Campaigns - smikesworld.dksmikesworld.dk/smworld/magazines/gm_issue15.pdf · new breakfast nook in Draal’s chamber, but in space other powers continue to do their own fighting (and

CampaignsCampaigns

1THE GREAT MACHINEISSUE 15 April/May 2005 THE GREAT MACHINE

CampaignsCampaigns

2 THE GREAT MACHINE ISSUE 15 April/May 2005THE GREAT MACHINE

ContentsContentsContentsContentsContents

Many Welcomings!This last two months have been

very busy for poor Zathras. Draal enterGreat Machine in incredible makeoversweepstakes. Zathras warn Draal thatthe chances of winning were not good,but he won anyway. So much work forpoor Zathras, and Zathras, too.

Now Zathras is fighting doilies innew breakfast nook in Draal’s chamber,but in space other powers continue todo their own fighting (and many aredoing much dying, too!). Luckily Zathrasis safe... for now!

In between shifts, Zathras has stillbeen reading about campaigns. Zathrashas even drawn a campaign map in thedirt – but then lousy interior decoratorsfrom incredible makeover contest stepon it! It did not bother me much, butclumsy human fell off catwalk later. Verysad. Zathras sure he slipped.

Back to work for Zathras! Havefun reading the many things Zathras hasfound to entertain himself last week.Redecoration almost done, then Zathrascan rest.

Zathras,CARETAKER

3 Into the Fire:Version 6 RevisitedM. Sean Martinez gives us a peek at whatto expect in Version 6 of hist Bandit’sCampaign System.

8 Victory by Any MeansA brief overview of the VBAM CampaignSystem and its history.

10 Creating a Campaign MapWant to create a campaign map? TyrelLohr gives some pointers on what toolswill work for the job.

12 B5 Races for VBAMM. Sean Martinez has created customrace versions of the B5 races for VBAM!

27 Ships of the DuneCampaignThe battle for Arrakis continues with thisnew installment in the Dune Wars series.

34 Fury of the Imperium

36 Fate’s Turning

43 More Antareans

45 Between the Darkness...:Babylon 5 Mirror Universe

51 Return to Nexus:The Polarens

66 Next Issue

ContentsContentsContentsContentsContents

CampaignsCampaigns


Art by Rory McLeish

IntroductionIt has been 3 years and

some change since version 5 of mycampaign rules was posted on mysite. After a long wait and manyobstacles I am proud to say version6 is about to be released near theend of this summer! The mostdevastating of the set backs was acomplete hard drive failure thatwiped out the previous work on the

new version, along with someadditional setting information. Withthe help of several people I was ableto recover the original version 5 ofthe rules that was also lost.

I firmly believe thateverything happens for a reason.While at the time I could not see thesilver lining in losing 60 gigs worthof data, files and e-mail, it did forceme to start over from scratch. Duringthis reset many concepts and ideaschanged. It gave me a fresh newperspective from which to approachthe rules. Overall I am happy withthe new set of rules and how quicklythe play in comparison to theprevious version.

Version 6: ThePresent

The new rule set is not yetcompleted but it is getting there.While it may seem that I have a nicePDF version ready for play testers,sadly that is not the case. A good bitof the system is still on my legal padand is being refined and tweakedevery few days. Once the rules arefinalized and proofed the newversion will be formatted to includesome artwork and the released towww.big-freaky-sean.ws/b5/ fordownload.

Into the Fire:Version 6 Resurrected

Bandit’s CampaignSystem Rides Again

By M. Sean Martinez

CampaignsCampaigns


The first chapter presents thecampaign system and introduces thefour types of campaigns that can beplayed with the rules set. A campaignis defined by the start up conditionswhich include the number ofsystems allotted and the strength ofstarting fleets. System creation hasbeen expanded to be a lot morerealistic and now a single systemmay include a maximum of 18planets! Unfortunately only 3 ofthose systems might be inhabitable,but there is a chance to find a mooncapable of supporting life.

Each planet has beendefined with the following stats:Mineral Richness, Inhabitability andQ40 Deposits. Mineral Richnessdefines how valuable the resourcesare while Inhabitability indicates howfertile the planet is overall. Those twostats are used in a number offormulas to generate resourcesgathered, population maximums andultimately the number and types ofmilitary units that can be built on theplanet. There are optional rules thatallow resources to be extractedquicker and even exhausted. Inaddition, Asteroid fields can alsobecome a source of resources.

Chapter Two covers theestablishment of colonies andoutposts. Colonization has becomea more time consuming task as ittakes several turns to establish abasic colony. Once a colony hasbeen established it will requiredecades for the population to growto a sizeable colony on its own. Thisis an effect of the realistic populationgrowth model used in the system.Naturally an empire may relocatepopulation to new colonies. At thistime, the rules for outposts have notbeen fully established but thegeneral idea is they will serve as away to use a planet for a specific andlimited purpose.

Colonies add several stats to aplanet; Population, Food Yield,Industrialization and Productivity.Food yield is very important sincecolonies require food to survive,especially those on barren worlds.Industrialization encompasses thelevel of industry within the colony. Itdictates what you can build and howmuch income can be generated fromthe colony. Gone is the randomgeneration of resources, everythingnow uses a fixed rate of resourcegathering.

Chapter Three deals entirelywith the construction of combat unitsand defences. Starships are built inmassive shipyard complexes thatorbit planets and can contain dozensof docks. Construction costs andtimes have been changed drasticallyover the previous edition of the rules.The biggest change is the simplefact that an empire can now easilybuild and maintain a fleet consistingof several hundred starships. Costshave been equalized across theboard for most units in the rule set.A heavy cruiser will cost roughly thesame for all races across the galaxy.This standardized cost plays to thetechnology differences between theraces.

Fighters, ground attackvehicles and other small craft areconstructed in ground basedfactories in squadron or battalionsized batches. At this time theintention is to include a wide varietyof armoured units ranging from lighttanks all the way to artillery units.Each unit would have a differenteffect on the ground war battlefield.

The fourth chapter coversincome and all the methods forgathering it. Empires can sell andbuy resources on the galactic marketor from each other. The rules fortrade routes have been greatlyexpanded and redefined. Planetshave a limited number of trade

routes that they can maintain. Thisnumber can be increased through anumber of options, the primary onebeing the establishment of a tradingoutpost. Traditional trade routes stillexist, but now a trade route can alsoconsist of resource exchanges suchas food, ore or even Q-40. Merchantships must be hired and paid eachyear to maintain the trade route.What would trade routes be withoutraiders? Simplified rules have beenincluded to handle raider attacks onshipping lanes or allow a player toperform such attacks.

Extensive rules have beenadded to cover the eventual sale andpurchase of starships and relatedtechnology. While I am personallynot fond of such activity in my owncampaigns, I realize there are otherswho love to miss match differentships and technology. The rules dogo one step further and allow justthe sale of starship weapons orstripped down hulls. Chapter 5 covers research andtechnology advancements.Research can be collected fromexploration missions, archaeologicalmissions to ancient alien ruins andfrom research stations. Researchpoints can be spent to further anempire’s normal technologicalprogress or be used to purchasenew technologies such as AdvancedAgriculture Techniques whichincrease food yield. One of thetechnologies allows players to buildtheir own unique variants of ships.Currently there are 7 different non-combat technologies available and33 different levels of advancement.

Care has been taken toensure that technology trademaintain a balance. It takes a lesseradvanced race longer to assimilatemore advanced technology.Example, the Grome could not hopeto utilize stolen Minbari NeutronLasers without many years of

CampaignsCampaigns


research and adaptation. Eventuallya tech tree might be fabricated, butthat might be beyond the scope ofthis rule set.

Chapter 6 is the espionagechapter and the one I am most proudof. The rules for espionage missionshave been completely streamlinedand reworked. Much like theprevious version, players still use“agents” to perform any of the dozentypes of espionage missions. Eachagent has a set of stats that istracked and gain bonuses based onits race. Agents also move as aspecial unit. The major change iseach type of mission now has aresult table that clearly indicates howmuch information is learned or howbad the mission has been botched.

For instance, Char-Shan theMinbari Religious caste operative issent to learn the Earth Force fleetdeployment for the Delphi System.As a member of the Religious casteChar-Shan has a +1 Combat, +2Loyalty and +1 Intelligence. The GMor player makes a success test anddetermines that it is high enough toearn a level 2 success. Such asuccess grants the agent thestarship variants that compose thefleet, general static defensespresent (OSATs, bases or mines)and the name of the fleet flagship.Learning the name of the flagship isimportant as it allows the flag shipto be targeted during combat. If theagent had earned a level 3 successhe could have learned what thefleet’s morale was and the presenceof any elite officers within the fleet.The Grey Council is pleased withChar-Shan.

The rules for sabotage havealso been completely reworked.Agents must target specific aspectsof a planet’s industry or military forsabotage. The updated rule setprevents a single agent from beingable to bring an entire planet’s

production to a halt. In the past Ihave seen and heard horror storiesabout such occurrences.Additionally, the penalty fromsabotage is capped to preventunscrupulous players from sendingdozens of agents at a single planetand reducing the industry to a pileof rubble.

Chapter 7 deals with all themessy details of diplomacy. This isone section that has gotten a goodbit of attention. Babylon 5 wasalways about diplomacy and I felt mycampaign system should reflect thatwith a strong and robust diplomaticsystem. While I brainstormed on thenew system, I saw an episode ofDeep Space 9 called “In The PaleMoonlight.” I had never actually seenthe episode before. In that episodeGarak lures the Romulans into theDominion war with the assassinationof a Romulan diplomat that Siskohad invited to the station. After thecredits rolled I knew exactly how thediplomacy system should be set up.

Diplomacy in the new rulesset can normally only be done witha new character type called“Diplomats”. Much like agents,diplomats are given a set of stats andhave tracked movement. The leaderof a player’s empire is also treatedas a diplomat. Diplomats must bepresent at the same system to

conduct negotiations and toformalize treaties. Each diplomathas a limited number of actions thatthey can use within a singlecampaign turn. This limit was placedto prevent players from meta-gaming too much. Empires can alsouse Diplomatic starships andembassies to conduct suchnegotiations.

Propaganda also playsheavily into diplomatic relationships.Version 6 does not disappoint withthe addition of a basic system tohandle mud slinging and politicalpropaganda. Did your Centauriassault fleet just invade a Narncolony? Use your propagandamachine (and marine units) to forcethe governor to say that he askedyou to come and bring order to hisplanet. You can also usepropaganda to influence the mediaand as a result the masses.

Finally the diplomacy sectioncovers all aspects of treaties andincludes guidelines for the differentdiplomatic states and treatiesavailable in the campaign. Treatiesmay require several campaign turnsto fully negotiate and since it has tobe assumed that diplomats rarelyagree to anything quickly unlessforced to.

CampaignsCampaigns


Chapter 8 is titled “FleetAction” and covers the basic aspectsof space based movement and fleetoperation. Rules for supply lines,ELINT, mine warfare, field repairs andfleet deployments have been updatedand expanded on. The orders givento a fleet are now more crucial thanever as they will dictate what happenswhen it encounters another fleet.Experienced commanders caninfluence the outcome.

For example, the Drazidispatch a small fleet into a systemclaimed by their hostile neighboursthe Centauri with the “secure” order.Earth Force also sent a scout fleetinto the same system. When theDrazi fleet and Earth Force fleetencounters each other a roll is madeon the encounter chart which ismodified by the order give.Unfortunately the Drazi commanderis arrogant and recklessly opens fireon the Earth Force fleet. Theresulting battle shatters goodrelations between the two empiresand possibly could start a war.

There will be a new masscombat system which allows for asmuch or as little detail as players

want. Essentially the core combatsystem takes the Babylon 5 Warsships and breaks them down intosimpler, easier to manage stats.Each ship will be given aManoeuvrability Value, OffensiveRating and a Defensive Rating.Manoeuvrability dictates how quicklya ship can close with the enemy. Thisis extremely important since everyship’s offensive value is actually thedamage dealing capability over 3different range categories!Defensive Rating represents theamount of damage a starship cantake before it is destroyed.

The beauty of the newsystem is that it does not require amap to play nor does it needhundreds of counters. Starships areplaced into squadrons and recodedon the proper tracking sheets. Asquadron can only move as fast asthe slowest starship within it. Assquadrons move the player tracksthe number of range bands it hastraversed. Range is easily determinedby simply taking the differencebetween the starting range and thecombined number of range bands thesquadrons have moved.

Combat is resolved bysimply removing ships as they takedamage equal to their DefensiveRating. Experienced commanderscan increase or decrease theamount of damage scored.Optionally each time a starship takesdamage there is a chance that it hasbecome crippled. Crippled shipshave severely reduced combat statsand can explode if not withdrawnfrom battle. Morale can also effectspace combat. Fleets will not fightuntil the bitter end unless it is adesperate last defense of their homeworld. As casualties begin to mountthe fleet commander may order aretreat.

Chapter 9 covers groundcombat and currently has twodifferent systems to resolve theground combat portion of planetaryinvasion. The first is an extremelysimple system that can be resolvedin just a few minutes. If a campaignuses the simple system, groundunits are limited to just 3 types:infantry, armor and support.

The second system has agood bit more detail and takes intoaccount the actual differences

CampaignsCampaigns


between unit types. Units areexpanded to include such types astroop transports, air cavalry, heavytank brigades, marines and artilleryunits. Capabilities of units areexpanded with the possibility of havinganti-tank weapons or even biologicalweapons. Unfortunately an expandedset of rules means that ground combatwill take longer to resolve.

Rules for Exploration are inchapter 10. They will covereverything from jump gateconstruction to encounters with non-space faring empires. Each suchrace is given a set of random statsand a special ability that makes themunique. Perhaps the raceencountered is extremely good atmining or maybe they excel at dirtfarming? Course they could just bexenophobic and hostile.

Chapter 11 will provideguidelines to actually playing thecampaign. Mostly it covers how toproperly word orders but does giveadvice for how to run the gameonline, in person or a combinationof the two. Most importantly it hasthe rules for Victory Points!

Victory Points tracks anempire’s achievements andindicates the player that is doing thebest overall. Combat victories, thenumber of colonies, amount ofresources and a few other situationscan earn a player Victory Points. Inaddition, the completion of Plot canalso grant Victory Points.

What exactly is Plot? It isanother new aspect to the campaignsystem and is completely optional.Though, I would not even considerrunning a game without it. Anycampaign can include various storyarcs called Plot. In Babylon 5, onesuch Plot would be the formation ofa coalition to stop the shadows.Players that take steps to form sucha coalition earn the Victory Pointsfrom Plot. The end of the chapter

includes a number of Babylon 5specific Plots, conditions thatcomplete the Plot and the amountof Victory Points earned.

Chapter 12 completes thebook and covers all the optional rulesthat make a campaign fun! Rules willbe provided for random events,ramming, racial empire bonuses, eliteofficers, space monsters andoperating alien ships. All AOGpublished B5 Wars races will bepresent, including the ancients!

Version 6 also includes asizeable number of sheets that willbe extremely helpful in running acampaign. Such sheets include fleettracking forms, example maps,agent tracking sheets and turnsubmission forms. There will evenbe a number of EXCELspreadsheets for managing anempire and resolving combat.

On The HorizonWhat is not generally know

is that at the core of version 6 is thebasic rule set for “Into the Fire” withall the Babylon 5 setting informationplugged in. For several years I havetalked about creating a gamepublishing company and now I havefinally started to make that happen.In 2007 Masked Bandit Games willformerly publish “Into the Fire” as ageneric, but detailed galacticconquest campaign system. Thegame will be more detailed thansuch games as Victory by AnyMeans and yet less complex thanStarfire. It will be the middle groundfor those who wish to have acampaign experience with a good bitof detail but no desire to spend 2months calculating a single turn.

The basic book will allowplayers to recreate familiar racesfrom such settings as Star Trek, StarWars, Robotech, Transformers

and Andromeda. Naturally playerscan also use the rules to make theirown custom races, starships andground attack units.

Into the Fire will include abasic campaign setting. The as ofyet untitled setting will be expandedas additional sourcebooks areproduced. Each sourcebook willadvance the core storyline andspecific ones will change the overallsetting. Currently there are close toa dozen different sourcebooksplanned for 2007 to 2009. My currentidea is to put special short termcampaign scenarios on the companysite and use results from playersaround the world to determine theactual course of events.

The primary antagonist in thesetting is a race of aggressivereptilians known as the DrakonianImperium. In their quest for totalgalactic conquest they haveenslaved a number of other species.Their starships are typicallygargantuan and heavily armed withplasma weaponry and missilelaunchers.

One of the forces thatoppose the Drakonian Imperium isthe Sirian Union. Sirians resemblethe short grey visitor aliens wecommonly see in Spielberg movies,or the Vree. They are highlyadvanced and use defense shieldson their saucer vessels.Unfortunately, the Sirians do notexcel at ground combat but they aretelepathic.

As usual, the humans arestuck in the middle of everything.Will they survive or be crushed bythe advancing waves of DrakonianImperium warships? We shall see in2007. In the meantime, get ready forthe long awaited revision of Bandit’sBabylon Campaign System comingfall of 2005.

* * *

CampaignsCampaigns


IntroductionThis is an introduction to the

Victory by Any Means (VBAM)Campaign system, as described inthe VBAM Campaign Guide.

VBAM’s EvolutionThe Victory by Any Means

Campaign Guide began its life as afreelance production for Agents ofGaming. Under the nameCrossroads to Empire, the guidewas to have been released as ageneric game system in support ofthe Babylon 5 licensed products thatwere Agents of Gaming’s hallmark.Originally written by Jay Waschakand Byron Sinor, Crossroads toEmpire was on track for release untilAgents of Gaming announced thatthey were closing their doors.

With Agents of Gaming nowout of the picture, the campaignsystem’s developers adopted a new

name – Victory by Any Means – andbegan a rewrite of the rules toremove overt references to theBabylon 5 universe and gamesystems. The guide would remain inproduction until late July of 2004, atwhich point the completed VBAMCampaign Guide was released tothe public.

Since that time, the VBAMCampaign Guide has undergoneone revision and VBAM Games hasseen the release of two separatesource books for the system.

System OverviewThe VBAM campaign

system is built to be a generic,modular campaign solution. Whatdoes this mean to the player? Itmeans that nearly any setting canbe adapted to the campaign rules(some requiring more work thanothers), and that you can ignore orreplace any section of the rules thatyou don’t particularly like. Hate theIntel rules? Ignore them, or replacethem with an alternative system ofyour choosing! It is that versatilityand flexibility that is VBAM’ssignature design characteristic. By

An Introduction to theVBAM Campaign System

By Tyrel Lohr

CampaignsCampaigns


not catering to a specific setting, therules are highly adaptable.

However, there is adownside to this flexibility. Thoselooking for the extreme detail orflavor associated with a book writtenfor one specific sci-fi setting will likelyfeel that VBAM is fairly bland, andthat is an honest assessment. TheVBAM campaign system does relyon either the source material booksor the players (and campaignmoderator, or CM) to add thenecessary flavor and flair to eachparticular setting.

The following is an overviewof the major features andfunctionality found in the core VBAMCampaign Guide:

MovementBy default, VBAM uses a

nodal, jump lane based movementsystem where movement speed isdetermined by lane quality. The jumplane types found in VBAM should befamiliar to Babylon 5 Wars players,with major, minor, and restrictedlanes being present in the core rules(The Escalation Wars: EmpireRising book adds two addition jumplane types: disabled andunimportant).

The use of jump lanes tocontrol movement between starsystems creates artificial terrain onthe map, creating a situation wheresome systems are more strategicallylocated than others. This in turnforces players to carefully decidewhat systems to fortify as chokepoints in anticipation of imminentinvasion.

The movement system inVBAM could be adapted to work witha hex map, but no rules are includedin the Campaign Guide for thiseventuality.

Star SystemsVBAM ignores individual

planets in a system and insteadapplies a uniform set of statistics toeach star system which abstractlyrepresent the quality or worth ofindividual system features. Thesestatistics include Census, Morale,RAW, Productivity, and CarryingCapacity. All of these stats interactto determine how many economicpoints each system creates, and inturn how many economic points anempire earns each turn.

Diplomacy andIntelligence

The diplomacy and Intelrules are closely linked in VBAM andare in fact detailed in the samesection of the book. Diplomacybetween powers is fairlystraightforward, with a list of treatiesthat can be signed (or broken!) anddetails on how to handle themechanics of diplomacy in thecampaign.

Intel is handled in an abstractmanner in VBAM. The basic unit ofIntel is the Intel point, which can beused either offensively (via theMilitary Intel Pool) or be stationed inindividual star systems, where theyprovide Defensive Intel to thosesystems. Offensive Intel missionsare performed by applying availableIntel points to missions in one ofthree categories.

Campaign SpaceCombat Resolution(CSCR) System

One of VBAM’s major sellingpoints is the integrated CSCR, whichallows players to resolve battlesranging from small skirmishes tomassive fleet actions. Anyone that

has run a campaign in the past willattest that the stress of fighting outall of the campaign’s battles using atactical system can be difficult, if notimpossible. Personally, I have seenmany campaigns fizzle out justbecause it took too long to playthrough all of the combat encountersthat would take place in a singlecampaign turn.

The CSCR requires that allunits have a set of combat statisticsapplied to them, but this can be donefairly easily. Depending on the typeof unit, each craft is given a DefenseValue, Anti-Ship and Anti-Fighterfactors, Command Rating,Command Cost, Basing Capacity,and any additional special abilities,as appropriate. After a few battlesplayers will get an idea for how thestatistics interact, and there areenough examples available to helpguide new source designers converttheir units.

CSCR battles can take fromlittle as 5 minutes to as many as 30minutes to resolve, depending onthe number of units in the battle. Allfleets are assembled intosquadrons, using the CommandRating and Command Cost of unitsto determine what squadroncombinations are possible. Anaverage battle in the CSCR caninclude upwards to 50 ships or flightsper side.

Ground CombatAfter the war in space is

finished, the war on the groundbegins. VBAM includes a simpleground combat system that can beused to resolve ground combatactions. Each ground unit hasseveral stats that decide howeffective they are in combat.

As with the space combatportion of VBAM, the integratedground combat system can be

CampaignsCampaigns


replaced by your favorite tactical orstrategic ground combat system! InBabylon 5 terms, you could setthings up so that all ground combatwould be resolved using theGROPOS system, with each groundunit translating into one or moreGROPOS unit types.

Future PlansCurrently VBAM stands as a

solid strategic campaign systemgeared primarily towards militarycampaigns. The next month will seethe release of two new products: theCampaign Moderator’s Companion,that will introduce over one-hundredpages of additional, advanced rules– including rules for detailed starsystems, exploration, non-playerentities, and more – and TheMenagerie, which will include a setof custom race design rules andsample races created using thoserules. Samples of some of theseupcoming rules can be found at theVBAM YahooGroup (http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/VBAM/).

VBAM Games, including the Victory byAny Means Campaign Guide, areavailable in electronic format fromRPGNow and The Digitial Bookbooth.Print versions of the book can be foundat RPGNow, RPGMall, Lulu, or yourlocal gaming store.

* * *

IntroductionSo you’re going to start a

campaign… well, what are you goingto use to do the mapping? Thequestion has plagued game mastersfor countless millennia (or at least areally long time). This article is byno means a road map to success,but it will give you a run down ofsome of the more popular campaignmapping options.

Paper and PencilThe first option, and the least

expensive, is to create all of yourmaps using simple paper and pencil.Depending on the size of your mapyou might be better off upgrading tosome tag board or a sheet of paperfrom one of those large desk writing

pads, but it is fairly simple to usepaper and pencil to create your map.

The primary drawback ofusing a physical medium for yourcampaign map is maintenance.Electronic copies allow quickerrearrangement of items on the map,not to mention greater uniformity ofsymbols and markings. An electronicmap is also far less likely to be eatenby a visiting animal or small child.

A good rule of thumb is thatpaper and pencil will work fine forsmaller campaigns or those that willrequire minimal changes to thecampaign map over the course ofthe campaign. If you expect thingsto have to be moved aroundperiodically, or if you will not bemeeting in person with the otherplayers, it is best to consider anelectronic option.

Raster GraphicsPrograms

What is a raster graphicsprogram? It is program like

Creating aCampaign MapA Word or Two

About Campaign MapsBy Tyrel Lohr

CampaignsCampaigns


Microsoft Paint where you arecreating everything using raster(bitmap) graphics, as opposed tovector graphics. Raster graphics canbe used to make some fairlybreathtaking campaign maps, butmost people aren’t going to take thetimes to do that.

Unless your paint programhas the capability to use layers, it isa good bet that your map is going tohave the same problem there as itdid when it was graphite smearedon a piece of dead tree. The mapmight look good, but makingchanges will probably be a problem.

Again, for simple maps orones that you are planning to make‘pretty,’ raster graphics programs willwork fine; otherwise, you may wantto look for another option.

