 4

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Osokan Hunters

Rumour has it that a small number of Hunters from the glory days of Lanzar still survive. Rather like the Warriors, they still have absolutely no strategic training whatsoever, and neurowhips don't cut it against even an AT-ST. Even worse, Hunter numbers are so small it's almost impossible to form a strategic unit out of them. Still, if that was done, they have the killer instinct and improvisational skills enough to be a significant strategic presence. They'd be pretty harsh to run into tactically, also

Offence: 3
Defence: 5

So Osokans will have defensive advantage.... I assume that artillery doesn`t have to attack the unit it is directly engaged with, and perhaps AT-AT as well? And what are the effects of orbital bombardment on enemy troops, it can weaken their defences?

Yes they do. This is not strategic artillery.

And we'll see about that in more secure circumstances.

Shortly I shall be asking both sides to arrange their forces.

26 Stormtrooper units, 2 Artillery units, 8 AT-ST units, 6 Speederbike units, and 3 AT-AT units...

Due to the fact that Artillery Unit B was bombarded quite heavily, has it lost any of its effectiveness? Does the ratio drop for it?

Well, I didn't want to keep giving unit numbers away... you don't get to know theirs, for example.

Artillery Unit B starts the scenario with one hit, so it is fragile.

Hmm, true. I'll list them elsewhere for personal track keeping...

How many hits can it take?

As I believe the rules state, all units can take only one hit; the second destroys them.

Ah, sorry, missed that.

The next event that will occur is that I will PM Melkor with the set-up instructions and shares that with you guys in private.

Battle time!

Alans, is Barb alive? He could help with planning.

He is alive but still having computer issues as well as being very busy. I will poke him, though.

In fact I did last night, but I will again.

Well, I don`t think that he is desperately needed right now, but may miss entire end of this Episode, as well as Matrix.

The end of this one will take a great deal of time, I feel...