Vector DrawingPrograms

Vector graphics differ fromraster graphics in that they aremathematically defined, rather thanpurely by the location of coloredpixels. Vector graphics can bescaled up and down without any lossin quality or form, which cannot besaid for the raster maps you createin a traditional graphics program.Illustrator is a vector-based drawingprogram.

Vector-based drawingprograms are the best solution forhand-created maps. You can easilymove objects around withoutinterfering with other objects in thedocument, which makesrepositioning map objects extremelysimple. Add to that the use of layersand you can create fairly complexmaps quickly and have them beeminently maintainable (the majorissue when doing maps).

However, most people do nothave direct access to a vector

drawing program. Their machinescome with Paint, but they don’t comewith something like Illustrator.Microsoft Draw, a component of thevarious Office suites, can be usedin a pinch to create a map, but thetool is crude. For those desiring theuse of a vector-based program tocreate their map, the best bet is togo out and look for either opensource or cheap vector drawingprograms and see if you can find onethat you like.

Computerized MappingUtilities

Not particularly artistic, ordon’t want the hassle of working ina graphic program? There areseveral mapping utilities available onthe Internet for those looking for aquick solution to their mappingdifficulties.

One free mapping utility thatmight be interest to the sci-fiaudience is a program called Full ofStars (http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/7472/ifosweb/index.htm). The developer of thisprogram is long gone, but theprogram is still a fairly decentmapping utility for those looking fora free star mapping program.

Another, commercialmapping solution is Astrosynthesisby NBOS Software (http://www.nbos.com/products/astro/astro.htm). This cost of this utility isprobably beyond what most gamemasters will want to pay ($39.95),but it is a professionally designedprogram and is quite attractive. It isnot as approachable as Full of Stars,but has much greater functionality.

Use an Existing MapWhy create a new map when

an old one will do? It is fairly easy tofind star maps on the Internet. Just

do a search in Google with the word‘map’ and your favorite sci-fi setting.Better yet, do that same search butas a Google image search. Severalusable, pre-generated maps aresure to come up in the searchresults. It might take a little bit ofextra work to prepare these mapsfor use in your campaign, but it stillsaves you the time of having tocreate a starmap completely fromscratch.

Similarly, if you previouslypurchased a map book for yoursetting it just as easy to scan one ormore maps from the book and thenwork forward from there.

ConclusionThere are multiple ways you

can go about creating maps for yourcampaign. It doesn’t have to be hard,though it is always going to requirean investment in time to get a mapready for play.

As a note to campaign mapcreators who have Illustrator (or thecapacity to open Illustrator-createdPDFs in your vector drawingprogram of choice), you can openthe And the Sky Full of Starscampaign map that was includedwith this issue’s attachments anduse it as a template to create yourown campaign map!

Happy mapping!

* * *

CampaignsCampaigns


IntroductionVBAM is truly an awesome

game and the creative team behindit continually comes up with newways to allow us to play our favoriteraces from science fiction mediasources. The company has posteda Custom Race Design contest inthe VBAM yahoo group. Using thatdocument and some of Tyrel’sinfinite wisdom, I converted all theAgents of Gaming publishedBabylon 5 Wars races!

Material from the VBAMCustom Race Design document hasbeen reprinted in each race for easeof reference. All of the Babylon 5races were built on the principal ofcreating the closet match of eachrace as presented in the series orBabylon 5 Wars material. Several ofthe races start with more than thestandard point allocations. The mostnoticeable are the ancients and themajor powers.

The YoungerRacesAbbai MatriarchyAquatic: The Abbai consider allsystems of Colony or Major Colonyimportance to have 25% greaterCarrying Capacity (rounding up) thannormal. However, all Unimportantsystems are considered to have onlyhalf their normal Capacity (roundingdown) for purposes of Aquaticcolonization

Gifted Negotiators: Each turn theAbbai gain four free Intel points thatcan only be spent on diplomaticmissions each turn. These free Intelpoints cost nothing to maintain butmust only be used on diplomaticmissions, such as breaking treatiesor declaring hostilities or war.

Meritocracy Government (SocialFocus): The Abbai can maintain 15Intel points per 1 economic point ofmaintenance. Additionally, the costof training for administrators anddiplomats are decreased to 2/3 ofnormal (round down).

Pacifistic: The Abbai receive a -20% penalty to all attempts todeclare hostilities or war againstanother power. Unlike normalmodifiers, this penalty is cumulativeeven with other non-cumulativemodifiers. Additionally, if they areoffered an Armistice, there is alwaysa 15% chance that the Abbai willaccept the Armistice even if theplayer declines. The Abbai may notspend more than 50% of theirincome on military units or Intel.

Unprofessional Armies: The Abbaifind personal combat undesirableand typically hires ground troops.The maintenance costs of groundunits fielded by the Abbai areincreased by 1 for each level of thistrait. For example, a ground unit witha normal maintenance cost of 1/3would be increased to 2/3 with thistrait. If other powers are allowed topurchase units belonging to thispower, they likewise must pay tomaintain them at this higher rate.

Weak Military: Elite fleet and flightofficers or crew grade levels cost theAbbai 50% more experience pointsto purchase and they receive a 5%increase to their total maintenancecost (round up).

Babylon 5 Racesfor VBAM Campaigns

By M. Sean Martinez

Babylon 5 Custom Racesfor the Victory by Any Means Campaign System

CampaignsCampaigns


Alacan RepublicBureaucratic Diplomacy: Alacanmay never accept a treaty on theturn that it is offered. Any time thatthey are offered a treaty, it will takethem D6 turns from the turn that thetreaty is offered before it can besigned or rejected. Declarations ofhostilities/war and Co-BelligerencyTreaties remain unaffected by thistrait.

Representative Government(Restricted): The Alacan Republicis ruled by elected officials. When thegame begins the government shouldchoose one of the available sub-types; Scientific Social or Trade.Once per twelve turns thegovernment can attempt to changeits sub-type without the necessity ofinitiating a Political Reform by rolling2D6. On a result of ‘7’ or greater, thechange is successful and the playermay select which sub-type his or hergovernment should adopt.

Scientific focus reduces techadvancement requirement to only45% of its total domestic product.

Social Focus allows Alacans tomaintain 15 Intel points per 1economic point of maintenance.

Trade focus grants a 15% bonusto their trade income each turn(round up).

Unfortunately this type ofgovernment does have its limits. TheAlacan cannot spend more than 50%of their per-turn system income onmilitary units or Intel. Unlike otherrepresentative governments theAlacans can never choose a Militaryfocus.

Unremarkable Military: Thereluctance of Alacan Republic tocreate a strong military has left ithighly vulnerable. They may notpurchase any new military EliteOfficers (Fleet, Flight, Ground), normay they increase their crew or armygrade levels above Regular.

BalosianUnderdwellersTribal Government (Confederate):When the game begins theBalosians should choose one of theavailable sub-types. Once per twelveturns they can attempt to change itssub-type without the necessity ofinitiating a Political Reform. Thispotential sub-type modificationattempt represents a change inleadership. If the player opts to doso, a sub-type change is attemptedon a roll of 2D6. On a result of ‘6’ orgreater, the change is successfuland the player may select which sub-type his or her government shouldadopt. In some circumstances, theCM may rule that unpopulardecisions or low morale my force achange in sub-type.

Military Focus reduces the totalmaintenance cost by 10% (rounddown). Elite fleet, flight, andground officers or crew gradelevels cost 25% less experiencepoints to purchase (round up).

Scientific Focus reduces theBalosian’s tech advancementrequirement to only 40% of its totaldomestic product.

Social Focus allows the Balosian’sto maintain 20% more Intel pointsper 1 economic point of

maintenance (round down). Underthe standard VBAM Intelmaintenance costs, this is a rateof 1 per 12 (instead of 1 per 10).Additionally, they are more likelyto produce expert administratorsor diplomats. The cost of trainingfor administrators and diplomatsis decreased to 2/3 of normal(round down).

Trade Focus adds a 10% bonusto their trade income each turn(round up).

All Balosian perform Morale checksat a –2 penalty to the die roll. Divisivepolitical, economic, and socialpolicies lead to infighting betweentribes. Additionally, the difficulty of allEspionage Intel missions launchedagainst the Balosians is reduced by1 (to a minimum of 1).

Any time the Balosians attempts tochange its government sub-type, aspecial Morale check is made foreach of its worlds. The targetnumber is equal to the system’sCensus divided by 4, rounding up. Ifthe system’s die roll is equal to orless than the target number, then theworld has a rival tribe and the Moraleat the planet is reduced by 1.

Subterranean: The Balosians liveunderground, forced there by anasteroid hitting their homeworld.Defending troops receive a +2 dug-in bonus, instead of the typical +1bonus, and opponents halve theirbombardment point total whenattacking planets owned by theBalosians.

CampaignsCampaigns


BrakiriSyndicracyCultural Adopters: The Brakiripeople are easily smitten with earlyother cultures, to the point ofemulation. All attempts to break atreaty or declare hostilities/waragainst the Brakiri are made at a –10% penalty.

Expert Scientists: The Brakirireceive a –5% bonus to the basetech investment requirement.

Meritocracy Government (TradeFocus): The Brakiri are ruled by thecorporations and gain a 20% bonusto their trade income each turn.

Meritocracy Government(Negative Social): The Brakiri areso busy spying on each other thatthey can only 5 Intel points per 1economic point of maintenance.Expert administrators or diplomatscost 50% more experience points topurchase

Rival Corporations: Thecompetitive nature of the majorcorporations causes the Brakiri tosuffer a –1 penalty to all Moralechecks. In cases of rebellion, theCensus of Brakiri colonies receive a+1 bonus to their Rebellion rolls.

CascorCommonwealthFast Population Growth: Whenperforming Population Increases,each system’s Census counts asdouble its listed value for purposeof the population growth roll.

Gifted Explorers: Naturally curious,the Cascor love navigating thecosmos. All of the Cascor’s scoutingforces receive a +2 bonus theirexploration attempts.

Honor: The Cascor are anhonourable people. All treatybonuses and penalties are doubled,except for those provided by Intel.In general, this means that they willhave a hard time breaking a treatyunless given reason to, and it willalso be more likely to honor treatiesit has signed with other powers.

Representative Government: TheCascor Commonwealth is ruled byelected officials. When the gamebegins the government shouldchoose one of the available sub-types; Military, Scientific Social orTrade. Once per twelve turns thegovernment can attempt to changeits sub-type without the necessity ofinitiating a Political Reform by rolling2D6. On a result of ‘7’ or greater, thechange is successful and the playermay select which sub-type his or hergovernment should adopt.

Military focus reduces the totalmaintenance cost by 5% (rounddown).


Social Focus allows the CascorCommonwealth to maintain 15Intel points per 1 economic pointof maintenance.


Unfortunately this type ofgovernment does have its limits. The

Cascor cannot spend more than50% of their per-turn system incomeon military units or Intel.

Unprofessional Armies: TheCascor field less ground forces thanother empires. The maintenancecosts of ground units fielded by theCascor are increased by 2. Forexample, a ground unit with a normalmaintenance cost of 1/3 would beincreased to 3/3 with this trait. Ifother powers are allowed topurchase units belonging to thispower, they likewise must pay tomaintain them at this higher rate.

CentauriRepublicAristocratic Government(Military): When breaking a treatyor declaring hostilities or war, theCentauri Republic increases itschance of success by 25%. Inaddition, they have their totalmaintenance cost reduced by 10%(round down). The effects ofnegative Morale results are doubled.

CampaignsCampaigns


This Morale penalty also applies tothe effects of Insurgency Intelmission

Corrupt: The Centauri Republic iswrought with corruption and has itstotal income each turn reduced by15% (round down).

Insurgency Experts: The Centaurihave become experts at puttingdown rebellions and otherwiseputting a pro-empire spin on events.All Insurgency/Counter-Insurgencymissions launched by the CentauriRepublic receive a +1 Intel pointbonus. This bonus is per mission,not per system participating in theInsurgency/Counter-Insurgencymission.

Large Population: The CentauriRepublic is vast and starts with +2Census.

Rival Houses: The noble houses ofthe Centauri Republic constantlywrestle with each other. As a resultthe empire receives a –1 penalty toall Morale checks. In cases ofrebellion, the Census of CentauriColonies receives a +1 bonus to theirRebellion rolls.

Sworn Enemies: The CentauriRepublic has not forgotten their longhistory of conflict with the Narn. Theygain an additional +20% bonus to allattempts to break treaties with ordeclare hostilities/war against them.Additionally, any treaty offered by theNarn has a chance of failure equalto 25%.

CorillaniTheocracyAutocratic Government(Religious): The CorillaniTheocracy is lead by a charismaticleader of the church. When breakinga treaty or declaring hostilities or war,the Corillani increases its chance ofsuccess by 50%. Increase the costof Intel missions run against themincreased by 1.

The Corillani Theocracy’stech requirement for advancementis 60% of total domestic productrather than 50%. Trade income isreduced by 20% (round down).Additionally, the effects of negativeMorale results are doubled.

Spiritual: The Corillani are deeplyspiritual and as a result adds +1 toall Morale check rolls and the effectsof all Morale checks are doubled.

Tense Alliance: The CorillaniTheocracy is composed of twoprimary factions, one of which wasa lost colony. All Morale penalties aredoubled and all Insurgency missionslaunched against the power have aDifficulty level of 1. In addition,Political Reforms take six turnslonger than normal to perform.

DescariCommitteesAggressive: Descari ground unitsreceived a +1 Attack bonus.

Committees: The original rulingbody was vaporized by the Dilgar,leaving only small fringe groups toassume the power vacuum. Thefocus has been on rebuilding the

military and as a result The Descariare prone to produce elite officers.The Descari may purchase elite fleetand flight officer or crew grade levelsat 75% of the normal experiencecost (rounding up).

Unfortunately the Descaricommittees are not without itsproblems. They are particularlysubject to risks of graft andcorruption and they suffer a -10%penalty to their calculated totaldomestic product. They also tendtowards infighting and divisivebarriers between the committees, sotheir systems perform all Moralechecks at a –2 penalty to the die roll.To make matters worse, when aDescari system goes into rebellion,all of the power’s military units in thesystem have a +10% chance perCensus of joining the rebellion.Finally, the difficulty for all EspionageIntel missions against the Descari is1 less than normal (a minimum of1).

Fast Gestation: The Descari havea short gestation. Roll for PopulationIncreases every 6 turns instead ofevery 12.

Xenophobic: After many differentoccupations, the Descari havebecome Xenophobic and have ahard time dealing with outsiders.They are naturally fearful of thealiens they meet. The Xenophobictrait negates all special diplomaticabilities held by opposing races.Thus, when dealing with Xenophobicpowers, the opposing power ’sdiplomatic modifiers are ignored.Additionally, the Descari may onlyattempt to sign one treaty with eachopposing power per turn. Theyreceive a +20% bonus whenbreaking treaties.

Xenophobic powers must rollfor each attempt to sign a new, non-Armistice treaty using a percentile

CampaignsCampaigns


die on the Xenophobic TreatyAcceptance Chart. Refer to theVBAM Custom Race Design rulesfor the acceptance chances by treatytype. If the treaty attempt fails, thenthe treaty is not signed. The Descarican accept Armistice treaties withoutrolling for the attempt.

Dilgar ImperiumAggressive: Dilgar ground unitsreceived a +1 Attack bonus in battle.

Aristocratic Government: TheDilgar Imperium was originally anaristocracy. The version of theirgovernment present here reflectsthe change towards a more militaryfocused empire. When breaking atreaty, the Dilgar increases itschance of success by 25%. Also theyhave their total maintenance costreduced by 10% (round down).Trade income is reduced by 10%(round down).

In addition, the effects ofnegative Morale results are doubled.For example, if a system were cutof from the homeworld it would haveits Morale reduced by 2 instead of1. This Morale penalty also appliesto the effects of Insurgency Intelmission.

Slave Labor: The Dilgar employsslave labor for building of their warmachine. All systems and shipyardsreceive a +10% constructioncapacity bonus.

Master Tacticians (Cunning) TheDilgar is renowned for the tacticalcapability of its commanders. Theyreceive a +2 bonus to all surpriserolls in combat.

Master Tacticians (Organization):The Dilgar may place all of the

members of a single non-flagsquadron in level 1 formation bonusat no cost. The fleet retains its abilityto put one ship in the squadron in aformation bonus one level higher.

Warmonger: The Dilgar areextremely warlike and covet theplanets of their neighbors. Theyreceive a +20% bonus to all attemptsto declare hostilities or war againstanother power. Unlike normalmodifiers, this bonus is cumulativeeven with other non-cumulativemodifiers. If the Dilgar is ever offeredan Armistice, there is always a 15%chance that they will refuse thearmistice even if the controllingplayer wants to accept the offer.

We’re Doomed: The DilgarImperium is living on borrowed timeas its sun will go super nova anddestroy the homeworld. The CM canjust pick a turn this happens andeverything in the system is lost.Optionally the CM can make aspecial 2D6 roll at the end of every12 turns. If the dice come up with aresult of “2” the sun will go novawithin the next year. Another 6D6 isrolled and the result is secretlyrecorded and used as the fateful turnthat the sun explodes. A kind CMmight give the Dilgar a warning withsome unusual solar activity.

Drazi FreeholdMeritocracy Government(Military): The Drazi leaders arechosen through green and purplecombat! They may purchase elitefleet and flight officer or crew gradelevels at 2/3 the normal experiencecost (rounding up). The Drazi alsoreduces their total maintenance costby 5% (round down).

Meritocracy Government(Negative Scientific): The Drazi arenot known for their technologicaladvancements. Drazi techadvancement cost is equal to 60%of its total domestic product.

Spiritual: Drazi culture waschanged by the coming of Droshallaand as a result adds +1 to all Moralecheck rolls and the effects of allMorale checks are doubled.

Warmonger: The Drazi areextremely combative! They receivea +20% bonus to all attempts todeclare hostilities or war againstanother power. Unlike normalmodifiers, this bonus is cumulativeeven with other non-cumulativemodifiers. If the Drazi is offered anArmistice, there is always a 15%chance that the power will refuse theArmistice even if the controllingplayer accepts the offer.

Earth AllianceExpansionist: Earth Alliance has anaggressive exploration program anddesires to go where no man hasgone before! Civilian fleets (Colony,Transport, and Trade Fleets) cost10% less to build than normal.

Representative Government:Earth Alliance is ruled by an electedofficial. When the game begins thegovernment should choose one ofthe available sub-types; Military,Scientific Social or Trade. Once pertwelve turns the government canattempt to change its sub-typewithout the necessity of initiating aPolitical Reform by rolling 2D6. Ona result of ‘7’ or greater, the changeis successful and the player mayselect which sub-type his or hergovernment should adopt.

CampaignsCampaigns




Social Focus allows Earth Allianceto maintain 15 Intel points per 1economic point of maintenance.


Unfortunately this type ofgovernment does have its limits.Earth Alliance cannot spend morethan 50% of their per-turn systemincome on military units or Intel.

Stalwart Defender: Whenever anEarth Alliance planet is invaded, oneMilitia per Census is automaticallyformed to fight in defense of theirhome. These Militia units are alwaysin supply, even if the system isblockaded. Each campaign turn,these Militia units will completely

regenerate so long as the StalwartDefender remains in control of theplanet. This provides a weak butconstant supply of ground units todefend the planet.

GaimIntelligenceCollective Government: TheGaim’s System Morale is alwaysequal to the number of Census inthe system. Additionally intelligencemissions run against them has theirdifficulty increased by 2.Unfortunately tech advancementrequirements are increased to 60%of the empire’s total domesticproduct. Elite officers, crew gradelevels, administrators, and diplomatsall cost twice their normal amount topurchase or train.

Elite Armies: The Gaim’s soldiershave been hardened by centuries offighting and the best availablegenetic manipulation. All new groundunits begin with an army grade leveltwo levels higher than normal.During peacetime this means that allnewly purchased ground units beginwith an army grade level of Eliteinstead of Regular.

N’chak’fah Dependant: The Gaimcould not remove their dependenceon their native atmosphere andenvironment, and must travel aboutin bulky environment suits. Moralechecks at systems that are cut offfrom the homeworld or otherwiseblockaded are made at a –2 penaltyto the roll. Systems under a blockadeproduce only 50% of their normalsystem output until the blockade isbroken. The population is unable towork until they can be given access

to more of the atmosphere of theirhomeworld.

Hivemind: The Gaim are a hivemind society and is limited only to acollective government. However, theselfless labor of the workersincreases the construction capacityof all worlds controlled by the Gaimby 10% (round down).

Logistical Experts: The Gaim cango into a state of hibernation andkeep their ships in supply forextended periods of time. All unitsignore their first out of supply level(OOSL)

Scavenger: The Gaim are efficientat cannibalizing wrecked starshipsand receives +25% more economicpoints from scrapping units thannormal.

Grome AutocracyAutocratic Government: TheMargus rules for life. When breakinga treaty or declaring hostilities or war,the Grome increases its chance ofsuccess by 50%. The governmentalso can maintain 15 Intel points per1 economic point of maintenance.Also, the difficulty for all EspionageIntel missions launched by the poweris reduced by 1 (to a minimum of 1).

The Grome’s Techrequirement for advancement is60% of total domestic product ratherthan 50%. Trade income is reducedby 20% (round down). Additionally,the effects of negative Morale resultsare doubled.

Proud People: The Grome are aproud and self reliant people. Assuch they start the game with twoseparate +1 bonuses to Morale.

CampaignsCampaigns


These bonuses must be placed ondifferent colonies.

Hurr Republic

Content Population: The Hurr arenormally content and start the gamewith three separate +1 bonuses toMorale.

Corrupt: Unknown to the population,the Hurr Republic is highly corruptand has its total income each turnreduced by 10% (round down).

Logistical Experts: Hurrquartermasters have an uncannyability to keep their ships in supplyfor extended periods of time. All unitsignore their first out of supply level(OOSL)

Representative Government: TheHurr Republic is ruled by electedofficials. When the game begins thegovernment should choose one ofthe available sub-types; Military,Scientific Social or Trade. Once pertwelve turns the government canattempt to change its sub-typewithout the necessity of initiating aPolitical Reform by rolling 2D6. Ona result of ‘7’ or greater, the changeis successful and the player mayselect which sub-type his or hergovernment should adopt.



Social Focus allows the HurrRepublic to maintain 15 Intelpoints per 1 economic point ofmaintenance.


Unfortunately this type ofgovernment does have its limits. TheHurr cannot spend more than 50%of their per-turn system income onmilitary units or Intel.

HyachGerontocracyHyach Specialists: Some Hyachofficers receive special training thatgreatly benefits the fleet. Instead ofcreating a lot of rules to cover all thespecific specialists, treat them asElite Crew. All new non-flight unitsbegin with a crew grade level twolevels higher than normal. Duringpeacetime this means that all newships and bases begin with a crewgrade level of Elite instead ofRegular.

Meritocracy Government(Scientific): The Hyach is governedby a body of representatives whoearn their place due to their age.They have their tech advancementrequirement reduced to 40% of theirtotal domestic product.

Meritocracy Government(Religious): The Hyach double theeffects of all Morale penalties.

Slow Population Growth: TheHyach is a race in decline. Whenperforming Population Increases,each system’s Census counts ashalf its listed value (round up) forpurpose of the population growthroll.

Ipsha BaroniesFast Gestation: The Ipsha have ashort gestation. Roll for PopulationIncreases every 6 turns instead ofevery 12.

Ihsha Diplomats: The Ihsha are themost diplomatically adept IpshaBarony and the one mostencountered by other races. Eachturn the Ipsha gain two free Intelpoints that can only be spent ondiplomatic missions each turn.These free Intel points cost nothingto maintain but must only be usedon diplomatic missions, such asbreaking treaties or declaringhostilities or war.

Inferior Military Instruction: Rankwithin the Ipsha military isdetermined by social class and oftenpromotes incapable commanders toleadership positions. The experiencecost to purchase or upgrade militaryElite Officers (Fleet, Flight, orGround), upgrade crew grade levels,or upgrade army grade levels isincreased by 10% (round up).

Ipsha Baronies (Confederate):The Ipsha Baronies are composedof several large independent states.When the game begins thegovernment should choose one ofthe available sub-types. Once pertwelve turns the government canattempt to change its sub-typewithout the necessity of initiating aPolitical Reform. This potential sub-type modification attempt representsa change in elected leadership. If theplayer opts to do so, a sub-typechange is attempted on a roll of 2D6.On a result of ‘6’ or greater, thechange is successful and the playermay select which sub-type his or hergovernment should adopt. In some

CampaignsCampaigns


circumstances, the CM may rule thatunpopular decisions or low moralemy force a change in sub-type.

Military Focus reduces the totalmaintenance cost by 10% (rounddown). Elite fleet, flight, andground officers or crew gradelevels cost 25% less experiencepoints to purchase (round up).

Scientific Focus reduces theIpsha’s tech advancementrequirement to only 40% of its totaldomestic product.

Social Focus allows the Ipsha’s tomaintain 20% more Intel pointsper 1 economic point ofmaintenance (round down). Underthe standard VBAM Intelmaintenance costs, this is a rateof 1 per 12 (instead of 1 per 10).Additionally, they are more likelyto produce expert administratorsor diplomats. The cost of trainingfor administrators and diplomatsis decreased to 2/3 of normal(round down).

Trade Focus adds a 10% bonusto their trade income each turn(round up).

The Ipsha Baronies aresubject to graft and corruption. As aresult, their total domestic productis reduced by 10% (round down). Allsystems perform Morale checks ata –2 penalty to the die roll. Divisivepolitical, economic, and socialpolicies lead to infighting betweentribes. Additionally, the difficulty of allEspionage Intel missions launchedagainst the Ipsha is reduced by 1 (toa minimum of 1).

Any time the Ipsha attemptto change its government sub-type,a special Morale check is made foreach of its worlds. The targetnumber is equal to the system’s

Census divided by 4, rounding up. Ifthe system’s die roll is equal to orless than the target number, then theruling Barony has openlydisagreeable and the Morale at theplanet is reduced by 1. If using the9.1 Rebellion rules, any system witha Morale value of 0 will temporallybreak from the empire with a 10%increased chance to join therebellion.

Kor-LyanKingdomsAggressive: Kor-Lyan ground unitsreceived a +1 Attack bonus in battle.

Feudalistic Government(Confederate): The Kor-Lyan arecomposed of hundreds of smalldifferent kingdoms on theirhomeworld alone. See the entry on“Ipsha Baronies for the full detailson this particular government type.

Mineral Rich: The Kor-Lyanhomeworld is extremely wealthy andgains a +2 bonus to RAW.

Poor Tacticians – Command: Ittakes twice as long for Kor-Lyancommand ships to reorganize andassume a leadership position.

Symbiotic Relationship: The Kor-Lyans are composed of two differentspecies. Any modifiers applying tothe effects of the destruction offriendly Census are doubled. Thiscan include, but is not limited to,diplomatic and Morale modifiers.

Llort ScavengersAnarchical Government: The Llortexist in a constant state of flux where

power can change hands every fewdays. Naturally this does not grantany positive bonuses to the empire.The Llort’s total maintenance costsare increased by 15% (round up). Inaddition they can only maintain 5Intel points per 1 economic point ofmaintenance. Espionage, Sabotage,and Insurgency Intel missionsperformed on the Llort have theirdifficulty reduced by 2 (minimumdifficulty 1). Tech investmentrequirements are 100% of the Llort’stotal domestic product. Tradeincome is reduced by 50% (rounddown). Worse of all the effects of allMorale penalties are doubled.

Erratic: Every turn, the Llort rollsD10 for each of its relationships withforeign powers that it does notalready have a Mutual Defense Pactor Alliance with. On a result of ‘9’ orgreater, the Llort will attempt to breakits highest level treaty with thetargeted power, with +20% bonus tothe attempt.

Expert Boarding Parties: The Llortare masters at “finding” starshipsand all Direct Assault units receivea +1 attrition damage bonus to theirDirect Assault ability in combat.

Subterranean: The Llort liveunderground. Defending troopsreceive a +2 dug-in bonus, insteadof the typical +1 bonus, andopponents halve their bombardmentpoint total when attacking Llortplanets

Lumati EmpireClosed Society: The Lumatisuperiority does not allow muchinteraction with other species. AllIntel missions performed upon aClosed Society by opposing

CampaignsCampaigns


Meritocracy Government(Scientific): The Lumati obsessedwith technological superiority. Theyhave their tech advancementrequirement reduced to 40% of theirtotal domestic product.

Meritocracy Government(Negative Social): The divisionbetween the two classes of Lumatihas caused strife their society.Upward mobility between theclasses is impossible. The Lumatican only 5 Intel points per 1economic point of maintenance.Expert administrators or diplomatscost 50% more experience points topurchase

Repulsive: The Lumati conclude allnegotiations with sex! This hascaused many species to not signtreaties. Any treaty attempt involvingthem has a 10% chance of failure.This is regardless of whether or notthe treaty was already accepted.Opposing powers receive a +10%bonus to breaking treaties ordeclaring hostilities/war against theLumati.

Superiority Complex: The Lumatiisolate themselves from those racesthat they consider “inferior.”Inferiority of the candidate race islargely a decision based on the baseeconomic and military value of therace as well as their sense of socialorder. The CM makes a special D10roll every 3 turns to determine ifother powers are suitably advancedenough to allow contact. A roll of ‘10’indicates that they will now allowdealings with the opposing power.

MarkabTheocracyFanatical: On any turn that MarkabTheocracy is at war they may declarethat they are whipping its populationinto a fervor. On the following turnthey receive a +10% bonus toconstruction capacity and areimmune to negative Morale effects.This fervor lasts for a total of 4d6turns. During the fervor the Markabcannot form new treaties and cannotbreak any treaties unless attackedby another power, in which case alltreaties with that power areautomatically broken.

Meritocracy Government(Religious): The Markab Theocracyis less likely to produce elite officers.Elite fleet and flight officers or crewgrade levels cost the empire 50%more experience points to purchase.They also receive a 5% increase totheir total maintenance cost (roundup).

Moral: The Markab live by a strictmoral code. All treaty bonuses andpenalties are doubled, except forthose provided by Intel. In general,this means that they will have a hardtime breaking a treaty unless givenreason to, and it will also be morelikely to honor treaties it has signedwith other powers.

Spiritual: The Markab adds +1 toall Morale check rolls and the effectsof all Morale checks are doubled. Forexample, if Morale was to increaseby 1 it instead increases by 2. Thereverse is true as well, with a Moraledecrease of 1 becoming adecreasing of 2.

MinbariFederationClosed Society: The Minbari aresomewhat secretive. All Intelmissions performed upon them byopposing powers have their difficultyincreased by 1.

Efficient Industry: The workercaste is extremely dedicated tobuilding and producing goods at ahigh rate. All systems and shipyardsreceive a +20% constructioncapacity bonus.

Fanatical: On any turn, the Minbarimay declare that it is whipping itspopulation into a fervor. On thefollowing turn they receive a +5%bonus to planetary income and isimmune to negative Morale effects.This fervor lasts for a total of 2d6turns. During the fervor the Minbaricannot form new treaties and cannotbreak any treaties unless attackedby another power, in which case alltreaties with that power areautomatically broken.

CampaignsCampaigns


Honorable: The Minbari will not lifeand maintain a high regard for familyhonor. All treaty bonuses andpenalties are doubled, except forthose provided by Intel. In general,this means that they will have a hardtime breaking a treaty unless givenreason to, and it will also be morelikely to honor treaties it has signedwith other powers.

Rival Castes: The warrior caste hasheld the religious caste in contemptever since the order to surrender atthe Battle of Line was given. As aresult the empire receives a –1penalty to all Morale checks. Incases of rebellion, the Census ofCentauri Colonies receives a +1bonus to their Rebellion rolls.

The Grey Council: The MinbariFederation is ruled by an electedgroup of nine called the GreyCouncil. The council is made up of 3from each caste; Worker, Religiousand Warrior. When the game beginsthe council is automatically set to aMilitary focus. Once per twelve turnsthe council can attempt to changeits sub-type without the necessity ofinitiating a Political Reform by rolling2D6. On a result of ‘7’ or greater, thechange is successful and the playermay select which sub-type his or hergovernment should adopt.





The Minbari cannot spendmore than 50% of their per-turnsystem income on military units orIntel.

Mitoc DemocracyBureaucratic Diplomacy: Mitocmay never accept a treaty on theturn that it is offered. Any time thatthey are offered a treaty, it will takethem D6 turns from the turn that thetreaty is offered before it can besigned or rejected. Declarations ofhostilities/war and Co-BelligerencyTreaties remain unaffected by thistrait.

Representative Government: TheMitoc Democracy is ruled by electedofficials. When the game begins thegovernment should choose one ofthe available sub-types; Military,Scientific Social or Trade. Once pertwelve turns the government canattempt to change its sub-typewithout the necessity of initiating aPolitical Reform by rolling 2D6. Ona result of ‘7’ or greater, the changeis successful and the player mayselect which sub-type his or hergovernment should adopt.





The Mitoc cannot spendmore than 50% of their per-turnsystem income on military units orIntel.

Narn RegimeAggressive: 100 years of Centaurioppression has a way of making aspecies naturally aggressivetowards the rest of the galaxy. AllNarn ground units received a +1Attack bonus.

Kha’Ri Government: The Kha’Ri isthe ruling body of the Narn Regimesimilar to an aristocracy or oligarchyand doubles as the spiritual andmilitary leaders of the Narnpopulation. Their primary concern isthe protection of Narn space whichreduces the Regime’s totalmaintenance cost by 10% (round

CampaignsCampaigns


down). Additionally, increase the costof Intel missions run against Narncolonies by 1. Unfortunately, Narntech advancement cost is equal to60% of its total domestic product.Trade income is reduced by 10%(round down).

Sacrificial Resolve: The Narnleaders can inspire a self-sacrificingzeal in their citizenry. On any turn,the Narn may declare that it is callingupon its population to makenecessary sacrifices for the greatergood of the Narn Regime. On thefollowing turn the Narn coloniesbecome immune to negative Moraleeffects. The resolve lasts for a totalof 2d6 turns. During this period anygenerated encounter against theNarn military lasts an additional 2turns and they may not retreat froman engagement.

Spiritual: The Narn adds +1 to allMorale check rolls and the effectsof all Morale checks are doubled. Forexample, if Morale was to increaseby 1 it instead increases by 2. Thereverse is true as well, with a Moraledecrease of 1 becoming adecreasing of 2.

Sworn Enemies: The Narn willnever forgive the Centauri for the100 year occupation of theirhomeworld. They gain an additional+20% bonus to all attempts to breaktreaties with or declare hostilities/waragainst them. Additionally, any treatyoffered by the Centauri Republic hasa chance of failure equal to 25%.

Warmonger: The Narn are warlikeand want what is rightfully theirs.They receive a +20% bonus to allattempts to declare hostilities or waragainst another power. Unlikenormal modifiers, this bonus iscumulative even with other non-cumulative modifiers. If the Narn is

offered an Armistice, there is alwaysa 15% chance that the power willrefuse the Armistice even if thecontrolling player accepts the offer.

Orieni ImperiumAristocratic Government(Religious): When breaking atreaty, the Orieni Imperiumincreases its chance of success by25%. Also increase the difficulty ofIntel missions run against them by1. Orieni Imperium’s trade incomeis reduced by 10% (round down).Unfortunately, the effects of negativeMorale results are doubled.

Efficient Industry: The OrieniImperium is nothing but efficient. Allsystems and shipyards receive a+10% construction capacity bonus.

Spiritual: The Orieni adds +1 to allMorale check rolls and the effectsof all Morale checks are doubled.

Pak’ma’raCollective Government: ThePak’ma’ra has no leadership andSystem Morale is always equal tothe number of Census in the system.Additionally intelligence missions runagainst them has their difficultyincreased by 2. Unfortunately techadvancement requirements areincreased to 60% of the empire’stotal domestic product. Elite officers,crew grade levels, administrators,and diplomats all cost twice theirnormal amount to purchase or train.

Passive: Even the Centauri think thePak’ma’ra are annoyingly passive.All Pak’ma’ra ground units receiveda -1 Attack penalty (minimum 0).

Poor Tacticians (Organization):The Pak’ma’ra’s have a hard timefighting as a cohesive unit. Their flagsquadrons do not receive theirstandard level one formation bonus,but their AS and AF values alwaysremain halved.

Repulsive: Any treaty attemptinvolving the Pak’ma’ra has a 10%chance of failure. This is regardlessof whether or not the treaty wasalready accepted. Opposing powersreceive a +10% bonus to breakingtreaties or declaring hostilities/waragainst the Pak’ma’ra.

Supply Master: The base supplyrange for the Pak’ma’ra is extendedby one jump to three (instead of two).

Rogolon DynastyAggressive: All Rogolon groundunits received a +1 Attack bonus.

Aristocratic Government(Military): When breaking a treaty,the Rogolon Dynasty increases itschance of success by 25%. Also theyhave their total maintenance costreduced by 10% (round down). AlsoTrade income is reduced by 10%(round down). Unfortunately, theeffects of negative Morale results aredoubled.

Professional Armies: The RogolonDynasty maintains a skilled army.The efficiency at which ground unitsare maintained is increased.Increase the maintenancedenominator of each of the empire’sground unit types by 1. For example,a ground unit with a normalmaintenance cost of 1/3 would beincreased to 1/4 with this trait.

CampaignsCampaigns


Veteran Armies: The soldiers of theRogolon Dynasty are hardenedwarriors. All new ground units beginwith an army grade level one levelhigher than normal. Duringpeacetime this means that all newlypurchased ground units begin withan army grade level of Veteraninstead of Regular.

Tal-Kona’ShaCybernetic: The people of the Tal-Kona’sha have incorporatedcybernetics into their own biology.All systems and shipyards receive a+15% construction capacity bonus.The Tal-Kona’sha has an easier timesubverting alien research, loweringthe Difficulty Level of Espionage:Tech Intel missions by 1 to 2.

Tal-Kona’sha must pay a special 1/5 Census maintenance cost eachcampaign turn. This maintenancepayment represents the cost ofupkeep for the population’scybernetic enhancements. Ifblockaded, a system must first fulfillthe Census maintenancerequirement of the system beforepaying towards other maintenanceor purchases.

Master Tacticians – Maneuvers:The living starships that defend theTal-Kona’sha territories arerelentless in their attacks. Theempire may increase or decreasescenario length by 1-6 rounds(instead of 1-4).

Veteran Crews: Tal-Kona’sha livingships learn at an exponential rateand develop tactics that will beintegrated into the next generationof ships. All new non-flight unitsbegin with a crew grade level onelevel higher than normal. During

peacetime this means that all newships and bases begin with a crewgrade level of Veteran instead ofRegular.

Xenophobic: The Tal-Kona’shahave become total recluses andrefuse to deal with outsiders. TheXenophobic trait negates all specialdiplomatic abilities held by opposingraces. Thus, when dealing withxenophobic powers, the opposingpower’s diplomatic modifiers areignored. Additionally, the Tal-Kona’sha may only attempt to signone treaty with each opposing powerper turn. They receive a +20% bonuswhen breaking treaties.

Xenophobic powers must roll foreach attempt to sign a new, non-Armistice treaty using a percentiledie on the Xenophobic TreatyAcceptance Chart. Refer to theVBAM Custom Race Design rulesfor the acceptance chances by treatytype. If the treaty attempt fails, thenthe treaty is not signed. The Tal-Kona’sha can accept Armisticetreaties without rolling for theattempt.

Torata RegencyAquatic: The Torata consider allsystems of Colony or Major Colonyimportance to have 25% greaterCarrying Capacity (rounding up) thannormal. However, all Unimportantsystems are considered to have onlyhalf their normal Capacity (roundingdown) for purposes of Aquaticcolonization

Meritocracy Government (SocialFocus): The Torata can maintain 15Intel points per 1 economic point ofmaintenance. Additionally, the costof training for administrators and

diplomats are decreased to 2/3 ofnormal (round down).

Meritocracy Government(Negative Religious): The Toratasuffer double the effects of all Moralepenalties.

Usuuth CoalitionExploited Resources: The Usuuthstart the campaign with an additional60 Economic Points.

Spiritual: The Usuuth adds +1 to allMorale check rolls and the effectsof all Morale checks are doubled.

Tense Alliance: The Coalition iscomposed of two separate factions.All Morale penalties are doubled andall Insurgency missions launchedagainst the power have a Difficultylevel of 1. In addition, PoliticalReforms take six turns longer thannormal to perform.

Totalitarian Government(Religious): When breaking atreaty, the Usuuth Coalitionincreases its chance of success by20%. Also increase the difficulty ofIntel missions run against them by1. Tech requirement foradvancement is 60% of totaldomestic product of the UsuuthCoalition.In addition, trade income is reducedby 10% (round down). Unfortunately,the effects of negative Morale resultsare doubled.

Yolu TheocracyContent Population: The Yolu arecontent and start the game with a+1 bonus to Morale.

CampaignsCampaigns


Meritocracy Government (VariantReligious): The Yolu Theocracyadds +1 to all Morale check rolls andthe effects of all Morale checks aredoubled. They receive a 30%penalty to their trade income eachturn (round down).

Pacifistic: The Yolu receive a -20%penalty to all attempts to declarehostilities or war against anotherpower. Unlike normal modifiers, thispenalty is cumulative even with othernon-cumulative modifiers.Additionally, if they are offered anArmistice, there is always a 15%chance that the Yolu will accept theArmistice even if the player declines.They may not spend more than 50%of their income on military units orIntel.

Utopian Society: Yolu society hasremained unchanged for 4,000years. They see themselves as livingin utopia. The Yolu gain a +3 bonusto all Morale checks. In addition, allInsurgency missions launchedagainst them have a Difficulty level1 higher than normal. The Yolucannot perform Political Reformsand they must be completelybrought to their knees before suchreforms are possible. Allmaintenance costs are increased by10% (round up) and they receive a+5% penalty to the base techinvestment requirement. Finally, theYolu can support 8 Intel points per 1economic point of maintenance.

Veteran Crews: Yolu have some ofthe best gunners in space. All newnon-flight units begin with a crewgrade level one level higher thannormal. During peacetime thismeans that all new ships and basesbegin with a crew grade level ofVeteran instead of Regular.

VreeConglomerateMeritocracy Government (TradeFocus): The Vree Conglomerate isgoverned by the guilds with themerchant guild being the strongest.Unfortunately the Vree suffer doublethe effects of all Morale penalties.

Mercantile: The master traders ofthe galaxy, Mercantile powersgenerate more commerceincome with their trade fleetsand trade routes than otherpowers do. The Vree receive a30% bonus to their tradeincome each turn.

Wealthy: The Vree start thecampaign with an additional 20Economic Points.

The AncientRacesKirishiac LordsAggressive: Kirishiac are naturallyaggressive and their ground unitsreceived an additional +1 Attackbonus.

Aristocratic Government(Military): The Kirishiac Lords areruled by a royal family. Whenbreaking a treaty, increase thechance of success by 25%. Also theyhave their total maintenance costreduced by 10% (round down).Unfortunately, the effects of negativeMorale results are doubled. Trade

income is reduced by 10% (rounddown).

Extremely High-Gravity Species:Kirishiac come from a planet ofextremely high-gravity. They receivea +1 Attack bonus when invadingand a +2 Defense bonus whendefending. If protecting theirhomeworld the bonuses aredoubled.

Militaristic: Bend on conquest, theKirishiac Lords has becomemilitaristic. Military ships cost 10%less to build than normal (rounddown). Civilian fleets (Colony,Transport, and Trade Fleets) cost10% more to build than normal(round down).

Warmonger: The Kirishiac Lordsare very militaristic in their desiresto create a vast empire. They receivea +20% bonus to all attempts todeclare hostilities or war againstanother power. Unlike normalmodifiers, this bonus is cumulativeeven with other non-cumulativemodifiers. If the Kirishiac Lords isoffered an Armistice, there is alwaysa 15% chance that they will refusethe Armistice even if the controllingplayer accepts the offer.

MindridersExpert Scientists: The Mindridersare exceptional Scientists due to theintense sharing of informationbetween the race. They receive a –10% bonus to the power’s base techinvestment requirement.

Telepathic: All of the Mindriders aretelepathic and in combat ignore allbelow-readiness surprise results.They also receive a +20% bonus toCOD when using the CG 4.22

CampaignsCampaigns


Stealth and Concealed Movementoptional rules. All Intel missionslaunched against the Mindridershave their difficulty increased by 1.

The ShadowsEspionage Experts: All Espionagemissions launched by the Shadowsreceive a +2 Intel point bonus. Thisbonus is per mission, not per systemparticipating in the Espionagemission.

Master Tacticians (Cunning): Theshadows technology grants them a +2bonus to all surprise rolls in combat.

Sneaky: The shadows receive a –10% bonus to be detected whenusing the CG 4.22 Concealed andStealth Movement optional rules.Additionally, decrease the length ofany Pursuit scenario generatedagainst them by one turn and thePursuing power can field one lesssquadron than normal.

Sworn Enemies: The Shadowshave been at odds with the Vorlons

for thousands of years. They gainan additional +20% bonus to allattempts to break treaties with ordeclare hostilities/war against them.Additionally, any treaty offered by theVorlons has a chance of failure equalto 25%.Telepathic Vulnerability: TheShadows ships are vulnerable totelepathic interference. Whenfighting a battle with the Telepathictrait the empire’s flag squadrons donot receive their standard level oneformation bonus, but their AS andAF values always remain halved.

Totalitarian Government (SocialFocus): A central authority directsthe shadows in their sponsorship ofchaos in the galaxy. When breakinga treaty, the Shadows increase itschance of success by 20%. Also theycan maintain 15 Intel points per 1economic point of maintenance. Thisrepresents the modern Shadowsmoving carefully.

The tech requirement foradvancement is 60% of totaldomestic product rather than 50%.Trade income is reduced by 10%(round down). Additionally, theeffects of negative Morale results

are doubled. This Morale penaltyalso applies to the effects ofInsurgency Intel mission.

TorvalusSpeculators

Efficient Operatives: TheTorvalus Speculators can maintain12 Intel points per economic pointof maintenance.

Espionage Experts: All Espionagemissions launched by the Torvalusreceive a +4 Intel point bonus. This

bonus is per mission, not per systemparticipating in the Espionagemission.

Sneaky: The Torvalus receive anadditional –10% bonus to bedetected when using the CG 4.22Concealed and Stealth Movementoptional rules. Additionally, decreasethe length of any Pursuit scenariogenerated against them by one turnand the Pursuing power can fieldone less squadron than normal.

Telepathic: All of the Torvalus aretelepathic and in combat ignore allbelow-readiness surprise results.They also receive a +20% bonus toCOD when using the CG 4.22Stealth and Concealed Movementoptional rules. (This is combined withtheir sneaky trait to equal 30%). AllIntel missions launched against theWalkers have their difficultyincreased by 1.

TriadExtra-Dimensional Travel: TheTriad are creatures born in spaceand gifted with the ability to seebetween dimensions. If thecampaign contains multiple maps fordifferent dimensions, the Triad maymove their units from map to mapat will. The player must choose adestination system within thedimension/galaxy that they will bemoving to, and it will take the unit(s)a full turn to move from one map toanother. Extra-Dimensional Travelhowever does not allow the powerto move instantaneously within thesame dimension or galaxy map.

The Triad consider all lanes to bemajor lanes regardless of their realstatus. This bonus applies tomovement, supply, and all other

CampaignsCampaigns


rules with effects based on lanequality. In space combat scenarios,Triad units ignore below-readinesseffects resulting from surprise rolls.

Matter Creation: Triad can pullenergy from their surroundings andcreate starships out of matter. Allsystems and shipyards owned bythem receive a +20% constructioncapacity bonus.

Vorlon EmpireClosed Society: The Vorlons aresecretive and do not like anyonepoking around in their affairs. All Intelmissions performed upon them byopposing powers have their difficultyincreased by 3 (+5 with governmentmodifiers).

Sworn Enemies: The Vorlons havebeen at odds with the Shadows forthousands of years. They gain anadditional +20% bonus to allattempts to break treaties with ordeclare hostilities/war against them.Additionally, any treaty offered by theShadows has a chance of failureequal to 25%.

Telepathic: The entire species istelepathic and in combat ignore all

below-readiness surprise results.The Vorlons also receive a +20%bonus to COD when using the CG4.22 Stealth and ConcealedMovement optional rules.

We Are All Kosh: The Vorlon’sSystem Morale is always equal tothe number of Census in the system.Additionally intelligence missions runagainst them has their difficultyincreased by 2. Unfortunately techadvancement requirements areincreased to 60% of the empire’stotal domestic product. Elite officers,crew grade levels, administrators,and diplomats all cost twice theirnormal amount to purchase or train.

Walkers of Sigma957Artifact Aficionados: When playingan Exploration Campaign, theeffects of all research or artifact techinvestment bonuses are increasedby 50%.

Gifted Explorers: All of the Walker’sscouting forces receive a +2 bonustheir exploration attempts.

Extra-Dimensional Travel: TheWalkers discovered the technologyto travel between dimensions. If thecampaign contains multiple maps fordifferent dimensions, the Triad maymove their units from map to mapat will. The player must choose adestination system within thedimension/galaxy that they will bemoving to, and it will take the unit(s)a full turn to move from one map toanother. Extra-Dimensional Travelhowever does not allow the powerto move instantaneously within thesame dimension or galaxy map.

The Walkers of Sigma 957 considerall lanes to be major lanesregardless of their real status. Thisbonus applies to movement, supply,and all other rules with effects basedon lane quality. In space combatscenarios, their units ignore below-readiness effects resulting fromsurprise rolls.

Technocratic Government(Scientific Focus): The Walkersare obsessed with studying themysteries of the universe. This isrepresented in VBAM bytechnological advancements. Techadvancement requirement for theWalkers are reduced to 35% of theirtotal domestic product. In addition,the Walkers can potentially make upto three tech advances eachcampaign year. Overpayment for thethird tech advance is calculated inmuch the same way as the secondtech advance, except that thechance is halved again (e.g., dividethe tech advancement overpaymentamount by the tech advancementrequirement, and then divide theresult by 4 and round down).

The obsession for discovery doesadversely affect the Walkers. AllMorale penalties are doubled. It alsoresults in them being able tomaintain only 8 Intel points per 1economic point of maintenance.Their total maintenance cost isincreased by 5% (round up)

Telepathic: All of the Walkers aretelepathic and in combat ignore allbelow-readiness surprise results.They also receive a +20% bonus toCOD when using the CG 4.22Stealth and Concealed Movementoptional rules. All Intel missionslaunched against the Walkers havetheir difficulty increased by 1.

* * *

CampaignsCampaigns


IntroductionWelcome! Here are some

ships suitable for campaigns for theDune Wars net supplement, as wellas some of the core concepts behindthe upcoming Dune Red Crescenttactical campaign. Enjoy, andcomments are always welcome atmy Yahoo Group http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/b5wcrossovers/

I hope these are helpful, andthat you enjoy them either as standalone vessels or part of an ongoingDune or Crossover campaign.

Ships of theDuneCampaignCHOAMCHOAM Super FreighterLimited Deployment 33%

When the Baroness Katrinawas brought forth from the MagyaraShipyards in 9485, it was the rebirthof the grand majesty of the super-freighters of the seventh millennium.The style had gone out of voguesome nearly three millennia ago dueto the risk involved in concentratingso much of the wealth of individualhouses into these majestic ships.

But with the Butlerian Jihad an everpresent but no longer immediatememory, and with the best wishesof the Guild Bankers and CHOAMmerchant empire, by Imperial decreethe super-freighter was reborn.

However, little of such aninvestment is left to chance anymore, with every calculation and riskmanipulated and extolled by endlessmentats and the finest Ixianarchitects. The current superfreighters, while vulnerable as onlya cargo ship can be, are far fromtoothless. Pirates operating fromthe cover of gravity shadows andnebula have much to fear from thetwin heavy blast cannons mountedin the front of the ponderous vessel,and many a sirat fighter has gonedown in flames after a strafing runagainst the flak canons and triplechainguns that guard the perimeterof this gargantuan craft.

Many spacers consider the

Ships of theShips of theShips of theShips of theShips of theDune CampaignDune CampaignDune CampaignDune CampaignDune Campaign

The Battle for DuneContinues

By Christian Meador

Ships of theShips of theShips of theShips of theShips of theDune CampaignDune CampaignDune CampaignDune CampaignDune Campaign

CampaignsCampaigns


Super Freighters to be nearly fleetsunto themselves. Two dozen cargoshuttles flit about the massive ship,and there are four hard dockingpoints that can fit anything from OwlScouts to Cargo Lighters or evencombat Cutters.

CHOAM Customs CorvetteUnlimited Deployment

The mainstay of the CHOAMinspection fleet, the CustomsCorvettes are a ubiquitous sight inthe Imperium. Wherever trade andcommerce bring the merchantilespirit, CHOAM follows to ensure thelaws of the Imperium, their laws thatinnately contained the concept ofCHAOM fair advantage, aremaintained. The endless game ofhide and seek between theSmugglers and CHOAM find theirexpression most often in thecramped C&Cs of this vessel and thesmall piloting pod of the SmugglerLighter.

While adequately armed forits intended mission, the CustomsCorvette is not a true warship.However, it does maintain a quartetof CHOAM Breaching Pods. Whilemost often used in traditionaldocking functions, the BreachingPods can burn through a fleeingsmugglers hull to deposit itsInspection marines just as well asany Sardaukar craft. Or so themarines tell themselves.

The standard customscorvette has spawned severalvariants. Unfortunately the corvetteis often placed in a role moreappropriate for a dedicated warship,but the designers rightfully point outthat in its intended use the designperforms well, and that its shortfallsagainst the successes of thesmuggler trade often have to do withthe frailties – and the greed – of itscrew. However, while the thrusters

on the Customs Corvette arereasonably powerful and efficient,they are frail, the true weakness ofthe craft.

CHOAM Customs PursuerUncommon Customs Corvette Variant

Often assigned as the thirdpart of a triad of Customs Corvettes,the Pursuer is there to chase downerrant vessels, and does its job well.While not quite capable of stayingeven with the smaller lightersdedicated specifically foracceleration, most other ships arequickly born down under themomentum of the medium vesselssuperior thrust.

The weapons on the Pursuerare minimal in order to devote themost possible weight to speed. Thatbeing said, it does contain aGrappling Claw, and the onboardcontingent of Inspection Marines isgenerally more than sufficient tocapture the smuggling vessels thatare their natural prey.

CHOAM Customs LeaderUncommon Customs Corvette Variant

When the CHOAM BattleDestroyer was declared by theSpacing Guild as to exceed theirmandate as an Inspection Fleet andmerchantile interest, CHOAM designbureau #23 scrapped its plans todevelop a new warship capable ofdealing with the emergent piratethreat and decided to reevaluatetheir situation. What they came upwith was the zenith of the CustomsCorvette design lineage.

The Customs Leader wasstated as a command,communications and control ship.However, its capability in that veinwas limited. Instead it was retrofittedto be more easily adapted to aheavier combat load. Instead of a

control ship, the Customs Leaderwas slowly, painstakingly refitted intoa Battle Leader. By the time theSpacing Guild saw the end result, thematter was a fait accompli.

The Custom Leader is a dedicatedwarship, and as such fields the bestweapons array of the InspectionFleet. A single Heavy and MediumBlast Cannon to the fore of the shipprovides significant firepower, whilethe Vulcan Railguns provide aconsiderable upgrade from thenormal dual and triple chaingunsmounted on corvettes. Finally, theHoltzman shield on the weapon isconsidered an acceptable risk, andagainst non-laser armed foes theCustoms Leader is a truly formidableopponent.

CHOAM Breaching PodUnlimited Deployment

Most often employed by theCustoms Corvette, this BreachingPod is designed for speed andmaneuverability more than strength.The hull is considered weak bymilitary standards, but the small craftis outfitted with a single chaingunproviding it some self-defensecapability as it travels toward itsdestination.

The CHOAM Breaching Podloses 1 thrust for every 3 points ofdamage it takes. In addition, thechaingun is disabled on the sixthpoint of damage.

ImperiumMerchantVessels

The lifeblood of the millionworlds, merchant vessels fly underall house crests, and may even be

CampaignsCampaigns


privately owned. With so manyfascinating and insular goods in theImperium, individual traders,moderate co-ops, even CHOAMindustries and noble houses areinvested in the day to day give andtake of the greatest market mankindhas ever known. For all of this, onlyone thing binds the Empire together;the Spice Melange. For this reason,the transport of unique goods thatcan only be found in the disparatecorners of the galaxy, the Spice mustflow.

Known trade goods of theImperium:

The poisons Chaumas andChaumurky, so popular in the Warof Assassins between the noblehouses of the Imperium; Cutterrays,small lasguns that can cut to themicrometer; the Dew Collectors, sovital to life on Arrakis; Distrans, thathide nearly undetectable codeswithin the neural systems and voicesof avians; Dump Boxes, protectedby suspensor fields and ablativecoatings, designed to drop from orbitto planetary surfaces; the Elaccadrug, that removes the instinct ofself-preservation; Fanmetal, metalformed by the growing of jasmiumcrystals in duraluminum, noted forextreme tensile strength inrelationship to weight, its namederived from its common use incollapsible structures that areopened by “fanning” them out;Fogwood, from the planet Ecaz, itsgrowth defined solely by humanthought; the suspensor guidedGlowglobe, illuminated by organicbatteries; the virtually indestructibleMetaglass, that shields againstradiation; the Hufuf Oil Lens, PundiRice; the super-stimulant Rachag,the mutable Shigawire, that hasreplaced books as the chief way ofstoring knowledge, the Solido

Projectors that can createholographic images stored on saidShigawire; Family Atomics;Holtzman Fields and Lasguns;Stillsuits and Balisets; anduncountable other wonders spreadout through the million worlds thatmankind has made their own.

And, of course, the SpiceMelange. Always the Spice.Forever the Spice.

Some of the most prevalentmerchantile vessels of the MillionWorlds are the following:

Modulon Ore TransportUnlimited Deployment

The Modulon Ore Transportis the primary ore hauler in theImperium. It has light defenses andarmor, as befitting a merchant ship.The Modulons, like the namesindicates, has a modular design, andcan be quickly and rapidlyredeployed with several differenttypes of components.

A modified Modulon was latertransformed by the Jihad into theFremen Transport.

Bulk FreighterUnlimited Deployment

The basic Freighter of theImperium, the Bulk Freighter can befound in numbers anywhere tradeexists in the Million Worlds. Theseships lack any substantial defenses,though the standard armament ofthree Vulcan Railguns may givepirates pause.

Passenger LinerUnlimited Deployment

When comfort is the goal,and the trip matters less than in themanner that one arrives, thePassenger Liners of the MillionWorlds are often the choice of thewealthy. Dedicated to the

experience of travel, these vesselsare used for incursions into thepleasure planets of the interior.Carrying ten passenger shuttles andthree passenger ferries (an LCVsized craft), the Passenger Linerscater to the most jaded of Imperialsophisticates.

Cargo LighterUnlimited Deployment

The single most commonship in the Imperium, Cargo Lightersflit through the galaxy in the millions.Small vessels intended to maximizetheir cargos as they travel betweenHeighliner and the trade meccasfound in every system, CargoLighters are so inexpensive familiesand even individuals are often foundat their helm.

IxIx Asteroid HS BaseUnlimited Deployment

The last line of defense forthe ninth planet in the homes systemof House Vernius, this base providesfor both the command and controlof the Ixian Hunter-Seeker. Housingup to six flights of the dreadeddevices, the existence of thisforbidden technology along with howquickly they’ve managed to deployit would come as a great surprise tothe Landsraad and the Emperor.However, it has not yet come to passthat Ix must show its hand in thismatter, and should the Emperorscheme against them once againtheir will be little regret in the halls ofVernius should the need for theweapon be felt.

CampaignsCampaigns


LandsraadLandsraad Veritas ScoutTenderUnlimited Deployment

The Veritas Scout Tenderprovides a vital role in Fleet affairs.It was built to address a technicallimitation, as the Great Proscripturesagainst creating a machine in theimage of the mind of a man abortedcomputerization. This in turn causedcomputerized imagery enhancementand detection capability to stagnatein the Million Worlds. The ScoutTender carries 3 Owl Scouts todeploy to search out enemydeployments in system, in order toprovide accurate intelligence to theHouse Mentats for fleetdeployments.

The Veritas (“Truth”) ScoutTender carries 3 fighters for localdefense in addition to the threecatapults to launch and recover theOwls, a Super Heavy Fighter design.

Landsraad Owl Scout FighterUnlimited Deployment A super-heavy reconnaissancecraft, the Owl seeks out enemy fleetsand hopes to live through theexperience. The Owl is wellequipped for its job, with extendedendurance (in Campaigns that useendurance give it the same rating asa Medium Ship), long rangescanners (increased searchingcapabilities), and an unusualdefense - the DF Missile Rack.

The DF Missile Rack holds 9missiles of type C, I, Y or Z. In theOwl’s case, three of these aremounted in the forward magazine,and six to the rear.

Landsraad Perimeter BaseUnlimited Deployment

A common defense asteroidhollowed out to shelter the Class-BMissile silos, the Perimeter Base isdesigned to discourage incomingaggressors through long rangesuperiority fire. And it is a commonaxiom that the Perimeter Base isnever found alone, as it is almostalways deployed in groups.

The DuneCampaign

While originally intending topresent a full Tactical Campaign forthe Dune Universe, I realized that Iwould not have time to adequatelyplay test this project. Instead, I wishto present some ideas on how thespecific scope of Dune Warscampaign play is significantlymodified to most B5 Wars players’expectations. The following aresome of the specific alteration I planto include in the Red Crescentcampaign when time allows for amore thorough examination.

The Bid System a general overview

Production in the Duneuniverse is quite different than thenormal tactical campaign for the B5Wars system. This is because ofthe lack of diversity in productioncapabilities. While Major Housesand the assorted great powers ofmankind’s empire have the ability tocreate shipyards, most production isdone at several institutionalizedlocations, such as Ix and Richese.What this means to the different

factions competing in the universeof Dune is facing the open marketwhen trying to expand their fleets.

In campaign terms, eachfaction can build the vessels that areconsidered specific to them. Again,in tactical campaign terms thismeans that there will be a build listfor each faction, listing the numberof turns it takes to produce a ship.And there will be an economic list,both in terms of general productionability and specific rewards forgetting trade vessels to certainlocations. This will be specific foreach tactical campaign dependingon the premise and strategicsituation. In general though buildtimes for the factions will beconsiderably slower than those ofother settings.

However, the bulk of fleets inDune are still comprised of thevessels shown in the Landsraadsection. These ships are commondesigns employed by all of thefactions in the galaxy. The rathermediocre build rates of the individualfactions is then supplemented bywhat is available in the bid!

Depending on the scope ofyour campaign, you’ll need to assigna bid impulse. This is the number ofcampaign turns between a newallotment of units that are brought tothe bid pool. For a campaign thescale of those in Showdowns 6, it issuggest a bid impulse of 10 turns asa good starting point. Though thismay be modified if an expanded Bidchart is used – this would includemore than just what hulls wereavailable, but also elite characters,campaign specific items, ImperialOffices, and other such goodies thatmodify game play in the player’sadvantage. Each bid impulseconsult the chart to determine whatof interest is being offered in theCHOAM markets. The informationin the chart is laid out as follows:

CampaignsCampaigns


Unit Type No of Units Under Bid No of Impulses available

For example, if you roll the dice and consult the chart you’ll seesomething similar to this:

Shielded Cutters d4+1 75 EP per Cutter 3 impulses

Unit Type is self-explanatory. Number of units may be either aspecific number or a range represented by a die roll. If the number of unitsis for a fighter then that represents the number of flights available. Numberof Impulses available represents how long it will be up for bid. The UnderBid chart represents the chance of a non-campaign faction beating anyplayer bid for the resource in question. It is in effect a minimum cost inorder to purchase the resource. The Under Bid cost will be modified by thenumber of players in the game. The more players, the lower the Under Bidmodifier, as this tends to naturally drive up the price of available resources.

ConcealedMovement

Without the churningcomputers and expert systems thatsift through data patterns andanalyze sensor readings, theadmirals of the Dune universe haveto deal with the vagaries of the fogof war. This allows for terrain andhidden movement to be a muchlarger factor when determining thecourse of battles When added tothe stealth technologies spearheaded by the elusive Bene Tleilax,the limits of the Imperium’s ability toanalyze sensor information canbecome a serious source of concern.However, as in all things where themental training orders sought to findsurrogates for the banished machineminds, the Order of Mentats found away.

In game terms, a scenarioemploying the search game is runon a separate map for each player.After movement but before combatanother sequence is played. Eachplayer announces the locationswhere that player has his unitssearching, and whether they are

running on active or passive sensors.He must announce the total searchstrength, and the number of ships,its type, and the number of fighterflights searching. If sensor buoyclusters are deployed he may notethat instead of the ship type.

In the case of active sensors,the other player must reveal the shiptypes he has in that location if thesearch strength of the shipssearching the location is equal orgreater to the search strengthrequired to detect the ship.

In most cases, the easiestway of showing the required searchstrength is a color-coding system onthe map. An example follows:

CampaignsCampaigns


In addition, there may becertain modifiers to the search costsindicated. Ships running on passivesensors, ships powered downentirely, the stealth coating used bythe Bene Tleilax and the SpiceSmugglers, specific mappedpathways through asteroid fields, orspecific current flows through nebulathat are known, all of these thingscan increase or decrease the valueof the search strength.

The search strengths of theships vary as follows:

In the late 94th centuryRichese architects developed aphased relay system that allowed forships to deploy sensor buoy clusters. This allowed ships to create alocalized system of sensor buoysnearby their own ships, giving themthe advantage of active sensorswithout giving away the exactposition of the ship. This allowsships to make an active sensorsearch while remaining up to twohexes away from the buoy cluster,as long as the ship itself did not moveduring the search turn. Thisprovided for a fairly effective picketsystem, and the cluster itself can berepositioned by 1 hex every turn aslong as the ship itself doesn’t move,and the buoy cluster remained withinthe 2 hex limit.

Passive sensors were alsodeployed. These were only effectivein open space (hexes with a searchstrength requirement of 1), and theyuse the normal detection rules forTactical Campaigns on Showdown-6, p16. Note that Dune ships don’thave Sensors over 10, so several ofthe rows simply don’t apply.

Most Dune TacticalCampaigns will also have variantsearch capabilities depending on thesituation in the campaign. Sensorwarning nets were often deployed in

systems of potential hostility. Manycampaigns will include Spies thatcould be placed in ports of call andgive an accurate count of the shipsleaving that world. And the humanmind as always was the mostdangerous weapon in the Duneuniverse. These unique searchesinclude but are not limited to:

Prescient Viewing: The SpacingGuild Navigator’s prescience canfilter all-space to find specific shipsin space-time. While expensive tobribe and almost impossible tocoerce, a Navigator’s abilities couldoften tip the scales from ignominy toglory for an aspiring House Admiral.In game terms once the bribe wasmet or the diplomatic pressure wassufficient, a player could request a

Prescient viewing, name a shipclass, and either a destination orpoint of departure, and it would berevealed on the game map for himfrom that point forward.

Mentat Calculation: And given theproper data and parameters themore capable House Mentats cancalculate the chances of findingships at certain locations by findinghidden energy sources or graviticmass displacement. While lesspowerful than employing prescience,

the Mentat can name ahex and detect any shipswithin 1 hex of that area,regardless of the searchstrength required for sucha search. It is often easierto find a ship due to itsinteraction with otherparticles such as icecrystals, nebuladisplacement or asteroidgravitic shift, but it requiresa Mentat to do so withalacrity.

This should create aninteresting fog of war

aspect to the game, making thefinding of the enemy the first andmost important step in the battle!This is particularly effective inscenarios based on commerceraiding or surprise attack.

Mines in theMillion Worlds

Very little antagonizes theSpacing Guild like mine warfare. Assuch, it is considered an extravagantrisk most often not worth the chanceof interdiction to use them. Indeed,only one faction has employed themextensively in modern times; HouseVernius of Ix, whose technological

Shuttle, Breaching Pod, OSAT: No search valueFighter Flight: 0 (1 with Search order)LCV 0.5 (1 with Search order)MCV/HCV (sensors <6) 1 (2 with Search order)MCV/HCV Owl SHF (sensors >=6) 1.5 (3 with Search order)Capital (sensors <6) 1.5 (3 with Search order)Capital (sensors >=6) 2.0 (4 with Search order)Sensor Mines 1.0 (automatically in Search order mode)

Note that Scout/ELINT ships (ie Ix Overseer Scout and the Guild Heighliner) andships with the Mentat Analyst Elite character on board double their search valuesin their hex, and halve their search value every hex out. Therefore it is possible forthem to detect ships from several hexes away, especially in open space.

CampaignsCampaigns


prowess allows them to skirt theedge of the wrath of the Guild,especially considering the wave ofsympathy that swept through themoderate houses when it wasdiscovered the duplicity involved inthe false jihad called on them underthe flimsiest of pretenses.

However, for the right priceand with the right connections minescan be acquired. But actually layinga minefield can have a price to bepaid in diplomatic terms in all tacticalcampaigns. If the Spacing Guilddeems the area strategic, thesmallest response that can beexpect is the increase in the cost inspice to pay for Heighliner access.Over time, such rate hikes can bleedeven the wealthiest Great House dry.The problem is the Guild keeps itsown council as to what it considersa strategic area. It is best to proceedwith caution.

The following mines areavailable to all factions:

Trallis-1 Proximity Mine: Cost 8,Damage 10, Signature 3.Trallis-2 Proximity Mine: Cost 13,Damage 18, Signature:4Zenith-1 Proximity Mine: Cost 18,Damage 25, Signature: 5Shai-Hulud Proximity Mine: Cost25, Damage 40, Signature 4Coriolis-1 Captor Mine: Cost 15,Range 6, Accuracy +3, Damage 18,Signature 4Coriolis-2 Captor Mine: Cost 20,Range 5, Accuracy +6, Damage 20,Signature 3

Only Ix and their allies maydeploy DEW weapons. However, assome of these may fire lasgun blasts,their affect on shielded ships may betotally out of proportion to theirnormal effectiveness.

Sunfire-1 DEW Mine: Cost 60,Range 8, Accuracy +5, Signature 3

(1), Armor 3, Structure 8. Fires aheavy lasgun.Hailfire-1 DEW Mine: Cost 38,Range 6, Accuracy +5, Signature 4(2), Armor 2, Structure 5. Fires aGauss Cannon.Hailfire-2 DEW Mine: Cost 45,Range 5, Accuracy +6, Signature 3(0), Armor 2, Structure 6. Fires 2Vulcan Railguns. Includes theMultiple Target Enhancement.

All Major Houses have thecapability to create Family Atomicmines. So far none has dared touse them in combat, but should theoccasion provide the will, the affectwould be most… illuminating.

Family Atomic Mine: Cost 300,Damage 250 in the detonation hex,100 out to 1 hex, 50 out to 3 hexes,25 out to 6 hexes, and 10 out to 10hexes. This effects each unit in thatradius. Radiation and EMP requirescritical checks on Sensors for thoseships within 10 hexes at +10, shipsout to 20 hexes at +6, and those outto 50 hexes at +3. Any fighter facingthe blast within 40 hexes of the blasthas a 50% chance of dropping out.Signature 2.

Spacing GuildRoutes

All FTL travel betweensystems in Dune is handled by theSpacing Guild. The Guild Peaceprevents conflict of any type on aHeighliner between opposedfactions. While FTL travel isinstantaneous in the Imperium, mostsuch activity is standardized andfollows specific routes betweensystems. These do not alwaysmake sense in astronomical terms,but instead follows the political and

economic mandates of the daycombined with the obscure flow ofspace-time between locales. Inother words, the shortest distancebetween two places is not a straightline, but instead the non-euclideangeometry of the vagaries of spacetime.

Most Dune tactical maps willhave boxes on the edges of the maprepresenting the specific heighlinersin operation in that sector of theuniverse. Each one will have aspecific route designated, withdestination times at certain locations.For example, the Heighliner on routeA may travel to Salusa Secondus onturn 2, Wallach IX on turn 7, andGiedi Prime on turn 10, and Arrakison turn 15, then start the entireprocess over again. Once you’vepaid the cost of passage, simplyplace your ship on the Heighliner boxfor all to see.

While on a Heighliner nocombat as allowed, all ships andarmies being carried areautomatically identified and must beannounced, and when they departthey are considered spotted on thefirst turn of their new location. It isquite common for the most vitriolicrivals to be moored within visualdistance in a Guild Heighliner.Almost no goal is worth antagonizingthe Spacing Guild to inviteinterdiction – that is how even GreatHouses die.

ConclusionThat’s all for now, though

more Dune campaign ships and rulesystems will be forthcoming.Remember, slow and steady gets theCrysknife’s point under the Shield!

* * *

CampaignsCampaigns


Fury ofthe

Imperium

IntroductionThis project started after

reading through the listing of Dilgarvariant designators, which includedseveral variant designators such as“fast”, “laser”, “bolter”, and “pulsar”.These types have never appeared.The effort to create a few of theseled to a few twists and turns, butresulted in the ships listed here…

Mishakur-Q Bolt Dreadnought(Uncommon Mishakur Variant)

An uncommon version of theMishakur optimized for standoff firesupport of a fleet. Frequently pairedwith Tratharti Gunships in aPentacan to support other Dilgarships from long range. Powershortage typically requires theshutdown of at least one ScatterPulsar, creating potential blind spotsin the ship’s anti-fighter defenses.

Tratharti-L Laser Gunship(Uncommon Tratharti Variant)

Armed almost exclusivelywith Medium Lasers, the uncommonTratharti-L offers staggering mediumand short-range firepower. Like the

EA Nova-A, it is very vulnerable tofighter and missile attacks. Also, theexcessive number of weaponsintensifies the power shortageissues shared with the standardTratharti. In the case of the L-model,shutting down the Mass Driverbarely covers the excess powerdemands of the lasers.

Tratharti-T Testbed Gunship(Unique Tratharti Variant)

The unique Tratharti-T wasfielded to evaluate long-rangedweapons stolen from the Alacansand Balosians early in the DilgarWar. Tests with these weaponsproved quite promising, but plans toproduce these weapons in quantitycould not be carried out prior to theconquest of Omelos. The shipremained behind the front lines atAlaca serving as a garrison ship anddid not see frontline combat until latein the war. It was destroyed by theCascor in the liberation of Balos.

Targath-P Pulsar Cruiser(Uncommon Targath Variant)

The uncommon Targath-P,armed exclusively with Pulsarweaponry, proved devastating toenemy fighters and ships alike.Never produced in the numbers ofthe standard Targath, it was stillrevered by many commanders as asuperior warship.

Targath-T Testbed Cruiser(Unique Targath Variant)

A single Targath cruiser wasbuilt in 2231 with captured examplesof weapons used by the Drazi. Whilepowerful, the Dilgar found this shipvery difficult to maintain. TheTargath-T had a relatively shortcareer. Destroyed in only its secondbattle, it drew the wrath of the Drazi,who were infuriated by the use oftheir technology by the hated Dilgar.

Targath-V Vigilance Cruiser(Uncommon Targath Variant)

The Targath-V VigilanceCruisers were produced to providegarrison ships at systems left behind

HypotheticalDilgar Variantsby Jeremy Gray

CampaignsCampaigns


by advancing Dilgar forces. Seenfrequently in Hyach and Brakirispace, the ship sacrificed half of itsfighter group in exchange for a pairof bomb racks. These were oftenused in harassing attacks or tosuppress small-scale planetaryuprisings. Totally absent fromfrontline forces during the earlyDilgar offensives, the Targath-Vswere only encountered as theLiberation Navy began to retakeleague territory.

Ochlavita-F Fast Destroyer(Rare Ochlavita Variant)

These swift ships weredesigned to support Pentacans ofJashakar frigates in hit-and-runattacks. While the Ochlavita-Fscould accelerate with the smallerfrigates, it proved incapable ofmaneuvering with them in a melee.The firepower given up whencompared to the standard Ochlavitamade them extremely unpopular andthey remained rare in Dilgar service.

Ochlavita-L Laser Destroyer(Uncommon Ochlavita Variant)

Serving alongside standardOchlavitas in the Dilgar advance, theuncommon Ochlavita-L proved its

value repeatedly in battles withLeague forces. Relatively poorarmament to rear made this variantdependant on other ships forprotection following a battle pass.

Ochlavita-Z Testbed Destroyer(Unique Ochlavita Variant)

The Dilgar modified a singleOchlavita to evaluate capturedBrakiri weaponry. The ship provedmoderately successful, but theDilgar never successfully replicatedthe gravitic weapons in sufficientquantity to support regularproduction. In battle, thearrangement of the Gravitic Boltsproved quite advantageous – therear weapons were shut down toprovide extra power for the forwardBolts, then as the ship withdrew theforward guns were shutdown toprovide extra power to the rearmounts. The ship had a surprisinglysuccessful combat career.

Roskatur-I ImprovedGarrison Base(Uncommon Roskatur Variantuntil 2229; Common from 2230)

With the advent of theThorun Dartfighter and LCVs fallinginto disfavor, the original Roskatar

Renders by Fabio Passaro: meshweaver.com

Garrison Bases becameobsolescent in the mid-2220’s. Thisimproved version dropped the LCVfacilities, and featured an enlargedreactor to support a heavierweapons load. Expanded fighterhangers to support Thoruns wererelocated to the outer sections (therewas not enough room in the primaryfor larger hangers). The addition ofheavy bolters and missiles made theupgraded stations more defensibleagainst long range bombardment.

The Roskatur-I first appeared in2226 with the introduction of theThorun. By 2230, all Roskaturconstruction had shifted to thisupdated design, and most of thebases on the Dilgar border had beenrefitted to this design. A few of theolder Roskaturs inside Dilgarterritory remained in their originalconfiguration until the end of theDilgar War.

Designers Note: Based onthe Roskatur Garrison Base by MikeJasperson,featured in Showdowns 10.

* * *

CampaignsCampaigns


Introduction“Fellow Senators, free

citizens of Vathia, you may ask ofme why we should pursue this causeof war, why we should send our sonsand daughters to fight and die onforeign soil, I tell you we shouldbecause it is our duty.

For sixty cycles, the peopleof Vathia have basked in the freedomof our great Republic. A freedomborn in the blood of our ancestorsas they tore free from the yoke ofthe dictatorship. But the dictatorshipstill reigns, and many of our fellowYOYOS are living without the rightsand opportunities we hold so dear.

The Kingdom of Hedantheiaand its Lordship borne from the falseidea of divine ascension, is adespotic state largely irrelevant in themodern world. Their Lord

Ensombray dwells upon archaicideals and traditions lost inirrelevancy by developmentsthroughout the last century. Thepeople live stifled both in freedom aswell as intellectual and societaldevelopment

We must take up the causeof freedom, not because of anyarchaic idea of religion and divinewill, and not to expand upon thewealth of our own country, butbecause we have a moraleobligation to free those people whoare still oppressed. So join with me,and cast a vote for the cause offreedom, so that we may set ourgreat armies upon the Hedantheiancontinent and liberate those finepeople who still toil and sweat underthe great yoke. And who have nostrength and no voice of their own,as we did, to wrest power from thehands of corruption.”

Address to the Senate ofFree Vathia by Grand SenatorElsanine, 1769

Introduction toFate’s Turning

Fate’s Turning is a newsetting that incorporates a lot of oldideas of mine into one big universe.Similar, in theory at least, to thescope of Escalation Wars andBabylon 5, one day I hope to put outsome detail history and story behindthe entire setting. For the momenthowever, I can concentrate onindividual histories and conflicts of afew races. Some of the racesinvolved might be familiar, the Tolkid/Rawnjok, the Rei Djinn (sans UNSpacy artwork), and so forth.

The idea was originally bornfrom a map that Tyrel Lohr created,which situated the Tol’Rawn near acouple of his non-EW races like theBintari. From there, I developed abrief history that expanded this mapto include a bunch of Star Controlraces with similar ships but differingagendas. Though interesting, thatwould’ve proved dumb in the end sosometime later, perhaps after therelease of the Star Control ships in

A New Look atFate’s Turning

By Paul Brown

CampaignsCampaigns


the Great Machine I canned thatidea. More recently, I merged someof my race ideas together into agrand though currently murky storyline. The story may also includeTyrel’s non-EW races to be killed orsucceed as I see fit. But for themoment, I’m focusing on the Subean(sue-bay-en) race whom during theirfirst solid steps into space collapsedinto a system-wide war. Inspired agreat deal by World War 2 navalhistory, for which my knowledge isvery vague, I hope to introduce a fewfresh concepts into Babylon 5 Wars.And at the same time develop aninteresting, and engaging story line.As well, I wanted to pull awaysomewhat from the power of theFreespace and Robotechconversions and go down to asimpler, and lower tech base.Anyway, on with it.

Prelude toCatastrophe

The eighteenth century onSubee (Sue-bay) saw the end of oneera, and the beginning of another.The modern world rapidly advancedin technology, culminating in spaceflight and the colonisation of theother planets in the system. And asthe century progressed, societalculture shifted towards globalisation.

The century began with theend of what became known as thesecular revolution, also known as thesecular renaissance in some circles.Influential scholars publishedextensive works upon the idea thatreligion is merely a construct of theSubean psyche, and has no basis inreality. These writings, combinedwith growing discord over corruptionin some religious institutions,prompted people to abandon theirbeliefs in droves. Instead, a new

philosophy arose based uponscience and the workings of nature.While the idea of an inherent moralecode dissuaded many of the sinfulpractices theologians feared wouldarise with the revolution.

As the 1720s rolled past,another revolution was coming tofruition. The Kingdom of Hedantheia,once a relatively vast monarch-ruledstate had many of its springing up inopen revolt. These so-called wars ofindependence were in part fuelled bythe notion that the place of King wasa God-given right, and that divinitywas inherent in the power of theKing. But many far-reaching areasof the kingdom had been influencedby the secular revolution, and hadabandoned such beliefs. Insteadthey believed in the power of thecommon person, to live their lifewithout any ideas of fate or theomniscience pre-destiny of anomnipotent divine being. Therevolutions were not without conflict,as in some hotly-contested areas thedeath toll from the fighting was in thehundreds of thousands. The warthreatened to spill into neighbouringcountries, and spark a global war butit the end it stayed within theboundaries of the Kingdom. TheHedantheian legions, their war efforthampered by the need andvulnerability of crossing the oceansto their areas of operation eventuallywere overcome. Without hercolonies, the power of the Kingdomwas confined to the continent, itsseat of power.

The newly free formercolonies organised themselvesaround a new government type, theRepublic. In which elected officialswould govern the state within ahouse called the Senate. Quick onthe heels of its victory, severalneighbouring countries attempted tocapitalise on the Republic of FreeVathia’s weakened state but after

several years of skirmishes theborders became stable. Over thenext several decades, the Vathiansprospered through new technologiesand the idea of a free economicmarket. Trade with neighbouringcountries greatly increased its wealthand consequently many scientistsand experts were drawn to itsborders. Many of the scientists camefrom Hedantheia, lured by freedomand wealth, and this in turn helpedto stifle the development of theKingdom. While the world marchedonward, the Kingdom lagged behindin all areas and many of its peoplebecame dissatisfied.

In 1757, several first andsecond-generation ex-patriots of theKingdom started a new politicalmovement aimed at toppling theHedantheian monarchy. Though anunpopular movement at first, itbegan to gain support asglobalisation was in full swing. By1762 the nations of the world werebeginning to move towards a unifiedplanet. It quickly became clear thatfour nations were the front-runnersin such a movement. The SavasteEmpire and Free Vathia weregobbling up countries left and right,often through either subversion ofgovernment or outright aggression.The Imperial Military, largest in theworld, was credited with theannexation of several countriesthrough the very threat of theirpower. Another nation, the NewCarrafore Federation was aconglomeration of several statesunified under one banner. Manycountries fearing military conquest ora coup d’etat joined the Federationunder its promise of a strong, unifieddefence. And finally, the Bastion ofEtoilae, the last stronghold of the old-world religions saw several religious-based countries join in an alliance,even as millions of believers movedacross her borders, fearing

CampaignsCampaigns


oppression by the secular world.It was during this time of

globalisation that the movementagainst the Hedantheian Kingdomgained popularity. While there weresome people who saw the nobility ofthe cause, and genuinely wished tobring freedom to the subjects ofHedantheia, most politicians andinfluential figures supported the wareffort out of self-serving reasons. Nomatter the aims of the individual, theFree Vathian Republic declared waragainst the Kingdom in 1769.

By this time, the Hedantheianmilitary had become fairly dated.Their space arm consisted only of asmattering of hand-me-down,outdated craft. Two Antum-classCarriers formed the core of theirfleet, with ten Sirona-ClassDestroyers acting as the bulk of thenaval power. The destroyers wereorganised in two flotillas of three, withthe other four destroyers assignedto defence of the carriers. When theFree Vathian space forcesdescended upon the meagre fleet,they faced a completelyoutnumbered and outgunned foe.The destruction in orbit above theHedantheian continent was a virtualslaughter. Only a single carrier anda pair of damaged destroyersescaped destruction. This small taskforce managed to harass the Vathianforces for a period of two weeks, untilthey were finally hunted down anddestroy. The attacks did delay thecommencement of orbitalbombardments on the continent,however that did little to effect theoutcome of the war.

The Kingdom’s sea-basednavy faired better, with several smallvictories thanks to superior tactics.They were however eventuallyforced away from the mainland,enabling the Vathians to begin theirtroop landings. The ground battlewas especially bloody, as ground-

based fighters were able to keepcontrol of the skies over thecontinent, eliminating Vathian airsupport through sheer numbersalone. And much of the fighting tookplace in hilly or urban areas wherethe advantage of the Vathiantechnology was heavily mitigated.However, after they broke out intothe relatively open ground theVathian armour columns sweptacross the Kingdom laying waste tothe enemy. The continent fullyencircled, the air defences wereslowly but surely battered down whilethe Royal navy was busy avoidingpursuit by Vathian forces.

Then, with the Royal armyhemmed in around the mountainouscapital and with Vathian forces in thesurrounding countryside, theKingdom of Hedantheia inexplicablylaunched their entire nucleararmament to the south. The NewCarrafore Federation, whoseterritory lay at the other side of thepolar ice continent feared a nuclearattack, however unexplainable andresponded in kind with a nuclearbarrage of their own. The Kingdom’smissiles, rather than traverse acrosspolar skies for Federation territory,began blanketing the polar continentwith nuclear fire. The Federationbarrage meanwhile, turned theHedantheian continent into ashalong with a considerable portion ofthe Vathian army. The Free Vathianstate nearly responded with anattack upon the Federation itself, butin the end they picked up whatsurvivors they could and pulled theirfleet back into Republic waters.

The damage from theattacks was devastating, the poleinstantly melted much of the icewhich made up the continent. Largeglacier-sized pieces fell into the seaand spawn huge tsunamis thatravaged the coasts of the southerncontinents which themselves were

awash in confusion over what hadtranspired. Nuclear fallout from thewar would cause widespread panicand sickness wherever the windstook it, while the global climate wasfrom that day forward changedsignificantly. Lost, and nowdesperately hated by many peopleof the world, the surviving crews ofthe Hedantheian fleet sought refugein other countries. However manysuch states responded with openhostility, and so the aircraft carriersand other ships were abandoned orrun aground while their crewsabandoned their uniforms and fledinto the hills seeking anonymity.And in the wake of the scared,fleeing sailors came the waters.

Ships of theKingdom ofHedantheia

Following are the threedesign types in use by the RoyalSpace Fleet of Hedantheia duringtheir war with Free Vathia. All of thedesigns were previously used by thefour major factions, though by thecommencement of the war they fellinto disfavour and were relegated tomothballs, scrap or auxiliary fleets.

Sirona-Class DestroyerThe Sirona is notable as the

first mass-produced warship inspace. Originally designed byErgstrom Incorporated, a companywith a long history in developing newweapons and technologies for themilitary, the design wascommissioned and constructed inAstrae yards over the second moonof Tehuty.

The Sirona came into serviceduring a time in which the greatestthreat in space was the presence of

CampaignsCampaigns


emerging criminal organisations whopreyed on civilian shipping andcolonisation projects. A total of fifty-eight vessels were constructed andcommissioned over a number ofyears, with initial sales to all fourmajor factions. The Savaste-basedcorporation raked in huge profits bythe sales, with a large chunkdestined for the coffers of the ever-growing Empire. In turn, thepurchasers of the vessels receiveda boost in weapons and spacetechnology during a time of lowanimosity. Only later, after theDestroyer had become outdated byemerging technologies did tensionsgrow among the various factions.

The Sirona is a simpledesign, and relatively lightly-armedby modern standards, so much sothat it would likely be labelled a LightDestroyer or even a corvette. Theprimary armament is a fore-mounted, rapid-fire turret with aninety-degree arc of traverse. Theship also mounts a pair of lighttorpedoes in the aft of the vessel thatcould be fired to the fore or side arcs.These older model weaponspossess good range, but lackserious damage potential requiredfrom the evolving ballistic doctrine.Finally, the craft has a pair of lightguns for defence against small craft.After the initial production run, the

design team added a pair of armourcowls fore and aft to shore upsuspected weak points. The heavierplate-style armour is notable in thatit would comprise the hulls of mostof the later vessels. For its intendedrole, the Sirona served well in policeactions with enough speed to keepwith convoys and enough firepowerto deter criminal elements.

The class did not see realcombat until several decades afterits introduction in the events leadingup to the system-wide war. By thistime, many of the craft had eitherbeen decommissioned or placed intomothballs. A less prosperous nation,the Kingdom of Hedantheiagenerally relied on other parties fortheir space-borne craft as theylacked both the means and moneyto develop their own designs.Hedantheia was able to acquire atotal of ten of the ageing craft for theirmilitary fleet. These destroyersserved in the war against FreeVathia. However, by this time theships were so out-dated and out-numbered that they provided littleopposition to the Republican forces.Eight craft were destroyed within thefirst day of fighting and the otherswere hunted down soon thereafter.

The Sirona would not seecombat again until some months intothe war. The Savaste Imperial Navy,

interested in solidifying theirnumbers with all craft available, re-furbished and re-commissioned overa dozen of the ships into their regularfleets. Lacking the point-defenceguns because of power constraints,the type II Sirona mounted a LightSlashing Laser in the turret and wasintended to support the fleet withlong-range fire from behind the frontlines. In practise, they weresomewhat effective yet outgunnedby modern vessels and often did notlast long in combat. Most of theDestroyers were hunted-down byFree Vathia stealth ships as thesensors of the older destroyers wereunable to penetrate the jammingsystem. As manpower constraintsbegan to outweigh the need for newships, crews were transferred fromthe older Sirona into newer craft,taking the remaining Destroyers outof service for good.

Antum-Class CarrierThe Antum-Class was the

first dedicated carrier design to enterservice. Designed and produced byan independent consortium, theCarrier was released hand in handwith the first mass-produced spacefighter, the Jakleth. It was one of thefirst and only military ventures by theconsortium, as they began toconcentrate on the more profitablecolonisation effort in post-productionyears.

The Antum is a curiousvessel, which was constructed inseveral pieces before being fittedtogether at the orbital yards overhome world. Relatively slow, and withpoor armour, the Antum’s main assetis of course its fighters of which itcarries a total of thirty-six, notcounting spare craft dissembled instorage. Fighters are launchedforward of the main hangar area andare retrieved through an aft facing

Sirona-Class Destroyer

CampaignsCampaigns


door. Because the hangar is raised,there is little chance of engine washinterfering with recovery operations.Between the launching and landingareas are the holding and servicingareas for the fighters, along withweapon stores. Mounted ventrally ofthe main hangar is a rotating sectionwhich contains the crew quarters.The rotation of this section must beceased during combat, as it isstructurally vulnerable tomanoeuvring and weapons fire. Toport of the hangar section is theoperations tower, which houses thesensors, command and co-ordination efforts along with otheroperations. The engineering anddrive section and located at thebottom-most of the vessel and likeall sections are accessible througha series of connecting areas.

The Antum in combat isrelatively slow and fragile, it mustinstead rely on the actions of itsfighters or escorts to protect it froma safe distance. For defensivearmament, the Antum carries a pairof Gatling cannons in the operationstower, and a light anti-ship cannonon the aft area of the hangar. A totalof fourteen Antum-Class Carrierswere constructed, with an initial test

run of two craft and threesubsequent production runs of four.Criticism of the ship’s ineffectual andunnecessary anti-ship armament ledto the abandonment of the lightcannon in the final run. Instead, theship mounted additional fighterdefence in the form of an anti-fightermissile rack.

Like the Sirona-ClassDestroyer, the bulk of the Antum’sservice record was in a time ofrelative peace. Because of newtechnologies and designs, and theinability to easily accommodate craftother than the Jakleth, the Antum fellinto disfavour before thecommencement of the war. Thoseships still in service were typicallyrelegated to auxiliary fleets taskedwith the providing the last line ofdefence for the colonies, orsometimes escorting logisticconvoys. The Bastion of Etoilae wasthe main proponent of the Antum-Class during the war, having focusedon fighter craft as the core of theirfleet. They had previously acquiredseveral carriers from other partiespre-war, and operated a total of sixcraft at its commencement. TheKingdom of Hedantheia had likewisepurchased the outdated craft for the

core of their fleet, and operated twoof the carriers in their ill-fated waragainst the Vathians. Of theremaining six Carriers, two had beenscrapped for materials and the otherfour were scattered among the otherfactions. Two of the Etoilae Carrierssurvived the war, and weredecommissioned shortly thereafter.

Jakleth-Class Fighter-BomberProduced by the same

independent consortium thatdesigned the Antum-Class, theJakleth was created hand in handwith the Carrier to serve as its fightercompliment. Like the Antum-Class,the Jakleth was produced and soldto all interested parties. It servedprimarily on the Antum-Class, butwas also used onboard some orbitalstations and low-gravity colonies.Though possessing some designqualities of an atmospheric fighter,the Jakleth is unable to operatewithin an atmosphere. Nor does itposses sufficient thrust to achieveorbit from any significantly planetoid.

The Jakleth is a single-person craft, which while fairly largeis quite fragile by modern standards.Armour is at best thin, and theperformance of the craft leavessomething to be desired. Primaryarmament is a pair of projectilecannons with a decent supply ofammunition. Because it is a fighter-bomber, the Jakleth was intended tobe effective against both otherfighters and large craft. A singleventral hard point between theintersection of the wings canaccommodate either an anti-shipbomb, or a canister with three fighter-to-fighter missiles. While the missilesare fairly effective, the anti-shipbomb is a fairly low-yield device. Aseach fighter carries only one bomb,compared to the multiple torpedoesof later craft, it seriously calls intoAntum-Class Carrier

CampaignsCampaigns


question the useful of the Jakleth inthis configuration. After thedevelopment of more modern craft,the fighters were almost always usedin a space superiority role and wereequipped with bombs only in strikesagainst logistical transports.

Because the Antum-ClassCarrier and Jakleth were designedin tandem to work together, theformer was ill suited to carrying laterfighter and bomber craft. Thisrestriction aided in the continuedproduction of the Jakleth, long afterit was rendered obsolete. Severalusers of the Jakleth including theSavaste Empire, and more notablythe Bastion of Etoilae attempted torevitalise the design by equipping itwith newer weapons or enhancedperformance. A total of five variationswere used in any significantnumbers.

The Imperial Fleet used twovariants, the type II and type III. Theformer added hard points to thebottom of the engine housings,where an anti-ship torpedo wasattached. With the yield of the bomb,and with greater range, the varianteffectively doubled the offensivepunch. However, the increased massdecreased performance until thetorpedoes were fired. As well, theweapons ruled out any use of theexisting hardpoint. The type IIIupgraded the cannon armament to

30mm, increasing the range andstriking power of the fighter. As aresult, the ammunition stores werecomparatively smaller limiting thefighter’s combat endurance.The Bastion of Etoilae likewise usedtwo variations on the fighter. Thefirst, the type IV retrofitted a thirdengine housing into the place of theventral hard point. This effectivelyincreased the thrust by fifty-percent.However, it was found that thestructural frame of the craft was notused to the potential thrust available.If the fighter used more thrust thanstandard in a short amount of time,structural failure to the point ofcatastrophic damage could result.The Type V was designed as adogfighter. It replaced the weaponspod with a rear-facing manned turretwith a 20mm cannon. Thoughsomewhat effective in a pitchedbattle, the subsequently double lossof manpower limited its production.The New Carrafore Federationemployed one variation of theJakleth, the type VI as a bomber-killer. Like the Savaste type III, itemployed 30mm cannon in place ofthe usual 20s. As well, the weaponspod was replaced with a third cannonand ammo drum of the 35mmvariety. These three relatively heavycannons could punch through theheavier frames of enemy bombers.Though the problem of

outmanoeuvring bomber escorts stillremained.

New RulesNote that many of the above

ships suck, really bad, compared toother ships in Babylon 5 Wars. Oneshould not view them in comparisonto these other ships, but rather ontheir own. The Jakleth fighter forinstance mounts guns that only do1d2 damage, but compared tofighters which mount only 0 or 1armour they can be quite effective.Until other ships are released, theycan really only be played againsteach other or perhaps against theTolkid and Rawnjok ships that are ofa similar tech-scale. The ships thatactually take part in the main war willbe more effective.

Class NotesI’ve added a largely fluff-

based box of information for eachship that lists the manufacturer, outof service date and the number ofships built. Each ship may in turnhave refits that also list the user ofthe refit and the number of shipsrefitted. Note that the refitted shipsare not in addition to the total numberof ships. This information is largelyfor fluff purposes, but should alsoplay a role in determining thecomposition of one’s fleet. Ratherthan impose availability restrictions,the vast majority will have norestrictions and rather the playermust determine for themselves iftheir fleet is historical, assuming theycare about such things.

Projectile WeaponsThese represent a dated

technology where space shipsmount something similar to modernday cannon weaponry. For game

Jakleth-Class Fighter-Bomber

CampaignsCampaigns


purposes, they act exactly as particleweapons except that there is nointercept degradation (as withballistic weaponry).

Ammo Storage Level 1Because most or all of the

guns use ammunition, a “roll forexplosion” rule is introduced for allprojectile-class weaponry. As withmissile racks, roll a separate criticalwhen a weapon takes damage, on anatural 20 the ammunition bin hasbeen hit. An ammo storage rating oflevel 1 means that the ship will beeffectively destroyed by any suchexplosion. Greater storage levels willgive greater protection.

Fission ReactorsFission Reactors work nearly

the same as Fusion Reactors foundon other B5Wars vessels, save they

are theorised as a less-capablepower source and thus are found onships which generally required lesspower. There are two exceptions orchanges to the rules, as below:

1. For all critical hits, reduce thepower loss by half. Thus, a hit thathave normally reduced thereactor by 4 points, would onlyreduce it by 2.

2. If a reactor critical should roll27+, the reactor does not have achance to explode. Instead, itbegins to pour out tremendousamounts of heat which damagethe structural integrity each turnwith increasing lethality. For eachturn after the critical was scored,roll 1d6 and apply the resultdirectly to structure (ignoringarmour). In addition, for eachadditional turn, roll another 1d6

points of damage. Therefore, ifthe critical was scored four turnsago you would roll 4d6 points ofdamage.

Closing NotesOne may notice an

inordinate amount of rules and refitsassociated with these three vesseltypes, such as the odd armour set-up on the Sirona, the Antum’s GravDeck or the Jakleth’s many refits.Such things will be commonplace,though not the norm. The Jakleth forinstance has a lot of refits due to thefact its old, and really sucks butpeople are forced to use it so theytry to make it better. I hope to giveeach ship some level of charactereither through devices such asthese, or pure fluff and historicalbackground.

* * *

Help Request:SFB Hydrans

For the last several months(or is it a year?), I have been workingwith Katoc to get some Hydran shipsfrom the Star Fleet Battles gameconverted over into the Babylon 5Wars Star Trek Conversion. However,I currently don’t have the time to getthem finished up.

I am looking for someone withIllustrator that would be willing to workwith Katoc and other contributors toget SCS done for this faction. Mostof the leg work has been completedand all that is needed now are SCScorrections.

Stop by the Star Trek sub-forum at www.commandcarrier.comto get involved!

-Tyrel

CampaignsCampaigns


The AntareanFleet

Capital Ships

Cyjik Heavy Carrier(Cyrex Hull — Rare Variant)

Built in response to themilitarys need for more OrbitalConstructing vessels the Cyjik wasonly produced in limited numbers.However its Ability to supply its ownfighter compliment with reactivestructure has made this varianthighly prized.Plans to produce moreof these variants has been put onhold due to the Ship yards used toconstruct vessels of this size havebeen relegated to the Wycromproject.

Nytrok System Monitor(Dymecht Hull — Rare Variant)

This variant of the Dymechtwas concieved during the Shadowwar to try to off set the advantage

the Centauri had. however with theShadows backing them the Nytrokwasnt enough to stop the centauriadvance but this didnt deture theAntarean generals and so many ofthis class vessel were built. A full twothirds of their total number weredestroyed durring the war and nomore were built afterwards due tothe Wycrom project.

The remainder of thesevessels are now kept close to theAntarean’s home system as addedinsurance and to promote a feelingof safety to the the Antarean people.

Rykon Supply Ship(Orbital Constructor Hull —Common Variant)

This ship is the only militaryfreighter in Antarean service. Itsability to support fleet operations ina limited combat roll as well aslogistics makes it highly prized.

Built on the OrbitalConstructor hull, after the Antarean’ssuffered several losses to Centauriprolonged intrusions they now utilizethis ship in just about all of theirconflicts with other races.

Its ability to reload the muchmaligned Mytonic Missile Frigatehas caused it to be built at a rapidpace making it a common sight inAntarean space.

Tylok Light Cruiser(Sylik Hull — Common Variant)

During the Shadow war theAntarean’s were fighting for theirlives against the Centauri advanceand the Sylik proved to be too

expensive to build enough of quicklyenough. So plans were drawn up toreduce the cost of the Sylik and theTylok was born. No longer an ELINTvessel this allowed them to beproduced rappidly durring war timewhere a general thought of firepowerover tactics was needed. Strippingthe Sylik of its massive sensor arrayand fitting it with a smaller hangerThey were able to mount the extrafirepower they needed with aminimum of conctruction time. Onehundred Tyolk’s were built by the endof the war with their losses beingonly a small number many of themare still in service today as lightcruisers.

Wycrom Battleship(Base Hull — Unique ship /Restricted after 2265)

During the Shadow War theCentauri were striking out in alldirections trying to expand theirspace. The Antarean’s sufferedmany losses to Shadow supportedCentauri fleets.The Antarean’scouldnt believe how badly theirforces were being beaten by thecentauri (because they have alwaysbeen able to fend them off before)they were loosing territory rapidlyand were desperatly looking forsome way to stop the Centauri’sAdvance and so they begun workingon the Dymecht hull to create asystem monitor (More Firepower)but this still wasnt enough And sothey begun the Wycrom Project theAntarean’s would have to join therest of the galaxy and produce aBattleship class vessel. However

More Antareans:Additional Ships & Variants

Another Plate ofYummy Antarean Flarn

By Robert Balsey

CampaignsCampaigns


just after the Prototype was built thewar was drawing to a close so theWycrom saw only limited action butserved amazingly well. Outfitted withthe latest weaponry and two fullsquadrons of fighters the Wycromcould hold its own against TwoPrimus Battlecruisers! To say theleast this Impressed the AntareanGenerals so much that they didntwant to let the program go. And soplans to produce 7 more of thesevessels were submitted to theRepublican Senate but alreadybogged down in politics andrecovery efforts after the Shadowwar has put this project on hold Andso the Wycrom remains a Uniquevessel for the time being.

Heavy Combat VesselsCycal Light Carrier(Lydox Hull — UncommonVariant)

Developed during theshadow war. The demand for a midrange carrier was needed to betterdefend the antarean system itsability to carry 18 heavy fighters intocombat and its limited ability tosupport a larger fleet as a fighterkiller was Invaluable againstCentauri Incursions a reasonablenumber of these vessels remain inservice today mainly due to the delayin production of heavy carriers.

Lydek Assault Ship(Lydox Hull — Common Variant)

Not yet having an assaultship and sensing the Centauri’sweakness prior to the Shadowsinvolvement and not wanting tocreate an entirely new ship designthe navy decided to modify thealready usefull Lydox into an assaultvariant. Many were constructed prior

to the shadow war and wereresponsible for the Antarean’sretaking of Polgrath as well asmoving in on the Horuna systemcurrently owned by the Golians.

Fighters and ShuttlesSypik light Fighters(Base Hull — UnlimitedDeployment)

This little fighter is possiblythe smallest thing in space were notfor its reactive structure it wouldnteven be considered for civilianservice except for possibly air showsor the like so the design wasscrapped.

However with the Shadowwar in full swing the Zykel was pulledfrom its Anti pirate roll and pushedinto a full interceptor roll, with thatdone the antareans outfitted thissmall fighter as an anti priateelement. Much to their supprise it dida great job and so moved intoservice in a limited amount.

* * *

Wanted:One Ur-QuanSlave ShieldNew or used conditionNo price too high

UPDATE: I *really* needone of these things, guys!Please! With all of thecrazy, dangerous, andscary things to passthrough this place, I wouldreally feel safer with a nice,warm (but not too warm)slave shield to keep mesafe at night! I just knowthat the Ultimate Evil isgoing to be coming after meany day now!

Contact:Captain Fwiffo c/o ZathrasThe Great MachineEpsilon 3

CampaignsCampaigns


IntroductionHello, fellow B5wars fans.

This is your friendly neighborhoodstatus quo shatterer Starfuryreporting to you live from the frontlines of a universe gone wrong. Inkeeping with the theme of thismonth’s GM (alternate universe andodd reflections thereof), I havecreated a “mirror, mirror” version ofthe B5 universe we have grown tolove and admire over the last 10years or so. This universe is not ashappy or free of pain as the currentB5 universe is, but is insteadplunged into several conflicts thathave become personal vendettasand religious crusades, and thosecan take centuries to burn out.Let’s start at the beginning, which isalways a delicate time.

History of the B5Mirror, MirrorUniverse

B5 history in the mirror,mirror world is much the same untilthe year 2233, after the defeat andsupposed destruction of the Dilgar.The Dilgar always had an eye openfor the possibility of defeat, and afterthe major reverses the Allies hadhanded to them on both the Draziand the Balosians fronts, they hadmade massive plans to ensuresomething of their race and culturesurvived. Warmaster Vak’do of theWar Council, a recent appointee tothe Spec Ops and Research Divisionof the Dilgar after the death of itsprevious leader, had been contactedby a mysterious new race known asthe Drakh. The Drakh, oneSis’Vesta, had asked the Dilgar theage old question the Shadow thrallshad asked every race “What do youwant?” Vak’do, being no idiot, askedfor the power to overcome his race’sfoes and ensure their salvation.Sis’Vesta responded that thesituation had deteriorated too much

for the Dilgar to win against the battlefervor of the Allies, but he did saythat he could enable the Dilgar tosurvive and gain revenge against the“lesser” species they wished todefeat. Following that goal,Warmaster Vak’do gathered whatsamples and genetic materials/Dilgar colonists he could andfollowed the Drakh’s mothership toan unknown planet known asZha’ha’dum, where the Dilgar wouldgrow strong and powerful onceagain.

After the defeat of the Dilgarand the escape of Jha’Dur, a goldenage of prosperity and peace filled thestars for the next decade or so,bringing a well-needed rest to war-weary nations and massive growthfor both the Narn Regime and theEarth Alliance. Pulse weaponscame into vogue in the early 2240s,and were adopted by many races asa cheap improvement to lowerpower hulls and interim designs.Only a few races lacked thetechnology or the vision to use suchweapons to their fullest extent, butmost of the major races and theLeague dabbled in their use oradopted them as part of their navalinventories. This leads to the first

A View Throughthe Looking Glass

by Jeremy Ward

Between the Darkness...Between the Darkness...Between the Darkness...Between the Darkness...Between the Darkness...Babylon 5 Mirror UniverseBabylon 5 Mirror UniverseBabylon 5 Mirror UniverseBabylon 5 Mirror UniverseBabylon 5 Mirror UniverseBetween the Darkness...Between the Darkness...Between the Darkness...Between the Darkness...Between the Darkness...Babylon 5 Mirror UniverseBabylon 5 Mirror UniverseBabylon 5 Mirror UniverseBabylon 5 Mirror UniverseBabylon 5 Mirror Universe

CampaignsCampaigns


major naval division in the universe’shistory. Pulse weapon refits becamepopular with the Drazi, the Markab,the Earth Alliance, the Narn (alongwith their traditional developments),the Deneth, the Hurr (when theycould afford them), the Llort (whenthey could steal them) and Raiderhulls. The Torata developed thepulse accelerator variant of theGolthar (the Latrac Defender) in2242, rather than 2261, and it was acommon hull until the Golthar cameonline in 2257. Laser pulseweaponry was created by the Hyach,but the lesser damage and lower FCvs fighters was not enough tobalance the increase range the laserpulse cannons offered, so only rarevariants of the Senchlat Kam (whichseems to be their main testbed) wereever deployed. The Vree alsodabbled in anti-matter pulsarweaponry, which would lead to theimplementation of the dreadedshredder, but the wide variance indamage of the anti-matter pulsarswas too much even for the free-wheeling Vree guilds. The Kor-Lyans found pulse weapons to behighly useful for suicide frigates andlower cost HCVs, so a refittedversion of the Axor Assault Corvetteand a pulse version of the Soskalight cruiser saw limited adoption.Even the Pak developed a pulsebased plasma cannon off discardedEarth designs, but as with most Pakvariants, it was implemented on alimited basis on the Resh’kash’u hull.The Yolu stood by, ignoring most ofthe rest of the galaxy as they tookback their worlds by force or bydiplomacy, as needed. The Minbarihad developed the molecular pulsarand shelved it a century before, andthe Ipsha, the Balosians, theCorillani, the Medushaans, theTal’kona’sha, the Attarn, the Grome,the Nashani, the Gaim (who had nospace navy at this point), the Cascor,

the Descari, the Koulani, the Brakiri,and the Ch’Lonas either haddeveloped their own pulse weaponryor ignored them in favor of their ownnaval development. The Centauri,going through their shrinkage andinterior squabbles of the 2230s and40s, had a couple of forward thinkingHouses flirt with pulse weapons, butthe flirtations lead to little change inCentauri naval strategy. (Specificchanges and SCS for each of theseraces will either follow this GM orothers as time and interest allow).

In 2245, a disastrous firstcontact mission between Earth andthe Minbari led to the great shootinggallery known as the Earth-MinbariWar. With the death of their leaderDukhat and the ascendance ofDelenn to the Grey Council, theMinbari led a jihad to cleansehumanity from the stars. Only thediscovery that Minbari were beingreborn into human souls stopped theMinbari from wiping them out in2248, and led to the construction andrebirth of the Alliance with theeventual development of the

Babylon stations. The Shadows didnot awake until 2260, but the Narn-Centauri war that everyone hadawaited erupted anyway, after theNarn’s unsuccessful takeover ofRaghesh III. The Centauri won, butthe Narn managed to save part oftheir empire after the bloodiestdefense the galaxy had ever seen.Shrunk to all systems from theirHomeworld and back, the Narnplanned their revenge. TheShadows appeared in 2261, andeither seduced or eliminated themajor players other than B5 and theMinbari, and the League Warssprang up about this time as well.The Vorlons responded with thedestruction of a Shadow groupattacking a fleet of Brakiri refugees.The EA attempted to take over B5after the Clark administration tookpower, but they were soundlydefeated by Minbari and rebel EAforces. Sheridan left for Z’ha’dum,and fell into the Shadows trap. Thewar between the Vorlons and theShadows continued, with both sidesunleashing their terror weapons in

CampaignsCampaigns


one last attempt to destroy the other.Sheridan reappeared with the FirstOne Lorien at his side in the middleof 2262, and managed to reforge theremaining League worlds, the Narn,and the Minbari into a force capableof fighting the Shadows and theVorlons. During one conflict with theShadows over the destruction of aVree trading colony, Lyta Alexandermanaged to inadvertently stun oneShadow vessel using the enhancedtelepathic abilities the Vorlons hadencoded in her during her stay onVentox. The Shadow’s Achilles heeldiscovered, Sheridan moved quicklyto find the remaining First Ones andfix the Ancients in one last battlearound Coriana Six. Now many ofyou are going to ask, what about theCentauri?

Well, the Centauri had theirown problems. Londo hadeliminated Lord Refa as his primaryenemy in the Centaurum, but hefound Emperor Cartagia even moremad then many of his compatriots.The Shadows and their thralls hadselected Centauri Prime as a homebase, and the subsequentdestruction of Z’ha’dum had shakenthe Shadows. So they rested andgathered their strength for the newconflict the Vorlons had started somany years before. However, theillusion of peace that the alliance withthe Shadows had brought was soonshattered. Emperor Cartagia wasassassinated by members of thedeposed House Jaddo before Londocould strike, and the CentauriRepublic fell into civil war. Two sidesformed one behind the regent andLondo, who used what forces theShadows could spare as an elitehammer for their fleet, and GrandAdmiral Thraddo, the beloved leaderof the Royal Fleet during the War ofRetribution. However, the Shadowforces suddenly left for Coriana Sixas the Shadows and Vorlons

recalled ALL of their forces for thislast battle. The sudden lurch leftLondo and the Regent without asignificant advantage, and GrandAdmiral Thraddo made severalinroads into their space. Only theintervention of the Drakh, followingthe last orders and the mantra theShadows had left them, allowedLondo, who had now becomeemperor in 2264 with the death ofthe Regent, to successfully slowThraddo’s advance.

The battle of Coriana Sixwas one of the largest and bloodiestfixed piece space battles of all time.The final result left the Army ofLight’s fleet decimated, but theyounger races were free to pursuetheir own destiny. Sheridan nowturned his attention to the increasingparanoia of the Clark government in2264, and slowly built forces of rebelEA ships and alien vessels to bringsome sort of sanity to his home.However, the defeat of the Vorlonsand the Shadows had someunexpected consequences. TheDrakh had gained ever increasingcontrol over the Loyalist Centauri,and Thraddo found himself boxed inthe gains he had made. (A race oftelepaths makes a big differencewhen you need to know fleetdeployments of your enemy). At thesame time, the Orieni, who had beenrebuilding themselves ever sincetheir defeat in the Centauri-Orieniwar, found evidence the Drakh hadreturned to Centauri space, andbegan to collect their forces for arenewed jihad against the demonsof darkness. In Feburary of 2265,the Clark EA gathered together asmall fleet of Shadow Omegas andelite forces equipped with the bestthe EA could muster (including whatWarlocks their were) to attack B5 asecond time. The attack wasrepelled once again, but the ShadowOmegas managed to strike B5 a

couple of times with light slicer beamfire. The resultant damage blew outa large portion of the living quartersand ambassadorial wing, includingthe Minbari Ambassador quarterswhere Delenn was walking awayfrom to join the Minbari forcesdefending B5 (this is obviouslybefore she could leave for Minbar).Delenn and many ambassadorsfrom various worlds perished, and acollective cry could be heard throughthe station for weeks. One cry,REVENGE! Sheridan assembledhis forces in March of 2265 and blewthrough the first defense Clark hadsetup around the colony of BetaDurani. The refit time he had beendevoting to building new hulls for theRangers had paid off, and the EAforces never knew what hit them.Sheridan asked for the colony tosurrender, but the proud EAcommander swore to fight to the lastman. Sheridan cut offcommunications and ordered thefleet to bombard the planet until theEA surrendered or nothing survived.The order shocked some of the olderraces and the Narn into leaving, asSheridan’s orders violated treatyagreements and raised badmemories of orbital bombardmentfrom the Dilgar and the Centauri.Those older races were the Cascor,the Hyach, the Yolu, the Abbai, theVree, and the Pak’ma’ra. Theremaining races followed Sheridan’sorders, and Beta Durani became thefirst planet sterilized in over 30 years.The above races and the Narn brokeoff any contact with the new ISASheridan had formed, and joined theClark EA in resisting the ISA’sdetermination to destroy the EarthAlliance. A slow war of attritionbegan to form, and continues to thepresent day (2275). The EarthAlliance has lost about 4 planets,and the Narn have been unable tocontribute much to the war effort as

CampaignsCampaigns


they slowly gather back the territorythe Centauri took from them. TheDrakh have contacted their ace inthe hole, the Shadow Dilgar(remember the beginning of thisarticle?), and the ascendant catshave struck deep into Centauri/Orieni held territory with avengeance. Two large wars now fillthe space left behind by the Ancients,and who knows who will win.

Appendix:Current Alliances andEnemies in the Mirror,Mirror B5 UniverseISA or IA: Rangers, Minbari, MinbariProtectorate, B5, Drazi, Ch’Lonas,Koulani, Gaim, Brakiri, Llort, Torata,Kor-Lyans (limited), Deneth(mercenaries and weapons sales);Enemies: EA Defensive Alliance,Drakh/Loyalist Centauri (limited)

EA Defensive Alliance: EA,Marsforce, Belt Alliance, NarnRegime, Hyach, Cascor, Vree,Pak’ma’ra (limited), Yolu, remainingMarkab; Enemies: ISA, Drakh/Loyalist Centauri (limited)

Shadow Spawn: Drakh, ShadowDilgar, Lumati, Strieb, LoyalistCentauri; Enemies: ISA and EAdefensive alliance (limited), Orieni/Rebel Centauri

The Jihad of Righteousness:Orieni, Rogolons, Usuuth, FreeWorlds League (Medushaans andNashani), Rebel Centauri,Antareans; Enemies: ShadowSpawn

Non-Aligned: Balosians, Corillani(limited operations vs LoyalistCentauri), Attarn, Grome, Hurr (theAttarn, the Grome, and the Hurr arein a triple threat match to finally gaincontrol over their areas of space),Ipsha

Ships of theRanger andMinbari Fleets

The ships of the Ranger andMinbari fleets are the most advancedvessels deployed by any of thebelligerents in the Mirror, Mirroruniverse. Weapons systems havebeen narrowed down to a smallselection of molecular and advancedlaser weaponry for ease ofreplacement, training, andmodification, yet their advancedcapabilities allow for a wide varietyof tactics to be employed.

Weapons and ShipsAvailable to the Rangerand Minbari FleetsStock Vessels

Sharlin War CruiserNeshatan GunshipMorshin CarrierRolentha and Rogata TugsLetann ScoutTorotha Assault FrigateEsharan Anti-Fighter FrigateLeshath Heavy ScoutGrey Sharlin War CruiserShargoti BattlecruiserTrolata Armored CruiserShantavi Heavy Battle Frigate (now

Uncommon Status)Tinashi Battle FrigateRetlata Transport

Rolatha Freighter (RPP2)Sharaal War CruiserTigarin Patrol CruiserTroligan Armored CruiserTradana Combat FrigateNograth Starbase (refitted, no

longer in use)Sheganna OSAT (refitted, no

longer in use)Nial Heavy FighterTishat Medium Fighter

Unchanged Fanbrew DesignsSharlotha War Cruiser (Common

Sharlin Variant) (Tyrel Lohr)Shanlith Light Cruiser

(Koumdros)Shennega OSAT (Koumdros)Tigershark Export Fighter –

Minbari Version (Hyperion)Drala Fi Battlecruiser (Common

Shargoti Variant) (BenRubery)

Tinsharra Light Cruiser (TyrelLohr)

Darshaa TechnologyDemonstrator Super HeavyFighter (Hyperion)

White Star Scout (Unknown)

Changed Fanbrew and StockDesigns

Victory Advanced Destroyer(Hyperion)

IA Titan Advanced Destroyer (TyrelLohr)

Allegiance Light Cruiser (TyrelLohr)

Shargotha Battlecruiser (CommonShargoti Variant)

Drala Fitha Battlecruiser (CommonShargoti Variant)

IA Blue Star Gunboat (Hyperion)Denshaa Super Heavy Fighter

(Hyperion)White Star ImprovedWhite Star Command, ImprovedISA Agammenon Destroyer

(Richard Bax)Nograth Starbase upgraded

CampaignsCampaigns


Liandra Patrol Frigate Refit(various)

Enfali Patrol Cruiser Refit (TyrelLohr)

Valen Light Cruiser Refit (Various)Grey Sharlin Neutron Lance refit

Refit NotesVictory Advanced Destroyer

The most dangerous andpowerful vessel ever produced by ayounger race, the Victory serves asa mobile command and gunshipplatform for ISA task forces, and hasbeen refitted with Minbari jammingequipment, neutron lances,improved neutron lasers, fusioncannons, and advanced C4coordination gear for fleet actions.A very, very, nasty ship.

Titan Advanced DestroyerThe stock ship of the line for

the Rangers, the Titan is adevastating smaller version of theVictory. It lacks the heavy firepowerof the Victory;s neutron lances, butmounts 5 improved neutron lasersand a battery of molecular pulsarsand fusion cannon for anti-fighterand close range work. 18 fightersmake a significant CAP for ISAsquadrons.

Allegiance Light CruiserMinbari and Ranger ship

designers produced this HCVversion of the White Star in light ofPresident Sheridan’s request for aheavier vessel. Much lessexpensive than the Titan or theVictory, the Allegiance mounts 20%more firepower than the White Starand carries 6 fighters to boot. A very,quick, responsive HCV used for awide variety of duties. It often leads

White Star squadrons on raids andfast attack missions.

Shargotha BattlecruiserWith the development of the

neutron lance, refits on heavierMinbari vessels became commonduring the latter part of the 22nd

century. 3 neutron lances give theShargotha almost unequaled longrange firepower, and make thisvessel a feared sight on anybattlefield.

Drala Fitha BattlecruiserThe Black Star became

refitted with 3 neutron lances as wellduring the Minbari refit efforts of theirlarger vessels during the 22nd

century. Only the Victory outstripsthe Black Star in firepower, and onlythrough the use of the VorlonLightning Cannon. EA forces areadvised to engage any fleet with aVictory, a Shargotha, or a Drala Fithawith superior numbers and caution,as their raw firepower can blow apartsquadrons.

Blue Star GunboatThe Blue Star Gunboat is a

breakthrough in ship miniaturizationand research. The Blue Star is usedfor all sorts of duties, from anti-fighter and piracy work, to escort andassault duties. Combined withWhite Stars and Denshaa/DarshaaSuper-Heavy Fighters, the Blue Starforms the triumvirate of ISA fastattack squadrons.

Denshaa Super-Heavy FighterThe advancement in

miniaturization the Blue Star broughtallowed for the mounting of a lightneutron laser on the Denshaa hull.Slow firing, this weaponnevertheless makes the Denshaaeven more feared for anti-ship work.

Denshaas and Darshaas require nocatapults for launch, being fullyintegrated into IA hangar design.

White Star and White StarCommand, Improved

Advances in reactor designeliminated the power shortage thathad haunted the White Star since itsinception in 2260. The addition of ahangar bay capable of carrying Nialsor other IA fighters granted an evenmore independent range ofoperation by an already impressiveship.

Agammenon ISA DestroyerDesigned as an insult and a

reminder of the moral andtechnological superiority of the IA(supposedly), the Agammenon is theclass designation given to capturedor rebuilt Omega destroyers underIA control. The class is refitted withMinbari jamming technology,improved neutron lasers, fusioncannon, and retains Earth’simpressive interceptor technologyand heavy pulse cannon. This is nota ship to be taken lightly, and manyOmega captains have found that outto their sorrow.

Upgraded Nograth StarbaseTo follow in next issue.

Liandra Patrol FrigateThe refit of the Liandra was

in response to the destruction of thefirst Valen cruiser by the Hand, andthe need for patrol vessels to takeover the duties normally done byWhite Stars and Allegiance Cruiser.The neutron bolters and lessversatile fusion cannon wereremoved, replaced with 4 molecularpulsars and one light molecularpulsar. The resultant increase infirepower makes the Liandra an

CampaignsCampaigns


excellent anti-fighter and patrolvessel, or escort.

Enfali Patrol Cruiser (refit)The Enfali is designed to

lead Liandra patrol groups incombat, and act as a cheap HCVwhen needed. Lacking a jump drive,the Enfali carries as much firepoweras a White Star, and is easilyproduced for most any duty. 1improved neutron laser provideslong-range firepower, and 4molecular pulsars and 2 fusioncannon easily meet or exceed mostother races’ HCV combat power.The Enfali may be consideredsecond-line like the Liandra, butsecond-line IA/Minbari is equal tomany first-line races’ ships.

Valen Light Cruiser (refit)After its first disastrous

showing the Valen was refit with agroup of experimental technologies.The addition of the quad fusiondefenders and improved neutronlasers worked wonders with its fastspeed and maneuverability. It is nowused as a fast backup for WhiteStars, and a solid core for fast attackgroups to pivot off of.

Grey Sharlin Neutron LanceRefit

Like all Sharlins built after2150 or refit, the Grey Sharlin carriesa neutron lance. Not muchdifference otherwise.

ConclusionAnd there you have it. More

to come on the other developmentsin ship design. This is Starfurysigning off.

* * *

NOW AVAILABLEVisit www.richbax.com to download this

excellent addition to the Babylon 5 Universe!

CampaignsCampaigns


ReturnReturnReturnReturnReturnto Nexusto Nexusto Nexusto Nexusto Nexus

The Nexus Universe - Part 3

The Polaren Syndicate:Truly Alien

The race that has becomeknown as the Polaren is one of themost unique races to have everdeveloped within or without of theNexus sector. The Polarens hailfrom an average-sized world chokedwith clouds and often noxious fumes,which would leave most races deadin minutes. However, from this,Polaren civilization developed andflourished. There is simply no easyway to describe what the Polarensare. For the most part, the Polarensare considered semi-intelligent

plants with animal characteristics.Outwardly, individual Polarensresemble a large plant, with five toseven “vines” extending from acentral “body.” These vines makeup most of the mass of the averagePolaren and are roughly three feetlong apiece. These vines areextremely flexible, but have a verytough exterior, which the earlyPolarens used as a defense bycurling into a ball and protecting theirsensitive “body.” These vines areused for several things besidedefense. They act as the creature’slegs, giving the Polarens theappearance of an octopus walkingon land. In addition, each vine iscovered with tough spines less thanhalf an inch in length and allows aPolaren to climb up extremely steepsurfaces. At the very tip of the vine,several of these spines havedeveloped into fine manipulators,acting almost like fingers and give

the Polarens the gift of dexterity.The central “body,” which the

vines surround is covered by severallarge leafs containing the mainphotosynthesis capable sections ofthe creature. The body itself almosthangs from the vines and iscomposed of a dense network of airsacs and the Polaren equivalent ofa brain. The Polarens also do nothave a traditional sense of sight andinstead have heat pits scatteredaround their bodies which allow themto sense infrared light in anydirection. The air sacs provideseveral functions. First, they providethe source for chemosynthesis. Asthe Polarens developed on a planetwith thick clouds and a poisonousatmosphere, the air sacs allow themto draw energy from the chemicalsin the atmosphere when there is notenough light for photosynthesis. Inaddition, the air sacs act as an airfilter allowing the Polarens to survive

Introducing thePolaren Syndicate

By Geoffrey and Jeremy Stano

CampaignsCampaigns


(and “eat”) nearly any atmosphere.How the Polarens initially

developed is a mystery as thePolarens themselves do not haveextensive records about their ancienthistory. It is often remarked that thePolaren were quite fortunate that fewanimals on their world were capableof eating them. What is known isthat they developed out of a plantthat grew across one of the largercontinents of their world. Initially,these plants had the ability to pullthemselves across rather ruggedterrain, using their grasping vines inorder to move to areas rich innutrients. This process was slow asthe vines had to expand and contractin order to pull the creature, whichoften could take hours to move onlya few feet. At this point, the Polarensonly had a simple single processingcenter which “saw” the world aroundit and caused the Polaren to reactwith simple responses, such asmove, defend, unfurl leaves, etc.Quite simply, the Polaren were non-sentient. However, over time, thisprocessor began to take on theappearance of a brain, capable ofmore complex commands. As the“brain” developed, the bodies of thePolaren began to develop theequivalent of muscles to allow fastermovement of the vines, which movedthe creature. Slowly, great forestsof Polaren congregated and wouldtravel to new mineral rich locationsand this gave rise to the birth ofPolaren civilization.

Much like their physicalappearance, Polaren society cannotbe easily compared to any othersociety. First, the Polarens areneither a collective hive mind, nor arethey very intelligent at the individuallevel. Somehow, and the processhas never been understood since thePolarens have never revealed how,groups of Polarens are capable ofcooperatively thinking together,

although some sort of telepathy issuspected. In large groups, thePolarens are capable of incrediblefeats of mental capacity andcalculation. Often, groups ofPolarens form life-long bonds, calledpolairs, and for most purposes canbe considered a single individual,even if separated by severalkilometers. The separate creatureswhich make up this “individual” arecapable of independent thought andaction and sometimes will leave thegroup to do whatever the individualfeels necessary to do. However,when part of the group, the individualis much more capable, intellectually.

Polaren UnitsPolaren Light CombatVessels When one thinks of the Polarenfleet, images of swarms of potentLCVs come to mind. While severalof their combined ship classes areimpressive, the Polarens are almostsynonymous with LCVs. ThePolarens rely upon these vessels asthey are simple to build and easy fortheir people to operate. To outsiders,the total reliance on this type ofcombat craft seems like a cruelmisuse of life. This comes fromoutsiders applying “individuality” toPolarens, which is not correct. InPolaren society, the individuals whomake up a polair are capable ofleaving a mental imprint of all theirexperiences upon the othermembers. Because of this, thePolarens do not believe that an“individual” is dead until all membersof a polair have passed. As a result,serving aboard an LCV is not seenas “dangerous” because other polairmembers will continue elsewhere. Almost any Polaren world of any

value has the capability to producethese vessels. This makes the smallunits present anywhere in Polarenspace. These LCVs are even moreimpressive when it is realized thatthey do not suffer from thedisadvantages of other LCVs. Dueto Polaren physiology, these tinyships are fully functional starships,capable of sustaining long patrolsand forays into hyperspace and haveno restrictions on their use of EW,as is the case with other NexusLCVs. Seeing how versatile theseunits are, it is not surprising to see along line of LCV designs, steadilybuilding upon the successes of theprevious generation.

Talynev Early CorvetteBase Hull (Unlimited until 1893,Uncommon until 1965, Rarethereafter) The earliest combat LCVdesigned by the Polarens was firstdeveloped in 1812 and incorporated,at the time, the most advancedsystems available to the Polarens.The Talynev was a revolutionarydesign as it was agile, had animpressive sensor array for its time,and utilized hard-hitting railguntechnology. Railgun technologysoon became a favorite of thePolarens as it was easy to build andmaintain as well as incorporatingsignificant firepower. While mostraces would eventually abandonrailgun technology, especially due toits logistical strains, the Polarensenjoyed this technology and wouldadvance it into several advancedforms. Logistical concerns were nota major issue for the Polarens astheir crews typically needed littleliving space compared to the otherraces. This allowed even the smallPolaren LCVs to carry ample storesof ammunition. In the conflict between the

CampaignsCampaigns


homeworld and the radical colony ofGarantith, several features appearedin the Talynev’s design that thePolarens wished to address. Themost obvious was the railgunarmament itself. In combat, thePolarens found that railguns, whilepowerful, ripped systems off theirtargets with little collateral damage.As a result, a solid hit by a railgunmight only damage a small ultralightrailgun on the target, thus wastingthe full shot’s potential. This spurredthe development of fletchlette guntechnology, which was first deployedon the colony ships in the mid 1880s.Fletchlette guns entered widespreaduse by 1887, forcing the earlycorvette out of favor. However, somePolaren factions favored the hard-hitting design and continued limitedproduction well into the First War ofControl era. There, the corvettessaw limited success as the largerPolaren opponents were more easilydamaged by railguns, but theprimitive Polaren railgun technologylacked the fire control to adequatelyengage large ships.

Arimet CorvetteBase Hull (Unlimited Deployment) The upgrade to the Talynevcorvette traded in the railgunarmament for a medium fletchlettegun and a quartet of point defenselasers. This design was a vastimprovement over its predecessorand was much more capable ofengaging opposing LCVs. Itsfletchlette gun, developed out of theoriginal light railgun, was able topotentially score more damage andspread it over the entire target,minimizing the chances of the entireshot hitting a small system, andmaximizing the chances of hitting avital system. The new point defenselasers also added tactical flexibilityas combat LCVs could better defend

themselves from opponents(especially those armed solely withrailguns) and added more weapons.The Arimet soon became thedominant LCV in Polaren service fornearly 150 years, serving alongsideits sister design the Merolan. TheseLCVs served in massive numbersagainst the Sal-bez and could befound in the battle line during theFirst War of Control. While anexcellent skirmisher against smallships, this corvette suffered severalmajor flaws. The first was its lack offire control against larger units.Initially, this was not a problem asthe Polarens had only foughtamongst themselves. However,against the Sal-bez and the otherpowers later during the First War ofControl, this put the small LCVs at adistinct disadvantage. Secondly, thepoint defense lasers proved lackingagainst enemy fighters specifically,and opposing ships in general.While the lasers were upgraded tointercept lasers, this particulardesign was eventually phased outafter the First War of Control, butmany ships of the Arimet classremained for decades to come dueto the shear number of units that hadbeen built.

Merolan Fletchlette CorvetteBase Hull (Common ArimetVariant) The Merolan corvettedemonstrated that the Polarens hadtwo viewpoints when it came to thedevelopment of their combat LCVs.Where the Arimet used two pointdefense lasers in each wing, theMerolan mounted a single fletchlettegun. Corvettes of this class wereenvisioned as shock units, capableof causing more direct damage thantheir laser armed counterparts.Polaren military planners saw theadvantages of both types and the

Arimet and Merolan served, side byside, throughout their service history.Against the Sal-bez, the Merolanssuffered more casualties than theArimets as they lacked the sameintercept capabilities, but were stillconsidered the superior design astheir fletchlette guns were morecapable of damaging the Sal-bezcruisers. The Merolans served wellfor many more years, but wereeventually phased out during theFirst War of Control by moreadvanced LCV designs.

Lyrae Laser CorvetteBase Hull (Limited Availability33%, Restricted 10% after 2121) The Lyrae was a contemporaryof the Arimet and Merolan corvetteswhose design bucked traditionalPolaren concepts. Several factionssaw lasers as being the next step inthe evolution of Polaren weapons,citing the widespread acceptance ofthe point defense laser. While thepoint defense laser was quite weak,designers searched for ways toimprove the system into a capableoffensive weapon that could takeadvantage of the laser ’s non-interceptable abilities. It was thoughtthe Lyrae corvette would be anexcellent way to counter theincreasing numbers of Polaren LCVswith intercept capable weapons. Theend result was the large defenselaser, which turned out to be a majordisappointment to the Polarens. Theweapon, while actually having morefire control and damage comparedto the smaller point defense laser,simply did not impress militaryleaders. While capable of decentdamage, the large defense laseroften did the same or even lessactual damage than the mediumfletchlette gun it replaced. A spin-off design, replacing the four pointdefense lasers with two fletchlette

CampaignsCampaigns


guns saw slightly better success,especially in the war with the Sal-bez, but it was not enough to savethe class. The Lyrae saw service forclose to a century as a police vessel,but production ended around 2000.All were retired or destroyed in theearly stages of the First War ofControl.

Mynov Laser CorvetteBase Hull (Common LyraeVariant) The Mynov tried to correct someof the flaws inherent in the Lyraelaser corvette design. Instead ofusing the quartet of point defenselasers, the Mynov utilized a singlefletchlette gun in each wing. Thisresulted in enhanced directfirepower, but left the Mynov lackingany kind of intercept capability, whichits opponents often exploited. In theend, most command polairs used theLyraes and Mynovs to provide someflexibility in their forces, but eachclass was taken out of service duringthe First War of Control.

Curlotan Blast CorvetteBase Hull (Unlimited Deployment) The Curlotan is a glimpse intothe future of Polaren LCVdevelopment. It is an interestingblend of old and new technologies,which in the end, produces a highlyeffective and vicious opponent.During the Polaren Conflict and intothe First War of Control, the earliergenerations of Polaren LCVssuffered from severaldisadvantages. These ranged fromlight armor and low sensors, to lowdamage weapons lacking fire controlagainst larger targets and significantrange. While some of these issueswere addressed with the combinedship concept, the Polarensunderstood that the basic building

blocks of their combined ships (i.e.:the LCVs) needed enhancementsand upgrades. The Curlotan is aremarkable step in that direction. Itmanages to fit an improved sensorarray onto an LCV frame andincludes substantial upgrades to itsarmor and structure. Since theCurlotan was built with combinedships in mind, its larger and betterarmored systems increase thesurvivability of any combined shipsit is part of as well as improving itsown survivability on independentdeployments. Furthermore, thedesign relies upon the newlydeveloped medium blast cannon;evolved from the medium fletchlettegun. This weapon gave the Curlotanimpressive fire control against largeopponents and a range much closerto that of its opponents. The damage

was still somewhat light, especiallyagainst the new Velrax guncruisers,but its rapid fire abilities and theshear number of supporting LCVswas deemed to outweigh thisdisadvantage. One further problem with theblast cannon was that it requiredmuch more specialized ammunitioncompared to the early railgun andfletchlette gun weapons. This did puta substantial drain on Polarenlogistics, which the Polarensaccepted as the price fordevelopment. Furthermore, thepoint defense lasers were quicklyupgraded to the intercept laservariety, resulting in a versatile anddeadly combatant. The Curlotanwould remain in service even whennewer, more advanced LCVs weredeveloped during the Border War

CampaignsCampaigns


years and the Second War ofControl.

Curlot Blast CorvetteBase Hull (Uncommon CurlotanVariant, Rare after 2145) A competing design with theCurlotan replaced the wing laserswith fletchlette guns. While thedesign showed promise initially, itwould not see the widespread usethe Merolan fletchlette corvette didwith the Arimet corvette. The Curlot’sdemise was brought about by thedevelopment of the intercept laser.While lacking the damage ability ofa matter weapon, the intercept laserswere cheaper and could be placedin greater numbers aboard LCVs,which allowed large combined ships,such as the heavy cruiser, to producehuge volleys of laser fire at closerange. The intercept laser was alsomore effective at engaging fighters;a consideration that weighed heavilyon the Polarens in light of the shearnumber of excellent Velrax fightersencountered during the First War ofControl. The lack of fletchlette gunsin the Curlotan freed up additionalspace for more blast cannon roundsin storage compared to the Curlotmodel. In the end, while the interceptlaser lacked the raw hitting power ofthe fletchlette gun, it was seen asmore versatile and generated aconstant number of shots, makingplanning in battle much simpler.Many Curlot’s would serve admirablythrough the years, but Polarendoctrine had begun to shift to utilizinga single LCV design, as opposed tomultiple designs.

PolarenCombined Ships Among the many unique qualitiesof the Polaren fleet, the use of

combined ships is probably one ofthe most confusing for opponents todeal with. The Polarens developedand refined the concept in the yearsafter their war with the Sal-bez as ameans to create heavy combat unitsthat did not tax the existing Polarenproduction system. By attachingvarious numbers of LCVs to a“central connector” the Polarenscould create equivalents of nearlyany ship size in use by the otherraces. The additional advantage ofthe combined ships was their heavyweapons hard points, increasing theoverall firepower of the combinedLCVs and their shear variety.Polaren opponents had to refer to thevarious ship combinations by genericterms, such as destroyer, mediumcruiser, and heavy cruiser. Thesedesignators were based upon thenumber of LCVs connected and thesize of the central connector. Thiswas done because any type of LCVcould be used on any type of centralconnector. Furthermore, combinedships that suffered the loss of asection (i.e.: an LCV) could replacethat section with a completelydifferent LCV. This resulted in thesame ship reappearing on thebattlefield with a completely differentarmament. Combined ships did nothave any standard combinations.While some were favored overothers, the Polarens would use anyavailable LCV to finish constructionof a combined ship, if times weredesperate. This could result in adestroyer class ship using an earlyTalynev LCV in combination with themodern Curlotan LCV. Whileexceedingly rare, this did happen.As a result, the Polarens could usethis tactical surprise and asymmetricdesigns to their advantage incombat.

Polaren Combined ShipRulesGeneral Notes For combined ships, the centralcore provides the sensors, thrust,command and control, and heavyweapons, as well as the additionalreactor power. How this is handledis described below. The advantageof combined ships is that they arevery redundant. A combined shipthat looses a primary componentmay be able to utilize a similarsystem in any of its attached LCVs,albeit at a lesser capability. All combined ship SCSs statehow many LCVs are used in thecombination. A combined ship mustuse all available LCV spaces.However, the combined ship’s owneris free to choose any combination ofLCVs and may place them in anygiven LCV slot. LCVs are stillrestricted by status (i.e.: common,uncommon, or rare), but this pertainsto the fleet as a whole and not on aper combined ship basis. In otherwords, one combined ship can haveall Rare LCVs, as long as therestrictions on the LCVs for the entirefleet are maintained. Certain centralconnectors will have availabilityrestrictions, such as jump variants,but this does not in any way restrictwhat LCVs may be attached to thecentral connector. If a centralconnector has an availabilityrestriction, it is based upon thegeneric connector type (i.e.:destroyer, medium cruiser, etc.) andnot on individual sub-types of theclass (i.e.: Gratherin Destroyer). MCVs have a few exceptions tothe above rules. They consist of twoLCVs docked directly togetherwithout a central connector. In thiscase use the best value between thetwo LCVs to determine sensors

CampaignsCampaigns


strength. Also, the player mustdesignate which LCV is acting as thecommand LCV. Should this LCV bedestroyed or loose its control section,the MCV will follow the C&C recoveryrules described in the Command andControl section. Also, a combinedMCV adds the thrust value of the twoLCVs and uses this for thrust.

Sensors All combined ships use thesensor value of the centralconnector. However, all attachedLCV sensors must remain poweredbecause they are assisting thecentral sensor array. When the“control” section of an attached LCVis hit, it must still roll on the sensorcritical chart in case that controlsection must become the combinedship’s main sensor array should thecentral array be destroyed. If the central connector sensorarray is destroyed, any survivingattached LCVs may take over thesensor functions of the ship. ThePolaren player is free to choosewhich LCV’s control section is usedfor sensor functions. The penalty forthis is a –1 EW to the LCV’s sensorvalue. Typically, this results in a verylow sensor value, but it is better thanzero and allows the combined shipto maintain lock-ons.

Reactors All attached LCVs treat theirreactors as if the LCV were operatingindependently. This means thatshould an attached LCV’s reactor bedestroyed, all systems in that LCVshut down, but there is no explosionand the attached LCV is notdestroyed. The combined ship maydeactivate other systems to powersystems in the powerless LCV. The core reactor (in the primarysection) is treated as a normalreactor. Should this reactor be

destroyed, the entire combined shipis destroyed. This is from the centralcore’s reactor being much morevolatile as it typically powers thelarger sensor arrays, heavyweapons, and in some ships, jumpengines.

Engines The central connector of thecombined ship uses its engine(located in the primary section) forthe combined ship’s thrust. Theattached LCVs do not provide anythrust from their engines, but actuallyact as the thrusters of the combinedship. Thruster icons on thecombined ship’s SCS indicate inwhich direction each attached LCVcan thrust. Certain ship classes maybe able to thrust in several directions.For example, a Polaren MediumCruiser’s side LCVs can act as a sidethruster or a main thruster. Thevalue of the LCV’s engine indicateshow much thrust it can handle on agiven turn. The amount of thrust anLCV’s engine can thrust safely canbe used in any direction shown bythe thruster icons on the combinedship’s SCS. Should the engine takedamage or over thrust, it must rollfor a critical on the thruster criticalchart.

Command and Control All command and controlfunctions are governed by the C&Cin the primary section of thecombined ship. Hits to the attachedLCVs do not affect the command andcontrol of the combined ship.However, should the combined shiploose its primary C&C, it is capableof restoring some control. On theturn after the primary C&C isdestroyed, the ship suffers thefollowing effects.(1) The ship cannot maneuver(2) The ship cannot use sensors

(3) The ship cannot fire weapons(4) The combined ship’s ownerdeclares, in secret, which attachedLCV is assuming control of the ship On the turn following thesepenalties, the combined ship isbrought back under control, butsuffers a –4 initiative penalty for theturn and a –2 initiative penalty for therest of the scenario. In addition, theship suffers a –1 penalty to allweapons fire for the rest of thescenario. In the event that thecontrolling LCV is destroyed orlooses its control section, the aboverules are applied again, cumulatively,as another attached LCV assumescontrol. This can continue until allLCVs are destroyed or loose theircontrol section, in which case theship is finally knocked out ofcommission. Example: A Polaren PatrolDestroyer has its primary C&Cdestroyed on turn 4. On turn 5, theship cannot move, use sensors, orfire. Also, the player designates theport LCV as assuming control of thedestroyer. On turn 6, the port LCVtakes control and the destroyersuffers a –4 initiative penalty and a–1 weapons fire penalty. On turn 7the destroyer now has a –2 initiativepenalty and the –1 weapons firepenalty remains. On turn 8, the portLCV is destroyed, causing theprocess to repeat. On turn 9, thedestroyer again cannot move, usesensors, or fire and declares thestarboard LCV to be in control. Nowon turn 10, the destroyer has the pre-existing –2 initiative penalty, with anadditional –4 initiative penalty for thefirst turn after regaining control. Thedestroyer also has a –2 weapons firepenalty. On turn 11, the initiativepenalty is now a –4 and the weaponsfire penalty is unchanged. Shouldthe starboard LCV be destroyed,there will be no more control sectionsand the patrol destroyer can no

CampaignsCampaigns


longer fight.

Docking Collars The major weak point ofcombined ships is their dockingcollars that physically connect theLCV to the central connector of theship. Should the docking collar bedestroyed, the docked LCV is rippedfrom the ship and destroyed. Also,the “heavy” weapon associated withthe attached LCV on the centralconnector, shown on the combinedship’s SCS, is destroyed. Thisrepresents the LCV being violentlyripped from the combined ship andthe fact that the docking collar ismore like a cage holding on to theLCV. There are no critical hits shouldthe docking collar be damaged.

LCV Weapon Arcs All Polaren LCVs show weaponarcs for an independently operatingLCV. Polaren LCVs are typicallydivided into two classes; singleweapon wings and duel weaponwings. The special notes box on theLCV’s SCS will indicate which typethe LCV is. To determine the firingarcs of the LCV’s weapons for thevarious ship combinations, consultthe appropriate Arc ConversionChart. The shaded boxes representthe arcs of the independent LCV andthen unshaded arcs indicate the arcthe weapon will have dependingupon its location on the combinedship.

Ramming Factor Combined ship SCSs onlyindicate a value with a ‘+’ sign. Thegiven value is the ramming factor ofthe central connector only. To obtainthe full ramming factor of thecombined ship, the ramming factorsof all attached LCVs must be addedto the central connector’s value.

Point Value All Polaren combined ships havea point value specified on theirindividual SCS with a ‘+’ sign. Thisindicates the base value of thecombined ship. To get the total valueof the combined ship, add the pointvalue of all connected LCVs to thepoint value shown on the combinedship’s SCS. Example: A Remava mediumcruiser has a base value of 115points. This particular Remava usesa Talynev early corvette (170 points),an Arimet corvette (190 points), anda Curlot corvette (205 points).Therefore, this particular Remavacosts: 115+170+190+205 = 680points.

Combined LCV Ships

Kyrat FrigateBase Hull (Unlimited Deployment) This class of ship directly mergedtwo LCVs without a central connectorbecame known as the Kyrat frigateto Polaren opponents. Severalcommonly used sub-types receivedtheir own name classification, but forthe most part, any combinationwhere the LCVs were directlycombined was known as a Kyrat.This “class” of ship would serve inthe Polaren space forces throughoutthe time in the Nexus setting. Duringthe conflict with the Sal-bez, Kyratswere the heaviest units available tothe Polarens, aside from theincredibly rare Colony Jumpcruisers.Originally, they served as acommand-style ship. Also, thePolarens used Kyrat conversions asa way to gain more use out of theolder LCV hulls, such as the Talynevin the earlier years. Kyrats wererelegated to a fleet picket and heavypolice vessel role as opposing fleetsbecame stronger. While the Kyrat

would see service throughout theyears, the Polarens began to useheavy frigates and destroyers in thesmall combatant role while theirLCVs screened the fleet fromfighters and other small units.

Gratherin DestroyerBase Hull (Unlimited Deployment) The Gratherin built upon the ideafirst started by the Norevet heavyfrigate but used a more capablecentral connector. With enhancedsensors, engines, reactors, andweapons, the Gratherin became thefirst in a long lineage of successfulheavy combat vessels in the Polarennavy. These units were notdeveloped in time to serve againstthe Sal-bez, but did make their firstappearance in the opening stages ofthe First War of Control. Gratherins,along with the other newly developedcombined ships, shocked manyopponents who were only expectingthe typical LCV swarms. TheGratherin was identified by its useof two medium blast cannons as itsconnector weapons, but upgrades toother weapons and commandvariants were widespread andreceived separate class names.Combined destroyers served innearly any role from lone patrol units,to anchoring small LCV squadrons.The only major weakness of theclass was its vulnerability to damageto its docking collars and lack of trueheavy weapons.

Polyr Jump DestroyerBase Hull (Rare Destroyer Variant) When the need for cheaper andmore numerous jump capable unitsbecame blatantly apparent to thePolarens, they quickly searched forways to deploy as many jump drivesas possible. The largest ship cominginto production at the time was theGratherin destroyer and a modified

CampaignsCampaigns


Gratherin central connector wasused in the Polyr. This connector cutback on the additional crew spaceand removed the weapon hardpoints. In addition, the connectorwas stretched to allow for theaddition of a jump drive, resulting inan HCV sized jump ship. Since thecentral connector did not need toprovide for crew support and did notneed to be a fully functional starship(seeing as the connected LCVs tookcare of these details), the Polyr waseasily capable of utilizing a jumpdrive that typically could only bemounted on cruiser sized vessels.While a rare variant, Polyrs could beseen in nearly any Polaren task forcesimply due to the wide number ofGratherin or related destroyer hulls.However, the Polyr was a sub-standard combat vessel.

Remava Medium CruiserBase Hull (Unlimited Deployment) The Remava class mediumcruiser created quite a stir amongstthe Polaren’s opponents during theFirst War of Control. These shipsforced opponents to choosebetween dealing with a larger unitat range or the swarms of smallLCVs accompanying the cruiser.Smaller than most races fullcruisers, the Remava still provideda heavy hull with firepower and moreimportantly range to the Polarenfleet. Using a combination of threeLCVs, the Remava would be theprimary cruiser hull for the Polarensthroughout the conflict. Thisparticular medium cruiser mountedtwo heavy blast cannons and a nosemounted medium blast cannon. Bythe end of the conflict, the newer andlarger heavy cruiser was comingonline and the Remava and its kinwere relegated to secondary rolesor leading small squadrons ofwarships. Despite its reduced

stature in the fleet, Remavas and theother medium cruisers filled a vitalrole for the Polaren forces.

Designer’s Notesand Relation to theother Nexus Races The Polarens reside on the sameside of Nexas as the Craytan andSal-bez. They have been designed,from the beginning, to be trulydifferent and this is reflected in theirship designs, society, and interactionwith the other races. Their allianceswith others are always uneasy, asthose involved are never fully surewhat the Polarens are up to. ThePolarens are another example of ourintention to keep all of the Nexusraces interesting, with their ownabilities, nuances, and design styles. The Polaren’s introduction to thegalactic scene came about 17 yearsafter the Craytan War between theSal-bez and Craytan. The Polarensbegan to colonize several worldsclaimed by the Sal-bez. Whileangered, the Sal-bez were walking

softly after the events that touchedoff the Craytan War. It was not untilthe Sal-bez saw how quickly thePolarens could make planet’suninhabitable, that open hostilitiesstarted. The Sal-bez feared thePolarens attacking a major colonyand the Polarens defended whatthey felt was theirs by virtue ofpossession. The war was brief, but afterwards,the Polarens withdrew within theirsphere of influence, and would notmake another major appearance onthe galactic scene until the First Warof Control. Jeremy and I would like to thankTyrel for all of his help in solvingseveral design concepts anddeveloping the arc conversion chartidea. Thanks!

* * *

CampaignsCampaigns


Introduction In order for the Rapid TransitNetwork (RTN) to function properly,the Andromedans had to seedregions of space with strategic RTNnodes to act as beacons forAndromedan ships utilizing thenetwork. The nodes also served asway-points for ships to stop andobtain any critical supplies and asstaging areas for assaults. TheAndromedans spent many yearsbefore the actual invasion creatingthe RTN in the Alpha Quadrant. TheRapid Transit Network was also theundoing of the Andromedans. Oncethe major Alpha Quadrant powersrealized how the RTN worked, theytook great pains to track down andeliminate the nodes. As the networkbegan to unravel, the Andromedanslost their strategic speed andinitiative. This loss has lead to what

is hoped to be the ultimate defeat ofthe Andromedan Invaders. In order to create these nodes,the Andromedans utilized severalclasses of bases, all of which aredesigned using varying numbers ofsmall Infiltrator class bases.Typically, Infestor or Missionary classMotherships would fill their hangerbays with Infiltrators and begin todeploy them in strategic locations.Follow-up missions would bring aconnection module and additionalInfiltrators to upgrade the node to amore defensible base, if deemednecessary. For scenario purposes,all Andromedan bases must bedeclared as being active or not, sinceit takes several days to fully set upor take down the base. If the baseis inactive, it may be brought aboardor removed from a Mothership, butall systems are treated as inactivecargo. The small Andromedan basesalso acted as listening posts for theinvasion forces. As such, anyAndromedan base may spend extrapower, as shown in the Special Notesbox of the SCS, to gain the benefitsof having an ELINT sensor array.

While useful, this can quickly tax thepower systems of the base. Most bases were deployed alonewithout mines or other defenses.However, especially at the largebases, satellite ships may bepresent. All Andromedan bases cansupport Satellite Ships as long astheir cargo bays were stocked. Inparticularly valuable systems, theAndromedans were known to leavea flotilla of Sat Ships to act as a localgarrison force. Other times, SatelliteShips that lost their Mothershipwould attempt to make their wayback to a base for eventual pick upby another Mothership, providinglocal defense during the wait.

New UnitsInfiltrator Defense Base The Infiltrator was the smallestbase used by the Andromedans andthe Alpha Quadrant was littered withthem to assist in the Andromedan’smovements. They were hard todetect, especially as theAndromedans placed them in out of

Bases of the Andromedan InvadersBases of the Andromedan InvadersBases of the Andromedan InvadersBases of the Andromedan InvadersBases of the Andromedan Invaders

The AndromedansHold Their Own

By Geoffrey and Jeremy Stano

CampaignsCampaigns


the way locations. The Infiltrator istreated as a Medium Satellite shipfor hanger purposes as it is “foldedup” for storage aboard ship. Thesame is true for its cargo bays, whichare collapsible. The cargo bays ofan Infiltrator (or any Andromedanbase) cannot hold any cargo whileaboard a Mothership. They must befilled from the Mothership after beingdeployed. Infiltrators are quite heavilyarmed for their size, but did not lastlong against determined attacks.

Rejector Medium Base The Rejector is comprised of twoInfiltrators and a connection module.The configuration of the units meantthat one of the heavy tractor-repulsors per Infiltrator wereunavailable for use, as well as halfof the PA panels. The connection

module provides valuable supportsystems in the way of additionalbatteries and a DisplacementDevice. However, the device cannotbe used on the base itself. Rejectors were a transitionalconfiguration. Typically, they wereleft in this configuration only as longas it took to get a third Infiltrator onsite to produce the far more effectiveObliterator base.

Obliterator Combat Base For locations the Andromedanswished to defend, three Infiltratorsand a connection module were usedto create this strong combat base.While its range was not the mostimpressive, the Obliterator’s tractor-repulsors and huge array of graviticfocusers made it a dangerousopponent. This was furthersupported by massive amounts of

battery power and the unusual PApanel arrangement, of six PA panelscovering 120 degrees, as opposedto the more standard 180 degrees.The Obliterator supported defendingfleets well with its ELINT capabilitiesand onboard Displacement Device.

Designer’s Notes: Due to myuploading the unedited version toTyrel in GM 11, this month’s GMincludes the cleaned up rules andships for the Andromedans in theattachments section.

* * *

CampaignsCampaigns


Recent History of theTerran Concordat

Historical DataTerran Concordatand the Dilgar War

2190 to 2230 was relativelyquiet for the Terran Concordatpeople. As their mineral productionincreased in size, so did their needfor more secure jump routes. TheEvergreen Jump Gate wasestablished at the beginning of the23rd century. Close to EvergreenII, a circuit of Osats protected thisgate. The designers of the systembased defenses on possible Raiderattacks. They were ill prepared forthe Dilgar invasion.

Late 2230, the Dilgar invasionforce reached Vree space. Unable todefeat an evenly matched foe, theDilgar began to raid lesser outposts,which included the Evergreen system.Three Pentacans led the first assaultthat scattered much of the TC’s Navy.Previous experience against Raidersproved to be a handicap against theDilgar who would not retreat whenslightly damaged. Losses were heavy

for the Terran Concordat, but theywere able to repel the Dilgar, but onlyafter Dilgar forces stealing a sizablesupply of Q-40.

At this time the Vree beginto realise that Earth Force was aboutto enter the war. To protect the Guildof Conservation from Earthbacklash, the TC Council agrees todistance Vree involvement from theTC. The Concordat hoped to appearlike an independent human colony,free from the shackles of Earth.

Brothers in Arms,Brothers in Betrayal:The First EA Invasion

As Earth Force worked withMarkab forces, words about humancolony came to the attention of EarthForce Squadron Commander DawnIsaacson. Getting permission toperform reconnaissance in Leaguespace, Isaacson brought hersquadron into TC space anddemanded their surrender.

Still suffering from the DilgarInvasion, the TC was struggling toprevent Raiders from gaining a newfoothold into their system. Thearrival of Earth ships stretched theirability to offer defense to this newmenace. This apparent weaknessgave Isaacson undue confidence inher ability to pacify this ‘bandit

kingdom’ in her eyes. She spreadher forces out too thinly as shecaptured Evergreen’s primarymineral processing facility. SeveralRook destroyers mounting capturedDilgar technology were able tosurprise and capture or disabledseveral of Isaacson’s vessels.

Humiliated, Isaacsonprepared to destroy as much of theTerran Concordat’s assets aspossible. In a daring running battle,countless TC vessels weredestroyed as Isaacson’s commandship was disabled before permanentharm could happen. Isaacson wascaptured and was quickly tried forwar crimes. An Earth Force diplomatwas able to secure her release. TheTC council felt very skeptical to talksoffered by the diplomat. Primarilythe impression they received wasthat Earth Force would sooner orlater be expecting the TC to join theEarth Alliance, whether by peace orforce.

Minbari InterludeThe Earth-Minbari War

began to bring the greatest influx ofrefugees into Evergreen space. Fornearly a decade, TC forces hadtaken great steps to improve theirnavy. Buying material from Narn andCentauri dealers alike, having closeaccess to the Vree mercantile power

A Historical Look atthe Terran Concordat

By Jason Stadnyk

Recent History of theTerran ConcordatThe Terran Concordat - Part 2

CampaignsCampaigns


allowed easy access to such things.New vessels, like a Tigerhawk StrikeDestroyer, helped to patrol theEvergreen Frontier to protect againstraiding activity.

Refugees hoped to escapethe horrific war that was plaguingtheir homeland. The TC did as muchas they could to help them. A thirdplanet in the Evergreen system wasset up to house many of therefugees. The Terran ConcordatDefense Force (TCDF) providedsafe haven for heavily damagedEarth Force vessels that could nolonger reached safe ports. Severalvessels elected to stay in protect therefugees. This act of friendshipwould later have dire consequencesto TC-Earth Alliance relations.

The Minbari will hear of theEvergreen system and their band ofhuman defenders in 2246. Sendinga small force into the system, theybegan to smash the defenders. Astalemate ensued when a relief forcesent from Vree space arrived into thesystem and ordered the Minbari toleave. This was the first time theVree acknowledged that the TCwere part of a Vree protectorate.The Minbari realize this distinctionand left.

Golden Decade of PeaceFive years of relative peace

allowed the Terran Concordat torebuild and expand. They colonizeda new star system 10 light-yearsaway. While marginally habitable,Primus One, symbolized a newbeginning for the TC people. ManyImmigrants from the Earth Allianceto TC space helped create thiscolony. Many Earth Telepaths alsothe came apart of the TC by the wayof the Underground Railroad. Thefuture seemed bright as there areeven talk of the League of Non-

aligned Worlds recognizing theTerran Concordat’s legitimacy.

2256 would herald the startof the New Age for the TC. A raceunknown to them, would declare war.

New TechnologyElectro-Phase Cannon

Mounted only on themassive Guardian Defense Monitor,this is the strongest weapon everproduced by the Terran Concordat.An Electromagnetic weapon whicha rate of fire terribly slow that it ismore of a one shot weapon. It istheoretically possible to fire it fasteronly to risk several damage. Rules:Can fire at an accelerated RoF butrisk-destroying the weapon. Roll d6and add # of criticals. Successful ifequal or less to the number ofprevious turns left to recycle. Failingresults in weapon totally destroyed.

New ShipsDefensor Carrier

Aided by Vree salvageefforts at locating several Hyperion-Alpha wrecks from the Dilgar war.Combining parts into workable units,a dozen halls could be fielded.

Removing the jump enginefreed out space for a larger hanger.Several additional hangers wereadded by swapping out the forwardweapons pods, creating an ad hoccarrier for three flights.

Advancements towards theend of 2240’s allowed forexperimental testing of twoantimatter cannons which gave thecarriers greater punch andopponents to be wary of chargingcloser. These antimatter cannonsproved difficult to maintain, but also

provide TC technicians with atraining base for these weapons asthey are incorporated throughout thefleet.

Tigerhawk Strike DestroyerThis is the first mass

deployed vessel constructed for theTC navy. The performance of theArtemis Escort of the Earth Forcesquadron that attacked during theDilgar war impressed the TC highcommand. They commissioned aproject to design a ship equal incapability.

Standard rail guns were usedat first for the hull. But combatstresses overworked the power gridand designers were back to squareone. Hope for a weaponreplacement came from theCentauri, who’s Matter Cannons waseasily available on the open market.Disassembling several allowed TCmanufacturers to replicate their ownversion to be mounted on theseships.

In having a greater rate offire allows the Tigerhawk superiorityover any raiding vessels it mayencounter. Mounting a squadron offighters and two light pulse cannonturrets helped ease effect of lighterarmour. The supply problems thataffected the Artemis are not a majorproblem for the Tigerhawk as theynormally operate close to home.

Icus Scout CruiserFor most of their history, the

TC military suffers from a lack ofproper jump-capable vessels. Whilesome captured greater vessels areconverted for this task, many of theout-of-system fleet deployment aredone by the Icus.

Shaped like a thin submarinevessel of Earth history, this vesselis stated with a flight of fighters forprotection and a small weapons grid.

CampaignsCampaigns


The rarity of this hall is compoundedwith the addition of an Elint SensorGrid, purchased from old Vaarl hulls.Additional Sensor suites came frommothballed pre-Vaarl vessels.

The jump engine and Elintpackage makes this vessel veryvaluable. Which means crewsassigned to Icus vessels rarelyengaged enemy forces alone, andis quick to jump out of a hostilesituation. Even if doing so maysacrifice stranded TC vessels.

Guardian Defense PlatformAfter the Dilgar invasion, the

TC devised a program to defend keyindustries. The Guardian in a slow-moving vessel of great firepowersimilar to the EA Orestes. Basicallya massive cannons, this vessel isalmost considered enormous. At itscentre is the Electro Pulse Cannon,which fires similar to out for longcannon. This incredible weapondestroyed a Sharlin in the first shotwhen a Minbari recon groupattacked the Evergreen system. TheMinbari quickly learned from thisattack and a short work of thesevessels in later engagements. Thedesign was rebuilt, the first designto use antimatter cannons forgreater affect and those installed onDefensors. (Original Hull Replaced

Antimatter Cannons with HeavyPlasma).

Refit RookWith a 150-year service, the

Rook Vessels received only a fewupgrades. Sometimes being a testvessel for next technologies othertimes being the final line of defence.The Rook on file shows the originaldesign plus 2 refits. The first designbeing in 2125 that mounted an SO-Rack Missile launcher and 2Standard Particle Cannons. Thisdesign was a deadly skirmisher andlasted until the Minbari War as thestandard Rook Vessel. The secondrefit was the last Rook design beforethey began to be phased out.Mounting 4 Dilgar Medium Boltersenabled the TC to hold off EarthForce attacks.

Refit Hactrus CorvetteThe standard TC Anti-Fighter

Corvette for generations. The hullwas built from disabled TorataRaiders. Lacking any real shippingindustry, the TC copied the designand builds it till today. The newestrefit packs 2 Matter Cannons and 4Lt Pulse Cannons. A potent forceagainst Raiders and Invaders alike.

Bat Attack FighterThe deployment of the

Batstar was always a compromiseventure. High pilot fatalities wereunacceptable for the TC HighCommand. They sought to create aworthwhile successor.

The first new fighter designwas not space capable. Severalredesigns followed and the BatAttack Fighter came to being. Unlikethe Raiders Snake and Delta-Vfighters that are better suited tospace and atmosphere combat, theBat Attack Fighter is an atmospheresuperiority fighter with spacecapabilities.

To offset the problems withthis fighter ’s space role,aerodynamic currents were installedto each wing to provide a wide fieldof fire. Against Raider fighters, thesefighters are up to the task. Againstbetter fighters this design shows itsweakness. In all, the Bat AttackFighter lived up to a better stopgapmeasure. It possessed the structureand armour to survive most combatsituations.

Editor’s Note: This is the secondinstallment in the Terran Concordatsage. Part 1 appeared The GreatMachine Issue 1.

* * *

B5WARS.NET is back! Visit the forums at the sameplace, same time as usual!

CampaignsCampaigns


IntroductionFollowing the attack upon

Earth by the Xindi, Starfleetauthorised a lone vessel, the SSEnterprise NX-01 under thecommand of Captain J Archer, toenter the dangerous Delphi Expansein an attempt to stop the Xindi fromcontinuing their offensive.

During their time in theExpanse, the vessel encounteredspatial anomalies, capable ofcausing structural damage to them.On one instance, an anomalydamaged the port nacelle, andcontinued through the ship injuringArcher along the way. As a result ofthis, he was inflicted with a form ofamnesia which resulted in his newlong term memory lasting around 7hours.

Starfleet decided to relieveArcher of his command, granting theVulcan first officer a fieldcommission of Captain and placingher in charge of the ship. Afterseveral months and numerousattacks, one of which limiting theEnterprise to warp 1.7, the crewfound the facility constructing theXindi weapon.

They were too late. Theweapon had already launched. TheEnterprise headed back to Earth, tofind it and most of the Terrancolonies obliterated. A number of

convoys formed from the remnantsof the Terran space fleet werecreated and sent to Ceti Alpha 5,which was to be a last refuge formankind.

Only a single convoysuccessfully made the trip, the restwere destroyed by the Xindi. Thetransports were dismantled andused to produce housing for thecolonists, and they lived there,undetected by the Xindi for tenyears.

The Xindi never gave up thesearch, and in 2164, they found alead. Dr. Phlox, formally of the SSEnterprise, had never given up tryingto cure Archer, and eventuallydiscovered a method that couldprove successful. He returned toCeti Alpha 5 to try it, but wasfollowed. The Xindi had discoveredthe colony.

However, the Terrans hadnot been idle. They knew that oneday the Xindi would locate them, andtried to improve their defences sothat they would stand a chance. Oneof these was a variation on the forcefield, and was able to shield an entirevessel from weapons fire.

This Andorian based system(kindly loaned by General Shran)required a lot of power, and so it wasfirst fitted to the most powerful shipsremaining, the NX class starships.The SS Enterprise was among thefirst fitted with it, but a problem was

discovered. The system drew toomuch power, more than the reactorwas capable of producing. Also, thepower running through the hullplating to create the polarisationeffect, caused disruptions in theshield system. After several monthsof trying, the attempt to make thetwo work together was abandoned.This was not as bad as it sounds,as much of the power required forthe shields would, under battleconditions, be normally used by thehull plating. And so, after a few moremodifications, techniques weredevised to maximise the defensiveabilities. The primary defence wouldbe the shield, whilst the hull platingwould be powered down. When theshields failed, or if they weredamaged, the hull plating would stillbe available as a backup, it wouldjust need to be powered up.

Only a few months after thesystem was built, they were put tothe test. A small Xindi taskforceentered the system and attacked.The closest Starfleet vessels,including the SS Intrepid and SSEnterprise, attempted to hold themback, but the Intrepid lost herstarboard nacelle, and theEnterprise, after having her shieldsbattered, had her bridge destroyed.She was boarded, and the crewinitiated a warp core breach,destroying the ship.

NX WAR CRUISER – SHIELD UPGRADE By Keith Carpenter

CampaignsCampaigns


Had this timeline continued,then the Terrans would haveundoubtedly tried to refit theirremaining combat ships with theshield system, which had proven tobe quite effective. However, due tothe initial effects of the spatialanomaly on Archer, the subspaceimplosion caused by the warp corebreach eliminated his injuries,resulting in him never havingamnesia, and thus technologyprogressed differently.

Editor’s Note: It can be assumed thatthe Mirror Universe version of the NXalso had a shield system, so playersmight find this version to be a goodstand in for that vessel.

Scenario:The Last StandTerran vs Xindi

The year is 2142, a dark timefor humanity. The failure of theEnterprise to locate the Xindiweapon in the Delphi Expanseresulted in the destruction of allTerran colonies, and Earth. The lastsix thousand members of thespecies are in hiding on Ceti Alpha5, living in what used to be a convoyof transports and freighters. But theXindi never gave up the search to findthe Humans, and they have finallysucceeded in locating this last, besthope for survival.

The Xindi, are on the move…

Terran Forces1x NX War Cruiser (Shield Upgrade)

(SS Enterprise)1x Neptune Patrol Cruiser

(SS Intrepid)1x Sweden Frigate

Xindi Forces3x Qqu’chi’uch Frigate3x Tark’Ha Attack Cruiser

SetupIn the centre of the map is a

small moon with a diameter of tenhexes. The Enterprise is on the rightside of the moon. The NeptuneCruiser and Sweden frigate are onthe left side of the moon. All Starfleetvessels are stationary at locationsdecided by the player. The Xindivessels jump in on turn 1d6+1, to apre-determined position on the rightside of the moon. All vessels startwith weapons fully charged, andshields/hull plating charged.

Special RulesNX War Cruiser has shields.

These are raised at the start of thescenario, but the armour is not. NXWar Cruiser and Neptune PatrolCruiser have Photonic Missiles.Terran vessels may self-destruct.

Sensors can not lock ontotargets if they do not have line-of-sight(no shooting through the moon!).

Historical OutcomeThe battle was short, but

fierce. The Enterprise was able tolead two of the Xindi ships into anambush, heading around the moonwhere they were crippled by theNeptune and Sweden class vessels.Then, the Intrepid was crippled bythe loss of a warp nacelle, andforced to withdraw from the battle.Not long after, the remaining Xindivessels targeted the Enterprise,battering down her shields anddestroying the Bridge. She was thenboarded, and Archer destroyed theship with a warp core breach.

This breach actually causeda subspace implosion, kill ingtemporal parasites that had inflictedArcher with amnesia for twelveyears. As they were killed throughoutthe timeline, Archer never sufferedthis memory loss, was never relievedof command, and thus history tooka different course. The Last Standat Ceti Alpha 5 never happened.

* * *

CampaignsCampaigns


Coming Next Issue...Coming Next Issue...CreditsCreditsCreditsCreditsCreditsEditorsPaul BrownTyrel Lohr

LayoutTyrel Lohr

ProofreadingPaul BrownTyrel Lohr

Submission [email protected]

Distribution Pointplanetside.firenebula.com

The GREAT MACHINE isan unofficial, fan-basedelectronic publication

dedicated to the Babylon 5Wars game system.

BABYLON 5, BABYLON 5WARS, the B5W Core Rules,

FLEET ACTION, GROPOS andall related material are copyright

2002 by Warner Bros. Thecontents of this unofficial

publication are for personal, non-commercial use only. Any use of

these product identities,copyrighted material or

trademarks anywhere in thisdocument and its associated files

should not be viewed as achallenge to those copyrights or

trademarks.Original concepts and mechanicsremain the intellectual property of

their respective authors. Submission Deadline: July 15, 2005

STAR WARS!Coming next issue, we are accepting Star Wars related submissions.Have your own version of the Imperial Star Destroyer? Send all ofyour Star Wars submissions in to us along with an article describingthe thought processes that went into the design.

Send all submissions to [email protected].

Documents

Campaigns - smikesworld.dksmikesworld.dk/smworld/magazines/gm_issue15.pdf · new breakfast nook in Draal’s chamber, but in space other powers continue to do their own fighting (and